Quick Chicken And Dressing

Let's talk about cornbread.

Do you like it? It's a southern staple and is a fine compliment to beans. It seems like around here everyone has their special recipe.  Some of them are passed down from generations past and include cast iron pans.  Some have spicy add-ins like jalapenos.  Some have real corn mixed in.

I've tried several recipes and I've never liked them.  And since I've never cared for it at pot luck type gatherings where it is always present, I've just decided I'm not a fan.  Especially if it's homemade.

But the boxed stuff?  Well now.  That's pretty good!  And it doesn't even have to be the real Jiffy kind.  The Aldi brand works for me just the same.  Apparently I have very sophisticated taste buds.  

I was a little skeptical of this recipe but now I love it.  It's so easy and filling and can feed a bunch of people.

It's also a really fast recipe and is good for nights when you have to do something quick with easy clean up.  You can make this healthy by making everything from scratch or take the short cuts and get some grocery store help.  You can make most of this ahead of time and it also freezes well.

I'm on a crock pot kick right now and I started by throwing some chicken thighs into my crock pot and cooking on low until they were done.  I also grabbed a bag of chicken broth from my freezer to thaw.  Boxed broth works fine though.

Several chicken thighs (cooked and chopped)
4 boxes of corn bread mix
4 cans of chicken broth
3 onions chopped
3 celery chopped
4 garlic chopped
salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and sage.

Cook the corn bread and let it cool.  Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in some butter.  Crumble the cornbread up in a large baking dish.  Top with chicken, veggies, and broth.  Season to taste.

You can freeze it at this point or just bake at 350 until heated through.  

I saw somewhere that you can make cornbread in your crock pot.  I'm going to try it next time I make this.  I figure at thirty three cents a box, I don't have much to lose!

Goodbye Sweet Strawberry

I had the neatest experience in court this week where I ended up sitting next to Strawberry's grandma while we were waiting for our hearing.  I had no idea this was even a possibility and didn't even know she'd be there.  But God in His goodness gave me the opportunity to visit with her a couple of hours before our hearing.  It made me feel much better about turning her over to her family.

We were able to have a lot of time with Strawberry this week.  It was our vacation week and everybody was home the whole time.  Looking back, I see how perfect the timing was since we wouldn't have much time with her.

She came with a backpack of diapers and 3 outfits.  But over the 13 days she was with us, she accumulated quite a bit of stuff.  It was sad to pack her up and say goodbye.   We prayed over her and held her and gave her a million kisses.  I wrote a letter to her grandma telling her about her feeding schedule/naps/preferences over the last 2 weeks and tucked it in her bag.  

I'm glad we got to experience this facet of foster care.  We took care of her and smothered her with love until her family could make a plan to take care of her.  That's exactly how it's supposed to work. 

A friend of mine sells Thirty One bags and organized a fund raiser called Totes Vs. Trash Bags 

for foster kids.  The generous folks in my town purchased over 41 (at last count) totes this month.

That meant I got to send her off with something pretty and sweet instead of packing her things in plastic sacks.  LOVE!!  

Farm News

Isn't this such a beautiful time of year!!?  

Here's some of the goodness going on around here....

We do not have what you would call a real garden.  We only have some various plants planted here and there.  This is our first fruits of the season.

And we have some spinach ready to pick. 

Our grapes are coming back! I thought for sure they were dead.  Looks like we have at least another year to try to kill them do better.  I need to look up how to best care for them instead of just hoping for the best. 

Now I don't mean to make you jealous, but we are now the proud owners of this fancy looking chicken tractor.  My guys have been working on this to keep the chickens from tearing up the whole yard.

We also have some brand new babies that are hatching as I type.  So far we have 3. 

Our new chicken!  This picture doesn't show you how cute she is.  She is a silkie so her name is Silkie.  Of course.  

Friends! 

Yesterday we headed out to Wild Things Farm and picked strawberries.  Today the girls and I got busy making a lot of jam.  12 jars in this batch. 

Plus 12 jars of freezer jam.  We will see which one tastes better. 

I also made some wipes.  One batch is vinegar cleaning wipes and the other one is baby wipes. 

Our bees are doing fine.  I haven't seen a swarm in a couple of weeks.  I can't say that they are multiplying as quickly as I'd like though.  I'm about to start feeding them a supplement.  They are, however, making quite a bit of honey for their size.  That makes me happy.  And the one thing I learned from last year is that my bees do NOT like the queen excluder.  I'm keeping them off this year and letting her free roam the hives while the workers only have a bottom entrance.  So far so good.

Unexpected Blessings....

* New babies to love and add to the family fun...even if only for a time.

*A whole sack of new baby wash cloths and hooded towels from my neighbors.

*A grandma visit.  New books, good food, lotsa hugs, shopping, stories, fun.

*The other grandparents are back in town for the summer.

*Our water bill is $20 lower this month.

*A new stove.

*My friend made dinner for us one night and sent it home with the boys after piano.

*My aunt sent new toys for BlueEyes.

*A friend to call and tell me about a big sale on potatoes.

*A freezer full of meat thanks to my family for putting the hurt on the deer population in TX this year.

*Court on the same day for both my babies.

*I bought a toddler bed and some measuring cups from a garage sale.  I didn't have money with me so I told her I'd return after I ran home.  Except it didn't work out.  The babies were needy and the teenagers were gone.  I felt so bad!  So I sent LB first thing the next morning to pay for it if it was still there.  The lady wasn't mad at all.  In fact LB started up a conversation with her and she GAVE us the toddler bed for free when she learned we were a foster family.

God is so good.

What's New

Our BlueEyes is doing great.  Happy, fun, and feisty.  Everyone seems to be adjusting well and we even have a workable schedule.  And when I say "schedule" I mean we know when we are going to bed most of the time.

Some things still feel out of control.  I can not keep my bedroom clean. It's the dumping ground for all things that nobody knows what to do with.  It's also baby central since we now share space with a one year old.

On Saturday, the DHS investigator called to ask if we'd take a 4 month old baby girl just until Monday.  Since we are only licensed for one, he had to get over load approval.  Things seemed to be going so well with BlueEyes and I said yes.  It's only for a couple of days, right?

Sunday night was date night and Honey asked me what my thoughts were concerning the "Strawberry Princess" .  I told him I was more than fine to have her moved on Monday just like we planned.  But he had another idea.  He felt like we could give her more time, work on a schedule, simplify life, and offer a long term placement.  She needs help.  And there aren't many open homes in our area.

Our younger kids have not had the opportunity to be around many babies as young as she is.  There was a lot of.....

"What does it do?  It just lays there?"
"Why don't we give it real food?"
"Does it drink three times a day?"
"Can I hold it?'

The grandmothers came to town for a couple of days and there was always someone to hold Strawberry.  She slept through the night right off the bat and was generally a happy baby as long as you made sure the essentials were taken care of.

But this morning the grandmothers went home.  And the house has been noisy.  Strawberry enjoyed the grandmother time apparently because now she cries whenever she's awake.  But when she is asleep, she is oh-so-sweet!

Strawberry's grandmother has stepped forward and asked to have custody.  Her background checks are turned in and her homestudy is tonight.  If all goes well, Strawberry will be moved to her grandmother's in a few days.  If not, we will be adjusting to life with 2 under 2.

It's been a long time since we've done that!!

What To Eat? I Never Know.

Lately my menu planning has been pathetic.

It is something I can procrastinate with like nothing else.  It doesn't take that long and it makes my life so much easier if I'd just do it.  Because I have to feed the people.  And once I feed them then it's time to work on feeding them again and it never stops because they are not spiritual enough to fast for weeks on end.

So today I finally sat down and kinda worked on a menu.  To be perfectly honest, my goal was just to get it done for tonight and the weekend.  How hard could it be?  3 days.  Just do it.

My friend, Kim, asked me for a recipe which turned out to be very handy and timely.  Since I was looking through my book, I just jotted down some ideas that sounded good on an envelope.  Who needs cute Pinterest menu printables when you have junk mail trash sitting around?



There's not a singe thing on there that would make a real meal.  But it's a start.

Also I made a big decision.  In order to streamline Sunday afternoons, I'm going to do a crock pot something every Sunday for lunch.  I know there's tons of crock pot recipes out there but it gets a bit tricky when "pot roast" is a bad word and my man doesn't care for soup.  So I'm on the hunt for crock pot stuff that I can rotate.

If you have any great crock pot meals to share, I'd be all kinds of grateful!

In The Past 3 Weeks

And just like that it is Friday.

Which is terrible because I can tell you that it seems like it was just Monday except I have no recall of Monday. Or Tuesday. And the thing I remember about Wednesday is that I set up the youth song show at church ALL BY MY ONESIE and didn't ask for help even one time.  My man was pretty happy about that one too!

So the days are flying by and since I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast I figure I need to get better at blogging so I don't turn around and realize that I'm 83 and have no idea of how I spent my life. Plus it's fun but sometimes I forget that.

Anyhow.

The past 3 weeks with BlueEyes have been an ocean of emotions. And it is very much like the adjustment you experience when you bring a new baby home.

The first week you are happy if you have anything for dinner besides boxed cereal.  The second week you are getting more used to each other and trying to figure out the new normal. The third week you are thinking.... It's been THREE WHOLE WEEKS for crying out loud and why is the house still a mess and things are still not just so even though it's been THREE WEEKS!?

So yeah. That's where I am now. The crazy is setting in. I'm hyper focused on the inconsequential, tired, grumpy, picky, and despair is an everyday occurrence.

It's a good thing I have a man to tell me to focus, redirect, and "let's" get back to work. Otherwise I might just camp out at my inlaws forever and hijack a TV for Duggar reruns for the rest of my life and wonder why I can't be as awesome as Michelle.

So tonight we gathered in the living room for a nice long family talk and some prayer time while BlueEyes threw his blocks all over the room and did laps with the shopping cart. And it was perfect.

I wish you could see the cause of all the crazy. He is absolutely the adorable-est and we are head over heels in love. He has changed so much in the 3 short weeks (because it's ONLY BEEN 3 WEEKS!).

His fits are few and rarely go into the "red zone".
He wrestles, leans against us, and makes funny faces.
He's learning to wave bye-bye.
He sings and will let me read books to him.
Bedtime and nap times are a breeze.

None of these things happened 3 weeks ago.  I am so proud of him.

Our big thing right now is blanket time.  I lay a blanket on the floor with a few toys and teach him to stay on the blanket.  He hates it.  But he does it.  And if all goes well, he will hate it less and less and it will be a safe place for him to play wherever we go.  Plus he will learn some good self control.

We are learning to navigate his visit dates and court dates and juggle school and grocery shopping.  And all the while loving every minute of it!!

Because It Just Wears Off

Here's the thing.

 I can't be nice for the whole entire day. I can be nice for a little while.  Even half a day maybe.  But then the nice wears off and I have to have a people break to build it back up.

Problem is my people do NOT understand this.  And there's a lot of people.  So even if I ask them to fill-in-the-blank   for "quiet time", they will need to come out and talk a lot because OF COURSE their circumstance is unique and their thing to say is very important.  They also think they are the only one that needs to do it.

So today during Baby's nap, I scooted the multitudes outside, locked the door, and told them to drink from the hose if they were thirsty.  And ya know what?  It worked just long enough for me to muster up some nice again before the school kids came home and said all their things they had to say.

I'm thinking this might be a good addition to our summer schedule this year..... as long as they don't find the hidden key.

This Week

We've been on vacation!

"BlueEyes" came to us just a few days before we were scheduled to leave for a trip to Branson. We got permission to tote him across the state line and he got to have some Branson fun too.

We met some of our CO peeps there and had a good time catching up. They stayed an extra day to do SDC then drove down to visit at our house for a couple more days. FUN!!

Actually I don't know if BlueEyes would say it was all that fun. We figured he threw about 40 fits in the 2 days we were there. He didn't have many things to do, it was kinda cold outside, and nothing was particularly baby friendly in the cabin.  He spent most of his time eating bananas and throwing people's water bottles across the room.  

Once we got back home BlueEyes settled right in. In fact, his fits have slowed to almost none.  And after talking it over last night we are thinking another environmental change so soon was probably very unsettling to him.  Last night was one of his hardest nights of going to bed.  He tends to be scared in the dark alone so Honey sat on the bed so BlueEyes could see that he was there.

Next week vacation will be over and it will be our first normal week with BlueEyes.  I'm anxious for him to settle into a routine.

We've had some progress in a couple of areas.
1. He's responding to his name (sometimes).
2. He's ok with the door closing.  Closing a door used to be a huge trigger and we knew if we needed to close a door in his presence, we were in for a big show. Now we can open and close the doors with all freedom and no drama.
3. He's  starting to sing.
4. He will giving smacking kisses.
5. He's learning to put his cup down nicely.

We have no way of knowing how long he will get to stay. He will be here at least through Wednesday and maybe longer. We are just loving every day we get to have him with us.

Foster Care Day 1

After a long wait and a lot of work we are DONE!!

Our home is open and they actually had a baby waiting for us as soon as we were ready.  He was picked up in our own county the very day we opened.  And while I'm not allowed to share much about him online, I can tell you that he is precious!

The case worker brought him after dinner with a new car seat, a couple of sippy cups, diapers, and a few clothes.  We loved on him for a few minutes then whisked him off to the bath.

And OH the fun!  We all got wet.

We spent the evening getting to know each other and exploring the toys.  He loves all toys and is very busy!  He particularly liked the plastic potato from the kitchen set.  It's apparent he's a ball player, which fits rather nicely into our family.  He throws and even dribbles the potato soccer style!

When bedtime came around I tucked him in and prayed for him and kissed him goodnight.  He was not happy about being left alone in the dark-ish room.  So I went in there and cleaned up and just puttered around and as long as he could see me he was happy to lay in his bed quietly.  If I had to leave, I sang or talked to him to let him know I was still close.

He slept through the night and is still asleep now at almost 9am!  This kid is a DREAM!!

This is a baby that has been very well cared for and loved.  Such an easy first placement.  I prayed for our home to be opened at just the right time for just the right baby.  And Oh, God is so good!

The Beauties Before Me

I had just gotten out of the shower. I had cinnamon rolls in the oven and bread rising. It was the night before Christian's birthday and I had a lot to do.

LB came into my room and said, "Mom! Get some shoes and a jacket. I wanna show you something!"

Outside? I'm in my pajamas.

"It's dark. nobody will see. Just come."

So I did. In my pajamas with my hair in a towel. I grabbed my coat and slipped on the flip flops that were closest.

And boy was it dark! I couldn't even see her ahead of me as I followed her outside. I just followed her voice and hoped I wouldn't step in any dog poop. I followed her through the yard and into the neighbor's field.

And there it was. The most magnificent sky with a huge orange moon with clouds framing it and bright stars all around. It was beautiful!

"See!?"

My sweet daughter danced around in the field under the big moon like Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music when she was running and dancing over the hills. It was one of the greatest moments ever.

It reminded me of a time when 6 year old Meg and I were in the car one day. She said, "Look Momma at all the butterflies flying south for the winter." I had never noticed migrating butterflies before. But she was right. As we sat at the red light, we watched and pointed out lots of butterflies that I would've never seen without her help.

Now I always try to notice the butterflies thanks to her.

Tonight I'm so happy that I took the time to hike through the yard and see the beauty from her eyes. The sky was lovely, my daughter was beautiful, and the moment was perfect.

Thank you Laura Beth for sharing the awesomeness.

After Spring Break

Welp.   I completely dropped the ball when giving you the play-by-play of spring break.  I can't even remember why except I guess life took over.

So let's see....

~Our baby chicks are growing and getting some feathers and they will have a new home very soon.  We are keeping two and selling the others.

~We bought a new washer and dryer!!  Our old set served us faithfully for about 11 years.  They made it through 3 moves and an average of 16,060 loads of clothes.  I'm not even making that up.  I figured 4 loads of laundry per day for 11 years and that's a lot of washing, spinning, tumbling, and beeping our Whirlpool set has gone through.  But the dryer was broken and we said last time we fixed them that the next time we would just buy another set instead of pouring more money into them.  So we got a lovely Kenmore set that was on clearance and the washer will be here tonight.  We saved 10% by buying the floor model dryer since it was the last one they had.

And I've been walking around singing the praises of my new dryer for days now.  And if you happen to stop by, I'll make you look at it too and you can pretend that you love it as much as I do.

~I saw Cinderella.  At the real theater!!  I didn't fall asleep and I loved it.

~This is our last week of soccer.  Tournament time!!  Our first season of NewFire soccer was a great success.  I haven't heard one negative comment.  Kids and parents all seem to enjoy it.  Next we will start planning a summer camp.

~We've had some sweet birthdays with more on the way.  I hope to blog about them soon.

~I'm already starting to think of next year's school.  What is wrong with me?

~And the final bit of uninteresting info....our home study is turned in and is awaiting approval.  I have no idea how long this will take.  It's all a lesson in patience! :-)  

On The Third Day

Yesterday was the third day of Spring Break and the weather couldn't have been better.  It was the kind of day where you open every window and throw the dog bed outside to air out.  I also put the clothes line to good use because I love me some clothes time line!  Plus our dryer is not feeling so good and sounds like it has a fist full of rocks rolling around in it.

We didn't have anything planned for the day so it was a good time to get in some yard work.

Raking and preparing a rock border 

Moving rocks from the back of the property to the front.

Oh the drama of these funny boys! 

Some important conversations in the rose garden

And just look at our mama hen and her babies!! 

Around lunch time, my friend brought her baby over while she ran some errands.  Mally just loves some baby time!  And every time I babysit a foster, the crazy thoughts of HOW ON EARTH plague me the rest of the day.

Our family is pretty good at taking risks and cannon balling into something new.  But this is different because when we mess up, make mistakes, and fail to count the costs in a new adventure it usually only affects us.  This will affect other people.  Little children.  Other families that don't need one more failure in their lives.   And I'll be real honest and say I also have teenagers.  And teenagers are a fragile crazy people group of their very own.  Will I be enough?

Moving on...

After lunch, Jes had a friend over and they played soccer in the yard while I painted the boys' bathroom.  I've been working on this for a few days now and it's coming along.  I wish I had taken a before picture but I didn't really think it would turn out to be that different.  But why stop at just paint?  So I bought a little cabinet to hang above the potty and picked up samples for a new countertop.  A new shower curtain will also be in order and maybe some new towels.  I don't think Honey knows about that part.

We ended the day with root beer floats and a Netflix movie before the big storm hit.
Another good day.

Spring Break Take 2

I love living in a place where there are four seasons.  I woke up this morning to sweet bird song outside our window.  It was a good way to start day 2 of spring break.

Another good start was reading Galatians.  As the kids and I are studying the New Testament this year, we have finished Mark, Acts, and Hebrews.  Now we are starting Galatians and it's only 6 chapters long.  That means only 1 week in one of my favorite books of the Bible.  It would be super easy for me to be sidetracked with pretty weather and fun plans this week but I do NOT want to do that. So we are intentionally setting aside some time tonight to read together.

Because of some busy stuff at work, Honey has changed his schedule to work 1-9pm on most days.  So he was home this morning and took everybody on a big walk/bike ride.  He fixed Zboy's bike tire and changed out Lane's windshield wipers and we just spent some time at home in the yard and around the neighborhood.

Nine chicks have hatched so far!!  Mally is especially interested in this and has become Josh's "chicken apprentice".

The big fun thing of today was kayaking at the nature center. We've never done this before...

Them:
Can we crash each other?
Can we flip them?
Can we race?
Can I go by myself?
 
Me:
Um, no.  There are probably rules.  It's probably meant for people to row nicely and enjoy the lake.

Them:
What fun is that?!


LB was a natural! She even "rescued" a lady who flipped and couldn't get herself back in her boat.

Z and I were in the same canoe.  He acted like he knew exactly what to do and spent the whole time telling me how to row.  We couldn't get a good rhythm going and were working against each other most of the time.  We spent a lot of time in the bushes. 

But when he rode with Lane, he did this the whole time.....leaned over the edge with his hands in the water making it harder for her to steer!!  

Ethan showed up just in time for the last ride. 

We all had a blast.  Nobody crashed or flipped or got kicked off the lake.  Success! 

After that, we watched the staff feed the rattlesnake a mouse.  Just yuck.  

In the afternoon the girls went to see Cinderella with Meg while the boys and I went to the skate park.

There is a creek that runs behind the park.  The boys spent an hour exploring and catching crawdads.  

We went to Grandma's for dinner before coming home.

Day two DONE. 

1st Day Of Spring Break

These past couple of years I've had to adjust life to a public school schedule.  It's been a little hard to get used to not being able to get up and go whenever we want.  But when my kids started college, we found ourselves having to work around holidays and breaks and summer vacations.  Well this is one break I won't argue with! 

Spring Break! 

The day started with some exciting news for this guy!

He's been watching a hen that has been laying on a nest of eggs and we knew it was getting close.  This morning he found his first chick!  He's hatched eggs with an incubator but never with the momma hen.  This has been a fun project for him so he was super excited to find this baby.  As of now, we have 3 hatched with 5 more on the way.  

Jes invited a friend over and we headed to the park in our old neighborhood. 

Looking at fish in the lake, 

trying to sneak up on ducks,

and exploring the creek.   

Honey met us there for lunch and surprised everybody with french fries! 

When we got home, my son got busy working on this year's garden.  We are trying some new things this year and today was the first day to dig in the dirt.  We haven't been very good gardeners so anything different will probably be an improvement.  

Our trampoline has already gotten a lot of action this year and today was a beautiful day for it. 

Mr. Hardin came over to look at bees with us and that's always a good time.  I learn so much from him and I watch every move he makes.  About this time next month we may be able to split our hives and double our bee yard.  And even though this will be my 3rd year of beekeeping, I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time.  I really appreciate his help whenever he's able.  

He stays and visits awhile, talks to all the kids, and tell us a couple of stories.  

When their daddy got home, the boys all loaded up for soccer practice while Mally and I cleaned up today's eggs and made spaghetti.  

Tomorrow is camping at Grandma's and kayaking at the Nature Center.... or as Mally calls it, "hijacking". 

A Long Day

I had 2 very early dr. appts this morning.  I got the kids started on chores, kissed the early leavers goodbye, and gave instructions for the day.  I packed a lunch for the road and also packed my man some breakfast, lunch, and dinner because he will be at work for all three.

The appointments got finished in record time.  I ran a couple of errands and had lunch in the car with Honey before rushing home in time to take Josh to football.

And this is where things started going south.

I came in to a wrecked house.  No chores had been done.  There were still traces of breakfast in the kitchen way past lunch time.  Messes were left out from the soccer games of last night.  Nothing had been done.

Yet my kids met me with happy faces claiming that they finished everything early.

"Everything?'
"Yep, even school!"

Hmmm.  So I sat down in the living room while they were watching Spiderman to think up my plan of action and try to figure out why they thought they were "done".

My plan landed on Grace.  Give them grace.  I was gone 4 hours.  Just take it for what it is and work together to pick everything up.

But as we worked, I kept getting madder.  It was seriously a mess and I couldn't see that any effort had been made.

When everything was cleaned up, I asked to see their schoolwork.  I sat in the middle of the living room floor and asked them to bring me everything they did today.   They each brought me a measly stack.

Me: " Where's your folder?  Where's your daily schedule?  Who checked your math?   I don't see your writing.  Did you do you reading? "

Them: "Oooohhh, I forgot that.  I couldn't find my history book.  I don't have a daily schedule.  I didn't do my vocabulary.  My lesson plan is lost."

OH MY WORD!!!!

And this is where their day went downhill in a hurry.  After listening to an hour long lecture at volume 9, they got to go back to bed and try again.

Start the morning list over.
Start the chores over.
Start breakfast over (except we had to pretend dinner was breakfast at this point)
Brush your teeth.
Start school over.

And so here we are at bedtime still doing school and their daddy is still at work,

I think we are all going to sleep good tonight.

Moanless Monday

I went to bed late last night and because of a slight schedule change had to get up a whole hour earlier to see my hard working peeps off to work and school this morning.  I thought I'd be super tired, but instead I woke up ready and happy for another week.  Thank You Jesus!

As soon as they left I had a very quiet house.  And that never happens.

I read my Bible.
I exercised.
I read some blogs.
I read a chapter of the book I'm reading.
And I took my time getting dressed.

The whole house was sleeping quietly and it was bliss!!

By the time the second group of kids were off to school/work, I felt so energized and ready for the day.  It would stand to reason that I should try getting up at 5:00 on a regular basis and enjoy this more often but I can assure you that won't be happening.  It was a nice way to start the week though.

And it turns out I would need that extra time this morning.  My 3rd set of kids were wild and crazy today!  Attitudes were poor, chores took forever, and school was intense.  But some days are like that, huh?

Anyhoo, here's some Smiles From Last Week....

~Homestudy DONE.  As in finished.  Forever.  The thing I dreaded the most, the thing I heard horror stories about, the thing I was sure we'd fail turned out to be CAKE.  Our homestudy lady was fantastic.  She talked to the kids and I could hear all kinds of laughs and excited talking from their bedrooms.  Then she talked to us and went over our long questionnaire that covered everything from our sex life to our relationships with our parents.  And while it sounds like torture, it was actually very easy and was finished in less than 3 hours.  I'm guessing we might actually be open sometime this month.

~Another snow day!  And while we are ready for spring to spring, we are also thankful for extra family time and teenagers home all day.

~My moms came to visit and WENT TO TOWN helping us get uniforms done for NewFire.  It never would've happened without them.  The uniforms look great and the kids and parents are happy.  Thank you Moms!

~First NewFire soccer games and the field was actually dry enough to play!  It was a great day with lots of smiles and happy kids.  We came home exhausted, sunburned, and ready for next week.

And What I'm Looking Forward To This Week....

~A quiet week with almost nowhere to go.

~The homestudy lady said she should be finished typing up the report to turn in to DHS this week.

~Sunshine!  After today it's supposed to be dry for awhile and warm up.  And that means......

~Walking!  My walking buddy has been down and out because of surgery but she is ready to hit it again this week with me.

~Bee club.  I haven't been since October y'all.  And now it's at a new place that I think will be an easier drive for me.

~Girls' Bible study.  We had to cancel last week because of snow.  Besides, my man was sick and he couldn't have led worship anyway.

~A birthday!!  Let the celebrations begin!  We will have 5 birthdays in the next 4 weeks.

~And last but not least, week 2 of soccer!  Stay tuned for some pictures this week! And until then you can click here to see a few.

For The Love Of Chocolate

This week E sent over a bunch of very ripe avocados. He told me they were coming and I was super excited thinking of all the possibilities.
Guacamole, of course, and salads and a face mask recipe were all just waiting to come alive.

But sometimes what I imagine in my mind doesn't play out the same in real life. And that's what happened with the avocados. I never get that many big beautiful avocados all at once and these things are rather time sensitive. I decided the best thing to do was a big batch of chocolate avocado pudding. Wendy taught me this recipe and I always think of her when I make it.

This comes together quick in a food processor. A blender is more high maintenance for this one. It's more of a method than an actual recipe.

~Throw a bunch of avocados into your food processor.
~Add a capful of apple cider vinegar
~Add a splash of vanilla
~Add some cocoa powder
~Sweeten:  You can use anything.  I used a combo of stevia, xylitol, maple syrup, and powdered sugar.

Give it all a whirl and taste it and adjust the seasonings.  This freezes very well.  In fact, I made 2 big batches and froze one of them in tiny tupperware containers as single servings.

Everyone loves this.  But my man said, "You WASTED all those avocados on pudding instead of guacamole?!"  What he doesn't know is that we did make guac but we ate at all before he got home.

And with all the cold weather, I wanted to give you my favorite hot chocolate mix too.
Just add it all in a container and shake.  Or mix it all up in the blender and it'll have super fine texture. Either way it tastes exactly the same.

2 C. powdered milk
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. powdered creamer
1/2 C. cocoa powder

Mix this with some hot water just like you do the stuff in the packets.  And add marshmallows.  OF COURSE!

Cold!

This is one cold February! And all season I've been wishing for snow but all we got was COLD. This week the snow finally came and I loved every second of it.

2 snow days with my people home!
Hot chocolate and chai tea.
Warm foods. And lots of foods.
Snowy, drippy, frozen kids with red cheeks.
Snowball fights.
A fire in the fireplace.
Candles burning.

I love helping and watching my kids bundle up to play in the snow. It makes a mess and causes a lot of laundry but we only get to do it a couple times a year. It's fun to see which snow suits and snow boots fit now and which ones have been outgrown since last year.

No school and lazy days of reading and movies and extra naps. Lazy cats sneak in the house and my dog is whiny and discontent because his water is frozen and he can't figure out that the bowl in the house is for him. The heater runs non-stop and fuzzy blankets decorate the couch.

I love it all! Except the high electric bill that's coming!

Juiced Up

I've been putting our juicer to good use lately...

This was today's version: 

celery

carrot

greens

lime

apple

orange 

I have to admit it can be a pain with all the prep.  And some days,  a lot of days most days I'm too lazy to do it.  But when I do I'm always glad.  The chickens are happy too because it makes for some yummy scraps for them.