Keeping the Sabbath

Have no fear, this is not some super conservative post but rather, just something that has been on my mind and that my husband and I have conducted some great conversations concerning.

Depending on how old you are, you may remember a day when everything was closed on Sundays.  It was considered a day of rest - for everyone.  There are still areas - generally small towns - where they are basically shut down on Sunday but if you have a big box store or any major restaurants, you know that they are open pretty much 365 days a year. 

I can't remember what recent holiday occurred where I began thinking about people who work on those holidays.  I realized that if no one shopped on those days, the stores would not have a reason to be open.  Since that time, I have tried to avoid shopping on holidays that the rest of us enjoy as an "off" day.  That was step one of my plan. 

A few months later, my husband and I were talking about never seeming to have a day to do nothing which brought our conversation to what I did as a kid growing up in a pastor's home.  As I explained that we didn't do "anything" - it wasn't a work day - I was also able to explain how church was not a burden when you didn't feel that you also had another 3-4 hours of work to do when you got home.  Light bulbs started going off above both of our heads.  We made a verbal and mental decision to finish all of our work by Saturday - everything from grocery shopping to mowing the grass - so that on Sunday, we could enjoy church, come home, relax, and do what we "felt" like doing (I.e. watching TV, reading, working on a hobby, going for a walk as a family etc).  It feels so good to have a day of "rest"; a day of no pressure.  We realized that this goes a step further because, once again, if people took a Sunday as a day of rest, all of those places that are open, wouldn't have any business and those workers would also not have to work on Sunday. 

Now, please understand, I know that I am one person - but this is something I am working on personally.  Even this past weekend, my original plan was to go to the store on Sunday after getting home from being out of town.  As Darryl and I talked about it, he made a good point . . he said "I guess it all comes down to how important it is to you to not do those things on a Sunday as to whether we go to the store tonight (Sat) or tomorrow".  Instantly, I knew, I did NOT want to go on Sunday - so we made a quick run to the store after we got home.  I plan to continue to stick by this guideline I'm creating for myself and to teach my children the importance of taking a day to relax.

Trust me, I'm sure there will be days that we run to the store, get gas, or grab something to eat on a Sunday - but it will be something that we truly think through and say "do I really need to do this today". 

Do you have something that challenges you to make a change? Feel free to share!

Too Cute Not To Toot!

With summer (maybe) starting to lead towards fall and cooler weather, I'm hoping to get the boys to the zoo at least once (we have three good zoo's within driving distance of us . .. ) so when I saw this scavenger hunt from Blue Skies Ahead, I wanted to share it with all of you.

Again, once the weather cools off, I prefer to make our pizza for lunch on Fridays instead of buying frozen every week.  I had a pizza crust recipe I used last year but I wasn't totally happy with it so when I saw this recipe from Chocolate, Chocolate and More I wanted to make sure and save it here.  She also includes a link for a homemade pizza sauce which I'm also looking to find as well (well, to find a GOOD one - I've tried a few and they were not our style)

I know this is an odd thing to put here but I came across a blog called Sand and Sisal and among her posts are many ideas for incorporating the "sea" into your home.  I've mentioned before that down the road, when I can redo my living room, I want it to reflect our love of the beach so I'm saving this blog to check out all of her ideas!

   I ran out of time this week to seach for more ideas :-)  

Summer Fun -Week 9

So this week is  a totally different post.  Yes, I still had some summer fun and so did my kids - we were just not in the same city! The kids enjoyed lots of fun with Papa and Nana the entire week while my husband and I enjoyed some time without kids.  Here's how our week went down.

Sunday - We went to church :-)  For lunch we enjoyed some snacks and then did nothing.  We watched the Olympics, played on our computers and may or may not have taken a nap HA.  We also enjoyed a cool living room!  My mother-in-law has loaned us a second window A/C  unit and we are putting it to good use.  It feels so nice to NOT be hot!

Before I continue with the rest of the week, let me share this tidbit.  Normally when my kids go away for a few days, I schedule myself to the minute trying to get tons and tons of work done.  Well, the last two times I did this, I would get to the end of the "kidless" days and think, "Next time, I am going to plan some things I WANT to do - not just work".  As you read through my "summer fun", that is what I tried to do.  I did have goals in several areas such as cleaning, room switch project, scrapbooking and homeschooling so I try to break that stuff up and do some each day so I could actually enjoy my time without kids :-)

Monday -  Today I worked on cleaning out some toys and then cleaning the living room.  I also spent some time in the afternoon learning how to use my Cricut.  (A friend of mine is selling it to me but, because she doesn't use it - she has let me keep it at my house and eventually I'll pay her ;-) ).  For dinner, we had Burgers and corn on the cob and it was all HOT!! :-)

Tuesday - I finished up the living room and Nate's room today.  I would like to say I scrapbooked but I didn't, instead I just enjoyed doing nothing in the afternoon!!  For dinner, we tried out a new BBQ place in town and it was so good!

Wednesday - Today, I cleaned up the dining room and Josh's room then I cleaned my desk and worked on just making everything nice and neat . . .. and finally I relaxed :-)  Tonight we made homemade pizza. 

Thursday - Well, today I didn't do much :-)  I took my husband to work at 3:30 AM so we would only have one car in town later in the day.  For that reason, I laid back down after the munchkin arrived and slept for awhile.  Once I got up, I just didn't do a lot until the munchkin left early (at 2:00) and then I headed to town to meet my husband because we went out to dinner for our anniversary.  I had picked up a Groupon a few weeks ago for an upscale Italian place called Noto's.  We have always wanted to go but, I'm not going to lie, it is very pricey.  This groupon made it more in line with what we are ok with spending :-)  Dinner was fabulous!!! 

Friday - I took the munchkin and we went grocery shopping then I just tried to stay cool the rest of the day :-(  Wow.  it was hot (so thankful again for a cool living room!).  My husband brought home Taco's from a favorite Mexican place before we headed to our pastor's house for an evening of fellowship and dessert. 

That's it :-)  I do have August activities planned and am looking forward to . . wait for it . .wait for it . .. temps in the 70's this week YES!! :-)

Just a Few Blog Posts (and Blogs) you may enjoy

Normally, I like to post "The things my kids say" on Sunday because it is light and fun plus it allows me to remember all of those fun things so I can put them in the scrapbook.  Well, they've been gone all week, as you know, so I have just missed those little voices instead!  The good news is that throughout this week, I've run across some blogs and/or blog posts that I really want to share with you so the timing is perfect.

One of the tasks that I accomplished this week was cleaning out and organizing the toys.  You may find this hard to believe but my kids really don't have that many toys.  We live in a small house so I think sometimes it looks that way but neither of their toys boxes are full and I have one 9 cube storage unit that holds all the rest of their books and cars/trucks/matchbox cars.  Other then a few big items like a kitchen and a tool bench well, that's it.  So for now, this blog post isn't something I would use but I love the concept as my kids get older.  It's a great way to get them to keep what they love instead of forcing them to give away toys.  The article comes from a blog called A Slob Comes Clean

The next blog is called 5 Dinners in 1 Hour.  A Friend of mine tried it and loved it (she actually then managed to win a 6 month subscription!)  I love the concept, printed the sample menus and am  considering buying the 3 month program in order to "learn" it and in the process make our family favorites fit this style of prep/cooking.

Just click on the "button" and it should take you to the site.

I'll be sharing more about this later but for now, it is just this blog post that shares some Bible Study books to use with your kids.  The post comes from Inspired to Action.

Finally, if you have boys, check out The MOB Society (Mothers of Boys) .  I've read through a few articles recently - it really is a great blog. 

Enjoy your new reading material :- )

Weekly Menu!

First up!!  Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband :-)  Today is THE day and it has been a fabulous 11 years !! WHOO WHOO!!! 

What a great week :-)  After surviving the hottest July in a million years (or close to it) we actually were given a second window a/c unit to use for August :-)  It's in, the blanket is up to close off part of the house and we are loving our cool living room.  In May, I told my husband I didn't want to put any A/C units in this summer to save on our energy bill.  We held out until the third week of June when it hit 90+ and the humidity kicked in - I gave in and said we could put one in our bedroom so we could sleep better.  I can honestly say that had I had this A/C until before - it would have gone in the window several weeks ago.  Why?  When I made that statement back in May, I did not expect a record hot summer; I expected it to be "normal" and figured we could survive.  Now, next week, I need to suck it up a little and only run the air all day when it is going to be either upper 80's and humid OR 90+ otherwise we'll be paying dearly :-) 

This week my husband and I enjoyed some great meals - both made at home and the opportunity to go out to dinner which was great.  Dinner time with two toddlers is a bit hectic most days so being able to just enjoy our food is something that we don't take for granted.  Now, the kids are back, and it's time to use up some things in the freezer that keep getting pushed to the bottom (the joys of a chest freezer!).  Here's our plan for this coming week:

Saturday: The kids return so we are going to have Tacos and Rice because I know they both love this meal.

Sunday: Marinated Pork Chops, Mac and Cheese, a fresh veggie (I'll wait until I get to the store and check sales/displays for best choice);  Then for our evening "snack" we'll have crescent wrapped little sausages and fresh fruit with dip.

Monday: Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad

Tuesday: Chili Dogs, homemade french fries

Wednesday: Mac and Cheese and left over chili dogs (it's just the boys and I tonight)

Thursday: Bacon Ranch Quich, muffins, Fried Potatoes

Friday: I'm going scrapbooking for the evening and actually plan to pick up either Culvers or Rally's for dinner; I'll let my husband decide what he wants to "cook" once it gets closer :-)

Food Friday - Fruit Cobbler

Fruit Cobbler
adapted from Teri Dubois (a friend)

Doesn't that make your mouth water?  This is my all time favorite cobbler recipe and it comes from a friend that I taught with for years.  Her parents had raspberries bushes so she would fill her freezer with raspberries and in the middle of winter bring in a HUGE pan of fresh raspberry cobbler (It was the size of about 4 9x13 pans and by the end of the day - every drop was gone!)  I happened to have some blueberries and raspberries left over from the trip to Ohio last weekend and they were looking a little rough after traveling and living in a cooler for a few days so I decided to throw this together for dessert.  Honestly, because I loved the raspberry cobbler so much, I've never used this with any other fruit but the mixed berries were awesome :-)  I think I need to buy a bunch of berries while they are on sale, freeze them, and make this again on a day we get a snowstorm.

Mix:

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 cups fresh fruit

Mix in a 2-quart saucepan.  Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil and stir one minute.  Pour into in ungreased 2-quart casserole or baking dish.

Mix:

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening  (this time when I made it - I did not have shortening so I used 6 Tablespoons of real butter and it was SOOO good!)
½ cup milk

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut shortening into the mixture until it resembles fine crumbs.  Stir in milk.  Drop by spoonfuls onto hot fruit mixture.  Bake at 400 degrees until topping is golden brown (25-30 minutes)

**When using raspberries, double the sugar and cornstarch

A Trip to Ohio

This past weekend, we had a mini-family reunion at my brother's house in Ohio.  My oldest brother, Kel, and his family have been missionaries in Brazil for 15-16 years.  They are returning to the field on August 13th so we worked to get as many of us together for one last time before they leave.  This time they will be gone for two years. 

If you know me at all, you will laugh at this first part.  The plan was to leave on Thursday after my husband got home from work.  I figured I could have the truck loaded and we would be on the road by 4:30.  Well, I am SO organized that I was 100% disorganized this time around :-/  I don't know if it was the fact that we just returned from camping or the heat or if I really thought I was wonder woman but I did not start doing anything until Thursday morning.  The boys and I took the dog to the kennel, waited for my in-laws to drop off their cat (we are cat sitting), and went to the grocery store all before lunch.  After lunch, I had to bake cupcakes, make some other food, do laundry, back, make sure the cats all had food/water, load the truck, and take shower due to sweating like mad.  Well, we walked out the door at 5:00 and left the house a mess (I had planned to clean too!!), stopped and grabbed dinner to eat in the truck and finally made it really on the road at about 5:30.  The trip was great - it is an easy 4 hour drive and other then a semi-truck blowing a tire just as I came up along side of him (gave us all a heart attack!) we had a fun trip, arriving at my brothers around 9:30.

Here are photos and the story from our trip.

 Thursday evening we all stayed up and chatted until about 10:00 - then we put the boys to bed.  They were so cute!  Darryl and I stayed up with my brother and sister-in-law until about 12:30 and when we walked into our room, we found these two all snuggled up together.  We took our own A/C unit (my brother said we might want to HA) so our room was nice and cool which was great!

 On Friday morning, the boys were up by 8:00 and it really was cute hearing them wake up and talk to each other.  My sister-in-law, Deb, made breakfast pizza (it was soooo good) and had fresh fruit and yogurt for breakfast.  We then headed over to my niece's new apartment.  As her parents go back to the field, she is staying here in the states and has a place with a room mate while she starts taking classes.  My parents brought her down some things for her place and grandpa did a thorough check of the whole place, giving her lots of pointers along the way.  While there, I think Josh thought it was his apartment because he gave the grand tour to Nana and then to his dad - walking them through every room and showing them all of the stuff in each room.  It was so cute. 

 Have you ever tried the Veggie Sticks/Chips?  The boys loved them and kept feeding them to Grandpa.  I have to admit, they are a great snack - low carb, low salt and they are made from veggies. 

 After we got back from seeing the apartment, my niece and her new husband as well as another brother and his family all arrived too.  The photo above is of my niece's new dog - talk about a great dog!  She was near perfect the whole day.

 Now that everyone had arrived, we started working on lunch.  A cookout was planned so all of the boys (of all sizes) were put to work husking corn.  Josh and Nate love to help so they carried in all of the corn, piece by piece, to my sister-in-law.  Darryl and the three older boys, well, they just had fun making jokes like, "This piece has an "Ear Infection" because it had a bad spot, or "We were walking but the cornfield but it got too "eary""  Yes, lots of CORNY jokes HA!  Lunch was served - hot dogs, hamburgs, and brats along with various dips and salads, corn on the cob and Brazilian Beans and Rice. 

 Apparently my new nephew-in-law was a little sleepy :-)

 Even though it was a warm day, sitting under the big shade tree and getting a fantastic breeze made for a very comfortable afternoon.  The photo above shows two of my three brothers.  The third brother, Jeff, and his family were unable to come and we missed them tons!

 My niece Alicia delivering dessert.  :-)

 My kids had so much fun.  This house is set way back from the road with a huge yard so they were pretty free to do what they wanted.  Not to mention that there were always people both inside and outside so someone was always watching them.  They loved riding their bikes all around the yard and playing with their new little cars that Papa and Nana got them.

 Later that afternoon, we all loaded up and headed to a local "watering hole" to swim.  It's actually a huge pond that was dug out when they were putting in the free way - they used the dirt from the farm land and in return, left behind these really great ponds for the farmers to use.  Many of them have boat houses or docks that have been added; this one include a beach/rocky area too. 

 I realize that this looks like the dock is really close to shore and people are diving into shallow water but this area is actually 12 feet deep all around the dock. 

 Two of my sister-in-laws, Deb and Lynnette. 

 Two of my nephews chasing down the third one who did NOT want to get in the water (I don't blame him - I didn't get in either  . .. I'm more of a pool kinda girl HA)

 Naturally my boys had a blast.  Nana hung out with them on the shore and they would wade out to their knees with her before running back in to higher ground.

 My sister-in-law Lynnette finally gave in and decided she really wanted to swim so she went in dressed in her clothes.  She is kinda crazy sometimes:-)

 Here sit the three anti-sun guys :-)  My husband is not a sun and beach kind of guy - he prefers the shade.  My dad has had skin cancer so the shade is his friend and I think my nephew would much rather hang out here then anywhere else.

 We returned back to the house and just hung out and watched the Olympics.  Around 7;30, we did finally order pizza and ate some dinner before my kids crashed!  Josh was actually asking to go to be at 6:45 but decided he'd like to have pizza first but then we took them back to get PJ's on and asked if they wanted to say good night to everyone and they said "NO! we want to go to sleep" and sleep they did!

We had planned to have a campfire that evening and we did get outside but about 5 minutes later we were all racing for cover as a huge rain storm came through.  Instead we hung out inside, played a game and watched the Olympics.

I did not take any photos on Saturday - I had really wanted to get some family/group shots but sometimes things just don't work.  Instead we had breakfast (my brother made Pancakes and Sausage) and then it was time for my parents to load up - they took our boys home with them.  Then we loaded up as did my other brother.  Once we were all loaded, came the good byes.  It's always hard to say good bye to my brother and sister-in-law as they return to the field because we know we won't see them for 2 years.  This time they are taking only one of their four kids back with them, my nephew Micah, as the rest of the kids have graduated from high school.  We will miss them alot while they are gone!

Our trip home was uneventful but we did laugh because . . .it was a four hour drive and we stopped 3 times HA!  First we stopped for gas, then about an hour later we stopped for lunch, and then about an hour later we stopped for coffee (and maybe a donut but I'll never tell!!).  Our lunch was awesome.  You may remember that back when we vacationed in Toledo, we ate at Tony Packo's and really loved it.  It just so happened that I saw a Tony Packo's sign on one of those food signs before an exit so we jumped off and went there to eat.  It was just as good this time.  We did try deep fried pickles - ummmm not a fan at all.  The rest of the food was great though! 

That was our trip in a nutshell :-)