The Fisher Family Blog

The world of… Cub Scouts

2012-02-04T19:16:00.001-06:00

Before Christmas we had a big Christmas party for the scouts. They had pizza and made shrinky dink ornaments (Remember shrinky dinks????) and just ran around the school cafeteria and had a fun time.

Pack 912

In January the Pack attended a Pine Wood Derby. Jacob and his dad and grandfather worked hard on his derby car. If you don’t know, it comes as a solid block of pine wood, so it has to be carved out into a car shape and then sanded, painted, decorated, wheels attached etc. And it all has to be under a certain weight. The guys spent a lot of time on it and I was impressed with the end result.

Jacob and his best friend Hunter watching the races at the Pine Wood Derby. I wasn’t there because Bella had dance so there aren’t a lot of pictures

The cub scouts go on at least five “Go See It” field trips each year. Our Tigers have been to a high school basket ball game, the library, the fire station, Panera Bread and most recently a tour of KSBJ. Will has some great pictures on his phone of the pack at KSBJ, really hilarious to see them all piled into the producer’s booth. I will post them next time Will synch’s his phone to the lap top.

Tonight Jacob, his dad and his grandpa are all at the Aeros hockey game. Jacob received free tickets as a reward for selling over $600 worth of popcorn – big thanks to those who supported our pack! He gets to go out on the ice, shoot a goal, meet the players etc.

(And if you shop at Kroger you will want to know about our current fundraiser… it’s COUPONS )

In last week’s committee meeting I agreed to be assistant Cubmaster next year, in preparation to be Cubmaster the year after that! I am really excited about this opportunity to reach boys and their families, teaching life skills, solid values and faith in God. If you can’t tell – we LOVE scouting! Our upcoming Scouting events include a Blue and Gold banquet in February, Camping in March, Scout Fair in April, and end of year party in May.

The world of … Ballet

2012-02-04T18:43:00.001-06:00

The world of ballet is tenuous in the Fisher household. There are Saturdays when Anabel cannot wait to go. There are Saturdays when she does not want to go. At all. Ever. She has recently been telling me she would rather play sports, I asked her which one and she said hockey. Which is fine. We do believe that they need to finish what they begin though (and what we have paid for!) but after her recital in May she is free to drop dance or go on with it as she chooses.

Here are pictures from the winter recital at Town Center park.

And here is a picture we took one Saturday on our way to class.

The world of…Tang Soo Do

2012-02-04T17:06:00.001-06:00

First of all it’s pronounced more or less like Taun Sue Dough. I asked Jacob one time what it translated as and he looked at me like, DER, and said “The Karate School”, which makes total sense now because the name of his school is, The Karate School. Yes, well OK then.

December 10, 2011 Jacob tested for his green belt. It is amazing to see how much he has progressed since he started.

I love the discipline and self control the kids demonstrate. It is a wonder to see a room of over a hundred kids, all sitting silently with their eyes on their instructor. I think this must be the same joy the Lord has when we are focused on His Will.

Kicks.

Forms.

At the last tournament Jacob tried to break boards and did not. The orange belt test included breaking and this time he did it! It was on the other side of the room, so I didn’t get a clear shot of him. But essentially two instructors hold the board between them and they have to break it with the side of their hand. You know you hate to see your kid try something and fail, but I feel this experience really made him realize that hard work pays off. We were really proud of him, it takes guts to slam your hand into a board (And yes, they are real boards and it does hurt!)

Walking back to his spot afterwards, I was surprised he really maintained his composure, because I knew on the inside he was beaming with pride.

A few weeks after the test, there was a ceremony where he was presented with his orange belt.

The biggest difference from yellow to orange would be that now he does sparring, which means actually practicing all the kicks, punches and blocks (everyone wearing protective gear of course). The school teaches that with each level comes more responsibility, I have seen Jacob turn into a kid that avoids conflict in a healthy way. I even hear him counsel his sister “just because someone does something to you, doesn’t mean you can hit back”.

Mennonite Girls Can Cook

2011-12-11T18:27:00.001-06:00

I love the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog, best recipes ever. They also sometimes blog thoughts and spiritual insights. This one was too good not to share. If you are busy busy busy this season then this post is for you!

http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2011/12/bread-for-journey.html

I hope you are as blessed in reading it as I was!

Hill Country Thanksgiving Part III

2011-12-11T17:50:00.001-06:00

Another Thanksgiving Post? Well, I have a new camera – what can I say????

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we took a tour of the LBJ house. You can’t take pictures inside, but I have a few of the outside.

President LBJ would often meet with dignitaries and important military folks right here under these oak trees.

This was his daughter’s car, parked right outside under the car port.

The funny thing is, that it really is just a regular old 1960’s kind of house. It isn’t really *fancy* but when you sit out under the trees by the river you can really feel why the Johnson’s loved it here so much and considered it their home.

That afternoon Will and I took the kids to hike up Enchanted Rock. The day had grown a little overcast and windy, it was very cold once we were up on top.

(And yeah - I’m probably the only person who carries a purse hiking! But I wanted something to carry the new camera in, It came with a really big bulky bag and I wanted something I could carry across me if I needed my hands free to wrangle kids.)

Honestly I was a little nervous in some parts because the kids were just running up the trail and it had rained so the rock was very slick. I just had visions of Bella rolling down! (Naturally she said she thought that would be fun!)

This next one hasn’t been retouched in any way – it was just a strange day weather wise with patches of sun and also large patches of dark gray clouds. It was neat to see it from so high up.

Here is Jacob celebrating when we made it to the top. All the others at the top smiled because he was so exuberant.

On Sunday Will and his Dad took the kids fishing. I was busy packing so I didn’t get out there to take pictures but here are the guys as they were headed back in.

I don’t think I can emphasize enough what a great time Lady had.

We packed up and visited one more winery before heading home. William and Chris is our new favorite winery, their process is all handcrafted, small batch, just as things were done a hundred years ago. It is a very unpretentious winery that is putting out some excellent wines.

We had a simply wonderful time on our trip. A great time with food and family in a simple, lovely setting.

To top it all off our favorite Austin restaurant, Trudy’s, now has a location out by the “Y” as you come in 290 towards Austin, so we also stopped in for lunch on the way home. The only thing better than a Hill Country Thanksgiving – is a Hill Country Thanksgiving + Great wine + QUESO!

Hill Country Thanksgiving Part II

2011-12-11T17:05:00.001-06:00

In the early mornings and evenings on the ranch the deer come out to play.

These are cattle from a special herd maintained on the ranch, descendants from those that President LBJ raised. They are kept the same size/color standards as they were in 1960’s. Which wasn’t that long ago but is still kind of neat. These are Herefords I think they said, very shaggy and orange.

One downside to the ranch, no wi-fi and very poor cell phone reception. We found a nearby park, which had wi-fi. So all the grown ups were happy to be able to check email and Facebook while the kids played.

This trip was a grand adventure for Lady. She was so glad to get to come with us and she quickly commandeered one of the living room chairs as her own.

We went “into town” for lunch, and some shopping. Shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving in Fredericksburg is nuts! (But fun)

Naturally Will and I had a different sort of trip than what we did when we went by ourselves back in March. But it was really fun to share our favorites spots with family.

We did manage a few wineries!

These were taken around sunset.

I liked the lights in the trees.

This picture below I finally got what I was after, with the glass in focus and the lights in the trees blurring out behind. It took a few tries though! I sort of think this one could be in a magazine or something, I was pleased with how it came out.

Hill Country Thanksgiving Part I

2011-12-06T08:46:00.001-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving this year in the Hill Country. Our family stayed in a guesthouse on the LBJ Ranch, in Stonewall, TX, near Fredericksburg.

Our house was nestled under live oaks between the main “Texas Whitehouse” (President LBJ’s home) on the banks of the Pedernales River.

Early morning sun peaking through the branches, fields and river all misty.

The Pedernales.

Behind the house is the airstrip and the hanger for the jet that was Airforce One when LBJ was president.

Also behind the house were fields with goats, sheet, and cattle. Of course we went exploring.

We found a turtle.

Since it was Thanksgiving Day there were no tours of the main house, and we had our run of the place. We checked out the pool area.

Ran around in the fields

Swang in the swings.

Threw stuff into the river.

Played football. (This picture below is one of the best of the trip in my opinion)

My sweet niece Lulu in her Batman outfit.

In the afternoon, while the turkey was roasting, we had wine and cheese out in the yard.

The weather was crisp and sunny, absolutely perfect, so we opted to have our Thanksgiving out on the screened porch. The table wasn’t fancy but it was peaceful, beside the river under the trees, with a simple bowl of apples for a centerpiece.

Halloween & Dia de los Muertos

2011-11-20T20:48:00.001-06:00

I was surfing other folk’s blogs and der, it hit me I had not blogged Halloween. So here it is. (Psst../ If you want to see new camera pictures, go one post down.)

I did put some of these up on Facebook, but I wanted them here too.

On the Saturday before Halloween we went to a Dia de Los Muertos posada down in the Heights. We carried a photograph of my Grandpa Leon who passed away in May.

This was a HUGE skull that was mounted on a cart on wheels and it proceeded the parade. Neat.

There were marigolds for everyone to carry, wear in their hair, and these crosses covered in marigolds. The idea is that the bright color and sweet smell help guide the spirits of the loved ones to the feast.

These are folk dancers performing traditional Aztec dances. Very cool, I’m sorry for not remembering the name of the dance company.

Walking in the posada (procession/parade)

I didn’t get great pictures because we were in the procession and my hands were full with marigolds, the picture, etc. There were people all around carrying pictures of their loved ones. You can see the marigold crosses too.

We walked down to this shop that sponsors the event, where there was a sidewalk party with tamales and live music. Inside there were ofrendas (offerings or alters). The tradition is that these are offerings for the dead, filled with all the things that they loved in life. You write little poems and sayings about the person and leave them on the altar. I guess it’s like the ultimate family reunion. LOL.

If someone made an ofrenda for me it should have corn tortillas, and strawberry Fanta and black beans and Tom’s of Maine toothpaste – I think I would miss those things a lot once I’m gone.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the ofrendas, there were about a dozen of them in the shop, but it was right at sunset and I didn’t then have my new fancy camera. So, I gave it up and went outside to dance with Bella and eat tamales.

Bella out on the sidewalk – LOVE this outfit.

Cute urban shots -

And finally – Halloween night.

Bella wore Jacob’s costume from when he was two.

Jacob was Darth Vader. And yes, for all you purists out there – we know his light saber is an Obi one and not a Darth one. But, we went with what we already had!

I think the crocs were a nice touch.

Cutest Pirate Ever.

New Camera

2011-11-20T17:40:00.001-06:00

I have been drooling and wishing and dreaming for months over a new camera. Will got it for me last night for Christmas, I know it’s early, but I really wanted it so I could use it for the holidays. I went to bed last night reading about fstops and shutter speed and a ton of other things I don’t fully understand yet. Lucky for me it has auto settings, so you can shoot right out of the box.

Sigh. I think I’m in love. It is like when I met Will and I had that “THAT’S what I’m TALKIN’ about!!!” feeling.

Enough talk. Here’s some pictures.

Jacob was kind enough to let me snap 47 (literally!) shots of him while watching football. This was in cloudy weather, inside, with all the light coming in from one side. You can see it handles depth and color well at close range in dim light.

Best in the series I think, although I wish I had focused more on his face instead of his knees.

Caught him mid-clap with no blurring. Insane.

Not centered, but love the detail and the focus right on her eyes.

Kicking the football in “sports” mode – notice again, no blurring on the action shot. Not quite fast enough (me, not the camera) to get the ball in the air.

Love that I can get some width now. This isn’t even on landscape.

(yeah, I know, it’s a picture of nothing. INDULGE ME!)

More pictures of nothing. But I wanted to see if I could get the shafts of light thrown through the blinds into rows across an otherwise dim room. I could.

How many times have I tried to get the sky only to have it all go white on me??? Not anymore.

Another picture of nothing – but me playing with depth. There’s so much ROOM in this camera. I totally can’t explain what I mean by that…

Caught the ball in mid air – clean as a whistle. (and I think we need leggings under this dress – dang she has grown a ton lately!)

OK. Neither of these is spectacular subject wise (Well except that they are my kids and therefore always spectacular to me) but the point is that they are in focus and the background is soft. Which really means I can now die happy! LOL

At this point I finally got the light and distance and settings right.

LOVE these next few-

And my favorite of the day

So that’s it for day one of the new camera. But there will be more to come, oh yes.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-01T19:15:00.001-05:00

Anabel looks exactly like me in this picture. That is exactly my “going with the flow but not exactly feelin’ it” smile…

Silly

Oh my goodness, he looks so old in this picture!

Bear with me – I am having one of those “memory lane” blogging moments!

Hug them tight – the years FLY by!

All Hallows Eve

2011-10-28T22:32:00.001-05:00

We are ready for Halloween around here.

I have had a fun time decorating our house.

First we have hung some gourds from the porch lantern and then we added a metal bucket filled with hay, pumpkins and some black and orange silhouettes I found at Hobby Lobby.

Next, Will planted these marigolds in the planters. I added some candles & picked up some pumpkins. So here is how it looks tonight:

Tomorrow we’ll carve the pumpkins, I can’t wait to see what the kid’s decide to do. We were lucky to get invited to a Fall event by our homebuilder where we got these pumpkins for free! Woo hoo, I love free.

I have a new buffet, it belonged to Will’s grandmother Mimi in the 50’s and has been all the way to Venezuela and back. Will’s Mom updated it by painting it black. It came to my house just in time to get all decorated for Halloween. I’m not sure yet how I will have it decorated for every day but for right now it looks like this:

On the left is a dollar store skull floating in a vase. At night I light it up with glow sticks. The “Boo” sign is just printed out on regular paper and stuck into a black frame I have.

I took black and white line drawings (owls, bats, skull etc.) from a free clip art web site and mounted them onto the top row of plates. A tiny plastic skull went into an upside down glass.

On the middle row I used some glass science lab beakers and added corn syrup and food coloring. Jacob helped with this part and we came up with psuedo-scary names for the potions inside – Worm Blood, Swamp Juice, Krakken Ink and Bat Boogers. We added lizards and a spider and a white stuffed cat – all stuff we had already. I popped a squishy ball with eyes into the top of the tea pot so it looks like it is peeping out.

I felt like the bottom row “needed something” and I added some tarnished silver platters – they add that perfect bit of spooky sparkle.

I totally love how this little project came out and it only cost me about $3 at the dollar store. It is the perfect level of spooky/gross/silly fun for kids and yet still has a little bit of a grown up feel (it is my formal dining room after all!)

Some people think that it is un-Christian to celebrate Halloween – I disagree with this. In Christ we have no fear of death. We have no fear. Death is natural, it is a part of our lives – everywhere with us, around us, adding urgency and meaning to our time on earth. I stumbled across this quote online recently:

Quote from María Antonieta Sánchez de Escamilla:

Sometimes a child feels squeamish about death

and admits to fearing skulls and skeletons.

"Why are you afraid?", I ask,
"when each of you owns a skull and skeleton.
We all carry death within us."

They feel themselves and they say: "Yes it's true,
we too are made of bones."

Fall Cub Scout Campout

2011-10-11T11:44:00.001-05:00

This school year Jacob joined Cub Scout Pack 912. he is a tiger cub (which means First Grade); there are also wolves, bears and Webelos (4th & 5th), after that they graduate to Boy Scouts.

Scouting is FUN. In Cub Scouts everything is very family oriented, parents attend and participate in weekly den meetings and monthly pack meetings. The camping trips and Go See’s (Field trips) are usually open to siblings (called Me Too’s). There are a lot of traditions, prayers and funny songs, it is all about character building and respect and good fun.

Our first camping trip (as a family and with Scouts) was this past Saturday at Brazos Bend State Park. It started Friday night but we got up super early to go on Saturday – we thought one night was just right for our first trip (I was not sure how well Anabel would do).

The first thing we did was go fishing in Lake Hale. Normally there are alligators all over the park but a lot of the smaller bodies of water have dried up so that most of them have moved to the bigger lakes. So we knew our chances of seeing a gator were good.

Bella loved fishing, she didn’t seem to mind that her pole did not have a hook on it.

Jacob put a worm on his hook all by himself and learned all about fishing in a state park. This earned him his fishing belt loop!

A big ole gator crossed from the other shore right over to where we were. I only had my phone to take pictures, so this isn’t very zoomed in. It was more than close enough for kids though! (and me)

This is our decade or more old tent. We found we could just fit a queen and a twin mattress in this tent and we all were able to sleep – but there was not one inch to spare!

I did notice some folks that did not stake their tents and some who did not put on their rain fly. But it has rained EVERY single time that Will and I have ever gone camping, so I took the time to set it up, extra guidelines and all. Which turned out to be a VERY good thing.

While I was setting up the tent the kids were doing their first activity – making Cub Scout Sushi. I don’t have pictures of this but it from what Will describes it is a lot like this:

Basically a Twinkie, cut into short pieces with Mike and Ike’s rolled in fruit rollup and then you roll that in sugar sprinkles and you eat it with chop sticks. HUGELY enjoyed by boys of all ages I assure you. Next the scouts made rockets and played flag football.

I took Anabel over to the playground. This was a cool giant playground, the really fun, towering, not really too worried about safety kind – like what we had when I was a kid.

The main attraction here was this really tall metal slide. The kids would grab handfuls of pea gravel and let them roll down the slide – it was very noisy but not unpleasant– like a rain stick.

One funny thing, Bella wanted to climb a tree, I pretty much could tell she wouldn’t get far but told her, “sure go give it a try” – I was on a bench and could see her but didn’t go with her. I just believe in giving kids a little room to explore. She got about two feet off the ground and another parent ran up and pulled her off and carried her back to me! “Your little girl is trying to climb the tree” he says in a worried-what-kind-of-parent-are-you-way. Um, yeah it’s called “playing outdoors!” I thought! People are so weird, I think because she is so small that maybe people think she is younger or something. I don’t know. I just believe in letting kids try stuff, if the risk (or tree limb) is low.

After a yummy chili dog/frito pie lunch we had downtime to just play around camp.

Then we went over to the Observatory and got in line to get tickets to use the giant telescope they have there. We got a 7:30 PM time slot which was perfect, it gave us time to go on the space launch simulation (Bella cried at the end because we weren’t really landed on the moon) , explore the Nature Center and eat our sack supper (which is like a sack lunch only supper, tee hee, I thought that was funny.)

The George Observatory (located inside the park) is built up on a big hill. It was Observatory Day – basically a big free day for the public to come and use the telescopes. They had people there to give lectures and all kinds of kid’s activities like face painting and a space shuttle launch simulation. But seriously all the kids wanted to do was roll down the hill. Just envision like 80 scouts all rolling down the hill, it was hilarious. Even Will tried it out.

The Nature Center was amazing. They had baby alligators and tarantulas and snakes that the kids could touch.

Here the kids are petting a King Snake. Bella wanted to know where the Queen snake was?

Back at camp as were eating out lunch other families were coming back from the Observatory saying it was too cloudy to see anything and that it was really lame. We sort of thought about not going but in the end decided to go. It was amazing, right at our time slot the clouds parted and we had a perfect view of the moon. It was absolutely the most wonderful thing to see it through that huge telescope. The kids loved it and were so excited – we were some of the only people to see it as the clouds came back about a half hour later.

Back at camp we took showers and got settled in for the night. Then it began to rain. And thunder shook the camp. And lightening. And rain and wind and more rain. The old tent did fairly well, considering it is over ten years old and has never been waterproofed. By morning the corners were pretty wet and under the mattress was wet, but for the most part we were all dry enough. It was just a big muddy pain trying to break camp with everything so wet and muddy. Luckily we brought big garbage bags and just sort of threw everything in those to sort out later.

We were all up by 6 AM, it was the Tigers turn to serve the meal, hot chocolate and danishes and then we got the dining hall cleaned up and set up for Scouts Own Service. (basically Sunday morning church service led by the Scouts).

We struck camp shortly afterward – and headed home with one stop at Whataburger. I was muddy, wet and chilled to the bone and that was the BEST coffee and french fries I ever had!

That afternoon we put on rain ponchos and stood out in the pouring rain, using the hose to clean all the mud and leaves off all our gear. Then set everything up in the garage with fans to dry. I am STILL doing laundry! I am sort of glad for the nice sunshiny day and for having the day off Monday!

Thoughts About Tents…

2011-10-02T21:27:00.001-05:00

I really really wanted to post a picture of our new tent! But alas, after an hour and a half of wrestling with it, I still never got it together.

Generally speaking I am the calmer, instruction reading, methodical putter-together of-things person in our marriage. I understand I may not strike folks as the rugged outdoor type, but I know how to put up a tent. In fact just yesterday I put up our old tent from ten years ago – no problema! Seriously Bella and I popped it up in about 2 minutes flat. Seeing that Will and I got it way before we had kids and the advent of blow up air mattresses; we wanted something a bit bigger.

Okay do not buy the Magellan Bryce Canyon II tent. It is NOT good. Right away one of the tent poles broke apart. No biggie – I thought, we could swing by the store to replace that one part. Then I got it all set up but…. it wouldn’t stay up. Hmm, I thought – OK, so maybe it isn’t a pop up tent, but rather the kind that makes no sense until you stake it. So I staked it…and it fell over. Um, okaaaay.

So I finally understand that two of the poles must telescope out (become taller) to create enough tension to prop up the tent, except that the only thing holding the tent pole in the expanded position is a dubious piece of plastic, and no matter what I do – the pole slides back down shorter, causing the entire structure to lean and then fall to one side (like a slinky)

And the instructions were very uh, “English as a fourth language-y” which only furthered my aggravation. I really, totally am very patient in real life with folks that are still leaning English. I am really very NOT happy or patient when it comes to instructions that are not written in proper English. Seriously? OK if you must build the product overseas – so be it – but surely there is a poor college student somewhere that you could pay to write the instructions?? Come on!

By now, By now it’s been over an hour, by now the kids have asked me 467 times if it’s ready yet and have given up and completely lost interest. It’s past dinner time. It’s getting dark.

So the heck with this tent. If I can’t put it up it in a few minutes in my back yard in dry, non-windy conditions then I am not taking it out on the road where the only thing between me and alligators, raccoons and the Blair Witch is some plastic piece holding up a pole that appears broken right out of the box.

So, yeah, I guess I’ll be buying (and practicing setting up) another tent sometime this week, YAY.

But seriously – I am over the moon excited about going camping – I can’t wait!!!! Just need to get this tent thing worked out.

Check Out my items for Sale on Kingwoodyardsales.com

2011-09-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

Leap Start Learning Gym
http://www.kingwoodyardsales.com/item.jsp?itemId=23140439

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Home
http://www.kingwoodyardsales.com/item.jsp?itemId=23140665

Hasbro Weebles Weebalot Castle
http://www.kingwoodyardsales.com/item.jsp?itemId=23140784

Kettler Ladybuggy Tricycle
http://www.kingwoodyardsales.com/item.jsp?itemId=23142624

Pottery Barn Kids - sheers, valance, crib sheets, lamp - all in white/blue
http://www.kingwoodyardsales.com/item.jsp?itemId=23142742

Karate School Update

2011-09-12T19:06:00.001-05:00

All summer long Jacob has been going to a local Karate school summer camp. He LOVES it and we love it too!

The rules and discipline are very strict but the kids seem to thrive in the structure. There is a strong emphasis on honor, character and strength of spirit. And of course respect for adults. The owner of our school is a strong Christian and head of men’s ministry at his church – and I think it really shows in everything they do.

One way (of many) where it is very different from standard day care is that big kids are around little kids – rather than keeping everyone separate, it is expected that the seniors help train the juniors and provide a good example. The older high school age kids are simply amazing – when they interact with adults and you see their enthusiasm, manners and confidence, it’s just cool. I can’t wait to see the long term influence on Jacob’s life. (for right now I’m just thrilled with “yes ma’am” and “no sir” and the fact that he looks adults in the eye – mostly)

These pictures were taken right after he took his first belt test to move from white belt to yellow belt. He will continue his training after school each day. Jacob will compete in his first real tournament in a few weeks. He is very excited about this (ask him about it if you have a while to chat! ) and has been very diligent practicing his forms and breaking boards (seriously!)

My New Favorite Mexican Casserole

2011-09-10T22:29:00.001-05:00

This one is a lot of work. It is a lot of steps, to make basically from scratch a layered style Mexican casserole.

I am very aware that a similar “king ranch” dish can be had just by dumping together several cans of soup and chicken. So I was skeptical – until I tried it and it is amazingly off the hook good and a world away from the cans of soup version. (Which is still good and I’m not doggin’ it, just that this one is better)

2-3 bell peppers diced (I used red,yellow and green for prettiness)

1 medium onion diced (I use 1016 sweet)

Saute in 2T vegetable oil with 1/2 t salt for 10 minutes

Add in three finely chopped garlic cloves

1T canned chipotle in adobo

2t chili powder

1/4 t pepper

Stir in and cook for 30 seconds more.

Add in 1-1.5 pounds ground pork. If you don’t do pork, then it would probably also be good with ground chicken, turkey or beef. I think it would also be good with shredded chicken or leftover beef brisket. But the original recipe calls for pork and I think the pork is really rich and tasty.

So cook the pork for 8 minutes.

Add in and stir 2T flour and cook for 1 minute. So it already gets kind of thick. This is what keeps the tortillas crispy after you layer it all, you need it to be thick and not too runny.

Add 14.5 oz chicken broth and 1 can of diced tomato (including most of the juice)

Cook for ten minutes.

It ends up looking like this:

During the minutes of meat and broth cooking above – get the tortillas crispy by spraying them with cooking spray and popping them into the oven on a cookie sheet in a single layer (12 corn tortillas at 350 for 4-5 minutes)

Use a pizza cutter to stack and cut four of the tortillas, leave the other 8 whole.

Take it off the heat and add 2T lime juice and 1.4 cup fresh chopped cilantro.

In a 13 X 9 pan layer 1/3 mixture, a layer of 4 whole tortillas and 1 C cheddar cheese.

Repeat with second layer.

Repeat with third layer, except using the 4 tortillas cut into wedges. This makes it so that you can cut into the casserole better and you don’t have whole tortillas sliding around and and messing up the layers when you cut into it.

Bake 15 minutes at 450.

The thing about this is that the tortilla layers stay crispy so when you cut into it you get these nice saucy layers and then the crispy tortilla layers – it’s very pretty and very tasty and has a lot more texture than the typical king ranch style casserole.

I won’t lie, it takes a while, it’s hands on, it makes a mess – but it is so good and really worth the effort in my opinion.

August– Destin, FL

2011-09-10T18:30:00.001-05:00

OK, so I am now only like a month behind. Hah.

The first week of August we went to Destin, FL. I tried to blog while were there but the pictures didn’t upload right, so this is a do-over.

First off – I had posted before about not being sure about the new Becoming Apparel bathing suit. I ordered it and it turns out that I really love it. It is so comfy and so modest, in fact it is so modest that I will actually post a picture of it on here -

It was especially great for the beach, the design makes it so that sand does not get into places where sand should not be!

Of course we spent many days at the beach.

The rental house had a play room – so the kids had a great time playing up there, watching movies and playing Wii

We spent one evening at a place called Baytown Wharf, it is a resort on the bay with restaurants, and little shops and midway type games and activities for families.

Our whole gang had dinner out on the deck

The boys enjoyed climbing a rope’s course

The kids rode inside these inflated balls, you get in, the inflate it (with a leaf blower), zip it up and then roll you into a pool of water where you roll around and crash into each other. It was really fun to watch.

(My camera doesn’t do far away & at night shots very well)

Random lovely beach pictures

The kids were very excited to have gelato one day. There is an Olivia book where she goes to Italy and eats gelato, so they were excited to try it!

The other kids that were with us… Finley (4), Beckett (18 months) and Ramsey (7)

Bella on her actual 4 year birthday – we had been to the ER the night before because she had cellulitis in her eye, so we were not able to have the big ice cream party we had planned. Instead, she ended up blowing out her candle on waffles that morning. (poor baby!)

On the way home to Texas the next day we stopped at Beauvoir in Biloxi, Mississippi. Will’s grandfather was a leader in an organization that helps support and run this former home of Thomas Jefferson. At one time there was a bench with a plaque commemorating his efforts. Unfortunately it was lost in the hurricane. It was sobering to see and learn about the effects of the hurricane on this area of our country. Much of the Biloxi area has not been rebuild at all. At Beauvoir the presidential museum, a brand new modern build steel beam building was completely collapsed, but the old wooden house still stands despite 23 foot storm surges – simply amazing.

Front of the house (grumpy Bella with Mr. Pettibone)

View of the back of the home

Will and I on the front steps

View from the side. The grounds have not been restored very much after the storm, at one time it was park-like with walkways and gardens connecting the historic home and the presidential museum. The outbuildings were destroyed, they are all reproductions now.

This is the presidential museum that was completely lost that is now being rebuilt.

It was good to be able to take the kids to a place that Will remembers visiting when he was a young kid. I think I had taken it for granted that after the storm things would have been rebuilt by now. I wasn’t prepared to see so many damaged homes and miles of beachfront where you could see nothing but the foundations of the businesses, hotels and homes that used to be there. I am thankful that this historical place made it through and is still standing for future generations.

July Continued…

2011-09-09T22:18:00.001-05:00

It might very well be that no one cares anymore what we did back in July, but I like to do things in order.

So – my Dad came to town for a few days.

Will and my Dad took the kids to the zoo.

I like how both of them have the same fake “smiles”.

Bella is still very much in her not wanting to pose for pictures phase.

On the next day my Dad took Jacob on his first fishing trip, out at Dwight Eisenhower Park. I dropped them off at around 7 am and they fished and messed around for a few hours. They did not catch anything, but had a great time.

Very pretty.

The next day we went to a birthday party at the roller rink. My camera did not do well at the skating rink. In fact it is around this point that my camera began to not do well period. But anyway -

Here’s Jacob rockin’ and rollin’ – he was a pro because of going skating every week this summer with karate school day camp.

And little sister. Dad had her up on the thing you hold onto but pretty soon they said over the loudspeaker not to do that – oops.

So overall I would say we had a busy fun time with Dad. I think the visit probably kind of wore him out, but in a good way!

The other fun thing that happened in July was that Will and I took a trip to Austin to go to my church reunion from the church I went to as a youth. It was a really awesome time and also a kind of getaway for us because the kids stayed at my in laws.

I really didn’t take many pictures, at the reunion I was busy talking and eating and then the rest of the weekend we were mostly just relaxing. We stayed in a new hotel right on UT campus (my Dad works for UT so we even got a discount woo hoo)

This was my dinner out at our favorite Austin dinner spot Z’Tejas

Pork Tenderloin stuffed with chorizo - YUM

On Sunday before we left we had a late brunch at Juan in a Million. (I know you are thinking ohmygoodness all they did on this trip was eat. Um yeah, pretty much!)

This is a spot we used to go to when we were dating and we always like to go back when we can. This is the place where the tag line and header picture on this blog came from – because the breakfast tacos there are so big you have to order an extra tortilla to hold it all. It is just my quirky was of being thankful for the abundant life that we have through Christ Jesus! (Only I could make a connection between tortillas and Jesus – but hey that’s how my brain works!)

Dad and my brother in law

My sister in law and sweet niece Luella.

The famous taco

"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-- pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." Luke 6:38

July 2011

2011-09-03T08:33:00.001-05:00

I’m trying to go back and blog some things in order (although probably no one but me cares!) Get ready for tons of pictures!

Even after so many years of marriage, Will still amazes me – I had no idea that he would become the King of Salsa. He makes fresh pico and salsa every week now.

Fourth of July we spent out at the Lake with Will’s parents and his brother’s family.

The kids had their first ride behind the boat in this inflatable. It was really fun. Bella is such the thrill seeker.

Will captained the boat for a while

Sweet Muffin, growing up fast.

Jacob practices karate moves poolside

Cousin Lulu

All photogenic Miss Lady dog.

Will’s Dad on the dock

Obligatory flag cake. It tasted better than it looked (Homemade whipped cream on a yellow cake) Mama had a few cocktails before decorating it – not my best work! LOL

Some July randomness

My camera just isn’t picking up sharp shots anymore but I tried!

We dog sat Sandy – our grass was so tall for her! She had a lot to explore!

Bella fell head over heels in love with this sweet puppy. She was just Bella’s speed, they curled up happy and quiet for many long snuggles during the week. Come back anytime Sandy!

Next I will blog about my Dad’s visit.

Bathing Suits

2011-07-19T12:48:00.000-05:00

For over a year I have been waffling on buying this bathing suit. I am pretty sure that I actually talked about it so much that two other people I know have already bought it and loved it and yet still... I waffled.

I remember when the whole modesty thing first really struck me, I was at a Christian concert with Jacob and asked a random person to take our picture. Jacob was 4 and I kind of hunched over to get my face next to his. When I got home and checked the picture, uhhh...oh boy - birds eye view straight down my shirt. OOPS. Super embarrassing.

My husband is fond of the phrase "modest is hottest"... but when it came to bathing suits, I got stuck. My pride got in the way and also a warning bell that made me question my motives. Was I wanting to be modest, or was I wanting to draw attention to my modesty (which isn't very modest?!) by wearing something kind of different (I like being different).

Anyway, I finally just decided to buy it and now it is on it's way and I can't wait to try it on! Hopefully I will feel like it is modest enough to actually post on the blog and once I've had a few swims I will do a review as well.

For what it is worth I have a couple of other suits that I think are really great.

I have this one from Lands End:

The pro's:
It is thick and very well made. The straps are wide and adjustable. I ordered the mastectomy version, because it comes up an inch or so higher at the bust. You can go from pool to patio or climb around on boats and be nice and covered.
Cons: There's just a lot of fabric, it is heavy and sags a bit when wet. It takes a long time to dry.

I also have a basic black tank suit that I plan to pair with this swim skirt. It is light, parachute type material over a sort of boy shorts under layer. I got it in the mail yesterday but haven't worn it yet. I'll have to do a review of how it does in real life, at home in front of the mirror it seemed to fit well and was cute and covered enough to wear around.

June–Where did it go????

2011-07-11T22:12:00.001-05:00

Jacob graduated from Kindergarten the first week of June.

Here he is on his first day back in August of 2010.

What a difference – he is at least 3 inches taller and his confidence is through the roof! We are so proud of our first grader!

Here he is walking home with some of his school buddies.

Later in June Will and Bella went to a Daddy-daughter sock hop up at the church. I happened to have a lot of red felt left over from a crafting fail a few years back. Of course I had to do a SHELTIE skirt instead of a poodle. This circle skirt was an easy no-sew project, I loved how it turned out.

Then we headed to Austin for cousin Luella’s third birthday party. It was a splash pad birthday party at Bartholomew park. This is the same park I grew up playing in, so it was fun to see my kids enjoying it. Of course it is mostly different play equipment and all that. Evidently it was all coated in lead paint, and also very dangerous wonderful things like merry-go-rounds and metal slides that burn your behind are no longer cool.

Adventures in Produce

2011-06-03T21:10:00.001-05:00

Recently William and I visited Canino Produce, Houston’s largest farmer’s market, located on Airline drive off 610.

(See how this picture is hazy? That would be the camera lens trying to adjust from the 20 degree temperature difference between the car and the parking lot)

To call this a farmer’s market, is like calling Target a convenience store, it quite literally blew my mind, as in I had to step in and just stop for a minute to even take it all in. You know the produce trucks you see delivering produce to restaurants? Yeah, they are all loading up here. You know how on TV the chefs are out picking out local produce, yeah they are going here. How did I live here over a decade and not know about this place?

They have everything. Not just fruit and veggies but dried peppers of every kind. They have a whole wall of raw honey. Sacks of rice, bins of bulk spices, nuts, seeds, plants, you name it. Put simply, this is foodie mecca.

Do you ever scrounge through the bin at the grocery to find one decent avocado? Or pass up orange bell peppers because they cost $1 each? Do you ever reach for tomatoes only to swat away fruit flies? OK, imagine a place where everything is fresh, nearly every piece is perfect, flawless? And it is all about about 1/4 to 1/3 of the prices at the grocery store? THAT’s what I’m talking about!

We saw many other things besides just fresh food – we saw syrup for snow cones, brooms, baskets, and saints wrapped in plastic. But mostly it is all about the food. It is very NOT flea market-y. The most “like” something else I have been to would be the farmer’s market in Paris.

Can anyone else hear Jessica? I can just imagine her going, “Matt! Matt! Gas up the van!”

OK, so what do los gringos need to know before trying it out.

1. It’s in the hood. Relax, enjoy that groovy feel, lock up.

2. It is a major, working, distribution center for one of the biggest cities in the country, there are delivery trucks backing up and boxes piled up and dollies and people everywhere. This is not Kroger or even Fiesta. All that said, I would totally take my kids there.

2. Canino’s is the main store that is inside, anything you buy in there you pay for in there. In front and in back are tons of other vendor’s booths, which you can buy from and haggle with separately. You can’t use Canino’s grocery carts to go to outside vendors.

3. Bring cash, in small amounts, and don’t pull it all out in front of anyone. Not for safety, we felt totally safe there, it’s just that you cannot properly haggle with a $20 in your hand. I suggest making three or four sets of $2-4 and sticking them here and there in your pockets. If something is $5, pull out $4 and shrug & smile.

4. Many vendors are selling the same things, so walk through before committing to anything. I bought red peppers at one vendor and then saw better ones later.

5. If you gesture towards something, make sure that you pick the ones you want, the vendor will want to pick, and they won’t necessary pick to your advantage. (At the bell pepper stand I pointed at some pretty ones, the lady smiled and picked up two less nice ones from the bucket right next to it, I got smarter after that!) And no, they aren’t being underhanded, they are just rotating their stock!

6. Don’t assume people speak English or Spanish – there is no need to speak slowly or loudly, just focus on shopping! “Corn? Sweet or white? How much?, I’ll take it!” You are there to buy great food and they are there to sell it, if you keep that in mind it works fine. We had zero problems communicating with every vendor we shopped with.

7. Bring your own bags, especially produce bags because otherwise you wind up with a lot of plastic bags. You have to walk back through Canino’s to leave and you want anything you purchased out back to be wrapped up so there’s no confusion. In Canino’s itself you will unload your own basket and set each piece on the scale, you gotta’ use bags. Out back, point and the vendor will get it for you.

8. Have a basic idea of prices, 99% of what we saw was a really good deal, but a few things were not (ie strawberries were $3.79 a pint). Most of the jarred sauces along the wall were overpriced, (with the exception of a giant jar of banana peppers for $7!!! I pay $2.19 for just 16 ounces at HEB) So just know your stuff. Between the different vendors the prices are very competitive so don’t worry too much there, that’s the beauty of an open market place!

9. I didn’t see organic. So, if that’s your main deal, then this may not be the place for you. But if local, cheap, fresh, variety is your deal, then go and be happy. And then you will have extra dollars for organic something else, like chicken.

10. When you are done, go to the bakery across the street. They have pan dulce and coffee and tortillas and tres leches, and empanadas and yeah, you just have to do that part. We also spied a seafood market a little further down, but had stuff to do before going home so didn’t check it out. I would have liked to get shrimp though. Next time we will bring a cooler.

My beautiful haul:

Because I am a big dork I will list it out: 1 bunch green onions, 2 yellow bell pepper, 2 red bell peppers, 1 orange bell pepper, 2 pounds of green beans, 1 bunch asparagus, 10 limes, 3 vidalia onions, 1 lb red potatoes, 1 bunch cilantro, 5 ears of sweet corn, 2 lbs of mushrooms, 2 eggplant, 5 heads of garlic, 3 yellow squash, 8 roma tomatoes, 1 ginger root, 5 plums, 5 peaches, 3 poblanos and 1 gallon banana peppers (we likes our banana peppers!)…..$32.

$32 bucks – amazing!

My Grandpa Leon

2011-05-31T19:45:00.000-05:00

This is my Grandpa Leon. He passed away on Memorial Day after a heart attack, he was 84. Almost 50 years ago he married my Grandmother Herlinda. She had four children and he loved them like his own flesh and blood and was good to them. He was a white guy, marrying into a Mexican-American family at a time and place where people didn't always cross the tracks to get to know one another, much less fall in love with each other. He was soooo tall and so big and had a big deep booming voice. My grandmother is tiny, so it was always sweet to see them together. He was an old school kind of guy, he played football in college, served in the Navy in WWII and took care of his yard and his family. When you met him he would shake your hand and ask you what kind of car you drove in a way that would leave lesser men wondering what the right answer was.

I love him and will miss him.

Jacob - Spring 2011

2011-05-24T19:20:00.001-05:00

Free scrapbook personalized with Smilebox

I'm famous!

2011-05-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

OK, not really so much but I did comment on one of my very favorite cooking blogs about how my kids won't eat my homemade yogurt and how that makes me so sad. (And also forces me to eat more full fat creamy delicious fresh thick splendid yogurt than I probably should, because someone has to eat it. Such is my life.)

Anyway the blog owner wrote a post in response to my comment which I thought was so incredibly nice of her and I feel so special to be mentioned by name by someone who is like a blog-o-sphere celebrity! haha. I am so ridiculous I know!

http://blessusolord.blogspot.com/

My hair is long

2011-05-03T21:58:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I don’t understand people. At work there are times when I might take my hair down and re-do my up-do. Inevitably someone random will say to me – “Oh your hair is long.”

I never know what to say back. I mean my buns are huge now. What did they think was in there? Did they think it was one of those fake bun things from the mall? Do they think they are telling me something I don’t know? (I think it would be funny to say what, oh my gosh how did that get there?!)

Sometimes people will ask “When are you going to cut it?” and I think I don’t know. It’s not like I have a five year plan for my hair. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a chapter on hair in A Purpose Driven Life. Like a lot of Long Hairs, I practice benign neglect, meaning keeping it up with the ends protected 99% of the time and sort of forgetting about it. Like that rotisserie chicken machine – “Just set it and forget it!” LOL

My long hair says I am patient. My long hair says my idea of beauty is health and self-acceptance. My long hair says I don’t need to look like someone in a magazine. I don’t need to look like someone else’s idea of what a 38 year old “should” look like. At least that’s what I think.

A Baby on the Way…

2011-04-30T17:42:00.001-05:00

I am beyond thrilled to announce that there’s a new little one coming soon to join the Fisher family. A small, wiggling, bundle of joy with bright eyes and soft wispy dark hair. And it’s a GIRL….

It’s MUFFIN the Shetland sheepdog puppy!

Will’s Mom & Dad will be the proud parents to this new addition, due to arrive from the breeder next week. I have been really wanting a puppy, and while this isn’t the right time for us (boo hoo! ) I am so excited not only to meet this sweet Sheltie baby but because we are puppy sitting this cutie pie often! (And soon, we already know we’ll have her for a week in May!)

So welcome to Texas Muffin, we cannot wait to meet you!

Bella Is Sassy

2011-04-25T17:24:00.001-05:00

Pumpkin Log

2011-04-23T13:08:00.001-05:00

Do you have a picky eater? Then you know that heart swelling happiness that comes when your picky eater actually requests something special and that something is outside the three things they normally eat. So, when Jacob asks me to make this Pumpkin Log recipe, I said yes, even though it is sort of “off-season”.

This recipe comes from his Kindergarten teacher who made this back in the fall when the class was learning all about pumpkins.

Put wax paper on a cookie sheet (with raised edges) and grease the wax paper. Preheat oven to 375.

-Mix 3 eggs, 2/3 cup canned pumpkin, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, and 3/4 cup flour.

-Add 2 tsp of cinnamon or more depending on what you like. You can also add nutmeg, ginger, and cloves if you like. (I used 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice)

Pour into the pan and bake for 15 minutes.

(You will have leftover pumpkin, I suggest you call it soup and feed it to your children)

-Spread out a tea towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

When the cake is ready, dump it out onto the tea towel and pull off the wax paper. Be careful b/c it can stick. Roll up the cake in the towel. Let cool on counter. I usually do it overnight, but it at least needs 4 hours.

Filling:2 tbsp butter, 8oz cream cheese, 3/4 tsp vanilla, 1 cup powdered sugar. Mix well.

-Unroll cake carefully and spread with filling, re-roll. Wrap with saran wrap and then foil, store in fridge.

This pumpkin log is fantastic and even better the next day after it has chilled and the flavors have set. Although we think of pumpkin as a Fall/winter thing – this cake is perfect for warm weather – it is light, cold, creamy and not too sweet.

Bayou City Art Festival

2011-04-12T22:02:00.001-05:00

This March was our third time to attend the Bayou City Art Festival. It falls close to Will’s mother’s birthday and it has become a really nice Fisher tradition.

You take a shuttle bus over to Memorial Park.

There’s a place under the bus for strollers and wagons and stuff. This year all we had gear wise was one light stroller and our Sherpa backpack with the built in cooler. Slowly but surely we are able to travel lighter to things like this.

Jacob was stylin’ in his straw hat. Both my Dad and Will’s Dad are major hat wearers, so he comes by it naturally!

These were guys painted blue with basketball goals attached to them. Of course Jacob had to try it out. I think they were part of some basketball camp or something.

Food at the festival is not particularly child or wallet friendly. My kids picnicked on pasta, parmesan cheese, fruit and juice boxes from home.

There are long pathways lined with artist’s booths. As in hundreds it seems like. It is more than I can even begin to take in, Jacob was keeper of the map as usual. He also proved that six is not too old to ride in a stroller, hah hah.

Bella loves to do any and all kinds of art. Jacob, not so much. He likes to construct or do process driven things where there is a definite start and end. (He gets that from me!) She was happy to spend 20 minutes painting, gluing,glittering a rock. Look at his face in the background – he was hot and bored and ready to go.

Paw Paw kept Bella entertained with leaves.

Jacob was measured for some Piper sandals. These are completely hand made leather “Jesus” style sandals from a little family owned company out of San Antonio.

They should be here any day now, I can’t wait to see them. Will and I had rather envisioned brown sandals, but Jacob chose red. They emboss the inner sole with a name and date, I had them put Fisher instead of Jacob, I figure Bella will be a size 1 someday.

Happy Birthday Theresa! After the art fest we all went to the Cadillac Bar (which is actually really a great restaurant and not a bar, well I mean they have a bar, but it isn’t A Bar, as in no, really, I don’t take my kids to bars!)

We did do a little art shopping. Will surprised me with me a small oil painting of loaves of bread sitting in the sunshine, which is really sweet. I always rather imagine that he just humors me on the whole bread making thing. So for him to pick that painting out for me is really special. And we bought this print by artist Jay Long. Oh I love his work, I really wanted this one, this one and this one but of course had to pick just the one! But he is in Austin, so you know, it’s totally feasible that someday I might have another or at least visit the studio and drool. (Not of course, actually drooling – drool and original giclee do not mix.) Go and click on the orginal and then zoom, you have to see how the boat and tree is all made up of printed paper. It’s off the hook!~

Lastly we got this hand made pottery bread bowl.

It is neat, for one I love functional art and then also because the bread can rise, bake and then be served all right in the bowl. So far I have used it make beer bread (shown below) and also rosemary bread (which I did not take a picture of because it was literally devoured before it was even cooled but I used fresh rosemary from my own garden and it was AMAZING)

So that was our day at the Art Festival 2011. It is right up there on my list with Renaissance Festival. I think I’m just a festival kind of person.

First Playground Kiss!

2011-04-08T18:33:00.001-05:00

Today Jacob told me that Lilly Poe, a girl in his Kindergarten class, kissed him twice, once on the ear and once on the cheek. So cute!

The most exciting thing EVER* and Why I love YouTube…

2011-04-05T19:59:00.001-05:00

– Toy Story 3 is available for streaming on Netflix!!! Somehow we don’t actually own these movies (my mother in law does though) so my little ones are UBER EXCITED when it showed up to watch online!

What I really love, the thing that really makes my Mommy heart swell, is that the kids are up there right now with all their toys acting out their own Toy Story. We do have some officially licensed Toy Story stuff (Jesse, Woody & Buzz) but I love it that they just insert whatever we have in place of the other characters. There is a random dinosaur, a stuffed horse, a big baby doll etc. I love watching them play together and listening to them act out all the voices and different parts of the movie.

Can I also just say I love the Blu-ray player? Sure it is nice to watch Blu-ray movies, but what I really love is that it streams Netflix and also I can watch YouTube videos on it. I think you can also go to Facebook, but I’m not on Facebook so I haven’t tried that part. But Youtube, oh gosh that’s another thing that just makes me so happy, this is my current favorite video…If you don’t know the backstory on this, here is an article about it from NPR.org.

I love that people can interact and inspire one another and tick each other off – I just thrive on diversity and people never cease to amuse, shock and entertain me.

My favorite quote from the NPR interview is what he says at the end

"I would like to tell her that I totally forgive her," Wong says. "I would love to meet for coffee and give her a big hug."

*if you are between the ages of 3-7…

Bluebonnets 2011

2011-04-03T15:10:00.001-05:00

Aw – me and my sweetie!

This one of Jacob is my favorite of the bunch.

This was the best of all the family shots. Bella isn’t quite smiling but her dress was down and everyone’s eyes are open and looking at the camera.

Spring Break part 2

2011-04-02T14:38:00.001-05:00

When we returned from our hill country travels we picked up the kids and then spent a dew days getting the yard fixed up for Spring.

We went to the nursery and the hardware store. Will put new mulch in all the flower beds. Bella planted these, I think they are daisies?

Top View: Into my horse water trough garden I planted two heirloom tomato plants, basil and Italian flat leaf parsley. Over on the left is my rosemary, which is all that survived the cold winter we had.

Same trough, from the side. I take these for comparison’s sake. It amazes me how fast things grow!

Here is Miss Bella, into whom I have planted the word of God. She amazes me too!

She is in that stage where she doesn’t really want me to take pictures. I have to tell her that I am not taking a picture of her, but of something behind her or beside her. Hence she is not looking at the camera in any pictures lately.

I will try to get a better Bella & the garden picture. It is my intention to do a few each year when the garden goes in and put them all into a book together someday.

Here she is in April of 2009

Here she is last year, in March

On the left - Chives (These are seeds, I don’t know if they will sprout or not???)

On the right – thyme.

Left: Cilantro, Right: Sage

Up in the front yard around the tree, new flowers and fresh new layer of mulch.

Behind Jacob you can see the Azaleas are blooming.

Will worked really hard that weekend, I pretty much just wrangled kids, unpacked and planted my herbs. I’m not sure how much of a “break” this part of the week was for Will!

Spring Break, part 1

2011-04-01T21:44:00.001-05:00

Over Spring Break Will and I were able to take off for a few days on our own in Fredericksburg. We have been to Fredericksburg several times before so here are a few pictures from past visits:

March 2003 (short hair and braces ha ha!)

March 2005 with Baby Jacob

Notice the back ground in both of these – we are at our favorite Texas winery, Becker’s Vineyard. On the property of the vineyard is a neat little cabin which can be rented out, it was the original settler’s cabin for the property settled by German immigrants. In previous visits we always though how sweet it would be to stay in the little cabin. You can just barely see it in the far left corner of this picture.

We were so pleased to find that the little cabin was available for our trip, even the reservation desk lady on the phone said to me, “This is highly unusual, this cabin is nearly constantly rented for months and months in advance!’

Will and I love Texas history and antiques and wine – so this was altogether the perfect get away. Isn’t it just precious????

Living Room and Kitchen

Pot belly stove and the wooden plank stair case to the loft.

Loft Bedroom

View from the side

Here are pictures of the vineyard property surrounding the cabin

These are lavender fields – they weren’t blooming yet

Artsy shot through the red bed tree (I think???)

Front View of the winery – it’s so Texas-y, I love it!

There is a “barn” on the property that you can rent out for weddings and such, it was modeled to look like a real settlers barn in Johnson City (which was neat because later in trip we went to see the original) At night after the winery closed it was so quiet, all you heard was bugs and the stars were amazing.

Very quiet, very peaceful. No phone, no TV nothing.

During the days we did lots of fun things, like shopping and listening to live music in town.

And of course visiting the surrounding wineries

In California most of the wineries have dogs, we didn’t see that as much in Texas, just this one friendly guy who shared a plate of cheese and crackers with us.

On our way back home we stopped in Johnson City and toured the Johnson family settlement, it was really neat. We are excited to go back with the kids and let them run around there.

This is the home where Johnson grew up, he launched his campaign right on this front porch. We didn’t get to tour the inside.

From here you can walk down a trail to see the old original settler’s properties that belonged to his grandparents.

Here is the cabin. We lucked out that volunteers were conducting an inventory right when we were there, so we actually got to go inside the cabin – normally you just look through Plexiglas.

The old oak trees surrounding the property were amazing.

Can you see the gorgeous red bird in the tree?

Me in the “kitchen”…

The barn I talked about earlier in this post is a replica of the actual barn below.

There was a horse and lots of cattle on the property. I thought this sign was neat.

It was a really romantic, fun, peaceful getaway. I feel so lucky to have married someone that shares my love of the hill country and the beauty of this great state. I feel like there’s always so much to do and explore, I never tire of poking around in little country places, sitting on front porches, making new friends and wondering what’s around the next bend.

Easy Easy Dinner

2011-03-22T22:19:00.001-05:00

This is one of those recipes that is so easy it is hardly a recipe and yet it is better than whatever you did on your own before you tried the “recipe” version. This is from Teresa Giudice’s Skinny Italian book where she goes into a whole thing about how what we eat here in the US as fettuccine alfredo is really not at all anything anyone in Italy would really make or eat.

(Sidebar, yes, I am a “Housewives” fan and that was my initial impetus for buying the book. It turns out the recipes are great. Although the recipes in this book are all very simple, everything I have made has been incredibly good. When I put up tomatoes this summer hers are the recipes I will be using for red sauce and she steps goes step by step through the whole canning process, so I am really excited about trying it ) Anyway.

The quality of ingredients and the technique is what matters here because there “twern’t nothin’ to it”.

Bring a huge pot of salted water to a full rolling boil.

Add 1 pound of fettuccine. You are supposed to use fresh, but I didn’t see any at the store and this box was 50 cents. So, yeah.

Melt 2T butter and 3T really good olive oil in a big sauté pan. Set aside. Real butter and high quality olive oil. This will just be nasty otherwise.

While waiting on the pasta, finely chop a handful of fresh parsley. Not dried. Fresh. It’s like $1. It’s worth it. (hopefully soon I won’t be paying anything for it, it’s one of the things I planted last weekend!)

Grate 2 ounces of the best parmesan you can afford. The book recommends aged 24 months but I could only find/afford 12 months. Goodness gracious it was good. Keep in mind so far the meal has cost me like $2.00 so $4 worth of a $8 block of insanely good cheese is ok.

Start the garlic toast.

When the pasta is al dente, drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the starchy water.

Put the drained pasta into the sauté pan and put it back on the heat for a minute, add in the water and stir it all up and it will combine to make a light, glossy, sauce.

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Eat.

I put mine on the table without the parsley or the cheese because of the kids. But the adults added it to their own plates.

It would be healthier with less fat, whole grain pasta and some fresh veggies but at our house, this one is going into rotation exactly like this because it was awesome. And everyone ate it and loved it. And it was $6. And meatless for Lent if you do that. So just perfect.

All About Bella

2011-03-22T21:36:00.001-05:00

Bella is full of drama. Just now she came up to me and said “Oh Mama, there are two things I dearly love. Two things that are my whole world! Elmo and Sleeping Beauty. They are just my whole world!” She is hilarious.

Bella should always wear this color! Look at those eyes!

I see so much resemblance to Jacob in this picture…

Can you see it too? (Aww… toddler Jacob! So cute!!1)

Bella still carries around her minky dot pink baby blanket. At one time she would pretend there was a puppy inside, named Mister Pettybone. But now it is just a blanket named Mister Pettybone. (which is actually the cat on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.) But our Mister Pettybone is a girl. And woe to anyone that refers to Mister Pettybone as a “he”. Confused yet? The blanket is kind of like a friend to her, in that she will tell us what she (the blanket) is thinking and feeling and things like that. It gets washed a lot.

Bella does not like to stay in bed at night. She will get up and lay down with her blanket on the bottom step and wait for one of us to notice her and put her back to bed. She is very sneaky and will lie very quietly, we have found her up as late at 10 pm. She is not very fun the next morning at 6 AM on those nights, so I try to keep an eye out in case she gets up.

She is different from Jacob in so many ways. Jacob deeply desires to please others (which is great, except when sometimes he follows the wrong kind of behavior) while Bella is much more independent. She is a leader type personality already. She will not obey purely for the sake of following the rules. With Jacob I can say “We do this because it is the rule, or the law, or it keeps us safe” and that is that. Bella will ask “Well, what will happen if I don’t? What will happen if I do?” She wants to know exactly how much trouble she will get into if she does the wrong thing and exactly what her reward will be if she does the right thing. So I have to parent her differently. It’s more work in some ways, because it is easier to teach rules than it is to teach self-control and self-discipline to a three year old. But the up side is that she is adventurous and brave and truly a much more flexible child than Jacob was at this same age.

She is still loving her ballet class and has her recital at the end of April.

She wears a mix of 3T and 4T clothes. She is growing – I see her legs and cannot believe they are the same little legs on the same little girl. OK, I know all kids do this lengthening out thing where they lose that baby chub but it still startles me in a way how fast they move from toddler to little kid.

Plus, everything is magic when it’s your child, they make the smallest thing seem miraculous.

If you think that a three year old can push her baby all the way to see the turtles and back (4 blocks each way), you will be wrong. You will end up carrying the child, and the camera and the empty box of stale Kashi Go Lean (good for turtle food and not much else) all while hunched over trying to push a tiny shopping cart most of the way back. By the 2nd block you will take your 6 year old’s mardi gras beads and wrap them around the handle and drag that bleepin’ grocery cart the rest of the way home with one hand and carry the 3 year old over your shoulder while she screams the entire way because you tried to make her walk when she was tired and “that was SOOOO RUDE MOMMY!” and the wheel will fall off like three times. Which is also SOOO RUDE MOMMY. But it was really cute on the way there, wasn’t it?

Coming Soon

2011-03-19T16:21:00.001-05:00

I have so much to blog about that before I can start that I need to blog myself a list of what I need to blog about! Spring break has been awesome, including trips to Austin (all of us) and Fredericksburg (just Will and me!) and getting this season’s flowers and herb garden planted. I am just completely inspired to COOK lately. Partly because of the trip (we had lovely wine, cheese and several incredible meals) and what I’ve been reading lately (Anthony Bourdain and am Amish cookbook, hah what a combo) and by the beautiful produce at the market. Here is what is in our fridge right now:

A bag of organic apples (for lunches and and maybe a tart)
red grapes
bananas
plums
compari tomatoes (for plating with mozzarella and basil with olive oil and red wine vinegar), heirloom tomatoes, (For salad) roma tomatoes (for sandwiches and pasta salad)
lemons, limes (for pasta dishes, marinating sausage, and mixing with coke)
1016 onions, scallions, 2 heads of garlic
a head of cabbage, baby spinach, arugula, hearts of romaine
radishes
shredded carrots (for mixing with cabbage for Cole slaw)
celery
a pound of mushrooms (don’t know yet? maybe quesadillas or mushroom stroganoff)
Brussels sprouts (for pasta)
strawberries, blackberries, kiwi (for mixing in yogurt and on top of whole wheat waffles)

YUM. We are also fully stocked on pasta, rice, cuscus, risotto – this time of year I love to eat light!

I’m JUST sayin.

2011-03-03T18:36:00.001-06:00

Did you know you could make your own thin mints?

http://www.foodbuzz.com/blogs/3346957-homemade-girl-scout-cookies-thin-mints

I’m just sayin’.

Bella has a slight fever and tummy issues. If your 3 year old comes into the room mumbling something about having flat poop, you should not finish the report that the CEO wants. Really. you should just get up and go and check on what exactly the phrase “real flat poop” might entail.

I’m just sayin’.

There is fresh pizza dough in the breadmachine and within 30 minutes there will be pizza bites. Oh lordy I need pizza bites.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for fresh dough and pepperoni. Thank you for a washing machine that sanitizes and for making Moms with strong stomachs and washable hands. Thank you for understanding CEOs and husbands. Thank you for the blessing of a good job and a busy family. Thank you that this day won’t last for ever and that your mercies will be new tomorrow.

Me.

All About Jacob

2011-02-22T11:00:00.001-06:00

Remember that in the fall we had to drop soccer because the practices fell on Sundays. We were going to do martial arts, but that turned out to be very pricey. So we waited for the spring when another soccer organization I had heard about starts back up. I am thrilled to say that we have registered Jacob in the Upward soccer program at Second Baptist Kingwood starting at the end of March. I am even more thrilled at the way they handle the Kingergarten program, which is that the practices and the games are back to back on Saturdays. Something like 30 minutes of practice and then a 30 minute game. For working parents this is perfect! This is also great for the kids because honestly by 5 or 6 PM on weekdays Jacob is tired and hungry.

Jacob is definitely a Big Kid now, he is tall and athletic, all arms and legs and sweaty hair and constant movement. Like all 6 year old boys he is goofy. He loves jokes and riddles and slapstick humor.

Even though he's not a pre-schooler anymore, he does still say some pretty funny things.

When you are pitching a ball he will say "Throw it underarm" instead of underhand.
The other day I told him to he didn't need to wear a long-sleeved shirt. He replied, "OK, but I still need long-sleeved pants, right?"
He also refers to Oklahoma as "Uncle Homa's", ie. "I am not an Uncle Homa fan, I'm a Texas fan" (good boy!)
He still says "Out of balance" instead of out of bounds.
His grandparents are taking a trip soon to "Honk Honk" (Hong Kong)
He says our president is "Rock Oh Bama"
He says the first president was "George Washingmachine"

Jacob is reading and sounding out words.
He has made 100% on his spelling words so far this school year and his report cards are great.
He does not enjoy drawing or coloring, he doesn't take his time with writing or coloring in pictures.
He is great at counting and math and has his father's good memory.
He loves to play checkers, connect 4, Uno and most any card or board game.
He also loves his DS and to play games on the Wii.
We continue to work with him on his attitude when learning new things, his nature is to get frustrated when he is not fantastic at something the very first time.
In school the only trouble he gets into is "being chatty" and "interupting". I asked him why he is interupting and he told me that he is usually trying to tell the teacher about sports! (We love his teacher, she is so patient!)

Jacob generally is happy and easy to be around. Every now and then he will have a grumpy attitude but it is usually pretty easy to snap him out of it. More than anything if we get onto him it is for being LOUD. Man is that kid loud. Or for just being a little too wild indoors (i.e trying to play full court basketball with Aidan in Miss Jessica's playroom! Sorry again about that Miss Jessica!)

He is still someone that loves routine and a schedule and he still does best when he knows what to expect.
I love it that he can tell time! If you have a kid that is wired to like planning and scheduling and that kid can tell time, then suddenly life gets much easier. I can tell him, 'OK from 3 to 4 we will nap, at 4 we will get up and take showers and get dressed, at 5 we will leave for the restaurant' and it just all flows nicely and he does what he is supposed to do with no problems.

He is not totally grown up, it will suprise me still sometimes if he starts crying, for instance if he doesn't get his choice at a restaurant or can't stay up late to finish a basketball game on TV. I have to remember that he is only six and six is still pretty little in the scheme of things.

I love it that he is not too big to do some little kid things.

He is not too big to:
Let me kiss him bye in the mornings
Sit in my lap for a story
Be carried in if he falls asleep in the car
Get excited over little things (ice cream, seeing an eagle or pretty sunset, feeding the turtles)
Cry if he gets hurt
Be tucked in and say "I love you" at night.

Found it

2011-02-16T09:16:00.001-06:00

The missing camera has been found. I know you all were worried about that!

Given an hour…

2011-02-13T21:14:00.001-06:00

I can do a LOT of cooking. Here is what I got done today after church:

Browned & Seasoned 1 pound of ground chicken, then a pound of ground beef, then 1.25 pounds Italian sausage. I do these all in one pot, one right after the other, starting with the most mild flavored and ending with the most flavored. While one is cooling/draining I start the next, then bag them all into ziplocks, label and pop them into the freezer.

After the Italian sausage I added water to the pot (without rinsing) and boiled pasta for lasagna casserole (Which despite the name is made with rotini pasta).

Meanwhile I prepped two cloves of garlic and a pound of fresh green beans. After emptying out the pasta and water I added garlic, olive oil and butter to the hot pan (note I still haven’t had to wash the pan and I’ve only used the one pan) then sauté the green beans for about 8 minutes until green and tender-crisp. Once done I set them off to the side in a pyrex dish for tonight’s dinner. ( I never store anything hot in plastic if I can help it, except for gallon freezer Ziploc's but even then I let it cool down a lot first)

I also rough chopped an onion, then placed a pork roast and a full bottle of BBQ sauce, and then a bottle full of water into a crockpot set on low for 8 hours. The resulting pulled pork BBQ will become empanada filling.

I also cut up some chicken, rolled it in Dijon mustard and then into equal parts bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. These went onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, covered in foil and into the fridge (the beans and chicken were for tonight’s dinner, if not I would have put the entire cookie sheet into the freezer and then after they were frozen I would have moved them into Ziplocs.)

I went ahead and put together the lasagna casserole with the pasta, half the sausage, some cottage cheese, 1 can of V-8 and half a jar of red sauce all topped with mozzarella. This is sitting in the fridge ready to bake off later in the week.

Then I took a 30 minute power nap before getting outside into the glorious weather with my family!

Tonight before dinner I mixed up my first ever batch of empanada dough. I really hope it is good because it used up a lot of ingredients, nearly 4 cups of flour, 2 eggs, 2 sticks of butter (that’s a double batch) After the horrible horrible pretzels incident I am really wary of using up that much on an untried recipe. The dough is chilling in the fridge, realistically it may be a few days until I have time to form the empanadas – I really hope it will be tasty!

This picture is from my phone, I can’t find my real camera! Ach.

On a completely other note, there is a park at the back of Kingwood that I somehow have never heard about before. Last Friday night we heard all about it at a dinner party and so on Saturday Bella and I grabbed a subway sandwich and went to check it out.

Again, the camera is umm. well, let’s just say it isn’t where it should be at the moment, so these are also from the phone. It was so calm and beautiful, I had no idea there was a huge park like this in Kingwood! Bella and I walked out past the prairie and a little ways into the woods. But it was getting late so we had to head back home. Not the best snap of Bella, but the phone is slow and takes the picture a few beats after you think it will.

If this is how it looks in February, I can’t wait to visit again in Spring! It was so peaceful and quiet (well except for kids and dogs) – my soul felt restored!

Will’s 40th Birthday Party

2011-02-05T22:53:00.001-06:00

Our Birthday Boy

We invited everyone out to join us at Tin Roof BBQ in Humble. It was casual and fun. I worried and fretted over the weather, but the rain held off. It was cool and breezy but not too cold that we couldn’t enjoy ourselves.

Jacob and Aiden bonded over Mario Cart

Bella, Joanna and Anna take the stage

My sweet girlfriends (and James) – aren’t they beautiful?

Bob and Leigh came from Austin with Cousin Lulu

Our good friends (Ryan works with Will) joined us – we’re so glad they have moved to Kingwood!

The Pence girls – sooo photogenic!

There’s Emma – what a cutie pie!

(Total sidebar - These are the little girl’s names that were there: Anabel, Luella, Emma, Anna, Joanna & Natalie – doesn’t it sound like it could be a list of names from a hundred years ago? I love all those classic old fashioned names!)

The highlight of the night – cake balls from April’s Tasty Treats. She is local and on Facebook. These were phenomenal – we will certainly be ordering from her again!

Bella and Luella are such sweet loving cousins – they had a great time playing Princess.

Thanks everyone for making Will’s special birthday a true celebration of all that makes life wonderful – family, food, friends and fellowship.

Birthday...still playing catch up from December

2011-02-04T23:12:00.001-06:00

December 28th I turned 38. I don’t get too hung up on getting older. I mean, it happens and I still feel like the same me on the inside.

We were off from work all that week and had a fun day. We decided to go to the zoo. There is a whole new section – it is really neat. If you have been to Animal Kingdom at Disney - it is a lot more like that than any other part of the zoo where the restaurants and paths and every part is themed.

The next day we went to San Antonio with Will’s parents. We stayed down by the river walk. It was special to take Jacob out on the River Walk boat during Christmas to see all the lights. I remember going when I was a kid.

(OK – I just have to say this – notice how when I am not in humid icky Houston weather that my hair actually looks nice!)

Bella was asleep back in the hotel room with Grandma.

The lights were so pretty but I had a hard time getting decent pictures.

The next morning Will and his parents had a meeting to go to, and I took the kids over to my Aunt and Uncle’s house to visit my grandparents. Jacob and my Uncle played checkers.

Then we left San Antonio and went to Austin for a few days. In Austin we rented a little house and had a little party to celebrate my birthday some more.

We had my parents, Will’s parents, Will’s brother and my sister in law and my sister in law’s sister, and their parents, oh and some cousins too.

Do I look snookered in this picture? I wasn’t really (no really) I just get mushy over making birthday wishes and was so pleased to have everyone come out and was thinking about making a wish.

The night after this one was New Year’s eve. I don’t have a single picture but Will and I went out with Robert and Leigh to a little house party and had a great time, the party had fire pits on the back deck and Will and I started 2011 with a toast, and a kiss by firelight under the stars. A perfect beginning to a new year I think.

Well I for one am a bit nonplussed

2011-02-04T22:42:00.001-06:00

At least where we are – we have not seen any snow. Will says he could see some in the air today but not anything that would stick. All we got was a few icicles here and there. My poor kids are so disappointed. I had to work today (from home) but Will and the kids were both off. It was a cold stuck inside all day kind of day. The kids watched movies (Princess and the Frog, Scooby Doo, Dora) and Jacob played his DS (he likes Mario Cart) and I worked and read.

We did have excitement of another kind. Last night our washing machine started leaking. This is upsetting because it is only 5 years old! What happened to the days when a washer would last a decade or more?! Will looked at it and declared that it wasn’t a cheaply fixable thing (the wall of the pump had actually cracked or something????) Ugg. I hate unplanned expenses. Even though we have savings to take care of life’s road bumps, it still makes me mad!

So…Will headed off today and came home a hero in my book. He found a beautiful new washer dryer set (although he had to go to two different places each piece was at a different store). Both were last year’s floor models with minor dents and were HALF the original price and then he talked them down even more on each one. I was so proud of him. One of the dents is on the side that faces the wall so no one will ever see it, the other dent is on the front and is literally like the size of a dime! Hah. I love love love them! They are so shiny and pretty and they will save water and power.

Now we are back in business as far as washing clothes goes and the kids really had a blast with the bubble pack. They lined it up end to end down the hallway and ran up and down it. Jacob called it his “popsicle course” (I think he meant obstacle course but then it “pops” so popsicle course, he’s a wordsmith that one)

Sorry you will have to tilt your head – I don’t know how to flip the video…

Fun with bubble pack

Didja’ miss me???

2011-01-30T21:55:00.001-06:00

I am bound and determine not to have it be FEBRUARY and still not have blogged Christmas!

This year we got one of those JOY Christmas signs for the yard – and Will and Jacob outlined the yard in lights. I thought it looked great!

And of course we decorated the inside too!

The kitchen tree – all decorated with kitchen utensils.

Nativity scene in the dining room (and we got curtains up in the dining room!)

The mantle

The tree

Here are some fun pictures from the day we went to the nursery to pick out our tree:

This is Bella, but she looks EXACTLY like Jacob at the same age!

The decorated tree.

All the presents and stockings after Santa came. There were piles of gifts because we had lots of family sharing the holiday with us, sweet cousin Luella came to share Christmas morning with our kids as well as Will’s parents. We had a houseful and it was wonderful!

Checkers!

A dollhouse!

A telescope!

Princess nightgown!

This was an especially fun year because the kids were so into all the little traditions and trimmings. We set out milk and cookies for Santa. We sprinkled reindeer food, we went to a Living Nativity. On Christmas Eve we went to church and sang Silent Night with our candles raised high. It was just a really really nice traditional Christmas.

The week after Christmas – Will and I were off work and the family went on a trip to San Antonio and to Austin, and we celebrated my birthday – more pictures to come!

Yeah Yeah I know I know

2011-01-10T12:45:00.000-06:00

You all are tired of reading about crescent rolls! Doesn't she have anything to blog about, I can hear you thinking - Christmas pictures, birthday pictures, the zoo - anything? Yes I do! I only have a one word excuse - KINDLE.

Cooking with Crescent Rolls

2010-12-23T09:17:00.001-06:00

In case anyone wants to make these, the original Pampered Chef taco ring version is here:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/39414/taco-ring.html

I have made countless variations of this recipe. One of which is using premade HEB chicken for enchiladas as I already mentioned. I have also used browned ground chicken mixed with a small can of diced green chilies. Another version for breakfast is to make a mixture of scrambled eggs and browned breakfast sausage and a little shredded cheese.

If you do the tacos then you can put the lettuce and all that in the middle of the ring for presentation. If you do the other variations just pop a little serving bowl of sour cream or salsa in the middle. I use the reduced fat crescent rolls, they are very good but will brown faster so watch the time carefully. If you coupon you can often pick up the crescent rolls for like .25 cents and they last in the fridge a long time.

Tips for working with crescent dough - Bake them on parchment paper and drain everything you put on them or the bottom won’t be crisp. Also season the dough itself well, both the inside and the top will need salt, pepper, garlic powder or whatever matches what you are having.

OK two last “tricks” with crescent rolls:

In a round casserole dish place one package of Hormel pork pot roast and mix in one can of cream of mushroom soup and whatever frozen vegetables you like, add a dash of thyme. Top with four reduced fat crescent rolls. Voila – pot pie in under 20 minutes including baking time.

And dessert - unroll each crescent and brush with melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar, then place an apple slice in the middle and wrap it up & bake it. Serve with vanilla ice cream or yogurt.

I usually do these last two together since that way it uses up a whole can of crescents. (half for the casserole and half for four desserts)

Living Off the Fat of the Pantry

2010-12-21T19:20:00.001-06:00

December has been c-r-a-z-y. One look at the calendar of events and I knew that I had to plan well in order to get dinner on the table this month otherwise we’d wind up eating at Culver’s three times a week! So I did my shopping a little differently this month.

Right before Thanksgiving a lot of canned foods were on really great sale at Wal-Mart. So I took advantage and bought several pallets of things we use often. This is what my little laundry room pantry looked like:

Next, I shopped for 25 meals all at once. So that we could get through the majority of the month only stopping in for milk and produce. I don’t think this plan has been particularly helpful from a cost point of view (it would be except that the little trips to get milk and produce have a tendency to include some impulse buys – have you tried Ghirardelli Dark chocolate peppermint bark, oh-my-goodness ) but it has been awesome to go weekend after weekend without needing to do a big shopping trip.

Our menu this month:

Angliotti and light-alfredo sauce, garlic toast and salad
Hot dogs, french fries and apple slices
BBQ baked potatoes & slaw
Steamed sausage and potatoes with parmesian cheese
Pizza Bites (Annie’s Eats) with marinara
Chicken, avocado, tomato, spinach wraps (Learned this from Jessica)
BBQ Little Smokies and Macaroni and Cheese
Pork Tenderloin in mustard sauce with mashed potatoes
Jambalaya
Chicken Enchilada Ring (HEB Chicken for enchiladas, wrapped in reduced fat crescent rolls, baked and then served with queso and sour cream)
Green Chili Stew
Ground Chicken tacos & rice
Heavenly Homemaker Lasagna Casserole
Beef Pot Roast
Beef stew over white rice
Blueberry scones (have you seen these over by the biscuits??LOVE)
English Muffins with canadian bacon slices and poached eggs
Green chili hashbrown casserole
Sausage sautéed in Worcheshire and Lime with couscous

I know that’s not 25 but some things we had more than once.

So this has been a month of casseroles and all kinds of good meals from cans and the freezer. Being the the oddball that I am I don’t see any problem putting canned sloppy joe mix on homemade bread or serving canned stew with a salad made from delicate baby greens and heirloom tomatoes. That’s how I roll – I do the best I can and try not to obsess over the other stuff!

I will say this – if that commercial that has been playing lately where they put the beef stew over white rice has you intrigued – go for it! I’m eating it right now and it’s awesome! Would it better if the beef and veggies were organic and the stew was homemade from scratch, oh definitely –no doubt about it. But this is good too. In one week I’ll be 38 years old and one thing I’ve learned is this – I can do ANYTHING but I can’t do EVERYTHING.

So December has been my official prepared foods month and so be it. Tonight I plan on spending some quality time in my PJ’s playing Go Fish with my little ones.

Oh, P.S – we’ve been eating off paper plates too! Shhh, oh the shame!

All About Bella

2010-12-21T17:38:00.001-06:00

Bella is a girly girl, but she’s also sort of a rough and tumble girl. She prefers to dress in pink from head to toe but will run and tumble and play rough with Jacob. Bella has a twinkle in her eye and knows what she wants. I’ll be honest, if I had to wonder which kid will be a handful as a teenager, it would be my daughter, but no worries, there’s lots of time for prayer and parenting between now and then!

This is Bella at my Aunt and Uncle’s house in San Antonio. She decided to eat from garden, turns out she ate tiny red peppers. She had to drink a lot of milk and hold ice on her tongue and lips. It was quite pathetic and sad! Later I asked her what she thought they would taste like – “Blueberry pie” she said mournfully.

This is Bella at her ballet dance recital dress rehearsal. Her grandparents couldn’t come to the actual recital, so they came to the rehearsal. Too bad, Bella decided not to dance that day. See the line of girls on the left and then the pile of tutu on the far right? That’s my girl!

And below, a close up of Bella not dancing.

By the day of the actual recital, we really had no idea what she would do. She practiced in class, she practiced at home, but would she actually dance at the recital?

These were taken in the little pre-show dressing area. She did not want me taking pictures.!

We were thrilled when she danced her little heart out! She danced just great through both routines!

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Tip Toe Teddy Bear

At the end she said really loud “See Mommy I didn’t lay down!” and everyone laughed. Of course there is video but it was done on the real video camera and so I need to load it up.

Bella has ZERO interest in having her picture taken after the recital, even though they had a really nice picture taking area all set up. Of course the picture taking area was set up AFTER the cookie eating area, which was a tactical mistake in my opinion.

Bella is a joy, she is full of life and laughter. She loves to be scared, her favorite movies are scary! (Scooby Doo Where’s My Mummy and Disney’s The Princess and the Frog) She loves skeletons and skulls and pirates and bad guys. Nothing phases her with one exception, the villainess in Little Mermaid! She wants someone to watch that part with her every time!

Aside from dance and scary movies, what Bella loves most is spending time playing with her brother.

Their current made up game is called “Crash and Bash”. Crash and Bash involves our little pink grocery cart – they race around like trash collectors and collect household items in the cart (shoes, coats, toys, etc.) and then they stage a huge, on purpose CRASH and tump (why is this word showing up as a misspelling? tump is a word is it not???) the whole cart over and then fall over into the pile. This scenario ends one of two ways – either they fall down laughing hysterically or someone gets hurt and starts crying. Either way they get up and do it all again. Perhaps you can tell by my tone that Crash and Bash is not my favorite. But it keeps them busy while I cook dinner and they clean everything up eventually, so I guess it’s OK. And they LOVE it so I don’t have the heart to stop them. I figure it will get old on it’s own soon.

All About Jacob

2010-12-19T09:58:00.001-06:00

This Fall Jacob continues to lose baby teeth. In the past, the new teeth have been visible even before the old ones fell out. Recently though, the baby ones are gone with no adult ones in sight. He is currently missing his upper incisor on one side and both lower incisors. We told him he sort of looked like a tiger.

The week before Thanksgiving Break, Jacob’s Kindergarten class performed a Thanksgiving skit. Jacob was an Indian.

Thanksgiving Skit

TEN songs about Thanksgiving

After the skit we joined the kids in the cafeteria for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Jacob still loves to play with his blocks and he is as obsessed as ever with all sports. His great new love though is card games and board games. Or as he thinks of them “BORED” games (because they keep you from being bored). Every day he talks about how much he wants Santa to bring him a checkers set. Between you and me, I’m pretty sure that Santa will be able to spring that!

Hanukkah Mix Up

2010-12-03T19:18:00.001-06:00

We have been talking about Hanukkah this week. Tonight at dinner we asked Jacob to explain what Hanukah was all about.

“It is about how God gave old people gas.”

Um..what? It took me a minute…then I understood, I had told him that it was a festival based upon the OLD testament when God provided OIL to the people. Somehow he turned that into “It is about how God gave old people gas”!

Kids are hilarious!

Renaissance Festival 2010

2010-11-21T21:13:00.001-06:00

We go to Renaissance Festival every year. Both children began going early in life (Jacob was 6 weeks, Bella was about 3 months) and the entire extended family looks forward to it each year.

This year, we got there around noon and the day seemed to fly by. Now with three kids in the group, gone are the days of lounging under a tree listening to music and people watching and wandering in and out of shops. OK, I still shop but it is more strategic than it used to be!

I wish I had a picture handy of my brother – because Jacob looks a lot like him in this picture. Jacob’s Paw Paw always wears these cool hats at Ren Fest and this year he bought Jacob one.

Here was a fabulous costume I hadn’t seen before, we all thought it was a fox but later someone said it was meant to be Puss in Boots. Still I think it was like a fox – whatever it was, it was really neat.

The week before we went Jacob got his haircut. I don’t mean trimmed, I mean major major haircut. So be prepared he looks totally different!

I couldn’t believe that he wanted to do the bungee jumping thing but he did. He didn’t flip, and he didn’t do it for a real long time, but he did it and had a great time.

Our kids still love the carousel. Here is Bella with Uncle Bob.

I like this series – Uncle Bob was teaching Jacob how to flip his hat from his hand up onto his head.

Earlier in the day we visited one of our favorite vendor Whimsys Muse, they take gorgeous fairy pictures and then go in digitally and make them really special and fun. We had Bella’s done when she was an infant and I wanted to do them again. They came out so cute!

Check them out here.

If you are a grandparent, ...you might want to wait to order anything until you see what Santa brings :)

The children love to ride the camels and elephants. Will rode with Bella on the camel and Bobby took Jacob on the elephant.

My handsome husband.

Cousin Lulu

Aunt Leaf (Leigh) and the girls.

Paw Paw and Grandma got fairy wings for the girls.

It was a really fun day, that went by sooo fast!

Cutie Pie

2010-11-14T17:33:00.001-06:00

Bella likes to feed the dog. The dog is very patient and never minds little fingers reaching around her bowl while she is eating. We always love on the dog when we feed her and Bella will say “Aw she’s so cute..” tonight I told her “I think you’re so cute!” and she answered “Yeah, I AM!”

Halloween

2010-11-13T07:22:00.001-06:00

As you can tell from the other post, we have had a really nice October full of fun fall & Halloween activities. All of which led up to the big night of Trick or Treating which the children were so excited about (and us too!)

This year Bella was a Fairy Ballerina and Jacob was Buzz Lightyear. Will took them for the first half hour and I passed out candy and then we swapped. The ended up filling their buckets TWICE!

Love this pose – they did this on their own.

In the background you can see some of our yard decorations.

Trying to show the back of her costume with wings but it was twilight and things were getting blurry! This was walking up to the first house of the night.

They loved this house because of the Scooby Doo decoration. Our kids LOVE Scooby!

Back home, all worn out.

Mouth full of candy! Love that face!

Fall Festivities

2010-11-12T20:36:00.001-06:00

The weekends leading up to Halloween were busy ones for us. One Saturday we went to a free pumpkin patch that was sponsored by our home builder.

Afterwards we attended our neighborhood Fall Festival. We rode the train and played games.

I love how cute Bella’s hair came out this day.

Another fun thing we did was make Halloween cupcakes

Here I was trying to take an artsy picture of the cupcakes.

And of course we carved pumpkins

Anabel is in a phase where she loves anything with skulls on it. I didn’t particularly encourage this – she just really likes them of her own accord. So when we sorted through the pumpkin pattern book this is what she chose.

This pumpkin Jacob drew out and I carved it for him. So cute!

The Saturday before Halloween, we attended the Pumpkin Bash up at Jacob’s elementary school. The school is nearby so we walked up there.

Here is Jacob and his Kindergarten teacher – she’s awesome and we love her!

There were lots of booths and games and a jump house. I had Jacob with me and I had the camera, so guess who we ended up with pictures of?

And we made pumpkin seeds – YUM!

Next post I should finally get to Halloween itself! And after that…Renaissance Festival!

Asthma + Baking fail

2010-10-26T19:06:00.001-05:00

This ragweed season is killing me. Literally! My asthma is so bad that I’m doing nebulizer treatments through the day and on steroids. Yuck. They make me paranoid, YOU talking to me? (Ha ha) So I can’t get out and do a whole lot which is so ironic because the weather is gorgeous, just unfortunate that the ragweed and lovely early fall weather go hand in hand. I’m sooo ready for the ragweed to be done already. Honestly how much is there and when will it be done?

So to cheer myself up I tried out a new recipe. I don’t necessarily want to say whose recipe it was, because I love her so (in a blog crush sort of way) Sigh. I am certain it is my fault or a climate difference or something.

So I tried to make these pretzels. It wasn’t hard, the bread machine did the dough and then I pulled it out, let it rise and attempted to form pretzels. But the dough was waay too springy. I couldn’t get the rolls thin enough they kept rising up on me. So when I made them they were puffy and coiled. Coiled..Brown and tan loops. And they were heavy – and I only used 1/2 whole wheat flour (recipe called for all whole wheat) 8 cups of flour for 12 pretzels, yeah, they were heavy. I tried to eat one, it was not good. I tried soaking it in butter and kosher salt. It looked marginally better. OK, not really. Honestly it looked a lot like big dog poo poo. But shiny and salty. I tasted it, it was horrific, do you remember as a kid ever making salt dough to play with or make ornaments with and of course the grownups told you not to eat it, but it looked so much like cookie dough so you just had to have a bite…well that is how these tasted. Not good.

Oh how I mourn those 8 cups of flour and that stick of butter and those two and a half cups of milk – that was a lot of groceries to literally dump in the trash. I was too sad to even take a picture. I am determined to try again to make my own soft pretzels, the kids love the ones from the mall and I’ll be darned if I’ll give up. I will just have to keep at it.

Bella at Old McDonalds Farm

2010-10-18T20:24:00.001-05:00

We are at that stage where sometimes one kid gets invited to a party and not the other, it is just how it goes. On this particular Saturday a few weekends back Bella was invited to Old McDonald's Farm. Of course it was awesome.

First we went around and fed all the animals. I told Bella to sit by the rabbit, she thought I told her to sit on the rabbit. Oops.

Waiting her turn to ride. There was no line, so we got to ride twice.

I love how she is standing here with her hands on her hips – look how dirty she was (and this was only the beginning!0

She learned quickly to keep her hand flat when feeding the animals. Notice how at this point, she WAS wearing socks….

One of my favorites, looking w-a-y up at the emu or whatever it is.

Whenever we go to a birthday party Bella always likes to sit right next to the birthday person. Bella is a front and center kind of girl.

The party was right next to the sand pile. The sand pile that ate Bella’s socks. I’m just grateful she didn’t bury her shoes too!

Goodies from the piñata!

Is there a way to photo shop out dirt?????

Shaun & Toad Are Friends

2010-10-14T15:40:00.000-05:00

Everyday at work I go walking my co-worker. On Tuesday we were out for our walk and happened upon this little guy. He was stuck in a round hole in the top of a manhole cover in the sidewalk in front of our bank building. This hole was a bit larger than a quarter, and a bit smaller than this toad.

Naturally we couldn't just leave him like that so we went in and got a cup of water, a soup spoon and some napkins and tried to push him in or pull him out. He did not budge. I worried that I was hurting his little arms when I was pulling, you can see from the picture that his arm already seemed to be somewhat atrophied. When I poured water on him, he swallowed and opened his eyes and he was just so sad.

We tried to call building maintenence to see if they could pry open the manhole but they were busy on the roof, probably with more important things. By this time my coworkers decided that there really wasn't anything else that could be done. So we all went back in.

I sat at my desk, and I couldn't concentrate on my work. I just kept thinking about this poor little guy. Then I got an idea. I grabbed some supplies and went back down. At first I thought he had passed on, he wasn't moving, his eyes were closed. But when I poured more water on him he swallowed and opened his eye. I took out a stick of butter that I keep up at the office for toast and I buttered up the edges of the hole. Then I locked my fingers around the wide part of his jar and I shimmied him. I shimmied and then I could see he had come out some. So then I just kept doing this until I had him all the way out to his hip joints. At that point, I dind't know what to do because of course I had no idea how to make him flex his legs so that he would go skinny enough to come out. I looked at him and he tilted his head and looked back at me. "Frog, (I know it's a toad, but I call them all frogs) I said "Frog, I've done my part, now you have to do yours" and I tell you that frog kicked his legs out and I gave a tug and out he finally popped.

As you can see here, he was OK! he favored one leg but hopped off. I did rinse the butter off him since they absorb through their skin. I don't know, I hope he is fine. If not at least he can pass on out in the open and not stuck.

Pretty much everyone thought I was nuts to keep trying. They all said I needed to just let it go. But I couldn't just leave a living creature like that. I'm so glad I went back down and tried again!

Kids

2010-10-06T09:56:00.000-05:00

Bella wants to be a fairy ballerina for Halloween. This is a costume that can pretty much be done with things we already have. All I need is a pink leotard because the only one she has now is black. Jacob wants to be Buzz Lightyear. I ordered a Buzz Costume, new with tags, off eBay for $25. Since the same one is $49 at the Disney store I thought that was a good deal. We are going to try out the costumes up at church this Friday night where they are doing Family Movie Night plus wearing costumes and getting Goody bags.

Last night Jacob's loose tooth started bothering him and bleeding everywhere. He could only eat yogurt for dinner. I tried to pull the tooth but he was crying and very upset from all the blood pouring out so I just let it be. This morning Will barely tugged and got it out. It's easier if it comes out at home. One of his previous teeth came out at school and got lost, the tooth fairy came anyway, but it bothered Jacob that it was lost. It bothered Will too, he keeps things like that.

This is the 5th tooth to come out. So far he has lost both his upper and lower central incisors. The one this morning is his upper lateral incisor on the right. This is the first tooth where we couldn't see his adult tooth coming right in behind it. I think it's neat to see the kid's dental x-rays with the rows of adult teeth sitting up there waiting their turn. It's weird to think that they have those big old teeth in there all that time.

Last weekend we had two major dramatic events. We thought they would be huge and dramatic for the kids but actually it ended up just being things that upset Will and I - the kids were fine.

The first one has to do with FFPS soccer. FFPS soccer rules says that since the coaches are volunteers, they get to pick the time and day of practices. Our coach picked Sundays to hold practice. I called him to see if it was up for discussion but he explained that he works Monday through Friday out of town and Sunday was the only day he could do it. Will and I talked it over and made the decision that we would withdraw Jacob this season because we opt to keep Sundays for family and church. We did not want to set a precedent for secular extracurricular activities being on Sundays. I thought, Jacob won't get it when he's only 6, or even when he's 16 or 26, but by 36 maybe he will look back and understand why his Mom and Dad chose this.

"Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son..." Genesis 20:8-11

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve..." Joshua 24:15 Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.

We looked into some other activities for Jacob. A while back the children went to a stranger danger presentation up at KUMC and I was very impressed with the instructor, Kevin Henderson who is also the owner, chief instructor and 6th degree black belt at a local martial arts academy. Jacob seemed very receptive to trying martial arts so maybe we will do that.

The other drama we had is that Will sucked up Bella's fairy tent with the vacuum cleaner. I'm not sure yet if I can fix it or not as many of the major seams have been ripped out and I don't have a sewing machine. I don't know if I can fix it by hand because it is such fine gauge silk type material and really should be serged to look right and for the seams to be strong. Will told Bellaabout it very gently, expecting her to be really upset, telling her we would for sure either fix it or replace it. She just said "Oh, could I have a pink one instead?"

Annual Check ups…

2010-10-01T20:07:00.001-05:00

What a difference a year makes…Officially, in the last year Bella has grown from 31” to 35” in height and from 25 pounds to 26.2 pounds. Hmmm, I have weighed her often at home at a solid 28.5 on several occasions, so I’m not sure what this 26 pounds is all about. (Isn’t it funny how when it’s MY weight that seems light at the doctor’s I love it and think, oh they must have a super accurate scale, but when it is Bella I think Oh that can’t be right???)

It’s funny that although her metrics haven’t changed much, the way she looks and moves is totally different, she is definitely a little girl now and not a baby. Although she is at 10% for height and weight, her chart shows that she is on a perfect curve so we aren’t worried. The only vaccination either child had to have today was for flu, and that one was nasal and not an injection so they were happy and it was an easy check up.

I don’t have pictures from Jacob’s 5 yr old checkup. I am thinking that maybe his Daddy took him?

I tried to get him to pose with his stats on the paper like we did for Bella. In case it is hard to read – he is 47.2 inches tall and 47 pounds. Remember last month in Vegas when he was too short to ride the kiddie coaster? Well if we went now he could ride it (a full inch in just a few weeks – man!) Jacob is at 77% for height and 60% for weight. You all know me, I don’t worry too much about stats but I am glad they are both healthy and doing fine.

Jacob actually hit an important key critical childhood milestone while we were waiting for the doctor – he learned to play Uno! I personally love to play Uno and sadly Will does not, so I’ve waited many years to have someone to play Uno with!

First Astros Game

2010-09-30T09:16:00.001-05:00

A few weekends back we attended our first Astros game. Work gave me two free tickets to the game and to the Mercy Me concert that followed the game. (Amegy sponsors the Astros and has all the ATM’s at the ball park) I thought it would be fun if we could all go, so I went online and bought two cheapie tickets for Bella and I and we let the boys have the good seats. Then for the concert part we were all able to sit together. OK, how cute is this picture????

I love to see people at baseball games with tiny babies – I think it is so cute, especially when they are all dressed up in baseball clothes or tiny jerseys. However, I have never taken my own kids to games while they were very little because I am a total klutz. Just in normal life I drop things, I fall down, I walk into walls. I have no depth perception, truly my vision is not good (I am negative 7 in one eye and negative 6 in the other – sad I know!) Those steep steps at Minute Maid Park scare me and I have never wanted to brave them with a baby or toddler in my arms. But now that the children are older I feel better about it (although I still had that really tight Mom grip going on Bella when we were on the stairs)

Bella and I were WAY up there. I was surprised that she actually followed the game somewhat. Although mostly she was primarily interested in eating snacks.

First hot dog at the ball park!

Cotton Candy

That’s Mercy Me performing down there at third base.

Jacob had a grand time, he has been building ball parks out of blocks.

It’s hard to tell in this picture, because it was taken on my phone and I couldn’t zoom out or in, but she is actually standing up, with her head in the seat, sleeping – right there during a loud concert! We ended up leaving after a few songs, she was really wiped out.