Bloggy Giveaway!

I have joined up with Bloggy Giveaways and am giving away a FREE CUSTOM HAT!. Winner will be chosen August 2nd. Please stop by My Website and let me know which hat is your favorite and you could win it! If you want to buy now, check to the right of this message for a discount code! Be sure to check out Bloggy Giveaways for hundreds of other giveaways!

*****GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED -- OUR WINNER IS Shilo Beedy*****

I feel like the biggest dork!

Wow - I've been advertising the new review blog.... well.. on one site I apparently put this blog as my link to the review site. OOPS!!! This is my personal blog, not the review blog. If you are looking for the review blog, please CLICK HERE.

Lots of Pics!

Just wanted to share a new item... the elephant hat! Can you tell Bear's making an elephant noise in the first pic?

And here are some pics from the goodbye party of our friends moving to TX

Here's the kids playing with Merry. She's being a good sport, but you can see her true thoughts in these pics....

And Bear working on his car

Wow... look at it all!

The title says exactly how I felt today! We went to the homeschool expo and curriculum fair in Atlanta today. I have never seen so many books and different methods to learn! It was VERY overwhelming. I went in with the idea that I was going to stick to Sonlight, Singapore, and Handwriting without tears. When I really looked into those products that they had displayed, it wasn't quite what I had in mind for Blondie. We're actually going to go with the Christian Light curriculum. It is a Menonite based curriculum with a strong focus on God. I had never heard of it before today, but I was very pleased. It is also very affordable, which is rather important to us. We will be ordering it most likely with hubby's next overtime check. We also picked up a few supplemental books, fake money, signed up for the HSLDA, and learned a bunch! Definately will be going back next year.

After today, I have much more confidence in the decisions we've made for Blondie. She will be starting in on 1st grade work with the Christian Light. Can't wait for the adventures to start. Trying to figure out our exact starting date for school. I'm thinking probably the Monday after her birthday party, which will be August 18th.

Mommy Octopus Reviews is Now Open!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that my review site is now open! I will be using it to help promote other work at home moms and to give honest reviews on the latest products. Stop by and check it out - there is a contest right now to win a $50 gift certificate! Spread the word! If you are a work at home mom and want to be reviewed, just Email me.

MOMMY OCTOPUS REVIEWS LINK

A New Day

Hi Everyone - sorry for my rant last night. I'm doing much better today. Sometimes it's hard to remember that when our plans don't go right, that God has a bigger plan for us. This was definately a huge dissapointment, though, especially since Hubby was told that he had the position and then to have it taken away from him. It was wrong of them to do that, but that's the government for you. Anyways, I have faith that everything will be fine. Everything is fine. Just another bump in the road of life. I'm thankful to have such wonderful and encouraging friends.

Soo... So... ANGRY!

Okay... well, while I was stewing over the latest news, I was reminded of a scene from one of my favorite movies. This movie always makes me feel better - yes I'm an Enchanted dork! I love that movie! I'll have to watch it now and then I'll feel better :-)

ANGRY

That title pretty much sums up my thoughts. Right now I'm just ANGRY. You'll notice the posts have been removed that listed our "good news". Once again, good old liberal county that hubby works has dropped the ball on us. This was supposed to be a done deal and that hubby would get the promotion a little over a week from now. NOPE... they have decided to give it to someone else, most likely to fill their "quota" of certain people, or at least that's the way it seems. I am so angry that I can hardly think. Please pray for us. Pray that Hubby will not be bitter and discouraged. Pray for me that I can be the help-meet he needs to get him through this. Just pray.

P.S. If you "won" the challenge of our "happy news", I will still be sending the prize. Just please give me a little time. I'm so angry I can't think, crochet, do chores, etc. Tomorrow will be a better day though.

A few weeks in Review!

Sorry everyone - I STILL can't reveal the secret. If I had known it would take so long for me to reveal it, I wouldn't have posted quite so soon. oh well - at least you all have a few more days to guess! Be sure and post your guesses so you can win a hat! Of course we can have more than one winner :-)

These next few weeks are going to be B-U-S-Y!

Tomorrow I plan on signing Blondie up for soccer. Her 2 friends down the street are going to be in the same division so we're going to try and get them on the same team. I think Blondie will really enjoy it! Tuesday we are going swimming again and then Friday heading down to the homeschool convention. Then the following Saturday, August 2, I'm hosting a baby shower for my sister n law and future nephew. August 9th is Blondie's 5th birthday (WAAAAH!) and I'll be taking her to the American Girl Store in ATL to have lunch at the Bistro. Blondie wants to invite her friend down the street, but I'm up in the air about it. I know it's her birthday but it just seems like a long way to take someone else's kid. I think it's about a 2 hour drive. Then August 16th is Blondie's birthday party! She's really excited about it. Oh and somewhere in all this busy-ness, my new nephew will be born! He's due August 18th... but his brother was born 2 weeks early, so we'll just have to wait and see when Levi will make his appearance! Have I mentioned I LOVE being an Aunt?


That's all for now folks!

Surprise!

Nope I'm not telling the secret yet, so you have a little more time for guessing! But wanted to share a pic from yesterday. My friend that is moving to Texas next week threw Blondie an early surprise party so her kids could celebrate with Blondie before moving. She had invited some of Blondie's other friends to come swim and have cake. We all had a great time and ended up spending most of the day there swimming.

Here's a few pics of my kids dancing in Blondie's pettiskirts. Bear thinks they are funny and much to hubby's dismay, he likes to wear her pettiskirts. I don't think we have anything to worry about unless Bear is still wearing the petti's when he's 15 lol.

And here's a pic that I forgot to share the other day of the sweeties

My Newest Hat!

Here's a hat I whipped up today! I also wrote up the pattern. So hopefully once I hear back from my fabulous pattern tester, I'll have it for sale on You Can Make This. It's nice writing patterns- it's a one time deal and then you can sell it forever! On to the pics! Introducing my new Brimmed Beanie Cap

So Whatcha Think?

Cow Appreciation Day!

Today was Cow Appreciation Day at ChickFilA. If you went to the restaurant dressed like a cow, you got a free meal! Since today was errand/grocery day anyways, why not? I stayed up till 2 am and finished the kids cow hats. I wish I had taken a few pictures at chickfila but I forgot! So here's us getting ready to go. I have on a paper cow hat and a chickfila sign. The kids are dressed in black and white and have Crocheted Cow Hats.

And here's another picture from yesterday - the kids being sweet and coloring together. For siblings, they really do get along pretty well!

So Sad :-(

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. Been busy with a lot of things with the website (business is booming) and on another note I'm sad... One of my best local friends is moving at the end of the month to be closer to her hubby's work in TX. While i'm thrilled for her and her family, I'm really going to miss them. She's one of those people you can call at a drop of the hat and she'd meet me and the kids for lunch or at the park. Her kids are about the same ages as Blondie and Bear and they are all friends. Blondie has been very sad too as they are moving before her birthday party so her friend won't be able to come. *Sigh* Maybe one day we'll make it to Texas to visit....

Loving the Garden!

Just a quick update on the garden - if I get a moment, I'll take a picture or 2 of it. Our garden hasn't done as well as expected..... except for the tomatoes. We have TONS of big tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. The kids and Hubby are eating the cherry tomatoes as fast as they turn red (I'm not a tomato eater). The broccoli and romaine did okay. The squash and zucchini have provided nothing so far (although there is finally one zuchini and one squash growing! WOO HOO!) The cantelope plant died. Oh and we've had several jalopenos and green peppers. We got about 10 blueberries from the blueberry bushes this year. Soooo.. what to do with the extra tomatoes. Tonight we are making homemade pizza. I am working on a nice recipe for homemade pizza sauce. I looked some up on the web and ended up making my own version. Here's it in a nutshell:

3 red tomatoes, peeled and crushed
chopped onions
salt
pepper
parsley
oregeno
garlic

Saute the onion over medium heat. Add minced garlic. When the onion and garlic are done, add the crushed tomatoes (juice and all). Salt, pepper, parsley, and oregeno to taste. Simmer on the stove for 15-20 minutes. And it smells divine! Can't wait to finish making the pizza. Pizza dough is easy - just pop it in the bread machine on dough cycle!

I'm looking for a good salsa recipe - any suggestions?

Waiting for Fireworks!

We went to the Mall of Georgia for fireworks last night! We got there early and picked our spot in the parking lot they had closed off for people to watch fireworks. We had a blast - the kids aunts and grandparents joined in the fun. Here are more pics. You'll notice in some of them, Bear has a banged up face! Needless to say, he took a head-dive into the concrete, so we got to visit with the Wonderful Gwinnett Firefighters for an icepack and a little TLC.

On to the pics!

Watermelon eating

Playing ball

Going down the big inflatable slide with the Aunts

Me and hubby

Happy Fourth of July!

Hope everyone has a great day! We went to a parade this morning - it was so much fun! The kids had a blast! They got a ton of candy and had fun waving their flags and waving at the people in the parade. The parade lasted over an hour! The awesome tie-dye flag shirts that we all are wearing are from NikkiKnits of course!

Blondie made a friend while at the parade - they had fun catching bubbles and gathering candy together.

Bear and Ella exhausted walking back to the car from the crafts/boots section

Refreshed!

Hubby and I had a fantastic date today! Yes you read that right... DATE! We had Sis come over and watch the kiddos. They had a blast! And Bear never cried, according to Blondie!!! Hopefully we can make this a monthly event! It was awesome to get some alone time with Hubby away from the house.