Moments playing in the snow

Whew, we have a lot of snow! I decided to take the kids out today for a walk through our neighborhood. We have been at home for far too long and we needed a little outdoor adventure besides our thrilling excursion to the grocery store! They have been out everyday playing in it, but I just needed relief from my own four walls. So here is how our walk went....

This first picture is by the little park in our neighborhood, followed by a picture of the lake.

The two in the woods are in our backyard greenbelt, followed by two shots of Atira on our walk. Finally, Jordan having fun in the snow. We have a great walking path that comes down from another development, it is a nice smooth hill, perfect for sledding down. Which they did with enthusiasm! Funny, when we were walking I kept hear complaints of how tired their legs were. They seemed to feel better when I suggested that we skip the hill so they would not be too exhausted to make it home. Miraculous.

SO SNOWY moments

In our backyard greenbelt

Looking out our front door

Looking off of our front deck across the way


Incredible. Beautiful. Playful. Miraculous. *** Cold. Frustrating. Difficult. Interruption.
The snow has been incredible, on many levels. The kids have had the most fun these last couple of days. They get up early, work on their homeschool lessons and then take a break to meet the neighbor kids outside to play for a couple of hours. Come in for lunch, finish their school day and then back out to play. We have taken walks to enjoy the beauty and to save my sanity since I do not drive in it, I am stuck at home until this clears or Scott takes me out. We have had numerous plans cancelled due to the snow, which left me having a nice sized pity party for an entire day. The next day I was just cranky and a bit short tempered. I have now resigned myself to being a hermit until the spring thaw. We had plans coming up for this weekend as well, and as far as I can tell things will not be thawed out enough by then. I have had two outings since this winter storm has come our way. One was to the grocery store, whoopee! The other was for our cat, Shaggy. He is in the pet hospital right now with a bladder infection. Poor guy. Poorer wallet. However he is doing fine and will be home tomorrow, we can't wait to have him back. He is the most incredible cat and we miss him. They say by Tuesday we should hopefully see 40 degrees....perhaps things will start to thaw and continue that way for at least a little while. I think winter is here and I think this may just be a real winter this year. Not like the wimpy seasons we have had for, well, quite some time now. Doesn't someone want to come and visit me, that is chicken of driving in the snow??? I'm a mama on the edge over here! HELP!

Hebrew

CHANUKAH

 Most dictionaries define the word as meaning 'dedication', and this is very accurate. The Brit Chadashah (new testament) has Messiah going to this festival in John 10:22. The fact that we are commanded to follow the Messiah ought to be enough reason to observe it. The word comes from the Hebrew word chanuk. It is and was a common household word in a Hebrew home. It is the word a parent uses to describe the 'training' of a child, and is used in Proverbs 22:6:
"Train (chanuk) up a child in the way he should go and, when he is old, he will not depart from it."
The word literally means to 'make a habit'. To dedicate something scripturally is to place a consistent focus on something that stirs a never ending memory. When one discovers the actual events that resulted in the observance of Chanukah, it is easy to see why Yeshua always observed it.

One of my crockpot favs...

Ok, this is a total cheater recipe, but I love it!!

2 Jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce (mine is Trader Joe's ogranic tomato basil sauce)
1 pound of ground beef, cooked (sometimes I throw in some onion while cooking, but sometimes not!)
red wine - it probably works out to be 1/2-3/4 of a cup (that goes in the sauce, I mean!)

Cook ground beef, while cooking add the 2 jars of sacue to the crockpot, pour a bit of red wine in each jar (probably about 1/4 or a bit more in each), shake the jars to get the last bits of sauce and now pour that in to the crockpot. Add the ground beef when it has compelted cooking. Turn it on low and leave it alone all day! Serve over your favorite pasta shape.

I love the way the house smells when cooking this one, and it is just too easy!
Enjoy!

Icy cold moments

Whew, we had a nice blast of winter today! The kids are thrilled, have been out off and on all day long enjoying the snowy, icy driveway. The neighbor kids came out as well making the day that much more special. It looks like we will have a whole week of wintery white weather sticking around.

Love my crockpot!

OK, I did not take pictures, maybe next time. However I had to share my latest super fun thing I did with my crockpot! Ready for this one.....I baked potatoes in it! YUP!! I came home last night to hot baked potatoes, I cheated and opened a can of Stagg chili, heated up some veggies and dinner was done! So, how does one cook baked potatoes in a crockpot? Pretty much the same as your oven, just a whole lot longer! Scrub your potatoes, dry them well, wrap in foil and toss in crockpot. I stacked them even so I would have lefterovers as I like to chop them up and put them in an egg scramble later. Cover (don't add ANYTHING to the pot) set for low and let em cook for 8 hours or so. That's it. So cinchy.

A moment on the ice

ICE SKATING! Mama doesn't ice skate, so you won't see her out there....but here are my beautiful children! Oh, and Elizabeth of course, sporting her beautiful ice skating outfit and she is the only one in the family with her own skates. This was a very fun adventure, for the kids, they loved ice skating, seeing all their friends. So, what about mom? Oh, well, it is TOO COLD to just hang around in an ice rink, I was freezing, had the too cold runny nose thing happening, my hands were little blocks of ice and I was, quite honestly, getting a bit cranky about sitting there. Yes, I could have got out on the ice and moved my hiney. I love to roller skate, so why not? Well, I may love roller skating but I am not at all a fan of ice skating, those puppies can go any ole direction and I like all my limbs attached just as they are thank you. So, I sent my kids out there instead! It was a fun day but my favorite part was leaving and heading to Starbucks after for hot cocoas for Jordan and Atira and a nice lovely hot cup of tea for me!

So, my friend Denise decided she needed space to make her case against my beloved crockpot. You can find her "story" here. Being the friend that I am I felt it was only right that I at least let my readers, all seven of you, be able to see her side of the story. Enjoy.

11-01-06 / Bread (לחם lechem, Strong's #3899): The dough is placed on the table and it is kneaded by hitting it with the fists, rolling it back and forth, picking it up and turning it over, and... Kind of sounds like a fight doesn't it? Actually, the Hebrew noun lechem meaning "bread" comes from the verbal root lacham [str:3898], same Hebrew spelling as lechem) and means to 'fight.' The place called Bethlehem is actually two Hebrew words beyt [str:1004] meaning house and lechem meaning bread - house of bread. In Genesis 3:19 we read, In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. Could this be because we have to fight the ground to bring up the crop, fight the grain to remove the husk from the seeds, fight the seeds to turn them into flour and fight the dough to make the bread?

10-31-06 / Proverb (משל mashal, Strong's #4912): A ruler is someone or something that defines a standard of measure. This can be a stick with incremental lines on it for measuring or a person who defines the standard by which people live by. The Hebrew verb meaning 'to rule' is mashal and when used in the participle form it means a ruler, or one who rules. (Possibly the origin of our word marshal?) The noun form, also pronounced mashal is a parable, or proverb. The function of a parable or proverb is to define a standard of measure that one is to live by. For example, In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:6).

Crockpots rock

This post is dedicated to my friend, Denise, you know who you are, the one who gave away her crockpot because you thought it only made stew, ahem, loser, ('ew' with some sort of face, was your exact description I believe). Every year when the weather changes, my crockpot becomes my number one cooking appliance. I make soups and yes Denise, stews *YUM*, chicken and beef as well as wonderful bean dishes. I am currently borrowing two different cookbooks from the library filled with crockpot recipes. I am hoping to list one a week on here, that is if I find one that was especially delish and worth sharing! But first, before I share that first recipe, I would like to share with all of you my amazing Thanksgiving experience, thanks to my Crockpot! You know how crazy things get on Thanksgiving, just about when the turkey is done, the potatoes are boiling away, ready to be drained the stuffing needs to be pulled as well as getting the last items on the table. Well, this year, I decided I was going to make things run much smoother! So, what did I turn to? Oh yeah, my crockpot. Here is a breakdown of the day, got up in the morning, late by the way, got my stuffing going, made it up in the pan (and even made my own with day old challah I made, oh super yum, feeling like super thanksgiving woman about now) then dumped the whole lot in a crockpot, set it to low, done. While I was doing that my son was peeling potatoes for mashed potatoes, I finished up the job after the stuffing, set them to cooking meanwhile attending to a variety of little tasks. Potatoes are done, drained them, put them in the Kitchen Aid (oh yeah, another fav) with plenty of butter and rice milk, salt and pepper. They mash away. When done, where do they go? Oh yeah, my second crockpot! Turkey is done cooking in the roaster on the counter, oven is baking fresh rolls and Scott is now pulling the turkey to let it set. He carves, the grandmas make up the gravy and I take the lids off the crockpots, and of course finish setting out last minute items. Oh my, I have never had mashed potatoes as good as those that came out of that crockpot, not only that, but they were HOT! They almost tasted like twice baked, and if I do say so myself (which I am) that was some of the best stuffing! (But you add enough butter to anything....well you know) So, to sum it up, it was quite a wonderful experience using crockpots! I am thinking next year, more crockpots, one for gravy, one for turkey breasts, you think I can cook an apple pie in a crockpot? So, now for the recipe my family really enjoyed a couple of weeks ago from our crockpot:
BBQ Cranberry Chicken
4-6 chicken breasts, uncooked
1 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
16oz cranberry sauce (whole berry kind is best)
Put the chicken in the crockpot, mix the sauces pour over the chicken. Turn on low and cook all day, 6-8 hours. Done. I added wild rice to this mix and peas on the side. Such an all American dinner, it was so YUMMY!
Ok, as a bonus I will give you one more, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, you can have an instant repeat of last Thursday but WAY easier.
Chicken and Stuffin'
4-6 Chicken breasts (of course you could use turkey, I am allergic, so I don't)
1 Box stuffing (or make your own)
1 Can cream of something soup, perhaps chicken or mushroom whatever (I actually used leftover potato corn chowder I had in the fridge from the night before)
So, place the chicken in the crockpot, pour soup over top (not thinned if you are using canned) make up stuffing in a bowl (not cooking it) put it on top of the chicken, turn crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. That's it! DONE! yummy!! Great way to use up that leftover cranberry sauce!
So Denise, keep watching, I will work on adding more to these recipes...until I have converted you into a crockpot lover. Not a crockpot loser. MWAAAAAA MWAAAAA MWAAAAAA (evil laugh, in case you didn't know)

pretty little moments....

OH MY! This is one of my new favorite stores right now! It is called Vintage Violets...lovely little place. A wonderful mix of new and vintage items. What you see above is Atira trying on two ballerina outfits, she looks so lovely. It was such a fun experience as well, the owners, which are sisters, had just a ball watching Atira twirl around in these beautiful gowns. Customers stopped to watch as well and I was able to take these pictures of her to share! We spent time in another part of the store where the sisters brought hats for Atira to try on, it was such a fun and memorable afternoon! I can't wait to visit again!

Turkey Day Moments

This was a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a small group at our home this year, only 9 of us together. But it was so wonderful! We were able to sit around the table together, we used the china set our sweet friend and adopted grandma Char gave us and we were treated to wonderful stories of my grandparents in their youth! After dinner we enjoyed some games, Rat-a-tat Cat and Wii bowling. As well as a little friendly competition to see who was youngest on wii fit, I would brag more, but I won't since I didn't win and we will leave it at that.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Curt!

Watch out Dirty Harry, here comes Grandpa Curt and he is packing his new airsoft semi automatic! This was such a fun day! We got to go out for a wonderful lunch at one of our new favorite burger place "Blazing Onion" as well as getting all that family time together!

BAD DOGS!

Riddle: What do you get when you are gone all day, come home for a quick sec, leave again, forgetting to close the laundry room door on your way out?

Answer: BAD DOGS!!!!!!!


Oh yeah, and this is not one of those whimpy boxes of doggy treats, oh no, this one of those monster 10 pounders from Costco. You know what happens after two bad dogs are left alone to eat dog treats for 45 minutes (thankfully not longer). They lay around, panting like they ran a marathon because there is no room for their lungs to expand in their chest due to their extremely bloated bellies. They lived, however they were on doggy treat restriction for a whole week after that. Little piggies!

Zoo moments

WHOA! Are we seeing double? Two blondes? What is going on here!?!?!? We must be nuts, but we have Sasha for the weekend, it is so much fun to add to our little zoo...you would think things would feel more crowded but really it does not. It is just more fun. So here you see (from left to right)Gunner, Atira, Kayli, Scott with Shaggy in his lap, Jordan and Sasha. WHEW!

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!

Since last week our field trip was touring a newspaper plant, this week the kids made their own newspapers! This was a very fun project held at the homeschool center. They filled in their preprinted papers , some of the highlights include:
Jordans favorite food - he couldn't decide, he likes it all
Favorite book - Redwall series, he wrote a glowing review
Favorite movie - (betcha can't guess) Star Wars (duh)

Atira's highlights:
Favorite food - French Fries
What she wants to be when she grows up - A Vetrinarian
Favorite movie - American Girls Samantha

These papers are something I will keep forever! They are really neat and a wonderful "snapshot" of who they are in their lives right now. I should do one of these each year! Great idea, chances are it won't get done though. Oh well. I am thankful I have them for this year!

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10-29-06 / Ear (אוזן ozen, Strong's #241): This is the Hebrew word for the 'ear' (see Exodus 21:6). A Hebrew's speech is often strange to us so the translators 'fix' the text so that it can be more 'modern' but in some cases the original Hebrew is much more interesting. For instance, in Numbers 11:1 the KJV says "And when the people complained it displeased the LORD." The Hebrew literally reads "And the people were murmuring and it was bad in the ear of Yahweh." The verb related to this is azan [str:238] meaning 'to give an ear' or 'to hear.' Interestingly, the Hebrew word for a balance is mozen [str:3976], derived from ozen. Why would a balance be related to the Hebrew word for an 'ear?' Could the ancients have understood that a person's inner 'ear' included a mechanism for determining balance?

Tea party moments!

I am such a dork sometimes, it is truly astounding! I was invited to the lovliest tea party today, and it was so much fun! I was all prepared with my camera to capture some memories and these are the two shots I have. I remembered at the beginning of the party, took shots of the pretty table and our teacups, then safely tucked away my camera, went home and THEN remembered I wanted pictures of all the ladies that came! DRATS!! Oh well, perhaps I could attach names to the teacups and they could be our stand ins?

A very special moment

15 years ago was the last time I saw my Uncle Scott. 15 years ago was when my grandfather had a massive heart attack, and that is why I was able to see my Uncle. But on this day I saw both of them, together, healthy and happy. What a wonderful blessing! We had an afternoon filled with laughter and sharing. My kids were able to spend a little time with him and quickly found how fun and silly he is. He shared with us some of his adventures he has had in the past few years as well. I am so thankful for this time to get reacquainted with my family.