State Fair Fun!

Over the weekend we went to the State Fair with my brother and sister-in-law and their boys. The kids loved checking out the animals and a few interactive exhibits. The big boys (the dads) loved the food. We were shocked at how much the food prices had gone up since the last time we'd been there. My husband has to get a turkey leg when he goes to the fair... it was $8!!
We parted ways with the inlaws when they wanted to go ride carnival rides. Do you know how expensive those have gotten?!? The individual tickets are a buck a piece (I think) - and each ride is 3-4 tickets. But the "pay one price - ride all night" deal was going on later that day. It was only from 7p-10p and it was $25!! For that price you might as well go to an amusement park and ride all day!
But we did have a good time and we all had a nice long nap when we got home!

Sunday Card Makin'

We've been really busy the last few weeks and I haven't gotten as much scrappin' done as I'd have liked to. But I have done a few cards.Almost all my cards are bought in the dollar section at Target and then I embellish them later.
Cord's Scrapbooking Studio had their Summer Fun week with cool make-n-take projects that I got but haven't finished yet. I'll try to post about those later.

God's Pharmacy

I got this info as an email forward and thought it was worth sharing.

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... All before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We're such slow learners...

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body! God's Pharmacy! Amazing! A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye.. And YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes. A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food. Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food. A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function. Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys. Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body. Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of n utrition in each one of these foods (MO dern science has only studied and named about 141 of them). Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility. Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actual ly bal ance the glycemic index of diabetics. Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just l ike the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts. Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

FFF - Nature Walks

While we've had alot of days this summer where its felt too hot to do much of anything we still like to try to get outside regularly. There is so much that our little ones can learn during a simple walk around your neighborhood or better yet through the woods at your local park. My son is constantly picking up sticks and leaves, and asking questions about bugs and animals. We get to learn about nature and God's creation. Its so great!

Please feel free to join in Family Friendly Friday: just post a food or recipe (or even restaurant), activity or outing, whatever that your family likes (maybe even loves) and share it with us! Feel free to use the FFF image and please link back to us. Comment on this post to let us know you're sharing a Family Friendly Friday and we'll come visit your blog!

Thursday Thirteen




Thirteen Things about WANI I am the oldest. The first child. My parents let me try everything. I finished very little. Sadly I still display that trait still in some areas of life. Thirteen Things I NEVER FINISHED ( failed at ) 1. Dance - I took lessons one or two years... not so great a dancer. 2. Tumbling - I took a tumble and that was enough for me. 3. Violin - yeah... not a pretty sound! 4. Softball - I was so bad that the other kids' parents paid me $1 for every run(or was it hit?) that I got. 5. Catholic School - I had dyslexia and the teacher wasn't very sensitive to my needs and so my mom took me out and homeschooled me. THANKS MOM! 6. Swimming - I can swim but I didn't quite have the skills to be on the team. 7. Piano - I took it for several years but can probably only play Mary Had A Little Lamb now. 8. Soccer - I think one season was all I played. 9. Sign Language & Spanish- I know the alphabet and a few words. Thats about it. 10. Gymnastics - I've always been kind of a big girl... big girls shouldn't be throwing their bodies around like that. 11. AirBrushing - my parents did party rentals while I was growing up and encouraged me to buy the equipment to do airbrush tattoos for parties, etc. I only had a few jobs before I sold the equipment. 12. Becoming a Writer - I did alot of writing in jr. high and highschool. Short stories and such. But its clear now that my sister is the real writer in the family. 13. Numerous Book, Crafts & Projects - I often get an idea and run with it only to let an unfinished project fall to the wayside as I move on to something new.




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Shapes and Colors

I think I saw something like this in a magazine or on another blog. But we gave it a shot the other day and Nate loved it. We already had the foam shapes. So we just got the muffin pan out and started sorting them by shape and color. He didn't quite stick to the plan the whole time... after awhile he dumped the whole thing but he had fun. And eventually he helped clean up afterward. But its always nice to find a toddler activity that is fun and educational.

Family Friendly Friday Meme

I'm sure I'm not the only who struggles with trying to please their family's tastes in food, activities, etc. Also, I remember when I was a kid - it was so hard to find things that interested me and also my younger siblings (we were spread out over 15years!). So, I thought maybe this would be a meme theme that would helpful to me and many others. Please feel free to join in: just post a food or recipe (or even restaurant), activity or outing, whatever that your family likes (maybe even loves) and share it with us! Feel free to use the FFF image and please link back to us. Comment on this post to let us know you're sharing a Family Friendly Friday and we'll come visit your blog!

My three-year-old is getting to be picky. Not always. Sometimes he's a bottomless pit! Other times I can't get him to eat a thing! Also, my husband is a little on the picky side - love you honey! So, it kind of makes meal planning and cooking a challenge.

My "Family Friendly Friday" thing today is:

Easy Breakfast Filled Biscuits

1 can Grands biscuits (generic is generally what we use)
4-6 eggs scrambled
1-2 cups cheese
optional:
diced peppers or mushrooms, etc
cooked breakfast meat: bacon, sausage, ham, etc

SEPARATE biscuits. Press 1 biscuit onto bottom and up side of each of 8 medium muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray.

SPOON eggs, vegis and meat mixture evenly into biscuit cups, pressing filling into cups with back of spoon. (Filling will be mounded.)

BAKE at 375°F for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese. Continue baking 3 to 4 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and cheese is melted.

These would be great to make ahead and freeze for use later. This is actually adapted to fit breakfast from a recipe I found on KraftFoods.com.

TT - Things That Make Me Smile

I need a pick-me-up today so Here is my Thursday Thirteen:

Thirteen Things That Make Me Smile!

1. My husband singing and playing our song on the guitar! Its Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight"... love it!!

2. Nate singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". How cute is that?!?

3. Joe babbling. He is making the cutest sounds lately.

4. Business Time...

5. Hanging out with my college girls... I miss you!

6. My favorite movies! Here is a clip from Princess Bride!

7. Mexican food... I'm sorry, I'm a sucker for anything that follows some good chips and salsa!

8. photography - I love taking pictures!

9. blogging - there is just something about it!

10. Vacations... sigh... someday we'll take a real, lay-on-the-beach-and-relax kind of vacation. But for now we'll settle for watching Cubs games and vegging out on the couch together.

11. scrapbooking! I guess it kind of ties into my love of photography.

12. Memorizing bible verses with Nate. He's got three verses down and we're working on #4.

13. Getting mail... you know, real letters from people who love me. Its good stuff!

Reality Bites

We are in the process of trying to get more therapy for Joe. He has been seeing Physical and Developmental Therapists for awhile now but we'll probably be adding Occupational and Speech sometime soon. And hopefully we'll be getting orthotics for him soon too.
We followed the recommendation of the social worker at Riley and applied for supplemental aid/insurance to help with the medical bills that have and will continue to accrue as we try to help Joe and figure out what is causing his delays. We were disappointed to find out that we do not qualify for the aid that we had applied for. Our insurance that we have now is great for healthy people and anything "normal" but anything out of the ordinary is hardly covered at all. Its just frustrating that its so hard to get help when you need it sometimes!
I am not in denial. I am not stupid... I know that my son has developmental delays. We are making the steps needed to help him. We're not trying to pretend that everything is "normal". However, I am having a hard time thinking of this as a potentially lifelong struggle for him and us. It completely overwhelms me to think of him being this way forever. I'm still clinging to the hope that after more therapy he may catch up eventually and lead a fairly normal life someday. Deep down I know that he might not... but I have to believe that its a possibility. If I didn't have that hope I would fall apart (even more than I already do).

Our Winners Are.....

I really enjoyed reading your comments on my party post. I love feedback from readers! As I was reading the comments and thinking about winning prizes it made me think of the movie "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio". Here is what Jeff Shannon said about it:
Based on the true story of Evelyn Ryan, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is one of those overlooked gems that deserves a long life on DVD... As always, Julianne Moore brings subtle perfection to her role as Evelyn, the cheerfully strong-willed mother of ten who compensates for the failings of her alcoholic husband (Woody Harrelson) by becoming the most successful "contester" in the country, entering cleverly-worded poems, jingles, and slogans in corporate sponsored contests throughout the mid-1950s and early '60s. Winning everything from palm trees and pogo-sticks to sports cars and cash, she holds the financially desperate family together with happy smiles and a rock-solid defiance of her husband's volatile temper... Like Evelyn, this movie's a winner.
This movie reminded me that sometimes its amazing how the little things that we do as parents can add up to be a whole lot. My photography business isn't exactly booming... but I do jobs for friends and family here and there and its added up to be a few thousand dollars over the last few years. Not too shabby. My husband does surveys online. Sometimes its $1 - sometimes its $5 - occasionally he'll get bigger ones but those all add up to be a few hundred dollars every year. Not too bad for a few minutes of his time here and there.

Well, while these prizes won't amount to much its always fun to win something! And while I wish I could have sent everyone a prize that would be too expensive! Instead, I wrote down the commenter's names on scraps of paper and blindly picked out three... so, I have a couple of winners and prizes to announce.

C. Leinbach is getting a mini scrapbooking kit (similar to the one in the picture)

forgetfulone is getting misc. embellishments (some of them are handmade) and a scrapbooking magazine

BrineS is getting a couple Yankee candle votives and the handmade apron (I'm not the most skilled seamstress, but its cute)

FYI - both BrineS and forgetfulone are having giveaways of their own so go check them out!
Winners: Please email me your addresses so I can mail you your prizes! Thanks to all those who participated (especially those who posted my blog party button) and I hope to see you all back at Wani's World again soon!

Blog Party!

This marks my 300th post on Wani's World and my 4 year blogiversary. I've really enjoyed watching Wani's World grow over the last four years and especially the last year. I started out just writing about our life to keep in touch with family and friends who lived out of town. But, I think I've grown as a blogger and my reasons for blogging have changed over these past few years. I've so enjoyed meeting other bloggers and reading about their lives, getting tips and encouragement from strangers that share a common interest or struggle has been a real blessing.
PLEASE comment away! I would love get tons of comments from all of you about why you blog, for how long you've been blogging, what you blog about, all that jazz! Hope to hear from alot of you soon!

You have to comment to be eligible to win!! I'll also base some prizes on your blog's main subject. So, if you blog about crafts I might send you the scrapbooking magazine, etc. Feel free to leave your prize preference in your comment.

Prizes to be won:
several Yankee Candle Votives
cute apron handmade by ME!
a Word Search Book
collection of handmade paper-craft embellishments
magazine - parenting and/or scrapbooking

The party will end at midnight on July 28th... so sometime on Tuesday I'll post winners.