Freakin' Out

We put an offer in on a house late Friday night. We came to an agreement late last night. I am excited to have a place to call home again that will really be ours to care for but I am so scared at the same time. I feel like God's hand has been in the situation the whole time. Just to give you and idea. The house that we bought has been on the market since Aug of 2008 that is a year and seven months. I'm sure people looked at it and for whatever reason they didn't buy it because it was being saved for us. The price of the house in this market was over priced but they kept coming down from the time we first saw the house. I know I have some location issues but I really do feel at peace about this house. Though I am freaking out about the home inspection and the mold testing that still need to be done. I don't want to get my heart to set on this house because it might not pass the mold test though I really feel it will. I was in the house for over an hour and was fine plus we had just come from a moldy house and I was still fine. I want to think positively about all that is going on because God has been so good to us. We have learned so much about food and air quality. We have trusted in Him to provide a shelter until we have a place and he provided BIG time with an empty furnished house. There are times I look at our monthly income and monthly outgoings and wonder how we are able to make it, but I know it is God taking care of us and it feels good. Some of the positive things about the house that I am really excited about is that it has a nice sized garden already in place. There are even onions and chives growing already! I can't wait to start learning more about gardening and growing our own veggies. I think it will bring our grocery bill down! Also the yard is a good size and it isn't a corner lot. :) The kids will have fun in the sun playing in the back yard something we have never had. There is room for a deep freezer in the garage or basement, I've always wanted one of those. It has a master bathroom, total score. There are 3 toilets, this is huge, as usually EVERYone has to go to the bathroom at the same time it seems like. There is a laundry shoot. The laundry is in the unfinished basement and has plenty of storage for me to start making my own laundry detergent, another way we can save money and the environment of toxic chemicals. Homemade laundry soap will also help with our detoxing, so many benefits. It has radiators, this will totally help with air quality. We close at the end of May so we will have some more time to save a little more money to help with the down payment and closing costs. We hope to rip out the carpet in the living room and on the stairs and put in hardwood before we move in. Then we will have to buy furniture since we don't have a table, mattresses, couches (though I think we have that covered) and other random not so big ticket items.

House Hunting Day 2

I think I just need to decompress after looking at houses and blogging is the way I do it. So sorry if this is boring but I *need* to do this so that I can sleep tonight!!! We looked at 3 houses today.

#1 was a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath splint level. It was outdated but not too bad looking. We saw some signs of previous water in the lower level family room. J looked in the crawl and he could see water pooling. Great I thought this is how today is going to go...this house is out.

#2 4 bedroom and I think 2 bath, I don't really remember because we didn't see the whole house. We walked in and it was bad news right off the bat. We went to the lower level and J looked at the ceiling and there was black mold in the corner. He says to me, "Get out of here, now." We were in that house maybe 5 minutes. Totally out.

#3 This is our second showing of this house. It was the one we looked at last time for about 10 minutes because we were so discouraged with the other houses we looked at. It was also house #3 on the last house post! Anyways, J's mom came to look at this house with us. It is not updated at all but it has "good bones" and Sue says. She was so excited about the laundry shoot and I had to laugh. She called me after we left and said if we buy this house she wants some veggies from the garden. One thing I wanted in a house was a place to grow my own food, among other things, of course! We both feel at peace (most of the time) about this house and feel like it could be our next home but I still am feeling rushed. Our Realtor said we should put an offer in tomorrow. I don't know if I'm ready for that. It is a HUGE step. She doesn't want it to get snatched from underneath us but I think if it does then God is saying "NO" to this house right? Besides it has been on the market for 510 days. The kitchen and bathrooms are the original people. Not too many people are wanting to do that much work to a house. I just don't know right now and I can't fall asleep because I keep thinking about it and praying about it. But now that I have put it out in cyber world I have decompressed and I should hopefully be able to fall asleep?!

General

I know food and houses have been the only thing I have been talking about lately so I thought I would break out and give a quick kid by kid update I'll start with my oldest.

GG: She just got a cabbage plant from school (yesterday) and wants to try and win the 1,000 college scholarship for growing the biggest one. She is starting to research it with my help. She is writing stories like crazy. She has started to type out one of them, so that is really neat to see her work so focused on it. She is turning into such a beautiful person. We are going away for a night at the end of this month just her and I with some mom and daughters from church so that should be really fun.

Monkey: He is still biting his finger nails like he is trying to eat his flesh. We have tried everything and last night his dad gave him an incentive that if he stopped by the time it was his birthday (end of July) and his hands were healed we would talk about letting him get a DS. I just really hope this works, his hands look so bad. Before break he had a lead role in the 2nd grade play. He did such a great job with all his lines. Very proud of him. Only a few more months and he is out of a carseat he is very excited about that!

Red: He is actually learning a lot of new things lately. He learned how to tie his shoes 3 days ago and is a pro at it already! So nice, one more step of independence. Over break we took his training wheels off his bike, though he is really scared of it even though he can touch the ground flat footed. He is plugging along at it. I can't believe he will be 5 next month. He was my smallest baby and he has gotten so big. His reading is improving daily, too.

Peanut: This girl is TROUBLE! I have learned her body language quite well seeing as it is only her and I all. day. long. When she knows she isn't suppose to be doing something she will do one of two things. She will hide with it under the kitchen table or she was hide it under her back (mainly when she is in bed for nap time). She is learning the ropes still and all in all she really isn't that mischievous. I think she just misses her play pals when they are at school. That will change next year because Red will be home in the afternoons.

J and I: we are still looking for a house to call home. It is very stressful. I hate the phrase "it's a buyers market" because have you seen the houses out there?! They aren't all that great for the money. We are going to look at some more houses tomorrow afternoon so we'll see if that yields any promise. Other than that I am reading a book on birth order and it is so interesting to me. I have only got the first chapter read but I like it. I have the book The Last Song on hold at the library. I want to read the book before I see the movie, I'm weird like that ;)

Menu April 5 - 11

Last week we didn't get to two of the meals for various reasons so they are going to be back on this week since I already have the stuff for them.

Monday: Turkey Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and fruit salad.
Tuesday: Asparagus Soup with sourdough bread and fruit.
Wednesday: Church (Cold Cuts)
Thursday: Pancakes with apple butter
Friday: Mahi Mahi and brown bastami rice.
Saturday: Chicken Stir Fry with peppers, zucchini, cabbage.
Sunday: Leftovers or breakfast foods (eggs or cereal)

I make this soup a lot and it is pretty easy I thought I'd share the recipe with you all.

Asparagus Soup
one onion chopped
3 lbs Asparagus (ends cut off and cut into inch pieces)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I use fresh)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream or half and half.
6 cups chicken broth (I make my own and then freeze it)

saute the onions in the butter for 5 minutes. Then add broth and asparagus bring to boil and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Place asparagus pieces in food processor and process until the desired texture. We like it a little chunky! Then put it back in the broth and add lemon juice and cream. It is ready to eat. We like to dip sourdough bread in the soup! YUMMY :)

Our Easter Star!

Here is our little Peanut doing the toddler program at church. I was so proud of her for saying her line! Though she did lift her dress a few times and was the talk of the church afterward but you can't have everything ;)

Here is one of the two songs they sang! Too cute with the motions...

Last but not least is the best shot I got of the kids outside! The header was taken at church...

Amazed

I know I have been saying this a lot but I am truly amazed at what my kids have been eating. Though I guess they really don't have a choice because I don't buy processed food. Tonight for dinner we had the brussel sprouts and Peanut had 3 helpings! I think one of the other kids asked for more as well but I can't remember which one. This was the first time any of us have eaten brussel sprouts and it was a good experience. J actually said he would definitely eat that again! Though he always adds, "this would be really good with chicken" to all of my vegetarian meals. But I am doing the only vegetable meals to save on spending so much on meat! The quinoa was a great side dish. The recipe was simple too. I know I promised to give you the Chicken and Sour Cream recipe but that will have to wait for now. Here is what we had tonight!

2 lbs brussel sprouts (halved if they are big or whole if they are small)
1 lb tomatoes chopped, take the seeds out
one onion
one clove of garlic
butter
one pint of heavy whipping cream
1 tsp basil dried if you use fresh do 2 tablespoons
salt and pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in butter until browned. Add the brussel sprouts and tomatoes and saute for about 5 minutes. Then add heavy whipping cream and seasonings, cook until the brussel sprouts are tender. I made quinoa separately and mixed it in. The cream sauce was really tasty!

Other than that the kids and I had a great day at the Botanic Garden. It was 83 today. We packed a picnic lunch and got us some sun and fresh air. My favorite part of the day was sitting by the water watching the biggest carp I have ever seen. GG had a stick she was holding up to the water and one of them jumped for it. She shrieked so loud. It was too funny. Then we came home and played outside the rest of the day until it was time to make dinner!!! Today was perfection in my opinion ;)

I can't sleep...

I need to get some things out of my head so that I can fall asleep without thinking about them. I am planning a fun day with the kids tomorrow and the last thing I need is to be TIRED! It is the one fun thing we are doing during break, I don’t want insomnia to rob of us the joy the would bring. Today marked the first day of physically looking at houses. We have looked online for about 2 months. We saw 5 houses, one was a last minute idea. I will go in order. I brought my camera and a notebook with. I took notes but didn’t take any pictures. Sorry!

#1 Was a 3 bedroom 2 bath with full unfinished basement. The house was really outdated but had some really nice qualities about it too. The 3rd bedroom was really small. Though the master was a great size and had a huge glass sliding door to the patio. It had a shared master bath which is really nice, we could close it off so it wasn’t shared. It has a really nice size mud room with laundry and a HUGE pantry. J and I started talking about our kids probably not wanting to be in bunk beds through high school. The basement was really big but we would probably never finish it so would that space really be the deciding factor? The living space on the main floor was just not big enough in my opinion. Another down side is that it backs to a little lake. Our Realtor didn’t believe we could put a fence up since none of the other houses had one up. I just don’t know if I would feel good about that. Not that I ever leave my kids outside alone but things happen fast, you know? In my head this house is out, not so sure what J thinks.

#2 Just down the street was a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with a partially finished basement. This house was AS IS. It had a newly done kitchen with stainless steel appliances. I really liked the layout of this house. The bedroom sizes weren’t bad and it had hardwood in the bedrooms and carpet in the living room and family room. As we were walking around J noticed the ceiling in the kitchen was boiling. He touched it and it was moist. The second time he touched to make sure it was really moist he poked is finger through it. We went to see what could be causing the wetness but aren’t sure which bathroom it could be coming from. This house being AS IS with our issues with mold. We both without really talked about it said this house was out completely.

#3 We were on our way to another house when we asked our Realtor if we could check out a house in the same neighborhood. She called and we were able to go in. It was a 4 bedroom with 2 1/2 bathrooms. Master had it’s own full bathroom. Though it was pretty small. Most everything in this house was old but livable. It had a HUGE (20x20) family room off of the kitchen. The living was a verily good size too. The dining room was pretty small though. The kitchen was old but we could make do for awhile in it. The rooms were not very big. The master with the bath was only 12x10 not sure if we would be able to fit our bed and dressers in it. There was a 14x10 room that would probably work better for us and we would give the other room to GG. This house has a lot of potential but we would have to spend a lot of money to make it the way we would want it. The yard on this house was nice. It had a spot already laid out for a garden and it was fenced. The garage was an extra deep one so tons of storage. It also had a full unfinished basement. This house is up in the air. If we could get it at a good price and could save enough money within a few years to update it.

#4 The was a 4 bedroom 1 1/2 bath house. It only had a living room no family room. It also had a full unfinished basement that was very big but these people had SO much stuff in it it was really hard to get a feel for the size. Actually the whole house had a TON of stuff in it. The garage wasn’t attached to the house which was a big negative for me. I just wasn’t very impressed with the inside. The yard was pretty descent. Oh yeah and our Realtor asked that no one was home and there were 3 people there. When she went to look at it she said there was like 15 people in it so I guess that is an improvement. It was just weird to be looking around with the people there. I think J and I are on the same page that this house is not as big as we want.

#5 This house was beautiful. It had 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. It had a very nice open floor plan that we like. The negatives were it had a detached garage, the kitchen was really small, the dishwasher was in the basement (weird), the coat closet was in the 1/2 bathroom and you had to go into the bathroom and shut the door to open the closet. Other than that it was nice but too high priced.

I feel discouraged that we aren’t going to find a house we can afford. I just keep praying and asking God that J and I agree on the houses and that He would lead us to the right one. I think this process is going to be a long one.

It runs in the family!

The kids are sitting at the table coloring after being outside this morning. I went to do more laundry and when I came upstairs this is what I heard. After the post I wrote this morning I quickly grabbed my video recorded and got them singing. As I upload this video I have heard, Shout to the Lord, Away in the Manger, their school fight song among other random songs. I would rather hear them sing then fight ;)

video

I feel like I should walk around with my video camera because at any given moment Peanut will burst into song. My favorite is when she starts singing Jesus loves me. She doesn't know how to stop the song so it repeats over and over until she gets tired of singing. One of my other favorite songs she will break out singing is Mighty to Save by Hillsong. You might not be familiar with it so here are the lyrics and if you want to hear it just search Mighty to Save on Youtube! She busts out in JESUS CONQUERED THE GRAVE! Yes she shouts it.

Everyone needs compassion,
Love thats never failing
Let mercy fall on me

Well everyone needs forgiveness,
Kindness of a savior
The Hope of the nation

(Chorus)
Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is mighty to save,
He is mighty to save
Forever, author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as you find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again

I give my life to follow
Everything that i believe in
Now i surrender (and i surrender)

(Chorusx2)

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing, for the glory of the risen king, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen king, Jesus

(Chorusx2)

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing, for the glory of the risen king, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen king, Jesus

Menu March 29 - April 4th

Monday: Jason's Deli (our last one!)
Tuesday: Fish with brown rice and salad
Wednesday: Church (Sloppy Joes)
Thursday: Italian Brussel Sprouts with quinoa
Friday: Chicken Chili (this has become one of my kids favorites!)
Saturday: Pancakes
Sunday: Happy Easter!!! Turkey Meatloaf with fried shredded carrots and fruit smoothies

Spring Break!

The kids are off all the week and then next Monday. This year is gonna be pretty lame. Last year we went with another family to an indoor water park this year we have nothing big and fun planned. As of yet. I would have to talk J into something first but that doesn't look very likely as we are trying to save money to buy a new house that won't put us in starvation mode! I actually have to find someone to watch the kids Wednesday morning so we can go look at houses. Our realtor doesn't want the kids along as they can be too distracting which I can totally understand we just need to find someone to watch them! I haven't really been on this blog much but there has been so much going on in my head. I am actually struggling to try and articulate it into a post.

One of the biggest things that I am struggling with and thinking about often is food. I am such a weak person when it comes to sweets. I love them. I really do. My husband has bought ice cream again and I am doing everything I can to not open the freezer for fear if I see it I will want to eat it. Or worse yet I will eat it. We had our small group over on Friday and I did eat the dessert. UGH! I hate that, why can't I just say NO. I have no will power. Why do I have to be tempted by sweets EVERYwhere I go? It is just so not fair. I want to be normal and eat whatever I want and feel fine but that is just not the case. I feel silly typing that it isn't fair. My kids say that all the time. God never promised fairness. I need to go make my grocery list for this week.

House Update...

We don't have one...in all seriousness we have started the process in looking. How our Realtor works she sits down with us to get an idea of what type of house we are looking for size wise and all that other jazz. Then we look at houses online to fine ones then drive by the ones we are interested. We were able to eliminate a few houses just by driving by them for various reasons. Then she previews the houses that are still on the list. She picks the top 3 to 4 houses she thinks we would like and then takes us to them to see. We are at the process where she is previewing the houses. Next is setting up a time that we can actually go look at the houses. The biggest problem we are facing now is that the kids are off of school all next week and the following Monday. She doesn't want to wait that long for us to see them but she doesn't really think it would be beneficially to have the kids with as well. I just keep falling back on the knowledge that God is in control of all of this and that He has the prefect place for us to be living we just have to listen to His leading.

Menu March 22-28

I talked to a sweet friend of mine today and she told me she likes my menu posts! I didn't think anyone read them and that they were just for my record. Glad to know people are enjoying them :) This week is kind of weird though so sorry in advance.

Monday: Jason's Deli (kids eat free) only one more left and no more free kid meals
Tuesday: Some sort of Eggplant. My wonderful mom-in-law made it from a no sugar no flour recipe. We will give it a try tonight!!! So excited I don't have to cook :)
Wednesday: Church (tacos)
Thursday: Monkey is in a play from 4:30 to 5:30pm so will we grab a bite to eat afterward. Otherwise it will be a 7pm dinner!
Friday: Baked Mostaccioli our small group is coming over for dinner so they will bring the sides; drinks, salad, fruit, garlic bread, and dessert!
Saturday: Chicken in Sour Cream sauce. I plan on doing a post with this recipe soon as it is J's absolute favorite meal that I have ever made in 10 years of marriage so he says ;)
Sunday: Fish with brown rice and fruit smoothies. J picked the fish so I'm not sure what type it is!

This week actually this month isn't that normal as we don't usually eat out this much. Maybe once a month but the Jason's Deli deal was just too good to pass up. All six of us ate dinner last night for just under 14 dollars and that is with the tax.

Concert

On Thursday night, the 18th, J and I went to the House of Blues in Chicago to see the band Needtobreathe. We were really close to the front, there was one girl between me and the front, that is how close we were. It was awesome. They played all the songs I wanted to hear plus many more! They ended the night with an encore set that ended in them playing Washed By the Water completely acoustic and unplugged. You could hear a pin drop in that place as he belted out the song. I was able to find a video on YouTube of that last song yesterday and thought I would share it with you. It was so cool. I think the person that recorded it was a few feet behind me as I could of been the one recording it from that angle.

I just LOVE his voice. It was an amazing night!

Awana Games

The day finally came for GlamorGirl and Monkey...the favorite AWANA GAMES. Though I will say it was a very long day for the other two kidlets. We got there at 11:30am and left at 5pm. Monkey went first at noon. The first event is the sparky crawl. It is crazy. There are four teams lined up making a square. At the whistle they have to crawl across to the other side. But they have people crawling in every direction at them. Monkey was the first one out of all the teams to make it across on the first race, he was like floating through everyone. But we didn’t win, that game. Oh well he did great though! Another one of my favorite Monkey moments was when he did the relay race with the bean bag on his head. He was the last runner which meant that he had to run in to grab the pin. He was excited and nervous about it. The team of three he was on rocked it. He got there so fast that the second place person came in at least half a minute later! They play games like this for about an hour. They keep score and at the end they announce the winner of each circle. There are four circles and 2 heats on each one. Lots of kids :) After everything was said and done for the Sparky team they won FIRST place. It was neck in neck with another team but the won by a point or two! So proud of those kiddos. As soon as everyone cleared out from them the Girls and Boys TNT teams came out. GG is obviously on the girls team! The first even that GG was in was some sort of a relay race. The team that they had picked out was lightening fast! They won by a land slide! I think they had the three fastest girls on the team running ;) But I have to say that the best event for the girls was the bean bag grab. They have one in the middle and each team has a bean bag. There are 6 players on each team with a number. When they call the number that number tries to get the middle bag and their color bag. When GG’s number was called she got to the middle one and got in a tug of war with two other girls. One of the girls let go so it was just GG and they other girl she held on for dear life and DRAGGED that girl to her side of the square. She ended up winning the middle bag plus the other bag the girl had in her hand and her team color bag. It was awesome to see her go for it. That one doesn’t give up that is for sure. In this same event the last girl called went for the middle and saw that the three were fighting for it that she ran around the circle and got all 4 color bags! Our girl’s team had some smart little cookies on it. The girls team ended up getting 2nd place but did an outstanding job! It was so great to be sitting with our Bethel fans cheering on our Sparky and TNT teams. If you read this and you are from our church you MISSED out on a great time. I also have a picture of the two of them in their team shirts holding the number of fingers for the places they got, which is really cute. But you will just have to believe me because the chances of those pictures actually getting on to this blog at the time are slim to none!

Give this one a try!

Two things! First the house closed on Thursday so we are officially HOUSELESS!!! That is such a weird feeling. Anyways, I just wanted to get on here real quick and let you know that the Butternut Squash with Dill Soup was a HUGE hit with everyone except Red who said it was too spicy. I will use less cayenne pepper next time :) For anyone interested this is *MY* version of the recipe from Eating Your Way to Good Health Cookbook.

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large onions, sliced and halved
5 cups Vegetable broth (I only used 4 and next time I’m going to try Chicken broth)
1 cup hot water (I used 2)
1 butternut squash
1/2 tsp allspice
2 tsp dill (dried)
cayenne pepper to taste (I think I used a little too much!)
sea salt and pepper to taste
I added 2 bags of boil in bag brown rice to the ingredients.

Saute onions in olive oil for about 5 minutes (unless they start to brown). Add broth and water. Cover and bring to boil cooking 10 minutes on med-low heat.

Make the brown rice like the box says but a little less time.

I quartered the squash, removed the seeds and steamed them for 10 minutes without the skin on. The recipe said to halve them then microwave them for 10 minutes, we don’t have a microwave here. Add the squash, allspice, and dill. Cook over low heat for about 8-10 minutes until the squash is tender. Add the other seasonings and brown rice. It was yummy.

Peanut the one who has the hardest time with new recipes asked for seconds!!! I was so excited and I knew then this was a winner and could be added to the menu :) My goal is to find at least 25 good recipes that we all like so that our meals stay fresh and don’t get mundane. I think I have about 10 or so. I should go through and see what I do have.

Want to be a Kid

We close on our house tomorrow making us homeless. But not really we have a place to stay but it isn't ours. I just want someone to pick a house for me. There are so many houses out there. I just want to be a kid and have someone else do the grow up stuff. Don't get me wrong it is very exciting going to pick a new house the only problem is it is very scary at the same time. Because of my health issues we have to be very careful what house we choose. I pray that the people we encounter in this journey will be very honest with us about the questions we have about their home. There are A LOT of dishonest people in this world and that is what makes this SO scary. I don't want to end up where I was 8 months ago. I need a safe place to heal my body and the kids' bodies so that we are completely healthy again. Over the next few weeks or months however long it takes we will be in search of a new residence. Which means that most of my computer time will be spend looking at houses online. Please pray for us as we start this journey all over again. Though it is nice to know that the other house is (almost) sold and that we can look without having a mortgage hanging over our heads. Also I pray this time will strengthen our marriage and not drive a wedge between us. This is STRESSFUL people and when you have this kind of stress you need to be covered in PRAYER. Thanks I will try to update as we go along but don't hold me to it. I will still try and keep up the menus as I like to go back and see all the different things we have been eating and trying!

Menu March 15-21

Monday: Jason's Deli (only a few more weeks of the free kids meals)
Tuesday: Baked Cabbage
Wednesday: Church (Stew)
Thursday: White Chicken Chili
Friday: Butternut Soup with Dill
Saturday: Spinach Patties (I use ground turkey)
Sunday: Leftovers

Pretty simple week and I am trying 3 new recipes! Baked Cabbage, White Chicken Chili and Butternut Soup with Dill. :) Happy eating...

My Adventure in watching 8 kids!

Yesterday we the day we moved all our stuff to storage. I know you are probably thinking but I thought you said you don't have anything. Well we don't but we do. Let me put it this way. We rented a 10 x 10 unit and that was all we needed for everything. We don't have much. The only big things we have are 4 dressers. Anyways, J needed help with 2 of the dressers because they are HEAVY. His friend Jason said he could help the only problem was his wife was at church working and he had the kids. He has 4 their ages are 3, 2 and 8 month old twins. We actually planned the day pretty perfectly. We got to his house as he put all his kids down for a nap and then I laid my two youngest down. One of the twins woke up so I had 3 kids awake. Then she went down for a nap when the 3 yr old woke up. I got there at 2pm and I only had 3 kids up until 4pm and then the others slowly started waking up one at a time. Kristy got home from church at about 5pm so the day was a pretty easy day. The men weren't going to get done until 6ish so we made the kids some food and then ordered Chinese for the adults. The kids played and watched a movie and we got home at 9pm which was really going to be 10pm because of the time change. It really wasn't that big of an adventure because when the babies were awake GG was all over helping with them. She is such a great help I can't say that enough about her. Even Monkey is learning how to help in different ways then her!

White Chicken Chili

Today I have spent the morning making 2 batches of White Chicken Chili for the freezer. I have used all my frozen meals I made over Christmas break and I need to start replenishing them so today I did two. Next weekend will be too busy but maybe Wednesday I will have a chance to make a few more. Anyways, I cooked the chicken and taken it off the bone. I am making some chicken broth to freeze as well. It is so much cheaper this way then buying it from the store! I use it in my asparagus soup as well as the broccoli soup. I wanted to leave you with this recipe for the White Chicken Chili. This is the first time I am making it but my friend made it a few weeks ago and it was YUMMY! This is my version because I shouldn’t eat everything she put in hers.

1 lb Skinless chicken breast ( I used the whole chicken so it isn’t ALL white meat)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/4 tsp garlic
1 T oil
1 can chicken broth (I used homemade)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
14 tsp cayenne pepper
8 oz sour cream
4 oz heavy whipping cream
Saute chicken, onion and garlic in oil. Drain. Add other ingredients except the creams. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add creams. I took out 2 cans great northern beans (can’t have) and 2 cans of chopped green chilis (she didn’t use them and it was spicy enough!)

This afternoon the kids and I are going over to a friend's house who has 4 kids (the wife is at church) and I will be watching all 8 so the husband can help J move my dresser and his the only two big things we own.

Menu March 8 - 14

Wow I am not doing very good at getting the menu out! Well this last week this is what we ate just for record sake.
Monday: Jason's Deli (kids eat free on Mondays)
Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff with strawberries
Wednesday: Church Noodles with Meat balls
Thursday: Baked Eggplant with quinoa, mashed potatoes, and homemade apple sauce.
Friday: Italian Beef and Squash and fruit
Saturday: The plan is Fish but we are moving so who knows!
Sunday: Leftovers ;) or Fish...

Mama Bear came out...

Last night, yes it has been over 24 hours since this occurred. I just needed some time. Typically at on Awana nights J is with me. Most of his time is spent in the gym watching our oldest. I have the baby in the coffee house were it is a much safer environment. The kids usually play hockey or some other rough sport. Well J had to work last night, meaning that our kids played in the gym without the protection of their father. Unfortunately it also happened to be the night that a single mother of 3 troubled kids decided she was going to drop them off at church an hour early. Even though she has been told she can't do that. I fell really bad describing these kids as "troubled" but they really truly are in every sense of the word. The youngest we will call him M, loves to watch horror movies he is 6 years old. He gets sent home from Sparks almost every week. He has a temper and is very disobedient. There is tons of grace trust me but the leaders have a duty to keep the other kids safe while in their care. The two older ones have issues too but for times sake we will just focus on M. My boys asked if they could play in the gym and I told them to stay together. GG was off with the girls in the church they aren't big into sports. After about 20 minutes a kid runs into the coffee house telling me that Red is crying. Two seconds later a mom on my way to him says Red is hurt he was punched and told me who. I then started running. I know this kid has had problems. I got to Red and he was sobbing. He really got hurt. I asked him what happened. He then proceeds to tell me. "M pulled my hair and then pushed me to the ground. He got on top of me and was punching me." I was LIVID. It was a good thing I was holding Red when I saw this kid. I made him apologize to Red. To which he did and then started telling me that Red gave him a cut on his head. Yes there was a cut on his head but it was scabbed over. I looked at him and said, "He did not do that to you it has a scab on it. Would you like to tell me the truth?" He insisted that Red hit him too. I felt myself start to loose control so I took Red and walked away. The other mom was there so I knew he wasn't going anywhere. I took Red to his grandparents were he would be safe. I asked Red if he hit M. Red said that he pushed him to try and get him off of him. I asked why he didn't yell. He said he yelled for Monkey. But Monkey had left the gym to go to Children's Choir about a minute before this all went down. Then I came back to the kid. I looked him in the eyes and said, "I talked to my son and he did say that he pushed you because he was trying to get you off of him. You were really hurting him." This little punk says, "well he shouldn't have pushed me." More talking was done by me and the other mom. Finally my friend asked him why he attacked Red. M's reason was that Red was going to tell on him and he didn't want to get in trouble. The thought of getting in trouble made him mad so he hurt him. He just couldn't help it. He was mad. Let me tell you I was mad. Guess what? I didn't lay a hand on that turd. Oh I wanted to. The mama bear in me was in full force. I ended up keeping my boy with me until it was time for clubs to start and he went in his room. This kid is 2 years older so they are not together. It seriously took me 20 plus minutes for my hands to stop shacking I was THAT mad. All day long today I have been praying for this little boy who probably has the crappiest home life. It is just so sad. In talking with my friend who lives next door and learning more about him and his family it is just so sad. Divorced home, dead beat dad, mom has new boyfriend that isn't that great, and the mom is hurt and taking it out on the kids. Who then take it out on other kids, like my sweet Red. I am hoping the end result is that this little boy still comes on Awana night but only at the right time. That was my evening last night my day today wasn't much better! But in a totally different area of my life, moving, enough said!!! One more week, one more week, that is what I have said about a bajillion times today.

Change

I'm not a big fan of change. Though it seems like everything in my life for the last, about 7 months now have been nothing but change. All the food we eat is different, the place we live, the things we have in our house (because it isn't ours), the new house we are going to be buying, all the new furniture (once we have enough saved up to buy some). Those are the big things but the little changes in my day to day are what is just got me all out of sorts. For instance, our taxes we normally have them done the first week in February. Well it is almost the middle of March and we still don't have them done. It has to do with the fact that we got rid of ALMOST everything we own to goodwill and so we have to list it all out and assign a dollar amount. It is just so time consuming. I am hoping to everything ready to go by this weekend though it isn't looking to good. Other things are how My BABY is growing up so fast, the rest of the kids too for that matter. Red is not going to be a Cubbie next year and Monkey is going to be in Boys TnT and old enough to go to sleep away camp this summer. There is more I can list but I won't because it is just sometimes too much to take in. I know that things change I get that I just feel like everything is changing all at once and I have no resemblance of normal or comfort of the old anymore. Also like my friend Tammy says, not all of those changes are bad changes. I think I feel unstable because of the change. I need some solid footing right about now.

My *smart* little Girl

As a mother you always think your child(ren) are pretty smart and talented and all that other stuff. You know you are bias when it comes to your children period! At least I know this fact about myself ;) Yesterday I was at school doing my lunch duty like I do every Monday. While I was at school I had a conversation about GG being double promoted. Meaning she would skip 4th grade. I know my daughter is smart she gets straight A's on her report card and most of them are A+'s to boot. Her last year IOWA test scores also tell of how smart she is. I just never thought about pushing her ahead. I know she gets bored sometimes at school but sometimes life is just boring. Well I had a nice talk with her teacher after school. She has about 5 kids in her class that could easily skip to 5th grade GG being one of them. She told me that GG would have no problems keeping up academically and socially as some of the others might. She said it is completely up to us as her parents. Like I said I never even thought about that being an option. So J and I talked and it was so great to know he was on the same page as me and keeping her where she is because that would mean she would have one less year to be home with us and one less year to be a kid. I think there are 2 kids skipping next year but like I always say, I'm not their parent. I think this is the best thing for GG and I think she was happy to know that she was going into 4th next year and not 5th. I feel there is no need to rush her childhood...maybe when Peanut is that age...just kidding.

GlamorGirl is writing a story and it is incredibly good writing. I won't write out the whole story as it has about 4 chapters but I will give you a little peek into her head and writing skills.

"Hey! Wait up" Johny called to Peter. Peter stopped. It was no use in trying to get away from 5-year old Johny now. Usually if Peter saw Johny coming and Johny didn't see him, he would run around the corner and hide. Or he would petal as fast as he can to get away before Johny spotted him. By this time Johny had caught up.

This is only a fraction of the story she has written! It has your interested piqued doesn't it?! Maybe one day her story will be a children's book...

Two things...

First thing is that the guy buying our house wants to close 6 days earlier. That is so GREAT. That means we can actively start looking sooner and maybe we could get in on that $65oo credit for home buyers. We shall see. We know that we absolutely don't want to rush into buying anything that we aren't completely sold on. With that excitement it means that we have 9 days to pack up the rest of the house and garage and get it into a storage unit. That is a BIG task. At least it is getting warmer outside so that I can pack without freezing my little tushy off ;)

The second thing is just plain maddening. We got home from a nice dinner out where all the kids ate free. To find on the credit card statement that someone stole our card number and charged $495 to an online lego store. This is the part that I am very grateful that I am married to a police officer. He just took over. Called who needed to be called and he just handled it. AWESOMELY. Though I will say that the company that charged our card would not tell us where the products where being sent so annoying. I guess they have to protect the criminals, so stupid. That is really all I feel like writing.

What an honor!

I have received the Beautiful Blogger Award! Thank you Kristen! I guess now I have to give this award to 15 other bloggers...

1. My hubby because he is the best. I love him so much!
2. Adina she is a dear friend who just gave birth to her 3rd boy. She truly is lovely in every way possible!
3. Corrie she is a riot. I have known her for years. She was in my wedding while she was still in H.S. Love this girl!
4. Andrea is my encourager and support! I don't know how I would have gotten through these last few months without her help and knowledge. She is a true blessing. One day I will meet her!
5. Melissa she is a hard core mama. She went to school with my hubby and in reading her blog have found that we have a lot in common. Wish we lived closer to them.
6. Amber my dear friend who finally got her miracle baby boy.
7. Sarah is a super cool mama of 4. Another mom I wish lived close by so we could hang out.
8. Lisa has such great posts that are inspiring and sweet. The homeschooling mama.
9. Kelly a high school friend with kids the same ages as my youngest too. Fun to catch up with her through her blog and facebook!
10. Tee she has a really funny blog about her dating adventures and other funny things.
11. Happi is a blogger turned real life friend! Though we need to get together more often.
12. Deb a blogging mama of boy/girl twins. I always wanted twins!
13. Jenny The lead singer of Addison Road (GG's favorite band). So down to earth and funny.
14. & 15. Kristin and Becki their blogs her are private but I just had to give this to them because they are too cool not to have it!

There are my 15 and now I have to write 7 things about myself.
1. I haven't worn socks since getting my Uggs for Christmas. It totally saves on at least a half a load of laundry a week!
2. My goal these next 6 months is to consistently floss my teeth before I go to bed no matter how tired I am. That is not my strong suit.
3. I haven't had to go to the ER this winter, haven't been able to say that for 2 years.
4. I am the healthiest I have been in a long time. Eating only whole foods is the best.
5. I am freaked out about buying another house but at the same time really excited. Weird I know.
6. Can't wait for summer or warmer weather, cabin fever much?
7. I want to take a college class on nutrition. I need the motivation to learn more about food and combing foods and so forth.

Wondering

How do these women make money blogging? I want to get in on this gig but HOW??? I just read this one mom's blog talk about how her blog was a full time income for her family and it allowed them to pay 100% cash for their first home. Where do I sign up? Ok seriously, though I get some random emails from people wanting to put ads on my blog is that what they do? One was for some oils and such...hmm not sure I want to go there! I don't need or want that kind of traffic. I'm thinking I should find a job that Peanut can come with me like I had at the YMCA about 5 years ago. The making money at home on a computer just seems so appealing to me but where to begin or even how is the biggest question I have. Any one out there know the answer? Please help this mama out. Yes I am blogging at night because my hubby is at church doing his Deacon/Elder thing. Just something I have been wondering about I should email the ladies at 5 minutes for Mom. Though I don't know if I want to be *that* busy either oh the dilemma!

Moving along...I have gotten a few emails about my menus. I figured if I have gotten more than one email about it other people might be wondering too. Well I make most of our food from a cookbook called Eating Your Way to Health by Doug Kaufmann. The baked goods are mostly from http://www.scdrecipes.com/recipes We really like the lemon poppy seed muffins but make sure you put the honey in it because they don't taste so great with out it! I also was going to leave you with the recipe for Chicken Fajitas, are you excited???

Marinade:
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste

Salsa:
tomato chopped
half an onion chopped
1 tbsp fresh lime
1 fresh chili pepper thinly sliced (optional)

Vegetables:
1 green pepper sliced
1 red or yellow pepper sliced
the other half of the onion sliced
1 clove garlic minced
olive oil

Marinade the chicken, I usually do it for a few hours before hand. Prepare the salsa. Saute the vegetables until they are tender. Make yourself a fajita! We used spinach shells, yummy. We also added brown rice and mozzarella cheese.

Struggling

I have wanted to write about this for sometime but I got a little nervous that it wouldn't happen. But as we are moving along and getting closer I am feeling more at ease. We have a contract on our house!!! We are to close 3 weeks from today. It has been a huge blessing though a huge burden as well. We of course, lost a LOT of money on our house, being as we bought it at the height of the market and sold it at the bottom. Not only that we have to replace almost everything we owned ie furniture, beds etc. The big stuff basically. If I sit and thinking about all the money that is going to be needed to replace them I just want to cry. However, I know that God is bigger than our furniture. If we need to eat picnic style for a year we will make do, if we have to continue to sleep on air mattresses we will make do, if we don't have a couch or other places to sit we will make do. It would be so much easier if we didn't have to buy it all new. The risk of buying something used that has been in a contaminated environment isn't worth the risk to our health. As you know just having our furniture at the other place for 10 months was enough to have lingering health effects on me and the kids. I wish that I had a part time job that could help off set some of the cost as I know J as the provider is feeling it more than me. I just manage the money he has to make it. I did put in an application to sub at the kids' school so we'll see. I still feel like my main job right now is making sure we eat right and completely detox our bodies. God will provide I know he will no matter what.

A Late Monday Menu...

March 1 - 7
Monday: Asparagus soup with bread (sourdough)
Tuesday: Stuffed Peppers and cheese cake
Wednesday: Church (Hot dogs) my kids don't normally like hot dogs but this week they wanted to go! weird
Thursday: Chicken Fajitas and brown rice
Friday: Sauteed Onions and Squash (this if from last week)
Saturday: Garlic Chicken with onions and peppers
Sunday: Fish and brown rice

Last week was a little different because of the funeral so we had items from last weeks menu!

A Poop Kind of Day

I wasn't really looking forward to this day to begin with since it was the day of our dental visits. My poor little Peanut woke up with her left eye glued shut with eye boogers. It took both J and I to help get it opened. Seeing as most of our day was going to be spent at the dentist I really didn't know how we would be getting in to see a doctor. My plan was to go to my chiropractor appointment and then take her to the school nurse before Red and my dental appointments. During my chiro appointment Peanut says she has to poop. I put her on the potty and she goes then she says she is all done. You know the rest...wipe, dress, blah blah blah. I continue with my stuff and she says it again. Red helps get her on the potty as I was detained at that very moment. A few minutes later she is done. I go to wipe and it was ALL over her butt. I look at her underwear and sure enough she had pooped her pants. I'm thinking GREAT now I won't have time to get to the nurse before our other appointment. As I was cleaning her up it wasn't as bad as I had thought and we made it out of there in pretty good time to stop at the school. The nurse looks at her eye and says it doesn't look like pink eye but to keep an eye on it. We leave and get our teeth cleaned. Red went first and the lady told him to make sure that J and I floss his teeth. He comes out after the cleaning and says, "mommy you have to dental my floss." I just thought that was the cutest thing ever! After my cleaning Peanut says, "My turn now." They are going to see her next time when she is 3 years old. Just a side note I just signed her up for the 3 year old preschool. It was so sad to think that my baby is old enough to be going to school. Moving along with the poopcapades. Fast forward a few hours...Peanut is napping at school and Red's teacher comes to get me. Apparently, he had gone to the bathroom for a long time and when he came back to the room didn't smell so good. I pulled him out of class and asked if he pooped at school. He said yes and that he wiped himself. Another GREAT moment. I took him to the bathroom so I could check him. I wouldn't have thought he wiped at all if I had not seen some of his crumbled up poop filled toilet paper on the ground. OY. I had to give him a makeshift bath and then get him new underwear and pants. I could not get the stink of poop off of his hands though. I sent him back to class. After school the older two kids had their appointments as I was sitting with Red in the waiting room doing his reading homework with him I just couldn't shack the smell of poop. I took a closer look at his shirt and I found a couple different spots of poop that he must have wiped his hand on when he got poop on them. I made him take the shirt off because it stunk so bad. So there he sat in the dentist waiting room with no shirt on in the middle of winter. At least he had a coat to wear. I will say that I think I am DONE with poop for awhile. Why in the world did two of my kids have almost the same identical mishap on the same day?! It was pure craziness. I think God was strengthening my patience.

Funeral

Today was such a celebration of Sgt. H's life. It was so neat to hear all the stories from family and friends. I have never been to a police officers' funeral and all I can say, really is, "WOW" There were at least 400 squad cars in the processional to the cemetery plus that of family and friends. I would venture to say that there were about 2,000 plus people in attendance. Our small church that holds about 300 hundred did a very good job making room for all those who came to honor Al. Here is a link to the news I found online I think there should be a link somewhere online of the almost 3 hour service. I just have to say it was really weird to see Mayor Daley sitting in our church as it was also quite different to see my husband in dress uniform playing his guitar during the services. I know he felt so honored to be apart of today. My heart just breaks for the wife and daughters. Though his youngest daughter is on her way to the High School retreat for the weekend where she will be surrounded by her friends to life her up in prayer and comfort. I just thank God every day J comes home from work.

In the Line of Duty...

I never want to see squads roll up to my house because if they do it means that something happened to Jeff in the line of duty. On Monday morning a sweet family from church had their world turned upside down. The husband, a sergeant on the police force, was at work and on the way to a call when his car hit ice and hit a tree. A few hours later he was gone. This mother of three is now a widow and her children fatherless. It just breaks my heart. I have been asked by several people from our church if I am doing ok since my husband has the same occupation but in reality every time we leave the house we could get in a deadly car accident. I know my husband's job puts him at higher risk because going to calls he drives faster than the speed limit, for obvious reasons. The only comfort we have is in knowing that he is in the presence of the Lord and we will one day get to see him but that doesn't really feel very comforting at the moment. I just ask that you pray for his wife and daughters. Just thinking about all the things he won't be able to be around for just makes me want to cry. I just pray that his life and the funeral will be honoring and glorying to God as there will be probably thousands of police at the services. The wake is tomorrow and the funeral Friday. Just hug and kiss your spouse and kids because we really don't know when God is going to call us home.

Menu Feb 22-28

Monday: Jason's Deli (the kids all ate free)
Tuesday: Vegetable Medley (didn't get a chance to make it last week)
Wednesday: Cold Cuts at Church
Thursday: Goulash with green peppers
Friday: Chicken and Stir Fry
Saturday: Mahi Mahi and brown rice
Sunday: Sauteed Onions and Squash and fruit

Lunches are pretty standard from here on out so I will probably stop putting them!

The Peace of God

As you know, we have our house on the market. We have gone through a price negotiation with first time home buyers that just ended because they refused to come up any higher. We have had so many showings about 40 in the last 4 months. Through this whole process I have felt at peace. Which is so strange because normally this is a high stress situation (paying two sets of bills) and having a longer commute and other things. I know this peace comes from God and God alone. I was reading my friend Melissa's blog the other day! Hi Mel :) She had such a great post about living a Christ like life well there were two posts. It really spoke to my heart especially the part where she talks about how do I want to be remembered? As a good wife and mom? As a nice person? Those are great things to be remembered for but what does that really say about me as a person? They are pretty long posts so grab a snack but they are really worth the time to read. The power of God's peace and love and any other of His attributes is so powerful and I want to share that with the world.

Recently my sister-in-law and her two sons came for a visit. It was such a great visit. Though in talking with her I quickly got saddened by the realization that they will probably never be moving here. They have a strong conviction not to take on any more debt. Which is completely honorable. I totally get why but that also means that they don't see moving to a place where the cost of living is doubled even if the pay is higher as well. As much as it hurt to hear that they will probably never move here I knew that God was in control of everything and if he wants them here they will be here. So I committed myself to praying that the Lord's will be done in their lives even if it means they stay there. Selfishly I want them here. My kids have 6 cousins and not one of them live close. All their grandparents are close but they don't have play mates. See totally selfish!

One for my record

Has time ever gotten away from you and then you think to you yourself what day is it? And where did these days go? Well that was our last weekend. It was extremely fun and jam packed. Saturday we met my sis-in-law and nephews at the picture place and we got all 6 kids pictures taken. It was a bit crazy but we got some good pictures so I would say it was worth it. Then my *tornado* and I went to a birthday party. That got over at 1pm we got home and grabbed all of our snow gear and headed out the door for some sledding fun with friends. Once the kids were frozen ice cubes we went to our friends house for dinner and to hang out. It was a busy day but such a fun one.

Sunday after church we met our friends from Michigan for lunch and then they came over to play. We sent out her oldest and my 3 to play in the snow in the front yard. The other 3 kids stayed inside and slept on the couch. My friend was holding her almost 3 year old while she slept and all of a sudden she started peeing on her. I'm such a bad friend because I just laughed. Good thing they had luggage in their car! It was so nice to catch up with them and for the kids to get to play together. We have know them since Monkey was 4 months old.

Monday was a full day out of the house, chiropractor appointment, grocery shopping, lunch mom at school, giving Peanut a nap, etc. J went snowboarding with his sister's boyfriend. I am so glad they got to go so now I don't have to hear about how he didn't get to go this season! I think he wants to go again for sure with another friend which is fine as long as he does it on a day the kids are in school I am cool with that :) Tuesday Peanut and I went over to see J's family from out of town (grandparents and Aunt) and then we took Virginia and the boys back to our house for naps, dinner and play. They leave today so it was nice to be able to spend a little more time with them. Now when my kids look at my blog years from now they can see that we really did do fun things and mom wasn't all about food. ALL. THE. TIME.

Menu Feb 15th - 21st

I'm a few days late but here it is not that anyone out there really cares but at least I have it to look at so I can see we don't eat the same things over and over again or that we do!

Monday: my version of Chicken Enchiladas (I make the inside and we eat on top of spinach)
Tuesday: Turkey Meatloaf with stir-fried zucchini and pears. I also made cheese cake because my sis-in-law and nephews were here.
Wednesday: Roasted Turkey Breast with quinoa and strawberries.
Thursday: We are meeting my dad and step mom for dinner
Friday: Vegetable Stir Fry
Saturday: Turkey Spinach Patties and a fruit salad
Sunday: We have our small group so dinner will be light! Cereal or leftovers.
Monday: Fish with brown rice

Visitors

We have been busy these last few weeks with some out of state visitors. My sister in law and her two boys ages 4 years old and 6 weeks came to visit. They are staying with the in laws. It has been fun to see the baby and let the cousins spend some time together. Somethings that stick out in my mind since they have been here are as follows. Wednesday Peanut and I went to pick them up for a McDonalds play date. It had snowed about 10 inches. Well the driveway was shoveled all but the entry way. I tried getting in and got stuck. A truck pulled up behind me and was not going anywhere because I couldn't move. He offered to help get it out of the snow. Then he pulled out his snow blower from the back of his truck and proceeded to snow blow my in laws entry way. My father in law was outside when all of this was going down but his snow blower had just broken which is why the rest of the snow wasn't gone. It was just an interesting situation but God provided this man at the right time and I am so thankful. That same day I got to hold the baby in his sleepy wrap for about 2 hours. I loved it. Thursday we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese for some fun. My sis in law had never been, EVER. It was a fun time even though the baby had a blow out of poop!!! Today my older nephew went to Red's Valentine's party with him. When the party was over I took him home and Peanut, Red and I stayed for awhile. All four kids napped and Virginia and I talked. It was really nice and relaxing. When my older two got home I was shown a picture on my husband's phone of GG's art project with a blue ribbon. She had won first place in her grade. I know I am a little biases but it was really a good drawing. Also the kids came home with Valentine's balloons they had bought for J and I. It was so sweet of them. They secretly took money to school out of their piggy banks. Oh speaking of piggy banks. On Monday I had an errand to do at the bank and Peanut was with me. She kept calling the bank a piggy bank it was so cute.

LOST

I normally don't blog about shows but this is the last season of LOST and I just couldn't help myself. First off I am just plain confused right now with this show. It is so addicting though and I really don't get why! But I will say I am so happy that Claire is back. It also took me a few seconds to realize that Jack and Claire were siblings. There are so many twists and turns that my brain sometimes hurts after watching this show.

I really thought that Sayid was Jacob coming back to life like the guy in the black shirt did with Locke but it doesn't look to be that way. I am so stumped that I really don't even have a guess as to where they are going with this show. Any Lost-ies out there that could maybe shed some light on what they think is happening. Yeah that would be great! Until next Tuesday...

Menu Feb 8th - 14th

Monday: Asparagus Soup with sourdough bread
Tuesday: Herbed Lamb Chops with dill-spiced baby carrots
Wednesday: church
Thursday: Mahi Mahi and brown rice
Friday: Chili
Saturday: Chicken in Sour Cream
Sunday: leftovers or going out for Valentine's Day but probably the first option!

Lunches are same as always!

Breakfasts: pecan muffins, eggs, pancakes, cereal with rice milk, fruit salad or toast with apple butter and maybe some kind of baked eggs. I think having a list of our breakfast options is better than having them planned out because some nights I didn't have time to pre-make the stuff :)

Lonely

Tonight is the second night in a row I have been left home alone with the kids while the hubby goes out and has fun. You know what he says to me??? Get this. He says, "You can get on facebook or blog or read or do whatever you want." Um I would rather have you home than have those options but whatever! He is supporting a friends band so I really don't mind I just wasn't prepared to be left again tonight. But since I am on here I thought I would share a few funnies from today.

The kids and I were playing monopoly jr and Monkey says, "I'm SOOOO thirsty can I have a beer?" I just looked at him. J and I don't drink EVER around the kids or really anywhere else, so it was just weird to hear him say that. I was too shocked to even ask him why he said it. I just realized that might sound really judgmental about drinking. I used to have a drink every now and again but because alcohol usually has brewers yeast in it I can't have it because it will just feed the mold already in my body. Then I'm not sure if I have mentioned this on here and I really don't feel up to looking through old posts to check so if you have heard this already please forgive me! At bedtime tonight Peanut says, "I want to sleep in your arms." Then she points to my shoulder and says, "I lay my head on your shoulder." It was just the cutest thing. Speaking of her I think she is out of this fighting the nap stage at least for the last few days she has not fought them. She really truly does need a nap. Red still does but he never gets them.

What to title?!

At nap time today I laid with Peanut and stayed in the room until I thought she was asleep. As I left the room I thought I will be able to blog about how much better today went with nap time. Even if it still took her 45 minutes to fall asleep. I came back in the room 25 minutes later to her having taken off both her socks, her sitting up reading a book and books all over the room. UGH. I was mad. We had to be leaving in 15 minutes for a doctor appointment and she wasn't going to be getting a nap in that amount of time. I let her come out of the room but she had to sit in the time out chair. I thought she would fall asleep on the way to school to get the kids but she didn't she ended up falling asleep again at 4pm. This time instead of letting her sleep I woke her up as soon as we got home and told her she is going to bed at 7pm. She said, "ok" it is now 7:45 and she is still not sleeping. And so the battle continues and I will win!!!

Other than that issue the older kids don't have school tomorrow so they are going with me to my Bible study. The two oldest are joining a homeschool group during the time of the study. GG is really excited about it but Monkey is not. He doesn't like change and I think it is funny since he is the one who wanted to be homeschooled first! We shall see how it goes tomorrow. Silly kid that is all I have to say :)

Also my sister in law and two nephews are in town. They got in last night and Isaac went to Cubbies with Red and they had a blast together. Well apparently, Red had to poop at Cubbies but he didn't want his leader to go get us and said he wanted to wipe himself. Yeah, he doesn't really know how to do that yet. I guess he did a pretty good job so I told him today that I will start working with him to master wiping his own bottom. Which means I will only have one child that needs bathroom help. That seems a bit weird to think about but exciting at the same time!

Frustration

I have really been slacking on this blog. I really don't only think about food...haha. Though you would think I do. Anyway, I am really struggling right now with my youngest offspring. I know I mentioned in a previous post how she is with eating but it doesn't stop there with her. The last two days she fights me on naps. She is 2 1/2 years old and she IS going to take a nap. I need the break from her for my sanity and her well being. Yesterday she laid in the bed for over an hour and a half sucking on her arm so that she wouldn't fall asleep. She had the biggest hickey. I practically had to lay on her to go to sleep 2 hours after I had put her to bed. Today she didn't take a nap for me. I finally had to let her up so we could go get the kids from school. Then she fell asleep in the car on the way home at 4pm. People this is NOT a good time for a toddler to be napping. But we had church tonight and I knew she would be beyond bearable if I didn't let her sleep so she got about an hour nap. Now it is 9:20pm and she is laying next to me in the bed talking. At least she is laying down though. I just really don't know what to do with her. It is driving me CRAZY. I just don't know how much more of this I can take before I loss all sanity. How do you get a 2 year old to take naps without basically strapping them to the bed and gluing their eye lids shut?! I would never do either one of those things but I feel like that is my only hope of getting her to sleep. I just have to keep telling myself that I have to be consistent and stay on top of her with this testing her boundaries and it will get better but man is she really sticking it out for the long haul. I really truly do not remember my other children being this strong willed. Well tomorrow is a new day and hopefully one of a nap for a 2 year old. Please pray for me. Oh Lord give me the patience and strength to deal with this stubborn 2 year old in all areas. Ok I feel somewhat better...

Menu Feb 1st - 7th

Dinners
Monday: Broccoli Soup with sourdough bread and homemade pumpkin pudding
Tuesday: Pepper Blackened Chicken and stir fried zucchini
Wednesday: Church meal
Thursday: Shrimp Scampi and Best Broccoli
Friday: Homemade pizza
Saturday: Beef Stroganoff (GG picked this one and is going to help make it)
Sunday: Super Bowl Party at a friends house with wings and pizza!

Lunches: leftovers, deli meat, nuts, fruits, carrots, hard boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, avocados, and spinach salads.

Breakfasts
Monday: cereal with almond milk
Tuesday: eggs
Wednesday: homemade lemon poppy seed muffins
Thursday: fruit salad
Friday: Irish oatmeal with honey and cinnamon
Saturday: pancakes with apple butter
Sunday: French toast with my homemade bread and apple butter!

I really do plan out all our meals :)

Temptation

There is so much temptation around our family regarding food. It is so frustrating and annoying. But it is apart of our lives. It is especially hard when they come into our home. Last night J made homemade truffles to take the work...well they are in our house waiting to go to work and some of them have gone into my belly because I am so weak! They taste SO good. Other temptations are when we are out and about like grocery shopping and they have samples. Why can't I EVER pass up a free sample of something? UGH. Another way they creep into our homes and lives is with candy rewards at school. I really wish our school would adopt the no candy policy that all the other schools in our district have adopted. It would make my life so much easier then having to take candy away from the kids. I really don't see our school grabbing hold of that policy, bummer. It never fails to that every time I do give in to those temptations I feel like garbage. Oh it tastes good for those few seconds going down but the after affects are not so pleasant. As I sit here and think of the food temptations in our lives I am flooded with all sorts of other temptations the devil tries to throw at us using the world to do it. The definition of temptation: a thing or course of action that attracts or tempts someone. As weird as this my sound I feel like I get tempted to do housework instead of reading my Bible like I should. There is always something that is needing to get done and it is usually but not always more enticing then getting in the word. I hate that because I really do love reading my Bible. I learn so much every time and feel close to God when I do. Lord keep me from temptation.

The Baby!

I have been doing this mothering thing for the last 9 years but have had many years experience with kids previous to actually being a parent but you know what? Peanut is really giving me a run for my money or I just don't remember the other kids being this stubborn or strong willed. Here is one example of her stubbornness. She doesn't like peppers and a lot of our meals have peppers in them because they are good for you. Well she sat at the table with a pepper in her mouth for over an hour and a half. She would not chew it or swallow it. I tried enticing her with a treat after she ate all her food and it didn't work. I have given her the same meal for the next meal and she still didn't eat it. None of my other kids have done this sort of thing. Her "I do it myself" phase seems to have started way before the other kids did and the tantrums that follow if I can't let her do it herself because we have to go somewhere. I need the strength to parent this child. I love her so much but she has me in tears some days. I know that one day her personality will get her far in life but right now as her parents it is very frustrating. And here I thought this parenting thing would get easier, yeah right! I love you baby girl :)

Trying to catch up!

Peanut and I left on the 23rd of this month and took a little trip to California! It was so beautiful there. It was both of our first times there and we had a great time. Peanut got to go in the Pacific Ocean and hopefully this summer when we visit Jeff's brother she will get to go in the Atlantic Ocean all in the same year and all firsts for her. The first day we got there we shopped. My dad bought me some Ugg slippers and my feet are so happy about them! I LOVE my boots and now I am able to wear Uggs inside and out!!! That night we watched Julie and Julia, a movie I had wanted to see for sometime but J was never interested in watching with me. On Sunday we went to Disneyland and California Adventures. That we really fun. I picked out the kids each a gift from there and I got myself a new zip up hooded sweatshirt. Monday my dad and I checked out some different places around where my aunt lives. We went to one of many missions and walked around. There was a lot of history to that place and it was so beautiful. The sunshine as we walked was so welcomed :) Then we ate lunch at a harbor in Dana Point. The view from the restuarant was gorgeous. Then we drove to Laguna Beach. When we got back my dad stayed with Peanut and the 3 of us girls went to the store and got food for dinner. My aunt and I cooked dinner she has been taking classes so it was so fun to learn some techniques from her. My cousin and her husband ate with us too. I haven't seen my cousin in so many years! She leaves for Australia next month so I was glad to get to see her before she left the states. Tuesday my dad and I went to Hollywood and my aunt and step-mom took Peanut and had a ladies day together. The three of them had great fun. That night my uncle got back to town so my dad had another male to make trouble with or get made fun of with however you want to look at it ;) The last day I took a walk on the beach and wanted to get a picture of my foot in the ocean, which I got but ended up getting soaked in the process! I was a *little* wet for the flight back to freezing cold land, my wonderful uncle blow dried my shoe while my socks and pants were in the dryer. We had 20 minutes before we had to leave for the airport so they were still a little wet! I had a very fun trip and can't wait to go back to Sunny California...I'm already planning the trip to take the rest of the family.

Monday Menu January 25-31

I am still on vacation so I don't know what they will be eating but I can fill out the rest of the week!

Monday: gone
Tuesday: gone
Wednesday: gone but they will eat at church
Thursday: Stuffed Peppers and green apples
Friday: Paprika Chicken and brown rice
Saturday: whole turkey and mashed potatoes
Sunday: leftovers and maybe a big breakfast for dinner?!

Lunches: they have deli meats like every other week with hard boiled eggs, strawberries, blueberries, green apples, kiwi, sunflower seeds, cashews, pecans, almonds, carrots, yogurt, string cheese and veggie sticks. I think that is pretty much it.

Sorry in advance!

I have a bunch of thoughts going through my head so this post maybe a bit ramble-y, I have gotten a few emails and such about our story as I haven’t put a whole lot of details on my blog. I am currently working on going through some of my older posts to see when we first started getting sick. As I blogged about it without having a connection between the toxic mold and our sicknesses.

Wednesday I took the kids to the Museum of Science and Industry. I took them out of school for the day and I was hoping that they would sleep in a bit but instead Red woke up at 5:45am because he had wet the bed. He wouldn’t go back to sleep after that and from the living room couch proceeded to make his grunting noises that he makes when he doesn’t want to do something,,,ie sleep. He ended up waking Peanut up about 6:15. So instead of getting to sleep in I got up earlier. Oh well. We ended up getting a little lost on the way there as mapquest gave us wrong directions. Though I do feel better the family we were meeting there got the same directions from mapquest and so got lost too. I just called my dad-in-law and he got me to where we needed to be. It was such a great day. For one, it was only gas money + parking (16) so pretty affordable. They had a live science experiment set up and the kids loved that. We also got to see a chick crack it’s way out of an egg. It only took about 30 minutes of watching the egg :) They climbed the rock wall, played the video games, did the car and ski/snowboarding simulators, played in the water area and got soaked! It was a wonderful day. I have pictures but they are trapped in my camera at the moment and who knows if I will get them on here ever. Ha.

I am also getting excited/nervous about my upcoming trip. I know that the kids will be taken care of while I am going that isn’t my concern I just want to make it back to them in one piece. I know it is even a horrible thought to think about but at the same time it could happen. I am writing a letter for each night I am gone for each individual kid to read before bed. J did that when he went to Canada and they loved it. I thought I should do the same thing!

Hooky

I'm pulling the kids out of school tomorrow and taking them somewhere fun. I will be leaving in a few days and I want to spend as much time with them as possible. It works out well because J has a crazy busy work week and he couldn't take the kids to school tomorrow or Thursday. So it was just the incentive I needed to keep them with me! I have our lunches packed and I have directions. I'm a little nervous because I don't like driving in Chicago but I know we will have so much fun. Thursday I am taking them early from school because J informed me that he can't bring them home like I had thought that day. It just works to all of our benefit this way! I hope my next update will be with pictures of our adventure, but I will be with the four of them by myself in a big space so who knows if I will get any pictures :) Like I said on facebook the only thing that could make tomorrow even better would be if J could come with.

Menu Monday Jan 18-24

Monday: Chicken and stir-fry
Tuesday: Homemade pizza (everyone is excited about this one)
Wednesday: church
Thursday: Asparagus soup and sour dough bread
Friday: Chicken in Sour Cream sauce
Saturday: I'm gone so this is up to J
Sunday: same as Sat!

For lunches I got deli meat (turkey, roast beef, chicken, and ham), beef summer sausage, carrots, apples, pears, strawberries, veggie stickes, veggie chips, string cheese, pecans, almonds, walnuts, granola, hard boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, and water.

Last Year of Single Digits for GG

I know I say this EVERY year but I just can't get over how old my oldest is getting! She is 9 years old today. 9 people. That means the last year of her being in the single digits. Oh I don't know if I will be able to handle next year, oy. Since we are living in a different place and our mail still goes to the other place we told her she will have to wait til Monday to get any cards that were sent to her. But we still decorated her door with streamers and homemade cards from each of us! She has already opened her presents this morning. We got her two preemie outfits for her Baby Alive doll to wear and a snuggie for kids. She loves to read and this way she can have a blanket on and still read. She wants to go to Jason's Deli for lunch so that is what we will do after church. She helped make her birthday cake yesterday I just need to frost it today. If you are wanting the recipe for the Apple Pudding Cake it is in the post below, I will let you know how it tastes but it sounds really yummy! I am going to go enjoy my 9 year old's day today!!!

This is a SIN!

I think I am having WAY too much fun trying new recipes and cooking the new ones we like. It almost feels wrong to be having so much fun with all of this. I just CAN NOT saying it enough at how well the kids are doing in our new "temporary" home. I love it. They are happy and healthy. I also have so much more energy too. I am looking forward to the summer and traveling with the kids. This year we are going to be taking a road trip! We are all super excited about it. The goal is to drive a few hours and then stop and camp for a night or two and then get on the road again. I am thinking this will be a two week trip. We are heading towards my bil and sil to see their new baby and their whole family. It we drove straight through it would be a 16 hour drive and I think this way is going to be much more enjoyable! The two older kids are going to be doing a co-ed away camp for a week and we are all going to go up there during that time. J and I are going to work at the camp while we are there, so excited. There is also another camp we might be going to with another family from church so that would be a lot of fun too. I know it is just January but still it is fun to plan and look to the future. Speaking of January my oldest is going to be 9 years old on Sunday. Each year seems to go faster than the year before. I am going to be making her a new cake recipe. I can't wait to make it because it sounds so yummy! Here is the recipe if you are interested :)

APPLE FILLING
10-12 apples
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
water to cover apples
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
CAKE BATTER
1 1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons soft butter
2/3 tablespoons honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C)
2. Peel and slice apples, place in sauce pan, add water till it cover apples a quater of the way.
3. Cook over medium high heat untill apples are very soft and mushy.
4. With a laddle or a large spoon drain excess liquid into a bowl and set aside to use in cake batter.
5. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, honey and butter; stir and simmer while preparing cake mixture
6. In a bowl take a cup of the nut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda; blend with your hands until all lumps are gone add butter, honey and the reserved juice from the apples stir.
7. Batter should be smooth and pourable if it seems to thin add the extra qaurter cup of almond flour.
8. Pour the apple mixture in a greased baking dish, stir cake mixture into the apples.
9. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 45min. to an hour.
10. A knife or toothpick should come out cean yet this is not a firm cake. Cake will be soft and juicy.

See doesn't that sound yummy? I can't wait to make it too much fun I am having I tell ya, it really should be a sin ;)

Oh yeah P.S. today is Delurking Day so if you read this please comment :)

Is it working?

So many people have asked me if this new super restrictive diet is working. Well let me see I haven't had abdominal pains in at least 2 months. I would say that is a huge YES! Though I am far from being completely better as I still have some of the other not as painful symptoms I can tell I am slowly getting better. Not only can I tell a difference in myself but the kids too. For starters my oldest (GG) who used to get between 4 and 5 headaches a week and 1 to 2 what we call threw up headaches (migraines) a month, now gets maybe one head a week if not every other week or longer. To add to that the last time she got a threw up headache was after she ate a piece of pie that was in no way apart of our new diet and she did throw up! Here is another example that I know this is working...we have recently gone to two different parties and Red has eaten the food there which was processed and so not apart of our new diet. Both times he threw up the next morning. Never got a fever or any other symptoms and didn't threw up after feeding him "our" food. Monkey and Peanut are just pretty healthy and straying from the diet hasn't been too hard on them but I can tell they do much better on it! Also two of the kids have had friends in their classes with the H1N1 and they never got it. Not only is this diet good for detoxing mold but it is also a great immune booster! This is by far the healthiest winter we have had.

Menu Monday

I thought I would try something new and have a way to look through my posts to see all the different meals we have tried over these months. I know that I should have started a few months back but this will have to do!

Monday: Texas Chili and organic crackers and fruit smoothies
Tuesday: Spinach Patties with mashed red potatoes and blueberries
Wednesday: We eat at church. (I bring something for me because I usually can't eat what is on the menu)
Thursday: Spicy Chicken with brown rice and green apples with yogurt sauce.
Friday: Turkey Meatloaf with lettuce salad, fruit salad and a dessert. (our small group is coming this night so I only make the meatloaf)
Saturday: Vegetable Medley Beef Stew and fruit smoothies.
Sunday: Country Breakfast (eggs) and Breakfast fruit salad. (This is GG's birthday so we will have gone out for lunch which is why the dinner is a light one!)

**oops I forgot lunches**
Lunches: Deli meat (turkey, ham, roast beef, and chicken) sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds, walnuts, hard boiled eggs, spinach salad, string cheese, granola, green apples, and carrots.

I also want to mention that I typically make fruit smoothies with dinner so that I can put the kids vitamins in them. The bottle of power I have is almost gone and then we probably won't have them for a while :) It was a trail vitamin!

2 year old on something?!

MRI

Yesterday I had an MRI done on my brain. I think that is the most uncomfortable test. My head hurt so bad from laying in one spot with no pillow for 45 minutes. I wish I would of known they would like me listen to music. I totally would have brought my own CD instead I had to choose from one of theirs and there was NOTHING in their selection that sounded appealing AT. ALL. You are probably wondering why I had an MRI done. Well for about 5 years now I have had random eye pain. My last doctor sent me to the eye doctor who told me that my eye doesn't have feeling and that it wouldn't be causing me pain. Well over the last few months I have had random blurry vision and one day I couldn't see for about 10 minutes. It was just weird. My doctor didn't think there was anything wrong but just to be sure he wanted to do the scan. The office called last night with the results and the nurse told J that everything looked fine. He was outside shoveling and didn't bother to come get me so I could ask questions. I am going to be calling today to get some more details of what was seen. Like how did my optic nerve look and so forth. Things that could be causing the pain. But for now I know there is no tumor or any other weird thing going on in my head at least structurally ;) I will update with anything new after I talk to the doctor that is if there is anything new to report!

Modesty and my almost 9 year old.

A few weeks ago I noticed that my almost 9 year old daughter had started doing these goofy poses with her body where she kind of sticks out her butt. I was not liking this so last night I took her out just the two of us to have a talk about modesty. Things I brought with were a Bible, a People Magazine, and a necklace. I started the conversation talking about some of the things I noticed her doing and that is why I felt it was important to have this talk. I gave her the definition of modesty from the dictionary which states; Modesty: behavior, manner or appearance intended to avoid impropriety or indecency. I then expounded on this definition with the definition of impropriety and indecency. I talked to her about what modesty looks like in each of the three areas stated above and how it pertains to her as a girl. Then I had her open the Bible to 1 Timothy 2:9-10 which says, “I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” I’m sure there are other verses that talk about this subject but I choose to go with just this one. We then talked about what this verse says and how to live it out. Then I gave her the People and told her to find 5 people dressed modestly and circle them and find 5 that were not dressed modestly and cross them out. She had so much fun doing this she went way above finding 5 of each. Then we kind of went through the rest and talked about why some of the clothing was not modest. Then I briefly touched on only her husband seeing her naked body didn’t want to go too far into THAT subject just yet. Then I pulled out a mother and daughter matching necklaces and asked her if she was willing to commit to being modest in all these areas. When she did I gave her the necklace to wear. She was so excited. This necklace will be a reminder to her that in all things to be modest. I also told her that she was my daughter but above all things she was God’s daughter and now she knows what her heavenly father says about this subject. When we got home I told her to go take a shower. Before our talk she would forget her towel in another room and walk through the house naked to get it. Last night she made sure she had her towel with her and then wrapped it around her to come ask me a question before she showered. I praised her for being modest. I know she understands the concept so I pray she is able to be successful at continuing to be a modest girl in all areas. I just pray for her so much in this area because she is a really cute and loving girl and I don’t want to squash that but I do want to protect her from any bad people that might take her the wrong way, you know. But for now we are working on modesty mostly in appearance and behavior but manners too.

This New Year

I don't really do New Year's resolutions but I am really hoping that this year will be a really healthy one for our family. We did have one kiddo throw up today but no fever so I'm not really sure what that was all about. They didn't even act sick either so who knows. Tomorrow my hubby is going to be ordering a product he read about to help detox us from this nasty mold. I really hope and pray that it works like everyone says it does. We shall see. If it does then we are going to be buying cases at a time since the bottle is 32oz and there is 6 of us. I hope this year is full of encouragement though I know I will get discouraged in this journey to being healthy. I am just so thankful that my hubby is right along side me cheering me on...he tends to say the right thing at the right time just when I feel like giving up.

I am just so amazed at what my kids eat for dinners. I know I have said this before but they truly surprise me. Tonight I made a beet soup. It was bright red with carrots, onions, celery, and beets. They ate it right up. Praise the Lord!

Another thing I want to do is see where all our money is going. I'm not going to do a budget per sa I just want to see where it is all going and then we can talk and make adjustments if needed. That's all that is on my mind. School starts back up tomorrow so I need to go to bed.