Thankful Thursday!!

I am thankful for:
85) lunch with friends that have moved away.
86) birds chirping in the morning.
87) a God who is all knowing.
88) sink full of dirty dishes.
89) a hubby who lives and preaches the TRUTH (Word of God).
90) boxes to pack.
91) our middle child (Elijah).

I have been challenged to be thankful for even the "Hard" things. I listed a couple of those "hard to be thankful for" things this week...dirty dishes (without dirty dishes there would be no family) and boxes to pack (this is part of being in the center of the Lord's will).

What are some of the "hard to be thankful for" things that you are thankful for?

How many meals do you eat at home?

Bryan and I calculated one day just how many meals we eat at home and it was ALOT!! Because we homeschool the kids and I usually eat all 3 meals at home and Bryan is usually home for breakfast and supper. Since we have been trying to eat healthier, eating out is one of those things we are trying not to do often.

So....if the kids and I eat 3 meals a day at home for 7 days a week, that is a total of 21 meals at home a week. Of coarse one of those meals might me an occasional eat out treat. That's still a total of 20 meals a week. If that is 20 meals a week for one person and there are 6 of us that do that, that brings a total to 120 meals eaten at our home in a week (give or take a few). Phew....that is a lot of dishes! LOL!

Wanted to share one of those meals we had, it is baked chicken, home grown canned green beans, and REAL mashed potatoes. Yummy and wasn't to hard to make! I am finding out that eating healthier doesn't require rocket science...just a little time and a whole lot of LOVE! :)

Do you have any quick, easy, and healthy meals you can share?
I have more that I am going to share in the future...but right now it is back to packing boxes around here! :)

Remembering Nanny and Serving Others

Yesterday I posted that I am very thankful for the memories I have of my Nanny. I have so many of those memories and I want to pass on those memories to my children so that we never forget Nanny. :)

Last night at the supper table Elijah said “I sure do miss Nanny. I wonder if she misses me.” Then he began to tell me of his memories of Nanny. One of those memories is that he loved going to her house and she would give him chocolate candy. I am sure it is Nanny’s fault that he is so crazy about chocolate...LOL!!

I am so thankful that he has memories of her. When he was little he would steal her heart every time we visited her and she would say that he was her boy. :) Of coarse Nanny had a special bond with the other children too.

Just thinking about Nanny warms my heart and I too miss her! I enjoyed calling her, talking for a few minutes, and telling her about something new I had cooked. Now every time I make something that we just LOVE I wish I could call her and tell her all about it.

Then after supper last night it was time of baths! As I was helping the girls get their things together and run their water I found Elijah in the bathroom. My first thought was that he was hiding and wanting to scare the girls, but to my great delight he had gotten out the girls wash cloths and towel. He had even put a towel down for the girls to step out on. MELT MY HEART!!

Thankful Thursday!!

I have found such joy in making my Thankful list!

I am thankful for:
78) Our youngest boy (Timothy)
79) a God who changes hearts (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
80) the memories I have of my Nanny
81) my grandmother
82) the memories we have with Bryan’s “Momo”
83) grandmother Nell
84) a vacation

Baked Oatmeal Cups

As I was looking at pinterest the other day I saw “Baked Oatmeal” and it was getting a lot of pins! I realized these are just like some that I have been making and we LOVE them! I got my original recipe from Heavenly Homemakers and made a few adjustments! :)

Thought I would share my recipe and pictures with you. They are a great breakfast food. Since we have been trying to eat healthier, which means not eating the packaged oatmeal...these are a great substitution. Very easy and super yummy!! :)

Baked Oatmeal Cups 
 2 cups rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp of cinnamon
Chopped apples

Mix together oats, salt, and baking powder. Stir in honey, eggs, milk, and melted butter. Scoop batter into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Sprinkle apples into the center of each cup. Bake in a 350° for about 30 minutes, or until the oats are golden brown. These are easier to eat with a fork but if we eat leftovers of them a fork is not required. :)

 We have tried these with chocolate chips instead of apples and that is good too, but the apple is our favorite!! If you use the chocolate chips you might want to leave out the cinnamon.

*To make things easier for me I chop up my apples the night before and put them in a covered bowl until the next morning.

Kinderkitten Cookies

Elijah is my child that loves to help in the kitchen! (Can't believe that in two weeks he will be 6!!)

Matter of fact he has informed me that if we looked at a house to move to he would make sure the kitchen was big enough. :) He is so thoughtful!!

He also loves to look at books and be read to. One of his favorites is a book that someone gave us YEARS ago, Kinderkittens; Who took the cookie from the cookie jar? 

The book has a cookie recipe in the back and of coarse Elijah wants me and him to bake these cookies.

What a great opportunity to spend time with him!

Wanted to share the recipe with you and the pictures of our cookies and my cookie baker. :)

Timothy and Joanna were quick to be our first taste testers!!

Kinderkitten Cookie Recipe

1 cup unsifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup finely packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup of uncooked oats
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips

Mix together flour and baking soda in a mixing bowl. In a larger bowl, blend together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in oats and raisins (or chocolate chips). Drop the batter by teaspoons onto an UNGREASED cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are light brown. Remove the cookies with a spatula and place on a rack to cool. Enjoy!!!

Thankful Thursday!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Psalm 107:1 

Thankful for:

71) feet splashing in the ocean 

72) an indoor pool 

73) a hubby who thinks of his family before himself 

74) watching the three little ones play together 

75) hearing my children give thanks 

76) my mother 

77) my mother in law

Mother's Day 2013!

My mother came to see us this weekend and we celebrated Mother's Day together! Sarah and Bryan planned to make supper for us on Saturday night. It was so sweet and such a blessing. Our supper included wonderful juicy fruit, fried turkey, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and for dessert this delicious cake!

This was a great Mother's Day and I am so very thankful for my family and the love they show me not just on Mother's Day but every day of the year!

Vacation: The End

Timothy and Joanna stop to have their picture taken! They asked me to take their picture. :)

Elijah enjoying the beach!

Timothy and Joanna having lots of fun on the beach...when it wasn't too cold.

My little man!!

I really need to get some pictures of Sarah at this age and post them so you can see how much her and Joanna look alike! :)

Feeding the birds!

Sarah playing in the sand and enjoying the beach!

We had a great vacation! It was nice to be together as a family and not have any demands. Awwwwww.....

*We are so thankful to the family that made this vacation possible for our family! We are so very blessed!*

Vacation- Part 2

 Today is Mother's Day and I am so very thankful for these 5 blessings!! Today was also our first Sunday with our new church family! We enjoyed being with them and look forward to serving the LORD with them! :)

 Here are the 5 kiddos enjoying the sand!! They had lots of fun playing in the sand and this little steam of water.

 Sarah floating off on the float. She is a little fish!! She LOVES the water!!

 One day we did art work in the sand. This is Sarah's master piece. She could have done this all day!

 Isaac's art work.

 Bryan's art work! He is such a sweetie!!

 Sarah's message...We did enjoy and love Orange Beach!

 These two were glued together! They had so much fun playing together.

This was Joanna's friend that she met and her and Timothy played with. The girls were so cute together. :) Her family was so sweet!

 It did get a bit chilly out on the beach. The sun was shinning but the wind was blowing really hard and was very cold! So we would stay on the beach for a little while and then head to the indoor pool and spend most of our time there.

 Isaac is growing into a young man! He had so much fun swimming!

 Here is our little fish again! :)

 Timothy loves his goggles and does really well in the water! I am so proud of him. His favorite thing was swimming in the pool!

This little girl learned that if she kicked her feet she could move around in the pool by herself! She had so much fun in the water!

Vacation: Part 1

One of the places we ate at while on vacation was "Lambert's". It was great food and lots of fun! We had ate here once when Timothy was a baby, so it was nice to go back. 

It was challenging on this vacation because we have been trying to eat better and healthier. We did eat much healthier than we ever have on a vacation, but we did compromise because we were on "vacation". :) We ate lots of fruits and vegetables and tried to not eat out a whole lot. I made a few things before we left for us to take and eat. We ate some very good meals!

Here are some pictures of our stop at Lambert's. If you have never eaten there before I would recommend that you stop and try it. 

Buried Treasure!

A few months ago I was going through a box in the attic that I had not unpacked since we moved from Alabama. The box was one that I had pushed to the side because it didn’t have any necessities in it. The little boys were with me in the attic and what should we find....TWO toy guns in the bottom of the box! They were so excited! I think we found “buried treasure”! LOL! :)

Thankful Thursday...a day late. :)

I am thankful for...

64) children that call me “Mommy”
65) A new church family
66) fruit (the kids have been loving little “cuties” and they can “do it myself”!)
67) Goodnight kisses
68) sandy toes
69) a towel to dry off with
70) sand castles

Can You Guess....

where we have been lately?

I will give you 3 guesses. :)

Thankful for...

"Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations." Psalm 100

57) glasses that help to see better
58) encouraging words
59) freshly mowed lawn
60) fresh eggs
61) Our oldest daughter (Sarah)
62) A new ministry
63) the imagination of our children