Our recent Amazon purchases

As you all know I’ve always been partial to Amazon because you don’t need to leave your house, or couch, to get what you need. While this isn’t always a good thing to have everything just a click away it has been very useful during this COVID pandemic. Here are just a few of our favorite purchases lately:

Baby

Isn’t this the cutest?
Continue reading “Our recent Amazon purchases”

Is Santa Real? … That is the question

I saw this explanation in one of my Facebook groups and I love it…

For those of you questioning the way to tell your children about Santa Claus, here is a sweet story on combining that with training. Delete if inappropriate for this group.

I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit Grandma on the day my brother dropped the bomb: “There is no Santa Claus,” he jeered. “Even dummies know that!”

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her “world-famous” cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. “No Santa Claus?” she snorted, “Ridiculous! Don’t believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let’s go.”

“Go? Go where, Grandma?” I asked. I hadn’t even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. “Where” turned out to be Kirby’s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. “Take this money,” she said, “and buy something for someone who needs it. I’ll wait for you in the car.” Then she turned and walked out of Kirby’s.

I was only eight years old. I’d often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.

For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock’s grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn’t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn’t have a cough; he didn’t have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

“Is this a Christmas present for someone?” the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. “Yes, ma’am,” I replied shyly. “It’s for Bobby.”

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn’t get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, “To Bobby, From Santa Claus” on it.

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker’s house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa’s helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby’s house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. “All right, Santa Claus,” she whispered, “get going.”

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven’t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker’s bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were — ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share,

HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care…

And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

☆Copied and pasted from another page.

She’s Here!

Hey y’all! I’m so so sorry that I kinda just dropped off the social media for a bit. The past few months have been very hard as this pregnancy took so much out of me but we are so happy to announce that the wait is over!

Just before midnight on July 8th Ms. Shyanne came screaming into this world via c-section. Although we were as ready as we thought we could be we weren’t quite expecting her to be here right then.

She weighed in at 8lbs and 1 oz and she was 19 1/2 inches long. They also determined that she was around 36 weeks when she delivered.

She is in the NICU due to some of her prenatal diagnosis. She has already breezed through one surgery and is making daily progress towards coming home although we know there will be more surgeries to come.

While the pregnancy seemed so chaotic from the beginning with all the negativity because of my age and then diagnosis after diagnosis for our little girl, (Just this last month we learned of her duodenal atresia which resulted in severe polyhydramnios and then we were ultimately admitted for preeclampsia/HELLP syndrome.), we feel so blessed to have this precious addition to our family.

I will try to finish up some of the posts related to her prenatal issues as well as a more detailed post about her birth and NICU stays but for now I’m just going to try to focus on life at home and recovering so that I can be ready to take care of our little one when she comes home.

We have been posting updates and tons of pictures on our personal FB pages if you’d like to follow us. I’ll also try to start posting on Instagram more regularly as well.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and most of all for your prayers and please keep us in your prayers as we know the next few months will be quite crazy around here.

Free Webinar: GET KIDS TO listen without nagging or yelling

Is being cooped up at home getting on your nerves? Or maybe being cooped up means that the kiddos are getting on everyone’s nerves?

Whatever the situation you can find out how to get your kids to listen without all the nagging and yelling. We have been using a lot of the techniques that we’ve learned and it has made quite a difference in our home and I’m sure this program can help in your home as well whether you have one child or many.

Give it a try with a FREE CLASS!


**This post does contain affiliate links to products and/or services that we use. If you happen to click through a link and make a purchase we may earn a teensy-weensy small commission (at NO EXTRA cost to you) if a purchase is made through these links. These links help to support our family, our blog, and our homeschooling mission. This means that we can keep bringing you great recipes, ideas, and tips for FREE! Click HERE for a full disclaimer.

 –Thank you!

Learn To Cook Trial!

I guess everyone needs to learn to cook all of a sudden, even if home cooking wasn’t your norm before.

Want to learn along with your kids?Kids Cook Real Food, an awesome online video cooking class for kids, is supporting social distancing and all the families with lots of extra time on their hands… How about a two-week risk-free trial, and 80% off a two-month membership after that? 🙂

Get the details here, including a guide to making it work without going to the grocery store! https://sl290.isrefer.com/go/kcrf/happy2bmyownboss/