Happy birthday Aaron!

My sweet second born son is turning 4 today. I cannot believe it!! Michael Aaron (named after his Daddy) came into this world on this day 4 years ago. He is a bright little boy. He is full of wonder and has a big imagination. He loves playing with cars,tractors,trucks,anything that goes vroom! He is a left handed child and he is very smart for his age. He loves to learn,read,and color. He speaks so well too. I love him so much. I cannot wait to see what God does in his life. He loves music and to sing. He love to be outdoors and loves to swing. He can make you laugh a lot and loves his brothers. Our life would not be the same without him for sure. He is a very sweet and affectionate little boy.

We will be celebrating his birthday by taking him out later this evening to spend some time with him. He's so excited and so are we! We're so thankful to God for blessing us with him as our little boy.

 

 

 

 

White Chocolate Blonde Brownies

I am a sucker for brownies,anyone with me? I bought some white chocolate chips a couple months back to use for a recipe at church. I pulled them out this past week to put them in the granola bars that I was making and to my surprise there was a brownie recipe on the back of the package. Divine intervention? Na,but I sure was a happy girl!

I have never made brownies from scratch and I decided to give it a whirl. I had everything on hand in the cabinets which is rare for me. I usually lack one or two ingredients. I whipped up the ingredients in the bowls and put those babies in the oven. I really was not sure if they would even taste good. It seems that I can find these awesome looking recipes online and when I attempt to make them myself,well it does not turn out like they said it would. I was just hoping that I did not waste the ingredients again.

White Chocolate Blonde Brownies

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter or margarine,softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup white chocolate morsels

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Line 9-inch square baking pan with foil,with ends of foil extending over sides; spray with cooking spray.
3. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer (I did it with a fork) until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder (if you use self rising flower,do not use the baking powder), and salt; mix well. Stir in chocolate and nuts (optional). Spread onto bottom of prepared pan.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center (also check the corners) comes out clean. Cool in pan. Use foil handles to lift brownies from pan before cutting into.

White Chocolate Blonde Brownies

I must tell you that these brownies were the best ones that I have ever tasted. I lie not. I am not exaggerating either. I was not sure how they would taste. They were moist and soft. They were not too sweet,but had the chocolate chips in them. Oh,boy. The boys loved them too! It was goodness in every bite. I had to share them with y'all! If you do not want white chocolate,I am sure you could use chocolate ones instead.

What's a favorite dessert of yours to share with us?

Games anyone?

I have always loved to play board games and nothing has changed. Though I am 30 years old, I am still a sucker for board games. My husband on the other hand is not that crazy about them. He plays because he likes to spend the time with me,but he would rather be doing something else. I don't force him that much,only a little.

When we had our children, one thing I could not wait for was to play board games with them. Is that crazy? I had no idea what all I would go through before getting them to that stage,but hey we survived! So now my two oldest are big enough to understand some of them and it's been really fun! I taught them how to play Uno,which we play a lot. I also like to look online to find fun games I can print out. I particularly like one site called Free Homeschool Deals. It is such a great place for educational and fun resources. Jamerrill has all kinds of neat stuff,including a list of free ebooks for the day. You can go to the site and just search for any of the three games.

A few months back I found 2 bingo games and 1 memory game. I was so excited! It's hard to find these in stores anymore. Everyone plays them on the tablets or computer I assume. I love technology,but I love playing actual board games. It is so much funner!

The ABC Memory game.

My boys have enjoyed this one. It has helped my oldest recognize his letters more. I love how colorful it is! I took postal tape and laminated the boards and calling cards. I wanted them to last and we all know with kids that is hard to do.

We first used play coins,but needed more. So Daniel picked out the patriotic buttons for us to use.

States Bingo game.

I almost flipped out,okay, I did flip out when I saw this on her site! I had been looking for a way to teach them the states,but in a fun way. My boys loved this game the best! My middle son recognizes each state by site,and he can put some states with the right names. I did the same thing with the postal tape and laminated these boards and cards.

Aaron playing states bingo. He is a smarty pants!

Daniel playing states bingo. He really loves this one.

ABC Memory game.

We have not played this one yet. I have 3 more cards to laminate. I ran out of postal tape and have totally forgot to buy more! So typical of a busy Mom right? It matches the upper case letter to the lower case letter. It should be fun when we play it!


Don't forget to check out Jamerrill's site where she has tons of free stuff to help educate while having fun! That was a goal for mine this year in home schooling: make learning fun! I have suceeded so far!

Linking up with The Better Mom today.

Our Fall Trip- Pumpkin Patch

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the coolness of the air,college football,and the beautiful scenery. We usually don't have a long Fall,but we have had some Fall days already here in Alabama. It's been so wonderful!

Last Monday I took my 2 oldest boys on a field trip with our home school group to a pumpkin patch. We don't celebrate Halloween,so I wasn't sure if the farm would incorporate that into the patch. I was very pleased that it did not! It was just Fall decor and pumpkins. There were about 50 kids there with our group. My boys had SO much fun too. I even had fun just watching all the kids. It wasn't far from our home here in Alabama,just across the state line into Mississippi.

They had some neat things the kids could do. The funnest for the kids was just running around in the patch, I think.

The kids loved playing on the old time hay stack. They had bells up there and the kids raced to the top.

My second son,Aaron,loved it.
 

Daniel and Jachin,our Pastor's youngest son.

The kids loved the corn crib. It was my first time to see one.

Aaron got on the metal horse to try it out. This was so cute!

They had it decorated so good! An outhouse for us to take pictures in.

Seth and Aaron playing on the wagon. Seth is one of their friends we go to church with also.

Kaleb and Daniel playing checkers. Kaleb is our Pastor's oldest son.

They had a general store where they sold snow cones and popcorn for a $1. It was so cute! The kids ran around and played on all the stuff they had set out in the patch. They had a hay maze,tire swing,wagon to get in,a checker board,and a fun house. That isn't all either. We also went on a hay ride through the nursery part of the farm. My boys really loved that!

So cute! Aaron isn't as social as Daniel. He just kind of played by himself a lot. So I followed him around taking pictures. :)

Enjoying a snow cone and popcorn before the hay ride. Another Mom snapped this photo.

Aaron in the hay maze. It had already been kind of messed with by the big kids.

Riding the tire hose swing. So cute!

Seth,Aaron,and Daniel having fun. Such a neat idea!

Another snapped by a Mom there. Aaron decided to push the truck ha!

My big boys playing with the checker board.

Our home school group. This isn't all of them either. So blessed!

The people that were running everything were so nice! We knew some of them from teaching at elementary schools that a lot of us Mom's attended when we were younger. It was nice to be around such friendly faces. I really want to take them back before they take the Fall decorations down for Christmas decorations. If not it was such a fun experience for them and the rest of us.

We ended the time there by having a picnic lunch in the patch. This was our view. Such a beautiful Fall day!

 We usually don't do much until November for Thanksgiving,then December for Christmas. This was something new for us.  What Fall activities have you done this October so far?

Dealing With Emotions

Emotions. They are a crazy thing. They are a good thing and they can be a bad thing, if not controlled. We all have them and we all have to learn to control them. But how do we teach our children to control their emotions? I am learning this is tricky,hard,and not always fun. I have 3 boys and they all have some strong emotions. They get it honest, my husband and I are a pair of passionate people. When they are infants you can only do so much as far as talking with them,but I have found it easier to help them once they are 3 and up.

I have not figured it out yet that's for sure. It's something I am just praying and seeking advice on. My second son is very emotional,by that I mean, he displays his emotions more than the others and a lot more loudly. I have found some good ways and have been given some good advice on how to help them. I wanted to share them here and welcome ANY other Biblical advice from you ladies about this topic.

• Go to scripture- This is a no brainer for me. Anytime I have a problem the Word is the ultimate source. Find scriptures that talk about anger,long sufferance,kindness,gentleness,and how we treat others. You could even find them ahead of time and use the index cards with rings to write them on. That way when something happens you can just go straight to the verses.
• Talk it out- Ask questions and see what the problem may be. Try to see what is going on and why they are displaying the emotion(s). You may can avoid any damage (or further damage by talking with them).
• Talk about not acting on our emotions- The 2 most displayed emotions from my boys are anger and whining/complaining. I try to remember to tell them that it is fine to have emotions,but we have to be careful about how we respond or act because of the emotions. They are young,but they definitely understand what I am telling them.
• Show them the right way to act- I do this a lot with my 2 year old. If he screams or throws something I will mimic him and tell him that is not what we do,instead we do this and I show him or tell him. It rings a bell in that little head for sure. With my older ones I will tell them how to say something or how we should react and then I ask them to do it.
• Pray over them- Praying for them to grasp what you are saying and that you will have the words to say to them is imperative. Even pray with them if they are old enough. 

This advice is not the short way to help our children,but it is some of the best ways. It seems much easier to just let them throw the fits or act on the anger,but in the end it is only spoiling them. If they never learn to control their emotions they will not be pleasant to be around. They definitely won't be prepared for the real world. Like I said I have NOT figured it all out yet. I am still learning of ways to help them,but these are the ones that have worked and we try to use. 

How do you help your children with their emotions? Share any tips and advice please!

 Linking up with Darlene at Time-Warp Wife today for Titus 2sdays.