The things I'm excited about this month:
1. The SUPERBOWL is today! [Which I wouldn't be excited about at all if it weren't for the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing. But they are. So it's a big day.]
and... far more exciting are these:
2. I get to go away with Mark this next weekend!
and...
3. Adelia's birthday is this month. My baby girl will be turning one. [Which also means we get to turn her carseat around. I always look forward to that.]
and...
4. My due date is also this month!
What are you looking forward to this month?
A few things...
1. My dear friend Amy blogged about our joint Christmas gathering here. [Pictures included; thank you, Mike!]
2. If you haven't yet seen pictures of Kimmie's sweet new baby girl, please click here to go check out how utterly adorable she is. What a wonderful gift from God; this little beauty.
3. Our girls' name is finally chosen! Mark and I are now decided. I say that with a bit of trepidation, as we were "decided" before on a different girls' name, but... I think this one is here to stay. And it better be, because if you'll notice in my sidebar? "Only 22 days to go..."
So now we're set: boy or girl, we're ready for you. And nope, I'm not telling our names. (I do, however, plan to post a contest here within the next couple of weeks, where you'll be able to guess baby's gender, date, weight, etc. So stay tuned.)
4. Next weekend Mark and I are going away, overnight-- for a little rest and relaxation before this baby comes. I cannot even wait. :)
I think that's it. I've got one child hollering from his bed downstairs, another having a fit on the couch next to me, another on the floor, fussing, and another- reading quietly in our bed. Time to get started on this day. Nevermind that it's 8:55, four out of the five of us are still in our pajamas, and I haven't given a thought as to what's for breakfast. ~sigh~
Hope you have a wonderful day!
2. If you haven't yet seen pictures of Kimmie's sweet new baby girl, please click here to go check out how utterly adorable she is. What a wonderful gift from God; this little beauty.
3. Our girls' name is finally chosen! Mark and I are now decided. I say that with a bit of trepidation, as we were "decided" before on a different girls' name, but... I think this one is here to stay. And it better be, because if you'll notice in my sidebar? "Only 22 days to go..."
So now we're set: boy or girl, we're ready for you. And nope, I'm not telling our names. (I do, however, plan to post a contest here within the next couple of weeks, where you'll be able to guess baby's gender, date, weight, etc. So stay tuned.)
4. Next weekend Mark and I are going away, overnight-- for a little rest and relaxation before this baby comes. I cannot even wait. :)
I think that's it. I've got one child hollering from his bed downstairs, another having a fit on the couch next to me, another on the floor, fussing, and another- reading quietly in our bed. Time to get started on this day. Nevermind that it's 8:55, four out of the five of us are still in our pajamas, and I haven't given a thought as to what's for breakfast. ~sigh~
Hope you have a wonderful day!
Lentil & Black Bean Soup
Today was cold, so it seemed like a good day for soup. I tossed a bunch of ingredients into the crock pot and voila: SOUP! It took me about 15 minutes to throw it all together, so it was easy. And we liked it so much I thought I'd share the recipe. We'll definitely be having it again.
By the way, I LOVE soups. If you have a favorite soup recipe, I'd love it if you'd share it!
Lentil & Black Bean Soup
2 cups of dry lentils, washed
1 cup of dry black beans, washed
1-2 carrots, chopped
1/4 of an onion, chopped
5-6 slices of bacon, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp salt
5 chicken bouillon cubes
water: fill to the top of crock pot
Cook on high for 4-5 hours. I then turned it to low for the last 1-2 hours.
*I also think celery and diced tomatoes would have been a good addition, but we were out of those particular ingredients.
By the way, I LOVE soups. If you have a favorite soup recipe, I'd love it if you'd share it!
Pencil & Notebook Cases
Here's my latest sewing project:
Pencil & Notebook Cases for the kids to bring along to church.
I made up the pattern- purposefully sizing them for the Composition notebooks (because they're cheap and always available!), and this was Attempt #1:
Problems:
*It was too big, so I adjusted the pattern to make it a bit smaller.
*I also made adjustments so that there would be more room for the pencils to peek out.
*This closure method is clearly not going to work: Isaias can't tie, and I don't want to be doing it for him every week. Next up? VELCRO!
Attempt #2: (Isaac's)
Attempt #3: (Ella's)
Isaias' is the only one I'm not happy with, but I'm still debating if I'm okay just leaving it as is or adjusting it, size-wise and closure-wise. (Who am I kidding? I'm a perfectionist. I'm sure I'll be doing it entirely over.)
They can hardly wait to take them to church tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. If it ends up being too distracting- all those pencils going in and out of the case, we'll make them Nature Notebooks instead! ~smile~
[Inspiration: Hilary's Zoo Wraps.]
Pencil & Notebook Cases for the kids to bring along to church.
I made up the pattern- purposefully sizing them for the Composition notebooks (because they're cheap and always available!), and this was Attempt #1:
Problems:
*It was too big, so I adjusted the pattern to make it a bit smaller.
*I also made adjustments so that there would be more room for the pencils to peek out.
*This closure method is clearly not going to work: Isaias can't tie, and I don't want to be doing it for him every week. Next up? VELCRO!
Attempt #2: (Isaac's)
Attempt #3: (Ella's)
Isaias' is the only one I'm not happy with, but I'm still debating if I'm okay just leaving it as is or adjusting it, size-wise and closure-wise. (Who am I kidding? I'm a perfectionist. I'm sure I'll be doing it entirely over.)
They can hardly wait to take them to church tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. If it ends up being too distracting- all those pencils going in and out of the case, we'll make them Nature Notebooks instead! ~smile~
[Inspiration: Hilary's Zoo Wraps.]
Verse #1
I'm not big on resolutions for the New Year. Oh, sure-- sometimes I make a list in my journal of things I'd like to accomplish or grow in in the coming year-- but that's about it.
When I asked Mark at the beginning of this month what his New Year's resolutions were, he said, "To be a better man." We both laughed, because that pretty much encompasses it all, now, doesn't it?
One thing I am committing to doing this year that I'm really excited about is memorizing Scripture. I can't think of a better goal for the year than to be meditating on and memorizing God's word throughout the days, weeks, and months of 2009.
On Beth Moore's blog, in this post, she invited her blog readers to join her in her goals of memorization: Two verses, every month- one chosen on the 1st, another chosen on the 15th, for the entire year. 24 verses total, by the end of 2009.
Today is the 15th, and I've got my first verse down:
I wrote it on an index card, "laminated" it with clear contact paper, and taped it up in the shower. Every morning (with maybe one or two exceptions) I've said it, and then prayed it, and several times have copied it down in my journal as I've learned it, and now I know it. One verse down, 23 to go. Moving on to choosing verse #2 today.
Does anyone want to join me? The idea is to choose a verse you need; for you [ie: I especially need compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. I need to be even-tempered, quick to forgive.... You may need something else entirely. Choose it. Begin to memorize it. Head on over to Beth Moore's blog and sign in with your verse (but tell me, too- if you are doing it- because I'd like to know!)
When I asked Mark at the beginning of this month what his New Year's resolutions were, he said, "To be a better man." We both laughed, because that pretty much encompasses it all, now, doesn't it?
One thing I am committing to doing this year that I'm really excited about is memorizing Scripture. I can't think of a better goal for the year than to be meditating on and memorizing God's word throughout the days, weeks, and months of 2009.
On Beth Moore's blog, in this post, she invited her blog readers to join her in her goals of memorization: Two verses, every month- one chosen on the 1st, another chosen on the 15th, for the entire year. 24 verses total, by the end of 2009.
Today is the 15th, and I've got my first verse down:
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.
Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.
And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
Colossians 3:12-14, The Message
I wrote it on an index card, "laminated" it with clear contact paper, and taped it up in the shower. Every morning (with maybe one or two exceptions) I've said it, and then prayed it, and several times have copied it down in my journal as I've learned it, and now I know it. One verse down, 23 to go. Moving on to choosing verse #2 today.
Does anyone want to join me? The idea is to choose a verse you need; for you [ie: I especially need compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. I need to be even-tempered, quick to forgive.... You may need something else entirely. Choose it. Begin to memorize it. Head on over to Beth Moore's blog and sign in with your verse (but tell me, too- if you are doing it- because I'd like to know!)
The Best Daddy
While I know it's been fully established here on the blog that Mark is the best daddy in the world, don't think for a second that I'm going to stop bragging about him.
I've mentioned that myhusband son [Isaac, 5] loves Legos. Last month Mark made for Isaac a much-desired Larry Boy:
Since then, Isaac has been asking Mark to make him a monkey. With instructions. After all, the instructions are his favorite part. Last night after Isaac went to bed, Mark built a little monkey for him. Then he took it apart, piece by piece, and then built it again, this time taking photos of each step. He put the set of instructions on the computer so that Isaac could click through them one by one. Here's the final photo:
And this is Isaac, at about 7:30 this morning:
And if you remain unconvinced about the best-daddy assertion, let me just say that Adelia was up at 4am, 4:30am, and 5am, and Mark was up with her every.single.time. Ella was up once, too, now that I think of it. This all after Mark went to sleep at midnight.
And that's just all in the past 8 hours. Don't even get me started on yesterday.
Case closed.
I've mentioned that my
Since then, Isaac has been asking Mark to make him a monkey. With instructions. After all, the instructions are his favorite part. Last night after Isaac went to bed, Mark built a little monkey for him. Then he took it apart, piece by piece, and then built it again, this time taking photos of each step. He put the set of instructions on the computer so that Isaac could click through them one by one. Here's the final photo:
And this is Isaac, at about 7:30 this morning:
And if you remain unconvinced about the best-daddy assertion, let me just say that Adelia was up at 4am, 4:30am, and 5am, and Mark was up with her every.single.time. Ella was up once, too, now that I think of it. This all after Mark went to sleep at midnight.
And that's just all in the past 8 hours. Don't even get me started on yesterday.
Case closed.
