Who Keeps The Trash?

The "fancy" juice, as I call it, was on sale this week. It's the frozen concentrate that comes in the little plastic containers instead of the cardboard ones. Little did I know what a coveted item that little plastic cup was!

Yesterday, my daughter asked for it for her pen collection. I accidentally threw it away.
Today my son asked for it to keep his money in.

Uh oh. The two of them came into my room after being told to confess for fighting over it. My daughter said that she claimed the cup yesterday, while my son protested that he just asked for it 10 minutes ago.

Really who cares, I'm thinking, it's TRASH!!

Well it wasn't trash to them. At 6 and 10 years old it was quite a treasure. So we talked about it and decided that they were both acting selfishly toward the other. What is more important, your brother's happiness or that trash? Now the cup wasn't so nifty after all.

Besides, my daughter is continually in trouble for the way her headboard looks b/c she is a collector of too much. It is hard enough to find a pen when we need it without someone hoarding them for herself. My son is not allowed to keep money anywhere except his bank. In either case, the next time I walked into their room I would most likely throw it away. This also cast a different light on the cup.

We talked it over and they both walked away happy....ready to pour some juice.

It's not even 8:00am!

The rest of the day looks like this....
We're off school until after Christmas and working on some freezer foods.

Me-helping everyone finish wrapping. Baking 5 loaves of bread.
#1 --2 batches of cereal for the freezer
#2--pizza for tonight
#3--lots of salsa for the freezer
#4--cookie dough to chill for cookies later

The littles will help some, play some, and make a mess some. We might invite the pastor's family over for dinner. We'll see...

Some Goals for 2008

I've been thinking on it...

Memorize the book of Colossians.

Read through the Child's Story Bible (Catherine Vos) with everyone.

Eliminate ALL sarcasm from my vocabulary.

Exercise consistently....everyone has to have some sort of New Year's health goal, right?

Finish moving in. Can it be done??

Learn (again) to post my own pix.

That's it so far. I figure if I keep my list short, I have a better chance of success.

Ps. Sunshine Princess,
Yes, chicken is yucky. Hardly worth the trouble really. I admire your courage though. I'm scared to death of pressure cookers. You are culinary light years ahead of me!

It's Been A Good Day

~My mom had surgery today and is doing well.

~I got a sweet e-mail from a friend in FSM. It was from someone that I don't know that well and that made it even more special.

~I helped #2 make candy.

~My kids helped me wrap and wrap and wrap and pack. We packed up Christmas boxes to send to family.

~We had unexpected company and that was nice. Even better.... I had lunch made to offer them! Thank you Lord.

~Did you know that today is the busiest day at the post office? I didn't, but I do now. That's what I get for waiting too long.

~I'll probably be in the paper tomorrow for standing in a super long post office line. The photographer took lots of pix of my 2 sons and me and asked us questions afterward for the article. I KNEW I should've made that boy change his shirt!

~I have a new friend! It's the lady that my daughter babysits for.

~We made candy, fudge, and caramel popcorn. Ohhh, that popcorn is good! It's my friend's recipe. I'll have to post it sometime.

~We picked up a tread mill last night for a Christmas present for our kids. It doesn't work. BUT my kids still had a great time playing on it for most of the day.

~My son got to do some different chores that he is not used to today. This evening he admitted that it was fun.

~Somebody told me today that my kids always seem so happy. That made my day. Of course they are not *always* so happy, still it was nice to hear.

~My husband hugged me and said I was a good wife and thanked me for taking such good care of everybody. Isn't he a sweetie? I am blessed to have an affectionate talker of a man.

~My daughter came in for a fun chat.

~I got Zekey to last until 8pm.

~Honey is watching a movie with the bigger kids. That means I have the whole room (and computer) to myself! I can blog and e-mail and look for recipes till my heart's content.

Confessions Of A Mom Of 9

No I don't have it all figured out.
I am not super organized.
I am not *so* patient.
I do not "have it all together".

As a matter of fact, my baby is now 8 months old, I can fit into all my favorite clothes again, and I'm quite used to sleeping on my back. Know what that means?

Well it means that my husband starts asking me questions with that "I knew it!" smile on his face, and my mind is very preoccupied with "what if?"

That "what if" question is always followed by "how in the world could I do it??"
"I'm so tired!"
"10? oh my."

But again it is something that I have to visit with the Lord about. I wonder if He ever gets tired of talking about the same ol' thing. Or if He wonders if I'll ever get it.
This morning I started Philippians and one of my favorite verses was right there in my regular reading...

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:6

This is His good work that He started and He is more than able to finish it well. It is my privilege to be included. And so what if I am tired? It means that I sleep really really well every night. He will not give me more than I can handle. Who knows, maybe we could get one of those babies that sleeps through the night the first week. I know He makes those...He just always give them to someone else!

So as I'm pondering this today another thought crossed my mind. Honey and I were talking last night about never remembering a time that was as busy as this. I'm not sure what happened but somehow life got bumped up a notch and it is hard to catch our breath right now. BUT, the thought occurred to me that I've also not felt this energetic in forever. I rarely ever have to take a nap and I just feel so healthy and good. Even though my day starts very early I wake up feeling ready to go. God has given us a challenge and has enabled me to meet it head on.

Why do I always doubt? Why do I fear? "for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. " Phil 2:13

I am not left to do it alone.

Free Diapers!

You can't beat that! Also free shampoo and cat food samples on the Walmart site. Check it out...

http://walmart.triaddigital.com/Free-Samples.aspx

Gingerbread Fun

We finally got to do the gingerbread house today. What a big fun that was! I had everyone dress in red, green, or white so that the pictures would look good. And don't you know that just when I learned to post them by myself something changed and now I can't. Where's my teenager???.... Ok I guess pix will come later.

So anyway, we open it up and all the littles are delighting over the little bags of candies. Immediately one bag somehow got a hole in it. Hmmm.

Bird took a bite out of the chimney then licked the gingerbread man all over so no one wanted to eat him. Isn't she smart?

My son was the total boss of the show.

#1 took the pictures I can't figure out how to post.

Everyone took turns at everything except Bird who just sat in the middle of table eating her man.

The house would not stay together with the icing glue. Of course no one was patient enough to hold it till it dried.

#1 was calling for duct tape.

The littles didn't care, they just wanted to decorate it with the candies or squirt the icing in their mouths. This simply would not do for my son. He says "You can't decorate it if it won't stay up. It's like you guys are buying couches when your whole house is falling down!"

Finally #1 passed off the camera and did an Extreme Home Makeover. Ta da! It stood...even against the storm of the little Taggs.

It didn't have to stand long, just long enough for Dad to see when he came home for lunch. Then it was quickly divided up and devoured.

It was a ton of noise and laughter!!

The Fruits Of The Spirit

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Gal 5:22-23

I was reading over these this morning and praying for the Lord to grow these fruits in me. Imagine if one could possess these in an ever-increasing measure, what a reflection of Christ she would be! This is what I imagine it would look like in a mother...

Love-- always puts the needs of her child above her own. She doesn't mind getting him out of his snow gear to go pee pee even though she just tied his shoes.

Joy-- has a smile and pleasant countenance even on bad day.

Peace--never uptight b/c she knows that the Lord is still working on her and her kids. This is NOT as good as it gets, there is always a divine work in progress. No need for discouragement. Never in a hurry.

Patience--Sweetly explains that math problem AGAIN knowing that each time she does her child is a little closer to getting it.

Kindness--She takes the time to do the extra little things that she knows are special to her children. She studies them, knows them, and makes them feel like they are wonderful.

Goodness--Ever forgiving and never expecting a repeat offense.

Faithfulness--A prayer warrior for her children..lifting them up daily and individually to the Lord. Diligent to discipline them appropriately and praying for wisdom for herself and husband.

Gentleness--Not easily angered, doesn't yell. Tries to understand and remember what it was like to be ten years old.

Self-Control--She always has the gentle answer on her lips. She does not even come unglued when someone drops a brand-new gallon of milk on the floor and it all spills under the fridge.

Hello and Goodbye

Friends came from Ft. Smith last night. What a nice breath of home......
They left this morning and didn't stay nearly long enough.

There's so much snow!

I'm guessing about 6 inches or so. My son says it's deep enough to fall backwards into without trying to catch yourself. It's still snowing and it's beautiful.

Jes came in last night wanting another pair of socks. I helped him take off his snow boots and his little toes were so pink and cold! His boots were still dry, just very very cold.

So here's my recipe for warming snow babies...

Pull out all the leftovers from the fridge and make a soup to keep on the stove.
Fill up the coffee pot with hot water for hot chocolate.
Empty the dryer and put old towels in front of the door.

They step in on the towels and strip down to their regular clothes.
The snow suits, gloves, and hats go straight to the dryer.
The boots wait and go in next.
Fill em up with soup and hot chocolate.

By the time they're done with that the clothes/boots will be ready and they'll be off to freeze again.

Taco Cornbread

I made this last night and it was yummy. It also goes a long way and is very filling. I made 2 pans of this and we only ate one....that is unheard of. Everyone liked it.

Taco Cornbread

Cornbread to cover the bottom of a 9x13 broken up into pieces
1 1/2lbs hamburger seasoned with taco seasoning and garlic
1 can of black beans
1 onion diced
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of green chilies (you can use Rotel but it's too spicy for my little ones, by doing this separately it's not as hot)
cheese to cover the top
black olives and green onions to garnish

Layer all into the 9x13 in the order given. Bake uncovered @ 350 until bubbly. Serve with sour cream and chips. ummmmm........

It'll Be Fun!

Today we are taking off school to prepare for our friends to come! Yep, we're having friends from Ft. Smith coming to spend the night. They are buying a car in Boulder and staying with us. We're so glad.

So we'll clean the house and cook and get the girls' room ready for them.

Since that won't take all day, we'll also wrap Christmas presents and bake cookies and decorate the gingerbread house. It will be a good day.

Those pre-made gingerbread house kits are so fun. They are on sale at Target right now for $8. Last year I got mine for $5. Jes said that was one of the funnest things about Christmas for him last year.

Last night Honey and I spent date night Christmas shopping. I love doing that! We do it every year. We didn't completely finish but got most of it out of the way. Probably this date night we'll spend wrapping. By that time maybe some of our online orders will have arrived too.

Lessons In Cinnamon Rolls

So yesterday my 11 yo son was COW. That means he was my go-to guy for the day. And he was going to help me work in the kitchen. I gave him the jobs of making corn bread and cinnamon rolls while I worked on spaghetti and bread. All was going just fine. The cinnamon rolls were rising while we were waiting on the oven to get hot. He asked if there was anything else and I suggested that he make salad. I could tell he was NOT crazy about this idea b/c his siblings were at the school playing. So I said for him to make the icing for the cinnamon rolls and call it a day.

I had been in the kitchen the whole time with him. I only stepped out a few minutes while he was making icing. When I came back, oh no! He put the icing all over the un-baked cinnamon rolls! I didn't know what else to do but bake them anyway.

The cinnamon rolls turned out perfect and delicious. My kitchen did not fare so well. Smoke everywhere and when I opened the oven it was like the door was stuck shut with sticky goo. How could this happen? It was just a little icing. It was a huge mess.

Well my fancy oven is self-cleaning so I hit the button. It's a long hot 4 hour cycle. When it was done, the oven did look much better but there was still work to do. Apparently it doesn't work on the bottom door part. Actually this was such a mess that it even went down into the bottom drawer and all over the pans. Yuck.

So this morning I gave that job to my son. I explained to him that it would not be easy and told him how to go about it. He scraped and cleaned and gave up. I turned him around and told him to try again. He worked some more.

This is a guy that likes to get all his stuff done as early as possible. It was 10am and he had worked on it all morning and had not even started on school. Plus his dad gave him a job to do too. I could see his struggle. This job, plus school, plus Dad's job was likely to take him all day. That meant no free time. His attitude was less than cheerful.

Time for a talk. I told him that while I could sympathize with his situation, it was just a fact of life that if you make a mess you must clean it up. It doesn't matter if you meant to make the mess or not. He asked me about COW and if it was a privilege then why did it mean more work instead of less. Good question. So we talked about not living for ourselves but living for God and serving others. He had the privilege of serving the family yesterday by cooking our meals. His siblings did not. I told him what it meant to live for Christ and that we are not our own anymore. We talked about his reluctance to make salad for the family yesterday so that he could live for himself. While free time is nice, it is also a privilege and not an entitlement. What a sad and boring life if we live only for ourselves!

Well as it turned out he finished school, finished the job Dad gave him, AND cleaned the oven all before Dad came home at 3:30. His attitude was better and the oven survived.

Who knew that there was so much learn by making cinnamon rolls? I am amazed at the lessons the Lord teaches me in the smallest things and I am glad for the opportunity to relate them to my kids everyday.

My New Spice Drawer

Didn't I tell ya there'd be a lot of pictures?

In my old house I had my spices in a little cabinet beside the stove. It was always a mess. I have a friend that alphabetizes her spices. I tried it but I couldn't keep it that way. Whenever I wanted something in the back, I would manage to mess up the whole system. So now I made a spice drawer. First I got rid of all those spices that I never really use. Then I combined all the multiple jars of the same spice. What was left fit nicely in this drawer. Now I can lay the spices down with the labels up and see at a glance what I need. It's easy to put back b/c I can just put it in the empty gap where I took it out. Plus I just like the whole organized look of it. I also put our vitamins in there hoping I'd see them more often and remember to take them. That part of it hasn't worked out yet.

Today

Beautiful sunny warm weather today.

I think the thing I love most about living here is that Honey comes home for lunch everyday. It seems like we have so much more family time. It takes him just a couple of minutes to get home..even when he rides his bike. So even in the evenings the nights seem longer b/c he gets home so quickly.

Today we pulled out all the leftovers for lunch. Every 3rd day I have leftovers planned for lunch in our menu. That leaves enough time for them add up and have enough of something for everybody. By that time we really need to clean them out and free up refrigerator space.

We still have enough left over oatmeal for me to make oatmeal muffins for breakfast tomorrow. CT is COW today so at nap time he and I will make muffins, orange rolls for tea, and get dinner started. Then I will help him wrap his Christmas presents. I'm going to set the timer to try to get that cooking work done in an hour...including clean up. We'll see.

Since the cabinets are in we got to unpack the tea dishes. Today is the first time we'll get to use them since I don't remember when. I'll read One Wintery Night during tea. I think we're on the last chapter.

Chores this afternoon.
LMT--mop the kitchen and dining room
CT ---downstairs bathroom. This is a gross job. Those boys are going to have to learn to aim better.
LB---matching orphan socks

Meg is babysitting for our realtor.

Sometime maybe I can squeeze in a walk?

Mine and Alton's Meatloaf

Ok, now that I've learned to post my own pictures we'll have pictures galore on here!
This is the meatloaf I made last night. I wanted to share my yummy glaze recipe with you. It's an Alton , the one and only, recipe so you know it's good.

Alton Brown's Meatloaf Glaze

1/2 C. Ketchup

1 big shot of worchestershire sauce

1 big shot of hot sauce

1 T. cumin

1 big shot of honey

Mix together. Let meatloaf cook about 15 minutes, then pull it out on the rack and brush with glaze while still in the oven. Finish cooking until done.

Alton's meatloaf tip is to not cook your meatloaf in a loaf pan. Use the loaf pan to shape your meatloaf then turn it out onto a bar pan to cook. A lot less grease that way.

Ta Da!!

Isn't it so pretty?

There are cabinets behind the stove too. I really like those. Also a pantry with pull-out shelves on the other side of the frige. These guys were great and did nice work. They were able to put cabinets in places that we didn't even think of. See the corner cabinet to the right of the stove? We also got a granite top on the island to tie it all together.

I LOVE THEM!!

Not Yet

But almost! They didn't have all the pieces ready for the counter tops so it won't be completely finished til tomorrow. BUT...we'll have a working sink and dishwasher before the day is through! Big long happy sigh.....

I am eager to post pix and show it off. This is far more fun than showing someone my new furnace, or a hanging door. But I want to wait until it's completely done and all cleaned up. It is beautiful.

Hey Ya'll

I had three comments this week about my accent. What accent? I think that is so funny b/c everyone here sounds like a valley girl to me but without all the "likes". I sound normal!

Honey is making dinner tonight for date night. Yay!

Counter tops come tomorrow. There was a slight delay. Things like this always take longer than they're supposed to.

We visited a super friendly, very tiny church this morning. We all liked it.

I'm reading Les Miserables. Huge book. I'm on page 76 . Only about 750 left to go. Great read so far. I'm gonna send it to Mr. Walker when I'm done.

Dinner's ready!!

Let's Take A Walk

I desperately want to start exercising. Looking at those Christmas pix....I look so old and tired! Maybe cause I'm getting old and tired? I gotta get moving!

So last night I prayed and asked the Lord to send me a walking buddy. Yeah, I know I *could* walk by myself but my feet seem to move better when my mouth is moving faster. Then I started thinking about who it would be. Hmm, since I know like 2 people I didn't have to think long.

This morning at church the pastor spoke about Jesus always being with us but we are not always aware of it. We are never alone. Then he talked about not always having to have someone with you to do the things you like to do b/c Jesus is there doing it with you. hello? Did he hear me pray that or something? I guess I found my new walking buddy! Now to actually put on those tennis shoes......

Christmas Tree Fun!

We added some more mess to the mess and decorated our Christmas tree. Every year I think it is more beautiful than the last. Maybe cause every year there are more kid-made ornaments and of course new baby ones. It is funny to stand back and look at it when it's all done. Most of the ornaments are clustered together way down at the bottom near the floor. There aren't many up high. It's cute.

This is another treasuring moment in my heart as I watch the delight on my little ones faces when they find their own ornaments. It is always a night full of smiles. Busy business...
Zekey and me! He didn't get to hang any ornaments this year but he enjoyed the fun that everyone else was having. Still gotta get that first ornament for him. I LOVE that job!
The 2 M's....

Jes finds just the right spot.
We ended the night with Christmas songs on the guitar and more pictures. We forgot to take an "after" picture though. Today I took CT shopping for Mal and Zekey. He is almost DONE with his Christmas shopping. What a guy!

I love this season! With so much snow on the ground still it really sets the mood. Egg nog night will be soon, probably this week. We're gonna make cookies and cookies and a lot of mess. I can't wait!!