Category:

Samuel

some out takes, blissdom, and fabulous Oreck

by Rachel Marie Martin February 20, 2012

This week I leave for the Blissdom Blogging Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Now, I must secretly confess to you that when this was planned back in early November I was so excited because I was thinking I would be leaving the snow of Minnesota.

However, there is no snow.

So, much to my I wanted to escape from the depths of a deep freeze and snow covered winter heart, I will not be leaving behind piles of snow. But, I still will be going south — where it should be warmer. How did all of this some about? Well, for this trip to Blissdom Oreck completely sponsored my trip there. Can you believe it? I so love them. Amazing company, amazing products, and amazing support. 🙂

Months ago Oreck sent me a Forever Series Gold Vacuum via UPS {that was a great day} for our family to try out, review, enjoy and then host a give-away. When the box arrived the boys climbed {just look at that little Samuel} on that shipped box. Now, instead of shipping something to my house Oreck will be ~~shipping~~ sending me from my house to Nashville.

Speaking of Samuel, one of the things that I absolutely love about my Oreck vacuum is that it traps all of those allergens that bug him so much. {Get it? Bugs him? Hate those dust mites….} When I was talking with his doctor about allergies one of the things she recommended was that we get an excellent vacuum. I told her I already had one. Thanks, Oreck.

And look at this package that Blissdom sent me as an attendee. That’s my tag {note to self — remember to bring all of these wonderful extras}, and a business card holder, and a tag for my suitcase, some sweet coupons, a Jewel cd, and an, oh so needed, planning and packing list. Wish that they could help me with my to-do list….

I am getting a bit nervous about travelling and flying again — this time it’s from Minneapolis to Chicago to Nashville. Cool thing, though? I’ve never been to Tennessee. So, I’ll get to color Tennessee in on my atlas of states that I’ve visited. Yep. Got one of those. My dad started me on it when I was young and I still get a thrill every time I visit a new state! That luggage tag? Going with me to Nashville.

Oh yes, are you looking for those out take pictures? Well, a couple days ago I needed Hannah to take some pictures for a post coming up. Of course, Samuel was sitting on my lap being a cute. When it was time for pictures to come Samuel decided that he just had to eat his food. This is the result. Put your coffee down so you don’t spit it out on your screen when you laugh as you see them…

And that’s my miscellany monday. Except it wasn’t too full of miscellany {except for those funny last two pictures}, but was more about Blissdom and my sponsorship through Oreck. And that? That is beyond generous. Me, a mom of seven, getting blessed to spend 4 days learning more about blogging, and social media, and getting to spend more time with friends. I am extremely grateful, Oreck. Thank you. And if you’re attending Blissdom, let me know or look for me there — I’ll have a sweet Oreck bag that I’m carrying.

linking with my fab friend, Carissa, who has also been blessed by Oreck. 🙂

Walking The Visual Journey

If you’re following the Brave Art of Motherhood Visual Journey . . . The lessons of Grandpa Witt

February 20, 2012 8 comments

Samuel

samuel does school

by Rachel Marie Martin February 18, 2012

written by Rachel Marie Martin

Samuel has decided he wants to be like everyone else in the family. When we start our studies in the morning he’ll either sit on my lap or on the chair and will work so hard on his homework. Well, he calls it homework. Love that two year old of mine and his independent spirit and desire to already learn. And no, he didn’t draw the lines connecting pairs — that was Elijah’s — Samuel just added some extra lines. 🙂

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Quick announcements — ~~there’s another post coming later today~~ – edited 2/18 5pm I’ll be putting up Sunday morning sorry for the delay — my to-do list is so big right now! – a giveaway for Master Books. I announced the winner of the Imagination Station Books {it is Phyllis} and posted a link on facebook. Now, I’m off to take Chloe to ballet, to do laundry, and to play with that cute two year old above. Blessings on your Saturday!

February 18, 2012 7 comments

updates on samuel.

by Rachel Marie Martin February 9, 2012

written by Rachel Marie Martin

A couple of weeks ago I wrote to you all about my day — in bullet points — and in that description of a very long day I let you know about some allergy testing that Samuel had done. Well, finally on Wednesday, I received some of the results from those lab draws.

Most news was great news. And for that I’m truly thankful — I had worries of multiple allergies or food allergies on top of the Celiac Disease. We did find out, however, that Samuel has a pretty severe environmental allergy to dust mites. His pediatrician is concerned that he will develop asthma over time since he already had issues with asthma type reactions whenever he gets a cold and his immune system is still slightly compromised due to Celiac Disease.

Some of the recommendations that she gave were for him to take some allergy medication every day, to replace the carpet in his room with hardwood flooring, to get him hypo-allergenic coverings for his bed and pillow, and to make sure the moisture level in our home is lower {tricky as our home is one of those “too-tight” homes built in the late 1990s}. We’re just going to start chipping away at things the best we can. It also explains his fatigue and why he sneezes most mornings. He calls it a sneezer.

I also found that his vitamin D and his ferritin are still low. This is fairly common for individuals with Celiac Disease. I’m going to start increasing his supplements for both — and for the iron I’m going to try some Floravital liquid iron supplements for kids.

And that’s why I’m posting today. I’d love for you to share some of your tips for dealing with environmental allergies {like dust mites} in children. Will replacing the flooring in his room make a great difference? How about supplements for the vitamin D and iron deficiency? I am grateful for all the kind emails that some of you already sent me {as I posted a bit about this on my facebook page} yesterday.

Blessings on your Thursday. Oh, yes, one last thing — remember those adorable glue and glitter photos I told you about? Well, Hannah and I had a little miscommunication about pictures downloaded from the camera and I accidentally deleted those favorite photos of mine. Sigh. I guess I’ll be pulling out the glue and glitter again. Samuel will be thrilled — and my Oreck vacuum will get plenty of good use. And yes, some of the pics from today are those map photos again — they’re just too cute to not use twice. 😉

See you tomorrow for Friday Favorite Things.

February 9, 2012 17 comments

Homeschool Samuel

brown paper. crayons. pencils. and imagination.

by Rachel Marie Martin February 8, 2012

written by Rachel Marie Martin

Yesterday, I came down into the living room to discover large paper bags — those outdoor super-heavy-duty-paper jumbo-sized sacks — cut in half, opened up, and flipped over to the brown side without words.

There were crayons out. And pencils.

And tons of imagination.

Brennan had read about map making in this reading prompt story book. It recommended getting just a paper bag and opening it up and then drawing your map. Big sister, Chloe, saw the project, and being ever creative went into the garage to grab one of those huge paper sacks for her brothers.

Then she gathered them up. And they started drawing.

We were supposed to be doing math. Not map-making.

I heard them talking about how George Washington was a surveyor before he was President. They talked about how he made maps just like they were doing, and went to the Ohio River Valley, and how he came back to Mount Vernon with a huge collection of maps.

All while they made maps. Even though, again, we were supposed to be doing math.

Brennan decided to add the Atlantic Ocean. Spelled Atlentik. And a red X marks the spot.

And Caleb added the compass rose.

While, on the other side of the room, Samuel, Elijah, and Chloe worked on their own rendition — ship, and dragons, and lots and lots of scribbles.

Samuel really got into it.

He’s serious about his ~~map-making~~ coloring.

Look at them. Content. Writing. Learning.

All with brown paper, crayons, paper and lots of imagination.

And freedom to create.

It’s an easy project — grab a paper bag or a roll of brown postal paper {worth investing in for projects just like this}, cut it open flip it inside out, give them crayons, pencils, or markers, and let them draw a map. You could show them basic map symbols — the compass, trees, etc — or find a book with maps for inspiration. My kids? Worked on their maps for over an hour. 🙂

The book that inspired this creative venture was Kids Write!: Fantasy & Sci Fi, Mystery, Autobiography, Adventure & More! (Williamson Kids Can! Series) {affiliate link}.

February 8, 2012 16 comments

perspective Samuel

the do you like me comparison

by Rachel Marie Martin February 7, 2012

written by Rachel Marie Martin

We see likes everywhere — like it buttons, pin-it, tweet-it, shares, follows, and more — they’re scattered about like confetti. After a while it’s easy to let our identity get wrapped into the idea that our worth is based on being good enough or liked enough. Just the other day, as I was writing my post for Sisters in Bloom I had to deal with my own Am I Good Enough? insecurities. Yes. That stuff.

I’d love it if you read my story of identity and letting go of the likes and needing to rest in where I get my true like. To read click below.

And, by the way, I’ve got the sweetest post coming up. That post? Involving glue. Glitter. And my curious two year old son, Samuel. Be warned, my neat-freak readers {like myself} that it was quite the mess. We’re still finding glitter everywhere. I think Gracie had glitter in her rice last night at dinner. 😉

Blessings, friends! And thanks for popping over to Sisters in Bloom this morning. Grateful.

February 7, 2012 6 comments

Kids Samuel

little things that make a house a home

by Rachel Marie Martin February 6, 2012

written by Rachel Marie Martin

It’s Monday. And on Mondays I tend to give myself permission to write just a bit more random, you know? So as I sat to write this {on Sunday…lol..or else it wouldn’t be ready for Monday} I decided to spend some time thinking about things that make my house our home. Little things unique to us and little things that I love.

Like these.

Rock em Sock em Robots. Yes, some of you may have this delightful toy of the past, but do you use it do decide things at a stalemate? Like whose turn is it to sweep? Or take out the trash? Or grab the mail? If you don’t, might I encourage you to try it? Grin. Just call me the Red Rocker.

Me. With Short Hair. And 2 Kids. Let’s see, this picture is probably about 12 years old now. And, yes, I had short hair. And also yes, Samuel looks a bit like Chloe. And also thirdly yes, Hannah was quite terrified of that Santa. That picture? On our fridge. Reminds me of when I was younger looking. 😉

Iced Coffee. This is my newest favorite thing. I could have written about it on Friday for Friday Favorite Things, but then that wouldn’t be fair to you all as I’d be enjoying it for a week before you could even buy it. What compelled me to buy it? That would be the coupon that spits out at the end of a transaction. And a very sweet husband who runs to the store to get it for me. Delicious and yummy {see, I even added those words as an added bonus.}

Measuring Cheat Sheet. Every household needs one. I don’t care how good you are at math, really, when it comes to the heat of cooking, and you’re in the midst of that fabulous recipe, the last thing you want to do is doubt your math. Enter the $1 purchase at the Target Dollar Section and the find that really keeps on giving with correct measurements.

Elijah and the Nintendo DS. Something we try not to make a regular site in this house. He loves to play this Mario game — March of the Minis — where you solve puzzles. If it’s too quiet, he’s found the DS and is probably hiding in his room under his covers. He’s pretty covert. 😉

Art, pencils, and Star Wars. All found in my older boys’ room. Art, made by Brennan several years ago that he taped on his wall. {Yes, I let him…they’re only young once.} A pencil bucket made out of an old flowerpot with clear beads pressed on. And a Star Wars vehicle. All part of a room that my older boys inhabit. I’d show you the floor, but sigh, then I’d have to title this one — legos, bad guys, pencils, paper, blocks, duplos, books, socks, playmobil, starwars, and art.

A favorite cleaner. Love this stuff. Worth the price at Target, which by the way, I can totally afford since I got a steal of a deal when I got that measuring thing for a dollar. As you can see, because it’s almost empty, this is totally used in our home. Natural. Without that gross smell. And it cleans fabulous.

Verses in our Kitchen. This was one of those garage sale finds that I love. I think I paid $5 for it. And I totally love it. It’s such a good reminder to me and the family when we’re in the kitchen eating, doing math, reading, cleaning and more about what our family is about. Favorite verse? The one blown up below. Live with a Thankful heart.

Sleeping Samuel. Completely unique to our home. I had to sneak in to get this picture — even then, he stirred when the shutter clicked on the camera. Love his floppy hair, and how he always sleeps on his little Backyardigans pillow, and is tucked in with his John Deere blanket. Sweet, simple things that bring this mamma a great deal of joy.

Since this was totally random I’m, of course, linking it with my friend, Carissa. Who I met, sigh, a long six months ago. I can hardly believe that was when I was in South Carolina. It feels as if several years of events have happened in that short half of a year. Blessings on your Monday! ~Rachel

February 6, 2012 15 comments

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