Muffin Tops and Clementines

Well . . . I just got finished doing the Shred and I feel great!! Day 7 complete! 23 to go?!

I've just got to get rid of my muffin tops . . .

 . . . and my saddle bags! ;)

I will!!

Now, to totally change the subject . . .

I wanted to tell you about a book series that Caroline and I have been reading. 

They are the Clementine books written by Sara Pennypacker.

We LOVE them!

Clementine is an imaginative, creative, observant, and playful 3rd grader. She pays attention to every detail of daily life. Her teachers keep telling her to "pay attention" in class! (She keeps thinking "I am paying attention.") She's  a challenge for her parents (she refers to herself as "the hard one" as opposed to her "easy" brother). She doesn't always make the right decisions, but her lessons are great ones and they are funny!!
Clementine is a great friend.  In the chapter that we read tonight, her friend, Margaret, got glue stuck in her hair and was trying to cut it out with scissors.  Her hair looked awful after she was finished with it.  Clementine decided to try to help and even it out, which meant cutting ALL of Margaret's hair off (with plastic art scissors).  Margaret's parents were furious at Clementine. She felt bad for Margaret, so that night she cut off all of her own hair to make Margaret feel like she was not alone.  Yikes!   

We love Clementine!!

New Year - New Me

Like everyone else, I have made a couple of New Years Resolutions for 2011.
This year, I only made a few and I have realized that the best way to keep them is by getting people to hold me accountable to keep them.


Accountability is KEY.

My first resolution is to exercise regularly. 

I don't have a goal of how much weight to lose or how fast I should run a mile.  I just want to exercise because I know I should.

I have been doing the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels and I really love it. 

It is challenging, but doable and the results are AMAZING.  I have more energy and I feel strong and toned.  A few close friends have been checking up on me and I have been checking up on them.  It really motivates me to actually do it when I know someone will be asking me if I did!

Another resolution I have is to spend more time in God's Word. 

Again, accountability plays a major role. 

I have signed up to be in a Bible Study called There is a Season: Experiencing Contentment In Every season of Life. (by Laurie Cole)  It is SO GOOD. 

This is just the first week of the study, but I have gotten so much out of it already.  I will post about what I am learning real soon.

I have always had a hard time making time to study God's Word.  Why??  It should be the most important thing to me!!

When someone is holding me accountable (my small group) it motivates me to sit down and do my lesson.  I know I should be motivated to on my own, but I am just not.

I have a few more resolutions, like cooking better and healthier dinners for my family , getting more organized, finishing projects in our house, really spending "quality time" with the kids, working on building a stronger marriage, etc . . . but I just wanted to focus on the two big ones for me this year.

A Snowy Day and a Meatloaf Recipe

Today, the kids woke up to a wintry wonderland outside.
It's a good thing it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Snow Days never happen around here (because we get a lot of snow and the plows are just way too efficient . . . don't get the kids started on that one!) so we pretended it was a Snow Day!! 

John and Jake had fun shoveling.

Anyone want to hire him?? He's good.

Luke had fun doing this.

Caroline had fun building me a snowman with her buddy.

I had fun making this for supper. YUM.

Best Ever Meatloaf

2 Tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I use a slice of whole wheat bread all crumbled up)

1 egg

1/4 cup ketchup

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3/4 teaspoon salt

Saute the onions and garlic in the butter.

Mix all of the ingredients together and put in loaf pan. (I put it on a cookie sheet so it is flatter for some reason)

Squirt more ketchup all over the top and bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. 

MIA and Bird "Cakes"

I have definitely been missing in action for the past couple of months.

There are several reasons for that:

1.  I had a bad headache that just wouldn't leave me alone,

2.  Christmas (need I say more??),

3.  I just needed more time to get some important things done around my house,

4.   and I just needed to focus on my family.

Now, I am ready to have fun blogging again . . .

I decided to start with a repost from last January because Caroline and I made these fun bird cakes again today.

Enjoy! and I will see you again real soon!!

Caroline has so much fun watching this squirrel eat from her bird feeder. She wanted me to take this picture because she just loves how he hangs on with his little feet.

Since Caroline likes watching her new bird feeder so closely (thanks Uncle Steve, Auntie Becca, and family!) we checked a book out at the library called Birds in Your Backyard by Barbara Herkert. I think it was written especially for Caroline. :) It gives so many cool ideas about how to attract and identify birds and the illustrations are beautiful. Today, we made a recipe for little "cakes" to feed the birds.

First, you hollow out oranges. We hollowed out 2 to make 4 cakes. (we used a grapefruit spoon to do this)

Then, we mixed the following in a bowl:

1 cup of bird seed

1/2 cup melted vegetable shortening

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (Caroline insisted on making homemade peanut butter . . .nothing but the best for the birds!)

Last, we scooped it into the hollowed out oranges and . . . voila!!

Don't they look yummy?

We put one outside and waited and waited for the birds to come, but they must have seen us. After a while, we looked and . . . the whole thing was gone! That pesky squirrel. :) That'll feed him for the rest of the winter.

Oh, I tried to get Luke involved in the project, but he was perfectly happy playing Jake's Nintendo DS. :)

Christmas is Over . . .Now I Can Breathe

Well . . .
all of the company has gone,
all of the presents have been opened,
all of the cards have been sent (well . . . almost all . . . I still have a few addresses to nail down . . .better late than never, right??),
all of the cookies have been added to my waistline,
all of the carols have been sung.

It was a good Christmas.

It was a cozy Christmas.

I don't want it to be over.

I think I'm going to leave our tree up until February . . . I just love sitting in here just staring at it.

Every ornament means so much to me.

I know where I got each and every one.

When the kids were helping me put them on the tree this year, I had them ask me where I got each one and I rememebered every. single. one.

Even the ones my students made for me when I was a teacher 15 years ago.

I love ornaments.

I love Christmas.

I will post some pictures soon of all our Christmas happenings.  I have been trying to just enjoy these two weeks I have with my kiddos. 

We've been mostly sledding (yes, we have a very WHITE Christmas here in Illinois!), playing games, and watching movies.

Have I mentioned that I adore Christmas?? (but I am glad that the busy part is over, so I can breathe and enjoy)

Cute Cookie Recipe

Caroline made these cute reindeer cookies for a cookie exchange party. 

Aren't they cauuute?!

We got the recipe out of Parents magazine.  Here it is:

Ingredients:

Pillsbury's Simply Peanut Butter cookie dough

Chocolate covered mini-pretzels

white cookie icing

mini chocolate chips (the recipe called for M&M minis)

Red M&Ms

Directions:

1. Cut the cookie dough in half and shape them into 1 1/2 inch triangles.

2. Bake for 8 minutes at 350*.

3. While the cookies are still warm, press the pretzels on the top of each side for the antlers.

4. Let the cookies cool.

5. To make the face, put the chocolate chips on for the eyes and a red M&M for the nose with cookie icing.

Easy and cute!! 

Florida - Part 3

Helloooo! 
I AM still alive!
I have been so very busy doing the things people do during the holidays, so I really haven't had any time to sit down and blog. 

I wanted to share the last set of Florida pics before I moved onto all my Christmasy pics.
I promise I won't wait so long in between posts again. (maybe)

See you soon!