Break time!

June was no t.v. month. With the exception of an occasional dvd on a rainy day for the kiddos or a family dvd night. It's gone so well that I'm thinking it'll continue indefinitely! Haven't told the gang yet, but I think they'll be fine. We're starting school in a week or so anyway so they won't have so much down time to worry about being bored!

I'm now declaring July...drumroll please...no blogging and no FaceBook month! It was so hard to type that! I need it, though. I need it to get school started and to get some crafts and other projects accomplished. Phew...the first step is always the hardest.

See you in August!

Jump Start!!!

We have used the Jump Start preschool cd-rom game since Noah (12) was a preschooler. Loved it! Still love it! My bloggy friend over at Octamom is having a giveaway so I said I'm mention it here! Go and take a peek at her cutie-patootie of a son endorsing this product! Also, don't forget to enter for the drawing!

Greenbeans in the Garden

Well not really...but this video will do just fine until we actually get some a growin'.

(I couldn't get it to actually display on here but you can click on the link to watch this.)

(Found this on Kelly's blog at Generation Cedar.)

Through my lens...

I love our home and our land that we live on...all 1 1/2 acres of it! We have at least 6 Peony bushes and I love it when they bloom and I can clip some to put on the counter or table to enjoy their beauty and their fragrance!

No T.V.???!!!

My children can thank April over at Coal Creek Farm. She mentioned some time ago that they go t.v.-less for the month of June. I know! Can you believe it?! Not only that, but they go electric-doohicky-less for the whole month, too! Well ya know what?! Sounds pretty hootin' good to me!! But I think I will modify it.
Here's our usual electric gadget routine...
The little ones usually watch about 1/2 hour of t.v. (PBS) in the morning and then maybe Sesame Street. Then later on in the day we may watch a video. As a family about one night a week we sit down together to watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie (we have all of the seasons). Maybe once a month we'll rent a kiddo video and then watch it while eating dinner ala picnic style in the living room. The kiddos each get about 20-30 minutes of computer time a day. That's great, but when you multiply that by 5 (the older 5 like to sit and watch each other, unless the warden I catch them) it's sometimes over 2 hours of mindnumbing torture non-stop computer fun! And to boot they have a few of those Plug - n - Play thingees that you plug into the computer and play (hence the name -- brilliant, huh?!) so they ask to play that once in a while. I guess compared to "normal" families my kiddos are deprived (nope, no playstation, gameboy, whatever) but to me that's all a bit much. So here's the plan...

Starting June 1st and going to June 30th we are going t.v.-less. For the most part anyway. My mom lives with us so I am not going to impose my little rule to her but I would LOVE it if she would do the same. She has a t.v. in her room upstairs and I think she watches way too much "Judge Such-n-such", "Gameshow Whoop-tee-doo", and "America's Got Nothing" but I'm not her mom. So for downstairs the rule will be no t.v. except for our weekly viewing of Little House on the Prairie. (I have to add that the kiddos have saved up their Family Tax money (that's another post) to purchase the series of Planet Earth from Discovery Chanel so we may watch that.) They will each get 15 minutes of computer time without an audience (hey, if they don't, their Webkinz may die of starvation -- or so I'm told!) OR time on the Plug-N-Play. Instead of all that I'm hoping they will enjoy more of one another's company, enjoy the outdoors more (the weather should be great!), do some crafts (I LOVE crafts!!!), and read a LOT more than their usual time (the library summer reading program starts in June). Who knows, they just may not miss watching the same episode of Sesame Street for the gazillionth time and we may just continue this forever and ever!

I have to add here that my husband and I got glued to a few programs on the telly in the evenings but they are done for the season and for almost 2 weeks now we've been t.v. free in the evenings! Yahoooo!! Now if I could just wean myself off the computer! Yeah, right...like that will ever happen!!

Through my lens...

This is the view from my kitchen window...too cool for words!!

All things pink!

Today is my 7th child, my 4th daughter, my bundle of love, my pink wearing little peanut, my cutie patootie, my li'l bitty, my...well... my little baby Abigail's 1st birthday! I am excited for her to be entering this new realm of childhood. It is sad, in a way, since she may well be our last little bundle so with every milestone I think "this may be the last time we have a child's first -- fill in the blank". She's crawling, jabbering, waving, says "wassat?" as she points to things. She loves me to bits and pieces and the feeling is mutual! She loves her big brothers and sisters, her daddy and Nana, too. She has a thing for Duplo Lego people, Hannah's baby doll, and our Fridge Phonics toy. She loves to "dance" by sitting on her knees and bouncing up and down...some times she "dances" so well she just flops backwards. She is such a joy, this little blue eyed baby of mine who looks mighty cute in all things pink!


This is the balloon that I got for her. The flitting little butterflies suits her well!


Her cake is home made (we're trying to be really frugal lately), but frosted in pink with lavendar sprinkles.



I love this little flower head band I bought after Easter (clearance sale!). I am hoping to have her pictures taken at the studio and have her wear this and her pink dress I bought her for Easter.


I love this tissue paper. It was a total impulse buy at the store the other day. I did, however, get her wrapping paper free after buying two cards. I usually like to make my own cards but this is her first birthday and I wanted to have special cards to save in the cedar chest. So...back to the tissue paper! It is by artist Kathy Davis. I just stood there in awe at the display. I looooved all the tissue papers, gift bags, tags, cards. The combinations of designs (petite flowers, butterflies and stripes) and colors (all shades of pink, lavendar, melon, lime green). Oooh I love it! I plan to go and drool over it next week when I go to the store. Odd, I know...I just have this thing for paper, bags, stickers, stationary, rubber stamps etc. It's my weakness...but not as bad as my weakness for my "all things pink" baby!