Celebrating Birthdays

11/27/2012 by raisingthegangourway

We recently celebrated Wild Bills 11th birthday. I can’t even begin with how I miss my babies being babies. Wild Bill, then Magic Bean, and the Princess are only 14 and then 15 months apart. My excuse and reasoning back when they were little was, ” I have the babies”. It seems like just yesterday but yet they are now 11 almost 10 and almost 9! Not quite babies anymore.

We don’t do the whole commercial birthday thing. We usually make our own cakes or cupcakes or brownies, whichever the individual child wants, and do a family birthday party. Sometimes grandma comes over and sometimes Aunt Sheri and family but we ~~never~~ rarely ever have a hoop-la party. These are the cupcakes Dexter decorated for Wild Bill. We call her B a lot of times so she did Bees on the cupcakes! She’s becoming quite the cake decorator:

We feel it is important for the birthday child to have a meaningful family birthday. They get off their chores for the day, get to pick what’s for dinner, and always have a date with Dad sometime during the week. Usually they go to dinner and go somewhere they choose. It means a lot to them and they’ve come to anticipate their date with Daddy!

We also have a 24 hour rule in our house. When a child gets something new it is ALL theirs for 24 hours! Once that time is up, it’s time to share. That way they get to have special time with just that item. There are some things that are just theirs forever, favorite blanket, special jewelry, things like that. When the 24 hours is up and it’s a toy item, I refuse to break up the “it’s mine” fight that seemed to occur before we instilled that rule. Now it’s just normal around here and they know. We have too many children and too many toys and such to go through the ‘”he/she has MY things”. Plus it teaches them to share in everything they have. All we have is a gift from above and it’s a real life lesson to pass that on by sharing everything we get with someone else.

I love to make each child feel special and I certainly don’t wait for their birthdays to roll around to do it but this is how our family celebrates our birthdays!

My girl is growing up, much as I’d love to keep them all babies, she’s growing up!

Blessings,
Tiffany

DIY Wood Snowmen

11/25/2012 by raisingthegangourway

This is the easiest snowman I’ve ever made and it required NO SNOW:) So here is the finished product and then I will explain how I did it. I can’t help show you the end first! They are so darn cute!

You know how I did up the “pumpkin patch” for my fall decorations? I used the same concept and idea here! I had the hubster bring home some wood pieces that he has laying around at work and sent Dexter outside to paint them white.

Then I really just let her have at them! She knew what Momma wanted so she got to work painting on there eyes and noses. Next she used some pom-poms we had in the school room and found some mismatched socks above the dryer. She coordinated the socks with the pom-poms. How smart right?!?!?! For the daddy snowman she used some checker pieces because we didn’t have black pom-poms and it HAD to match as she said. She tied some ribbon around the socks at the top of there “Hats” and then cut some strips of old fabric from shorts into the scarves.

And VIOLA! Instant, no snow required, snowmen for the front porch!

Aren’t they darling?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Since we finished them it kind of motivated my genius man to hand the christmas lights. Or maybe it was the 60 degree weather in November? None the less, the lights are up!

And here is the front flower box with my lovely sledding snowmen! Did I mention I really like snowmen?

That’s it for us this year unless I find some great deal I just can’t pass up on outside decorations! Oh and I will be using mysuper simple ornament wreath On the side door into the kitchen!
I’m so excited for the holidays and all that I’ve planned! I can’t wait to share them with you here!

Blessings,
Tiffany
Linking up to all or some of these other GREAT BLOGS:

Linking to :
we are that family
Wordless Wednesday
pinching pennies
raising homemakers
Deep roots at home
our simple farm
frugally sustainable
wednesday in the word
ginger snap crafts
my daily walk in his grace
day to day joys
lindas lunacy
heavenly homemakers
slightly indulgent tuesday
tackle it tuesday
hearts 4 home thursday
a pinch of joy
organizing junkie
muffin tin monday
raising arrows
mop it up monday
motivate me monday
its so very cheri
mad skill link party
strut your stuff saturdays

A day at the E.R.

11/24/2012 by raisingthegangourway

We spent 10 hours in the Riley Childrens Hospital E.R. not too long ago. Wild Bill, who is our type 1 diabetic, went to bed with a small tummy ache. We tend to pass things back and forth and some of the other kids had had a bug so I sent her to bed thinking it was just that, a bug that would pass. The next morning around 4:30 a.m. I’m awaken to the sound of hurling in the living room. I jump out of bed to find Wild Bill with a small trash can getting sick. I helped her the best I could, took her temp, gave her some luke warm water, and tucked her in on the couch. We checked her sugar and it was 430. That’s pretty high so I encouraged her to check ketones in the bathroom. Sure enough she had large ketones. That is not anything new when she’s sick so I adjusted her insulin a bit and sent her back to the couch.

Every time the poor baby drank even a sip she was throwing it right back up. This went on till 9a.m. At this point you could tell she was getting dehydrated, her sugar was now at 495 even with the increase of insulin, and the vomiting wasn’t stopping. I got ahold of her nurse at Riley and asked what next. She informed me that we needed to take her to the E.R. to have her checked out and if nothing else get her some I.V. fluids.

She couldn’t even get up to walk to the van she was so weak. Dexter helped her in the van and we snuggled her with a blanket and a small trash can to hold on to for the ride. She went the longest, 20 minutes, without throwing up in the van, but by the time we arrived she was heaving again. Dad met us at Riley Children’s Hospital and when I got there he picked her up from the van and carried her inside. By the time I made it from the parking garage with the rest of the kiddos to the e.r. room they were already starting I.V.s and trying to figure out what was going on.

After they got the fluids going they started getting ready for blood draws. Her numbers were not good. Her sugar was in the 500’s by now and I watched as my little girl looked to be dying. I can’t even express the fear I had watching her deteriorate so quickly right before my eyes. I only kept praying God you spared her once, please spare her again. I prayed and thanked God for having his hand on her the entire time! They started the insulin drip, which is only administered in the e.r. or in ICU, not long after we arrived. She was right on the verge of ICU but they wanted to see if they could help her in the e.r. first. They did test after test and couldn’t figure out why her sugar had skyrocketed and why she turned so quickly. She continued to vomit for a while until they gave her some anti-nausea meds which worked almost miraculously! I was very glad for that.

With in a few hours she was starting to feel better and her sugar was coming down. When we investigated further, we realized the port which her insulin goes through(she wears an insulin pump) was bad, thus causing her to not get the proper insulin. That would explain the high sugars but she’s had high sugars before and not gone into Ketoacidosis before.

She started to watch some videos on the IPAD and laugh a little at her brother and sisters. I was so relieved when she finally asked for something to eat! I knew she was getting better at that point. Her E.R. doctor couldn’t believe it when he came in and she was eating! He had told us that we should prepare for a day or two stay in the ICU because she was so sick and now she was eating McDonalds and watching videos! He honestly couldn’t believe how good she was looking. We spent a few more hours in the e.r. but with her sugar down to 200, her ketones gone, the vomiting stopped, and her demeanor back they said we could go home.

I still have no idea what caused all of this which kind of scared me but I know that my little girls life is in Gods hands and HE controls her future. She spent the rest of the weekend being her regular old self but with a scratchy voice as all the vomiting caused her voice to change. But other than that by Saturday night you couldn’t tell she was ever sick! I thank God for that! I thank God for her! And yes, I thank God for diabetes! You can read our full testimony of her diagnosis and why I thank God for diabetes HERE

I thank God for you too, my readers and family! I love you all so much for this journey we call life is just a little bit better with all of you in it!

Blessings,
Tiffany

Me and Wild Bill the night of her birthday just 1 week from the E.R. visit!!!!!

Linking to :

simple lives thursday
transformation thursday

Weekly Memory Verse Week 26

11/19/2012 by raisingthegangourway

It’s another week! Praise God for a fresh new week. The past is done, yesterday is gone and all we can do is live for today! I’ve got to be honest with you all…. we didn’t do very well memorizing last weeks verse. The kids questioned what God-breathed meant and though I explained it numerous times and looked the verse up in different translations to read to them, they just didn’t get it. It was an off week and all we can do is try better this week and get Gods word in our hearts.

That’s my little confession of the week! Here we go with this weeks verse:

It is better, if it is Gods will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil
1Peter 3:17 (NIV)

This might be one of the hardest things in our own FLESH to do. How unpleasant it is to suffer for doing good! We want to know why? We want to know what we did wrong? We want to question the very God that called us to such things?

I have to tell you that as a christian we sometimes do suffer from the world even when we are doing good. I have someone in my life that no matter how I love them, no matter how nice I am to them, no matter what I do for them, it’s always met with resistance. Even though my heart is genuine, the wrath of said person always seems to fall on me. I get hurt. I get upset. I question. I don’t understand. I sometimes wonder why God has placed such a person in my life. I know though, through this verse that God intended for me to do his will in loving that person, no matter how hard it is to do. No matter how many times I get hurt. No matter how I try to keep the peace, I am to LOVE.

In our lives it is sometime very hard to fight the flesh. I sometimes want to snap back and be mean and vicious! I sometimes want to hurt said person the way I’ve been hurt. Then a little nudge from the Holy Spirit reminds me, “it is better, if it is Gods will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” Won’t you join me this week in memorizing this scripture? It’s a good one to hold on to when you’re suffering through something for Christ!

Blessings,
Tiffany

I’d love to have you comment on what God is revealing to you this week! Leave a comment below!

Weekly Memory Verse Week 26

11/19/2012 by raisingthegangourway

That’s my little confession of the week! Here we go with this weeks verse:

It is better, if it is Gods will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil
1Peter 3:17 (NIV)

Blessings,
Tiffany

I’d love to have you comment on what God is revealing to you this week! Leave a comment below!

Easy no bake granola bars

11/16/2012 by raisingthegangourway

I can across a recipe on pinterest (of course!) for some yummy looking granola bars! We buy quite a few boxes each week of granola bars and at $2 or more a week I was looking at a way to cut some costs. I found this great recipe at laurens latest. I quickly whipped up a batch as follows:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats {not rolled oats!}
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

I started by Mixing all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, except the chocolate chips

Then I got to work cooking up the butter, honey, and brown sugar. Once it all melts up, cook for 2 minutes at a rolling bowl. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Next you mix the hot liquid with your dry ingredients. It’s a bit sticky but you’ll get it all mixed in. Then, once it’s mixed pour it into a pan with an edge and press it all down. I tend to just use half of the pan and smoosh and push until they look about right. I then add the chocolate chips on top and press them in too.
Let it sit for a couple hours to set and then you can cut them into bars.

I usually get 14 bars out of a batch for pennies really, so it’s a good savings tool too. Also, I control the quality of the ingredients as well.

I hope you get to your kitchen and whip up a batch of these bad boys. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Share what you think when you get done making these!

Blessings,
Tiffany
Some of the blogs I link to are:

YUMMY Brownie Pancakes

11/15/2012 by raisingthegangourway

This is the picture on the web for these wonderfully delish brownie batter pancakes! A friend pinned the recipe for me on Pinterest and since Wednesday was pancake day I thought I’d go ahead and try them. I started by getting the recipe here. I don’t keep brownie mix on hand so I went to fake it frugal to get a brownie mix recipe. I already had my own homemade baking mix so it all worked out.

I started out by mixing the ingredients together.
1 1/2cups Original Bisquick® mix or homemade mix

1cup Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix (from l lb 2.4-oz box)or homemade mix

1cup milk

2eggs

I set the griddle to around 300 degrees and started cooking!

They smelled so good while cooking up and I’m not a chocolate or brownie woman! I know! I know! People tell me all the time something is wrong with me 😉

I cooked and stacked until there was no more mix left.

The children love to eat chocolatey stuff for breakfast. Nutella toast, chocolate puff cereal, chocolate milk, so I just kind of figured this would be a hit too.

Do you think the look says it all?!?!?!?

They gobbled up 3 each and there was still 3 leftover for later or a snack!

They were a HUGE hit and now maybe one of the most asked for breakfasts’! I love when I try something new and it is well loved:)

Now, go get to cooking and enjoy dessert for breakfast!!!

Blessings,
Tiffany

Linking up to:

Sometimes it just is………

11/12/2012 by raisingthegangourway

Weekly Memory Verse Week 25

11/12/2012 by raisingthegangourway

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
2TIMOTHY 3:16

After a week away from the blog due to sickness in the house I’m very glad to be back and sharing Gods word with you. This scripture is one I need to lean on in times of doubt. Have you ever read something in the bible and then thought it couldn’t apply to your life? I know I have and this verse right here tells me that is not the case. It doesn’t say “some” scripture! It says “ALL” scripture. If you find your self doubting where a certain scripture verse fits into your life. Pray over it. Ask God to reveal His plan and purpose for that scripture.
I want to be trained in righteousness! The easiest way is to get into the scripture and read it and apply it to my life. God is so faithful to let me know what needs to be changed in my life to glorify Him. I pray you do the same as well, as we memorize this scripture together!

Blessings,
Tiffany

Drawing/Coloring Case Tutorial

11/01/2012 by raisingthegangourway

I have found a way to make some super easy, very inexpensive, christmas gifts for the younger kids in my family. You see, with 13 nieces and nephews and 6 children of my own, we tend to be on a very tight budget for christmas! Not that I wouldn’t go out and buy them the WORLD, moneys’ just not there to do it. Plus with all the “hype” and commercialism of the holiday, I try to keep it simple and meaningful! THUS……….. The drawing/coloring cases!

These are super easy to make and the only supplies you’ll need are:
1~ dvd or nintendo ds or similar type empty case

2~ I used manilla file folders cut up but you could use some cardboard or any other hard material you have on hand
3~ A hot glue gun, mine was a mini low temp gun
4~ Some scrap fabric, I used a sheet that I bought for the purpose of cutting it up for the fabric(bought at a thrift store), i also used some old jeans that were cut up.
5~ a razor/ exacto / craft knife
6~ plain paper to draw on
7~ markers/ crayons/ or colored pencils for the inside
8~ scrap piece of scrapbook paper

That’s it! And if you’re a crafter of any sort you probably had all these items on hand anyway! Ok, Lets get started!!!!!!!!!

First: Use your knife to cut out the part of the dvd/ ds case that actually holds the game/ movie. I used a manilla folder cut up to protect the plastic wrap on the front from getting cut.

Next you’ll need to cut a piece of folder or cardboard to fit inside that side of the case. Make sure it’s not too snug because we’ll be covering it with fabric.

Then we cover it with the fabric and glue gun. I just wrapped it around like wrapping a present and glued it into place.

Then I took another piece of fabric for the “POCKET” I placed it about halfway down on the fabric and glued the sides and bottom.

Because I used the sheet it already had a hem on it. You may want to just glue down a little hem if your using just scrap fabric.

Next I cut my scrapbook paper to fit in the outer plastic sleeve part. This was a gift for one of the little girl scouts so I used a Girl Scout paper I had on hand. It was a little plain so I used a highlighter and colored in all the Brownie sayings on it.

All that’s left to do it cut some paper to fit under the clip things on the left side of the case and…..
VIOLA! Super simple, super frugal, easy to do coloring case for a gift. I also made some out of DVD cases as well~

SO? What do you think? Pretty cute, huh? I hope you enjoyed reading, now go get busy making your own!

Blessings,
Tiffany

*******By the way, I did make one for my son for church, and he LOVES it. Plus it’s small enough to just fit in my purse or he can carry it on his own!********

LINKING UP TO THESE PARTIES: