Click on the link above to see if Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is playing at a theater near you!
Let’s be heard in that there IS evidence of an Intelligent Designer and that there is evidence AGAINST evolution!
The Sunday after the ballet performance, I had the privilege of helping give a shower for three friends. We decided to give them all a shower at one time, because they were all due within a month of each other, they’re all in our Sunday School class, and they were all having girls! My friend, Annette, and I strived to make it very unique and special for each of them. It was a drop-in shower, so we only had light refreshments.
Instead of paying an arm and leg for three baby shower cakes, we decided to do these cupcake towers. One for each mommy! We decorated the cupcakes with the first initial of each baby’s name and then did the toppers (see below).
Needless to say, Annette and I were covered in cupcake icing and colors all day Saturday and Sunday.
Annette made this beautiful baby buggy fruit bowl! Lest you think we’re talented…I think it helped that we both shared brain cells on this one and did a lot of brain storming. We used the pink/brown motif which is “in” but which I think is really pretty. I pray that the expectant moms enjoyed all the aspects of the shower and felt their babies were welcomed in to this world as a blessing by us and their friends and family who came.
I’ll post what I made for each of them on my other website! I so enjoy doing the burp cloths and nursing covers and the moms seemed excited about receiving them and using them.
Well we were supposed to get our grain a couple of weeks ago, but I chose to dispose of my inner contents and didn’t want to infect anyone with the same epidemic…so, we ordered our grain (just a small amount…shipping can be killer) and are waiting on it to come in. My sister-in-law recommended these tin pans instead of using the aluminum ones (the ones you find in a store) since they don’t go well with fresh flour AND have been linked to Alzheimer’s. In the picture below, we have the mill, kitchen scale (purchased at Wal-Mart, so I don’t have a link for it), and a cookbook from Bread for Life plus my shiny tinplates loaf pans. They’re shiny because I haven’t actually done any of my messy cooking.
I’ve tried one recipe from the cookbook using store brought whole wheat flour and I think it turned out good. We haven’t actually got to try it.
I decided to make Hot Cross Buns for breakfast this weekend. While this has nothing really to do with my bread making other than I go a little more practice with yeast, here are the results! These buns are adapted into a Christian tradition and are typically served (mostly in the UK) on Good Friday. I didn’t realize it would take overnight, however, so we didn’t have them until Saturday morning. I, personally, didn’t think they turned out right because they tasted like rubber but the kids and Mark seemed to like them. At least they look pretty.
Side note: I understand that most people won’t be interested…but I figured my sister-in-law would like to see it all…so this one’s for you Betsy!!
I started reading a book by Rex Russell called What the Bible Says about Healthy Living. I highly recommend it. With all that my dad has been through and considering that there is a history of Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and heart problems on both sides of my family, I’ve been convicted about living a healthier lifestyle (no more midnight runs to raid the kitchen kind of change).
I have to say that Mark is a big supporter of my plans. I’m not talking about dieting or cutting out something. Just changing our eating habits. We’ll see how it goes.
Rex Russell’s book is good and built around three principles that I can’t remember at the moment but are based on the Levitical laws…not by means of salvation (that only comes through Jesus) but really based on his examination of why God set forth the food laws to begin with. He really breaks it down in the book to discuss what God said not to eat and using scientific facts to break down the whys. As well as what God told the Jewish people to eat and why that is good for you.
So, that being said, we are on a quest to start a new adventure within this one…and that involves making our own flour. You’ll have to read the book to find out where we got the idea for it. But, my sister-in-law already makes her own flour so she’s been a big help. Besides the health benefits, the costs should come out better for us too. We can buy whole grain wheat for about .50 a pound as opposed to flour in the store (I’ve always bought unbleached…who wants to eat bleach…yuk) for more. I’ll have to post more on our adventure once we get started!
We’ve been looking into buying a 1/2 a cow of beef since last year. We’ve heard from several people that grain fed beef tastes way better and it’s also better for you. However, we just haven’t had the space to freeze it. We should be getting an upright freezer soon and then we’ll be able to buy the cow…when it becomes available.
I’ll post more on our healthy makeover as it develops! Wish us luck. For now, we’re eating more fruits and working on eating more veggies (without having to force Ace to eat them).
I haven’t posted in a couple of days because there wasn’t much to post on. Our normal busyness and no one has been sick…at least I thought.
Mark got home and asked me if Ace felt warm to me. I checked him and he was running a temp. He also had a little bit of yummy potty stuff (okay diarrhea…not sure how etiquette goes in posting bodily functions but let’s just lay it all out there) this afternoon.
No MOPS, no church tonight. It’s going to be quiet around here as we all go through this bug (I really would like to believe it’s not a stomach bug but I have my doubts).
Besides that, Zoe and Ace had their ballet Christmas party yesterday and that was a lot of fun. Mark stayed home in the morning to watch them. That’ll be our last parents day in ballet until their last class…in January we start getting ready for The Roar of Love.
I finally broke down and got these baby cubes for Josiah’s baby food. I make all of his baby food and we travel a lot so I thought they would come in handy. They came in today (and I ordered them on Saturday…pretty good shipping I think). My initial review is that they are great. They tip over easy with very little or no food in them but they are nice and compact to carry out somewhere. I’ll cook some green beans tonight and see how they hold up in the freezer. Josiah doesn’t like them because they only hold 2 ounces and he just wants more and more and more. He eats until it’s pouring out of him…really. He does the same with nursing at times! Gotta love mushed up bananas. So far he’s had sweet potatoes, applesauce, bananas, and oatmeal. No objections from our little one on all fronts. I’m sure the beans will be a taste change but throw in a little sweet potato or fruit and he’ll be good to go.
That’s all for now I guess.
My carpets are cleeeeaaaannnn! What a great hubby I have. The kids were pretty good. Now I’m all yelling at them to stay off the carpet with their shoes…that’ll last about five seconds 🙂
Oh well, it’ll be nice to allow Josiah to roll around all over a clean floor.
Apparently, nobody sent the memo about the time change to Liam and Ace and they were officially up at 6:30 a.m. And when they got up, they woke up Josiah. Zoe slept in until almost 7:30.
After getting up, I attempted to get in the shower, but Liam’s diaper leaked during the night, so I had to change him. Then when I picked up Josiah, he pooped, so I had to change him. With everyone ready for the day, I ran to take a shower.
After the shower, Josiah started getting fussy, so I attempted to put him down and kept trying for about two hours. He wouldn’t go to sleep. Every time I tried to put him down, he woke up. Or if I tried to put him down awake, he wouldn’t go to sleep. On top of that clingy Liam was following me around all morning wanting me to hold him.
After about an hour and half, I decided we would head to the gym. I got everyone ready and as I closed the locked door behind me, I looked in my hands and all I had were my van keys. Ugghh. I locked myself out of the house.
Wait, it gets better…we make it to the gym and clingy Liam (who has been here since last week) starts screaming bloody murder for me not to leave. I eventually get him pried off of me and headed to sweet relief and burning calories time.
After we exercised, I made it to Target to get a birthday present and try to find something to replace our mobile dvd screen without actually having to buy a new system (we have a dual screen and one of the screens went out a couple of weekends ago…we only use it on long trips). We got the present and Josiah was hungry, so I tried to feed him while I checked out, but then I realized I didn’t have my wallet, that I had left it in the car.
So, I headed to the car amidst myriads of why we didn’t get the present. Then we headed back in, paid for the present while getting Josiah situated to nurse and then got a slushy to drink while I sat down and fed Josiah.
Now, back to being locked out of the house. I called one of my friends who had a key and by luck, she was heading out our way today. So, as I was leaving Target she called to say she was at a local restaurant. Great, I thought, I’ll get to hang out with her while the kids play after we eat. I’ll get my key and be home in a jiff after that.
However, Josiah did his duty right after he finished eating and when I laid him down in the car to change him, it was up his back and all over his clothes. I have three kids yelling and/or screaming in their car seats and I stripped Josiah naked. I picked him up to wipe off his bottom and he promptly spit up all over me and himself. I decided then that we would not be going anywhere to eat…it was drive thru city for us. I got Josiah strapped in his seat when Ace announces that he needs to go potty. Out comes our handy dandy training potty (always kept for emergencies) and down he went on it.
I was glad to be back home after that little adventure. I think Liam is so cranky because he’s getting his two year molars in. I’m ready for our happy lovey Liam to come back though.
Now, it’s off to one of Zoe’s friends to celebrate her birthday since we won’t be here to attend the party.
Last night and more so today, I’ve noticed a very unpleasant odor coming from our kitchen. Not sure what it is, my sniffer and I went on a hunt. It kind of smelled like cat spray but both of our cats are fixed and don’t have a history of spraying (one’s a girl), so I wasn’t sure what it was. Plus, we couldn’t see any cat spray anywhere. Mark went on a search tonight. Under the dishwasher, removing the board to look under cabinets. Washing placemats, rugs, anything and everything we could find. It didn’t help.
Then, Mark decided to sniff a pumpkin…that was it. One of the kids had brought home a pumpkin from the corn maze and apparently, it had gotten a hole or was rotting away and left a pleasant odor behind. Ewww! I really was worried that something had crawled under my cabinets and died…thank goodness it was just the pumpakin.
Car: is back and running good. We are thanking God for a speedy fix and for the cost not being very much. We got it back yesterday evening.
Zoe: I will meet with her speech teacher on Monday to dismiss her! She’s still working on the ‘th’ sound, but that is a later developing sound anyway.
Liam: Paci removal has not been fun and prayers in that arena are much appreciated. Tuesday he was up and fussing at 4 a.m. He’s also got a cold on top of that.
Josiah: Doing good…still working on that sleep and he’ll be thrown off tomorrow with MOPS.
Ace: is still goofy. My sweet guy wanted some cuddles today but he kept petting me. I’m not a touchy person so I got a little aggravated and had to tell him I’m not his pet a couple of times.
And the bee behavior chart. Sometimes we’re doing good…and other days not so good. Today was a not so good day and they both had only 2 bees left at the end of the day.
It looks like the end cap, which is plastic, is busted. The part should be here on Tuesday. Mark’s going to arrange to drop the car off on Monday and then we will, prayerfully, have it back by Wednesday afternoon. No fun, but we are blessed that it’s not much worse.