God Made Playdough

What I'm making today

2011-07-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

Homemade refried beans! Yum! Rylie has been obsessed with bean and cheese enchiladas lately so I'm making her the beans for them. This recipe makes plenty of beans so I can also make up some bean burrittos and throw them in the freezer for easy lunches. I can also just freeze the leftover beans to use in a myriad of ways. Here's the recipe that I'm using (thanks Michelle!).

Fireworks!

2011-07-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

Something to bookmark

2011-06-15T22:39:00.001-07:00

We now have a web site for our Church Plant! Right now it is under construction, but you can bookmark it because very soon it will be awesome! We're also on twitter if you want to follow us there. And, for those of you who hadn't heard yet, we have a name: Redemption Bible Church! Exciting times!

2011-06-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

How can this little baby be done with Kindergarten already?! I'm not ready for her to be a first grader! Proud of her though!

Proud of my Aunt

2011-06-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

Newberg Fire Department Dedicates Water Rescue Boat to long time volunteer Rescue Diver Jill Dorrell

NFD personnel recently completed a long and arduous process of refubishing an old Yamhill County water rescue boat. This “new to NFD” boat replaces an old boat that has served it’s purpose for many years but never had the water speed to get where the team needed to be when time was of the essense. At the 2011 Newberg Boat Races on the Willamette river this past weekend the NFD Water Rescue Team surprised long time member Jill Dorrell by dedicating and naming the boat the after her. Congradulations Jill!

Jill Dorrell with teammates Joe Tarmichael (left) and Lieutenant Lawrence Dickenson (right) standing on their new

water rescue boat that has been named the “Jill Dorrell.”

Authors note: This is yet another example of how City of Newberg employees work and volunteer to save money, keep costs down and provide great service.

All I Have Is Christ

2011-05-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

Church Planting

2011-05-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

This is a panel discussion (from the Plant! conference we attended in Philly). CJ Mahaney, Darren Patrick, Mark Dever, Jeff Purswell, and Dave Harvey. Incredible group of Church Planters, Pastors, authors, speakers. They were a great source of wisdom and encouragement to me. But my favorite Church Planter of all is this handsome guy!

Matching Easter Dresses

2011-05-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

My Beautiful Kindergartener!

2011-05-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

Coloring Easter Eggs

2011-05-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

Over Easter, we house sat for our good friends, the Drollingers. We loved being in their beautiful house and getting a taste of living in Bonney Lake (where the Church Plant is). We are hoping to eventually move to Bonney Lake ourselves (right now we are about 40 min away). We are trusting the Lord that He can work out the details of that (selling our house/renting/whatever). We had a discouraging meeting with our Realator last week because of the market being upside down. But, we know that God is in control and that He has called us to Bonney Lake. We are going to keep trying to get our house ready and packing things up and waiting to see what exciting thing God has planned! We would love your prayers for this whole situation as well!
Anyway, here are a few pictures of us coloring our Easter eggs. This year was the most fun because the girls were old enough to really get into it (and they were old enough to not make a huge mess with it). Ryan showed Rylie how to make stripes in her egg and Anna had a lot of opinions about which colors her eggs should be. It was a great time together as a family!

Aargh!

2011-05-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hospitality and Small Children

2011-05-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

I read a great blog post about this topic this morning. It can be a very challenging thing to try to have hospitality while your children are young. Read this post and get some inspiration!

May Church Plant Newsletter

2011-05-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

Read it here!

On my Book Wish List

2011-05-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

-The Well Trained Mind : Two veteran home educators outline the classical pattern of education—the trivium—which organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child's mind.

-The Core; Teaching your child the foundations of classical education: there are core areas of knowledge that are essential to master. Without knowing the multiplication tables, children can’t advance to algebra. Without mastery of grammar, students will have difficulty expressing themselves. Without these essential building blocks of knowledge, students may remember information but they will never possess a broad and deep understanding of how the world works.

-The Story of the World (4 Volumes): The Story of the World covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas—find out what happened all around the world in long-ago times. Designed as a read-aloud project for parents and children to share together, The Story of the World includes each continent and major people group.

-Freedoms Stand: This is the sequal to Veiled Freedom, by Jeanette Windle. She is an engaging author of fiction, and her parent's are part of our church! I just finished Veiled Freedom and I'm eager to get my hands on this sequal. It is available for preorder on Amazon, it will be released June 1.

I'm sure I can think of about a billion more books that I want to read, but I've probably bored you enough as it is. What books are on your wish list?

True Woman | Praying for . . . Me

2011-05-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

True Woman | Praying for . . . Me

Nancy’s Personal Petitions

Guard my heart. Make and keep it pure. Protect me from the schemes and attacks of the Evil One.
Fill me with Your love. Help me to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Make me compassionate and sensitive to the needs of others around me.
Fill me with Your Spirit. May I be emptied of myself and filled with Jesus. Anoint my life and ministry with supernatural power.
Clothe me in humility. May I be poor in spirit. May I esteem all others as better than myself. May I not seek to impress others, but only to please You.
Make me a servant. Help me to serve You with gladness; to render each act of service as unto Christ; to joyously accept even “menial” or “unfulfilling” responsibilities.
Guard my tongue. May I speak only words that are true, words that help and heal, words that are wise and kind.
Give me wisdom and discernment. Help me to see all of life from Your point of view. May my life be ruled by the wisdom of Your Word.
Give me a grateful spirit. Help me to give thanks in everything. Help me to acknowledge and express the benefits and blessings that I have received from You and others. Protect me from a discontented heart and a murmuring tongue.
Help me to walk by faith and not by sight. May my life show the world how great You are. May I be willing to step out in faith when I cannot see the outcome, and may my life not be explainable in human terms.
Teach me the fear of the Lord. Help me to practice the conscious, constant awareness of Your presence. Help me to live my life in light of the final judgment and as one who will give account to You.

This is from Nancy Deigh LeMoss, click the link at the top to read the full article. I thought it was a great list to remember what things to pray for for ourselves so that God would be glorified in our lives. It's also a great list of things to pray for other people. I definetly need work on my prayer life, and lists like this help me. Hopefully it encourages you today too!

Easter Sunrise Service

2011-04-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the newspaper account of the Easter Sunrise Service that Ryan preached at last Sunday!

Great Recipe Blog

2011-04-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

I am on a journey to feeding my family better foods and one of the people helping me along that journey, is my friend, Michelle and her great recipe blog! I've had the pleasure of eating several of her meals and they are great. Go visit her blog and get a new recipe or two!

I love this girl!

2011-04-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

Had lots of blogging ideas/pictures lately but little time. Will be blogging again soon.

April Church Plant Newsletter

2011-04-04T14:03:00.001-07:00

Check out our newest Church Plant Prayer Newsletter here!

Where I've been the last week:

2011-03-29T22:06:00.001-07:00

Littlest Pet Shop Birthday Party (warning, lot's of pictures!)

2011-03-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

We had a Littlest Pet Shop Birthday party for Rylie and Anna. Their birthdays are only six days apart (just shy of three years apart), we combined their parties. They were a little unsure at first if they wanted to combine them, but they ended up having a wonderful time!
I thought I would post some of the details of the party because when I was searching around for Littlest Pet Shop party ideas, there wasn't a whole lot. Maybe this can give someone else some ideas. There was a lot more we could have done with it, but due to limited time and limited budget, this is what we came up with.
We used LPS houses/buildings as centerpieces for each table with some of the LPS characters in them. The kids loved playing with them and it was super easy decorating. I also printed off some LPS wallpaper (turned out a little pixely but was ok) and framed it in frames from the Dollar Tree and placed those around the food tables. I also printed off some small LPS pictures and cut them out and attached them to toothpicks and put them in all the food (I also did this with some generic birthday printables I had found online). Since we were on a budget, we just went with Dollar Tree plates, cups, etc.
We tried to keep with a pet theme for the food. We had cheese for the mouse food, tuna sandwiches and fishy crackers for the kitties, hot dogs and dog bone cookies for the puppies, gummy worms for the birds.
Instead of games, we had 4 stations set up. There was a coloring station with LPS coloring pages (several free sites online), a make your own collar station (I just cut strips of paper and gave them a variety of stickers, I was surprised how many of the boys really loved this), a make your own dog station (out of paper, I found a pattern online), and an animal hospital station (I brought a bunch of the girls stuffed animals and their doctor toys). At each station they got a stamp on their hands, when they had visited each station they got to go to the prize table and pick a prize. I had lucked out right after Halloween, Walmart had a bin of party favors that were on clearance for super cheap!
The best part of the party though was Anna and Rylie's cousins had driven up from California and surprised us all! We were so happy to see them! Rylie said that it was the best birthday ever!

Rylie's 6th Birthday!

2011-03-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

On Rylie's Birthday she chose to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch. After her traditional breakfast cupcake that is.
When we were done playing, her and Daddy had a date at the movie theater and at Krispy Kreme. She said it was the "best Birthday ever"!

Anna's 3rd Birthday

2011-03-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

The day before Anna's Birthday, we had a fun family day. Anna chose Red Robin for lunch (she hid her head when they sang to her though), and then we went to the Jump Zone at the Mall.
The next day, on her actual Birthday, we had a family lunch. She asked for waffles, bacon, and cupcakes for lunch, so that's what we had.
I still can't believe my baby is three!

Anna's Birthday Video

2011-03-05T23:48:00.001-08:00

March Church Plant Newsletter

2011-03-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

Read it here!

Please Pray for our Plant Team

2011-03-02T23:22:00.000-08:00

youth retreat 2011

2011-03-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

2011-02-28T22:34:00.001-08:00

Please don't forget about me! I've been super busy, but I'll be back soon!

Classical Conversations

2011-02-21T19:59:00.000-08:00

Our Homeschool "co-op" on pamamma day a few weeks ago!

Groundhog Day

2011-02-16T07:03:00.000-08:00

This post is really behind, but I want to remember it for my own records.
We had a fun school day on Groundhog day. We watched a couple of videos of Groundhog songs and facts (yes, surprisingly, they make groundhog songs!). And we watched the news report of Puxatoney Phil and an early spring prediction.
Rylie also made a Groundhog Day book, did some Groundhog math and played a few games. Her favorite was the Groundhog Tic Tac Toe.
Anna enjoyed matching the animals to their shadows.
I love themed school days!

Crayons

2011-02-14T23:37:00.000-08:00

I needed to make a gift for my co-op class that I teach for Valentine's, that I didn't have to spend any money on, so I found this. A fun colorful Valentine crayon!
It's a great way to use up all of those broken crayons you have laying around the house. All you do is peel and break up multiple crayons, then place them in whatever color combinations you want in a muffin tin. Melt them in your oven at 250 degrees for about 7 minutes. Wait till they harden and then pop them out of your muffin tin. Wala you have fun new colorful crayons!

February Church Planting Newsletter

2011-02-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

Our latest Newsletter is up! Go here to read it! Thank you for your prayers!

Chinese New Year

2011-02-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we celebrated Chinese New Year. I had received an educator kit from Panda Express that had a DVD explaining the holiday, and some worksheets and crafts. I also had some good books that had to do with China that we read. One of them was about a missionary woman in China who didn't have any money or food for breakfast and how God kept providing for her. People kept coming and bringing her food and one person even brought her $1,000. It was a neat story and a great lesson to share with the girls.
Of course we also had snacks, fortune cookies and tea.
Since it's the Year of the Rabbit, we also read a science book about Rabbits. Rylie loved this part because she got to snuggle her bunny. She was also very proud of her Chinese lantern that she made.
I love school days like this, makes learning fun!

Look What Came Today!

2011-02-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

My sweet Dad preordered it for me and it came today! I had to wait all day for Ryan to bring it home from the Church, but now I have it! I wonder how late I'll be up. . .

My Preacherman

2011-01-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

Go here to hear Ryan preaching yesterday at Antioch Bible Church in Oregon. I love my preacherman!

Daddy Date

2011-01-23T22:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple pictures of the girls on their Daddy date last weekend. They went out to lunch at Johnny Rockets (Anna was quick to tell me about her chocolate shake!), and then played at the Supermall. They love their Daddy very much and I love that he wants to spend time with them (and is willing to brave the mall on a Saturday!).

I am a nerd!

2011-01-20T14:29:00.001-08:00

I am a total nerd, but I think this is such a fun necklace! You can get it here if you are just as nerdy as I am!

Quotes from today

2011-01-19T23:31:00.000-08:00

When I asked Rylie what she wanted to be when she grows up: "I just want to be a normal person!"

Anna: "I like Fireworks, they are my favorite kinds of lights."

When asked to tell our Homeschool co-op a little about herself, Anna said, "I like to play with worms, crocodiles, and sharks."

Baptism!

2011-01-16T22:22:00.000-08:00

My sweet Rylie girl got baptised tonight! Along with my nephew, Gabe, and our friend, Josh. I was so proud of them!
Rylie has been wanting to get baptised for some time now. We have been talking to her and making sure she understands what it means. We were confident that she does understand and that she truly has put her trust in the Lord and loves Him and desires to serve Him. She told everyone that she is a follower of God and loves Him. We were so proud of her!
We were proud of course of Gabe and Josh too!

2011-01-10T08:40:00.001-08:00

Please listen to this song! It's one of our absolute favorites! Straight Theology! It's awesome!

Shai Linne - Atonement Q+A (lyrics)

2011-01-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

To Add to the Wishlist

2011-01-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

Ree Drummond (a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman), is done with her latest book! It will be released on February 1st! This is the telling of the love story of her and her husband, how they met, fell in love, etc. You can find it here.

She has also written a children's book about her beloved dog, Charlie! This looks like something my girls would love. You can find that here.

Chicken and Dumplings

2011-01-06T09:57:00.000-08:00

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, finely diced
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

Directions

Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.
Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

This turned out great! And it was so easy to make in the crock pot. I didn't even thaw my chicken first. Then after dinner, after I put away the leftovers, there was still half a crockpot left of broth/sauce, so I decided to make soup! I had leftover turkey in the freezer from Christmas, I added chicken broth, veggies and noodles and turned the crock pot back on. I love when you can make two meals out of things you already have on hand!

Happy Birthday to the BEST Mom ever!

2011-01-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

Letter my Dad wrote for my Mom's Brithday

2011-01-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

My dear wife's 60th birthday is just around the corner, January 5th, and I want to take advantage of this opportunity to honor her, Proverbs 18:22 says that “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” My Dearest Wendy, I can, with no hesitation, give a hearty AMEN! to that truth because with you, and because of you, I have obtained favor from the Lord. You have blessed not only me over these many years, but our family, extended family and church family in so many ways and there simply is not enough space here to list them.

You are the most selfless, giving person I know. I have watched you over these many years give yourself sacrificially to serving me, our children and now our grandchildren. You never ask for anything for yourself, not reward and certainly not recognition. You just quietly serve. I still marvel over how you recently during your moms illness and death, took on the role of a nurse and had to do things that no daughter would ever want to do. You went through several sleepless nights in order in attempt to make your mother comfortable all the while with your tender heart breaking knowing full well that soon, very soon mom would be gone to glory. Now your heart aches for your dads salvation and concern for his health.

I have watched as you faithfully serve our church family , again with no desire for recognition or reward. You have faithfully served even while suffering through those things that every pastors wife must suffer. You have been criticized, slandered, misunderstood and often overlooked, but you quietly press on because you love Jesus and His church. But you have also praised and thanked God for the blessings that have come from our church family, that far outweigh the other stuff.

You are also one of the most spiritual people I have ever met. You are a student of the Word and give long hours to reading and studying. You are an excellent Bible student who lives out her faith on a daily basis. But I think the thing that impresses me the most about you spiritually is that you are a prayer warrior. You pray for everyone! You pray “without ceasing.” How many times when I come to you with a perplexing situation or decision have you said, "Have you prayed about it?" ( If you are a member of EBC you can be assured that she prays for you.) I often wonder how many peoples lives have been blessed because of your faithful praying.

You are one of the most patient people I know because you have been so very patient with me over these many years, your reward will be so great! So Happy Birthday my sweet wife, I thank God everyday for you, I love you more today than ever.

Chicken Caesar Wraps

2011-01-04T21:47:00.000-08:00

3/4 cup fat-free creamy Caesar salad dressing

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
2 cups torn romaine
3/4 cup Caesar salad croutons, coarsely chopped
6 whole wheat tortillas (8 inches)

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the dressing, cheese, garlic powder and pepper. Add the chicken, romaine and croutons. Spoon 2/3 cup chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla; roll up. Yield: 6 servings.

We had these for dinner last night and they were delicious. They were so easy to make and so good! The girls even ate them! To make it a little easier for myself I cooked the chicken the day before when I had a little more time. I cooked it with a little butter, garlic, onion powder, and a little Johnnies. Then last night I used a bag of caesar salad mix (minus the croutons), added the chicken and put it on tortillas. Super easy and really good. It would be a nice summer time meal too.

Me and My Banana

2011-01-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas at our house

2010-12-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

We opened our presents Christmas Eve morning after we had a Nativity activity that told the story of Jesus' birth. The girls had a lot of fun with their presents. Rylie was super excited to get a zhu zhu pet and Toothless (from How to Train Your Dragon). Anna most loved her night vision goggles and her makeup!

Dancing Queen

2010-12-23T19:11:00.000-08:00

My friend, Kayla, just sent me some pictures of Anna dancing at her wedding this past summer. I love them and had to post them!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2010-12-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

This year was a lot of fun decorating the Christmas tree because Anna was old enough to be into it. We really decorated it as a family this year. You can see from the picture that Anna still needs to improve her decorating skills, but she enjoyed it and that's all that matters!
The picture of Ryan and the girls is him showing to them a large nail like the kind that pierced Jesus. It reminds us that Jesus did not just come into this world as a little baby, but He came with a purpose, to die and to be our Rescuer!

My Christmas Girl

2010-12-18T23:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.mdmgames.net/npnWalgreens/?v=r4RFxr27bdoV6xnb%2fZjuWw%3d%3d

2010-12-17T12:10:00.000-08:00

http://www.mdmgames.net/npnWalgreens/?v=r4RFxr27bdoV6xnb%2fZjuWw%3d%3d

Getting our Christmas Tree

2010-12-12T23:41:00.000-08:00

Last Monday we got our Christmas tree with my parents and brother and sis in law. We have a man in our Church who owns a fruit stand that also sells trees. We have a tradition of getting our tree from him every year. We also like to get some fruit while we're there. Rylie got the biggest apple I've ever seen!

Update

2010-12-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

I haven't been doing a very good job updating this 'lil 'ol blog of mine lately.
I feel like we are the house of the plague lately. I broke my toe (still can't wear a shoe),Anna was sick, Rylie got Fifth's disease, then I got Fifth's, then Rylie got another ailment, now Anna threw up tonight! It just seems like it's been one thing after another. Two of my friends just had babies and I haven't been able to see either one of them yet because we've had too many germs!
I think God just wants us to stay home for awhile!
Because of the nature of Ryan's work schedule, we have made breakfast our main family meal. This is when we do family devotions and now I'm starting to make a little bit more of a meal than just a bowl of cereal. I was pleasantly surprised that my first attempt at Eggs Benedict turned out pretty good. I would love to hear if you have a favorite breakfast recipe you would like to share!
Rylie got her hair cut the other day. She got a lot cut off. She has been asking to get it cut for a while so when Ryan was on his way to get his cut, she begged to go with him to get hers done as well. It looks really cute on her!
My sweet friend gave me a Christmas present of paying for me to get my haircut at a great salon! I did that today.
Tonight we had a Christmas program for the Homeschool "co-op" (Classical Conversations) that Rylie is a part of and that I teach at. Each class presented something they have been learning. My class sang the "Eight Parts of Speech" song and also recited two history sentences. One about William the Conqueror and one about the Protestant Reformation. I was so proud of them! They did such a great job!
There's a brief update on the last few weeks. I have lots of pictures to post, we got our Christmas tree, had a North Pole breakfast. . . etc.

Daddy Bear's Birthday

2010-12-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

Daddy Bear is Rylie's absolute favorite stuffed animal and best friend. He is named "Daddy Bear" because her Daddy gave him to her when she in my tummy for her first Valentine's day.
The other day she decided it was his birthday (he turned 18!) and so we had a party! We had brownies, pumpkin ice cream, candles, and even party favors. She also made a few birthday signs for him.
I love my sweet girl!

What sort of man are you?

2010-12-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

Show me a man’s books and show me a man’s companions and I will tell you what sort of man he is. —William Tiptaft

Lil' Pumpkin Baby Shower

2010-12-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

I meant to post this last month in case anyone was looking for ideas for a fall themed Baby Shower.
My friend Lyndee and I threw a Lil' Pumpkin Baby Shower for our friend Rachel. We had so much fun planning it and were so happy to give Rachel and baby Brighton a special day.

My Creative Girl

2010-12-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just give Rylie the craft box and let her go. I love to see what she comes up with, she has such a creative mind. On this day she made a key chain with a key, and some beautiful flowers for me! She is such a sweetie!

Count it a privilege

2010-12-01T19:27:00.001-08:00

I found this on a blog hop tonight, it's by Steve and Annie Chapman. I have been struggling with the sin of impatience with my children the past few days. I have been feeling tired, overwhelmed, and like I'm getting sick, but that's no excuse to not count it as a privilege to be a Mom to these precious little girls. This song was a good reminder to me tonight.

I count it as a privilege
I count it cause for praise
to kiss my children goodnight
at the close of everyday
for I know too soon they're off and gone
and walkin' out the door
and I'll never have a child to kiss
goodnight anymore

It's very strange how times have changed
from the present to the past
when did they grow so quickly
the time has flown so fast
for it seems that only yesterday
I helped him with his shirt
or pat my baby on the back
or kissed away a hurt

tell the story read a book
wipe a nose or tie a shoe
they never ask me to rub their back
the way they used to do
once it was a bother
just a troublesome kind of chore
now I would give anything
to do it just once more

mommy bounce me on your knee
daddy flip me in the air
throw a rubber ball to me
and help me comb my hair
mommy tickle my tummy
daddy hold me high
let's go outside for awhile
or make a kite to fly

And I'll never have a child to kiss

goodnight anymore...

Veteran's Day

2010-12-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

(I'm clearing out all my old posts that I forgot to post!)

Here is our late Veteran's Day post. Rylie made a card for my Grandpa and dressed up as an Army woman. We found her hat for .20 in the after Halloween clearance at Walmart!

Indian Corn Craft

2010-12-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

(I just found this post that I had forgotten to post. A little late! )
In honor of Fall, my favorite season, we made Indian Corn. I had pre cut the corn shape (used a paper bag for the stem) and let them glue the "kernels" on. We had fun with this. Anna liked that she could do it all by herself and Rylie liked pretending to eat it!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T22:46:00.001-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving! We had my side of the family, Ryan's side, and Pam's side. Later in the evening our friends, the Coulter's came over for desert. My sister, Jen came up the night before and stayed with me and helped me get ready. Everyone brought something yummy to eat, we had more than enough food.
I made activity packets for the kids with coloring pages, mazes, word searches, etc. We also put butcher paper on the kids table as a tablecloth so they could draw right on the table. They had fun with that! We also hid turkeys around the house that the kids had to find, as a prize, they got jars of "turkey toes" aka candy corn.
Poor Rylie got a bad case of Fifths disease and had a horrible rash and lowgrade fever all day, but still managed to have a great time with her cousins. She had all her cousins there except for two that live in Arizona, so she was in heaven! (She still has a fever and her hands and feet are swollen and painful, but her rash is looking much better.)
I have a lot more pictures that I want to share, but I won't overwhelm you! I posted them on facebook if you want to see.

Turkey Feathers

2010-11-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

(this post is a little late, but I didn't want to forget about these pictures for my own memories)

More Thanksgiving Prep

2010-11-23T11:03:00.000-08:00

Snow and Savings

2010-11-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

We have snow! It is cold, down in the teens. The kids had a fun snowball fight earlier this afternoon. Ryan and Mom had one too!
I also got some good savings at Albertsons today using their doubler coupons and some manufacturer coupons from the Safeway Thanksgiving book. I spent $3.50 and saved $86! I got 24 free cans of vegetables! We are trying to do more hospitality (this will increase as we get more into Church Planting) so some of the things I've been getting lately will be great for that. I have some more coupons that I want to use to get some more free vegetables, paper plates, etc. but I'm not driving in the snow, so we'll see.

Thanksgiving Prep

2010-11-17T22:07:00.001-08:00

I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year with my side of the family and Ryan's side. I've been doing a few things to prepare and I thought I'd share them with you in case anyone is looking for some ideas. I found all of these online, unfortunately, I didn't save any links.
I have photo place cards of everyone. I'm going to have them sticking out of their cups. I also have their names on place cards that are going to be attached to their napkin rings. I made these paper baskets to hold crayons in for the kid's table. I am also in the process of putting together an activity book for the kids. I have a fun turkey hunt game with a fun prize for them that I will show you when I finish.
I found these cool food place cards that I'm going to put on the table, and the large "Get your Pie on" one that I'm going to put in a frame on the desert table.
We have our Gratitude Tree, the round leaves are for each day of the month, the other leaves are for us to write things that we are thankful for.
And then I have my cheap Thanksgiving art. I just printed this on my home printer and framed them with frames from the Dollar Tree.
I have water bottle labels, straw holders, a banner, etc that I'm working on, I'll have to show you later.

I love my coupons!

2010-11-15T22:22:00.000-08:00

$145 worth of groceries for $9! Overall, I got $200 worth of groceries for $40 (that included 2 turkeys), but I just took a picture of the best deals, the ones I used my coupons on. I got one of the turkeys for free (a $28 value) because the lady in line in front of me got a good deal on it but didn't want it. She turned to me and said, "I live alone, if I buy this turkey, do you want it?" I said, "of course"! I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year for both my side of the family and Ryan's side so we have a big group.
I got all of this at Albertsons by combining their current sales with their "Twice the Value" coupons and some other coupons.

Today

2010-11-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

“We are TODAY accepted in the Beloved, TODAY absolved from sin, TODAY acquitted at the bar of God." Spurgeon

Leaves

2010-11-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

I loved making this craft as a child. Rylie and I made these leaves the other day with melted crayons and wax paper (and our iron).
Fall is my favorite time of year and I love the colors of the leaves changing so it was fun to bring some of that indoors!

Trick or Treat!

2010-11-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

We had a great time Trick or Treating! We had a short window of time before the evening service at Church (where Ryan preached a great message on Martin Luther and Reformation Day). Madelyn's parents joined us for Trick or Treating. That was fun for me because they some of our closest friends. Madelyn's family is going to be moving to Sweden to be missionaries, so it was fun to give her the "American" experience of Trick or Treating.
Every year we just go through my parent's cul de sac and the girls have been happy with that. This year, now that Rylie is older, she's wised up to the fact that you can keep going to other streets! So we did another street before we had to leave for Church. It was just the right amount of walking for their little legs and just the right amount of candy, not too much! As we were walking, Anna kept saying, "This is so much fun!"
At one point a Policeman drove by and then turned around and pulled over and gave the girls candy. They thought that was pretty cool!

On My Wish List!

2010-11-11T20:09:00.001-08:00

*Updated to add: Thank you Daddy for buying me this! It is no longer on my wish list!

The very creative and inspiring Nie Nie has made her own calender for 2011 and it is now for sale. And it's on my wish list! My kitchen wall needs it, I need a monthly dose of her creative genius!

Halloween

2010-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year we had Ming Ming from the Wonderpets (a duck that rescues other animals), and a Fairy. Rylie has been going through a tomboy stage lately so I was surprised when she said she wanted to be something "pretty". She chose one of her dress up dresses and then accessorized herself! Anna loves the Wonderpets so I was excited when I found this costume a few months ago at Walmart for only $5! They only had her size left too!
After church, we went to Elisa's annual Halloween party. We got to take our friend, Madelyn with us this year. The girls were so excited to have her with us. They thought it was so fun that she rode in our car, for some reason this was a really big deal to them. Tomorrow I'll show you our pictures from Trick or Treating!

Awesome Pumpkins

2010-11-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

I had to share with you these awesome pumpkins my friend Marci made for the Church Harvest Party! She did such a great job organizing the whole party. There were carnival games, face painting, crafts, a bounce house, Bible story, mini golf, cupcake walk, chili feed . . . the kids had a BLAST! She put a ton of work into the party and I just loved these pumpkins!

Harvest Party

2010-11-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

These are some of my favorite pictures from our church harvest party. I have a ton more that I want to share so I may do a slideshow. I know a lot of people have already seen them on facebook, but there are some who aren't on there.
I thought it was hilarious that Jill and Andrew dressed up as my parents! I just about died when I saw them walk in! We had to get a "Grandparent" picture to remember the night!
It cracked me up too that Jimmy dressed as my Dad, complete with face mask!

Pumpkin Carving

2010-11-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

We have a tradition every year of carving pumpkins with Ryan's side of the family. Several years ago, they introduced me to the concept of using stencils to carve your pumpkins, this year we got to introduce that to Elisa's boyfriend, Josh. This was the first year that Rylie was really into it. She did 85% of her pumpkin by herself. It was fun to do with her.
Anna had been talking for days about how she was going to paint her pumpkin. As soon as we finished dinner she was asking to open the paints!
As usual, it was a fun pumpkin carving night!

I heart pumpkins!

2010-11-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

I'm playing catch up with my pictures.
One of my absolutely favorite things about Fall is the annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Usually every year we try to go with my side of the family, but this year everyone was so busy we couldn't get our schedules coordinated so we went ourselves. We picked the only free day we had and when we woke up it was pouring down rain. We decided to go anyway, we couldn't miss a year of the Pumpkin Patch! Well Ryan probably could, but he knew I had my heart set on it! He decided we should go out to lunch first and maybe the rain would stop. It was a great idea! We went to our new favorite pizza place, Trackside Pizza. It is so good, I love the pizza with the fresh garlic on it! It is, as the name suggests, right next to the railroad track. We always try to get the table next to the window so we can see the trains when they come by. The girls love it!
Thankfully when we were done with lunch, the skies parted, the sun came out and the rain stopped! The Pumpkin Patch was rather soggy and muddy, but we didn't mind, in fact the girls had a blast jumping in all the puddles. This patch we went to also had some animals that we could see, which was fun too. All in all, it was a great day!

Weather Girl

2010-11-06T20:30:00.001-07:00

The other day we were learning about the science of weather. Rylie surprised me by explaining to me the Hydrological Cycle. I didn't know she understood it!
She drew her own weather station, with clouds, rain, twisters, rainbows, snow, etc. Then she titled it "The Weather News From Rylie Wood". I thought that was cute. She gave me the forecast for the next couple of hours!

I blew it!

2010-11-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

I have done so well in the past few years of NaBloPoMo of posting every day for the month of November, but this year, I have allready blown it! Four days into the month and I failed to post. I'm disapointed in myself but I'm going to blame it on my broken toe and the distraction that has caused me. I'm going to try to continue even though I'm now out of the running for the prizes. I have a lot of pictures to catch up on anyway!

Thanksgiving Advent Calendar

2010-11-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Advent Calendar
Love this idea! Go check it out!

Why we want to be church planters

2010-11-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

"When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them becasue they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Matthew 9:36

Broken Toe

2010-11-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

I broke my toe yesterday! I had been sitting on the floor doing Anna's hair, turned around to stand up and my foot hit the leg of the coffee table. My little toe went one way and the rest of my toes went the other way. I felt like someone had just punched me in the gut and I wanted to throw up. I knew it was worse than just a stubbed toe when after an hour it was swollen and getting more painful and I couldn't put any pressure on it. I'm sitting here now with it taped, iced and elevated. Needless to say it hasn't been a very fun day and a half!

NaBloPoMo

2010-11-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! November is National Blog Posting Month. I'm a member of the nablopomo-ers and have participated in the last three years, this being year number four. There are prizes involved, and it gets me back to a regular routine of blogging. So if you have a blog, I invite you to join me. It's a great time to get a jumpstart if your just beginning (Katie!). You don't have to be a member to do it, only if you want to be entered in the drawings for prizes. If you want to enter you just have to enter your blogs name to the blogroll here and post once a day every day in November. Happy Blogging!

Happy Reformation Day!

2010-10-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

Rylie and her 95 Theses!

Aloha from Rylie!

2010-10-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

Leaf Crafts

2010-10-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

After we gathered our fall leaves, we read a book on why leaves change color, did leaf rubbings and wax paper ironing. I just loved this picture of Rylie, she looks so pretty!

Fall Leaves!

2010-10-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

Canon Beach

2010-10-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

In honor of Charlottes Webb (which I watched with my girls tonight!)

2010-10-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

Canon Beach Women's Retreat

2010-10-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

I had a great time last weekend at the Women's Retreat in Canon Beach. My favorite part was getting to spend some time with some fun girls from my Church!
(first picture is breakfast, second picture is us with the speaker)

Happy Birthday Winnie the Pooh!

2010-10-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

As part of our calender time in our Home school we celebrate fun dates, like this one, Winnie the Pooh's Birthday. We read a book about Pooh, watched a movie, made masks (and a tail), and tasted honey. I love sprinkling in these fun activities among our academics!

Fun with Susan!

2010-10-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Holy

2010-10-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Only once in sacred Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. Only once is a characteristic of God mentioned three times in succession. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love; or mercy, mercy, mercy; or wrath, wrath, wrath; or justice, justice, justice. It does say that he is holy, holy, holy, that the whole earth is full of His glory.—R.C. Sproul

Infant/Pregnancy Loss Awareness Month

2010-10-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

Free Photo Cards

2010-10-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

You can get 20 free 4x8 flat photo cards at Snapfish using the coupon code BABIES. You can also get 20 more free in a separate transaction using the coupon code BABYMAIL. You still have to pay shipping, but I thought it was worth it. I paid $12 (just shipping on two orders) instead of $42! I now have my Christmas cards done!

Saturday Painting

2010-10-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy lately that we haven't hardly had any whole days at home. It was so nice on Saturday to have just a relaxing day at home. Ryan stayed home in the morning and we had family snuggle time and then he made us pancakes. He then went to do a Memorial Service and the girls spent some time painting. This is Anna's favorite activity. She probably asks me every day if she can paint!
When Daddy got home he took us all out to dinner and to Target for some errands. It was so nice to have a day where we didn't have to rush anywhere and we could just enjoy each other! I love my family!

The Wasted Life

2010-10-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

"The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples."
John Piper (Don't Waste Your Life, ch.2)

Happy Columbus Day!

2010-10-11T23:02:00.000-07:00

Today we studied about Columbus. I had found this fun pop up book at Borders awhile back for super cheap. Rylie was finally old enough to appreciate it. She made her own map and a drawing of the Nina! She was also excited to learn the poem, "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." She kept reciting it all day!

Strawberry Bread

2010-10-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

I made these yesterday and they were so good I thought I'd share the recipe! I got it from the book, "Homespun Gifts From the Heart". I made two loaves and a pan of mini muffins. I also added chocolate chips, because chocolate makes everything better!

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3 cups strawberries, fresh or frozen (mine were frozen from this summer)
1 1/4 cups oil
4 eggs, beaten

Mash and drain the strawberries, reserving half a cup of juice from the berries. In a large bowl blend the dry mix, berries, juice, oil, and eggs. Mix well. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees 50-60 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Not too bad for a sick day!

2010-10-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

Today the girls and I stayed home from Church because Anna has been sick and I am feeling awful as well. I would have liked to stay in bed all day, but two precious little girls didn't like that idea. So, while the girls were crafting I got busy in the kitchen. We have been so busy lately and I don't see signs of life slowing down, so I thought I'd make a couple of meals to put in the freezer for those busy nights so we don't have to grab fast food. I made a chicken zucchini casserole, chicken pockets, strawberry bread, and applesauce. I wrapped the chicken pockets individually so if I need to grab a couple for lunches I can do that or I can grab the whole batch for a dinner meal. I've been doing that whenever I make muffins too. It's been really handy when I have to pack the girls lunches for our home school "co-op". I previously had also made my own "lunchables" for this purpose. I cut cheese and lunch meat in cute shapes with cookie cutters and wrapped them in small bunches and froze them so I can just grab one out for each girl the night before I need them. By lunch the next day they are thawed and the girls have their own "lunchable" that is made with healthier meat that the kind you buy at the store and a lot cheaper. I had also made my own "crackers" to go along with them out of tortillas. I cut them with cookie cutters as well and then baked them for a few minutes so they were crispy. I freeze them with the meat and cheese, when they thaw they are still crispy. Makes an easy lunch that I don't have to worry about! I love my freezer!