Mother's Day Tea

I know this is about a month old now but i'm catching up. Meg's MDO has a Mother's Day Tea every year for the 3's Department. I was so excited to get to go and see Meg sing to me, see the video they make and get our annual ME Book. Well I get in there and she is all happy to see me and they start to sing, then all of a sudden she just got unhappy. Stood there looking all sad and mad and then crossed her arms and totally would not sing. I was sitting right in front of her and she still wouldn't cooperate. And her buddy Mr L standing next to her did the exact same thing, they are two peas in a pod. Oh well, when I think about it, Lauren didn't sing either. Well they say third times a charm so maybe Ella Bella will sing to me! Here is a pic of us afterwards about to enjoy our cupcake and "tea".

It's Been Too Long

I can't believe how fast this month has gone by. I finished up my teaching, Meg is officially a Pre-K kid, Lauren is going into second grade (yikes) and Ella is almost one year old. This has been an incredibly fast year. Although I will say it seems like Meg has been 3 for forever and yet Ella is already a year older. I went on a long scrapbooking reatreat this weekend. Thursday through Sunday, it was so nice to get away. I very much needed vacation. We went to a friends lake house since our old scrap house closed its doors. It was so relaxing and peaceful. We had so much fun too! Good times! I didn't get as much done as I normally do, but I got a start on Ella's stuff so that's progress. So daddy was in charge all weekend. He did a great job, we didn't have too much extra activities this weekend so he got off easy. Let's just say though he really appreciates me more now! The girls always miss me so much when i'm gone, E really did, she didn't sleep too well but she crashed last night. Slept til 9:30 this morning, AHHH, that was nice! So off we go to our Summer of VBS, Camps, Beach trip, hanging out by the pool, water park and play dates. This summer will fly by for sure!

I'll post some pics later but just wanted to stop in.

Wordless Wednesdays

How Does a Garden Grow?

This Spring we decided to plant a garden. I had wanted to do it last year but we never got around to it, so this year My wonderful husband got it started. He built the garden and went and got great soil then we went and bought some plants and seeds. The girls and I had a great time planing the Tomato plants, broccoli and various other plants, then Nate and I did the seeds. Everything looks like it is going well. The tomato plants and getting taller and have blooms and we even saw some broccoli, I just wasn't sure exactly when to harvest the broccoli. I really didn't expect to see "results" so soon. Sure enough by the time I got on the internet to check it out the broccoli then was turning into yellow flowers. That is way too long. So we missed our first bunch. Oh well, that's ok, they say the first of the season isn't very good anyway. We'll have to see how long it takes to produce more. This gardening thing is good in theory but if you don't have a lot of patience like I don't, it gets "boring". Here are a few pics of my lovely garden. We did plant i think too many tomato plants so once it starts producing I might be handing out tomatos every time I see you.

Menu Monday

I did pretty good last week sticking to my menu. I am in a dry spell though. Need some new "healthy" recipes.

Monday - Spaghetti/Salad
Tuesday - Tilapia Veracruz/ brown rice/ squash/broccoli
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza
Thursday - Chicken Enchiladas/ salad / quacamole and chips (yummy)
Friday - Teriyaki Salmon/ penne/ veggies/salad

My Hero

It was quite an interesting afternoon here. Of course everyday is interesting but this one was exceptional. We got home from school and since the weather is just gorgeous the girls wanted to go out back and play and bounce on the bounce house. I had pulled out the house yesterday for Meg but i didn't get it staked down cause the ground was hard and I was lazy and didn't want to go get the hammer. Anyway, It was very windy today. The girls are out bouncing, i'm inside changing baby E's diaper and I hear screaming (MOM!) Well, what else is new, I always hear someone screaming. Again I hear it but this time I think, there seems to be some urgency. So I hurry up with E and go outside, I see the bounce house up on its side and Lauren trying to hold it down. This things weighs twice as much as her and is 3 x's as tall. I break into a run with E in my arms. Throw her down and grab the house cause it is still trying to get wind under it and take off. Well once we got it under control, I hammered down the stakes and made it all safe I asked Lauren if they were in it when it went on it's side. Yes they were. She got out and held it down and told Meg there was an opening on the side for her to climb out. What great thinking for my brave 6 year old. If you only knew, one year ago she would have completely flipped out. I was so proud of her and praised her for her Leadership and quick thinking. AHH, she makes my heart happy! Love you Lauren. You are my sunshine!

Menu Monday

Sunday - "healthy" Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Mixed Veggies
Monday - Aztec Chicken Casserole, Salad
Tuesday - Almond Fish, brown rice, Veggies
Wednesday - Church nite, drive thru
Thursday - Shake n Bake Chicken, noodles, veggies
Friday - Black Bean Quessadillas, Salad, Fruit
Saturday - Leftover Buffet

I know it's Tuesday, but wanted to get this out!

Menu Mondays

Sunday - Buffet
Monday - Taco Skillet/Salad
Tuesday - Angel Chicken/ Pasta/ Veggie
Wednesday - Meatballs/ Potatoes/ Veggies
Thursday - Fried Chicken (Healthy version of course)/ Rice/Veggies
Friday - Kids Sloppy Joe's - Nate and I going out!

Ok, Christie, here is the recipe for the Angel Chicken....I got this recipe from Kim Hawkins who is one of the best cooks in DFW! Yummy! So you can thank her for it! I love other people's yummy recipes too, so send me some!

4-6 Chicken Breasts/tenders
1/4 cup butter
1- .7 oz pkg dry Italian salad dressing mix
1 - can golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 oz cream cheese ( I use reduced fat, you can also use the one with chives, whatever you prefer)
Mushrooms optional
hot cooked angel hair pasta

Place chicken in crockpot. Melt butter in large bowl, stir in italian mix. Stir in soup, wine, and softened cream cheese. Mix well, pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low heat 4-5 hours, or hight heat 2-3 hours. Serve over hot cooked pasta.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesdays

Menu Mondays

Sorry I didn't get to this last week. Here is this week's dinners!

Sunday - Chicken Baseballs, rice, veggies
Monday - Red Beans Rice, green beans, cornbread
Tuesday - Tortillini, Salad
Wednesday - Healthy Chili, cornbread
Thursday - Pan Baked Almond Fish, rice, veggies
Friday - Steak, potatoes, salad, rolls

Menu Monday

Ok, i'm a bit late. We have a busy week and 2 out of the 5 of us had a stomach bug over the weekend. Now my stomach is hurting but i'm hoping it stays away.

Sunday - Sweet n Sour Chicken with brown rice (stir fry veggies were in this too)
Monday - King Ranch Chicken Casserole with Caesar salad and french bread
Tuesday - Taco Tuesday baby
Wednesday - Meatloaf, mac/cheese for kids, veggies
Thursday - Shake n Bake, veggies
Friday - Hamburgers/fruit
Saturday - Out!

Go to Organize Junkie on the right for more menu ideas.

Wordless Wednesdays

What are you reading?

"Of one hundred men,

one will read the Bible;

the ninety-nine will read the Christian."

— Dwight L. Moody

The Laundry Room

I am in organization mode! Look out family cause things are being tossed out left and right, and they don't even know it! This month I am focusing on the Laundry Room. This room in my house drives me crazy. Everyone comes through the LR because it's the door from the garage that leads into the house. So this becomes the drop off, catch all for everything. When we don't have a place for it, put it in the LR. I've been trying to think about different ways to organize it and make it neat and pretty. Tomorrow is the big day of cleaning out the cabinets and chunking then making my list of what I need to organize certain projects. Check out these Laundry rooms though! Our LR is no where near this space. HGTV is great!

Menu Mondays

Today is the start of Menu Mondays for my blog. I have been reading various other blogs and sites lately that focus on being a good "keeper of my home", meaning being more frugal and better organization. One of the sites I really like is Stretching a buck. So I will post my menu for the week but in turn I would love to see some other menus for some ideas. Keep in mind that we are trying to eat healthier and not as expensive meals. Another site I am enjoying is Five dollar dinners, the challenge is to create a meal for $5 or less. There are so many other blogs that I will add to my blog list, so check them out some time. These women are amazing. I am also so excited to see so many godly women out there on these blogs really ministering to the world. Another reason this is so exciting to me is I see at as a sign of the return of Jesus. His word says that everyone will have been able to hear the message and know about Jesus before His return and the information highway is doing a great job of speeding that up. Get ready world, I hope you are ready for Jesus, cause His word says that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Christ the Lord. So if you don't have a relationship with our Lord I encourage you to pray for forgiveness of your sins and to ask Jesus to come into your heart and be Lord of your life. It's that simple but you do have to ask. Our God is a gracious and merciful God and he wants to give, you just have to ask.

Now back to menu planning.

I have always planned our meals so this is not a new thing for me, but I'm always looking for new ideas and recipes.

Monday - Spaghetti and salad
Tuesday - Fish/ Brown rice/veggies
Wednesday - Quesadillas (how do you spell that word) and salad
Thursday- Beef Tips/noodles/ veggies
Friday - Breakfast (yum, i love breakfast for dinner, eggs, biscuits, bacon so not healthy)

Saturday we had soup and sunday we had chicken enchiladas ( healthy version).

Another menu tip that I learned from a bible study at our church is to start making menu cards. And then once you have a good supply built up you don't even have to think about menus anymore you just pull out your cards. You can also put your grocery/supply list on the back of the cards so you have that handy as well. Great idea, I started this but then we started cooking a bit healthier so now I need to redo the cards.

Where have I been?

It has been a long time since I posted anything so I thought I better let you all get caught up with us. Well, I haven't posted much because our computer has been not acting right so I can't post and see things on certain sites. I really hoping to get me a new little laptop soon. I really like Amber's little one. That size is perfect for me. Then Nate and I can sit side by side working on our laptops.

Lauren is doing fabulous, she is still loving first grade. School just had their Jump Rope for Heart and she was one of the top Jump Ropers! She is a jump rope fanatic now, everywhere she goes her and her friends take their jump rope and jump jump! It's cute and reminds me of me when I was younger and loved jumping rope! She has also finally learned how to ride her bike! She's so excited! Hopefully we can finish the school year strong, I think so even though it's getting harder at school, she still is doing well.

Meg is cracking us up still daily. I love all her sayings, I'm trying to remember to write some of them down as she says them to put in her scrapbook. One thing she says is "no way whosea" instead of no way jose! The other night it was storming out and lightning and she kept saying, "who's making those lights outside" I guess she doesn't remember lightning. She was into saying "actually" about everything but now she's moved on to "cept" "cept i didn't do it mommy". She's been sick though so we are back to doing breathing treatments. So we are really tired from not sleeping much this past week. I think she's getting better now.

Our Sweet Ella! My precious baby is sitting up, trying to crawl (which i've been stifling since december but i can't anymore she's determined to move) eating real food and saying "yaya, gaga and dada"! She is growing up quick! She is so stinkin cute though with her chubby legs and those cheeks to just eat up!

Valentine's day was fun, we had a family vday dinner and the girls loved it! I always make them heart shaped waffles and pancakes for breakfast. This year we had a steak dinner by candlelight and then i made heart shaped ramekins and then after that we had chocolate fondue and they dipped strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and graham crackers. It was a fun night.

My mom's in town this weekend and she and my sister are going to watch the girls so Nate and I can go out on a date! OHHHH, soooooooo nice! I can't wait to get away!

Here are a few pics of lately.

Happy New Year

and Merry Christmas too! I'm a little late but better late than never. Happy New year! We had a great Christmas, the girls got tons of toys/clothes and Santa brought a bounce house. I think the family gift of the Wii is a bigger hit! I never thought my husband, who is not a game person, would be so into this game system. Let me tell you, it's a fight nearly to see who gets to play, with all of us. Even Meg is playing. How sad is this! But it is fun! I'm so glad we got it.

Here are a few pics...

Ella just loved the paper and the boxes.

Lauren made out, between the bounce house, Wii, and ipod and an American Girl doll. There's nothing left. And except for the house, none of that was from us, all other family! Can we say spoiled!

Meg had a Dora Christmas, most things were Dora and she loves it all. She is such a joy to watch open presents, because she opens each one and truly looks at it and of course wants to start playing with it but she just takes the entire thing in and gets the biggest smile on her face!

Those were just a few pics. We had a great Christmas, all of our family from both sides were in town and we loved seeing everyone. My grandfather did pass away on the 23rd and the funeral was Monday but the good thing was that he wasn't suffering anymore, he had a heart attack in October, and my Mimi passed away two years ago, so they are together with Jesus. It's a bittersweet time.

Happy New Year! first I wanted to celebrate the high points from 2008 and then tell you my goals for 2009!

1. Blessed with one more pregnancy and welcomed Baby Ella to our Family in July.

2. Celebrated being married to Nate for 10 years in August! I don't know why he puts up with me!

3. Took Lauren on our first Mother Daughter weekend to Pine Cove.

4. Enjoyed the blossoming of many friendships.

5. Attending my granddad's funeral where they sang the most beautiful songs my uncle wrote and truly imagined him and my mimi embracing and celebrating in Heaven.

Goals for 2009! I like the one word idea from Ali Edwards, you scrappers know what i mean. So i am praying about my one word for the year. I have a few in mind but I will nail this down by tomorrow.

1. Be positive! Not talking negative, so if you hear me keep me accountable.

2. Run half marathon.

3. Walk closer to God, includes reading the bible through, I will try this again. I think I try it every year but last year I really didn't get far. New Year, New try!

4. Save Save Save, not spending on unnecessary items.

5. More quality time with the girls together and individually.

6. Last but certainly not least, to be the best wife I can be. Do as much for Nate as I can and to not be the drippy faucet. Truly aiming for the Proverbs 31 women.