Totally Free~ Money Saving Tip #17

Totally free MP3 downloads!! There are several totally free MP3 downlaods that can be found at Amazon.com. They can be hard to find at times, and the freebies change... So, you have to check back often. Right now, the album above is free- Songs for kids:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ZGB2M8

July 2006~ a month before Jaden turned 2

July 2007~ 2 years ago

Awwwww.... my little babies.

July 2008~ only one year ago...

Wow! Where does the time go?!?!?!

A book to read

This is an eye-opening book. This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn how modern day slavery begins. This book is written by a woman who was enslaved at the age of 11. It is interesting to hear the story of her life in the Nuba mountains in Sudan as a young child.
I found this book hard to put down. Some of the biggest questions in my mind as I read through this books were:
1. what makes you (the person who bought the slave) feel like you are worth more than the person you have enslaved?
2. who decides who becomes a slave and who becomes the master?
I was so angry to read how this young woman was treated. To know that slavery was abolished years ago is what everyone hangs on... like it doesn't exist now that it was put into law that it is illegal. It is still going on all around us, but it's just, for the most part, underground.
http://www.amazon.com/Slave-True-Story-Mende-Nazer/dp/1586483188/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247706598&sr=8-3#

Sooooo tired

I am wearing myself out. I am working EVERY day of the week right now. I am so blessed to have a mother that is willing to watch my girls while I put in these hours!!! I am ready for the break in the work, but I have to take advantage of the extra work while I can... Change is coming... Hold on :0)

Another way to do school work

Crayola has some new colored pencils. There are 64 colors in a box! They are smaller than the original colored pencils, but they are perfect for little hands. The girls did their latest Africa assignments with these colored pencils. Amazon has them for $13: http://www.amazon.com/Crayola-Colored-Pencils-Choice-Colors/dp/B00125NZWC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1247450117&sr=8-3 You will never believe how much I bought them for, though... $1!!!! The whole box was $1 at Office Depot! Talk about a great deal!

Dress up

The girls have been playing dress up a lot. Some times they come up with some silly outfits- other times they look down right gorgeous!

Anti-social

I feel so run-down & anti-social right now. I went to an interview on Monday for a new job. I am praying hard that I get it. I can't do this photography job much longer. I have been working every day, and when I get my pay check, there is hardly anything to show for it. The job was supposed to be a great commissioned job, but now, with the economy, not so much. It is hard to get people to buy pictures now. Almost everyone is saying they can't even afford our smallest package of $29.95, which incidentally, I would get a commission of $7 for!!! Now, since everyone in the district's sales our down, all of our checks are down. If the hourly rate is higher than the commissioned rate, it reverts to hourly... The hourly rate is the minimum wage for the state!!!

Because of all of this, I am not feeling my best. I am worn down & broke. Looking for a better part-time job to have more time with my kids and more money to pay the bills.

For those of you who missed the fireworks:

These are only videos of fireworks, so don't expect to see anything else :0) Our tiny city put on quite a fireworks show. Though, you can here Morgan in the background of some of the videos asking "can we go home now?" She wasn't sure about the loud "BOOM!" that went off every time.

The videos - 4th of July

These are the videos of the things we did at home before going to see the fireworks.

Enjoying the Fireworks- July 4th

Sitting on a blanket in the grass watching the fireworks
Morgan got scared of the loud noises and stayed in my lap for the rest of the show- she kept asking if we could go home yet.
Jaden loved sitting on the trunk of the car.










There are always so many options for watching fireworks around the 4th of July. This year, we had several close to home (which is very unusual for us since we live so far from the big city). We decided to stay close to home so that it wouldn't mess up the girls' bedtime, and because I would need to go to bed at a reasonable time, too (because I had to work the next day). It turned out to be quite a big fireworks show. It lasted about 25 minutes, and it was beautiful!

July 4th Celebration

These next few posts are all posts from the 4th or July, so you will notice that the girls look the same in all of the following posts (all from the same day)

Before heading off to watch the fireworks show, I took the girls to the back patio. I even convinced Daddy to join us. We did these small "fireworks", and the girls had a blast! We will probably make this a tradition. I love watching them enjoy themselves!

I guess I will be seeing more babies...

at the hospital. Don't more women go into labor on a full moon, or is that just a myth?

The meaning of "no"

This is just a run of the mill story that every mother can relate to. What happens when you tell your kids not to do something? Some times they do what you tell them, and other times they do exactly what you told them not to do.
I had a gift wrap cutter that Morgan got a hold of. The blade was hidden between two pieces of plastic, and very unlikely to hurt her. However, I told her not to play with it because it would hurt her. I went on to say that it has a blade that will cut her, and we would have to take her to the hospital. I put the cutter up out of reach.
A few days later, while talking to my mom on the phone in another room, I was frightened by her running into the room. Her hand (actually both hands) were covered in blood. I grabbed a paper towel, and everything else I could find to help me with her bleeding hands. It turns out, the blood was from one finger. I had to hold the cut closed for 30 minutes, and even then, it was still bleeding!
I asked her to show me how she cut her finger. She took me to the gift wrap cutter laying in the ground. Somehow, she had found a way to get the BLADE out of the cutter and sliced her finger! Good grief! I picked up the cutter and blade and trashed it all. Nothing is worth all that! I will just use scissors to cut the gift wrap!
I used a butterfly strip to keep the wound closed. It seems to be healing now.

Make school work more fun by changing the medium!

Miniature watercolor paint set ($.50) is perfect for little hands. Plus, since they tend to mix colors, it lasts just the right amount of time. They have done 10 pages each, and there is still paint left!

Morgan's picture above

Jaden's picture of me in the swimming pool (above) & the school work that she did for when we went to pick berries (below)

Study of African homes, Morgan's picture (above) & Jaden's picture (below)

I got these watercolors out when the girls started to get bored with the colored pencils. I am going to change up mediums every few weeks to keep them excited about doing their pages. They really enjoyed the paints!

Morgan's Lickstick

I gave Morgan & Jaden each some flavored lipgloss. Morgan got blue rasberry. She wouldn't stop rubbing it AROUND her lips! I didn't think that kid's lipgloss would turn out to be a color on their lips. That's weird! Anyway, daddy finally took the lipgloss away from her. She has been asking "Where is my lick stick? Daddy took my lick stick!!" for the past few minutes now. She just kills me with some of the words she says wrong. Cute!