Mother's Day

This little baby made me a momma.

This little baby made me a "grown up."

This little baby made me "experienced."

And this little baby made me "one of those crazy women."

God has blessed me abundantly!

Menu Plan Mondays

This week, my goal is to make healthy meals with lots of vegetables and a VERY minimal grocery list. Luckily, we have too much food in our freezer and pantry and I was able to come up with this:

Monday: sausage squash cornbread casserole
black eyed pea stew

Tuesday: Black bean, chicken and rice chimichangas (beans are in the freezer)
Corn

Wednesday: Smoked (cheddar) pasta salad
Cauliflower Soup (already in the freezer)

Thursday: Grilled Chicken with White barbecue sauce
Broccoli Salad
Mashed Turnips and Potatoes

Friday: Pizza (marinara in the freezer)

Saturday: Shrimp fettuccine and Salad


And this is all I needed: 1 red onion, raisins, spinach, 1lb sausage, 1lb turkey kielbasa, chopped green chilies, mayonnaise, tortillas, fettuccine, mozzarella, pepperoni, 3 potatoes, and a small sour cream. And the big news was-that's all i bought! Nothing snuck into my cart today. Probably because I only had the youngest 2 kids with me.

I *heart* . . .

birdies. A bit trendy I know, but I can't help myself.

I also adore my little peep who flaps her little arms when she wants to be held.

And while we're at it, and since tomorrow's mother's day and all, and if it's too late for mother's day, there's still several months til my anniversary, here are some more birds that have caught my eye. . . .

It can get a bit messy in here

Spoon feeding is one of my least favorite baby jobs. So I don't do it much at all.

This is Adeline right this very minute: What do you think? Lazy? OR teaching my child to be independent?

PS Just tell yourself that this is ONLY oatmeal mixed with a bit of yogurt--one of her favorite foods and NOT oatmeal mixed with yogurt mixed with snot.

I declare Thursday BEACH DAY!

The thought of moving to the midwest is starting to make me panic. I remembered the sad little "beach" on Tuttle Creek Lake in Kansas. . .and decided that we will make an effort to get to the beach once a week--Thursdays are usually fun days of no school for us, but maybe we can take Daddy on a Saturday sometime too.

Hymn-sing Sundays

I love hymns. And am often moved by the 2nd and 3rd verses of the popular hymns. The ones we sing less often. Welcome to hymn-sing Sundays.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure.

2. Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law's commands;
could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.

3. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.

4. While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in death,
when I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.

TOPLADY 1776

Growing up

This week two things have happened mothers of little boys everywhere dread. First, Sam officially eats more than me. There will be no more kids meals for this boy! Second, Sam noticed Princess Leia's outfit on Return of the Jedi. You know the one. I'm not going to show it here because it's too smutty. Here's how the conversation went: "Mom, did you know that when Princess Leia grabs the rope to swing over to the ship, you can sort of see her bottom?" Me: "Yeah, that's kind of inappropriate, huh." Sam: "Yeah, why do you think they did that?" Me: "I don't know, Sam." Sam: "OH! Maybe cause the bad guys wanted Luke to think that Leia had become a bad guy too!" I think that sounded like a pretty good explanation.

Josiah has now started saying "What's up, mom?" Then he goes on, "What's uuuppppppp? Whaaaat's uuuppppp?" Sound familiar? He's never seen the commercials, just comes naturally. I'm going to try to get it on video.

Addie's doing this:

And all kinds of funny tricks. She loves to go "Shhhh" and put her finger to her mouth, and she loves giving kisses, complete with sound effects.

Ella hasn't shocked us with any emotional growth spurts lately, but maybe that's because she's been acting 14 for a while now.

I keep begging for these kids to stop, but they won't listen. They get older every day.