Park Play Day

After a busy morning of Bible Study, Preschool, and running errands, we stopped at Audubon Park for some play time. Perfect weather for some fun pics of the kids!

Cooking Frenzy

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours preparing several meals for a meal exchange. I get together with 5 other families and we exchange meals once a month. Each of us picks a recipe, and each recipe needs to serve six. Then you split each recipe into two-3 serving dishes. I chose my Cranberry Orange Pork recipe this time, using country pork ribs as the meat. I ended up making six batches, split into half to make 12 meals - 5 for exchanging and 2 for us. It was definitely a busy afternoon! Here's a photo of the end result of my packaging:



The meals I received in the exchange were Farmers Casserole, Baked Spaghetti, Hawaiian Beef, Tuna Casserole, and Stuffed Chicken Breasts.

Flowers for Mommy!

The boys have been obsessed with picking me dandelions lately. I don't have the heart to tell them they are actually weeds! We go out for walks and they find fistfuls in the chubby hands to present to me, and so I've put out "the special bowl" just for their flowers. It would crush them if I threw them away, so here they are, in all their glory! I just love the fact that my boys want to give me flowers, even if they are dandelions!

Pillsbury Bake-Off contest

I did it - I finally entered the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest. I'm not revealing my recipe, since I can't honestly remember the rules regarding that, and the bake-of itself isn't until April 2010. I'm sure it takes them a year to get all the recipes, try them out, and narrow down the field to the top 100. I can't even imagine how they do that - it must be a colossal effort, and well organized. So cross your fingers with me - we'll see what happens!

Happy Easter

Usually, we get a photo with our mall Easter Bunny each year. Unfortunately this year, Austin was the only one who would get close to the Easter Bunny! So instead, we went around to the backside of the Easter set-up and just plopped the kids into the decorated area and snapped a photo. It was free, and no one was scared, and the photo actually turned out kind of cute! Here they are:

Austin's birthday party

Today we did Austin's birthday party at our house for all our friends. The family party is always in Spirit Lake, and it's just too hard for his friends to drive all the way out there to celebrate. So we always hold a second party just for Austin and friends here.

Menu Plan Monday

This is the last full week of March, and time for me to sit down and write out the April Menu plan for the month. Guess that's what I'll be doing tonight while watching "24"! Here are our meals for the week:

Monday - Spaghetti & Garlic Bread (we were supposed to have that last night, but had French Dips instead)
Tuesday - Chicken Patties, Mac-n-Cheese, cottage cheese & applesauce - mommy's gone, so daddy's cooking!
Wednesday - Cranberry/Mandarin Orange Pork Chops, rice dish, peas (also cooking a pork roast that day to take to a friend)
Thursday - Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn
Friday - Popcorn Chicken, French Fries, Sweet Potato Fries (mommy's fave!), fruit
Saturday - Leftover Love
Sunday - Pork Roast, Potatoes, Carrots and Homemade Chunky Applesauce

For more great recipe ideas, head over to
Organizing Junkie - there are lots of links to great menus for you to peruse, along with other great organizing ideas.

It's been busy and we've been sick!

Just a quick update on this late Sunday night. It's been a busy week for us here, with various illnesses going through the house. Austin ended up at Urgent Care on Saturday morning, where we waited almost three hours for a diagnosis of ear infection, which I suspected the night before when he started complaining of an earache at bedtime. Just why do the kids wait until all doctor offices are closed to get really sick?? But after only 1 day on his meds, he's had a complete turn around and is doing well. The weekend previous, his birthday weekend, he was sick with a high fever, and what I now know was this year's round of respiratory influenza, which has symptoms of high fever, coughing, achiness - general yuck without the throwing up. I thought for sure Gretchen had it, but she did not, and Daniel got it on Wednesday. So you can imagine what the house has been like - a lot of whining and crying and very little sleep! In fact, I'm headed to bed here as soon as I'm done with this. Hopefully this next week will be much better!!

Menu Plan Monday

It's been a while since I've posted one of my menus. I am doing my menus monthly now, and find it's a huge benefit! I've even taught my Menu Planning Workshop twice now, and have had a blast teaching it. Here's this week's offering:

Monday - Tacos
Tuesday - Ravioli Lasagna - then drop off meals for my monthly meal exchange
Wednesday - Fishsticks with applesauce & cottage cheese
Thursday - Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli
Friday - Waffles and bacon
Saturday - Quesidillas & Salad
Sunday - Spaghetti with garlic bread and salad

For lots of menu ideads, head over to Organizing Junkie. Lots of great menus, and lots of great organization ideas!! Have fun!

Happy 4th Birthday Austin!

Today is Austin's birthday, and unfortunately, he is not feeling very well. He shares birthday week with cousin Aimee, Aunt Melissa and Uncle Nick. We went to Spirit Lake today to celebrate together - it was a camping theme. We will do a party for his friends next weekend.

I love you, my little buddy! I'm so sorry you are not feeling well today. Hopefully next weekend you will feel much better and can enjoy your party!

More Snow Play!

Just when we thought the snow was going away, poof! Down it comes again! Of course, the kids were very happy about it - they love playing in the snow and using their shovels. After preschool today, and before lunch, we took some time to play for a little while. Good fresh air makes for good, long naps!

More snow!

On Sunday - the yard was pretty bare of snow - just a few more big chunks that the kids and James decided to smash into the street.
And on Monday, we get a dumping of snow to cover the yard back up again!
We just can't win for losing in the weather department lately!!!!

Mmmmm - Sunshine!

Now I know how a cat feels, laying in the sun, oblivious to all around. I put the kids down for their nap yesterday - I had an extra kiddo, one that I was babysitting - and decided to sit on the front porch and read for a little bit while the sun was out. I got all cozy on my chair with a blanket and my book and got all of two pages read. And then I put my head back to let the sun warm my face and I just dozed. Not fully asleep, because I could still hear the occasional car drive by or the neighbor doing some work in his garage. But it was a nice little rest, with the fresh air blowing gently while the sun warmed my cheeks. It was a little bit of Heaven in the middle of the day - very nice!

And it was nice after the destruction that occurred before lunch. We got home from preschool and I told the kids - just go down in the play room for a few minutes while I get lunch ready. Seriously, it was all of 15 minutes. But in those 15 minutes, my beautiful children completely dismantled our three-section laundry sorter, decided to use the plastic poles as swords, and broke at least one pole and cracked another. 15 minutes! Yikes! Boys can be so destructive. I had forgotten to turn the downstairs monitor back on when we got home, so unfortunately, I was oblivious to it until I went downstairs to gather the troops for lunch. Oh, boy howdy - it's a good thing it was a relatively inexpensive laundry sorter! And I can only imagine what it will be like when they turn into teenagers!

Visit with Grandma

I took the kids out to my mom & dad's today for a visit. We had fun just hanging out, playing and eating lunch. But I think we tuckered Grandma out - my kids don't stop!

Farm Chicks Giveaway

The Farm Chicks are doing a giveaway on their site. The actual item is a surprise, but knowing The Farm Chicks and their style, I would probably love to win it!! Check out their site, and enter to win. Good luck!

Sunday, sunday.....

Oh, I know - the song is actually Monday, Monday - but I decided to change it up! There it is, there it is - listen for it - and now you are singing it in your head!! Ha Ha! Gotya! Well, unless you're a young'un, and don't know for the life of you what I'm talking about. Oh, there now, google it - you'll see! Got ya hooked!! Ok - don't google it - here it is for you - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7KrlDZ5Hkw

Anyway, enough of the nonsense! Today was a good day - no major breakdowns (from the kids or me!), a good afternoon with friends from church, and an extremely easy bedtime for the kids - I don't think Austin moved after we tucked him in tonight! That's a rare occurrence, let me tell you! Usually we have to go in and remind him to stay in bed and stay quiet at least 5 or 6 times, but I didn't hear a peep from any of the kids at all tonight. I think Austin is ready to give up his afternoon nap, although I don't think I'm ready for that! He didn't sleep during naptime today, so tonight he was very ready for bed. There goes my 1-1/2 hours to myself in the afternoons! Darn it! What am I going to do without my lazy time with bon-bons and soap operas! Yea, right!

I'm heading out to my mom and dad's tomorrow with the kids - we haven't been out there since Christmas, mostly due to our lovely weather. There's always tons more snow at their house than ours, and with Gram going into the hospital and such, there just hasn't been the time. So we'll spend some fun time with my mom tomorrow and have a little break in our normal routine. It'll be fun. Plus, she got a Cricut Expressions for Christmas, and I think we are due for a little play time with it!

Have a good week, everyone!

Reflections

It's a little past 1 am, and soon I will finally be off to bed. I first tried to hit the pillows at 10:30, but my racing mind would not let me drift off. I've heard that if you can't fall asleep in 20 minutes, get up and do something and try again later. So I grabbed my latest book - Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber - and cuddled up on the downstairs couch to try and drift off. And I did, but not completely. I toddled off to my own bed, grabbed hubby's hand, and tried hard to re-create the almost-asleep state I was in on the couch. No such luck. My mind just started racing again. Once again, I got up. This time I sat at the computer and tried to get some e-mails sent out I had been neglecting. And then I started blog reading. Blogs I hadn't read in a while. Caught up on the goings-on of some internet friends and took a look at some of the blogs I read for inspiration. And now, finally, I am ready for bed.

I know, boring post, but I'm feeling a bit reflective right now. Especially thinking over this last week. And planning some changes to my daily routine that will help me feel a little less guilty by the end of the week. Not ready to share specifics, but suffice to say that my desire to be more of a Proverbs 31 woman are really starting to become larger than life. I want more AHHHH moments and less ARGGGGH moments. And it needs to start inside of me. I need to be more aware of moments instead of intent on schedules.

That's it - my reflections for now. I'm tired, and going to bed, and hopefully, sleep will find me soon. Because before I know it, my children will be ready to start the day, and I'll be wondering why I'm so tired.

Good night.

A Good Lesson

I get a lot of forwards on e-mail - good thoughts, wishes, funny stories, old wives tales, hoaxes, etc. But I got one today that was really good, a stop-in-your-tracks thought provoker. And after reading it, my only thought is - Lord, please let me feed the right wolf at all times. I just had to share it here with you.

Two Wolves
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, 'My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.'

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'

The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed.'

I'm a little behind.....

Yeah, I've been slacking, not keeping up with my blog. Blame it all on facebook, that eternal vortex! I get on to check a couple of things, and before I know it, an hour has gone by. It sucks me in the worst at night, after the kids and hubby go to bed. I should just put myself on a FB diet!!

Things around our house have been pretty normal for the most part. We did get Gram home from the hospital last Friday after being in for two weeks for her aortic aneurysm surgeries. But by Sunday she was wanting to go to a rehab center - she was feeling very weak and tired and not interested in eating. So we made arrangements to get her into Manor Care, and I think she'll do really well there. It's a nice facility, well appointed, and the staff seem very friendly. Hopefully it will get her back on her feet with a good attitude before long. We certainly miss her, especially the kids. They don't quite understand why they don't get to see her every other day!
I will try to keep this better updated. Maybe I'll even back date some posts and photos. We'll see! No promises! Hope you all have a good Wednesday!

Here are just a few fun photos of my little darlings - I just couldn't resist!

Valentine's Goodies

Today was a busy day of Valentine fun! Austin had to make a homemade Valentine for his preschool class - he did a great job!

After picking up Austin from preschool, we all went to the MOMS Club Valentine party - played with friends, made crafts, exchanged cards and had yummy treats!

Here's Gretchen having fun

And here's Daniel leading the pack in tunnel jumping!

And here are the fun little Valentine Card Holders that the kids made.