Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln

These cute crafts are courtesy of our local library. We stopped by there today to return some movies we had checked out. There was a craft table set up in the children's department and after picking out new movies - we sat down and put together these little masterpieces.

You probably can't tell in this picture, but the pictures are of log houses made with popsicle sticks. The kids added construction paper doors, windows and grass. And the librarians gave each child a penny to glue on the window - so it looks like Lincoln is looking out of the window - so cute!

Oh, and the hats - the bottom part is supposed to look like Abe's beard. And while the kids were trying on their new "disguises" (that's what they called them), they determined that Abby was Mrs. Abe Lincoln - because, of course "girls don't have beards".

Overheard

This little one singing "Holy, Holy, Holy". This is the hymn that we've been learning and singing together during our family worship times. His little voice singing this precious song just warms my heart!

Don't throw that mildewy shower curtain away!

There was a time when a mildewy shower curtain liner would mean a trip to the store to purchase a new one. However, last spring I read somewhere that you can actually wash that ugly, slimy mildew right out of it - so I gave it a try. And guess what, a nice hot bath in the washing machine and a leisurely afternoon on the laundry line made our ugly shower curtain liner look brand new!

I guess it doesn't take too much to get me excited, 'cause I was all smiles for days afterwards. To think that it was that easy.


Well, time has marched on, and our shower curtain was needing another hot bath, BIG TIME. But the weather around here was not really conducive to hanging out laundry. So, I've been waiting, and waiting, all the while trying not to look too closely at our stinky, slimy liner when I take my morning shower.

And finally, yesterday, God blessed us with a little bit of spring in the midst of winter. Right after my shower, I took down the curtain and threw it in the washing machine - on hot of course. Then I hung that baby out to dry - and by evening we once again had a mildew-free curtain hanging in the shower.

February Meals

One of my goals for 2008 was to plan our meals in advance. I tried the weekly menu plan - it seemed like I was always planning; the bi-weekly menu plan - still took too much time; and finally the monthly menu plan - this is the one that worked for me. I try to sit down at the end of the month and plan out meals for the following month. I make a list of the meals I plan to make that month - and then at the beginning of each week, I take out that list and transfer in which meals we'll have. Following are the meals I plan to make for the month of February:


Hamburgers
Homemade Pizza x2
Three Cheese Pasta
Spaghetti Pie
Spaghetti noodles with cheese
Homemade Macaroni & Cheese from Tammy's Recipes
Cheesy Chicken Vermicelli from Tammy's Recipes
Chili
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Baked Potato Soup
Creamy Corn Chowder from Tammy's Recipes
White Chicken Chili
Crockpot Italian Chicken
Crockpot Beef Stew
Chicken Potpie
Cheesy Beef and Rice from Heavenly Homemakers
Cracker Casserole
Pepperoni Pizza Rolls
Beefy Enchilada Bake from Heavenly Homemakers

Our Baking Nights

On Wednesday nights, Scott & Ryan head to AWANA and Abby, Caleb and I have fun baking up some yummy goodies. First, I clean up our dinner dishes and make room for our baking supplies. Then, we all wash our hands and put on our aprons.

Then we work together to mix up a batch of something yummy. Of course, my little helpers love to take turns adding ingredients and mixing it up with the big wooden spoon.

One of our favorite recipes is Breakfast Cookies from the Heavenly Homemakers blog. These cookies are delicious, and good for you too - well, maybe not so healthy when we add in chocolate chips ;)

And, of course, the kids always get to taste-test a cookie from the first batch out of the oven.

Oh, and when Scott and Ryan return home, some of our homemade goodies are always cooling on the cooling rack - so they do get to share in some of this yummy goodness too!

He's 7!

It's hard to believe that this little guy...

just celebrated his 7th birthday!

10 Years

We just celebrated 10 years of marriage.

Scott planned a get-away trip for us - a cabin in the mountains. We were forewarned that the cabin was a bit hard to get to...the first time we headed up the mountain we missed this sign (where we were supposed to turn), we kept heading up and up and up until finally I told him we could not go any farther - I admit, I was a bit frantic at this point - I could just picture us falling off the side of the bumpy, rocky, curvy, remote, mountain road!

Scott got the car turned around and we headed back down, and we found the downed sign - and thankfully we soon found our cabin. And I have to admit, it was well-worth the work it took to get there.

Previous vacationers to this cabin mentioned black bear sightings - but no bears for us except this one :).