Beautiful

I know it's been awhile and I owe a new post filled with all that's been happening...but I wanted to share some photos of a very special birthday gift that Abby received for her 12th birthday(this past Friday).

The quilt was a surprise for Abby, made by her Grandma Violet(Paul's mom) and her Aunt Joy(Paul's sister). Isn't it just gorgeous?

I hope to post more soon! I've missed my blog!

Be blessed!

Pasta Fagioli Soup

Thought I would share the new soup recipe we tried last night. It was delish :)

From Taste of Home Healthy Cooking March 2010.

Lightened up Pasta Fagioli Soup

1 pound ground turkey
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 med. carrots, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups water
1 (16 oz.) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 (8 oz. each) cans no salt added tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can no salt added diced tomatoes, undrained
1 TBSP dried parsley flakes
2 tsp. reduced-sodium beef bouillon granules
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup fresh or frozen cut green beans(1 inch pieces)
1/2 cup uncooked elbow macaroni

1. In a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray, cook the turkey, onion, celery, carrots and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add the water, beans, tomato sauce, tomatoes, parsley, bouillon, oregano, basil and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

2. Add the cabbage, green beans and macaroni. Cover and simmer 8-10 minutes longer or until the vegetables and macaroni are tender.

We made some french bread to go with. This fed the four of us(Jacob and Paul had second helpings) with enough left over for one lunch for Paul. Enjoy :)

Be blessed!

2 week menu

Ugh! I forgot to weigh in this morning. I'll do it tomorrow. Paul is home for the holiday weekend and I completely forgot about it being monday....

Anyways, thought I would share my next two weeks dinner plan. I'm aiming to someday soon add in lunch and breakfast, but for now just dinner :)

Monday 2/15- Fried chicken
Tuesday 2/16- Pasta Fagioli soup(new recipe)
Wednesday 2/17- Tatertot casserole
Thursday 2/18- FF Hawaiian(for the kids, not sure what Paul and I will have yet)
Friday 2/19- Out
Saturday 2/20- Crispy Chicken Melts
Sunday 2/21- Breakfast for dinner

Monday 2/22- Fried Mustard cube steaks
Tuesday 2/23- Enchiladas
Wednesday 2/24- Sub sandwiches
Thursday 2/25- Chicken Fajitas
Friday 2/26-Quick slow cooker chili
Saturday 2/27- Hamburger soup
Sunday 2/28- Sloppy Joes

Be blessed!

And he just continues to amaze me....

Jacob that is!

This morning he had a dentist appointment. Bad mom that I am(actually just absentminded and yes it's just an excuse!) he hadn't been since we moved. A few weeks ago, I was doing my random check on how well he was brushing and noticed a spot on one tooth. Didn't look like a cavity or a chip plus he had one last baby tooth just hanging on and on and on....so finally made an appointment. He was so nervous. He hates changes in routines and things in his mouth. He can't stand weird textures or different tastes. He gags easily. But he has always, ALWAYS cooperated for the dentist. So off we went. He was breating funny and a little shaky, but he's my trooper and did great. He said next time he can do it on his own :) The spot is just a defect, a soft spot, they are going to go ahead and fix it so it doesn't become a cavity. The baby tooth is now gone. And the big one? His teeth are slowly straightening on their own. He most likely will not need braces. Music to our bank account! He had a healthy mouth full of teeth and gums and got an excellent thumbs up for his brushing and flossing.

Afterwards we went bowling. Met up with some people from church. The kids had fun, I so lost and Paul so won. Nothing new there! LOL We then decided to stop in at the new Hobby Lobby that opened up a couple of weeks ago. Love that place! While in the model aisle(which was huge and AWESOME as Jacob and Paul both put it) an older gentleman asked Jacob about skill level. My shy guy(with us standing there in the same aisle, so he felt okay talking to the stranger) proceeded to give a full out explanation about each skill level, what is involved, what the intended receiver might need help with, and so on. This gentleman then proceeded to look for a specific vehicle make which Jacob helped with while giving full explanation about different types, years, what is different between the years and so on. The little car expert that he is. I almost cried listening to him. He jumped right out of his shell and was one, willing to help someone, and two, used all the knowledge he's gained over the years about cars/models(one of his absolute fav subjects!). I was amazed at how comfortable he seemed sharing. Just melted my heart right there. Each day I am blessed to see such positive changes in him. I used to worry about him, not so much anymore. He may be on his own schedule, and it may be slower than the "norm" but he'll get there in his own time and I'm enjoying this new, huge, gain in his self confidence!

We ended the day with dinner out for Paul's bday. 41 he is now! And then watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics.

Also found out my dad is coming to visit next month! So excited about that!

It's late, I should go :)

Be blessed!

So Much Going On

Thought I would check in a bit.

Tried a new recipe for a french apple pie made with a bisquick crust. It didn't turn out very well though. The crust is kind of soggy. I did use canned apple pie filling versus fresh apples and wonder if that might be why. Was going to bring it to some friends tonight when we went to play games, but think now I will just stop and pick something up. I'm not the world's greatest baker, I should know better than to try something new...... Oh well. LOL I also have a new soup recipe in the crockpot for minestrone. It smells good and can't wait to try it. I'll post the recipe if it turns out fine.

We had a busy week. Monday, Abby had her guitar lesson. It's smack in the middle of the day and kind of throws the whole day off. I might look into trying to move it to earlier in the day if her teacher has any openings. We've been going for a month and I just can't make the day run smooth around it. Monday evening, we left the kids home(at night together for the first time, and they did awesome! Jacob was sweet and played some board games with Abby, she is always begging him to play them with her) amd both of us went to my monthly Keepers At Home meeting. The topic was adoption and there were four different couples who shared on the topic of adoption. Some of you know we've been really praying for this for a few years and went ahead and signed up for an info class for foster/adopt. Well Wednesday night Paul and I talked again and he was feeling like we should put it off until the next class, I had wondered after the meeting the other night, and knew we needed to work through a few more things before jumping in, but I did not want to give it up. I had prayed for God to please show me a sign and he did with Paul letting me know his feelings. So....we are on hold once again. I think I was just pushing before we were completely ready. We have house issues as the biggest obstacle and in the spring we'll be able to better assess our long term plans with that. So while I was disappointed to wait yet again, I can really see the Lord's leading in it, and that point excites me very much!

Tuesday and Wednesday were normal, on schedule type of days. Thursday, Abby and I spent the afternoon at a friend's house. Abby played with her daughter, and Julie looked over my plans for the co-op class I'm teaching. I've been so nervous, but she thought they looked good, helped me with a couple things that were stumping me and was a huge encouragment to me :) I now think I'm ready. First class in this coming Thursday(which is also Paul's birthday!). Thursday evening was our mom/daughter book club meeting. We discused "Island of the Blue Dolphins" and then the girls played and moms chatted. I needed that mom chat time this week :)

Yesterday, Paul and Jacob went up to the animal shelter and turned in their volunteer paperwork. They are just waiting for the next orientation class and then they'll be set to volunteer. Jacob is excited and this will be so good for him, I think! We also got him signed up for the next round of archery lessons this spring. He is really looking forward to those and hopes to have purchased his new bow by then. He's almost got enough saved up. In the evening, Paul took both the kids up to the church for a concert. I decided to stay home. The loud music just wasn't appealing to me at the time and I decided I didn't want to pay to come home with a headache. So I stayed home for some much needed alone time. It's not too often anymore I end up at home alone :)

Paul got up and went to the men's breakfast at church this morning, I took the opportunity to sleep in. Heehee! The rest of the day has been spent being a little lazy :) We'll go over to some friends house for some games this evening though. I think it will be fun, we are looking forward to it. Tomorrow after church, Abby is having a friend over for awhile, I'm pretty sure Paul will be watching the super bowl. He doesn't watch too much football, but he does have a couple favorite teams he likes to watch and of course can't not watch the big game. LOL Jacob has been watching with him lately too, which I find interesting as he's not a big sports person. But it's good father/son bonding, so well....hey, I'll let them be :)

I'll end for now, not much more to say(at least that I can think of while I'm sitting here!).

Be blessed!

It Didn't Move

The weight ticker didn't move down, but it didn't move up either. Bad week, need to get back on track. I'll get there!

Overwhelmed At First

Last week kind of exploded with activities. Don't even remember all we did. I'll have to be more careful in the future not to overschedule like that! Some things we did do were registering for Spring semester at our homeschool co-op. We are supposed to teach one semester per year, so my turn was coming. I just wasn't sure what I wanted to teach. So I told our coordinator to put me where I was needed and ended up the teacher of the Crime Scene Investigation science class. I have no clue(and really no interest. LOL). Overwhelmed even more when it turned out to be THE class that everyone wanted to participate in. Was not expecting that. So I've been on a mission reading everything I can and preparing lessons and activities, trying to schedule a field trip to the crime lab and playing phone tag with the county sheriff(married to one of the moms in the co-op) about getting a detective or two to come speak in my class of 30 kids. What did I get myself into? LOL I think it's going to be fun though. I'm finding that if I stay on top of the lesson planning, I feel much better about it :)

We went rollerskating for the homeschool skate, I should say Abby went rollerskating. I just don't do it much anymore, maybe when I'm in better shape. My fear is falling and breaking something therefore putting me out of commission, which is something I just don't have time for. Had our monthly homeschool support group meeting. Our speaker spoke on character training and it was excellent! At first I was feeling like I hadn't done a good job, but towards the end she had me feeling better! And I did pick up a couple of tips to help Jacob with being around or rather talking with adults. He gets so shy and comes off as rude, it's something I've really been wanting to work with him on.

Speaking of Jacob. He is filling out the volunteer paperwork to work at the humane society. Because he's not 16 yet he needs a parent to be there too. I'm not the best around animals. Paul's going to look into trying to get a Friday morning slot so he can go with him. I think it will be a great thing for Jacob!

Last friday we went and saw the second Alvin and the Chipmunk movie with a group from church. We also had lunch out with them as well. The movie was really cute and it was nice to meet some more moms and more homeschoolers :)

Sunday afternoon was the first youth meeting directed towards the 6th-8th graders only. Both Jacob and Abby went. (Abby's first time for youth group). They both really liked it. And Abby tells us that Jacob even participated in a skit!(YES, Jacob got up in front of his peers!) That right there tells you how comfortable he is at our church. It's been a long time for him! He has just been growing in leaps and bounds, well emotionally and spiritually. His actual physical growth has slowed quite a bit! LOL

Abby started guitar lessons earlier this month. She is doing wonderful. I've yet to have to remind her to practice. She pays extreme attention to her teacher in her lesson and has been eager each week to come home and get to practicing. She's already putting chords together and some really beautiful music is being played. Yesterday I heard her singing here and there and she said she's writing a song....

Well, this is getting long. I know it's all over the place, but well, oh well. LOL! I've got to get off and go get dinner made before church tonight.

Be blessed!