Our first revival

Our first revival is this weekend! Rev. Wright is coming to town. The church we are renting from is letting us have Saturday night and Monday night. We are going to be super busy letting everyone know and inviting new people. I’m glad my Sunday School class is already ready to go! This is so exciting! It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Las Vegas for a year now. Since we won’t be going to the fall Conference- it’s a week after my due date- we need this revival and fellowship just as much as the congregation does. I can’t wait to see what God’s going to do! Please be in prayer for us!

Marie-Anne

Customer Complaint Pays off

I recently bought a box of Little Debbie fudge brownies that I was greatly disappointed with. The picture on the box shows them covered in walnuts, but only one pack of brownies had half the walnuts in the picture the rest had even less. I emailed Little Debbie to complain, which isn’t something I normally do. About a week later I got a full refund and an apology in the mail.(Of course they had nothing to fear of me not staying a loyal customer.)

I learned from this that next time I’m not satisfied with a product to take a minute to email the company. It may get me a refund or coupons on my next purchase. I’ll also email a company if the product exceeds my expectations.

Marie-Anne

Going green and saving green (money)

I’ve been reading up on ways of going green and saving money at the same time. I went on several power companies’ websites for some of this information. I haven’t tried all of this yet, but it seems to be good information.

During the day I don’t use lights, besides in the bathroom. Thankfully the way our house is set up there’s no need to turn on lights until it starts getting dark. I also try to enforce the turn the light out when you leave a room.

Turning off or unplugging appliances when not in use also helps. Especially things like the computer and unplugging cell phone cords that aren’t in use. I have a friend who even unplugs her washer and dryer and other appliances. She said she saved $13 in one month by doing that.

I bought some energy saving lights at Wal-Mart that are supposed to cut our electric bill down. My mom and a friend both recommended them. Our house has recessed lighting and I’ll have to check to see if I can get that type of bulb as energy saving.

I normally use the cold water setting on the washer and only run the dish washer when it’s full. Keeping the dryer lint free not only helps prevent dryer fires, but saves money. Run the dryer, washer, and dish washer after 8 at night.

On thing I have not tried yet is putting a brick or a half gallon jug of water in the toilet’s tank to reduce the amount of water used. I’ve read about it on several websites.

Although it isn’t saving money I also bought some reusable grocery bags. I bought them after Alex put a plastic bag over his head to keep the number of that kind of bags in our house down. I do use the plastic grocery bags as trash bags for the bathrooms and for Frank’s lunch so I need some. I haven’t seen my reusable grocery bags since we moved so I guess I’ll look for them tonight.

I want your tips on going green and saving green! Please share!

Marie-Anne

Peter Piper Pizza

My parents sent money to take Alex to Peter Piper Pizza. At first I was extremely disappointed because it seemed that most of the games were for much older kids and several machines took our tokens. Alex, however, was having a blast in a smaller version of McDonald’s tunnels and on an ice cream truck ride.

We ordered a Chicago pizza and I think that was the best pizza I’ve ever had! Frank even suggested that we get it to go in the future. Alex was too busy to eat and even told us he doesn’t like pizza- a BIG lie.

After we ate we found several games for younger kids. Alex hit the hammerhead sharks with a hammer about 3 times and he played a basketball version of skeeball. Alex had trouble rolling the ball hard enough and several times he threw it into the next lane, (I’m glad nobody was there). With lots of help Alex got 42 tickets and was able to get 8 toy soldiers, I know we could have bought a bag of about 30 at the dollar store, but he had a lot of fun.

What started out as a big disappointment turned out to be a lot of fun. Thank you Mom and Dad!

Marie-Anne

Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History and playlands

Today I NEEDED to get out of the house. Alex and I went to Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History at the university. We got lost on campus. It was totally confusing even with a map. Finally we found it. It was okay, but I don’t think we’ll go back. To call it a natural history museum is misleading because it was mostly Indian artifacts and pictures of birds. Alex flew through the museum, but he loved the tortoise and snake in the lobby. He watched them for quite a while. The gardens were nice and Alex had fun running over the bridges. Alex took his first pictures there and I’m looking forward to seeing them; especially the one he insisted of taking of dirt.

After we finally found our way off campus we went to the mall for the sole purpose of going to the indoor play area and the bookstore. Alex climbed on the house and declared himself to be Buzz Lightyear before leaping off. After Alex played for 30 minutes I read 8 books to him.

Next we went to McDonald’s. I had to make Alex eat before playing or I knew he wouldn’t eat. I did NOT like the demonic looking toy so I tried to exchange it. I didn’t care if he ended up with a toddler toy or a girl toy, but that was all they had so I left it. Another mom was trying to exchange it too. I got bored while Alex played for over an hour. (I wish I’d brought a book, but I wasn’t planning on going there.) Alex, of course had a blast- we normally don’t stay that long.

Next Alex wanted to go across the street to Barnes and Nobles because they have a Thomas the Tank Engine train set. Alex played for a while then I read 5 books to him. Right before we left Alex was choosing books for me to read from a spinner rack. He spun it a little too hard and books flew everywhere. He didn’t expect that and I couldn’t help laughing as we picked them up. Needless to say he fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car.

If you ever hear Alex say we don’t do anything with him or for him have him read this post!

Marie-Anne

On-line Kidergarten Readiness test

I took an on-line kindergarten readiness test for Alex. A raw score of 58 is the goal for reading readiness. Alex’s score was a 72 and he’s only 3! What do parents teach their kids?

• 65 - up Begin now! Capitalize on your child's superior motivation and readiness.

• 58 - 64 Congratulations! You are ready for Covenant Home's Kindergarten!

• 48 - 57 Proceed with Covenant Home's Kindergarten, adjusting the pace to accommodate student's maturation, OR

• 47 - below Proceed with Covenant Home's Pre-School curriculum.


http://www.covenanthome.com/kready.htm

Marie-Anne

Lowes

Today Frank, Alex and I went on an exciting field trip; actually we stopped at Lowes for an outdoor trash can. Alex was soooo very excited! It was the first time that he remembers being in Lowes. Frank showed him the power tools and explained what they do. Alex ran from one thing to the next. He loved the door display and kept inviting us to come in with him. I let him get a couple of samples and that made his day. Alex can hardly wait until we go back.

Marie-Anne

Baby update

Sabrina Marie has been Very active for about the past week. Alex laid his head on my belly and said, “She’s kicking me.” I replied, “oh, really?” Alex said, “But its okay.” He’s getting excited about becoming a big brother. Of course he thinks our baby won’t cry and will be able to play with him from day one. He’ll soon learn.

Marie-Anne

Alex the Builder...

Alex loves Bob the Builder very very much. He will watch Bob the Builder DVD’s all day if we let him. Alex also has a lot of the Bob the Builder toys and books. Right now Alex is upstairs singing the Bob the Builder theme song while he helps Frank put together a book shelf.

Marie-Anne

My dad, Jimmy and sister, Courtney's visit

We went to the Natural History Museum, (one of Alex’s favorite places). Alex suggested it. He’s been there 3 times. I am planning on getting a membership. Alex insisted that Courtney and I get in the submarine in the kids section with him and showed off being a paleontologist. And he gave Papaw Jimmy a tour.

On Independence Day we moved into a 2 story 3 bedroom house. Jimmy and Courtney went sightseeing that day. That night Alex and I watched fireworks from his bedroom window. We really enjoyed that and Alex pretended to eat the fireworks.

We went to the Mini Grand Prix, go-karts and an arcade. Alex had a blast riding with Papa in a go-kart, with Papa and Papaw Jimmy on the roller coaster, and riding in the airplane ride and on the giant slide with Aunt Courtney. It was soooo funny when Alex drove the kiddie go-kart. His feet barely reached the pedals and he didn’t even try to steer! After about the 5th time of getting Alex back on the track the attendant finally got on the side of the go-kart and helped Alex. Alex played Mommy at air hockey and skeeball. Alex also got to play different games in the arcade. He got 60 tickets, (with some help) and got a blue Kazoo and 45 toy soldiers.

On Sunday we had a potluck and a children’s award ceremony at church. We had 29 people there! That is the most we’ve had for a service. Alex got awards for attendance, participation, learning the memory verse, and giving in the offering.

Monday we went to see them off. Alex was sad and kept asking why they had to go back home to Louisiana. It was a good visit and I’m glad I got to know Courtney and that Alex was able to get to know them both.

Marie-Anne

The Good Shepherd

Our Sunday School class on the Good Shepherd worked out really well. It could also be used for the Lost Sheep. For our game I hid a sheep puppet in the room while the kids had eyes closed and heads down. Since our room is small I made a lot of noise all over the room. After I hid it a few times the kid who found it got to hide it. We had ages 3-10 so every few times I had the older kids let the younger ones find the sheep.

I found a coloring page of a sheep without a lot of detail. I copied and pasted it to a word document so I could have two to a page with the memory verse on the back. The kids were very creative with washable markers. They all created masterpieces then covered it up with cotton balls.

We only have Sunday School on Sunday mornings, but I had left the supplies out and that night the same kids made the craft again on their own.

Marie-Anne