Book Review Friday

So a friend recently asked me to review books on my blog, because I read with the zeal of a tent preacher. I don't know if these reviews will be helpful for anyone else, but here goes . . .
Adult Non-fiction

"Created to Be His Help Meet" by Debi Pearl

I have to start with this book because it has absolutely changed our marriage. The author writes about the role of wives in a marriage and why following Biblical principles will bring true joy. She includes letters from women who have overcome great odds in their marriages. Definitely a must-read for any married woman!

Children

"The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!" by Mo Willems

Silly story of a pigeon who really, really, REALLY wants a puppy. Others in the series include "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" and "The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too!" Easy, quick read.

Before and After

Haven't blogged in a while thanks to this fun project . . .

Lots of sod. Six thousand square feet, to be exact.

Looking out the front door. I can't believe how green and perfect it is!

Here's the side yard that we had to leave open. We would have liked to have put the fence closer to the sidewalk but the CC and R's said no. We like the fire hydrant but I'm sure it's going to be a main attraction for all the neighborhood dogs.

Got the dresser finished. I guess these pictures don't show the paper up close enough but it has little crowns and sparkles all over it. The girls were ecstatic. :)

Other news?

* Some great neighbors had to move due to a job change and we are trying to help them find buyers for their house. It's over 2,700 sq. ft. and listed at $164,000, but they said they will be dropping the price very soon.

* Emmie looked up in the sky yesterday, squinted, and said, "I think I can see God's toes!" (Totally serious.)

* I made pizza meatloaf tonight and the kiddos loved it. They don't like regular meatloaf so much but they scarfed this down. Got the recipe here.

* A friend gave Ethan a road bike! He really wanted to do this benefit bike ride for kids with AIDS but we knew there was no way we could buy a bike. So we prayed about it and just asked God to provide one if it was His will. Our friend Eddie called last week because he had fixed a car for a friend who couldn't pay . . . but he gave Eddie a bike in trade. So Eddie gave it to Ethan. Very cool!

* Allie is done with Kindergarten and ready for first grade. I'm going to spend the next couple of months getting ready for longer and more challenging homeschool days. Should be an adventure!

Image of the Day

Enjoy a smile from God! :)

cha cha cha changes

Balancing life's demands as a wife and mommy and everything else isn't easy. I recently realized that I couldn't continue working at our church as the nursery director. I won't say the decision came as an effort of logical, well-thought out time. It was more of a crash and burn type of thing that knocked some sense into me. But at any rate, I am SO happy to just be doing the mom thing right now. I've always loved helping the young families at our church but it's been much more difficult since Isaac died. Seeing all the sweet little newborn babies and pretending like I was fine was starting to take a toll. It was only 12 hours a week, but it has made an amazing difference!




So what HAVE I been doing with the extra time?



* Cooking more. Tried making taquitos for the first time with pretty good results. I baked them so they would be healthier, but the crispness wasn't very consistent. Oh, well.

* We bought Ryan a special potty (or "yoddy", as he likes to call it). It may take a while, but now we are officially potty-training our youngest!

*Cleaning more. My kids have stopped asking me who's coming over now. It's nice to just clean for us. :)

* Mending. I have sewed a tail on a kitty-cat costume, patched up some torn pajamas, and worked on our bedspread that is ridiculously fragile.


* Paintings. Enough said.

My Music Research Study Experience

If someone asked you to listen to ninety minutes of music for $50.00, would you do it? I did.

Recently Air 1 offered $50.00 to the first fifty women ages 25 - 34 who signed up to participate in a music research study. I was thinking, I better bring some reading materials with me, because who actually sits and just LISTENS to music without doing something else? Not me. I'm always washing dishes or folding clothes or driving or . . . . something. So I brought a magazine, but it turned out that I didn't need it. We were given these little pager-type things with dials on them. We actually listed to 375 songs! It was crazy. We heard 7 to 12 seconds per song.

Apparently our city was the last one in a tour of five cities, and the results from our study would be given to Air 1 that night. (It was last Thursday.) The moderater told us we would probably start hearing some different music soon. I feel so powerful! (Just kidding.) Actually, the first time I turned on the radio after that they were playing this new song and it really sucked. :) Who knows what the results were. I think the woman sitting next to me cancelled me out anyway, because our reactions to the songs always seemed to be opposite.

If only I could do this once a week; what an easy way to earn some bucks!

Projects and a Hobby

I have to brag on my girl for a sec. Allison stole my camera from me at the park the other day and took these beautiful pictures. Didn't she do a great job? I think it's time for her to get her own camera . . .

I've been working on a few projects lately. Haven't quite ever learned to do ONE project at a time; it always seems to be several. Keeps things nice and crazy that way.

Ryan thinks it's so much fun to go inside that thing. I don't know why we buy toys for our kids when all they really want to play with is whatever mom's working on. :)

Allie wants me to paint the drawers purple. (They share a room and Emmie's choice for the room was pink; Allie's was purple.) Just today I saw in a craft email a dresser that was done with scrapbooking paper on the drawers. Seems like a lot of work. If you are new to reading my blog you will quickly see that I avoid things that are complicated or take very long!

Oh, the Horror

I talked my poor brother into going with me and three kids to Walmart the other day. Notice I didn't say MY three kids, just three kids. In a flash of brilliance I decided to swap Allie with one of Emmie's little friends while we went to the store so both girls spend time with their buddies. So . . .

Let's call Emmie's friend, oh, I don't know. How about Jane? So once inside Walmart Emmie and "Jane" are giggling and running away from the cart constantly. Now I KNOW "Jane's" mom is always right on top of her kids with training and everything, and I know her daughter was just taking advantage of the situation of not having mom there. But I was still a little surprised because I've never had ANY trouble with "Jane" in the past. I tell Emmie's friend that she can call Jared "Uncle Jared" if she wants, but she settles on calling him "Mister". It's pretty cute when she asks him "What kind of cereal do you like, Mister?" and so on. Fast forward to check-out, forty-five minutes later.

The girls decide to help bag groceries. I'm already completely at my wit's end after trying to herd two 4-year-old girls and a busy 2-year-old boy. I can literally feel the steam coming off the checker as she tries to work around four little roving hands. My brother graciously offers to take the kids a few feet away and distract them. (Thank you Jared!) So I finish up paying and start heading to Jared and the kids, only now I can see a horrified look on his face. "Jane" had taken off once more, and she was FAST. Since I didn't see which way she went it was up to Jared to go after her.

He luckily caught up to her before she made it any further than the women's clothing, but when he said, "C'mon, you need to come with me," she belted out, "I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE WITH YOU, MISTER!"

Yeah.

There were a couple of older women standing nearby who looked at him like they were about ready to call security. Poor Jared. He said he never knew what it was like to feel like a child molester until that moment. I happened to catch up with him then and was wondering what the miserable look on his face was all about and why he was standing next to "Jane" but not bringing her back to us. We made it out of the store without any trouble, but I'm sure gonna think twice before I go back!