Bed Time Bible Story

Every night part of my daughter's bedtime routine is reading a Bible story.  I really liked her story tonight about John the Baptist. The best part is this:  "and he was so happy he sang a song:  Because God loves us with a never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love- Heaven is breaking through! He is sending us a Light from Heaven to shine on us like the sun.  To shine on those who live in darkness And in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace."  


I LOVED IT!!  :)  Remember GOD LOVES you and there is nothing you can do about it!  :)  

Dear Summer,

Dear Summer,

Today is August 31st and school starts tomorrow so you are ending soon.  I have a favor to ask of you, can you please tell Fall to hold off a little longer so you can stay longer instead??  I have already started to see leaves turning colors and I am just not ready for that yet. Fall can come at the end of October and November, because I do love pumpkins and all.  Also, if you could tell winter that it needs to be shorter this year.  Can we request snow on December 24th and 25th and only a couple more snow storms after that? You could also tell spring that it can arrive as early as possible next year.  :)  

Thanks I am a big fan of your nice hot and long days.  I would greatly appreciate you sticking around for as long as possible.

Sincerly,

April

Anyone else on the same page as me today??  Time flew too fast!

Worship Wednesday

HOW HE LOVES ME!!  :) 

Wordless Wednesday

I Love you Selah!  I love you Titus!  

Same and different

We had a few minutes while we were waiting to go so I pulled out the flash cards that we bought from Target in the dollar section.  :) 

One thing that is an important skill for kids to use is pointing out what things are the same and what things are different.  

What are some of your activities that you do for a quick time filler?  

Bath tub Painting! More fun in the tub!!!

Who would not have fun painting in the bathtub??  Nice for mom since clean up is easy and fun because it is different and no paper needed.  :)  

This was easy to make:  grab your muffin tin and squirt shaving cream in it and mix in some food coloring then grab a paint brush and draw a bath!  HAVE FUN!  GET MESSY then GET CLEAN! 

Getting ready to have some painting fun!   

I wanted to have some fun too so I asked if I could paint a butterfly on her! :)  She thought that was fun and ticklish!  

 Got tired of the paint brush and went straight to finger painting.  

 You will want to do this again and again.  My daughter while in the bathtub said, "mom, can we do this again?"  A sure sign that she had fun!  :)  Next time I might try to make it more educational with have her drawing shapes, or copying a pattern.  :)

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CLICK here to get this groupon!  What a great Christmas present.  

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Coming up on Praises of a Wife and Mommy! :)

I know the last few days I have not had many posts but I am here and I am great.  Life is just busy as usual but that is good.

Currently I am reading the book "Culture of Honor" by Danny Silk who is out of Bethel Church in California.  Our church is moving in this direction and I am so excited!!!  More then excited!!!  There is a lot of learning that I am getting from this book.  :)  So if you are part of leadership at your church I would strongly suggest picking up this book-lots of great great information.  I am only on page 90 something so I still have about 100 pages to go but I have gotten a lot of information from this book.  Our church staff and council are going to be discussing this book in detail later in September.  We will be having an over night hotel adventure and I am looking forward to discussing the book but also a night away from town.  Lil man will be coming with us but Selah will be having a friend over and a baby sitter and she is looking forward to that too.  At our church we also made a "soaking" room to just soak in the presence of God and I am looking at getting in their.  :)  I will let you know how it goes.  :)

You should know that I just finished the book "Something Inside of Me" by Chitoka Webb and I have a giveaway going on right now for a copy of that book!  VERY LOW entries so click here to go enter!  

Speaking of giveaways I am super excited to be giving away "The Juppy-baby walker"  the first baby walker that fits in your purse!!  Confused???  Go read my review and enter the giveaway for your chance to win one, click here!  :)   This also has very low entries!   :)

Today I am determined to put in a Pilates DVD and workout.  I am reviewing this new DVD and coming later in September once I have had a couple weeks to use it and see how I feel I will be having a giveaway for it.  :)  It is a Pilates DVD that is geared towards pregnant women or women who just gave birth!  :)  I have never done Pilates but I think it will be fun.  Look for the review and giveaway later in September.

September is a busy month for us.  Selah will be turning 4 and we just got the facebook invite out to parents but we are still printing out the other invites for her to give to her friends.  I am so excited to have her "Tangled" party.  Here is our fun invitation that my husband made...he is so good with techy stuff!  I am such a blessed wife to have such an amazing husband who can do anything!  :) Here is the invite:

I want to make a cool tower out of Rice Krispie treats but I am unsure if I will be able to do so.  Anyone have any other ideas?  I have been thinking about what a good budget should be for a birthday party.  I hope to write a blog post about this more in detail.  I know as a parent I get excited to give a party but I have to keep in mind budget and not go over board.  :) 

Well that is a little heads up on what you can expect to see from Praises of a Wife and Mommy.  :)  Don't forget I have more dyed noodles and bean activities to showcase still too.  :)  As I try every week I will continue to keep Worship Wednesday posts as well as Thankful Thursday's.  

Be Blessed and take some time to be with HIM, Jesus!!!!  :) 

Follow me Monday and other hops

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Question of the Week

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Question of the Week:  Were you and your family affected by Hurricane Irene in any way?
   


My answer:   My father in-law is in Long Island NY but he said he should be just fine as he is on higher ground.  We were not able to talk to him yesterday but I am trusting he is just fine! 

Happy Birthday to my Man!

I love you Anthony!  

Happy Birthday!!!  

I am so thankful for an amazing husband who is faithful, loving, genuine, joyful, and a amazing and caring father.  We love you so much!  Thank you for being who God has created you to be!  

                                                                                                       

                                        
 PRAYING YOU HAVE A BLESSED YEAR AHEAD!!!!  

I want candy... Cotton Candy (craft/card)

 I am a huge fan of cotton candy.  I know I'm an adult but I get excited just like a lil kid in a candy store when I know we are going to a fair because there will be cotton candy there.  I always have to talk my hubby into letting me get some.  :)  


Well we did not actually have real cotton candy so I told my daughter we could make "pretend cotton candy."  She was confused but then realized we could make a craft and had a fun time creating this project.


The project was very simple but yet fun.  All you need is toilet paper tube, cotton balls, glue, h20 food coloring mixture in a spray bottle.   

Stretching and gluing on the cotton balls... it looks so much like cotton candy.  Had to reinforce that we could not eat this because we were just pretending.  

There her tongue is out again.  Here we are adding our color to the cotton to make it look like tasty cotton candy.  

Yummy... really wish I had the real stuff!  

 We made 2 cards to give out.  I forgot to take a picture after we wrote on them.  On one of them we wrote:  "Happy Birthday Daddy, hope you have the sweetest day ever."  The 2nd card we gave to our pastor's wife and that said "You are sweeter then Cotton Candy."  



The craft did not take very long but still worked on some fine motor with using glue, stretching the cotton balls out, and using the spray bottle.  :)  

Maybe my hubby could buy me this Nostalgia electric Cotton Candy Maker off of Amazon!  :) 

Juppy Baby Walker Review and Giveaway

 

                            

The first baby walker that fits in your purse!!!  That phrase caught my attention right away since I had no idea how that could be possible.  After I received The Juppy Baby Walker in the mail I opened the package immediately and it all made sense and it made me excited!

Now my little man is 5 months old so he is not quite at the walking age but he is always wanting to stand and already shows readiness skills.  I still put him in The Juppy and he seemed to enjoy it and actually took a couple steps toward his daddy.  I know for sure that this product will get some great use in a few more months when my little man is older and closer to walking.  :)  I love the fact that there will be no sore backs from leaning over!!!  AWESOME!

I also thought back to my days as a Cognitive Disability teacher and thought this would be a perfect addition to many special education classrooms.  If you are a parent to a special needs child then this is the product you might be looking for!  :)  I know in my classroom we used really big space taking walkers that took a very long time to set up with the child.  Many children could benefit from The Juppy!!

The Juppy is also not going to break the bank!  It onlly costs $29.95 plus shipping!  WHAT A DEAL!

Here are my favorite features of The Juppy:
1. It is portable!  The Juppy fits in a nice bag and then will fit in the diaper bag or a purse.
2. NO BACK PAIN!!
3. The Juppy Baby Walker is 100% parent assisted baby walker that eliminates all the dangers of walkers with wheels.
4. Washable- it is 100% cotton!

   Yes it will fit in your purse!!

                                                                                       

Watch the Juppy in action:

I had to share this one.  While we were taking pictures my daughter found her backpack carrier for her doll and wanted to use it just like The Juppy.  :)

This review is 100% my opinion!

GO PACK GO!!

Have I told you that I am a huge Packer fan's yet???  WELL WE ARE!!!  :)  


GO PACK GO!!!!  READY FOR A REPEAT SEASON!  :)  


Anyone want to bless me with free tickets??  :) :) :) 




Here are some quick Packer facts for you:


1. The G does not stand for Green Bay it stands for Greatness!  


2. The Packer's are owned by stockholders...No worries they will never be moved!  :) 


3. Packers were founded in 1919 and joined the NFL in 1921. 


4. The Packers touchdown celebration jump is called "Lambeau Leap."


5. I went to a Packer/Viking game with my dad and Packer's won!  IT WAS AWESOME!  


For more Packer facts GO HERE

Farmer's Market turns super fun today! :)

We picked a great day to head down to the farmers market.  There was a free show and they had the Chicago Boys Acrobatic team and they were really fun and awesome!!!  :)  They did crazy flips, jumps, and some neat things with jump ropes.  They were really awesome at getting the crowd going and overall put on a great show.  I love when our city offers free things like this that are family friendly.  I spoiled my daughter while we were down there too.  We shared some frozen ice, egg rolls, and then even went and had ice cream at one of the little shops.  :)  It was a beautiful sunshiney day and I truly enjoyed spending it with my kids.  My hubby was even able to surprise us for a few minutes while he was eating his lunch.  :)

Here are a few photos that I got off my phone (not the best).  I also included a youtube video of the Chicago boyz.  :)

Crazy jump roping...he had some skills!

Yes, this guy just flipped over the 6 men!  WOW! 

Ice cream time!

600 Followers!

Can I get a WHOOO HOOOO?!?    


I am at 600 Followers and I am so excited... I can almost taste 1000!  :) 


Don't forget to enter my new giveaway CLICK HERE!  


I also have another one going up really soon!  :) Keep an eye out for that one.  :) 

Thankful Thursday's

It is that time again!  This week is going so fast as well as summer!  

Here is my top five things I am praising GOD for or about this week.  

1. Weddings!!!  My brother got married and it was an enjoyable time.  

2. Zoo's we went to 2 different zoo's while visiting family and we had a ton of fun.

3. My car, some days I wish I had a different vehicle but I am more happy and thankful to have transportation.  :) 

4. We found a great deal on a jumper for lil man!  :)  YAY!  He loves it already too!

5. Safe travels!  It is always a blessing to get to and from visiting my dad without any trouble!  :)  

6.  One more because it was a blessing to spend time with family!  I love them all very much! 

Never to young to have chores!

I know I have mentioned that laundry is one chore that I seem to always fall behind on so I am starting to have my daughter help me more and more with it.  She has always been helpful with helping put things in the dryer but now she can help load the washer and dryer.  Now she can also help me separate the clothes by color or after they are clean by whom they belong too.  :)  It is more fun doing laundry with some assistance.  :) 

I Corinthians 4:2

Now it is required that those who have

been given a trust must prove faithful.

5 Month's old

Yep my little man is 5 month's old and I am emotional about him growing up.  I love all the fun stuff he is doing now but I want to keep him my baby for as long as I can.

Dear Titus,

It is shocking that you could be 5 months old today.  I love you more then I can express.  Last night we got you a jumper and you love it.  There are several toys on it and you love them plus a mirror on it and you stare at yourself which is so adorable.  Right now you enjoy rolling over a lot and you play peek a boo with me and I could do it all day just to hear your adorable laughs!  You still wake up a lot at night but mommy knows you will soon start to sleep better.  Your sister and you have staring contests and I think you win.  Selah sure loves you a lot and holds you every day.  You and her are going to have a great brother sister relationship.  :)

Love you Goose,
Mommy

Flightless Goose Giveaway Ends tonight!!!

GET YOUR ENTRIES IN!!  The Flightless Goose Goodie Giveaway is ending tonight!


CLICK HERE TO ENTER

Dino Dig!

Sensory Time!  I still have tons of beans so why not put them in a big bowl and hide some things for my daughter to find!  

We found little Dinosaurs in the dollar section at Target.  :) 

Separating into color groups. 

I have the itch to go house hunting!

Well I do have a house but not in the town we live in.  LOL!  We have renters in our old house and are not selling due to the value dropping so much the last couple years.

Last year we found a house we liked and went to the credit union to get our credit score and to see if we would qualify but unfortunately we were not approved.   The house we found was a foreclosure but now I have been seeing more and more houses for sale or foreclosed and I think we could have a cheaper mortgage and utilities with purchasing then living in our apartment.  We have a friend who is a Realtor and I get his daily emails of the properties that are on the market.  I have been seeing several houses that make me want to go take a look since the price tag is under $50,000!!  :)  WOW!!!  I know with the interests as low as they are it would be so nice to find a good property and lock in a rate for under 5%!  :)

So should we go ahead and do a free credit score to see if we improved since last year?  I know we have paid off debt and we have some savings now so maybe they will give us money???

The only scary thing is having two houses.  Last year in the fall we were searching for new renters and that was stressful but if we found a house to buy that would be cheaper then the apartment we are living in so I would think that would be less stressful.

God will direct our path so I will keep trusting him.  I just have a desire to get out of this apartment but then other day's I don't mind it.  I like not having to do yard work but I think I would prefer to have my own back yard and do yard work.  I guess you make your lists of pro's and con's and then ask God for direction!  Who knows the door might be closed right away if we do not qualify for a loan.

"Something Inside of Me" Review and Giveaway

I had the opportunity to receive a free copy and a copy to giveaway of the book "Something Inside of Me" "How to hang on to Heaven when you're going through Hell" by Chitoka Webb.  So read my review and then enter for your chance to win a copy of the book using the easy rafflecopter form on the bottom.  


My Thoughts:
I was very excited to read this book as I felt this was going to be an inspiring story from a Christian women.  The story is not long and is a very easy and quick read but also very well written.  So if you don't have much time then this would be a great story to read.  I read this a few times before bed and while breastfeeding my little boy.  


I was amazed at the drive that Chitoka (Toke) had throughout the entire story.  With a background growing up in the housing projects of Nashville by a single mother most people would use that as a pity story and not work hard but not Chitoka.  She was the opposite she had drive and determination that borders an unhealthy measure.  She tells her story about how she went from not being able to graduate High School with her class to how she opened up more then one business to then sharing a horrifying and heartbreaking story of health issues. 


I liked how the story progressed but I do have one negative.  I fully don't understand her faith beliefs.  She mentions God and faith but from my perspective my heart was aching as I don't think she fully and 100% surrendered her all to our Most High Daddy God.   She talks about a faith adviser and she mentions prayer often but I still have this odd feeling that she does not have that one on one connection and true relationship you get when you let Christ forgive you and take his free gift.  I could be totally wrong and if so I am very sorry but I got the feeling that she was very new age??  It was odd!  I got that feeling a couple times but one when she was talking about "her something" which she did refer to God but then called it "my something" rather then Holy spirit guidance.  Needless to say it confused me.  I just want to throw out there that yes you have strength but I claim and hold onto Phillipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me."  


I love the fact that she did not give up after not graduating with her High School class but allowed it to catapult her into figuring out what she wanted to work towards.  If I was given one word to describe Chitoka it would be "hard worker."  She worked at the age of 13 then worked 2 jobs for much of her life. It just seemed like work was her comfort and her drive.  I am not sure if she was trying to prove to someone so she worked extra hard or if she just wanted to prove she could do it.  Needless to say that if are looking for a reading to get excited and believe in yourself then pick up this book because Chitoka is determined and proves hard work pays off.  

ENTER GIVEAWAY: