Food Friday

Hello!! Its Food Friday.....buuuut...for some reason, I cannot load pictures and it would be a really boring post if I just listed what we ate :( I am going to try my phone and see if I cant get it to work for me, but, if not, Im sure you're not too disappointed bc I was sick this week and didn't cook a whole lot anyways

Life

well life around here had been mostly out of doors for my children. As soon as they get done with breakfast they are ready to go outside. :-) I really don't mind, my house stays cleaner! Elsie had been really into coloring sticks with chalk and we now have a whole collection of them. The kids also, a couple of weekends ago wanted to make tie dye shirts so daddy bought the kit and we made some pretty sweet shirts! ;) Jude is completely done with kindergarten and is loving the more relaxed days. I am going to keep doing things over the summer, but I'll share that in another post . I just want to try and keep a pretty good routine down, and don't want him to forget what he has learned this year. Sorry if this post is all over the place, I am trying to blog from my phone, and I'm feeling horrible today (sinus infection, I think) I'm gonna end for today, pray for me if you think about it, see you for foooood Friday!!

what a character

Do you ever read something, or watch something and think- "what a character!"  I do this alot and one of my favorite books and movies is "To Kill a Mockingbird" I absolutely love the characters and think of it often when I am doing certain things. Atticus Finch is an iconic father figure and I think of his character alot when disciplining my kids and telling them stories.  I also really wanted to name my kids Atticus and Scout, but Thad wasn't to keen on those names ;)  My all-time favorite character from the book is Scout though, and I can see a lot of her in my Elsie

Scout HATES wearing dresses and Jem (her brother) teases her on her first day of school bc she has to wear one.  Elsie doesn't mind wearing dresses, but she wants to change into pants or shorts as soon as she can- Scout likes playing with the boys, Elsie very much likes playing with the boys and playing boy things, she really has never been interested in dolls or Barbies.  She likes Hotwheels and Legos :) She loves to hunt bugs with Jude and would play outside all day if I let her.  Elsie, on the other hand, isn't as stubborn as Scout, and her favorite color is pink :) But I think of Scouts character a lot when I think of how Els is and I have to say, I don't mind the comparison!

What character  ( in literature or in the movies) do you love?

Food Friday

Alright folks, I know that you may be sick of me talking about food, but here comes some more!  I am going to start doing weekly posts with specific themes to keep myself motivated to blog! The first one being......drum roll.....FOOD FRIDAYS!!   I will probably only be posting recipies here and there, mainly I am just going to kind of show you what we have been eating ( mainly the kids)  for that past week.  So, I am going to just jump right in :)

Shrimp Alfredo- Jude usually only eats the shrimp, Elsie, the noodles

Organic, green beans, and broccoli cooked in coconut oil, organic strawberries, and cornbread with unsalted REAL butter- this was our lunch for me , Jude and Elsie

This was Thatcher's :)

Dinner- Panini

Lunch- Organic Peanut butter-crunchy, Organic Broccoli, raisins

Baked chicken with Italian dressing, and parmesan cous-cous 

Veggie stir-fry cooked with coconut oil and unsalted real butter

I didnt give Thatcher the veggies, just bc of how they were cooked, so he got this- kiwi, organic zucchini squash steamed, and baked chicken cooked in red wine vinegar- turned our chicken pink- Elsie loved it! ;)

Here are a few things we have been snacking on

Thatcher's all time favorite snack- Blackberries!

Craisins and organic creamy p.butter

Thatcher and Elsie love this stuff- Jude, not so much, we also ALWAYS have the dried salted edmame and the wasabi peas

We have been trying really hard to eat clean throughout the week, but here are a couple weekend snacks that snuck in :)

so yummy!

Thad and I had this snack after pizza night with our movie :)

Well, there you have it, the first food friday- hopefully this will maybe just give you some ideas to incorporate into your own meals :) Have a great weekend!

goings on

Right at this moment, I am blogging ( or attempting to) and Jude is at the top of the stairs peeking around the corner and waving to Thatcher who is cracking up, Elsie is dressed in a cow costume ( that actually moos) and pretending she is a dinosaur?  Dinner is in the oven and laundry in the dryer, schooling is done for the day and I am ready to see hubby and just chill for the rest of the day :)  We had a fun weekend over here and it went something like this:

Friday Thad took the day off and took the kids and I out for pizza ( yes, I totally had a cheat WEEKEND!) Thad had to run errands and get ready for the youth camping trip that night.  You remember, hubby LOVES camping and backpacking

So, anyways, we got all the things ready for the trip and made sure we had all the permission slips and all that good stuff and we said goodbye to daddy for the night.  The kids and I went to the dollar store and got some goodies for the night- soup and popsicles :) We came home and had our food and went to bed right at 8 o' clock! I wasnt going to miss out on a whole evening to myself!! I hung out with my friend Ericka until about 9 then she headed off to work and I got some hot tea made, and climbed in bed and just vegged out! It was bliss :)

Here is a peak at my bedside table the next morning (ignore the retainers!!)

I never got around to my nook, but I really need to get back to reading- I have like 4 or 5 books on my goodreads.com currently reading list that I have only just started.  Sigh, I'm working on it!

The next morning (Saturday)  Elsie went with my Mother-in-law and sister-in-law to a girl scout outing- they went to see the movie Chimpanzee :) Jude had a day out with Papaw and I laid Thatcher down for a nap and got back in bed too!! It was wonderful!! haha, you see a running theme here of how going back to bed is such a great thing! :)  Anyways, Thad got home from his camping trip around noon and we just hung out with Thatcher and had lunch.  We got ready and headed to Thad's cousin Ashley's little boys birthday party ( Jude and Elsie stayed at Mamaw and Papaw's the whole day until we picked them up for the party.)  We had a great time getting to see everyone from that side of the family :) We stopped at the grocery for baby food and then headed home, put the kids to bed, and Thad and I followed not too far behind!  Sunday morning, up for church , and then relaxed for the day :) It was really a great weekend!  

We have been outside as much as possible- playing out in the backyard, riding bikes on the sidewalk, and heading out to the bike path

I have been really trying to cook more- I am spending so much on groceries trying to eat organic and just healthier in general, that if anything goes to waste i am so mad at myself!! We have been limiting ourselves to our Friday night pizza night for out to eat and thats it- most f the time ;) There are still occasions where we stop and grab something quick but, rarely anymore.  Here are a couple things I have made lately

Guacamole (which I could eat 24 hrs a day) We make this all the time at my mother- in-laws house- she is who I copied ;)

2 whole avocados mashed

cilantro-to taste- which for me is a whole bucket full ;)

lemon and lime juice-I used one whole lemon and about 5 squirts of lime juice

tomatoes- i used about a handful of grape tomatoes- because its what i had and they are sweeter

seasoning packet- one whole packet ( regular or mild flavor)

you can add onions and other veggies too, but I like mine simple

We used Garden of Eatin' organic Blue Corn Chips- YUM!!!

This is a crock-pot dish that my best friend told me about

Frozen chicken breast- I used about 4

1 whole jar of salsa

Pour both into the crock pot, turn on, once it is cooked, shred chicken with a fork

We put ours on the Smart Sense Tortillas- 13g of fiber/tortilla!!

with cheese, spinach and a little ranch

The kids didn't want tortillas, so they did spinach wraps with theirs

I LOVE to eat, but I DO NOT enjoy cooking, so these things i love b/c they are so simple, but super tasty!

Jude is 100% complete with all his courses except for Phonics, so we will probably be finished with Kindergarten by the beginning of May! :)  He had his Spring testing, and they said he is completely ready for 1st grade!! He is so excited and we are so proud of him!

Here is a few more little things we have been up to lately

Last, but most certainly not least, this is what I saw when I was walking out to my van Sunday

This cat has a sandwich bag on it's head!  I tried walking towards it, but it ran away hahahaha- that made my afternoon- crazy cat!!

Hope you are having a great week!!

Easter weekend

What a week! I feel like I run around all day chasing after kids, cleaning up messes, doing laundry, and all that everyday stuff, that, I, like people who work outside the home, look forward to the weekends! Well, I knew this weekend would be a busy one, but fun also, getting to spend time with family and good friends :)

Friday night I participated in the Good Friday Night of Worship our worship leader ( and my brother-in-law) put together.  I think this is the 3rd year our church has put this together and it has been such a blessing each year!  I am so proud of Steven for listening to the Lord and really putting something of quality together that can honor God on this important day.  Then Saturday, some of our ladies did a bake sale ( which I totally forgot about- I'm a horrible president!) so, I went to check in with them at around 8, grabbed some milk at the store and another egg coloring kit.  Got home to eat some breakfast ( maybe this is another reason I look forward to weekends- Thad cooks!!)  The kids wanted to color some more eggs-Thad had done some with the kids earlier in the week- so daddy boiled about 2 dozen more eggs and we colored all of them! 

 Then we decided to take a walk down to the bake sale and get some goodies!  I bought a can of pop ( I am still pop free!! I haven't had pop for about a month now) to make my beer bread and another carton of eggs, because we boiled all of ours :)  We got home, put little man to bed, and I put my beer bread in the oven and the kids rode their bikes for a little while.

We headed over to Steve and Mendy's house for dinner and an egg hunt.  Lots of good friends and all our family- so much fun!

We spent all day eating, playing, and enjoying spending time together.  We headed home about 7, made a pit stop at the dollar store for some pecans and wipes.  We got the kids' baths and put Thatcher to bed.  Jude and Elsie stayed up and made resurrection cookies- the link to where I found this recipe is here. It was so neat to see their reactions and an awesome way to make what Jesus did for us very real for the kids.  

After we sealed up the oven, the kids went to bed and so did we!! The alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. the next morning and we got the kids up and brought them to sunrise service in jammies :) We ended up getting home about 8:45, enough time to get the kids in their Easter outfits ( which I forgot to take pictures of!) and headed back to the church for sunday school and morning worship.  We came home, ate leftovers, and took naps!! At 3:30 my mom called and reminded us to head over to my aunts house for dinner and another egg hunt:)  We stuffed ourselves silly and the kids got MORE candy ( which they are still eating!) It was a beautiful day!

We had a wonderful weekend, and are so thankful for what Christ did on the cross! Praise the Lord! 

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

Spring Break

We are on Spring Break!!! Wooohooo!!  So enjoying the break!! I was tempted to have Jude work on stuff during break, but have decided the rest is needed and we are taking full advantage of no schoolwork!!  Elsie has finally learned to ride her bike- she just couldn't get pedaling down- now she has it and she has been riding her bike everyday! We have also been doing a lot of this sort of stuff:

LOVING Lego's

chalkboard drawing

playing with little Thatcher :)  I am so glad my kids get along pretty well ( most of the time! ) They have spats here and there, but nothing major, and they like the same things so they play well together :)

Also, Jude has joined karate and LOVES it!! Its so cute and funny to watch him try the moves ;)

The Sensei's are hilarious but they keep a tight ship and they kids aren't allowed to horseplay.  They have a routine ( Khata?) that they have to learn and master to move to the next belt.  They also have a Bible verse with each belt that they have to memorize- Jude has Phillipians 4:13 :) We wanted to try it out first- we have been going for about 2 months now- to see if Jude liked it and wanted to stick with it, he loves it so we are going to get our binder with each Khata on it and get his gi and belt.  

Well, we are thoroughly enjoying our break over here and hope everyone is having a great week also!!