Welcome 2012!!!

Bring it on!! I love start overs! 2011 has been a great one, especially with Liam being born. So I know 2012 is going to be even better!
Don't forget to set new goals: daily, weekly, monthly and for the year goals. You always seem to accomplish more. And its soo satisfying!!
New financial, health, family, spiritual, and business goals. Keep every goal balanced together so your life doesn't go out of control!
Seriously!!! I can NOT wait for this new year!! Enjoy your evening and see you next year!!!

What's in a name...

We needed to change my blog name due to the previous blog sent you to someone else's blog sometimes.
Thank you for being patient with the changes!
You can also find me on Facebook@ facebook.com/crochetdesigns5 or facebook.com/heissma4 and Twitter @2sugar3spice .....

Freezer breakfast burritos

<p>One thing I love is an easy breakfast! And Eric loves breakfast at work. So this is consistantly in our freezer.<br>
So here's the recipe:
1 lb. Sausage, cooked
1 Pkg. Hash browns, browned
2 dozen eggs, scrambled
1 block of Sharp cheese, shredded
Add anything else you like in burritos......I add salsa.

Combine all ingredients, except cheese, and place 1/3 cup of mixture into middle of tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Fold into burrito.
I place 2 burritos in a freezer bag. Easy to put into Erics lunch that way. When you eat them at home...heat oven to 350' and bake for 15-20 minutes. Mmmmm....enjoy!!!

Thankfulness....

This time of the year comes and goes so quickly. I feel like I'm more thankful when its all done. :) So I wanted to take a few minutes, just pause life and be thankful.
In the rush of every day life do I realize how God provides? Jehovah Jireh....the Lord will provide. I can't think of one instance that the Lord didn't provide. Might not have been my timing. But we have made it through every low and high. It's made us grow individually and as a family.
So why aren't we more thankful? We want Him to help us in the low points of our lives. Then we forget about Him in our highs. Be thankful to Him. I'm not telling you....I'm reminding myself (and reminding you :) Jehovah Jireh.....the Lord will provide! We can't neglect God until He is needed.
Thankfulness comes in many forms. As little as, thank you for letting me make it through this day without going insane (yes, I have those days :) or how about the easily forgotten one, thank you for my (our) health. Or thank you for our time together. Thank you for You being in my heart! Oh how bitter we would be without Him. Why me, why them, why, why why?!
Recently having a dicussion with a confused non believer, I was reminded what precious gift I have to be thankful for. My salvation. I have hope for tomorrow. I have love eternal. I have the ultimate gift of thankfulness. My heart rejoices for myself. But look at all those desperate lonely people who cant find that kind of strength. They have worldly, superficial, mumbo jumbo that is nothing but confusion and sadness. The world is filled with selfishness and depression. It confuses me sometimes why people wouldn't want this gift of salvation. But then I'm reminded people like the "easy life". Follow their own rules, you can't tell me what to do attitude. "What about to me" selfishness.
I'm not saying I'm perfect in any way. I gripe and complain like every sinner. But my heart is thankful! Thankful to God for my gift, thankful to my parents for showing me this gift. Thankful in times of trials or happiness I have my Savior to go to.
If you know me well, you know me for my laugh, my joy of life, my positive attitude. Do you think I would be like this without my salvation?? Without hope?? I have been depressed and have had the "why me" attitude. You know what pulled me through??? My Lord Savior Jesus Christ....thank you Lord for my salvation. Amen, Amen!
My life verse fits me perfectly. I don't know why I picked it out years ago, actually........I think it picked me out!

Psalm 100

1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Thankfulness....take time to think of what you are thankful for today!

HIGH FIVE!

Barron, is 4 and in preschool. He has gone through all 6 school books already. HIGH FIVE! They were suppose to last all year! So I've decided to start him in kindergarten after Christmas. He can write every siblings name and I was just hoping for him to get his name written correctly :) Mr. Smarty pants had to go above and beyond! HIGH FIVE!

Forrest is 5 and in kindergarten. He is Reading! HIGH FIVE!! He is speeding through lessons. Everyday he is doing 2-3 lessons and acing everything! HIGH FIVE :)

Sonja, 6 and in 1st grade, is finally feeling more confident in her reading. Reading sentences without errors. I actually get a smile when she read! HIGH FIVE! We have also had to skip many lessons in math because she is bored :) she has her fathers math genes. She's a math genius! And will be ready for 2nd grade math soon! HIGH FIVE!

Olivia, 7 and in 2nd grade,  reads better than a 5th grader. HIGH FIVE! I am astonished with her reading abilities! Whizzing through books...we can't keep up on new books for her. Another gene from daddy ;) As for math.....another Genius. HIGH FIVE!

Seriously, I am just so proud of my kids. So many changes in the past year, with a new curriculum, a new sibling and moving last year. They have worked so hard and deserve every HIGH FIVE they have gotten this week! Oh, and they also deserve all those A+'s they have gotten with their tests, quizzes and homework.
Sure we will still have rough minutes, days or even weeks ahead of us. But right now I will give them their HIGH FIVES and let them gloat! :)

Christmas orders

Owl hats for a little boy, matching owl hats for sisters, blanket/sweater set for a newborn, cookie monster hat and a special order hat.......keeping

Shredding

Yesterday I started Day 1 of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. It was embarrassingly hard. But I started it and that's a big step. So I wanted to do my body measurements so I could see if there was a noticeable difference by the end of the 30 days. I also think I'm going to extend the work out to last 2-3 weeks for each workout (there are 3 sessions)

So here are my measurements:
R bicep- 14 3/4
L bicep- 14 1/2
R thigh- 27 1/2
L thigh- 26 1/2
Waist- 45 1/2
Bust- 48
Belly- 52 1/2
Hips- 50 1/2

As you can see my belly, hips and waist are my major problem areas. And I added the belly because that is the one body FLAW that I can NOT stand on my body. So I'd love to see it gone!!!

Today was day 2 on the shred and it went so much better. Not that it wasn't difficult by any means. But just smoother! Thanks for the encouragement and keep the positive words coming!!!

Crazy?!

Crazy?!
Not really :-) full of love, compassion, tender hearted and darn right odd! Yup, that's how I would describe myself. I'm a city girl turned country girl. A Mustang sports car lover turned "let's find a SUV that fits all of us" mama. I was K-12 privately schooled girl, public college educated young lady and now homeschool teacher to 5 children. Yup, that definitely makes me odd. Now for me to be crazy I'd have to add; love to stay home, homeschool 5 children, love to bake, scrapbook, crochet and spend time with my kids and husband.....oops! Guess I'm crazy!! Who does those kinds of things these days?? Not many. Just the ones that have the will power to stand out in a crowd. ;-) and boy do I stick out!!
In highschool did I ever think I would homeschool my kids? Didn't even think about it! Didn't even know anyone who was homeschooled. Probably would have called you Crazy! Did I change my opinion once I went to college?? Absolutely! I decided then and there that I needed my children's eyes opened to the many views on the world that I never got. Sure I want to protect my children from worldly views. But I also want them to not feel shell shocked once they get on their own. Feeling nieve and wanting to experience more that they should.
As much as people don't agree, homeschooling is not Crazy nor even for Crazy people. Homeschooling is just a word that I really think means, opportunities! So many benefits to homeschooling! I don't need to see my kids be 7 and act 15. They can be who they are and act their age. Play with dolls and pretend to be super heros till their 12+ years old. We don't need to take vacations because everyone says that's your time to go. We can take time out of our school week to actually get hands on learning, with museums, zoos, libraries, talk with actual people that have lived and been thru different time periods or historical events. Get down and dirty with the chickens and feed the horses or go to a mechanic and learn about engines or even learn a sport and play on a team. Sure not every child likes every subject or every learning experience. But yet, that's the whole point of learning...right??
I don't want to fight the crowds on the weekends to get what we need to get done before school starts again Monday morning. I don't want to start school in September...maybe, just maybe (you might want to sit down for this one ;) I like school all year around or I like to take a huge break in the spring not the summer. Whoa! Here we go into that Crazy Homeschool lady mode. LOL!
All in all, I just love being my children's teacher, nurse, mom, their supporter and life coach. I enjoy seeing them grow from their mistakes and them knowing that I will be right their when they just need a hug. I love that I can change their curriculum so it fits them and their learning needs. I know homeschooling isn't for everyone. And I know I'm odd and maybe a bit Crazy. But we have fun! We learn and are VERY smart.
Homeschooling means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But you can never say Crazy until you try it....I dare you! :-)

Special Orders

More coming!!

Schools in session

What an amazing school year so far! It makes such a difference when you finally figure out the right curriculum for your children.
When my children are happy, mama's happy. Every day just goes so much smoother!
Olivia is learning that she has her dads smarts when it comes to math. Just flying through everything so far. Creative writing is not her favorite, but it was never mine either until I got much older. Reading, well she's a genius ;) and language is just challenging enough to keep her excited for the next day.
Sonja is so excites about passing her first reading and language tests. She has a bit more difficulty reading and understanding. But with those test results it really looks like she is catching on in her own pace. She is another math lover. Getting most of the work done before I can even explain it (and all the answers are correct :)
Forrest did start kindergarten last year but stopped half way through cause it was just to much for him at age 4. Now this year he's been doing 2 lessons a day because he just flies right through everything. He's learning to slow down his coloring and stay in the lines. He gets so proud of his art projects. He thinks he need to keep everything :)
Barron is so eager this year in preschool. Last year, at age 3, there was no way he would sit for ten minutes but now he'll stay for an hour. Tracing and writing the alphabet or dot to dot and number counting. He's bound and determined to know how to spell all his siblings names by heart. He loves spelling his name on everything.
Now Liam isn't in school yet :) but boy he sure loves his "quiet" time :)

Sure has been a great start to the year! And I hope yours is going as wonderful!

A Day of Cooking and Freezing

I'm really enjoying my kitchen! We've been in our house just over a year now and the benefits of having so much counter space is priceless! I feel grateful that I have all this space, no other place we've lived was able to suit our needs.
Today I had my mom on Monster Cookie duty. She makes the best, so why not have her make them instead of me botching them up :) The kids mouths were just salivating when they saw all that goes into those cookies. Then to see how big we baked them, mmmmm, they will be having cookie dreams tonight!
On another counter I was using my new toy :) an apple slicer, peeler, cutter(thank you Stephanie for showing me this!). It was soo helpful! No carpal tunnel today! I got the first apples cut and ready for the crockpot, I love that toy also!! Two batches of applesauce in each crockpot and just let them go. Yup that was on another counter.
So I needed the next counter to cut more apples for apple pie filling. Got only five bags of filling done when I ran out of apples and freezer space.
Anyway I thought I'd share a recipe or two from today.

Apple Pie Filling
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
8-9 medium apples
Pour the first 3 ingredients into gallon freezer bag, then add apples. Zip shut, shake. Then reopen and take air out of bag. Zip shut. Date it and its ready for the freezer. When ready to use, defrost and add to pie crust.
So, so easy!!

Crockpot Applesauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
10 medium apples, sliced,peeled and cut
Place all ingredients into crockpot, mix, and turn on low for 8-10 hours. Let cool and spoon into gallon size freezer bags. Freeze.

Easy peasy!

{{I'm so thankful for my mom for making this day so productive! And hope for many more!! Love you mom!}}

Life long struggle..

So I've struggled with not liking my body since puberty. Ups and downs of weight loss and gain. Always active in sports, basketball and volleyball. But always being the "big girl with the pretty face". Like so many women, I stay happy and smiling but am so sad with this looming inside of me. I know I should be happy with this body that God gave me. Yet selfishly, I'm not. I have been blessed with a husband that loves me for me. God knew I needed someone to love me like that! 

But I have decided to step out and not hide. Let's do this! Get this awful weight off and encourage those women around me to come together and not just be a pretty face but a Hot Mama. Curves that contour, not waves with bumps and road blocks :)

Every week I will be blogging how the previous week went. The ups and downs, highs and lows. It might get ugly for a bit, but that's the road I choose. I'm not looking for perfection, just happiness within myself. You want to chime in, say what you want. Enjoy your freedom of voicing your opinion. Honesty goes a long way in my book.

Today....is the day.

My goal weight is 170
My current weight is 240 (this is huge step! Me telling You My weight)
My height is 5' 8"
Now I know the charts say I should be 145, but again, I'm looking for happiness not perfection. I love being curvy and enjoy actually eating and trying new foods.
Just being honest! :)

See you next week!!

P.S. thank you Cadie for your encouraging words a few days ago!

Happy 9th Anniversary My Love <3

October 5, 2002 my dreams came true.....
You are the love of my life. My one and true best friend. We didn't know it would be so tough. The world trying to split us apart. But the world forgot that we are soul mates, brought together by God. Our trust in Him since day one has kept our relationship strong. Ups and downs, surprises at every corner. I know we never would have imagined 9 years ago going through these heart wrenching situations we have endured. I realize every relationship has its ups and downs. And boy, I don't want to repeat those years again ;) Our past is behind us our future is bright. We have each other, holding tight. My heart is excited each day to spend time with you. My heart smiles as I see you with our children. It all confirms you are the one for me. Yup, God was right. You are my gift. And with this gift I have received, I will water it to make it grow, prune it so it will not go wild, light it so it will blossom. <br>
My promise to you, Till death do us part. Thank you for picking me!!</p>
<p>P.S. daddy we love you!! XXOO <br>
Olivia, Sonja, Forrest, Barron, and Liam<br>
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Welcome to Fall...with colds

I love Fall,spiced hot cider, campfires, and my beautiful green leaves turning colors. I love my children, growing up little ladies and gentlemen. But when five children get sick at different times and none of them have the same symptoms at the same time...Ugh!!
I love, and I mean love, my sleep! I mean most mothers do :) mostly because we know we won't be getting a lot :) But since having children, a full nights sleep, 6+ hours of uninterrupted sleep, just doesn't happen much. The older four where, and still are, the worst sleepers. They never took naps well, and sleeping thru the night...what was that?  Now having Liam love to sleep...is a blessing from God!
I just want to be excited about Fall and my children....without colds :) so here is a picture of my children on our farm, healthy and happy! I love you my babies!! Get better soon!!! Mama needs her sleep, lol.

I Am Super Mom

I've been saying this pretty consistantly these days. It's not that I feel like I'm better than any mom or wife. It's just that even I can't believe what I get accomplished. :)
Any normal woman would throw up her arms and say forget it. But me, no, of course not. LOL! As you can tell just by having 5 children that I'm odd. I like being the odd woman at the store with 4 kids asking for new toothbrushes while I'm feeding a newborn and a lady saying I have my hands full, and I haven't even started grocery shopping. Then realizing I didn't change  my shirt from working in the kitchen all day. LOL!
So why not add more craziness to my life and add crocheting, homeschooling and getting busy in the kitchen with freezer meals. I wish I had enough time in the day to add so much more! Is that crazy? Or is my Super Mom coming out?
I've been thinking about this a lot. What am I really trying to accomplish when I get into Super Mom mode??
I've decided it's the 3 big goals in my life that I want to fulfill.
1. I want and always have wanted my children to see me as a wife/mother that they want to resemble. Godly, loving, and full of joy and happiness.
My life verse says..Psalms 100 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness, come before his presence with singing...
2. Make my husband proud and honored for me, Super Mom, to be his wife. I take marriage very serious! These days you have to, not many marriages stay together anymore. Have I made mistakes? Umm...shamefully yes. And my heart just thumps in sadness when those mistakes are made. Yet remember ...I'm not perfect, I am a sinner. God has found that perfect man just for me. Eric and I fit so perfectly its kind of scary at times :)
3. To honor and please our God. God has blessed me with this life of being a mom/wife, a dream come true. Why wouldn't I go to extreme for Him?! I was blessed with knowing and believing in God since I was very young. Again, I'm not perfect, God isn't wanting perfection. He's wanting growth.
I Am Super Mom....so now when you see me saying this or reading it somewhere, you now know....I'm not trying to give my ego a boost. I'm reminding myself of my challenge, do my very best..I have my God, husband and kids to give my very best too.
So to all you moms and wifes out there...Super Moms Unite!!!! :)

Tell time to stand still

Now that I have kids, time is just slipping by. Sure there are days I wish would go faster(moms know about those days ;) but most days I'd love time to stop yet let me keep going!
How can it be that I have 5 children and the oldest is 7 already?? When I had the first 4 all under the age of 3, its officially a blur. Don't ask me when they got their first tooth, or when they potty trained cause I don't remember. It might sound horrible but I was taking care of their needs, and life when into fast motion. Now I have 2 girls who want their ears pierced and the boys want motorcycles. What?? What happen to being happy with ur babies and snuggling with mom?
Sure I understand I'm not number one when daddy is home :) but Geesh!
Barron was ready to help in the kitchen today, pouring in the ingredients and wanting to pour the batter(mom said no to that :) pretty soon he'll be able to make his own lunch instead of mom helping him :( 
Forrest opens the door to the kitchen just to say 'I love you mom', then runs off to play again. I don't ever want that to stop.
Olivia, I couldn't ask for a better helper. Sure she doesn't want to all the time. But she is growing up into quite the young lady. Sonja is, well, she's my free spirit. Sure she gets into trouble on a daily basis ;) but she is the kindest little girl. And loves to make friends. I'm not ready for them to grow up and want to play with their friends more than be with me.
Baby Liam has brought out even more love and compassion from each one of us. More than I even imagined.
Tell time to stand still....yes, I'm being selfish! I think I have every right! Even though time WON'T listen, it will keep ticking away. With every tick, I want it to remind me of how important it is to absorb every moment.....
God, thank you for my children and all their different personalities. Thank you for our daily joys and ups and down. Don't let me forget the little things and keep in mind there are many big moments to come. May I be there in their time of need. Giving them the right words so they will follow the right path, Your path. Amen.

New year, new curriculum, newborn

It shouldn't be the beginning of a new school year already?! It's been exciting with being pregnant with so many friends. Every step of the way being able to consult with someone having gone or going through the same problems or situations. Finding out we were having our third boy <3 going through the 'nesting' period was a real treat :/ NOT...lol. The craziness of Eric working so much and anxiously waiting for Liam to be born, has brought us way to fast into fall.
Now before Liam was born we decided to change our curriculum. Let me rephrase that...I decided to change the curriculum. This is a huge decision out of my comfort zone. But am very happy with my decision with CLE. Of course having a great homeschool mom, Allissa,  to aid and encourage kinda made the change easy. But that was before Liam was born :) now that he is born and I have to start teaching 4 children, ages 7 and under, with a newborn...big GULP. I suddenly feel overwhelmed and not so sure of myself. And how exactly are we going to get everything done each say I have no idea :)
But what I do know is, homeschooling works for us. I don't have to be perfect, I have wonderful kids that love learning and a great God to give me peace throughout this New year of Newness, and wonderful friends that are there for me whenever I need them.
It's amazing how writing this blog gives me my confidence back! :) so here we go....a New year, a New curriculum and an Newborn

Our first garden

I might love the country, I might live in the country but this country girl has a lot to learn in the kitchen. Especially with gardening. We have our first garden this year. And while everyone is canning and freezing. I'm just excited, like the kids, to be seeing food grow. We've learned first off that it needs to double in size for next years garden. But to be able to go in the back yard and grab some peppers or zucchini, or like today, grab potatoes and tomatoes, just for a healthy supper. I'm in heaven! I love that my kids just grab a few green beans, wash them and snack on them throughout the day! I have frozen a few things. But next year its all about jams, freezing, salsa and whatever else I need to do :) Now back to reading, learning and being taught how to be the country girl that I always wanted to be.  WITH A GARDEN!!! :)

Generations...

The older generation are kind and generous. And welcome each grand child and great grand child with open hearts and arms. No matter how good or bad your relationship is with your parents. The bind you have with gma/papa, or nana/papa, or oma/opa, which ever name you have for your grandparents, you will never forget!!
So with saying this, Eric and I also hope that our children cherish those years with their great grandparents and grandparents. Years that you can never get back and never want to forget!

Your not going to have another child are you??

Yes, even after just having baby Liam, I am having this question asked to me. Motherhood is and has been a life long dream of mine. After loosing our first baby, and never knowing if I would be pregnant again...this question has become personal. As I'm sure it has with many ladies who want to be mothers. So this article is for everyone...please read. Many of you might have read it before but its just so good, please read it again! Motherhood Is Calling (And Where Your Children Rank)

Motherhood Is a Calling (And Where Your Children Rank)

And now we make 7...

. 7-12-2011...is the date Liam decided he wanted to show himself.
Contractions 15 minutes apart at 1:30am, then by Erics 4:30am alarm they were 7 minutes apart. By the time our sitter got to our house, cause of the bad fog, it was 6:30 and contractions moved to 5-3 minutes apart. Which totally made me panic since the hospital is 25 minutes away.
Needless to say we made it to the hospital without a vehicle birth :) and by the time we got into our room and situated on monitors I was a good 5 cm. BUT, everything came to a sudden halt when the I.V. that was pushing an antibiotic in me, do to test done @ 35 weeks being group B positive. I found out that I'm allergic to. It took about 20-25 minutes just to get me breathing and thinking right. It was so scary! So we needs to slow everything down ......
7:30 pm and 3 pushes later...7:32 pm a beautiful little boy
Liam Merrick Quinn Heiss
20 inches
8 lbs 13 oz
It was easy peasy! And so thankful its over with! LOL
We have a healthy little boy and feel so blessed. I was definitely meant to be a mommy, but never knew God would give me 5 beautiful, healthy children. Thank you Lord!

The crew

Camelot Academy

Welcome! Many of you know that we homeschool. With deciding to homeschool we have also decided to name our home school 'Camelot Academy', so we could have fun shirts and such clothes to be proud of being homeschooled. So with that idea we pushed it even further by calling us the 'Knights'. Go Knights! Sitting at the round table, listening, growing and living as a child in Christ. 
This fall will be my 3rd year. And I will have a 2nd, 1st, kindergartener and preschooler. We have started each child in ABEKA. I love there style for learning to read. That was a big stresser in starting homeschooling."You mean I will teach them to read?"...big GULP. But once Olivia started reading and very quickly reading 3rd grade level, I was very relieved!
Now this year Olivia is going to start Christian Light, while the others are staying with ABEKA. Why?...you ask. Each child has a different way of learning. Olivia learns very quickly, once she has it she's ready to move on. I don't want our kids bored. So making changes is very important! For me, anyway! Also thankfully I have had a handful of homeschool moms help me with tons of advice along the way. I'm so grateful for them!
So here is the start of many, of what I hope is a helpful blog post for all those moms just starting to homeschool with young children.

Crocheting...I love it!

New blog look...

Time for a new mature look ....thank you Shannon!

Mommy, we're pregnant like you!

We laughed so hard when my kids and nephew came out of my moms guest room looking like pregnant mama.:)

Mother's Day emotions....

This Mother's Day is an emotional one ....

The beauty of the outdoors shining through the windows...how God has blessed us mother's with such a beautiful day!

Knowing how hard my husband works for his family and how he would love to be home every day. But instead he is out almost every day 14-17 hour days to get our freedom from debt and show our kids that their dreams will come true. He is our HERO!

My children:
Olivia- such a daddy's girl. She loves to be in charge, yet steps back not wanting to be the first volunteer for anything new or daring.

Sonja- my little mother, kind and giving, yet first to volunteer for anything especially sports related(sounds like mama :) she's my first child that needed stitches :)

Forrest- my eager pastor, loves to learn anything about the Bible. Not into sports or daring things. Very content inside with a book or his super heros.

Barron- my clown, always doing or saying something that makes you chuckle. A hard worker! Spends all day staying by Daddys side and doing farmwork. Anything and everything.

Now there is this little bundle inside of me, Liam. A surprise to mommy and daddy, (all our boys have been surprises) yet such a joy. Knowing this is our last little one and knowing our family is complete brings a warmness to my heart. Liam is a stinker already. But I don't ever want to forget this feeling of him tossing and turning in my belly. Just to remind me "I'm here mommy and I hear your voice".

I have always known that I wanted to be a mommy. But you don't get that true feeling until you have a child of your own. Whether you give birth, adopt, or take in any child. Your motherly heart pops right out and knows what to do.

My children are the love of my life! Even though I am not a perfect mother, I accept those imperfections, and hope through my children's eyes they see the love in my heart more than my mistakes. I want them all to reach for the moon when it comes to their dreams and ambitions. Knowing that Eric and I raised them to be Christian boys and girls with dreams that will be reached, not that they need to be perfect. But to take the path that God has chosen for them, be bold, and take that confidence to conquer the world of their dreams.

I love you my children! Thank you for giving me my Mother's Day every year for the rest of my life!

Birthday Season!

We call it birthday season do to the fact that we have all 4 of my kids birthdays in a 7 weeks. So spring, end of March thru mid-May, is a fun but busy time for all of us.
Usually we have a large one time party for all of them. But this year we are super busy so we made their birthdays as special as we could make them.
They pick where they want to eat dinner, I bake and decorate their bday cakes, each one picks out the family outing for their day, and let's not forget their gift.(this year is a bike for each)
Such a fun time for them and us! As parents, of course we love to see the smiles and hear the squeals of excitement......I love my  Heiss bunch!
Happy Birthday Olivia, Sonja, Forrest, and Barron! You keep my heart filled with love!

Sugar and Spice Boutique

Along with an amazing family I also love to crochet in my "spare time". You can find me only on facebook right now. Working on getting on Etsy or something like that after baby Liam is born.
I do special orders and just started props for photographers. Pictures will be up soon for you to see. I'be got from flower headbands to simple sweaters, from blankets of all sizes to the fun hats that everyone loves.
So I hope you will all check out Sugar and Spice Boutique......

Family bedtime ritual...

Almost every night Eric puts the kids to bed. It's a hour or more process do to reading a bible story with many questions and explanations after. One Saturday night, Eric was explaining how God protects us and that daddy would take a bullet to protect them. Everyone went to bed happy and questions answered.
Next day was Sunday, we went to church and I headed to get the kids out of Jr. church, when the teacher came up to me and asked "if is Eric was ok." I promptly said "yes but why are you asking?" She explained to me that the kids told the class that daddy got shot protecting them....lol.
Well, back to the drawing board on explaining that one to the kids.....:0)

Ready, Steady, Go,Go,Go

Here we go! My first blog...this should be interesting!