Yoda and Princess Leia:

UPDATE: This is SO popular, they decided to leave it up for a few more days! ENJOY and tell your friends!

Thanks to Stephanie from OH (actually she is from GA :o) from my SHS list for letting me know about this GREAT freebie. Even though I don't have girls, I do have plenty of friends and nieces. There is a site called Homeschool Freebie of the Day. There is a FREE downloadable 5 year curriculum of stiching course for your girls that is dated 1911. Make sure you take advantage of this freebie! I did!

RIP UGA VI
1998-2008

We will miss you big buddy!

I have been meaning to get these pictures finally posted. These are the last pictures we took with Noah before they left to go back home. What a sweetie. Continue to pray for this sweet family. Noah has been sick lately.

One of our FAVORITE gospel singers of all times, is George Yonce from the Cathedrals. There wasn't anyone funnier, or better than George. I just miss him so! He is running around the Pearly Gates. We found these two videos of his last concert. WARNING! George was funny! Do NOT listen to this with a full mouth of water, or you will spit it out! Especially his song about people marrying others that they didn't know well beforehand. We miss you George! You were a gentle soul.
Farewell concert #1
Farewell Concert #2

The other day, Kate and the kids were READY to get out of the RMH. They were getting a little cabin fever. So we talked about where we could go. One place we went (with 10 kids and GPS in tow) was to downtown Atlanta and the Olympic park. They built the park for the 1996 Olympics here in Atlanta. There was a music thing going on but we were able to go around it. They have water coming up out of the Olympic rings in the ground. The kids had a BLAST and got wet, in their clothes. While down there, we decided that we would go to IKEA, eat and shop. That was their first experience to IKEA and they were overwhelmed, but in a good way. After that we tried to go to Whole Foods but they were already closed, so we settled on Kroger. She was still able to get what she needed. The kids were worn out!

We hope you had a blessed Father's Day. We sure did. We were able to go to our church Sunday morning and then off to the other side of town to visit with not only my daddy but my father-in-law as well. Here are some pictures from yesterday.

(3 Generations. My FIL, my dh and our 3 boys)

(My dh and my FIL)

(My dh and our 3 boys)

(My parents with friend Jim (standing)

(My FIL and his children (dh is next to his daddy)

(My dh and our 3 boys)

The kids and I went down to visit with Kate and the kids Saturday afternoon. I watched the kids while Kate went to the hospital with a friend that was in town. We visited and talked until late at night. My kids are anxiously waiting til we get to go back down there this afternoon. They played all kinds of games, watched tv (movies), made cards for dads and Noah. They just had a really, really good time.

(Sweet little Mary Faith)

(Sweet little Mary Faith has found her toes and feet)

(the boys playing Sorry)

(the kids making cards for Noah and their dad's)

(Little Ms. Sarah Estes Making her card)

(William Estes making his card.)

(David Estes making his card)

(Hannah and Matthew Estes making their cards)

(Little Ms. Mary Faith Estes playing)

(Little Ms. Sarah Estes playing with her sister, Mary Faith)

Here are some pictures of Noah from Yesterday. He is still feeling puney. They think he has a UTI, but they are not sure what else. They are going to have to transfuse him then they will try to do his surgery while he is there. They will probably be here through mid week. We are going tomorrow and visiting with them.

(Here is Noah playing with the bubbles we got him)
(Noah with Jeff (his dad) watching a DVD we got him)


(Noah signing for Bird (duck). He was watching a Mickey Mouse DVD we got him)

(Pictured above is our three boys and Noah)

Prayers Needed!

I have been a part of a yahoo homeschool group for many years. One of the list members is Kate Estes, owner of Hands And Hearts. She and her husband have 8 little blessings, including their almost 2 year old son, Noah. Noah has been in my side bar for quite a while. When he was a baby, he had severe problems. They think he has Mito defect. Right now, they are in Atlanta for surgery. My children and I had the pleasure of visiting with them yesterday in Atlanta and will probably go this afternoon. The prayer request is that little Noah is having surgery today at 11 am Eastern. They had to be at the hospital at 9 am. Be in prayer for his siblings that they are comforted away from Mom and Dad (they are with a cousin of Kate's). Be in prayer for Noah, that he will have peace. Be in prayer for Jeff and Kate during this time that the Lord will give them comfort. Also be in prayer for Jeff that the Lord will lead him in the right direction for a job. I will update more later as I find out.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-5 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)

4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

Next school year and family thoughts............

Next School year, I am excited about the things on the horizon. You know, when you look back, there are so many legacies, stories and keepsakes that your family has, especially your grandparents. We have lost all of our grandparents except for my husband's grandmother. As I think back to her life and legacy, I want my children to understand their ancestors and their Christian heritage. I want them to understand their genealogy and their generations. So with that said, I have decided to do
Write Your Roots. It is a full language arts program that has the children write biographies of their family members and build a family book! How cool is that. To add to this, I saw where CurrClick has a FREE Family history Notebook for their Free item this week! I am SO excited! What a blessing it is! Fortunately for us, all but one of our grandparents have written biographies. So I will have the boys read their biographies and write the stories based off of the information. As far as the one that didn't, Grandma, who is still living can fill in the blanks and so can my father in law and aunts and uncles. Just think, once the Lord takes them home, the stories that helped to build your family is GONE with them. This would be a great way to preserve them, for your children and future generations.

Busy Busy Weekend!

I LOVE my dh, but I guess so does alot of other people. Especially when a major telecommunications company's computer system goes down, and your dh is the ONLY one that could fix it. That is what happened. We used to live in AL (as most of you know) and my dh worked for a major telecommunications company. Well, while installing a new program and making changes to phone bills, the system crashed about 9 am Friday. By 4 pm, they were desperate. They were asking, "Who can fix it!" Well, my husband's best friend from work suggested my dh. They wanted him over there ASAP. We packed really, really fast with kids and dog in toe. We got to Birmingham about 9:30 pm and dropped him off. We went to our hotel and he worked until almost 5 am. He figured out the problem in....... 4 minutes! LOL It took a little while longer to find files to test it with but yep, 4 minutes. It was SO nice. We stayed in Birmingham until yesterday. We went to our old church and saw friends we haven't seen in a while. It was different though. The church has doubled/tripled in size since we left 2 years ago. We enjoyed some quality family time. It was a little tense having our fur baby though. The last night we had to ask our best friends for her to sleep in their garage (they were out of town), but it worked out okay.

The rest of the states are going in this weekend, so who knows what will happen. DH feels confident things will be okay. We do miss it over there though. I know that the company would LOVE to have DH back, but there is no future and we don't think there would be much of a job past 2 years. There is more opportunity here. Plus I don't think the company he is with (contracts for) now, would be willing to let him go so fast :o)

We worked in the garden this morning. We put out stakes for our beans and discovered that we have some varments (deer, cat, rabbits) eating our plants. They got ahold of a bell pepper and a tomato. After searching and with help of my mom, here is what we have decided to do. First of all, we put human hair around the outside. Secondly, we will spray our leaves with cayenne pepper mixed with dry mustard and water. Thirdly, we will sprinkle moth balls around the garden. We might try deer pellets, but at $24/box, I think we will try these first.

Have a great day! Hope you had a terrific weekend!

The last couple of days have been "I am going to try new things". I have been not feeling well for a while now. I have found out that my gallbladder function is 6.5% instead of 30%. The GOOD news is that it isn't infected, I don't have obstructions, gallstones (Thank you cleanse!!) or peritinitis. The BAD news is that I will probably have to eventually have it taken out. But the ball is in my court. Right now I am controlling things with my diet, but that means, I am basically eating VEGAN (or as my dh says, you aren't eating anything that tastes good, lol!) Anyway, I found a recipe for Whole Wheat Pita Pockets that it wonderful and I enjoyed some today. It is a nice break from sliced bread, although I don't mind. Anyway, Hope to share it with you all! BTW I used Ezekiel flour. Ezekiel has a ton of beans and different grains to give it the highest fiber content and is VERY filling!!!!

Whole Wheat Pita Pockets

1 1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sucanat
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (I used Ezekiel)
1/3 cup gluten*
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Add the gluten and 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix. Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough. (Add additional flour if necessary during kneading.)

2. Put your dough into a bowl, lightly oil the top, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise, until almost about an hour. I like to turn my oven on for a minute or two, then turn it off, and let the dough rise in there, since our house is cool.

3. Punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6- or 7-inch circle.

4. As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured countertop or table, and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for about 25-35 minutes, until slightly puffy. (The rounds will still be thin though! :D)

5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place 2 rounds, side-by-side, onto a wire rack, such as is used for cooling things. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 4-5 minutes, until puffy and just slightly browned. (If bread is too browned, it will be dry and not pliable.)

6. Remove rack from oven and immediately wrap/layer pita breads in a damp towel, to soften. Continue baking the remaining breads, layering them between damp towels as soon as they're baked. Allow breads to completely cool.

7. Cut pita breads in half, or split the top edge, and fill as desired. :)

8. Store pitas in a plastic zipper bag in the fridge for a few days, or place in the freezer for longer storage. To re-warm pitas, wrap them in a damp towel and then wrap in foil. Place in a warm (200-250 degree) oven for about 20 minutes.

In Honor of International Donut Day....

We made donuts today. I have tried before, but wasn't pleased with how they turned out (they weren't "fluffy" and they used things like veg shortening). I tried something else today and they turned out GREAT!

Donut Recipe
1 1/2 c hot water
1/3 c oil
1/3 honey
2 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tbsp lecithin
1 tsp gluten
4-4 1/2 c freshly milled flour (You could probably use soft white wheat, but I used what I had left over)
1 tbsp yeast

Mis water oil, honey, salt and egg. Add lecithin, gluten, and half of flour. Mix well. Add yeast and the rest of flour to form a flexible dough. Knead until smooth (5-6 minutes). Let rise in warm place until double (1 hour). Cut into donuts (I used a jar lid and a round kitchen object for the holes). Turn oven on to 170 for 5 minutes and turn off. Place donuts and holes in oven for 1 hour. Place 3" of canola oil into pot and heat carefully to about a 6. Place a hole in there to make sure it is ready. Place donuts in there until just brown, flip and remove.



Icing:
Place white powdered sugar (we added 3 tsp of cocoa too) in a bowl. Add 1 tbsp milk at a time to make the right consistency! These have disappeared rapidly in my house! MMMMM!!

My dear friend Lady Why over at Kudzu Grows is discussing how to go to Disney on a budget. It is EASY to get caught up and when you see that the average family of 4 spends atleast $5,000 to go to Disney for a week...That is too much money. So how do you stay frugal and SAVE money going somewhere like Disney? So how do we do it for ALOT less (half) and still have a good time..??

Here are my special tips that we have learned:

Here are some frugal tips:

1. GO DURING OFF SEASON! THIS IS HUGE! This is where you will save $ on
accomodations!
2. GO TO WWW.VRBO.COM AND RESERVE YOUR PLACE. We stayed 1 1/2 miles from the gate for $85 night. We had full accomodations with full kitchen etc and our own pool.
3. Go shopping at the WALMART nearby and stock up on bottled water, snacks and
food or bring your own. THE PARKS WILL LET YOU BRING FOOD/COOLERS INTO THE
PARK! WATER IS $3 a BOTTLE inside the parks! An average meal for lunch, a
family of 4 is $50 for dinner is $100 inside the park. We put water in the FREEZER the night
before (and koolaid bursts) and packed them as ice in our coolers. We made
sandwiches, had chips and EXTRA snacks. We NEVER EVER ate out at the parks! We
stayed until the shows at the end too so make sure you bring EXTRA snacks! I
made bread ahead of time and packed lunches. Also we made HUGE and I mean HUGE
breakfasts at the Townhouse. We ate eggs, bacon/sausage, pancakes, biscuits.
We ate and ate and filled up! That is SO BIG! We had a soft pack cooler and
put camera etc in one of the boys bookbags. When we got back to the room, we
made our dinner. We might have done like helpers or something but we had
dinner!
3.Also to save $10 for a single and $18 for a double stroller rental PER DAY, go
to the thrift store or consignment store and BUY a double stroller or sit and
stand stroller! We kept our stuff in the stroller. Also we kept a fanny pack
on us to keep our importants in there too.
4. Park at a resort (like Coranado or another one) to save $11 per day in
parking
5. Buy things to do and souviner's at the dollar store BEFORE YOU GO! I bought
the boys autograph books (from the characters), plain ones at Borders for $3 and
bought Disney pens from the dollar store for $1. I also bought Disney snacks at
the dollar store.
6. Look for your Disney shirts where you live BEFORE you go! The average is
$20 in the park.
7. Buy or reserve from the Library "Walt Disney World for kids 2007/08" I
suggest you buy it. It will literally be your bible! It will give you the ins
and outs of the parks!
8. When there is early entrance days for people staying inside the parks, go to
the other parks!
9. When you get into the parks, find out which rides are high demand with
LOOOOOOOOOOONG wait times and DO THOSE FIRST! Like for example, when you get
into Epcot, GO TO SOARIN first!!!!! Ride it as many times as you can, in a row
(we rode it 6 times in a row. Our favorite and you will love it too. That is
why it is SO popular). The line will be 45 min wait within the first HOUR that
the park opens!!!! Also do Test Track FIRST! Make sure you learn how to use
Fast passes. Our BEST day to see characters at Epcot was at 9 am Monday
morning. They were BEGGING us to come in and we had 7 characters to ourselves
for about 30 minutes!
10. Take your own pictures! The people there will not only take your picture
(and try to get you to buy one) but they will also use your camera and take
yours. Don't waste your money on that!
11. Make sure you bring your own laundry detergent, dishwashing powder and hand
dish soap. We did our own laundry at the townhouse and saved a ton. We also
only packed 1/2 of the clothes we would need if we wore them daily and we did
wash clothes alot!
12. Check Large companies and corporate for discounts. We paid for a 4 day hopper and got 3 days free. So we paid the same price for a 7 day park hopper that we would have paid for a 4 day down there.

More Muffin Recipes!

Millet Summer Harvest Muffin

1 tablespoon orange zest
1/3 cup orange juice
½ cup honey
1 egg
3 tablespoons canola oil
¾ cup millet
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries (or any other frozen fruit)
¼ cup shredded carrots

Preheat oven to 400°. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the orange zest, orange juice, honey, egg and canola oil. Whisk to combine well. In a separate bowl, combine the millet, all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, ground flaxseed, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine well. Toss in the dried fruit cranberries and shredded carrots.

Add the orange juice mixture to the millet mixture. Stir to combine well. Fill the muffin cups ¾ full with the batter, leaving enough room for the muffins to rise. Bake in preheated oven for 17 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.