Farmers Market

Farmers Markets are awesome! This weekend my family spent sometime at the farmers market just waling around. Now we live in a small town so our farmers market is not huge by any means, but it is still fun. We had a ton of fun talking to the kids about the local produce! We had a few sample and even bought 12lbs of tomatoes and made and canned homemade salsa!! Such an fun way to spend time together.


Here is an awesome website to find a local farmers market to check out-

http://www.localfarmmarkets.org

Grocery Shopping With Kids

Grocery shopping with kids! Why do I ever think this is a good idea?? It can turn out ok, but on the other hand it can be completely and utterly terrible! We get there get everyone unloaded from the van(which is a task itself) and get started. Then it usually never fails that someone has to pee urgently. So we truck our way over to the bathroom and I flag down a worker to make sure they know I am leaving the cart but I will be right back. Then I have to get the baby out and all 4 kids and I head into the bathroom. 

When we finally get done with that ordeal and get back to shopping is when the whining and asking for things starts! "How much do we have to get?" "Can I have a lunchable?" Can we get chips?" "Can I have a toy?" "Mom Derrick touched me!" "Mom Natalie is standing in my spot" and so on. The Check out.. oh man check out! Why do they put all this candy in the checkout lane? All of a sudden everyone just HAS TO HAVE candy.  That exactly what you need kid.. more sugar.. nope, not happening.  But Seriously why do I ever think this is a good idea. Between all that and trying to stop the hungry 9 month old from licking the bottom dirt spot on the watermelon, it leaves me exhausted! I can't be alone in this?? 

If you feel the same way or have any helpful tips on grocery shopping with kids leave a comment below!

Teach Your Kids to Pray

Prayer is a very important aspect of life as a follower of Christ. My husband and I are Children's Pastors at our church. We truly believe that you teach your kids about prayer. This is something that is so important for us to be doing in our homes as parents. So how do we teach our kids to pray?


 The main thing we focus on is Prayer is just talking to God. God is completely approachable and He is our heavenly father! There isn't some carefully calculated formula that you have to say just the right words for Him to hear you. Just talk to him. When they understand this they won't say "I can't pray, I don't know how." It also eases some fear they may have that they won't do this whole prayer thing right.

Secondly we lead by example. We make sure they see us praying. We pray for each other every day throughout the day. If someone shares a prayer request with me or the Lord places someone in particular on my heart to pray for, I will gather the kids and have them pray with me. We pray every single night before bed as a family and when we do this we give the kids turns to pray if they would like. We also ask them if there is anyone or anything they want to pray for.

Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he is old he will not depart from it.- Proverbs 22:6 NKJV

Whats for Dinner?

Dinner time can be a struggle for me. I have a very active 9 month old little guy who seems to be super needy as soon as it is time to make dinner. So I am constantly on the look out for awesome recipes! Last night I made a super easy and budget friendly sausage, peppers, onion and potato bake! You guys should seriously try it out! I also whipped up a quick batch of roasted tomatoes just because i was feeling extra suzy homemakery! (thats totally a word I just made up!!)


Here is the Sausage Bake Recipe-

http://postris.com/popular-pin/48887/49/repins/30/780/

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

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Ingredients-

4 Tomatoes 

Olive oil

Garlic powder

Italian seasoning

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Directions-

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Wash tomatoes and cut into quarters

3.  Toss tomatoes with enough oil to give them a nice coating and place them in a baking dish cut side up.

4. Sprinkle the tops of tomatoes with italian seasoning and garlic powder and bake in oven for 30-45 minutes checking them every 15 minutes to be sure they don't burn.

5.  Remove from oven let cool slightly and serve warm.

Overcoming Anxiety

I never had to deal with anxiety. I had no idea what it was. That all changed two days after I had my first baby. I delivered my oldest Derrick via C-section and everything seemed to be going fine. The day before we left the hospital I started noticing it was hard to breathe when I was laying down. I didn't really say anything because as a first time mom I thought "I just had surgery this must just be normal). So we were discharged on a beautiful January day(seriously it was 70 and sunny which is so not typical weather for where I live). Everything was going great my parent were at our house and  they meet us there as we got home. We got everything settled in and then it started. I still couldn't breathe very well. I tried and tried for it to go away, but nothing helped. Then out of no where I go into a full blown panic attack. I really felt like I was getting no oxygen at all. I yelled for Cory(my husband) to call 911. He called as I got down on all fours on the floor feeling like I was about to die at any minute. The ambulance came, the looked me over and I was fine. I was getting plenty of oxygen, my heart rate was great. I was fine. Well then why did I feel this way?

Fast forward to the next morning. After a night of little sleep, I still felt like I couldn't breathe. So I called my OB and was instructed to go to the ER. So we headed over there, my husband and I and our sweet little two day old baby boy. Lots of test, X-rays and such were done and come to find out I had pneumonia. MY body was trying to get rid of all the fuild from pregnancy to fast and it was getting into my lungs. I was relieved to at least know something was wrong and we could fix it. So i get admitted for observation overnight. They tried to get me in to a room on the Labor and Delivery floor so we could keep Derrick with us. But they couldn't, so I had to leave my brand new baby, it was terrible. I started to feel that sinking feeling again. My parents said they would take Derrick so my husband could stay with me at the hospital because frankly I was just terrified of being alone. 

We get into the hospital room and I stay overnight. As I am getting discharged the next morning I discuss with my doctor the panic attack and feeling that I had. She tells me that is it anxiety and likely it was just because of the pneumonia. We decide there is no need for medication because I think I am tough and I can just handle it. We get into the car and on the way home I can't even handle the small drive home. We have to pull over and call my doctor to get me some anxiety medication. I felt so lost. I got xanax and continued on the medication just for a few days. I did not want to become dependent on it so I weaned  myself off it as my doctor told me to.

I would love to say that was that. That it ends there that I just muscled through. But it didn't. For the next several years many many times I woke in the middle of the night heart racing, sweaty and feeling completely helpless. On a number of occasions I had my husband drive me to the ER just to make sure I was in fact not having a heart attack and I was not going to die! So how did I over come this. 

But He was wounded for our transgressions,He was bruised for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.-Isaiah 53:5 NKJV

The first thing I did was memorize this verse. Then when i started to feel an anxiety attack coming on I would speak this verse out loud over myself. I also pulled out my bible and read my bible to help my mind focus on something and I prayed, oh boy did I pray. 

Healing did not come right away. But I still pressed on, I knew God's Word. I knew it was His will for me to be healed of this.  Even though I knew all this there were plenty of times I cried to God and wondered what I was doing wrong. Why wasn't the healing coming? Why did this keep happening to me? In those moments I had to make a choice. Would I continue to pray and believe God would heal me or would I just get frusturated and give up and learn to live with the anxiety. I choose to not give up, I kept praying and kept praying and kept praying. Five years later my healing came! I remember exactly where I was when  heard the still small voice say I would have anxiety no more! From that very moment I have not had a single anxiety attack! 

So if you are dealing with anxiety and are frustrated, confused and overwhelmed my encouragement to you would be pray! If you have been praying keep it up but if you haven't start now! Memorize Isaiah 53:5 and speak it out over yourself. At first I would just say "By you stripes I am healed.". That is enough! Keep speaking it keep praying it and reach out to others to gather along side you and pray with you. I would love to pray with you! God can and will heal you! Not only will He heal you but He will work it our for your good. This will become an amazing testimony for you to share and be able to help others who are in the same place as you once were! 

And we know that all things work together for 

good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.-Romans 8:28 NKJV

5 Family Bonding Ideas

Family Bonding can be something that can just happen naturally, but sometimes it does not. Bonding happens when you spend time together, just doing fun things together as a family. Our kids are still young but we make it a point to have "Family Dates" together to build our family bond.  Here are 5 Activities that we are doing on our family dates.


1. Dinner & Walking- Go out for dinner as a family and then go on a walk. You can go to a small downtown type area and walk, or can on a trail or around your neighborhood.

2. Overnight trip to a Hotel- Take a small overnight to a Hotel somewhere not to far away but far enough that it feels like a little getaway.

3. Local Fair or Festival- Go to a local fair or festival. Head on over to Facebook and look for fairs and festivals coming near you and plan a day or evening to go as a family. Look out for themed days, many fairs will have a Kids get in free day.


4. Bonfire- It doesn't get more simple and easy than this. Just simply have a bonfire in your backyard with S'mores. You can even bust out some Mason Jars and Catch Fire Flies.

5. Water Fights- Fill up some water balloons and get some water guns! You can get water guns for a $1 at the Dollar Tree as well as water balloons.

Park Day!!!

Sometimes there is just something so simple and joyous about a local park! We search out parks to go to and sometimes drive a few towns over just to visit a new fun park! The best part about taking kids to the park! IT IS FREE!!! Who doesn't love free!! Being a family with one income and 4 mouths to feed we will take all the free entertainment we can get!

So if you find your kids bugging you every single second of the day about how BOOOOORRRREEEDDD they are, just hop on to google and find a new park and go try it out! It will keep they entertained. At least for a little bit... hopefully!

Overtime

Overtime, oh how I have a love hate relationship with that word. On one hand it is a good thing because it means more money for our family. On the other hand it means I have less time with my husband and the kids have less time with their daddy.  Less time with daddy equals more alone parenting time for mommy. So here we are spending yet another Saturday without daddy, which can make it just like any other week day. This mom is ready to have daddy home for a weekend and enjoy some family time! 

Oh Coffee!! What would I do without you!

Coffee!!!! Let's be real for a minute! There is absolutely no way I could get through life as a mother without it! I need it! Coffee and my morning prayer and believe me today is a day that calls for a extra cup... or maybe two. It just one of those days where you can't seem to do anything right. Where everything that could possibly go wrong does, and it all happens at the exact same moment! So today as I am at home eagerly awaiting the school year to begin I cherish my bible time and my coffee!! 

I have to make my own coffee because the nearest Starbucks is about 15 minutes away. Trust me when I say it would take way more than 15 minutes to get there. You have to factor in there sheer amount of time it would take for me to get all 4 kids ready and out the door. 

So my I brew my own! My favorite coffee I have ever had I got at Sweet Water Coffee and Tea so I do my best to mimic that as home. We do a cold brewed coffee in our french press with a little cream and some raw sugar. Can you say DELICIOUS!  

(we aren't even going to worry about the amount of calories in this drink)