Cheeseburger Joes

This is a recipe I found in a Kraft magazine. Isaac Loves sloppy joes and I was in the mood to try something new, so this is what I served my family!

Cheeseburger Joes
1 lb of hamburger meat (I used 1.5 lbs. of ground turkey)
1/2 cup of bar b q sauce
1/4 cup of ketchup
slice cheese
buns

Brown your meat and drain. Add bar b q sauce and ketchup and mix well. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. Place desired amount on bun and top with a slice of your favorite cheese (I used chedder). Sooooo easy! They were very good and it was nice to have something "different". Hope you enjoy!

George Washington

The older kids have been learning about George Washington for History. I have decided that I would create them a blog and let their assignments for school be to post about what they are learning. This past week was George Washington and we read about him and looked him up on the internet. Their spelling words this week came from our study of him and some of their writing was journaling facts about him. A really neat study and we enjoyed it alot. Today for their final assignment they were to pick out 4-5 pictures and blog a post of their studies this week, you can find thier post at www.campfamilykids.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

P.S. This next week we will start a 4 week study of Africian-American's for Black History month (feel free to leave a comment about any suggestions you have). My goal will be to have Isaac and Sarah post about what we learn each week.

Week 1-Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and Addy the American Girl
Week 2- Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.
Week 3- Jackie Robinson and Bo Jackson
Week 4- Samuel Morris and others

The Brown Bible

I have been wanting to blog this post for a while. This brown bible is very popular around here. I have had this little New Testament for about 12 years. A couple of years ago while we were still in Alabama, Elijah found it on my bokcase beside my bed and would carry it around with him. I thought it was very sweet. Well now Timothy (about the same age Elijah was) has discovered it. He ask for his bible every day! A few weeks ago he could not find it and we had looked in all the places that we have found it before (van, under his bed, in my room, etc.). It just was no where to be found. My parents came up that weekend and my mother found it under Sarah's bed. :) Timothy was so excited! I had said that if we found it I was going to take a picture of him with it and blog about it. It is so precious to see him with his bible. He ask for us to read it to him and that brings joy to my heart! The bible was given to me while Bryan was pastoring our first church, by Bro. Jonathan Sims, who is now our pastor...isn't that awesome!

I included this picture because we were so thankful that Maw found our "brown bible"!!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is my sweet hubby's birthday! He is the best in the world and I am so thankful for him. All the time I hear "I don't know how you have 5 kids and homeschool" and my reply is "God has given me a wonderful hubby". Bryan is such a huge help at home with the kids, chores, and keeping our home running well. Usually by the time I come in the kitchen in the mornings he is having his time with the Lord and either a load of laundry is going or a load of dishes are washing in the dishwasher. Bryan does breakfast for the kids each morning which is a blessing to me. He never complains about helping do anything and most of the time he just does what needs to be done without being asked. I really couldn't be the mom and wife I am without him being the husband he is. Yesterday he chose to take the kids to the zoo (for his birthday) and he enjoyed every minute of it. He always chooses the kids and I over himself. He desires to spend time with his family and it shows. More than anything he has a heart for the Lord! Bryan has a passion for the things of God and he is always trying to lead us closer to the Lord. The kids light up when daddy is around. The picture I have at the top is of all the guys in their sport coats, they loved looking like daddy. Even Joanna thinks he is the greatest! :) This morning he has taken Isaac and Sarah to the church to serve at the Food Drive. Bryan is quick to include the kids in ministry. I am so full of love for this man that God made and gave to me. I love him more than words can say! Happy Birthday, Bryan!! We love you!

Joanna's 1 year check up

I took Joanna for her 1 year check up this morning. She weighs 21lbs and 10oz and is 30 inches long. A very healthy girl! :) Joanna's left ear was a little red so the Dr gave us some antibiotics to take and her iron level was low. The Dr. said that it was not uncommon for babies her age to have low iron, he wanted her to take some iron drops and then he will retest her at her 15 month old visit.

We have been celebrating birthdays all week! Bryan took the kids to the zoo today and they had a blast! He said that was what he wanted for his birthday. He is such a good daddy!! A good friend of mine from church has a birthday tomorrow, so the two of us went to eat supper together last night. So much fun and we actually got to finish a conversation. :) LOL!

Something neat....For 4 days this week 7 of the ladies on the Camp's side are all 7 years apart! Let me explain a little more. From my birthday til one of my sister-n-law's birthday tomorrow there are 7 years between the ladies (not including my mother-n-law). Beginning with Joanna who is 1, then add 7 years (Sarah), and so on, then the oldest is 43. Ok so maybe I am the only one that thinks that is neat, but I wanted to share! :)

Another year older!!

That's right, I am another year older today! I feel really selfish in posting a post like this, but it has been such a good birthday I had to post about it. My sweet hubby has taken a vacation week this week and we are all so excited for him to be with us! Our first plans were to just hang out around here and spend lots of time together, but we added a quick trip to Alabama in our plans. My mother was off yesterday and she had said she really wished she could see us (Bryan's birthday is this week too :)) ! So we decided at the last minute to head to Alabama. We loaded up and headed that way after church on Sunday. We spent Sunday night and Monday night with my folks and headed home this morning. Dad and Mom took us out to eat Sunday night to O'Charley's. Then on Monday my mom kept the kids and let Bryan and I have a birthday lunch together! We went to China Luck, my favorite!! Last night we went, got pizza and ate supper with some really dear friends of ours, the Oehrig's! We have been so blessed by their friendship. In December they welcomed twins into their sweet family, now a family of 7! We had not seen the babies until last night. They are precious! My parents went with us, we all got to hold the babies and the other kids played and played and had the BEST time! So awesome to spend some time with them. Today on the way home I got to choose what I wanted to eat for lunch (Zakby's salad) and then instead of a cake Bryan got me Krispy Kreme chocolate covered doughnuts! SOOOOOOO good! Bryan said he would do supper and clean up the kitchen so I could blog and enjoy my night. :) I didn't take my camera with me to Alabama (I really wish I had grabbed it before we left) so the only picture I have is of the doughnuts. So I have splurged a little today....it has been a very good birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Joanna!!

This is what Joanna looks like when Daddy is in charge....isn't that chocolate? Caught red handed!! LOL!

She loves putting things (clothes) on herself! She likes palying with the clothes and this is what she looks like when she tries to dress herself. So cute!!

All smiles! Just can not believe that she is one today!!

Posing in her "pearls". This is a onesie that she got for Christmas, it looks cute on Joanna!

Melt your heart!

Can you see Elijah behind her? He was helping her to walk. She is walking more and more!

Joanna loves doing laundry!

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby girl! We are so blessed to have her in our lives! Such a joy to have her here with us and we look forward to many many more years of clebrating her life!

What I got for Christmas!

This is what my dear Sarah got me! She spent her own money to buy it! I love it and Bryan has used it alot too!

This is what Isaac picked out for me at the Awana store. We have it outside so we can tell the tempature outside. It has been awesome and neat to know what the temp is. The big kids have enjoyed reading it too! Can you see that it says "32"? That was the temp this morning...COLD!

When we opened presents with my parents for Christmas Bryan gave me this note.

This was my present! 4 blinds! I wanted some nice blinds to go in the living room (3) and my bedroom (1). I thought he was so sweet the way he did it! :) Then he put them up for me the next day. I love them! It is amazing the difference. The other blinds were those cheap ones from walmart.

This house had two lazy suzans in the corner cabinets. I really did not like them. I just didn't have much room and the kitchen does not have alot of cabinets so I needed as much room as I could get. I had told Bryan that I would love for him to take the lazy suzans out and put in shelves. So for Christmas that is exactly what he did!! I have so much more room! So tickled over my shelves!!

Sporting their wheels!

Elijah loves driving the gator! He drives it all over the yard! I am sure for him he feels "in charge" when he is driving. LOL!
When Elijah learned to ride a bike with no training wheels we gave Timothy his little bike. Timothy LOVES riding his bike and has done so well! He can move on this bike and it makes it hard for us to keep up with him. He would ride it every day all day long if we would let him!! :)

Look at him go!!

These two have the best time together! I love it!!

Elijah does let Timothy drive some. I know you are not suppose to put anyone in the back but I had to get this picture before I told Elijah to get down. :) They have so much fun together!!

Celebrating with Grandparents!

Joanna will be 1 this coming Saturday!! Bryan's parents will not be able to come up this Saturday so we decided that we would celebrate her birthday a little early. My parents and Bryan's came up this past weekend. For lunch on Saturday Bryan made bar-b-q and then we had cupcakes. My parents had to leave when the kids went down for a rest but Bryan's parents got to stay until after supper!! We were so excited that Bryan's parents stayed a little longer this time, they usually come up Saturday morning and leave at rest time. We took them to eat at the Bell Buckle Cafe and just enjoyed spending some time with them. Here are the few pictures that I did get, my camera battery went dead during opening presents. My parents got Joanna some clothes and a piggy bank with her name on it, so cute. Bryan's parents got her some sweet little shoes, a fork and spoon set and precious moments birthday dolls. I made her cake and the cupcakes and Sarah did the decorating of Joanna's cake. I made orange cake and frosting (will share that recipe soon) and they turned out very delicious! Joanna had the best time digging in her cake and the boys LOVED watching her! So much fun!!

Joanna's cake that Sarah decorated. Thought she did pretty good for her first! :)

Opening presents.

The little boys helped blow out the candle.

Fingers first. She looked at me as if to say "Is it ok that I do this?"

Timothy was and did want to get his mouth on that cake too. :)

Dig in!! She enjoyed making a mess!!

All the kids love it when Gigi comes!

Pop and Elijah!

Gigi with her girls!

Right before we left for supper Joanna was playing in the cabinets. When I looked down I found her sitting in this big pot! She was being so silly!!

Snowman plate

Back when Sarah and I went Christmas shopping she found this plate. I fell in love with it right away. Thought she did really well to realize that this is "our family". As you can see there is a mom and dad in the back with 5 kiddos and one cat....how neat! Of coarse I had to buy it (just $2 at Old Time Pottery). Now we use it to put our pancakes and muffins on, it is perfect!

Bacon and Egg cups

This was Isaac and Sarah's first cooking assignment. When we left Alabama a dear couple in our church (WPH) gave Sarah a cookbook. Mr. Jim and Mrs. Pat were Sarah's Sunday school teachers and they hold a special place in our hearts. They knew Sarah likes to cook and the cookbook was a perfect gift for her! Isaac and Sarah chose the Bacon and Egg cups out of that cookbook to make. They were very delicious and fairly easy to make. The bell pepper is what made these.....yummy! Thought we would share the recipe with you. Thank You so much Mr. Jim and Mrs. Pat for the cookbook!! :)

1/2 cup of real bacon bits

6 eggs

1/2 cup of diced bell pepper

1/2 cup of shredded cheese

1/2 cup of half-and-half

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Greese a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 cup of mixture. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until eggs are set in center. Run knife around edge of each cup before removing from pan. Makes 12 cups.

The above recipe is our version. We did slightly alter the original recipe. We used bacon bits instead of bacon slices (took less time) and we used chedder cheese instead of pepper jack cheese.

Happy New Year!! 2012

I can not believe that it is already 2012! This past year has been full of blessings! 2011 started off with God sending us Joanna. She has been such a JOY to our family! Then in March we celebrated our 1 year anniversary of being at Shelbyville Mills and are so excited to be here serving the Lord! In April Timothy turned 2, in May Elijah turned 4, in July Sarah turned 8 and in August Isaac turned 10! Bryan and I celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary in June, and loving every minute of it!! We were also blessed with (new to us) vehicles. We have truly been so blessed!

Our Pastor challenged us this morning to read through the Bible this next year and to memorize at least one scripture a week. I so want to do this, I want my kids to do this and I want Bryan to do this. This is the one thing that I believe should be the top priority in our lives. What would our lives, family and church be like if we did spend more time with the Lord? If we could spend as much time with Him as we do facebooking, texting, blogging (yes, I did put that in there), emailing, watching TV, etc. we would see a Revival like never before! My goal is to ask myself every day and in every situation is this bringing glory to God! Glorifying God is the reason that God created us!! More than anything this new year that is what I want to do and what I want for my family!!

Happy New Year to all of you!! I wanted to share a few recent pictures of Joanna. She will be 1 on the 14th, WOW!! She took her first step on Christmas Day! :) The other kids are so tickled that she is "walking". She is so cute and we love her so very much. Could not imagine life without her!!

She loves smiling for the camera! :)
Just love her!!

See her two bottom teeth? She has a total of 6 teeth!

She LOVES eating "real" food! She is completely off of baby food and eating whatever it is we do!!

Our Joanna!!