A Hug From a Friend

Today I received a fun surprise in the mail from my friend, Annie. She is a HUGE Amy Grant fan and she knew that I didn't have this album in CD form yet (yes, I was still listening to my TAPE of it!) It is definitely one of my favorite Christmas albums and has been since I was in high school.

We listened to it a LOT in college during the holidays (starting in October) and it brings back many warm memories. When I thanked Annie, she said it was a "hug" sent to me in the mail. Thanks for the "hug" Annie! (I'm listening to it right now. )

Who can you "hug" today? ;) It means so much when a friend thinks of you, doesn't it?

Counting Our Blessings

I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving.

We were fortunate enough to have our whole family together (picture coming soon). Our house was bustling with activity. The kids had a great time together. I was so happy that the cousins had some good quality playing time. :)

Grandpa and Grandma Eckstrom were counting their blessings :)

Diane and Colin

John and me
Steve, Rebecca, and HoustonJohn and his mom
Grandpa and Caleb
Grandpa and Caroline

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to "count our blessings", but I think it is definitely good for the soul to count a few every day. ;) Happy counting!!

The Blessing of Friendship

Last weekend, I got together with my dear friends from Taylor. We have known each other for twenty years now. (can that be?? we must have met when we were nine) We had so much fun eating out, playing games, shopping, and just being together. I love them so much . . . they are definitely a blessing to me!
back row left to right: Kristin (Wolgemuth) Fitzgerald, Carmen (Johnson) Grey, Dorie (McDougal) Thompson
front row left to right: Annie (Bergsten) Molnar, Julie (Scroggins) Meredith, and me

Beautiful Birthday Blossoms

I'm thankful for these beautiful flowers. I took this picture today, a whole week after I received them from Mike and Lori (John's brother and sister-in-law) for my birthday. I can't believe how fresh they still look! Thanks, Mike and Lori!! I love them . . .they make my day a little better every time I look at them. :)

Favorites on Fridays . . . Like Oprah's "O" List, But Not Really

Favorite Place to Buy Bread: Great Harvest Bread Company

I just LOVE this place!

I love the warm slice of bread smeared with butter they offer you when you enter the door. I love the way they have so many different kinds of bread to offer throughout the week. (it's different every day) I love knowing that there are no preservatives or "yucky stuff" in the bread that I am buying for my family. And I LOVE the way it smells in there!! :)

I am very picky about the ingredients that are in bread. I won't buy any loaf of bread with high fructose corn syrup in it and I prefer the bread to have just a few ingredients. My favorite loaves to buy are honey whole wheat and apple scrapple. I also like to buy their basil asiago (yum!) or cheddar garlic when I make soup. Their HUMONGOUS cookies are pretty good, too. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!!

On Monday, November 16th, it was my 39th birthday. I started celebrating on Sunday with some friends by going downtown Geneva to eat and do a little shopping. (two of my favorite things!!) When I got home, the kids and John surprised me with a little party. They made me a cake and gave me a lot of treasures that they picked out for me at Trader Joe's. (they know my love language)

On my actual birthday, we did school in the morning in our jammies and then we headed to downtown Geneva again. (I just love it there.) I took Luke and Caroline out to eat at a place called the Little Traveler and then we went to a cute little coffee shop named Grahams 318 and I bought the kids gelato. Grahams 318 is in an old house and there is seating upstairs in the "bedrooms". We sat at an antique table and looked at old World Book Encyclopedias that were on the bookshelves. How fun! Who knew?! The kids would say a word and then we would look to see if it was in the encyclopedia. We also played CandyLand and Connect Four while we were there. I truly enjoyed every minute of it. I was definitely counting my blessings. :)

My Little Gardeners

We are studying plants in science right now, so we decided to plant a few seeds. We planted them in tubes so we will be able to see the roots. We also went outside and pulled up a few weeds so we could see their roots. (I taught the kids the word "perennial" when they wanted to pull up the hastas and other plants that I would like to see come back in the spring.)

Luke just loves it when we "do" things. He gets so excited and I am so glad that he is learning so much this year.

Homeschooling Luke and Caroline this year is a blessing to me.

Little Luke is Writing

Luke has been discovering how much fun it is to write. He writes his name over and over. The other day, he handed me a piece of paper and it said "MOM" on it. Little things like that make me so happy.

Weekend with Caleb

Last weekend, we had the opportunity of having Caleb (my sister's baby, I mean little boy) sleep over at our house. I'll tell you what . . . he was THE CENTER of attention here. :) Our kids just adore Caleb.

We took him outside and put him to work! ;)

There were just enough leaves to make the perfect jumping pile.

"Look!" "Airplane!!"

(Good catch, Jake!!)
When we weren't playing in the leaves, we were playing with CARS or TRUCKS.

We had a great time with Caleb!!! He is a blessing and we love him so much!!!!

Homemade Play Dough

The other day, Caroline and I made some homemade play dough. I got the recipe online from a school in Maryland. It is the BEST Play Dough recipe ever!! I like it because it is super smooth (not grainy). I also like it because the kids play with it SO much longer than store bought Play Dough. It is perfect for making "cookies". Caroline kept playing candy store and making cherry Tootsie Rolls and other "yummy" things. Caroline made a banana split!
Here is the recipe:

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 cups water

4 Tablespoons oil

1 package of UNSWEETENED Kool Aid (for smell . . . we used cherry)

food coloring

1/2 cup cream of tartar (the secret ingredient to make it super smooth!! expensive, but worth it!!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook and stir over low/medium heat until play dough is completely formed and no longer sticky. (be patient . . .keep stirring and don't stop until it is a huge ball) Allow to cool slightly before storing in an airtight container or Zip-Loc bag.

ENJOY!! :)

Nature Lover

Caroline is our little nature lover. The other day, she put a pile of birdseed right outside the back door. Then she got a couple of chapter books, made herself comfortable, and waited until a "customer" came by. As soon as they started to come, she got her little nature sketchbook out and started drawing the animals that came. (lots of pretty little birds, including a blue jay and cardinals, a chipmunk, pigeons, and a grey squirrel)

Here is one of the lucky customers.

Psalm 104:24 "How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom, you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures."

Favorites on Fridays . . . Like Oprah's "O" List, But Not Really

Favorites on Fridays is back!!

Favorite "Pick me up" Snack: Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds

My Uncle Dan introduced these to me this summer at the beach. They are just cocoa roasted so they are not actually coated with chocolate. They only have one gram of sugar and 6 grams of protein per serving. You can get them at most large grocery stores. My whole family LOVES them!!

Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Kuiper's pumpkin patch.

We took a hayride to the patch to pick out the pumpkins.
The kids thought it was so cool that the pumpkins were actually attached to vines coming from the ground! Who knew?!? :) We picked out small ones because we saw big pumpkins at Aldi for $1.99 and couldn't stand to fork over $10 for one at the patch. The kids were OK with this. Their pumpkins were easier to carry that way anyway.

I loved the hay barn. It reminded me of growing up on a farm. We used to spend hours just playing in the hay. The smell really brought back fond memories.

We went through a corn maze, which was really fun!! The kids had questions they had to answer to get clues on which way to go next.

Which way should we go??!!

It was a blessing to spend a day together at the pumpkin patch!!!