Money

*Note: Adie has been very good the past two days...no new stories.

Here is a little video that I found on our Pastor's blog. It makes me sick to think our government can do this. We should not be spending more that what we earn! No matter if you are a republican or a democrat.

Great site to save money!

Here it is...the blog I was talking about earlier for Central MN and money saving ideas with coupons and all sorts of other things.


If you know of other deals please leave a comment on her site. I think if we all work together gathering our ideas it is going to be wonderful. I am so excited!

Before 10 am

Adie got into my makeup bag and proceeded to squeeze out my foundation, break off 4 lipsticks, crush the eye shadow, and put mascara all over herself. I am glad that I haven't called Stanley Cleaner yet! My cream carpet is now a nice shade of beige, blue, and black.

I look her picture and cleaned her up. I responded to her behavior and did not react.
(I tell myself..."Respond, Respond, Respond...don't react."

I went to clean the kitchen and Adie was in her room.

After 10 minutes, I realize that it is too quiet.

She was going through my wallet and dumped everything out.

After that she dumped out my blue basket and everything in it.

I watch my child! I really do, but she is quick and sneaky!

Someday I will tell you stories about my other two children, but for now Adie likes the spotlight.

She almost made it today...

It is 9pm and I was going to sit down and blog about something other than Adie. Because today was a good day with hanging out with friends in the cities and she didn't have time to do anything mischievous.

Well, I opened blogger and I hear, "Moooooooooooom, Adie is getting into trouble."

By the time I run into their bedroom and look in, Adie had the tub of Cetaphil lotion all over her hands, feet, belly and carpet. Imagine she is more white that peach colored. Needless to say, her skin is well moisturized and I will probably need to call Stanly Steamer this week because lotion doesn't come up very well.

Now she is standing at her door crying because she doesn't want to go to bed.

Another day in the life of Adie Lynn Larsen.

I need a lock

on my refrigerator.

When I walked into the kitchen, Adie had 4 sticks of butter unwrapped and was trying to eat them.

Meanwhile, Grace and Lydia were running around with a couple of boxes of butter that they took away from her.

Oh mercy! She keeps me on my toes!

Who has time to watch TV?

I was ponder that question when I was painting yesterday and today. I am not saying that we are running from activity to activity, but I keep myself plenty busy doing thing around here.

We are in the middle of finishing off our porch to turn it into a playroom and a place that so happens to hold our extra bed. Priming and painting two coats of paint is going to take me awhile. Have you ever tried to paint plywood? Take it from me...it is hard work.

While I was painting the outside of the house this evening, the girls were playing with the water spicket and making mud pies. What an evening to make mud pies...75 degrees with no breeze! Needless to say, we had to hose off before going in to take a bath.

Off to sew some more head scarves and nursing shawls. God is totally blessing this adventure!

Please pray we get a referral soon for our children. We just want to know who they are!

Connections

One day when I was surfing around blog, I came to a whole long list of thrifty blogs. Now if you know me, I love being thrifty. But I don't have the time to find which places have this or that on sale and what coupon to use there etc. There are people who devote their whole blog to this, but I couldn't find one for this areas coupons and sales. I actually prayed that God would lead me to one.

Well, today at a Mom's social at church I had a woman come up to me and ask me about blogging and she has one and she loves being thrifty...(in my mind I was thinking...Oh my goodness God you are answering my prayer...) So she is going to send me her blog and links and then hopefully the ball will be rolling in this area.

I think her blog will be a great network where we can share all of our ideas in one place. My blog is way to random...who wants to read about money saving ideas one day and the next all about Adie's crazy adventures?

We all know we like a one stop shop! Until then I leave you in anticipation of money saving ideas...get your thinking caps on central MN and be ready to share soon!

Someday I will write a book

Adie Lynn will be the main person in this book...and how I survived her childhood. Of all kids, she is going to have the best stories or I should say, I will have the best stories to tell.

Yesterday I cleaned out the girls' closet, drawers and all of my tubs of clothes. We did the great SWITCH OUT! It was crazy...clothes everywhere, kids coming in and out, but we did it! It was a warm fuzzy feeling until I stepped out of the bedroom.

Little bits of finely grated cheddar cheese greeted me when I looked out.

hmmmm....Adie?

I kept walking down the hallway to find more and more cheese - EVERYWHERE.

When I found her she said, "I hunree."

This wasn't the two cup bag of cheese from Coborns...it was the 10 cup from Sam's Club.

But now I should back up and tell you that for the past week she has been taking her diaper off before she falls asleep at night. What can I say? She likes to sleep nude. This is all fine and dandy if she was night trained. Now I have to wait until she wakes up to change the complete bedding set. Many of you might be thinking why not wake her up and put a diaper on her? Now for most children this would work, but this would throw her into a temper tantrum in which she would tear that diaper off again so I am back to where I started.

She did this again last night...and ended up sleeping with me because I couldn't get her to calm down, keep her diaper on and go to sleep.

Oh one more thing...She was pretty much potty trained a month ago and now all she wants is diapers during the day. BUT- as soon as she does her business...OFF with the diaper! So - she walked down the hallway from the kitchen to tell me, "I poop! I pooped Momma."

Too late...out comes Mr. Clean!

These are the events of the past 24 hours.

Of my girls, I am the most curious as to what God has called Adie to do with her life. I pray it is something wild and crazy for Him.

Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle

I just watched this video off of another blog that I read. It was a humbling experience to watch because I am so guilty of making judgments myself. I was crying as I watched her sing because I couldn't help to think of all the people out there with amazing gifts who never have a chance to shine because they aren't what the world would call beautiful.

(Shut off the music on the side of my blog before you hit play)

Project Night

I am having a project night at my house this Friday night at 7:30, so if any of you ladies live near me and have a little project that you have been wanting to get done...come on over! I would love to hang out with you while eating some yummy cake. Leave me a comment with your email and I will get you directions to my house.

Be blessed today.

Easter

We had Easter at our house this year. It was a great family get together with my grandparents, mom, two brothers, my in-laws, my aunt, friends etc. We all went to church and it was splendid!

My mother-in-law and MomUncle Chris and Adie..."Faster"

It was a beautiful day to play outside and go down the zip line.

Flight with Grandpa

Grace took her first flight with Grandpa on Saturday night along with her Daddy and cousin Hannah.

Lydia was able to go early Easter morning but we have no pictures of that ride.


There is our house...it is the long brown one at the end of the cul-de-sac. I know it is hard to see, but hey it is neat to see it from the air.

I think she is so beautiful.

oh this is how we got home...

We all rode in the truck back to Willmar where my mom and brother unloaded the van so we could drive the rest of the way home. In order to get out of the driveway (the van was left at the end of it), the truck was loaded on the trailer and the tractor pulled the trailer. I wish I had a picture of how muddy it really was out there! WOW is about all that I can say.

Feeling like Martha

We arrived home late last night. It always feels great to be home!

Now today I must admit that I feel more like Martha and than Mary.

I have literally been running since I got up this morning.

unpacking the van - gross
laundry
cleaning bathrooms
vacuuming
meal prep...we are having Easter at my house this year
re-cleaning what I already cleaned...thanks Adie


I just need to sit down with my bible...I feel distracted.

I need to choose what is better.

Flashback Friday

This is from 3 years ago when we celebrated Papa's birthday.  We did the same thing this week while we were out here.  The girls were a little bummed that Nana's had all of her birthday supplies in MN and not out at the ranch.  So they made their own...they were very proud of all the treasures...they even used duct tape to seal the box.  

My little girls have grown so much...

$5 tooth

I got a comment yesterday wondering if $5 is the going rate for a tooth.  It is NOT at my house, but when you have a Papa and an Uncle who have been looking at this wiggly tooth for days, the going rate goes up.  It was driving them crazy to look at it!  This is my brother who would get out the pliers to pull his teeth.  I personally think .50-1.00 is a good price for a tooth.  This was their entertainment for the week.  

They have had 4 ft of snow out here in the past 3 weeks, so leaving the ranch has become a rare experience.  So, paying $5 for a tooth was cheap entertainment.

Wednesday Wonders

Nana bought a box of Fudge Pops and they have been a hit all week.

What can I say?  She likes to make a mess and clean too!

Science lab...dissecting a calf.

Grace lost her first tooth!  and it was very profitable too!  We tried and tried yesterday and no one could grab it without screams (a little drama).  Today it was my  turn.  She wasn't going to let me do, but I begged.  I pulled it out...scream...she was going to run away and pout, but my dad told her she better look in the mirror.  Much to her surprise...she had a hole where her tooth had been.  I had it in my hand.

Mercies are new every morning

And that is a good thing for Adie.

She decided that she was going to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the night last night.  She took one break in about a four hour window.  I am thankful my mom took her after that because I seriously didn't know what do with her.  

Today is a new day and I am praying for better behavior.  She defines tobasco...hot and spicy with a little burn but she add so much flavor to our family that I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

Today's science lesson will be disecting a calf that died two days ago.  And we are EXCITED!  So excited that they want to baggie all the organs to take home and show their cousins.  Look out Carrie here we come!  Most college freshmen don't have an opportunity like this...Three cheers for homeschooling!

Pictures from the day

These are mostly for Daddy who can' t be here to enjoy all the fun.

My little cowgirl.

Building the fort.  I don't think there will be much left tomorrow.

Doing crafts.

Science:  Grace wanted to see how long it took to melt in the snowball in the puddle.  Can you see her brain clicking?

Oh - the fort is so neat.

Doesn't this look like fun?

Snowball fight will Uncle Kelly.

A little snuggle time,

and silly time.

Another cowgirl

She thought she was so silly.

It is amazing what 5 dollars of paper products can do for creativity.  

We made it to the ranch...

After starting our journey on Sunday afternoon, we made it last night about 6pm.  We made a pit-stop in Fargo to spend the  night with my brother and his wife.  The girls had to learn that you can't run, jump, scream or wrestle in an apt otherwise the neighbors will come up to see what is wrong.  We were off by 6:40 to head across the great state of ND.  

The girls were great, but it was a LONG drive.  We stopped  a couple miles from the driveway for my dad and brother to pick us up.  We got to see a real one room schoolhouse that teaches 5 children while we waited for them.  It took them over an hour to make it out of the 7 mile long driveway.  They have gotten over 4 ft of snow in the past two weeks and it is MUDDY!  (If my girls were boys, they would have been rolling in it already)  The truck made it 3 miles, before we had to be pulled by the huge tractor the rest of the 4 miles home.  My mini-van would have made it 100 ft down the driveway...I am thankful for big machines!

We have been out on the 4-wheeler and the mule (think of a golf cart on steriods) checking calves and giving medicine.  Grace and Lydia are really concerned that we wash their coats and boots before we go home...oh city kids!  I don't know if we ever thought of washing our stuff when we were kids...it was just going to get dirty the next time we went out.

Adie named a cow, "Rachel."  The first thing she told Nana when she came back into the house was, "Rachel pooped." She was well aware of the cows bodily fluids.

Now it is 60 degrees outside and we are building snow forts and tunnels...Only in Montana!

I have to be honest...I am a little bummed because I was planning on sewing out here and I forgot my powercord for the sewing machine...ARGH!  I remembered everything else but that! Oh I guess the Lord wants me to do other things this week!

Until the next update...

On fire...

I just got back from the MACHE homeschool conference with over 6000 people attending. It was great experience to be reminded that I am the best teacher for my children and God put our children in this family for an eternal purpose and that is to bring Him glory. I am excited to use some of the tools that I learned and games that I purchased. Sometimes after a long winter in doors things become too routine and honestly...blah. So we are going to do some more hands on learning this week and the weeks to follow. We are closing the workbooks and are going to do some discovery learning.

There is a whole lot more that might have to be another post because I am packing for our trip to Nana and Papa's ranch. We are sad because we have to leave Daddy behind, but the girls are giddy over the fact that they might be able to see a calf being born. (Yey - homeschool science on the road!)

Since I haven't posted any pictures or video lately...here is one of Adie saying that she is hungry. I have to catch her frog impersonation because it is way too cute.

Toddlers

There are three things that I used to say that I cannot make toddlers do...no matter how hard I try.
Oh you can get pretty close, but if they want to be strong willed...good luck!

1. Eat
2. Sleep
3. Go to the bathroom

I now have to add a 4th...Keeping their pull-up or diaper on! Adie takes hers off at night...even with duct tape on! Gross - Yuck - Ooiee Potty everywhere is not how you want to be greeted in the morning.

Adie just came running in naked...I guess I better go and take care of that!

Adie Lynn

What do you do when your two year says from her crib..."No sorry!"

I guess she needs longer time in her crib.

Mess ouside

We were sitting having lunch today when Adie told us that there was a "mess outside." This is her verbalizing that it had snowed. (I would agree with her...wet sloshy snow equals a mess in my house.)

Anyways, Lydia looked at her and said, "At least is is a beautiful mess."

Out of the mouths of babes.

I can't help to think of so many times in my life feels like a mess from my viewpoint but God looks at the mess and says, "But I think it is beautiful...sometimes you have to look beyond your own circumstances. I am working for you good. Trust me!"

I love my children and how they draw me closer to my heavenly father.