Christmas Highlights

What a fantastic wonderful super fun Christmas this year! I won't bore you with every detail but I'd love to share the highlights. Here goes....

~We're getting a puppy! (Lord willing) We're still waiting for our application to be approved by the rescue place. Quite a process really.

~A pleasant and unexpected visit from the in-laws.

~A card from my g'mother with her own voice. I've never gotten one of those before. Neat since I don't get to hear her voice often.

~My mom sent us all embroidered blankets with our names on them. She also sent everyone individual cards with notes. That took a long time.

~Lots of new books!!

~A new book mark from Nana.

~A whole bag of M&Ms for Bird. She stashed them in her new lunch box and checks several times a day to make sure they're still there or to show them to whomever walks by.

~iTunes cards and Walmart cards to enjoy all year long. Actually we already put some of the WM cards to use upgrading the air soft guns.

~Did I mention LOTS of air soft guns??

~A way too short but loads of fun Wing visit!!!!! Ahhhh.....

~A few air soft war wounds. LB is a good shot!

And now it's New Year's Eve. We said a tearful goodbye to our Wing family this morning. Spent the day cleaning up and switching the kids' rooms around. Tonight is a Star Wars marathon with the kids. Appropriate since we got new light sabers I guess. And tomorrow the cousins come over for more air soft wars and dinner.

Good thing we got more BBs.

The Wings Are Here!!

So I haven't been blogging much. Too busy having FUN!! After a great Christmas (which I will highlight later) we now have great company to play with.

Lots of.....

air soft wars
food
talking
movies
air soft wars
church
gaming
air soft wars
getting kicked off the playground for air soft wars
zoo
talking
egg nog night again

You get the idea.

The Church Family

Last night at the Christmas program I told everyone that I wouldn't be at church today. You see, Honey and Eldest are shooting a wedding at another church and wrestling Babyest during the service isn't much fun by myself.

Before bed I was reading A God Centered Church by Henry and Melvin Blackaby. He quoted Eph 2:19-22

"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

As I read this coupled with Blackaby's thoughts, the whole idea of my church being my family hit me anew. We're a family of brothers and sisters in Christ brought together to love each other, help each other, and honor God. Did we really want to stay home and watch a church service on tv when we could be with our family in person?

When we entered the church my pastor said "Welcome!" with surprise in his eyes. Several family members told me how glad they were that I changed my mind. We sat on the front row and enjoyed the singing, the message, and the prayer time. A little fellowship followed with one more chance to say "Merry Christmas!"

Shortly after we got home the phone rang. It was one of our senior ladies calling to tell me how glad she was that I made the extra effort to come. She told me how the children always bless her and said that I was a good mom.

No, Babyest wasn't wonderfully behaved and needed to be taken out twice. The littlest kids were squirmy and didn't want to pay attention. But the inconvenience was more than made up for by the love we received. Look what we would've missed if we'd stayed home.

I will close with some Blackaby thoughts....

"God has called us to join the family gathering and enjoy the benefits of that relationship. In God's family we will receive strength, encouragement, and much-needed fellowship. We will grow in wisdom and maturity as we benefit from those who have walked with God for many years. We will find security in the family's watch care of our life and respond to its comfort and accountability. More than anything else, God our Father manifests Hie presence in special ways when two or three are gathered together."

A Good Idea

I felt like I had hit a road block with Bird. She's such a helper and wants to do everything Momma does. I had exhausted every idea I had on how to help in the kitchen. Sometimes there's nothing to stir, nothing to open, nothing to take to the trash can....just big jobs that she can't do.

I was left with either having her sit on a stool and watch or shooing her out of the kitchen. I prayed about this b/c I don't like either of those options and felt like there was something I was missing.

It wasn't long before the Lord showed me something new. Actually 2 somethings! The first being place mats. She could set out place mats all by herself. She liked this new job and enjoyed getting just the right place mat that she thought each person would like best. Of course I had to explain to the boys that it was HER special job and they could not do it. They have their own.

Next was getting water for everyone. By sitting up high on a stool she can reach the water on the fridge and the cups on the counter. She fills up each one then has to climb down and carry each one to each place. (That takes a while!)

She can also unload the silverware from the dishwasher if someone will carry it to the counter for her. Yes, she puts the forks in the spoon place and most of them are upside down but she's proud to have such an important job. The boys are glad to have another dishwasher unloader in the house!

The Lord is full of good ideas and our Bird is happy with her new responsibilities.

John 17:23

"May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me." John 17:23

This is a prayer that Jesus prayed for future believers. I've been praying this for my church. That b/c of our peace and love for each other the world may know of God's perfect love.

I've been asking the Lord to show us how to love one another to that extent. If our own small bodies of believers can achieve unity within ourselves then we will be a light to a world that suffers from a self-serving, me first mindset that is begging for love.

How can we work toward this kind of relationship in our church? God gives us practical steps for holy living in Col 3. Please take a minute to read it and pray for your own family of believers.

Let The Fun Begin!

Honey is done! Off work until 2009! Ahhhh......

Time to finish up the shopping, practice for Christmas program, some soccer, Christmas program, photograph a wedding, a family photo shoot, help with a mystery dinner, Christmas, and the Wings!

I love this time of year!!

Come And Behold Him

Introducing...my new book!

I've been pondering the propriety of our various Christmas traditions wondering if I'm caving to commercialism in the fun of it all. I took it to the Lord in prayer.

The very next day I was browsing the shelves of the used book store at the public library and my eyes fell upon this....

Perhaps I am premature to recommend it since I'm only on pg 31 but so far I have enjoyed every page. It is not divided into chapters but more like short readings....minus the overuse of poetry thank you very much. The first reading deals with decorating our homes. Here's a short excerpt....

"If God commissioned angels to roll back the night and fill it with blazing light, if God provided a mighty celestial choir to serenade a few startled shepherds, if God graced the heavens with a miracle star, if God went to all this trouble to open our eyes to His entry into our world, then we needn't apologize for festooning our home with a few seasonal reminders!"

He encourages us to open our homes up to our neighbors saying, "It is a witness to our neighbors when they see a believer actually happy about life!"

Jack Hayford has a style that is neither ultra sensitive nor overly intellectual. There's a "smile" to his writing that makes you feel like you're enjoying a visit with a friendly neighbor. There is an air of seriousness mixed with fun as he uses Scripture, song lyrics, and personal examples to show us practical ways to Come And Behold Him.

What God Is Like (Guest Post from my 7 year old)

Dictated to Momma from The Adventure Bible.

Psalm 38 pictures God as an archer. His arrows wound a person who does wrong. But God hurts us only to help us. When we feel bad about doing wrong we confess our sins. Then God will forgive and heal us.

Psalm 43 :2 says that God is like a stronghold. A stronghold was a walled city or fort where people went when an enemy army had invaded the land. To say that God is a fortress means that He will keep us safe in times of danger.

Psalm 61:3 says that God is like a strong tower. Strong towers were built inside walled cities. Even if the walls were broken down the people of the city would be safe inside the tower.

Psalm 71:3 says that God is a rock of refuge. Some cities and forts were built on high rocky mountain cliffs. It was extremely difficult for enemies to attack such cities. To call God a rock of refuge means that we are safest when we trust in Him.

Psalm 89 says that God is Lord God Almighty. He is the One who created the whole universe and stars, the sun, the earth, and everything on it, including us. Such a powerful God is surely able to take care of us.

Psalm 103:13 says that God is like a compassionate father. This means that God loves us very much. He made us and He knows us better than we know ourselves. He will not stay angry when we sin, but He will forgive us.

Psalm 119:97 says that God is the lawgiver. He gives us rules to live by, to keep us from doing wrong. God is good, and He shows us how to do good. The writer of this psalm loved God's rules, thought about them "all day long," and obeyed them.

Out With The Old

The Lord has been working on me in the area of letting go. I never knew this about myself, but I like things to be the same and not change. Oh, I like change in things that don't matter...like living room furniture or the dinner menu. But not so much in the things that hit me personally.

When those things do change against my will then I tend to rebel either inwardly or outwardly. And even though I might not say them out loud, the phrases "it's not fair" or "that's not right" take a prominent place in my thoughts. My character is revealed by my reaction to the unplanned.

And while I try to surrender I find myself still working hard to order my life in the way that seems best to me. I want to avoid these unnecessary and uncomfortable changes. I'm good at justifying my own "needs" to skirt around an unreasonable rule or others' advice being sure that they really don't understand my unique situation.

In 1 & 2 Samuel there are so many different situations that make me want to rise up and cry "INJUSTICE!!" The story of Michal, David's first wife, is a perfect example. I feel sorry for her. She was taken away from a husband who obviously loved her to be just one of many in the king's palace. And what about her husband who followed behind weeping??

But the thing that really made me sit up and take notice was Michal's reaction. When she saw David dancing in the street she despised him in her heart. No doubt still bitter from what she had lost. Did she have a "right" to be? Doesn't it seem natural? Not to God. All the days of her life she was cursed to have no children.

So what would've been right? To forgive. To surrender. To be content in all circumstances. To love her husband David. I'm guessing that a smile wouldn't have hurt either.

It has made me reflect on this feeling of fairness and justification. Of not willing to give of myself unless it is perfectly comfortable. Of manipulating circumstances to please myself. And I think, "how is that Christ like?" How am I following my Savior that willingly gave up everything for me?

Lord help me not to be a Michal. Help me to surrender fully from my heart and hold nothing back. Help me to embrace every new thing and willingly give of all that I am. Amen.

Today

~This has been such a fun Christmas season so far. We haven't done anything different than previous years so I don't know why this one seems funner. I love the dark nights, the snow, the bee-youtiful Christmas tree, the music, and all the prep.

~I was lying in bed thinking about this this morning and wondering if it was ok that some of the things that I'm so crazy about have nothing to do with Jesus. There's egg nog night, the gingerbread house, stuff like that. I know that some families do every sort of Christmas thing around Jesus. They have Spiritual meaning behind every gift, all the ornaments are Spiritual. Every tradition has a lesson or Scripture involved. I like that idea but it's not us. So I was wondering if that means that we sorta have a foot in both worlds or are sitting on the fence. I don't know.

~I ordered more Christmas pix. I just couldn't bring myself to shorten my list much. PLUS I have new friends in CO!

~We are having the best time making Christmas crafts this year. The kids' stuff is so cute and I know the g'mas are going to love it! Today I did some canning for gifts. Those little jars are so satisfying. I love to can.

~Speaking of canning, I found some jars at Savers! They put them together in bags and sold them as a set. Not my favorite idea since I only wanted some of the jars and not all. They were still cheaper than buying them new.

~Today we did our gingerbread house. It's one of those kits with the pre-made gingerbread and all the icing and sprinkles and candies. It is always sure to bring out lots of laughs as the walls cave in or the baby eats the chimney. I think this one is the best so far.

~My daughter asked, "Why is a gingerbread house a Christmas thing? Seems like it should be a Hansel and Gretal thing." Hmmm...I don't know. I asked Honey as he doesn't know either. Anyone know why they sell gingerbread houses at Christmas time?

~When my older kids were little we loved The Beginner's Bible. You know the old one with the white cover? We read it until it fell apart and we finally had to throw it away. Now they have a new version which is just as good but I'm a bit partial to the old illustrations. In the last few weeks I've found 2 of the older ones in great shape at Savers for $.69 each. They are both for gifts for our little bittys. I'm happy to still get to share this with my younger kids.

~I had an old iTunes card and bought the new Bebo Norman Christmas cd. It won't be a favorite but it's ok. We need some new Christmas music. Any suggestions?

~I had this big piece of meat in my freezer and I didn't know what it was. It had obviously been in there since before my parents brought us meat b/c there was ice all over it. I thawed it out and stuck it in the crockpot all day. It was actually good....if roast could ever be called "good" that is.

~I planned creamed spinach as a side dish for tonight. My daughter was helping me and instead of pulling out spinach, she got broccoli from the freezer. Not paying attention (they're both green, right?) I thawed it out in the microwave and didn't notice until the recipe was well on it's way. We substituted the broccoli for the spinach and it was just as good.

~I wish I could visit my family for Christmas. BUT I'm praying for a way to visit in the spring. My boys (and a couple of girls) would love some farm time. I want some time w/my moms and dads. Maybe a trip to AR too?? I guess we'll see.....

Homemade Egg Nog

This is not as rich and thick as the store bought stuff but tasty just the same. (Cheaper too!) Everyone likes it at my house although my son did request that we buy the real stuff for Egg Nog Night. Can you believe we have a Christmas tradition centered around egg nog?

Eggless Egg Nog

8 C whole milk
1 small box of vanilla pudding
1 t. nutmeg
2 t. vanilla
1 C cream
1/4 C. sugar

Mix pudding w/some of the milk w/a wire whisk. Add everything else and mix well. Let stand in the fridge overnight. It will thicken as it sets and will need to be stirred.

Enjoy!

Christmas Shopping

Honey and I went Christmas shopping last night. Shopping for the kids is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. We went with our list in hand (after a trip back to the parking lot cause I forgot it) and hit the store.

After we got home we continued our shopping on line. Isn't internet shopping great?! Remember the days of catalog shopping...."allow 4-6 weeks for delivery" ? I can't wait to see the UPS truck in front of my house.

This is one of the first years that I had the forethought to save for it all year long. Whenever we got our monthly expense check or any rebate checks or whatever other "bonus" checks I cashed them and saved them. It proved to be helpful last night.

Shopping the grocery sales will help for Christmas foods I hope. I bought 4 turkeys during the Thanksgiving sales and I hope they go on sale again. I wish I had bought about 5 more. I've also been stocking up on my baking supplies. (Thank you again for hanging cabinets in the garage Honey)

This year I've decided to save some money on our Christmas cards. I usually send out lots of cards/pictures and it turns out a little pricey. This year I think I'm only going to send to close friends and family and those that I will get to personally hand deliver. (But if you want a Christmas picture then let me know and I'll send you one too! ) This idea might not pan out since I love sending out pictures...and getting them! Wanna sneak peek?

Look here !

Our Outa Hand Junk Drawer

The junk drawer was getting unmanageable. It was so bad that you had to rearrange stuff before you could shut it. What's in there anyway? Junk of course.

I didn't have time to pull the whole thing apart so I just spent a couple of minutes on it. I pulled out countless pencils and crayons, a golf ball, 5 screwdrivers, dead batteries, paint sticks, b-day candles, some sort of clippy thing, ....shall I go on? Because I can. It was (and still sorta is) a mess.

Does everybody have a junk drawer? I don't ever remember not having one. And when we were moving we actually had a box labeled "junk drawer stuff". Seems like you wouldn't want to move junk with you but what else do you do with it?

I thought about taking before and after pix. Now I'm glad I didn't b/c it's hard to tell the difference between the two. At least you can shut it now though.

Today

~Monday Night Football means I have the computer to myself and I'm a little bit blog happy. Can you tell?

~We got a new table for the music room! I love it. Out with the swirvy recliners that never stay put. This is much more practical and gives not only more seating, but also another school table.

~Do you know what I love? My husband that comes home all noisy like. It's like the real fun begins when he steps through the door. Some sorta game in the cul-de-sac cause the snow's almost gone. Then loud beautiful worship music with drums and guitar while I'm finishing up dinner. And while there are times when I wanna clap both hands over my ears and run for cover, there are other times when the noise of the house is just lovely.

~My daughter that doesn't like to cook so much made a delicious dinner. I enjoyed working with her in the kitchen.

~Our new school table is handy. It's funny how just something as simple as a new place to work necessitates a slight change in schedule. We used to do preschool at the coffee table and now I need to move to 3 places instead of 2. My babies can't crowd up to the new table b/c it's too high, my big kids use the dining room table, my middles are at the new one. Anyway I like it.

~I have a ridiculously messy laundry room. Snow clothes will do that. And Christmas stuff. And diapers. And, well laundry.

~We took a cabinet down in the laundry room and behind it was wallpaper that says "I HATE LAUNDRY ROOMS". I took offense to this. If you've ever lived without a laundry room, you will certainly come to love it when you do get one. That ugly stuff has got to go. I am thankful for my laundry room.

~My new bread machine doesn't work after all. I give up. It was really too small to help me out much anyway. But if I ever find a replacement pan for my Zo I will be so happy. THAT is a good machine.

~I'm not communicating very well with my teenagers. Things I think they should've understood, they don't. I gotta work on my communication skills.

~December is a good time to pray over things the Lord would have me change.

~25 more days until our Wing visit!

Wanna See Some New Pix?

All of us at Mally's party except photographer Dad. He made a comment about how in a big family every single b-day is a party. It's so fun.

Mally got a lot of new food for her kitchen set. It was irresistable to even the big kids. They went into Babyest's room and had a little party of their own with lots of plastic pie. I love this picture b/c they are all so happy and enjoying each other. There is no barrier of age difference.

LB and Babyest. Yes, it's a girly pink snow suit. That's all we had. I'm sure he'll be scarred for life. Never fear, now he has a blue one thanks to my local thrift store.

Excited kids loving the first snow fall!

Wrestling with Daddy.

Isn't he beautiful? I mean REALLY!! I just love his dark brown eyes and perfect smile.

He's such a love.

From Elisabeth Elliot..

My friend Lisa sent me a card with this quote. I've read it over and over again. It was so timely for my circumstances and mood. It is from her book Keep A Quiet Heart.

"The choice is ours. It depends on our willingness to see everything in God, receive all from His hand, accept with gratitude just the portion and the cup He offers. Shall I charge Him with a mistake in His measurements or with misjudging the sphere in which I can best learn to trust Him? Has He misplaced me? Is He ignorant of things or people which, in my view, hinder doing His will?...The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances."

Vegetable Dip

This is an easy versatile recipe that goes with chips, crackers, or veggies. I make this for tea sometimes.

1 brick of cream cheese softened
2 T sour cream
2 garlic cloves pressed

Mix these together then add whatever combination of...

minced onion
chopped broccoli
chopped olives
tomatoes
sun dried tomatoes
shredded carrots
cucumber.....you get the idea.

Mix that together then add s/p to taste. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Today I made this with tomatoes, black olives, onion, and broccoli and we had it with crackers and Gollum juice. Yum!

Today's Meals..
breakfast - oatmeal muffins
lunch - chicken soup
dinner - tuna sauce w/garlic bread, green beans, salad
tea - veggie dip and crackers

Thanksgiving 2008

This was the funnest Thanksgiving that I can remember. Ever.

We started the day with a HUGE breakfast that the guys cooked. Eggs, biscuits, gravy, sausage, bacon, hash browns, juice. and waffles. It was SO good. Thank you guys! We went around the table and told the basic things we were thankful for that we usually take for granted....then the other fun stuff that just makes life better...like my iPod.

We put up the Christmas tree...

We knocked over the Christmas tree..... Actually this guy did. (Guess who's NOT doing the angel next year?)
Then we put it up again. And it is beautiful. Off to Aunt Mich's house for a yummy feast.

Doesn't it look great? And she doesn't even cook!

Lots of trampoline....

XBox and football...

And some pictures of course. Did I mention SNOW??

Then guess what I found just sitting around collecting dust in her kitchen?

Very similar to one that broke a couple of months ago (as in we may be able to interchange parts). I brought her home, cleaned her up, and she works beautifully!

A bonus Thanksgiving present.

Things I'm Thankful For....

• A faithful God that never gives up on me.
• A faithful man that loves God, me, and our kids.
• 9 beautiful healthy kids and 3 in heaven.
• My husband's good job and all that goes with that.
• Our church.
• Our house that is big enough for all of us and a project to keep us busy.
• The love my family shares.
• Our extended family and friends.
• I don't have to cook at all on Thanksgiving Day! Seriously, not at all! The men are making a huge breakfast and we're going to my sister-in-law's for dinner. We're taking pies that Eldest was kind enough to volunteer to make and that cranberry sauce that still looks like the can when you take it out.
• Christmas!
• Winter, egg nog, and cozy cold weather foods.
• Homeschooling and the freedom to take off when I need to.
• A WING VISIT!! (29 days)
• We painted the living room! My kids did. Because.....
• We're getting new furniture soon!

Sad News

While we celebrate the life of our sweet birthday girl, we also mourn the loss of our precious new baby. Another one of our number is in the safe arms of Jesus separated from us by only our number of days on this earth. A life to never know tears or pain or heartache. A life set apart for the Lord from the beginning.



God is still God and we praise Him with hands lifted high and tears in our eyes.

Happy Birthday Mally Bird!

She's THREE!!

~One of my favorite things about her is how girly she is. Born in the middle of 4 boys you would think her to be a tomboy. NOT at all! We waited 8 long years for this little girl and that's exactly what she is....a precious little girl.

~She plays with babies and names them goofy names like "That One". That One is her favorite.

~She has a sassy mouth and it gets her in trouble.

~She bosses her brothers around.

~She loves to help in the kitchen and her special responsibility is to lay out place mats.

~She likes telling you her Bible verse.

~She talks all the time.

~She is super smart and I think she may be reading this year. I'm continually amazed at the new things she knows that I didn't know she knew.

~Her claim to fame is going down the twisty slide....all by herself! She tends to be a bit fearful so that was a biggie. She loves slides.

Her meals...
breakfast - omelets
lunch - sandwiches
dinner- some sort of pudding thing with cool whip and m&ms.

She had a fun day playing with her babies and dishes and new dolly bed. There is nothing sweeter than a little girly girl.


Thank you God for our Birdy!

A Big Night

We celebrate Mally Bird's 3rd b-day on Saturday. Amazing! And while we've been looking around in the thrift shops and Walmart we haven't found what we wanted to get her for her present. Tonight we decided to ALL go to Toys R Us after dinner.

The kids and I wanted her to have new kitchen set toys since ours are about 14 years old. Honey wanted to get her a new baby. The search was on. Up and down the precious pink aisles while the girls ooohhh-ed and awwww-ed and the boys patiently endured it. We found just the things we wanted. She fell in love with a soft baby that she's already named Ducky. And while she was turned looking at something else I took it from her lap and put it in our other cart. It's easy to be sneaky with a 2yo. We got her new food for her fridge and a pie that you decorate with toppings.

Then on to the boy stuff, the lego aisles, the sports, and the k'nex display that was a huge ball machine. How the boys loved that! Especially my robot loving inventor! Honey made lots of Christmas note ideas on his blackberry and we enjoyed looking at what all was new.

Everyone behaved wonderfully minus a short meltdown from Babyest. He lived though.

I took everyone to the car while Honey paid and then ran next door to Lowe's for texturing spray. We sang songs and the little ones took advantage of the captive audience to show off how well they've memorized their new Bible verse.

A fun family night.

A New Way To Clean

I tried something new this week. Our cleaning routine was getting a bit slack and Meg said that is was b/c everyone treated chores more like a check list than a way to help get everything done. Makes sense.

So we played a game of Sardines. Have you ever played that? It's a new game to me. Basically like hide & seek in reverse. One person hides then everyone scrambles around to find them. When you find them, you hide WITH them until everyone is hiding together and only one person is left to seek.

LB hid. She hid in my shower which was a pretty good place b/c it's big enough for lots of people. Lots of giggles gave us away pretty quickly and Mayfee was the last to find us. Big fun.

Then I called a meeting and announced that we were going to approach chores in much the same way. Do your own stuff then help your buddy. When you're both done go to the kitchen worker and help her/him. When that's done, find someone else and help him until everyone is working together and everything is done.

Then...and this is a big one....Mom will check everything. I've been lazy in checking. This has been easier though b/c I'm working along side them and can check as I go along and as we finish each room.

So far so good!

Today's meals....
Breakfast- homemade cereal and toast
Lunch - Chicken and dumplings
Dinner - Spinach and tomato frittata w/ green beans, salad, and bread

I remember my dad used to make the best soup. Maybe that's why I'm such a soup lover now. So I make chicken and dumplings his way. Just a basic chicken soup and at the end you add torn tortillas. They really make yummy dumplings. I have some leftover chicken and leftover tortillas....so chicken and dumplings!

Dad, have you made this for Gram and Nana yet? You need to!

Our 3 Day Weekend

Finally a weekend that didn't seem to fly by! I guess that tends to happen when there's a whole extra day to it. I wish they were all 3-dayers.

~Girly day was a blast! We did lots of shopping without spending much money. HOW? Well, first we hit the thrift shops and that's where we had the most fun. We got lots of presents, a couple of books, 2 pairs of snow boots, and other handy stuff. We did all the discount shopping before we hit the mall.

~The mall. There's a reason I hadn't been there yet. I just don't understand why anyone would spend $30 on a shirt. I decided that if the place doesn't give you a buggy it's just not my kind of shopping. Too fancy. Too expensive. The pet store was kinda fun though until I realized that the iguana that was perched on the rafters above my head was REAL! Time to go.

~We were gone all day and still didn't have time to get our hair done. Just too much fun to be had. The family did great, had fun all day, and didn't even seem to notice we were gone. Babyest was VERY happy to see me though.

~I got my HCG and progesterone levels checked. Way up high! So far so good.

~Movie night at church. Big fun! And to make it even better, the neighbors we invited CAME!!! It was nice to get to know them better. Maybe they'll come to church too.

~I made a huge pan of enchiladas and splurged on one of those disposable pans since I didn't have a pan that big in my house.

~We moved some off-season clothes to the new storage spot downstairs. I love re-inventing space!

~Another try at the Christmas picture. We'll see, it's so hard!

~Date night tonight and I forgot what we were having. I hope it's not too late to thaw it out.

Tomorrow Is The Day!

My 16yo daughter and I are spending the ENTIRE day out together! Shopping, eating, getting hairdos. You know, gurly stuff. It's the first time we've gotten to do this and I think we're long overdue. I've had precious babies for so long that shopping has become an only-if-you-have-to thing. But tomorrow will be different. And while I'm looking forward to it, I already miss my little bitties. A whole day w/o being slobbered, how will I cope?

It's also the first time in a LOOONG time that Honey has had the whole crew for the whole day without the help of extended family. Obviously I don't get out much...and that's perfectly fine. He's taken the day off work for us and hopefully it'll be a fun day for them too. Mayfa-roo was asking to have candy for lunch while I'm gone. Oh my.

The Books I'm Reading (and other uninteresting stuff)

(And the bookmarks that go with them.)

Ruth - my Bible ribbon marker

The Finishing Touch (Chuck Swindoll) - ribbon marker

The Welcoming Door (a pretty one that I made with beads)- Kenny Kemp
I bought this at the used store in the library. Really good fiction about the parables. I was reading this to myself when the girls came into my room. I started reading aloud and now they're hooked.

A Father's Promise (a napkin b/c it's our tea book) -Donna Lynn Hess
Historical fiction. A read aloud to the kids

The Mouse And His Motorcycle (no bookmark for this one) - Beverly Cleary
Aloud to the little boys. Dumb book.

Little Men (a pretty paper one that one of my kids made) - Louisa May Alcott
Will I ever finish this book?

What are YOU reading??
~~~

My son made dinner tonight. I decided that his kitchen skills were lacking and he needs some more practice. He made 2 whole chickens and rice. He loved the chicken job! Lots of......

"Look what happens when I push here!"
"I'm glad I'm not a chicken."
"It looks like old people skin."
"Do I wash it with soap?"

He asked if he could make chicken every time. Girls, I think we're off the hook with this one!

Today's meals....
Breakfast- cereal
Lunch - leftover spaghetti and sandwiches
Dinner - roasted chicken, rice, gravy, bread, and salad.

Chicken Gravy

1 stick of butter melted in saucepan
1/2 C. flour
2 T. soy sauce
Chicken broth and milk
s/p

Saute garlic in butter. Mix in flour and cook for about 1 minute. Add soy sauce and enough milk and broth to make it thick and creamy. It thickens as it heats. Salt and pepper to taste.
~~~

One more thing. Honey changed his work schedule and gets home at 4pm! I love his job b/c it seems like he's always home.
~~

The Muir Glen tomato coupon has been reset here. A good deal on tomatoes!

I Have News!!

We're having another sweet baby, God willing! Our first summer one too!
Awww........

This Past Week

~My son's soccer team won FIRST PLACE!!!

~We opened the pantry and were overwhelmed by a horrible stink! I had my son start pulling stuff out. At first we thought it might be a rotten potato. No. Then he found it...and EWWWWW! Remember those tomatoes I just canned? Well one of them rebelled. It was spewing out the lid and all over the shelf. I don't know how this happened. I'm always careful to check my lids. Any thoughts??

~I'm borrowing a new history book from a friend. I had a fun time pouring over it and planning out our week.

~My kids did rock climbing in gym this week. Such fun! I think everybody's sore. My babies did preschool gym for the first time. That was fun too.

~I think our Christmas letter is almost done. No picture yet though.

~Most of my kids are sick.

~Thanks to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law we got a lot of wood. We laid it in the storage area that we haven't been able to use yet. So much more room!! We'll use it store Christmas stuff and have some room leftover.

~Shoe box shopping!! Such cute stuff. It's a fun tradition. One of the only times in the year that I take everyone to the store at the same time. They behaved wonderfully and it was a lot of fun.

~I tried a few new recipes this week. I was going to make "Texas Sheet Cake", then changed my mind since everyone was sick and I didn't want them to have sugar. But in light of my son's soccer victory, I changed my mind again. LB was going to make it while I worked on dinner. Everyone one of my kids have done this.....instead of reading a recipe, a new cook will just start dumping in ingredients. This was sort of a fussy recipe and it didn't turn out quite right. So we each ate one small piece and threw the rest away. I told her not to worry, everyone has done it at least once and someday she may even ruin a whole dinner and we'll have to get take out. She thought that was funny.

~We stepped out of our comfort zone and invited 2 neighbors to church. I hope they come.

~Last week of Bible study. I won't commit to anything else until February.

~Date night tonight! We're going to watch a Pastor Dale dvd. I got to watch one with the sick kids this morning. So a double whammy for me!

Walgreens Deals This Week

Walgreens has some good deals this week! Get your printer ready...



Progresso Soup 4/$5 with in-ad coupon
Use printable to get them for $.15 each.


Libby's Pumpkin $.99 each with in-ad coupon
Use $1/2 printable to get them for $.49 each.


Betty Crocker Frosting $.99 each w/in-ad coupon
Use $.55/1 printable to get them for $.44 each.


Coffee-Mate creamer B1G1 or 2/$2.49
Use $1/1 printable to get them for $.49


Glade Aerosol on sale $.99
Use $1/2 MQ to get them for $.49


Reach toothbrushes $.99 with in-ad coupon
Use B1G1 MQ


Kelloggs Cereal 4/$10 with $2 RR
Use all those great coupons from 2 weeks ago to get them for $1/box (Thanks Mom for sending me your coupons!)

Samson and Obama

Judges 13-16 records the life of Samson. He was somewhat of a miracle baby given to a God-fearing couple who was sterile. His parents prayed for wisdom in how to bring him up (13:8). But despite their best efforts he grew up to be a disappointment.

Samson grew up to be angry, proud, foolish, full of vengeance, and controlled by sensuality. He was disobedient to the Lord and to his parents.

In light of the recent election I was thinking of the mysterious ways that God works. If Samson were elected president of the US, the country would be spouting opinion of gloom and doom. Yet knowing Samson's character in advance God chose him to begin to free Israel from Philistine oppression.

Obama is a disappointment. So was McCain. But we can not put a limit of the power of God in the life of man. Samson, Saul, and Pharaoh were all used by God in completely different ways to accomplish His purpose. The mighty hand of God reaches beyond our fears, doubts, and shallow reasoning to show the limits of man and the unlimited power of His being. The loving Creator of the universe is in control. There is nothing (and no one) that is beyond His reach.

Older Kids

Teenagers to be exact.

When my kids were little we were blessed to have friends with older kids. Friends we loved and respected and who had the same visions for their families as we had for ours. I paid close attention to these children, their parents' decisions, and the way things worked in their families. They were transparent with us, sharing successes, failures, and ideas. Through their examples, the Lord was quietly training us up for our own set of teenagers.

Now we have 2 - almost 3- teenagers of our own. We also have babies and ages in between. And while I feel like its an often frustrating stage, I also feel like its the most satisfying. We hear parents relate the woes of rebellious teens or warn young families, "Just wait until they are teenagers". It's enough to make you wish they'd stay babies forever. But I'm here to say that it doesn't have to be that way.

Yes, there's frustrating times, miscommunications, and disappointments. But the fun conversations, interesting topics, and soul-searching questions more than make up for it.

I feel like I have more of an opportunity than ever to help shape their opinions, ideas, and thoughts--and do they have a lot of those!! They also do the same for me and challenge me to look at something from a different angle. I like that.

The talks go long. Sometimes they're short. They are deep. Or silly. It doesn't matter. You leave feeling like you know each other even better.

Becky was right. They don't go to bed at 7:30. ;-p

Meg, Lane, and Kitch, I love you just as you are and I'm happy to be your mom!!

FREE at King Soopers!

King Soopers is having another "mega event" where you buy 10 participating products and get a certain amount off. Here's some things that come out FREE with double coupons.....

Quaker Oats $1 (use .50/1 MQ)
Colgate toothpaste $1 (use .75/1 MQ)
Colgate toothbrush $1 (use .75/1 MQ)
Scotch Brite sponges .50 (use $1/2 MQ)

You do have to buy 10 so pull out your coupons and see what you can match up. Here's some others I came up with....

C & H sugar $2 (use .30/1 MQ) final price $1.40
Dial soap 3 pack $1 (use .30/1 MQ) final price .40
Bryers Ice Cream $2.50 (use .50/1 MQ) final price $1.50
Betty Crocker potatoes $1 (use .35/1 MQ) final price .30

They also have Old Orchard juice 10/$10. This includes grape juice..which is always expensive.

Garden Goodness

I canned tomatoes last week and salsa too. Nice! Gardening is different in CO. The growing season is shorter. We had to pick the garden a couple of weeks ago to avoid freeze. So I put the green tomatoes in paper bags to ripen. That was NOT the right way to do it. I've since learned that I should've wrapped them individually in newspaper. The way I did it made everything ripen at once. Live and learn. It was fun work though.

Time Alone

Oh what shall I do with myself? 6 kids and Honey are in Pueblo at a soccer game. LB is at a b-day party. Babies just went down for a nap. I have 2 1/2 hours before nap is over and I have to pick up LB. Wow.

Time to scrapbook! I don't think I've a done a singe page since I moved to CO. I'm way over due.

I might just drink the last of the egg nog. Egg nog is at Sams! I paid way more than I should've so from now on I'm making my own.

Call Mom. Didn't get to talk earlier b/c I was getting everyone out the door.

Cook dinner. New recipe called Chicken Salsa Pasta. Looks yummy in the picture. I just canned salsa a couple of days ago so I have more than plenty.

Clean house? I doubt it. Who wants to clean house when it's soooo quiet?

Walk on the treadmill. Maybe.

Today's Meals....
breakfast- omelets
lunch - spaghetti and pineapples
dinner- chicken salsa pasta, refried beans, salad
tea - blueberry muffins

Oh guess what? I went to Sams yesterday and noticed that the price of 2 things had gone DOWN! Eggs and cheese. Nice.

I Got An Award!

Ain't she pretty? Mom2Three was so sweet to bestow it and I'm very happy with it.

So here's the meme that goes with it....

7 Things I Did Before

• Ate oreos for breakfast.


• A lot.


• Crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.


• Bit my fingernails.


• Worked at Payless Shoes.


• Ate Lucky Charms out of the box for dinner.


• Shopped retail.

7 Things I Do Now

• Eat granola for breakfast.


• Shop thrift stores.
  
• Pray for God's favor.


• Hardly ever wear makeup.


• Read.


• Love watching my sons' soccer games.


• Run when I can.

7 Things I Want To Do

• Go to TX to visit my parents.


• Go to Renee's house.


• Visit with Mr. Walker and let him tell me of the political woes.


• Paint my living room.


• Scrapbook.


• Play more games.


• Read faster. So many books. So little time.

7 Favorite Foods

• My mom's potato salad


• Burgers


• Ice cream


• Oreos


• Mexican food


• Salad


• Chinese chicken salad

7 Things I Say Most Often

• I'm the show.


• Where's my planner.


• If it's not Dad, I don't wanna talk.


• Did you brush your teeth?


• What time is practice?


• Who made this mess?


• This is not your personal space.

Here's my tags. My own sweet family! Eldest (b/c I love you and you need something to write about right?), Lane and LB (b/c I love you and I think you'll think it's fun), my step mom (b/c I love her and maybe it'll make her post more.) Sorry Honey and Sticks. No award for you since it's gurly and pink and I didn't think you'd like it.

Monthly Menuing

With one day left to go I can now give my opinion on my monthly menu experiment. It was WONDERFUL!! Budget wise, I came in at $59 under budget!! I don't know if I can expect to do as well in November b/c of holiday foods and company but we'll see. My husband gets paid once a month so this made perfect sense for us. It was very freeing to know that I had dinners planned for every day and didn't have to make that decision again. I was able to sit down and work out the whole month of meals in about 30 minutes. For this month, I haven't found a full 30 minutes to devote to it so I've been working in snippets of time. Here's what I did.

~I got pen, paper, and recipe book. I got the calendar out to see how many Fridays and Sundays were in the month. Friday is pizza so that was 5 dinners already done. Sundays are date night so there's another 4. 9 meals with just a glance at the calendar. I also looked at our soccer games to see how many times we'd need to take lunchboxes so I could have that stuff ready too.

~This month includes Thanksgiving and Baby Girl's b-day. Since we don't know what the plans are for either of those yet, I can't really plan a full menu for those days. I am counting one day as leftover Thanksgiving food though, whatever it may be. Another 3 days down.

~Turkeys will be going on sale this month. I've found that I can use chicken and turkey interchangeably so I've planned more some chicken recipes. This will help stretch the beef in my freezer for awhile longer. In my recipe notebook I have a "Stuff To Try Later" section. This gave me 7 new dinners, 5 lunches, and 5 tea snacks. 19 dinners down, 11 to go.

~Then I asked my family what they'd like to have. Besides the old standbys they weren't too helpful. Superbowl Wings were mentioned so that brings me down to 10.

~Now it was time to fall into the recipe notebook and see what I haven't made in awhile. Between that and the family favorites it was not too hard to come up with 10.

I did not plan certain meals on certain days except the pizza, dates, and lunchboxes. I just kept a sort of "bank" of planned meals to draw from as the week approached. When planning my week, I just pulled from my bank taking into consideration the activities of the week and the amount of effort for the meal.

I did not plan out full lunches, breakfasts, or tea. I made sure I had plenty of baking ingredients, breakfast options, and so forth. I counted on leftovers or sandwiches for lunch. This is something I'm doing differently this month. Breakfast and tea worked out fine but lunch was a different story. Leftovers aren't something I have a lot of anymore so I found myself scrambling for lunch ideas way too often. This month I will plan out at least 4 lunches a week.

Sometimes I planned side dishes, sometimes not. We usually have salad, bread, and potatoes or frozen veggies. I don't usually do a side dish recipe in addition to a big main dish.

For the meals we had more than once, I doubled or tripled it and had it ready next time. I also did this with pizza sauce, beans, salsa, etc. I banked *a lot* of baked goods in my freezer and found that it really came in handy on days that didn't go as planned.

That said, here's a peek at what's coming up for November...

Pizza (2)
Chicken Pizza
Date night (5)
Chicken Salsa Pasta
Birthday
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving leftovers
Fajitas w/ black bean avocado salsa & rice
Tacos and fiesta rice
Burgers & garlic fries (2)
Veggie lasagna
Chicken enchiladas
Spaghetti
Chili
Meatballs & mashed potatoes
Breakfast Burritos (2)
Frito Pie with leftover chili
Spinach & Tomato Fritatta W/green beans
Pancakes & eggs
Ziti
Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Beef Pot Pie
Taco Salad

Good Deals

Click HERE to get a $1/2 Hunts coupon. The small cans are .36 at my Wamart making these free with a small profit.

Click HERE to get a $1/1 Vlasic coupon. The small jars of relish are $1 at my Walmart.

Free pickles AND free tomato sauce!

Where's The Parents?

In Judges Chapter 2, Joshua has died. Israel has gone astray and has fallen into the hands of their enemies.

"The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel." vs 7 & 10

Why didn't they know? How did this happen?

The parents didn't teach them. The children grew up participating in the feasts, sacrifices, and offerings. Perhaps their parents thought they'd catch on w/o having to put the work in themselves. It led to the demise of the nation.

I know parents like this today. They send their kids to Sunday School, play Christian music, fork out big bucks to the local Christian school, and hope for the best. I have a neighbor who sends her little 7yo to Awana at a church she doesn't attend. She leaves him there and goes home to do her own thing. She says "he needs his space to learn." He is left to the mercy of strangers to teach him what his momma should be impressing upon him.

I love the Old Testament. It's clear cut, black and white. God lays out blessings, curses, and consequences. (Deut 28) He gives clear instruction to parents to teach their own children.

"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. " Deut 6:6

Everyday. All the time. As you come and go and do all the busy things of the day.

This is where the Israelites failed. This is where the parents of today are failing. It is what led to the demise of Israel. And if the saying is true and history repeats itself, it will lead to the demise of our own country as well. It's not about economic depression or lame presidential candidates. It is the lack of fear of God and the absence of parents to raise up the next generation in obedience to His Word.

This Weekend

Beautiful weather!

~Another soccer victory! 2 of my sons are finished with the season. They also got to walk the Rapids players onto the field Saturday night while Honey took pix. It was a big night!

~I gave each of the kids an extra chore to finish before Saturday night. Many hands make light work. They cleaned the fridge, made cereal, organized the library, and cleaned the glass.

~I had some bread that didn't turn out right. Doughy in the middle, crumbly around the sides--who knows. So I spread it out on a cookie sheet, broiled it, and made croutons.

~I made garlic bread a new way. Instead of making individual slices, I laid the loaf on its side and sliced it into 3 long equal pieces. Then I used it like french bread. It fit on one cookie sheet, and I saved time and butter.

~King Soopers has wheat bread on sale for .49/loaf. I bought 10 loaves to stick in the freezer for emergencies.

~I made an extra big dinner on Saturday to ensure leftovers for Sunday. Lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and broccoli.

~I switched the kids' date night food from mac & cheese to boxed cereal and yogurt. They were thrilled! I hit the cereal sale at Walgreens and stocked up.

~Honey took Eldest to Old Navy and bought her 2 pairs of jeans. Oh was she happy!! She smiled all day and reminded me of her brand new jeans than nobody has ever worn before. He mentioned later that that was the best part of his weekend.

~Some of my kids are finished Christmas shopping. They drew names for the first time this year with the understanding that they were not restricted to only that name. Some of my kids with extra money like to buy gifts for everybody. Jes drew Nate and bought him a cool ball shooting Nerf gun. I'm surprised that there are still Nerf guns that we don't already own.

~I had to raise the target price of my dish soap. My previous price was .50/bottle. Now it is .75/bottle. I was happy to still find a deal at .50 this weekend though.

~I finished Joshua and have moved into Judges.

~My grocery budget is still looking good with less than a week to go. Since I totally blew it last month I'm thrilled that this month is better!

~Honey and I had a nice long chat for date night plus a quick walk before it got too dark. Date night is such a sweet way to close the week.

A Silent Walk

I had a dilemma. On the week I determined to exercise every day it turned cold and even started to snow. BUT I did say without excuse right? And I DO have a treadmill. Problem is that every time I step foot on it I have 3 or 4 kids that need to tell me a neat story *right now*, I had lots of interruptions, and it just wasn't working.

So I made up a new rule....
No talking to Momma when she's on the treadmill.

It worked!

They were happy to be in there with me but the stories had to wait. No one interrupted. No one needed a drink. No one asked if they could walk on the back of it with me.

Why didn't I think of that before?

My Latest Fave Of Babyest

Fun at the ZOO!!

What Is Love?

Here is our family memory verse this week...

"And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." 1John 4:21

I polled my kids and asked them for practical examples of showing love to another. Here's what they came up with..

• If your brother is too short to see the hippos at the zoo you can lift him up so he can see better.
• Teach him how to ride his bike.
• Help him play XBox.
• Don't leave a mess in your brother's jurisdiction.
• Pull him around on the sled.
• Help him with his chores.
• Play with him.
• Help him with his school.
• Protect him.

I thought it interesting that they all thought of things that fall into the time or service category.

Speaking of polls. We got our voting done yesterday! Early voting at the library and I was already there for story time. How convenient was that? There was nobody there so I called Honey and he came too. Nice to have that done.

Today's meals...

Breakfast- scrambled eggs, toast, homemade yogurt

Lunch- still thinking...we ate the leftovers.

Dinner- still thinking on this one too b/c I forgot to thaw out the chicken I was planning for tonight.

HOMEMADE YOGURT
If you've never made homemade yogurt, it is so easy! We bought a 1 quart yogurt maker for around $30.

Pour in 1 quart of milk and heat until very warm. Add 1/2 C. plain yogurt and 1/4 C powdered milk. Stir. Plug in the machine and let it cook all day. Pop it in the fridge before you go to bed and you have nice thick yogurt in the morning. The longer it refrigerates the thicker it is.

Initially you need to buy a small container of plain yogurt or yogurt starter. After you make your first batch you can reserve 1/2 C. of the homemade to use as your next starter.

Today

~I've hit a snag in my pumpkin pie making. I let my kids paint my pie pumpkin. I suppose it's not too healthy to eat cooked paint so I'll have to get another one....or just forget it maybe.


~It's storming! There haven't been many thunder storms since we've moved here. It's oddly a comforting sound to me. AR has huge storms.


~My little kids finished up their Columbus lap books today. So cute! I hope they learned something...or at least had as much fun as I did. I'll spend the remainder of the month on the subject of autumn then move on to Thanksgiving in November. Lap books are fun.


~I taught my 11 yo daughter how to make bread without the bread machine today. And my 14yo daughter how to make cole slaw.


~I ran with Joey and took in the beauty of the changing colors. My goal is to exercise everyday this week without excuse.


~Honey and I went to the Home Show last night for date night. The home show sounds like fun right? Especially when you have tons of things to do to your house. The tickets were $8 each which was fine...sorta. It just bugs me to pay money when the whole point of the thing is to sell you something. So I planned to spend about $20 tops. But then there's parking. How much do you think parking ought to cost? I'd say $5. Nope. More like $20!! To PARK. Of course the further you get from the convention center the cheaper it gets. We drove around and settled for a place for $9. There's no attendant, just a machine where you put in cash or credit card. So we put in a $10 bill. Nothing. No change. Stolen. Grrrrr...... Let the hike begin.

We walked about a mile to get there then all around the place looking for where it was. We get our tickets and now I need a drink. So Honey points me to the cafe place while he goes to look at the guitar booth. He says, "Get me something too." I'm hoping they take Amex since I'm down to like a dollar. Then I look at the prices. It would be almost $7 for 2 small drinks! I decided he wasn't that thirsty.

It wasn't even that neat. I don't know why they call it a "show". Honey walked away with a big smirk on his face. He said it was worth all the money for the lesson I learned and the years he'll have to remind me of it. Whatever.


Today's meals...
Breakfast- overnight french toast with blueberry syrup (thanks Mom2Three!)
Lunch - sandwiches
Dinner- sloppy joes, potato salad, cole slaw, fresh tomatoes.

I didn't have olives for my potato salad. I used some artichokes instead. Don't tell my mom.

Great Coupons!

Go HERE to print some Nestle baking coupons and HERE 1.75/1 Reynolds parchment paper.

There are never MQs for parchment paper so take advantage of this one. Parchment is such a help when baking.

Go HERE for Kellogg's cereal coupons. Even though this is a bricks MQ it will let you print it more than twice. Walgreens has cereal on sale this week. I don't have the paper in front of me but I think it came out to $1.50/box. That is more than my target price for cereal but it is the cheapest I've seen it in weeks.

Moses and Joshua

I'm just about finished reading the book of Joshua. And since I have a son named after him, you could say he's one of my favorite Bible men. Throughout the days of reading through this Book, I've found myself challenged anew by his superb character. I've particularly enjoyed the review of Joshua's relationship with Moses.

Moses, the man God chose to lead his people and to write the first 5 books of His Word was privileged to work at His right hand. The Lord gave him a difficult task, a stubborn people to govern, and needed a man who would totally surrender to His Lordship. Moses' heart was to love God and obey....

"If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you." Ex 33: 13

Joshua saw this. And for whatever reason, was able to learn by Moses' example when his peers did not. He was humble enough to be teachable and willing to surrender to God's call on his life.

When his time came to grasp the reins of leadership, Joshua stepped forward without hesitation. He followed in the footsteps of his predecessor proving himself to be faithful, obedient, and thorough....

"As the Lord commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses." Joshua 11:15

God has given me a similar charge--to lead my children from the slavery of their sinful hearts to the freedom of His grace. My desire is to be as forthright as Moses and raise up my own flock of Joshuas to lead on. I pray for the qualities of fearless leadership, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and God's favor to rest upon us in our journey.

And someday when I'm ready to pass the baton I hope to hear the sweet words of my Savior, "Well done my faithful servant."

This Weekend

Today is not a gym Friday so that means school. It's ok though. I told the kids we'd work extra hard in October and then we could take some time in Nov and Dec for holiday prep. And surely we'll have some family company in there somewhere...we hope. Honey comes home early today b/c of maintenance window last night and we might make an afternoon trip to the ZOO!!

~The weather is supposed to be beautiful for the weekend.

~3 soccer games tomorrow and 2 of them are same place/time. That'll be convenient. One 8am one which means Honey and I will leave the others sleeping and head out with Sticks alone.

~Pumpkin pie making!

~My grocery budget is still looking good. I think b/c of my monthly menu. This has given me such freedom! And at this point I'm not even looking to save money as much as I am to keep it the same with the higher prices at the store. Speaking of shopping, there's some new coupons that are pretty good right now....I'll try to post them this weekend.

~I'm going to be working up a Saturday routine so that I can make sure I get some things covered before Sunday.

~A big praise! We broke the faucet in the downstairs bathroom. Water EVERYWHERE. Huge mess. But...Honey fixed it for less than $4!

~I am looking into a different math program for Lane. Does anybody have a Teaching Textbooks Pre Algebra for sale? I wish it wasn't so pricey. But I can sorta justify it since she has so many to follow her, right?

Today's Meals....
breakfast- cereal or eggs
lunch - leftovers
dinner - pizza

Beans and Salsa

I find this to be a good combination to fix at the same time. Less mess you know. Here's how we do it.

The night before I soak a big pot of beans and cook it in the morning. I season them with taco seasoning.

I start with the salsa.

1 #10 can of crushed tomatoes

2 onions

3 jalapenos seeded

1 bunch of cilantro

about a whole head of garlic

Salt and pepper

I run this in batches through the food processor seasoning with salt and pepper the whole way. Set aside.

Next I run the beans through the food processor (in batches) using ladles of the salsa to season them and get them to the right consistency. Depending on how many beans I've made, I usually use all the salsa I just made. So if I'm running low on salsa in the fridge or pantry I double it before I make the beans.

I freeze the beans in quart sized ziplocs and can the salsa for 25 minutes. You can freeze the salsa too but I find it a bit watery when thawed.

On the pumpkin front....

I bought the stuff for the pie crust today! And Honey I think there will be enough to make an apple pie for YOU. Maybe tomorrow I'll take the plunge. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I've never had fresh pumpkin in anything.

I hope it's not green.

Once Again....

NOW what do you think?? I agreed with Lana that the black was hard to see. The purple was a bit overbearing. I decided the cupcakes were more "me" since I post a lot of cooking stuff and I like the whole idea about celebrating...thus the title change too.

I just needed a new look. And I think I like it.

The Great Pumpkin Challenge

Do you like pie? I could take it or leave it. Nothing special really. But my in-laws only eat pie for Thanksgiving dessert. It's sorta the star of the meal even though I don't think it's anything big. Anyway, I suppose a homemade made from scratch kind of pie is pretty good but hardly anyone makes those anymore.

Understand. Homemade is NOT the same as made from scratch. My mother-in-law makes a crust then fills it with canned pie filling. That's homemade. Some people make the filling but buy the store bought crust. That's homemade. My daughter made an apple pie from apples, flour, sugar, and so forth. That's made from scratch. It took hours.

So I'm challenging myself to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. As in cook the cute pumpkin that's decorating my front porch. Have you ever done this? B/c I don't know how. Or do you want to join me in the challenge to do it for the first time? If so, tell me in my comment section.

I'm thinking of doing it this week or next and I'll blog about it with pictures.

I'm not that great at pie crust. I'm intimidated by them. Mainly b/c I hate using that much white flour and the wheat ones I've made have not been very good..especially for pie. Maybe I need to try rice flour or something?? Anyway, I plan to conquer my pie crust fears and go for it. Wanna join me?

Today's Meals...
Breakfast- cereal
Lunch - tomato soup and grilled cheese
Dinner- meatballs w/noodles and sauteed green beans

Crock Pot Tomato Soup

2 28oz cans tomato puree
1 can chicken broth (or homemade)
2 tsp each onion powder & basil
1 T. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 C. honey
2 1/4 C. water or milk (we like water)

Mix all in crock pot and cook on HIGH until heated through.

A Quick Answer To Prayer

I finished the clothes exchange! Happy Happy Joy Joy! I brought up the last 2 boxes and set them in front of the door. There ya go. Big long happy sigh.....

But as I was bringing them up I mentioned to my son that Babyest didn't have much for the winter this year. 2 of my daughters were also short on churchy type stuff. He just shrugged and said, "God will provide".

So I go out to the shed for one more peek to make sure I didn't forget anything. And there it was. 1 more container of winter clothes for those 2 daughters! Yessss!!! I also found a box of shoes for Baby Girl. Bonus!

Then I head back to my room and see another one! A box for Babyest! Right there in the hall. Right in the middle of the house. How did I miss it you ask? B/c I've had such a mess of clothes everywhere all week that I was used to walking around it and it become invisible. I know.
Anyway, there were just the right amount of clothes for him. Not too much to deal with. Just right for this winter.

Thank YOU God!!

What Do You Think?

Do you like my new look? My husband and daughter helped me with it. It's not quite done and I will be working on putting pix up soon as well as the widgets that were deleted.

This Weekend

~Cold and drizzly. NOT my favorite soccer weather. I'm glad I pulled out the winter clothes. I'm not done with the clothes exchange yet, but close.

~My first book day yesterday. I hope my friends had a good time. I did. I don't know if I'll do it again though. I'm considering hosting one online. What do you think? Would any of you do it with me?

~I'm working today to prepare for the Sabbath tomorrow. It was so great last week that I wanna do it again.

~I've made a new commitment...or lack of. Except for gym and OR I am not doing any outside activities until February. This will give us time to enjoy holiday prep, the Wings, and 2 more birthdays.

~My baby oil deal didn't work at the grocery store. Rats!

~My grocery budget is looking much better this month. And we're over 1/3 of the way through it.

~My plans for next week....call my dad (b/c I haven't in awhile and I wanna hear his voice), debate and soccer practice, card making with kids, working with COWs in the kitchen, finish clothes exchange, gym, cook a whole pumpkin, and that's about it.

~Oh I almost forgot, my husband and daughter informed me that it's rude (yes RUDE!) to not participate in worship practice if you're hosting it at your house *even though* you're not on the worship team! Did you know that? I didn't. So I shall add that to the list instead of my phone date.

Today's meals....
Breakfast- omelets
Lunch - sandwiches
Dinner- scalloped potatoes, roasted tomato salad, salad, and bread
Tea- pumpkin muffins

Scalloped Potatoes In The Crockpot

Enough potatoes to feed your family peeled and thinly sliced
Tonight I added some leftover turkey and fresh spinach
chopped garlic

Make a white sauce and pour over potatoes
1/2 C. butter melted on the stove
1/2 C. flour
Cook for about 1 minute

Add 1 block of cream cheese and work into the mixture while you also add:
2 C. each chicken broth and milk
salt and pepper
Stir and cook until thick and creamy

Cook on HIGH until potatoes are soft. Then stir in a couple of handfuls of grated cheddar.

Reflections Of An Eventful Year

Today is our 1 year anniversary in our house. Good bye Arkansas, Hello Colorado! What an eventful year it has been. It has been a year of God's grace walking through a myriad of changes and newness.


Honey posted about what prompted our decision to move. The Lord has blessed us in every step of the way and CO has been more than anything we ever hoped it would be. And although we miss the old life, the new life is an adventure and we're all liking it to one degree or another.

~My precious husband had the task of picking out our house alone. Whata guy! And except for being separated for however many months, that was the hardest. The housing market is quite expensive here and our options were limited. In his search he was intent on finding something that met our unique needs. He was able to look beyond the dilapidated condition to see the potential. He's good at picking houses.

~We had plenty of company in CO right away. The in-laws stayed with us a week and helped us move in, Mark and Linda came for 2 nights, and we had a Wing visit to look forward to in only 2 months. (I remember tears of joy when I made that announcement.) Company is very helpful when you're feeling lonely and missing home. Also e-mailing and unlimited long distance is a blessing!

~God introduced us to our son's soccer coach. Except for Honey's co-workers, the first guy we really met. They love the Lord, have boys that are our boys' ages, AND they homeschool. They introduced us to our homeschool group. A perfect connection.

~A little scary going to my first gym day. But, WOW the mom's were so welcoming and I felt right at home immediately. The kids loved gym and this year the door was opened for Oral Reports as well. It is different from our group in AR and that was a bit hard to get over. I guess I thought that most homeschool groups are the same. I like the difference though and I'm happy for the opportunities my kids have. Isn't that what this whole thing was about anyway?? My homeschool buddies are like a breath of fresh air. I love the like-mindedness and how easily we can talk.

~We visited a few churches. Honey had visited a bunch before we got here and took us around to the ones that were on the "maybe" list. It didn't take long before we stepped into Alameda Hills. Immediately we felt a connection. Again so welcoming, so friendly, so family-ish. Home. This is something we did not have in AR. We're enjoying our new ministry opportunities and even our 7 year old has an important job of greeter. We have a church that is helping and encouraging us in our parenting goals and I met my first friend. My church and my homeschool group are the two things that helped me bond the most to CO. I love them both.

~Soccer. Much more intense than AR. It's been harder to make good decisions b/c of the many opportunities. It's been a good experience for my son. In AR he was a big fish in a small pond. In CO, there are lots of big fish. Plenty of competition and opportunity for him to improve his play. We're still hoping for a better coaching position for Honey.

~No piano. Why? I don't know. Well, kinda I do. I mean who can compare to Mrs. Moon? But now my daughter has started playing keyboard on the worship team and Mrs. Moon would be proud.

~Meg has done wonderfully and has a sweet attitude. We're so proud of her. Recently the Lord brought her a friend and we're all thankful for Cherry. She has met a deep need. My other kids are making friends too. So happy!!

There you have it. Not so much when you put it in writing I guess, but it feels big when you're living it. This is home. That means that I will no longer say "home" when I refer to AR. My family has grown and stretched this year and it feels sort of like a big project that we completed together. I look back over the year with great satisfaction but I'm hoping this next year will be less eventful.

Happy Birthday!

We have a new 6year old! And boy is he happy about it!

~He's been planning his b-day for 364 days.

~When something is funny, it's *really* funny.

~He loves meat. All meat. He'll have 2nds and 3rds and finish up whatever you left on your plate.

~He loves soccer, legos, sleeping with his brother, weapons, Spiderman, and wearing capes.

~Pink Blankey is still on his bed. (Honey, it's fine!)

~He's a great reader and a fabulous student all around.

~He surprises me about once a week with a card on my bed.

He had a great day yesterday. We gave him his presents early so he could play with them all day. A full day of bionicles, roller blading, siblings, junk food, and some XBox. Just enough for a brand new 6year old.

Happy Birthday Jes! We love you so much!

His meals....

Breakfast- donuts

Lunch - dinosaur chicken nuggets, mac&cheese

Dinner - pizza, leftover chicken nuggets, brownies & ice cream

His daddy blogged about him today too and even included some sort vids of the day. Click on the last video to hear Babyest's cute babblings.

Go See!

Amanda, to whom I bestow the title "my first friend in CO" has finally started her own blog. Quite cutsie too! Check it out here and leave her a welcome to the blogging world comment.

Some Latest Faves

Our BabyestSelf Portraits
The last picture of this 5 year old (tomorrow he will be six!)
Lizzy is 11!
Flag football huddle in the cul-de-sac

Pancakes and Syrup

I know I said we would have to give up pancakes, but my daughter volunteered so I took her up on it. I planned it for dinner twice this month. Here's our favorite recipe...

Oatmeal Pancakes (adapted from Two Sisters)

6 C. milk
1 C. melted butter
4 eggs (or 1 C. flaxseed mixture)
4 T. honey

4 C. whole wheat flour
4 C. oats
2 T. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
2 t. salt

Mix wet, mix dry, mix all together. We added blueberries tonight.

I used to buy that all natural maple syrup from Sams. Until it hit about $13 a bottle. So I've been experimenting with my own. Here's 2 winners....

Strawberry Syrup
4 C. frozen strawberries
1/2 C. honey
1 C. water
4 t. corn starch

Cook berries and honey on low until hot. Dissolve corn starch in water and pour over berries. Cook until hot and thick.

Apple Spice Syrup (from Tammysrecipes)
6 C. apple juice (1 can of concentrate and add water)
1 2/3 C. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
5 small apples peeled and chopped small
1/2 C. corn starch

Combine 5 cups of juice with sugar, spices, and apples. Simmer until apples are tender.

In a bowl, mix the corn starch with the remaining 1 C of juice. Add to apples and cook until thickens.

We also made some beef sausage to go with it. Not enough of us liked it for me to post that recipe.

This was sort of a big dinner. Pancakes always are. The sausage was messy. There were a ton of big dishes. Thank you girls for all your help tonight!

Today's meals...
Breakfast- blueberry oatmeal
Lunch- leftovers
Dinner- Pancakes and sausage