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#CBias Couponing for Kids #AllYouCFK

Posted by Theresa, Owner on March 8, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Coupons

On Tuesday I took my youngest daughter and oldest daughter shopping for children in need for a Champion For Kids campaign I am participating in. We will probably donate the items to our local food pantry or women’s and children’s shelter, such as Turning Point, they accept donations on behalf of women and children who have been victims of domestic battery. Both are right here in our town and are always in need of things. The last time we were at the food pantry was when we picked apples and delivered them in the fall. I had my boys carrying milk crates full of apples and the lady working there was so appreciative and impressed with the boys help that she gave them these little treats they have on hand for the kids. I thought that was so nice….but would have preferred my boys to feel good about being big helpers with words of appreciation not a treat. Not that a treat is wrong, but I want my children to learn to do good out of the goodness of their hearts and because it’s the right thing to do. Know what I mean?

Our Shopping Trip

We shopped for a laundry basket, a measuring tape, new UNO cards, socks for one of my sons, a few groceries and my oldest daughter wanted to look at blouses since she still had birthday money to spend. Guess what took up most of our shopping trip? Yep, my daughter and the blouses! We tried looking for Happy Baby products since I still had coupons for FREE products, but Walmart did not have them. We settled for Buddy Fruits instead since those would provide fruit for the kids who come to the food pantry or Turning Point.

We also used coupons for sliced cheese, cereal, crackers, tuna and baby wipes. I clipped some this morning from the internet and then found the tuna coupons in the All You magazine, which was good because the one thing the food pantry is lacking the most is protein and I noticed that Turning Point also has it on their list of needs. I think this is the first time I have consciously “couponed for good” and will definitely consider Couponing for Good again. It would be great to make it a monthly habit, as a way of giving back to our community and being an example to my children of how to make a difference with such a small SIMPLE service project.

You can see my whole shopping trip story on Google+.

Food Pantry Drop Off

I forgot the Food Pantry is closed on Tuesdays, so we will have to drop off our donations another day. But am now leaning towards dropping it off at Turning Point since finding out they have more regular hours that would accommodate my husband’s work schedule and allow me to run over after he gets home from work. My husband was home on Tuesday and I had the car so I could get our Azure food pick up at the Farm & Fleet parking lot, stop at the Secretary of State office to see what I needed to do to renew my license, returned to get my license renewed/replaced and then my oldest daughter and I also went to the animal shelter to check the status of a puppy we were interested in but she got adopted. Then we ended our day by getting our hair cut.

Definitely a busy, but fun day.

Champions for Kids

To learn more about Champions for Kids visit:
Website: http://championsforkids.org/
Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/#!/champions4kids
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChampionsForKids

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. #CBias #AllYouCFK

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Mama Magnet – Monday Motivation

Posted by Theresa, Owner on February 6, 2012
in Monday Motivation, Parenting

In our home it is hard to find time alone and I am sure many of you with young children have the same problem. Lately when I have found a quiet spot and settled in, one by one a child inevitably finds me, starts talking or asking me questions or just to play in the same room I am in. If I happen to express my frustration over being followed by stating, “Why do you all always follow me?” my older daughters have been saying, “But Mommy you are a magnet and we want to be with you.” And I dubbed myself the “Mama Magnet.”

As moms we should actually desire to be a Mama Magnet, it’s indicative that we are doing something right. If our children don’t want to be with us, then we should start worrying.

Part of motherhood involves giving of ourselves when it is not convenient or even desirable at times. It means my giving my 3 year old the kisses he wants to dole out even when I feel smothered by the 20th one. It means talking to my girls late into the night when I want to work or go to bed. It also means taking the time to watch my sons play with their new airplanes even though it is not new to me.

This week my motivation is to be a better Mama Magnet.

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Children & Technology – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by Theresa, Owner on February 1, 2012
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Techie Stuff, Technology/Electronics, Wordless Wednesday

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Children at Work & at Play!

Posted by Theresa, Owner on January 21, 2012
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff

I captured some shots of our children at work and at play yesterday. I used the flickr slide show again. I just wanted to try it this week to see how I liked them and how you all liked them. Might try something different next week. Not sure what yet.

The first photo is of one of our older daughters (the third oldest) playing with her horses. I snapped a shot because soon enough she won’t be playing with them any more. Sniff. Sniff. She’s growing up! The second one is of our youngest daughter with our reading lesson book, 100 Easy Lessons, which I have used with all six older children to teach them to read. Blondie is doing wonderful and I really believe that the foundation that ABCmouse.com-Full Curriculum, Preschool-Kindergarten Educational Website gives the children has helped her supersede where she would have been otherwise. She is nearly sounding out the words silently and saying them fast – we are only on lesson 14! We are very pleased with ABCMouse.com. I don’t have to conj-ole or bribe the children to do their school work on ABCMouse. It’s that much fun. Ok, enough of my shameless, unpaid plug! (Update: I have since added an affiliate link above due to the amount of searches for it leading here!)

Back to the photos…next comes the blocks that were scattered on the floor. And if I was participating in my old friend’s “The Children Were Here” posts this is one that I would post as we always seem to have these blocks scattered. Then I shot one of a couple of school books that were laying around.

The next photo after that is of our two older boys shoveling the driveway for their Dad. The thing is I didn’t send them out there to do it, they volunteered. Granted they have always loved to shovel snow for some reason, but still it does this mama’s heart good when they do things like this without asking and especially thinking of their Dad who had to drive home on messy roads!

My oldest daughter has taken a dislike of being caught on camera, she’d rather be behind the lense these days! So when she put her laptop up in front of her face today as I was snapping a picture I told her I was going to post it! So that’s why that one is there! She’s a hard worker that one and has some solid work ethics already. She won’t go to the barn if she has too much work to do, nor will she goof off until her work is done. We are proud of her.

The rest of the photos are of two of the younger children doing their best to help shovel a little bit, the snow plow (the boys wanted me to get one of all the snow flying over the truck but I kept missing it) and just of our time outside.

The last photo is of a masked man…not sure where he came from or what he was doing in my house but my daughter caught him red handed! Isn’t he positively evil looking? Ha!

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A FREE Nativity Booklet

Posted by Theresa, Owner on December 24, 2011
in Books, Ebooks, Family Stuff, Holidays

If you are observing the birth of Jesus this Christmas, you may want to check out this free Nativity booklet from Answers in Genesis:

Direct link: http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/files/2010/12/nativity-booklet.pdf?utm_source=AiGSuperSpecials&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FreeDownload&utm_campaign=SS12222011

Merry Christmas!

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The Crazy Things Boys Do

Posted by Theresa, Owner on December 23, 2011
in Family Stuff, Safety

As you all know, we have four little boys. (well, two of them are not so little anymore!) These boys bring a lot of joy to our lives, but they also cause a lot of pain – inflicted on themselves and others, like their siblings.

Our boys seem to enjoy doing things that are dangerous. They are always wrestling and one of them inevitability ends up getting hurt. It’s unfortunate they never stop their antics. They just keep going and going and going and….you get the picture.

Our sons are currently obsessed with super heroes since allowing them to watch the animated versions of Iron Man and Spider-Man. The two older boys are both tweens and have grown out of the Thomas the Tank and Sesame Street stage (just in time for my little boys to grow into it them!) and are constantly asking to watch super hero cartoons. If they aren’t playing Spider-Man, Thor, and Hulk then they are trying to find a way to re-enact their favorite cartoons. Those re-enactments usually involve using whatever dangerous stunt their favorite super hero pulled.

Our wild boys are open to jumping on conveyors, climbing tall of trees, climbing out their bedroom window, making bows and arrows and shooting them at one another, and my personal favorite – sharpening sticks and hitting/poking one another with them, while I am saying, “Don’t do that someone is going to get hurt!”

Thankfully with all the pharmacy automation it’s easy to purchase the products that we need to fix up our sons from one of their latest escapades. When they get hurt we handle them with much care, much like you would handle a material handling system.

You’d think they’d learn…..I swear they have nine lives instead of just one. We do try to stop them from pulling these stunts. But some days they just do stuff without my knowledge and I find out after the fact from another siblings or when they come running asking for a bandage. You know that old saying…..boys will be boys…..is very true!

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Whew! Made it Through!

Posted by Theresa, Owner on December 5, 2011
in Business, Family Stuff, Holidays, Money & Finances, Shopping

Business

It was a busy four days and I only ended up working 3 of those 4 days due to my compassionate husband working the holiday craft fair for me yesterday! It was in my favor that he knew our 15 month old was really missing me too.

There was a Chicago Bears game yesterday so let’s just say the fair was not as busy as Friday or Saturday. I had as relaxing a day as I could with five children under nine (insert rolling eyes here )

The business networking event and the weekend proved to be very beneficial and we met some interesting people. We are excited and grateful for the opportunities presented.

Appliance Woes Almost Fixed

We are still without an oven, at least for another week the repair man said, as he has to order the part. Hopefully it will arrive early and they can fit in an appointment earlier. How can I host a Cookie Exchange if I can’t bake cookies? I can’t, I know.

Christmas!

We are getting into the Christmas spirit around here and eager to decorate and get our tree! Just not sure how we are going to accomplish that since my mil’s car will not accommodate a tree. We took the children to cut down a live tree last year and it was such a memory making day that everyone is gung-ho to do it again this year. It was a neat family tree farm that offered fun activities for the children: candle making, wood carving, hot chocolate and more.

A Vehicle

A friend found a vehicle, we just have to decide if it is what we are looking for….beggars can’t be choosers but it is hard for us. Take on a car payment or not to take on a car payment? Buy an older car and have lots of repairs? Ugh….decisions like these are just not easy. Besides we have not even contacted our insurance to see what insurance will cost on the type of vehicle we are interested in getting. Everything costs money….

Home Life

Other than that same old same old. We cleaned the house today and did school. I worked. The girls and I are gearing up for a sewing spree hopefully starting on Friday. I have to wrap up some weekend stuff and have a couple of meetings this week before we can really get going on making some new skirts for the four girls.

Oh and if you are the praying kind, pray we find our camera. Odd request, I know but we think some little hands got a hold of it and left it in some obscure place in the house…hopefully still in tact. We need that for blogging and capturing every day moments of life so the children can look back in wonder and perhaps a little embarrassment too…..I can’t believe how many photos my oldest is embarrassed about when I was simply capturing a “moment”. Ah well, it was not my original intent to embarrass her, nor is it my intent with the rest either.

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What Does a 3 Year Old Plus 2 Keys Equal?

Posted by Theresa, Owner on November 29, 2011
in Family Stuff, Parenting, Safety

You know you are a blogger when you grab your flip cam in a serious situation……

Never a dull moment in my house. So what does a 3 year old plus 2 keys equal? A burnt electrical outlet (I called it a light socket in the video below! Brain freeze!) and one melted key tip. Yep he put two keys into an electrical outlet in the boys room and one of them melted to the little screw that holds the outlet frame into the wall. Amazing. I was told that I could take the keys out with rubber handled pliers……don’t try it! Sparks still flew even though I didn’t get shocked! I had to shut down the electric in the house to take them out to prevent anymore sparks. I am just grateful we are all still here and the house is still standing! Could have been a lot worse to say the least.

I have to shake my head at the trouble children can find. My daughter and son were even in the same room hanging pictures on the wall while he did this!?

July-Nov Videos 2011 053

I didn’t have to scold him, his siblings pretty much did that because they freaked out and to tease him (yes!), I was a little surprised that Noah did it as it is Junior (our 15 month old baby) whose been the most fascinated with electrical outlets. In the video Noah looks like he’s about to cry but I think the whole experience scared him. Life is rough sometimes, even for little ones.

And no this was not staged and yes I was calm….I don’t know why I remained calm. Ya win some and ya lose some….ya know what I mean? Today I won in this instance.

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Separation Anxiety And a Move!

Posted by Theresa, Owner on August 4, 2011
in Family Stuff

We all know what separation anxiety is, it’s when a small child is fearful and full of anxiety when separated from his/her mother, right? Or is that all it is? What about moms, can we have separation anxiety? I believe we can and to be honest, I am suffering from it this week. Actually it just sort of happened overnight as our house takes on that hollow sound…..hollow sound, you ask…..

We are moving! This is a huge move for us, in more ways than one.

We have lived where we are for the past 16 years. Our current home has served us well, but we have really outgrown it. I think we have been at that point since child number six. We love our current town. It is a great little town. We love our neighborhood. It’s quiet. We have had the same neighbors around us for all of that time or over half of that time. We’ve had the same phone number…and all of that is about to change.

It is a mixed bag of feelings. Truly it is. I mean who would have thought that I would be sad to lose my phone number? Until we ran out of space, I really liked our house and will miss it. There are many memories here. We moved here as newlyweds. We became parents to eight children here. Our last three children were born in this house. It’s been my only home since moving to the U.S. 17 years ago.

The catch is, I have always dreamed of living in the country. I have longed for my children to enjoy the pleasures of country living and for the past three years we have been doing that by driving to the country during the summer. But it is getting tiring driving back and forth and being away from home so many days. Therefore, we decided to forgo our plans to farm at the farm incubator when we came across two homes each on 10 acres or more…..of course we looked at them!

By the time we decided on one and got back to the owners, it was no longer available. Disappointing to say the least. It was a lovely piece of property. So we decided we did not want to lose out on the other.

This all happened within a short period of time in June-July. It still seems a bit unreal since we are still in between homes. If pinching didn’t hurt, I’d be asking folks to pinch me to be sure it was all real and not a dream.

We are moving to a more rural area, but still within the Chicago suburbs. We will have access to land, a larger house with LOTS of storage AND 3 potties. We are very excited!

Cartoon by yours truly (inspired by June Cleaver Nirvana) because I did not want to pay to use a comic strip! Please note: The order of children is not typical. Our younger children usually get first dibs on bathroom rights due to obvious reasons!

Also note, my oldest does not find the humor in this silly drawing.

This week has not only been filled with physically moving but moving electronically. It was frustrating to find out our current phone/internet provider does not service our new home for internet, which led to more phone calls. But I think we are all set to go.

Now we just need to get everything moved to the new house. Let’s just say that being between two homes is not ideal! We are grateful to a new acquaintance/fellow farmer for their generous offer to help us by providing their 3/4 ton truck and trailer to get us all moved this weekend. We are amazed who the Lord uses sometimes, truly amazing. We have not even met this couple, I inquired about their farm as they farm using horses, something I have always been intrigued about and they live within minutes of our new home. A few emails later their offer came. The generosity of strangers, plus they are open to us coming to their farm to learn about what they are doing. No, I am not saying we’ll be farming with horses, but it is a compelling idea. My husband prefers machines, there’s something more macho and manly about tractors than horses….I think.