Nutrition

If there is one thing I would change if I could go back and do it all over again, I would have eaten better! You see I have a mean sweet tooth, coupled with an awesome set of genes. Those to things put together, means I can sit down and eat an entire box of cookies without blinking an eye. So even though I don't gain weight, I do feel the effects of a horrible diet. It has shown itself in achy joints, tightness in my chest at times (scary). I just dont feel as good as someone my age should feel, 7 children or not.

I used to be invincible, up until I had my 5th child...then slowly I have felt worse and worse. SO, I decided enough is enough. If I am to continue having more little ones and be around to raise them, I need to change my ways. So for the next month I am going to safely clear my system and flood it with nutrients, while still nursing Ava. Here's what today's menu included:

Breakfast: all of this in the juicer.

Lunch: A spinach salad with red beans, sunflower seeds, cranberries and tomatoes. I love Spinach salads!!

My lunch buddy, who enjoys a good spinach salad as much as I do.

Dinner, well it will probably be smashed up garlic in some honey and Echinacea. About mid morning I started coming down with my monthly Mastitis infection ;-( Which makes me feel like I have the flu for 2-3 days then its gone. Ugghh...Its worth it though, its ALL worth it!

Keeping it all together

We have one room in our home that serves many purposes. Luckily it is a room of good size, but it still takes a bit of ingenuity to make it all flow together smoothly. This multi purpose room that we so lovingly call the Library (because I one day want it to have built in floor to ceiling bookshelves all the way around, and we will use it just as library) now serves as a Library, School Room, Sewing Room, Office for our home and our two businesses. So how do we keep it all together?

I have separated it into zones. We have our Library zone which also holds all the school books and manipulative's as well as craft supplies that are stored in the labeled stacking shelves beside the bookshelf. Don't underestimate those bookshelves either, they are holding around 1,000 books and probably more, with a shelf to spare.


Next is my sewing zone. This is where I do all the sewing for the business, so it also holds alot of business material as well. The storage totes hold my finished products so that they are protected from dust and dirty little fingers. Utilize your wall space, by hanging things up.

The next area is our school desk which houses the kids school bins. They each have a color and you can see how we use those here. This obviously is where we sit and do most of our school work. I do tend to send some to read in other rooms so that they can focus.

Then the office area is off to the left of the school table. It is where I spend way to much time trying organize my life and all that comes with it. Receipts, schedules, lists, bills, calendars, phone numbers, addresses, to do lists, and that is just for the house. Add to that two businesses, our construction business and ALL THAT COMES WITH THAT. Yes I am the secretary, the personal assistant, the bookkeeper, the accountant, the media personnel, employee relations....ugg I'm tired just typing it all. Then there is my business that is a bit less daunting, but still leaves its paper trail none the less. I am notorious for throwing things away, I really don't like stuff...it clutters my mind even when its in another room. So I don't keep much paper around, if its important I will scan it and store it on a disk. I also try and deal with any paper work "to-do's" before I go to bed, that way its done and off my desk. Lastly, the biggest thing I can think of that has helped with keeping all this stuff together is the lock that is on the door. When I am not in here and there aren't any big kids in here to keep an eye out for wandering hands....the door is pulled to and locked. The lock is a simple slide lock that is placed just high enough that only those aloud in the room can unlock it. If that is not an option for you, I would suggest locking cabinets, for ALL craft stuff, as well as games. These are the things in our house that the little kids just love to get into.

So that is how we keep things "together" around here. Some days are better than others, but for the most part it works.

Now the day that the lovely 40's wallpaper is gone will be a joyous day.

Gifts

Dont foget to support Family Run businesses this holiday season.

Pros:

• You are buying products that are made in the USA by Americans.
• You will be buying safe products that are made with safe materials.
• You will be supporting families!

Cons:

• NONE! ;-)

Once again

32 wonderful years here, I am truly blessed!

Girly Girls

If you would have asked me 3 years ago if I thought I would be putting bows in two of my childrens hair, I would have laughed outloud. These little ladies sure have brightened things up around here. The top three pics are from this morning after I got them dressed. Sisters forever!

I saw a picture of an outfit like this on another blog. I fell in love with it, but I had no pattern. So after a little creativity and pattern drawing, I finished it. Rob says she looks like the littlest daughter on Little house on the prarie; as she is running down the hill and trips.

Good, thats what I was going for! I think the dress needs to be a little longer and the bloomers a tad shorter, but sense its winter and COLD, the bloomers will come in handy! I think it turned out alright.

Cloth Diapers

I have cloth diapered off and on for about 8 years. The thing about cloth is you have to find something that works for you or you wont stick with it. I have used the store bought prefold diapers with pins and pull over plastic pants, that was my first time around. The problem with those is the Birdseye prefolds do not hold much liquid, so you are always changing or having leaks. Then I went "high faluten" and bought 16 Fuzzy Bunz about 2 years ago. I love the idea, but it has flaws. One is that you can not reuse the cover. Second I had such a challenge with getting the stink out of them as well as wicking....ohhh the wicking. I knew that every time I put my child down to bed at night I would be changing an entire bed the next day. So luckily they hold their value and I sold them after a few months for what I paid for them and went back to disposables. Then my hubby was laid off and I knew that we needed to save every where we could. This time I came across some Bummis Super Whisper Wraps a lady was getting rid of, and I LOVED THEM. There were a few flaws with this as well, but with a little creativity I fixed them. So here's my stash.

I have about 60 unbleached prefolds that I cut both of the 4 ply sides off of, outside of the seam so they wouldn't fall apart. One of the problems I had with the prefolds was the bulk, so this alleviated that problem. They did fray after the first couple of washings but I just trimmed the strings and that was all they needed. The next problem I had was that there was no barrier between that wet prefold and my baby. If you have ever felt a wet prefold after your child has had a nap they are wet and COLD. I hatted that being up against her tushy. SO...I went out and bought 1/4 yard of no fray fleece for $1.68 and cut them to fit over the prefold. This wickes away the wetness and your baby has a dry layer between them and the prefold. I use just regular wash rags for wiping. That's how I cloth diaper. I love it! You can see below how I put the dipper together. It makes a trim well fitting, non wicking, non stinking, comfy diaper.

PS: For the first time in 10 years I have only one in diapers. Eve potty trained about 1.5 years earlier than any of my boys. I'll enjoy it will it lasts!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Goings on

We have been busy this past week remodeling the upstairs bathroom. Hubby tore down a wall that led to a weird unused hallway and we were able to extend the bathroom to double its original size. Its only about halfway completed because we had to replace all the 100- year old plumbing and relay all new flooring. We basically gutted the whole thing even back to the studs and are starting from scratch. It should hopefully be done in a few weeks, I will post before and after pictures.

Rob is taking the boys to work with him this week. It is really odd to not have the older ones here. But I know that the experience out in the real world, watching their daddy work and relate to clients is so important. They do their school work in the evenings after dinner.

If you are a Raising Godly Tomatoes fan you will be so excited to know that they are putting all their child raising wisdom into a book. I dont know how many times I have said "I wish they would write a book!" I cant wait! It will be ready in a few weeks, so keep a look out, I have a feeling that they will sell out pretty fast ;-)

Well, its a few days until Thanksgiving, and though I have everything in the world to be thankful for I cant help but feel sad. I wish we had family to celebrate with. It can be so lonely sometimes. Having a mom/sisters/aunts/grandmothers/anyone to talk with as we cook thanksgiving dinner together. The men sitting around the living room talking about work/family/how good God is. Gathering around the table with hands clasped together giving thanks to our Wonderful Lord for bringing us together once again to love and enjoy one another.

If you have this ladies you are truly blessed! Give Thanks! I look forward to the day when it will be so for us. The days when my grown children bring their families over and we cook, laugh and love together!

OK, I've made myself sad now...time to go clean something ;-(

Store Changes

After much thought and prayer I have come to the realization that I needed to scale down Seams of Love. I started the "business" in hopes of providing modest clothing for young ladies, and was blessed tremendously by my faithful customers. As the last two years have past on , I added my Extend-A-Bibs and Little Blessings to the store. Excited that I have a product that is unique and good quality I am moving forward in promoting these two products.

So, with reluctance I have decided to stop making clothing. It is very time consuming and I was only making literally a few dollars off of each garment. With my bustling family life I need to prioritize and feel this is the best way to do that.

Seams of Love has a new storefront, that is still under construction while the products are still being added, but should be complete by next week. Please go over and take a look.

The purpose of this store is to sell only mom invented, designed or produced products. So if you have a product, ei. bows, toys, clothing, furniture, baby accessories, etc. and you would like to have me consider adding your product to my store, (on a dropship basis,) then please contact me.

If you are interested in becoming an affiliate for Seams of Love and our Extend-A-Bibs and Little Blessings, please fill out the form on the Affiliate link and I will get back with you. It is a great way to make some extra money. With no monetary investment.

I also offer dropshipping and wholesale so if you are interested in these please contact me.

You can see at the top of the page that the store banner has changed, this was necessary sense the old one had clothing boutique on it. I am working on making a square one as well, so if you need to update your button or would like to put one on your own blog or website just let me know. I am still giving 10% off to all who host a store button.

Delicious

Ava Rose

9.5 months

Chickens gone astray

"Whats that Lassie, You said Timmy fell down a well? Good boy Lassie!"

Last week was not a good week for keeping track of chickens. On Tuesday of last week we were putting the chickens in their coop for the night when we couldn't find one. Now this happens sometimes and they will come moseying out by morning from somewhere under the house. Well she never came back the next day and we decided she made it past the fence somewhere and was gone.

Then last night we were putting the chickens in the coop and realized we were missing another one. What is going on? Are the neighbors reaching over the fence for some chicken and dumplings? I figured they were finding someway out from under the house and sent the boys under there to cover any gaps, so that they couldn't get back under. Chickens are like rats and can get themselves through holes the size of their heads, it seems.

Well, while they were under there they heard some clucking, and after a little investigative work found that the chickens had fallen down the well. Now remember one was only gone over night, but the first one had been missing sense early last week, 5 days to be exact. She was still alive!
After much water she looks like she might just make it. So we have named another chicken.
Can you guess? Yep her name is Lassie.

Conversations with a 4 yr old

Sitting on the front porch yesterday soaking up the sun,

Elijah brought me a pecan from the yard.

Our conversation ensued:

Mom: Who made that Pecan?
Elijah: God
Mom: What does God look like? (just making conversation)
Elijah: He wares a dress.....a God dress.
Mom: (snickering) where does he live?
Elijah: Up in the over there....in the sky.
Mom: Maybe we should go visit with him.
Elijah: We will need a "blast off" to get there.

hehehe looks like I have a little work to do ;-)

Winner

The winner of my Blogiversary contest is Liz at In the Harvest

Congratulations! You have won a *mish mash* of stuff!

Email me your address at audreys5boys@sbcglobal.net and I will get it out in the mail to you.

Have a blessed day ladies!

Audrey~

Which One?

Leave a comment in the post below this one to enter my 3rd Blogiversary contest.

We are having some correspondence material made up for the construction business and need to pick a family portrait to go on the Thank You cards.

SO......which one do you like better?

Three Year Blogiversary

November of 2003 was when this blogging adventure started. A few things I have picked up along the way? That you can feel very close to someone you have never even met. That people can be so sweet and vice versa ;-)

I have learned many things about parenting and gleaned much wisdom from those blogs I visit. I have received much prayer and encouragement from my *BlogAngels*........you know who you are and I Thank You!

I haven't ever "celebrated" a blog anniversary here at Heaven on Earth SO, I thought I would do it with a contest, and a request.

The request? If you are a lurker, please introduce yourself.

The Contest! Leave me a comment and on Monday I will draw a name. So, whats the prize?

Its a Surprise!

Have a Blessed Sabbath and weekend!

My Heart

I cant bring myself to say it out loud. But I think I can type the words....."you are 12 today"

As I sit here and think of how to describe you, my eyes fill with tears. Where do I start. You represent so many things to me.

Through you The Father has shown me protection, mercy, love, promise, hope........you are so very special. Our first born son, you gave me the title mom, you made us parents.

You may not know it but you are my side kick, my helper, one of my best friends. Days when you are out of the house with your dad I am a bit lost. You are an inspiration to me. I have seen in very few people the conviction that I see in you to always do what is right. The decisions I watch you make on a daily basis show me that you will be such a precious man and a willing soul for our Father to shape and mold and use.

As much as it makes my heart physically ache to watch you grow from year to year. I am so excited to see your life unfold. Keep pressing on my sweet son, for your life is blessed.

I Love You
Mom