Sister Trip

Click below to see our trip to the aquarium

http://www.slide.com/r/WmfpZjas1D-fWmBGeSHdKzGYnXL8_Vjv?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Melissa, how do you get this directly on the blog without using a link?

Going to the doctor to get sick

Here's a novel idea. . . lets make a cold vaccine. I took Charlize to the doctor perfectly healthy to get her vaccines and she came home with a cold. Fabulous! =) Poor thing, it's so hard when they can't blow their noses. She didn't gain enough weight in the last two months so we're stepping up the calories and feedings. Now if we can just get her to keep it down. For some reason she seems to want to throw everything up. Something about all that snot draining in her stomach?? So picky. =) I have tons of pics of my fam so I'll get those up as soon as I get a free moment.

Later today her temp was 103. Poor thing. We had a rough night. She's having a hard time breathing well enough to sleep.

Starting to sit

These links are a favorite toy to chew on. Thanks Kristen!

Play Time

Charlize still doesn't like to sit much but if I distract her with toys she doesn't notice. =)

more sounds

Here's a few more of her attempts at talking. So fun!

Crib Time

The crib is one of Charlize's favorite places to play now.

Mom, I finally finished the picture frame. Now I just have to get some recent pictures printed.

He is Risen! ! !

Easter Morning!

Thanks for the dress Ben & Manda!

What an amazing day the first Easter was! One of the single most important events in history. Luke records the mornings event in chapter 24 of the Bible

"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were preplexed about this, behold,two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words . . .but these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

Have you taken time today to marvel and Christ's victory over death? Have you bowed your heart in repentance over your sin accepting Christs gift of salvation on the cross? Today is the day of salvation. Do not turn your ear away when you hear His voice.

Today's Trivia

Did You Know ??????????? If nothing else you need to read the last one!!!!!!!

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it. It also gives you something to hold on to while you eat it. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold! Works for celery too!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Snickers bars make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.

1. Reheat Pizza...Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. Saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs ...Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

3. Expanding Frosting...When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

4. Reheating Refrigerated Bread...To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper Weeds Away...Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Put wet newspapers in layers around the plants overlapping as you go, cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic; they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass ...Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes......Place a dryer sheet in your pocket or rub on your skin. It will keep the mosquitoes away. (I met a lady who does this and swears by it.)

8. Squirrel Away! ......To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it. Keeps kitties from chewing on your indoor plants, too.

9. Flexible Vacuum...To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling...Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.

11. Measuring Cups...Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

12. Foggy Windshield? .....Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

13. Reopening Envelope.......If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

14. Conditioner .......Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies.....To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants .....Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS....The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't see the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long. How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Decision 2008

Yeah, I had to go political. Sorry! =) For some pretty important things that you don't see on the evening news check this out. I promise I won't go this deep every day. =)


This might give you a better idea of the type of man that Barak Obama is. Rumors may float around about this and that, but the voting record of senators shows you what they really stand for.
~Kristy
Donate About Us News

Tom Minnery March 24, 2008

Dear Friend, What does it take to be the most liberal member of the United States Senate – farther left than Ted Kennedy, John Kerry or even Hillary Clinton? For the answer, take a look at a man who could be the next president of the United States: Barack Obama. Sen. Obama was recently named the most liberal U.S. Senator, based on the annual voting analysis by the non-partisan and highly respected National Journal. If he emerges as the Democratic nominee, one of the critical jobs of Focus Action will be to uncover the real Barack Obama—not the feel-good orator who speaks of “change” and “hope,” but the man who would be the most left-wing president in our nation’s history. And we’ll need your continued help to do so.Obama: As extreme as they come on family issuesOn abortion, Obama’s 100 percent lifetime voting record from Planned Parenthood and NARAL only begins to tell the story.

While in the Illinois State Senate six years ago, Obama was the only senator to speak against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which protects babies who are born alive after a failed abortion. In other words, it prevents flat-out infanticide. A year later— while the U.S. Senate was passing Born Alive 98-0 – state Sen. Obama quietly killed an identical bill in the state committee he chaired!

Not surprisingly, then, he also opposes the ban on partial-birth abortion and supports allowing minor girls to be transported across state lines for abortions without parental notice or consent.
Perhaps most chilling is his avowed support for the Freedom of Choice Act, which, if signed into law, would threaten every pro-life law passed at the state and federal levels over the past 30 years.

In addition, while the next president could effectively overturn Roe v. Wade with the right Supreme Court appointments, Obama is proudly committed to appointing judges who will uphold legal abortion. In fact, his judicial philosophy is typical of the radical left. He believes that judges can change the meaning of the Constitution at their discretion. Not surprisingly, he voted against the nominations of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito.How about marriage and the homosexual agenda?
First, he opposes the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). If given the chance by the liberal Congress, Obama will overturn DOMA, potentially forcing every state to recognize homosexual “marriages” and guaranteeing that you and I pay federal benefits to support homosexual couples. Please note: Technically, he says he is “opposed” to same-sex “marriage,” but by standing against DOMA, he is standing against the only thing that prevents same-sex marriages from spreading state to state.
Second, he has pledged to homosexual leaders that he will sign the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (forcing businesses to defend themselves against discrimination lawsuits should they not hire a particular candidate who then announces he or she is homosexual or transsexual). He also supports hate-crimes expansion (potentially putting churches at risk if they preach the truth about homosexuality).
Then there’s his support for teaching schoolchildren (in 2nd grade, no less) abouthomosexual relationships. He also wants to require women to register for the draft. And, as a state senator, he even refused to support a measure to stop sex businesses from opening near schools or places of worship!
Make adifference in 2008 Help support the work of Focus Action.The price of “change”: Hold on to your wallet! Sen. Obama talks constantly about the need for “change.” But what he doesn’t tell you is the price tag, so allow me: It will be very expensive change.He supports raising taxes to pay for universal health care, his free college program and a host of other government expansions. Among his pet projects is a bill he sponsored called the Global Poverty Act, which would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid. Over 13 years, that will amount to a whopping $845 billion increase over current foreign-aid spending! Get your checkbooks ready!National security?One area where Sen. Obama seems to have an aversion to spending is the War on Terror. But it’s not just the admittedly controversial war in Iraq where Obama has shown himself to be soft on terror:
He has repeatedly voted against funding our troops in Iraq—unless the funding included a date certain by which our soldiers must withdraw from their fight against al Qaeda. Even with the troop surge producing superb results, Obama has called both the surge and the war a failure. In fact, he and Hillary seem to be in a rhetorical contest to see who can abandon the battlefield first.
He, along with Hillary, voted to give captured terrorists and illegal immigrants constitutional rights that are reserved for American citizens. Can you believe that Sen. Obama actually favors granting citizenship to illegal immigrants convicted of crimes against children, aggravated felonies and other serious crimes? It's true.
Perhaps, then, it should come as no surprise that Obama also voted against a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag from desecration.One has to ask: Did he learn anything from 9/11?Ditto for Hillary?On most of the issues I’ve mentioned, Hillary isn’t far behind Obama’s extremism. In fact, she ranked as the 16th most liberal senator in National Journal’s scoring. But the reality is that most people know about Hillary. They remember her push for government-run health care. They know of her radical pro-abortion stance. They may even recall her support for allowing young children to sue their parents.Obama, though, is the new kid on the block. In fact, a little more than three years ago, he was still an Illinois state senator. Now, the media is fawning over him … and isn’t about to delve into his leftist record.That’s why Focus Action—with your help—needs to sound the alarm. Whoever the Democrat nominee is, the truth about their stands needs to be told in clear, bold colors. And, of course, the pros and cons of the Republican candidate need to be laid out as well. Focus Action is blessed to have some great channels to communicate the truth to the American public. From radio programs to mailings to webcasts to advertisements of all sorts, we have the vehicles to get the word out. But your gifts are needed to provide the fuel to make those vehicles run—so we can inform millions of voters, not just in the presidential race, but in the critical contests for House and Senate as well. If you haven't done so recently, please consider making a donation by clicking here.Throughout our history, great Americans have stood up to grave challenges of all sorts. As this latest wave of secular liberalism threatens us, I look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with you in prayer and action – in defense of the family.Sincerely,Tom MinnerySenior Vice PresidentFocus on the Family ActionP.S. We continue to get strong reviews from many of you about our live “webcasts” on the presidential race. If you haven't yet had a chance to view these webcast, I hope you'll take advantage of our pro-family perspective on the candidates – a perspective you won't find in the mainstream media! Thanks for partnering with us to make it all happen!

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The Roll Over

Charlize is rolling over every day now. She often gets stuck on her stomach and needs a little help getting on her back.