New Stuff!!

Aren't these the prettiest bowls you've ever seen?  

They are bamboo and work perfectly with my new mezzaluna knife.  Think chopped salads at Subway...

This brought about a massive clean out of the mixing bowl cabinet and an ousting of cheap plastic bowls.  And while I was at it, all those ugly cloudy glass glasses needed to go too.  Because we just break them anyway, so we don't use them, so we don't need them.  

And the knife!  Where has this been all my life?  Super sharp, very versatile, and easy to use.  So far we've used it on chicken, carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, and salad.  And it's been here less than 24 hours.  

My moms came for a quick visit and brought all kinds of surprises like this new Tiger hat...

AND matching shirt and wool blanket.  So with all this going on surely the boys can pull out another big win this weekend.  I think my mom was worried about me sitting in the freezing cold so she also bought me a new jacket and thermos.  I know!!  But seriously the high for Friday is only 30 degrees and this week we are looking at a lows in the single digits.  So ya'll, it'll be brutal.  But at least I'll have some new gear that'll help.  

Weekly Wednesday

Well the biggest news this week is that our baby girl turned 8.  EIGHT!!

Her birthday was Friday but we celebrated on Saturday since Daddy and Lane would be home all day and there was no football.   It was a fun day of presents, and playing, and eating lunch out.
Her birthday meals were impressive.  I've had years of eight year old birthdays that included mac and cheese and frozen pizza.  But this girl was a bit more refined in her menu and chose oven fried chicken and Doritos.

One of the best parts of her day was promoting to blue belt in TaeKwonDo.   While she's not as fierce as her siblings, she is considered a high rank now and so just maybe will add some power behind her dance moves.

Meg spent the day with us and took her home to spend the night.

~Ms. Marianne gave me a new recipe that I tried this week.   I wanted to show you a Pinterest pin that was similar but, alas, Pinterest is uncooperative this morning.  It involved chicken, potatoes, and green beans all in one dish.  I made two different versions and barely had leftovers.  I'm calling it Marianne's Masterpiece.

~Renee and I have been trying to get together all month.  But it seemed that no matter how we rearranged life,  it wouldn't work.  So just like when I lived in CO, we had to make a phone date.    But still there were so many interruptions we only had about 20 minutes.   It was enough time to get the details of Justin's engagement and to discuss some of the weightier topics of life.  So between email and unlimited texting plans we should make it until December.

~My sweet Jes has fully recovered from his bout of shingles.  He went to the doctor yesterday and got a clean bill of health!  So grateful.

And I know I don't talk about my RA much, but I also had an appt yesterday.  It's time to change meds again.   So please pray with me that this one will work...and for a long time.

~Does anybody remember the weather Friday night?  Because I do.
It went something like this....super cold, raining, freezing, wet, frigid, and uncomfortable.
So at the football game, my man offered to park strategically at the end zone so I could watch from the car.

As if.

First of all, my boy would never be able to hear me coaching him and cheering him on from the car.
Second, I felt that Coach K needed me in the stands.

And if there was ever a game to be mercy ruled this was it.  But no.  We had to play out every single minute but won by a substantial margin.

This week is a big game about 3 hours away and I'm a bit concerned about this one...and probably any other subsequent games in the playoffs.  This could only mean one thing.  I need a new Tiger shirt to help the boys finish out the season.

Back To The Basics

" Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.  For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. " Col 1:28-29

I've been thinking on this verse lately.  It seems to sum up the heart of what I want to be as a mom.  

But...how can I teach with wisdom and present anyone mature when I am so immature and my life is so full of the exact opposite --foolishness.  

When I take a serious look at my life...which is summed up by how I spend the seconds of my day... I can see where I have wasted my time.  Things like screen time, negative thoughts, self-pity, and general time wasting.  And time wasting equals life wasting.  

So now I want to make a change.  A change to go back to the basics of what I know I can rely on to steer me back on the right path.  

• My Bible.  I'm in the middle of a Blackaby study. 
• Scripture memorization 
• Good books.  (I haven't been reading much lately) 
• Fostering edifying relationships 

Change is in the air!  I hope.

It Is Your Life

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.  I will counsel you with my eye on you."  Ps 32.:8

I talked to my kids this morning about being in the Word daily. There are going to be things that happen in your day that you have no idea how to handle.  And God is willing and able and eager to lead us in the right way.

Henry Blackaby says it best, "It is your life!"

Sometimes There Are No Words

Here's how it went.

And I always know to brace myself when a kid starts with, "Mom I gotta tell you what happened."

Josh was doing stretching exercises in football yesterday when an 8th grader with poor decision making skills decided to make an inappropriate comment on my son's butt.

To that, Josh reached into his pocket, took out a big rubberband bracelet thing and pegged the kid in the forehead knocking him backwards.

Me: You shot him IN THE FACE?! You could've gotten his eye!
Lane: yeah, why didn't you just punch him?

I don't even know what to say.

So I said "Tell Dad when he gets home."

But he didn't know what to say either.

Weekly Wednesday

So y'all.

I spent 2 days in a row in the doctor's office with a little boy that had a horrible rash.  Turns out Jes has shingles.

 I know.

It got progressively worse and he's a little miserable this morning. I'm hoping the new meds kick in today.

~This makes 2 of my people in the dr office this month and that is not a good start to flu and cold season.

So yesterday my oldest son did something absurd. You won't believe this but he asked for Oreganol and took it without being asked!! And if you're not familiar with Oreganol, it's a very nasty tasting/smelling oil that I'm convinced cures almost everything. And now it seems I have a convert!!

~With Jes out of commission that means a stay-at-home day instead of piano and shoebox shopping with Meg. Which on the one hand will bring moans of disappointment when I tell the kids, but on the other hand it means wrapping presents and doing some much needed stuff around here (which will also mean moans of disappointment).

Probably the only thing to bring smiles at this point would be if my man decided we could put up the Christmas tree. So if you see him, put in a good word for it. :-)

~This morning started the day with a slight show down involving a son with a smart mouth and a couple of trash cans.  MY GOODNESS!!  Trash day has many learning opportunities.

~Guess what I did? I moved the treadmill in the house. Actually I made the boys do it. I don't know how long it will last because a friend is supposed to come pick it up. But since I haven't heard from her I'm using it as much as I can. That means that after lunch I throw on my tennis shoes and watch some old DVDs of Rachel Ray while I walk however many miles it takes to finish a 30 minute meal.

~This weekend we went to our first chicken auction. It was extremely uneventful. We got there late and missed the exciting part which is where they turn a bunch of chickens loose and let the kids chase them and whatever they catch they can keep. I keep telling myself it was probably a bunch of roosters anyway. The the question arose as to whether or not the cage comes with the chickens you bid on or if you're supposed to bring your own cage. And where do people even get cages like that? We have a lot to learn.

But it appears we are going to try our hand at egg hatching again.  Even though it's winter.  Even though we had extensive rooster issues this summer.  I don't even understand. But my friend, Kim, told me that she knows a guy that can determine the gender of a chicken.  And it's his job!  We might be looking him up.....

~Saturday was our church's 5th annual block party. LOVE.
Lots of fun. Lots of new faces. It's my favorite church event of the whole year.

And speaking of church.  My secret pal seems to know me well.  I got a big surprise of the DD Devo and a bag of Dove chocolates.  Awwwww.........

I love them both.

~Our new fridge is here! And you should've seen the crud on the floor when he moved out the old one. I'm convinced we are the most disgusting people ever. So do you move out the fridge and mop back there on cleaning day? Or are you just embarrassed when the repair man comes?

~I will leave you with a football update. The Tigers are still undefeated after the playoff opener Friday night! Game 2 is this week against "the most athletic team yet" according to Coach K. But we are still predicted to win and have the home field advantage. So with that and my new lucky charm, I'm not too worried.

Push Ups, Sweaters, And Lucky Charms

I have a lot to tell you.

Especially since its been a whole week since I've been here and I've been saving up a bunch of inconsequential random news in no particular order.

~First of all my mothers came to visit. We had a great time of eating and shopping and talking and football watching. And in just a few short weeks we will making the trip to TX to see them again. And that'll be terrific because it also means I'll see my dad and grandmothers and cousin Jody.

While they were here, Nana bought me this necklace to wear for the playoffs. (Because HELLO we are there!!)  I call it my lucky charm.  And it's much cuter in person.  I wore it to the game Friday night and watched another mercy ruled game.  Coach K can thank me later.

~When the moms left, my man and I had our weekly date night. It was actually a big date ... A real leave the house date because we had tickets to The City Harmonic that we were looking so forward to that we were counting down the sleeps. But then, just a few hours before the show they cancelled it!!

I know.

But it was ok because we were also going to do some Christmas shopping and I'm blessed enough to be married to a guy that loves to shop. So we ate at Olive Garden with a gift card he got for running music at the company picnic. Then we hit the stores. The first stop was Academy because it's one of our faves and it knocked out a considerable portion of our kids' wish lists. Then SAMs. And finally Walmart until we were sick of shopping.

But that was Saturday and our real date nights are Sundays which meant we got two. Now Sunday was a very laid back date because my man wasn't feeling great and dinner involved frozen stuff while watching football together on the couch. It works.

Now this year I am more organized with our Christmas stuff than ever before. Which doesn't mean much since the other years have involved virtually no organization.  I looked at this precious printable and almost printed it but

1. We have no printer paper and
2. I felt that the lines and boxes might be too limiting for practical use.

So I'm using a whole notebook dedicated to nothing but Christmas.  I have pages for each kid.  Pages for purchases. Pages for expenses. Pages for ideas. And Pages for what we have left to do. It's working out just right and maybe later I'm thinking on added some artwork.

~And since we're talking about Christmas I should add that since the G'ma visit 2 of my kids are considerably richer which happens to be the same two that were running short of Christmas money.  For whatever reason G'ma slipped LB multiple twenty dollar bills while Nana took one of Mally's headbands and left ten dollars in its place.  Which is a little excessive since that headband costs upwards of six cents.  But G'mas and Nanas seem to do things like that.  :)

~Remember my refrigerator woes? While we were waiting for somebody to come to some conclusion, the fridge resurrected itself enough to be usable. But just when it decided to start dying again the Whirlpool lady called to say they would replace it. HALLELUJAH !!!! So sometime between now and 2 weeks they will bring another one and take away the old. And my people who have to go outside in the cold to fetch whatever we are having for supper could not be happier.

~First it was chess. Now it's poker.  Except it's still chess too.  My people are big gamers.

~This is what happens when you don't listen at Bible time.  You get to finish it out in push up position and hope that Momma is not long winded.

~Now Monday was the Savers 50% off sale so there's no question where the girls and I spent our day. 

I bought this sweater because it looked great on the hanger and even when I tried it on.  

But when I washed it and tried it on with my green pants that I decided would look perfect with it, it was less than perfect.  It has something to do with the pants.  And while I still love these army green pants, the truth of the matter is I never have anything to wear them with.  Plus I don't have any shoes that work either.  

So I tried the sweater with jeans and I think it'll work.  Now the good thing about a $3 sweater is three dollars.  The bad thing is that it reveals I need new shoes and different sweaters that match my green pants.  

And for some reason I don't think my man will think it was such a good deal after all.  

Pinteresting Things

I do not want to give you the wrong idea.

I'm not one of those super fun moms that look for every reason to include glitter in their daily lives.
But even so.  We did two TWO craft projects in one week.

I know!

And here's where I tell you that both of them arose out of sheer need.

The first one had something to do with the fact that my kiddos could not identify a good sentence structure to save their lives.   No matter how many books we read.  Or grammar exercises.  And I don't get it.

Enter this Pinterest guy to color and cut and glue.

Next up was working on clipboards to hold chore lists.  Again, thank you Pinterest.

And now we should be good with getting all our chores done and writing an informative paragraph about how to shine the sink.

Randomness Of Recently

Well.

Nothing gets the day started off wrong faster than a kid with a bad attitude.   Especially when it escalates to name calling and his sister is declared a Doofus.  Something had to be done.

My favorite Bible verse in dealing with this is Proverbs 17:1
"Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife."

My friend taught me years ago how to handle this by giving that child a stale crust of bread while everyone else enjoys breakfast.   Then it may make them think twice before stirring up more trouble.

Now I didn't have any stale bread on hand and it was too late to make it, so my son had a dry rice cake for breakfast as he ate in silence.   For the rest of the morning I made him speak in a British accent until lunch.   I don't think he's ever been so thankful for lunch in all his life.

~Yesterday turned out to be a day full of phone calls to various school officials trying to determine Christian's plans for next year.

1.  Enter as a full time student at UFAS
2.  Continue kicking for CHS while attending UFAS
3.  Complete his first year of college by concurrent enrollment and distance learning from UA Monticello and AR Tech and continue kicking

And since he is the first AR student to take advantage of the Tebow law, it is all new for everyone and we are all still trying to figure out how the particulars line up with Triple A rules.

So this morning I had my first meeting with a high school principal and counselor making sure we were all on the same page.  Turns out option #1 is going to be best for now with a formal appeal after the first of the year because of his age.

Anyhow it's all so confusing.... but we have had a fantastic year being involved with CHS and now my boy has a scholarship interview next week with UFAS.   Oh my goodness my momma heart can NOT believe we are already here.

I loved my babies.  I love my little people.  And now I'm loving all the new details that come with teenage students and a married adult.

~Did I tell you Lane started her new job?  She's making more money AND not driving to town every day.  Win win.  Plus she likes it!

~My in-laws have hit the road toward AZ for the whole winter.  That means we get their house for date night and movie nights since they have cable.  Last year I remember the first time we went over there after they left and it was so sad because Grandma wasn't there.  I'm guessing this time will be the same.  It's a long time until we see them again in the spring.

But we get another Grandma fix tomorrow when Grandma and Nana come to spend a couple of days!

~Tonight is AWANA!!
And Honey stays home with all the younger kids.  For them that means disregard whatever dinner mom has left us in the crockpot while Dad goes to the store for 3 different cereals with cartoon characters on the box.

A New Week

Happy Monday!  Did you have a good weekend?  

For the younger kids' writing assignment this morning, they had to list and cluster the things they liked about fall then turn it into a paragraph.  Leaves, costumes, Thanksgiving, and hairy animals were the most common.  

As we were talking it all over, I was also thinking about all the things I like about fall.   And I decided that today is pretty close to a perfect fall day even though there isn't any hairy animals involved.  

Here are some things I'm thankful for......

*A new week. 

* 3 loaves of bread cooling on the counter, and 3 more in the oven.  The smell is heavenly.

*A big pot of potato leek soup on the stove.  That smells pretty good too. 

*Finished laundry!  There will be more by this afternoon, but for now it feels really good! 

*Cool weather and rain.
*A little boy in fuzzy pjs

*A neighbor that is picking up meat for me and saving me a trip out of town.  

This week I'm looking forward to....

*My mothers are coming!!

*Friday night football 

*A big date night on Saturday to see City Harmonic with my man

*Watching Mally in tumbling class

*A walking date with a friend  

*A new book I started

Our Weekend

Oh my goodness.

It was one of those weekends. The kind that is filled from top to bottom with wonderfulness.

First of all was ANOTHER mercy ruled football game with my boy kicking 6 points on the board. And y'all, it was cold. But Lane graciously offered to stay with the younger kids and they were happier at home.

Now a small part of the fun of Friday nights has been meeting the people we sit by. LB's friend Jenni sat with us but other than that we didn't meet anybody fun. But we did sit on the 50 yard line and were in the direct line of fire for free t-shirts that the cheerleaders were throwing. I've been wanting one of those shirts for a long time and we scored 2 of them!

I was so surprised to see some our friends that came all the way out here (!) to help us cheer on our boy. Is that love or what? 

And then there was Greg.  He's my man's most favorite person on the earth besides us.  And while Honey gets to see him every week, the rest of us haven't seen him in a long time.  So Greg came for the game then came over after that to watch part of the Greenwood game and talk and talk and talk.  

It was a late night.  And it was perfect. 

Saturday was a cookout with neighbors, family, and friends.  It started small and grew to more people than I expected when I bought supplies.  So a trip to town was in order except that it meant an hour minimum plus extra gas money.  Now we have a little grocery store around the corner but they tend to be a little pricey so I usually just use it for emergencies and sale items.  But we decided to give it a try, just buying what we needed, to see if it would really be worth the trip to town.  

And here's what I learned.  

1. The prices were higher but not ridiculous.  I might've spent about $3 more than I would've at Aldi. 

2.  I saved an hour in my day plus miles on my car. 

3.  I saved gas. 

4.  I didn't buy anything else I didn't need.  And this is probably the biggest saver since it's so easy just to grab an extra gallon of milk or an unexpected end-cap purchase.  

So I'll be a little quicker to consider that as a good option and slower to make the big trip to town.  

Plus...my daughter just got a job there so how easy is that!!!  

Well the cookout was a lot of fun and we got to get to know some friends and neighbors better.  And there was chocolate involved so it was an especially good night.  

Sunday was church.  And I got to wear a new outfit plus the shoes I wore to Meg's wedding.  

HATE those shoes.  But they matched so what could I do?  I wore them all the way to church and back then threw them into the girls' room because I will never wear them again.  Too bad because they are soooo cute!  

Date night!  And it was my turn.  So I made Super Bowl Chicken with stuffed mushrooms and salad.  My man must've thanked me like 5 times then he mentioned it again this morning.  I guess it was a hit.  We watched some movie about monsters on earth trying to kill the guy making his way to the plane to fetch the rescue beacon.  And it was surprisingly pretty good and this comes from a girl that usually can't stay awake through a whole movie. 

And that was it.  A fantastic weekend!!  

Birthday Surprises In The Works

 

Mally's birthday is coming up next month.  A fact that she likes to mention every day. 

Her sisters have been saving old clothes in order to use the fabric to make some dolly clothes for a birthday present. 

 

Problem is.  We can't sew. 

 

Other problem is.  It's hard to pull out so much mess when you live together in the same house all the time and keep it a secret. 

 

But it just so happened that Mally was down for a nap and Grandma stopped by for a visit and to bring some snacks.  Now Grandma is a FANTASTIC seamstress.  So they pulled out the machine, the scraps, the doll, and the snacks. 

 

Grandma helped them make patterns.  Did you get that?  MAKE patterns.  Not like go buy them from the store patterns.  Then they got busy cutting, measuring, and stitching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this little doll will have a whole new wardrobe.

And the other little doll will be so surprised!

Thursday

We had a home game for Josh tonight and it was Christian's turn for chain duty. Which meant that he was in charge of that big orange marker that looks like an upside down exclamation mark with the bulls eye on top. I don't know whose idea it was to put him in charge of that but it was a good one. That way I could cheer on 2 kids at the same time.

But for some reason Christian wasn't big on that and told me the story of how the water girls told him that at every game they look for his family because every time there is a field goal we are a whole other show just by ourselves.

I had no idea.

Well today was a long day with a certain child that won herself an early bedtime.  So at 8:00 I am firmly tucked in bed with my new book, a podcast that I've been wanting to hear, and my planner. Done.

And before I could really enjoy my new book I knew I'd have to work on tomorrows plan and have it written out. Because I'm crazy that way. And I can barely make supper without writing it down first. And the most pressing items of the day turned out to be...

1. Finish the clothes exchange because I'm tired of looking at it.
2. Figure out what to do with the watermelon that nobody likes.

And the only reason I really care about this watermelon is because its tying up my favorite pot in the fridge and I've had to go with my alternate choice when making soup. So the watermelon needs to go. Which is fine since I told you that nobody even likes this particular watermelon.

Oh and guess what else? We had to buy a new fridge when we moved here and even though it was a pricey fridge it's been nothing but a piece of junk. I've lost count of how many times the repair man has come out on warranty work but he told me if we were paying out-of-pocket it would've added up to somewhere around a thousand dollars.

So he was back today and on the phone with Whirlpool trying to talk them into replacing it. Now it might surprise you to know that they were not so keen on this idea. So they are sending out another guy for a second opinion. In the meantime, it's still busted.

The way of the repair man is this.... "We will send someone out sometime between the hours of 8am and 5pm."

 This put a kink in my afternoon since I was hoping to go to football practice. Thursday is Special Teams day and I've only seen it from a distance and I wanted to go so I could cheer him on and all.

Obviously that didn't get to happen, but Christian was not as disappointed as you might expect.

What I'm Loving This Week

~So remember we talked about the clothes exchange?  Yesterday I finished another box and unpacked a bunch of boys' clothes that will make my guys look simply dashing.  It's almost like Christmas... unpacking and remembering the clothes that they wore to this or that last year.  And then seeing what they've outgrown that their brother can wear this year.  That's the part of it that I love.

And I am blown away at the abundance.  Just the other day I got a familiar big family comment.  It alluded to the fact that we must be rich since we can afford so many kids.   But as I sort through clothes, it's always a reminder of God's provision.  People are very generous when they learn you have a big family and many of those clothes are hand-me-downs.  The rest were bought at the thrift store on 50% off day.  Rarely would any of my kids wear a complete outfit that cost more than $10.  And they just keep getting passed down until they are outgrown and I can share them with someone else.

For the most part my boys are very gentle on their clothes.  It's my youngest daughter that's the problem!  No one will want her clothes when she's finished with them!

~Have we talked about kale?  Not only is it a super food that's packed with nutrients, but it's super easy to grow and very hardy.  We planted kale back in April and it is still going strong even after a transplant.  I'm the only one that's a huge fan of kale around here but my family is tolerant as long as it's not the feature presentation.  I put it in smoothies and salads mostly but I'm wanting to try more ways of cooking it too.

~I can not believe there are only a few more games of football.  This has been an outstanding experience and I am so grateful for the school and this town that have made us feel so welcome.  I'm still having strangers tell me what a great kicker we have and still people introducing themselves to me around town.  My boys are happy and meeting some neat friends and getting a ton of exercise!
LOVE.

~One of the things I'm looking forward to these days is Leslie's series on BALANCE.  She is posting every day on how she is able to stay balanced as a homeschool mom of 3 little girls.   Leslie is super organized and inspires me to look around and figure out what I can label.  It's been fun to see how she is balancing her first year of homeschooling with her oldest.  Even if you don't homeschool, I think you'll like her beautiful pictures of her family and home.

~Do you need a fun book to read with your kids?  Hank The Cow Dog is our fave.  I don't think our little girls would've fallen in love with Hank without the influence of their brothers.  But something about a house full of boys makes things funnier.  Right now we are reading Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.
So far it's my favorite, but I think I say that about every one of them.

~Jess and Birdy and I picked about 15 pounds of apples from our neighbor's tree.  Then my Azure Standard order came in and I got 20 more pounds.  LOVE apple season!  So this week we will be appling everything.

~And speaking of love.  I've been reviewing 1 Cor 13:4-8.  God has been talking to me about the words of my mouth lately and it all starts from the heart.  Francis Chan suggests that you read through that list and insert your name in the place of love.  Like ______ is patient, ________ is kind.   And it's not long before you feel like a liar.  So this passage plus Philippians 4 is what I'm loving right now.
Loving God and loving others with my thoughts, and words, and attitudes.

October Blessings

~This means only one thing.  The weather is perfect and it's time for the clothes exchange.

I hate this. And I love this.

I hate the work. And the decisions.

I love the organization and the cleanliness and the opportunity to share with my friends all the stuff my little people have outgrown. Every season I feel like I am able to organize it better than before.

Jes and I worked on his clothes. Summer clothes out. Fall clothes in. Orphan socks trashed. Holey undies a thing of the past. The boys' shoes have been a reckoning force since we moved here. We have one of those hang-on-the-back-of-the-door deals but no way will my guys actually put it to use. Instead they throw them in a box inside their door and it becomes a huge pile of mess. So this season I am separating their shoes into laundry baskets that slide under the bed and throwing away that box.

~I haven't seen my bees in a few weeks.  I'm itching to get in there and see what's going on in the hive. But the rain makes grumpy bees so I'll wait for the sunshine!

~This month we've had all 3 cars broken.  The kids' car was in the shop twice.  The van just got out today.   And this morning we went to use the blue car just to find out the battery was totally dead.   So we were down to one car which meant I had to take Honey to work at 6:30 and hit Walmart for another battery.

And let me tell you something.  When you shop Walmart in the early hours of the morning you have the whole store all to yourself.

 I took one look at the car batteries and decided they all looked just alike.  So I asked for help and I was sure to tell him the car was blue in case it mattered.   Apparently it worked because my son was able to install it and now we are back on the road.

~Look what was in our yard!!   Apparently this guy is lost because the only water feature on our property is the dog's bowl.  

~This month marks 2 important dates in our family.  The one year anniversary of moving into our house AND Meg and Ethan's wedding anniversary.  We are blessed! 

What's For Dinner?

We have 3 different mission opportunities at church this month...

1.  Dixie Jackson
2.  Clearing House
3.  World Hunger...love those little bread box banks!

We had a wonderful guest preacher on Sunday talking about Matt 28 and about how Jesus commanded us to be involved in missions.  I was praying this morning and felt like I needed to impress this point on my kids individually and not just count them in on our family contribution.   My younger kids don't have much money so I have offered them a weekly job for $5 to give to the mission of their choice.

And the only thing this has to do with my menu for the week is that Jess will be making breakfast all week and ZBoy will be making lunch.

Sooo I've come up with some simple stuff that I can help them do.  It's a big way to contribute to our family this week while at the same time "working unto the Lord" in a different kind of way.

Jess' Breakfasts...

Cereal.  He hates making this but did it tonight with a good attitude for us to have tomorrow.
Cinnamon toast
Eggs.  He loves making eggs but makes a HUGE mess so my kitchen cleaner was protesting this one!
Apple muffins
Blueberry muffins

ZBoy's lunches.....

Tuna and crackers with carrot sticks and dip
Nachos
Peanut butter rice cakes
Bean burritos
Grilled Cheese

Mally and I worked on our dinner menu for the next 2 weeks.

Date night (x2)
1. Honey's turn.
2. My turn...superbowl chicken and creamed spinach

So Mally said, since we bought tooth picks can we have sandwiches?  My kids love sticking an olive and toothpick in a sandwich and it's immediately elevated to the Super Shaggy sandwich from Scooby Doo.  That's what they'll be having for date night.  And they will eat quite a bit just to be able to do the whole olive and tooth pick thing.

French Toast and bacon (my man's special request)
Enchiladas and spanish rice
Artichoke Ravioli and summer salad
Burgers (x2) ...every Saturday night thanks to G'pa and Nana!
Pizza (x2)
Farmhouse Chicken and green beans
Tuna Melts (for a TKD night) and potato salad
Spaghetti and salad and banana pudding (for a Sunday lunch I think)
Chicken and dumplings

Freezer cooking... morning glory muffins and maybe some apple dumplings.   We robbed our neighbor's apple tree this weekend so I should probably make her some apple dumplings too!

Of Birthdays And Fancy Folks

This was a special week over here.  We spent 2 days celebrating this guy.

Jess turned the big eleven.  Monday was the real celebration with no school and presents and no school and lunch out and no school.  Then he wanted Grandma to cook him dinner so that was a good night of steak and ninja cartoons.  What could be better?  

Wednesday was the actual birthday so even though we already officially celebrated, everyone knows you still can't do school on the real day.

Look here.  New Awana boys for meeeee!!  Notice the Duck Dynasty shirt?  I could tell right off the bat this was a kid with exquisite taste for the finer things in life.

I had 2 helpers this week which meant everyone got a little extra one-on-one and we got a lot accomplished.  LOVE my 5th graders.  Truth be known, I just love working with unchurched kiddos.  They are my unreached people group.

Take a good look. 

This is what Joshua wore to bee club.  And this is after I sent him back to change out of his John Deere "Can You Dig It?' shirt.

When we got home he said, "I didn't see anyone else dressed up in nice church clothes tonight.  Just me."

And Meg said this would happen if we moved to the country.

So I guess wearing this fine t-shirt and tennis shoes instead of crocs made him feel rather dressy.  And it stands to reason that since you might find me in my favorite green t-shirt from Thrift Town on any given day that we are some very fancy people.

Bedtime Weirdness

It was a lazy rainy Saturday that included a bath and a nap that lasted over 2 hours. Oh and some DD thrown in for good measure.

Perfection really.

And after all that hard work it was time for bed.
Have you ever looked over a recipe and been disappointed that you didn't think of that first? Well that's how all the discontentment started. Recipe creation envy. Because I could totally have done that.
It was a Pinterest recipe named something like dreamy bedtime drink and the pictures were cute.

I even got out of bed to try it. Except that the recipe said to heat the milk to almost boiling (on the stove I assume) and I decided there was no reason to do that. So here's my lazy version. And if you're in bed I suggest you hop up and give it a try because its completely worth it. I promise.

Get out your favorite coffee cup and pour some almond milk into it. I suppose you can use whatever milk you have but almond milk is perfect for this. Except I don't think you should use rice because its too thin... Just my opinion. Then eyeball about a tsp of honey or maple syrup into that with a splash of vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Stir it up and microwave it.

So there. I tweaked it and renamed it to Creamy Dreamy.  And now it's mine.

I was immediately in love with this and carried it back to bed to settle into some reading time.

But there was nothing I wanted to read except that I wanted to read something.

My book on Ps 23 wasn't what I had in mind.

Great Expectations has complicated vocab and after such a tiring day I didn't feel up to it.

The Jordan Rubin book is at a boring part

And the new Crazy Busy book my man and I are reading was not what I had in mind since my activities of the day would indicate that I'm doing good on that front.

I was kinda in a fiction mood except that I don't have much in that genre. Then I remembered Lucille and decided to see what kinda kindle freebies I had stored up.

I have a fiction category with a whole 4 books to choose from. Stupid ones too like something about 13th century England with Scottish names. Who cares about that? And then there was the complete Sherlock Holmes treasury which makes me think that Lucille was hijacked by my daughter for a certain time and none of those 4 books were my doing.

So there I was.

I pulled out my phone and started checking my blog friends and stumbled on the perfect thing. Better than fiction... A whole blog series on cleaning house that I'd never read. So even though I laid around all day I could live vicariously through someone who was actually productive and who can take pretty pictures of organized pantries.

I love those kind of people.

The Day My Pride Took A Nose Dive

I was out for my morning walk and ran into my neighbor, Ellen.  I petted her tiny dog, Gracie, and we talked about her pecan trees.

As I was leaving I was looking at the pecan tree and not paying a bit of attention to anything else.  And here's where it all went south.  Literally.

I stepped off the part where the street meets the grass in a drop off of about 6 inches and bit the dust.  My pants didn't have pockets so I had my phone in one hand which meant I didn't even catch myself right because apparently I place more value on my precious phone than on my body parts!  So y'all, I went all the way down ON MY FACE!!!   So when I say I bit the dust, I mean it in the most literal sense.

And my only thought was "I hope Ellen went in the house and didn't see this!"

But no.

And here's what you need to know.

She didn't even laugh.

Which explains 2 things.
1. The excellency of my neighbors.
2. The reason we could never be close friends.  Because it was funny!

But instead of laughing, I hear her shout,  "BLESS YOUR HEART!!  Are you ok?"
Which might be something I might've said if I saw that happen, but you can be sure I would've had a hard time getting the words out between the fits of laughter.   My grandmother tripped and rolled down a hill about 20 years ago and we are still laughing about it today.  Because nothing is funnier than seeing your grandmother rolling down a hill.  And she gets it.

Anyway.

Other than some minor road rash and damaged pride, all is well.  And I took my embarrassing moments to a whole new level.  

Why I Don't Mop And Go To The Library

~Here's how the day started.  I slept in.    Maybe b/c of what I ate yesterday, maybe hormones, maybe weather, maybe getting up in the night with a sick kid.  Who knows.  And it doesn't matter.  I slept in and made all the kids get their own breakfast.

But it turns out we had a terrific school day with good attitudes and hard workers even though our late start meant the loss of PE time.  Thank you kids!!  And grammar has been hilarious.  We use a program called Easy Grammar and I use it for 5 kids at the same time.  I write 10 -12 sentences on the white board and each kid gets to pick a sentence and label the parts of speech.  But if they get stuck someone else can steal it and get the next sentence as well.  It's fierce competition with lots of shouting, laughing,   and high fives.  And even my littlest is pretty preposition savvy because he desperately wants the steal.

~I tried and tried to think of a way to go grocery shopping.  First because it's pay day.  And second because we are down to a bag of grapes, 3 pickles, and a 1/2 jar of mustard.  It's time y'all.

Problem was that we were short a car because the kids' car was in the shop.  We are thankful for this car because it gets you (or them) where you're going.  But it hasn't been such a friendly ride.  Its one of those cars that has random warning lights pop on while the dash lights barely work at all, you have to keep a knife in the glove box in case the seat belt won't work, and you need to put it in neutral at red lights so it won't die.

So grocery shopping wouldn't work out and my kids got to practice patience in dealing with the lunch fare.  But the good news is that this fix was only $69 to hopefully stop the dying problem.  The lights and seat belt issue can wait.  And now we are back in business.

~I have a confession.  I haven't mopped my kitchen floor in a week.  It's all because the boys' potty overflowed all over the floor and we used the mop to clean it up.  So then I had to throw that mop head away because OF COURSE!  And  I couldn't go grocery shopping and get another one.  So tomorrow...well the list is getting longer.

~September was "Food For Fines" month at the Charleston library.
I haven't been able to show my face in there for some time due to this unreasonable rule they have about returning books when you check them out.  And I don't know exactly how much my fines were but my son was guessing in the $40 range.  Somehow I doubt it but I couldn't be sure.  So all month long I was planning to take in a bag of food and hand over my library card.  Or more like I was going to have my son do it because a part of me was worried that they'd just keep my card and revoke all my privileges because of the last Hank The Cowdog book.   All month long I forgot until last night about 5:30 and a few minutes before they closed.   I swung in at the last minute and I am proud to say that
my card is all clear and I can freely check out any of the 27 books lined up against the wall.   I'm guessing the library will consider canceling their Food For Fines program since I moved to town.