couldn't sleep last night

Tragedy of the week - One broken "clip clop shoe"

Last night Anna Grace woke me around 3:45 because she could not find her pillow - don't ask me it was laying in her bed right where it was when we put her down; I very groggily went in to help her then got in bed. Only then I realized I was really hungry but I would not get out of bed again because then I might really be up. So I lay longer and Wilber (as I like to call our unborn son that we have yet to name) began kicking me. Then I started thinking of all the little things we could do around our house to make it better - you know things like touch up the paint on a door, little things. Next thing I knew it was 5 am and I decided I might as well get up I mean by now my mind was racing to all sorts of things there was no sleep in my near future I was certain of that.

So I tip-toed down the stairs with my bible in hand and began the time praying. Very quickly I was lead to 1 Peter 5:2-4

"Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory."

What a great passage to be lead to at 5 am! Right now I am called to shepherd the flock of God that is among me...being an example to the flock...to receive the unfading crown of glory. It is what we are all called to, it just so happens that my flock consists of little children. When I think about a shepherd I can't help but think it is a stinky job at times (literally) with long hours of constant watch over sheep some of the most helpless, dumbest animals in the world. While I will not say that my children are dumb, I will say they are in many ways helpless and do need my constant care and being a mom does have really long hours. So why do it...it's not for the crown - although that is a wonderful reward - I think it is for the little moments when it is obvious that God is working in their lives, shaping them into the people He wants them to be and somehow using me - a weak vessel.

12-year-old Speaks Out Against Abortion

Despite protests from her teachers, this 12-year-old girl submitted this speech in her school speech competition and won. More details are here.

What's Cooking This Week

After some discussion it was decided to move the food box in with the regular posts. Here is what we've got for this week. If you are interested and it is not a link let me know and I would be happy to email you a recipe...

Porcini Mushroom Tortelloni with Wilted Greens
Salad and French Bread

Balsamic Chicken Drumettes
(this is a real favorite with the kiddos)
Sweet Potato Fries
(we omit the sauce)
Salad

Spinach and Chicken Ring

Mexican Lasagna

Last week's menu in case you missed it...

Pan-Fried Chicken-and-Ham Parmesan
Garlic-Herb Pasta
Sauteed Grape Tomatoes

Beefy Pasta Sauce and Noodles (aka Spaghetti)
Salad and French Bread

Pork Balsamico with Mushrooms
Baked Wild Rice
Salad

Baked Chicken and Rice with Black Beans
Avocado Slices
Chips and Salsa

Chili Topped Potatoes

cooking fun

Anna Grace and Neal decided to make a valentine treat for me (and the whole family). As you can see, Anna Grace really got into the sampling part; I guess she wanted to make sure Neal was not making any mistakes. I think they both had a fun time and Anna Grace is excited that they will cook again sometime soon.

the cousins unite

We had a little cousin time and took a few pictures. Anna Grace and Dean had a big time playing with Mallie Tate (or Tate as Dean refers to her).

The girls checking each other out.

Mallie Tate looks just like her daddy.

Dean joins the scene so more checking each other out.

Everyone playing together.

a new blog addition

For a long time now there has been discussion of putting recipes on our blog...a good find worth sharing or something along those lines. Well after much debate and with great reservation (in my head - Neal may have a different idea) I have decided to start putting our family's menu or at least new things we are trying and old favorites on the blog. The problem with this set up is that it will not be considered a post therefore those of you who like me use Reader to keep up with your blogs, you will have to check the actual site periodically and see if we have anything new listed. Also know that if it is possible to get the recipe off the internet it will be listed as a link to the actual recipe.

So for now we will leave it like this but please know there might very well be changes to this format in the days ahead.

And a side note for those of you who may be wondering...No we have not named our son yet. But when we do we will let you know.

what are my goals, really?

Neal and I closed out everything for 2008 this past week - sure I know that is something most people did sometime around January 1st but we were a little slow with it. Anyway, it got me thinking about all sorts of stuff...always dangerous...

I began to think about last year and all that it held for our family as well as me personally. Then I wondered even farther and began thinking of all the goals I used to maintain/set/etc for myself. That thought process lead me back to my current state and a realistic frame of mind - what are my goals for today, for this year and season of life. (Sorry I must put this on hold for now because Dean is requesting the Aubie video on the computer - a true highlight in his life.)

Now that is over let me digress for a minute and say that watching Dean giggle and run in place while watching the video and watching Anna Grace run over to dance and sing along - even though most of her words are made up because the songs are so fast she can't get them straight (which is probably a good thing) is worth it. After watching the highlight video twice Dean fussed and cried a little when I told him it was over for the day - what can I say it was bedtime. Maybe it is moments like these that keep my list of goals short and simple for the time being.

Now let me see if I can regain my thoughts here. So I asked myself earlier today what really are my goals not what would I like them to be but really what are they. And here they are in no particular order...

Have a time of prayer.
Show the love of Christ toward my family - which getting through one day of this with my not so perfect children is often extremely challenging.
Put the toys away at the end of the day.
Feed the family.
Shower - this is really high on Neal's list and sometimes harder than you might think.

So that is it. Sure I would love to say read more - and I do try to, I am reading a good book right now, When Sinners Say I Do, but reading often ends in sleeping, exercise and all sorts of other things but the above list is it for me at least for now.

in home dialogues

First Neal...Recently a family member of ours was placed on Prilosec. Neal, after receiving the information over the phone, reported the news to me. I immediately said, "Yeah, that's for acid reflux. Hope it does the trick." How did I know this...I don't excactly know, I guess commercials on the television. Neal finishes the phone conversation and hangs up. He walks in the kitchen and says, "Really? I thought it was a get it on medicine." I guess those commercials aren't as effective as they could be.

Then Anna Grace...This morning I hear Anna Grace playing with her castle. She is making the prince and princess talk about who knows what but I can't help but stop to listen when she starts pretending to cry/whine. I look up just in time to see/hear...
Prince: Don't whine; stop crying. Now come on.
Princess: Prince! Prince!
Prince: Go away and come back when you feel better.
Princess: You are not my friend.
Where does she come up with this stuff!?! Yesterday I heard the Candyland pieces have a LONG converstation about the blocks they were attempting to walk on - each man in his own voice mind you.

Now Dean...He on the other hand, has a more simple playing technique. He takes his cars and his men and goes full speed with them. His people don't talk much and when they do they tend to growl like a bear at one another. The people may go down the car garage ramp in thier cars or just as if going to a big slide at the park. Apparently all of his men are neanderthal like. Dean does have some manners though, if he runs his toys (men, cars, dump trucks, etc) into something while running with them he stops, looks them over for a second then says "Sorry" (to the toy) before continuing on.

cookies for the cookie jar

I've been thinking lately that I have this great cookie jar that 99.9% of the time stays empty. So while going through my December issue of Southern Living last week I decided Anna Grace and I were pulling out our aprons and making the Shortbread cookies from that issue. Today we set out while Dean was napping to fulfill our cooking making quest. How hard could it be; the recipe said it only made 16 4.5 inch Christmas tree shaped cookies?

Well we were off to a good start. We had our 4 ingredients out and starting dumping things into the mixer - by far Anna Grace's favorite part of cooking. Soon into the process though I realized I was exactly 1 cup of flour short. (Should have measured out my ingredients before the dumping began and we could have made half the cookies. Oh well.) Neal saved the day and went to the grocery store.

After the mixing was complete and Anna Grace realized there was not an immediate cookie for her to eat she decided to go play with Dean for a while. I began rolling out the dough. Anna Grace showed back up on the scene to select the cookie cutters she thought would be appropriate - gingerbread man, flower, leaf, star and some other shape that I am not sure what to call it, a flower maybe. She stayed long enough to watch me cut out the gingerbread men (once mind you) and then was off to play with Dean some more.

After completing the first batch, I let the children split one since it was only minutes before eating dinner - the dinner I had forgotten to get together since I was rolling and cutting cookie dough. So while Neal was at church we loaded up the car and picked up a hot and ready pizza. After dinner everyone got to eat one more cookie. Then it was back to the rolling and cutting for me while the children played with Neal (a much appreciated and necessary task by him to insure my sanity).

I'm almost done with the cookies by now but it was time to get the children in the bed. So Neal and I set off to tuck them in for the night. By the time I got back down from putting them in bed, I just wanted the cookies finished but I decided they really looked a little plain and I should make some icing to drizzle over them. After all they needed to be cute cookies if they were going to be on display in my cool cookie jar. So after putting the last batch in the oven and cleaning up the counter and cookie dishes I pulled out the glaze stuff. At this point, I was willing to admit the cookies were a little more time consuming than expected but this should be quick and easy.

Yet again off to a good start, glaze was made and the wax paper was covering the counter with the cookies all spread out. Oh one little note, when using regular size cookie cutters you end up with about 50 cookies - not 16. I got the glaze into the ziplock bag and snipped the tiniest hole in the end. Wow! By the time I got the glaze drizzled over all the cookies I was moaning in pain - my back was killing me from leaning over so long, my feet hurt from standing on the hard kitchen tile and my hands were cramping up from squeezing the icing hard enough to get it through the hole.

Six hours later I was done.

So how do the cookies look in my fun cookie jar? Beats me after all that work I decided I was not going to just throw them in there so they could all broken up! Maybe tomorrow I will think more clearly about Anna Grace's cookies - we all know if asked she will say that she made them since she picked the cutters and dumped the ingredients and most importantly she wore her apron - and be willing to actually put them in the jar.

Good night!

one big december update

(I am a little embarrassed to admit how long this post has been saved as a draft on our blog. We have had a hard time finding the time to get our Christmas pictures off the camera and onto the post. Sorry.)

Things are happening so fast around here that I just can't keep up. Sorry about that. I really do want to do better about keeping our blog current but these days it is difficult.

Our Christmas was a joyous one. Anna Grace has been enthrolled with the story of Jesus's birth. She loves to pretend with the manger scenes and to tell us all about Bethelham and the angel's announcement. I am so thankful that she is learning God's truth at such an early age. She came home from Mother's Day Out one day talking about the big birthday party we were going to have for Jesus on Christmas morning and singing Away in a Manger (never would have thought to teach her that one) and Happy Birthday - to Jesus of course. We are blessed.

We found out on December 23rd that we are having a baby boy. Much to the entire family's shigrin, we waited until Christmas morning to make the announcement. Neal and I thought that was an appropriate Christmas surprise. (Feel free to offer naming advice as long as you don't really expect us to use them.)

Dean is talking just about whenever he wants...please note the key to that is whenever he wants. He refuses to call Anna Grace by her name though. He calls her Dean as well as himself Dean. Reaching 18 months has turned him into a little fireball. Sure he is still very laid back and usually sweet but man he can pitch some temper tantrums - thank goodness for the advice of Dr. Dobson!

Some of Christmas Moments Captured on Film:

Dean's big rig.

Anna Grace's princess castle.

Checking out the lights at the park.

Tea party on the porch.

Of all the highlights of the season I will leave you with the quote that I think sums up our month-long celebration (let me give a little background first)...

I noticed Anna Grace was trying to feed Dean her dinner while he played. When I asked her why she matter of factly said, "Because Dean is eating Joseph." I looked up and Dean had Joseph's head - from one of the manger scenes they were allowed to play with - in his mouth. What can I say, the boy loves to eat!

Our big farewell to Christmas on Laurie's scooter.