I hit enter too soon

So I was typing in the URL bar and I was typing Walden but I accidentally hit enter after typing Wald and this is the website that I got.

Have you every randomly found a website by mistyping?

Praying no one will have to use this

This family turned their tragedy into helping others.

Missing Child Flyer

Share the info with others and pray they will never have to use it.

Praying for a hedge of protection for all our children.

A Louism

I love that Lou is a thinker. It makes me smile that she is trying to think in Spanish. She is always asking me how to say something in Spanish. Today she taught me a new word:

Scene:
My and my tres m'hijitas driving to Subway after a morning of swimming with our friends. Along the way, Lou is complaining that her bathing suit is wet and that she is really hungry. I asked her to stop complaining and to be thankful that we got go swimming and have fun on this hot day and that we are able to get food whenever we want.

Lou asked me again where we were going and I reminded her "Subway".

Lou: "Mommy, what is Spanish for Subway?"

Me: "Ummmm, ummm, I don't know that one. I will have to look it up."

Lou: "I know what it is!"

Me: "You do!"

Lou: "It is Subwaya!" "You just add an "a" (short a) at the end."

I was impressed, surprised, and elated that her little thinking mind was creating a word that made me laugh so much that the tears were rolling down my cheeks. I did not want her to think I was laughing at her because I was not. But to hear her say it with such enthusiasm and confidence was great. I was excited for her even if Spanish for Subway is not Subwaya. Next time you see her, ask her what is the Spanish word for Subway.

It brought joy to my life....a simple word. It made me think about how powerful words can be...

Go hug your child and enjoy every moment

Have a box of tissues near by...

Dying wish granted

Arroz con Pollo

I made this for dinner tonight and the girls cleaned their plates. It is nice to find a grown dish that the kids will eat.

Arroz con Pollo

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breasts cut into thick strips
1 medium red onion; chopped
1 medium green pepper; chopped
1 medium red pepper; chopped
1 garlic clove; minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup uncooked rice
1 medium tomato; seeded & chopped
2 cups chicken broth


Directions:
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken 8 to 10 minutes or until brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Add onion, green pepper, red pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and turmeric. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add rice and tomatoes; stir until rice is lightly browned. Add broth; bring mixture to a boil, place chicken pieces on top of mixture. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. To serve, fluff with fork stirring in chicken pieces.

Each serving provides: 358 calories 35.8 g. protein 4.9 g. fat 40.3 g. carbohydrate 2.1 g. dietary fiber 74 mg. cholesterol 1155 mg. sodium

A Louism

We are all sleeping except for Lou who excited that we have to get up early to go to a friends house.

Lou: "Mommy, you said to make sure you are awake."
Me: "Thank you." Look at the clock, put my head back down.

Tap, tap, tap, on my back. I sit up. Lou climbs in the bed and puts her nose to mine.

Lou: (looking in my sleepy crossed eyes) "Mommy, I know what the opposite of fairy is!"

Me: (pulling my nose away from her nose so I can see straight)..."There is no opposite of fa..." before I could even finish saying it.

Lou: "YES, yes there is. The opposite of Fairy is...MERMAID!"

Daddy wakes up..."what did you say, Lou?"

Me: giggling...."I think you are right."

Lou: "Of course I am right!" "I am smart!"

So there you have it...a Louism: "The opposite of Fairy is Mermaid."

Responsibility Charts

I think I really need one of these for myself. We got two of them so Lou and Rae could help design their own responsibilities. I like the ease of use...no more forgetting to print off the sheet or buy more stickers, the girls like to put on their own magnets, and there are different responsibilities like brush your teeth, share, and keep your hands to yourself besides chores like make your bed, fed your pet, and take your dish to the sink.

We have given a monetary value to the magnets so the girls are learning that the more they accomplish the more they will earn. If they start to argue instead of share, we take magnets off the chart...ooooohhhhh the tears of despair I have heard. We are going to get these banks recommended by another friend. Lou has a heart for tithing already as she likes to put coins in her tithing can.

I am hoping to teach my girls to be positive about doing chores and being responsible for themselves. But most of all I want them to have love for the Lord and want to be obedient.

Things that make you stop and say Really?

So today I said something that made me think "Really, did I just say that?"

It is homeschool time and we are sitting on the floor reading a book about mountains and looking at the globe. When I was reading about Mount Everest, I wanted to show the girls where it was located...so off to Nepal we went thanks to our LeapFrog Globe. As we were looking at the countries that surround Nepal, Lou journeys up to Mongolia. She starts talking about the bad guys in the movie Mulan and that they are from Mongolia and that Mulan started and avalanche (b/c we learned about those today too) to get the bad guys from Mongolia. She takes her finger and traces a path from Mongolia throughout China saying this is where the bad guys (aka the Huns) went...and as she went on about this I was getting frustrated because she was not listening to me talk about Nepal. So I said "We are not studying about Mongolia, we are learning about Nepal!" Suddenly, I stopped, looked her eye to eye and thought to myself "she knows where Mongolia is and I am complaining because she is not listening to me talk about Nepal." So I laughed out loud when I realized how silly I was being and that she learns so much just by playing with this globe and relating the facts to other things she watches or reads. Hence, the reference to the Mulan movie. Rae will always tell you that her Mulan doll is from China (and not because it was made there) because that is where Mulan lives...it really sounds cute when she says it because it is more like "it is where MooWan wivs"

So I had to stop and give myself a "Really? Did you have to say something so stupid?"

I have another thing that made me say "Really??" today. I saw it at Walgreens in the baby section. I had to do a double take and then stand there and really think about it and wonder if I would need to use something like this. It was a litmus test to see how much alcohol is in the moms breast milk. It is called Milkscreen. Really? It is interesting, but not sure what kind of signal that sends mothers that may be have experience with excessive drinking. "Oh, I'll just measure how much alcohol is in my breast milk before I feed my baby...maybe that is s good thing... It was just one of those things that made me say "Really?" Obviously that product is not something I need, hence my perplexed thinking about it. I am not judging those that may need or want to use Milkscreen. I guess I was just ignorant of the need for a product like that.

If you have used this product, I would love to hear you comments on it?

Brilliant!

A good reason why you should not judge people by the way they look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-KiGva9dV4


Just in case you do not know the song is from Les Miserable. Brought tears to my eyes to see her living her dream.

Tuesday's Dinner

I know we are all always looking for a good inexpensive meal. I found one from BlissfullyDelish called Creamy Pesto & Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta. I call bow tie pasta farfalle and the girls call it butterfly pasta. It is a super easy recipe and to make it even easier I used leftover chicken from a rotisserie chicken.

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

* 1 box of bow tie pasta
* 2 T margarine or butter
* 1 lb of chicken shredded or cubed
* 1 can cream of chicken soup
* 1/2 c pesto sauce
* 1/2 c milk
* 1/2 c of shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta,drain
2. Heat butter in skillet and cook chicken ( or just skip this step and use a rotisserie chicken)
3. Add soup, pesto, cheese and milk to the chicken
4. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for about 5 minutes
5. Stir in pasta and heat through

I thought it needed a little salt, but J and the girls gobbled it up as is. It makes a large portion. There is plenty for dinner with a salad and a roll. Or just save it for leftover night. Let me know if you try it out.

Great Depression Cooking

With Clara...

This woman is so amazing. Just to think of all she has lived through and she is still smiling. I watched several of her videos and read many of the people's comments (on youtube). I am so saddened by the ignorance and stupidity of so many people. I think Clara is GREAT. She has a spunk about her that I like. She is like a living history book and I think it is important for young people to hear these stories. It makes me sad that I did not always sit down and listen to my Papa's stories because he had so many to offer. I only have one living grandparent left and she lives too far away to cook with and to sit and listen to her stories. When I do see her, we love to cook, can, and sew together. She has invaluable skills to share. She may tell the same stories over and over again, but when I get to bet in my 80s I hope to have stories to tell to the young ones in my life, so I just sit and enjoy that I have a grandma to tell me stories. I miss my Mema right now.

Well, here is a Grandma we can all enjoy Clara.

Let me know if you try any of the recipes. I think I smell a follow up blog coming up.

Lou describing a Fat lip

As most of you know, I homeschool my children. This is our first year and we use Sonlight curriculum. Well, a few weeks ago in Language Arts, the main focus was on the the short "a" sound. The sentence she had to read, trace, rewrite, and use to learn the parts of a sentence was: The lad had a fat lip. We discussed the word lad and she decided that the word boy was "much better". When I asked her which word described the lad's lip, she answered fat. But when I asked her how she thought he got a fat lip, her imagination took over...

and I quote from Lou:

"Someone was holding the boy's lip out and all these rocks were falling down and going ppfffhhhttt on his lip. When the rocks went ppppffffhhhttt on his lip, it cracked it open and made it bleed and get a bruise and then get fat."

Me: staring in disbelief, but laughing hysterically inside. "Oh, I thought he might have fallen down while playing."

Lou: looked at me like I was saying something odd.

We just moved on in the lesson: Which two words in the sentence rhyme?...

The imagination of Lou is something I am having a hard time keeping up with these days.

Lunch

I was sitting across the table from Lou and Rae as we were eating lunch. Princess P was in the high chair and I was feeding her. We were just having a normal conversation over a normal lunch. I quickly realized that things do not stay normal too long with children.

Rae was fighting off a sneeze because she was enjoying her salami and gouda on rolled bread (that is what she calls a roll). She kind of reminded me of Ratatouille experiencing the explosion of flavors...hmmm the boldness of the salami mixed with the buttery, melt in your mouth gouda, on a roll with a hard outer crispness and soft doughy inside...I think I am starting to drool. It is her favorite lunch. She was chewing away and her face was contorting as she fought the sneeze. The sneeze finally won. She stopped. Looked at me. Looked at her plate. Finished chewing. Then picked up the bits of sandwich that flew out of her mouth and onto her plate and ate them. She did this without giving it a second thought. She was not going to waste her favorite sandwich.

I did not, or should I say, could not say anything to her because I was erupting with laughter inside.

We went on eating and then Lou tells me:

"Mommy, I just burped and some chewed up food just came up into my throat and I had to swallow it back down."

How do you respond to that?

Lunch, never dull and sometimes a bit gross. But they are fed and happy!

Blessing to All.

Wordless Wednesday: Drooling for Doughnuts

From the mouth of babes...

The scene: All five of us in the car going home after Lou had been released from the hospital. Princess P had gone extended hours without nursing and was ready for some nursing time. Rae being the observant little person she is told us very emphatically.

Rae: "P needs some milk, now!" "When she talks like that she needs milk".

Daddy: "Where does milk come from?" Thinking that she is going to say cows.

Rae: "Milk comes from Mommy's boobies." said in a matter-of-fact tone that could not be denied.

Me: Giggling hysterically in the front seat without making a noise.

The conversation moved on, but I could not help but to wonder if her 4-year-old mind thinks there is some kind of Mom Farm that produces milk.

Moooo...

swapadvd

My hubby signed up for this dvd swapping site and at first I thought it was never going to work, but I was wrong. You just have to start with 10 dvds that you are tired of watching, post them on the site, and get credit to ask for dvds. It is a give and take program...not just a take. So we put our list up and the first day two of our dvds we asked for. We also got a couple, but right now I cannot remember what they are. We get netflix (because we don't have cable) and there are always dvds in and out of our house.

If you are frugal and do not want to spend money on dvds, trade for the ones you want. I am not sure if you are going to get that newest release, but you will find some recent movies on there. The kids movies are the hardest to find...because kids like to keep their movies and watch them over and over and over again. We have been fortunate enough to get rid of a few, but not many. The only thing you pay is shipping which is usually under $2.00. But it all comes around when you ask for a dvd and that person pays shipping to mail it to you.

If you are tired of your old dvds then swap them for other movies you want to watch.

Happy Movie Watching!

Bowling is expensive.

We took the girls bowling for the first time today and it was a lot of fun. We went to he Main Event because we wanted to make sure we were in smoke free facility. The scoring is all computerized and you can select the bumper guards to automatically come up for the children. No more separate lanes with the big tube things running down the gutter...or am I dating myself. It is a good thing we did not need two lanes. The cost of bowling has sky rocketed! It cost $29.00 an hour to bowl at the Main Event. It was a splurge and a lot of fun, but that is almost a kids ticket to Sea World and you can spend the entire day there.

Has bowling just gotten that expensive or is just this place? I really hope not because bowling is a lot of fun. It makes for great family fun. There was a point in the game that Lou was beating me, I think I needed the bumper guards too. Watching Rae's ball go down the lane was like watching sap drip from a tree in the middle of winter. We had to call the attendant to retrieve a ball that just stopped rolling. She did not know the difference and thought that it was great when he brought the ball back to her and she got to go again.

Bowling with young kids was fun. I do have to admit it was something I did not think we would be doing together as a family for a couple of years. I am glad we tried it out, despite the cost.

99 red ballons...

For those of you that don't remember or know that song.


Have you noticed that the grocery stores are not handing out free balloons any longer? Well, it is due to the helium shortage. Yes, as we are all worried about the price of gas and what alternative fuels we can use, but we are not giving a second thought to the helium shortage. Once of the biggest natural resources of helium is in Amarillo, Texas and it is estimated that will be depleted in a decade.

What is helium used for? How do we go through so much of it each year? Where do we get more?

Here is an interesting article I read.

I guess I will give it a second thought to buying balloons that are just going to get popped, swept away by the wind, or in one case blown out the front door by a gust of wind and stuck in a tree.

Facebook

Ok, ok...I am a late bloomer. I finally got a Facebook account and it has been totally addicting. It is neat, but I can see how I can get lost in just searching, reading, and lurking. I have had less than 24 hours and have connected with about 50 people already. I am looking to connecting with some old friends and keeping in better touch with my current friends. But, of course I have the Gift to Gab and I am frequently on the phone, emailing, instant messaging, blogging, and now shall I dare say it facebooking :)

See you on Facebook...

Happy New Year to All!