Chores

As our children grow and begin to get older we assign different chores at different ages. The first chores our kids learned was how to put up the silverware from the dishwasher and how to fold wash cloths. Then the next step is folding their own clothes. Joanna has just entered this stage and Timothy has about got it mastered. Here are a few pictures of Timothy's folded clothes.

He actually does a great job of folding them, it's the putting them in the drawer neatly that we haven't quite got the hang of yet. LOL! 

Training our children to become the adults that God has created them to be. One of those training areas is responsibility and how to take care of your things. Great Job Timothy!! :)

A Date With Isaac and Sarah

For Christmas Bryan and I chose to give Isaac and Sarah date night coupons. When they get older they are harder to buy for but spending time together is priceless! I gave Isaac a date night coupon and Bryan gave Sarah one. We cashed in on those coupons last night and had a great time!! We had some friends keep the three younger children. 

We took Isaac and Sarah to see the movie Risen, then to eat at Bliss (a great cafe' on the square), and then to get a dessert. Movie was good, food was delicious, and the company and fellowship was out of this world! Very thankful to spend times like this with our children. Thanking God for time together!!

Visit With Friends!

One of our favorite things to do while visiting family in Alabama is to visit friends! One family we always enjoy spending time with is the Oehrigs. We first met them when I was pregnant with Timothy. Sarah became friends with their oldest, Eliana, and the rest is history. :) At that time we were fixing to have baby #4 and they had 3 kids....fast forward a few years and we both have 5 kids a piece! Our times together are always loud and lots of fun!! Very thankful that God allowed our paths to cross and that we have kept in touch. 

Here is a picture we took while visiting them in December. We have some great memories with this family that we will treasure forever!

Here is Sarah with Hannah and Eliana. Great Friends!!

Apple Muffins

We love muffins for breakfast! It is our breakfast every Sunday morning. I try to make several batches and freeze them so all I have to do is set some out on Saturday night.

I try to make different kinds of muffins. Our favorites are banana, zuchinni chocolate chip, and apple. Wanted to share the apple recipe with you. It is delicious!! Enjoy!

Apple Muffins/Bread

1½ cup of whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground)

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup coconut oil (or applesauce or half of each) 

¼ cup milk

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 medium apples chopped in bite sized pieces

½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Sugar in the Raw for topping

Directions:

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl combine the egg, oil, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill greased loaf pan or muffin tin and sprinkle on the sugar in the raw and walnuts. Bake at 350F for 60 minutes for loaf and 20-25 minutes for muffins or until done.

Ol' Faithful

We had one busy week last week. That is why I haven't been able to blog in over a week. This week should be a little more calm. 

Here is a picture of Isaac and his dog, Old Dan. All three of our dogs are very good dogs, but Dan is the most faithful dog I have ever known. Most of the time he stays right around the house and is quick to come when we call. Isaac is crazy about him and these two are "best friends". The dogs are not inside dogs but the kids will let them in for a little while to give them some "petting". 

She Is A Silly Girl

Joanna keeps us laughing...actually ALL the kids are silly. :) We have had some silly moments and lots of laughter in this family! Loving everyday of it!!

Here is a picture of Sarah doing a few exercises on the mat and little sister trying to do what big sister is doing. Joanna thinks she is as big as Sarah and can do whatever "Sissy" is doing. 

TaDa! There were a few empty containers the kids were making a project with but Joanna wanted to see if she could balance them. When she did this her words to me were "Take my picture and send it to Maw. She will laugh." 

Never Too Old for Playdough

Sarah is very creative and also great at playing with younger children. She and Joanna really enjoy playing with playdough. Here is a picture of her latest creation with playdough. Sarah made a cookie with a "J" for Joanna and a couple of decorations. 

Sarah took these pictures herself. Looks good enought to eat! 

Don't worry, she didn't eat it...but she can pretend. LOL! Sarah has a huge heart and I am very grateful that even though she is 12 she still knows how to play and enjoy being a kid. She is the best big sister a kid could have! 

Time With the Younger Ones

This summer Bryan, Isaac, Sarah, and I made two trips with the church. While we were away Elijah, Timothy, and Joanna went to Alabama to stay with grandparents. Then it was Isaac and Sarah's turn to spend time with grandparents and the three younger ones got to hang out with Bryan and I. One of those days I took the three of them to town with me. We went to Kroger and did some grocery shopping. Here are my helpers with their buggies! They enjoyed being able to push these little buggies around and shop with me. What a blessing and joy it is to spend extra special time with the kids.

I just love this picture! 

Fresh Eggs

It is great to have fresh eggs to eat. The kids are responsible for gathering, washing, drying, and putting away the eggs. Having the chickens has taught them alot about being responsible and caring for their animals. We all love to eat the fresh eggs! We get 13 a day and when we cook breakfast around here we use about 16 eggs. 

Wanted to share a picture of the eggs. They are very pretty, nice in size and color. :) When we took six of the chickens to the fair in September we learned something from the man who was judging the chickens. If you take the egg shells and cook them a little bit, crush them up and add them to the chickens feed, its a great source of calcium for the chickens. Interesting! That is what we have been doing with our shells and it makes the whole egg useful. 

Camper Life Memories

Found these pictures of the kids having fun and making the most of camper life. LOL! That was a challenging time in our life but God is good and we have lots of memories from that time in our lives. 

The three younger kids grabbed some plastic bags and made costumes. Here is Timothy in his outfit.

Elijah in his plastic bag attire.

Joanna in her yellow palstic bag. They were having lots of fun! 

Here is one of our Eddy's icecream moments. You can read about that in the ice cream post I did on January 28, 2016.

Roller Skating

Yesterday the kids and I went roller skating. We had so much fun! I grew up two minutes from a roller skating rink and was there alot. Yesterday brought back memories and it was fun to help my kids learn to roller skate. This was their first time to roller skate. These pictures are a little blurry but with the movement and lights this is the best I could do. :)

Here is Isaac. He was a little hesitant but with a little encouragement from a friend he finally put those skates on and had a great time.

Here is Elijah taking a break. 

Elijah on the rink. He finally realized he could bend down and push along with his hands. LOL! 

Sarah was bound and determined not to give up. She said over and over yesterday that roller skating was so fun!

Timothy was the first to get the hang of it. He still had some falls but did very well. 

Here is Joanna resting for a moment. She was the second one that caught on pretty well. 

Joanna met a friend and they enjoyed skating together. After Joanna got the hang of it she didn't need mommy any more. 

They say that once you learn to skate you never forget...its true. I haven't skated in YEARS, but I put those skates on yesterday and it came right back to me. My kids were very impressed that their mother could roller skate so well. HAHA!! The kids did catch on and I know that if they went a couple more times they would be really good at it. Lots of fun yesterday for us!!

Pie Day!

On January 25 Isaac, Sarah, and I participated in a Pie Day contest. We had so much fun together in the kitchen! Thought I would share pictures of our pies.

Here is Isaac's Lemon Merguine

Chicken Pot pie. This won the Chicken Pie catagory adn Best Savory Pie.

Sarah's Peanut Butter Pie

Banana Cream Pie

Chocolate Cobbler

Sarah's Spinach and Tomato Fritatta

Who Do We Praise?

We are going through the old testament book Daniel in Sunday School. We started in chapter 1 and are making our way through verse by verse. Is there any other way to study our Bible, besides verse by verse? Absolutely not! God never intended for us to take His Word out of context. 

Last week we studied Daniel 5 and as many times as I have read through Daniel I never took much notice of verse 23. Check out the last of that verse..."And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified."

Did you get that? The God who holds our breath in His hands and owns ALL our ways, we have not glorified. OUCH! How many times have I been guilty of not giving God the glory He is due. 

My prayer is that I will give God all the glory He is due every moment of my life...He deserves it! My question for you is "Who do you Praise (glorify)? The god of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone or the God who holds your breath in His hands and owns all your ways?"

Homemade Pizza

We had homemade pizza last night for supper and it is alwasy delicious! No one complains on Pizza night! :) 

Here is one of our pizzas from last night. I usually let the three younger ones have a "personal" pizza that they get to put the toppings of their choice on. My only request is that they choose one vegetable to put on there. :) Once the crust is done I use Prego Pizza sauce. For toppings we have shredded carrots, broccoli, sausage, turkey pepperoni, tomatoes, bacon bits, and shredded cheese. Yummy...so good!!

The pizza crust recipe is from Heavenly Homemakers.

5 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 2 pouches)
2 cups warm water (The water should feel warm, but not hot.)

Mix all ingredients together, knead for 3-4 minutes, then allow the dough to “rest” for about 10 minutes (give or take). This dough makes 2 large pizzas, or 18 mini pizzas. Shape dough into desired pizza sizes and place on baking sheets. Bake in a 375° oven for 5-7 minutes. Remove crusts from oven, allow them to cool, then freeze in freezer bags. Or, top hot pizza crusts with desired pizza toppings. When you’re ready, bake the pizzas at 375° for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.

100th Day of School

Yesterday we celebrated our 100th day of school! We did some educational fun activities. Thought I would share a few of those. We started the morning out with our normal Bible time. The first picture below is Elijah building with 100 blocks.

This was the first thing he wanted to do...I was not surprised (remember he is my builder).

Here is his finished project. A city.

The kids were to draw pictures using the numbers 1-0-0. This is Timothy's drawings.

There was a 100 piece puzzle for them to put together. This was Isaac's favorite.

They were to use 100 marshmallows to build something. Above is Isaac's church he built.

Here is Timothy and Joanna building with the marshmallows. A few marshmallows got eaten too. :)

Building something with 100 pattern blocks.

We also read 100 verses, did 100 exercises, tell about "If I had 100 _______, I would ___________., how many mathmatical ways we can make the number 100, and we did a few other activities. It was a fun day and nice to have a "different" school day. :)

Christmas Ornaments

The kids and I made Christmas ornaments this year and had lots of fun putting them together.

Found both of these on Pinterest. These first two are Ribbon Christmas Tree Ornaments. Pretty simple and didn't cost much to make.

Here is the website these were on and this link includes the instructions. http://sunshineyellow-stitches.blogspot.com/2011/11/ribbon-tree-tutorial.html

Below is our Birdseed Ornaments we made. The chickens loved them and we had fun watching the chickens jump up and peck at these. Cute!! These too were pretty simple and inexpensive.

Here is the link to these, http://littleinspiration.com/2013/04/spring-kid-craft-birdseed.html

Enjoy!!