3 days until Christmas

Now officially 37 weeks. Hoping the little man waits until after Christmas so I dont end up in the hospital for the holiday. That would be a bit sad for me and my family.

Feeling pretty good, still having contractions, but not too many and not too entense.

Today me and my little ones are going to make some Christmas treats and just try and relax. I can hardly believe it is only 3 days until Christmas. Time has just been flying past. The last couple of months have been full of ups and downs and have really made me appreciate my husband and little ones more and more.

I am really hoping for a peaceful 2008. Praying for wisdom for us as a family has been my favorite thing to do as of late. So many things might be changing in the coming year. New baby, new vehicle (We hope), new house (We pray), possible job change for Justin. Who can tell but God what a new year will bring.

Right now I am thanking God for friends and praying that all of mine can trust in him and have a wonderfully blessed Christmas.

Blessings, Beth

Day By Day

Saturday I was officially 36 weeks.

I was having some medium strength contractions and getting stressed. Those of you who know what my last delivery was like may understand. I went in and got checked and I am only 2 cm and 50% effaced so it should still be awhile before Haven decides to join us.

The nurse at the hospital was pretty funny though, she gave me a huge list of reasons to come in for. Pretty much anything. :) Caleb was so good while they checked me at the hospital that it gave me hope he will be good for the actual delivery. The other two kiddoes on the other hand were kind of crazy.

Christmas is only 9 days away. I can hardly believe it. I am hoping that Haven will either be born soon or wait until after Christmas. I would so rather he didnt have to share his Birthday with such a big holiday. It will already be close no matter what.

Anyway I just wanted to update and will post again soonish I hope.

Prepared?

Here I am with 19 days until Christmas and 37 days until baby Haven is due to arrive.
I am definately nesting at the moment. I have the most annoying urge to organize and clean the most unusual things. :)
I am feeling tired and somewhat stressed even though I know I shouldn't be. I worry that with how quickly Caleb came this one will be even faster. Scary thought for me. Every contraction makes me think I am about to deliver, I really need to relax. Hehehe

So far the Christmas season has been nice and my kids are asking so many questions about Jesus and the season. It is so much fun to see how joyful they are about everything. I hope to get all my presents (Its not that many) wrapped tonight after the kids are in bed. I was going to do it last night but I had m Hubby get the baby clothes out of the attic for me to sort through instead.

Somehow I got all the boys clothes sorted and bagged by size. I also was able to squeeze all three boys clothes into the one dresser. Good thing they aren't girls, girls have way more clothes.
I did discover though that I have hardly any 0-3 month clothes left. Some jammies, and onesies and 2 outfits. I guess I might actually have to go pick up a few things at kid cents or something.

So here I am today, trying to stay relaxed, organize everything I can, have a nice holiday season, and mostly remember that God is in charge of everything and I really need to trust in that.

Oh one last thing Edge wireless, that place my Dear Hubby works has now been officially sold to A.T. & T. and we have no idea what they will be doing with current employees or when the actual transfer will take place. So please keep us in your prayers. Obviously with almost 4 children it can be a bit stressful not knowing what is happening with our job situation.

Pointless post of the day

Kitchen, oh kitchen what a place you have been.
Always so dirty never so clean.
Why oh why do you torment me so?
When oh when will you stay clean and nice?
Why do my children have to eat 24 hours of the day?
Why do they spill everything every which way?
Is there really a point in keeping you clean?
When the task seems to be done and the floors, counters, sinks, oven all sparkle and shine.
That is the time for the mess to begin again.
An endless loop of cleaning and scrubbing,
Starting to wonder how people can be so very very dirty.
Me included of course as who wouldn't rather eat than clean? Hehehe

Yay for good news

So this week we have been able to get our car fixed, at least it is now in driving condition.
I was also able to sell my futon for enough to pay for the couch and dryer we picked up at the mission. Yay

We had our November MOPS meeting and I cant believe how many new faces we have this year, since I am so horrible at remembering names I will be trying to work extra hard on it this year. Besides new faces we have also already had 6 moms announce that they are expecting in just 2 meetings, it is going to be a big baby year me thinks. :)
Everyone seemed to enjoy the craft and hopefully they will be able to actualy find it useful in there homes.

Christmas quickly approaches and I am wanting to get my house clean and organized before we decorate so that only gives me a couple of weeks. I also need to make some Christmas gifts, buy a few gifts, get bags ready for the hospital for the kids and us, bake some Christmas goodies, and about a million trillion other things. I really am not too stressed about it at this moment, but hopefully that will last. I want this holiday to be peaceful and focussed on the right things. The birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, not presents, food, or anything else. Those things are all fun and fine but it can be hard to pull the focus away from them and keep things simple.

Only 65 days left until I am due to have baby Haven so he will be here before we even know whats happening I am sure. My oh my does time fly when the days are so full.

Our big find!

So we went to our local Rescue mission store the other day in search of a new dryer as ours has been dead for over 2 weeks. (Not fun at all) Well luckily we found one, but as we were about to leave I found the prettiest couch which I now realize I have not taken a pic of yet. :)

So we now have a real couch for the first time since we got married. And the futon pictured below I have put up for sale in the news review. I hope it sells for more then we paid for the couch.

That would be awesome!!!

Tackle it Tuesday

Okay so I know my Tuesday is far more than halfway over!I have decided to do a tackle today anyway because I am not achieving anything and hopefully posting this will inspire me to do so! So my tackle for whats left of today is to go and get my kitchen completely finished. My DH was kind enough to help me clean out the fridge as well as move the microwave last week when he was off for a few days. We really got alot done and I just need to finish it up. Dishes finished, sweeping, mopping, clean out under the kitchen sink! So here goes nothing.

The Diaper Covers

So here are some of the diaper covers I made for the new baby!

They turned out really cute and I am planning on making a bunch to have for sale at the spring fair this year.

Baby Haven

So I don't think I ever posted these!

Here he is the newest little man, Haven Emanuel!

My Timmy Boy wondered off with the actual images so these are the only ones I have, I took them real quick with our camera when we got home. Good thing I did.

Pregnancy and Life

So I spent the last 2 days, at least when i was home sewing new diaper covers for Caleb and the new little man. Those tiny covers are the cutest. Once I get them back from a friend (Thanks Shae) who is putting snaps on them I will have to post a picture.
Now I just have to make some medium sized ones but I ran out of the fold over elastic so I will have to reorder before I can sew anymore. :)

I am getting those pregnancy feelings of needing to achieve something. I need my house clean, organized. Things are starting to bother me, you know like the paint needs touched up it seems like everywhere, and I notice every imperfection that would really just take a few minutes (Or more likely hours) to fix if I just sat down and worked on it.

Anyway I have around 3 months left to wait and hopefully in that time I will get some real things accomplished. I love the feeling of motivation and always wish it would last forever. As I am normally more unmotivated.

Also I am going crazy thinking about all the things in between this time and the baby.
Thanksgiving, Christmas, New years, 3 Mops meetings, My girls B-day (The day before baby is due). This time of year is wonderful but also can be very stressful so I am trying to do my best to be prepared.

Vacation '07

So here they are, A few pics from our family vacation this summer. We had so much fun. We went to Portland, Oregon. Visited Oaks amusement park, The Oregon Zoo, Chuck-E-Cheese, OMSI, and hung out at the hotel. It is so nice to get time to spend as a family, I strongly encourage it. :)

Verse for Thought

We started a study on the book Shepherding a Child's Heart. Actually our pastor asked us to host it for our church.

Here are a few verses from this weeks study that really made me think.

Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 22:15
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

Matthew 15:8
"These people honor me with there lips, but their hearts are far from me.

The author points out that we are not to be simply changing behaviour in our children but changing there heart. These verses as well as many others that he gives illustrate how behaviour issues stem from the heart. Something I should already know, and yet I found myself realizing that I do often discipline simply to stop bad behaviour rather then to reach out and change there heart!

Whats up?

So life has gotten crazy in the last few weeks! Oh wait maybe my life is just always crazy, I'm not really sure.

Our car is broken down and we are waiting for a family friend to work on it for us as we are too broke to get it done at a shop. Our bus is also acting up but still driving, although we don't know if we should be driving it.

Last week our dryer also decided to die on us. So we are now on the lookout for a dryer as well.

Some good news is we finally got our printer to work after months of no printing capabilities. :)

Also MOPS started back up this last tuesday and it went really well. I was amazed by all the new faces and it is always fun to see all the new babies each year. We painted welcome signs for our front doors and I was happy that the majority of the moms seemed to enjoy the craft.

We are starting a study tonight for our church on Shepherding a Childs Heart, by Tedd Tripp. Hopefully it goes well, and I learn alot from it as well as everyone else. I am really excited so far as the book seems very good and I love that he gives so many bible verse references.

I have about a million pictures I have been wanting to post yet never seem to find the time. Maybe soon I will actually do that!

Oh and last but certainly not least we had our ultrasound and found out we are expecting another boy. Baby #4 will give us 1 girl and 3 boys.
His name will be Haven Emmanuel!

laundry soap recipe

Here is the laundry soap recipe I used. So far I am very happy with it and it smells nice because I scented it with lemon essential oils.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above

½ cup washing soda (I could only find this at Fred Meyers locally)

½ cup borax powder

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~



Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.


I made burritos for dinner last night and I went ahead and made up a bunch extra to freeze for later consumption. I am excited and beginning to be ready for a larger freezer. :)

New things and saving money!

So this week I finally made my own laundry soap. Cheap, easy and so far it works great. I am very happy. Oh I also whipped up some homemade all purpose cleaner.

I also made a huge batch of waffles to freeze up, something I have been wanting to do for a long time and finally got around to. Half blueberry, half banana. Organic and way cheaper then store bought. Quick too, because my kids can just pop one in the toaster.

My next challenge is to bake bread. That will be this week and I will post the results.

My First Tackle

Okay it's tuesday and I thought it was Wednesday I am a bit confused. To bad! I am going to do a tackle anyway, I have put this off for far to long.



So here it is my amazing tackle for the day!



Clean my kitchen



Yes, actually clean it, dishes, counters, floor, front of cupboards. All of that shiny stuff that should be done everyday but has just been building up as I barely keep on top of dishes.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675

This is a very funny and awesome auction from a very real mommy!

Check it out for a laugh.

A Time For Rest

So we have had a busy couple of weeks.
We went to Portland with the kids July 31st - August 3rd. We were able to visit Oaks amusement park and my daughter actually went on a few rides. A achievement for her. Also we visited the Oregon Zoo, Chuck E Cheese, and OMSI. They got to see an IMAX about the human body and although the largeness was a tiny bit scary for the 2 oldest they learned alot and keep talking all about how the body works. My little man just stared at it the entire time, very fascinated. I came hope exausted and a tad dehydrated.

One day later we headed to the coast with the whole family and played at the beach all day the kids had a great time and I was tired after since Jutsin couldn't make it and I had to drive me and the kids myself. Something I don't usually do. Thanks to my Mom and Jackie who took turns riding with me it wasn't bad at all.

I had my regular check up and everything is fine, my ultrasound is now scheduled for the 17th of next month. I am excited to find out what this baby is. (Boy or Girl)

Then we headed to Tom Fest after Justin got off work on the 9th. The kids stayed with grandma and Justin and I arrived at midnight.
Tom Fest is a Christian festival, concerts, and camping. The band Justin manages was playing Saturday and a bunch of our friends played Friday. We had a great time, heard some good music, and had some awesome fellowship with some friends we don't see enough. Our air mattress kept deflating and I have decided that I am too old to sleep on the hard ground. Yes, maybe I am a baby but I will be buying a new mattress before we camp again. :) We played yahtzee several times, one of my favorite games for some reason; but Justin won every time. Oh well.
The band did good and made some new connections, always a good thing.

Anyway we are finally home and I am happy to be back with my kids, whom I missed.

Now I am ready to just settle down and be at home or hang with friends for a bit. It would be nice to get my laundry caught up and finish a couple of sewing projects.

Oh I was also able to hold my friends beautiful baby girl, she is 4 weeks old and so sweet. I was just thinking of my new baby and am really looking forward to having another little one to love. it's amazing how quickly they grow those first few weeks are so amazing.

Anyway I will have some random pics of some of the above this week so keep your eyes peeled.

A place for LadyJ

I am going to post a slideshow of the MOPS tote bags I sewed and we decorated today. Also the trip T-shirts I painted for my kids.

The only 2 things I have accomplished off of my list thus far. :)

Things to do before vacation next week!

We are leaving Tuesday the 31st for vacation in Portland!

I need or want to get a few things done before we head out so here is the lovely list!

1. Finish spreading the dirt in the front yard
2. Sew tote bags for our mops steering team
3. Call Evangelines school about next years teacher
4. Pay bills (Ugg)
5. Decorate T-shirts w/ kids for the trip
6. Organize hall closet (I hope)
7. Organize game closet (Yes we have almost a whole closet for games)
8. Really clean that darn bathroom (It keeps elluding me)
9. Pack our bags
10. Buy anything we may need for the trip - such as new tennis shoes for Timmy who grew out of his, shorts for me that fit (Low waisted most likely), something to entertain on the drive, ect...
11. bake pies for the mops bake sale on Sunday
12. Ummm sleep better (If thats possible)

Okay thats about it I guess, other then keeping the house clean which is an issue all its own.
I am attempting to come up with some type of cleaning routine that will actualy work for me. I am unorganized, and uninspired to clean most days. Easily overwhelmed and if it can't be perfect why do it at all.
Any suggestions are welcome!

Life

Okay, Okay so it's wednesday. Halfway through my week already. I so need to get this house cleaned up before this weekend.
We are expecting baby number 4 for anyone who doesn't know and I have been a bit sickish off and on, as well as tired. Normal for pregnancy but hard to keep up when I feel this way.

We had the last mops meeting of the year yesterday so I have a little break from that but I do need to start thinking about next year so I can get on it early. Thinking up inexpensive crafts that everyone will find somewhat interesting or useful can be challenging but I love it.

My Little girl will be officially done with Kindergaten on the 14th. I can't believe she has grown up so fast. When she found out we were going to have another baby she got so excited because she thinks she can change poopy diapers this time. :) Too cute for her to be excited by that prospect.

I am planning Calebs 1st Birthday party coming up in July. Gonna keep it simple and have it at a park, then I wont have to stress about my house.

For anyone who may wanna pray for us we are now officially in need of a larger home. We already have 3 crammed in one room so four will be way over limit. But before we can sell this house we would like to fix it up a bit and pay off our visa debt. We will also be needing a different vehicle so prayer for these two things and finances in general are always appreciated.

I believe Timmy is helping himself to some watermelon so I should probably go and supervise as this could get messy.

Is this my Personality?

You Are An INFJ

The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity.Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is.You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience.You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them. You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher.

What's" Your Personality Type?

And thats all folks

My top ten for the week!

1. Do some sewing and crafting for farmers market next weekend
2. Clean up my back yard so it looks pretty
3. Take the kids to the park and play
4. Read my devotional and bible more (Should be first on my list)
5. Take some pics of my kids (I finally found my lost camera)
6. Finalize the planning for my friends baby shower
7. Finish cleaning out my kids room (organizing and garage sale sorting)
8. Really, really clean the bathroom (Needs a good scrubbing)
9. Take the kids to the library
10. Sew the diapers for caleb that have been cut out for months.


Oh and on top of this I really need to keep my house clean, help Evangeline with her homework, read to the kids everyday, and so on and on and on. :)

Everyday Life

So here I am today wanting to go and get myself a yummy Chai tea.
Yet sadly I don't have a running vehicle, maybe I shall walk and get one. That would be good anyway since it would be some nice exercise and get me and the kids out of the house.
I have to walk Evangeline to school anyway so I do believe I will walk to the coffee shop. :)

Anyway so far weather forecast for Saturday is sunny, so I am praying for that to be true. We will actually have a nice time at the market if that happens to be the case.

On any given day

You can probably find me doing most anything other than cleaning.
Yesterday for instance I sewed curtains for my bedroom and living room, made a bag for some of Justin's tools and walked Evangeline home from school. (Even though it takes longer)

What I forgot to do was finish the dishes and laundry! Oops

At least the windows are pretty. :)

In the Rain

Okay so the rain fell on us at Farmers Market this morning.

Not the nice light kind of rain, more of a depressing downpour.

Our Bags, Chairs, Canopy, Feet, and even Shae's kids got soaked.

At the moment I am feeling very down, I hope the girls who I feel as if I have roped into doing this with me don't now hate me!

We decided to pack up a little early (Like an hour) an then when we went to check out with the market manager were informed that even if we sell out (Not gonna happen anytime soon :) we are still supposed to stay the entire time. I guess it makes since in someways but when you are soaked to the bone and cranky it isn't so fun to here.

Anyway I try and be optimistic (maybe too optimistic) but even so I am praying for sunshine or at least dry skies next week.

Happy Birthday (Or Rain Day) Shae have a good one and try and forget that I made you go to the market.

Anyway I will have to post those pics next week as we didn't really get any this time around. :)

Oh and the picture above is what I would love the weather to be like!!!!!

Update

Okay, okay so I don't have any pictures of my clean house on Easter.
Yes I did get it done, no it is still not all clean.

In fact I forgot to take any pictures of Easter at all. Oops

We had a great time, the kids painted bird houses and had an egg hunt.

Yummy food, family, and friends.

Just to keep you all in the know, we are now doing our booth at the local farmers market on Saturdays.

That I promise to get pictures of soon and post them here.

Also Evangeline won tickets to an Irish concert at the College tonight so we will all be going, should be fun. I will let you know. :)

Easter is coming.

So Easter Sunday is quickly approaching. This is a holiday I host at my lovely home for my and my husbands family.

I have about one hundred things to clean still plus some things to buy and cook.
I shall be pulling a couple of late nights the next couple of days plus visiting the local coffee shop.

Iknow, I know it's so bad but that might just be what it takes.

Anyway I am going to post my top ten things to get done:

1. Finish the Dishes
2. Sweep/Mop Kitchen
3. Finish Laundry
4. Change Kids Bedding
5. Organize Sewing corner
6. Clean Bathroom
7. Dust
8. Clean Back Porch
9. Vacuum House
10. Keep house clean

Okay maybe that will motivate me to do it.
I shall post pics of the after but not the before. :)

A couple of small pictures from the Spring Craft Fair.

We did very well for our first venture and will be continuing in our venture.

We are hoping to have a booth at the local farmers market and will be doing the Christmas Fair this year.

I really enjoyed making all the crafts and am really excited at the possibilities this opens up for me!

Please pray for me to have wisdom and patience to do what the Lord wills for me in the situation.

Craft Fair

So I will be doing my first craft fair this weekend. Three days at the Spring Fair.

I will post some pictures of the table and merchandise after it's all said and done.

I really hope it goes well because I would love to be able to do this as a small side income.

Anyway I have Nursing Blankets, Burp Cloths, Test Tube Vases, Lavendar Dryer Sheets, and some more stuff. Two friends will be sharing the booth with me so I don't have to fill all of it.

So I guess I will just start praying and we will see how it all goes!

TImmy's Birthday cake!

So I baked a cake for my little man's birthday.
Curious George bowling for a Bowling party.

Back in January I baked a Tinkerbell cake for Evangeline,

so here is a picture of it as well.

I hope you enjoy!