Little Love Letters From God- Review and Giveaway

A little over a year ago, I had the chance to read & review Love Letters from God by author Glenys Nellist, a book we all enjoyed!



She recently wrote another book in the series called Little Love Letters from God. Her first book in the series is geared toward older kids while this new one is perfect for toddlers!

Another Dislocated Knee

Some of you may remember about 3 1/2 years ago, one of my twins dislocated her knee on Good Friday. That was a long process of healing and physical therapy.

This past Wednesday we sadly had a repeat incident, this time with her twin sister!

I had been in the middle of making supper (homemade burgers on the grill!) I went upstairs to our bathroom, Kevin and most of the kids were playing a game at the kitchen table and Sarah was all the way downstairs in her bathroom (we have 3 levels in our house).

I heard Kevin yell down to Sarah to ask what she was watching and to turn it down (though it turns out she wasn't watching anything but screaming out). Then I didn't hear any noise from the kitchen. Next thing I know 2 of the kids came up stairs screaming at me to get downstairs that something was wrong with Sarah. I went flying downstairs, tripping as I went as by now I could here the blood curdling screams and had no clue what was going on.

Cruise Day 3-November 3rd, 2015

Today we woke up to semi sunny weather. At the same time, on our side of the ship looking out over our balcony, we passed some rain clouds in the distant. Due to this,we got to see a gorgeous rainbow over the water! We also witnessed a beautiful rainbow on our last cruise. I like to think this was a little wink from Noah letting us know even though he isn't physically here with us on vacation, he is still a part of it all!

If you look close, you can see to the left part of a double rainbow!

Cruise Day 2- Monday November 1st, 2015

*All photos can be clicked on to enlarge.

Today we woke up to find it overcast and lightly raining. It was SO nice being able to just glance out our balcony and see daylight. We all woke up a lot earlier than we needed to, probably due to our bodies still adjusting to the time change. We headed down to the main dining room for breakfast. Their suggested egg item of the day was juevos rancheros so I opted for that. It was an interesting combo and quite tasty. But then again, I love black beans & avocado, just never thought to toss it over a fried egg.

Cruise Day 1- Sunday November 1st, 2015

Cruise Day 1-Sunday November 1^st

I awoke at 2:30am, not too bad considering the time had changed and my body thought it was 3:30am. I knew I couldn’t sleep anymore as I was going through my mental check list to make sure I had gotten everything done I needed to as well as making sure everything was packed. Usually the night before we leave for a major vacation, I am scrambling to finish packing but I was actually done early evening and had time to just relax. I think we've traveled so much that this is old hat for us now!

*Note-all photos can be clicked on to enlarge.

Not bad for 8 of us for 13 days! The duffle bag is all our shoes. I limit us to 3 pairs each as they add up. We probably could've shaved down a bag if we didn't have to have medical equipment for Kevin & Susan to pack.

Kwik Stix Giveaway!

My toddler and preschooler LOVE doing crafts, especially painting but it's not always convenient to paint. Ya know, the mess of water spilling, paint getting on clothes, etc. I was recently introduced to Kwik Stix from The Pencil Grip, Inc.

When It Comes to Travel Deals. . .

I am your person to contact!

I have enjoyed traveling for many years as well as helping my friends find deals and plan their vacations. I figured I might as well turn my hobby into something more so I recently became an Independent Travel Consultant!! (<--- that's my bio that you can read more about).

Pre-Cruise Report

So before I start sharing our daily cruise journal from our past trip, I thought I'd sort of give a background as to how this trip came about.

We certainly weren’t planning to go on a cruise this year. But I always keep my eyes out for deals, I can’t help it. Back in August, I happen to see a great price for another repositioning cruise like we were on last year. While I sat on the fence about it, Kevin booked flights home forcing me to book the cruise! LOL (but seriously, repo cruises are SUCH a bargain and often cheaper than regular cruises so we would’ve been crazy to have given this up).

Kohl's Black Friday Sales-FREE appliances!

Kohl's Black Friday sales are already live. One of my favorite sales they offer is on some inexpensive appliances. We have a camper so these deals made it handy to stock it with a griddle & crockpot last year. I also bought a second griddle for everyday use as we need 2 for our large family when making pancakes.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Say WHAT?!?! Oh yes I just went there, a totally gluten free pizza that rocks!! Since cauliflower is in season right now and super cheap at the local farm stands, I've been finding myself experimenting with it lately. Cauliflower is becoming more versatile like zucchini.

They Keep on Growing Up!

Recently I shared how my firstborn just turned 16 yrs old! Since we left shortly after their birthdays for vacation, we weren't able to get their permits.

Well today, we took the plunge!

After spending over an hour simply waiting, they were each called back to take their test. I would've taken photos but I knew they'd have a cow! Ha!

Fall 2015

Ok, I KNOW I am behind in sharing this upcoming photo. BUT ya'll gotta cut me some slack. We just returned from a 2 week vacation that had us unplugged and out of the country (more on that in up-coming posts, woohoo!) So this left the end of October very busy for us. Between celebrating our twins 16th birthday and getting ready for a major vacation, life has been a bit crazy.

All that to say, while we don't celebrate Halloween, we DO enjoy carving pumpkins for fun and roasting the seeds.

Here is a photo of the pumpkin I personally carved this year. Let me preface this by saying YES I carved it myself and YES I did it free-handed with out any template or stencil. I really do have a love and talent for art but rarely have time to put it to use. Here is a brief glimpse of my talent and *ahem*, upcoming future. . . ;)