Thursday, December 27, 2012

Thrify Girl!!

 
Thrift shopping is awesome!
 
If you have a local thrift shop whether it be the Care center, Salvation Army or any other local shop! Check them out, you might be surprised at what you find!
 
I visited our local Salvation Army last week. I bought 30 new childrens books for our School Room!! These included 20 1st edition---OLD----Dr. Suess books for .49cents each!!!
 
So happy I came across this awesome find!!

Catch up!

Wow! I'm slacking on the posts!
Christmas was so busy that I didn't really have much time to blog.
 
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and....
 
Here's a little catch up, photo overload :)
 
 
 
 
Christmas Eve, the kids got to open a couple presents early :)




Rudolph Pancakes!!
 




 
Baking Cookies :)
 


 
Ready for Santa!

 
Santa Came!
 













 
He's loving his remote control Steam Train

 
She's loving her Nintendo DS

 
 
 
 
 


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The Gift of Giving

Tis the season to think of others. While I personally believe that we should be charitable all year round, there seems to be a special emphasis on giving during the holidays. This gives us a great opportunity as parents and teachers to use the events around us to teach our children about serving others.

The best way to teach our children is by example and they will repeat what they see in us.

Our family appreciates the military that puts their lives on the line everyday for our freedom. Some go months & years without seeing their loved ones. I'm sure for most the holidays are the most difficult times to get through. What better way to show our support than sending a care package. After some research I decided Anysoldier.com . It's a great and easy to use website. You simply go through the hundreds of soldiers who register with anysoldier. Every soldier writes a little bit about themselves &/or their platoons, etc. They may request certain items or just a simple hello from someone back home. It's a heartwarming program and I'd love for ya'll to check it out! You can request up to 2 addresses per day. Anysoldier sends the soldier's address to your email. It's quick, easy and free....but oh what a wonderful gift for a deserving soldier!

As a family we went through our cabinets and found items we don't need or had too much of and put them in a box. We also went to our local grocery store and purchased hygiene products. The kids made beautiful cards and drawings too. All of these were put into a box and shipped overseas to an army platoon stationed in Afganistan.



We serve others in love (Galatians 5:13) because Jesus was the ultimate servant, laying down His life as a ransom so that we could experience freedom from sin and eternal life (Mark 10:43b-45).

Monday, December 17, 2012

Weekend in South Dakota!

Sorry ya'll, I've been super busy with Christmas right around the corner! We spent this past weekend in Rapid City, South Dakota. We visited Mt. Rushmore, Main Street Square and shopped til we dropped at Cabela's and Rushmore Mall!! We had an amazing time and hope to go back sometime soon. There's so much to do and too little time!! :) Hope you enjoy our pictures!

 
The kids are all ready to start our day!


 
Sunrise from our hotel suite



 
Wooden Bridge!

 
Tunnel through a mountain!

 
In the black hills

 
Here turkey, turkey, turkey...

 
Downtown Keystone

 
All of us at Mt Rushmore!

 
It was amazing!

 
Walkway of state flags

 
More pictures of Downtown Keystone


 
Main Street Square in Rapid City, South Dakota

 

 
Horse & Carriage Ride!



 
We got to watch figure skaters perform


 
The cutest cupcakes I've ever seen!



 
Cabelas, of course!



 
Dinner at Texas Roadhouse!



 
Early Christmas presents!


 
My goofy husband and I :)

 
Barbie came with us and got a new pretty pink necklace!

 
Cheapest we've seen gas anywhere!!!

 
Sturgis, SD

 
Full Throttle Saloon

 
Visit with Santa


 
Bear Butte

 
On our way home