GET READY: Tomorrow is the Giveaway!!

Hey Ya'll! 

Get ready, because tomorrow I am doing a great giveaway! YOU have helped me reach over 100 likes, therefore, I am doing an awesome giveaway FOR YOU! You will have many chances to get your name in the drawing... all of those amazing details come out tomorrow! Yay!! The giveaway is something that I use very often and for many different things. I can't wait to share with you! 

I will be partnering up with Natural-Nester to do this awesome FREE Giveaway to our followers! So be sure to check back tomorrow for all the details on how to enter! 

Go ahead and check out our facebook pages! And share the page with your friends and get them to LIKE us to! 

Here's the link to Natural-Nurturer on facebook, and here's the one to Natural-Nester, so go check those out! 

A Little HINT!

Tomorrow we will both be featuring each other's cooking blog with the recipe included, so we will be giving away some awesome kitchen supplies from Nutrition Lifestyles, so go ahead and take some time to go check out their awesome supplies there! And come back tomorrow to find what item you could win! 

Toddler and Choices...

Do you give your toddler choices? What they want to play, eat, do? I have been reading one of the best blogs ever for the past few months, Play At Home Mom, and they have some fantastic ideas! 

One of the blogs that really caught my eye was setting up an area where your child can choose their snacks. So, I have taken the time to set it up. It has been working very well in my home. My son goes to the door and wants me to help him open it, and he chooses what he wants. 

The first things that he does when he wakes up is get a snack, usually a baggie of cereal, and then watch one episode of cartoons as we wait for our daycare friends to arrive. 

This is his shelf in the pantry.

Applesauce and Crackers

Cereal and Crackers

Fruit bowls, dried fruit, raisins

Squeezy fruit, fruit bowls

It has been working so well. I know he is going to be so excited when he wakes up tomorrow to a new stock of snacks for him to choose from. I love watching his little eyes go from one to another to make his choice. It is so nice to have him pick what he wants.... less work for me! :)

He already had his own drawers with his cups, plates, bowls. But tonight I spent some time to organize them. I will be checking them and making sure they stay organized. I know he will appreciate the organization more as well. 

When he helps me unload the dishwasher, he is really good at putting his things in his drawer, hence the reason it looks like the one below. 

Organized...

My pantry... It needs some work. THAT, is my next project. I have some ideas on how I want to organized it.. I will share when it is completed. 

Way too excited about finding the bulk section in a local grocery store. All of that pasta cost me LESS than $5.00. Amazing. 

This is my sons area in the fridge. He has gogurts, cheesesticks, blackberries, and strawberries. 

He is going to LOOOOVE it! I hope this helps someone. Remember to check out that website! 

-C

Candy and Color Fun

The teacher in me wants to make sure that my sweet boy has a good, founded education before he starts school- either public or home schooled! As we started working on potty training at 18months old, I had these small baking Reeses pieces... and decided to have some color identification fun with it! 

First I took a piece of paper and drew two lines in it, giving it three columns.

Then I put the colors on top and we talked about what color they were and we matched up each candy with the correct color. 

Can you tell that he loved it. He had so much fun. Oddly enough, my smart little boy- Got.It. You will be surprised what your young one actually comprehends if you model it for them. 

A different day, we did it again. This time I used note cards.... same concept. He loved it. 

When you can't figure out what to do with your munchkin, look in your baking cabinet and see what educational fun can be had! 

-C

The Rocking Chair

As I sat with my tired little boy today and began to rock him, my mind began to wander... and for the remainder of today I have just thought and thought and thought about this theme... the Rocking Chair. Just bare with me.

I have loved rocking my sweet one since the day he was born. Actually, I spent many hours rocking him, in his nursery, while I was pregnant. After my brother died, I would spend a lot of time in that room remembering, wishing, crying- alone. I love rocking my baby, in the womb and out. Today I started thinking that I don't rock him enough. I began to dread when he is too old to want me to rock him... or too big to sit in the rocking chair with me. I am so thankful for these sweet times in the rocking chair. He is so busy now that he really only lets me when he is tired, upset, or sleeping. But I love it nonetheless.

Then my mind went to my mom and how she doesn't have that luxury of having her son around anymore to rock even if she wanted, he wanted, or he was small enough. My heart hurt for my mom and made me hold my baby boy even tighter. The pain my sweet mom must have felt when she heard the news that her son, her baby boy, was taken from this world. My mom is truly the strongest woman I know and I hate she had to go through this.. continues to go through this. I hate that all my mom has left are memories of rocking her baby. I know she has such great memories though. My mom, along with all of the other moms that have lost their child way too early in life.... my heart hurts, but I pray they all have great memories of rocking their child.

What about those moms that never got to rock their baby? Those moms that prepared for the arrival of their bundle of joy only to have their baby taken from them as soon as they delivered. Or the mom that lost her life giving birth to that baby that would not be able to walk with their mom. Or the mom that never got the chance to truly embrace the joys of pregnancy or dream of rocking their baby. The mom that wasn't able to hold their baby as they grew and rock them to console them, to put them to sleep, just to love them. And my heart hurt.

What about the moms that have been able to bask in the greatness of pregnancy and a newborn? The moms that, like me, have enjoyed rocking their sweet one, day in and day out. But the same moms that get the terrible news as their baby is growing that their baby is not going to make it? The moms that have to rock their baby until they can't rock anymore because they don't know how much longer they really have. Again, my heart hurts. What about those moms?

What about the women that have tried for months or years to have that baby to rock? Those women that have put their whole being into trying to have that baby to rock- but can't? These women that can only dream of seeing those two lines on a test, seeing their first ultrasound, watching their belly grow, feeling that first kick, feeling the onset of labor, and birthing a baby? The women that can only DREAM of having that child of their own to rock in that special rocking chair. My heart hurts.

What about the women that have lost their sweet husband before they were able to have that baby together. The women that had already planned what their life was going to be like with their sweet man and then he doesn't come home from war, from work, from errands? The woman that will never be able to share in that with the man of her dreams because he was taken all too soon from him. What about them? It hurts my heart.

Then my mind began to think about those babies, kids, young adults that have never had the luxury of having a Mommy rock them. Never having a mom that cared enough to treat them the way I treat my baby. To have a mom love them the way I love my baby. To have a mom dote on them like I do mine. What about those babies that grow into adults and struggle on a daily basis because they didn't have a mom like I did, like I want to be? What about those kids?

Or the babies that have lost their Mom way too soon... at birth or after and have never been able to have their mom rock them, hold them, love them. What about them? What happens?

Then it hit me. It hit me today like a ton of bricks. It comes from the song I sang many times in my Youth Choir and Drama "Jesus has a Rocking Chair." How often I forget that. I forget to let Jesus Christ rock me during the good times and the bad times. The amazing feeling I get when rocking my sweet boy is only a grain of what the Lord feels when I ALLOW Him to rock me. Why don't I give up and let Him? WHY do I struggle with this so much? Am I the only one that struggles so bad with this?

In each example that I talked about above, I know someone personally that has been there. Did they, are they letting Jesus rock them? Why do I have such little faith? I know that the Lord wants to love me, admire me, dote on me, smile with me, laugh with me, cry with me, hold me, and rock me- just like I do my sweet one. Why is it so hard to let him.

My girlfriend has a sweet daughter that rocks herself to sleep. We laugh about it. But I began to think about this again this afternoon... maybe she is just feeling the arms of Christ around her and the comfortableness of Him... as she rocks herself to sleep. Oh ye' of little faith. Maybe I should begin rocking myself to sleep as I pray to the Lord. I am positive that He will help me understand that He is right there with me, with his arms around me, rocking me.

The rocking chair is so important to me. I don't think I will ever sit in our rocking chair again without thinking about all my thoughts today. Putting it on paper just does not give my thoughts justice. I have had so many thoughts with it. Jesus is here to rock me. When I feel like I can't go on, that my heart is broken, that I am tired of trying, that I don't know where to turn, HE is here rocking me. I need to feel it. Lean upon Him. Rest in Him. Let Him.


What about you?



"Jesus Has a Rocking Chair"

Many hopeful Moms and Dads try to have a child of their own,
some never get the chance, others do and see them grow

There are some who are expecting that precious baby soon

but then it's gone before it ever leaves the safety of it's momas' womb

JESUS has a rocking chair and HE holds that precious baby with oh such tender care
HE takes the place of Mom and Dad, HE's the greatest parent a child could have
Don't worry about the children there, JESUS has a rocking chair

There are those who have a boy or girl a lovely gift of GOD,
But sickness or a tragedy takes them from their parents arms,
Mommas wish for days gone by, daddys long for that lost child
But children are not lost when you know where they are

JESUS has a rocking chair and HE holds that precious baby with oh such tender care
HE takes the place of Mom and Dad, HE's the greatest parent a child could have
Don't worry about the children there, JESUS has a rocking chair

She was 18 and not married,expecting her little one
But in her time of confusion she took the life of her son
Since then, JESUS forgave her and HE took all of her shame away
Still she cries missing her baby but she hears the angels say

JESUS has a rocking chair and HE holds that precious baby with oh such tender care
HE takes the place of Mom and Dad, HE's the greatest parent a child could have
Don't worry about the children there, JESUS has a rocking chair

Kid's Fun Room

When we moved into our new house we chose a house that has five rooms for a reason! I needed the extra room for my childcare! I knew I wanted a chalk board in the room. So, instead of buying it.. my sweet husband spent a whole day making it.

It looks great in the room and the kids love it! He used plywood, paneling, and chalkboard paint to create it. SOO super easy. He made it where we will just leave it here when we move instead of taking it with us. It was rather inexpensive AND it is huge!

Bread + 6 kids??

WHO DOES THAT!?

I have been wanting to make some more homemade bread for a few weeks.. but life and all these munchkins have just held me back. I have wondered... how am I going to make all of this bread with 6+ kids at my house? I am suppose to be teaching them new things everyday, not making bread for my own pleasure! By the time the kids leave and we have had dinner... and Noah has gone to bed.. well quite frankly, I don't want to mess my kitchen up again!



Today it hit me!! I'll turn our baking bread experience into a lesson that we all do together! Dare I say.. it was fun? We had such a blast! The kids listened to me and actively participated as we went through each step. We felt each texture and I told them everything we were doing.. They had so much fun.



We began by grinding our whole wheat in our wheat grinder, courtesy of www.nutritionlifestyles.com. The kids LOVED this. The loud noise, plus being outside, being able to put the wheat in the grinder themselves, watching it grind, and seeing the end product was TOO MUCH fun! After we did that, I moved my Bosch, also courtesy of www.nutritionlifestyles.com, to the kids table and we used it to mix and knead our bread. Then we used oil and made our loaves.. then baked them!! YUMMY! If you want my recipe, just ask.. it is also courtesy of www.nutritionlifestyles.com. It is a great website with great kitchen tools. A lot of my kitchen is from there.... and yes, it is my mother and father in laws business! Check them out.



In the end we had 6 beautiful loaves of bread + four small loaves that the kids got to do for themselves! It was so fun. Oh and SOO yummy! Of course AFTER we make these six loaves of bread- I REMEMBER!! I still have some frozen waiting for me! :) At least we had fun.



Next time you feel too busy to do that project that you want to do... remember you can engage your child(ren) with you... because they can HELP! You will three birds at once..keeping the kids busy, TEACHING the kids, and getting your project completed!



Hooray for Fresh Bread and Happy Children!

Right where I belong!

I am now starting to see the big picture of what my life is suppose to be.

Sometimes I wonder if I am crazy to be staying home. I spent four and a half years getting my undergrad to teach and spent another year getting my Masters. Let us not speak of the amount of money that I (ERRR) still owe for my education... to teach other children. I had some of the best five years of teaching and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I made a difference. I loved those kids. I learned so much with the teachers that I taught with. There were moments this year, especially in August and September, that I would pass a school or read things on FB from my teacher friends... and my heart would twinge... because it is still so hard to believe I am not teaching. But you know what I recently realized- my heart not longer aches for the classroom... I am building my own classroom, with my own child, in our own home! I love it. What more could one ask for than to be able to watch the child that the Lord has placed in their life... grow and learn.. daily!!! I am blessed.

Noah is so smart and amazes me. The other day he gave me directions to put the lid on a container, close the lid, put the container in the cabinet, and shut the door. All I could do was say "Yes, Sir" ... he is just so bright. I am so thankful that my husband is allowing me to be the 'teacher' our son needs. I have become someone I never thought I would be.

My heart is to homeschool. Shocking? Yes! But I desire to teach him any our future children. Why would I want to put them in school with other teachers so that I can go teach other peoples children? For ME, it doesn't make sense.. This is my desire. BUT I am not positive that this is what the Lord wants for our life... we shall see. We have plenty of time, I just wait.. and pray.

I have said many a time, to many a people that I wish Nate would just LET ME be a STAY AT HOME MOM. Not work at home. But you know what I realized last week when I had no kids? I don't want to be a SAHM. For Cassey- it would be dangerous. I can see myself becoming lazy, enthralled in Lifetime, forgetting who I am. Then i look at the boys the Lord has placed in my care thus far.. and I watch as they grow... and once again, I know that I am right where I need to be.

Plain and simple- the bigger picture... I was made to be a wife and mom... and I am so very thankful for that. I truly believe I was made to make our home, home... to take care of my husband as he should be taken care of, and to mother my child- from my home! God calls differnet people for different things and for this time being- I know I am right where I belong.