Twirls 'n Curls

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope you are enjoying lots of family time, as we are!

For amazing family time  and the silly pictures to prove it...    We give thanks. For a daddy who carves amazing jack o'lanterns   and makes campfires in our backyard... We give thanks. For crazy girls dressed up like bugs,  For pumpkin seeds, and Cleopatra too... We give thanks. For all the memories of this season, And for those still to come...   We give thanks. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and  cometh down from the Father of lights..." James 1:17

Nothing says "I love you" like a birthday party. Nothing says "I like you" more than an invitation to a birthday party. And no one can say "Happy Birthday, Kid" like a giant mouse. So naturally, nothing compares to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I had managed to avoid this experience for my first 7 years of motherhood, but no longer. My kids were invited to a party there a few weeks ago, and our lives will never be the same. They saw the craziness, and jumped in headfirst. I made the mistake of taking all three girls by myself to the party on a Saturday. Never again. Chaos doesn't begin to describe the scene there, and they loved it. Every heart-racing mini-ride.   Every obnoxiously loud siren. Every larger-than-life "noo-noon" 2 hours later, I attempted a feeble plea, "Mommy will bring you back here next week so we can finish using your tokens and get prizes when it's not so crowded!" They looked at me with big...

I promise a real post is coming soon, but if you're interested, here are two freebies I've found online this week: 1. From Penzey's Spices Free "Kind" sampler box of four spices: 82440C,        These next 2 are free with a purchase, I believe: Free teacher's box sampler: 83018C Free 1/2 c jar of "Forward" spice: 15958C I LOVE Penzey's spices and have found that by ordering the ones I really like in bulk bags rather than jars, they are very comparable to other store-brand spices, and soo much better! 2. From Birthday Express , you can get an adorable customized keepsake scroll with your child's name and important information that happened on their birthday. I bought one for each of my girls to put in their baby books, which had good intentions but need a little help :)  You do have to do multiples on separate orders but you can use the same coupon code. I paid $4.95 each shipping. Offer code: FREESCROLL, or you can also try YE...

I had my third little girl 2 years ago, and I feel like I've been running ever since. They say that the transition from two to three kids is the true test of a mother, probably because you have more kids than you have hands. "If you can handle three kids, you can handle a dozen!" they say. I don't know about that, but I'm amazed at the difference in my parenting from #1 to #3. You can call it redefining priorities, or a change of perspective, but I call it survival. For example, My first daughter was allowed to dress up in a designated costume between the hours of 3-5 pm. After her afternoon nap, but before dinner and a bath. I recently peeled my youngest out of not 1, but 3 costumes after 24 consecutive hours of wear. I read all the child training books with #1 and was convinced that 2 year olds should be able to sit quietly and happily beside their busy mothers for several hours, doing nothing. After two very active daughters consistently disproved this the...

"Oh, that's a nice drawing," I told the little boy in my first-grade class. "Are you done?" "Just a minute," he said, "It's for my mom, I just need to write her name on it." Then he carefully scrawled, in his best six-year old writing, the letters "M-O-M." My mind went back to an earlier conversation I had with my own daughter, who is his age. "Look Mama! I made this picture of you. It even has your name on it. See? It says 'Mama!' And I wrote 'I love you' a bunch of times because I love you a LOT!!" That's when it dawned on me. To her, my name is Mama. The more I thought about it, the deeper I felt this statement. There's no other role I play that changes my entire name. I don't go by wife, or cousin, or teacher, though I am all of those things. I retain my identity, who I've been my whole life. But being a mom is different.  It's not just a part of my life - it changes all ...

School is really rolling along, as you can see. :) Having 7 kids together (I do a co-op with a friend) from 6 months to 8 years old is challenging, but the kids are having a great time, and so are we. First grade is studying weather right now, and I just had to share these cute devices we made! The first one is a weather vane . I was so suprised that it actually worked!! You can find directions for a similar vane here , though ours didn't call for the plastic cup. It was really easy! The second device is an anemometer , used for measuring wind speed. Directions are very basic: 1. Tape 2 straws together to make an "x." 2. Punch a hole in each styrofoam or plastic cup about an inch away from the top. 3. Poke a straw end through each cup about an inch or so, bend, and secure with tape to the inside of cup. Be sure cups are all facing the same direction. 4. Push a tack through the center of the straws (where the "x" is formed) and push gently into...

And the winner is.... Wait for it... Mom4Less! (Number was chosen through randomizer.org .)  She has been contacted and has one week to contact me for more information, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. A big thanks to all who participated in my first giveaway, and there's more good news!! Even if you didn't win, you can still get this great software at a great price, and just in time for the holidays! My Memories Suite has given me the go ahead to offer a $10 discount for their basic software,  (bringing it to less than $30!) PLUS another $10 in downloads from their site. Just follow this link for the software and copy and paste the code STMMMS73689 in the coupon/promo code box. That's it!  Thanks again for joining in, have a great day!

My husband, who is a pastor, occasionally asks me to do a skit with him as an introduction to his message. Not too long ago, he was teaching on communication in marriage, and our skit went something like this:     (Tom walks through door)     Me: Hi, Sweetheart! (kiss) How was work today?     Tom: Ok.     Me: Did anything exciting happen?     Tom: No.     Me: Oh, ok. Well, what do you want for dinner?     Tom: (Man grunt).     Me: Your mom wants us to come over for dinner next week, do you think Tuesday sounds good?     Tom: I dunno.     Me: She really wanted to set a day. Please can we go Tuesday? I checked and our calendar is wide open.     Tom: Sure. Whatever.      Me: Oh, thank you, Sweetheart! (big kiss on cheek) For the record - HE wrote this. Not me. I hadn't read it until we starte...

I have been tossing around the idea of doing a few giveaways and reviews for awhile, so when My Memories Suite emailed and asked me to host a giveaway for Amazon's #1 ranked digital scrapbooking software, I jumped at the chance! I love traditional scrapbooking. I've done several books of my own and some for friends, but having a lot of small children around and a lot of small (expensive) scrapbooking material is a bad combination, especially because I don't have a workroom to close off. Over the past few weeks, I've fallen in love with digital scrapbooking. The Memories Suite has so many options - when I make a digital scrapbook, I can add video, text, embellishments, music, you name it! I started with some of their templates (tons of options!) to save time and learn my way around the program, then I customized them a bit. Plus, you can go online after the initial download and choose from even more layouts, or start from scratch and make your own book. You can even ...

Everyone knows the best part of school is going on field trips! Between teacher meetings, appointments, and even a couple of planned educational activities, our school year so far has been packed with fun places to go. The kids loved these carved trees at a nearby park! Nattie climbing her first tree... stump :) My kids are enrolled in a virtual online academy that uses the K12 curriculum . It's creative, innovative, challenging and fun. I love that the school organizes (optional) activities and field trips for the kids to do. They also let us know about businesses in our area that offer homeschooling events, such as Six Flags , Legoland , and the local Performing Arts Center. (if you homeschool, these are worth checking out!) We couldn't possibly attend every event, but a few weeks ago we had a great time a school-sponsored park day where the kids got to make their own t-shirts, eat ice cream, and just have fun! 2nd field trip: A nearby library has a huge boo...

Rule #1 - No licking the spoon until we're done stirring! I've noticed something. My kids seem to misbehave most when I'm busy trying to do my own work. You know how it goes. It's late afternoon and I'm scrambling to pick up the house, get dinner on the table, and keep 3 grumpy kids from killing each other. After dinner, the saga continues. Play outside. ("Been there.")        Play inside. ("Done that.")              Clean your room. ("Over it.")                     Find something to do. ("But I'm b-o-r-e-d!")                            Leave your sister alone. ("She started it!") I needed a change from the "Now you all play nice while Mommy cooks" routine, or at lea...

On a recent vacation to the Grand Canyon, we had the chance to visit a local deer farm . It was incredible (and slightly overwhelming at times!) to be so close to so many deer at once! Along the way, the girls picked up some important lessons about friendship as well: 1. Apparently, a kiss on the hand is not a universal sign of affection. 2. Sharing food is a sure way to win friends... and more friends...but 3. You can definitely have too much of a good thing! 4. Always look new acquaintances in the eye, for safety reasons. 5. A good friend will respect your personal space,   while others are just downright nosy. 6. It's ok to be different, you won't (and shouldn't) always blend in. 7. If your real friends aren't working out so well,   then find some imaginary ones. 8. And finally, to test a friend's loyalty...   grab their tail and give it a good tug! (Go ahead, I DARE you!!)