I love this song - I've sung it many times and it is still one of my all time favorites.  I have to say that this isn't the best version but it is the only one I could find. 

Why do I love it so much?  Because the song is based on my all time favorite verses:

Romans 8:35-39

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”^[a]

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What are your favorite verses?

Weekly Menu - February 25th

Wow, February is almost done, can you believe it?  This year is flying by already!!  Last week was one of those weeks.  On Monday, for the first time in a very long time I just did not want to cook dinner.  No way no how.  My husband jumped at the chance to go grab Taco Bell :-)  Tuesday, I tried a meatball recipe that I'll share on Tuesday in my Pinterest Post along with one of our favorites, Fried Rice.  The rice made the meal - it was so good!!!  Then came the birthday pizza :-)  On Thursday we had an old favorite but it didn't turn out like it normally does so it was just ok.  Hoping for a better week!  Originally my husband I were going to go out to dinner on Friday but we got hit with a pretty big snow storm so instead, I pulled out a roast and made beef drips - partly because they cook all afternoon and make the house smell wonderful.  The perfect fit to a snow day!!! 

This is the plan for the coming week!

Saturday:  My husband's family has always celebrated February birthdays because there are so many of them (His great-grandma's birthday was in February, along with his grandma's, his sister's, his niece's and, of course, his) and today we are all gathering at the nursing home for cake in the afternoon.  With that said dinner will either be something out (we might do some shopping after the party) or the kids will have sandwiches when we get home and we'll order out after they go to bed.

Sunday: Last Sunday, my husband had to work so the boys and I just grabbed McDonald's on the way home from church meaning that I just moved the meal - Sweet and Sour Crockpot Pork, green beans, and rice

Monday:  My Father-in-law is coming over so I'm going to do a big crock-pot full of Chili and have homemade bread.

Tuesday: This is another carry over from last Monday when I did not want to cook -- Mini Sausage Quiches, Lemon-Blueberry Poppy Bread, and Fruit

Wednesday: Coconut Chicken, Onion Rings and Carrots.  (Honestly, if my husband goes to practice tonight, the kids and I will probably have a frozen pizza HA)

Thursday: Swedish Meatballs over egg noodles, Broccoli and yeast rolls.  This recipe is new and is supposed to be "light".  We'll see if it is as good as I've read it to be!

Friday: This is the "re-do" from last Friday's snow day.  My parents are coming for the day giving my husband and I a chance to go out for dinner without kids.  I think my parents are planning on treating the kids too.


Some of the sweet treats I'm planning for this week

Super Moist Low Fat Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate glaze
Apple Cranberry Crumble (I may substitute a can of cherry pie filling for the cranberries depending on price)
Strawberry Fluffy Trifle
Lemon Cake with Lemon Filling and Lemon Butter Frosting
Chocolate Mint Candies Cookies

** Now before you think I'm crazy, you need to understand that my husband enjoys sweet treats but gets bored.  So things like the cupcakes and cookies I can make and freeze in small batches and pull them out to have something different on a day. The trifle I can actually make as individual cups and just have them one night (then enjoy left over filling with fruit at lunch)   The crumble I will probably make early in the week (like on Sunday) and then the cake will the one that may get pushed to next week but it sounds so yummy!!)  I've just found that by Wednesday, he is bored of whatever we have OR we run out and I haven't planned for anything else.  This is something new I'm going to try - to actually plan for several items and see what happens.

And finally, I'm also trying to plan my lunches and some things to snack on a little better.  So my plan is to make up a bowl of Brushetta and a dish of Hot Spinach Dip (which I can re-heat throughout the week) to use with/as my lunch and also to grab a quick afternoon snack.

I'll let you know how my plan goes next week!

Food Friday - Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

Stuffed Cabbage is one of those odd things that I would have thought I did not like but since my husband loves cabbage, I have made it and, yes, I like it.  It's basically the same filling as what goes inside a stuffed pepper but . . well . .with cabbage :-)  Recently I came across this recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Casserole that sounded good; then a week later another blog I follow posted about how great it was so I decided to sneak it into our menu a few weeks ago. 

Stuffed Cabbage Casserole
adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes

This was a surprisingly great recipe despite my unintentional errors :-)  As I was putting it together I realized I had picked up two cans of diced tomatoes and did not have a can of Tomato Sauce.  Shoot, I didn't even have a can of tomato soup to throw in for a "thickener" or to add the sweetness you get from Sauce.  Instead I added about a teaspoon of sugar to off-set the acid in the tomatoes.  A couple of other things - I used ground pork only because it was more than a buck cheaper a package that week at the store and we loved it.  This recipe does call from a head and 1/2 of cabbage - I think that is too much.  I only used about 3/4 of the pre-cooked cabbage in the recipe.   The next time I make this (and I will again!) I will make it in a 8x8 pan - keeping all the ingredients the same but I'd probably use a little less cabbage (and yes, I would use two cans of diced tomatoes PLUS a can of tomato sauce )

Ingredients:

2 teaspoon olive oil, divided
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian Paprika (I used regular Paprika)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 head green cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes with juice
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
2 cups cooked brown or white rice
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x13 casserole dish.

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat; add ground beef and cook until it's browned and cooked through, breaking it apart as it cooks.  Remove ground beef and set aside. In the same pan, add 1 teaspoon olive oil, chopped onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent and starting to brown,a bout 5 minutes.  Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and paprika and cook about 2 minutes more.  Then add the diced tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, and ground beef.  Add water to the pan.  Simmer until it's hot and slightly thickened, about 15-20 minutes.

While it simmers, cut cabbage in half, cut out the core, and remove any wilted outer leaves; chop the cabbage coarsely into 1 inch pieces.  Heat remaining olive oil in a large frying pan or dutch oven; add the cabbage and cook over medium-high heat until the cabbage is wilted and about half cooked, turning it over several times so it all wilts and cooks.  Season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper. 

When the meat and tomato sauce mixture has cooked and thickened a bit, stir in the 2 cups of cooked rice and gently combine.  Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray and layer half the cabbage, half the meat mixture, remaining cabbage and remaining meat mixture.  Cover tightly with foil and bake 40 minutes or until the mixture is just starting to bubble on the edges.

Remove foil and sprinkle on cheese (if using).  Bake uncovered on additional 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to slightly brown.  Serve hot.



On the other blog I mentioned earlier - when she made it she put all of the cabbage on the bottom so that those in her family that did not like cabbage could easily push it aside and just eat the meat portion. 

There are a couple of things with this recipe I do want to point out - it is a lot of work with a lot of steps which create a lot of dishes.  It is one of those recipes that you need to plan ahead for and actually have everything ready before you begin :-)  Just  something I learned the first time I made it!
See that bread in the photo - check back next Friday for the GREAT recipe :-)

Happy Birthday to my Main Squeeze!

Wednesday was my husband's birthday!  We started celebrating his birthday on Saturday - we live 45 minutes from town so trying to do anything on the actual day is hard.  I had three ideas in my head to do with the family for Darryl's birthday but he ended up having to work on Saturday because he had an unplanned day off on Thursday due to finding water in our basement at 3:00 AM !  (no worries - it was our washer, and we got it all taken care of.)  Anyway. because of that, only one of the three options still worked.  The boys and I headed to town after lunch and ran a few errands (and we had a blast!) before meeting Darryl for dinner at our favorite Mexican place.  Then, are you ready?  We went to see Roller Derby!!!!!  Yep :-)  We went to see the Grand Raggidy's play and it was so much fun!

 I chose this activity for two reasons - 1) it is something Darryl and I haven't to do for awhile and 2)I knew it would be loud and "busy" so the boys would stay involved with it.  The boys LOVED it - Josh had a flag that was given to him when we got there and he waved that thing right into every one's face all over the place.  Plus every time people in the stands cheered, the boys would yell and clap and cheer too!  Darryl and I were just figuring out the rules and the first game ended.  By that point, the boys were pretty exhausted so we left and headed home.  Honestly, the boys were out cold before we pulled out of the parking lot!! 

The birthday boy - he had been up since 3:00 AM and I took this photo at about 7:00 . . . I think he was as tired as the boys. HA!

On his actually birthday, the 22nd, I started his day by leaving a surprise in his car.  I had a card along with a bag of his favorite treats (Fig Newtons, Truffles, and Peanut Butter Eggs) sitting in the front seat of his car. He loved it.  Every time he called home throughout the day, I would sing Happy Birthday too!  The boys got into the fun when I hung the birthday banner.  Josh kept saying "Happy Birthday Cake - Daddy, Mommy, Josh, Nate and China (the dog)" all day long.

This is not a great photo but the banner is hanging in the doorway and the gifts are on the table. 

Darryl got to pick his meal for tonight and this is what he picked:

Yep, Pizza.  We had Jet's Pizza, Breadsticks and Salad.  I was so glad he picked it because that meant I did not have to cook :-) 

After dinner, we opened gifts!!

Notice that two little boys are just as excited as the gift getter?  The boys had helped me pick out the gifts on Saturday so they knew what everything was plus they had decorated a card for their dad too and were SOOOOO excited about everything!!  We got him a CD he wanted, some special drill bits (They are Hex bits that are used to put a lot of things together like shelves and furniture) and well, some underwear HA!

Finally, we had the best part of the day - the cake!

 Darryl's favorite cake is Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.  (And yes, that is a huge jar candle on top of his cake because I had no birthday candles!!) I made the cake (yes from scratch) today. 

Josh and Nate LOVED the cake - Josh even said "I eat the carrots, mom" So, I figure if they get their veggies in a cake, so be it. 

It was really a fun day and the best part was seeing the boys get so excited and yell "Happy Birthday" when Darryl walked in the door. 

We still have one more piece to this birthday - my parents are supposed to come on Friday (depending on the weather!!!) and watch the kids for the day.  Darryl and I are going to go out to dinner for his birthday - I think I know where we are going but sometimes he changes his mind at the last minute so we'll see :-)

Happy birthday to the best husband EVER!!!

Too Cute Not To Toot

Lets start right off with an idea from Repeat Crafter Me, which I love.  I'm debating trying to get this made prior to my husband's birthday and have it be the gift from the boys but I think that might be stretching it (since his birthday is tomorrow . . .but I'm writing this post on Friday :-) ) I need to see how much the Fabric Markers are . . .

I've mentioned before that I'm looking for ideas for my kitchen as we WILL be finishing up the painting sometime soon and I really like these DIY letters from debbie do creations.

I look forward to being these little Leperchan Catchers with the boys in future years and the idea from East Coast Mommy is super cute and easy too!

Oopsey Daisy, one of my favorites, shares some great ideas for celebrating President's Day.  I guess I never really thought about doing anything for that particular holiday but after seeing her ideas, I think I will have to change my mind!

I know when you see this next idea from Debbie Does Creations, you might think I'm jumping the gun a tad but I would like to point out that Easter is not that far away :-)

This next idea comes from My Girlish Whims is for a great idea for a wedding guest"book".  Instead of the traditional book, she uses a framed piece and each guest signs a heart.  I love it because it is 12x12 which, eventually, could be slipped into a scrapbooking album also.  Obviously, this isn't something I plan to use but wanted to share it because it is just too cute!

I'm seriously only posting this idea from Worth Pinning for one reason.  Don't get me wrong, the whole post is cute - great V-day party set up BUT look at the Fruit Kabobs.  Seriously, who would have thought to do just blackberries and raspberries on a stick.  You will see these show up at a shower I'm co-hosting soon because it is just too classy NOT to do!

This is another idea from Repeat Crafter Me and it is "A Year of Dates".  I've seen this idea before and it didn't appeal to me because it seemed like it cost too much BUT the way that this blogger did it and explained it was great . I think that this is something I want to work toward putting together as a gift for my husband.  I think it might make a great anniversary gift :-)

That's it for this week and . . .sadly, there will not be a pinterest post this week again.  I'm not sure what happened other then I forgot to look at my list of things to do and therefore, did nothing HA!  I need to get creative again :-)

Homeschool Haven

So, I have to admit, I did not do well at thinking about what to do for Valentine's Day for my kids.  I shared our simple plans, HERE, thanks to Walmart LOL  It wasn't completely for lack of planning - I did search and search for some creative ideas on the weekend but was coming up blank.  Then I found stuff ON Valentine's Day.  Kinda hard to plan when the posts don't go up until the day off!  I'm posting them here, along with other ideas, so I can print them later and use them next year!

Confessions of a Homeschooler is a favorite of mine and she doesn't disappoint with a review of a unit she already had on her site (and no, I did not find this one until Valentine's Day either!)

Itsy Bitsy Learners has several Valentines Ideas using simple tools.  The first uses cookie cutters - what a great idea.  Also at the end of the post are links to a bunch of printables available in their shop for Valentines Day activities too!

Then, Itsy Bitsy Learners shares ideas for using heart measuring spoons/cups. 

Finally, this is not a Valentines idea but it is a Pre-school pack for the book The Gruffalo.  I was just recently introduced to this book and was surprised to see this pack pop-up!  It will be a great addition to my plans for preschool. 

This idea should technically go on the Too Cute post but I'm going to plug it in here since Valentine's is over and this really would be a great craft to do for next year.  The idea comes from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas.

This post from I Heart Crafty Things shares lots of Valentine's AND Learning activities. Including several books that fit right in with the holiday.  

I love this next teaching idea from Totally Tots  - it is all about Nursery Rhymes and my kids love those.  I think that this unit is something I Will work on soon with the boys instead of saving it for the fall.  If I don't - it will be the first extra unit we do in the fall.

Through the link above, I found a new teaching idea blog - it is listed on my blog as one of the teaching blogs I follow but I thought I would share it here too because just in my quick glance through some older posts, she has some awesome ideas for both preschool as well as older kids too.  Check out Spell Out Loud.

I may have shared this Unit of Study from Confessions of a Homeschooler before but, since I can't remember if I did, I'll share it again.  She has created a "Road Trip" unit and they are learning about all of the states.  She is so creative and yes, this is geared towards older kids but it is one of those units I plan on adding to my files for future use.  Some things are too good to pass up :-)

Steven Curtis Chapman - Long Way Home

I am a huge Steven Curtis Chapman fan and have been for almost as long as he has been making music.  I think he has an awesome voice, a fantastic testimony, and is an all around fantastic musician.  I heard this particular song on Saturday while I was out running errands with the boys before meeting Darryl for dinner.  I have never heard it before and just loved the upbeat melody and the great lesson within the words.  I heard it again on the way home from town and loved it just as much.  I think I need to get this CD :-) 

I hope you enjoy!