what do at-home mama's do?

That is a question I actually get asked by quite a bit of people. Whether its my husband, soon-to-be-mom friends, or people I just randomly meet.

I never really had a good answer as to why it's physically/mentally tiring, busy, chaotic, and so much more. I guess the words were never there, or I was passing up the small stuff.

But I found this, and let me tell you... it's brilliant. And all she says doubles with more kids.

Don't get me wrong, though.

I. love. what. I. do. Period.

But this is what's goes on.

I hope you can read it better, click here to go to facebook photo to read it. 

 Keven Drake Write took this photo and wants it go viral.... read and see why! Love it! 

rip and sew

We haven't done a whole lot of crafts this week because the weather has been AMAZING!

I love the weather when it's too chilly for a t-shirt and but not quite cold enough for a jacket, and this week it has been just that. Ok, we've had some pretty cold mornings, but the afternoons have been great.

We have gone on walks galore before the snow arrives, and played at our local park everyday. Tonight, we are going to Daddy's football game!

But here are a couple of things we have done.

Ripped pumpkin. Nevaeh has this weird fetish with ripping things. We have to watch her and our books because she will start to rip it. So I decided to start doing these crafts to incorporate that fetish. 

 Nevaeh mermaid. This morning she wanted to make a mermaid and I had no idea what she was talking about. Jason actually came up with this idea. Cut out a pic of her, and make a tale with the ripped paper. 

 Just rip...

 ...and glue. This also helps kids with fine motor skills, ripping into smaller pieces and teaching them inside and outside the lines. 

Today was the first day WITHOUT cable, and let me tell you, it's kinda weird. I've lived with tv for 23 1/2 years and it's kinda like something is empty in our house. But I know, that will soon pass. I hope.

So, today, I made Gray a t-shirt out of one of my old Hoover shirts! It turned out great! the neck part didn't dip low enough in the front, but other than that, wow. I can't believe how well it did turn out. I'm making Nevaeh one tonight probably. 

Enjoy!

Have a great weekend, God bless.

Zoo getaway

Nevaeh LOVES animals as much as I do. So a trip to the Omaha Zoo was definitely a to do this year. The weather was great, we had a blast and the animals were very photogenic. 

And no, I did not take so many photos that a year down the road you go to organize and you ask yourself, "did I need that many pictures of one monkey picking his nose?" What you see is about what I took!

This monkey was going crazy! 

 Baby! There were tons of baby monkeys!

 Papa Steve came with us! 

 Gray enjoyed watching his sister more than anything.

 Tapir- from Diego. Nevaeh knew a lot of the animals because they were on Diego.  

 Mama and baby. So precious!

 Ok, if Jason would let me and I had the time, I would love to get a Macaw! They are sweet and beautiful! Look at those colors.

 Hip... Hip-Hop... Hip-hop-anonymous. If you have seen the movie Big Daddy, you know what I'm talking about. And that was such a Jason moment! He always recites movie lines.

 Nevaeh's favorite animal... I think.

 I love this photo. This is Lemur who was just basking in the spotlight... literally. 

Beautiful.

Just have faith

Mark 5:36
NLT "do not be afraid, just have faith."
Nasb "do not be afraid, only believe"
Message "do not listen to them, just trust me."

Mark chapter 5 tells us the the story of a young woman and a synagogue ruler. The young women was unclean for 12 years, she touched just the clothes of Jesus and she was healed. The ruler, on the other hand, just endured his daughter's death and Jesus says to him, "do not be afraid, just have faith." People were telling this man not to bother Jesus! Jesus then goes onto the house and brings the daughter back.

In this chapter, both the unclean woman and the synagogue ruler, seemed to have everything against them. The crowds, the impossible situations, the unbelief from others, their fear, but these two chose to keep their eyes on Jesus! 

Jesus reaches out to everyone. He saves all who look to Him. NO ONE will be turned away from the one who saves.

So who am I, to keep Jesus in a box and tell myself and others not to "present their requests to God" (phil 4:6) no matter how big or small? No matter how impossible they seem?

Where are my eyes, where are our eyes?
On Jesus, or the crowd holding us back?
On Jesus, or the impossible situation?
On Jesus, or our fear?

Do I unintentionally hold people back from reaching to Jesus?

The woman and the ruler had crowds, impossible situations, and fear but their FAITH surpassed it all. 

It doesn't matter how many ways it's translated, Jesus is saying the same thing to us...

Do not be afraid, just have faith.

mmm, mmm, good

Food!

I always say I work out so I can eat! :)

I like food. It's that simple.

I am not a glutton, well sometimes, but cooking and baking have always come naturally to me. I can whip together a meal with random things and it tastes good. It's in no way like the show "Chopped" on the Food Network, but the meal is not too bad.

So here are a few of the recipes I have tried and they are wonderful! There is NO recipe that will make it the way I found it, I will always do it my way.

Crock Pot Ribs w/sweet potato fries & fresh steamed broccoli. 

I don't usually buy "special" meat, or meat that is beyond ground beef and chicken. Only because it is expensive, but sometimes, we like to have a not-so-common meal. And this is a great recipe for that. 

1/2 cup paprika 

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup onion

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp pepper

2 1/2 lbs ribs 

1 can of beef stock (my change, the recipe called for beer. Well, I don't buy beer, so I tried this)

1 quart bbq sauce (any you like! and I used about 3/4 quart)

1/2 cup honey

-Combine Paprika, sugar, onion powder, salt and pepper in bowl. Generously season the ribs with this mixture. 

-cook ribs on stove-top, 3 minutes each side.

-place in crock pot and add beef stock. Cover, cook on high for 2 hours. 

-blend bbq and honey, add to the crock pot. Cover, cook on high for 1 1/2 hours. 

SERVE!

Winter Squash Soup

This soup is amazing! I'm not a soup person, but I would eat this soup even in the 110 degree weather. It's the kind of soup you need that extra piece of bread to sop up every ounce of goodness!

6 lbs. of squash, seeded (any winter, I used Butternut) 

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 parsnips, peeled and chopped ( I did not have these, so I added one more carrot. Turned out fine)

1/2 onion, finely chopped 

                (onion tip: keep in fridge, in the humidity control drawer, wrapped in foil and 

it will last almost a month!)

1 bay leaf (i used bay leaf seasoning, about 1 tbs.)

1 branch of sage leaves (i used marjoram instead, 1tbs.)

24 oz. chicken stock

8 oz heavy whipping cream 

1 tbs. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. cumin

salt and pepper

-preheat oven to 400 degrees. Halve squash, de-seed and liberally add salt and pepper to the "meat" of squash. Sprinkle with oil and place "meat" side down on baking sheet. peel and cut carrots and parsnips, add to baking sheet, also sprinkling oil on. Bake for 45 minutes, or until squash in fork tender

-In a large heavy stock pot heat 2 tbs oil until simmering, add onion with salt and pepper. cook 3-5 minutes, stirring so as to keep onion from turing brown. add bay leaf, sage, stock and spices. Bring to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

-If using actual bay leaf and sage branch, remove. Remove flesh from squash (should peel off easily after baking) and add to the pot. Use immersion blender to blend all, or work in batches with a blender. Return soup to pot, add heavy cream and simmer for 10 minutes. If soup is too thick, add milk to achieve consistency you like. 

(soup tip: I like to put mine in the fridge for a couple hours before serving, then reheat, to let the yummy goodnesses blend)

Dessert: Mini Pumpkin Pie Bites

These are so fun and yummy! A great finger food to bring to a potluck or Christmas party! Warning: they do take a good amount of time. And this is a semi-homade recipe. 

 Take a pre-made pie crust and flatten in a little more. I do not have a rolling pin, so that bottle is my sub. 

 Cut out in circles about an inch larger than largest diameter of mini tart holes. Grease pan before adding.

 Score bottom of crust so it doesn't bubble. Take your favorite pumpkin pie filling and add to the crust bowls, about 3/4 full.

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then at 350 for 13 minutes or so. Or until the middle of pie filling cracks. to get out of pan, take a small knife, a paring knife worked best for me and loosen the edges then GENTLY twist the pie out. 

 Make your own whip cream (not semi-home made, but cool whip works nice too). Take heavy whipping cream and start out with hand mixer, then as the cream is getting thicker, start to use fork or whisk. You can tell when its a whipped cream consistency. It will take you 15 minutes or so. Fold in some sugar and refrigerate for a while. Then dollop onto the cute mini pies!!

I had lots of extra mix, so I made my own graham cracker crust and made some more. 

I hope you enjoy these DELICIOUS recipes! Keep checkin' up for new posts every week! 

Kid time

As I promised, a few fun kids crafts. I am all about fun things, that teach too. So, of course these are great for fun educational activities as well! 

Gone Fishin'

This is really easy to make, and you can make it as fancy as you want. I've seen some made of felt, fabric, etc. I  made these of note cards because I knew Nevaeh would just want to play with the fish, and note cards are easier to reproduce. Also, this takes a lot less time to make. 

What you need:

 Front of the fish, this is what the child sees while fishing.

 Back of fish, I added some bible verses she memorized in there to mix it up.

going fishing! 

Then you see what fish they caught! 

 Tape Letters

Tape letters are just a great way for kids to see and look at the shape and lines of a letter. You take scotch tape, or any tape that is easy to peel away, and have them help you make the shape of the letters. Then let them scribble away! The peeling of the tape after scribbling might be just for you adults because it can still rip easily. 

 "N" for Nevaeh!

Turkey tubes

I know, its a little early for these fun crafts. But I saw it on Pinterest and I couldn't resist. Just trace the litttle one's hands in different colors, glue them to the tube and make a face. So easy and a great way for kids to learn about glue and their hands. Also, great spacial activity since it's creating a layered tail! 

The pictures are small because they are from my phone. 

Leaves!

What is more fun in the fall then FREE LEAVES! Rake, make a pile and Enjoy!

Nana with the kiddo's at a football game. Sports has become and will grow to be a family thing since Jason coaches 3/4's of the year. So we have fun and go to as many of the games as we can! I am going to try and make some portable activities and I will share!