Happy Birthday, Little O!

Today is Owen's third birthday! Unfortunately, he celebrated today by being sick. :( Poor kid! We're hoping he is feeling much better for tomorrow, because we are doing a little birthday celebration for him at dinnertime. Nothing much, but he loves Mickey Mouse right now, so we have a Mickey Mouse cake and balloons, and he will get his presents (play-doh, a cup with his name on it, and Mickey PJs) from us tomorrow, too.

His sweet Grandma Addie (Brad's mom) sent Owen a few gifts in the mail this week (thanks, Addie!), and among them was the book, "Where the Wild Things Are." This is a fabulous book, and we have never owned it! Owen has been dragging it all over the house asking us to read his "wild" book. :) He loves it!

As I snuggled him in tonight, I reminded him that tomorrow was his Mickey Mouse party. His response? "I want Scooby-Doo!" Uhh . . . too late for that, little man! Silly boy!

Owen has been an absolute blessing to our family. He has very high ups and very low downs - nothing in between for this kid! Right now, Owen, you know your alphabet song, how to count to about 20, your colors, a few shapes, a few numbers by sight, and you love to go, go, go!

You love books, but you like to read them on your own (in your own little way!). You don't like to cuddle as much as you used to, but when you do, you are super-snuggly! You like balls - throwing, catching, or kicking. And you're pretty good with them, too. You love trucks and cars, and climbing. You desperately want to do everything your big sister and brother do, and keeping up with them is a full-time job for you!

Happy birthday, O! We love you bunches!!

(Our family three years ago tonight!)

Game Time!

This is my favorite time of year! Fall is almost here, school is in full swing, and football is starting!! The Steelers had a great season last year, and we are looking forward to another great year. I especially love that I can share this love with Brad - although he has much more football knowledge than I do! Riley is learning a lot already and asking lots of good questions!

If you missed my post about the Super Bowl win this past winter, you can catch it here!


Here we go, Steelers, here we go . . .!!

Set Your Sites on Money!

I enjoy personal finance and finding small ways to cut back on spending. We live on less than we make, and I encourage you to do the same! I did a series called "Saving Smart!" in October that got some great feedback. If you missed it, you can catch all of my money-savings posts from that series here.

For now, I I thought I would share some of my favorite blogs and web sites with money savings tips and investing tips.

Get Rich Slowly (very sound advice, good for those who are past the initial stages of money management)

The Simple Dollar (great blog and Trent is a great guy)

Dave Ramsey (who hasn't heard of Dave Ramsey by now?!?)

Crown Financial (especially their calculators!)

I Will Teach You to Be Rich (bad name, great advice - especially good for the younger crowd)

Do you have a favorite not listed here? And what are your favorite money-themed podcasts? I would love to know what your favorites are - please feel free to share! There are LOTS of great sites out there - these are just a few of my faves!

Free Credit Report Dot Com . . .

ain't got nothin' on Tim Hawkins! (I apologize now if the jingle gets stuck in your head all day!)

Our Government . . .

Just because I haven't posted anything political in awhile . . .

Tim Hawkins is a Christian comedian with lots of great videos! You can view them here.

Which Book Next?

I have a stack of four books currently sitting in my bedroom waiting for me to devour. :) I have read small parts of each book, just enough to know I want to read them all! I've had some of them for quite some time, too!

I took a break from non-fiction (my fave!) this summer & focused on simple mysteries & thrillers. Deep, I know! But now it's time to get serious again and start reading some better material.

I'd love your vote for which one I should read first. I'll repay you with a review of the book when I've finished it. :) Each book is listed at the top right of my blog along with the author's name. Have you read any of these? What did you think? Here are the contenders:

Bringing Up Boys (you know, 'cause I have two of 'em!)








The Strong Willed Wife (uh, self explanatory if you know me in the least!)








Parenting by The Book (that's God's Book, ya know!)









And last but not least,
Cure for the Common Life ('cause I am working on being content)

Quack, Quack!

We had another good week of school with a fun field trip in the middle of our week! One of the things we most like about homeschooling is the flexibility it gives. We can take field trips almost any time, to nearly anywhere!

This week, we headed to Culver Duck Farm about 90 minutes away. Since this put us in the heart of Amish country, we made a day of it! We stopped at a cheese factory to see how cheese was made (and try many samples!), followed by lunch and shopping at Das Essenhaus (including their famous bakery!).

By far the best part of the day, however, was touring the duck farm. There are only seven duck farms in the U.S., and Culver is the second largest. We learned about how they receive their eggs, clean them, incubate them, hatch the ducks, and then raise them for their meat. Somehow our tour ended at the part just before they use them for their meat! :)

The eggs that are orange (under bright light) are eggs that for whatever reason, the embryo never developed.

The eggs stay in the incubator for 25 days . . .

After hatching . . . (everyone say "awwwww!")

We were able to hold ducks that had just hatched that day, too! The kids all got to hold one, and the ducks were so soft and warm. Enjoy the pictures from our tour!

And finally, they grow into these after just 5 weeks or so! Do you know how to tell the males and females apart? Females actually "quack," while the males do not! Who knew??

My Blog . . .

Create your own here!

A Look Back . . .

(ADDRESS CORRECTED--SORRY!!) I started blogging several years ago at this site: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Mylittlecorner. Feel free to take a look around there if you haven't seen my old blog. There are also some cute (I'm totally biased) pictures of our kids there! :) I've completely moved over to this blog now, though, and I plan to be here for awhile!

Prayer Warrior

We're blessed to have a sweet prayer warrior in our home! Quinn is always the first to want to pray at mealtime, or pray for others in times of need. At bedtime on Monday night (with a pretty decent thunderstorm rolling through), he told me he sure was glad that God gave us shelter and mentioned that he wanted to pray right then. He immediately thanked God for 'shelter,' and went on to ask God to protect him during the storm. I am so thankful for Quinn's big heart and for his big heart for others, as well! :) He's an awesome kid!