Spring Reading Thing 2009 - my list

I'm joining in late, but as "they" say - better late than never - right? This reading extravaganza is over at Katrina's Callapidder Days. If you just want/need a good book to read, go see what others are reading and get ideas from them. Or join in, it's not too late.

Seeing as how I love to read, (ahem-and anyone that knows me would say that is an understatement) I decided to have a list of books to read. Instead of just grabbing anything that looks interesting and sticking my nose between the pages.

So here goes my list:
Fiction:

Now three of these book aren't going to be in bookstores until June, so I'm thinking those will be the last ones I read. One is available now and one is coming out next week. The list is subject to change, but so far this is it.

And now for some non-fiction:











Katrina also has a book giveaway each week. She just put up a new one today. And if I win that book, it's going on my list, too. :)

And I'm giving away a book this week, too. To find out about this giveaway and enter, go here.

And now I'm off to read. (Maybe. I still have 9 kids you know. Like I mentioned, the list is subject to change).

Until next time...

11/52 photos of me

********************52 Weeks********************
52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family. We are glad you are joining this challenge. More importantly your family will really enjoy having you in the picture. Thanks for playing along! Oh, you can just jump in now with 1 of 52, you're not getting off that easy! Now go take a picture!
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My submission for this week. Do hubbies count?

Sorry, like Carin said, I was behind the camera all weekend on our little vacation. Hubby snatched it for a second and had one of the kiddos snap this one.
Head over to Forever in Blue Jeans and see some more pictures of moms who are usually doing the picture taking.

Don't forget my giveaway! Go enter here.

Until next time...

Giveaways Galore!!!

Have you noticed all the Giveaways going on right now for Mother's Day? I mean there are a lot! I've included a couple of giveaways I've personally entered over on my sidebar.

One is from 5 Minutes for Books. The have a lot of really interesting sounding books to giveaway for Mother's Day.

Another is from 5 Minutes for Moms. They have a huge giveaway going on for Mother's Day. It like the granddaddy of giveaways!

Then over at Callapidder Days, Katrina is giving away a book a week. Join her reading challenge while you're there. I plan to. You'll see her button on my sidebar very soon.

Heidi at Sacred and Profane has a Friday Freebie every Friday. Go see her this Friday and find out what she's giving away.

Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolates is also giving away something. A delightful little tea-for-one teapot and cup. It's really nice. Check it out.

I can't think of any more right now. If you know of any that I haven't listed let me know in your comment below.

And go enter the giveaways!

Until next time...

Word-filled Wednesday - 1 Peter 2:2

The purpose of Word filled Wednesday is to share God’s word (no famous quotes or other literature — only the beautiful word of our Father) through photo’s & a Bible verse!

This is brought to you by Amydeane over at The 160 Acre Woods.

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As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
1 Peter 2:2

My almost 2 year old when she was born.

My almost 2 year old now.

It's amazing how much a baby grows in 2 years. They learn how to crawl, sit up, walk, talk, play with others, eat adult food, and so many other things. How much more should born-again believers grow as they feed on the Word of God?

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To enter my giveaway go here.

Until next time...

Tuesday is draggin'

If you missed my giveaway post, go here. To enter the giveaway, go to that post and leave a comment.

Now for today...

I. Am. Tired. Period. End of story. I really, really, really want to go take a nap. But I can't. So instead, I will tell you about what we did this past weekend.

Sunday, we took a mini-vacation to South Carolina. Greenville to be exact. We visited the Greenville Zoo, Bob Jones University, a fabulous book sale, and Sam's Club. Yeah, that last one was exciting, I know. We had the pizza, too. Oh, but I did have a dark chocolate shake too. Yummy, had to have my chocolate kick for the day. :) After all I was on vacation.

The hubby and kiddos at the zoo.

Did you know that elephants have eyelashes longer than my arm? Ok, maybe not literally, but they are really long.

Yeah. Umm. I hate these things. The only reason I took like a bazillion pics of reptilian creatures, is because my oldest daughter...read that again...daughter, likes them. For real. I am not lying. She wants to work in a zoo. In Australia. Go figure.

Our youngest daughter drinking out of the lion's mouth. Apparently kids get a kick out of sticking their heads inside a meat-eating wild animal's mouth. *shrug*

The Princess, our third daughter, sixth child, wanted a picture with the "pretty flowers". She's a cutie. So is the little man in the stroller. He walked most of the way, but just happened to be in this pic. (He's the one that had his tongue stitched up a couple of weeks ago).

This kid sucked all day. Hey! I'm not being mean! Really, when he wasn't nursing or napping he was sucking on his toes. I have weird kids.

You do realize that with 9 kids I could totally load this blog up with pics? Well, I'll be merciful and stop here. For now. :) Besides, I have to save some for future posts.

Oh and as we were leaving the zoo we met a nice family, the Underwoods, who are from SC. The parked right next to us in their own big van. It's always great to see other families who the world considers large. They only had 6. :) But since we were leaving and they were arriving we had no time to really talk. If any of ya'll know them, tell them we said hi. Send them over here. Or if they happen to come across this blog..."Hi, Ya'll, wish we could have talked longer".

Until next time...

Spring Giveaway Carnival!

Remember I said I was going to give something away? Well, this is it:

Lori Wick is one of my all-time favorite authors. I've read all of her books and this was one of my favorites. (Although it was hard to pick a favorite).
What better to go with this book than...you guessed it...white chocolate! Also, white chocolate is my second favorite chocolate; dark chocolate being my top favorite.

Lindt Lindor Chocolates
This one is white chocolate with a creamy center. Oh, yum. These are delicious. Trust me - I've tried them. I had to ya know. I couldn't just send something out that I hadn't tried. So in the spirit of sacrifice, (sigh), I sampled the chocolate. NOT that I'm going to send out an incomplete bag. OH NO! I wouldn't do that to my readers! You get a fresh, unopened, complete bag of chocolates all to yourself!

This is how it works.
Leave a comment on this post every day from today until Friday morning. The drawing will be over at 12 noon Friday. I'll put a link on other posts to link back here to this post. The more comments you leave the more entries you have. For example, if you leave a comment every day, you will have 5 entries. I will have a totally random drawing (if I can figure out how to use random.org I'll use that) for the winner, announce it Friday afternoon, and send you your prizes.

Now for the kicker - this is NOT the only giveaway you can enter this week. There are a LOT more over at Heavenly Homemakers. Click on the button at the top right or go here. You'll find more giveaways! Is that fun or what?!

Remember - leave a comment and go visit the Spring Giveaway Carnival!

Until next time...

Mother's Day sales

Mother's Day is just around the corner and there are sales everywhere.

Christianbook.com has several Mother's Day specials.

Do you know a mother-to-be? These shops have discounted shipping through Mother's Day.


Get $5 shipping on all orders through Mother's Day at Motherhood Maternity. Offer ends May 10.



Get $5 shipping on all orders through Mother's Day at A Pea in the Pod. Offer ends May 10.


Come back next week for a giveaway! I'll give you a hint...it has to do with chocolate!

Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Chocolate cake with fresh Strawberries

Ya'll. I've been waiting for this day. Seriously. This past Sunday for dessert we had chocolate cake with fresh strawberries in it. I'd had this a few years ago when we visited my mil and while we were there she bought my hubby a cake for his birthday. It was way better than my feeble attempts, but maybe one of ya'll can make a delicious chocolate cake with fresh strawberries in it.

Here's my version:


Something has happened to my round cake pans, so I had to use a 9X13. It works better if you have 2 round cakes and can put the layer of fresh strawberries in between the layers. But I digress. I gently dumped the cake onto my cutting oard and carefully cut the top half off of the cake. Then I layered on the strawberries that my 9 year old had sliced for me.


My cake top that a couple of the kids got their greedy little paws into before I could get to it. :) (Not that I blame them. Hey, I was tempted, too). Good thing it was just family over for dinner. After I cut it, I had lifted the top off with a couple of paper plates. It was the only thing I could think of so it wouldn't fall apart.



This is the cake top back on and the frosting on top. Keep in mind my husband picked up the cake mix and frosting. I asked for something really chocolate-y. He got a Devil's Food cake mix and Triple Chocolate Fudge Chip frosting. That's why it looks like the frosting is lumpy. It was really good. Really, really good. Here's one more pic from the side.




Ok, ok. One more pic. And that's all. I promise.




Ooh-ooh. I just had a thought. Next time I make this, I'm going to DIP the strawberries in Chocolate and put THEM on top. Great idea, huh?!

Ok, now wipe the drool off your chin and go visit Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolates. She has loads more chocolate recipes for ya'll to drool over. (You might want to find a napkin for your drool. Just sayin'). Then find your own favorite chocolate recipe and link up!

Until next time...

10/52 photos of me

********************52 Weeks********************
52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family. We are glad you are joining this challenge. More importantly your family will really enjoy having you in the picture. Thanks for playing along! Oh, you can just jump in now with 1 of 52, you're not getting off that easy! Now go take a picture!
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Just so you know, I totally copied all of the above from Carin's blog. :)


Yet another last minute picture. This one with my oldest who, at 11, does not like her picture taken, hence the funny face. If she sees the camera aimed at her, she covers her face. I have to talk her into showing her pretty face. :)

And I have no idea why the italic won't go off. Oh well.

Until next time...