Welcome to Monday Mornings!

So this is what our Monday morning has looked like so far. A cup of coffee just begging to be finished before it gets stone cold, chicken in pot to bowl for chicken enchiladas, Gretchen eating cereal, Daniel deciding to draw on himself instead of the paper I gave him, and Austin cutting a paper to bits! Just a normal morning in our house!

Have a great day today! So far, ours is going well. Of course, it's only 8 am!

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Part of our bedtime routine with the kids is to sing some songs. Usually we do it with them already in bed, but this night we decided to sit on the floor and sing together. Here is a sampling for you.

Oh, how time flies!

It is amazing to look back at previous years at the this time and see what the kids looked like!

May 2007

Look at my little babies!

May 2008

Getting bigger!

May 2009

Look at my big kids! Full of smiles and laughter, spit and vinegar!

American Idol - I vote for......

......Kris Allen. I really want him to win. I think Adam is a good singer, and a great performer, but when I place my vote, I have to think of one thing. Whose album would I most likely buy first? And by far, it is Kris. I much prefer his bluesy, soulful singing, and creativity in arrangement, over the scream out loud Adam.

Scrapbook Pages

I've been getting together with some friends and working on scrapbook pages. Unfortunately, at this rate it is going to take me forever to get the kids' scrapbooks caught up, but I am having fun doing the pages and gabbing with girlfriends at the same time. Here are a few of what I have done recently. You can click on any of the pictures to see them bigger and in more detail.

Happy Mother's Day!

She's growing up!

Tonight I took the kids up to the bowling alley so they could watch James and his buddies bowl. They loved it, and can't to go bowling themselves this summer. I snapped a quick photo of Gretchen with Tim, a friend and co-worker of James'. And then I remembered another photo of Gretchen and Tim together, back when we first brought her home. Such a huge change! My baby is getting so big!

My life....

What more do I need to say?

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

Tonight we are having a yummy Mexican dinner of Carne Adovado, Refried Beans, Spanish Rice & Corn. Hopefully we won't all have heartburn when we are done!

7:28 pm - OK - dinner is done, kids are in bed! Here is what we did for dinner:





You can click on any picture to see it bigger.

Kinda Lazy Monday

For the first time in a long time, we didn't have plans to go anywhere today. There was no MOMS Club function, no church function, no grocery shopping - nothing! It was kind of nice to just get up and do things at our own pace, without having to chase the clock and hurry to get somewhere. The kids played inside and outside, we painted pictures, and I prepared two different dinners for later on this week. One is even a new recipe, and I'm very eager to taste the results! It's a Mexican dish called Carne Adovada. You have to make this yummy smelling sauce and let your pork stew meat marinate in it overnight, then cook it slowly in the crockpot the next day. So it's all in the crockpot dish, marinating and waiting for tomorrow. I also made another pan of my fruited pork chops, this time using a blend of peach jam, whole berry cranberry sauce and onion soup mix. It's in the pan and ready for Wednesday. Tonight we are having a whole roasted chicken stuffed with wild rice & mushroom stuffing. So we've got some good eats planned for this week - anyone want to join us for dinner??

The kids are in their room for "nap time" although Daniel is the only one sleeping. Gretchen was a bit grumpy this morning, so she took an early nap, but that still didn't get her out of the afternoon quiet time. She's got her books and dollies and a play stethoscope, so she's just having some quiet play time in her bed. She's been singing all sorts of songs! I'm taking advantage of quiet time by catching up on computer stuff. I already got 2 loads of laundry done, working on a third. I think we'll all go for a walk after nap time.

So, it's not really been a lazy Monday, but I consider any day we don't have to leave the house as a lazy day! I really need to have more of these days! They really are nice!

Carousel Party

This morning, our kids got to participate in a fun annual event that a local winery puts on for foster kids of Spokane. They sponsor a Carousel Party, and treat the kids to an hour of free rides on the carousel, plus a big breakfast spread and toys for all the kids that come. It's a very generous party that they put on, and they have been doing it for a number of years. The kids all enjoy it, and it is kind of our kick-off to summer event. The kids know that once we go to the carousel party, that means we get to spend a lot more time down at the "big park" and play on the carousel and red wagon. Lots of fun for everyone! And yes, I dressed them all in orange on purpose - James was at a church men's retreat, so I was by myself with the kids, and I wanted to be able to pick them out of the crowd quickly if I had to!

Happy May Day!

One of these years, I am actually going to celebrate May Day! You know, go around and put little paper cones of flowers on neighbors doors, ring the door bell, and run! I think next year, since it will be on a Saturday, and the kids will be just that much older, we will start this tradition. That gives me a whole year to plan! Just maybe.....






We went to a birthday party tonight, and the birthday boy got a trampoline. My kids had a ball jumping on it! Here are a few photos of the fun.

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!!