A walk in the park

one of Ava's favs...."the bouncy things"

noth'n wrong with being a tree hugger

I should be cleaning...

I wish I had a fancy, shmancy camera...because pictures make me so happy. Here are a few cute ones from today...oh yeah, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Adam (even though I didn't get any pictures of you!) and my sis, Kate...and Dr. Seuss.

Asa loves his "dog shoes"

Asa's digging spot he is very proud of and shows me his progress everyday!

allergy eyes

strangely his favorite digging tool

Asa's "Cheese" face

best buds

mommy: "Ava just have a relaxed face" Ava: "Ok, mommy"...

one of the many crafts for daddy's birthday

Organize Your Stuff: JOYS on Homestead Revival

Yep, another giveaway before I even post about my kids..love this one though. It's for a filing system by Organize Your Stuff...it takes a creative right-brain approach to organizing which I love! Ok, ok, sometimes I feel dumb when I'd like to use colors or pictures instead of words, but it just makes so much sense to me...the JOYS system used color in such a cool way. Anyways HERE is the giveaway!

Also LOVE this idea using paint cans which I found on the Organize Your Stuff site...

Plan to Eat giveaway...

yes, that's right...I'm on a giveaway streak...And you get an extra entry for blogging about it! I will eventually blog about my family that I so love...but for now I'm trying to get free stuff : ) Keeper of the Home is having another giveaway, this time for Plan to Eat, which is a great online recipe organizer and scheduler...I really like it. Here is the LINK.

Berkey Light Water Filter Giveaway @ Keeper of the Home

I have been dreaming about filtered water from a Berkey water filtation system for some time, its true. One of the blogs I follow, Keep of the Home is having giveaway week and giving away a Berkey Light...which is definitely big enough for our fam! and unlike Brita and such, the filters not only last super long, they filter out SO much more! Here's the link Keeper of the Home.

It’s the Nutrimill GIVEAWAY

I love Kitchen Stewardship where I found so many super healthy and fugal recipes...she is having a nutrimill giveaway! Check it out!

Christmas Celebrations

This year we sought to find ways to celebrate Christmas that would help us and our kids focus on Christ's birth, sacrifice, hope and love for the world. So I thought I'd briefly...I mean briefly share a few ideas we have discovered.
1. We will create a book list soon! We have found some amazing books I didn't know existed, but one that I love and it way too hard to get unless you can get it from your library is The 12 days of Christmas: the story behind the song. Did you know the 12 days...doesn't start until December 26th and extends to Jan 6th which was a holiday to celebrate when the 3 Kings brought gifts to Jesus. When Christians felt oppression in by the Church of England because of their religious regulations, parents would use the 12 days of Christmas song to teach their children about Jesus. Every day have a very profound meaning! "The 1st day of Christmas my True Love gave to me was a partridge and a pear tree"...My True Love is God because no one loves us more...and the partridge bird will protect her baby birds even if it means her life...Jesus and the pear tree represents the cross Christ came to bare. Seriously now, this song is amazing. My mom told me it was...but I'm a slow learner. Anyways...there is still time to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas...you can even use one branch from your Christmas tree, put it in a pot, and place little paper numbers on it each day when you read the story. The book it better, but here is a link to the story. This same author's actual book has some helpful questions so children can understand even better and great illustrations compared to this link, but still wonderful and easy to print out...12 days of Christmas.   I'm going to print it out in case we can't rent it from the library because its out of print and going for $150 resell on amazon!!! Yeah, crazy...yet the library has it...I wonder how much they'd sell it to me!?

2. Jesse Tree- I only found out about the Jesse tree a year ago...then my amazing sis, Kate Marshall, made me this insanely wonderful one. A Jesse tree is a unique advent calendar of sorts. Each ornament describes something about the genealogical of Jesus through the line of Jesse, while learning about the great story of God's love and all the messed up people he uses, really. It's pretty amazing. There are lots of ways to do the Jesse tree and you can sit down and read about all the ornaments at once or you can read one each day, you can find a place to print out little ornaments to color, or make your own, or buy some. Anyways, my sis' present to us it pretty amazing. Thanks, Kate!

3. Our church has also been doing this thing called Advent Conspiracy... Christmas can (still) change the world . I have a feeling our church will do something like it every year, as will we. They have been helping our church community focus on how we can actually share Christ's love with hungry orphans (or other's in need). Our church sought out to feed 1500 orphans in a year in an African region we support. It only costs $40 to feed an orphan their for a whole year!!!! CRAZY. It has been very convicting fo our entire church for sure. we can change a LIFE for $40. Ava even raised her own money, not $40 but a good portion of her allowance and went to donate it last week. Our church gives you a little gift box with a ribbon and tissue paper inside with a magnet you can put on your fridge to remind you that an orphan in Chikudzulire, Malawi, Africa is being fed today. The gift you put under your Christmas tree to open on Christmas to remember the gift you gave. It make me cry. It also puts everything back into perspective.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Rain is on Ava's head

Ava titled this post herself.  What happens when it rains in Arizona...you finally get to play outside. Ava frequently says in her cute little voice that rain is her favorite weather.  A girl after my own heart. We took some pictures while playing outside under the overcast. I didn't have the card to my nicer camera or the pictures would be better quality, but still can't help but love em. I seemed to have posted all the pictures....

practicing her smile

I didn't take many pictures of Asa as he was moving too much or too fascinated by the 2 teenagers tossing a football in the park

Asa repeated, "ball, ball" as he watched the older boys play football

a few songs

a few songs have meant a lot to me, so I'd thought I'd share them.

You are with Me Still
http://www.worshipcentral.org/song/you-are-with-me-still

Your Love Never Fails
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoezWBPGRAc
 
How He Loves- one of the most impactful and favorite songs, David Crowder sings this song by this guys, but I really like his original version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0luHiWwi08&feature=related

The Story behind the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NXWE6AC8ao&feature=related

poor little guy

Asa had a little trip to the hospital a few weeks ago. It turned out to be nothing at all, but we had a precautionary stay at the hospital from Monday to Thursday. Poor little guy didn't sleep so well with all the beeping and checking and IV hooked to him and all, but the nurses and staff were so nice. Fortunately he liked his crib and he even got a cute quilt and some handmade balls that he loves. Childlife provided toys for his room and a wagon to take rides in around the unit and to the activity room. Ava was a great big sister, helping Asa feel at home when she visited. She also loved the activity room...but she adored the "nourishment" room where they had supplied food and snacks, including those pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...she has told me she wants us to go to the hospital again whenever we are sick.

Seventh Generation Giveaway

I ususally only post all the kids cute stuff on my blog to that not only I can remember it, but its so much more fun when you can share it with your friends and family. Besides...I'd forget to tell you! and I'd for get myself! Sorry kids. See...I love you...I blog about it...sometimes.
  Anyways, I usually don't post giveaways, but today I read AnotherTeenMom 's blog review for envibum. She did a fabulous job, mentioning points that were very practical...plus stated that she would use an envibum for a pillow she loved it so much. Her blog was complete with a video and pics.
  Anyways, again, I was looking around her blog and saw a giveaway for a seventh generation kit. Part of me though, oh, I shouldn't enter, I should let someone else win...uh, then I remembered that I haven't bought any cleaner since, uh, (pause) (crickets chirping). yeah, that's about right. I've been using vinegar, vodka (yep, that's right), essential oils, and a teeny tiny bit of rubbing alcohol. While avoiding buying consumable products (mostly meaning money, yes, environment too though) and avoiding chemicals, which really do bother me and aren't at all safe for the kids, I have missed the pleasure of products that really, really work well. I know seventh generation does indeed work well. I am envious. sigh. especially seeing how I was just cleaning and didn't make a dent...and yes, my counters and mirrors have streaks. so...back to cleaning...seriously.   you can check out the giveaway if you want!