New Portriats

Here are some new portraits that I took. I am VERY pleased with them.

Maggie Claire Sikes - 7 years old, 2nd grade

She is a very independent young lady and is a great help to me.

Samantha Jo Sikes - 5 years old, Kindergarten

She is a tender spirit that is easily hurt. She loves to play quietly by herself but also loves to talk your ear off if she has your attention.

Josiah Thomas Sikes- 3 years, Preschool

He loves Rescue Heroes and playing ball. He has been potty trained for around a year and is getting to be such a big boy. He loves his sisters and also loves to make people laugh. Our life is never dull with him around.

Katherine Elizabeth Sikes- 10 months

She is such a sweet baby! She was quite fussy as a newborn but has become such a happy baby. She loves to laugh and has the cutest laugh I have ever heard! She is crawling and pulling up on everything! As you can see in the pictures she has four teeth now. She is growing so fast!

Something Very Exciting - She's Here!

UPDATE - Leah Michelle was born last night at 1:24am. She weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well




I just found out at Bible School tonight that one of my dear friends Amy is now at the hospital having her fourth blessing tonight. I am super excited, there is nothing like a new baby. Please pray for her and the baby and the whole family during this time of change.

I am soooo excited that I just wanted to tell someone and I didn't know who to call and 10 o'clock at night so I am telling "Blog World". I know you are not as excited as I am but that is okay too. Hopefully she will be able to put up pictures soon and you all can see what this new bundle of joy looks like too!

Blog Hop-Favorite Kid Photo

WOW! I couldn't choose just one. I had to choose several, because I really wanted to show my kids as they are really themselves. Not just posed and all bunched together. These might not be the best pictures that I ever took but I really wanted to show my kids in the "everyday". So, here are my favorite photos of the past month.

My Katherine, or Baby Kate, as most people call her. She is showing off her first ponytail. My how time flies. Only 8 weeks until she turns one. How bittersweet.

Josiah, the only "man" in our girly bunch. He brings lots (and lots and lots) of energy and laughter to our household. These Veggie Tale pirates (from the new movie) are his favorite toys right now. He is such a silly boy and loves to be the center of attention.

I love this photo of Samantha (in blue) and Maggie(green) because it shows them together. My girls are inseperable and love to play together. Yes, they fight and no, they don't always get along, but more often than not you will find them together. And I love that about them. There is no bond like the bond of sisters.

You know You're a Mother When......

You know you're a mother when.....

Have you ever had a moment when you thought to yourself that only another mother would understand or even be able to do such things? Well, I have had these moments many times in the past seven years. I thought that it would be fun to share some of these moments with each other. So, if you have a blog, write a post there and add your link to the list below.

This is my first "list" type post and I am considering making this topic be a weekly theme on my blog. Let me know what you think of this idea if you want to in the comments section below.

But first, here are my "You know You're a mother when" moments for today.

You know you are a mother when you can nurse a newborn, take a toddler potty and talk on the phone all at the same time.

You know you are a mother when you can go to the bathroom in a public restroom accompanied only by your 10 month old and be able to "do business" without setting the said 10 month old down for even a second.

You know you're a mother when you can cook an entire meal one-handed with a baby on your hip.

You know you're a mother when you can carry a baby and a laundry basket full of clean clothes up the basement steps without dropping either.

Okay, now your turn. Spill the beans on all those times when you felt that "only a mother would understand".

Blog Hop, Favorite Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 pkg yeast


In Saucepan -
1 cup milk,
1/4 cup sugar,
1/4 cup butter,
1 tsp salt
(Heat this just until warm)

Add the warmed (not too hot) liquids to the dry ingredients and then beat in 2 eggs. Then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups flour to make a stiff dough. Knead until smooth and then place in greased bowl (turning once to grease top) and allow to rise for about an hour or until doubled. Now you can either roll this dough out and bake into dinner rolls or you can roll it our into a thin rectangle and brush with butter and sprinlke with cinnamon sugar and brown sugar. Roll this into a long roll and slice into about 2 inch sections. Bake these in a preheated 375 degree oven until slightly golden or about 10 minutes.

These are some of our favorite treats! They are good hot or cold. With a powdered sugar glaze or without. My family will devore them anyway they can get them.

How about you, got a favorite recipe? Post it on your blog and share about it. Or leave it in the comments section that follows this post.

Look Who's Crawling!!!

Well, it is official, Katherine can crawl and she is getting faster everyday. She is beginning to explore the whole house and the other day while I was cooking dinner I set her in the kitchen with me and then had to go retrieve her from the kids' bedroom at the back of the house. Oh, the good ol' days with a crawling baby in the house. The days of sweeping the floor multiple times a day, the days of "fishing" for whatever she has in her mouth, and the days of watching her learn and explore in a whole new way.

I really do love it. She is so very happy to follow her siblings around and they are sooo very excited to play with her and watch her new found skill. Along with this skill has come the skill of pulling up. Yes, you read that right, she is already pulling up!! I am sure that in no time I will be posting about her cruising and walking. I am lowering the rails on her crib now and saying good-bye to the "baby" days. They are all but gone. I now, almost have a "walker" and that "walker" will be one in only 10 weeks.

That, my friend, is so very hard to believe.

Blog Hop - 3 Things You didn't know About me

I love, love, love containers. Yes, containers. Large, small, round, square, tall or short I love containers of any kind. With lids, without, basket or box it doesn't matter to me. If I can use a container for it, it goes in a container.

Weird, I know but doesn't everyone have a weird weakness?

I also love yard work. Cutting grass, weeding flowers, planting flowers, working in the garden. I love it all.

And lastly, I have always wanted and still would like to have a set of twins. Something most people don't understand (including my husband, himself a twin). I don't know why and couldn't tell you a reason. But it has always been a desire that I have had.

Well, might not be too intersting or weird, but there they are. Three things that you maybe didn't know about me. Is there anything that you want to share that people in blog world don't know about you?

Blog Hop - Favorite Pictures

Here is one of my favorite photos from recently -

Maggie (7), Samantha (5), Josiah (3), and Katherine (9months)

The blessings of my life and the reason that I stay home, homeschool, and strive to become more like Christ...... my children. I want them to grow up to love the Lord and to serve Him with all their hearts and strength.

New Kissaluvs Diapers

I have never used these diapers but they look really cool and I love the fun prints. Who knew cloth diapers could be so fun. Check these new ones out on the site that follows -

https://www.kellyscloset.com/Kissaluvs-Marvels-One-Size-Fitted-Diapers_p_0-3662.html

I am trying to win some this week and if I do I will share with you all about them.

A little late

My oldest just turned seven last week! Where has the time gone? I can't believe that she is now a school girl and my "little" girl is gone. She will be in the second grade in the fall and is learning new things all the time. She can swim all by herself, ride a bike without training wheels, read a book, make a sandwich, and help care for her siblings. She is such a joy and a help. I am blessed to call her mine! Thank you Father for choosing me to be her momma!

I don't have any digital pictures of when she was a tiny baby but here is one from years back. This is one of my favorite memories with her.

And here she is on Friday with the cake that I made for her. She is becoming such a beautiful young lady on the inside and the outside.

It's a Blog Hop - So Jump On

Hello, my name is Amanda and I am a wife, sister, daughter, mother to four, homeschooling, cloth diapering woman. I am also (and more importantly) a child of the King and constantly striving to "reach higher" toward the calling of "being perfect as He is perfect" ***I am a pastor's wife to a wonderful congregation of believers. I started this blog as a way for distant family to keep in touch. While it still serves that purpose it has grown to be so much more. It is a place that I find accountability through my friends both in real life and in blog-world. I am able to share my thoughts and feelings. I open myself and share what God is showing me and teaching me at that time. It is a journal for me where I record everything that is on my heart and in my "world".

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. I hope that God uses it to speak to you or to show you something or just a place to see that your life is not the only one that is totally crazy and busy and not always "a piece of cake". Feel free to "follow" me and join this crazy roller coaster that I call life.

***Leviticus 11:45