Using left-overs...

So, I hate wasting food. 

I hate throwing out left-overs.

  I feel guilty when we waste perfectly good food

 that someone in another circumstance

would have died to get

their hands on. 

But, sometimes, left-overs are just plain disgusting.

I almost NEVER get my husband to eat them.

The kids never seem to like them even if they liked it the

first time around.

So...one of my FAVORITE things to do is

reconstitute my left-overs.

Take something you made and turn it into

an entirely different meal.

And it's awesome when the family didn't even know they were eating "recycled food"!

So, here are a few of my favorite ways to

reuse our left-overs!

------------------------------ 

Last weekend we had family over for dinner

and grilled up a bunch of chicken legs.

I had about 6 or 7 left over so today I

cut the chicken off the bone, cut/shred it up,

added red onion, a bit

of left-over salsa to it...

and some taco seasoning

(which I make myself and keep in an extra shaker)

and made chicken quesadillas!

YUMMY!!

(OK, I have to admit here that my kids only ate

cheese quesadillas b/c they do not approve

of putting onions in things.)

 

Still, I ate it and it was a GREAT lunch!

Way better than PB&J!

Just to keep it going....

I had some left over!

Tomorrow, I will roll it up into a few tortillas,

place in a baking dish and pour some

enchilada sauce over it. 

An individual serving of

enchiladas!

The chicken that keeps on going....

-------------------------------------------

Small group is tonight and I'm

SO EXCITED

to get together with friends and

eat yummy food!

We are having pulled pork sandwiches

at a friend's house.

My contribution: baked beans.

My mom has a great recipe that she got from my

great aunt Ida.  This is it:

As you can see, it calls for a lot of CANS of beans.

But I like to use dried beans.  So, I spent yesterday

afternoon refiguring this recipe using dried beans.

First problem, Aunt Ida's recipe calls for

a huge can of New England Style Baked beans,

AKA: Boston Baked Beans.

So, I went on a hunt for a recipe to make some! 

I found this:

Boston Baked Beans

I realized after reading over this recipe that it calls

for Navy Beans which I just used last week

when making "Ham and Beans".

And, guess what?

I had left-overs.

So, I turned my "Ham and Beans" into

"Boston Baked Beans"!

THEN, I cooked all my dried beans last night

in a crockpot.  Got up this morning and

drained them and mixed them with my new

Boston Baked Beans.

Put them back in the crockpot on LOW

for today.  I have already turned it down to

WARM as my crockpot tends to run hot.

I have already had a taste and let me tell you...

they are very good.

Aunt Ida would approve!



Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I woke up with a MAJOR headache this morning - nauseous and everything.  So we didn't get school started until late.  I was laying on the couch with a cold rag on my head when my husband walked in the door with valentine's for everyone!  Teddy bears for the girls and a mini rose bush for me!  What a sweet surprise!

Shortly after he left, Ellie decided she didn't like her teddy bear and wanted to trade.  No one wanted to trade with her so she threw her teddy bear down over and over.  Then she threw herself down on the ground.  Then she looked at her sisters and said loudly, "You're going to make me scream!"

(I let a giggle slip out here.  Maybe you just had to be there?)

This was great for my headache so I sent her to her room to scream and eventually she came out, feeling reformed.  She loved her teddy bear and all was well again. 

And I'm left wondering...what was that all about?

---------------------------------

The girls have been looking forward to today for weeks!  I wasn't sure why since we didn't have anything super special planned but I found out WHY this morning...

I told Emily we were going to start school soon and she said, "But it's a holiday!"

I guess she thought it was SUCH a special day we were going to draw hearts and eat candy all day and

NOT have school!!  LOL!

Alas, we DO have to carry on and actually LEARN something today...despite the headache and the 'holiday'!  HowEVER, I have a few things planned to make learning on a 'holiday'
 a little more FUN!

Math today:

I put money in heart shaped boxes and had Emily count the money and write down the totals into the numbered hearts on her paper.  I downloaded the paper from here.

I also used several of her candy heart activities which you can find on her blog as well.  I couldn't wait for today so we did them all last week! We graphed candy heart colors, letters, and then Emily did the probability activity too.

If you haven't discovered her blog yet, check it out.  I love to see what she is up to her in her classroom. You can follow her on pinterest too.

I didn't want to leave my Pre-K girls out so yesterday I made them an activity which I found here. 

I cut out the alphabet and taped them to the backs of the chocolate hearts and Emily hid them around the room.  Ellie and Catey found them all and matched them to this pink sheet.  Ellie had to tell me the names of the letters and the sound they made.  Catey just had to match them up.

This is another great blog to keep your eye on!

For snack today:

 

I added red sugar (something I bought on clearance after V-day last year) to the popcorn to make Valentine Kettle Corn.  I also like to add M&Ms to their bowls (hide them at the bottom).  I just HAPPENED to have pink, red, and white M&Ms.  You can find a recipe for Kettle Corn here.

And yesterday we made...

I used the same chocolate hearts from yesterday's alphabet hunt.  They were Dove's dark chocolate!  Yum.

We've been making valentines for a week now and the other day I walked into the school room/kitchen to find this! 

This is the kind of thing that makes my job as a mom so sweet!  Love my life!

Well, I hope you had a great Valentine's Day today!

More lessons learned...

My kids are not the only ones with lesson to learn this

Christmas Season.

I am learning from them at the moment.

If you were to ask my girls why we celebrate Christmas, they would tell you "It's Jesus' birthday!"  I know that they KNOW the point of Christmas.  I know they just struggle, as we ALL do, to remember it on a daily basis.  Aaron and I feel frustrated a lot at the attitude our kids have after all we've given them.  They get to do a lot of fun activities, we have bought them fun things, we really try to treat them quite a bit.  So, we begin to think we are doing too much.  We shouldn't bless them so much.  We shouldn't buy them things, etc.

I was thinking about this and suddenly began to feel convicted.

I have the SAME attitude.

me me me me me me me me me me me me me

I have asked God to bless our family time and time again.

And he has!!

I asked for him to work it out for us to buy land.  He did!

I asked for a baby boy.  He gave me one!

I asked for safety and health.  We are!

And yet!  I complain!  I hate my mobile home and have hardly stopped complaining since we moved in!  And all the while, I'm asking for more!  God, can you work it out so we can build a nicer house?  God, can you continue to bless Aaron at his job?  God, can you bless our family and keep us safe and healthy?

I realize something.  I love to bless my kids.

God LOVES to bless us.

I bet God is feeling the same way towards me as I am feeling towards my kids.

Hmmmmm.

Thank you Lord, for using my children to teach ME!

Give me a big helping of some Humble Pie!

The Reason for the Season--Lessons Learned

I love this time of year.  I look forward to it all year long.  I plan for it, think about it, and get excited for it.  And when it gets here, it never fails.  I am always surprised at how fast it came. 

I always try to be intentional about teaching my kids the meaning of the Christmas Season.  This year we have made Nativity Scenes with graham crackers. 

The kids brought candy canes to Target and passed them out to other kids, saying "Merry Christmas!"  We have read the story of Jesus' birth, sung Christmas songs, made treats for friends.  We played Secret Santa and dropped goodies off at friends' houses and sped away, hiding around the corner to watch them come to the front door.  (THAT was FUN!)

All these things are great.  But.  Aaron and I are STILL struggling here.  Our kids....are....spoiled....brats. 

(sometimes)

I know we all feel that way at times.  I know we were born that way (the whole fall of man thing and all...).  I know I need to put it into perspective and step back here.  My kids are great kids.  They are!  But there are times when I am so totally embarrassed by their behavior! 

A few weeks ago, we found ourselves visiting an older woman who had a dog we were considering adopting.  She had a big, beautiful house with lots of antique toys.  The kids petted the dog for a few minutes and then became intrigued by her toys.  They used their manners and politely asked if they may hold a doll.  She said "Yes." and was amazed at how sweet and polite our little girls were.  (I was too!)  Then, as it was time to go, my kids have to ruin it all by asking if they can take something with them!  WHAT?! We don't do that!!

Embarrassing.

This was better than our trip to church last weekend though!  Journey had their Christmas Spectacular and our family got ALL dressed up to go!

I know, we look so happy!

This was on the way IN to church!  It was great!  They had a horse-drawn carriage pull up to our car and drove us up to the door.  The kids were so excited!  We were anticipating the show of singers and dancers.  The kids were happy and in great moods.

It's amazing how quickly things change.

We were running a little late so we went right in and sat down.  In the back.  Where the kids could barely see.  (Can you tell my story is taking a turn for the worse here?)  They saw all the food in the lobby on the way in and although we stopped and grabbed them a few treats to munch on, they quickly gobbled those down and wanted more.  (We had not eaten dinner at home because I knew they'd eat so much at church).  So, the pestering began.  I wanted to watch the show so I made them wait until it was over.  That wasn't happening.  Aaron ended up taking the younger two out to the lobby while I stayed in with Emily.  Then our pastor came out to talk.  (Oh, I didn't realize he was going to talk.)  Emily got so antsy, baby was hungry....by the time it was over the kids were READY to do the fun stuff in the lobby! 

Great.  I'm ready to get up too!  Let's get out there and decorate cookies, get our pictures taken, get more food....

The only problem was, it was CROWDED.

And LOUD.

I couldn't hear what they were saying so that made them upset.  We struggled to stay close and not lose each other.  I was carrying a 21 pound baby and my arm was about to fall OFF!  We made our way to the cookie station and get cut-off by a friend who wants to say Hi to the kids.  UGH.  Ellie was asking for a "white thing."  No one knew what that was so we just kept trying to move through the crowd while she cried and pouted.  I'm sure she was thinking of throwing herself on the floor but realized she'd never make it up alive!  We finally figure out that the "white thing" she wanted was a snow cone so we found her one and she began to cry because it wasn't mushy enough.

That's when we gave up.

We made a bee-line for the door and once outside my goal was just to get to the car before I exploded.  I was so frustrated.  I lectured the kids all the way home about the proper way to act in public.  Once home, they went straight to bed.  Then Aaron and I sat down and tried to figure out where we had gone wrong...

Geesh.

However, I feel the need to counter these embarrassing stories with one that makes me feel MUCH better about my children.

I gave each of my kids $10 today to spend on each other.  My sister met me at Target to help me with this one.  Each sister had to pick a gift out for her other two sisters.  We talked about it ahead of time...what would you sisters like?  What do you want to get your sisters?  They had ideas in mind and they were EXCITED!

I am so proud of what they picked out.  They really took the time to think about what each other really LIKES!  They didn't just pick out things that they themselves wanted.  

Emily picked out a high chair and baby bed for her little sisters (they LOVE playing with babies).  Ellie picked out a little baby doll for her little sister and a tiny stuffed animal for her big sister.  Catey needed a little more help (and has already 'spilled the beans') but she picked out a small dog for Emily (for her American Girl doll) and bath soaps/make-up stuff for Ellie.  If you knew my girls, you'd agree, these are all PERFECT gifts for each of them!  

Proud mama.

Thanks to my sister too!!  Shopping with 4 kids is NOT easy!

So, I am hopeful.  I think that the ONLY thing I can do is continue to teach them over and over.  Repetition, repetition, repetition.

  And by the time they are adults, they will be giving, loving, kind, and most important of all, Jesus-seeking, individuals.

OFF the charts!

Cole is now a bouncing 4 month old!

Time just keeps on flying....

I left the room this morning and he was on his tummy.

Came back a few minutes later and he was on his back.

I missed it. 

He's such a happy HEALTHY boy!

He had a doctor appointment this morning

(well-baby)

and we found out how much he weighs now...

any guesses??? 

Cole Bennett (BEAR as daddy likes to call him)

weighs 21 pounds, 5 ounces!

Doctor Fields says he has a "football player build"

and is off the charts in weight,

95 percentile in length and head circumference.

This means my baby is bigger than 100% of other babies his age.

Really.

I just bought size FOUR diapers for my future linebacker.  That was a first for me.  My other girls never got into that size.  He is wearing 6-9 month and 12 month sizes.  His legs are so chunky that I have trouble getting his pants up over them! 

Watching him grow is amazing but aside from being in awe of how big he is, I am excited to watch him grow into a little boy.  I love holding my little man, he's SO cuddly and mushy.

Life with a boy....let's see what happens!

Party of SIX...

Finally.

I am writing again!

A lot has happened in the several months since I have last posted.

This is what I looked like 3 months ago...

That was the morning of August 19th to be exact.  I had a scheduled c-section that morning.  And a BIG baby boy was born!  A few days later, here is what I looked like...

What you CANNOT see in this picture is the catheter I went home with.  Ugh.  Four c-sections is not recommended.  The doctor ended up cutting a hole in my bladder during the surgery and I had to have a catheter in for a week.  But it was all worth it because I now have my bouncing baby boy!!

He was 8 lbs 12 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long!!

Compared to the girls...this is BIG!

I had my mom make pink shirts for all the girls that said

BIG SISTER.  They stayed with my mom for a night and then she came to stay with me in the hospital.

And a few weeks after Baby Cole was born we said good-bye to our little home we'd lived in for four years.  We bought 12 acres in the country with the hope of building a house on it someday.  In the meantime I'm living here...

...our little mobile home/trailer house!

Here is our horse barn:



And soon after we moved in we acquired 4 goats...

We also have 14 chickens (did have 15 but Boomer got a hold of one and shook it to death.)  :-(

We are in the process of picking out a floor plan. 

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

In a nutshell, I have caught up the past few months of our little lives.  I will do my best to keep blogging...it's quite therapeutic! 

FOUR new babies!!

Miss Milly, our 1 year old cat, came home Monday night after being gone for nearly a month.  And SURPRISE...she was very pregnant! 

 

She wasn't really that big so I tried to calculate her pregnancy and thought we had 2 weeks left.  I was WRONG!!

This morning, she woke me up purring loudly.  And meowing.  A lot.  The girls and I had planned to go garage sale-ing this morning so we were rushing through showers and dressing when I noticed Millie went into my closet.  I thought, "I hope she isn't looking for a place to have her babies."  She snooped around in there and then came out and looked at me and started panting and I KNEW.

I looked down at her and saw the first baby emerging.

I yelled to the kids "GO FIND ME A BOX!!!"

The girls and I spent the next few minutes franticly grabbing towels and trying different boxes...none of which were big enough.  While we were doing that, Millie went under my bed, panting.  Meowing.

I gently pulled her out and put her in my bathroom where she had her babies on the floor.  I scooted a towel under her the best I could.  We shut the door and waited.

So here is baby number one... 

and baby number two...

and baby number three...

and finally, baby number four!

This one is tough to see.  All the kitties are black or gray and with a black momma pictures are hard to make out.

Here's all four babies:

I can't wait to see which are girls and which are boys!!  Millie is SUPER protective right now and doesn't let us handle them.  Everytime I walk into the room she stands up over them.  She's a good little momma!!