Brothers

Isaac sure loves his little brother!

Can I hold him?

Anna Grace loves her little brother! In fact, her love is sometimes a little much for him! She has been known to stick her fingers in his mouth, close to his eyes, etc. Her solution when he is crying is to try to cover his mouth! She is constantly asking to hold him. When she does get to hold him, he looks almost as big as she is. Even though it is scary at times, I am glad that she loves him so much!

Meal Plan

Monday -- Beef Stew in the crock pot
Tuesday -- Turkey fried rice
Wednesday -- Spaghetti & meatballs
Thursday -- Barbecue chicken & baked potatoes
Friday -- Homemade pizza
Saturday -- Ham, eggs & biscuits
Sunday -- Out to eat!

We had quite a bit of turkey and ham left over from Thanksgiving. I put it in the freezer, and I think that I can get at least five or six meals out of it (fried rice, ham & eggs, turkey & noodle soup, white beans cooked with the ham bone and a couple more meals I have not figured out yet). Thanksgiving is the meal that keeps on giving! Publix marked their turkeys way down, so I now have several turkey breasts and turkeys in the freezer. I am going to have to find some creative turkey recipes!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Move over Martha Stewart!

Eli was pretty excited about our celebration!

Anna Grace loves her Daddy!

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight. This is a tradition that our children look forward to every year. With five children eight and under, this experience was not completely stress free-- we had two broken ornaments before we even started putting them on the tree! Overall, it was a great evening. We decorated the tree, and then had a small birthday party for Jesus. We ate cupcakes and drank eggnog, and talked about why we have Christmas. I try to start off our Christmas season by reminding them that it is not all about presents. We finished the night by watching Frosty the Snowman. What a blessing to be able to celebrate Christmas with children!

A Short Sports Rant

I do not often blog about sports issues, but I had to write a little post tonight about Phil Fulmer, the coach of UT (actually now he is the former coach). I strongly disagree with the athletic director's decision to fire him. In my little world, I do not like it when my team loses, and I really like it when my team wins, but those emotions pass quickly. It seems like winning has become way too important. College sports in general have become too important. It is amazing to me how much money, time, emotions and words are poured into these teams and these games. I wonder if it is even fun for many of the people who coach, play and especially watch. Oh well, those are just my thoughts in my little world.

I am glad that Fulmer could go out on two wins. And, despite the fact I am sure that it has been a hard season for him, I am sure that his retirement fund is fully funded! After this short little rant, I am ready to get back to my usual blogging topics!

Meal Plan Monday

Monday: Homemade chicken soup

Tuesday: Barbecue pork loin in the crock pot, baked potatoes

Wednesday: Chicken Quesadillas (with leftover chicken from Monday) and French fries

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! My parents are coming to visit. This is only my second Thanksgiving dinner that I have cooked, so I am still learning! We are having ham (the children's' favorite) and turkey (it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without turkey!) -- yummy! I am planning on freezing leftover meat to use for meals in the next few weeks.

Friday: Leftovers or buy pizza -- I am going shopping!

Saturday: Chili

Sunday: Hot dogs and chili

Nine Days!

Mark has next week off, so counting the two weekends, he is home for nine days (counting today)! I am so glad! The children are excited to have Daddy home too! Bailey made a calendar tonight. She drew nine blocks, with the numbers one through nine. She crossed off number one because the first day is gone.

I am hoping to get a little done around the house while Mark is at home. With our little Eli around, and trying to get our homeschooling done, our house is a bit of a mess! Tonight I worked on packing away some toys. We have been having trouble keeping things picked up, so I thought it would be help to have fewer toys around. I am hoping to work on the master bedroom and closet over the next few days. Unfortunately, it often becomes a dumping ground for baby stuff, toys, laundry and other junk. I am ready for some fall cleaning!

Our "Little" Man

Eli's feet are stylin' thanks to my sweet friend Laura!

Check out those cheeks and chins!

I could just eat him up!

Fall Fun

Isaac and Bailey have really enjoyed playing with the leaves in the back yard. Our trees are not very big, but they have produced enough leaves to make a nice little pile. It has been very cold here this week, so they have not been able to get out much, but today it was in the fifties, so they were at it again. It must have felt like a heatwave after the freezing temperatures (notice Bailey's summer shirt). I am glad they like playing outside!

Photographing a Two Year Old...

I simply wanted to get a cute picture of Anna Grace. I was not asking much, just for her to look at the camera and smile. She happened to have happy, bouncy feet that made my job tricky. I am very grateful that I was using a digital camera. She is a cutie, so I enjoyed looking at the "mess ups". She keeps me on my toes!

Farmer Isaac Does it Again...

Isaac was not very happy with the way his spring/summer carrot crop produced, so he decided to plant some more this fall. He did it all by himself a couple of months ago, and I had forgotten about it. Today he came and got me to "show me something." He had "harvested" his carrots, and he was very proud!

One of Our Little Turkeys...

Olivia's Mothers' Day Out class had a Thanksgiving Feast this week. They sang songs for the families and then we ate. The older people of the church had cooked quite a feast. Olivia was very proud! She is quite a cute little turkey!

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Isaac celebrated his eighth birthday last week. I am amazed that he is that old! I gave him a choice of having some friends over for a party or taking our family to Chuck E Cheese. He chose the second option! We invited our good friends Kelly, Ben and James to go with us.

Isaac started asking in July if he could have a Nintendo DS for his birthday. We told him that it costs more than we usually spend on birthday gifts, so he would have to save up part of the money. He saved $40, which he earned from reading books and doing odd jobs around the house (Isaac usually wants to spend money as soon as he gets it, so this was a HUGE accomplishment for him). He was proud of his accomplishment, and he loves his new toy! He used money from his grandparents to buy a couple of games to go with it.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Soup and bread night -- Minestrone Soup (I am going to try to cook more soups with little or no meat to help keep the food budget down. For this soup, I did a search for frugal minestrone soup, and combined several recipes that I found. It turned out pretty good. It is a cold and windy night, so warm soup felt good going down!).

Tuesday: Shake and bake pork chops and mashed potatoes

Wednesday: Grilled cheese sandwiches and left over minestrone soup

Thursday: Spaghetti and meatballs -- I used this recipe and made five meals worth to put in the freezer. I love having quick meals to pull out!

Friday: French bread pizza

Saturday: Pancakes

Sunday: Tacos, refried beans and rice -- This is an easy meal because I made extra taco meat and refried beans and froze them. I do not like to cook on Sundays. Everyone is ready to eat the minute we walk in the door after church!

A Few Pictures with Daddy

Mark won't be able to do the football hold much longer!
Daddy must have worn Eli out!

We are one tired family! Anna Grace still gets her

belly button when she is tired!

Menu Plan Monday

I have come across several blogs in my blog surfing that post their menus on Mondays. I have decided to give it a try. I realize that it will probably not be very exciting for anyone else, but it will help me get a little organized. I need organization as I attempt to navigate this newborn fog we are in!

Monday: Refried beans without the refry (from this blog , the children eat it really well. I follow Bethany's changes and add broth, cut the salt, add more cumin and leave the onion and garlic in when I mash it), taco rice, tortillas and cheese. I made extra beans so we can have bean and cheese burritos for lunch this week.

Tuesday: Chuck E Cheese (It is Isaac's birthday observed -- his birthday is actually Thursday, but he has Boy Scouts that day.)

Wednesday: Pork Chops in cream of mushroom soup, mashed potatoes and green beans

Thursday: My sweet friend Wendy is bringing dinner

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Barbecue chicken, baked potatoes, vegetable and homemade bread

Sunday is my day off. That means we will either go out, eat left overs or Mark will cook (which means we will go out!)