Things You Learn When You Have a Toddler

Being on the floor is always more fun

Anytime someone is on their belly, its a great time to play 'horsey'

Its perfectly acceptable to fall asleep, anywhere

Even princesses cry sometimes

Kitties are always fun to watch


Picking your nose is funny, even if mommy says not to

Also, picking belly lint is pretty fun

 

 

Ahh...life with a toddler!  It truly never gets old!!

Giveaway Time!

Time for the final giveaway for the month guys!  While I have truly enjoyed doing these giveaways, I still can't believe the low entries!  Maybe y'all aren't reading books as much as I thought?!  At any rate..let's end this one with a bang..shall we?

I've got 3 books to give away for this last contest.  "Fiery Secrets" was a book I just read and reviewed and I really enjoyed it a lot!  Talk about ending with a bang..this book has a lot of twists and turns!  Its a MUST read!  You can read my full review here.

The other 2 books I received in the mail years ago for something or another..and I honestly never got around to reading them to be honest!  "A Hero for Dry Creek" is about a chauffeur, Garrett Hamilton, who falls for a cute rancher, Nikki Redfern.  Both are looking for love but don't know yet if they will find it with each other.

"Loving Ways" sounds like a really intriguing book!  It's about Annie O'Keefe, her family's caretaker who always made sure everyone else's needs were met.  When a charming landscaper with a rough past comes into her life, she hopes this is her chance for love.  Ken DeWitt wants to show Annie how special she is, but is afraid his past will get in the way.

So there ya go guys..now go enter to win all three books!!

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Let it Snow!

We've had quite a bit of snow in the past week to say the least..and I finally was able to get Makayla out in the snow.


And she enjoyed it this time!

First time ever people!  I've taken her out in it last year when she was 1 1/2 and she HATED it.  To say the least.  She screamed.  She cried.  It lasted about all of 1 minute and she was back in the house.

This snow loving momma was disappointed in the least, but I knew she'd come around eventually!!

My favorite!

She got mad when she realized her 'car' didn't have 4 wheel drive and couldn't go!

Havin' fun!



 

 

And this time she cried when it was time to go back IN!

Life Lately

Here is a glimpse into our life here lately....

Baking pepperoni rolls and cinnamon rolls on cold winter days.  Thanks to my friend Kelli for the recipe!


Sewing.

Taking silly 'selfies'.

Making homemade dog biscuits..yes..we were bored!

And taking pictures of lazy tom cat's!

On another note..I guess you could say our water crisis is under control though everyone is still extremely leery of the water now (including us).  The ban was lifted in my area about a week ago but we continued to use our well water for several days after.  I wish we could trust the water fully, but I don't see that happening for a really long time, if ever.

Valentine's Day Craft

I figured Makayla needed to get in on the crafting bug her mommy seems to keep year round and do a Valentine's Day craft!  She had a ball with it too..coloring away!  We did some more a few days later but with stickers..she loved doing both equally well! 

Simple..all you need is some construction paper, crayons, and a glue stick!  Bam..happy toddler!

Don't forget..I still have Giveaway #2 going on..please enter this evening if you want some good books to read on these cold winter days!

Early Valentine's Day!

Makayla and I received our Valentine's Day gifts from Damon a little early this year!  

This is Makayla's origami owl necklace!  In case you can't see it clearly, she has an "M", her birthstone, an owl, and a "love to read" book charms in her locket along with a hear chain.  So sweet!

Mine is the same locket, only a large instead of the medium.  I have the "blessed" plate and several charms (mom heart, cross, birthstone for all 3 of us, wedding ring, and a "G" initial for our last name).  We both also got dangles!

Love our gifts!!  Now hopefully when Valentine's Day does get here we won't be dealing with our usual gift we seem to receive every year....

A cold, flu bug, or some other type of yucky virus!!

Review for "Fiery Secrets" by Stephanie McCall

I recently read the book "Fiery Secrets" by Stephanie McCall and it was fabulous!  The story revolved around Dr. Grace Taylor, a divorced mom and son to Jacob.  Her previous marriage was a rocky one, to say the least.  Her ex-husband, Kyle, was a cancer survivor, but not before becoming addicted to a powerful drug, AM601 which left its patients feeling numb and also numbing their mind to the pain they are experiencing, both physically and mentally.  His addictions ruled Kyle's life, as well as abusing Grace and Jacob when they were still together and cheating on Grace as well.  Coming to Hart Hill, Tennessee seemed like a good idea to Grace after their divorce.  A fresh start and a fresh, new life away from Boston where so many bad memories of her marriage lived.

Chris Anderson loved Hart Hill, Tennessee also.  After moving there from Memphis after a terrible school shooting that he was involved in, he needed a fresh start as well.  Crippling effects from the shooting still lingered in Chris, as he had a chronic cough that caught him off guard more times than he'd like to count.  Now a tudor at Hart Hill Learning Center, he meets Jacob Taylor and tries to help him overcome the obstacles in learning he's been enduring, thanks to his abusive father.  He also meets Grace and they find they both share a lot of the same values and beliefs in God, as well as a few other things Grace would have never dreamed of.

This book was excellent in my opinion.  Towards the end, there were so many twists and turns I couldn't wait to finish it to find out what happens!  I truly hope the author does a follow-up book because there is room left at the end for that to happen.  If you are looking for a good read, about love and romance, as well as a Godly relationship and the trials we can all go through, then this book would be for you!

And readers of my blog, stay tuned because next week I'll be giving away my copy of this book!!

Giveaway #2!

Hello everyone!  Hope y'all are having a nice day wherever you may be!  Ready for another book giveaway?!?

I thought so!  Now please..tell your friends about it..I had such low entries the last time it was discouraging...but at least I was able to give away some great books!

Speaking of which, I got a couple of great ones for you guys this time around!

First is "90 minutes in Heaven"..I'm sure most of you all have at least heard about this one.  I bought it a while back and it was really good.  The story really makes you think about what Heaven will be like when our time comes..very inspiring!

The second book is "A woman's guide to hearing God's voice".  Again, another insightful read!  I think anyone would be pleased as punch to get their hands on either of these books! So what are you waiting for?  Enter now!  I'll keep these up for about a week..winner will be announced late next week, probably around Thursday!


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Crisis Situation

If any of you have read the paper or watched the news here lately you might have seen the situation affecting our home state, West Virginia.

We are in the middle of a water crisis.

A chemical leaked and got into the water supply a few days ago.  We are one family of hundreds of thousands that are affected.  Nine counties have been impacted...including Kanawha which is where the capital is located for our beloved state.

Imagine using your water for nothing but flushing the toliet.  That is the situation we are in. Thankfully we are blessed to have a well but it is not plumbed inside of the house.  I have been using the water hose connected to the well and filling up containers to bring into the house to wash ourselves with as well as dishes.

As bad as it all may or may not sound...we are doing fine..but as you know water is a necessity.  We don't have a timetable as to when the chemical will be flushed from the system and we can resume using our water again.

Please pray for West Virginia when you pray..we have definitely gone through worse situations but the severity of our situation at hand is great.

To make tough times brighter...I just had to snap a picture of Makayla taking a bath (in well water..not tap as some people have freaked about about..please..I love my child more than my own self..I would never put her in danger of getting chemical burns!!!!) in the kitchen sink..she barely fits!

And myself..getting my hair good and clean!

Giveaway #1 Winner!

Congrats to Wendy for winning the first 2 books of many to be given away in the coming weeks here at Country Roads!!  I'll get them out to you ASAP!

Guys..please enter...I had SUPER LOW entries for giveaway #1..anyone can enter..you don't have to be a fellow blogger to enter in!!

LOVE her!

I got to snapping some pictures of Makayla over the weekend and have realized just how much my baby has grown!  Her hair is so long and beautiful!  Time, please stop!!!



I love her outfit she had on this day..we had just bought the jeans the day before at Target..on clearance for just $6!  The top was for Christmas..also Target..can't remember how much.  She's so rotten!!

New Year, New Room!

I might (or might not) have mentioned that for Christmas I received some new bedding.  Well, after some sewing the other day, I finally got everything completed! 

 

Way before Christmas, I decided that we needed new 'winter' bedding.  I change out my bedding (quilt/comforter/etc) every season.  Our winter quilt was old.  I'm talking..I bought it when we first got married 12 years ago old!  So I did some searching online for something a little different and came across some gray and red bedding that I LOVED. 

 

But I didn't like the $500 plus price tag that went with it.

 

So I went a different route.  One that involved buying some stuff here and some there and making some myself.  Here is the rundown...

 

• The comforter I got on sale at Kmart for less than $20 (I can't remember exactly how much it was now).
• I bought one gray curtain panel at Walmart for $9.98.
• The bed skirt was probably the most expensive, being bought at Target, not on sale for around $27.
• The throw at the foot of the bed, also Target, and $24.99.
• The pillows I made!  2 red shams and 3 big throw pillows.  The middle gray sweater pillow was made out of a gray sweater I bought at a consignment sale for $7!  It sure beats paying at least $25 at Home Goods for the cheapest sweater pillow I could find before resorting to being homemade!

So I guess I spent somewhere around $85-100 for everything.  Not bad! 





New Years and Giveaway #1!

I still can't believe its 2014..can you?  Time sure does go by quick..especially the older you get I think! 

We celebrated both at my parents house and at home as well.  Damon was working New Years Eve..so my parents had me and Makayla up to their house and ordered some pizza and made my grandma's punch (lime sherbet and ginger ale..yum!).  It was nice!  We hadn't really done anything like that before!



After we got home everything went pretty much like any other evening goes.  When it came time for Makayla's bedtime however, I asked her if she'd like to stay up with mommy and watch the ball drop.  It was already 10:30.

She grabbed her milk and headed towards her bedroom, so I took that as a no!

So we were probably about halfway through story time and prayer time when I heard a truck pull into our driveway.  It was Damon!  They worked a shorter shift that night, it turned out, so him coming home a bit early was a surprise!

We got to spend New Years together after all!  And after Makayla realized that daddy was going to be home..she was all up for staying up with us!  And she absolutely loved it!  She cheered and clapped when the ball dropped, declaring "HOORAY!" like something amazing had happened!

And to her..it was pretty amazing!

Now that the new year is in full swing, lets get to some giveaways, shall we?  As I mentioned in my last blog post..I'm going to be giving away some of my books I've collected over the years.  These giveaways might go on longer than the month of January..it just depends on if I get around to doing some cleaning out of some areas where they might be hidden!  So..here is giveaway #1!

Taste for All Seasons is simply a little cookbook I acquired somewhere over the past few years.  Its your basic cookbook with recipes for everything.  A nice addition to anyone's collection!

Beloved by Robin Lee Hatcher is a book I received in a blogging for books program (don't remember which one).  I LOVED it.  I did a review on it here, so if you'd like to check out more in depth thoughts on what I thought about it and what its all about..go and read about it there!

These 2 books are going to be offered in giveaway #1..ready..set..go!!!!

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