A Time For Every Season....

Drew to Mommy while cleaning up his room. "Mommy, my room smells." Mom to Drew, "Why does your room smell?" Drew: "I don't know but its coming from my body." Mom to Drew, "Well, do you need to go to the bathroom?" Drew, "No, I think I just need some of that good room smeller that you spray when Gabe's room smells like diapers!"

In June of 09 John and I decided to test out a credit card program (Chase Freedom) to see if the rewards were beneficial to our family. We had been credit card free for over a year and thought that we'd make the leap to running most of our expenses through our credit card in the hopes of making a little cash back. We picked the Chase Freedom card, thanks to my thrifty friend Bethany and her husband who told us about the Cash Reward program. John and I made a pact that if any month we didn't pay it off then we would close the account. So far we're sticking to our allotted budget and haven't had any temptations not to pay it off - in fact I try and pay the balance off every Friday just to keep things simple. The rewards program works very simply, for every charge there is an allotted percentage (1%-3%) which you receive as "credit," the top three spending categories receive the 3% rebate and it drops from there. You can redeem the credits at any time for gift ca...

Mommy to Drew, " Drew we can't go camping this weekend because its not safe for mommy and the baby. I wouldn't be able to lift anything so we're going to camp in our backyard instead." Drew replied, " Well, we can still go, I'll carry everything with my big muscles, you won't have to life a thing! See these big muscles mommy!" Mommy to Drew, " Drew please don't get close to that window, its open and I don't want you to fall through." Drew replied, " Would I die? I know, I could put on a parachute and then I wouldn't die falling out the window !

Websites to begin learning the basics of couponing, coupon collecting, and daily deals : www.moneysavingmom.com www.mypennypile.com www.stretchingabuck.com www.freebies4mom.blogspot.com www.becentsable.net - finding grocery deals in your area by store name www.afullcup.com – Great resource for grocery deals like Target and for printable coupons or coupon exchanges ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Sunday Newspaper : Double ads from the Dallas Morning News is 2.89, see if neighbors want to give you their extra sets if they do not use them. The Wednesday Paper (The Grocery Ads) : Grocery ads in our area tend to run Wednesday through Tuesday so look for these either in your mailbox or a private company delivers them to your door each week. Mail-order : Sign up for coupons via the websites listed above, join the e-mail lists of the brands you frequent the most. Also sign up for VocalPoint which will send you 5-10 coup...

If You Give a Mom a Minute, She will notice that her son's chin is covered in peanut butter and jelly, When she goes to wipe it off, she notices that he is also stinky, So she carries her child upstairs for a diaper change, Mom steps over dirty laundry and then decides to pick them up and places them in the hamper, Next, as she goes to change the diaper she notices that there aren't any diapers in the diaper stacker so she heads to the closet for refills, After opening a new packages of diapers she decides to put them all in the diaper stacker so next time there will be plenty. As she is placing them in the diaper stacker, her son decides to climb off the changing table, So she picks him up and puts him back on the table to change his diaper, which is the whole reason she went upstairs to begin with, As she is wiping her sons bottom, she notices that they are low on wipes, so she refills those as well. While mom is refilling the wipes, her son sticks his hand in his private par...

Very early this morning I awoke to pains resembling labor, only it was just short term indigestion. Never the less, it left me awake and with some adrenaline to insure I didn't fall back asleep. Memories flooded my mind of the two births I'd already walked through and then gave anticipation towards the pending birth of our daughter. As I lay awake, I meditated on the vast differences between the births of my two boys. Then in the quiet, the Lord showed me Himself through those trials of labor. A labor of love which I willingly accepted. Drew's birth was my hardest, I'd spent 3 months cooped up in bed, no birthing classes, nothing to prepare me to labor - after all I'd spent 3 months keeping myself out of labor, what would make me think of preparing for the actual event? It seems silly now, but at the time I was so consumed with all the things I couldn't do that I forgot to focus on the things I could do. So when the anticipated day, that 24 th day of January, ...

Watch the Channell 11 video here to see the Green team on the news! Below is the video Northwood's great production team put together for finishing out the makeover for 2009! Home Makeover 09 Highlights from Northwood Church on Vimeo .

Today it felt like Autumn, it has been the season for a few weeks, but just today it finally felt right - must be the 55 degree day of chilly windy weather! Thus the traditions have begun! Today we celebrated with Makeover at church, John spent his day off in the garage, hiding from the rain, and working on some exciting projects for the Home Makeover. We enjoyed cocoa and breathed in the cool brisk air with our warm coats and boots. Such a delightful day. I finally gave in and put Fernando Ortega's CD's into the player, broke out the pumpkin spice candles and spend the afternoon doing laundry. It was fun laundry because a friend from John's work gave him 3 bags of children's clothes! Most were cute, adorable little girl outfits and some boy clothes that were thrown in were perfect for Gabe. What a blessing! Abby will be so stocked, I only kept about half so I can pass the blessing along to my friend Nicole who is also having a little girl around the same time I am. Abb...

Finally able to wear long sleeves! Showing me that he knows where his fingers are! Time outside enjoying the cool weather. Drew is learning how to Rollerblade. Yes, still teething..... I'm a grouch! Fun Outside on an overcast Fall Day.... Perfect! Gotta love the knees in flour.... your not truly baking unless you make a mess! Re-inacting the Squire & The Scroll with our castle and dragon! Painting our ornaments for Fall - must be a tradition now since this is year #2! We had a very busy week of fun! The highlight was seeing our little girl via ultrasound last Friday - she looked great, last very active and happy. She was justa little small, but only 3 days smaller than her estimated due date. At 21 weeks I've gained 10 pounds, which is remarkable since I'd gained atleast 20 with the boys. I guess there can be a bright side to 16 weeks of morning sickness! The boys are loving school and Gabe has been teething.... again! We spent the week painting, baking, and using our...