• Jul. 4, 2009
4th of July

Happy 4th July everyone.  It is such a blessing to live in this country.  What a wonderful blessing to live in freedom.  Happy 233rd birthday America!

We celebrated this Independance Day simply.  We slept in due to the wonderful darkness created by the rain.  We had a fantastic BBQ lunch with Jay's mom and half-sister.  Later in the afternoon since the sun had come out my daughter convinced me to get in the pool with her.  The experience could only be called CHILLING!  The water was 68 degrees and while she was swimming and doing all kinds of flips in the water, I only stood there trying not to become a popsicle.  When I could stand no more we came in for leftovers for dinner and got ready to go out to see fireworks. 

Someone seemed to have lost their mind this year and all of our local firework displays happened last night!  Whoever heard of shooting of 4th of July fireworks on the 3rd of July!!!  Luckily we found this out before we drove out to see them.  So we decided to end the 4th of July sitting on the couch with homemade brownies and watching the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.

Hope your 4th of July has been great.  Don't forget to thank God for the blessing of living in this great country.

Shannon

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• Jul. 2, 2009
Unbridled Joy

I am currently watching my daughter and her best friend play Horseopoly.  They are giggling and laughing at the silliest things, and naming all their horses.  It is fun to watch!  They are showing full expressions of joy and it is contagious as I sit here smiling and watching them.

It has been another fun but busy week.  This week started with surgery to remove a cyst on my shoulder.  That went well and I am healing nicely. 

The night of my surgery Sarah and I went to the Muny to see "Annie".  It was fantastic.  I felt great and thanks to my wonderful husbands 'taxi service' I did not have to drive.  The show was great and the weather was perfect.

We have been taking it pretty easy this week since then.  Yesterday we visited my parents and today we went to my daughter's friend's band concert.  It was a lot of fun and we decided to kidnap the kids after the concert and bring them back to our house.  Some of them were even brave enough to get into our new pool.  (The old one got several holes in it and we had to start new.  It is still filling up and the water is REALLY COLD!  But you just can't keep kids out of water.  They had fun.

Shannon

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• Jun. 27, 2009

"You may have been told, 'I just do not think God would want me to be unhappy.'  Really?  Let me see if I get this straight.  The spotless, sinless Lamb of God, He crushed and killed, for your sin, not his, but you He wouldn't want unhappy.  Who do you think you are?  Unhappy might be right where God wants you to be to bring maximum glory to Himself." 

Voddie Baucham

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• Jun. 27, 2009
Something to ponder

"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher."

Luke 6:40

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• Jun. 26, 2009
What a week!

What a week!  This particular week is always a doozy but it seemed to be even more so this year. 

This week is VBS.  Our church does VBS at night which I like because I still have the full day to get things done.  However VBS and the homeschool conference always fall in the same week.  Always, without fail.  Therefore we miss two nights of VBS.  VBS has gone well this week and I have enjoyed working with the 1st graders again.  Timmy really likes his class, they made pancakes last night!  Sarah enjoyed her class as well although she only made 2 of the 5 nights with the homeschool conference and tonight she is going to a Cardinal game!  Lot's of fun for her, she is also going to the Magic House today!  One more night of VBS tonight and things will settle down a bit.

The homeschool conference was great as always.  The only downside to this year was that I got a booth to sell my book at therfore I did not get to sit in on any of the workshops in person.  I bought lots of CD's as a result!  The speakers were all great although Voddie Baucham was my favorite by far.

This Sunday night starts our summer of Sunday evening House church which we are co-hosting again this year.  This is always a great time (and a great incentive to keep the house clean!)

I will be somewhat glad when next week starts, although it begins with surgery to remove a small benign cyst off my shoulder Monday morning and Sarah and I going to the Muny to see Annie Monday night!  Yeah, you could pray about that if you'd like!  Nothing boring at our house!

Shannon

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• Jun. 15, 2009
Free Home Ec Course!

I just saw this on Money Saving Mom and wanted to share it with you.  Click on the following link to receive your very own free Home Ec Course.  This is a great course from Future Christian Homemakers.  You can view the course on-line or save it to your computer in a PDF format.  I am so excited about this resource.  Thanks Heather, for telling me about it.

Shannon

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• Jun. 13, 2009
Swagbucks

I have talked to you about Swagbucks before but I wanted to let you know that I just got my first reward for being a part of it! I chose a $10 Starbucks gift card as my first prize, but you can choose anything from baseball cards to i-phones! (The amount of swagbucks you have to earn are obviously different based on the prize you choose!)

Seriously, if you haven't signed up yet you really should. All you have to do is search through the swagbucks search engine to earn swagbucks. It's that simple! They also have other ways to earn swagbucks like codes they post on places like Facebook and Twitter, but I earned most of mine just by searching.

You can visit Swagbucks by clicking on the "Search and Win" referral box in my sidebar! Enjoy your searching!

Shannon

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• Jun. 10, 2009
Slowing down

Life is finally starting to slow down around here!  We are doctor/dentist visit free till the end of the month (Lord willing) and we are fully enjoying it.  After 3 weeks straight of at least 2 doctor/dentist visits a week it is a nice change.

One of the unexpected doctor visits we had was for my shoulder.  I have a small cyst that has been there for quite some time but it got infected all of the sudden.  The infection is now gone but I have to have the cyst removed.  Most of these things can be done in the doctor or surgeon's office, but just because I am so special  I have to have it done in the hospitial.  It figures, last year after we took Timmy to the ER I had to go to the hospital for gall bladder surgery.  This year Timmy went to the ER for a myster leg issue and here I am, scheduled for surgery again!  At least this surgery is not so invasive and it is scheduled for June 29th.

On a more fun note we got our pool up and running.  We moved it from it's previous location so it will get more sun and less tree debris.  We are excited about the prospect of warmer water, if it would just stop raining!

Looking forward to the slower pace of summer....

Shannon

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• May. 28, 2009
Stay At Home Mom? -- Hah!!!!!

Who is it that thought up the title "Stay At Home Mom" for the women who don't work outside the home?  I have not been home for two days in a row for the past 3 weeks!  Gratefully this is not normal for our lives, but it seems to be a recent trend.  In the past week we have been to the oral surgeon twice and the orthodontist once.  Then I had to throw in a doctor's visit for myself unexpectedly.  We've been to graduation parties, funerals, church and other general errand running. 

Tomorrow I will be home (at least as far as I know) but then off again on Saturday and Sunday.  I was looking forward to maybe being home all next week but we have one more follow-up to the oral surgeon next Tuesday.  Who knows the next time I will have two days at home in a row.  So for now, if someone asked me, "Do you work outside the home or stay at home?"  I would have to laugh and say neither!

Shannon 

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• May. 24, 2009
The 21 Rules of This House

We have this list posted on the refrigerator in our kitchen.  Many people ask me if they can have a copy when they are at our house so I thought I would post it here.

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• May. 20, 2009
The musical

What fun!  The Acorns to Oaks musical was fantastic!  The kids did such a great job.  They worked so hard and it all paid off.  I must admit my first thought when the lights came up was, "Who are these kids and what happened to the kids I have been working with for the past several months?"  I had never seen them stand so still before!  But they were fantastic!  Here are a couple pictures and you can view the rest at THIS LINK.

She's a rumor weed!

Singing "Rain" by Sara Groves

Singing "In The Garden"

Timothy's choir also performed and he did fantastic.  He was not nervous like he had been at Christmas.  He sang every song and even did all the hand motions.  And he was one of the few that was not dancing around the stage and pulling on the microphones!  Here are some pics.

Shannon

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• May. 12, 2009
Onion Soup Mix Recipe

Thanks to Stacy at PROVERBSMAMA for allowing me to share this recipe here.  Be sure to check out her post on setting boundaries.

Onion Soup Mix

Makes 10 batches

• 1 c. dried minced onions
• 2 t. onion powder
• 1 t. garlic powder
• 1/4 c. instant beef bouillon granules
• 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
• 1 t. celery salt
• 1/2 t. white pepper
• 1 t. sugar
• 1/8 t. black pepper
• 1/8 t. salt

Makes 30 batches:

• 3 c. dried minced onions
• 2 T. onion powder
• 1 T. garlic powder
• 3/4 c. instant beef bouillon granules
• 3/4 c. parmesan cheese
• 1 T. celery salt
• 1-1/2 T. white pepper
• 1 T. sugar
• 1/4 t. black pepper
• 1/4 t. salt

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Store in an airtight container in a cool place.  I store mine in the freezer, where it can be kept for up to six months.

When you have a recipe that calls for dry onion soup, use 2 T. of this mix.

To use as a soup:  Combine 2 T. with 1-1/2 c. boiling water per serving.

To use as an appetizer:  Combine 1/4 c. of the mix with 2 c. sour cream.  Mix well and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Shannon

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• May. 11, 2009
A Busy Week!

It is going to be one of those weeks!  It seems that life likes to happen all at one time.  Sunday night is our children's musical.  (This statement is follwed by feelings of joy and terror!)  It is also Awana awards night.  Since I am the secretary that means making sure everyone has the awards they need.  Mix that with the need to put together several large props for our children's musical, two major rehearsals, tonight is the only night we will be home all week and there are 4 birthday celebrations to be had this week!  Yeah, I'm feeling slightly insane at the moment!

Shannon

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• May. 2, 2009
The Kids

I am happy to report that everyone is doing well at our house again!  After 3 days of on again, off again, mystery leg pain, Timothy is now fine.  He must have pulled a muscle or something that bothered him for a few days.  Of course, we had just finished paying for last years trip to the ER...........

Sarah successfully finished school 3 weeks early!  She got really motivated and doubled up on everything she had left.  Not only that but she took her achievement test and we already got the results back.  She scored in the 81st percentile, which means she scored as high or higher than 81% of 6th graders.  She also made all A's and B's in school this year.  We are very proud of her!

The spring musical is coming up two Sunday's from now.  Timmy's choir is singing two songs.  I love to listen to his rendition of one of them.  I will put the actual words first, his translation in parenthesis.  I don't know all of the real words so I will do my best:

A gentle breeze (a dental breeze)
And [something about] trees (and make me trees)
And busy busy bumble bees (and busy busy bum knees)
But better than all of these (but 'etter than all of these)
Simple as ABC's (He Gets The Rest Right)
From my head down to my knees, I thank God for all of these.

Sarah is very excited about her part in the musical "Acorns to Oaks."  She has a pretty major part and several solos.  She also gets to be a rumor weed (yes, like Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed).  We even get to sing the Rumor Weed song!  It is going to be so much fun!

Shannon 

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• Apr. 28, 2009
Timothy Update

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• Apr. 27, 2009
A Little Boy's Sacrifice

My son Timmy just exhibitted the sweetest spirit of sacrifice.  Before I tell you how I must explain his day to you.

Timmy woke up fine today.  He was happy and normal.  He wanted to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  (We currently watch that movie 2-3 times a day!)  He wanted to watch one of the special features which teaches you how to do an Oompah Loompah Dance and he danced all around the living room.  It was histerical! 

About an hour later we were getting ready to leave the house and I asked him to come to me to get dressed.  He said he didn't want to get out of his chair.  I thought he was just being stubborn because he didn't want to stop watching his movie so I turned the movie off and he came to me under protest.  He fought standing up so I could get his shorts on him then immediately sat down once he was dressed.  When we started to go to the car he scooted on his bottom across one room and crawled across another.  He was laughing so we thought he was being silly.  However as the day progressed it became clear that he did not want to stand or walk.  When I finally made him he would only go a few steps and he would not put his feet flat on the floor.  When I asked him what hurt he pointed to the back of his knees.  I called the pediatrician and they asked me to bring him in.  However they were completely perplexed and told me to give him ibuprophen every six hours and update them in the morning. 

He still won't walk.  He can, it just hurts.  Unless we ask him to stand he is fine.  He is playing, crawling and rolling around.  He has even wrestled with daddy.  It doesn't hurt him to move his legs, just to straighten them out all the way.  It is very bizarre.

Now, back to his act of self sacrifice.  Timmy was just sitting across the table from me where I have been surfing the net.  While I have been 'surfing' my arms have been resting on the edge of the table.  Apparently while I had a hand up in the air for some reason, the red stripe, left by the table edge, caught Timmy's eye.  He said, "What happened to your arm mommy?"  I tried to explain that it was fine but he said, "I'm going to kiss it."  He got out of his chair, crawled around the table, took my hand gently in his and kissed my arm!  What a tender hearted little boy!

Shannon

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• Apr. 24, 2009
So quiet!

My house is so quiet right now!  Sarah finished the last of her school work yesterday.  She got so motivated that she finished everything three weeks early!  Since she finished we decided to make today testing day.  So, little brother is at Grandmas house and I am administering her acheivement test.  There is not a sound in the house besides the clock ticking.  It is a very, very rare treat!  I so rarely have this much quiet time to think that I don't know what to do with myself.

Shannon

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• Apr. 22, 2009
Dentist Details

Well, we thought we had a little break in the dentist appointments but I called yesterday to confirm some things with the dentist and they said, "could you come in tomorrow?"  Well, we could, so we go in today to get the rest of the fillings that Sarah needed.  That means that all is done that needs to be done before she can go to the Oral surgeon and orthodontist.  Unfortunately since she has a pretty big part in the kid's musical we need to put off the rest of her stuff till after that.  So, she will go to the oral surgeon on May 19th and get her braces on May 29th.  Today we are just praying that she is no longer numb at choir practice time!

Shannon

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• Apr. 17, 2009
I'm still here!

It seems like a very long time since I have posted anything here, yet the time has been flying by.  We have been in a whirlwind of dentist/oral surgeon/orthodontist appointments for Sarah and the $$$$$$$$$$$$ Cha-Ching!!!!! sound is starting to get daunting!  All I can say is she had better have perfect (if not gold plated) teeth when this is all said and done!   She should have braces on her teeth in June.  In the mean-time she has a couple fillings to get and a couple teeth to be pulled by the oral surgeon.  Fun times!

We are already nearing the end of our official school year.  Sarah got really motivated and decided to cram.  She has probably shaved a couple weeks off her schedule by doing so!  On top of that she is doing well, she is really getting a handle on the math concepts that have tripped her up in the past.  She has always been good at math (though she didn't believe she was) but getting certain things to stick was a different story.  It is neat to see how the light has dawned for her is this area.

Timothy is currently marching around me singing "Onward Christian Soldiers".  It is so cute.  He love to say the pledge of Allegiance and sing God, Bless America and Onward Christian Soldiers.  I hope to have a video posted soon.  He turns all goofy when he knows the camera is on!  He is quite the ham.  The problem is that he wants to watch himself on the camera.  He doesn't quite get the fact that he actually has to perform something for me to record before he can watch it!

We just finished our Easter concert at church and it was a wonderful, worshipful experience.  Now we are working full steam ahead toward the children's musical!  It is only one month away!  Those words excite and terrify me all at the same time!  This weekend however we are looking forward to a marriage conference that our church is hosting.

Deal-seeking is still a passion of mine and I have been enjoying the challenge of keeping our weekly budget to $50 or less.  You can read here, all about my money saving mission. 

Now I must do what I am not passionate about...clean the house. 

Shannon

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• Mar. 31, 2009
Home again

The conference is over and it was a lot of fun.  I got to see many people that I had not seen in a while and my booth was right next to a spiritually like-minded lady so we had good conversations during the lulls when people were attending workshops.

I was able to talk to a lot of people about my book, I even sold several so that was good.  I look forward to my next conference in June.  

Sarah helped me out on Thursday and Friday and I missed her on Saturday, especially since I was missing her compete at Awana Games!  She did great though and had a great time.  

Now my goal is to find my house again under the pile of rubble that accumulated while I was out of the house almost everyday last week!  What fun!

Shannon 

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