Blake's Kind of Lesson!

Rich and Blake like to sit in the chair and look at farming magazines together and it turns out Blake is catching on to some things:

Narrated by Morgan

Wordless Wednesday: Mommy's New 'Do ('Do and Photo Compliments of Morgan)

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go! and Healthy Moms.

The Season of Giving

I have had all sorts of calls asking for money lately. Some of them I've given to and others I've had to politely decline and tell them maybe next year. I would honestly LOVE to be able to give to every worthy cause out there, but since that is not possible for us, I have to stick to only a couple. With all those causes calling, it really makes me think about giving this holiday season and who I would choose.

A new favorite is Operation Christmas Child. We were introduced to Operation Christmas Child for the first time through our church last year. It was actually fun to shop as a family for a little one who might not have Christmas if it wasn't for the shoebox that we put together. Not only do they receive the gifts we have sent, but they receive an even better gift-the message of Jesus. It is a wonderful cause by Samaritan's Purse that we feel is a great way to start showing our little ones what it means to give.

We have actually put our shoebox together already this year since the shoeboxes will be dedicated in church in a couple weeks. Here are a couple pictures so you have an idea of the types of things that you fill a shoebox with. (Ours is for a 2-4 year old boy.)




If you would also like to put a shoebox together and don't know where you could drop it off or what to put in it, just check out the links! :-) You could also win a Veggie Tales prize pack if you blog about about Operation Christmas Child and what it means to you.

Make Something Monday: Apple Cobbler with Cinnamon-Swirl Biscuits

This recipe was derived from a wonderful Peach Cobbler with Cinnamon-Swirl Biscuits recipe that Alesha at The Jacobsen Family shared. I didn't happen to have fresh or frozen peaches, so I wondered how the recipe would work with apples. The only thing that I changed was adding some cinnamon to the apple mixture and leaving out walnuts and lemon peel, since I didn't happen to have them on hand. It turned out great! And I even used apples from our own apple tree that Alesha reminded me that I had-LOL! I had never thought of using apples from our own tree before, because the apples always look bad, but it turns out that they are great once you peel them! LOL!

I'm going to let you visit Alesha for the recipe. Plus you'll get to see what it looks like when it's made from peaches-yum! :-)

Halloween 2009

Now that the kids are getting a little older, especially Morgan, we have been able to have more fun with the holidays. Halloween happens to be the first holiday since Morgan started home school preschool, so I tried to come with Halloween related activity for her to do each day of the week leading up to Halloween. We did crafts, read books, watched movies and baked all with Halloween in mind. Every time we'd go to do something Morgan would ask if we were 'making Halloween'. She was so cute when she'd ask that and she enjoyed everything we did! Here is a slide show of the fun we had this Halloween:


(Music: 'Tell Me What You Want to Be' by Jetta and the Jellybeans)

Halloween day went a little different than what I planned this year. I didn't actually have the kids all day on Halloween! They stayed Friday night at Rich's parents' so Rich and I could go out for our anniversary. Rich ended up having to work 11 hours on Halloween and didn't pick the kids up until after 6:00 pm. They were still able to trick-or-treat at Rich's great grandmother's assisted living home earlier in the day. Then, after he picked them up, they went to Rich's family's houses. They then picked me up, so we could go to my parents' house. It was a busy day for for Rich and the kids, but I had a nice day to myself! LOL! I feel bad that I missed out on most of the fun though. One day we'll have two running vehicles again and hopefully things won't get so complicated! Despite it being different than usual, everyone had a great Halloween! :-)

If you would like any recipes/directions for the Halloween activities we did, here are the links:
Pumpkin Pancakes
Mummy Cookies
Paper Towel Ghosts