Yesterday I decided that I was going to spend the next two weeks doing some major flinging and cleaning to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating and all of the other fun things that we will have going on the next few months.  So I made a plan and then I saw on Monica's blog (for some reason I am having trouble linking, so it's homespunheart.blogspot.com), that she is having a "Making My Home A Haven" week, so I thought I would join in.  My days may be a little different than hers since I already made my plan and I'm working through my zones, but it will be fun to share my progress with others.

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Today's List-

All morning school and normal routine.

Afternoon: (My zone is the kitchen this week, so a lot of my focus cleaning will be there)

Wash down kitchen cupboards and walls.

Clean chandelier

Clean microwave inside and out

Mop the floor.

Weekly Home Blessing; dust, vacuum, empty all trash cans, wash mirrors, through away old papers.

Put 3 baskets of clean laundry away.

Wash towels.

Tidy my room and change bed sheets. 

Vacuum bedrooms.

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Weekly Menu (I tried to make a menu from what I have on hand this week since I have so much going on and I didn't want to make a full trip to the store, we will see if I can avoid it :-) )

Monday- Homemade Mac and Cheese, Green Beans, AppleSauce

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Tuesday- Bratwurst, Seasoned Red Potatoes, Coleslaw

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Wednesday- Chicken Vegetable Soup, Homemade Rolls

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Thursday- Chicken and Black Bean Tacos and fixings

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Friday- Homemade Pizza

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I will try to share my progress later and keep up through out the week!  Come join in if you need some inspiration!!

Ask and you shall receive...  so Lauren prayed for about a year and finally they have a little pet.  I am ok with it.  Lauren is doing a pretty good job of taking care of her and as long as that keeps up, Sissy Lola and I will get along just fine.

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This is our little Guinea Pig, Sissy Lola.  We did not name her Sissy Lola, that is the name that she came with and seems to respond to so we just kept it.

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All of the girls really like to play with her and they get her out of the cage a few times a day.  We have had her about two weeks and she seems to be getting used to the girls now.

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This is how the girls always sit when they play with her.  If all three of them are playing then they all have their feet together.  It's so cute!

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I said I would never have pets, but, oh well!  Having little children changes a lot of things!

I love Fridays!  Friday mornings we just have a few things to do for school and finish anything left from the week, do our daily chores and then we do FUN things!  It always seems to be a very relaxing day to just enjoy being together.  This past Friday I thought it would be fun to bake some Pumpkin Cutout Cookies.  The girls are always up for baking cookies, so bake we did.   With baking comes a mess, and mess we did make.

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Tatum the messy.

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Lauren the messy.

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Chloe the Queen of Clean.

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When we were making the cookies I thought "this will be so much fun, not like when I usually make cutout cookies and then regret it immensely because of the mess and having to ice all of those cookies.  This time will be different!"

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After we had cutout and baked and cleaned up and then I saw all of these cookies to ice, I must admit the familiar dread of icing set in.  But I reminded my procrastinating self, the best thing to do when I don't feel like doing something is to DO IT!  So I set everything up for the girls to "paint" their cookies.

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And paint they did.

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Later Teetee called and said that she was going to come over to visit us, so I asked the girls if they would like to plan a surprise Tea Party for Teetee since Daddy had to work late.  They had fund setting up the tea and planning a surprise for her.  They asked me probably 20 times "When is Teetee coming?"  But she came and we had our ladies tea with our freshly baked pumpkin cookies.

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Praying for the food.  Angelic aren't they? :-)  I'm not sure why they folded their hands like that.. I guess they thought it was 'proper'.-

All the ladies at the tea..  Mom, Chloe, Tatum, Me, Lauren.

Lauren was out sweeping the front porch when she found this huge Praying Mantis!  She freaked out and I thought it would be a great idea to catch it and keep it in the school room.  Living science. ya' know?  So after many loud screams (mostly from the girls, but a few from me too), I caught the little booger and put him in a container.

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As scared as the girls were at first, within just a short time they had named him "Herby".  (I know he was a he because males have 8 sections in their abdomens, females only have 6.  See I learned something already.)  Anyway, the girls took a liking to Herby and were worried about leaving him by himself in the dark schoolroom at night.  I convinced them that he is used to being by himself and he would really be ok.  Tatum thanked Jesus for Herby that night at bedtime.

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The next morning the girls woke and went right to Herby.  Lauren even was brave enough to try to hold him.  Shortly before lunch I walked in the schoolroom and noticed that Herby was not in his container.  Ack!!  I'm just fine with a contained Mantid in my house, I am not so ok with one that is walking freely and could, like, crawl on me when I'm not expecting it.  So we searched for him and could not find him anywhere.  And then about an hour later I saw him...

He was hiding in the blinds..

Yuck!  So the girls and I talked about the fact that he wants to go outside and we ended up letting him go.  Now for the saddest part of the story...  Lauren bawled her eyes out.  I mean sobbed.  But it wasn't just because of Herby, she just wants a pet.  We don't have any pets because honestly, Jeremy and I are just not animal people.  I don't like the thought of animals running around my house.  Some of our friends have animals and they are sweet and everything, we are just not into that.  BUT.. when my almost 8 year old daughter LOVES animals and has been begging for a pet it pulls at my heartstrings.  So we are now talking about getting them a pet.  My sister in law knows someone who is trying to give away a Guinea Pig that is supposed to be really sweet with children,  so that is a possibility.  We need to start small. :-) We of course haven't told the girls yet.  They would be so excited.  I will let you know.  Hopefully I can handle this...

I thought I would jump back into my blog this week with Menu Plan Monday hosted by orgjunkie.com...

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Here's what the plan is this week...

Monday

Tacos, Salad

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Tuesday

Barbecue Pork Sandwiches, Oven Fries, Salad

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Wednesday

Grilled Chicken, Red Skinned Potatoes, Garden Green Beans

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Thursday

Our 9th Anniversary!!  Out for dinner....

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Friday

Pizza (of course)

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Saturday

Rigatoni, Garlic Toast, Cucumber Salad

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On another note, I have recently begun CVSing and am learning how to get my grocery bill under $50 a week...  I have been successful for the past 4 weeks!  I will post more on that later..  but I know, so exciting!

Tatum "watching" the fireworks.

She never moved from my lap the whole time. :-)  She was playing in the dirt just before this, can you tell?

Does anyone else love projects?  I really do.  I have a neverending list of projects to complete, and I always feel so good when I get to cross things off my list.  Well it seems that I haven't been doing so much crossing lately, more maintaining.  But, last week I did get this one nagging thing crossed off my list...

This little room is a screened in porch right off my kitchen.  I have had wonderful plans for this little room ever since we bought this house (almost 6 years ago)  but somehow it always becomes the catch all for, well... all.  My top plan would be to have a little table out here, something simple and quiet, where I could come in the mornings and read my Bible and have my coffee.  I have to settle for second best right now because I need to use this room for some storage, BUT NOT LIKE THIS PICTURE!!!  My SIL walked through this room a few weeks ago and I about fainted.  The horror!  So I just had to get it taken care of.  It now looks like this...

My mom gave me a cupboard to put out here and I'm going to keep all of my garden canned goods out here.  There are a few things left in there that I am going to sell in our yard sale, but other than that everything that I haven't used in forever got tossed.  On the other side of the room is a little art area for the girls' messy projects. 

The room is not perfect but it makes me smile when I look at it and remember what it used to look like.  Does anyone else ever do this.. I think is there anywhere in my house that I would be embarrassed if someone looked in? And then if I can think of something, it goes on the top of my project list.  One embarrassing thing is now crossed off.  Next on the list:

     1. Repaint and reorganize the schoolroom (again)

     2.  organize the craft closet

That's the top 2 of about 20...

Today is Princess Chloe Mariah's birthday!  The celebration for her birthday was stretched out this time because of the holiday weekend..  but she had a blast! 

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Last week my mom, aka Teetee, came over and helped Chloe make this purse cake from Betty Crocker. 

 Chloe has been looking forward to making this cake for months and she loved doing it!  I think that we will be making all of the birthday cakes from now on..

Lauren and Tatum worked on this cake together.

We celebrated Saturday night with a cookout and then we went to watch the fireworks.

This is the princess viewing the fireworks..  My Dad picked out this crown for her, and she has hardly taken it off.  She even wore it to church on Sunday.  Hey, I figure I am always telling her she's a daughter of the Most High King (it's even the title of my blog), she IS a princess!

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Then today, we had a few of her little girl friends from church over to play...

Here they are!  Aren't they cute?  They painted little clay figurines, watched Strawberry Shortcake, had lunch with icecream and cookies, chased butterflies, and played "house".  They had so much fun today!  Also, my friend Tara brought the girls over and stayed to play with us too!  Thank you Tara!  They all helped Chloe have a very fun and special day.

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At four years old Chloe is sweet and fun, strong willed and demanding (we're working on that).  She comes up with the funniest things.  Today she came to me and said "Mommy I always wanted you as my mommy.  You're just the cutest mommy."  I said, "Oh you think so?"  And she said, "Yeah mommy, you are so cute.  Go look at you, look how cute you are." 

Oh how precious she is!  :-)  I am so blessed to have her as my little girl!  Happy 4th Birthday Chloe bo Boey!  I love you!

Ahhh... I feel so refreshed.  Jeremy had a meeting in Pennsylvania yesterday and today, so I asked to go along for the alone time.  Generally I am not one that feels like I just need to "get away", I really am a home-body and I love being with my girls.  But we have been so busy and I have been soooo tired!  I just felt like I needed to take a little time to just breath. 

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So I did.

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So what does one do with hours upon hours of free time in a city that one knows nothing about?  Well first of all she uses VZ Navigator to find everything that she is looking for and also find the way to get there (shameless plug), and then she browses.  How many moms can say they ever have time to browse?  I know that I really don't, usually it's hustle and bustle, get in and get out.  But not yesterday or today, these days, I browsed.  I browsed JoAnn Fabrics for 1 hour and 45 minutes and didn't buy one thing. I sat at Panera Bread and ate a delicious lunch and worked on lesson plans with the laptop.  I walked around walmart and picked up a few REALLY cheap school supplies, and a present for Chloe's birthday.  I sat in our hotel room in the quiet and prayed.  I spent time with hubby just laughing and talking.  I woke up leisurely this morning, and moved slowly.  It was wonderful.  And then I came home today missing the girls, ready to start again, ready to handle all of my duties with love and patience and peace and joy. 

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God is so good.  He knows exactly what we need and when we need it, and He provides for us.  (We didn't even pay for this trip because it was for work) This may seem frivolous with all of the other serious things that take our attention, but I know that God loves me and He takes care of me, inside and out.

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On a funny note:  we have a rule in our house.  When you wake up in the morning, you must get dressed and make your bed BEFORE coming downstairs and no one is allowed to turn on the TV.  Apparently, the girls have not yet understood that this is a rule, because if they wake up while I am in the shower, this is what I find when I come out, every time...

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Everyone snuggled, jammies still on, beds not made and their favorite show "Jon and Kate Plus 8" being played off the DVR.  And I always have to say... "Upstairs girls, let's get dressed."  But for real, how cute are they all snuggled like that? :-)

Here I am again after a very long time of not blogging..  We have been enjoying summer.  My favorite thing every morning is to wake up and look out the window to see how much my garden has grown.  Jeremy laughs every time he sees me, but there is just something so exciting about watching it grow!  I love it!  I have made a list of things I'm going to blog about and will hopefully be able to start that soon, but today I wanted to link you to a blog I read...  Read it here.  God loves a grateful heart, He loves when our lips are full of praise for everything that He has given us and everything that He is to us.  But I must say there are times when I complain about little things, ants, not enough bathrooms, clutter, and I have to repent for my ungrateful heart.  Read the blog I linked to and then thank God.... for everything.

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"Thank God in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Aplified

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!!

We celebrated Jeremy's 28th birthday on Monday!  I am so thankful for him!  He is a wonderful husband that is loving and gentle and a man after God's heart.  God made us perfectly for eachother and I am blessed to be called his wife!

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When God Made You

It's always been a mystery to me,

how two hearts can come together and love can last forever.

But now that I have found you I believe,

that a miracle has come when God sent the perfect one.

Now gone are all my questions about why.

And I've never been so sure of anything in my life.

I promise that wherever you may go,

wherever life may lead you with all my heart I'll be there too.

And from this moment on I want you to know,

I'll let nothing come between us and I will love the ones you love.

Now gone are all my questions about why.

And I've never been so sure of anything in my life.

Well it seems like Spring has arrived and with it new and fresh things to do!  I said before that I love every season and I really do, but I am excited for each season as it comes and ready for it..

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Today I was hoping to get started planting our garden, but I have Strep Throat (blah!) and so I haven't been feeling very well the past two days.  I am starting to feel better tonight so I hope to get quite a bit done tomorrow.  Thanks to Roger and Jan, my Father and Mother in law, I have a nice space to start my garden.  They took care of getting someone here to plow it up and everything... wonderful!  I haven't had a garden since I helped with our family garden when I was a teenager but I am soooo excited to have it!!  The girls are really excited too, they have been impatiently waiting to get out there. :-)  I will keep you updated with pictures!!

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This is the first year I have done Spring cleaning in a long time.  I am pretty consistant with the FLYlady system, so I never usually have too.  Somehow there have been things left with my detail cleaning and I really just want to get some extra things done...  so I've resorted to Spring cleaning.  And although I don't really plan on doing this ever again ;-), it's a rewarding feeling to see my list whittling down!  Tonight when we came home from Lauren's ball practice, I was feeling a little better, so I cleaned some windows and sprayed down the front porch.  Nothing better than shiney windows.

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Lauren is playing softball this Spring and she is having a lot of fun.  She has been having a few practices a week and her games start the end of May.  She really likes to play- I think it's because she really likes to do those things with Daddy.  She drew a picture for him on his birthday of the two of them playing basketball together and she said that is her favorite thing to do together.. so sweet.

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Also, I have a new bathroom!! YAY!!  I really do love our house, I am so thankful for it and we got a really cute, good size house for a great deal.  Most things we have had to do it are just cosmetic, paint and carpet those kind of things, but there has been one thing that has really driven me nuts since we bought it (6 years ago) and that is the bathroom.  The house is really old so it was not built with a bathroom, so when they added one, they added in the typical old way, a tiny one right beside the kitchen and that's it.  We do have a half bath in our bedroom, but it doesn't really count because it's smaller than a portapot.  (It does come in handy with lots of girls in this house though)  So anyway, our bathroom is still in the same place and the same size but my father in law completely redid everything and it looks wonderful!!! I wish I had taken before and after pictures but as usual I thought of that after it was done. I feel like I can take a bath and relax, not look around and see all the things that need done to make it nice.  I don't mind people having to use the bathroom now when they come over.

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I need to get going to bed soo... hopefully I will add more soon!

I have been very, very busy. Shocking, I know.  So I haven't had the time to do all of the wonderful blogs that are in my head.  I just thought I would give a few updates with schooling...

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Last week Jeremy had some classes for work in Columbus so the girls and I went with him and stayed at the hotel.  We went to COSI on Wednesday with my brother and his two boys.  It was really very fun!  I will do another post on that with pictures.  One thing that I was able to see was that Lauren and Noah are really grasping the difference between Creation and Evolution.  I mean obviously the museum takes the evolution path, but the kids were easily able to recognize the things that are not true and I was encouraged.  I really saw that they are right now forming a Biblical World View, and that even at this young age they grasp the Truth in their hearts and in their minds.  We have spent so much time just talking about God's plan for us and why He made the earth and the rest of planets.  There was a part in COSI that was suggesting life on other planets.  I asked Lauren and Noah about it and their answer was God didn't make other planets for life, He made the earth special for us.  Simple.  Brings joy to my heart!

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I am really happy with everything we have accomplished in schooling this year.  Next week we are having spring break and I am going sit down and figure out what I want to finish the rest of the year with.  The Noah plan Bible curriculum is just awesome, that has really been one of our favorite parts.  We are almost finished with the Abeka First Grade math books, and I want to do a few more history and literature projects.  And maybe one big geography project. Also, Lauren has a few more science lap books to do.  This has been a smooth first year, Praise God!

Our blizzard began yesterday, so we actually started our blizzard activities then...  We watched the American Girl movie "Felicity".  Great history lessons about the revolution! (wink wink)  So in the movie Felicity was learning how to behave like a lady, and one of her lessons was in the proper way to have tea.  Last night Jeremy had to work late, so the girls and I had a tea party, hosted by Lauren.  My mom and dad gave Lauren this ceramic tea set for Christmas a few years ago and she just loves it. 

We made cookies before dinner, then she made the tea, set the table and prepared a glorious tea party.  We used the English tea manners that we learned from Felicity.  Lauren would ask, "Would you like tea, Mrs. N----.?"  I would answer, "Yes, Miss N----, I will have tea."  Then Lauren, "Milk or sugar, Mrs. N----?"  And I would answer in the proper way.  Chloe and Tatum even gave the correct response with a little help and they thought it was great.  Of course the little tea cups are so small that by the time Lauren had her first cuppa, Chloe and Tatum already had three!  Tatum would stand up and say, "Mo' tea! Mo' tea!"  And I would say, "Tatum, sit down and use your lady manners."  She would sit down then and ask in the sweetest voice, "I have mo' tea pweese Wahwen?" (Can you figure out the translation?)" 

Chloe played the perfect lady.  When she was finished with her tea, she turned her cup upside down on the saucer and said, "I will take no more tea Miss N----."

After tea was over, we recieved an interesting announcement from Tatum.  She stood up and said "I have a baby in my tummy!"

Hmm.  Not really what I expected to hear at our proper English Tea.

Yep that's right folks, we are having a blizzard here in Ohio!  I know that with "Springing Ahead" tonight, one would think that Spring weather would be beginning outside, but nope, still full blown Winter.  And here's the truth, I LIKE IT!!!  But don't hang me!  If you are not liking it, you are with the majority of the crowd.  But I just don't understand how snowey, blowey weather, a warm comfy house, and family around you is not fun!!  I love it!!!  I actually took a poll on the local news stations website about if you like the weather or are impatient for spring-  I was with a very small minority that said we are enjoying it.  Oh well, I like to go against the flow....

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Here are a few pictures that I took a little while ago. The snow is coming down so hard again now, that I don't think I could take pictures!

Our car is basically buried right now although I'm sure we could get out.  Poor Jeremy had to go into work this morning, but he did close his store early and is now home safe and sound.

You can see how high the snow is on the barns..  It is really drifting!  The girls went out for a little while this morning with Uncle Joey.  They had fun and it was the usual order of who came in first.  Chloe after about 20 minutes outside, then Lauren 15 minutes after her, and Tatum brought in the rear when Uncle Joey said they'd been out long enough.  I think it was about 45 minutes total.  But they came in, still dry and warm!

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So we are doing the things required by blizzards today:  Reading books, watching movies and just relaxing...  It's great!

I am sure that many have heard of the decision in California to declare Homeschooling illegal unless a parent is a certified teacher.  This decision began in the juvenile court and instead of the judge making a ruling on just this case, he made a broad ruling that makes homeschooling illegal in California.  This decision has also been published, which means it can be cited in other courts as legal precedent.  Therefore- right now HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) has a petition on their website to depublish this ruling.  You can read more about the case here.   And you can sign the petition here.  Inform everyone that you know so that they will have as many backers as possible.  Also I would encourage everyone to go www.parentalrights.org to sign the petition to support a constitutional amendment that protects the parent-child relationship.

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But even more important-  we need to pray!  Pray that God will protect His people and that this decision will be reversed.  Pray that God will give wisdom to the families in California dealing with this issue right now.  Pray that God will continue to have favor on all homeschooling families and that our God given (and constitutional) freedoms will not be taken away. 

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 I listened to the radio broadcast of Dr. James Dobson interviewing HSLDA chairman Michael Farris this morning.  While HSLDA is preparing for possible legal battles, Mr. Farris stated vehemently that the freedom that we have experienced and the testimonies of the cases won for homeschooling families have all been by the grace of God! Let's join together in asking God for his favor on us.

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Blessings to you all.

Amanda

Soooo.... Tatum did not sleep last night.  She ended up falling asleep about 11pm and then was back up at 1:30am and did not fall back asleep until about 6am.  Argghhh.  I tried everything.  She just could not relax.  She then slept until about 9:30am, then she never took her nap today.  She fussed in her bed for an hour and a half. 

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She usually sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:30am and then naps from 1pm to 3:30pm, needless to say she has not had enough sleep.  Her eyes are so heavy right now, I know that she is worn out, but I don't know how tonight is going to go.  She will hold the pacifier in her mouth, but it's just not the same as her fingers.  I am tired!  I am praying that she sleeps, and we can get through this soon!

Here I am, joining in for the second week in a row with Laura at orgjunkie and all the ladies for Menu Plan Monday.

Monday

Pineapple Barbecue Chicken Wings

Oven Fries

Salad

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Tuesday

Chicken Parmesan

Brown Rice

Green Beans

Apple Sauce

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Wednesday

$25000 Mexican Dish (I don't know why it's called that, it's actually really cheap to make. hmm.)

Salad

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Thursday

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

Salad

Twice Baked Potatoes

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Friday

Homemade Wholegrain Pizza (this will be on here every single Friday, because Jeremy has stated it doesn't feel like Friday unless we have pizza, so I just plan that)

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Join in with everyone!  Add your menu!

Lauren and Chloe were pacifier girls.  They loved their pacifiers and they had them all of the time, but when they got close to their 2nd birthday's, I started only letting them have them to go to sleep and shortly after they turned 2, all of the pacifiers went in the trash because they were big girls now.  There were a few rough nights and then it was all fine, no big deal.

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Tatum Grace is a different story.  She never really took to a pacifier, but when she was about 2 months old she started s*cking the middle two fingers on her left hand.... just like I did when I was a baby.  Too sweet.  (I didn't know something like that would be hereditary, but it's kind of funny that she uses the exact same hand and fingers that I did). 

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I know... adorable.

Well the habit is hard to break.  I think I was about 6 when I finally broke the habit completely.  Tatum has her fingers in her mouth all of the time.  It is completely grossing me out!  We will be at the store and she will be touching everything and then her fingers are in her mouth.  YUCK!!! When she does it I say "Oh no fingers.  They're dirty."  She will take them out, but she has already put the germs in her mouth, and it's such a habit for her she puts them in her mouth before she even realizes it.

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I have been at a loss as to how to break the habit but I think we may have a way out!  Somehow she has a cut on her middle finger and it's really yucky.  So today I had to clean it out and put medicine and a bandaid on it.  It was pretty painful for her and she's been walking around holding her finger in the air all day and she hasn't had them in her mouth at all, she can't.  Tonight I felt so bad when I was putting her to bed, because she just couldn't relax without her fingers and I had this idea.  I gave her a pacifier which worked for her a little bit, and I thought if I can keep a bandaid on her cut and get her out of the habit of sucking her fingers but let her have a pacifier at night, then we would be taking care of the germ issue, and I could gradually get rid of the binky at night time...

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Although it kind of makes me sad because she just looks so cute, and it means she's not a baby anymore... I'm gonna try it.  Any better ideas?

I love days like today.  It's warm in the house and cold, snowing and blowing outside.  For some reason I am always in the mood to clean, clean, clean when the weather is like this! 

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Today is a little different than normal.  Noah, Ethan and Isabella are here for a while today.  I really do miss having them here, the kids just play so well together.  It would probably be much harder to get school done if our days were like this everyday, but it's a nice change for the kids to have cousins here to play with.

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Jeremy is home sick today.  I think he has called off of work two or three times in the seven years that he's worked at Verizon.  But he called off today because he is very sick.  He pretty much has the same thing that I was down with; high fever, burning chest, headache, dizziness, it's the yucky bug that's going around.  Poor guy. He hates calling off work, he always worries about getting caught up, but what can you do you know?  Spreading the bug to his whole team would be bad news for him in the long run. I'm praying that he gets better quickly though and it doesn't drag on like it did with me!

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So that's what's going on here today.  I just put the littles down for a nap so I have to go finish up school work with the older ones.