Our Nativity

The set has been gifts from my mom and grandma over the last few years. I wasn't able to take them to Northern Ireland when we moved and then when we moved to Missouri it was January and I wasn't thinking about taking our Christmas things. So this is the first Christmas we've been able to set it up in our own home. I love it. 

The boys and I unpacked them and set it up on Thanksgiving night. 

I remember setting up the nativity set with my mom growing up and it's fun to be able to do it with my own kids now. I think setting up a nativity is a beautiful way to keep the reason for the season in focus.

Some time in the next week or so we'll go to Santa's Christmas Tree Forest and get our tree! We're waiting for a nice cold day to go. This past weekend the temps were up to 90 degrees! For some reason it doesn't seem very Christmas like when you're sweating while setting up your tree. =)

In other news. We had our first sale in our Etsy shop last night!

I hope you're having a nice "chilly" Tuesday!

Mommy and Me Monday

That's Ethan on the right and me on the left, both at the age of two.

Yup, he's my son! =)

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?
Enter the Lakeshore Learning giveaway here. Low entries!

Giving Thanks

My parents and grandpartents came to our house for Thanksgiving yesterday.

Elijah was my big helper in the kitchen preparing for our Thanksgiving dinner.

We did as much as we could the day before so we didn't have too much to do the morning of.. Elijah helped by trimming all the green beans for me and mashing the sweet potatoes!

We ate around our table in our cozy little kitchen.

Geoff deep fried the turkey and it was delicious!  

We also had mashed potatoes, green beans, Brussels sprouts, sweet potato casserole, cranberry salad, rolls, a rice dressing and bread dressing, With apple and pumpkin pie for dessert.

After dinner Ethan did was the rest of us were wishing we could do. =)

Elijah thoughtfully covered his brother with a blanket and let him sleep.

Later on the boys had some play time with daddy and we set the camera timer and tried to get some family pictures.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and time with the ones you love.

Did you all snag any good deals this Black Friday?

We're offering free shipping in the Etsy shop this weekend!

Plus you still have time to enter the giveaway to Lakeshore Learning.

Have a great weekend!

Each Unique

Kay is a friend of mine and all she needs to create something beautiful is some fabric and her sewing machine! She's made quilts, wall hangings, purses, stuffed animals, coasters, wallets and more. When Kay sews an item it's one of a kind. Each piece is different from the last because she used different fabric or style.

The only problem was no body knew about them! I want to change that so I asked her if i could help. Do you want to see what i've been working on?



We now have an Etsy shop set up and running! The first items are in and we will be adding more each day.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Lakeshore Learning $25 giftcard Giveaway! (CLOSED)

We're all about having toys and activites around here that contribute to learning and growth. That's why I was excited to learn about Lakeshore Learning.

Lakeshore Learning is a website full of educational activities, toys and gifts for kids.
Taken from their website, "Our mission
Lakeshore is dedicated to creating innovative educational materials that spark young imaginations, instill a sense of wonder and foster a lifelong love of learning. With materials for infants & toddlers through the 6th grade, we help children reach developmental milestones and achieve educational goals—while still having fun! We know that each child is unique, and we strive to develop materials that appeal to children of all interests, backgrounds and abilities. And, of course, all of the products we carry must meet stringent quality & safety standards—so they’re strong enough for daily use in the classroom and safe enough for use by babies and children."

You can brows the site by category, price range or narrow your search by age group.

I plan on browsing around some more on the Free Resources page that has lesson plans, activities and printables.

I took a look around online and thought the prices were good. I found a magnetic dart board that I thought the boys would love. I was right, Elijah was so excited to pull it out of the box when it arrived.

It's sturdy but light enough we were able to use just a thumb tack to hang it up on the wall. No assembly required and easy to hang! Perfect!
Of course the boys wanted to play right away.

I was a little disappointed that the darts didn't stick as well as I imagined. We had to get pretty close in order for the darts to stick. But that didn't seem to bother the boys at all they just kept picking them up and trying again.

They still had a lot of fun and are getting better at it as they practice.

Lakeshore Learning has offered our readers 25% off any single non sale item! Use this link.

Plus they are giving away a $25 gift card to one of you to use online or in store!

To Win:Leave a comment below telling me what you'd like to get with the gift card or who it would be for. That's it! Be sure to leave your email so i can contact the winner.

Although I received free product from Lakeshore Learning, the opinions reflected here are my own and was not influenced by the company or free product.

Winner of MyMemories Scrapbook Software

Congratulations Sarah! You are our winner!

Thanks to all who entered! This is the month for giveaways around here because we have a new giveaway starting today! You can enter to win a gift card to Lakeshore Learning! Enter here!

Our favorite smoothie + secret ingrediant!

One of my favorite ways to get my boys to eat their fruits is in a smoothie! You can hid so many good for you things in a delicious smoothie and they'll never know!

I'm not a huge fan of avocados. But once I found out how good avocados are for you I really wanted to include them more in our diet. Check out 10 heath benefits of avocados. So i've been putting one in our smoothies! Oh my goodness, i don't think i'll ever want to make a smoothie without an avocado ever again! You can't taste it but it gives the smoothie a smoother creamer texture.

Now I can't take credit for this life changing discovery I read about it on Bite of Life blog. It's our chiropractors wife's blog and she has many other delicious and healthy recipes there.
I also froze some and made freezer pops out of the left over smoothie which the boys enjoyed the next day. Once again getting their cancer fighting, heart healthy avocados!

Our favorite smoothie:

• Avocado
• Frozen Strawberries
• Frozen Blueberries
• Vanilla Yogurt

Favorite Photo Friday

Thankful Thursday

Photos taken yesterday at Grandma's house.

PS. Giveaway ends soon! Only 5 entries so far! Enter here.

I asked Ethan to please put his shoes on so we could go to grandmas and he did although it looked a little different than I was picturing. =) Next time i'll have to ask him to put two matching shoes on! Ha!

Meanwhile Elijah was waiting for us outside and found a fopher tortoise in our yard.

The kittens were not sure what to make of it. They kept their distance.

Chunky Homemade Salsa!

The average American has 700 industrial chemicals in their bodies!

Geoff and I went to a health seminar on Saturday. One of the things we learned about was glutathione. It's a powerful antioxidant in our bodies that helps remove those chemicals, free radicals and reduces damage to our cells. It can even remove heavy metals from our bodies! It's very important and our bodies produce it naturally. But after the age of 21 our glutathione levels drop. The good news is that we can increase our levels through the food we eat!

Some foods that boost Glutathione are spinach, lemons, okra, asparagus, avocados, onions, squash, garlic, tomatoes, curcumin (yellow curry).

Here's a recipe that includes many of those ingredients for a healthy and delicious snack!
Homemade Salsa!

Measurements don't have to be exact.

4 to 5 medium tomatoes

1 medium onion

1 medium green pepper

 as much garlic as you want =)

 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

2 jalapeno peppers (red pepper powder works too)

1/2 tsp salt

 sprinkle with lemon juice

Chop it all up and mix it together.
Serve with tortilla or corn chips.

Powerful!

I Took His Hand and Followed

I Took His Hand and Followed

Written by Mrs. Roy L. Peifer

My dishes went unwashed today,
I didn't make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I...
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky

We waded in a crystal stream,

We wandered through a wood...

My kitchen wasn't swept today

But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade

And now my small son knows

How Mother Bunny hides her nest,
Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,

We climbed a sunlit hill...

Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,

We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,

That I didn't brush the stairs,

In twenty years, no one on earth

Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped my little boy

To noble manhood grow,

In twenty years, the whole wide world

May look and see and know.