Book Review: Plain Proposal

I'll admit that when I first picked up this book, I was worried that it would be B O R I N G ! ! !  I'm not a huge fan of romance novels in general as they are either very explicit and disgusting, or else very blase' and/or cheesy beyond control!  BUT, I decided to give it a chance as I am intrigued by the simplicity of the Amish culture...

I was very relieved and impressed by the simple, yet beautiful story that this was.  It was just what I needed during a hectic time (we were in the middle of moving cross-country at the time).

This heart-warming story tells of the beautiful, simple life that the Amish live, and also how they view the "normal" world and how they can live within them both.  I enjoyed this book immensely and am looking forward to reading others written by Beth Wiseman.

***I received this book for free from www.booksneeze.com, in exchange for reading and reviewing it.

Belated Book Review...

Book reviews are not necessarily my favorite thing to think about.  But, once I get the chance, I LOVE having the chance to sit down and express my own opinions about my recent readings - or at least some of them...

I discovered another site that offers free books for blogger's reviews and it has been great so far...  I signed up with this company back in November and when I found a book titled Everything Christmas, I figured it was the perfect season, and I for one can never get enough Christmas stories.  BUT, something happened with my shipping and I didn't receive the book.  With all the craziness of the holidays, I didn't get a chance to follow up until the new year.  Once I contacted them, they resent the book and I had it in less than a week!  Awesome customer service!  We all know that mistakes and glitches happen - especially with shipping, but their response was very on top of it!!!

And so...

Everything Christmas is a compilation of exactly what it says... it includes stories, recipes, crafts, carols, poems, etc.  I absolutely LOVE how it is compiled.  It's a one-stop shop for anything Christmas one might need, but it can also be used all month long.  It has a short "chapter" like setting for each day of the month of December until Christmas.  Each day has a number of the things that the entire book has to offer.  But, for those who just need a quick something, there is an index in the back so you can find exactly what you are looking for.

Not only was this book full of Christmas everything, it was a lot of Christmas stories that I had never heard before - and that is saying something!  I greatly enjoyed enlarging my Christmas "vocabulary" if you will.  Not only were the stories unique to the book - in my experience, but the well-known carols also shared uniqueness by giving a background of the song.  Knowing where the carols came from added another level to the already special songs for such a wonderful season.

All in all, for Christmas lovers the world round, or even just someone who loves to celebrate...  This book is for you.  Add it to your collection and read it every year.  There is so much in this small book that it will seem brand new each and every year!

***I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Baby girl!!!

Okay, not mine... but a friend of mine is having a girl very soon, and I had the privilege of making a car seat cover/tent thing for her.  I've wanted to make a girlie one ever since I made a not-so-girlie one for Britton.  So, without further adieu...

 Love, love, LOVE the ribbons in lieu of the boring straps for a boy.

 A quick view of the reverse side... SOOOO cute!!!

 The official present :D

Yes, my latest project has been baby shoes... aren't they simply adorable!?!?!?!?  This is the only pair I have made thus far, but I have collected a number of different prints to make a large quantity all at once... Baby gifts on hand, and maybe I'll even sell some too.

Book Review...

I just recently finished reading the Precious Moments Storybook Bible that I received for free from BookSneeze.com.  This website is awesome and I plan on taking full advantage of it as much as possible!!!  Below you can read my short and sweet review of this adorable book :)

This Children's Bible is adorable with Precious Moments illustrations, how can it go wrong?  I enjoyed the twist on a traditional Bible format by mixing up the stories into different categories, and also eliminating the chapter/verse format...  great idea for young readers!!!  On the contrast, I have mixed emotions about the content...  being a religious book, I was disappointed sometimes by the casual way that the stories were worded.  I personally want my children to know their scripture stories and to know their scriptures!!!  With little actual biblical text, sometimes the meaning brought across may not be the meaning that was meant for the reader as I believe religious texts to have very individual personal meanings...  All in all, this book was a good option for young Bible study, but not the best...

Although not my favorite Bible reading experience ever, I figure I can't go wrong reading a religious text over all the other literary trash that is out there (and I use the term "literary" lightly)...

Okay, I'm a slacker...

Yes, this is only post #3 and it's been over two months since #2... I probably don't even have a link at the bottom yet saying "older posts" But, here I am probably typing to myself because I don't know if anyone will even check this after such poor past performance...

My heart is full today with overwhelming thoughts about a friend's baby who passed away early yesterday morning... From what I understand, it was attributed to SIDS - completely unexpected, and terribly sad...  It has been plaguing my thoughts ever since I found out and makes me want to squeeze my children all day long and check on them every 5 minutes to make sure they are still breathing...  But more than anything, it makes me feel peace in the knowledge that they will see their little boy again although I'm sure they miss him terribly, he is there with them in spirit, their little angel watching over them.  They are an eternal family that will be together forever so while this time may be difficult as it's hard to be away from loved ones - especially such precious spirits as I'm sure this baby is - it's only a moment in the grand scheme of things.  Yes, in all my thoughts since I found out, I realize that I am at peace about it.  I trust that our Father in Heaven knows what is best and although things are hard, whatever is placed before us, is not TOO hard or TOO much to handle.

With that being said, here are some pictures of my adorable little ones and our eternal family (hopefully the pictures of myself will continue to improve over the years as I progress past the baby-weight, etc. - last years were so bad, you never saw them)

Jayden's school picture - I opted to not get more of him alone from the family photo shoot... He has his dad's, dad's dad's, and dad's dad's dad's ears.... did you catch that?  lol  I always tell him he is my favorite first child and I mean it!!!  I love him and look forward to what his future holds...

This is my Ryleigh - or Ry-pie as I have taken to calling her lately.  She is all girl and yet tom-boy at the same time.  Right now she is going through a phase that encourages her impending doom - if only she weren't so darn adorable that you can't help but LOVE her.

And here is my baby... although he's not quite a baby anymore.  He's growing up SOO fast and is the light of my life.  He gives big cheesy grins every chance he gets and is a complete "momma's boy"  He will follow me around the house and cry outside my bedroom door when he can't find me... love him to pieces!!!

Here we are, our fabulous family of five...  Maybe one day we'll get a photo where EVERYONE is looking at the camera and smiling their best... 

Last but not least, I got a free collage photo with all the kids in it - I LOVE LOVE LOVE it - probably because it has the most amazing children in it that anyone could have!

Off we go...

Okay, so I think I'm really going to do this... I took some time to think it over, and I think that people (mostly family) will appreciate a peak into our little piece of heaven - what we call HOME.  I started posting a whole bunch of photos on facebook and realized that some people could care less about what I think are absolutely ADORABLE...  So, maybe I should post them here and those who want to look, CAN...  So, now I just have to figure out how to post a photo...

 Well, I did it!!!  Isn't he simply adorable?!?!?!

 My kid is already over 4 feet tall!!!  He's only six - someday six feet tall!

 She loves her "bootsies" and looks so cute in them too.

 This is maybe the best picture I could get of them in this... Ryleigh doesn't understand that she needs to actually look at the camera.

This was probably one of Jayden's favorite posing spots... hopefully he's content only being in a fake jail with a ghost of a sheriff :)

And last of all, all three together - we had to snap this fast because Britton is always wanting to GO!!!

In recap, we took these photos at the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch - An AWESOME place for the kids to play and get photos galore.  We're excited to visit again and see what they do for Christmas...

Blogging world... here I come!!!

Okay, I'm caving, giving in, and joining the world of the blog.  What convinced me you ask?  A freebie - what can I say?  I'm a sucker for freebies.  I found this awesome site www.booksneeze.com.  Basically, I get a free book as long as I'll write a review about it on my blog... thus the necessity for the blog.  But I'm sure you're all excited to know that I can more easily follow all of you and post adorable pictures of the kids, etc. (I know that's what you're all here for anyway)... don't worry - I won't disappoint - at least I hope not :)