Father's Day

I just love special days like Father's Day. We don't do big extravagant gifts, so there's no pressure to get just the right thing. I work with the girls leading up to the day on thinking about the person we are honoring(for birthdays, father's day, mothers day) and ways we can make them feel extra special. We have done lots of things in the past. One of my favorites is from last Father's day when I put together a little video of the girls talking to me about their dad and what they liked best about him. Looking back on that this year I see how much they've grown, and changed, and matured. It's amazing to me the smart things that come out of their mouths!
This year I had each of the kids use watercolors and paint on a sheet of cardstock. After they were dry I used a tie template that I made out of another sheet of cardstock and cut ties from each of their pages. We worked together to thank about what we wanted to say and settled on, "We Love Our Dad!" After that I had them help me string on the ties and we made a simple banner that I hung on Sunday morning while Scotty was in the shower.=)

Notice the homemade cinnamon rolls waiting to go in the oven. We have recently started making our own because I was about to have to take up stock in Pillsbury we were going through so many for Sunday morning breakfast. We make a variation of this recipe. Scotty actually makes them. He makes up two batches at a time then freezes them. They are OH so GOOD! We've been having cinnamon roles on Sunday mornings since Emma Claire was about 18 months old. She started asking for them every Saturday evening, and now it's just a tradition that we all enjoy. ANYWAY, back to Father's day!

I taught the kids a little song to sing to Scotty first thing in the morning. They love to sing, as most kids do, and it is so easy to make songs from tunes they already know and get them to remember them. We often use "Mary had a Little Lamb", "Happy Birthday", and "Are you Sleeping" for our songs, but you can do any song they are familiar with, then add in easy lyrics for a sweet way to bless someones heart. People LOVE to hear kids sing!=) Here are my littles singing to their dad. Notice brother starts to cry at the end! He got embarrassed, I guess, but it makes my heart melt that he reaches over to hold his sister's hand! OH SO SWEET!! Gotta love that sibling love!

 

After the song, we had our breakfast and the kids each took turns praying and thanking God for Scotty. It was such a special time. Addison simply said something like, "Thank you God for Father's Day and please help daddy to have a GOOD day!" Emma Claire thanked God that "daddy takes us to church and makes really good cinnamon rolls." Zaiah said "Dada Thank you" Then it was Olivia's turn and what came out of her so freely made me want to kiss my man right there on the spot and reach up to heaven with a PRAISE JEEESUS! She went on about what a great leader Scotty was to our family and how he always wants to point us in the way of Jesus. It was just beautiful and completely accurate. I think that God allowed Scotty that moment to prove that even in the chaos of five kids we are doing SOMETHING right and that HE(God) is getting glory! Love that precious girl.

After breakfast we had church, then went out to Scotty's favorite, Los Amigos for lunch. We came home, put the kids to bed, and rested the rest of the day. Such a great day.

Welcome To the Family

Since I've started blogging again and have gained several new readers(Hi! And Welcome!) I thought that I'd post a reintroduction of our little family. Feel free to ask any questions as I'm limited on time today.

First is Olivia, AKA Sister. You'll hear me refer to as Lulu or Lucy most of the time. Luc is 6.5 and just finished the first grade and is a reading WHIZ! She's a fantastic oldest child and dreams of one day becoming an Animal Rescuer. She recently lost her first tooth. It was such a big night in our house. Lulu and I both cried happy tears and I cried a few(ONLY A FEW) sad tears. I can't believe she's growing up so fast. I've always thought I'd like it as she got older because she's such a good helper to me, but now that she's actually getting older I want to freeze her in time so she'll always be my baby girl!

Next comes Emma Claire, AKA KK. Emma Claire is 4.5 and is the single most hysterical child you'll ever meet. She's VERY smart but lacks common sense which makes her a hoot to be around. She dreams of a day when she can eat whatever she wants whenever she wants. She has plans to become a "McDonalds Worker" someday. You can ask KK anything about the Bible and she can answer it.  She's amazingly beautiful and loves to sing really loud. KK is a typical middle child and always wants to do everything her older sister does. Emma Claire had a rough first start in life, but she's very strong and brave.

Then there's Addison Faith AKA Addi. You may hear me call Addison Fae. Most of the time she's Addi Fae to me. Fae will be three on the fourth of July! She's a little firecracker, that's for sure! Addi is the fair maiden in our house. She's sweet and darling and I could just sop her up with a biscuit. Sweet and SASSY. She can be sneaky and mean, but I'm hoping this is just a phase!!AND, this child could talk the bark off of trees. She NEVER stops talking. She's very articulate for her age and is as sharp as a tack. She knows how to get what she wants. I picture Addison being a mommy some day and if you were to ask her that's probably what she'd say too. She's often found "nursing" her babies and singing to Amelia. She's my blue eye baby girl!

Next is Isaiah. AKA, Brub, Brubby, Brubsy, Bubba, and just about any other variation of brother you can come up with. Isaiah is 16 months old. The only boy in the mix, Zaiah is our rough and tumble dig in the dirt child. He plows over his sisters and yells and throws things. We're working on the meaning of gentle right now. He LOVES his sisters though and is always trying to be right there with them wherever they go. He makes me laugh and I want him to always be a baby. He's so squishy and lovey. Isaiah was born with a condition called Congenital Esotropia, but had corrective surgery at 7 months. I can see him being a politician some day. He has a winning smile and great personality.

Last for now is Amelia Joy. AKA Mimi, Mia, and Minnie. Amelia is 5 weeks old. Mia is our first child born full term and was birthed at home with a midwife. It was a wonderful experience and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. She's been a sweet cuddle bug so far and I can't wait to see where she fits in to things as far as her brother and sisters go. Isaiah is very protective of her, so I'm thinking she's going to just adore him.

I guess I better include the MM and me. I'm married to the love of my life, my darling, Scotty Smittle. I most often call him MM or the manly man. He is strong, faithful, kind, caring, tender, loving, and HOT! He's a hard worker and a fantastic father. He works as a behavior therapist for UAMS KIDS First. He's also involved in the Arkansas Association for Infant Mental Health(I probably got that wrong), and a new program coming to Arkansas called Court Teams. Scotty also teaches psychology classes for a degree completion program called PACE at our Alma Mater, Central Baptist College.  He loves me even though I'm crazy and tired most of the time and he tells me he'd take care of me if I was ever mauled and disfigured...

I just recently turned 30, but have felt old since about the time that our third child came along. I love to sing and create things. I'm an organizing junkie and a perfectionist. Some day, when all my kids are grown and gone, I'd love to move to Africa and take care of little African orphans. I have a heart for raising our children to love God and love each other. I'm loud, rarely wear make-up, and like to wear long dresses so I don't have to shave my 90 foot long legs everyday.

I hope you'll enjoy your time here!

Let Dinner Make Itself!

Ahh, that wonderful thing you are likely to get 4 of at your wedding shower. The one, the only...CROCK POT!! I ended up take probably 5 crock pots back when Scotty and I got married and now I kind of wish I had kept at least a few more of them. I've only recently actually started using my crock pot on a regular basis, so I'm still somewhat of a crock pot novice, but I thought I'd share some ideas I have or have recently come across.

• If you haven't, you MUST go to crockpot365. You will find so many recipes there for using your crock pot. AND, the best part is that she's given the thoughts of her family on each recipe, so you know if it's a good one or not. I'm not going to share any recipes today, because I really am pretty new at using mine for an entire meal, but you'll get hundreds of recipes from this site. GO.
• Use the crock pot for any soup or chili that you'd like to make. This is also a must for beans that sit for the day.
• If you don't like to smell the yummy goodness of your meal all day take that puppy out to the garage to plug it in. It'll smell IT up instead of your house. I have done this a few times when I was pregnant and the smell of cooking beef made me queasy.
• Most anything that needs to cook for several hours anyway can be cooked in the crock pot. My new favorite is BBQ chicken. Just throw a whole (buttered)chicken in there with some bacon, brown sugar, and your choice of BBQ sauce and in a few hours(3-4 on high 7-8 on low) you have a GOOOD BBQ chicken that comes right off the bones!
• Roasts can be thrown in frozen with an onion(or in my case onion flakes) and a few other seasonings of your choice. Once the meat is almost ready throw in carrots and potatoes and you are good to go.
• Potatoes are GOOD cooked in the CP. Olive oil and seasoning then cook until tender.
• Cheese dip cooks great in the crock pot just throw all your stuff and stir as it melts.
• Be sure to use a kitchen thermometer so that you have your meat cooked well. It can be tricky telling when it's done. If you don't have one, get one. You can find a cheap one at WalMart. Just look in the cooking section.

Also, I had some questions about my freezer meal post, so I wanted to address those:

• Do I cook the extra chicken I throw in bags for fajitas? YES. So sorry I forgot that important step. Usually I get chicken on sale by the large pkg and will use the entire thing. What I don't have need for specific recipes I cook and bag for other meals. To cook you can either boil it or bake it. I have done both, and seem to think that baking is easier, and the chicken seems to have more flavor. The only downside is that you won't get any broth this way. SO, if you are going to need broth for one of your meals boil it, if not, bake on lined cookie sheet at 375 until golden brown. Once it's finished let it sit on the pan and soak in those yummy juices before you take it off and cut it up. Then you'll be sure to have some juicy yummy chicken. Either way you cook it be sure to include whatever seasoning you'd like. I usually just lightly salt and pepper mine.
• How long can I freeze my cooked ground beef? Here is a simple chart that will answer Best By: questions
• Tomato/vegetable sauces            6months
• Meatloaf                                      6month
• Cooked beef                                6months
• Soups and stews                          2-3months
• Poultry and meat cassroles         6months
• Poultry(cooked, no gravy)          3months
• Poultry(cooked w gravy/sauce)  5-6months
• Meatballs in sauce                      6months
• Dough(raw/homemade)             3-4weeks
• Muffins/bread(baked)                2-3months

A few other freezer food tips:

• Don't have much room in your freezer for tons of dishes? Line you casserole dish with heavy duty foil before freezing. Once frozen remove the foil-wrapped food, seal it with a large freezer bag, then return to freezer. When it's time to serve remove the foil-wrapped food from the bag, and place it back in the dish to thaw and bake. This also helps with cleanup!
• Make sure that ALL the air is out of freezer bags when storing food in them to freeze. Air in the bag will case freezer burn to your yummy fresh food, so be sure to suck out all the air!
• I talked about flash freezing in my previous post. Use this method for freezing any muffins or pancakes or any other baked treat. This will keep the food from sticking to each other so that you can pull one or two out at a time if you want. Need a good pancake recipe? I recently made this one from the Supermom Guide to Healthier Eating.
• The Mix:
  8 cups of whole wheat flour*
  2 cups of powdered milk**
  8 teaspoons of aluminum-free baking powder
  4 teaspoons of baking soda
  2 teaspoons of sea salt
  You can store all of this in a Rubbermaid container and put it in the fridge for when you are ready to make the pancakes OR you can go ahead and make them up and freeze them.
• In a mixing bowl combine:
  3cups pancake mix
  2 cups water
  2 eggs
  2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  Mix it up and make those pancakes on your griddle or skillet! Add a little cinnamon, or a teaspoon of vanilla to make these pancakes even yummier!! I usually add chocolate chips so that there is no need to add syrup. The kids will eat these things like they're cookies! If I'm making plain ones we'll top them with powdered sugar and fresh fruit. Yum-OOH!
• To flash freeze simply put whatever it is you're cooking in bulk on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about 1-2 hours. Usually I cook whatever needs to be flash frozen first so that it can freeze while I'm getting the other food ready. After it's been in the freezer long enough to get frozen put it into the container you're using with the other food. You'll LOVE this method on things like pancakes or rolls. It's just like buying them frozen at the grocery store.
• Find some good freezer cooking websites and cookbooks. I found a cute tiny little book with so much information in it at the homeschool convention and I've been using it each month since then! Getting more information will make you a better cook and being a better cook will save you TIME and MONEY!!
• Pretty much anything can be frozen. I buy bakery bread at a reduced price because the date is almost up and freeze it until I'm ready to use it. You can get bread for CHEAP this way! When you find it, stock up, freeze, and SAVE  time AND money!
• Perfect a good menu. This will save you time and money.
• Freeze veggies that are about to go bad. That will save you...(everybody)...TIME AND MONEY!!