An Attitude of Thanksgiving

Starting November 11th, the Good  Morning Girls devotional study will be on Thanksgiving - a simple two week study focusing our hearts on Gratitude. 

I'm looking forward to this for multiple reasons but I really love that it is only two weeks long :-)  I tend to do really well with other GMG studies . . .for two weeks . . .then I lose focus. !

I know that on Facebook and even on blogs people are doing the "Days of Thanksgiving"; listing all of the things they are thankful for each day.  I love it and have done it for the past several years but this year I decided to be Thankful in the quietness of my heart.  To make my "attitude of gratitude" personal and then to (hopefully) allow that spirit of Thanksgiving to be seen, not heard.  Then, to have be seen not just now but all year. 


 

A Giveaway from Elisha Press

I was recently asked to be part of a new book launch and giveaway!  Read below and make sure to link to the Elisha Press blog post to enter to win a copy of the book!

 

A bully, an icy creek, and a big giveaway from Elisha Press

Elisha Press, a publisher of Christian novels particularly suitable for homeschool families, is launching a new title this week. Julie: The Redemption Of The Backyard Bully is an all-new spinoff on The Reunion by Rachael McIntire. Both books are recommended as read-aloud material for the whole family. Solo readers of Julie should be twelve or older.

Fans of The Reunion may remember Julie Greene, the Gladstones' troublesome neighbor who almost drowned in the creek. This new novel - longer and illustrated - tells Julie's story before and after that incident, through the now-aging eyes of "Grandma" Greene. How can a sullen bully learn to be a selfless friend? How can a jealous young lady learn to be grateful and contented no matter what life brings? What does it mean to follow Jesus in the practical work and play of daily life? All this and more is waiting for you within the pages of _Julie_.

Author Rachael McIntire says that many elements of Julie are based on incidents from her own life. Growing up in the 1960's, she experienced firsthand the challenges of that tumultuous time. Though the sixties are now long gone, the principles of God remain the same eternally. It is her hope that some of these principles may penetrate young hearts and minds through the story of the backyard bully and her redemption.

 As part of their launch event, Elisha Press is giving away one autographed copy of "Julie" every day this week. By entering once, you'll have a chance to win each time. This is a 183-page softcover book with 19 black-and-white illustrations like the example shown here.

The sooner you enter the giveaway, the better chance you have to win - so don't wait! Click here and put in your email address to sign up.

Aye Matey!

This is the first year that the boys have picked out their own Costumes and, yes, I will admit that I think picking out costumes is fun for me too.  I find Halloween to be a fun holiday - my kids will ask me "What is Halloween for?" and I will always reply, "Free Candy!" .   I would like to decorate my hard a little bit but I think I need to play a little earlier for that :-/

Anyway, Nate told me he wanted to be a dragon and Josh said a ghost.  We went to Party City and looked at what they had.  Josh quickly changed his mind and wanted to be a Pirate (which I was glad because I didn't want to have to make a ghost costume HA).  We tried on the one dragon costume but it did not fit Nate at all.  Nate picked out another pirate costume but was a little disappointed.  The next day I went onto the website and found a dragon costume and, so I could be mother of the year, ordered it.  When it came, Nate was so excited, tried it on and seemed to like it but then . . .looked at me and said, "I really don't like this, I want to be a Pirate". Seriously?  Oh well!

So, here are my two Pirates.  :-)

Food Friday - Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie
adapted from Paula Deen

I love pumpkin - pumpkin bread, cookies, pancakes - anything pumpkin except, well Pumpkin pie is not my favorite!  Then I came across this recipe that include cream cheese and figured it was worth a try.  Wow.  This is now my go to pumpkin pie recipe without a doubt!  The pumpkin pie filling was more than what would fit into the pie shell so I just poured the extra into two small ramekins and it was SOOOO good that way too! 

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
1 piece pre-made pie dough
Whipped cream, for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-pie-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

 

Weekly Menu

Happy Halloween!!!!!

This week I tried to plan my lunches and also prep the stuff I needed. I also picked something for breakfast and snacks.  It wasn't a total success but it did help me have healthier stuff to eat.

What is on the plan for this coming week?

Friday -My husband has a doctor appointment at 4:00 "in town" that we all will go to (since he can't drive) so we will grab something after that mostly likely. 

Saturday - The boys and I will be going to a Harvest Party with the Homeschool Co-Op.  I'm supposed to take something for the potluck table . . .and so far I'm stumped.  At first I was thinking it should be totally kid friendly but the more I thought about it the more I realized that kids won't eat much - it's the parents that come for the food!!.  I might do my old standby of Taco Salad since I have taco meat in the freezer already :-)

Sunday - Chicken and Dumplings - I plan on prepping the chicken on Saturday and then dumping it all in the crock pot to cook during church; then transfer it to a pot to make the dumplings :-)  Yum!

Monday - Chicken Noodle Soup with the left overs from Sunday

Tuesday - Balsamic Pork Loin, Crash Potatoes and green beans (We did not have this last week)

Wednesday - Waffles and Sausage

Thursday - Ham and Potato Soup/w bread.  My mom cooked a ham last week when she was here so I boiled the bone to get all of the wonderful meat off of it; I'll use that meat to make the soup and, there was enough left that I threw some in the freezer for a meal for next week . . Scalloped Potatoes with Ham!

A month of Thanks

I'm an over thinker. Plains anadromous simple.  This hit me square in the eyes recently when Nate said to me that we needed a skeleton, some bats and just one witch hung up on the windows.  I looked up ideas of things to make and scoured some stores for things. . . . I made great plans.  He reminded me on Monday that we STILL needed things for Halloween after asking Three weeks ago!  While in the store Monday afternoon I saw a cute little "pin the smile on the skeleton" game and snatched it up,  do you have any idea how excited Nate was when he saw that cheap paper skeleton?  That's when it hit me that simple little things is all it takes too add something fun to house.  I plan on picking up a few more of those skeletons to put in the Halloween bin for next year,

With the start of November upon us, I wanted to find a couple simple things to help show thankfulness with our family.  The idea is from Women Living Well and is a thanksgiving journal. I love ideas that build year after year.  I want to talk about want "being thankful" is with the boys and the. Have them make a thankful turkey to add to our family thanksgiving book.

Because the boys, especially Nate, likes actual decorations, I thought that adding the things we are thankful for to the leaves to make a Thanksgiving banner would be fun too.  The post gives free printables too :-)

 How will you show thankfulness this month?  Feel free to share your ideas in the comments or links to blog posts as well. I'd love to share your ideas in future posts as well!

My New Best Friend

If you have read this blog at all, you know that I love lists, calendars and planning.  Well, I came across a blog called Magenta and Lime and was reading about 15 days to a Simpler Home.  Low and behold she talked about something called Google Calendars and it almost blew my mind. 

I'm able to plug in my daily chores, monthly chores and even the quarterly chores and have them self-populate so I only have to do it once.  I actually have several calendars including a blog calendar, financial calendar, Homeschool calendar and a monthly menu.  I can look at the entire month or bring it back to the day and then fill in the hourly schedule AND print it!  It is so awesome.  One of the main things that I love is the fact that I can have everything in one place as a master calendar then make my lists needed. 

I'm still "dissecting" Magenta and Lime's full concept on having a more simplified home but for now this calendar concept is fantastic!