Free Digital Scrapbook Software!

Despite the title of this post, I promise, this isn't SPAM!  I know I've been MIA from the blogging world this year, but when this offer arrived in my inbox, it was too good not to post about.

I've mentioned before how much I love MyMemories Digital Scrapbook Software.  Being creative is NOT my strong suit, but MyMemories makes it so, so easy for me to make fun scrapbook pages, decorations, and gifts for people.  I never had the patience nor money for paper scrapbooking, but with MyMemories, all you need is the software, which comes with many free embellishments and kits included, and then you can purchase other inexpensive kits to add to your collection.  MyMemories also has a whole section of kits that are free!  The best part is, the kits can be used over and over again, and mixed and matched, so that you really get an awesome value for your money!

Anyway, all that to say, for one week only, you can use this code to get MyMemories software for FREE!  Seriously, FREE!  That's a $37.97 value!  Just go to the software purchase page, choose the download software option, and then when checking out, enter this coupon code:

 FreeTreatHA19 

It's probably best to copy and paste that code, because it has to be exact to work.  The price should come to $0.00 and then all you do is download, and begin creating!  I warn you, though, it can get addicting!

(If you would prefer the CD version, you can still choose that option and have the purchase price taken off, but you will have to pay shipping).

Even if you've been only mildly interested in digital scrapbooking, I highly suggest you go ahead and give it a try - you might discover a new creative outlet you never knew you were missing!  What have you got to lose?

Don't delay, the code expires October 16!

Here are a few of my favorite pages that I've made using MyMemories:

All of the children have their own unique room signs

A gift for my youngest nephew

What's in the Jar?

We have a fun surprise on our front porch.  The boys have had a large jar on the railing for a good while now, and they use it to collect odds and ends that they find outdoors (it recently held some rocks, formerly pretty autumn leaves, and a cicada skin or two).  However, a few weeks ago, we discovered something far more exciting than just odds and ends in it!



We noticed a lot of activity going on around the jar about 6 weeks ago, and at first we just thought birds were getting leaves and stuff out of the jar to build a nest somewhere.  But when I peeked in, I was surprised to see that they were actually building a nest IN the jar!  We discreetly checked every few days until there were five little speckled eggs in the nest.  We went out of town for two weeks, and came home just days before the hatching.  It's been so fun to peek in and see them growing!

My only wonder is... how will the babies get out of the jar?!  I guess we'll find out soon!

(Oh, and from the eggs and watching mom and dad bird, we were able to identify them as House Wrens!)

Reorganizing Sonlight

Almost three years ago, I shared my method to organizing our Sonlight Core Instructor's Guides.  However, since then, Sonlight has completely remodeled their Instructor's Guides, which means I had to do some remodeling of how I organize things.

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the remodel on Sonlight's part.  However, I am still a huge fan of Sonlight, so I'm working with it.  For those who don't know, the changes were basically taking the notes for each week and placing them behind the schedule pages, whereas previously the notes were sorted by each book.  Also, in Core D and beyond, LA is included with the notes.  What this means for me is, 1. a lot of flipping, as we don't always stay on schedule for each book, so now I have to flip back and forth between weeks, and 2. a very cluttered (to me) notes section, due to the LA I don't use mashed in there with everything else.  I am very visual, and it was becoming very difficult for me to smoothly use my notes.

So, I got brave.  I colored all over my IG.  First, I scribbled out all of the notes for LA.  I really hesitated with this, because it just seems... wrong... to scribble in an IG!  But, it's mine, so I might as well make it work for me, right?  And since we don't use the LA at all (tried it, quickly realized it didn't fit us), I'm not losing anything by scribbling.

Scribbling done, I then went on to color-code (yes, there's a similar theme with my previous method!) the different note sections.  History notes are highlighted in green.  Read-Aloud notes in Purple, and Reader notes in pink.  I don't highlight the Bible notes simply because I rarely use them.

Here's an example of what I mean:

This way, even though I still have to flip around the pages, my eye easily falls right to the section I'm needing to see, rather than trying to scan through everything with little differentiation.  For some reason, the headers they provided just weren't enough for me.

I still don't love it as much as I loved the older IG's, but I'm happy to have found something that works to make the new IGs less cluttered and frustrating to use!

And speaking of Sonlight, we're now doing 3 Cores - Core F for Isaac and Ezra, Core A with Joel and Nathan, and we're finishing up Core P 3/4 with Judah and Rachel and about to move into Core P 4/5, sometime in June.  Despite my less than thrilled feelings about their IG changes, we still LOVE Sonlight.  I was talking about a different curriculum a few weeks ago, and one of the children said, "Mom!  Don't switch from Sonlight!  We'll miss all the awesome books!"   That about says it all, for me!

While it was Snowing....

While it was snowing in other parts of the US, I mean.  In *every* other part of the US, it seems, except Georgia.

Anyway, while it was snowing everywhere but here, the children were sad that our winter was so mild (I was not.)  So, they got creative.  Instead of snowmen, I went outside one day and was welcomed by an army of... mudmen.  Mud monsters, to be specific.

I think they're kinda cute, to be honest! Except that one in the back, he's scary. 

It's Been How Long?

I miss blogging.  It's hard to believe it's been 7 months since my last post!  7 months!  The arrival of Gideon (Little Man, Mr. G, G Money, or Ge-un, as Rachel would call him) has thrown every aspect of what used to be "normal" out the window.  Needless to say, pretty much anything extra had to be put aside for a time, and blogging is definitely an extra.

But, he's getting older and more settled, and things are starting to take on something that looks a little more like normal day-to-day life!

Let's see... how do I even begin to update 7 months worth of goings ons?  We had a round of birthdays, so now everyone is in the even digits (12, 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2) and as time tends to cause, everyone is growing lots. 

Little Man, the dude who has shaken up our world so much, is almost 8 months old.  He has 4 teeth and army crawls everywhere. He's a chunky monkey - already over 20 pounds, the biggest of all the kids at this age. He was so, so colicky for the first 4 months of life, and pretty high maintenance until about 6 months old.  To try to help him, I've been on a dairy-free and very limited chocolate diet.  Yes, I am still alive, but sometimes barely!  But the repercussions of trying to eat "normally" are just not worth the indulgences. On the bright side, I think being limited has definitely helped drop the pregnancy weight.  I guess that's a fair trade.  Maybe.  Anyway, despite his difficult beginnings, he has won the heart of us all, and he's our sweet little man.

Here's how we spent most hours of the day during those rough few months:

(I am SO thankful for babywearing, it kept me sane.  Well, that and lots of prayer!)

Rachel is 2 now, and a chatterbug!  I love to hear all her thoughts and ideas, since none of the boys were as expressive at this age.  Let me tell you, two year olds are wildly creative!  And, kind of crazy.  But lots and lots of fun.

Isaac is taller than me now, and sometimes when he's talking I can't tell if it's him or Michael.  He and Michael went on a men's getaway weekend to do Passport 2 Purity, and they both loved it.  I'm glad it went so well for them, but I'm secretly thankful I don't have to cross that bridge for another 8-10 years with Rachel! 

Isaac and I on his 12th birthday - we were the exact same height. He's a good inch taller, now!

The others in between are all awesome as usual (hey, just because I have a moment of free time doesn't mean I have all the time in the world.  I don't love them any less, I promise!).  Growing, learning, playing, fighting, loving... it's all happening, all the time.  And I love it.

Maybe sometime soon I can do some more posts... there are always things circulating in my brain to share!