"I'll be bored if I live that long"

Chris and I have been attending a dvd series at church titled "Shepherding a Child's Heart" and learning ways  to teach our children to know God and glorify him forever and to reach our childs heart at a young age. Tedd Tripp the author of this series spends a lot of time looking at the verses Ephesians 6: 1-3

 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

So Chris and I have spent a lot of time reviewing these verses with Joshua and when he is not obeying reminding him that by not obeying he is putting himself outside of God's promise. The other day when we were reviewing this with him he told us that he didn't want to live to be as old as Nanny (Chris' great-grandmother who is 95) because he would be bored if he lived that long and be tired of having birthdays. Really??? How do you respond to that....hahaha....kids say some crazy stuff!

the loving machine

You might be wondering by the title of this post if this is appropriate to read....haha. Well actually this is another awesome thing Joshua has said to me. The other day Joshua came up to me and told me "on Valentines Day I am going to be the loving machine." After trying not to laugh out loud I asked him what this means and he told me "the loving machine gives lots of hugs to his friends and lots of hugs and kisses to his family." Of course that makes sense :)

My Big Boy

Joshua is really growing up - can't believe he will be 5 this year. He says some pretty funny stuff and I wish I remembered to write it all down but I am trying to get it on this blog so I can have it for years to come. So a few days ago he had a gymnastics class - this was the first in a new set of classes. He has moved up to a new class this time so they are doing more challenging activities. As I watched his class I could see he was a little timid of some of the things the instructor was having them do. When he came out I asked him how he liked the class and he said "some of that stuff is a little dangerous mom."

What else does Joshua enjoy doing? Anything Chris likes. So this time of year he is all about duck hunting he has his own duck call and loves to go out on boat rides with Chris to look for ducks. Now he has never actually been hunting but he loves it...haha.

Lapbooking

I recently was told about the idea of lapbooking. Having no idea what this was I started searching online (and of course found some great ideas on Pinterest) to see what it was all about. I love the idea! This week when Joshua and I went to the library for story-time we picked out several books on penguins. After reading through the books a couple of times we decided to do a little more research on penguins, print out some pictures, and start a lapbook. Joshua was totally into this idea because we were learning about animals (his favorite thing) and creating this cool book that he could keep and look at. It was a bit of work for mom at his age but we had the best time working on it together. As he gets older he will be able to work more independently on these. He has already spent a lot of time looking at and "reading" it by himself. I see a lot more lapbooks in our future!

Here are the pics:

So proud of his lapbook! He helped color, cut and glue.

He also picked out some of the information he wanted included in the lapbook like the predators of penguins and what penguins ate.

We loved adding pockets, flip cards, etc. to give some cool dimension to the lapbook.

I really wish I could be diligent in posting on my blog. I started this as a way to track what is going on in my life and yet I keep forgetting to write anything down on the blog. I am excited to say after months of saying I was going to lose this baby weight (which included about 6 weeks of basically no exercise because I broke my pinky toe) I lost 2 pounds last week! Now I am getting my husband on board with being more careful what we eat, how much we eat, and getting active. I am trying to menu plan around 2 weeks at a time and make one trip to Sam's club and Wal-mart to buy most of the food I need and then make a return trip the second week to whatever store is having a good sale. So here are the plans for the next 2 weeks:

Monday 14th: my mother's day date night :) so this will be out to eat
Tuesday 15th: Grilled Chicken & Grilled Veggies
Wednesday 16th: Burgers, Sweet Potato & Carrot Fries, Garbanzo and veggie salad
Thursday 17th: Stuffed Peppers & Salad
Friday 18th & Saturday 19th: We are camping these two nights with friends so I am only preparing dinner one night which will probably be hot dogs, green beans, and baked beans (not the healthiest but we are camping)
Sunday 20th: Baked Flounder, Rice, Salad
Monday 21st: Jambalaya & Salad
Tuesday 22nd: Deer Roast, Mashed Cauliflower, Salad

Wednesday 23rd: Honey & Teriyaki Chicken, Rice, Veggies
Thursday 24th: Leftovers
Friday 25th: Grilled Chicken Salad
Saturday 26th: We will be at a wedding this night

my newest project

So I had the pleasure recently of crocheting a baby blanket for Chris' Aunt Amy's baby girl. Little baby Lexi is arriving sometime today (she may already be here) so it looks like I finished the blanket just in time (I just gave it to the new mom and dad on Tuesday). Here are a few pics. The pattern is called a shell pattern and the blanket is a really great pattern to do because border and the rest of the blanket are all one piece. Looking forward to the next one :)

Planning, losing weight, this isn't very fun

As usual I haven't posted in forever and its Monday and I am sitting staring at the Kroger ad waiting for something to jump off the page and say "fix me for dinner." With the holidays over and the holiday pounds still here I am desperately trying to find things to cook that are delicious, healthy, easy and in the budget. This is how this week is going so far....

Monday - Baked Salmon, Asparagus, Salad
Tuesday - Taco Salad
Wednesday - Lemon & Garlic Chicken, Brown Rice, Stir Fry Veggies
Thursday - Venison in the Crockpot, Mashed Potatoes (yes I know this one isn't healthy but its a kid favorite and a mommy favorite too!), steamed broccoli

Friday - this will be a little bit of a skip the healthy eating meal - homemade pizza (cause I have all the ingredients already) and a Salad
Saturday - still thinking on this one.....

How do some of you moms plan for the month? I cannot think of meals to plan for one week.

its been awhile...

I haven't posted in forever! We have been dealing with sickness and are finally feeling better so I am trying to plan my menu. Its really hard sometimes to stay healthy, cook different things, and cook something I really want to eat. Tonight is going to be an easy night (not so healthy) because I have to go the grocery store before dinner.

Monday - Ham Steak , Mac 'n Cheese, Salad
Tuesday - Taco Soup
Wednesday - Baked Flounder, Rice, Stir Fry Veggies
Thursday - Meatloaf, Mashed Cauliflower, Green Beans
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Lemon Garlic Chicken, Parsley Potatoes, Salad
Sunday - Baked Spaghetti, Salad

Hopefully this will leave some leftovers for next Monday as well!

such a blessing

Thursday night has become such a blessing to me. Why? Because of a beautiful group of women who I have been studying the bible with in such an open, honest, supportive and encouraging environment. The group has  helped to keep me accountable to reading the word and for that I am thankful. We started in James, read Colossians, and are now reading Galatians. Tonight we are going to be looking at Galatians 3 and I am really looking forward to it. In this chapter I am reminded that it is by faith that I am saved and that I receive the promises that God has for me not by works in the Law. I am beyond thankful for this when I think of how much I struggle each day and how flawed I am. However, because of Jesus Christ and my faith in him I will receive all that God has promised and I am able to receive his blessings. Praise the Lord!

What's for Dinner?

Yesterday I did my usual menu planning and grocery shopping but I didn't have to cook last night. Chris and I went to The Melting Pot for our anniversary. It was a really fun experience and the food was delicious! However, now its back to the real world and here is my menu for the rest of the week.

Tuesday - Cubed Steak (cooked in the crock pot), mashed potatoes, green beans - I am taking dinner to a family tonight and this is always one of my favorites because it is really yummy and even my very picky Joshua likes it :)
Wednesday - Baked Flounder (frozen from Sam's Club - very good and easy to fix), short grain brown rice, stir fry veggies (another easy fix and very good - frozen bag from Kroger)
Thursday - Loaded Baked Potato Soup (Cooking Light recipe) and Salad
Friday - Hamburgers, Crock Pot Mac 'n Cheese (this stuff is awesome - probably not so healthy but delicious), and salad
Saturday - Black Bean & Salsa Chicken (this recipe makes a ton so you have lots of leftovers)

Chris likes to have leftovers for lunches so I am sure there will be plenty this week and Sunday will be a leftover day as well. Joshua told me this morning his favorite foods were carrots and chocolate cake so I guess I will have to fit that in somewhere!

Menu time again

I was at my parents for a visit so my usual Monday shopping trip is being done today so here is the menu for the rest of the week.

Wed - Shrimp Stir Fry with Short Grain Brown Rice
Thurs - Baked Salmon, Sweet Potatoes, Salad
Friday - Chicken Enchilada Crockpot Soup

Saturday - Deer Tenderloin with Short Grain Brown Rice, Salad

Joshua-ism

bacuter = computer
libing room = living room
ear muffins = ear muffs
"I have geese in the river in my soul" = "I have peace like a river in my soul"

and a special one for our close friends....
miss Lybia = baby Olivia

just a Wednesday afternoon

So after a 10 minute ordeal to get upstairs and in the bed for his nap because in his words, "I need to take a break cause I am soooo tired," Joshua finally lays down. We read a story and then I covered him with his blanket and proceeded to the door to turn out the light and leave. As I am leaving Joshua says, "I am just going to sleep with my eyes wide open." Really? I don't even know how to respond to that....

Joshua making me laugh again

So we are shopping in Sam's club and the boys are sitting in the front of the shopping cart together right next to one another. Joshua is being silly and making Samuel laugh when Samuel starts babbling, "ba ba ba ba." So I say to Joshua, "He's saying your name!" Joshua gets really excited and says, "he is! he is saying my name" and is smiling from ear to ear. He then gets a very serious look turns to Samuel and says, "actually my name is Joshua."

Quest to Healthier Eating

A constant struggle for us it seems but we are working on eating healthier. I am working on sticking with my plan of doing weekly meal plans on Sunday and grocery shopping on Monday. Thanks to a good friend of mine I am also working on using wholesome natural ingredients in my cooking and staying away from processed foods, artificial anything, etc.

Here is the menu for this week:

Monday - Baked Salmon, Parsley Potatoes, Salad

Tuesday - Deer Tenderloin Steaks, Stir Fry Veggies, Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday - Apricot Chicken, Brown Rice, Salad

Thursday - Beef and Veggie Stir Fry, Brown Rice

Friday - Slow Cooker Black Bean and Salsa Chicken