Valentine foamy hearts

Happy Valentine's day!

Today's recipe is a recipe for fun!  Some messy, foamy fun!

Aric didn't want to touch the pink foamy concoction at first, but here he finally decided to dip in!

Since he didn't want to touch it at first, here he is with a paint brush.  He foam painted a lot of hearts.  Then later, after they dried we cut them out and the boys heart attacked the house.

Here's what we used to make the foam paint.  A little glue, a little paint, and a lot of shaving cream.  Sorry, I don't have exact measurements, I just kind of threw it together.  I realized that the more shaving cream you add, the more foamy it will be.  I drew a bunch of hearts on red paper with a sharpie marker, and let Aric paint as much as he wanted.  I had planned on all 3 kids doing this activity, but Aaron wasn't interested and April was at school, so Aric painted a LOT of hearts.  He didn't mind though, he loved the activity.

Newborn faces

Oh how I wish I knew then what I know now!  When I first started out my role as a Mother almost 10 years ago, I thought I knew a lot, and was so ready for whatever came my way.  It's amazing how much MORE I know now, and how much more I still have to learn. 

First came little April.  I knew she was going to be a little girl right from the start.  She was the sweetest baby, toddler, preschooler, and she's still sweet (although with a little sass thrown in there).  We had 5 great years, just her and I (during the day), before any more siblings came into the picture.  I played with her a lot in her room and we had fun!  She is the little princess, and I'm so grateful to have her.


Second came little Aaron.  This guy is my little tank!  I remember him being heavy, and hard to hold for very long even at 2 months old.  Nothing April did ever prepared me for this little guy and how much of a handful he was and still is sometimes, but even from the beginning he had my heart wrapped around his finger.  This boy is so special to me, and perhaps the one I worry about the most because he has such a special place in my heart.  I am so grateful to have him.


Third came little Aric.  Look at those cheeks, they are just so adorable, and still are!  That is definitely one of his distinguishing features!  This little guy was my most patient baby.  He was so laid back and just went along with everything, never fussing a lot.  He is still that way, and has a pretty good attention span for a 2 year old.  This little guy was also my longest nursed baby.  He nursed until he was over 2 years old.  The other 2 nursed for a year.  Weaning him was hard, but I am so glad he loved it.  I love my Aric, and am so grateful to have him.


Fourth, and last, came little Alexander.  The kids don't seem to want to call him Alex for short, but I do sometimes.  This little guy is still little, and so so sweet.  He is 6 weeks old now, and I could just sit and admire his little newborn face all day long.  He definitely looks like the rest of the family, but I think he reminds me most of April.  I think he may even be getting her reddish hair, but we shall see.  His hair is definitely the thinnest of all 4 kids.  I love his baby smell, his tiny toes, his tiny kicking legs, and even his little cry.  I was sitting, holding him, looking at him, and thinking how perfect he is.  How perfect, and amazing that this little person was created by a loving Heavenly Father and came to our family.  I am so grateful to have him. 


Okay, so originally I was going to write about how I have changed as a Mother with each child, but this is what came out.  I like it better.  I liked remembering each baby as a newborn.  I didn't realize how each child would change me so much as a Mother, but they have.  Whether or not I am a good Mommy everyday is debatable, but I know that I've come a long way, and I love these guys more and more each day!

Tuesday Tell: Making house a home

I am a homemaker, who takes care of a house, kids, schedules, and life that comes with being home all day long. I'm not very good at this job. I have come very far, but I am still learning A LOT. Part of that comes from not learning a lot in my childhood, so I am constantly on the search for what I should be doing and how to get it all done and having TIME to do it. In fact the other day, I was sitting in the living room, trying to figure out how to get all the chores around the house done and how to keep the kids busy (and out of my hair) at the same time. This is when a little light bulb went on, "duh, put the kids to work, and have them work right along with you", I thought.  It's amazing how much I forget this (having them do more than just their daily requirements, my kids do do something :-)!  I shouldn't, but I do.  So, I gave each child a chore that fit their abilities, and it was beautiful.  Even little Aric, I gave him the dust vacuum and he did that for a while going around vacuuming all the little crumbs.  We got all the chores done, and they were actually asking for more.

Anyway, I found some inspiring ideas, and thoughts today that I wanted to share.  There are a few great blogs that devote some or all of their blogs to homemaking and teaching daughters (and sons) to fulfill their duties in the home.  So, I wanted to share some articles, and ideas, here they are:

1. The lost arts  -this is a great post about how so much of what homemakers used to know is being lost.  Knowing how to do things around the home is such an important skill/art that is fading away.
2. Raising homemakers -I just found this blog, and think it's great.  It has a lot of great and inspiring ideas.
3. Managers of their homes -I just may try this family schedule out!  I have tried a lot of schedules, but this one looks like it may work for us.  I'm thinking about using it next school year for when we are homeschooling again.  You can read about it in action here.
4. Chocolate on my cranium  -this Mom has 7 daughters, I think she does a beautiful job of sharing her "ways" of homemaking with us.  I have been inspired so many times by her, and now she even has a weekly teaching homemaking post. 

So, I even sat down and planned the menu for the whole month at the beginning of the month, something I've been trying to do for a while now.  I could plan a week or two, but could never get past that.  I finally figured out how it would work for me!  It worked really well for me to do all Monday's, or all Saturday's, or all Sunday's at once, rather than taking each day at a time.  I could think about what usually happens on those days and it was easier for me to figure out what meals would work best for those days, and just plug them into those days.  Anyway, I know that this isn't rocket science for some of you.  Most of you are probably better than I am at all this stuff, but this is an area that I've needed to work on for a while, and I just plain want to be BETTER at it.  As well as better planning and preparing (one of my goals this year).  I have a lot to learn especially since I have a daughter who needs and desires to know how to run a home.

Dinner tonight

We had some pretty yummy meat loaf tonight for dinner and thought I'd share that recipe today.  This is probably about the 4th time I've made this meat loaf, and it never dissappoints.  Even when most of the ingredients I used tonight weren't fresh (mostly dried, like onions, garlic, etc).  I also forgot that it only calls for 6-8 bacon slices, but I put the whole package of bacon (oops) so it took forever to cook because it was covered.  Still pretty good though.  This recipe is one we found at 8Legged.com.

Tako's 3-Meat Loaf

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
3 tbsp scallions, chopped
2 pounds meat loaf mix:  (1lb. ground chuck, 1lb. ground pork)
6-8 bacon slices
Prepared Meat Loaf Glaze
2 large eggs
2 tbsp chives, chopped
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp spicy red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup half & half (or whole milk)
3/4 cup fresh, toasted breadcrumbs (or piece of toast broken up is what I usually do)

Meat loaf glaze:

1/2 cup ketchup
4 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp white vinegar

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Melt butter in saute pan over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, celery, red and green bell peppers, and scallions, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Allow cooling before adding to mix.  (Or, if you are like me and have less of these ingredients on hand you can just used dried onions, garlic, skip the saute and just throw the red and green bell pepers, and leave out the scallions, ha ha).  2.  Combine eggs, chives, mustard, salt, pepper, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, cumin, basil, oregano, and half & half.  Add egg mixture to meat in a large bowl along with breadcrumbs and sauteed veggies.  Mix with fingers until evenly blended and not sticking to bowl.  (If sticky, add a little more liquid.)
3.  Place meat mix on a shallow, foil-lined baking pan, and forma  loaf approximately 16 inches long, 5 inches wide and 1.5 inches high.  Brush on half of glaze (reserve rest for dipping or additional glazing during last 15 minutes) and add bacon strips, crosswise, tucking ends beneath the loaf.
4.  Bake loaf until internal temp. reaches 160 degrees F (about 40 minutes).  Drain off fat with a baster as necessary.  Cool at least 10 minutes.  Serve with extra glaze dipping sauce.

One of my goals it to get my recipes more organized, so to help me do that I have decided to start posting recipes that I like the most here on my blog more often.  Look forward to a recipe on Monday's if I can keep up with it!

Spring is coming!

Happy Thursday!

Image: Paul Brentnall / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I debated about my simple pleasure today, my sweat pants, my heater, my love for Target (because I really want to go today), hmmm....no.  I noticed today as I was outside going from house to car, and car to house again (because it's too cold outside, which is why I listed sweat pants and heater), that there are birds chirping again!  It is such a beautiful sound that I didn't really realize I missed until today.  As we were driving we also saw flocks of birds flying all over the place.  Aaron asked why there are so many birds suddenly and I said that Spring is coming!  We are all very excited for Spring (and the warmth it will bring).  I find simple pleasure in hearing a bird's song, and can't wait to hear more as spring comes around.

I'm linking this up with Chocolate on my Cranium's simple pleasure post today, hop over there to see what Cocoa's and other's simple pleasure's are. 

Wordless Wednesday

Image: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's February now, the month of love!

What's on my mind today? Homeschool and the K12 program

We went for a long drive this morning to the skating rink for the preschool skating time (which my boys loved), and this is what I thought about for the whole 30+ minute drive:  What to do for school next school year?  I will have 2 school age children next year, so this has actually been on my mind for a few months.  Aaron will be Kindergarten age, and so I am trying to decide what to do with him.  And, for that matter April also.  She will be in 5th grade next year, and wants to come back home.  I am not entirely sure Aaron is ready for a full school day and structured setting.  I want so much to homeschool both, but I question myself.  Can I do it again?  The answer I keep getting is yes, and that I should.  I truly miss homeschooling, it really is something I enjoy, and brings me great joy.  But, I think I lost confidence in myself a little, and really need some of the break that school gives (although not entirely), and so I worry a little bit about doing it again, but as I pray about it and think about it I feel reassured in a lot of ways.

At this point, I am definitely leaning more towards homeschooling again, but I have to have a plan, and more tools and resources.  I am looking into doing the K12 program, which is an online public school, and feeling really good about it.  Basically, it's public school at home, which I am not too sure about, but they provide all the materials you need and some direction.  I think that's a lot of what I lacked in our homeschool was direction, and motivation.  I think having this might help.  We even went to one of the K12 events that they had before Christmas to get a feel of what kinds of opportunities are available and get more information.  It was at the ice skating rink,and it was pretty awesome.  The kids all brought gingerbread houses that they made.  They had a room where the kids could put all their houses on display, and everyone ooohed and aaahed at each other's houses.  Then they had a few hours to ice skate, April LOVED this.  She went to school late this day because I wanted to make sure to take her so she could see too.  It was a fun opportunity








Even Aric made his own gingerbread tree, which he was very proud of.
What's on your mind today?