My Mom's Birthday

Sunday was my mom's birthday...

I just have to share this with you. Yes, I am a dork, and realized 1/2 way through that the video doesn't respond well to the camera turned sideways...

Our family has a long lasting traditon of singing "happy birthday" loudly... we used to call it, Fiec**er style, as this is how my mom's family always sang it! We decided that this had to be one of the loudest ever! Oh, and see how all the kids are gathering around for a picture! All that is missing are my book-ends... James was not here, and Kiahna was standing by me refusing to join them...

It was loud!

My mom is amazing! She is full time grandma! Always available to help us out... many times taken for granted...

SO TODAY THIS POST IS FOR YOU MOM!! We love you!! We can't imagine life without you! We are so blessed to have you!! Your impact on our lives does not go unnoticed... just thought you should know... becuase I am sure, living through raising my own kids now, and knowing how kids are, there were many times you wondered... it is worth it!

Thanks mom!

Pam

Not ME, Monday

Do you enjoy reading “Not me, Monday” posts?  If you do, you can read more by clicking this link to MckMamma's Blog.  MckMamma, by the way will be delivering her 4th child, Stellan, this week.  His health concerns have been cause for much prayer around the world… stay tuned for that one.

Well, since I didn’t play “Not me! Monday” last week, I suppose I won’t start this week either…  I mean really, with all the things there are to do these days, who has time to blog, NOT ME!!  (okay, perhaps that statement is a tad too true!)  LOL!!

I have never paid $16.50 to the public library for a book that my child has ripped because she loved it so much.  I do not now own a pig book about the short vowel “i”.

My child is not completely obsessed with PIGS, Nope, not mine…  And this same child does not now own 3 piggy books… included the one I DIDN’T buy from the library, and I didn’t buy her another one last night for Christmas.

I have never run out of steam by the end of the day and not brushed my children’s teeth.  And I have never went to the dentist with my kids and found that they have seven cavities.  My mom always taught me the importance of brushing and flossing my teeth, so not a night goes by without that getting done!  Nope, NOT ME!

I’ve never made a list on the back of one of my kids school papers and then throw it away later in the day, you know because I have this wonderful planner for my lists, so why would I ever write a list somewhere like that.

I didn’t leave my planner (AKA: brain) in my van all day while my van was being serviced and then have no idea what to make for dinner… I didn’t hope I wasn’t missing out on picking up one of my children, or some unknown appointments… Nope, not me.  I am way more with it than that.

My children would never sneak candy in the back seat of the van while I am driving.  I put all candy away as soon as it is received, because I am trying to monitor their sugar and food coloring intake, not to mention those cavities that they DON’T have.  So of course there is no way they would splurge on candy all the way to preschool while I was oblivious… Nope NOT ME!

I have never called my child’s bluff on the bathroom thing and told them that they would just have to pee in their car seat… and had them do it.  Nope Not me!  Not my kid!   Oh, and that didn’t happen in Grandpa and Grandma’s van.  Absolutely not!

Yesterday at breakfast, when I told Jadon that it was Benjamin and Grandma’s birthdays, and I told him that now Benjamin was 5 like him, he DIDN’T ask me how old Grandma was, and then after I told him he didn’t add… “Just like you?” 

I’m still not hoping that someone new will be visiting my blog today from MckMamma's Blog, and I really hope that they don’t decide to check out my blog carnival, called YOUR gonna miss this...moment and decide to play along with us.  No, I don’t want you to do that!

I surely do not have the best Muffin Recipe, called Pumpkin and Spice and Everything Nice Muffins posted on my menu this week.

I absolutely don’t have the slowest computer ever, and it didn’t take me all week to edit 40 pictures on my computer.

I didn’t work on laundry all day Saturday, only to have it not even look like I did.  It certainly doesn't look overwhelming to me, ever.  Nope, Not me.

I definitely didn’t go over to help my sister with her house, and realize that even though she is planning her wedding, working full time, parenting 4 kids, and remodeling a house… her house was not more under control then mine.  Nope, NOT ME!

And finally, I definitely never feel out of control with my children.  I never feel like they don’t listen to a thing I say, and I most certainly never wonder if any of this is worth it, or if I will even survive!

NOPE!!  NOT ME!!!

Pam

Menu Plan Monday #8

Here we are again… another week, and time to plan meals and get groceries…  Things didn’t go exactly as I had planned out last week, so we will be having a couple of the meals that I had planned from last week, this week…  I also am going to post a WONDERFUL muffin recipe that I have made twice in the past week!!  I am not normally into recipes that take this many ingredients, or take more time than open the box, pour in the milk and egg, or this much time, but these are worth the time!! 

Monday:  Farm House BBQ Muffins, fries, salad

Tuesday:  Shepherds Pie, Rolls

Wednesday:  So You Forgot to Defrost, Rice, Peas, Muffins

Thursday:  Boys will eat chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, carrot sticks… girls and I will go to my sister’s first wedding shower for dinner!!

Friday:  Most of my kids will be going to different fall parties, James will have a game (I am not going to say last, but let’s just say it didn’t go well last time we played this team)… so it will just be me… what will I do for dinner!?! 

Saturday:  Vegetable Soup, grilled cheese

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I found this recipe in the current (Oct/Nov 2008) edition of Taste of Home Magazine.  I was reading it in the doctor’s office, and thought it really sounded good.   The article says it is from a cookbook called Eat, Shrink, and be Merry… how awesome is that title!!

Pumpkin and Spice and Everything Nice Muffins

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat bran (I found this at Kroger, in the healthy food isle)

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon plus 1/4 tsp each ground ginger and nutmeg)

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup canned pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup plain, low-fat yogurt (2%)

1/2 cup pure maple syrup or honey  (maple syrup is really expensive!)

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup finely grated carrots

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray (I used muffin papers, but they kind of stick to the papers). 

In a medium bowl, combine flour, wheat bran, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, yogurt, maple syrup, butter, egg and vanilla.  Stir in carrots.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir using a wooden spoon just until moistened.  Fold in chocolate chips (and walnuts, if using)  Batter will be thick. 

Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups (I got 14-16 out of them)  Bake on middle rack for 20-22 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack. 

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17 year old reaction… “why in the world would you put CARROTS in these?”

ME:  to keep you out of them… (Remember the Cappuccino muffins Leah made?)

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TIP:  These got moldy for me sitting in a Tupperware on the counter in a few days.  I put the left-overs in the freezer this time. 

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At dinner on Friday, when I was feeding my kids, plus three of Zach’s friends, Zach said to me, “You are really cooking real meals again”. 

I smiled, and said, “Thanks for noticing.”

Pam

Click here to play along with Monday Menu Planning

YOUR Gonna Miss This…Moment… Week 8

 So, it’s been another long week around our house… too busy… too many things I am trying to get done, and not accomplishing very well.  I’ve been wondering what I was going to write about in this post this week. 

I’ve been working on the pictures I have been working on for my sister’s wedding.  My computer is incredibly slow.  I need to get some of the pictures off the computer in hopes that it helps it speeds up a little bit. 

As I was copying pictures this afternoon, I ran across some goodies… some from my pre-blogging days!  I just have to share these!

Everyone should have a child like Jadon.  This is the type of child who does things that the family will talk about forever… when this child is around, there is never a dull moment.   Many times that can be a good thing, and sometimes, not so much.

So here is a little trip through the family album (yes, I have an album with these in it… and yes I will one day show his girlfriends, wife, and yes, even his children…  hee…hee…hee…)

One day I walked into my bathroom to find this spoon stuck in a candle…

This is from one day when he made chocolate milk for him and Kiahna… (look at the bowl)

Displaying his handiwork in emptying the linen closet…

He broke these cd’s one day…

Cuts in the toilet paper…

I found this pretzel in a candle last Christmas…

And it broke off in the cooled wax…

Adding a little water to his ice cream… ummmm….

This is a tooth flosser, for kids with braces… and that is chap stick stuck on the end of it…

Look how amazing that looks all squeezed out like that… uh-huh… too bad the price tag on that stuff isn’t in the picture…

Of course, then there is the marker, or crayon, written in all sorts of interesting places… this was a counter top…

These are the Christmas gifts he unwrapped and hid behind the chair last year…

That “was” my blush…

Train Track on the Christmas Tree…

It’s lotion… wouldn’t you like to have some for lunch??

And of course… there is this… those precious times he is being so good…

Wasn’t that fun!?!  I labled each of the pictures, “blessings” in my album, and I strive to seem them as that. 

I have to say, things are much better now with Jadon than they were then. 

Most days. 

I admit that I don’t yet miss this… (the messes that is, not that sleeping baby boy!!)  I wonder if I will miss those days… days of being so overwhelmed with his creative behavior that I had to take pictures so people would believe me!!  

This is when I started reading blogs!  They helped me feel more normal! 

Now days, he is teaching himself to read.  Smart as a little whip.  Still challenging for me at home, and still dealing with a lot of hurt in his young life.  Prayer for him to continue to heal…

Pam

For directions on how to play along with this carnival click this link.

I hope that many of you take the time this week to join me in sharing and thinking about the things you will miss, or do miss…  Even if you are like me, and sometimes can’t imagine missing things… it always does me good to try to think of these things!

Happy YOUR Gonna Miss This Moment DAY!!

It’s Finally Friday

…and kids everywhere are out of school for “fall break”… but, it’s raining… it’s cold… and James has a football game tonight…

So for fun this morning we went out to breakfast and went to Wal-Mart shopping.  I am sure glad that it is “fall break” because those things are always so much more fun when you can drag many children with you!!

Do you ever bite off more than you can chew??

Kiahna did this week…

She had so many skittles in her mouth, a few went flying when she laughed with them in…

I feel like a few of the things I have been trying to chew this week have went flying!!  Mostly not because I was laughing! 

I feel like my “to-do” list is never done.

I have too many things I want to do.

Too many things I need to do.

I made a list… then I accidently threw it away…

I started managing my children better this week though…

Scenerio #1:

Me:  Would you please fold this laundry while I am gone?

Child #2*:  Yes.

Me:  Thanks, bye.

(three hours and two counseling sessions later, I return)

Child #2:  Can you take me to youth and my friend’s church tonight.

Me;  Sure.

Take Child #2 to youth.

I return to find 1 of the 3 laundry baskets folded.

Child #2, calls to be picked up.

As we travel home,

Me:  You didn’t finish folding that laundry for me.

Child #2:  Yes I did! 

Me:  No, there were 2 more baskets sitting there.

Child #2:  Oh, I didn’t know you wanted me to fold ALL of them… you didn’t say that.

Me:  Who do you think will fold them if you don’t?

Child #2:  You.

Me:  Yeah… (trying not to cry or pull out more of my fine, thin hair!)

…Silence…

Child #2:  Can I have Dalton and Issac over tomorrow?

Me:  Grrrrrrrr….

Me:  Do you see anything odd about this conversation??  (biting tongue, clenching steering wheel)  I am in the midst of driving you back home from somewhere YOU wanted to go… YOU didn’t do what I asked you to do at home… and NOW YOU are asking ME for yet another privilege?!

Child #2:  Yeah… I’ll fold it when I get home…

Me:  Grrrrrr….

Child #2:  So can they come?

Me:  Let’s see how the folding goes.

Child #2:  I’m gonna do it… you didn’t tell me you wanted them all done.

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Scenario #2

Child #3*:  Do I have to go to the ball game?

Me:  No, you can stay home with Kiahna, and I will pay you to clean the house.

Child #3:  Okay.

(three hours and one football game later)

I walk into the house.  Mentally prepared for things to look less than my standard.

Me:  did you clean?

Child #3:  Yeah, I picked up the living room.

Me:  Picking up and pushing things to the sides doesn’t count as cleaning.

Child #3:  Oh, I didn’t know you meant THAT kind of cleaning?

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Apparently we have a communication problem in this family…  Apparently in all the years we have lived together my voice has begun to sound like the parents on the Peanuts movies…

Me:  whooo…waaaa…woooo…whallll….woooooo….

Them:  uh, huh, sure…

Me:  whaaa….wooooo….whallll….

Them:  uh, huh, yeah… i heard you…

Me:  wahhhhh….WHHHHAAAAA…..WOOOOOOO…..WHALLLLLLLL….

Them:  Oh, did you say something?? 

I love fall break…

Pam

*The names in this story were changed to protect the not so innocent.  These stories were based on real-life events that happenend in my house this week.

Update: LET THE PRAISE CONTINUE!

UPDATE:  From an e-mail I just received on Jeremy Rin**er.  See this post for missed details on this prayer request. 

The scope procedure revealed the bleeding was from a vein, not an artery (a venous bleed?).  It should heal itself and no additional surgery is required. 

The doctor said this is the absolute best case scenario.  Lord willing, he could go home in three days.

They will continue to watch Jeremy closely.  The blood that is present should dissipate in time (like a bruise).  The doctors are not overly concerned with this issue.

He’s still in pain but it is not as great as it was.

As you might know the family is elated and realizes they’ve been given a miracle which was a result of direct prayer.

Thanks for your faithfulness and continue to pray as they see this thing through.

What we can do…

As I sit to type this morning, my heart is heavy with the burden of hurts that many around me are facing… and with my own endlessly overwhelming hurts…

When I went to bed last night I was feeling so fried.  Like all of my resources were so spent, so gone, so weary. 

This morning, I opened my e-mail program to find it flooded with urgent prayer requests for a young husband, father, son, who was taken to the hospital last evening with a brain aneurism.

His name is Jeremy Rin**er.  His wife’s name is Sarah.  They have one little girl who is the two-year-old range.  This is the latest e-mail I received…

Jeremy is in extremely serious condition.  The "leak" he's had is at the base of his brain and is not typically repaired by surgery.  It is generally repaired similar to installing a stint via the artery.  They need to do many tests to determine how significant the leakage has been and how stable the artery is where the leak occurred. Any type of invasive surgery could burst the aneurysm so they are being very cautious.  He was still in and out of consciousness at 11:30pm but had lots of head pain and nausea.  If the leak continues, the brain pressure goes up and things can start shutting down, thus the potential need for a vent.

The doctor said that even if and when they can get the leak stopped, the complications from the leaked blood will create a long recovery and the recovery will be problematic.  Long road ahead.

Kendall, Sandy (his parents) and Sarah are all feeling the prayers already.  I think there were probably 30 people there when I left at 11:30.  Lots of support already and certainly the need for many, many prayers.

I know for a fact that Sarah has been a prayer Warrior for me and my family.  I ask you to pray for them today.

Then there is another single mom who is going to have surgery today to test for some cancer.

And yet another one, a sister of a friend, who is in so much pain from her marriage falling to bits at her feet…

There is my neighbor’s sister who just got her biopsy back… her cancer has returned.

… and three years after my life explosion… I still spend the day dealing with the pain of it all… the reality of the circumstances… the depths of the hurts… sometimes finding them to be deeper that my mind can even fathom.

So what are we to do?

As another friend said recently… this is life.   On her blog yesterday she told of finding out yesterday that a neighbor and a friend (two different people) have had their cancer return.

Life is full of pain.  Disappointment.  Frustration.  Fear.  Anger.  Betrayal. 

I have found that this life is also a choice.  What will we do with this pain?  What will we do with the disappointment, anger, frustration, betrayal, fears?

I’ve never found an answer outside of this one thing…

This one thing that lets me sleep at night…

Lets me have calm in the midst of hurricanes…

Did you know that the highest from of praise that there is possible here on earth is called, lamentation.

Job said… “Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him.”  (Job 13:15)

Habakkuk said…”Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines;  Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no fruit;  Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,  And there be no herd in the stalls--  Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

Graham Cooke, in his book called drawing close, says it like this,

“Lamentation is when we step into the very thing that is bothering us and worship God anyway.  It is stepping into our pain, stepping into the reality of what life is like for us.  ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him,’ Job said (Job 13:15).  Here I am, Lord, a lamenting worshiper says.  Things are bad, but You are glorious, and I worship You.

Things can be grim, but God is the same.  He is as worthy of worship on our worst day as He is on our best.  Lamentation worship is about two words:  though and yet.  Though the tress are not blossoming and the fields are not producing, yet I will rejoice in You.  Lamentation is a cold-blooded act of will—pushing our emotions aside and choosing to worship.  God, knowing the trust it takes to lament, has an indescribably and indefinable way of coming and being with us when we worship in our most painful moments.  It is the most sincere form of adoration that exists, and God loves it and inhabits it.”

Though Jeremy is lying in a hospital bed with an unknown future…  I will praise You.

Though Abby, and way too many others, are facing and fighting cancer… I will praise You.

Though people betray people… and the pain doesn’t ever seem to have an end… I will praise You.

Though everything about me spins out of control… and things don’t seem to change on the outside… on the inside, I can praise You… and I can have peace.

Do you believe me? 

Try it for yourself.

Pam

Wordless Wednesday

 

Pam

To see more Wordless Wednesday blogs, or to play along click here.

A peek into what I’ve been obsessed with lately…

My love of taking pictures just keeps growing!  I was a little bit surprised and a little bit excited for my sister to ask me to take some pictures for her wedding reception! 

On Sunday we went to the State Park and I took 360 pictures of them!

Since then, I have been cropping, sorting, editing, and playing with their pictures!

The wedding is going to be in the browns, so she wants the pictures to be in Sepia… but the color at the park was so amazing!!  She plans to put pictures on the tables at the reception.

Hope she doesn’t mind if I give you a taste!

The wedding is the end of November.

My dress came, and after a small panic, it does look very nice!!

Pam

Tackle it Tuesday…CLR

I while back, 5 Minutes for mom, announced that there would be a special Tackle it Tuesday for this date.  If you sent them an e-mail you could receive a free bottle of the cleaning product CLR Bath and Kitchen Cleaner.  Then you would use it in your Tackle it Tuesday post, and enter then to win another prize, which is $100!!  So, hey!  I’m all for free and prizes!!  So, here we go!!

We were all puzzled at the UPS truck showing up one day last week… and the mysterious package ends up being a brand-new bottle of CLR Bath and Kitchen Cleaner!  WHOOHOO!!  (talk about a let down!)

I normally use a harsh, abrasive, powder cleaner to scrub my sinks and tubs.  One of the things that I don’t care for in that is that it is really hard to get all the residue off.  I don’t like giving my kids baths in what could very well contain cleaning supply, but, I do.

So, it was nice to think that when I use this product on the tub I won’t have that. 

I used it on the kitchen sink one day, and didn’t take pictures.  I really thought it did a nice job.  Any better than a powder?  Not really, but it did rinse off better and I didn’t have to keep going back and rerinsing.   I also liked the smell of it.  It wasn’t overwhelming like many other cleaning supplies.

The whole family kicked in and worked on the house on Saturday.  Leah began the bathroom and was thrilled to get to take before and after pictures of the tub.  I just wasn’t clear to her that the pictures couldn’t be blurry… so I don’t have many before shots…

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I was happy with the results.  I did re-do it after Leah.  I am not sure she left it set the few minutes the bottles says you should.  The scum came of quite easily with a scratchy sponge.

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As for other Tackle it Tuesday events around the house.  My van was acting up, so we spent the morning in town.  First, Kiahna & I went out to breakfast with a friend who picked us up from the mechanic.  Then the mechanic called to say that it wouldn’t be done for awhile.  So then I called my dad who was on his way into eat breakfast out, and he picked us up from one restaurant and took us to another… then took us to pick up Jadon… then back home.

I didn’t eat at both places!!  I didn’t even have coffee at both places!

So, I’ve made dinner.

I left my planner in the van and had to go to my own blog to remind myself what to make for dinner!!  (that would be a good one for NOT ME MONDAY!!)

I’ve folded a little laundry.

It’s getting close to the kids coming home.

I have been working on something for my sister, for her wedding.  I’ll do a separate post for that!

I don’t feel like I did much today.

Oh well!

Pam