This is a bittersweet time of year for our family.  However, I’ve been praying and looking for ways this year to actually “celebrate” Hosea’s life. It’s easier said than done, when your hear feels sad at times.  But this year we were given several gifts for Hosea’s birthday.   We wanted to share them with you through video rather than just writing it all out!

Thank you to our amazing friends who called, texted, Facebook, and send gifts of love, remembering with us Hosea’s life.  Zach and Jody Gray, we love you dearly and are honored you spent this special day with us, making us laugh and letting my kids use you for a jungle gym!

Happy Birthday little buddy!  We love you more than words can say. We are forever changed because of you.

Photo from an IPhone. Taken by Zach Gray of GrayPhotography

Ok, so I tested my prenatal vitamins in water and this is what happened!! Be prepared to gross out! If you drop your vitamin in water, it is supposed to dissolved in 15 minutes or less or it passes right through you undigested. The other option is that it can get lodged in tissue and in organs because it is synthetic. Things that are synthetic are not living and therefore have zero intellegence, like our food. When you eat food, it knows how to make it’s way through the body, dividing up the usable parts and eliminating the waste. Synthetic vitamins (like drugs) can not do this. They are toxic to the body.

So after 24 hours in a cup of water and NOTHING, we dumped the water out of the cup, left it on the counter and forgot about it. We came back the next morning, and WA-LA!! The prenatal had EATEN A HOLE IN MY PLASTIC CUP!!!  This is scary, considering this is just what the Doctor ordered!  This is supposed to help my baby and me have everything we need to be healthy and form every cell properly.  I don’t think it worked.

After seeing this, I chose Shaklee Vita Lea and it’s been 10 years and I haven’t looked back!! Vita Lea dissolves completely in water in less than 5 minutes. It looks like a pile of dust at the bottom of the glass of water and leaves no food coloring in the water because it gets its green color from vegetables.

Test your vitamins and see what it does! Does it dissolve in under 15 minutes?  Does it leave food coloring or black, tarry particles in the cup?  If it does, check out the 3 types of vitamins to see which one yours might be!

Are you pregnant?  See my thoughts on vitamins for pregnancy here.  I don’t know…all I know is, try it for yourself and see if you don’t feel better!

Did you grow up on Flinstone Vitamins like me?? Check out what’s in America’s favorite kids vitamin!

Micaiah, our 8 year old, had a Business Day in 2nd grade last month. Each child had to create a “business” that sold either a good or a service. She came up with “Micaiah’s Brainy Brownies.” It is a fabulous recipe for brownies that has two secret ingredients…spinach and protein (these are gluten free and completely flourless!).  Her business was a hit in 2nd grade, to say the least!

Right around this time, we had sat our kids down and walked them through in detail what we do in our own home business. Nathan and I both work from home and we thought it might be a good idea to bring them in to what we are doing. Per suggestion of a good friend, Diane McCracken, we told them all the details and then created incentives for THEM to earn as we achieved our goals. We work for incentives, so why can’t they??  They LOVED the idea. We spent hours making a list of things they thought would be good incentives for themselves as they “helped” us hit our goals each month in our business.

This conversation fueled Micaiah to begin thinking non-stop about business. She asked when she could join us in our business and have her own (not till she’s 18!). But, much to our excitement, a few days later on a Saturday, she started her own little business. It was completely her idea. We saw her in our backyard collecting rocks from a huge rock pile we have a round a drainage ditch. Then we heard her in the bathroom cleaning every one. Next came the hairdryer to dry them all off quickly (she had money to make and had no time to waste on them air drying!).

Then came the massive amounts of paint, feathers, eyes, pom poms, markers, and glue, glue, and more glue!!  She worked tirelessly for hours that Saturday. Every day after school she all of a sudden miraculously LOVED doing her homework and would walk in, drop her bag, get it all done, and head to her work station for more rock painting.

That next weekend, she went out in the neighborhood with Nathan and knocked on doors to sell her Pet Rocks. She sold every one and came bursting through the front door waving $16 dollars!  That’s alot of money for an eight year old to make in 2 hours!  So, needless to say, she has the business fever. She’s worked non-stop on many other creations and is now taking orders.

Here are a few of Micaiah’s Pet Rocks

This is Phatty

This is Mo (Short for Mohawk)

This is Fred

This is Tuffin

And this is Marlin

Here is Marlin’s Story: This is the one she made especially for me….to match my blue, white and brown bedroom. I was woken up the other day to a sticky feeling on my hand. I opened my eyes to she a toothless grin and this rock in my hand, fresh glue still dripping off. She is amazing. Definitely made me giggle!