Fishing With G'ma and G'pa

 

This guy caught a BUNCH of fish!  And each one had its own celebration. 

 

 Nice Jes!

ZBoy turned out to be quite a good fisherman too.  The first time he was reeling one in he kept at it until it was finally flopping on the shore then yelled in surpise, "It's a FISH!!" 

 Good job!

And now here is my favorite picture series.  Mally fishing with G'pa....

She talked his ear off while G'pa was "hooking her up". 

Waiting....

We got one!!

They bring him up to the shore and she stoops down and says, "HI Buddy!"

Taking him off the hook.

See!!

The catch!

Thank you G'ma and G'pa for a fun time!

Without Apples

I was sooo ready for my apples! 40 pounds of beautiful organic apples in my cart ready to be picked up at the truck stop when my Azure Standard order came in tonight. I was even gonna try to figure out the dehydrator on my oven and make apple rings. Then there were apple strudels, apple salads, apples and dip, apple pie filling, and maybe even some applesauce all swimming about in my head. But no. No apples. Not one single one. And why don't they tell me these things instead of just showing up apple-less??


But I was reading today about grumbling. And God says to be thankful instead of grumbling, right? Sooo yes, I am thankful that the coconut I ordered months ago finally arrived, and I have some oats, wheat, salt, and other things that made it here too. Maybe next month I'll get my apples. Pleeeease.

It's NOT Yours!

E told me a story last week about how he's never eaten ice cream at my house.  I was sure he was mistaken b/c I know we've had ice cream while he's been over.  But apparently the first time we had ice cream he had his bowl all dished out, set it on the counter to find the sprinkles in the pantry, turned around and it was gone. 

Gone!  All he saw was the back of ZBoy walking off with his bowl of goodness. 

The next time was exactly the same thing.  Only this time it was a bouncy pony tail that he was looking at. 

Then there was the time when he brought over his milk shake.  He set it down to get something out of the microwave and ZBoy was sucking it down as fast as he could.   I tell ya the guy is going to have to learn to work one-handed around here. 

This week the g'mas took us all to Chuck E Cheese for dinner.  We ate, played games, and did the whole CEC thing.  It was time to leave and I was herding all the Taggs toward the door.  I brought up the rear with only ZBoy behind me by about 3 steps. 

I turned around to shoo him forward and GASP!!

He was sucking down SOMEONE ELSE'S abandoned coke off the table next to us!!!

Oh my goodness gracious.  I was pretty sure he'd probably drop dead soon from the stranger cooties but he's still with us. 

Disgusting. 

A Season For Everything

Isn't he cute?  This is a frosting clown that LB learned to make in cake decorating class.  He is entirely made of frosting except for the plastic head. 

Isaiah 54:13 says "And your sons will be taught by the Lord."   I have seen this over and over in my years of homeschooling.  Right now it is very apparent in LB's life. 

She has become very interested in cooking and sewing.   Now I can cook but I can NOT sew.   And I can't make anything cute out of frosting.  But it doesn't matter.  My friend Becky has been very sweet to take LB under her wing now and then and spend the afternoon sewing with her.   And then there is FYI (craft day) at church that usually centers around either cooking or sewing.  We know that on this day we will all get to glean from Leola's wisdom and craftiness.  She is taking 2 different cooking classes in co-op this semester and she is also blessed with grandmothers on both sides that are very talented seamstresses.  Yep, it skipped a generation. 

I thought today about how perfectly timely this is.  There was a season not too far back when there would've been no way I could've allowed LB to participate in these things.  There were too many diapers and nap times to juggle.  But it didn't matter.  She didn't need it then.  But now, at just the time she does God has sent the people into our lives as well as provided the time to do it. 

I'm so thankful. 

Me And My Girls

Shots From Saturday

 I bought a new wall map a couple of weeks ago but couldn't bear to put it up without painting the hall first. 
The white board had to be scooted over to make room so why not just re-do the whole thing, right?

 Playing the cherry game with Meg.

 And a new puzzle.  Some kids are really enjoying hard puzzles these days so I have a table set up in the entry way for it.  (Notice all the hair rollers?...that's for later)

 Some wrestling.

  My son getting ready to ref.  He issued his first yellow card today.  Uh oh. 

Goofin' off with my camera when I was supposed to be getting ready for a wedding.  And I realized that I didn't have anything to wear that I like.  I couldn't go to Savers b/c all my fashion consultants girls had their hair up in rollers and wouldn't wanna go like that.  I've decided that I need to lose 10# so some of my clothes will fit better.  :(

Beautiful couple!  Sweet wedding.  Just the girls and me. 

Some Cat In The Hat when we got home. 

Perfecting his aim for the rubberband fight.  I have rubberbands all over the house. 

T'was a good day.  Tomorrow is church at Immanuel ...then later at our own church.

And Monday the G'mas are coming!

Ramblings Of Recently

~Sweet Willow died today.  She is my sister-in-law's dog.  I'm so sad for them.  I remember when our black lab died years ago and sobbing on the porch for a looong time.  I hate it for them. 

~I seriously can't believe it's Friday.  Why is time sailing by me this way?  Am I too busy?  And what did I do all week anyway? 

~Up and out early this morning with my iPod and dog.  I thought I dressed warm enough.  Long pants and long sleeves.  But BRRRR!!!  We did a quick once around and right back home!

~I finished reading though my Bible this summer.  I'm starting over but doing it a little differently.  I'm going through the main people and events with my kids.  Right now we are studying the plagues and contrasting them to the gods of the Egyptians.   Here is a good site. Amazing to see how each plague was like a slap in the face to the Egyptian gods. 

We're talking about the 2 parts of the Bible.  Old Testament and New.  And where is Exodus found? 
We'll be working on memorizing all the books of the Bible. 
We'll also memorize the 10 plagues in order.

~We're continuing memorizing the Romans road verses.  And we are going to practice leading someone through the prayer of salvation.   My desire is for them to be confident and ready but humble and full of grace.

~Honey got a new effects pedal for his guitar.  Guess what he'll be doing this weekend?  And just in time too!  Sunday morning he's leading worship at Immanuel and Sunday night at our own church. 

~I want to learn to play piano so I can play with him.  That's something I want to try to fit in.  But when??

Today's Meals -
Breakfast - cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing that I made last night.  Actually I started them in the bread machine in the morning and as soon as I pushed the button I remembered that we were out of butter.  Awwww!!!  When the dough was finished I put it in the fridge to rise slowly.  Then (after a trip to the store), I finished them up before bed.  The icing was way too sweet for me, but Honey suggested we pour it over all of our food!

Lunch - leftover whatever LB made for dinner last night.  Not sure what you call it. 

Dinner - pizza and salad.  I'm playing with feta cheese.  Yummy!

A Sweet Walk

This afternoon I got to take a walk with my BirdyGirl.

• just us
• holding hands
• around the block and up the hill
• telling momma about her dream
• playing I Spy
• walking on the curb
• imitating the barking dogs
• giggling
• taking the long way home

Momma loves you Mally!

Awana This Week

Big Boy is back!  And you wanna hear something neat?  Well the kid has moved like 3 times since June.  And this time we didn't know anything about it.  Geo would go get them and they wouldn't be there.  Ever.  They were just gone. 

Last week I had pretty much decided that he and his sisters wouldn't come back.  And I didn't even look for him on the bus.  Disappointing, but I have given him over to the Lord in my heart and I have a special verse in Psalms that I pray for him.  

Then Sunday night I hear great news.  During the week, M & G were at the mall and there he was with his family!  I KNOW.   Isn't that just like God to give us the desire of our hearts?

So they got his new address and my class has that pretty smile in it once more!  happy happy. 
And ohhhh is he smart!  He's missed so much yet was working to catch up and it wasn't much of an effort for him.  He was just reading, studying, and ready to recite in minutes.   Wow. 

I also had a new guy.  He was a good boy and fit right in.  Problem is that he can't read yet.  I'm going to have to be extra creative with him.

My only girl has missed 2 weeks in a row.  But she came with her mom at dinner time to pick up her sister.  And guess what?  She who hasn't spoken a word in 4 weeks...and I mean not a word....came up to me and asked to pass off John 3:16!  Beautiful. 

One of my favorite parts of Awana is the drive home.  My 3 daughters are chattering and catching me up on where they worked and who did what.   Lane usually works games, LB is in the kitchen, and Meg worked with 5-6th grade girls and little bitties. 

Good times.

An Afternoon Coffee

See this pretty lady?  I'm posting this for you Wendy!!

Her sister, Margaret, wrote the book First We Have Coffee that I'm so crazy about.  And this week she came over and endured my coffee had coffee with us!  Bless her. 

She brought pictures and told stories about her family.  And answered all sorts of questions I had about Momma. 

Sweet time!

Happy Birthday LB!!

Our sweet one is now a teenager!  That makes 4 around here.  LB was the last of our first set of  babies.  4 babies in 5 years.  And now they are all teenagers.  whimper....

One of the greatest things about turning 13 is that you can finally finally sit in the front seat!   That's pretty much a big deal...though I'm not sure why.  I remember always wanting to sit up front too though.   So here is her first picture as a teenager. 

We got up early and spent the morning at the park.  No school on a birthday thank you.   Isn't she pretty?

I have seen a lot of growth in her this year.  One of the fun things is that she is discovering some new interests.  Quilting and sewing have made their way into her life and she even has her own sewing section in her closet.  The Lord has blessed her with a couple of ladies who have helped her along...since her momma isn't much of a seamstress. 

LB knows her way around the kitchen.  This year she has cooked and created more than ever.  She is always interested in what's going on with dinner or finding a new dessert to make.  Tonight we were the blessed recipients of her culinary skills!   She is helping every week in AWANA with me, but I think she secretly prefers working in the kitchen with the older ladies getting dinner ready for 30 hungry kiddos. 

I see so much of me in LB, except way better in every way.   I love you Baby Girl!  Happy Happy Birthday!

Menu Plan For This Week

This week we are eating totally out of our freezer/fridge/pantry.   I should not have to make any trips to the store if I'm careful.   Here's our dinner menu...

Monday
Lunch - leftover lasagna and egg rolls from the freezer.  My kids were so surprised to see these egg rolls.  My mother-in-law made these once when she was here and I stashed some away. 
Dinner - enchiladas, beans, and rice
Tuesday
A friend of mine posted an easy crockpot recipe that I'm calling Owen Chicken. 
This is new. 

Wednesday
Pancakes and eggs.  I'm putting my eldest son in charge of this since the girls and I will be at Awana. 

Thursday
Beefy rice casserole

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
burgers and roasted new potatoes

Sunday
Lunch - whatever LB makes at co-op
Dinner - Date night!  We have a coupon for a free Papa Murphy's pizza for Honey and I.  Mac & cheese for kiddos.

Snack ideas..
blueberry muffins
cookies
homemade crackers
smoothies

Field Trip Friday

Our homeschool group had a scheduled field trip to the fire station on Friday. 

It was ok for a fire station, I guess.  We didn't get to go through the smoke house and there wasn't a pole. 

But it was free and something that the littles hadn't gotten to do yet. 

Our favorite snow cone place closes for the season in 7 days.  Sniff...

So on the way home I decided to stop and make the last family snow cone run of the year. 

Cheers all around!!

Then something wonderful happened. 

Since nobody else was there (weird) she invited us in for our own private field trip!

Explaining the process.  She has been doing this for 17 years.  No wonder!!  And the ice has to freeze for 15 hours.  If they run out of ice, they have to borrow more from other snow cone places or close for the day. Side note:  This is the only one in town that ever has to borrow!

 A demonstration.  The rainbow snow cone always starts upside down. 

Look at all of us crammed in there!

She let my son make one and he says it's harder than it looks.

Ta Da!  A sour apple that we took up to Honey's office. 



A Sweet Story

The morning routine is always the same.  It hasn't changed in a long time. 

Room and groom done by 7:30
Chores done by 8am and at the table for breakfast
Breakfast, teeth, school

Everybody's familiar with it.  But on Wednesday a couple of guys acted as if they had never even heard of such a thing.  And even though it was school time, I had 2 little boys in the living room standing on their heads, wrestling, and goofing off. 

Wednesday is story time at the library so I simply told them that if their math wasn't done, they wouldn't be able to go. 

Panic!! 

"ALL of our math?!" 

Yep.

Tears and despair. 

But they set to work.  Jes worked quickly and seriously.  Nate was still not convinced that I was serious.  He whined and tried to negotiate before finally getting busy.   This took some time.

When he finally settled in, LB asked..."Mom, remember how Abraham interceded for Lot?  Can I intercede for Nathan?" 
Then I heard his big brother whispering to him cheering him on. 
"Come on...you can do it!"
"You're doing good...keep at it!"
"Hurry, you're almost there!"

He had his own cheering squad.  I puttered around the house until the last possible minute to leave before being late.  I really didn't think he would make it.  But then!  He set down his pencil and declared himself DONE! And he was.

At that, there were cheers all around! 

And one little boy that felt quite loved.

Food Talk

This is funny.  My oldest son and I were in Walgreens last week.  We were fixin to leave empty-handed when my eye fell upon a deal.  Frozen enchilada dinners for $.50 each and frozen beef and macaroni for ...get this... $.24 each.  I don't think in all my married life I have ever bought a frozen dinner.  Well this was a day of firsts.  We bought them all. 

I figured I'd use them for when we almost had enough left overs for everybody, but not quite.  Ever have those lunches?

We pulled one out today...just one...to heat it up and see what we thought.  Wow, Yum! 

~Remember all those turkeys I bought last year for $.40/#?  Well I think we just used the last one.  I say "think" b/c my freezer is pretty full and there could be just one more at the bottom.  But I doubt it.  

This time I did something different with it.  I boiled it.  I was pretty tickled when I realized that the whole thing would fit into my biggest pot.  I had just assumed that all turkeys are too big for that kinda thing.   Here's what happened...

...I cleaned it up, took out the guts, and washed it all over.  If you have a 14yo boy lying around the house, this is a good job for him.  
...I put it in a pot, covered it with water, put on the lid, and turned the heat to medium. 
...I let it boil for about 1/2 the day.  Actually I let it boil over a couple of times and had to readjust the heat.
...When the meat was falling off the bone I declared it done and took it off the heat. 
...With tongs I pulled the bird out to cool on a platter.  That was kinda tricky.
...When it was cool, I had that 14yo boy pull all the meat off the bones.  He bagged it for the freezer and I got 4 dinner's worth of meat from it. 
...I poured the broth into jars for the freezer (make sure to leave some space) and came out with about 6 quarts of broth. 

Why didn't I do this a long time ago??  Clean up was so much easier than baking.  And just when I decided I wouldn't fall for that sale again, I think I may have just changed my mind. 

See this?

It's a one-handed pepper mill.  My mom bought it for me when she was here.  My little kids call it the "pepper machine".  They are so proud of our pepper machine that when they had a friend over last week they had to show it off to him first thing.  Not sure that the 7 yo was as impressed as my boys are with it.  Now they need pepper on everything. 

I bought a ton of groceries last week and spent almost all my grocery money.  I have about $50 to last until the end of the month.   At this point that doesn't sound too hard since I have so much food in the house.  We'll see.  I'm praying for God to show me how to make it stretch. 

The fridge was pretty cleaned out from the weekend, which meant there were no leftovers for lunch Monday.  I pulled out all the leftover chopped veggies and lots of spinach and scrambled 3 dz eggs with it.  I had a loaf of bread working in my bread machine to go with it.  When that was done I rinsed it out and filled it up again with cinnamon roll dough.  Then I took some pictures b/c I'm still crazy about my new camera.  So even though you probably know how to make cinnamon rolls I thought I'd show ya anyway...

When the dough is finished and risen roll it all out into a rectangular type shape and spread butter all over.  Real butter please and nothing that comes in a tub.

Then sprinkle sucanat (or brown sugar) and cinnamon all over that.

You can add raisins or nuts at this point, but I didn't.

Roll it up in a jelly roll and let your handsome boy wonder just how long it'll be until he actually gets to have one.  (He can do the dishes in the meantime.)

Using dental floss or string of some sort, cut off 1inch pieces. Trust me, this works so much better than a knife.

Place all the pretty rolls onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 until the very first signs of any one of them turning brown.  Pay attention and don't let this go too long.

Pull them out with one hand while fighting off drooling kids with the other.  And now you can make some icing.  Like a powdered sugar one or a cream cheese one or maybe just some honey.  Whatever. 

Our dinner menu this week:

Monday - friends over for dinner who actually brought dinner with them.  I know! 

Tuesday -  sloppy joes

Wed - Crunchy chicken salad

Thursday- Enchiladas

Friday - pizza

Saturday - whatever LB makes in Co-op class.  LOVE that class!!!

Sunday - date night!



A Little Bit Of Lately

~2 nights in a row that I'm up past 10:30pm.  Amazing.  It's a good time to blog when the house is asleep. 

~Speaking of blogging, I had my new homeschooling blog all set up and now I think I'll delete it.  It was sort of a decision made on a whim.  Those usually aren't too good, ya know.  Anyway, one blog is enough.

~We had a fun Saturday.    Tonight Honey and I had an unexpected date night out.  I needed a wall map for school and he came along to shop with me.  On the way home he asked, "Do you want to stop and eat?" 

Oh yes! 
So we did.  We had Mally and ZBoy and it was fun to have them out by themselves.   Good times. 

~JaJa is saying this cutest thing.  Instead of saying "thank you" he says "thank ya".  I like it because it is how my Granddaddy Gene used to say it.  Now I notice a couple of other boys are saying it too. 

~Wed continues to be my favorite day of the week.  I keep a fairly detailed calendar in my room and I noticed that every Wed not only says Awana but there is an exclamation point after each one.  Piano and Essay class doesn't have one of those....

I had a smaller class this week.  Only 6.  And I got the news that there was a murder (!) on Monday in the apartments where most of them live.  My heart immediately started praying that it wasn't in the courtyard or a place where any of my kids would've seen it.  And when I asked them if anything interesting happened to them this week, nobody answered anything out of the ordinary.  I'm still sad for them.

Nick is especially on my mind this week.   We had a bit of an awkward moment with him and I'm hoping everything is ok.   Of all my kids, he seems to soak in God's Word the easiest.  And not only for the moment, but talks of God at other times throughout the night.  I tell him he's going to be a preacher when he grows up, and he agrees. 

My time working with Immanuel is a huge blessing.

~We have a field trip to the fire station on Friday.  It'll be a good thing for everyone to look forward to all week.

~I have such an urge to go camping!  Just Honey and Me.  Years ago, we went camping all by ourselves and it was so much fun.

It's fun to camp with kids too, but there is sooo much added responsibility away from home.  So many more dangers and unaccounted variables.  And every time we came home from a family camping trip I just felt relieved that nobody tumbled off the cliff or fell in the fire.

~I'm trying to download some ramdom pix for this post but they won't work.  I just keep getting a failed message.  How come??    Finally it worked!  So look....Here's some pix from last week.

Boys that never wear shirts anymore. 

A lunch time soccer game.

Mally at the school park.

A New Tradition

This Saturday started like most of them around here.   I woke up to the sound of littles who had slept on our floor the night before. 

The kitchen was busy with breakfast prep as Honey was directing the omelet process. 

People had plans and were preparing for the day.  

Honey and Kitch were refereeing 2 games each this morning.
Meg and LB were going to get their hair cut and spend the morning out with E.
Lane wanted to catch up on some homework before Monday.

When others started scattering in different directions, the ones that were home helped to straighten the house before we headed out too.  We have an elementary school around the corner and we were going to pack some cookies and walk over to play on the playground equipment. 

We played until the boys were hot and sweaty and the littles were starting to wilt.   Leaving the park, JaJa says, "Oh yes!  Now we get to have smoothies!"

I say, "We do?"
He says, "I LOVE Saturdays!  I love it when the big kids go do something and then you always take us to the park or a big walk and then we go home and you make us all smoothies and the house is clean because we cleaned it before we left.  I LOVE Saturdays!"

The other kids chime it too and they have renewed energy for the walk home, all looking forward to smoothies.

I didn't plan to have smoothies.  It didn't occur to me that we did this.  But after listening to them, I realized they were right.  That is what we do.   And it's kinda funny that they noticed a "tradition" that I didn't.   And he even mentioned coming home to a clean house, which is something I never thought anybody cared about but me.  My mind quickly did an inventory of my freezer to see what kind of smoothie ingredients we had.  

I hope this is a good memory for them!

A New Friend!

This guy caused quite the excitement yesterday!

Take A Look

My new homeschooling blog is up and running.  I'm still working on it but stop by and tell me what you think.  Really, I want to know.  How can I make it better??

A Rainy Day

~A few weeks ago I burned some pizza crusts so I gave them to the kids to play frisbee with in the front yard.   One got stuck on the roof.  Since then we've had at least 2 hard rain storms and it is  still there!  No birds or squirrels have even touched it! 

I'm considering doing some contract work for a shingle company.  I think I may have a better product than they do!


~The rainy day and cooler weather gave me the occasion to wear my new jacket that I got at a garage sale for $3 this summer.   I love it. 

And I love this day.  It was perfect for walking this morning with my dog. 
I saw a neighbor that I haven't visited with in awhile and stopped and chatted.   And I'm SO disappointed with myself for griping about the hot summer.  You'd think I'd have other things to say since I hadn't seen her in awhile.  But no.  I used the occasion to complain.  Give me a break!   And it has even been my goal not to ever complain about the weather again.  Ever.  Who am I to say that God's design of the day is not good? 

I have cutie kiddos playing outside in the rain.

Not sure what the underwear on the head is about.   Gotta protect the 'do I guess. 

Floating boats!

Anyway, the day is beautiful (as all of them are) with slow rain, lots of clouds, and cooler temps.  Ahhh......
I'm thinking we need some hot chocolate to finish off our cookies for tea.

Food Talk For This Week

Only a couple of days until payday!  Since I'm over budget that is very good news.  I'm blaming it on the grape sale.  I went overboard on grapes.  But if you asked my kids they'd say I didn't buy near enough!  My freezer is pretty full so I'm making some withdrawals. 

We're out of milk so last night I made a new breakfast cookie recipe for today's breakfast.  It was not my favorite so I'm not going to share it with you but the kids gobbled them up and asked for more.   We also had grapes.

I made these yummy smoothies on Saturday with some over ripe bananas. 

Chocolate Banana Smoothies

1 qt yogurt
3 ripe bananas
1 heaping Tablespoon of cocoa powder
sweetener to taste

I LOVE co-op this semester!  LB's taking a wonderful cooking class where she makes dinner for the whole family each week in class.  I save it for Saturday nights.  Last week she made lasagna and it was terrific.  She's also taking a cake decorating class.  Win Win!

Last week I taught JaJa how to brown hamburger meat.  It's a paid job around here and I'm paying $1/# of browned meat, drained, bagged and labeled for the freezer, and cleaned up.   He's not quite tall enough or strong enough to drain it safely by himself but he can get the bulk of the work done.  And just the willingness to do it, makes me happy.  He made $4. 

I'm planning lots of new recipes for the upcoming weeks.  I got some free cooking magazines from the library to work from.  Some are not as healthy as I'd like but I'm hoping to use them for some hospitality foods. 

A word about that.  Every healthy cook book I've ever read brags about family and guests loving homemade healthy foods b/c it is not something they get everyday.   My experience has been the opposite.   People used to lots of salt, sugar, and refined flours are not so friendly towards healthy foods.  Their taste buds are not accustomed to it.

This week I'm trying lots of new things and I'll pass along the keepers. 

Today..
Breakfast - breakfast cookies and grapes
Lunch - tomato soup and fresh bread
Dinner - spaghetti, salad, bread

Tomorrow..
Breakfast - oatmeal muffins
Lunch - leftovers
Dinner - tuna cakes, mashed potatoes, broccoli

Wednesday
Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - leftovers
Dinner - pizza casserole and salad

Thursday
Breakfast - orange julius and cinnamon swirl toast
Lunch - leftovers
Dinner- Spinach and tomato pasta, salad, bread

Friday
Breakfast - smoothies and toast
Lunch - leftovers
Dinner - pizza

Saturday
Breakfast - Usually Honey makes omelets but he'll be refereeing so I'll hafta come up with something myself.  (I don't really like making Honey's specialty.)   I'm thinking a new recipe called breakfast shortcakes.
Lunch - leftovers
Dinner- whatever LB makes in co-op class (!)

Snacks..
oreo splits
applesauce bread
chocolate peanut butter cookies
smoothies
frozen grapes and popsicles

A Little Bit Of Lately

~Another great week at Awana Wed.  And guess what?  Chicken was there!  I was so surprised.  And since I took Jes, he got to sit with him and meet him. 

He was wearing a t-shirt that said something like, "I don't mind homework, as long as someone else does it."  And get this.  His teacher said it was inappropriate and made him wear it inside out all day!  Seriously.  Looks like she would have bigger things to worry about.  

Anyway, I was able to hear Caleb pass off 2 verses!  And one of them was very hard for him last week.  I made my class some flash cards with their verses on them to take to school, use as a bookmark, carry in their pocket, whatever. 

And all the way up the stairs to game time Nick was basically preaching the gospel to everyone in line.  The goodness never ends. 

~We're having plumbing issues.  Something in each bathroom. 

~Mayfee lost another tooth!  Precious.  I love love LOVE snaggle tooth kids.  See how perfectly yummy they are? 

~No matter how hard I try, a clean house on Friday never makes it to Sunday.   How do we manage to trash it so in such a short time?

~I'm about $20 over my grocery budget with 3 days left to go.  Sigh....

~Honey and CT refereed soccer games all day Saturday.  Such good money for a 14 yo kid.  I'm happy for this new opportunity for him. 

~Christmas music on my iPod makes me smile. 

Off to church this morning then again tonight.  Then Date Night with my guy!

A Hospitality Makeover

My mom and g'ma just left after spending a fun-filled 2 days with us.  It was good to be out of routine for a bit, eat different foods, do special stuff, and sometimes just hang out.  Nana went with us to Awana this week and I loved that.  

But I noticed something.  And they were little things.  But still.

I overlooked a lot of things that I wish I hadn't. 

Like making coffee for Gram. 
And checking the toilet paper status before they arrived. 
I wish I had made something chocolate. 
And had more snack foods in the house. 

I learned some things about their likes and dislikes while they were here too.  Like Nana doesn't like pepper on her food.  And Gram doesn't like bean burritos. 

I think I'm going to make myself a little hospitality notebook listing as many likes/dislikes of my guests as I know. 
And making checklists of things that I would've liked to remember this time but didn't. 

If you've been here long, you'll know that hospitality doesn't come naturally to me.  But it's important to me so I keep practicing.  I want my guests to feel special and like I have thought ahead and prepared.  That I'm happy they are here and want them to come back.  

I wonder who's coming next???  Wanna swing by my house so I can practice on YOU? 

A Vacation Home

The geckos have a home-away-from-home that my boys worked on this weekend.

This is on a shelf in the boys' closet.  These guys spend a lot of time in their closet with legos. 

Checking out the new spot.

They even have a little door.  And the boys erupted with giggles when the gecko poked his head out the "window".   I wish I had gotten a picture of that. 

Menu Plan For This Week

I was hoping to find a good deal on one of these but decided to borrow one instead.  Such a nifty gadget for peeling, coring, and slicing apples with the turn of a handle.  I'm hooked!  So I'm still looking....

So the whole reason I wanted one was b/c of this...

Lane and LB made apple pies at church and they were delicious!  Apple pie for breakfast....oh yeah. 

A bit jealous, I decided that I must make my own.   But of course I needed this handy tool first.  Somehow the girls made their pies just fine without a fancy gadget though.  Huh. 

Anyhoo, I got my apples and got busy.  But I forgot something. 

I don't make pie crust.  I've never liked pie crust.  There is no way you can make a healthy pie crust with whole grain flour and butter than tastes the same as white flour and shortening.  And shortening will never make my grocery list.  Ever. 

So of course, it didn't come out anywhere near as good as the girls'.  And Meg says, "B/c you didn't do it right." 

Oh well.

But I'm not done with this spiffy apple thingy yet.  And seeing as how Azure Standard has organic apples on sale for less than a dollar a pound AND I have 40# of them in my cart....I'll be apple-ing everything for awhile. 

But onto other food-type stuff....

Jes and I made a bunch of oatmeal muffins this weekend.  I worked with him on tripling ingredients and cracking eggs without getting them everywhere.  Now we have plenty of muffins to snack on, plus some for the freezer. 

We had a big celebration dinner last week for these guys to celebrate their referee licenses.  Steak, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli, salad, and something that sorta resembled an apple pie. 

Today I have the steak bones boiling for soup for lunch with lots of vegetables and some bread. 

Dinner tonight is bean burritos. 

And did I mention that Nana and Gram are coming today!!?  Fun stuff.

Hugely busy week with co-op starting, Awana, TaeKwonDo, Soccer,  GKS, and babysitting.  Next week ought to be better but as for now, I'm kinda winging it.   And instead of laying it all out, I just have some ideas of quicky stuff to pull from. 

Cereal

Muffins

Orange Julius

tomato soup

sandwiches

pizza

taco salad

burgers (left over from last week's menu plan)

m&m cookies

baked potatoes