I had mentioned a while back how much I enjoyed using Blurb for my digital scrap-booking. It is a free download, easy to use and probably cheaper than all the costs that go into paper scrap-booking. On top of that, I don't have the hassle of getting pictures developed and I can print as many copies of my books as I want for grandparents, friends, siblings, etc...

Again, thanks to marrying an Apple user, I can be more creative with programs like Pages to make my lay-outs. I'm sure Windows has some equivalent, but I'm not up-to-date on it. I highly recommend this method of keeping and sharing memories.

Here's my latest page for my daughter's "First Year" book:

Here are some from the book I did for my son's first year:

Hooked yet?!

My typical nap time would be: resting if I needed it or setting a time-limit to "play" before tackling the necessary chores. The problem with those time-limits is that I keep adding "just one minute more" to the end. I knew that with all the mess around me, I couldn't afford "just one minute more", so I took a new approach. Rather than setting the timer for play, I set the timer for work. It is amazing what can get done in 20 minutes with that tick-tick-tick urging you on! Clothes hung, floors wiped/swept, table/counters cleared, meat out thawing for dinner, clean dishes put away... Everything got done except the still-large pile of dirty dishes before the timer rang. Now I can sit down with a relatively-free conscious and take a much needed rest from work.

With few nice, warm-ish Saturdays left before the cold comes, we decided to head out to Sherwood Forest and see what we could see. We saw trees...

Lots of trees... including this famous tree right in the middle of the forest.

So, while it wasn't all that exciting, it was a nice morning out in nature with the family. Some day we will check out the abbey near the forest as that looked pretty interesting.

School has started up again here in the UK and with that comes routine (hurray!!) and busier days. Hopefully the writing bug will hit me again soon.

Meanwhile, here is a picture of me and my two blessings taken in a confined space. Gotta love the view up my nose, but the kids are looking sweet.

Ah... the satisfaction of going into my garden, picking some vegetables and serving them for dinner.

We are going to have to grow a whole lot more next year, I think. There just wasn't enough for me this time around. We'll know better what we are doing next time, too, since we more or less just threw some seeds out to grow and hoped for the best. Hurray for gardening space!!!

The book deals more with slightly older boys as opposed to my toddler, so I will be referring back to it in the future, but it does help even now as I try to train and shape a male child. Rick Johnson explains some inherent traits of men as well as offering advice on how we as women can interact with and help our sons in ways they can understand. I appreciated the author's candidness as he talked about certain difficult areas that will have to be faced and addressed when raising sons. One of his major points is that a boy can only learn how to be a MAN from other men - therefore it is vital that we surround our sons with men of godly influence and character.

Certainly it is a great responsibility - a God-given responsibility - and above all he acknowledges that without God's help we can do nothing.

Monday - Crustless Spinach Quiche

Tuesday - Spanish Rice Bake with Broccoli

Wednesday - Angel Chicken Pasta with Veg.

Thursday - Ham and Cheese Scalloped Potatoes

Friday - Homemade Pizza

Saturday - Spicy Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

Sunday - Omelets with some kind of homemade quick bread.