Sights of the Carnival

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The kids had WAY too much fun the other night at a local carnival.

Kaleb and I started out on the ferris wheel {or the steering wheel as he kept calling it}. He kept saying, “This is so much fun!!” And then wanted me to keep taking pictures of the lights. So I did. :)

My brother rode along with Zachary and the contrast between the two just cracks me up {my brother is a tank}.

Laurianna and Daddy took a ride together too {while the rest of us enjoyed some cotton candy}. See them up at the waaaaaay top?

Kaleb and I rode the carousel together…and he was enthralled by the horses and again all the colors and lights.

The girls saw one of their friends and waited in line together to ride the Scrambler {i.e. because neither of the moms wanted to see if her stomach could still handle the ride}. This is their before picture…

And the during pictures were just too much fun, so I had to share more than just one…

 

 

So much fun…and we’ll just have to go back for more!

The Boy Who Changed the World {Book Review}

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Do your children ever wonder if they will have an impact on the world? Do they dream about what they will do many years from now? The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews is a wonderfully-illustrated book that tells the story of three boys: Norman Borlaug, Henry Wallace, and George Washington Carver. These three boys each made a difference, but their stories are all entwined together.

This book shows children how every little thing that we do matters {the ‘butterfly effect’} and our decisions can impact others and make a difference in the world. For each character in the story, a butterfly is shown somewhere in the illustration to represent their life and at the end of the book the butterflies are all shown together ~ reminding children that God created each of us for a purpose and our lives can make a difference.

Our kids have been enjoying The Boy Who Changed the World since it arrived this past week and I even learned a few things that I didn’t know before. The story and pictures will keep children interested while teaching them an important concept.

Bible in 90 Days {#B90days} ~ Week 10 Check-in

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I’m only one day behind!!! Hooray!! It was really encouraging to me this past week when I was trying to find my place in the Bible {since a certain little 3 year old shut my Bible on me} ~ and I realized that I am over 2/3 of the way through the reading!

Reading through the prophets has been somewhat sad for me. I can honestly say that I don’t envy their jobs and callings one bit. While reading through Jeremiah at the beginning of the week, I had a picture of him sitting and watching the potter.

And then my mind switched over to the potter and the thoughts that must have been going through his head when he looked up and saw Jeremiah sitting there: “Oh GREAT!! It’s that doom and gloom prophet again. There goes my business for the day!” I know that Jeremiah was right and following what God was calling him to do ~ but I still don’t envy the man the hatred and contempt that was poured out on him during his life.

We have family in this week visiting and I’m hoping to stay on top of my reading ~ especially knowing that by the end of next week we’ll be through the book of Matthew!!

If you are interested in learning more about the Bible reading challenge, you can read more about it at Mom’s Toolbox. You can also download your own printable reading bookmark if you want to join along in the challenge.

My Mission for the Month…

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My friend Jenn @ Mama Jenn has started hosting a “Mama’s Mission” where we can share a goal that we have for the month…and also our results at the end of the month. I know that I generally tend to do a lot better when I actually tell the whole wide world what I would like to do. It somehow motivates me to actually get myself into gear.

That said…this is my goal for the month: EXERCISE!

I’m pulling out my 30 Day Shred dvd with my good buddy Jillian. She’s missed me much {I just know she has}. 30 days is something that I think I can manage…especially now that you all will be eyeing me, right?

Do you have any grand plans for the month? If you need some ideas, check out Jenn’s September Mission post and maybe some of the other moms will give you a great idea. :)

A Most Expensive First Camping Trip

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While the final bill has yet to be determined for our first family camping trip, I will start out by saying that despite getting off to a literal bang-up of a start, things did get better…eventually.

We decided to camp about 20 minutes away from our house ~ that way if we needed to make a trip home, it wasn’t a big ordeal. :) Lesson #1 that we learned:

Visit the campground ahead of time and check out the sites if possible.

There was a rather large and deep crevice right down the center of the site…meaning there would be a nice hole/ditch for someone to keep stepping in if the tent was set up over it. We decided to head back to the office and ask for another site.

That’s when we learned Lesson #2:

When you are camping in the woods, there are trees. A van with a bike rack on the back of it does not appreciate being backed up into a tree. The tree will always win.

On the bright side, it wasn’t me who wrecked the van. This time. On the down side, we hadn’t even set up the tent yet, so the frustration had pretty well peaked at this point. We soon discovered that not only did the van have a few issues, our {new} bike rack is going to require some major manipulation and both of the girls bikes need to be replaced {sigh}.

Eventually the big ol’ tent was up and sleeping bags were in place, and all without major problems. All of the tent pieces were present and accounted for and all was good!

The kids then enjoyed a little mini-golf {aka: to help soothe the girls with the unridable bikes}.

The boys thoroughly enjoyed helping build the fire. Keeping them away from it later proved to be difficult. Kaleb is going through a bit of a clumsy walking stage and I can’t tell you how many moments of panic I had when he would trip and fall right near the fire.

A mother’s heart can only take so much.

And of course there were s’mores. And marshmallows on fire…

 

And because I am a super-cool mom, I pulled out glow bracelets for the kids to enjoy {and for us to keep track of them}.

Which brings me to Lesson #3:

The connectors to the glow bracelets are MUCH easier to find during the light of day. It would be better to have them in a special place before dark hits…and all the connectors fall on the ground in the pitch black of night.

That night as we were all laying/lying/resting…whatever…in our beds and it was completely quiet both outside and in our tent, Zachary summed up the evening very well:

That campfire was awesome!!

Just makes me smile and want to go again.

Minus the tree incident, of course.

Love Remains ~ Book Giveaway

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Zarah Mitchell has never forgotten the pain after her relationship with Bobby Patterson ended so abruptly years ago. She also never understood why it ended.

When Bobby walks back into her life over a decade later, Zarah finds herself at the center of a matchmaking plot ~ and she is the primary target. Both her grandmother and Bobby’s grandmother do all they can to throw the two of them together.

Bobby and Zarah find their attraction to each other still lingers, but Bobby has moved to town and is investigating the agency that Zarah works for…without her knowledge. Will the two of them be able to overcome the pain from years past and start a new future together, or will Bobby’s investigation put another block in their relationship?

My Thoughts

I loved that Love Remains had two sides to it {as real-life does!}. Knowing both sides of the story, I felt for both characters and didn’t want either of them to get hurt any further. Kaye has done another amazing job with this book, pulling the reader into the lives of the characters.  Her details of the historical society that Zarah works for and the ties that Zarah feels to her job made it even more fun to read. I can’t wait to read the next books in this Matchmaker series now!

Find Out More

~ Visit Kaye’s website

~ Join Kaye’s Facebook fan page

~ Buy Kaye’s book at Amazon.

The Giveaway

Would you like to win a copy of Love Remains? I have one copy to mail to one of my readers! Leave a comment on this post ~ be sure there is a way for me to contact you. The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, September 7th at 8pm.

This book was provided for review by Barbour. All opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.