A Must Watch

I don't post a lot of theological thoughts on this blog because my prayer is that God's glory is seen in my everyday...despite myself. However, this video is so spot on that I had to share it. My church has been going through the book of Mark for the past year, but for the past 4 weeks, we have done a mini-series on Idols of the Heart. Sigh...its been tough. Then I saw this video and it just touched a really sensitive part of my heart that has undergone heavy pruning. Thank God for men like Piper who understand the Gospel and can teach it to people like me.

BONFIRE!

We are trying to take advantage of these last mild days before the winter sets in, so last night we decided to introduce our children to the world of s'mores. Two children under the age of 3 with pointy skewers and a sticky mess of warmed marshmallows is always interesting, but we had fun. We went straight from the bonfire to the bathtub, needless to say!

Annie's first bite of s'more and she was loving it! She couldn't have been happier chomping on her monstrous treat. Is that not the most classic picture? Hilarious.













David was roasting and stuffing as masny marshmallows as he possibly could into his mouth before this dream night was over. Of course he kept saying "I wanna make more...for Annie". Sure you do, partner!

David had an interesting relationship with the fire. He was a bit of a fraidy cat about the whole thing, but I guess I don't mind him being timid around fires! However, for as afraid as he was, that's all he wanted to do: attempt to roast marshmallows. Now, they couldn't lite on fire...that would really send him over the edge, but he couldn't stand it if "nothing was happening" to the marshmallows at the same time. Oh first borns.

The Motley Crew!

For those of you who don't know, there are 11 grandchildren on my side of the family and they are all under the age of 10. 9 of them are under the age of 6. CER-A-ZEE!! It is a 3-ring circus when we all get together. And here's the funny thing: my mom is taking all of us somewhere (she won't tell us where!) for our Christmas present. She just told us we are leaving at the crack of dawn and we all need passports! That's right, all 20 of us will be boarding a plane at the wee hours of the morning with this crazy crew. There will be some tales to be told on this blog, for sure!

I realized I hadn't posted any pictures from Halloween, so here you go:

We had a very "nice shark" (according to David) and...

a beautiful fairy princess (who never stopped eating candy)!

Annie figured out Halloween very quickly this year and I was soon apologizing to neighbors I had never met before for the hasty grab of much candy from their bowls from my 20 month-old. Thank you, Annie!

They are pretty cute and they actually look like they love each other in this picture ;)

Morning Revelations

Like I've mentioned before, we host community group for our church on Monday nights and there are often sweet treats involved in the evening. The kids are usually down in the basement with a babysitter and the second community group is over, they race up the steps to see what sweet treats are left. Obviously Annie marked her territory by licking each of the cookies. I woke up to the pictured note the next morning...hilarious. I laughed out loud and it the visual picture perfectly painted by this note warmed my soul.

Later on the morning, I heard a disturbing sound arising from our den. In the mornings, I let David choose if he wants to watch shows on PBS or play PBS games on the computer. He always opts for video games on the "camp-pooter". It helps me wake up and him! I'm generally supportive of the games because it has helped him with letter recognition, dexterity in using the mouse, etc, etc; however, today I was distubed. Please click on this link and click on the three speakers that apparently "grow up" from the bushes. Seriously...click on it.

Um, is that not freaky? That show is off-the-charts weird. I'm not so sure they aren't sending our 3-year-olds subliminal messages to drink laced purple Koolaid at 3 pm or something. Three letters:

L C D

Lay off the hallucinogens, directors!

Pretty Please With Sugar On Top!

Um, excuse me. Has anyone else received the Pottery Barn Holiday catalog yet? Well, if you have already pitched it into your recycle bin, go fish it out because there are some really fun "antique silver" pieces in there.

We host a community group for our church every Monday night at our house, so I usually try to have a pot of soup on the stove since people come to our house straight from work. And they are hungry. Therefore, I need this ladle. Hello! It says "ladle" and I love it! The fork and spoon serving pieces are must as well.



I need it.


Ok, not really.



On the Christmas wish list!


Pottery Barn also has an eclectic "antique" flatware collection in this issue too. I keep putting "antique" in "quotes" because we all know these aren't real antiques. And I heart antiques. So, I'm embarking on a giant scavenger hunt and I need YOUR help! I want to start collecting fun, eclectic, REAL antique flatware. So, if you are at an estate sale or a flee market or a garage sale or an antique shop and see some fun antique silver flatware, PICK. IT. UP. (and I'll pay you back) I just need 1 place setting and I'll mix and match place settings from all over the place. Fun. And each piece will have a story and a memory. Double fun. That's why I love antiques...the journey and the inevitable story.

1 Recipe, 2 Dishes

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Everyone is always trying to trim their grocery budget, right? Second only to our mortgage, our grocery bill easily takes second place on our monthly budget. So here is an example of how to make that dollar stretch and still have yummy food. You can do this with a lot of dishes, but I'll explain that after you see my process.

Recipe #1: Suzanne's Picnic Potatoes

This is my lovely mother-in-law's dish!

Ingredients:
2 pound shredded hash browns (in your frozen food aisle)
1 onion finely chopped
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup melted butter
1 pound of shredded cheese (its cheaper and better to buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself)
Corn Flakes for crispies on top

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Mix frozen hash browns, onions, cream of chicken, sour cream and cheese together in a bowl
3. Dump into a greased 9 x 13 dish
4. Sprinkle Corn Flakes on top and drizzle with the melted butter
5. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half

We love to have people over for brunch on Saturday or Sunday and this is a mainstay. I can prepare this the night before and just pop it into the oven when my lovelies wake up at the crack of dawn, before our guests arrive. Its also great as a side dish with bbq!

Now, we always have leftovers of this casserole and you can only eat re-heated potato casserole so many times. So, here is recipe #2!

Recipe #2: Hearty Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:
1. Your leftover casserole from above, minus the Corn Flakes (just scrape them off and you don't have to be perfect...its ok if a few Corn Flakes make it into your soup, Laura Jordan!)

2. Chicken Stock (you can use chicken bouillon...its much cheaper and doens't make a difference in taste in this soup!)

Directions:
1. Dump the left over casserole into soup pot
2. Add Chicken Stock

3. Stir the pot

4. Take your immersion blender and combine the 2 ingredients (if you don't have one, dump everything into a food processor or blender!)

5. Season with salt and pepper and you are done! WHAT?!? Seriously.
6. Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, you can do this with a lot of dishes. For instance, I made chicken and rice casserole a couple of weeks ago and we had left overs. What did I do? I dumped the leftovers into a pot, added chicken stock and some vegetables and had great soup! My mom taught me this trick and you know what her trademark 1 recipe, 2 dish trick was? SPAGHETTI! Yes, spaghetti soup is delicsh! In this case, I would add some tomato juice or sauce and beef stock (rather than chicken stock since there is beef, not chicken, in the original recipe.) Experiment, have fun and don't take yourself too seriously. I have dumped lots dinners down the drain!

She's HEEEEERE!

I know many of you have been waiting on the edge of your seat to find out what kind of car would be replacing my Suby-Doo. Well, wait no longer. It has arrived. No, I did not forget to post about my new car, which means, yes, I have been 5 weeks without a car. We were well provided for by loners from generous family and friends, but it has made me doubly thankful to have my own car. What kind, you ask? Here are a few hints:

The body style of the car has this skirt's name in it. (No, that's not me posing for the picture. I know, I know...our bodies look so similar. She must be 5' 2" and has had 2 babies too. Crazy!) Need another hint?

Oh! Getting closer. The first word of this car is the same first word in my car. And here is a bonus: this car is the same color as my car. Still have you guessing?




And now for the big reveal....

Oh yeah, baby...she's here! The mini has arrived in sassy RED! AND to have it be a MINIVAN! I mean, COME ON! Happy Halloween to ME!

Shut up all you haters...deep down you are jealous that I am woman enough to drive one. I once told Matthew he better NEVER make me drive one. We now call those the Dark Ages in our home. I found myself about 2 years ago salivating over the mini. What can I say...I was a confused soul and I have now stepped into the light. The light that will save me on average $1000/year compared to an SUV with 3 rows. OHHHHH! MMM HMMM...who is hatin' now?!

They just make too much sense with babies. I can be walking out of the grocery store with my mongo diaper bag, holding Annie on my hip while, at the same time, holding David's hand and hit a single button and the mini's doors start opening automatically. Please. Do I need to say anymore? The mini has found its home sweet home. I guess we are officially a Honda family now.