Happy Birthday Marine Corps! (a day late)

The other night at church, all the kids were told to wear red, white, and blue in honor of veteran's day. Of course, we had to participate (although, to my dismay, many other people did not). I am insanely proud that Daniel served in the Marine Corps, so I had to sneak this in somehow. And let's face it, I doubt many other children there have a dad who was deployed shortly after they were born.

Hoorah!

Happy 236th Birthday, Marines!

Cultivating a heart towards service

When I first graduated from college, I started praying about where the Lord wanted me to serve. It wasn't long before we were married and then pregnant. I started reading Christian-based motherhood books and decided "This is my ministry!" Something was missing, though. Not that motherhood isn't a ministry. I strongly believe it is the most important ministry there is. Let's face it... as parents, you are raising the next generation to do great works for the Kingdom of God. Sort of gives you chills to think about, right? What I am doing right now will hopefully have an everlasting effect to further God's plan through the generations.

Getting back to serving... I read a book this spring, Crazy Love, that really gave me a wake up call. It showed me just how little service I was doing that Christ has called me to do. I also realized that I wanted to start cultivating a heart towards service in my children NOW. It wasn't just going to happen on its own, and I wanted it to be something that they just grew up naturally doing. All of my service activities growing up revolved around clubs and organizations. I can't say I did one thing that wasn't put on, supported, or required by something I was involved in. Not that this is wrong, but I want service to be something that my children do naturally all the time. I want them to be aware of the need around them and aware of how much the Lord has blessed our lives. I want them to jump into action because they feel called, and not only because someone is organizing a drive.

Right around this time I was asked to be the service coordinator for MOPS. Of course, I jumped at the chance, since this was something the Lord had recently placed on my heart. I am excited about all of our activities. Some are quite easy and don't require anything more than at-home participation and some are more organized. My goal is to give monthly activities for the moms to do with their children to start planting those service seeds.

One service project I shared today was homeless bags. Simple enough, they are bags of goodies that you pass out to homeless people you see. In the book Crazy Love, I also came across 1 John 3:17... "Whoever has material possessions and sees a brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" I always feel at a loss when I see the homeless around Houston. I hate giving money, and on top of that, I never really have free cash in my purse. This is the perfect alternative. Plus, what preschooler does not love to sort and assemble bags?

I explained to the girls that we are so blessed to have a warm bed to sleep in every night and food on our table. Some people aren't as lucky and do not have a home and are very hungry. These bags would hopefully bring a little joy to their life and make things a little easier. Immediately, Emily became more aware of the people on the side of the road and was excited to pass out our bags. Planting seeds... mission accomplished!

I got everything from the dollar store and Tuesday Morning. All together, I spent about $20 to put 8 bags together. After you make these (because you are going to, right?), I encourage you to pray over the bags with your children, and also pray for the specific person whenever you pass out a bag. 9 times out of 10 people will take the bag thankfully. Of course, every once in a while, someone will decline because that is not exactly what they are looking for. I think it is important to realize that some people have some pretty heavy strongholds in their life and these people need even more prayers. You can explain to your children that some people are really lost and don't even know what they really need. Pray that the Lord may bring someone into their life to put them on the right track and also introduce the Lord to them.

The day I presented this activity with my MOPS group, we had an educational roundtable. We had representatives come from the various schooling options we have in Houston... public school, a private school, a university-model school (blend between traditional school and homeschooling), and a homeschooling parent. The director of the private school came up to me at the end of my talk and asked if I included any religious material in the bag. I told her that I meant to, but have not gotten around to printing anything to put in the bags. She said the school would love to donate pocket Bibles or spiritual foundation handouts for the bags. I got chills when she told me. So exciting!

We are called to help the homeless. Have you done anything for them recently??? Here are some ideas of things to include in your homeless bags...

- chapstick

- package of tissue

- toothbrush and toothpaste

- mouthwash

- comb

- soap and washrag

- handwipes

- socks

- bottled water

- non-perishable food: granola bars, peanut butter crackers, trail mix, etc.

Multitude Mondays - Preschool Edition

I found this idea on Pinterest and knew we had to make it. I have been looking for more ideas to add homemade fall decorations that the children could help with, and who doesn't love preschool handwriting? All of my old scrapbooking supplies sure are coming in handy these days!

It was cute to see some of Emily's ideas of things we are thankful for. After the basic list of immediate family and grandparents, she came up with some funny things. All very fitting for her, though.

Emily's List (these are in no particular order)

1. Scissors

2. Poppy

3. Butterflies

4. Books

5. Milk

6. Goldfish

7. Friends

8. Olivia

9. Mommy

10. Mimi

11. Nonny

12. Lunch

13. Ladybugs

14. Daddy

15. Our house

What's on the table

All of these recipes are thanks to Pinterest, my new found love. I guess it isn't really new, anymore. Let's just say the honeymoon period hasn't worn off yet!

I LOVE pumpkin, and although I do not bake, this is the one season I venture into baked goods and sweets. I have a go-to recipe for pumpkin muffins/bread which my family ABSOLUTELY LOVES. I will have to post later. Pinterest has helped me reach out to some other pumpkin products, though. The past couple of weeks we have made pumpkin gooey butter cake and baked pumpkin donut holes. Both were winners.

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This appetizer is way too easy to not make, and it was gone in about 5 seconds. Everyone raved about it, which reminds me that I should make it again. Who wants to come over for a party?

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I really don't understand pasta dishes in the crockpot. I think you could get the exact same effect if you cooked this before dinner on the stove, but let's face it... who doesn't love a crockpot meal? I didn't have to think at the dinnertime hour AND there was very little cleanup that evening. It was definitely a keeper!

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We LOVE pad thai, so I am always looking for recipes to make at home. I refuse to cook with fish sauce or oyster sauce, though, after a bad recipe we tried once. It sort of makes it difficult to make pad thai when you refuse to touch a main ingredient. This recipe fit the bill, though, and actually satisfied our pad thai craving. We will be making this again really soon!

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We love gyros and this recipe was easy to throw throw together and healthy. Good to have a recipe like this on hand when my Greek cravings hit.

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We tend to stay away from cheap chain restaurants as much as we can, but there are certain times when a craving hits. I often want Chili's southwestern egg rolls, so I was excited to find a copycat recipe that I could make at home. These take the exact same! They are SO good!!! I have used large tortillas for dinner, but also small tortillas, which would be perfect for parties or football games. To make healthier, I wrap in tortillas, brush with olive oil, and bake them at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

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The Girls' Room, Part 2

Like I said, the room sat there for almost a year in pitiful condition.

Luckily, Emily didn't mind. I mean, what three year old does? I set a goal in my head to have the room ready by the time the new baby came, since that is when Olivia would be kicked out of the nursery. Oh, how the second child gets everything.

So this huge roadblock, let's face it... it is money. Isn't it always? My house would be amazing if I had the money to decorate it the way I wanted. I have these grand visions, but no means to follow through right now. Someday. For the girls' room, I had to be resourceful and figure out what my priorities were. I really wanted the room to turn out exactly how I wanted, versus go the cheaper option and never really be fully content with the outcome. Hence, the long time it took to get the ball rolling.

I thought long and hard about what to do for the bed skirt. It couldn't be solid, since I knew I wanted to layer patterns and I would already have solid headboards. That is when I remembered some striped bedding I had when I was younger.

My mom had mentioned that she was holding on to it for me, so I called her up. I had queen bedsheets and a bed skirt in this striped fabric, and I knew I could easily make two twin bed skirts out of all the material. Striped bedding in hand, we were on our way. And that is where things got crazy.

So, the bedding had most of the colors I wanted, but was missing turquoise (the color of the headboards) and purple (the color of the sheets I had already gotten and Emily's favorite color). I had read this blog post once, in which someone painted extra colors onto some pillows in their living room. I know this is so incredibly insane, but I actually painted more stripes onto the bedding. Seriously. What was I thinking??? This is really why it took me so long to get the room started. It must have been a 6 month ordeal. I mean, with two little kids, I could only paint once they were in bed and when Daniel was not home, since it consumed all my attention. Little by little by LITTLE it came together.

I used painters tape to mark everything off.

And the final product. Lighting doesn't do the colors justice, but it is exactly what I was hoping for. Thank goodness, after all those long hours!

Multitude Mondays - Week Twenty-Six

401. Olivia's new found love of playing with dried beans (We pour into containers, pour into more containers, and pour into even more containers. We generally are making some kind of soup or drink that gets passed out to everyone in the family.)

402. Getting a 24 hour stomach virus while Daniel was off (Although this sounds like bad timing, at least he was there to take care of the kids as I finished the cycle off. Olivia started with it on a Friday, Daniel was out on Wednesday, Emily experienced the least symptoms on Friday, and I was out for the whole day on Friday, as well.)

403. My cleaning routine (It always seems like such a disaster when we get back from any trip. I was slightly overwhelmed, but the cleaning schedule that I planned out previously has really helped me get on top of things.)

404. Getting to see cousins!!! (The Kenny's were in town and my girls LOVED getting to hang out with them. Emily had a huge grin on her face the whole weekend. Oh, how we have missed them!!!)

405. The Aggies winning... finally.

406. Celebrating my mother-in-law turning a year younger

407. Starting to read chapter books with Emily (Today we started our first chapter book. I have to say, it is such a delight to read a story that lasts longer than 5 minutes! I definitely wish I had started this earlier, though, because I can see she was ready for it. I had these plans of checking out a basic chapter book a week from the library, but we started and finished our book in the same day. We always check out so many books each week and by day 1 we have read them all. More chapter books will be checked out from now on, though.)

408. Crockpot recipes (It is such a blessing to have simple recipes that can be thrown together. Plus, I love the minimal clean-up. The little things in life that matter to pregnant women...)

409. Emily's sweet disposition. (I really think I may have the sweetest little girl in the world. She blows me away every day and makes my heart melt. If only I could figure out how to clone more children just like her.)

410. Sister hugs (It is such a blessing how much they love each other. I try to tell them often how lucky they are to have each other. I was an only child and would have loved to have a best friend who was my sister. Let's hope it stays like this for some time!)

Multitude Mondays - Week Twenty-Five

391. meeting new women at MOPS and Emily making a little friend

392. a wonderful Sunday dinner with Daniel's family -- it has been a long time, I feel like

393. an early Christmas present from our parents... dining room chairs!

394. God's gift of salmon, coffee, tea, and pumpkin

395. amazing weather that has allowed me to run somewhat comfortably

396. a week off and a trip up to Austin

397. the sweet heart of Emily Grace (I just can't get over the kid sometimes. She has such a sweet, delicate soul!)

398. stuffed animals and the comfort the bring

399. a crazy toddler who loves to cuddle

400. a fun weekend with the boys that Daniel got to partake in

Busy Bags

A couple of years ago I heard about the idea of busy bags. Basically, busy bags are individual activities for toddlers/preschoolers that keep them busy. They are all educational and teach some sort of valuable skill, but at the same time are very fun for the kids. You can use them in a variety of situations... when a babysitter comes, when going to doctor appointments, to preoccupy younger kids when teaching siblings, etc. Each activity is kept in a ziploc bag and the children can pull out one activity at a time and have fun. I loved the idea and immediately bought this book. They recommend participating in a busy bag swap, so you make 20+ bags of one activity (thus cutting down on cost and time) and swap with other moms, so you end up with a full set. I didn't even know 10 other moms at the time, so my plan was to make a full set myself. But, really, what mother has that time, or that money? Idea dropped.

Fast forward a couple years. One of my friends from college, Kirby, announced on her blog that she was organizing a busy bag swap with a friend. I immediately sent and email about how I had been pining to participate in one for quite a while. I shortly got an email back and I was in. Let me tell you, the wait was worth it!

I was assigned the cupcake busy bag. At the simplest level, you can decorate cupcakes. I included felt numbers, so the kids could also practice their numbers with the icing decorations. I also made cupcake recipe cards the kids could follow to practice their numbers more.

We received 25 busy bags last weekend and the girls have LOVED playing with all of them. It has been such a blast going through all of the bags with the girls. There is a perfect age mix, so both girls have a variety of activities for their age. It has been interesting to see which bags are their favorites.

Emily plays with this clothesline busy bag every day. I give her a big bowl and a rag and she pretends to wash the clothes for her baby doll and hang them up to dry.

And Olivia is captivated by this pipe cleaner activity. I cut the pipe cleaners into smaller pieces, so she they are a little easier to work with. She even figured out how to open the top and empty them out, so it preoccupies her for some time!

I highly recommend participating in a busy bag swap if you have young children. Of course, that means, you will probably have to organize it yourself, but luckily for you, Kirby and Chelsea (the other organizer) have already done all the difficult work. All of the activities are compiled onto one page, so all you have to do is assign the activities. Each picture is linked to the activity's tutorial, pictures, printables, and more. Trust me, if you offer this to your friends, you will probably have to turn people down in the end. I know Kirby and Chelsea did.

Just go to the following page to get all the information... BUSY BAG SWAP

Here is to HOURS of fun!!!

My 3 year old isn't obsessive compulsive, at all

First I was impressed, when at a little over 2.5 years she was producing work like this...

I mean, look at some of those letters...

And then I started picking her up from her little class at church and looked at the other kids' work. The lady actually tried to give me a coloring sheet with scribbles all over it. I wanted to say nicely, "That is not my daughter's." This was...

But I realized things were getting bad when this worksheet took us some time because every sticker had to be perfect.

I have had a slight problem with perfectionism my whole life. Unfortunately, Emily received every gene associated with it. Such a long and frustrating life ahead. She gets so upset, at the ripe age of 3, when she messes up one thing when she is coloring, or now, writing. One wrong move and she wants to throw the whole sheet away.

The next one in line will be a tornado, though. She probably won't care about a thing.

Multitude Mondays - Week Twenty-Four

381. getting to stay home every day and nuzzle on my babes

382. watching Emily's little brain retain more and more information

383. a third little Wetzel growing in my tummy

384. a fun tailgate in Aggieland and taking the girls to see the Aggie band

385. a little cooler weather (sorta)

386. staying busy (This really is a blessing. I have decided I hate the summer. Once we get a pool in our backyard, I will rethink my decision.)

387. the ability to place books on hold at the library (Picking out books at the library is unthinkable with my toddler. Thank you, Lord, for the ability to put books on hold from the security of my own house. Now, I can quickly run in and pick them up without having to worry that Olivia is crawling on a table or ripping a book to shreds.)

388. being able to communicate more and more with Olivia (her vocabulary amazes up daily!)

389. making friends in our homeschooling group

390. all the time the girls have had recently to bond with their daddy

What's on the table

So this was going to be a one-time post, but I realized that there were quite a few recipes I wanted to share, so instead, I am turning this into weekly series (or probably bi-monthly, at the rate I post).

Once upon a time I had a cooking blog, but that all changed when we had kids and life started getting busy. Plus, I started this family blog and I couldn't keep up with two (much less one). I still love cooking and we really try a lot of new recipes at this house. I honestly don't know how people have meals they cook weekly. The most I can cook any recipe is twice a month, and that is for very few meals. I would get really tired of eating the same thing. When I am on top of things, we generally eat 2 old recipes a week and the rest are new. Obviously, some turn out to be losers, but when you find a winner it is nice adding a new recipe to your repertoire.

I know I have said many times recently how much I ADORE pinterest. Really, if you are not on, you should change that immediately. Go to pinterest.com and sign-up and start pinning any craft, fashion, decor, or recipe idea that catches your fancy. And, oh the recipes!!! Although one or two have been serious disappointments, most of the recipes we have tried have exceeded our expectations. Here are some things we have tried around here lately that we have LOVED...

I would have to say this has been the biggest winner. We love wings around here and I have tired numerous recipes for baked wings. (I refuse to fry things.) So many have been flops and haven't been what we were expecting. This recipe, however, has become an all-time winner. We have made it with actual wings, but we also cooked it for a big group on the grill with drumsticks. Both were incredible! Please try IMMEDIATELY.

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Daniel does not like eating hearty dishes in the summertime, and although it is now fall, with the weather the way it has been I thought he wouldn't go for a vegetable chowder. But, hey, I am the pregnant lady with all the cravings, so I made it anyway. It was EXACTLY what I wanted and he couldn't stop raving about it. I suggest you try this soon and feel healthy for all the vegetables you are eating (but you must forget about the butter, milk, and cheese).

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We made these breaded shrimp for the shrimp parmigiana sandwich from the same food blog. Although the sandwich was good, we are more shrimp po-boy type of people. We will definitely be keeping this recipe for breaded shrimp, though. I cannot tell you how easy they were and how fast they disappeared!

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This loaded pasta salad is a wonderful lunchtime meal for the summertime, although it will stay on our menu all winter around here. And talk about healthy! It definitely won awards all around.

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MOPS and a creation craft

Today was the first day of MOPS (Mother of Preschoolers) and I have really been looking forward to getting back to this wonderful group. All MOPS programs are set up differently and ours is speaker-based, which I love. We had some really good speakers come this past year and I cannot wait to hear everyone who is currently lined up to come speak to us, including a personal suggestion I had. Living in Houston, we really have a lot of powerful speakers at our fingertips!

Unfortunately, I did not get to participate at this week's meeting because they needed someone to help out in childcare. It was probably for the best, though, because I somehow got suckered into doing the curriculum for the kids program and I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly for all the classes. My husband keeps telling me that I didn't get suckered in because I sort of volunteered, but what was I suppose to say when at a leadership meeting they told us all to start praying about someone to do the kids curriculum because we were in desperate need of someone and I had just been looking at stuff online that was appropriate? Maybe I can say God suckered me into it? It was sort of a right place at the right time sort of situation. Someone had to step up. I came up with all the ideas and have people who are willing to get them all together -- that really is all the help I think I will need. Although, I am also the service coordinator. We will see how sane I am by the end of the year.

This year, the kids are going through stories in the Old Testament, so of course we started with creation today. We read the story, went over an applicable Bible verse a couple of times, then everyone got to do the craft. I think it was quite a hit and I even heard some mothers raving about it. Score! Let's just hope that the other crafts go over just as well.

The older kids made a tissue paper earth sun catcher. Emily's is above. I decided I LOVE contact paper and will be buying a lot for crafts around here. Talk about a mess-less activity!

For the little kids, I figured tissue paper would be too difficult to work with, so we did a similar activity with construction paper. It is based off of an idea Emily did at mother's day out once when she was 18 months, so I knew it was doable. Olivia gets to participate in craft time this year, so it is fun seeing her first creations, as well.

Letter C

I figured I should get letter C pictures up here before we got any further. It was a slow week and we took a couple days off here and there -- that is the nice thing about homeschooling. We ended up finishing our week on Saturday, which didn't seem to bother anyone, since Daddy was at work all day. I didn't take as many pictures, which was nice because I really got to enjoy each activity with Emily. I know a few certain people are interested in what we are doing, but maybe from now on, I will only show a few highlights. And we don't tend to get out of our pajamas until after the school day is over. Sorry about that.

More of the girls room to come later, but for now...

We concluded the week by reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar and doing a few activities. It was so much fun! I can see how a curriculum like Five in a Row can be so loved. It just feels like it would be a lot of work to me, though. We already had the book and Confessions of a Homeschooler already had all the printables we used. To do the year-long curriculum, though, it would require me to go to the library each week and then plan out activities, and a lot more activities at that. An ideal curriculum would allow me to have everything together before the school year starts. I do like the idea of stART projects (story + art). This seems like something easy that could be added to any curriculum.

Hungry Caterpillar graphing...

Hungry Caterpillar lacing...

And, of course, we had to make our own hungry caterpillar.