Ethan Turns 5

Ethan turned 5 this past Friday. I feel like 5 is so old and I still can't get over that I actually have a 5 year old. 

Have you ever had a child turn a certain age and you just couldn't believe it? Well 5 was it for me!

With age 5, comes Kindergarden. So I am now in the process of deciding which curriculum is best for us since we are homeschooling in the fall. Well we have been homeschooling Ethan for Preschool but have decided to homeschool him for Kindergarden as well. Even though the schools here are the best in the area/State we still feel homeschooling is the best for him right now. Who knows though, it may change in years to come!

I know you are probably wondering why I am already thinking about that, right??  September is 5 months away but the planning/preparing/and buying begins now. I am also planning to attend a Georgia Conference in May so all my final decisions can be made so we can enjoy the summer!

Now onto Ethan's Birthday, shall we?

So Friday morning Ethan woke up and wanted waffles. So I pulled out my milled grain and made him some homemade waffles. I recently started putting organic yogurt on the side as a dip and they love it!! 

BEATS SYRUP!!

It actually isn't half bad!

Then for lunch he wanted good old PP&J with oranges and yogurt. What a simple boy he is. 

Then we had a surprise visit from MiMi. Well I knew she was coming but it was a surprise to him. She showed up with balloons, a kite, and later gave him his Sheriff Woody outfit. 

The Tackle box with all kinds of goodies inside (which you can't see) were from his daddy. 

Here's the boys trying to fly the kite in the field across from our house. 

Later that night after dinner, Ethan enjoyed some chocolate cupcakes!! 

He says," Mmm, Chocolate is my favorite." 

Where did he get that from? 

And Tucker had to have some too... Whatever Ethan has, does, or says Tucker copies. That's a two year old for you. 

Then on Saturday we had a birthday party for him. Which now that I am looking back over the pictures I am disappointed with the pictures we didn't get. But I think they ended up on the camcorder, hopefully!

Anyway, we rented one of those bouncing houses and the kids had a blast. We actually had it from late Friday night til about 9 on Sunday morning. So Ethan jumped and jumped and jumped some more. Really til he was exhausted....But it was so much fun watching him have a great time! 

Here are some pictures from his party!

This wasn't my first pick for bouncers but it was about all I had to choose from beside very young disney cartoons. 

Eli and Merritt

Anna and Judah

Kiddo's

It was a fantastic weekend!! 

Thanks to all who attended Ethan's big day!

Then and Now!!

Well Tucker has officially turned 2!

YES, can you believe it?

I can't!

This year we didn't really do much for his birthday.Not because we didn't want too but b/c it didn't really work out with all the things we had going on.His b-day was on a Wednesday and we ended up having BSF and Wednesday night Bible study that day and so we said we would just do something that upcoming weekend as a family.

Unfortunately the next morning I woke up in extreme pain, with what the Doctor's call Torticollis. Which in my case was spasms in the neck, along with a pinched nerve and caused my neck to be temporariliy unmovable. It can take up to 2 weeks to go away and you can barely move from your arms up. The pain was pretty bad and I felt very helpless. Thankfully Gus was able to stay home most of the time to help me and then a friend of ours came by and picked up the boys while Gus had a meeting one afternoon. I was very thankful for her bringing us dinner and watching the boys for a couple of hours. It was a lifesaver!

So we still owe Tucker a cake so we can officially take pictures and have something to look back on when he is older.

And besides, he doesn't know that he missed out on a cake and a party....

We will for sure plan something next year, though!

Pictures for Thought!!!!

I was reminiscing the other day about when he was a baby and I found these pictures of him...

Tucker- Day 1 or 2

Just Minutes old

Daddy holding him. We were trying to wake him up here so he would eat! Not very good success...

Ethan meets Tucker for the first time

Sweet kisses from big brother

Tucker was so little. It is hard to remember him that small but when he was born he was

5 lbs. 12. oz. 18 inches long.

Getting ready to dress Tucker so we can head home!

Here are some pictures of him over the past 2 years~

2 weeks old

3 months old

6 Months old

9 months old

12 months old

Tucker 15 Months and Ethan 4 yrs old

Tucker 18 months

2 Years Old

Baking, Sewing, and Baking some more....

Since my last post I have been busy baking breads, pitas, crackers, granola bars, granola, and working on my sewing skills (or the lack thereof.)  It is so nice sometimes to actually HAVE TIME to do things. The boys have been pretty content playing together lately (which is a BIG key part to finishing the things I started.) 

So how did all this start? First off, I decided that before my busy routine starts back I would take some time to do things I always enjoy doing but never have time to do. Second, I got a sewing maching in November as an early Christmas present from my mom and her mom I figured I better open the box and get started on something. I needed to prove to myself that I still remembered how to sew from back in the day... Which I didn't! I felt like I forgot everything!! But after spending the past few days dilligently working at the sewing machine I can FINALLY say I accomplished something!

Now I am on my way to sewing to my hearts content...well within reason and level of easiness. 

You know, I went to JoAnn's Fabric the other day to pick up some essentials and I asked a lady where some of items were that I needed. After she showed me one particular item she said," Well what are you using this for?" My response was to her, "Well actually I am just starting out with sewing...." and before I could even finish she gave me the ugliest look. I thought to myself," Well every person who sews had to starts out somewhere, You aren't a pro over night." So after that I didn't ask for anymore help and I will be figuring things out for my own now! And you know what? I don't think I did such a bad job on my projects...

Check out what I made yesterday!

It is lined, has a pocket inside, and I even covered card board with the fabric to make a hard bottom.....

 Here is the fabric I used. I got creative and used one of Gus' dress shirts that is to big for him. I figured why spend money on fabric that I will mess up on when I have an entire box of shirts he can't wear anymore. It was in perfect condition and I didn't have to spend a dime.

(The fabric up close)

I am giving you two pictures b/c it is really hard to see the bag with the light today. It has been raining and is extremely dark in the house. I am also going to have it monogrammed in a navy blue with Tucker's initials so I think that will help the plainness of the bag.

Here are some other pictures of the food I baked this past week. 



Regular Sandwich Bread



Bulgar



Pitas- (Note: I did make whole wheat pitas as well and they turned out great!)



Granola Bars with dried blueberries

I know, it makes you want to run to your kitchen and start cooking, huh? And to know it is good for you, no perservatives, no trans fat or saturated fat, and you can monitor the amount of fat, sugar and salt intake on all these items. 

They all tase yummy and are well worth the time in the kitchen. At least for me anyway!

Give something new a try this week and work on perfecting it. It has a very rewarding feeling!

And don't forget to have fun with whatever you do!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!

It is 2011.... As a young girl I always thought about the future and what Gods plan was for my life. I remember thinking about 2011 particularly and thinking about how far away it seemed at that time. I often wondered if I would be married or have children as well.   Did you ever do that as a child?? Think about the future....that is? Well it is 2011 and time has flown by since I was that little girl. Alot has changed since then and I am so thankful for all the many blessings the Lord has blessed me with.

I am not one to make new years resolutions because most of the time they don't last (actually all the time they never last.) I can only think of two people in my entire life who actually stuck with a resolution for one year. That is pretty committed, huh??

The only time I ever made a resolution was when I was in 8th or 9th grade. I (along with some other friends of the family) committed to not eating candy or drinking soda for one year. I can honestly say I MADE IT!!! See I am not a big candy eater, I just love cookies, ice cream, and pies, and I only drank water so it wasn't that hard for me. I know you are probably wondering why I did it then, right?

Well if we could make for the one year then our parents would give us $100 at the end of the year.

Not a bad deal for an 8th grader, huh!?!?

Good ole' memories!!

Well I say all that to say that this past December I decided it was time to try something new. I thought January would be a great time to start but I didn't really make a resolution. I just sat down and talked with my husband one night and told him I wanted to try some things this year. If it works great and if not then I can say I tried.

The idea I had was to have a garden and to make most of our food from scratch.... I'm crazy, I know!

I have wanted to make more of the food we eat from scratch for a long time now but haven't really taken the initiative to do it. I have also wanted to have a garden but we have never really had the time or place to have one.

So what I am going to try to do is prepare healthier food with the least amount of preservatives/pesticides as possible....Which means more things will be made from scratch and most of the food will be organic.

Don't get me wrong, I am still going to make all the things we really like to eat but it will just take more planning and prepping in the kitchen then normal.

I have talked with a couple who lives here in RH who have a 1 acre garden and also my husband's grandparents who had a garden for many years in there back yard and grew up on farms in west Florida. Unfortunately I was told that where we live we have to many wild animals and they will eat the garden up.... SO my bubble got burst there. Unless I buy an electric fence to keep the critters out I will be waisting my money on seed. And I am NOT buying an electric fence right now! So I guess now that I have the space and time(haha) the little critters have put a stop to the garden I wanted to have.  I still think I am going to try some stuff on our screened-in porch where I can move them around in pots to get sun and keep them safe from the animals in our woods. We will see how that goes.

I am not going to be able to blog about what I make all the time or whats growing (or not growing) in our yard but I can get you started on something I made today...

I attempted bread. For some of you making homemade bread is second nature but to me it's not. I always found it easier to pick up a fresh loaf from the Publix bakery. I always thought that working with yeast was harder then it should be but then for Thanksgiving my mom and Omi (my German Grandma) showed my sister and I how to make easy homemade yeast rolls and how to make spaetzle (A homemade noodle.) I realized then that it isn't that hard and if all else fails you can make another batch! 

 For the price I can make 4 loaves of homemade bread I can buy one loaf at the grocery store. Interesting, right?

Well my bread only took 2 1/2 hours to make including the rising twice and the baking. I am looking forward to making a vast variety of homemade foods in my kitchen this year. You should give it a try and if you have questions give me a shout!!
So if I can make my bread look like this the first time, then you should at least give it a try!!

Happy New Year!!