Book Review-How to Be God's Little Princess by Sheila Walsh

This adorably cute pink hardcover book is the perfect gift for the princess in your life. I do believe it is best suited for girls from 6-11 years of age.

The subtitle of How To Be God's Little Princess is Royal Tips for Manners, Etiquette, and True Beauty, and the book lives up to its name. Included in this book are quizzes, "What's wrong with this picture?" scenarios, and creative art projects like designing your own tie dye and jewelry making, in addition to the plethora of other useful information. And what is especially special about this book is that beauty outside AND in is featured. Author Sheila Walsh does a great job including Bible verses, Biblical wisdom, tips for reaching out to others, and advice for making a heartfelt apology.

However, there is some ridiculous information included in the book, like wearing the right tiara to match your face. However, I think a young girl would have fun taking the quiz, although she herself may never wear an actual tiara until her wedding day! This book would be such a treasure to a little girl though, that I bet she would keep it until her wedding day and even pass it down to her own little princesses!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I Win!

I baked cookies this morning with Foster Children #1 and #2 and they were very eager to eat them after lunch. I told them, however, not until they ate all of their lunch. They both had eaten about half of their sandwiches when they started asking for their cookies. For the umpteenth time Foster Child #1 asked about having a cookie, and I told her she just needed to finish her ham.

Foster Child #2 was eating a PB&J sandwich, and asked, "Can I just eat the bread, Momma?"

"Um, OK," I replied.

Wow, that was easy!, I thought.

And then of course, Foster Child #1 (first born that she is) pipes in and says, "But Mr. E...."

Yeah, I shooshed her pretty quick! And both kids later enjoyed their cookies!

Can you tell she's a reading teacher's daughter?

I asked Foster Child #1 the other day if she was cold playing outside at school since she was wearing a skirt, thick tights, and her adorable new FREE leg warmers from Snuggle Luv.
"Mom, it was a little cold outside, but I was warm enough. I wasn't shivering!"
Yay to Miss C's growing vocabulary!!

Fess Up Friday

1. On Sunday I turned on the bath water for the boys' bath and left the bathroom. I was in our office, which is adjacent to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Greg walked past, and said, "Why is this on?"
What a silly question!
"To give the boys their bath," I replied. "Like we do every Sunday," I muttered under my breath as I looked up. And to my horror, I discovered what the this was that Greg was referring to. It was the shower-that was spraying water down the outside of the tub, soaking the floor and bathroom rugs! That's one way to clean the bathroom!

2. Also, on Sunday, I had to make Caleb's bottle while we were in the church nursery. I added the formula powder to the water in the bottle, put the nipple and cap back on, shook the bottle, and took the cap off, while holding the bottle toward Caleb's face. You know where this is going, right? I swear this has never happened before, hence I wouldn't have held the bottle toward Caleb's face, but the bottle completely sprayed milk right in Caleb's eye and all over his face. Wouldn't be so bad had there not been other moms there to witness the abuse I was unknowingly bestowing upon my child! However, here I am sharing it with the whole world on my blog!

3. As we continue our Eat From the Pantry/Freezer Challenge, I had meatloaf and seasoned potato wedges on the menu for Monday. I went out to our chest freezer in the garage to grab the seasoned potato wedges, only to find them outside of the freezer sitting on a box. And for how long, I don't know. Friday, maybe. Saturday, possibly. Full disclosure here, I immediately thought, Surely we can eat them. I hating wasting food. But to be safe, I did call our family's food extraordinaire, my mom, who said, "Sure, I don't think it would be a problem. Are they still cold?" They were, so I turned on the oven, and laid out the wedges, to see that under the coating I could tell they were mushy and brown.
Now any sane person at this point would throw them away and go to side dish plan #2, but not me! Remember I hate wasting food. So I did put them in the oven, cooked them, and then decided it wasn't worth the risk to have my family eat them. However, I was craving them. After all, I had it set in my mind, and on my menu to have seasoned potato wedges! So, I found the least brown one and ate it. Craving satisfied! (And it didn't taste all that bad!)

4. My mom was with us on Tuesday into Wednesday after her trip to Texas. I drove her to O'Hare on Wednesday afternoon, and although I knew she was departing, I went to arrivals. "Um, sweetie, you wanted to drop me off upstairs," my mom said. Aww, man! And the crazy thing is that I've done that before on other trips to the airport. So we drive pass all of the arrival terminals, knowing that I could go back around the airport to go above to departures. I see the sign, "Back to arrivals," and follow it. "Um, sweetie, you want departures!" Oh boy! Good thing we left plenty of time. "That's OK," I reply, laughing, "I'm pretty sure I can get to departures from here," I say, as we pass a sign that says, "ACCESS TO DEPARTURES PROHIBITED!" So once again we go past all of the arrival terminals, and I head right, which will lead us to back to the city and departures. However, as I was back above ground, I saw another sign that said "Back to arrivals," and started veering to the left. "No, you want departures," my mom yells, laughing at me! Truly, I know the difference between arriving and departing!
I joked with her, "Well, maybe I just don't want you to leave."
"Apparently, so," my mom said, chuckling!
And that time I did get her to the correct departing terminal with plenty of time for her to spare, and plenty of time for me to go pick up C. from school!

So, once again, I'm fallible, and apparently, very fallible this week! What are you fessing up to this week?

Book Review-God Gave Us So Much by Lisa Tawn Bergren

Before I officially "begin" my book review - yes, He did! This collection-God Gave Us So Much - includes three stories - God Gave Us the World, God Gave Us Love, and God Gave Us Heaven. In this story, an inquisitive little polar bear asks her family members to answer questions about the world, creation, love, and Heaven.

This book is perfect for any curious child in your life. The author easily answers some of life's difficult questions, questions that my own inquiring child has asked. And the author easily gives the "right" answer. Because the main character is a polar bear, the questions she asks relates to other animals she encounters. When fishing, she expresses frustration that the otters are scaring the fish away. The grandfather responds by telling Little Bear that "God wants us to show the otters love...He wants us to show everyone his love." (Example from God Gave Us Love) Or Little Bear expresses surprise that there are many different types of bears that live in different parts of the world, evident that there are many different cultural groups of people around the world (example from God Gave Us the World.) To answer why the bears would live in different places, the Mama Bear responds, "Because they like their homes best. It's where God put them. God gave us this great big, wide world and a whole bunch of different bears with different fur and different families."

The illustrations are delightful. I also really appreciate that extended family relationships are featured in the book (Grandpa and Grandma in addition to Mama and Papa and twin siblings.) Finally, not only is the book for children, there are lessons that I know I need to be reminded of like, "Our best stuff doesn't weigh anything at all-stuff like love, family, friends, and faith." (Example from God Gave Us Heaven).

A perfect treasury for our own little treasures!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Fess Up Tuesday?!?

It sure doesn't have the same ring to it as fess Up Friday, does it?!?

I figured I better do my Fess Up Friday post from last week before this upcoming Friday, because this week's is already shaping up to be a doozy, and I don't want you all to think that I could screw up so bad and so much in one week! Ha!

My mom is coming into town today (yay!) Kind of a big deal, right? Something that a person wouldn't forget because of the anticipation of being spoiled and getting reinforcement in the care of the house and family, right? Well, apparently I don't appreciate my mom's visit enough, as I had made plans to spend the evening with some lovely friends. However, as plans were finalized and more emails were sent out, I realized I couldn't hang out with my friends because my mom is going to be in town, and I definitely need to take advantage of that since she doesn't visit all that often!

Last Thursday was a gorgeous day, so I decided to jog to pick up Charlotte from school. When I dropped her off, I put her bike into the back of the car, locked it up at school, and when I got to school to pick her up, we unlocked her bike and she was to ride, while I was to push the boys in the jogging stroller. Things went well for the first couple of blocks. What I failed to realize as I retrieved her bike from the garage was that one of her training wheel's bolts was loose. As Charlotte rode, the bolt got more loose, and she lost confidence in riding. I'm not sure whose idea it was, but it was suggested that the jogging stroller strap get attached to Charlotte's handlebar and that I would not only push the stroller but also pull her on the bike. (And I do truly think it was Charlotte's idea, however, I eagerly agreed and praised her for being such a good problem solver!) This was a great plan until I started running, which was about 20 seconds after executed our plan. I don't even run that fast, but it was enough to cause Charlotte to topple off of her bike. What made it worse was that at the time a father was riding his bike with his two young kids, saw the incident, and stopped to make sure Charlotte was OK. I was so embarrassed that someone had to witness my bad judgment moment! (However, it seems that I'm not too embarrassed to blog about it!!)

Wow, I feel better already getting these off my chest!!!!!

Fess Up Friday, or shall I say Saturday?

So, I suppose my first confession is that I left my very loyal blog readers, who anxiously wait for my Fess Up Friday posts to wait an extra day. How dare I! And, I'm sorry!
This was a doozy of a week. I forgot my purse twice at home while driving. On Sunday, I was able to turn ight around and get it, but on Monday, not so much. The funny thing is, my purse is huge! How can I forget it anywhere? And I can't even use the excuse that I had the kids to wrangle up or a diaper bag to carry. Both times I was going out by myself!

On Tuesday I woke up the boys from their naps and loaded them in the car to pick up Charlotte from school at 2:40 pm. The problem? Charlotte doesn't get out of school until 3:10 pm!

I will note that this really is not my fault because Charlotte's school dismisses M-Th at 3:10 pm, and on Fridays at 2:40 pm. WHO DOES THAT?!?! Don't they realize that life would be easier for so many more people if students get out of school at the same time everyday?

And as another note, better to be there early M-TH, as I was, than late on a Friday, which knock-on-wood hasn't happened (yet!)

Caleb had a pediatrician well visit on Wednesday. Before I left, I asked Greg for the camera so I could take pictures of Caleb at his appointment. I got to the appointment and realized I didn't have the camera with me. Instead, it was in the rental car that I had just returned back to the dealer. I then needed to have Greg call to track it down, and also wake up Elijah from his nap to pick up Charlotte from school, which I was supposed to do, but couldn't so I could go back to the dealer to pick up the camera.

So, what are you 'fessing up to this week?

Book Review-Pujols: More Than the Game by Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth

Some might be wondering why a girl who doesn't care much for baseball would review a book about Albert Pujols, a baseball player. Well, although I'm not a big baseball fan, I am a great fan of good biographies and autobiographies. Additionally, I do love reading about celebrities and their relationships with Christ, because it doesn't seem like Christians in the public eye publicize their faith enough, unless they are specifically in the Christian circle.
So, as I started reading Pujols: More Than the Game, I was looking forward to reading about Pujols' faith-how he came to it, how he is sharing it, his struggles and his victories in his relationship with God. After all, the book's subtitle is More Than the Game! And even if the book didn't primarily focus on Pujols' faith, I would have hoped for more information on Pujols' life off of the field, like his upbringing and his relationship with his wife and children. That information is just peppered throughout his story, while I feel like it should have played a bigger role-considering the title! What I found though is a book that is very heavy on Pujols' career, and for a girl who doesn't care much about baseball, I found it difficult to get through. In fact, I didn't complete the book at the time of this review, because it was so statistic-heavy.

Although this book wasn't for me, I think there is a population who would enjoy reading Pujols: More Than the Game. For one, it doesn't hurt if you are a baseball fan. You'd be able to read through the statistics easily without it being dry. Secondly, because I didn't find this book to give a detailed testimony of Pujols' faith (at least by page 69, when I stopped reading), I think a non Christian could enjoy it without feeling like an outsider for not being Christian.

Overall, I'm glad I had the opportunity to read about Albert Pujols. It sounds like he is one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game. It's encouraging to know that he has a relationship with the Greatest, giving him the right perspective of his own greatness on the baseball field!
(Plus, I definitely got bonus points from one of my 4th grade male students who thought it was SO cool that I was reading a book about a baseball player!)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fess Up Friday

Tuesdays are my rush days. We get home from Bible Study, eat lunch, and then pretty much head right back out the door to take Charlotte to school. It's about an hour turn-around. Apparently on Tuesdays, I shouldn't also talk to my mom on the phone while coming home from Bible Study, because it was due to my phone being in my one hand and a sleeping Caleb also in my arms, that I failed to close the back door of the car! Good thing, it's only an hour turn around!

*Disclaimer: Although I was talking to my mom on my way home from Bible study, I was talking hands-free, as I had her on speaker phone. Once I pulled into the driveway and parked the car, I turned my speaker phone off and then held the phone to my ear.

Apparently, we are now in the month of March. I had to make an appointment this week for our car to go to the dealer because of a recall. March 9th, no problem! I put it on the calendar. However, the month I put it down on the calendar was February. Wouldn't really be a big deal, except I already have another appointment scheduled for March 9! Fortunately I was able to see my error also this week and was able to change my appointment time for the car!