Coloring pages.....

One thing I love about the internet is finding coloring pages. Today Gabe was asking me to draw a black knight well my drawing skills are very limited. I found this great link to Castle & Knight coloring pages. He was very happy to have some of these pages printed out.

Does anyone else have some favorite links to coloring pages????

There a few blogs that I love to read and "I Have To Say" is one of them. She has a lot of sewing inspiration and recipes that are great. She has started to host this Recipe Box Swap again and I posted my Cinnamon Scone recipe. If you would like to find some other great recipes you can click on the link above. Also join in on the fun too and let me know about it. I'll be checking often to see the new recipes.

Kid Fun & Other News.....

Today the kids and I went to the Kids Expo at the Alliant Energy Center in spite of the weather condition. The Lord was good and gave us safety there and back. We spent a good 4 hours there and didn't have a problem staying busy. The kids had fun collecting candy, playing games, bouncing for a bit and getting there hair sprayed fun colors.

The kids also got to enjoy an animal show were they saw animals like a tortoise, chinchilla, and one animal that sent Anna running far away..... a huge snake. I even kept my distance, since they are not my favorite animal. The boys on the other hand were up front and center. There was no fear in either of my boys with any of the animals and if Noah could of he would of climbed right up on stage.

Another fun place the kids and I went about a week ago was the Madison Children's Museum. It is an awesome place and the kids loved it. We were there for a good 3 hours and the kids came home exhausted. I love places were the kids can run and play hard because then they come home and sleep really well at night.

Lastly we will be traveling to Cedar Rapids Iowa on Tuesday because my husband has two interviews. The kids and I will be checking out the town and hopefully find some fun places to visit. We will also be praying for daddy that the interviews go well and that hopefully a nursing job will be the end result.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I should of had my camera with me, but with trying to carry as little as possible I left it home.

Cook Yourself Thin......

I have been watching some episodes called, "Cook Yourself Thin." They have been awesome and I have been learning so much. Some of the things I've learned I have already known and some things have been new. One thing I learned today was to use parchment paper when baking cookies because it's not only makes clean up easy, but saves you some calories with not using the spray stuff, which really is not good for us anyway. Another problem I have is the amount of butter I use in foods and baking. I have seen some really great recipes that don't use any butter or oil. I am going to have to try out this Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe, which sounds awesome. Lastly Olive oil is also the best oil to us when you want to use an oil.

To find some of their other recipes you can go here. I will be checking them out here over the next few months and when I find one I love I'll let you know.

I have been challenged by my husband to workout at least 30 minutes every day, no coffee in the morning, since I like to put to much cream and sugar in it and lastly no sweets or I am hoping to make some healthy cookies and deserts to curve my craving, which I know I will have. The kids make cooking a challenge because we know how much kids like sweets and treats. I do have one thing going for me is that I am not a snack person.

So this is my challenge and now I need a lot of accountability. I not only want to do this for myself, but for my kids. I want them to see the importance of exercise and eating foods that are good for the body. Another reason I need to do this is because in I Corinthians 6:19 the Lord tells us our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and also our body is not our own. We need to keep ourselves healthy because that is what the Lord would want us to do. I hope I have encouraged another and set up some accountability also for myself.

Valentines Package.......
The kids had yummy heart pancakes yesterday for breakfast and then they all dressed in red. Mommy was even wearing red, which the kids loved. The kids then started asking if I had anything special for them. I had been keeping the package from Grandpa & Grandma a secret. They were really excited when they saw it and there were so many goodies in it. They especially love the marshmallow suckers, but one package of the Twizzlers is gone with a few of the Air Heads. Thanks grandma & Grandpa for all the goodies:)

Your Divine Valentine.....

A Valentine may play a love song for you, but God sings you the sweetest love song in the universe.
The Lord your God... will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

A Valentine may give you flowers, but God sent you the most beautiful rose of all. Jesus.
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Song of Solomon 2:1

A Valentine may bring you chocolate, but God provides you with something even sweeter, His Word.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

A Valentine may love you for a lifetime, but God loved you before you were born and will love you for all eternity.
Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love...with loving kindness I have drawn you. Jeremiah 31:3

Praying you're blessed by the wonderful love of God this Valentine's Day and always!

Adoption......

Some good friends of ours are planning to adopt a little boy when the Lord provides. They are such a loving family and I'm excited for them. To learn more about this family you can visit, "Sharing our Joy". I know I enjoyed reading about there family and I know you will too.

Onion Rings.....

There is nothing I like better then yummy onion rings and this is a great recipe. If you want to watch it you can go here. I just use regular milk, since I don't keep buttermilk on hand. Also use any spices you want and make it your own. Onion rings are so easy to make, so I hope you will try it out if you love them as much as I do.

Old, but New Cabinet.......
A few weeks ago my parents brought me an old cabinet that was just sitting out in there garage. I love it and it has given me some great storage for the kids school stuff and craft supplies. I love having things organized and easy to find.

The top few shelves holds some binders, paint supplies, card game, and markers.

The bottom two shelves holds Anna and Gabe's school books. One shelf for Anna and one shelf for Gabriel. It works great and easy for them to get too.

Blizzard Results.....
The kids have been having a blast playing in all the new snow, but not so much fun for daddy. It was drifted as high as our fence in the back yard that the dogs could play in the neighbors yard, which is luckily fenced.

It was packed up around the trucks back end and only took a good hour or more to get everything all shoveled.