Tea Party

Parlor Games

Our Little Ladies

We went to a Civil War Re-Enactment back in the fall. We met a very nice lady, named Mrs. Thompson, who has a passion for tea! She was willing to come and do an old fashioned tea party for our girls.

Our girls traded in their play clothes for some old fashioned dresses for a few hours. They learned about the various types of tea, as well as table etiquette. Mrs. Thompson brought lots of yummy food, and the girls learned all about "fancy" table manners. Some of the things the girls learned were a bit outdated, but a lot of the etiquette still applies today. We finished our tea party with parlor games. Our young ladies had a great time. I am thankful for people who are willing to take the time to invest in my children!

Happy Birthday Anna Grace

Anna Grace celebrated her sixth birthday on February 2. Where has the time gone? How can she possibly be six?

We had a party a few days before her actual birthday. She wanted to have some friends over for lunch. For the menu, she chose cheese balls, Combos, chips, pink dip, hot dogs, taco soup and cake and ice cream. She wanted to decorate her own cake (with a little help from Mom) and she was very happy with the results! She had lots of fun with her friends.

Anna Grace has been asking for a Nintendo DSi for a while now. I told her that if she would read fifty books, we would buy her one for her birthday (with some help from Mamaw). She finished reading her fiftieth book the day before her birthday. She is thrilled with her new pink toy!

Anna Grace chose to go to a Mexican restaurant on her birthday. She wanted rice, beans and a burrito, with chips and salsa, of course!

Happy Birthday Anna Grace. You are a gift from God!

Daddy Dates, Part 2

Mark took Olivia out for the next Daddy Date. He called her from work on a Friday to ask her to breakfast on Saturday. She was so excited! She was up at the crack of dawn, dressed in a church dress.

Mark took her to the Triangle, which seems to be the official Daddy Date destination.

"We went to The Triangle. I got two biscuits and gravy and eggs. Daddy got some hash browns, two GIANT pancakes and coffee and ice water. Daddy gave me some of his hash browns. We went to Sonic and I got a slush. It was really fun-- a great date with Daddy!" --Olivia

Daddy Dates, Part One

Mark and I decided it would be good for him to take each of our children on a "date" to spend some one-on-one time with them. Our kids rarely get time with Daddy all to themselves and they love to eat out, so a date with Dad sounded great to them!

Anna Grace was Daddy's first date. He took her to The Triangle, which is a local greasy spoon type restaurant. Anna Grace ordered a waffle with syrup. The next stop was McDonald's to pick up a Coke for the princess. Anna Grace said it was lots of fun! I love being married to a man who loves his children!

Did Jesus Have a Big Stick????

We have been learning about Theodore Roosevelt this week. Tonight I asked the children to tell their dad who said, "I speak softly and carry a big stick." Olivia said, "Jesus?" Now THAT is some interesting theology!

Snow Again!

I love the pink hat under the raccoon hat look! It looks great with camouflage!

After complaining about our lack of snow last week, a wintry mix hit our area on Monday. We were scheduled to have a Valentine's party with our home school co-op, so the kids were not too happy with the snow! Our party was cancelled, but the children did get to play in the snow a bit before it was gone. We celebrated with hot chocolate and sugar cookies, so the day was not a complete disappointment for the children. I need to be careful what I complain about!

Seeds Family Worship

I started a memory verse program at church last year. I wanted to encourage my children to memorize scripture, and I thought that offering fun incentives would make it more exciting. I assigned two verses each month, as well as a passage of scripture to read each week. I offered to pay the children "Kingdom Bucks" for each verse they memorized. I opened up a "Kingdom Kids" store every month or two to allow them to spend their money.

The first year went OK. Not everyone participated, and those that did often waited to the last minute (our family included). There were many Saturday nights that I was trying to stuff the verses into my children's heads! I knew that was not the best way for them to retain God's Word! I started to wonder if the program was worth it.

Then, I stumbled upon the Seeds Family Worship ministry this past summer, and I was really impressed! They take memory verses from the NIV and set them to music. Now, I know this is not a new concept. We have had several of these type of CDs over the years. The Seeds CDs, however, had more appeal to my children and me. They have a modern sound similar to what you would hear on Christian radio.

So, I changed up our Kingdom Kids program a bit in the fall. I took verses from the worship CDs and assigned those for the memory work. My kids knew them all within a couple of weeks of listening to them in the car. Every family at church received Volume 1 one of the CDs to listen to, and the whole program has gone a bit more smoothly. We are about to start on volume two next month. I highly recommend these CDs as a way to help hide God's word in your heart!

Soup Night!

I have been attempting to include at least one soup night on my menu each week. Soups are some of the most frugal meals that I cook. I can stretch a little bit of meat to feed all seven of us, and I can use up a few leftovers in the process. I have been getting a bit bored with soup, so I decided to try to "spice" things up a bit.

Last week I made bread bowls for the first time. I used this recipe with fresh ground whole wheat flour, and Mark and the kids really liked them. That is not too suprising, since none of us have met too many carbs that we do not like! The bowls did make soup night a little more exciting.

The week before, I made some homemade croutons. I usually have a few pieces of bread at the end of a loaf that do not get eaten before they are past being fresh. I decided to cut them up and keep them in a bag in the freezer. The bag was getting pretty full, so I melted some butter and poured it in the bag with some garlic and shook it around. Garlic and butter make most everything taste better! I baked the bread pieces until they were crunchy. We called them croutons and ate them on our soup. The kids were impressed, and I did not feel guilty for throwing bread away. Soup night has at least been a little more interesting around here lately!

Uncle George

We were blessed to spend time with my Uncle George in December, 2010. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel, and he got a kick out of seeing the kids and playing tractor with Eli. At the time, we had no idea that he was sick. He found out in August that he had small cell lung cancer, and that he did not have much time left. He died on Christmas Eve. Life is so short. Uncle George will be missed!

"As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone..." Psalm 103:15

Menu Planning

I have been really concentrating on menu planning this month. Feeding all of the mouths that live at our house is expensive! It is worth every penny, but I am trying to work on cutting our costs a bit. We usually budget $1000 a month for groceries/toiletries/diapers (gasp!). It sounds like such A LOT of money, but somehow I still have a hard time staying within that amount. This page made me feel a bit better. According to the USDA, a family our size on the THRIFTY plan (as opposed to the higher low cost, moderate or liberal plan), spent 1008.30 to eat in the month of December. That helped me feel better about how much we spend, but I still want to try to cut back on costs, or at least keep them from going up. I try to cook mostly from scratch, and fix fairly healthy meals.

I seem to drop $200 each time I step foot in Walmart. I thought it might help if I simply stayed out of Walmart more often! This month, I decided to try to do a REALLY big shopping trip at the beginning of the month. I planned our supper meals and bought everything to cook them all. I also bought enough toiletries, diapers, Good Nights, kitty litter and food, paper products and cleaning supplies to last the month. After my first big trip, I will just do quick dairy/produce trips into Kroger once each week.

So far, my plan is working well. I am hoping to come in $200 under budget. We are buying 1/4 of a cow this month, so I would like to put some of our grocery budget towards the beef. We will see if my goal is realistic!

Here is my menu plan--

1. Creamy Rice and Chicken
2 Out for Anna Grace's Birthday
3. Breakfast for supper
4. Supper at a birthday party. I am taking bean dip.
5. Salad Bar
6. Bible Study -- Chili
7. black bean & corn chicken taco bake
8. Chicken and rice soup in bread bowls
9. Pinto Beans & homemade macaroni and cheese
10. Homemade pizza
11. Breakfast for supper -- eggs, pancakes and bacon
12. Barbecue chicken and baked potatoes
13. Bible Study-- Mexican Night
14. Sloppy Joes & home fries
15. Terriyaki Chicken
16. Vegetable Beef Stew
17. Homemade pizza
18. Shepherd's Pie
19. Taco Potatoes
20. Bible Study--Finger Foods
21. Enchiladas & Mexican rice
22. Cheeseburger Macaroni
23. Black Bean Soup
24. Book Club-- New Orleans Celebration-- Jambalaya
25. Breakfast for supper
26. Spaghetti Carbonara
27. Bible Study
28 . Tacos/ Mexican Rice
29. Peanut Chicken & rice

Snow

It is all fun and games until....

I love snow! I always crave one or two really good snow days each year. I guess it is a left over feeling from wanting school to be out when I was younger. It could also be that six years of living in Baton Rouge made me crave the white stuff. My children share my snow cravings. They have been known to go out and play in the frost.

We have had a really warm winter this year, and I have just about given up hope of a blizzard this year. So, I decided to go ahead and post pictures of our one "faux" snow that we had before Christmas. There were only supposed to be flurries, but we woke up to two inches of snow. Thankfully, I decided to post phone school for the morning, because every flake was gone by the afternoon. It kind of felt like we had been cheated of fully enjoying the white stuff. Mark, who is a bit of a snow humbug, thought it was a perfect snow. Maybe we will have better snow next year!

Christmas Tea

Our girls have gone to a Christmas Tea for the past three years. It is a tradition that they love! They get to dress up in Christmas dresses, eat "fancy" foods and practice their "fancy" manners. They enjoy drinking their tea (which usually has LOTS of milk and sugar cubes in it!). The girls each bring a $1 gift to exchange, and there are lots of "oohs" and "aahs" as they unwrap their treasures. I am thankful for fun traditions and good friends!