Something Old, Something New

We have something "new" on our breakfast menu at our house and my kids are loving it! Although its not really new at all. Nutella was first made in Italy as an inexpensive way for people to enjoy chocolate. After becoming popular in Europe it came to the United States in 1983.We tried Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) and the kids think it is quite a treat. It is actually a pretty healthy option and my kids love it on toast or graham crackers. We even like to do a thin layer with a thin layer of peanut butter. You can't beat peanut butter & chocolate for breakfast.

My favorite part is it got Gracie who had decided she only wanted cereal for breakfast eating toast occasionally again.
Its a bit messy, but definitely kid approved.
I even found a similar product at Aldi and we are looking forward to trying that out.

(The Nutella company didn't ask me to write this post, but if they want to send me some for free we'd be happy to eat it. :)

Thanksgiving Feast

Another fun Kindergarten event we got to be a part of this fall was The Thanksgiving Feast. It was such a special party. Grace was assigned to be a Native American. To earn her feathers she had to be able to recite her birthday, address, and her full name. The menu included apple cider, corn muffins, popcorn, fruit, nuts, dried fruit, and beef jerky. (And a mom brought the cute turkey cupcakes as a bonus for Grace's class.)

The parents set up the feast. When the kindergarten classes arrived they performed several poems and songs including 10 Little Pilgrims, & 5 Fat Turkeys.

November Poem:

It's November. It's November.

Let's Give Thanks. Let's Give Thanks.

Come & set the table. Come & set the table.

Turkey tastes great! Turkey tastes great.

Mrs. Pritchett's Class
Grace had the perfect hair for a Native American, we of course had to braid it.
Pilgrim Ruthie
Checking out their food.
Grace with some of her classmates (L to R) Maryssa, Sabrina, Ryan Macie, Lexie Lanie, Ruthie, Trevonte, & Grace.
Pilgrim Matthew
Pilgrim Joseph
Pilgrim Nakeenan
Pilgrim Presley
Pilgrim Brandon
Native Americans Lexi, Ryan, & Lanie
I was so thankful I was able to go and be a part of the fun. Many of Grace's classmates know me now and are always excited to see me. It really makes me miss being in a classroom. I feel God totally answered my prayers in blessing Gracie with an awesome teacher and providing a great opportunity for me to be involved in her education.

Turkey Trouble

One of the fun Kindergarten projects we did this fall was "disguising" a turkey. Grace's class read a book called "Turkey Trouble." I haven't actually read the book, but the general story line is that the turkey is trying to disguise himself so he doesn't get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. They were then sent home a turkey to disguise and send back to school. After a bit of discussion on how to disguise our turkey we took inspiration from some left over clouds I had and chose a rainbow.

The finished project. We added a pink feather at the end of the rainbow for Faith since Grace didn't want her "color" to be left out.

The turkeys hung up outside Grace's classroom.
I noticed that several kids didn't have a turkey. After checking with Grace's teacher, Mrs. Pritchett, on my next volunteer Tuesday I brought my craft box and got to help these students dream up their own turkey disguises. It was SO fun. I am LOVING volunteering in Grace's class.

A "Sun."
A "Christmas Tree" and "Baby."
I was so impressed with all the creative ideas! I think we might have to purchase the book and do it again sometime. (Or maybe we will wait till when Faith goes to kindergarten don't want to spoil her fun....)

1st Quarter Awards

I was able to attend Grace's First Quarter Awards Ceremony. They gave awards for being a S.T.A.R. Student, Math (Recognizing numbers 1-10), Reading Achievement (Reading 10 Lifetime Words), Attendance, and Writing (Being able to write upper & lower case letters.)

Grace's Teacher Mrs. Pritchett reading the awards.
Love this one of Ryan & Koen comparing ribbons.
Mrs. Wheelan Grace's principal handing out ribbons.
Grace received all 5 awards- earning her the "red plate" award at home. Way to go Grace!

"These are the Moments" Monday

These are the Moments...

I'm praying that our background check for our adoption doesn't include poison control. (Because while I'm fond of the polite knowledgeable nurses who answer my calls I'd rather not be on a first name basis with them!)

Today I walked upstairs to find my son standing on a chair drinking a lovely blue liquid from the Children's Advil bottle. He smiled real proudly and said, "Juice Mama Juice!" Seriously?

In case you are wondering a 30 lb child can tolerate an ENTIRE BOTTLE of that lovely sweet sticky goo. Who knew? So, we were good to go. And after I knew we were safe I couldn't help capturing the memory with a photo of Titus' lovely blue "juice" mustache.

Oh, my little man you will turn me into a prayer warrior yet!

Happy Birthday Nana

This year for Nana's birthday we took her out to eat to Rocky's in Macomb. The kids were incredibly well behaved (people even commented on this fact). We just thanked the Lord and enjoyed every minute. (not that we've ever had unpeaceful dinners out...) Although I did shed some tears. I ordered a veggie wrap and it was FULL of peppers. It was super yummy but my eyes were watering it was so spicy.

Loving the cupcakes...

Titus checks out Nana's dog tags (in honor of Veteran's Day).
It was a great meal and we loved the chance to celebrate our Nana!

To DIY, or not to DIY, that is the Question

We finally decided to meet with a real estate agent about officially listing our house. She surprised us by telling us she thought we needed to take care of the peeling paint before we could list. This was not on our fall agenda. We called a painter, but he was very uncertain if he could get us in before the temperatures were too cold. So...... although it pretty much falls under the category of crazy to DIY paint your house when there is like 1 week left of above freezing temps. (with some encouragement from our small group) we decided to go for it.

It was a CRAZY, exhausting, often frustrating, sometimes encouraging week. A few tears might have been shed but we survived and are pretty much done. We basically had to paint all the white on our house (trim, gable, & soffit)

While Jeremy did the prep work with the power washer the kids and I took on raking our yard. They were so helpful and actually did a lot of hard work. Our yard is very blessed with leaves since we live next to a patch of woods.


Faith was done working by the time I got the camera out...this girl keeps play on her priority list. But, she also surprised me on the second day by being a very hard worker.
I am so thankful we survived it...and I'm thinking since we saved all that money we can afford to pay the painter to paint the lovely (said with sarcasm) yellow come Spring. ;) That is if we haven't sold our house and have an all new DIY list.

"These Are the Moments" Monday

Saturdays around our house are known as "Daddy Day" and we start them off right with Daddy breakfast. This Saturday I walked into my kitchen to find my hubbie dicing potatoes to make homemade hash browns. He instructed me to look down.

This is what I saw.
Titus had found his own cutting board, potato, & knife. He was doing a perfect imitation of his daddy. (even using his left hand) Immediately the words to "I Wanna Be Just Like Him" started looping in my brain. (If you aren't familiar with this classic tear jerker song you can hear it Here.)

These are the moments ...

I am incredibly thankful I married a man who loves the Lord.

Oh, how thankful I am that my son watches a daddy who seeks to lead and serve his family with the strength and character of a man who loves Jesus.

(And he makes a pretty incredible breakfast too :)
Yes, Mam those our homemade hash browns with bacon & diced peppers. YUM!!

While I'm on the subject of Daddy's and their example to their kids I couldn't help but mention the movie Courageous. Last week Jeremy and I had the chance to sneak away for dinner & a movie. It was such a blessing! It is so awesome to see the truth of the Gospel proclaimed from the big screen. It was such a powerful message. Most of you know Jeremy and I are pretty frugal people, but I found these movie tickets to be worth the investment. We also plan to purchase the movie when it comes out on dvd. We want to support and be reminded of the biblical truths this movie illustrated.

Shoe Box Packing Party

Who knew when Lindsay Otte introduced our group of "girls" to packing a shoebox gift for kids around the world in college that it would become a beloved family tradition in our home?After writing our letters after school Friday night we had pizza and took a trip to the store to purchase the rest of the items we needed to pack our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. It gets funner ever year now that the girls can really get excited to pick out items for "their" boxes. Grace of course chose purple items and Faith chose pink.

Titus plotting...
See that big orange cup....its full of water. Titus is currently trying to eat a ring pop through the wrapper.
Then he grabs the playdough out of his box and chucks it. This boy has got an arm. No pictures of this but just imagine how much water that cup holds and it going everywhere....opps!
So we decided it was time for Titus to head off to bed before we prayed for our boxes. This picture cracks me up. I told the girls to pretend to get ready to pray so I could snap a quick picture. Jeremy wasn't wanting to cooperate and I snapped the picture anyway. The reason it makes me laugh is because it looks like it was a very spiritual moment...however it was not.
I can't wait to someday take the kids on a trip to a processing center (they have to be 13). But for now we love this November family tradition!!