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Thursday, November 4, 2010

Halloween with Two Very Cute Little People and a Great Big Brother

(Little Bear as "Woody", with his preschool class)

Normally, our family isn't big on celebrating Halloween. It's just not a big holiday for us. For others, including my sister-in-law, it's when their height of creativity really comes out, what with decorated yards, imaginative costumes, etc.

But this year, things were different. Because we have an almost 4 year old, and a 1 year old, along with our 17 year old. It became a little more fun for us. Our little guy is COMPLETELY and UTTERLY obsessed with Woody from Toy Story. He has these little figures that are about 3 inches tall, of Buzz and Woody, that he used to be able to take to bed with him. We made him tuck his little friends into his pillowcase each night. That stopped the night we heard screams and cries coming from the bedroom. I thought he had had a bad dream, but Papa Bear knew exactly what happened, the minute we opened the door. By the way, the screams came from the dark room Little Bear and Baby Bear share, and where Baby Bear was fast asleep...until the screams.

We saw Little Bear with his rear end up in the air, and he was face down...with his arm stuck in the bed railing. See, Woody must have somehow jumped out of his pillowcase to play with Little Bear, when they should have been sleeping. Papa Bear said, "He's stuck...Woody fell." Yep, that about sums it up. Woody fell between the bed and the wall, and Little Bear was trying to reach him, only he couldn't, because Woody was hiding under the bed. From that point on, Woody and Buzz had to stay out in the toy box when Little Bear went to bed. YAY! No more late night parties in the kids' bedroom!

So, here are some photos from our Halloween week. I hope you enjoy.

On Saturday evening, we carved our pumpkins.


(Bubba Bear, with the template for his pumpkin.)


(Getting ready to carve the pumpkins.)


(The finished products. Mama Bear did the one on the left. Bubba Bear did the one on the right. Pretty cool, huh?! We taped our templates on, then poked holes with thumbtacks and subsequent thumb cramps, to create the design. Then, Mama Bear cut out on the dotted lines.)


(Spooky...all lights off...photo of the finished pumpkins.)


(On Sunday, after church, we took our kids over to Grandma and Poppa's house so they could see the kids in costume.)


(We had two costumes for Baby Bear, that were given to us, but both were for much cooler weather, and it was actually in the high 70s on Halloween! So we ended up buying her this little kitty costume on Halloween day.)


(Baby Bear had just woken up from her nap on the way home from the grandparents' house, and didn't want me -- Mama Bear -- to put her down to get pictures.)


(Our very happy "Woody")


This last photo is of the two little ones as we waited for trick-or-treaters. "Woody" didn't want to come to the door when they showed up though, because there were "bad guys" (scary costumes). We had to coax him out from behind our legs when there weren't "bad guys" at the door, so that the could enjoy all of the "good" costumes.

Bubba Bear ended up going to a Christian rap concert with our good friend, Eric. They went and saw LeCrae in Richmond, and had a GREAT time! If you like rap, or if you don't, you should check out LeCrae...he has an amazing and very straight-forward Gospel message in his music!

Costumes will be put away until next year. Oh, wait, the "Woody" costume will likely get more use. Little Bear would wear it to school, to church, and to bed if we let him! His birthday is this weekend, and I can tell you there WILL be "Woody" gifts there, so he'll get to wear his costume then....and likely several dozen more times before it gets too small, or gets worn out...whichever comes first!

Well, have a blessed day in Christ!

Mama Bear

Thursday, October 28, 2010

You Capture -- Autumn

I have found a great blog (I Should Be Folding Laundry), where the author gives photography challenges. This is good for me, because I need to be challenged as I work to better my photography skills. So, this time, the challenge is to capture "Autumn". I LOVE Fall/Autumn, so this isn't too difficult for me. We took our little ones (and our big one) to the pumpkin patch this week, and here are a couple of photos from our visit:







Photobucket

Have a blessed day in Christ!

Mama Bear

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Pumpkin Patch












Baby Bear and I went with Little Bear on his preschool field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. After the previous week's temperatures of 100 degrees, we were NOT prepared for chilly, windy, 60 degree weather! But we bundled up, and we had a lot of fun. Thank you, G&M Farms in Livermore, for a great time!

Mama Bear

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A Cozy Nest


I love this photo from "The Nester" or better known as "Nesting Place". This is actually a photo FROM HER HOME! It is my desire to have a beautiful and cozy home like this some day. I feel that I am SADLY lacking in decorating skills, as you may know if you've been in my house. We have an eclectic hodgepodge of things going on. I can't for the life of me, figure out what to do with my walls, and my 2 couches and 2 recliners. I love the openness of my living room, when the couches are sitting across from each other, but I'd also love to have a cozy and pretty place to relax with my family and friends. I'm not sure how to go about this, but thanks to Pastor Mark Driscoll, Papa Bear has given me the go ahead to use my Paypal debit card (which holds the money I make from my Etsy shops), and make our house pretty, as we are able.

I am totally open to any suggestions on how to make my home a place that is beautiful, comfortable, welcoming, uncluttered, and relaxing.

By the way, we rent. And our landlord has stipulated that we are to only use Kelly Moore paints on the walls. Hmmmm....what to do, what to do. I really want a blue wall. But will it match with my tan couch and my light moss colored couch, and as well, with my moss green recliner and Papa Bear's somewhat teal/blue/green recliner?

I have NO idea where to even start!

Except maybe with some paint chips...

Have a blessed day in Christ!

Mama Bear

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Fiber One Caramel Delight Cereal: A Review


Yesterday, I did the grocery shopping, which is a rarity, because Papa Bear usually does it. (We only have one working vehicle right now, and three kiddos, so it's easier for him to do the shopping after he gets off work.)

Well, as I was ambling up and down the aisles, with no list in hand, but only an idea of the few things that I needed to pick up, I happened upon the cereal aisle. Now, if you know me, you know that I could eat cereal morning, noon, and night. But I don't. Because I want to be a good example to my kids. And because I need to somehow get some vegetables into my diet.

Anyways, I noticed the Fiber One cereals on sale. We have tried, and like the Fiber One bars (my favorite is the Oats and Caramel...see a pattern here?), and we have also tried, and like the Fiber One Toaster Pastries (but we don't buy them, because they are still pretty high in fat and sugar, kinda like Pop-Tarts). So, I thought, hmmmm, wonder how good these cereals are.

Normally, I won't pay more than $2 per box of cereal, but I figured, since we pay more than $2 a box on our beloved Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola, and the matching bran flake cereal (I didn't want to type the whole name out.), we could get away with paying $2.50 a box on the Fiber One cereals. I got three different flavors to try:

Caramel Delight, Honey Clusters, and Raisin Bran Clusters

Of course I just HAD to open the Fiber One Caramel Delight cereal this morning. I munched on a few pieces straight from my cereal bowl, sans milk, and I found that while they are nicely sweetened and caramel tasting on the outside, the inside pretty much tastes like fiber cereal. That's ok though, because when you add bananas and milk, you could almost believe that you're eating a caramel flavored Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

All in all, I really like the Caramel Delight Fiber One cereal, and I would buy again. My biggest complaint is the amount of sugar, but I guess that's what they have to do to get people to eat fiber cereal, right? I mean, that's the only way I'm eating it...if it's a little on the sweet side, and it doesn't get soggy in milk too quickly.

I'll let you know when I try the others.

Have a blessed day in Christ!

Mama Bear

PS...I did not receive any compensation for this review,
and the opinions stated are mine and mine alone.


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

August and September Birthdays

We had SO much to celebrate during the months of August and September, so I'm putting them all in one blog post.

I celebrated my 40th birthday this year (August 6th),
surrounded by wonderful family and friends.


Me and Papa Bear (aka: Michael, aka: the hubby), who threw me an amazing party.


Me and the other BWOGs (aka: Beautiful Women of God)
LOVE these ladies!!


Celebrated Papa Bear's Aunt Sara's 71st birthday in August.



Celebrated my niece's 3rd birthday in late August.





Celebrated my father in law's 65th birthday, and our Baby Bear's 1st birthday (which happen to be on the exact same day!), in early September.



Here we all are: "C", "S", Papa Bear, "E", and Mama Bear


Celebrated "C's" 17th birthday just this past Sunday.



And today is my dad's 65th birthday!

God has truly blessed us with so many birthdays, so many celebrations of LIFE!

Thank you, God, for all that you have given to us, but most especially for your Son, who took our sin upon Himself, so that we might have ETERNAL LIFE.

Mama Bear

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Tea for Two and Two for Tea...


I recently went to my very first tea party! It was a bridal shower for the daughter (princess) of one of my good friends, and I was there to photograph the event. It was such a wonderful experience, and I'm thinking that I would love to start a tradition of taking our Baby Girl to tea, once she's old enough.

This made me start looking for teas on Etsy.com, and I found MANY that I would LOVE to try, including the ones shown below:

Caramel Creme Brulee from Ms. De's Tea 'n' Treasures (dancingbears2)

Spiced Caramel Apple from Tea For All Reasons

Granny's Pecan Pie Rooibos Tea from Ann Margaret's Tea Shop

Bourbon Street Vanilla Rooibos Tea from North Country Teas


I think I just might go and buy some tea! I'll let you know what I think, after I try it. If you buy some, I'd love to hear what you think too!

Have a blessed day in Christ!

Angie