Pardon the Dust

Since I have been on "hiatus" for 2 years I am having to sort through links and such to see what is still around and which links need to be updated. This also requires lots of marketing once again. Therefore, please be patient with me as I change things around and try to find as many networking applications as I can to get the blog alive and breathing again! Facebook, Twitter, Networked Blogs, and Google Connect are all new so my "fan base" through them are relatively "sad" right now... but I am diligently working on them! Please feel free to connect with me through one or all and leave me a comment so I can share the love with you!

Thank you for your patience!

Blog Hop and Facebook Love

For starters, I just made a Facebook page for the blog and would LOVE to share the love through Facebook. "Like" my page and leave a wall post as to where I can find you on FB!

And now for Thursday's Blog Hops:

If you're a new follower make sure to leave me a comment so I can follow you back!

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Home Making 101

Even though we have two in public school this year, I still have a homeschool momma's heart. So, this evening I was holding the baby while she took a much needed nap, but really needed to start dinner. Princess JF is always looking for something to do so I asked her if she thought she could help out (the older two were already at church and DH was on his way home from work). She was so excited to do it!

We were having one of our most simplest, but family favorite, meals. Thus, I walked her through how to turn on the over to preheat and then talked her through each step. Our kitchen and living area are separated only by a bar, so it was easy for me to relay each step and help her along the way. I asked her to grab a cookie sheet, and after sorting through them all she found one she liked. :) She was able to get scissors to cut open the bag and laid each piece of chicken out perfectly spaced on the cookie sheet (these are bite size pieces). Next was the scary part for me... she had to put the chicken into the oven. After giving her very strict, detailed instructions Princess JF (with no fear) opened the oven and put the chicken on the rack as instructed and shut the oven with no mishaps! Whew... I was relieved.

Next, she set the timer on the microwave, and got a pan of water ready to boil. After setting it on the cooktop I taught her how to turn the burner on and made sure she understood how hot the cooktop could get. There were no problems! I told her how I typically set the table while I wait for the dinner to finish cooking, so she did that too until her daddy got home. She was so super excited to tell him about what she had been doing... and he looked at me like I was crazy! But, he helped her pour the rice into the water once it began boiling and removed the chicken from the oven once it was done. Yet, all in all, Princess JF had made her first meal! Yay!

I SOOOO wish I had grabbed some pictures, but I was under a sleeping baby. So here is a picture of Princess JF instead:

Wednesday Blog Hops!

Don't forget to leave a link to your blog in a comment so I know where to follow you back! Thank you! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Link up with Wordless Wednesday!

It's nice to be important...

"It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice".  ~Author Unknown

It was quite a night here at the house. Our oldest two went to one of my nephew's football games with my mom, so it was just my DH and the three youngest girls here. After dinner and a movie at home, Super Dad and Princess JR left to take the movie back to the Redbox and I put the other two girls in the shower. I was sitting just outside the bathroom door at my computer when I thought I heard a knock at the the door. I knew the older two kids would be home at some point, so figuring it was them I went down to answer the door. It turned out to be Super Dad standing outside talking to our next door neighbors about the owl that has made its home on our roof. One thing led to another and the elderly wife asked me to come check out the work they had recently done on their home... I agreed since it was the neighborly thing to do. Super Dad came in to check on the girls (I thought he was staying with them) and tell them we were going to run next door while they got dressed and watched a movie for bedtime.

This is where everything went awry. Apparently, Princess JF did not hear/understand what her dad said and and after a few minutes went on a quest to find us. She got Princess JL involved and it quickly became an all out search and their were lots of tears involved. They opened the door and a neighbor, on the opposite side of the house from where we were, heard them crying and came over to assist (everyone knows everyone in this neighborhood and are more than willing to help each other out). Fortunately, Princess JF thought to grab our phone numbers out of her backpack where we placed them for emergencies and asked the neighbor to call us. Unfortunately, she had my phone in her hand, my DH's phone went straight to voicemail, and Princess CJ was the first one he got a hold of... and at this point we saw the commotion at our house because they had moved out from behind the garage blocking our view. Ugh!

Now, my dad is on his way to our house in a panic, and the older two are rushing back with my mom all upset and hysterical! OMGoodness! I call everyone and let them know we are fine and give them a quick run down of how we were in the driveway next door... the girls just never came far enough out to see us and apparently didn't hear us tell them that was where we were if they needed us. We had to calm everyone down, assure my family we were still alive, let Princess JF know she wasn't in trouble, and put Princess JR to sleep all at the same time! Super Dad called the neighbor once more to thank him and assure him that we aren't bad parents and do not typically run off and leave our girls home alone! :/  He said he had 5 kids as well and completely understood. *Sigh* Life lesson learned: No more "running outside" to talk to the chatty neighbors!

Can you see the owl perched up there? :)

All is well now! And all this because of that loud, screeching owl that has made his perch on our roof! Dumb ol' owl!

2 Cents Tuesday: Online books

We are entering our 8th year of homeschooling both Drama Queen and Prince W. We have used all sorts of curriculum through the years and decided to go back to a Homeschool Co-op this year. Well, this meant I had to find textbooks for the 10 different classes that both kids combined would be taking... and the Spanish class at the co-op has been a pain thus far, to say the least, simply because of poor communication about books. So, after endless days and nights spent searching I was able to find 3 of the 5 books for this ONE class online! I adore online books quite simply because they are FREE! You just can't beat free in my book!

Name change...

Ok, after much prayer and deliberation I have decided to change the name of the blog. Although the domain through Blogger will obviously remain the same (don't want to move everything over just to change the name), the official new name will be "7 on a Shoestring" (we had to incorporate our newest member)! Yay! Kind of excited about the change! It helps with the fresh start and new beginning, I do believe! I have updated the blog header and the picture I will be using for the Facebook page... so I will leave a you with it:

I'm back... I think!

I can't  believe my last post was almost exactly 2 years ago! Wow how things have gone up and down since then! I have wanted to start blogging again several times but have always found an excuse not to. So, I have begun by redesigning the blog and trying some new things out but figured I should go ahead and get started posting as well. Thus... I am trying to bring my blog back to life! Not sure how successful I will be, but at least I know I have the satisfaction of trying!

First, let's see if I can give you a rundown on the last two years. Let's see, real quick now... had my 2nd miscarriage just days before posting that last post (probably the main reason I stopped blogging), got pregnant once again in December, realized it in January, didn't tell anyone until Easter, spent the entire pregnancy on pins and needles, saw a perinatologist since they thought my baby had a birth disorder, spent nights in and out of hospital for maternal bleeding, had an incredibly healthy baby girl in September 2009 (named her after Reagan... so she will now be referred to as "JR" in my blog), had my tubes tied (and experienced excruciating pain from it and a spinal headache from the epidural for the first 2 weeks after), landlord let the house we lived in for 3 years go to foreclosure, spent 6 months looking for a home to live in (were given that time since we were renting the home), my mom was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma in February, helped nurse my mom through 5 months of intense chemotherapy (this is when I should have been blogging and letting out some feelings), moved into our nice, took JF to a gastrointestinal doctor since she has chronic constipation apparently brought on by the stress of everything (primarily centered around Mom's cancer journey) and also now is in therapy, finally moved into new home by the lake in August, and Mom was given a clean bill of health (in complete remission) just 2 weeks ago! Life is good!

Now that we're all caught up I need to get back to the heart of what this blog was supposed to be about... us, as a family of 7, living on next to nothing and making it work! So, I will try to do just that as I get going here soon! Stay tuned...

Oh wait... wanted to include a picture Super Dad and the three youngest girls at a nearby Balloon Festival from last week:

Sharing some gelato and waiting for the sun to go down to watch the "Glow."