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Monday, May 4, 2009

Homecooked Dinner - Recipes Included!

If you know me at all, you know how much I love home cooked food! There is just nothing to compare to making things at home and letting your kids have a hand in the process. Holly and MaKenna have become quite the little chefs! Well, tonight we made a yummy dinner - Penne and Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce, veggies, Whole Wheat French Bread rolls and French Silk Pie for dessert - and I decided to share the recipes with you - you have to try this out!

Whole Wheat French Bread Rolls

1 1/2 c. warm water
1 tbsp. active dry yeast
2 tbsp. white sugar
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
4 c. flour - (I used fresh milled hard white wheat)

In a large bowl, stir together the water, sugar and yeast. Let stand about 10 minutes. Add the oil, salt and flour. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead til smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough inside and turn to coat. Cover and put in a warm spot til doubled, about an hour. Deflate the dough and divide either into about 16 balls for rolls or in half for loaves. I did 2 loaves. Place them onto greased pans, cover and let rise til double, about 40 minutes. Bake for 18-20 minutes in preheated 400 oven or til golden.

Here is a picture of my bread:



Penne and Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce

4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
12 oz. penne pasta (I used whole wheat)
2 zucchini halved and sliced
2 c. mushrooms (or one small can)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 c. chicken broth
2 tbsp. flour
8 oz. cream cheese
2-3 tbsp. parmesan or romano cheese

Place the chicken in a skillet and lightly salt and pepper it, then saute it til done, but do not overcook. Or, you can grill it. Cook pasta according to package and drain Return to pan, cover and keep warm. In a large skillet, cook zucchini, mushrooms and garlic in oil over medium heat about 5 minutes or til veggies are crisp tender. Add veggies to pasta. In the same skillet, whisk together the broth and four, then add cream cheese. Cook and stir til smooth and bubbly, then add the parmesan and cook another minute. Add to the pasta and toss. Cut chicken into bite size pieces or strips and arrange over the pasta. Sprinkle with parsley and more cheese if desired.



Add whatever veggie you like - we had a mix of brocolli, cauliflower, baby carrots and squash. Mmmmmm, so yummy!! Now, for dessert!

French Silk Pie

1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. white sugar
6-8 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 9" pie crust (your choice - graham, chocolate or regular - we use homemade graham)

Cream the butter and sugar - only enough to mix them together - do not overmix! Blend in the cocoa - start with 6 tbsp. and taste. You want it slightly stronger that you want the completed pie to taste. Then add the vanilla. Beating at high speed, add one egg at a time and beat until thoroughly incorporated, about 5 minutes. Keep whipping until light and fluffy. Spread in the pie shell of choice and refrigerate. Top with whipped cream.



Oh, my - this was a yummy evening! Now, I better get back to work - hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Days with Madilyn

Helping Holly watch Madilyn has become one of the joys of our weeks! The past couple of weeks we have been especially blessed to have her a few extra times than normal - a date night for Jeff and Cara and then Cara had a doctor's appointment and we kept Madilyn for her. She is just the sweetest little girl and it is so fun to have a toddler around the house again! I just had to post some pictures of things we have done with her cause they are too cute to not share with the world! I have to say that I am so pleased with how well Holly and MaKenna both do with her.

Here she is creating a masterpiece on our white board. She is a Lefty!


Trying to get a shot of her and Holly both looking. Does this count?


This was the next closest... CHEESE!


The completed masterpiece (with our leftovers underneath!):


Another time, we put her hair in piggy tails and she just looked adorable!


She loves to write - I think she wants to be like her mommy!


We brought out some of the girls Barbies. She loved having the baby kiss the mommy and the mommy kiss the daddy - to cute!!


Can you tell how much we love her?

Bible Quizzing

"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you"

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed"

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path"

There are so many reasons why I love being a part of Bible Quizzing, but these verses are among the most important! Hiding God's word in our heart is among the top 5 most important things that we can teach our kids to do - whether it is through Bible Quizzing, Bible Study, or another way that works for your family. But getting to be a part of a program where children around the country choose to spend their time memorizing hundreds of scriptures is a blessing and an honor.

This past Saturday, we hosted a combined Junior/Senior Tournament at our church. WOW! Walking around the building and peeking in on different classes was amazing. Children from ages 5-18 answering questions and quoting verses from the book of Luke was powerful. They know their scripture!

I had a lot going on that day and didn't get as many pictures as I normally would, but here are a few scenes.

Our Senior Quizzers - Amber, Holly, MaKenna and Katie:


Our Junior Team - Erica, Jared and Alexandria:


Our Beginner Team - Jiliane and Jeremiah. These 2 just turned 9 a couple of weeks ago and they are just AMAZING! They placed 2nd at our tournament.


Caleb hanging out with Andrew and Anthony from Belleview:


The Bradenton Team studying between quizzes. It does my heart good to see this!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Turn off Your TV Week


Found on a wall in Glasgow, Scotland
Photo taken by Brian Aslak Gylte from Norway

Did you know April 20-26th is TV Turnoff Week? I love this concept!!! Now, in our house, we celebrate TV turnoff 365 days a year, but for many families this week could be an opportunity to shut off the television and do something other than watch the screen.

Some fast television facts:

  • Number of 30-second commercials seen in a year by an average child: 20,000
  • Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 38.5
  • Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680 (compare with the above statistic - so sad!) (italics mine)
  • Percentage of children ages 6-17 who have TV’s in their bedrooms: 50
  • Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70
  • Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours
  • Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500
  • Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66

source: http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html

Deciding to not watch TV was an easy choice for our family. We didn’t want our children bombarded by commercials promoting sugary cereals, fast food, or cheap, made in China toys. We also didn’t like that fact that even if we were watching a “good” show inevitably a preview for an upcoming show (one that we would never allow our children to watch) could be seen during the commercial breaks. Not to mention it became harder and harder to find “good” shows. We decided to make our job as parents much easier and just quit watching television altogether.

Before you begin to wonder about us, we do have a TV! We watch videos and DVD's, but in doing so, we get to choose the program and we don't have to deal with the commercials and unexpected images associated with watching TV. We still enjoy family movie night once in a while and when our kids are sick sometimes they watch movies to pass the time.

Usually we are so busy we don’t have time even for movies. When the weather is nice I would much rather be outside than sitting in front of the television. We love to read, craft, listen to Adventures in Odyssey and Your Story Hour and play games. These types of activities encourage creativity and force my kids to interact with each other. I want my children to be able to get along and play together, not be able to watch a movie together - that is easy.

Now, I realize that what works for our family may not work for another's, so this post is not meant to be judgmental in any way! But, the statistics being what they are, why not try the challenge, turn off the TV and see what you can do with your family this week!

BTW, what is your opinion on television - love it, hate it, own it, live without it? Movies, cable, commercials? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

A Cool Quote:

"I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on I go into the library and read a good book."
--Julius "Groucho" Marx

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The life and times...

There is so much going on around here these days. I decided to do a picture post with a few comments to fill you in on some of the details.

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a field trip to St. Augustine. The Lighthouse there was doing a homeschool day and we decided to take advantage of the fort while we were there. Here is a picture of my children with the Thomas children (our new sweet friends) outside the entrance to the fort.


While we were there, a man dressed in original Spanish clothes showed us some things that the people back then would have used for medicinal purposes. He said that MaKenna's hair was the perfect length for sutures (she kept it hidden from him!). It was truly a time to be thankful for modern inventions!


Delaney is the Thomas' 7 year old daughter. (They have 2 boys as well.) She loved hanging out with Holly and MaKenna and wanted to take lots of pictures with them!


Although it was a little chilly that day (we had a cold snap come through the night before and it was only 40 when we got there!), it was a BEAUTIFUL Florida day, as you can see from this picture of us at the top of the fort.


We left the fort, had a picnic lunch and went to our scheduled event at the lighthouse. They had a great amount of info for the children with songs from sailor's back then, to native plants that they are restoring on the grounds and info about the lighthouse itself. We all learned so much and then got to climb the 219 stairs to the top! Thankfully, it had warmed up some, though it was still windy.


One of the highlights of our view was the control burn that they had going on nearby. This kept all of us fascinated for quite some time and we got to talk to one of the rangers about why they do this and how often. It was so interesting!


We were so glad to have Nina and Paul and their family join us at the lighthouse. Here is a picture of all the kids at the top.


I love this picture of MaKenna and Max, Nina's youngest - he just loves MaKenna and asked me take their picture - so cute!


After leaving the Lighthouse, Melissa and Micah introduced us to letterboxing. Basically, you go online, find clues to a letterbox and then follow them to find it. Once you do, you take their stamp and stamp your journal and take your family stamp and stamp their journal with the details of when you found the box. We loved doing this and will continue to find more wherever we go! Here is our family and their family in front of the keeper's house where we found our very first letterbox!


OK, that's all for that day. Here is a neat shot that I took of my beautiful girls last week. I think that it is so neat!


We have also been gardening and have many things growing, but that will have to be another post! I hope that you enjoyed catching up on our life and times!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Swagbucks

OK, I know that I am behind on my posts and I WILL get caught up very soon, but I wanted to add this quick note before I start my day.

On the right side of my blog, there is a note "check out this opportunity with me" and a button. I have been using "swagbucks" as my search engine since I first found out about it. Here is the deal - when you need to find out something, if you use swagbucks instead of, say, google, you can earn "swagbucks" which can be redeemed on their website for LOTS of different things. Right now, I could get a $10 Amazon GC for about 2 months of regular searches! Not bad for a freebie!

The searches are not quite as extensive as google, but I have had no trouble finding whatever I have needed. There are other ways to earn them, as well. For one, if you click on my link at the right, I will get one swagbuck for every one that you do until you reach 100- and anyone who comes under you will help you earn!

I haven't mentioned this before because I wanted to make sure that it was OK and legitimate - so far so good! I can't wait to start redeeming and getting free things!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter 2009

We started off our day with an awesome Easter service. Pastor said that this is his 30th Easter at our church, but his message was fresh, inspiring and relevant. My baby brother was there with us, so that was just an added blessing! During the service, as part of the worship and music, Eleanor Hawthorne painted, mostly with her hands, this beautiful painting:



After church, we had some family over for dinner - a very unconventional Easter dinner! We had a cookout with hamburgers, hot dogs, macaroni salad, cole slaw, corn pudding, chipped beef dip, chips, baked beans, grilled veggies and also some ham! It was yummy. The girls and I also made this yummy cake for dessert:


It is called Hummingbird Cake and is as delicious as it is pretty!

This is my 82 year old grandmother being cute as a button:


The whole gang - (L to R) London, Bear, J, Mom, Dad, Nan, Mark, Me, Caleb, MaKenna and Holly and Maggie:

(Yes, Caleb was swimming right before we took the picture!)

Holly, MaKenna and Caleb at church. (The girls had to wear red, black and gray for choir):


We had such a nice day today remembering the resurrection of our Lord and spending time with family. We are blessed indeed!