Trying Something New

In an effort to try and get myself to blog more, which right now if I manage to post more than once a month I'm probably going to be doing good. :)

I'd love to blog a couple times a week, but with my MSC (many small children, yes I stole that from MckMama) it's harder then I thought it would be. I like to a) have had some coffee so I can (hopefully) form complete sentences. b) have a bit of quiet so I can actually hear myself think. Ideally, I would do this once the kids are in bed, but at that point in the day no amount of coffee would help me form complete sentences, so it's this vicious cycle, that never ends

Anyway, my new idea (which I got from a movie) is to blog my way through a cookbook. Since I cook almost everyday, anyway, and because writing about a recipe that's pre-written doesn't take as much brain power as coming up with my own post ideas, and lastly because a post about food shouldn't take to terribly long, I figure I have a shot. :)



I got The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond (if I knew how to link stuff I would) for Christmas. Since her's is my new favorite blog to read, and she uses butter in many of her recipes, I figured I'd try and blog my way through her cookbook. I've tried a few of her recipes, and so far each one has been a success I'm not planning on making a Pioneer Woman recipe everyday, but at least once or twice a week. And hopefully I'll remember to take pictures of the finished product. :)

So there's my new idea that I hope will work and slowly lead to more time to post about other things.

The Stocking Dilemma

Christmas is on my mind! :)

I know Thanksgiving is next week, but because of that I know Christmas is right around the corner waiting to jump at me, like it does every year. :)

So this year, especially with a new baby and knowing that everything will take longer I've started my Christmas shopping *gasp* (yes, I know there are many people who are done, like my sister) in the hopes that I'll actually get to relax and enjoy a few days before Christmas.

My goal every year is to be done shopping and baking and sending out cards early and every year I'm shopping up until a few days before Christmas (wrapping presents on Christmas Eve or after people get here on Christmas) baking like a mad woman up to the day, and the actual day I'm giving cookies out as gifts and then mailing out our Christmas cards the week of Christmas praying for some kind of Christmas miracle that our cards will get to their destinations before Christmas. Yeah.

I don't like being a last minute person, but I think I am. I know some people thrive under the pressure, but I don't know if I thrive on it. If being frazzled and stressed out count as thriving, then, yes, I thrive quite well, but I don't quite think that's it. :)

Anyway, so back to my title about the stockings. Every year we have the intention of doing stockings for St. Nick. What usually happens is 1 of 2 scenarios. Scenario 1. If we do St. Nick my husband or I (usually me) is out running around the day before hastily buying things to throw into our kids stockings, and while it gets the job done it's not super enjoyable. Scenario 2. We skip St. Nick and decide to fill stockings Christmas Eve and, well, unfortunately it's pretty much the same scenario again. Amidst all the other Christmas preparation we sort of forget about the stockings and then Dec. 23 or 24 one of us (again, usually me :) ) is running around looking for "leftovers" to fill the kids stockings, since by then it's not always easy to find what you're looking for. Can you say, "Parent, fail"?? :)

This year I decided to get a head start on stocking stuffers, so I can actually give our kids something they'll like. It's not really that bad. :) I do however want to do stockings for St. Nick because I want to give each of the kids their Hall*Mark ornament to hang on the tree and I got some cute Christmas pencils for the older boys that I'd like them to be able to use at school before Christmas break. :)

I started picking up little things kind of by accident *Yay me!* 2 or so weeks ago. I was at Target going through the $1 section and found a few cute items.

My dilemma comes in when I'm trying to figure out what kind of candy to get. Do I buy candy that I'll like too, since inevitably all the candy ends up in one central location (away from little hands), or do I buy stuff that only the kids will like, so I won't be tempted to eat it?

Since I'm the "Stocking Stuffer" I usually don't get things in my stocking so when buying candy I keep in mind that this is sort of for me too. :)

And now aside from a few little things for Lu-berry, and a couple of teethers for Baby E, I'm pretty much done with stockings *Hooray!* I decided to get candy for the kids that they'll like and candy for my husband that we'll both like. Ha! It's a win-win. Now I just need to remember some self-control since I am trying to lose weight between now and Christmas.

Yes, I know, I am crazy, but I won't fit into my Christmas-y clothes if I don't.

Re-Cap

Well, here I am again, after months of neglecting my blog. However, having a baby is my excuse and I think it's a good one. :)

Our newest addition was born 12 days after my last blog post. Baby E (that's what his sister "Lu-berry" first called him, so we'll go with that) was born August 29th. I should post about his birth, but that'll have to be another day. I really want to try and be more consistent with my blogging if only for my own purposes. I mean, I have 4 boys now, and I've got some good book material, and if I don't write things down I'll never remember everything and then I won't make millions after I write my "Mother of 4 Boys Survival Guide" :) provided I survive, Ha!

I wanted to document some more book material, while I'm still remembering it. And thankfully I can laugh at these things now, but at the time, I don't think I did. These situations coupled with sleep deprivation, hormones, and a not always happy baby....yeah....

1. I'm not exactly sure about the beginning date for this, I know it was early to mid September. It starts with my husband at church. J3/#3 son laid his head down on E's lap during church. E was looking in J3's ear and noticed a big ball of ear wax was in his ear, making a note to clean out J3's ears when we got home. Fast forward to Monday night, E gets around to cleaning out J3's ears and quickly realizes what he's seeing in there is not ear wax! What do you ask is in J3's ears? Are you ready for this? Bebes!! That you'd use in a bebe gun! That's right, let it sink in. Not only are there little white bebes in J3's ears, they're glow-in-the-dark bebes! So after using a flashlight to inspect J3's ears, they now glow if he's in a dark room, good times, good times. So over the course of the next couple of days (along w/ me having mini-meltdowns at the thought of taking J3, a not-so-happy baby and other children to the ER) E manages to get both bebes out of J3's ears, the 2nd coming out by E taping a tube you'd find on an oxygen tank (that he found in the barn) to our hand-held vacuum and sucking the beebe out of his ear.

At one point E asked J3 where he got the bebes, and he said he found them in the truck. J1 had found them at a park and left them in the truck and apparently J3 thought it was a good idea to stick them in his ears, help! It did explain some hearing issues he'd been having up to the time of E discovering the bebes. :) And now 2 months later I'm happy to report no new foreign objects have been found in J3's ears.

2. While E was sucking said bebe out of J3's ear on the final night of Operation Clear the Ears, we were so pre-occupied with J3 and his ears that we lost sight of Lu-berry for a little bit. Well, not really lost sight just didn't realize she wasn't with us in the livingroom, not that this is a big deal, she can occupy herself. Anyway, she was busy while we were sucking out bebes. After the final bebe came out, there was much rejoicing in the house and I think that got Lu-berry's attention and she came in the livingroom. I noticed that her cheek was bleeding a little and after further inspection we concluded that while we were sucking bebes out of J3's ears Lu-berry had decided to take her first shot at shaving, yes, that's right she somehow managed to get into E's cabinet in the bathroom and shave, good grief!

The following day Lu-berry was in the bathroom with E and he took his razor out to shave as soon as she saw it she said, "I like that" (Help!).

Her shaving wound is healing nicely, she may end up with a little scar, but I think over time it will fade.

3. About 2 weeks ago now, I was in the livingroom feeding Baby E and J3 comes running in with a concerned look on his face. He says to me, "My nose hurts." Um, ok...and then I see them. He was holding a little stack of about 4-5 rare earth magnets and it hits me, he stuck a magnet up his nose. So I asked him, "Did you put a magnet in your nose?" He nods his head yes. Of course he did, of course he did, why am I surprised?! He put a marble where the sun don't shine this summer, last month he had bebes in his ears aside from his mouth this is the only other bodily opening he hasn't stuck a foreign object into. Trying to keep myself calm, since the last thing I wanted to do was pack the kids up for a trip to the ER, my mind started racing with all the different things I could try to get the magnet out before involving the medical community. It was out. J3 blew out like he would if blowing his nose and the magnet was out, Praise the Lord! So while trying to keep my twitching to a minimum I explained as seriously as I could with out yelling that nothing belongs in his nose except a kleenex when he needs to blow his nose. Later that day he came up to me and said, "My nose is sore." Yes, J3 that's what happens when you put a magnet in your nose.

4. I don't know about all children, but a couple of mine have eaten weird things over the years and thought whatever it was they were eating was good. Now some things I can understand. J3 would take my flavored creamer out of the fridge and chug-a-lug a half a bottle. Not something I'd do, but whatever. I've also caught J3 eating Boudreaux's Butt Paste, and enjoying it, on several occasions, should I be worried?? Well, the latest involves my daughter. I have no idea how she even got this, but she did. She comes over by me with this little bottle, opens the top sticks her finger in it, sticks her finger in her mouth, looks at me and smiles and repeats. It was GLITTER! Now I know it's not the worst thing in the world, but seriously, glitter??!!

5. This happened the same week, possibly the same day Lu-berry decided to have glitter for a snack. J3 decided to give Lu-berry a haircut! Yup that's right her first hair cut. Thankfully only a tiny bit of hair was lost, not because I found him in the act, but because he cut her ear in the process. I've thought of getting her ears pierced, but not like that. Anyway, it was a very small cut, but enough to draw some blood.

How does all this happen? It's called, I'm nursing a baby and being pre-occupied with him since he's not my happiest baby. Maybe I need to start taping them to a chair while I nurse??

So there my friends is a re-cap of some of the craziness (stuff I can remember) that's taken place here at the Funny Farm in the past 2 months. If nothing else I hope this brought a smile to your face or even made you laugh! I can laugh at these now, at the time I think I was doing a lot of twitching, but I'm laughing now and that's what counts! :)

What's For Dinner

I wanted to share what we had for dinner tonight. I'm always on the look-out for new yummy recipes to try and this one, at least for us, is a keeper! Everyone liked it! Even our youngest son, who if you looked-up "picky eater" in the dictionary his picture would be there. He didn't eat all the meat, but he ate the majority of what he was served, and for him, that's big! :)

Couple reasons I was drawn to this recipe, besides the simplicity of it....It has Prosciutto in it which I've been wanting to try for probably a year now and fresh basil, which the basil I planted from seeds is thriving in our garden so I was excited to use some of it! Also, I'm a big cheese fan so this recipe allows for me to indulge and try a new kind of cheese. :)

If you're looking for something new to try for dinner, our family recommends this! :)

Whole-Grain Spaghetti with Pecorino, Prosciutto and Pepper

Ingredients

• 1 pound whole-grain (or whole-wheat) spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons mixed colored peppercorns, coarsely ground
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups grated (6 ounces) pecorino
• 6 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes.

While the pasta is cooking: Heat a small, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Add the peppercorns and toast for about 20 to 30 seconds. Add the oil and cook for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.

Drain the pasta reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Transfer the spaghetti to a large serving bowl. Add 1 cup of the pecorino and toss to combine, gradually adding reserved pasta water, if needed, to loosen up the pasta. Add the oil mixture, prosciutto, 2 tablespoons of parsley, and 2 tablespoons of basil. Toss well to combine all ingredients.

Garnish with the remaining pecorino, parsley, and basil.

Joy Comes

This week on Wednesday night we received some news that just made my week!

Besides the usual busy-ness of life with the added craziness of the summer, we've been praying for a few heart breaking situations. This news was like a cool breeze on a hot sticky summer day, just refreshing!

Our dear friends from church who suffered a miscarriage in March announced that they are almost 20 wks. pregnant! And the icing on the cake is they found out they're having a girl. This is the first granddaughter on either side of the family!

I am beyond excited for them!! God is so good!

"...weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."

Psalm 30:5b

Blessed Be Your Name

After receiving some sad and for some heart-breaking news this morning, some of the words to this song immediately came to mind.

You give and take away

You give and take away

But my heart will choose to say

Blessed be Your name

We had a lot of flooding in our area last week, and the elementary/middle school I went to was completely flooded! There was water up to the ceiling and Everything was destroyed....all the curriculum, books, computers, desks, supplies, everything. This is a small one room Christian school, so for all of this to happen was devastating!

Church leaders and some of the families of the school held a meeting last night to decide whether or not to re-open the school. Members of the church have been fasting and praying this week, asking for the Lord's guidance as to what to do.

My mom called this morning to let me know that the decision was made to close the school.

My heart is aching for my mom who's been working there since I went there. The other teachers, families and church members who were so heavily involved in this school. It was more than a school but like a small family.

I am praying for all involved!

I thought this song was appropriate, no matter how hard, sad, heartbreaking the circumstances.....my heart will choose to say, Blessed be Your name!

11 years ago....

my husband and I said "I do". We committed our lives and our love to each other, "'til death do us part." So much has happened in the past 11 years. We've grown from 2 people beginning their married lives in an apartment to a family of almost 7 living in the farmhouse my husband grew up in.

If you would've asked me, even on our wedding day if I thought we'd be where we are now I would've said, "no". I never imagined I'd have 5 children, it was only a dream that has now come true that we are living where we are today. Although, I have to say the experiences of marriage were many times much harder then I expected!

Learning to cook and keep a home....well let's say through much trial and error and the Lord's help and grace, I think it's safe to say I've come a long way! Ha! Thinking back to my cooking days when we were first married makes me a little twitchy, but I'm thankful for all I've learned and am still learning!
Keeping a home, again, those early days make me a little twitchy, and with each baby we've added to our family, it seems the learning process, in a way, has started again. I'm bracing myself for that learning process to begin again sometime this September and I'm hoping to have it "mastered" again by Thanksgiving....or at least make it look like I have it mastered! :) I have to say though, through gaining ideas from friends and so many times praying my way through the day, I'm happy with how I've learned to keep our home clean.....and while it usually lasts less then 24 hours, it's at least getting done. :)

This past week I spent some time reflecting over the past 11 years of marriage. We've been through a lot in our young lives and marriage. We've had so many fun times, many amazing times (4 soon to be 5 of which top the charts), sweet times, sad times, times of sickness, thankfully many more times of health, stressful times, times of anger with each other, times of wonderful talk and fellowship and we've had our share of stormy times....some of those storms severe!

The day we got married on the front of our wedding programs was typed, "God is Faithful" the theme of our wedding. And as I was reflecting this past week, it truly is God's faithfulness that has been the constant in our marriage! We are 2 imperfect humans who are living and building our lives and family together, and things are not always happy and cheerful, but Praise God, He is and always will be faithful!! That is one thing we can depend on and believe in!

Truly it is God's faithfulness that has brought us, carried us and seen us through these past 11 years! Through the good times, the bad times, in sickness and in health, our God is faithful!!

I am so thankful for the Lord's faithfulness, it is because of Him that we are celebrating 11 years of marriage today!!

♥ ♥ ♥ To my, Bear, I love you more today then the day we said, "I do" and I want to love you more with each passing year! Happy Anniversary!! ♥ ♥ ♥




This song is perfect for our anniversary....He's been so faithful...