Today Daniel Turns 5!

Today is Daniel's birthday. He got a coupon for a free Happy Meal in the mail, so even though we had a huge snowstorm today, we braved the roads and drove in. Daddy even got off work early because the weather was so yucky! We all met up at McDonald's, and had a couple of hours of just playtime and eating. Then Daddy took Daniel to his birthday surprise - a hockey game for just the two of them. Daniel was pretty excited! He got to open one present today - a gift from Aunt Melissa, Uncle Tim and Aimee since they can't make it to his party. He got "How to Train Your Dragon" toys, and even though he hasn't seen the movie yet, he really liked the toys.

Grinding your own Grains

Now that we have moved out to the country, I am very eager to start growing my own garden and raising animals. And as we drive through miles of wheat fields to get to our house, it strikes an urge in me to start making more of my own breads. The kids call the wheat fields "cake and cookie fields" because I explained to them once that the wheat that is grown is ground into flour and turned into cakes and cookies and breads. Of course, all the heard was "cakes and cookies". So now, we drive past miles of cakes and cookies to get to our new home!

Making our own cakes, cookies and breads would taste double nice if done using our own grain grinder. I'm entered to win one, and I'd like to invite you to enter to win one as well - or at least check out the one they are reviewing. It's pretty awesome, and I'm crossing my fingers and toes that I might get one!

Go to Happily Domestic to read her review and see what it takes to enter to win one of your own. And check out some of her other blog posts as well - I'm having fun reading all her reviews and getting great ideas from her site.

Timmmmmberrrrr!

This is what I woke up to today. Heavy, heavy snow and down she went! Thankfully it didn't hit our house.

My Grandma

Mona Christensen
July 20, 1928 - November 30, 2009
I miss her so much!

Happy Thanskgiving!

Here is hoping that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! This is a photo of the kids all dressed up for Thanksgiving Eve service tonight at our church. Love to all of you!

RIP Dear Sam

I can't believe that it was only a little more than a month ago when I wrote this tribute to Sam. And now, he's gone. He had not been eating, and had lost a lot of weight, and we think he had cancer in his nose, because he had frequent nosebleeds. We finally had to make the decision to let him go with some dignity today. Not a fun day at all, and my poor husband was in the room with him. We love you Sam, and will miss you. But we know you are happy, and carefree, and chasing balls and bunnies, and saying hello to Gram for us. Rest in peace, our dear faithful friend.

In the Orchard photo challenge

I Heart Faces (click link above to see their site) has posted their weekly photo challenge, and the theme this time around is "In the Orchard". I love this photo I took of my three kids this summer when we went to pick peaches. We did not spend nearly as much time in the orchards as I wanted to this year - life just got crazy busy - but this day of peach picking was super fun! Just me and the kids - no big group event. We had a fun time, and got a big box of peaches - some to eat fresh, and the rest I froze and will turn in to jam when we get all settled in our new house.

Friday Coffee Chat

It's Friday, so that means it's time for a virtual cup of coffee (or whatever beverage you enjoy most) and some conversation. Click on the image above to link to more blogs participating in Company Girl Coffee.

Today was a big day for our family. Daniel and Gretchen had their very first "field trip" with their preschool today. Their old preschool, a Montessori one, did not do field trips. But their new one does, and I was a chaperon for the morning. The field trip was to a local pumpkin patch. Daniel & Gretchen are in two different classes, so I ended up staying with Gretchen's class, since she was a little unsure of going on her own . Daniel did great with his class and his teacher. We would cross paths every once in a while, so I ended up getting pictures of each of them during the trip. They went through a corn maze, picked a pumpkin from the field, met Penelope the Talking Pumpkin, ate yummy donuts, learned about apples and snacked on one, and ended with a hay ride around the farm. They really had a good time. Austin has his first field trip with his kindergarten class next Tuesday, and he's looking forward to it. It will also be his last day at his current school - I've got him all registered to start at his new school next Wednesday. He'll still go 5 days a week, but instead of half days he'll go full days. He'll get on his school bus at 7:40 am and then not get home until 4 pm. It's a long day, but I think he'll have a good time. He has already met his new teacher and seen his new classroom. I think it will go well!

We actually got the keys to our new house today and were able to move a load of things into the shop/garage. I got the kitchen half cleaned, but still need to work on the rest of the house. Tomorrow will be a very busy day of loading up moving trailers and trucks, taking trips out to the new house (about 30 minutes away from our current house) and cleaning the new place up. We had our first uh-oh moment with the new house. Workers had come out earlier in the weak to fix a leak in the seal of the holding tank, and ended up completely emptying the 500 gallon holding tank to do the work. Because the seal had to stay dry for 24 hours, they didn't turn the pump back on. So when we arrived today, there was absolutely no water in the holding tank. It will take about 12 hours to refill it. And then, the power kept tripping to it. So, we'll be hauling containers of water out to the house tomorrow until we can figure out what is going on. Luckily, my dad is very familiar with wells, so he's going to help us figure out what's going on. Hopefully we'll have water soon! Kind of a big deal when you are trying to clean!

The kids zonked out hard tonight at bedtime, especially since they didn't get to bed until 1-1/2 hours past the normal time. We played hard and worked hard today, so they were pooped out!

No pictures today - I did take some, but forgot my camera at the new house, so can't download anything right now. I'll try and put some new ones up this week of our field trip adventures.

Thanks for having coffee with me! Hope to see you back again!

Sam

Sam was our first "baby" - we got him in June 1995 when he was only 6 weeks old. James and I had been married a little over a year when James stopped by a pet store, saw him, and brought him home. He has gone through everything with us. He has always been so faithful.

Lately, though, Sam is really showing his age. He just turned 15 this year. He's been on epilepsy meds (phenobarb) since 1997 and on thyroid meds since around 2001. His hips are going out, so he often falls down, splayed out like a giraffe, and can't work his feet back underneath him well enough to get up on his own. He's becoming grumpy in his old age, and doesn't like to be left outside for more than 5 minutes at a time. He still follows me around the house, like he has since a puppy, but now he lays at my feet instead of trying to climb in my lap.

I have strong suspicions that he will not make it to Christmas. I'm so glad that we are moving to our new property this weekend - perhaps he can spend the last months of his life enjoying what he used to enjoy so much as a puppy - being outside, going for walks, chasing sticks. Or maybe he'll just find a warm spot in the sun to lay down in. I can't imagine how our lives will be without him when he finally goes. I just hope he goes peacefully.

But until then, we will love on him and keep him as comfortable and happy as possible. Here is to my Sam, who has been a faithful friend for 15 years.

Check out

for more great animal photos.

Wait? Is that Jingle Bells I hear......?

I can't believe it, but Christmas is only 10 weeks away! Arghhhh! I know we haven't even hit Halloween yet, but wow! I have not even started planning for Christmas!

Do you want some good tips to help you be uber-organized for Christmas this year? Go to
100 Days to Christmas to find out everything you need to do to be ready, and get some great ideas along the way.

Today they are talking about booking your family photo shoot for holiday cards. If you are in the Spokane area, I highly recommend Sue - she does great photos at reasonable prices, and is a joy to work with! She has already done our family photos at our new property, and I can't wait to get them all back. It was a really fun photo shoot. In fact, you can see a sample of what she did for our family on her front page of her website. Go look!

Great shopping deals!

I finally got my act together enough to take advantage of some great sales at Albertson's. Look what I got:

Value of 87 items $200.75
I spent $28.04 after store sales and Catalina discounts.
That's only an average of 32 cents per item!
I love it!

Menu Plan Monday

I am not the best at posting my menus each week. I have them done, and hanging on my fridge door, but don't always post and link up toOrganizing Junkie. But today, I am doing it! Here is what we have planned for the week.

Monday - Sloppy Joes, French Fries, Carrot Sticks and Jello

Tuesday - 5 Cheese Ravioli, Meat Sauce, Garlic & Onion Breadsticks

Wednesday - White Chicken Chili, Cornbread

Thursday - Costco's Pepperoni Pizza (on sale for $3 off this month!)
We'll be moving into our new house this night, so we need something easy!

Friday - Chicken and Rice Casserole

Saturday - leftovers

Sunday - Roast Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Veggie

Want some other good menu plans? Head over to Menu Plan Monday to see other links for menus.

Packing, packing, packing

It's moving time at our house. We were supposed to close and start moving this weekend, but the sellers representatives have not finished the task list that needed to be done before closing. They were supposed to do three things - find a property marker, install two new toilets, and dig up the well holding tank, fix the crack, and reseal the entire thing. The holding tank is the only thing they have left to do, and because of it's location, it has to be hand dug. They are supposed to do the work on Monday, get a re-inspection on Tuesday, and then we should be able to close on Wednesday or Thursday. I'm hoping for Wednesday.

In the meantime, we are continuing to pack boxes, and boxes, and boxes. We spent a few hours today cleaning out the garage, and loading more boxes into our moving trailer, and actually throwing things away and putting things in a donation box. I'm trying very hard to get rid of things, but that's not always easy for me. I'm too darn sentimental.

Tonight we worked on the pantry after the kids went to bed. I've got a lot in my pantry, but it makes me feel good to know that I've got plenty of food to feed my family in the case of an emergency. I had lots of boxes of Mac and Cheese, so I guess the next thing I need to stock up on is powdered milk and water, and I've got it made!

Last Day at Montessori

Today was Daniel and Gretchen's last day at Early Learning Montessori. My kids have been going there since 2008, all three of them. Because of our move, I needed a preschool a bit closer to our new house, so they will start their new school on Monday. It was a sad day for the last day - it would have been nice for Gretchen to finish one year at Montessori. But the new school is going to be really good - we've already visited it, and both kids seemed to really like their classes and teachers.

The kids with their teachers. The school director is in the middle.

Sitting at their snack table.

In front of the school birthday calendar.

The school - they use part of a church.

So while the kids were all in school today - Daniel & Gretchen at preschool, and Austin at kindergarten - I spent the morning running errands. We are getting ready to move, and I had to find more bins to pack my scrapbook supplies in. And I had to pick up a couple of things I bought off of Craig's List - a new Cricut Cartridge for only $20 and a Fireman sleeping bag set for one of the boys. The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning out the garage, packing more boxes, and loading them up in our moving trailer. I can't wait until we close on the house on Wednesday so we can start moving our stuff in. I'm looking forward to this new adventure!

I didn't get the chance to post my coffee time this morning with you, so I thought I would do it tonight. It's decaf tonight for me! Want to have "virtual coffee" with some other great bloggers? Head over to Company Girl Coffee at Home Sanctuary to participate.

You Capture - Faces

You Capture has chosen Faces as the theme for photos this week. I caught this photo of Gretchen tonight, peacefully sleeping in her bed. Notice the blanket up near her face - this is how she always sleeps. She has to have that silly blanket bundled up near her face all the time - I think it is the smell that she likes, although I can't imagine it is very pleasant since she drags it around the house everywhere with her! She's such an angel when she's sleeping! When she's awake, she is full of energy, spit, and vinegar! I love having a redhead in the family - she definitely keeps me on my toes!
Check out this week's You Capture for more wonderful photos.

My Dinner in Photos

At I Heart Faces today, the challenge is to share photos of your dinner. I don't have photos of the preparation of this dinner, just the finished product. This was a yummy outdoor dinner we had in June, when the weather was beautiful and the perfect end to a summer day was a good grilled pork chop, fresh fruits and veggies, and a glass of wine. Ahhh - I can taste it again now!

To see more great photos, and some fabulous recipes, go to
I Heart Faces. Believe me, I have already found some great new additions to my monthly meal planning!

Austin's New School

We are not moved out to our new house yet, but I did drive in to the new town and take a photo of Austin's new school for him to see. He's very excited about going to this new school, even though he loves his current one. I think if he could go to both he would!

Hot & Pink

What do you think? Should I get them? Are they too reminiscent of the 80's? Can I even walk in them? I left them at the store today, but I wonder if I should go back and buy them. They were priced at $26.99. Hmmm......

Gretchen

The many funny and beautiful faces my Gretchen likes to make!

I'm not tired!

Yea, that's what they always say when they are near the point of exhaustion. Case in point:

Purses

I've been making purses lately, and I just love them! My friend Patty taught me how to make them. They are pretty easy, and the color combos are endless. I've made two so far, but have bought fabric to make several more. My next step is to start adding a few flower embellishments to them, and buy the closures for them, because right now they are just open top purses. But here are my first two:

Forever Family Anniversary

Today was the 2nd anniversary of the adoption of our three beautiful, energetic, life-loving children. It was a bright and sunny day, so we joined Auntie Brenda and Nicolas at the Valley Mall for some lunch, and then drove down to Discovery Park for some playtime. The kids had a ball. For dinner, we joined my parents and a friend from church for dinner at Red Robin. We gave the kids each a new book to commemorate the day and had a yummy dinner.

A New Home!

Well, we have made a huge leap - we are buying a house. And not just a house, but 10 acres of land along with it, and a large shop/garage, and hopefully, a lifetime of memories. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I've been so eager to get back to living in the country, and God has found a way to grant me my dream. We got it at a great price, a steal some would say, but I know that it was put there for us. Do you want to see it? Here are a couple of photos of it:

The house - look at all the trees around it! And it's so quiet out there!

The backyard - needs some serious watering, but come next spring, it should look awesome.


We close in a couple of weeks, and start moving things out there soon after. I've been cleaning and packing, but need to move it into high gear now.

I Heart Faces Week 37 - Vroom Vroom!

This week's challenge was to use some sort of vehicle in the photo. I love this one of Daniel on a vintage farm tractor at one of the Greenbluff Farms last fall.

To see more entries, head on over to I Heart Faces

Winning Pillsbury Bake-off Recipe

OK, I'm a little disappointed. Maybe a lot disappointed.

Some of you may remember - I don't know, all two or three of you that read my blog - that I entered the Pillsbury Bake-off Contest last year. Here is the post about it if you don't remember.

Out of curiosity, I went on to the Pillsbury site tonight to see who had won the contest. This is the winning recipe. Really? Really? It seems this contest has become more of "how can you super simply use our products", rather than how good are your kitchen skills. I don't know - you tell me - what do you think of this winning recipe?

By the way, the recipe I submitted was for Thai Chicken Pizza, with a homemade sauce on a refrigerated pizza crust from Pillsbury, which was one of the requirements - that I use at least one of their products in my recipe. I actually used two qualifying products - the pizza crust and the peanut butter. Would you like to try a losing recipe? Here is mine, although not in such great detail as the one I had to submit for the contest. But you can get the idea.

Meegan's Peanut Sauce
1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 t. dried pepper flakes
1/2 c water

In a small pan, stir together peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, garlic and pepper flakes until well mixed. Gradually stir in water until texture is smooth and creamy. Cook over medium heat until slightly bubbly.

For the pizza, spread 1/2 of sauce on a pizza crust. Put on a layer of cooked and chopped chicken. Arrange assorted veggies - my favorites are julienned carrots, red onions, and chopped broccoli. Pour remaining sauce over chicken and veggies, and sprinkle with a mixture of feta cheese and mozzarella cheese. Bake in oven according to pizza crust directions.

Enjoy - we love it!

MOPS

My MOPS Group started back up again today. It was a good meeting, and I absolutely love the decorations this year. I meant to take more pictures of the cool tables and such, but I ended up only taking the two below. I love how they re-purposed old doors and windows into chalkboards. This year the theme is Momology: The Art and Science of Mothering. Our verse for the year is Psalm 139:10, seen in the photo below. I'm really looking forward to getting to know my table mates this year.