Gratituesday: An Awesome Concert!!!!

So, My friend invited me to a concert this past sunday! Of course I said YES!!!! The concert featured Israel Houghton and the main man was Chris Tomlin!!!!!!!!!
I haven't been to a concert in FOREVER!!! ! I mean really, over a decade, it is just something we don't spend money on!!!! SOOO I was so blessed by her generousity to invite me along, and NOT let me pay for the ticket (I owe her a steak dinner now!!!!!)

Israel Houghton on stage! HE WAS AWESOME!!!!

Chris Tomlin! He rocked the house!!!!!!! I laughed, I cried, I raised my hands to God! It was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!

So Today I am grateful to my wonderful friend MiRinda! Thank you SOOOO very much for allowing me to go with you!

Read MORE gratituesday at heavenly homemakers

SISTINE CHAPEL

WOW, this is the most amazing thing I have ever seen on the internet! You can zoom in on the neatest details... Have fun!

SISTINE CHAPEL

The things you find....

When your 3 yr old is all potty trained and "GOES" by herself!!!!!!

OH, here are the things I am dreaming of....

With spring at our door step here on the border of MN and WI.... here are somethings I am dreaming of......

Playing at the beach with the little monkeys

Smores in the back yard

Flying Kites on Mothers Day

Our Yearly Photo on the Turtle at Como Zoo

Family time in the Garden

These are just a few things I look forward to in the coming months as the weather FINALLY starts to warm up!!!!!!!!!!

7 Little Things

While reading this Great Blog this morning... I was encouraged to write .....

7 Little Things...
...that make me disproportionately happy!

1- Seeing all of my children sitting together and not fighting!!!!!

2- Baking something new and having it turn out SUPER YUMMY!!!!

3- Seeing a clothes line full of clothing on a warm sunny day!!!!

4- Seeing the first new plants growing out of the ground in the Late Spring!

5- Watching my children learning life skills, and how good they are at them!

6- SEWING something new!!! (need I say more????)

7- Getting together with family and friends!!!

The Dwelling Place...

So, our local christian station is called KTIS... and they have a website called i can help twincities

This is where I found out about the dwelling place shelter. They were looking for people to RE-Do a bedroom in the shelter! So my family along with my girlfriend Gabbi , and her daughter Grace, took on a bedroom at the shelter! I asked some of my friends and family for donations twards the room, and we were well on our way! Saturday was the big day! I left the girls at my inlaws and headed up to Shelter with my hubby, the boys, Gabbi and Grace. They all painted while I sew'd up curtains for the windows!!!!

All and all it was a great time and it felt so good doing something for all those woman in need!

My husband might even be heading back to paint the kitchen and livingroom for the house!

I do not have before photo at this time... but the room was a plain white color...

Here is the beautiful room afterwards!!!!

If you live in the area, Check out i can help twincities .com there are so many opportunites out there to help out with!!!!!!

NEWS FLASH!!!!

OH, the best thing EVER EVER EVER (ok , so far this year!) just happened this weekend! My girlfriend told me about Sprints NEW Broadband USB modem!!! So on Saturday after we finished our ROOM RE-DO ( I will blog about that later!) I went to BEST BUY and got a USB modem! AND let me tell you guys... this things is fast... ( I HAD DIAL UP TO ALL WHO WANT TO FEEL SAD FOR ME!) I would rarely download music from ITUNES because it took ATLEAST 10 min for a song... now BOOM, 30 secs! WOW~ I have had to have friends upload my photos to Shutterfly, but now... BOOM... I Can do it myself!
DOWN SIDE.... yes there is one..... I have to figure out where to scrape up $45 more dollars a month to pay for it.... YES, I could give up most of my allowance (all but $5 to be exact) BUT I would rather just try to SELL MORE on etsy! SOOO, look forward to a sale sometime in the near future!!!!!!
Just wanted to share my news!!!!!

Guess who potty trained herself???

YEP, the day before she turned 3 last week, I told her "3 yr olds don't wear diapers anymore!" And so she hasn't... she had many accidents the first day, and then really only 2 poopy ones since! GEE that was easy!

FYI on that cake! I got some NATURAL DYES from king arthur flour online... I am going to do a review on them later, but the red made a beautiful pink! It would never make red, no matter how much you add... just a darker pink! BUT it was a great strong paste color!!!!

OH, want a chance to win something fun????

HEAD HERE!!!

I am being honored this week for CLOTHER DIAPERING!!! So head over there and check it out! You could win some doll diapers from me and also a gift card from Kelly's Closet!

Great Post ....

On my other Blog today!
I just posted about Hydrogenated oils! Something we all need to think about more and do something about!!!
head HERE to read up on them!!!!!

Embassy Suits

So here it is, my review on the Embassy Suites in Down Town St. Paul, MN! You can see their site HERE....

We checked in at 5:30 PM, without any problems... Plenty of parking (I do however think $10 a day for parking is insane! Come on, we paid alot for just the room!) and the front desk man was SO very nice!

We headed right to our room (a corner king suite). The room was very easy to find, but right above the work out room... needless to say at times it sounded like someone needed some stool softeners down below! And when the weights were dropped, it sounded like a bowling alley! We did talk a walk past the "BOWLING ALLEY BATHROOM" and it was a very nice workout room! Bright and big!

My husband actually hated the suite! Well, not hated, but just thought it REALLY needed an update! All the woodwork was the color of Breast Fed Baby Poo! ISH! But it had 2 really nice big screen TV's (which we didn't really watch much) but they looked nice!

They serve FREE drinks and snacks in the eating area from 5:30-7:30 each night! A managers reception I think they call it... Either way, we did NOT see a mananger either night we were down there.... HMMM????!!!! We did however have some cold ones (Fuzzy Navels for me!) and tipped the bartender kindly!

(THANKS BLOGGER FOR FLIPPING THE PHOTO!!!! GRRR!)

We ate a the Pub that was in the hotel both nights we were there... CORKS PUB! They had great food and wonderfully expensive drinks... But we did shoot a few games of pool and met a fun couple that works for our local channel 5! HELLO GUYS!

Each morning the serve HOT breakfast to order! I was ultra impressed with the cooks ability to make an omelet... I really did stand there with my mouth wide open in AWE!!! The food was great and the area was always clean! They had fresh fruit and yummy juice! The even had this super cool toaster for my wonderful english muffins!!!!!

They did offer free shuttle service that we did use once to head to the Science Museum. The driver on the way there was So nice and kind and when I got off, I forgot to tip him... I felt horrible, and when we got back I gave his tip to a woman at the front desk and asked her to give it to him... (he was not the same man on the way back!) When we did want to head back to the hotel, we just called a number and the shuttle came to get us after just a 15 min wait! NOT bad!

All in all I would give this hotel a 4 1/2 star rating NOT a full 5 because of the need for room updates, but other than that... EVERYTHING went wonderfully! The staff was all so very nice, the area was clean, and even the other guests in the hotel were very nice! SOOO if you are ever wanting a weekend away, and live in the area, head to the embassy suites in Downtown St. Paul, and if you are ever in the area visiting, stay here.... even though the cost is alittle more... you can get a room with 2 queens and the pull out couch and sleep that family of 6 (ok, so I am excited about that myself!!!!! Hotel hunting with a big family is hard to do!)

Gratituesday: My IPOD!

I know, really Denai, is that all you have????
But yes, that is it for today!
(First, I just want to say, I am grateful to even have the IPOD, I got if FREE with our credit card rewards! YEP, I could have used the rewards on lots of things, but sometimes you just have to reward yourself... NOW of course if they had a grainmill instead, I would have gotten that!!!!)

I am grateful to be able to grab it at any time and listen to any music I want to hear at the time!
I love music! I mean really LOVE music! All kinds of music, but lately I have been loving Worship Music the most! "Sara Groves" fills my heart, "Go Fish" makes me boogie, "Third Day" just is wonderful, "Casting Crowns" well, need I say more????? OH, all these great singers and more fill my IPOD with worship and praise and my soul with such love and compansion!
Who wouldn't be grateful for a THING that helps keep God with you when you need him!!!!!

Read more gratituesday at Laura's BLOG

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!!

My baby turns 3 today !

Kaylin is such a fun little girl! She loves to sing all day long, say her ABC's and dance! She loves 24 Piece puzzles and playing memory! She loves helping make DOUGH for bread and also eating it!!!!! She is a great painter and loves making pictures for grandpa! She is our little over-achiever!!!! When she learned to sit up, she just sat up and never fell... when she learned to crawl at her 6 mo. birthday, she just crawled... when she learned to walk, she just walked and never fell.... When she learned to talk, she just started rambling!!!!! She is very intellegent for her age, but I am sure it has TONS to do with her having 3 older siblings!!!!! She is a mother hen even though she has no one younger to take care of! She enjoys playing barbies with her sister and legos with her brothers. She also loves folding washclothes when the kids have to fold the load of towels!!!! She can set the table all by herself, and loves to vacuum the kitchen floor after we eat! AH, Kaylin is just our Blond haired princess!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mommy and Daddy Love you very very much!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Goodness, NO MORE VACATIONS!!!!

OH, How I am so happy to be done going away! Don't get me wrong, it was fun being gone for 2 weekends in a row.... but I am glad that is DONE! BUT the next 2 weekends are booked full!
This coming weekend I have a Craft Fair at our school, and a Birthday Party for my baby on Sunday .... Then the following weekend we are RE- DOING a Bedroom at a Womans Shelter, that should be exciting, I will post photos when we are done!!!!! And that that sunday we have a birthday party for a niece! OH, I also Have dinner plans with some friends that friday the 13th! BUSY GIRL I AM!!!!
Either way, this week on my blog I will be posting Gratituesday tomorrow, and then a Reveiw of our first weekend away on Wed or Thursday!!!!!
NOW to catch up on my other blog!!!!!!