Yesterday...

Our church has a nursing home ministry once a month on Sunday afternoons.

Justus and Chloe had went last time, and he was preaching yesterday so we all decided we would go.  

I figured the elderly would love to see our kids.

And they did.

Fawned over them, to be exact.

Petted their little red heads.

And exclaimed in AWE over the beauty of Titus...

ok, maybe not, but I did.

He is beautiful, you know.

So, after my husband preached, we walked around and talked with

the people who came, made sure they got back to their room.

This lady named Ursula ~ but prefers to be called "Sue"  pointed her crooked finger at me and then called me over to her wheel chair.

She wanted to talk.

So, I listened.

And listened.

And listened.

She told me about her kids.

Her pregnancies, etc.

At one point she made a "joke" of sorts.

So, I laughed...

and then something I hope I will never forget happened:

She hit me in the belly ~ not hard, mind you, just the kind you would do when you punch someones arm when you really want to let them know that you are clever with your jokes....You know.  You've wanted to be clever before.  

HA.

So, she hits my belly and made a shocked expression on her face and said:

"Is that YOUR baby in there?"

Bahhahahahahaha!  I never laughed so hard in my life.

Uh, yeah, Ursula, I think it just might be.

Hope you have a great day.

Go visit a nursing home, it will ensure you have at least one or two laughs to take home with you!

Friday Family Fun Night!

Every friday night at our home we have family fun night.

I make home made pizza....(yes it gets monotonous, but my kids love it.)

We watch movies or play games.

I generally talk to Ty all night. 

He doesn't like games.

Or movies.

He would just like for someone to talk to him.

ALL.DAY.LONG.

He tells stories and shows me his acrobatic tricks.  

Which he thinks belong only to him...

though I have seen them 3 times before with each of his siblings....

But we will let him think that he is pretty amazing.

Well, he is.

Really.

What do you do on Friday nights?

I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart!

I have been wanting to join this blog hop for a while.

I need more positive in my life. 

You can read more posts by clicking here.

  I am thankful for the internet.

I love being able to talk to people 9especially my missionary friends) who are half way around the world.

People who I would never be able to call.

Or meet at Starbucks.

Or drop by their house for a few minutes.

I am thankful that when I was feeling really down and friendless, I could get on facebook and 

talk to people who loved me.

I got tons of messages of people just praying for us.

Such a blessing to know that someone really cared and would take time to pray.

I wouldn't have had that if it weren't for the internet.

So, while facebook can be dangerous, I am choosing to be thankful for it today.

What are you thankful for?

Cloth Diapering

I'm gonna do it!

And here is the reason why...

They are so stinkin' adorable.

I realize they are a lot of work.

But frankly, we need all the extra money we can get.

My sister~in~law uses this brand: Grovia

She really likes them.

Just wondering if anyone else has any tips or advice on brands, etc.

She ordered the package here for boys.

I will, of course, be getting the cute lil' girl stuff...

Not sure on how many inserts I would have to buy.

Tips, advice?

Encouragement?

Tidbits of news for you.

Did you know you can become addicted to Afrin nasal spray?
And that because of that addiction it can actually hurt your nasal passages and make it even more difficult to breath?
Yeah, I didn't either....until today.

We've had soup and sandwiches the last 2 days for almost every meal.
Tomato soup and club sandwiches...
Chicken noodle soup and pbj's.....
A couple of grilled cheese thrown in here and there.

I can't breath through my nose at all...but I am on detox from Afrin....it's evil.

We are in the midst of a blizzard.
I just watched our neighbor walk all the way down her huge drive to get the mail.
Uh, it's President's Day.
Apparently she didn't get the memo.
Poor lady.

We had a revival at our house today.
Emily and Isaac and Titus were going down the stairs.
I heard someone fall.
So, I went to investigate.
Emily and Ty were praying for Isaac's "big boo~boo!"
They didn't know I was there.
Then Isaac went to each of them and hugged them and said "I'm sorry."
I don't know what he was sorry for, but I felt the Spirit move here on Schocalog Road.

And, here we sit in the dark living room watching a movie with our ki~ki's (blankets) and various stuffed animals....
Chloe keeps looking at me asking me why I am breathing hard.
Need I remind you that I can't breath out of my nostrils?
I didn't think so.

Summer will come soon.
Won't it?
Please say it will.
Please say this baby will come out of me eventually.
And I will loose the baby weight.
One day.
Please.

Trapped in my house and bored out of my mind,

The Rochesters and Matthews-I have been blessed

God's Been Good - Joyful Melodies

Trip to Amish Country and the cutest doily I have ever in my whole life seen.

We started the day off with lunch at this little Diner. 

We've eaten there before with our Auntie Marcy.

They all got an ice cream cone for dessert!

FOR FREEEEEE!

I love free.

Auntie Marcy, remember Lena's House?

Remember running out of Lena's House as fast as our legs could take us due to the trail of stink

our beloved husbands were leaving behind?

Ain't they precious?

I found this little yellow doily at one of the shops and just couldn't turn it down.

So cute for Easter.

This was how we spent the day...

Strolling in the 56 degree weather...

hand in hand...

in love.

It was wonderful.

Hope you enjoyed the lovely weather.

You know it's going to snow again, right?

SIO Days

I have instituted yet another named day in the Snow family household.

SIO days.

Days in which I sit in my office all morning and grade, check facebook, record grades, write a meaning-less blog post, grade, blow my nose, and then grade some more.

I found I wasn't spending enough time with my schoolers as opposed to the little ones.

So on Mondays and Thursdays, I pretty much sit in my chair all morning.
I make a job chart each week for each child.

I also go through their individual Abeka lesson plan books and highlight with 3 different colors the things they need to do this week.

For example:
In Chloe's Arithmetic:
Yellow is the things she can do all on her own (the worksheet pages.)
Orange means ASK MAMMA FOR HELP.  This implies something I have to teach her that she hasn't done before.
Pink means a test or quiz.  I have two little shelves that when they are done with a test or quiz they bring it up to my desk with the grade book for that subject and put it in their own slot on the shelve instead of piling it all on my desk.

We are getting this homeschooling thing down finally.  Now that it's February.

ONLY 69 MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL!


I don't know who is more excited, them or me.

So, to summarize this post for your reading enjoyment...

If you see me on FB like all day long it's because it's a SIO day.
Don't judge.

Welcome...

To my dear best friend Tracey.
Don't forget to follow.

Names, names, names....

I gotta say, this one threw me for a loop.
I really thought that it would just be a boy.
The others were....

It took the U/S tech 45 minutes to find the gender though.
She kept laughing because the baby was in the fire drill position, but every once in a while, she would
wave a hand at us.
Probably a drama queen already just like her big sister.
Anyway, I am thrilled...
But, can't get a name down!
We love the name Charys...but my husband is kinda iffy on that one
now that it is actually down to the wire.
Leah is his Mom's name, so we thought of Leah Anne.
My Mom was Ann.
I love Ava.  That's a no-go.
Grace.  Cute, but he doesn't think so.

Anyone have any ideas????

It's a.....

Girl!!!!


You all had such faith that I could bear a female child and you were right!
Yeah!

TODAY'S THE DAY

Well, my pregnancy is half over.
We get to see what the little bean is today!
And I am so excited!
Not so excited that I can't go back to sleep after my husband left for work though...
which is where I am headed now.

And may I just say?
I love that I fixed my husband a delightful breakfast all from pre~packaged, pre~made food on his 35th birthday!
Biscuits and Gravy and Bacon....
Ok, the biscuits were in a can.  (Don't think ill of me, please.)
The gravy was pre~packaged from Bob Evans...good ol' Bob.
And the bacon was pre~cooked, I just had to warm it.
Best wife of the year award RIGHT HERE!
Uh-huh...

Well, off to bed for an hour or so.
I will be back later to let you know what we found out at the DR office.

At the risk of completely loosing my sanity....

I can't keep up with it all.
I can't keep the WHOLE HOUSE CLEANED all at once anymore.
Ok, so, I have come to grips with that.
I will not let that bit of knowledge take me down.
I won't.
I am going to conquer this.....
OVERWHELMED FEELING.
So, I saw this idea on a blog I follow.
This lady has "Focus Days."

And so I made some focus days for myself.
Monday ~ Get the downstairs straightened.
Living room and kitchen cleaned and back in order from the weekend.
Yesterday I got a bucket of water with Lavender scented Pine soap and wiped down the whole table and chairs and all my cabinets...  It didn't take that long, and it felt good to do it.  I also washed the floors in the LR/Kit/Dining room.

Tuesday ~ Laundry day...  I have about 8 loads of laundry to do.  I may not get them all done today, but I am going to FOCUS on this today.  Also the laundry room will get a quick cleaning though.   (And boy does it need it!)

Wednesday ~ Since a move seems to be on the horizon ( as our house is being put up for sale shortly) I am going to pack 3 or 4 boxes.  Since Marcy doesn't live in the area anymore I figure I am going to have to do it all by myself this time.  I might as well get started.  I would also like to take a couple of bags to Goodwill or the dump, etc. once a week.  We have a large walk-in closet....I realize we might not have this where we move.  Or any closet for that matter.  Not to mention that I have one of my Grandmother and Grandfather's church outfits.  She had a KELLY GREEN AND NAVY BLUE ladies suit and he had a kelly green mens suit.  Oh my, they were adorable when they wore those.  Yeah, I still have them in my closet.  Not sure why.  I also have one of my Grandmothers fur coats...and an OLD fashioned dress that she made.  I'm saying this like I am going to get rid of these things.  Not gonna happen.  They will be packed and moved as many times as we do.  Why?  I don't know.

Thursday ~ Bedroom day.....I need to help my kids more on their rooms, as well as our own.  I find often that our room is where everything gets shoved.....that AIN'T right.  But if I spend 20-30 minutes up there once a week, it could stay clean I am sure.  And, we have a TV up there...I could get my room cleaned while spending some me time!  Oh yeah.  Amy Snow multitasking extraordinaire!


Friday ~ Bathrooms day...we have 3.  Which I am just going to throw it out there and say, unless you can afford a maid, it's just too many bathrooms to have.  Our bathroom in our bedroom is usually clean...but the other too, not so much...


Now, off I go to do laundry.  I feel better already just writing this out.  Thank you for listening to my mundane stories and life.  I will try to be more exciting....next year.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mom's 62nd birthday.
It's hard to believe that she died so young.
She got Inflammatory Breast Cancer almost 10 years ago.
And passed away in 2005.

We used to always celebrate her birthday at Red Lobster.
The last birthday we got to have with her we did the same and my Aunt and Uncle
came and went with us.
We knew it was our last.
Kinda hard to eat shrimp when you're choking down tears.

So, Happy Birthday Mom.
I thought I'd get through this year without crying....but here I sit, in a puddle of tears.
I love you.
Enjoy your shrimp.

Yes, I am obsessed....

My friend Juli just told me about a way to predict the gender of you baby.
Hold a needle up on a string to your open palm and if it's a boy, it will swing back and forth.
If it's a girl, it will swing in a circle.
Guess what?
Back and forth.....

I don't know if that is necessarily true, but it worked with all of her children.
We will see.
Any other ways I can drive myself crazy between now and Wednesday?
According to the heartrate, it's a girl everytime!

So tell me your tried and true secrets of gender prediction????

I have a feeling....

That those of you voting girl are going to be awfully disappointed!
Just don't be made at me, k?
Chloe was mad at me the last 2 ultrasounds when it was a boy.
I'd hate to hear pouting on my blog.....
K?
Love you.

Rules for using a paper towel....

Yes, I am blogging about paper towels.
Those things get expensive.
And, my husband didn't have a job for 3 months.
So, I made my own laundry detergent.
And learned how to re-use leftovers more efficiently.
And, this past Sunday, my Pastors wife told me how to make my own Automatic Dishwashing Detergent.
OH yeah.
And, I quickly learned that my serious obsession with the paper towels had to go.
I was going through a roll A DAY.
I like my kitchen to be clean.
And, so do my kids...
So, I had to make rules for paper towel usage.
And I am going to share them with you.
Because you care, deep deep down, you care.
So, without further ado:

1.  You may NOT use a paper towel to dry your clean hands.
We keep a clean towel easily accessible.  USE IT.

2.  Do NOT use my clean dish towels to clean up the counter, table, etc.
Use a paper towel for this.

3.  Do NOT use paper towels to wash dishes.  (My kids enjoy doing this.)
I have blogged before about the Clorox dish towels here and I can still say that I love them still.
The are still white like when I first got them.

And, I think that about sums it up.
Just 3 rules.
But very important rules.
Thank you for listening.
God bless.