**Link Love**

Most Saturdays I devote a little free fun time for me on the internet. I try to catch up on checking in with long distance friends on facebook, pin my heart away on pinterest, poke around on blogs, youtube, and instagram. It's my chill computer time. : D I thought it would be fun to start linking up some of the stuff I find!

** My Pinterest Page 

** Dishwasher Detergent Recipe ~ I've tried their Laundry Detergent Recipe and it works great!!

** Momma's Playground movie tickets for a family movie night 

** Cards for Soldiers ~ I want to start doing this with the boys. I've been looking for a meaningful way to     give with the boys.

** Doodle Bugs ~ loving this teacher's blog!!

My Plan/Tips For Reading Through The Bible

Reading through the Bible is something I always put on my goal list and it's one of the things that never get crossed off. Now I have personally read a little more than 3/4 of the Bible. And boy how I can't count how many times I've read Genesis - Leviticus trying to do Bible Reading Plans.

My main downfall with reading through the Bible - All plans I've previously found require either you read a section of scripture, one verse from psalms, and one verse from proverbs or you read a chapter from the old testament, a chapter from the new testament and a psalm. In my opinion psalms and proverbs are very deep. So I wouldn't want to read them at the same time I read my main portion of Scripture. Well, I could just never fit in that second reading time, I would get behind on reading my psalms and proverbs and eventually give up altogether.

• Well NOT This Year!!! I am claiming that I will read through the Bible!! Using lessons learned from my past failures I did not give up until I found this site with a Bible reading plan that I knew would fit me. I'm using the plan Through the Bible. I am confident that this plan will work for me. After I printed out my plan, I decided a few things.

• I must read it in the morning. It only works this way for me. I have to get up at least 15 minutes before the kids do, that's all I need. I have actually woken up early a few times, did my reading and went back to sleep until the kids got up! ... hey I was sick! :D

• I have the Bible on my kindle. So that should I wake up at the same time the boys do, I can play daily reading in the text to speech format while making breakfast. Making breakfast is usually a quiet time for me.

• I have my audio Bible cds in my car. So that if we wake up and are on the run, I can pop it in the car and listen to my daily reading! I know it will work if necessary because it's only a few chapters I have to listen to before demands of the radio are being made. :)

This way every area is covered. No matter what the morning brings I should be able to flow with it!! And I love that! I'm prepared.

29 Books to Read in 2012

I love books! I always have! I was a very young 4 when I learned how to read and so I don't remember learning to read! I just always have! I remember my mom reading to me every night. I remember all the magazines my mom would order me because she knew I would read them. I would read my magazines cover to cover, devouring and savoring every article ... and smell. :P yeah, total book nerd here. and newspaper day was my favorite day in class. I recall looking forward to every Friday, not because it was before the weekend but because it was newspaper day! LoL. I loved the feel and smell, it seemed almost perfect. ... maybe I have issues Ha! Ha!

I would sooo love for this picture to become a reality in my house! minus the small dog... I would need a greyhound or great dane in the picture :D

Here are the 29 books I plan to read in 2012:

1. Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst
2. Learning by Karen Kingsbury
3. How to Maximize Your Child's Learning Ability by Lauren Bradway & Barbara Hill
4. Longing by Karen Kingsbury
5. The Green Smoothies Diet by Robin Openshaw
6. Louder Than Words by Jenny McCarthy
7. Home Warming by Emilie Barnes
8. A Charlotte Mason Companion
9. The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants by Ann Bradshaw
10. Momology by Shelly Radic
11. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
12. The Twelve Teas of Inspiration by Emily Barnes
13. The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas by Linda Dobson
14. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
15. Simpler Times by Thomas Kinkade
16. The Firstborn Advantage by Kevin Leman
17. Loving by Karen Kingsbury
18. Supernanny by Jo Frost
19. Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
20. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
21. What Every Mom Needs by Elisa Morgan & Carol Kuykendall
22. Feathers From My Nest by Beth Moore
23. Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr.
24. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
25. Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
26. The Death Cure by James Dashner
27. The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper
28. The Christmas Spirit by Joel Osteen
29. A Prairie Christmas

So there you have it! I own all these books except 3. I have already started reading Made to Crave. It's pretty good so far.

My Favs 2011 Part 2

Books - Here is a list of all the books I read this year with stars by my favorites and BC by my book club books

1. Giving It All Away: The Doris Buffet Story BC
2. Breathe by Keri Wyatt BC
3. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp**
4. The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean
5. A Pig in Provence by Georgeanne Brennan
6. Leaving by Karen Kingsbury**
7. One Thousand White Women BC
8. The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory*
9. Uniting Church & Home by Eric Wallace
10. Dressing Your Truth by Carol Tuttle **
11. For the Family's Sake by Susan Schaeffer *
12. The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski
13. The Maze Runner by James Dashner*
14. Honey for a Child's Heart by Glady Hunt
15. What Women Fear by Angie Smith **

Not my longest book list ever but better than nothing ... right? :)

Blogs - blogs I visited most often (not awesome ones I want you to think I read;)

1+1+1=1

Confessions of a Homeschooler

Counting Coconuts

Cherish Everyday

Websites - once again websites I visited most often

Money Saving Mom

Becky Higgins

Amazon

The Mom Creative

Dressing Your Truth

YouTube Channels - yes I have youtube channels I subscribe to. they are not life changing. just my own fun interest. if the boys are watching a cartoon, I have my own viewing time.

Carol Tuttle

Elle'sGlitterGossip

AllThatGlitters21

SunshineLovesFire

OrganizedLikeJen

MyHousewifeLife

TV Shows - we have not had cable our whole 8 years of marriage. We decided this year for various reasons that we would start having cable yearly Nov. 1 - March 31. So I am new to TV. but here's what I got into this Fall 2011 -

Wizard's of Waverly Place

Shake It Up

Jerseylicious (comes on Style -not Jersey Shore which comes on MTV)

Giada at Home

The Rachel Ray Show

The Martha Stewart Show

Tori & Dean

Quints by Surprise

Movies -

Harry Potter 7: Part 2****** we seen this in the theater and I loved it! My #1 movie of the year!

The Dilemma

X-Men First Class

I have not seen Sherlock Holmes 2 but I'm sure it would be on my list!

My Favs 2011 Part 1

I've been seeing tons of videos and blog posts on "end of year reviews". I thought it would be fun to do some myself. Don't worry - I know I'm flaky with my blog so I already wrote all my posts and they are set up to post everyday the rest of the year! YaY! :D

MY 2011 Favorites Part 1

Girl Stuff- Due to something that happened last year, this year I renewed myself. I certainly didn't want to be self centered but children & hubbies alike enjoy you the most when you put the me in Mommy. (i heard that somewhere) So I spent some of this year remembering myself and "rediscovering" me. My husband has enjoyed this greatly. ;) anyhow I have always loved "girl" products. I just do. I can't help myself. When I was in high school I think 50% of my money earned went to beauty. The smell of a nail salon soothed my weary teenage soul! While it wouldn't be wise use of our money to do most of what I did as a teenager, I did use coupons and rewards to stock up my lonely beauty supply. Pictured here are my favorite finds of the year. Most of these I've used since Feb. If any look unused it's because I've bought another of it.

• Ulta Professional foundation brush
• Ulta medium powder brush
• Ulta smudge brush
• Victoria's Secret kabuki brush
• Victoria's Secret bronzing powder (sun goddess)
• Ulta lipsticks 134 & 138
• Lady Speedstick Stainguard (daringly fresh) ~ I've used this brand since middle school
• OPI mermaid tears ~ most used, most complimented nail polish I've ever had
• Juicy Couture ~ I got this bottle for Christmas 2 years ago and I just finished it last month
• Physicians Formula smoky hazel eyes
• Almay bright eyes - i've gone through tons of these (um ok 2, but that's a lot!)
• Mary Kay eyeliner bronze
• Almay smart shade smart balance 100 - my favorite foundation of all time

so now the homeschooling world knows (or at least those that subscribe to my blog LoL) - it's true - I love girl products!!

In the Kitchen-

I've had these babies for 3 years now! They are called spoonulas (in case you didn't know) and I've found it to be completely true! They do work as a spoon and a spatula. In fact, I do not own any spoons (cooking) or spatulas! I just have these and I love them! I've use these things for everything - they've frosted every single cake made in the past 3 years, stirred countless soups, stews, sauteed countless veggies, and so and so on, you get it!

In the Mommy World - I became an Amazon Mom. This is probably my favorite "mom" find of the year. Where I moved to is 30 minutes from "town" and there is not a nearby BJs. So I found Amazon Mom. I love it. I subscribed to Pampers Cruisers and Babyganics wipes. The diapers come once a month and last 5 weeks. The diapers come once every other month and last exactly until the next shipment. When your an amazon mom and you subscribe these products become $37.75/160 diapers and $15.19/400 organic wipes! They are affordable, I'm never out, and I never have to remember any while in the store! I really enjoy my Amazon Mom membership. It's defiantly my best Mommy find of the year! :)

November Missions

Yes - I know - Gone for so long! Lots of excuses .. but I shall not bore you with them. ;) I'm really going to try to blog on some kind of regularity. I have all these plans in my head and just none seem to come out from my fingers to the keyboard and onto my blog!

With that said onto the good stuff. I've been enjoying Mama Jenn's little blogspot lately. She has a mission of the month. I've been doing weekly missions on my own the last three weeks so I thought this would be a fun way to help hold myself accountable (in some form) with my personal goals.

My November Missions:

• Make all of Babystep#1 Preflight Check my daily routine
• Print out and deliver kids' size info. for grandparents and finish wishlist
• Finish Nathanael's first year baby album
• Catch up on Project Life
• Completely prepare for Advent
• Have Christmas card pictures taken
• Have school year pics. taken and Nathanael's 1 year old pics.
• Start the Belly Fat Cure with husband
• make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Well that's it ... my November Goals!!! Can't wait to get started ... I just love lists and goals :) Thanks Mama Jenn for feeding my list and goal need while encouraging me to be productive with myself and my home!