Life with the Family O

Author: thefamilyo

  • Giving Thanks

    Thanksgiving – Giving thanks to the Creator, our Lord.  Happy Thanksgiving!

    1 Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done.
    2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
    tell of all his wonderful acts.
    3 Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
    4 Look to the LORD and his strength;
    seek his face always.

    5 Remember the wonders he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
    6 you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
    his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
    7 He is the LORD our God;
    his judgments are in all the earth.

    8 He remembers his covenant forever,
    the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
    9 the covenant he made with Abraham,
    the oath he swore to Isaac.
    10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
    11 “To you I will give the land of Canaan
    as the portion you will inherit.”

  • Gotta Love Shutterfly!

    Just finished my Christmas card order for this year! I also threw in 75 prints and a Photo book thanks to Shutterfly for some great deals!  I am astounded at how much I saved!  Here is a sneak peek at our cards this year:

    5×7 Folded Card
    View the entire collection of cards.

  • It’s Not Just About the Presents

    Recently, I heard a song that is a few years old but new to me.  It is one of my new favorite Christmas songs!

    It’s About the Cross, Go Fish Guys

    Opening lyrics:

    It’s not just about the manger
    Where the baby lay
    It’s not all about the angels
    Who sang for him that day

    It’s not just about the shepherds
    Or the bright and shining star
    It’s not all about the wisemen
    Who travelled from afar

    Chorus:
    It’s about the cross
    It’s about my sin
    It’s about how Jesus came to be born once
    So that we could be born again

    It's about the cross

  • Gearing Up for Christmas: Win 25 Free Cards from Shutterfly

    Christmas ornaments

    November brings along that crisp breeze of fresh air accompanied by a bright, blue sky.  People start putting up Christmas decorations, the stores stock up on goodies and send out their catalogs.  The coffee shops offer the yummiest drinks of the year.  There’s gathering with friends for coffee and conversation during the holiday rush.  Christmas is the most joyous occasion, there are so many wonderful things about it!  I am getting very excited.

    The holiday season is fast approaching. I already RSVP’d to a cookie exchange, Children’s Christmas Pageant and a women’s Chirstmas tea.  Sounds fun, right?

    I think I will start decorating this weekend.   I love savoring the season because it brings so much joy, good food and time well spent with family and friends.  Most of all, I cherish the reason for the season, celebrating the birth of the King of Kings, Jesus!

    One major thing that I will start today is my annual Christmas card and gift order from Shutterfly.  Now that our family pictures are done I can place the order!  Let me just say, I love Shutterfly!  I buy all my photobooks from them and pick up prints every couple of months.  The quality of their products is top notch.

    At Christmas time I use them for my Christmas cards, here is the card we used last year, we received tons of compliments:

    Shutterfly Christmas Card

    Shutterfly Christmas Card Totally cute, right?

    When I place my card order I make sure and hit the Photo Gift section and pick up gifts.  I usually pick up 2 calendars for the Grandma’s, something for Dad to have at the office and a photobook or two for my sister with all the pictures I have of my nephew.  I can never resist getting a little something special for myself, this year I think it will be an ornament with our family picture.

    Want to win 25 FREE cards from Shutterfly?  I am giving 3 readers this fantastic gift courtesy of Shutterfly.  Leave a comment below, tell me your FAVORITE Christmas food or drink.  Deadline is Sunday, November 13th, 10PM MST.  

    >“Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q”

    >Disclaimer: this blog post helped me earn free cards from Shutterfly.

  • First Time Family Pictures

    We finally did it! Thanks to Facebook, I recently saw some gorgeous photos of families I know. I just had to get ours done too. We have never had professional pictures done, now I couldn’t resist. I wanted some nice pics of the whole family. So we did it!

    I contacted the photographer who took the pictures of the other families, her name is Lisa with LiLo Photography.   She set us up to meet at a local Museum that has a working farm, great place to snap pics.

    Can I just tell you that I LOVE the pictures?  I was so nervous because honestly I didn’t know if my boys would cooperate.  My 2 little ones did not cooperate after about 15 minutes, lol.  I was unsure if they gave her any good shots.

    Well folks that is what Professionals are for!  Of course she captured perfect pics of them.  So thankful!!

    If you are in the Denver area, I highly recommend her.  She has an amazing portfolio that you can view online at Facebook (please “Like” her, you will love the pics she posts) or on her website.

    She made us feel comfortable right away.  She introduced herself to the boys and made them feel special, thank you for that Lisa!


     

  • American History Quiz

    Quiz on American history.

    [QUIZZIN 6]

  • Vanilla Snow Shakes

    Vanilla, Snow, Milk, Sugar

    Samuel eating snow

    This past Wednesday we had our first snowfall, this called for celebration! My boys love the snow and they were so excited to be getting a storm. They woke early Wednesday to peak outside…

    snow angel

    I have never seen them get dressed and ready so fast, they bundled up and headed out.

    snowstorm

    Talk of the coming storm was mentioned on many Facebook pages’. My friend Tom had a comment on his wall talking about Vanilla Creams made with snow. My boys love eating snow (against everything my husband stands for, lol) and I knew they would love to use it in a recipe. We strayed a little from the recipe and ended up with delicious Vanilla Snow Shakes.

    After coming in and putting warm jammies, we made these delicious concoctions.

     

     

    Vanilla, Snow, Milk, SugarPour Milk into Snow, add Vanilla and Sugar

    Vanilla, Snow, Milk, SugarWhisk together until creamy and smooth, pour into cups

    Vanilla Snow ShakeEnjoy!

  • And Now for Some Music

    K-LoveThis is my 200th post! Thought I would share some tunes with you! After all, who doesn’t love music?

    I love listening to music. I usually listen to my own playlist on YouTube or KLove, which has really good contemporary worship and praise music. Some of my current favorite songs:

    Fall Apart, Josh Wilson

    I’m With You, Amy Grant and Nichole Nordeman
    This is a beautiful song written from Ruth and Naomi’s point of view, love this…

    Jesus Saves, Jeremy Camp
    This video makes me cry every time! So thrilling to see all the testimonies to God’s unfailing love, grace and mercy!

  • Real Moms Love to Eat, a New Book about Getting Healthy

    Food groupsReal Moms Love to Eat is a new book that is coming this Winter.  Beth Aldrich wrote this book to help women get on track to healthy eating while still enjoying food.  I am about to embark on a life change journey and get serious about being healthy.  I think the timing is quite perfect.  Especially with the holiday season fast approaching.

    The book is broken down in 3 sections, which include a 10-part plan for moms to follow.  It will help you to implement changes that will last a lifetime.  It is gradual too so you not doing anything off the wall and radical right away.   The next part is 21 days of meal suggestions,tips, recipes and lifestyle changes.   The authors approach to healthy eating is simple and realistic especially for busy Moms who cook  for the family.   It is filled with facts about food and their effect on your health and your body.  I am excited to use the recipes for my entire family.  We can all get healthy together while we are forming good habits.  My husband is even excited to check out the healthy meals.

    You can read all about this new book at Momswholovetoeat.com.

    Look for future posts on my progress through this new journey, maybe you would like to join me?  Leave a comment!

    Happy, healthy eating!

    Beth also offers a Food Affairiate program for bloggers you can read about it by clicking the link.  Looks like an excellent program, I will be joining.

     

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    “I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Beth Aldrich – Real Moms Love to Eat blogging program, for a chance to get 3,000 My SocialMoms Rewards points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.” (make sure you link to http://www.socialmoms.net/forum/topics/blogging-contest-real-moms-l…)

     

  • Wordless Wednesday

    wordless wednesday

    boys on bridge