fumes and flakes

absolutely breathtaking view out my window right now.
sheets of white pouring down.
i love being cozied up in this warm house with my 3 sweeties.

i'm working on a big project today.
hopefully it will be ready to share on monday.

here are a couple hints.

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thoughts on today.

I'm trying so hard to enjoy each day and not just think of them as days to check off the calendar until Spring. I often feel like January and February are just months to "get through."
I don't want to be that way. What if these are my last 2 months to live? I'm not promised tomorrow.
A friend had his facebook status as "Today is the only January 26 of this year. Make the most of it."
That has really stuck with me. Make the most of every single day.
Even the mundane.
the sweeping floors.
the wiping noses.
the folding the milllioneth load of laundry.
the driving from here to there and back again.

"This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalm 188:24

p.s. the picture has nothing to do with this post.  
a jar full of pink hearty marshmallows just makes me happy. :) Pin It

missing this girl

we haven't had her all week.

it's not best to have a sweet little 2 year old girl come over to a hot-bed-o'-sickness.

we all miss our sweet "meliyah-girl."

i'm told she's sick too.

praying for her comfort and protection tonight. Pin It

how we live our days

we've been a sicky family lately.
last weekend we all (except avery) got the stomach flu for the second time in less than a month.
monday sawyer woke up all congested and hoarse sounding.
now he is just pitiful. 
wheezy, clingy, doesn't-know-what-to-do-with-himself, pitiful.

it seems that all of my boys, when they were 1 year old, spent most of the winter sick.

the good news is that we've had spring-like weather this week.
oh sweet relief!

2 weeks ago the high was 5.
today it is 65.
i'll take it.  such a gift in the middle of winter.
and a good distraction for the little buddy.

how sweet are those chubby fingers?  i love them so.

aj's old slingshots provide endless entertainment.

i'm in love with those eyelashes and that profile.

my sweet little fin.

ohhh, hour glass, hold still!
even in the hard times.
even in the days that my hip hurts from swaying a baby.
and my shirt is covered in little boy boogies.
and i don't know how to comfort an uncomfortable boy.
these moments are still so precious.
and i have these sweet innocent little eyes looking up at me.

every day i feel like i'm chasing time by the tail.
just trying to memorize their faces and voices and memories from each moment.

i love this time of my life more than ever before.
God made me to be a mama and i want it to last forever. Pin It

winter.

the week after christmas break was CO-OL-OLD.
like the high was 5 degrees.
that is just too frigid for us southern peeps.
there was no school all week.
a whole lot of nothin'.
but it was nice to have an extra week of laziness before we started back to our routine.
but by thursday night i was getting stir-crazy.
aj came home from work and i said "ya wanna take us out for dinner?"
we had the best family night.
we bundled up to our eyes and went and ate with all the other stir-crazy folks at market place.
it was such a nice, quiet meal and i was so excited to get "out."

that week Sawyer had his first time in the snow.
i did a really bad job at bundling him up.
i tried for 20 minutes straight to fit his fat feet into snow boots.
he was so patient but finally i gave up.
i just put his non-waterproof robeez boots on and called that good.
he was so excited to go out.
he'd been watching the boys from the window for a few days and was excited!
i just plopped him down in what was left of the snow.

did i put another layer under those sweat? no.
gloves? no.
do we have gloves for him? yes.
aj was appalled.
not sure what i was thinking.

but he liked it at first.

then, not so much.

after that he was just happy to crawl around the garage while the boys played.
next time, hopefully i'll bundle him up appropriately and he'll enjoy it more. :)

the big boys attempted to build a snowman with what was left of the snow.

it takes so long to bundle them up, so this time i just pulled down the tub of winter-ish things and
let avery bundle up himself.
hense the purple and pink scarf, my hat, my old ear muffs, and my ski jacket from college.
cool kid alert!!

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it's a hard-knock life

i made chore charts for the boys today.
and by made, i mean i filled in the blanks and printed them off.

i wanted something easy to help the boys be responsible for their daily tasks without me having to nag at them.  
something tangible.  


i tried making my own on excel. 
at first i thought, "oh this is easy.  good thing i know how to use excel."

then i realized i hate excel and it's stupid and bleh.  
okay, that's a little harsh.  
i just need to stick to things like email and facebook. 
things for smart girls like me. :)

so i went a searchin' on the world wide web.
and i found things like this:

ummm, no.
then, the skies parted and i found this gem.
yes, please.

{photo source}

how fun is that?  love it. 

the awesome thing is it's a free download and you just enter your own info.

it's super easy.  

even techno-geniuses like me can manage it.

  

i made one each for avery & fin.

i entered their daily tasks.

then i slipped them into page protectors & hung them on the fridge.

i plan to have them use a dry erase or vis-a-vis marker to check off when they've completed a job.

then we can just wipe off and start fresh the next day! 

i think the boys will love getting to do this themselves.

hopefully having it right there in front of us will help us all be accountable.
and these aren't even really chores so much as daily tasks.  
just things they need to do everyday without me telling them. 

although the way they can destroy their room in 5 minutes flat would suggest otherwise.

i'm trying to come up with different reward systems to go along with this.

i'm thinking of printing off a blank sundae coloring sheet and when they check off all of their 

circles, we'll color one part of the sundae for that day.  

when the sundae is totally colored, we'll go out for ice-cream.

if you've ever taught school or been in a classroom in the last 10 years, you know what i'm talking about.

i'll try to do something new each time they earn a reward...maybe marbles in a jar....fill the jar full & get the reward....something like that....
i'm torn....
i don't want to go heavy on rewards, b/c these are things they need to do anyway as part of the family.
but i think it would also be good incentive to get them done.
i'm thinking as i write....but maybe we'll do a short term reward like the sundae to get them started.
and then a long term one like a jar full of something after that.

i also did a sheet for "extra chores."  

these are going to be for saturday chores.  

they can pick any two from the list to do before they can play or watch a show, etc.

again, that way i don't have to nag them to do a job.

they have ownership by getting to pick their job.

if you're still reading, congratulations, even i'm bored now.


so what about y'all?  anyone have any good suggestions for teaching your kids to do chores?

any methods you've used with success?  
i'd love any pearls of wisdom.

 

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sara's easy chicken pot pie.

this recipe isn't gonna win any culinary awards.
it uses bisquick.
and cream of chicken soup.
which apparently is evil.
however, every southern-baptist-raised, potluck-totin' girl has at least 2 cans sittin' in her pantry, ready at a moment's notice. 

this is creamy & yummy & perfect for a winter night.
and everyone in my family likes it so that makes it a staple in our house.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie:
1 can mixed vegetables, drained (you can also use frozen, obviously)
2 chicken breasts, cooked & cubed (in a pinch you can use a can of chicken - still yummy)
1 can cream o' chicken soup
1 cup bisquick
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp. celery flakes or salt
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp. pepper

heat oven to 400.
in ungreased 9" (deep dish) pie plate stir together vegetables, chicken & soup.
add spices, stir.
in another bowl, stir remaining ingredients until blended.
pour on top of vegetable/chicken mixture.

bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
yummy.

i used the word yummy 3 times. now 4.

and if you have another can of cream of chicken laying around . . .
you should try meg duerksen's cresent chicken. 

here's a pic of mine.

this was a huge hit with my boys.  all of them.

you're welcome. Pin It

Christmas 2009 part IV (this is the last one i promise)

i didn't take a whole bunch of pictures in kansas.
for two reasons.
1. we were too busy having fun
2. we were too busy getting the stomach flu & hanging out in the john.

pleasant mental picture, no?

before said stomach flu, we did have a blast.
we always love going to kansas and hanging out with the whole family together...
aj's parents, 2 sisters, their husbands & kids.
it's lively and relaxing and just plain fun.

christmas morning started with the christmas story read by aj's dad

i promise everyone was much more interested than they look in this photo.

who doesn't love 3 brothers in matching sweaters???
for some reason, the whole time, I kept thinking of that 'tommy boy' quote
"brothers don't shake hands, brothers hug."

we had a quiet evening to work on the boys' new race track.

another christmas full of memories, story telling, & thankfulness for the gift of family.
we do not take it for granted. Pin It

Christmas 2009 part 3

the weekend before christmas we did a whole lotta celebratin'. 
friday night we had christmas with my mom & david (grammy & grandpa david)
it was a nice, low-key evening.

sawyer loves grandpa david's beard.
and he really loves pockets full of interesting stuff.

one of the gifts the boys got were bendaroos.

avery said excitedly "yay! i prayed to Jesus for these." 

melt. my. heart. 

the boys got a big surprise from grammy.

"what's this doing here??" they say when they find it on our doorstep. 

so fun.

 

they have had a blast driving it all over the yard.
i somehow didn't get a picture of mom in all the busyness. bummer.

that night aj & i got ready for our family christmas the next morning.
it was so fun getting their stockings all ready and gifts set out.
i just get so excited thinking about their faces when they see their gifts in the morning.
and they did not disapoint.
poor little third child just gets a lame-o bag for a stocking.

the last two years we've done one gift each and a stocking full of little fun things.
don't feel sorry for them, they get plenty of other gifts from extended family.
plus we are abounding in love and joy and that's enough, right?? :)
we talked a lot about spending less on us so we have more to give. 

who knew pipe cleaners could be so thrilling?

love watching them exclaim over each little thing.

such happy hearts those boys have.

finley got his own big play tool set.

he wants to be a "builder" when he grows up.

Avery got pixos which he's talked about for-ev-er. 

He was beyond excited!

sawyer mostly enjoyed digging through all the big boy stuff.

on sunday we had family christmas with my dad, step mom, little sister, neice, nephew and God-sent-sister, christine and her family.

my precious daddy reading the christmas story...as he does every year.

sawyer and sweet berea.
why do we always insist on putting a present bow on a baby's head?

attempting to take a picture with grandaddy and grandmama

the best shot we got

we just did kid gifts with this group.
that way we were able to use the money we would have spent on each other and give it to sweet friends who are being Jesus' hands and feet to the "least of these." 
we wrote each other letters of encouragement as our gift. thanks Mel, for the great idea.

okay, you just have to endure one more 2009 christmas post and then i'll be done. :) Pin It

Christmas 2009 part B

i love the whole season of christmas.love the weeks following up to it.
the holiday music playing in all of the stores.
the lights, the parties, the baking....all that.

just a few snap shots from that time . . .

 *you can click on the collage to make it larger. :)


clockwise from top left:
1. the boys opening a window on our advent calendar...keeping the focus where it should be.
2. my love & i on our anniversary night, taken by a 6 year old. :)
3. boys decorating their christmas cut out rice krispie treats
4. their finished work
5. finley's preschool christmas performance. he was so cute. he sang each song so well.
6. avery's christmas musical theatre performance, balloon drop at the end. very exciting.
7. avery doing his speaking part in the performance. he was a "wise guy" and "narrator 4." :)
8 [middle]. avery's 1st grade class christmas party. Pin It

Christmas 2009 part uno

a week before christmas our community group had a par-tay.
it was so so fun.
i love our community group. 
we can be super serious one moment and cracking up the next.
we were missing some members, so that was a bummer.
but these tacky sweaters made my night. 
this picture doesn't do olivia's outfit justice.
she looked awesome.
her leggings had big gold circles on the front.  good times.
and you can't really see the awesomeness that is karen's pooh sweatshirt.
but the picture award definitely goes to ashley and dasun. 
they are such a hoot. 
dasun's creep-tastic face kills me. 

i'm so thankful for these crazy kids. Pin It

for dinner tonight.

"olive garden" pasta fagioli soup = hot yumminess on a cold day

my whole house smelled wonderful today.
thanks to shannon who gave me this recipe.
she brought it to me a few days after i had sawyer.
perfect for these freezing cold days.

sawyer was a fan...as evidenced by this series of photos:

i usually will not post pictures of my children with yucky faces on principle.
it's just gross.
but he's just so darn cute i couldn't help it.
even if it's just for me. :)  sorry if this grosses you out.

i wish i could show you a picture of finley's face.
he was not a fan.
and was not happy with me for taking a picture of him crying.
of course after we forced him to taste it, (we're mean like that) he loved it.
it's the same routine every night.

okay so here's the recipe already.
go buy the stuff and make it.

1 pound lean ground beef, browned & drained

1/2 large red onion, chopped

1 cup carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, sliced

2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (& juice)

1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed

1 can white beans, drained & rinsed

4 cups beef broth

1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce

2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at the end of cooking time.

use your biggest crockpot, or cut the recipe in half, it makes a lot.

brown the meat & drain well.  let it cool a bit.

chop up the carrots, onion, & celery.  add to empty crock pot.

drain & rinse the beans, & add them.

add the whole cans of tomatoes & pasta sauce.

add the beef broth.

add the salt, pepper, & oregano.

stir in your meat.

cover & cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.

when vegetables are tender, stir in the half cup of dry pasta (i used those tiny little circles)

cover & cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender.

it will swell quite a bit.

serve w/ parmesan cheese if you have it.

i served it with a salad and this dressing. 
my boys l.o.v.e. this dressing.
finley would have preferred we just give him a bowl of dressing and called it good. Pin It