Mommy Ramblings

Love Notes

2012-01-22T20:39:00.000-05:00

Sage absolutely loves to make things for me...all the time. She draws and colors and creates so many things that there is not any possible way for me to keep them all. Now that she is learning to write and spell, well kindergarten spelling anyway, it is especially fun to see what she comes up with. She is definitely our tender-hearted child. Sometimes this can be a frustration, as she can be oversensitive to certain things. Often, though, it melts my heart and reminds me how lucky I am to be her mom.

Here are the notes she made today for Paul and I.

Interpretations:

While we were in the process of making cookies, she came to me with the one on the right, which says "Thank you mom for the cookies I am going to love them love Sage"

In search of a new church to call home, we have visited several over the last few months. Today, she wrote this note to Paul after our second week at the one we believe will be our new home. "Dad please let's stay at this church Love Sage"

I love my job. <3

They're Back!!

2011-11-30T21:51:00.000-05:00

Our mischievous little friends have returned for the holiday season and have brought their antics with them. The girls were anxiously waiting for their return the day after thanksgiving and the elves did not disappoint.

They showed up ready to party and had the girls beds filled with balloons and some streamers on their doorway.

The girls used the balloons and extra streamers to decorate the railing in the loft.

The next morning they were found having some fun in the pantry. They turned some flour into an opportunity to make 'snow' angels.

The elves made the trip with us to Detroit for the weekend and their mischief followed us there as well. Ellie and Heather found the spare roll of toilet paper and did a bit of decorating in the girls room of the hotel.

Monday morning they brought the girls some holiday chapstick, complete with a message on the bathroom mirror.

Tuesday, they made their way outside with the decorations. The girls still cannot figure out how they write with this snow type stuff on the windows. Regan had fun adding her own touch, drawing some peace signs in the letters.

Today, they found the dry erase markers and had a bit of fun with some family photos. Well, Ellie did anyway. Sage left Heather in her backpack and neglected to feed her crackers and ice water and sprinkle her with the necessary magic snowflakes.

Wonder what else the next few weeks will bring for excitement! Those two sure like to have fun while we are sleeping!

Firework by Regan (Third Grade)

2011-10-27T10:37:00.000-04:00

Regan's writing from her third grade writers workshop. They have worked on these in class since the beginning of the school year, constantly fine tuning them to add more detail and interest. We are very proud of our little writer! I guess all those hours she spends reading are sinking in! :D

Silly Dog

2011-09-15T22:58:00.000-04:00

I love this little dog, she just has so much personality and always seems to find new ways to make me laugh. Tonight, she was walking around with a small stick type rawhide hanging out of her mouth like a cigarette. This, in itself was quite funny (or maybe I'm just easily amused. LOL!)

Later, I noticed she was carrying the same rawhide stick around while going in some strange places. I watched her as she went behind and around a chair by the window, then walked over to a blanket on the floor and nosed it around a bit. Not satisfied, she continued to the small space between a foof chair and the wall, but then seemed to sense I was watching her and left for the foyer. I suspected that she was trying to hide it for some reason. When she came back from the foyer empty mouthed, I went and found it - under a bench and behind a shoe.

I carried the stick back and showed her that I found it and teased her a bit with it before giving it back to her to see what she would do. She wandered around a bit more, poked around a bit more and finally hid it in our sunroom, on the couch, under a pillow.

Paul snatched it up and gave it back to her again. She wandered around and would not settle until she didn't think we were watching and finally nestled the rawhide behind a different shoe, next to a hutch in the dining room.

It's funny to watch her and wonder what is going through her little doggy mind. She has several other rawhides, of various shapes and sizes and isn't hiding them and has never displayed this behavior before (with the exception of one 'real' bone, in the presence of two other dogs at my brothers home.)

What are you thinking, my silly little doggie? :D

New Routines and Lots of Time in the Kitchen

2011-09-13T20:20:00.000-04:00

The first week of school flew by in a wink and we are still sorting through what our routines will be. One thing I have been enjoying is having more time to spend in the kitchen. I love baking with the girls, but it is definitely easier and faster to get things done by myself!

This week I have had fun trying some new things as well as making some tried and true recipes. Here are some of the things I made:

Breakfast Cookies - we have made about 8 or more batches of these since finding the recipe. This weeks were cashew and pepitas.

Lara Bars - or Lara balls as we call them, since I make balls instead of bars. I made the Cashew Cookie dough ones, adding oats and chocolate chips. They tasted like no-bake cookies!

Homemade Graham Crackers - This recipe turned out OK to snack on, but were a bit hard and unsuitable for s'mores. I used my new-to-me pasta maker to roll out the first half of the batch. It worked pretty well for getting the right thickness, but I have to work on my rolling technique a bit after watching and learning from some youtube videos.

Homemade Marshmallows - I know, not my typical healthy fare, but sometimes you just have to try something! I let the girls each try one plain. Sage didn't care for them and Regan said she could taste the egg?? However, hey made the best s'mores!! Even Regan said they made the best S'mores ever!

S'mores Bars - After two nights of s'mores by the campfire, a bundle of homemade marshmallows leftover and two packages of stale graham crackers - I decided to make this S'mores bar recipe. It lived up to it's post title of 'S'more than you can handle', in that I found it overly rich. For someone who loves anything sweet, even sickeningly sweet, this is very uncommon for me. After one sample, I sent the rest of the pan to work with the hubby, as I couldn't bear to eat another bite!

Legal Donuts - I found this recipe last week while looking around for healthy alternatives to bringing cupcakes to birthday parties at school. I had been wanting to buy a donut pan and they were on sale at our supermarket this week - so, what's a girl to do?? :D They turned out moist and tasty.

Lest you think that all we did was eat baked goods all week (although the overload of baking did cause DH to ask me if I was pregnant! LOL!), I did actually do some cooking too!

Crunchy Chicken Tenders - I made this recipe from Sneak Chef tonight for dinner. I didn't have the ingredients for the Orange Puree (carrots/sweet potatoes), so I substituted canned pumpkin. They turned out delicious! We will definitely be making these again. I made extra today and am going to see if they freeze well.

Did you make anything yummy this week? Bon appetite!

Back To School Eve

2011-09-05T21:37:00.000-04:00

I was doing some blog reading the other night and came across this post at Eighteen 25. I loved the idea of a back to school fashion show!

We didn't go all out, with the food and such, but we implemented the dressing up and photoshoot part! I am so happy that this will be one less thing we have to do tomorrow, on an already crazy first day of school morning.

Here are a couple of favorites:

The backpacks are packed, Regan's lunch is made and the 'first day' pictures are taken! Here's hoping tomorrow will be smooth sailing! :D

(The idea for the notepad with their names and grades was inspired by some other blog reading, but I can't remember where!)

What's New and Exciting

2011-09-02T15:45:00.000-04:00

It's September (I know, I completely missed August here on the blog - but I'm going to just pick up where we are right now)! It is a season of change, for us, and for most families with school age children. It is our last week of summer vacation before both girls head to school next week!

Regan will be starting third grade and Sage will be entering Kindergarten. They are both very excited! We rode our bikes to the school and they got to check our their classrooms. Regan met her teacher too - Mrs. VanderMeulen.

We finally had our garage sale! We had been talking about it and preparing for it all summer. We wanted to have it at my in-laws condo (better location) and it worked out perfect that their subdivision was planning one for last weekend (meaning I didn't have to advertise and more traffic!! :D ). I had told the girls they could have the proceeds from any of their toys that were sold - but, that we would have to discuss how the money was going to be spent. They have been talking about getting a fish tank for quite a while and we ended up finding two at the neighborhood sale.

I intended to set up the smaller one right away, and see how it went. Then, set up the bigger one later if they kept an interest in taking care of the fish and small tank. Daddy had other plans though. A few hours and $80 of their garage sale money later - we have two working fish tanks, stocked with fish and supplies to last about a year. The girls didn't even bat an eye at spending the majority of their $120 garage sale proceeds on the fish tank. Easy come, easy go, I guess!!

The other thing the girls did at the garage sale was have a snack stand. We baked some granola bars and breakfast cookies and made lime-aid and crystal light. They sold a snack and a drink for $1 and raised a total of $42 toward their Compassion International goals. (They girls have each picked out some items they want to buy for children in need.) All day at the garage sale, they were so excited about the money they were earning for their gifts - even more excited than they were about the money they were earning for themselves (from their toys). I hope their giving hearts will continue all of their lives. :)

I have been busy this week stocking my freezer up for winter. We bought a bushel of peaches at the farmers market this week ($22) and I've made some peach freezer jam. The rest will get eaten fresh or sliced up and frozen - to be used in smoothies, for pancake topping, etc. Today we picked up 8 dozen ears of corn ($20) to be put up. And earlier this week, I cooked up a huge batch of Tortellini Soup (14 meals!!) and stocked an entire shelf of the freezer! YUMMY!

So thankful for the abundance of blessings!

Aggravation

2011-07-31T18:18:00.003-04:00

I seem to remember playing this game as a kid, maybe with my grandparents or camping with the family? It's a game Paul's family has also grown up with, but their family calls it 'marbles' and uses a homemade wooden board.

I've had this game in the camper for some time and last weekend we pulled it out at the campground. It's really fun that both girls are now old enough to play and we can make teams and play as a family.

Regan asked last night if we could get it out of the camper and play a game at home. We had a fun night playing with all four of us. Seems the competitive apple hasn't fallen far from the tree(s) and it gets a bit nuts...but we have a lot of laughs.

We've played a few two player games today, as well. Sage seems to be the luckiest one this weekend...which I guess is good, as she tends to abandon the game if she thinks she is going to lose! LOL!

Beautiful Endings

2011-07-24T22:36:00.000-04:00

Thursday night, Paul scored a last minute opening at Ludington State Park - one of our favorite places to camp. We packed the camper Friday and headed up in the evening. The hot weather of this past week made for some great playtime in the sun and water.

After we got set up Friday night, the girls enjoyed playing in the channel that flows into Lake Michigan as we watched a gorgeous West Michigan sunset.

We also did lots of bike riding, too much eating of ice cream and, despite a few scraped up knees, had a great time.

Hope your family is enjoying summer before it disappears!

Lost Tooth

2011-07-18T21:17:00.000-04:00

A couple months ago, I was thinking about the fact that Sage had not lost any teeth yet (she turned five in February). Regan lost her first tooth before even turning five. The strange thing was, even though Regan lost her first tooth so early, it didn't seem, to me, like Sage was old enough to lose any yet? Well, I guess she is officially old enough.

Saturday, Sage complained that her front teeth hurt when she was eating carrots. I suggested that she may be getting a loose tooth. Sure enough, by bed time, she could wiggle one tooth a bit. On Sunday, she talked about and fussed with that loose tooth all day. Shortly before bed, she announced 'I pulled my tooth out Mommy!'. I was quite surprised that she worked it out that quickly!

There is something about a toothless grin that is beyond adorable. :)

Inspired

2011-07-16T21:57:00.000-04:00

As much as I enjoy finding my own inspiration for creative ventures, I think it is even more exciting to watch the girls when they are inspired.

This week, our local garden club had it's annual show at the library. Each year, they host an event where a limited amount of kids can come and make an entry for the youth part of the show. The garden club provides a theme and supplies for the kids to do their projects.

This years theme was 'Under the Big Top' - a circus theme. Instead of flowers for the kids to arrange, they had fruits and vegetables. The kids were asked to create circus themed animals or characters from them.

Sage's event was in first, in the morning. Regan helped Sage decide on a horse and helped her pick out the main body parts to make it. I had to help quite a bit with assembly, as it was hard to get toothpicks into the sweet potato body! :D We all worked together to give the horse a fancy 'blanket' on it's back. The girls were quite thrilled with the finished product!

Regan's session didn't start until after lunch. While we were home, she came up with her own plan for making a dancing dog, with a tutu, balancing balls on it's nose and paper umbrellas in it's hands. She even drew it on paper to show me! :) When we went back to the library to make hers, she got right to work making her cute little dog. She planned and assembled most of it herself, but needed a little help getting toothpicks into the sweet potato too. We worked together to make a trapeze and a set of juggling balls to finish her fine pup!

On Thursday, the girls were beyond thrilled to find out they had both won 'Best of Show' for their respective divisions! They even got to have their picture taken with all the other winners and it was in yesterdays local newspaper.

While we were at the library for the photo, the girls thoroughly enjoyed looking around at the rest of the flower show. They especially enjoyed all the cut flowers and both inquired about entering some of our own sometime.

Today, Regan found some really pretty lilies of some sort along our bike path. The girls each picked one to take home. They were tickled pink when I told them they could make their own 'flower show' using our colorful bottles and flowers from our yard and landscaping. I gave them a pair of scissors and let them go to town. When they were finished, they had made a beautiful display to adorn our dining room table.

How can all that color not bring JOY to the room?

Highlights from a Great Fourth of July Weekend

2011-07-06T19:43:00.000-04:00

We had a great Fourth of July weekend in Battle Creek. We found a campground to stay at and spent Friday through Monday having lots of fun there!

Sage learned to ride her bike without training wheels.

The girls were right at home in the campground pond and spent many hours looking for frogs and turtles, and, of course, swimming.

They caught a 'little' friend - with Daddy's help.

On Saturday, we took a trip to Binder Park Zoo. The girls were thrilled to not only see giraffes, but to feed them too!

Sunday, we watched a couple of hours of the Field of Flight Airshow with Aunt Jenny, Uncle Terry, Dustin and Alena.

Paul and Uncle Terry stayed to watch the Blue Angels, while Aunt Jenny and the kids and I went back to the campground to cool down.

Paul and the girls and I went back to the airport at night to see the 'Balloon Illum'....

...and the fireworks.

Monday, we packed up and headed home midday and caught up on laundry and a few chores and relaxed for the rest of the evening. As the fireworks in our community went off late Monday evening, I was thankful we had already had our fill of fun for the weekend.

Hope your holiday weekend was filled with lots of family fun and memories!

Summer Fun

2011-06-29T21:07:00.000-04:00

Summer, at last! This is why we endure the sometimes long Michigan winters. This is why we (well, Paul mostly) do(es) the upkeep on the pond. This is pure joy. :D

What is your favorite part of summer?

Maxi-Mopping

2011-06-25T21:00:00.003-04:00

So, the girls have still been on a Pippi Longstocking kick. I found one version of the movie on Netflix, and they have watched it three times in the last week. There is a scene in the movie where Pippi and the neighbor kids scrub her house floors by dancing around with scrub brushes attached to their feet. Every time we watch the movie, the girls ask 'can we do that sometime?'. Every time they ask, I think of a friend of mine who had her sons 'maxi-mop' her kitchen floor (before they were old enough to know what was attached to their feet...lol!).

Today, I pulled my rug out the kitchen and the floors were terribly dusty and needed a good cleaning. I figured it would be a great time to let the girls have some fun! :D

Regan wants to know if they can do this every week!

Life with Girls

2011-06-24T21:04:00.001-04:00

Conversation at our house this morning:

Regan: Mommy, I don't have any comfy shorts to wear today.

Mommy: Why don't you wear your white pair?

Regan: Those aren't shorts, they are capris.

Mommy: O...K...why don't you wear the comfy Land's End dress?

You know, the one you picked out last fall and have pretty much never worn?

Regan: I don't like that dress. I don't like dresses anymore.

Approximately five minutes later:

Regan: I'm wearing leggings with the dress.

Mommy: That's fine. It looks great!

Regan: This dress is really comfy.

When can we buy me some more comfy dresses, Mommy?

I really like this comfy dress!

Heaven help me! LOL! :D

A Weekend of Celebrating

2011-06-20T11:44:00.000-04:00

We had a very fun filled three days this weekend. Friday, the girls and I kicked things off by bringing lunch to my parents. It was their 50th wedding anniversary! We had a nice time eating and visiting and had great weather for hanging out for a bit.

The girls and I headed back home mid-afternoon to get ready for a graduation open house Friday evening and to pack/prepare to leave Saturday morning to spend the rest of the weekend with my big brother and his family.

We hit the road at a fairly reasonable time on Saturday morning. We were able to stop and pick 30+ pounds of strawberries, before getting to the cottage around noon. Mom and Dad joined us for part of the afternoon and evening so we could all celebrate their anniversary. We ate a fabulous dinner together at Sam's Joint, then stuffed ourselves with some cake back at the cottage. :) Aunt Jenny also doted on Regan a bit with a belated birthday cake and gifts.

Sunday, we celebrated father's day, making sure our wonderful daddy enjoyed his day. The weather was perfect and the boys (Paul, Uncle Terry, and Dustin) were able to get some morning fishing in. We had a nice brunch together and spend the rest of the day on Uncle Terry's new pontoon boat. We finished our day with a fish fry before heading back home exhausted, but extremely grateful for the wonderful weekend.

Pippi and Annika

2011-06-16T21:50:00.000-04:00

During the last week of school, Regan had the pleasure of reading about Pippi Longstocking. While I have heard of this cute character with the braids that stick out, I confess to not really knowing much else about her. Regan has spent the last week 'educating' me on the mis-adventures of Miss Pippi.

Today, the girls decided to dress up as Pippi and Annika. Regan rummaged through her clothes and found the best suitable 'brown' dress. We haven't quite figured out how to make braids that stick out, but she came up with the idea of wrapping her ponytails in a dozen or so colorful hair ties. :) She dotted her cheeks with some brown freckles and made herself a paper Mr. Nilsson (the little monkey) to attach to her shoulder.

Sage was assigned the role of Annika. Donning one of Regan's t-shirts as a dress, she set out to adding her own freckles to her face....in a much more colorful and plentiful fashion! :D

After finishing their costumes, they had fun role playing some of the scenes from the story. As I was prepping dinner, I was informed that I, 'the mommy', was already in heaven and the two girls were on a boat searching for Pippi's father.

What are your kiddos up to this summer? Anything fun?

Spring has Sprung

2011-05-11T21:07:00.000-04:00

I love this time of year, when everything finally starts to go green. The brown grass of winter turns to a blanket of green. The woods of dull gray sprouts a gorgeous lime green hue, full of buds on the trees. And our ornamental pear trees boast their own shade of green and an abundance of delicate white flowers, clumped into their little spring snowballs hanging on the trees.

Mother's Day Notes

2011-05-09T21:15:00.000-04:00

It was a beautiful weekend here, finally, in Michigan and my Mother's Day highlights started on Saturday. Sage and Daddy went plant shopping while Regan and I were at a Girl Scout overnight. While we were gone, they planted our hanging baskets, porch planters, annual flowers and veggie garden.

On Sunday morning, Daddy found a special delivery package for me. It turns out I was nominated Time Magazines 'Mother of the Year'!!

What qualified me for such an honor? I pack a mean lunch, can drive my daughter to school in two minutes flat and can talk on the phone and play on the ipad at the same time! :)

On Sunday afternoon, we headed to Holland to enjoy some of the Tulip Time festivities and enjoy the gorgeous weather outside.

A visit to the Arts and Crafts show yielded a new greeter for our front porch. (As well as a couple smaller greeters, seen in the annual flowers above - each picked out by the girls.)

The craft show was followed by almost five hours of fun at 'Kinderplaats' - an outdoor venue for the kiddos.

And, of course, there were photo ops...

And we finished the day off with a yummy dinner at 8th Street Grille. (Of course, any dinner that I didn't have to cook would have been yummy!!) It was a perfect day and I am blessed to have such a great family and to be Mommy to my beautiful girls.

A note from the 'other' Shelbi

2011-04-23T10:30:00.000-04:00

Hi Michelle! I wanted to stop by and say hello. I know you are a dog person, but I really think that you and I would get along great. You see, nine years ago, my mommy named me Shelbi. :) At the time, it had something to do with my daddy and his love for some sort of Mustang car, but now, I know there was a greater purpose behind it.

For the past 6 years or so, I have pretty much lived in the basement of our home. I used to be a bit more social, but when those little rugrats, er, I mean girls came along, things got a bit crazy for me and I would mostly hide. Well, last week, mommy decided it was time for me to be more social or meet with an early departure from our home. They captured me and moved me to the girls’ bedroom upstairs. It is a really nice place and they are giving me lots of love there. I even have a window with a view! I am still a bit unsettled and the whining dog outside the door makes me a bit nervous too, but the girls are doing a great job of protecting me from her.

As I acclimate to my new surroundings and become integrated with my wonderful family, I promise you this Michelle. I promise that my daily meows of protest or pleas for affection will remind them of you. I will remind them that life is not something to be taken for granted. I will remind them that everyday is a gift and they need to make the most of it. I will remind them that life is too short to get upset over the small stuff. I will remind them to find JOY, everyday.

Ok, I think that’s all I wanted to tell you. Now, I will go take a nap and dream of you resting peacefully as well.

Love,

The ‘other’ Shelbi

Finding Comfort

2011-04-16T21:44:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking about my friend Michelle today, and trying to process the gamut of emotions that flood in at a time like this.

It's easy to wonder 'why God' and 'what's the purpose'?

As I keep thinking about these things and how we will probably never know the answers to our questions, I remember...

I remember that it is the Easter season.

I remember that the God of the universe sent His One and Only Son.

I remember that He let His Son die a horrible and excruciating death on a cross.

I remember that He did this out of love...for me, for Michelle and for every one of us.

I remember that I will never fully understand God's ways, but find comfort in knowing that He definitely understands our hurting hearts and ultimately has a perfect plan.

Cherish Every Moment

2011-04-15T21:18:00.001-04:00

This week has been a sober reminder to cherish every moment of every day, for you just don't know what tomorrow brings.

About a month ago, my friend, Michelle Laven, started experiencing some strange emotional and physical changes. In a few short weeks, her condition worsened severely. Earlier this week, she was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and, today, "They will not be starting any more IVs, as she has a DNR, and they do not believe there is anything they can do that would benefit her." (from her CaringBridge page).

Today, my heart is heavy for Michelle and her husband Kip and their sons, Devin and Cody. I pray for God's peace for their family and His love to surround them. My heart and head are full of thoughts and emotions, but my mind is at a loss for the words to express them.

No-Bake Granola Bars

2011-04-14T15:18:00.001-04:00

Spring Break and being sick for so long has completely gotten me out of the daily picture habit! In an effort to kick myself back into gear, I thought I would snap some pictures of one of my favorite recipes.

Our whole family loves to grab a granola bar as an at home snack or on the go treat. With the growing price and shrinking size of the store bought ones, I try to keep homemade ones on hand. (Plus, I like all the extra 'good for you' stuff that I can put in them that you won't find in most store varieties.)

For this recipe, I use a large tray with sides (or jelly roll pan) and line it with foil for easy removal later.

I typically spread about 1 cup of m&ms, chocolate chips or sometimes cinnamon chips on the tray before I start the granola bars. (Mixing these things in just makes them melt.)

For the granola bar mix, I combine the following ingredients in a LARGE container (this dry mix will make about 4 batches):

14 cups old fashions oats
4 cups chopped nuts
3 cups unsweetened coconut
2 cups sunflower seeds
10 cups rice crispies(or I prefer 'Uncle Sam's flakes for some added nutrition with the same type of crunch)
1 1/3 cups ground flax seed or wheat germ
4 cups dried fruit

To make the granola bars:
Place 9 cups dry mix in large bowl.
Combine 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup honey ( or corn syrup) in sauce pan - boil 1 minute
Remove from heat and add 1 cup peanut butter. Stir until melted.
Add 'sauce' to dry mix and stir until combined.
Press mixture into foil lined jelly roll pan. Let cool before cutting.
Use foil to lift out of pan for easier cutting

One thing I love about this recipe is it's versatility. If you don't like something, or don't have a certain ingredient on hand, just omit it. It's basically just 9 cups of 'something' added to the sauce. (This is the same sauce that I use for the Cheerio Bars in one of my previous posts.)

Store cooled bars in an airtight container - if they aren't consumed before you can get them there! :)

Have a JOYful day!

Spring Break Staycation

2011-04-11T18:31:00.000-04:00

We didn't travel anywhere for Spring Break, but the girls and I still had lots of fun last week!! Here is Regan's recap of most of the week's highlights.

I didn't take my camera with me every day, but did capture a few moments.

Hope your week was full of joy and blessings!

Feathered Friends

2011-04-02T21:31:00.000-04:00

I just never tire of seeing the birds outside our window. There is something about spotting a bright red cardinal that always puts a smile on my face and brightens my spirits a bit. Tonight, this one perched in the tree right outside the living room window for an unusually long time. He seemed to be basking in the warmish glow of the setting sun. I watched him for quite a while, as the girls and I sat watching a movie. He sat there so long, I finally decided to get up and get my camera. He was so enjoying his little respite, that I think I even caught him yawning!! (Do birds yawn??)

While this little red beauty was a treat to see, I have to say it paled in comparison to our afternoon visitor. The girls and I were sitting on the couch, reading the Wizard of Oz, and I thought I spotted a hawk in the tree across the pond. As I looked a bit longer, I realized it was a bit bigger than most of the hawks we see and then I noticed it's white head. For the first time ever, I was treated to a bald eagle that was not in captivity!

We were able to watch him for about 5 minutes before he flew away. What a majestic site and amazing wing span!

(After he was gone, Regan immediately went outside to make sure our remaining duck wasn't turned into eagle snacks!)

April Fools Fun

2011-04-01T18:18:00.001-04:00

I have returned, almost, from the land of the walking zombies! Paul, Sage and I have been battling a cold that has lingered far too long and left me with zero energy and ambition. Finally, I think we are all on the mend and getting back to full health!

The girls took advantage of today's 'holiday' (if that's what you call it) to have a little fun with daddy. Last night, while he was occupied with chores and such, they created a spiderweb of yarn across the driveway. They wrapped multiple yarn remnants (thanks Grandma B!) from tree to tree, along about a 20 foot stretch of the drive.

Then, they snuck in the garage and had fun adding a feminine touch to daddy's car, using window markers.

When we woke up this morning, there was a roll of paper towels and a bottle of window cleaner on the counter. Apparently daddy didn't want to drive around town with his newly decorated car. :)

It's fun to have the girls at an age where they find great joy in life's simple humors.

Daily life

2011-03-24T21:00:00.001-04:00

There always seems to be interesting and creative things brewing at our house. This week, Regan came up with the idea to make a hat for a stuffed animal...using one of her socks.

The girls decided it looked like a a sombrero and decided to pull Sage's entire sock drawer and create more sombreros for the rest of their animals. This entertained them for a while, although most of the sock sombreros never found animal heads to occupy. They stayed, as shown here, on the living room floor for three days until Mommy finally requested that they be taken care of. :)

Yesterday at BSF, I helped in Sage's classroom. One of their opening activities was to have themselves traced. The kids could them color themselves as desired. Sage spent quite a bit of time carefully coloring her traced person. She was most proud of the nail polish she put on 'her' fingers.

Not wanting to be left out of the fun, Regan found some paper at home and convinced Sage to lay on the craft table so she could trace her.

Isn't daily life grand? :D

Moonset

2011-03-21T21:15:00.000-04:00

Last Friday night, my wonderful husband reminded me that it was a fantastic time to get some moon photos. In fact, Saturday and Sunday were a 'Super Moon Perigree' - the closest the moon will be to the earth in 2011. (The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March 1993.)

The skies were perfectly clear Saturday morning, so I crawled out of bed at 5:30 am to head out in the dark about 45 minutes later. I took a short drive to our local state park, thinking the reflection of the moon on Lake Michigan would be stunning.

I was having some technical issues with my camera, so most of my pictures weren't quite what I was hoping for. However, I was struck by this series of photos. As I looked at the color change of the moon and then noted the times, I realized the three photos were taken in less than a minute!

Here are my favorites from the morning.

The Sunday morning moon was supposed to be equally as impressive. I had hoped to go back for a second chance at some great shots. Regan even wanted to get up early with me and see the moon for herself. Alas, the weather did not cooperate, as there was complete cloud coverage in our area Sunday morning.

Bodies Revealed

2011-03-20T22:22:00.001-04:00

Paul and I have been wanting to visit the 'Bodies Revealed' Exhibit at our local museum. After two failed attempts to go with another couple, we decided to head to the Museum today as a family. Our family membership to the museum expires at the end of the month, so we wanted to go and take advantage of that one last time, whether we went into the bodies exhibit or not. When we got to the museum, the girls both surprised me and said they were willing to go into the bodies exhibit!

The exhibit is quite amazing and I highly recommend going to see it, should you ever have the opportunity. (The girls weren't particularly thrilled with it, but they weren't as grossed out by it as they anticipated.)

The girls did enjoy exploring the rest of the museum, seeing a show at the planetarium and riding the carousel...three times. :)

Leprechaun Hunt and Pinewood Derby

2011-03-19T20:07:00.000-04:00

After St. Patrick's Day on Thursday, Regan was quite determined to convince her sister that Leprechauns are real. Before school, she planted a red feather (???) on the front porch and told Sage a story about how leprechauns had left it there. Sage was adamant that she did not believe Regan and the leprechauns were not real.

Once Regan was at school, and safely out of earshot, Sage mentioned a couple of times that we should go exploring for clues or signs of Leprechauns. It was a beautiful day outside, so I was pretty much without excuse and we headed out.

We went for a walk in the woods. Neither of us were quite sure what exactly we were looking for, but had a nice time being outside. :)

Today was Pinewood Derby race day!

Now, if you are especially observant, you will realize this is a different car from my previous post. The first car had an unfortunate epoxy incident that rendered it immobile. Daddy persevered, despite the setback, and produced a second car, from scratch, this week.

Regan, and Daddy, were both pretty excited with an 8th place finish (out of 31 cars). Regan's car took one third, one second and two first place finishes in her four races. And, most important of all, they both had a lot of fun. Daddy came home already talking about plans for next years car. :)

Sage the Author

2011-03-17T20:33:00.000-04:00

Today, I thought it would be fun to write a story with Sage and make a book out of it. I didn't have any great ideas to get us started so, I googled 'Story Starters for kids'. The first site up was "Free Illustrated Story Starters from the Young Writers Workshop"

After browsing a few of the choices, Sage picked "Who's in my house" which started with "Someone was in the dog house and it wasn't the dog".

After we finished writing the story, I typed it up and printed it out. We also used Puppy Breath Collection (by Angie Briggs) and Kitty collection (by Marnie Adams), from my scrapbooking supplies, to create and print illustrations for each page. Sage and I cut apart the words and illustrations and glued them to some green (her choice) cardstock to create a finished book.

Rosie Meets Some Cats

Someone's in the dog house and it isn't the dog.

Rosie noticed something different about her doghouse.

Outside of her doghouse she saw a cat.

Rosie tried to slowly sneak up behind the cat to see what it was doing.

As she got closer, she accidentally bumped into her doghouse and scared the cat away.

But, Rosie could still hear strange noises inside the doghouse.

Rosie quietly peeked inside the doghouse and found another cat!

The cat was chewing on Rosie's bone!

The cat does not notice Rosie watching and gets a drink of water.

She also takes a bite of catfood. Catfood!?

Rosie wonders why there is now cat food in her doghouse?

Rosie sneaks into the doghouse and BARKS!

The cat jumps up with wide eyes and claws spread, then runs out of the doghouse.

Rosie is happy to have her house back.

She finishes her food and her water and her bone...and the cat food too.

It was fun to work through the story lines with her, giving her prompts and seeing what she would come up with. I especially love her details about the cats response to Rosie's bark! I said to her, 'what did the cat do when Rosie barked' and Sage opened her eyes wide and spread out all her fingers and said 'she jumped with wide eyes and paws like this!'. :)

Note: For those interested in a receiving email notifications of new blogposts here at Mommy Ramblings, I have added that option. To subscribe via email, simply scroll to the bottom of the blog and submit your email address in the 'follow by email' box. :)

Art Show

2011-03-16T20:28:00.000-04:00

Last night, the girls decided to use some large packaging papers to create an Art Show in the house. They continued to create pieces of art, some with care and some in a hurry, until they ran out of paper and places to hang them. They were so proud and even took Paul and I on a guided tour, explaining each work of art and who the artist was.

Shooting Star by Regan

Zebra Marley by Regan

Moon by Sage

Tree by Regan

Rainbow by Sage

Rainbow by Regan

Climbing Stairs by Sage

Flowers by Regan

Big Flower by Regan

Big Star by Sage

Swirl by Regan

Colorful Bottles by Regan

Marley's Dog Food by Sage

Rainbow Scribbles by Sage

Shooting Stars by Sage

Thanks for stopping by our Gallery! Come again soon!

Cheerio Bars

2011-03-15T20:42:00.000-04:00

When I get a nighttime hankering for something sweet, this recipe just fits the bill! It is something I made up based on a peanut butter/rice krispie treat recipe a couple of years ago.

Cheerio Bars

Mix in a large bowl:

7 cups plain cheerios
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup peanuts
1 cup plain m&ms

In medium sauce pan, combine:

1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup

Bring to boil for one minute, then stir in 1 cup peanut butter. Pour over cheerio mixture and stir until evenly coated. Press into 9x13 pan. Let cool and enjoy (if you can wait that long!!)

The next day, if they last that long, these can be a bit hard to bite. When that happens, I simply microwave one for 10-15 seconds to soften it up a bit again.

Coin Collecting

2011-03-13T20:55:00.000-04:00

Coin collecting seems to be a hobby that is timeless. Regan's friend got her started collecting the state quarters a couple months ago. We ordered a map/coin holder for her and her friend to store their collections in. It's been fun to investigate each quarter that crosses our paths and try to guess if it's one Regan has yet or not.

Skillet Meal

2011-03-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

Some time ago, a friend of mine taught me to make a simple side dish that my family loves. You peel and cube sweet potatoes and saute them in olive oil along with some diced onions. Once cooked, sprinkle with cheddar cheese and let it melt before serving. Our whole family enjoys this side dish, including my non-sweet potato-eating husband. There was a period of about a year when Regan would tell you her favorite meal was sweet potatoes and venison.

Sometimes, I like to turn this side dish into a simple skillet meal by adding some sliced sausage. Tonight, I used skinless Turkey Smoked Sausage. Another favorite of Paul and I's (not the girls so much) is the Spinach Asiago Chicken Sausage available at Sam's Club.

I haven't had much luck doing the sausage and potatoes in one pan, as one or the other seems to always get overcooked. So, I do them in separate pans, then combine before adding the cheese on top.

Bon Appetite!

Beautiful Bottles

2011-03-10T20:20:00.000-05:00

My normal trip into Hobby Lobby involves making a straight dash to the back of the store to find some sort of craft supplies for the girls. This usually suits me just fine, as I am not really drawn to the home decor stuff. I appreciate it, am inspired by it and enjoy looking at it, but rarely see something as a 'must have' for my own home.

When I passed these colored bottles a couple of weeks ago, they just seemed to shout 'HAPPY'! I thought they were so fun and bright and cheery. I knew they would eventually go on sale and if I found a suitable purpose for them, figured I would buy some then.

This week, I had an idea to use them for a new 'reward' system that has been much needed in our home. I checked the online add, and sure enough they were on sale this week! So, Sage and I headed over and picked up 15 of them in various sizes and colors.

The reward system works like this. The bottles are lined up in one long row on our dining room table. In the center, the largest bottle/vase. On each side, seven various size smaller bottles.

The bottles on one side are Sage's and on the other are Regan's. (There was a whole lot of exchanging and bartering going on yesterday before they were arranged in their final manner! I guess the girls like the pretty bottles as much as mommy does!)

Each bottle represents a day of the week. In each bottle are crystals, each representing 5 minutes of Ipad time. (The girls are highly motivated by the new family toy). Weekdays have 30 minutes total, weekends 60 minutes.

If the girls are caught doing something good or do some extra chores, they can earn extra crystals. If they make bad choices or are disrespectful, they lose crystals.

Just like any of our systems, I am sure this one will have it's season of effectiveness. Until then, I will enjoy the beautiful bottles that adorn my dining room table. They sure beat the recycled peanut butter jars we have used in the past!!

Perspective

2011-03-09T21:48:00.000-05:00

Days like this, I look out the window and see wet, dreary, sloppy, muddy, mess.

The girls look out the window and see opportunity!! They love to put on their rainboots and haul out the umbrellas and slosh around.

Secret Hide-away

2011-03-07T22:29:00.000-05:00

The girls discovered over the weekend that the space below our winding staircase makes a very fun secret hideaway.

First, they realized a baby gate provided a great way to be sure Marley was part of the secret place and couldn't escape.

Then, they set out to make the space a bit more comfy and decorated to their liking.

I helped them clean out some odds and ends that were behind the TV hutch. This made way for a small 'living room' that is now complete with a rug on the floor, a box filled with miscellaneous toys and the girls CD player.

The girls have spent most of their free time the last two days hanging out in their secret spot. They were thrilled to be able to eat their dinner in there tonight, while listening to Ramona the Pest on CD.

I love to see their imaginations at work!

Pinewood Derby - Part 1

2011-03-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

When we found out that the local Girl Scouts were doing their first ever Pinewood Derby, Paul and Regan were both pretty excited to participate!

This weekend began the work of getting the car ready.

As Regan and I looked for car ideas online, I asked her if she wanted a fast car or a fancy car. In true VanderWall form, she immediately said FAST!. Music to Daddy's ears. :)

Stay tuned until later in March to hear how this green hot rod performs on the track!

Raising Readers

2011-03-05T23:16:00.000-05:00

We are very blessed to have two kids who absolutely love books! We are also very blessed to have a wonderful local library to support my oldest's reading habits! :)

Vacation Momentos

2011-03-04T20:38:00.000-05:00

Early this week, we were blessed to take a mini family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. Regan had Monday and Tuesday off school, so we headed up Sunday Morning and returned Tuesday evening.

Much to Paul's surprise, I purposely left my camera at home. I had minor concerns about where to leave the camera when it wasn't in use and preventing it from getting wet at the water park. But mostly, I was concerned about getting too caught up in 'capturing' the moments instead of enJOYing the moments.

I did have my cell phone with me and took some photos with it. Now, I just need to figure out how to get them off the phone and onto the computer! LOL!

I took this picture today of some of the girls souvenirs from the trip. I'm sure this, along with the cell phone photos and some meaningful journaling, will still allow me to document our trip on a future scrapbook page.

The girls were trying to figure out how to pool their money, a total of $40, to buy a wand and play the MagicQuest game they have at the hotel. We came to an agreement that if they both contributed all of their money, we would pay the rest for them each to get a 'Paw Pass'. With the pass, the girls were each able to get a wand and play the game (which was tons of fun!), make an animal (build-a-bear style), have 20 tokens to the arcade, paint a pillowcase or t-shirt (they both chose pillow cases), get a glitter tattoo and have Chipstix snack from the snackbar. It turned out great and gave us lots of things to do for our three day/two night stay there.

It was a great time getting away with the girls, sans diapers and pull-ups and pack and plays and life-jackets and all the stuff that goes along with little tikes.

New Toy

2011-03-03T20:46:00.002-05:00

.
.
.
.

The girls enjoying the new family toy. :)

Marley and Me

2011-03-02T19:36:00.000-05:00

By Regan VanderWall

New food love

2011-02-25T21:40:00.001-05:00

I am always on the look out for new, healthy, low-sugar food options for our family. One thing the girls and I are enjoying right now is freeze dried fruit. It is a fun, crunchy, sweet/tart snack to eat just plain. The girls have also been enjoying some on their cheerios in the morning. When they ask for a piece of candy after dinner, I tell them they can have some of this fruit and I don't usually hear too many complaints. :)

This is our second order from North Bay Trading. They also carry some soup mixes that I thought looked delicious, so I ordered a few of those too!

Sisters

2011-02-24T21:08:00.000-05:00

They fight. They play. They sass. They laugh. They hit. They hug. They antagonize. They encourage.

One minute the best of buds, the next 'I am never going to play with you again!'.

But at the end of the day, they are sisters and they really do love each other.

(The girls share a room and these were some of the notes they were passing back and forth last night. Or, should I say flying back and forth - they were folded like little airplanes. <3 )

This week...

2011-02-23T21:46:00.000-05:00

6:15 am - Monday morning, I woke to check the school closings. Sure enough, Sunday's snowstorm had rendered it another snow day. I crawled back in bed, hoping for a few more minutes of half sleep before Regan made her way out of bed at the 7:00 hour her brain is hard-wired for.

7:30 am - Regan quietly entered my room and asked if she could watch TV. I tell her 'not right now' and she made her way back downstairs to, I assume, curl up with a fairyland book. Sage was still asleep. I laed still for a few minutes, with every intention of crawling out of bed soon.

8:30 am - I rolled over, after what seemed to be a few short minutes and blinked a few times to get a clear view of the alarm clock. I laughed to myself, pleasantly surprised at being able to 'sleep in' that late. I rolled out of bed, madly in love with my children who had left me undisturbed. :) Be still my heart when I stumbled downstairs to find the two of them curled up on the couch reading together.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home. We ventured outside for a brief walk in the woods, but the wind was bitter cold and we didn't last long.

We occupied some of the morning with messy, goupy hands, as I introduced the girls to paper mache. They thought it was pretty fun and both did a great job. The first layer is dried and waiting for us to have an opportunity to finish our project.

On Tuesday, I began thinking about what type of food we need for our upcoming trip to Great Wolf Lodge. Road trips usually mean some sort of homemade treat (it's just my thing). :) I asked Sage if she wanted to help me bake some cookies and she was more than willing to help. I think her exact words were 'I LOVE helping mommy make things!'.

I pulled out my Sneak Chef Cookbook and we mixed up a quadruple batch of the Unbelievable Chocolate Chip Cookies.

YUMMY!!

We substituted applesauce for 1/4 of the butter and added 1/2 cup ground flaxseed and 1 1/2 cups finely chopped sliced almonds to the quadruple batch.

Note: Her single recipe says it makes about 50 two-bite cookies. Our quadruple batch made 70 'regualar' size cookies.

Good thing we made plenty, so we can munch on a few before Sunday's trip!

Sunday Photos

2011-02-20T21:35:00.000-05:00

Today, I had the privilege of shooting at our church - pictures that is. LOL! :D They are getting ready to update their website a bit and asked if I could take some 'fresh' pictures. Isn't it great when you can serve God with the gifts, talents and passions He has given you??

Here are a few that I can share without hunting down permissions from the subjects! :D

Hope your Sunday was blessed!

Celebrating with Friends

2011-02-19T21:33:00.000-05:00

Although Wednesday was Sage's real birthday, today was the day she has been waiting for. Today was the 'friend party', five guests for a five year old. Many thanks to Hannah, Aubrey, Alyssa, Aleia and Caroline for making Sage's day extra special.

Regan and Sage have been planning a winter themed party for a few weeks now, hoping the elves would come back and visit (which they did). So, we kept most of the party related to that theme.

We started things off with a melting snowman craft.

Followed by games of 'Hide the Elf' and 'Pin the carrot nose on the Snowman'.

Sage then opened her presents from the girls.

And, of course, cake and ice cream. Sage picked out a cute bee/heart themed cake. It didn't quite match our winter theme, but it was what she chose last weekend at Sam's club. She loved it, which means it was perfect. ;)

After the girls played for a bit, Sage said her thank yous and sent the girls home with a goodie bag of slinkies (the good ol' fashioned metal kind) and a couple of silly bands.

The view tonight...

2011-02-18T22:02:00.002-05:00

Making a New Journal

2011-02-17T20:32:00.000-05:00

Even a digi-girl likes dabbling with scissors and glue every now and then!! :D

Working on a new flip-book to house scripture verses I want to memorize.

Happy Birthday Sage

2011-02-16T21:41:00.000-05:00

Five years ago today, on a icy cold blustery winter day, this sweet darlin' made her early entrance into our lives.

Happy 5th Birthday Sage!

We love you!

100th Day

2011-02-15T21:53:00.000-05:00

Today marked the 100th day of school for Regan. Each year, her classes do something fun to mark the occasion. This year, they were given the freedom to bring in or wear 100 of 'something' and were told to be creative. Since we have been working on photography stuff together, I thought it would be fun to do 100 photos. Regan loved the idea too. Together we snapped close-ups of 100 things around our home and I made this page for her to bring to school. We had a great time with it!! How many can you guess??

a1 - Markers a2 - dog treats a3 - Wii Console a4 - Craft Paint a5 - Flu bug (from art class) a6 - Lime a7 - Oven thermometer a8 - carton of eggs

a9 - School folder a10 - Quaker oatmeal

b1 - State of Michigan quarter b2 - Telelphone cord b3 - Awana award ribbon b4 - House thermostat
b5 - Boo boo the bear’s nose b6 - Cheerios b7 - computer keyboard b8 - Pens and markers b9 - squishy animals
b10 - Wii Remote

c1 - DumDum Suckers c2 - Cookie jar c3 - Pillow Pet c4 - My Backpack c5 - Journal/diary c6 - Nativity Set
c7 - Sage blowing up a balloon c8 - coffee cup c9 - paper snowflake c10 - Snow Ice Cream

d1 - Faucet d2 - Leaf d3 - Sage eating an icicle d4 - Telephone d5 - door handles d6 - Photo or Scrapbook album d7 - Pinewood derby car kit d8 - CD player d9 - Outdoor Adventure mat for Wii d10 -fireplace vent

e1 - feather e2- Scruffie, stuffed dog e3 - Tumtum and Nutmeg library book e4 - digital photo frame e5 - Piano Keys e6 - Pipe Cleaners e7 - Angel Ornament e8 - Orange e9 - Pencil e10 - Blender

f1 - refridgerator f2 - Jingle bell pens f3 - Valentine person f4 - zipper f5 - Liquid Hand Soap f6 - Candle
f7 - Antique telephone bell f8 - flushable wet wipes f9 - Toilet paper f10 - wood flooring

g1 - Painting/artwork g2 - fur covered journal g3 - food in the pantry g4 - lightswitch g5 - computer mouse
g6 - Rainbow Magic Fairy book g7 - fresh chicken eggs g8 - Kitchen Cabinets g9 - winter boots
g10 - Nuthatch eaiting bird food

h1 - Silly straw h2 - bowling ball h3 - q-tips h4 - Lincoln logs h5 - Winter Wipeout h6 - Chocolate cookies h7 - Netflix movie h8 - Dead flower h9 - burner on stove h10 - Pineapple

i1 - Regan’s Eye i2 - Sage’s Eye i3 - Mommy’s eye i4 - Marley’s Eye i5 - duck i6 - Chicken eye i7 - Microwave
i8 - silverware i9 - Penny Pony i10 - Afghan/blanket

j1 - bananas j2 - Tufted Titmouse j3 - lunch, apples and milk j4 - honey j5 - Brownie bites j6 - My sweatshirt
j7 - carpet j8 - Word World j9 - my socks j10 - wood post, reflected in mirror

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-14T21:12:00.000-05:00

A day full of blessings and fun.

Breakfast for my girls (and a scone for the road for Daddy).

Flowers by Regan

Blessings outside my window.

Good clean family fun.

Hope your Valentine's Day was filled with love and smiles! :)

Mommy Sick Days

2011-02-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

I guess if I have to have sick days, I am thankful when they fall on a weekend. I am so grateful for my dear husband who steps in and takes over, without complaint, and encourages me to get the rest I need to be ready to go again come Monday.

He started the weekend with some sweet treats for his girls from a local bakery/restaurant.

And something for mommy too, of course.

And he was just as great the rest of the weekend too. He did my Sam's club shopping for me - including ordering a birthday cake for Sage's party. He kept us all wonderfully fed with things like Rotisserie chicken salad for dinner and baked apple french toast breakfast. The snow and weather finally provided the perfect conditions for him to start an igloo with the girls, something they have been looking forward to.

And I'm sure there were countless other things he tended to while I enjoyed some much needed downtime, including a 3 hour nap this morning.

I did manage to accomplish a couple small tasks over the weekend, one of them being Regan's valentines. The last two years we have made our own using my scrapbooking stash. Knowing that we had a lot going on right now, I had actually purchased some Valentine's Fun Dip candy for her to write the kid's names on - hoping we could skip the part of making our own. Well, she really wanted to make our own again. I could not find last years on my computer, but luckily I found some freebies from Persnickety Prints, and she liked them (not that she really had a choice!).

One of the reasons I 'think' she likes doing them with me on the computer is that she doesn't have to write them all out! LOL! (smart kid!!) In the past, I have had her write her name and then scanned it and printed it on the cards. Being zapped from my cold left me less ambitious this year. As we scrolled through the font choices in Photoshop, she spied some cursive ones and let me know that was what she wanted. They are learning their cursive letters in school right now, so I think she found it pretty cool that her cards could be signed in 'cursive'. :)

The Fun Dip fit perfectly inside, secured with a staple to prevent it from falling out.

As today drew to a close, I noticed the backyard was glowing with a pinkish orange color. Regan and I quickly grabbed our cameras to capture a shot of God's beautiful, but brief, painting in the sky.

Just Dance

2011-02-11T21:03:00.002-05:00

.
.

Like no one is watching! :)

The girls bust a move to 'Cotton Eyed Joe' on Wii Just Dance.

The best part of waking up...

2011-02-10T21:02:00.001-05:00

is hot tea in my cup! :) I have recently become a reformed coffee drinker. I am now enjoying a nice hot cup of flavored tea in the morning, and at bedtime, and often in between! I still enjoy an occasional cup of coffee, but I think drinking too much of it was causing me stomach aches.

This mornings brew? A wonderful cup of Masala Chai from Adagio Teas - with a touch of honey.

Are you a tea lover too? Here's a $5 GC to Adagio Teas: 2397474051. Good for 24 hours.

I order loose tea from them and use the Brewt infuser (above). If you don't have an infuser, you can do a search on their site for 'bags', as some of their varieties are offered that way.

CHEERS!! Here's to nice hot beverages on these cold winter days!

A New Day

2011-02-08T21:07:00.000-05:00

Today was a new day, and we were thankful for it. After six days home (two snow days, two school vacation days and the weekend), we were all ready for some 'normalcy' again.

I decided to let Sage do some painting. It had been a while since I let her play a bit with paints. I found some 8x8 canvas squares that I had bought for something a while back and let her create some art with a couple of those.

When those were finished, she wasn't quite ready to be done painting. We found some unfinished Christmas ornaments that needed paint, so she worked on those as well.

She worked very intently on her projects and was quite proud of her work and all the pretty things she painted and colors she mixed.

The girls were both very excited to receive a special package today. They got some very cute socks from their 'big sister' Carol in Brazil. (They were more excited about the socks than they were about having their picture taken!! LOL!)

I am so thankful today was a MUCH better day than yesterday. :)

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

2011-02-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

While the rest of the world prepared for Super Bowl Sunday, there was not much activity at our house today. We just kind of hung out and had a nice lazy day.

Regan ventured into the sunroom/craft area for a bit while Sage was napping. She got out the watercolors and coffee filters and spent some quiet time painting. I love having a dedicated space for them to explore their artistic desires. :)

Our cups overfloweth...

2011-02-05T23:40:00.000-05:00

They overfloweth the sink that is!! LOL! For the most part, I really don't mind doing dishes. And, strangely enough, I wash them all by hand, even though we have a dishwasher. However, after cleaning what seems like about 18 different cups for the girls every day, we are working on a new system. I have asked them to each pick a cup in the morning and make a mental note of their selection and use it for the remainder of the day. So far, so good. :) Their favorites are our tupperware cups with lids and a twisty straw. Isn't life just much more fun with a twisty straw??

PANNEKOEKEN

2011-02-04T20:30:00.001-05:00

Call it pannekoeken, call it puffy pancake, call it German or call it Dutch...I call it Yummy!!!

I can still remember the first time I tried it. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, I can't remember if I was alone or with someone, but I can remember that delicious pannekoeken I tried while at college in Houghton, Michigan.

I found and made a recipe many moons ago, but forgot all about this delicious dish! When I started looking around for recipes that used lots of eggs (due to the abundance from our six chickens), I remembered this wonderful treat.

With all the recipes around, I somehow stumbled on this one from Dandelion Mama - German Apple Pancake. While I am sure her recipe is every bit as delectable as she describes, I have to admit I have never made it exactly as she describes. I needed to come up with something a little bit healthier that I can feed my family on a regular basis.

Based on her recipe, a couple reader comments and some of my own tweaks, this is how I make it for my family.

2 Tbsp butter
2-3 large firm apples, thinly sliced with skins left on (core removed)
1 cup milk (usually 1%)
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
8 large whole eggs
4 egg whites
6 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place 2 Tbsp butter in 9x13 pan and put in oven until melted.
Add apples to melted butter and cook in oven for 5 minutes.
Combine flours, wheat germ, milk, eggs, egg whites, sugar and vanilla in blender and mix until smooth.
Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on apples and pour batter on top - apples will mostly float to the top
Bake until puffy and golden, usually 20-25 minutes
Dust with powdered sugar.

It comes out of the oven all toasted and puffy.

After about five minutes or so, it deflates a bit and is cooled enough to serve up.

Yumm-ie-oso!!

There is no complaining at dinner when I serve this up! :)

Snow Day - again

2011-02-04T07:07:00.002-05:00

Thursday brought a second snow day for Regan's school. It was a gorgeous day here, but I assume some of the backroads did not get cleared out on Wednesday. So, alas, we were home for the day again!

The sun was shining down in magnificent splender and we found JOY in -

A walk through the woods.

Making granola bars.

Building forts in the living room.

Soaking up the sunshine.

Watching the birds at the bird feeder.

Seeing our sun catchers actually catch some sun!!

Putting the finishing touches on our top secret 'Share the Joy' mission.

Heading out after dark to 'Share the Joy' with some unsuspecting neighbors.

What brought you JOY yesterday or today??

Another Snow Day

2011-02-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

As late as 8 or 9 pm last night, there was a lot of scepticism about the snow predictions that were being made for our community. Alas, 'Blizzard 2011' did indeed arrive last night while we slept.

The snow on the grill and deck are all from last nights storm.

Fortunately, we didn't need to venture out today. When we do have to trek through the snow, I am thankful we have the right gear for the job.

(from L to R) Sage's 'fashion' boots, Mommy's fashion/functional boots (or 'UGG-ly' boots as Daddy calls them), Sage's functional boots, Regan's functional boots.

Today's snow day fun? My special agents and I embarked on the beginnings of a special, top-secret 'Share the Joy' project.

To be continued....

Priceless

2011-02-01T20:15:00.000-05:00

Winter Sun Catchers

2011-01-31T21:39:00.000-05:00

I am always on the lookout for fun new things to try with the girls. Yesterday, I found this idea while browsing the internet:

Winter Sun Catchers

We started our colorful cubes yesterday.

Today, Sage and I worked on the next step of combining them in the cake pan.

Tomorrow, we'll be ready to hang our beautiful ice art! :)

Sunday Afternoon Photowalk

2011-01-30T20:23:00.000-05:00

A JOYful Saturday...

2011-01-29T19:50:00.000-05:00

There is JOY in....

Painting the snow with colored water.

Jumping off walls into the snow.

Fires in the snow and hanging out with Daddy.

Getting up close with the duck.

Fresh squeezed lemon-limeade.

Tea parties.

Homemade pizza.

Early bedtimes.

Backwards Night

2011-01-29T09:46:00.000-05:00

It was a night of family fun at our house last night, as Mommy had a new trick up her sleeve...Backwards Night!!

When Regan got home from school, the front door was locked and she found a note attached that said 'Welcome home Regan! Get ready to have some fun because tonight is Backwards Night! Now, please, come in through the BACK door!!'

Once she came in the house, she had already been thinking about what that meant. When she started asking questions, I directed her to another note that said:

So, what is backwards night?

Nothing is as it was.
Daddy does what mommy does
Mommy is Daddy
Regan is Sage
Dessert is for dinner
and don't act your age!

The grownups are kids
and go to bed first
and maybe you
wear each others shirts!!

What else will happen?
Let's wait and see!
I only know one thing,
how fun it will be!!

The note was printed backwards, so she did a bit of quick thinking and took it upstairs where she could hold a small mirror next to it and read what it said. She was pretty excited and immediately began jabbering about all the details of Mommy and Daddy going to bed first and her and Sage staying up late.

The next step was transforming each girl into the other. Sage was all in and was eager to have braids in her hair and put on Regan's pjs.

Regan was not quite as thrilled. Our fun plans hit their first snag as Regan began to let her long list of 'I'm NOT going to...' be known, complete with hands on the hips and a foot stomps. She was NOT going to have her hair in bundles, she was NOT going to wear Sage's clothes or pajamas or even her own pajamas that matched the snowman ones Sage always wears, etc..

OK...parenting dilemma number one. What and how much do you make your child do in the name of fun? I didn't want to force her to do things, just to fit into my expectations of what the night was supposed to be, yet her attitude was one of complete disrespect and was not by any means acceptable. A few gentle encouragements and alternate suggestions made little impact on her disposition. In the end, I got down on my knees and had an eye to eye conversation with her. I let her know that I was really looking forward to a night of fun, but that she would not be able to participate if she could not turn her attitude around. She agreed to change the way she was behaving and we made a fresh start. It still took a little bit, but she worked through most of the attitude issues.

Once they were all dressed and hair fixed, we had two adorable little backwards kids!! They were giggling like crazy while they discussed that Marley was 'kitty' and kitty was Marley for the night and started acting like dogs.

Next, I knew we would need to fill a bit of time before Daddy (or should I say Mommy!) came home, so we played a fun game that I made up. It was inspired by a conversation with friends based on Regan's aper pairplane tongue twister from the night before. I made a whole list of mixed up word combinations for girls to solve. We started with a couple easy ones, like flutterby and aper pairplane, so they could get the jist of the game. After working through my list of 20 or so, things like tish fank, fird beeder, gray plound, Regan quickly caught on and took her turn making some up for Sage and I to solve. We read them all to Daddy at dinner time and let him try to solve them too. The girls got a good laugh at some of Daddy's silly answers.

Once Daddy was home, it was dinner time! And what do you have for dinner on backwards night? Dessert, of course!! Sage and I made some brownies earlier in the day and picked up ice cream at the store. We got out all the fixins we could find and had ice cream sundaes for dinner!

After dinner was family movie night. We signed up for Netflix last week and received our first DVD in the mail - Despicable Me (or Destickable Me as Sage would say!!).

We all enjoyed the movie, but I think the girls were even more excited when the movie was done. That meant it was time for them to put Mommy and Daddy to bed!! First, Daddy demanded his bedtime snack. After some discussions about how many 'strikes' he had for misbehavior and whether he had earned enough back doing his chores, it was decided that daddy could indeed have some popcorn.

After the popcorn was made, we were ordered to our bed. The girls tried to quickly escape so they could return downstairs to watch some more tv and finish all the ice cream (just like daddy would do when they go to bed! LOL!). Daddy and I weren't quite finished with bedtime routine though! We insisted on bedtime story and, of course, had to pull all the antics the girls usually do! I think we burned off all the ice cream we ate with all the laughing we did!!

The girls returned to the living room to have their night of staying up late and watching tv. They were able to find lots of fun things to watch on Netflix on demand. Of course, they had a few interruptions from the 'kids' who were supposed to be sleeping - you know, requests for water, to turn down the volume, bathroom visits. :)

They wandered upstairs shortly before 11 pm to put themselves to bed. It had been discussed earlier that they would switch beds for the night. What sounded good to everyone a few hours before no longer sounded like a good idea to Regan. So, we ended the night with another list if 'I'm NOT going to...' sleep in Sage's bed, use her sleeping bag, let her sleep in my bed, etc....complete with crying and tears. Parenting dilemma number two - there is never an easy answer to make everyone happy. We stuck with the original plan of switching beds and in five minutes it didn't really matter, as everyone was sound asleep. :)

The girls have already asked today when the the next backwards night will be. I had a brief conversation with each about how much fun it was and if they liked it, which they did! Regan and I also chatted a bit about changing some behaviors next time, which she agreed to work on. It was a fun night and definitely something we will do again. Hopefully these will be the memories they will carry with them for a lifetime. :)

Aper Pairplanes

2011-01-27T21:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at the library, Sage picked up a Berenstain Bears book about balloon powered paper airplanes. It had all kind of ideas for experimenting with different balloons and combined with different types of planes.

So, the girls set out to give it try. They made construction paper planes.

This combination didn't fly so well.

The book also suggested newspaper planes.

Which didn't fly so well either.

Even with reinforced wings...it still flopped.

So, our flight success was 0%, but we still had fun trying. And, we got quite a few laughs as Regan's tongue seemed to keep getting twisted as she would ask me to help with her 'Aper Pairplanes'. :)

A Willing Helper

2011-01-26T21:03:00.000-05:00

My attempts to do more baking and cooking from scratch again have resulted in a lot more time spent in the kitchen. Along with that extra time comes the addition of two eager helpers. The girls have always loved to bake with me and I am just starting to include them in more cooking as well. Having them help most often results in things taking longer and being messier than if I do it alone, but I know it's worth the effort.

Today, Sage was very excited about helping clean up. She washed almost all the tools we used in preparing tonight's pasta dinner. Were they perfectly cleaned? Probably not! LOL! But it's all part of learning, right?

And yes, she is balancing on about a four inch ledge in front of the sink. Have I ever told you this child is part monkey? and she has strength and balance that is beyond fathomable!!

Backyard Treats

2011-01-25T20:57:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about living in the woods is watching the wildlife right outside the kitchen window. I never tire of seeing the regular visitors. There are deer, turkeys, squirrels and many varieties of birds that come and visit often. Occasionally, we get the 'special' visitors too. The creatures that only visit sporadically, take your breath away by their beauty and quickly leave before you can hardly catch a glimpse, let alone snap a picture. Today, Sage and I were blessed to watch two pileated woodpeckers for about a ten minute period of time. We sometimes catch them in the thick of trees and grab a glimpse or two, but today they lingered a bit, in some trees right at the edge of the woodline. It was fun to watch them and also sweet to watch Sage grab the binoculars and enjoy God's creatures as well.

What's for breakfast?

2011-01-24T23:04:00.000-05:00

I love breakfast! It is my favorite meal of the day. About once a week, we even have breakfast type food for dinner. :) Out of convenience, weekdays have typically been cold cereal for the girls and I and Paul is quick to skip breakfast all together. To add some variety for all of us and to make it easy for Paul to grab something quick, I have been doing some baking of breakfast type things.

One of my favorites, and Regan's too, is Morning Glory Cake. It started as a Morning Glory Muffin recipe that I have made numerous nutritional improvements to. I bake it in a pan, instead of muffins, making it faster to bake a large batch. Add a glass of milk and it makes a scrumptious breakfast or mid-morning snack. :)

Morning Glory Cake (makes 2 - 9"x13" pans)

2 cups quick oats
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup wheat germ
2/3 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tsp baking soda
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 cups finely chopped carrots (about 1 lb bag baby carrots)
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup finely chopped pecans
6 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 apples - finely chopped
4 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl (through pecans).

Whisk together eggs, oil, applesauce, chopped apples and vanilla.

Pour wet ingredients over dry mixture and stir until combined.

Grease 2 - 9x13 pans. Divide batter between pans. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 min.

This recipe freezes very well. Layer in storage container with plastic wrap between layers. Microwave individual pieces 15-20 seconds to thaw and ENJOY!!

What's your favorite breakfast recipe?

Another great Sunday

2011-01-23T21:52:00.001-05:00

It was a gorgeous, but cold, sunny Sunday today. After feeding our souls at morning worship and feeding our bellies with some lunch, Paul and the girls headed outside. After finishing some outside chores, Paul spent some time with Regan and built a snow tunnel through the mound of snow in the front yard. (Sage was inside thawing out a bit.)

After a bit of warming up inside, the girls and Marley headed back out to play. I'm not sure who was having the most fun in the tunnel...

Marley....

...Sage...

...or Regan.

And every day outside in the snow means a quest for icicles.

The girls have even started looking at homes and buildings as we drive through town, discussing what they would do if they could get their hands on some of the HUGE ones they spy out the car window.

The snow tunnel joy came crashing down temporarily, after Sage (aka - Destructo) crashed one of the entrances. Not willing to be done with the fun, Regan set out to re-dig the opening.

Marley is always up for a game of snow soccer.

And the late afternoon sun was actually bright enough to cause a bit of squinting. A rare occurrence during the Michigan winters.

After dinner, Daddy watched the rest of the Packers-Bears playoff game. Then we all watched 'UP' via Netflix. While we waited for the game to finish, the girls and I bided our time by making cake mix cookies.

I had a triple chocolate cake mix and Sage chose mint and dark chocolate chips for the mix-in. YUMMY!

At one point in the movie, Russell was talking about sitting on a curb, eating ice cream with his dad and counting red and blue cars as they went by. He says to Mr. Fredricksen saying 'I like that curb. It might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most.'

It's the 'boring', little things they remember the most, isn't it? A lesson Mr. Fredricksen and I both are learning. :)

I'm a Bag Lady

2011-01-22T22:12:00.001-05:00

I've never been much of a purse person, but I do love a great bag! My current everyday bag is this great backpack/sling that I picked up on vacation last summer. It has lots of outside pockets for holding the things I need easy access to - wallet, phone, pen, etc., as well as a nice big main compartment. The main compartment has been home to many things, including my camera, changes of clothes for Sage, snacks for hiking on vacation, Bible and notebook for BSF, and most recently, a place to safely store hats and mittens when we reach our destinations.

So, what about you? Are you a bag lady? Or do you love a great purse?

A Good Decision

2011-01-21T21:33:00.001-05:00

Ten years ago, when we built our house, there were so many decisions to make. Some of them, we chose wisely and others are now in the proverbial hindsight. One decision I am thankful we made was to put our laundry area inside our walk-in closet of the master bedroom.

I tend to be an 'out of sight - out of mind' type of person. Having the laundry in a highly visible place has helped me keep current on it...for the most part. :) I also love my green hamper, everything goes in there - full hamper = full load = time to do the wash. (No, I do not sort my laundry - please don't gasp too loud! LOL!)

Reading list

2011-01-20T20:59:00.000-05:00

Our public library is right across the street from the church where the girls attend Awana. This makes it a convenient place to hang out while the girls are at their meeting and has inspired me to do a bit of reading again. My eyes are also welcoming the break from the nightly 'screen time' that seems to be causing a bit of strain.

Last night, I stopped in to pick up 'Loving Our Kids on Purpose' - by Danny Silk. It came as a recommendation from my good friend Caroline and I am looking forward to reading it. I love that our library has an online, inter-library loan system. I was able to use it to request this book from a library that is 30 miles away. It was delivered to my local library and they emailed me letting me know it had arrived. How great is that!

While I was there, I also took a few minutes to look through our libraries used book room. I mostly look for books for the girls, but found a few treasures for myself last night. For a whopping one dollar, I added these gems to my collection:

- 'God's Little Instruction Book - Inspirational Wisdom on how to live a happy and fulfilled life' - I have always loved these little 'tidbit' type books, but never want to spend a bunch of money on one!!

- 'Promises for Moms'- This is kind of a neat little book that has scripture verses categorized so you can easily find verses for a certain 'topic' - like grace, patience, provision, JOY!! Thought this would be a great tool to find verses that I want to memorize.

- 'Maybe it's time to Laugh Again - Experience Outrageous Joy' - Well, how could I resist that title! It's a study guide of Phillipians written by Chuck Swindoll

"Your words are windows to your heart" - God's Little Instruction Book

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Matthew 12:34b

Awana

2011-01-19T21:11:00.000-05:00

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

As Regan prepares for Awana tonight, I am envious of the girls and their early in life scripture memorization. They have inspired me, though, to embark on my own journey of hiding more of God's word in my heart. :)

Snow Day

2011-01-18T21:21:00.000-05:00

When we woke up this morning, it was absolutely beautiful outside. Regan was elated to learn that school had been canceled for the first snow day of the year.

While Sage slept in a bit, my trusty sidekick and I headed out to take a few pictures.

The snow was deeper than it has been in a long time, and of course, neither of us took the time to put our snow pants on!! :)

I am not a big fan of the cold, but I sure can appreciate the beauty of freshly fallen snow.

The girls enjoy being out in the snow.

Especially when there are icicles to be had!

And my new motto? When life throws you a snow day...make snow ice cream...

for LUNCH! LOL!

Making slime

2011-01-17T20:46:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it can be hard to keep coming up with things to do with the kids. But, I am slowly learning that often it only requires paying attention to what they are saying and being willing to say yes.

Regan came home from school last week asking if we could make 'slime' at home. It was something they made at school with some 'corn stuff' and water and...you know how the explanation goes.

She came home the next day and let me know that their slime at school had flopped, but they were going to try again later.

Today, she came home with a blue blob of slime. It was very similar to the 'flart' putty that was in their stockings (which they loved!).

And this time, she had the actual 'recipe'. :)

Well, who am I to squash the joy that was evident in Regan's eyes and voice as she once again asked if we could make slime.

It took us a bit to get the recipe quite right and our batch was definitely a bit stickier than the one from school. It was slimy enough to splatter and get stuck to clothes and hair and required a bath and laundry when we were done.

But, the giggles and laughs were well worth the effort.

Happy Sunday

2011-01-16T20:43:00.000-05:00

It was a great day, full of nothing extraordinary, but filled to the brim with blessings.

There is the pile of books on the floor every morning - left from Sage's late night reading. We are working on picking them up right away, but in the mean time, I will count it a blessing that they keep her in her room at bedtime and occupy her until she is ready to go to sleep.

Sunday morning means bathtime before church. Sage still uses a big plastic tote that fits in our walk-in shower and Regan has graduated to her own shower/tub in the spare bath. Nothing like bubbles to bring joy to a four year old.

I am always thankful when we have the right tools to do the job. I am glad we don't have to pay someone to come and plow our long driveway. Hubby always makes sure it is well taken care of and the girls love the snow hill he makes on the front yard.

And, I guess Sunday is a great day for self portrait. Afterall, Lord only knows the next day when Mommy has a shower AND her hair and make-up done! :)

Hope your day and week were abundant with blessings!

TV Night

2011-01-15T21:22:00.000-05:00

The girls have always been huge fans of Wipeout. So, needless to say, they were very excited to see Winter Wipeout start this month! (Or, Wimper Wipeout, as Sage usually calls it!) We are thankful that ABC does a second showing of it on Saturday nights, so we can let them stay up later than usual to watch it. Maybe one of these years we will be hip enough to have a DVR or something, so that we can watch things whenever we want! LOL! Maybe it's time to get the PlayOn/Wii streaming up and working again!!

Oldie but Goodie

2011-01-14T19:45:00.000-05:00

There is something I love about the 'classic' toys. I don't know if it is the familiarity, the childhood memories, the simplicity or what. The girls seem to like them as well. Sage has been playing with the lincoln logs this week. I love to watch little minds at play and the way they think outside the box. Today, she took all the extra little pieces and made an obstacle course for the horses.

Small in size...

2011-01-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

... Big in personality. Everyday, Marley lets us know that it's time to have food and/or water in her bowls by flipping them over (something she taught herself). If nobody responds in a timely manner, she keeps flipping them all over the place, until she gets someone's attention! The funniest part is that once the food is in her dish, she doesn't even usually eat it until later! (Paul says that's because she is a typical woman. LOL!)

Blow it up. Let go. Giggle. Repeat.

The girls, and Marley, have been exploring the simple joy that comes from balloons. The girls blow them up as big as they can, then let them go from the loft. Marley barks and jumps at the balloon the whole time, wanting to play with it like a ball. They have also enjoyed a few games of balloon volleyball. We have gone through about a dozen balloons in the last couple of days. They don't last long before Marley gets a nip at one and explodes it into pieces.

My little shutterbugs are also having fun taking pictures throughout the day. Be still my heart! <3

Great way to start the day

2011-01-12T21:41:00.000-05:00

Regan was eating her breakfast at the table and I was busy getting the normal morning routine done. At first glance of the kitchen counter, my mommy eyes saw more stuff that needed to be put away.

Then, I noticed the little note 'to Sage: Have a nice breatfast'.

Regan had left the cereal and all the fixins out for Sage and had got out a bowl and spoon and wrote her that sweet little note. This act of kindness in itself was enough to melt my heart, but it also meant so much more to me.

One of my mini JOY projects has been to occasionally slip little notes into Regan's lunch box. On Monday, I had a special opportunity to do that. Regan told me she was going to have lunch in the classroom with two friends. She had reached a certain level in the accelerated reader program and that was the reward. I took the opportunity to put a little note and 3 squishy animals in her bag (to share). I couldn't be there at lunch time, but wanted her to know I was proud of her.

When I saw her leave this little note for Sage, I immediately realized where her inspiration came from. It showed me that my girls don't only pick up my bad behaviors and habits, but occasionally the good ones rub off too! What a great reminder to keep working on my own growth, knowing that so many seeds are being planted!!

Other funny notes at our house today:

Regan - "Mommy! I got another state quarter! This one is for New Hamster!"

Sage - quoting Alvin and the Chipmunks, in her best chipmunk voice "why does it smell like sweat sauce (ie - sweat socks) in here? Dave likes to wear dirty underwear!"

Hope your day was JOYful!

New Year!

2011-01-11T21:27:00.000-05:00

It's a new year and I am excited to finally give this blog a much needed facelift and get back to blogging here a bit!

Thanks to Launa Valente for the referral and to Cinnamon Girl Studios for the creation of this awesome blogger template! I am in LOVE with this new simple look! I hope you enjoy it as well!

This year, I am embarking on a 365/photo a day type project, with a bit of my own flavor added. You can read more about the details at SpeedScraps. I'm still sorting out what to post where, as my two worlds and blogs seem to be converging more now than before. One thing I do know, is that I want to do more documenting of our day to day life and feel that belongs here. :)

Here are a couple funny stories from our house this week.

Last Saturday, we finally had enough snow for Daddy to pull the girls on their sleds behind the quad. Regan and Daddy went out for a bit after dinner. It was quite cold and they didn't stay out very long. When Regan came inside, her face was bright red! At first I thought it was just from the cold, but then she explained that she fell off the sled and landed face first in the snow.

The next morning on the way to church, Regan was trying to convince Sage to go sledding behind the quad with her when we got home. Sage was having nothing doing! I asked her why, as she is usually my brave one. She said 'because I don't want any snow bushes!!'. Huh? I asked her what that meant and she said 'You know, like Regan did last night?'. I said 'You mean a face plant?' - 'Yeah, I don't want any face plants'!! LOL! (for some reason, this made me just laugh hysterically. The kid cracks me up!)

Later that afternoon, I went to the store to pick up a few things and thought I would treat the girls and daddy to some ice cream. I picked up Mint Moose Tracks (mostly for daddy) and Birthday Cake (mostly for the girls). For bedtime snack, all three of them opted for Moose tracks.

On Monday night, when it was time for bedtime snack again, they all opted for more Moose Tracks. Daddy reminded the girls that there was birthday cake ice cream. To which Regan responded 'We know, but we have to get some of the moose tracks before you eat it all....We KNOW your weakness!!'. LOL! This had both Paul and I chuckling pretty good. Even Paul admits that the girls have him pegged.

Other things that have brought us joy so far this week:

- Eating lots of fruits and veggies and trying new recipes.
- Sitting in the hot tub after playing in the snow.
- Going sledding in Fruitport.
- Baking bread and granola bars.
- Stealing Daddy's pistachios.
- Playing with Daddy at the pool.

And, a couple photos from today.

Reading before naptime.

Sage's 'self-portrait' - using the remote for the camera.

Have a blessed day!

Under Construction!

2011-01-09T20:54:00.002-05:00

Pardon my mess while I update my blog! :)

Pulled Pork BBQ

2010-08-01T10:28:00.000-04:00

Through some unique circumstances, we ended up with a whole pig in our freezer this summer. It has been processed by a butcher and has items in it that I had no idea what to do with. With guests coming over yesterday, I decided to see if I could make some pulled pork BBQ from our abundance of pork. A recipe search online sent me looking for a shoulder roast amongst my stash, but with no luck. What I did find was a smoked picnic. Another recipe search online clued me in that the picnic is made from a shoulder roast. Our picnic was already smoked and looked pretty much like a ham. I wasn't certain if it would actually break down and shred into pork, but figured I didn't have much to lose.

I put the approximately 5lb smoked picnic, still partially frozen, in my crockpot at 9pm and smothered it with my homemade BBQ sauce (prepared ahead, recipe below). I set the heat to low and went to bed. When I checked it in the morning, I could tell it was going to shred into a very nice BBQ. By noon I was able to remove the bone and large fat pieces and pull all the meat apart. I removed a bit of liquid fat and added in a bit more BBQ sauce and let the whole thing continue to cook on low for our 5 pm dinner. It was a big hit with the entire bunch, even the 6 kids devoured it!

My homemade BBQ sauce recipe started from the 'Spicy Franks' recipe in Crockpot Cuisine cookbook. The main reason we started making our own sauce is that neither Paul or I are big pepper fans and most bottled sauces contain pepper. We have made slight modifications to the original recipe and have modified the quantities to make a large batch to keep in the fridge. We buy a commercial size container of ketchup at Sam's club and put the finished sauce right back in the container after cooking and cooling.

BBQ Sauce (32 servings)

1 bottle 114 oz Ketchup
2 3/8 cup firmly packed brown sugar
9 5/8 Tbs red wine vinegar
6 3/8 Tbs soy sauce
6 3/8 Tbs dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic powder
liquid smoke to taste

Cook in crock pot on high 1 to 2 hours.

Nothing says summer like a good BBQ!!! :)

Family trip in photos

2010-07-17T19:56:00.003-04:00

We had a wonderful family trip this summer. We spent 5 nights in St. Ignace, 3 nights at Tahquamenon Falls and 3 nights at my parents cottage in Grant. Here are the highlights of the trip with photos.

Soo Locks visit - it was Engineering day, meaning we could go across the locks into areas that are normally off limits.

Hydro Plant tour - also in Sault St. Marie

Tahquamenon visit in the mist and rain

A 'bit' of rain on Friday night, leaving the campground a wet mess. (8" fell over the weekend)

A great photo op at one of our geocache finds in St Ignace

Regan's 'treasure' found at the same spot

Cool Treat at the car show

Car show on the streets of St. Ignace

Fudge - a necessity of any trip to the UP :)

Bridge view from another geocache location in the state park

Humongous 'wish flower' found on a geocache hike

Home sweet home - for the week

Playing at the toy store in Mackinac City

My beautiful butterflies

Heading to Mackinac Island for the day

Lots of geocaches on the island

Didn't know spiders could be pretty

We biked the whole 8 miles around the island, plus about another 5 or 6 throughout the day. Regan was a trooper!

The girls highlight of our time at Tahquamenon - some very tame chipmunks, including one who seemed to 'pose' for Regan to take his picture.

Hike from the lower to upper falls - 4 miles. Sage was the trooper that day, hiking almost the whole way.

The girls chasing 100s of yellow butterflies lining the dead end road we took by mistake while looking for a geocache.

Another necessity of any UP trip - pasties

Paul and the girls going out into Lake Superior. This was at a point in the lake near Paradise where the water was only about 2 feet deep for about a half a mile. The usually frigid lake Superior water was very warm here.

Tubing with Grandpa at Hess Lake - the girls all giving grandpa the thumbs up to go faster - and Grandpa more than happy to oblige.

and some sparkler fun - there is a kid behind there somewhere!

It was a great vacation. We had lots of fun, made lots of memories and took lots of pictures!! :)

Priorities

2010-05-24T14:07:00.001-04:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about priorities and specifically about what my priorities should be. There are the obvious ones, like my relationship with God and things that nurture it, like prayer, devotions and worship. Then there is family - devotion to my husband and children and my role in their life as wife and parent, from the spiritual aspect to the practical aspects, like laundry and meals and housework. But what about the opportunities beyond these essential priorities? What comes next?

The main priorities consume a good majority of my time, but there are a couple hours a day left for the 'other' stuff. I often wonder and pray about if I am spending that time on the right 'stuff'? There are many things I enjoy doing during that time, but they can often turn into mini gods and can spill into the other areas of my life and cause me to derail from my focus on the real priorities. For example, as I work on stuff for my latest business venture - SpeedScraps - it is easy to get caught up in the details of it. I can spend way to much time looking at the facebook page to see if their are new fans and then checking out their blogs and websites and before I know it, an hour or two has passed and I have accomplished little. Yes, I enjoy doing it and it is a 'downtime' for me, much like television for others. But I have just been wondering lately if there is something else God wants for me.

As I was thinking about this on Sunday, God impressed on my mind two particular people that I think He would like me to invest some of my time in. Then, at Church later that morning, the message totally affirmed the ideas that were going through my head about how to invest in these two people. I have also realized in the last couple of days that the things that make me smile the most are when I hear people say 'you inspire me' or even better 'you have influenced my walk with Christ' and this helps me to re-focus my priorities.

I am putting these thoughts in writing here as a way to hold myself accountable to what has been going through my head the last few days. It would be very easy for me to brush off these thoughts as too time consuming and requiring to much self sacrifice. But I know from past experience that when I follow and obey these promptings, blessings follow.

So, what are your priorities? Anything God is nudging you to do or change?

A note...

2010-05-21T13:54:00.002-04:00

Lately, we have been dealing with a certain six year old and her sassy, flippant attitude. I knew these days would come, especially with two girls, but I guess it is just happening sooner than I anticipated. Tuesday night was an especially difficult night and left me wondering if I am equipped to handle being a mom and if this is 6, going on 7, what will the teenage years be like?

Then today, I walked into our sunroom to find this note. Regan had written it Tuesday night and left it on the couch. I guess I can survive this parenting thing...at least for another day! :)

Thoughts from a six year old...

2010-05-07T19:49:00.002-04:00

Today, I attended 'Muffins with Moms' at Regan's school. It was a special time for all first graders to spend with their moms, in honor of Mother's day. The kids did a lot of fun things in preparation for the event. They planted little seed pots, decorated bags for the muffins to go in and decorated place mats. They also made 'paper moms' (large paper dolls decorated to look their mom) and filled out a booklet called 'My Mother'.

Here are the things Regan wrote about me in her booklet and inside of her 'paper mom' (italicized parts are where she filled in her own words:

My Mom is special.
She likes to hug me.
She always sweet.
Sometimes she talks to herself.
But the best thing about my MOM is that she's prety.

My mother is 37 years old.
My mother's favorite sport is baseball.
My mother's name is Cristiy.
My mother is special.
My mother and I like to read.
My mother is great because she makes me dinner.
My mother likes it when I help her.
This is my mother. I love you
My mother likes to run.
My mother's favorite food is muffins.
My mother's favorite color is blue.
I love it when my mother play with the dog.
My mother is good at Wii.

They also put together a slide show of photos with each child and their mom. The kids then made a little audio clip stating what was special about their mom. Regan's comment was 'My mom is special to me because she packs my lunch every day.'.

What a great day with my kiddo and a good reminder that I don't have to be 'supermom' to be special to her...I just need to pack her lunch. Isn't it great!! :)

Just a bee sting...some more thoughts.

2010-04-28T17:09:00.000-04:00

I have been reflecting some more this week about keeping things in perspective. After sharing my 'bee sting' thoughts last week, a friend encouraged me 'not to minimize the bee sting, as it still hurts'. My devotions since then have also talked about how we have a God who always listens. It is so comforting to know that even when my trials may be small, God is big and He cares about even the little things. Here is a case in point:

Two weeks ago, I lost one of the half carat diamond earrings Paul had given me on our 5th Anniversary. I went to take them out at night and one was missing. I was not even confident that I ever put it in that morning, so looked all around the bathroom. I also contacted the church I had been at and a friend whose house I had visited that day, to ask them to keep their eyes open. While I was very disappointed to have lost the earring, I had an overwhelming peace about it. I kept the perspective that it was just a 'thing', a material possession. I also had a great sense that if God wanted me to have it back, it would show up.

So, yesterday, I woke up and our phone and internet were out. Kind of a bummer way to start the day, but I called and got an appointment to have it fixed today. After calling, I thought I should do a quick check and make sure there weren't any cables loose or cords unplugged under my desk (a place Marley likes to hang out). While on my hands and knees, among the dust bunnies, I found an earring back. My first thought was that it was one of Sage's, which I seem to find everywhere. And then, about 2 inches away, I found my earring!!

I couldn't believe it had been right there under my feet all along! I sit at my desk/computer several times everyday. I also realized that it could have so easily been 'lost' someplace in the cracks of our floor boards or under a different part of the desk where it would not have been discovered for years, if at all.

This all served as a great reminder to me of how much God cares about even the tiniest of things. That small earring and back could have been anywhere! The places it could have been lost without any potential of returning were infinite! Yet God, in His love and grace allowed it to be safely resting, in my home, in a place that I would eventually find it.

How great is our God who cares about the whole world, yet still has time to care about the tiniest details of our lives. :)

Growing...

2010-04-24T09:21:00.000-04:00

Our growing 'family' is growing quickly!! The ducks are now officially bigger than Marley. They are getting their white, grown up, feathers and will soon be ready to move into their new home...outside. They already love the pond and I think will make the transition with ease.

Paul has been extremely busy trying to finish the hen house for 'the girls', as they, too, grew much quicker than we anticipated! The two ducks and six chickens had been housed together in a large dog crate, but that was getting very crowded! Thursday night, the hen house was ready for the chicks to move in. The ducks were a little beside themselves without the chickens in the cage with them. On Friday, while Paul was doing some more work on the hen house, he found all six chicks had flown back into the garage and were standing outside of the dog cage looking at the ducks inside! LOL!

On with the adventure! Hope your day is blessed!

Just a bee sting...

2010-04-21T14:52:00.000-04:00

"What would have to change in your life for you to experience more times of 'treasuring' your blessings, of 'meditating' on the goodness and greatness of God?" - Beth Moore - Jesus, 90 days with the One and Only

This is from my devotions today and isn't it just like God to have you studying things that say the perfect thing at the perfect time? I have been struggling with some minor adversity in my life recently and when things like this happen I try to reflect on the purpose it serves. What I have been thinking about lately is how going through painful situations usually leads in one of two directions. You can choose to ask 'why' and feel sorry for yourself, or you can choose to ask 'why' and 'what can I learn from this?'.

I have chose to ask 'what can I learn from this?'. In doing so, it has made me realize how blessed I am. It has made me see that even when things are bad, God is good. It has encouraged me to reassess what my priorities in life should be. Going through my own trials and frustrations has also given me increased empathy and compassion for those around me facing much bigger mountains. God has shown me that my trials are just really a bee sting, not an arm amputation. It still stings, but I need to keep it in perspective.

Thank you God, for helping me to keep things in perspective and for reminding me of my blessings!

Something New

2010-04-12T13:52:00.003-04:00

For almost a year now, I have been slowly reading through the Old Testament. I had been studying the Life of Moses through Bible Study Fellowship during the 2008-2009 school year and picked up where that left off during the past year. Usually, I don't find as many life applications from the Old Testament as the New Testament, but God has been revealing a lot to me through this last year. Probably the most important thing I have learned is how patient He is. No matter how many times the Israelites turned from Him and worshiped other, false gods, He was there, waiting for them and wanting them to love Him and ready to receive them and forgive them. It is so comforting to know that God has an endless supply of love and patience for me too.

Now, I am ready for a change in my devotions for a while. I have decided to study the Beth Moore Book "Jesus - 90 days with the One and Only". I have had this book for a while and did about 20 days or so of it when I first got it, but never finished it. I'm sure it will take me more than 90 days to work through it, but I am looking forward to what it will teach me throughout the summer. Wanna join me? :)

Catching Up

2010-04-09T22:16:00.009-04:00

I realized recently that it has been a long time since I worked on any pages for Sage's 'First Year' scrapbook. So, I decided to start at it again.

During the first year of each of the girls lives, I tried to write down little tidbits each day. It was fun to read back through Sage's 'tidbits' three years later. My hope is that the girls will find this information fun to read and a little bit useful when they become mommies.

Layout uses: Witty Collection, ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Mini Clusters

Layout uses: Eclectic Collection Biggie , ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Mini Clusters

I haven't used layout templates in a while and forgot how much fun they can be and how quickly it makes your pages come together! :)

Hope your day is blessed!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T20:26:00.004-04:00

I know! I have, once again, been neglecting my blog! Since a lot has happened in the last 3 1/2 months, I will just jump in where we are now. My hope for the future is to keep this a bit more up to date! :)

Tomorrow, we look forward to celebrating Easter. We have been on an egg hunt and have painted some eggs already, now we can celebrate the true meaning of Easter - the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are hoping to get up and to our early church service tomorrow, as the other two services will be quite crowded.

In lieu of Easter baskets, I took the girls to Hobby Lobby today and gave them each $5 to spend. They combined their money together with some other money they each had for a total of $17. They do a great job of working together to buy crafts they can both share and, of course, use a 40% off coupon to stretch their dollars! LOL! Today they bought some small ceramics to paint and a big bucket of foam stickers. They spent the better part of the day working on their new projects together.

My surprise for them ended up paling in comparison to Daddy's though. We have been discussing the possibility of getting some baby chicks to raise and today decided to go ahead and do it. Paul made a few phone calls and found some in Holland that we could pick up. We decided 6 chicks would be a nice amount to start with. As we gathered our supplies and had the chicks boxed up for transport, we also fell in love with the baby ducks! Somehow, two of them made it home to our house as well! LOL!!

The girls are tickled and Marley (the puppy that joined our family in January) is curious beyond belief!!

Hope your Easter is filled with blessings!

Thoughts from Christmas Day...

2009-12-27T20:53:00.001-05:00

I recorded these thoughts on Christmas day and thought I would share them here. Be warned that this is a bit long and there are no pictures to post...yet. I have not taken the time to get them from the camera and go through them. It has been a fun week. Hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas holiday as well.

It's Christmas day and I thought I would record some thoughts before they escape me. This has been a really fun year for the girls. They are 3 and 6 and it is a fun age for Christmas. Regan has already told us she does not believe in Santa, yet she was very excited about spreading magic Reindeer dust and food outside on Christmas Eve. She received them from her Daisies troop and at her school party. Sage was full of questions about Santa and how he gets in the house and if she was going to get coal in her stocking or not.

This is the first year where I had the girls give gifts to each other. I took them each to the dollar store and let them pick out 5 things. They both did really well and had a lot of fun doing it. Sage gave away too many hints and Regan found out she was getting reindeer antlers. Other than that I was surprised how well she did at not telling Regan about the other four things she got her.

After sprinkling the reindeer food on Christmas eve, we sent them to bed. They were all wound up and super excited for Christmas day. I went downstairs and wiggled one of the stockings, making the bell jingle. It only took about 30 seconds for them to hear it and bust out of their room because they heard jingle bells and wanted to know if Santa was here.

The girls had been planning and practicing all week for when they would run into our room on Christmas morning and yell MERRY CHRISTMAS to wake us both up. Well, unbeknownst to me, Paul snuck in the girls bedroom at night and changed their clock so they would have to sleep in a bit in the morning. (They are not allowed to get up until their clock says 7 AM) :) With them still in bed when Paul and I woke up, we decided to turn the tables. We got dressed and snuck into their room and yelled MERRY CHRISTMAS! The look of disgust on Regan's face was priceless!! She wasn't too sure what to make of it. She sat with her hand on her hip, looking at us, not quite knowing how to respond. I thought Sage would cry, but she didn't (she was still sleeping, unlike Regan who had been awake and waiting since about 6:45 - it was after 8 am by this time).

Regan went downstairs and proceeded to hand out gifts to Paul and I in the kitchen. She was so anxious and had to be reminded that we would wait for Sage to come down and we would all go to the living room and open gifts. She was very sweet, in that she had predetermined that Paul and I should open our gifts first, since the kids opened first last year. Then, she proceeded to give Sage all her dollar store gifts before opening any of her own. I think she was genuinely as excited to give her gifts to Sage as she was about opening her own.

Sage was totally adorable, as one of the first things she did after coming downstairs was reach up and feel the contents of her stocking. She let us know that she was pretty sure she did not get any coal from Santa, as there was nothing in it that felt like rocks! Later she told us that Santa must have thought she was a really good girl!! :)

I made homemade cinnamon rolls again for breakfast. Regan had remembered that from last year and requested them again. I prepared them on Christmas eve and we baked them while opening gifts. Stockings were opened after cinnamon rolls.

Paul surprised me with an ipod. It will be a really nice gift for using at the gym and even at home. We got daddy a duck hunting game for the Wii. The girls got books from Mima and Papa. Regan got Scrapbooking stuff from Grandma and Grandpa B and Sage got a new lady bug lifejacket. She was quite excited about that and said it was the best gift ever! I bought the girls all new art supplies as their main gift - new markers, twisty crayons, playdoh, jewels, scissors. Their stockings were filled with stickers, toothbrush, toothpaste, fingernail stickers and dry erase markers. Daddy's stocking held the traditional bag of peanut m&ms. Despite his many attempts to trick them, the girls even kept from telling him about them before Christmas.

We will buy another year to the Aquatic Center as our big family gift. We kept our things to the girls pretty minimal, as they really don't need much.

I feel so blessed this Christmas season. God has been good to us, despite a difficult economy. Our needs are always provided for and then some. Our health has been great, besides a few sniffles. It is good to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There were days in the past few weeks when I lost sight of that, but today has been a good time of reflection.

It's November...

2009-11-01T13:59:00.004-05:00

I know, I've been a bad blogger! Life just seems to keep me busy with other things!

Here is a peak at our cute little kittens from Halloween night:

And one from this morning. A quick photoshoot before church. I have been waiting a long time for some sunshine to be able to shoot these. You can see their almost fresh new haircuts! I love their new do's!

Quick update on everyone. Regan is doing well, loving school and staying pretty healthy. She had a short sickness this week that kept her home one day from school. At conferences the teacher told me we have a little writer/storyteller on our hands. The teacher handed me a stack of about 20+ stories Regan had written and said by comparison, most parents would be getting about 4 or 5 for their child. She loves to write and draws some great pictures to go with them

Sage is doing well too and has been able to avoid getting sick. She still tries my patience and melts my heart on a daily, or even hourly basis. She has a ball at the activity center everyday while mommy exercises at the gym. It is her own 'preschool' of sorts.

Paul is doing pretty well too. Work is surviving, but has definitely felt the slump in the economy. He leaves next week for his annual hunting trip with his buddy Joe. They weren't sure until just a couple of days ago if they would be going.

I am doing well also! Busy, but well. I have been able to avoid all the sickness junk going around, thankfully. I am excited to have taken on a new position at Scrap Girls, as an instructor. I will be teaching my first class in November. I was able to go to Utah in October and spend real time with my 'virtual' friends from Scrap Girls. I went early this year, to be able to really enjoy the area and see some sights and spend some time with friends. I was very enjoyable.

Well! That's it for now! Hope your fall is blessed!

:)

What's up with us??

2009-07-22T21:55:00.013-04:00

Sunday, we made a trip to a local Cherry Orchard. We try to make it each year to pick some of the wonderful Michigan Sweet Cherries that grow here. They are so good and it makes for a fun family outing.

The cherries were $1.50/lb this year. We picked four buckets full or 30 pounds worth. What does a family of four do with 30 pounds of cherries?? Well, we eat a lot, but not that many!! LOL! We make them into sauce. We pit them and boil them down, add a little cornstarch and freeze them. Mid-winter, when it is bitter cold outside and there are no sweet cherries to be found, we enjoy a breakfast, or sometimes a dinner, treat of Belgium waffles with warm sweet cherry sauce. Yummmmy!

(And when you pick your own? Of course you have to eat a 'few' along the way! :) )

On Saturday, I finally followed through on Paul's Christmas gift...from 2007! There is a place about 30 minutes north of us that does Paraflights. Paul has been dying to go for quite some time. He absolutely loved it...even if it took a year and half!! LOL!

While we were there, we took the girls to Lewis', the local Farm Market and Petting Zoo. This place is always fun for the girls and they keep adding new things all the time. This time we paid for the girls to have wristbands so they could jump all they want on this huge 'pillow'. They also love the new tube slides that were put in this summer.

I'd say we had a pretty fun weekend. :)

Whose is bigger?

2009-06-28T21:40:00.003-04:00

The smile that is?? Paul has been working with, pestering, bribing and cajoling Regan for some time now to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. She has been ready for some time, but the challenge has been convincing her of that. A couple of falls on the driveway took away the ambition to keep trying a few weeks ago.

This weekend, we were camping in Newaygo and another camper went by on her bike. Regan had met her and said 'that's my friend'. To which we responded 'Yeah, look at her go, on her bike with no training wheels. Isn't she six??'

Regan got that look of determination in her eyes and said she wanted to try hers again. Paul took the training wheels off, Regan put on a pair of blue jeans for extra fall protection and off she went!! Paul didn't even have to get her started. We had to do a quick lesson on how to brake, using the bike instead of your shoes and feet, and off she went!

She was so proud of herself and so were we. She really is a determined kid and once she decides to figure something out, she doesn't give up.