This Is The Stuff Lyric Video

Just had to share this song..It is sooooo me!! I love it!

Enjoy!

Introducing Jackson

No...I did not have a baby.

No, we didn't adopt a pet.

Jackson has been a part of our lives for about a year now, possibly longer, possibly shorter. I really don't remember when he became intertwined with our daily lives.

Jackson is my three year old's friend. She says he is her "boyfriend", but I am not to keen on that.

She's only three and he is a bit unruly. (Don't worry I am fairly confident his parents don't read my blog)

He does everything that I don't want my children to do. He is very fond of saying the word "stupid", a word that is considered bad in our house. He pulls Lexi's hair and sometimes hits her in the face. He is just plain mean.
Not too mention that his mother lets him color his hair green...

with paint.

I know, right?

I know it would be best if she didn't hang out with him, but I feel I do not have a choice.

He is with us ALL. THE. TIME.

He sometimes goes to church with us, but believe it or not his family apparently is pretty active in a church somewhere.

I could make a whole scrapbook of just Lexi and Jackson.

I will give you a glimpse into our daily lives with Jackson..

Here is Lexi and Jackson hanging out at the Great Wolf Lodge on vacation...Yes, he went with us.

Lexi waiting for Jackson to go down the slide at the park..

Lexi and Jackson sleeping at the air show...

Ok so as you can see..or cannot see..Jackson is not real.

To us.

He is very real to my daughter, as is his whole family.

They live at McDonald's. His mom is nice. They are churchgoers, etc.

But that Jackson, he is one little troublemaker, at least according to Lexi..yet she loves him.

And I love her.

Happy Friday all!!

Linking up at Amy's Finer Things for Finer Things Friday.

Longhorn Steakhouse, Oscar Meyer, Menu Plan Monday(A Day Late) 01/25/11

I am a day late on getting my menu plan out there...
After seeing the Longhorn Restaurant commercials I had to have steak last night, I really wanted to have it how the commercial shows they do theirs...

Loaded with cheese and bacon!

YUMMY!

I was good though and did not go that route and my husband was kind enough to grill outside among the melting snow.

The rest of the week is looking like this..

Tuesday: Baked chicken

Wednesday: Breakfast food

Thursday: Tacos

Friday: Chili...I made a pot of chili to take to my mom's on Sunday. I totally heart chili dogs, so I bought some Oscar Meyer turkey dogs..only 50 calories each, they were so good. They get a huge thumbs up!

Saturday: undecided (hoping for a date night with hubby)

Sunday:Dinner at church!

I am trying to use what I have in the freezer, so I am probably skipping a new recipe this week.

My review though for the Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies are a

thumbs down

Ugh..I feel so negative!

As much as I hate to admit it could have been because I was feeling really domesticated (or too lazy to go back to the store) and tried to make my own almond flour.

Or it could be because I am too cheap and thought why buy nectar when I have honey in my pantry.

Or because I decided to cut the recipe in half.

Or because I overcooked them.

Or maybe it just wasn't a good recipe. I'm just sayin'....

Have a great week!

Linking up to I Am An Organizing Junkie!

Free Dads & Daughters Book by Dr. James Dobson

For a limited time you can get a free copy of Dr. Dobson's book Dads & Daughters here !

I am sure it won't last long!

Thanks to Cha Ching on a Shoestring.

Celebration Weekend

This weekend was a celebration of my daughter, my oldest child's birthday.

She turned 12.

She smiles alot...

She makes crazy faces....

She is convinced that she is a 12 year old trapped in a 16 year old's body. oops that doesn't make sense, now does it?
I meant she is convinced that she a 16 year old trapped in a 12 year old's body...ok better.

Sometimes I think the same thing.

It was a wonderful weekend that we pretty much celebtrated all weekend long. We reminisced about the day she was born. We talked reluctantly about the fact that we will have a teenager in the house next year.

Where does the time go?

As I was thinking about her this weekend, remembering all the firsts with her, I realized how much she has taught me.

It was with her that I experienced a true taste of unconditional love..I finally was able to understand in my earthly mind a taste of what our Heavenly Father feels towards us.

I remember how naive I was as a first time soon to be mom. When I was only 12 weeks along, I went to the doctor for a check up, he was trying to listen to the heartbeat.

He couldn't find one.

He retrieved a mobile ultrasound machine to find her and to make sure all was alright..although he never mentioned that all may not be right.

Not. One. Time. did it occur to me that something could be wrong. I was just excited because I was going to see my baby!!

Two miscarriages later, never again would I take a positive pregnancy test for granted or the heartbeat of my unborn child. I understand the fragility of life now.

I grew up a lot with her.

I love her so much!!

Happy Birthday..baby girl!

New Recipe Update & Menu Plan Monday 01/17/2011

The new recipe review will be easy this week..

We didn't get to try a new recipe.

Last week the stomach flu swept through our house half our house.

I, the cook, was a victim.

So there was a whole lot of non cooking going on, with the exception of the turkey. It had to be cooked since it was thawed. Fortunately, I was able to enjoy a little of it by the end of the week.

The line up this week is

Monday: Left over chicken. my mom gave me a whole roasted chicken yesterday, it was really good!

Tuesday: Roast beef w/ potatoes & carrots. Hoping to use leftovers to make some vegetable beef soap for lunch the next day!!!

Wednesday - Grilled pork steaks

Thursday - Turkey burgers

Friday - Spaghetti made with whole wheat pasta

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Dinner at Mom's!

The new recipe this week is a dessert that I found in my Weight Watchers magazine. They are low calorie and gluten free.

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
Preheat oven to 350
Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper

1 c. almond flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp amber agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 c sliced almonds

Mix almond flour, baking soda & salt in medium bowl.
Whisk canola oil, amber agave nectar & vanilla in small bowl
Stir agave mixture into almond flour mixture until well blended.
Stir in chocolate chips & almonds.
Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto each baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
Bake 1 sheet of cookies until golden, 7-8 minutes.
Let cool on sheet rak 5 minutes.
Transfer cookies to rack & let cool completely.

1 cookie has 41 calories or for those doing Weight Watchers they are 1 point.

Linking to

It's the Small Details About Big Things

Have you read or heard a Bible story over and over and you think there is not possibly anything else to learn from it?

I have.

And then God shows me...you will never stop learning.

In our Wednesday night Bible study at church, our pastor has been going through the Bible giving lessons on different individuals. I absolutely love it and more than once, I have learned tidbits that I did not know or probably more accurate to say that I skimmed over.

It happened this evening.

He taught about Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He told things that I knew, like how he was disliked for his teachings, was lied about in order for his enemies to have permission, if you will, to kill him. I knew that he had a kindness about him that is not comparable to most earthly beings, meaning that even as they were stoning him and just before he died, he asked God to forgive them.

Then our pastor read Acts 7:55
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Do you see that?

Jesus was standing at the right hand of God. Everywhere else in the Bible when it refers to Jesus and the right hand of God, it says He is sitting at the right hand of God.

See Stephen stood up for the Truth (Jesus) and the Truth stood up for him.

How awesome is that?

What a comfort for Stephen to see the Heavens open up & to see not only see Jesus....

But see Jesus standing for him.

And what a comfort to know that when we are standing for the Truth, He will stand with us and for us!!

Linking up to

New Recipe Review & Menu Plan Monday 01/10/2011

As mentioned before to broaden our tastebuds we are trying one new recipe a week. Last week was Gourmet Roast Beef Roll Ups.

Thumbs up all the way!

The chili garlic sauce (found with the Asian food at the grocery store) was really good, but was pretty hot, so only a little is needed.

The line up for this weeks menu is...

Monday: Baked ziti using whole wheat pasta, heart healthy Ragu & lean ground turkey & a garden salad.
We were supposed to have this last week but didn't.

Tuesday:Spiced Yogurt Chicken - Our new recipe for the week!

Wednesday: Turkey - I have a whole turkey that I bought when they were on sale in November & it is taking alot of room up in my freezer!

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pizza!Pizza! You can't have a family game night without pizza, can you?!

Saturday: Grilled chicken & veggies

Sunday: Traditional dinner at mom's!

Linking up to..


Have a great week all!

Close Your Eyes & Close Your Ears, Mommy!!

This is what my three year old asked of me the other night when she had a surprise for me.

I knew how to close my eyes.

Wasn't too sure about closing the ears.

So who better to teach me how to close my ears than her, my three year old!!!

In case you are wondering & for your viewing pleasure, this my friends is how you close your eyes & ears all at the same time...


Apparently, shrugging your shoulders as high as possible, results in the closing of the ears.

Let's make sure you got this now....

Eyes and ears open


Eyes and ears closed


Very good!

Now next time you need to close your eyes and ears at the same time, you know exactly what to do.


The things we learn from our children!

JOY Projects

I remember the first time that heard the acronym for JOY, Jesus,Others,You. I was in grade school and my teacher told us to experience true joy, this should be the order of our priorities.

She was right.

It is not an easy order to keep, sometimes I experience just "OY" - leaving Jesus out..sometimes, I remember Jesus, but skip the "O" and much to often it is just the "Y", no "J" or "Y" to be found.

I have shared this simple acronym with my children and hope that they too remember it just like I have all these years and that they too will strive to experience true joy!



However, just knowing it, remembering it will not help them (or me) achieve it. It is by practicing it.

We have a local Christian radio station called JOY FM. Every month they have a Project JOY - the projects are in one way or another about reaching out to others.

The past several weeks...months..I have been thinking..and thinking

I think that having our own family JOY projects could be a great way to get the ball rolling.

I really wasn't sure where to start, so I began to pray about it.

Then Thursday happened.

My mom had decided to adopt a cat through our local Humane Society. Over the weekend the kids and I went with her to pick one out..

She found one...here is Khulua



The people at the Humane Society named her, I am sure they meant the village in India and not the drink :) Adorable, I know right!

In order for my mom to bring her home, she had to be spayed. However, when the vet went in to spay her, he discovered that she had a stomach disease that was now incurable. The only choice was to euthanize her.

My mom was very sad.

My girls were very, very sad.

My son cried. He cried "I wish God would start the whole world over"

Me too, bud, me too.

They all broke my heart.

We talked about the cat, my daughter reminded him that God has a reason for everything that happens...good or bad.

Now my middle daughter and son want to change the world...

for animals.

It's a start, right?

They want to collect all that they can to give to the Humane Society, we are going through all of our blankets, my stockpile of things looking for things on their (Humane Society) list of items needed, i.e. hand soap, laundry detergent, etc. They have already begun going through my coupons looking for cat/dog coupons so we can buy treats, toys and food.

While I do not think that the "O" in JOY was necessarily referring to animals but I do believe that all of God's creation should be taken care of. I also believe that I can use their zealousness to take care of the "orphaned animals" to bring honor and glory to His name..even it is simply leaving Bible tracts for the volunteers. It is about putting compassion into action.

My kids are sensitive, they are compassionate and they are caring. I want to foster
these characteristics any way that I can, so that one day they can be used by the Lord in active ministry.

I want them to find JOY UNSPEAKABLE!


Linking up to

Got Pizza??

First let me start off by saying that I promise I am not going to turn this into a food blog nor will I talk about "the diet" endlessly.

Having said that..can I pleeeeeease share with you the personal pan pizzas that my husband and I made for ourselves today for lunch? Look at this baby..doesn't it look delish, especially on my Target after Christmas clearance paper plate?



It tasted even better and the calorie count is less than 250, add a garden salad to it and you have yourself a nice healthy lunch.

Real quick I will tell you what we did. Our crust is 1/2 of a honey wheat pita pocket. (If you are near a Schnucks, this week they have Kangaroo Pita Pockets on sale $1 a package, not a shabby price at all.) For our sauce we each used 1/4 cup of a Ragu heart healthy pasta sauce. We then topped it with turkey bacon, followed by veggies of our choosing. For the finale we added a little oregano. Toasted them in our toaster oven and...............

BOOYAH!!! They were soooooo yummy!!!

We do/did the Little Ceasars $5 pizzas on Friday nights often, I am just excited that we can still do that for the kids and we (my husband and I) will enjoy our own pizza and not feel like we are missing anything!

Hope you are having a great day!!!

Menu Plan Monday - 01/03/2011

Ok so as previously posted one of my two resolutions revolutions for 2011 was to lose weight - my husband and I are doing it together, well, kind of. We are part of a Biggest Loser contest that has other contestants, so really we are competing against each other. In the end though it is about making healthy choices and while none of our children have an extra ounce on them, we know that unless we teach them now about eating healthy they could some day struggle with weight too.

Whew..did that make any sense? If so, read on....lol

Anyway, I have decided that in order to expand our taste buds, I am going to fix at least one meal every week that is new to us.

This week the new recipe is Gourmet Roast Beef Roll Ups. This is a Biggest Loser recipe. It sounds really good and I am anxious to give it a try. I don't know why, but the chili garlic sauce just sounds really appealing to me!

Here is our menu line for the week:

Monday: Tacos..for my husband and I it will be taco salad, using ground turkey and low calorie tortilla strips.

Tuesday: Baked Ziti - featuring whole wheat pasta and heart healthy Ragu sauce..

Wednesday: Gourmet roast beef roll ups ( I can't wait!)

Thursday: Grilled Chicken w/ salad and steamed vegetables

Friday: Turkey Burgers with baked potatoes and probably some mac and cheese for the kiddos.

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Dinner at my mom's - just another reason why I love Sundays!!!


That's our line up for the week. I will let you know if the if beef roll ups get a thumbs up or thumbs down.

2011 Revolution!!!

Every.Single.Year. I make resolutions and I usually do well.

For a few months.

Some things??

Just a few weeks.

Maybe that makes me a failure, maybe not. I get credit for trying though regardless, right?

Anyway, I will be trying again in 2011, but this year I am going to call it revolutions..(I got the idea from JOY FM!!)

Revolution •a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving

I, personally, have only two goals for 2011..to grow more inwardly, while shedding pounds outwardly- to be fit inside and out.

I am excited that for once in my ADD life..getting organized is not on my list. I do not have the whole organization thing down completely, but I am more organized than I have ever been in my life. I know where the band aids are, I can find a pen very easily, you can open up cabinets and tupperware is not falling down on you (usually :))..you get the picture.

My husband and I have some financial goals that we are hoping to meet in 2011 as well, we at least have a plan to meet them.

I am excited about 2011..I feel the Lord has great things in store for me and my family.

Happy New Year everybody!!!!