Christmas Cookies

Christmas music is playing. It's snowing outside. The kids are making gingerbread men (and women) and Christmas cut out cookies. 

Mmm, I LOVE this time of year!

Vacation

We had the most spectacular time in Captiva, Florida! We flew out from Minneapolis at six in the morning. We had a layover in Atlanta, Ga and then on to our destination.

We picked up our rental car and headed west to Captiva. We stopped and bought groceries off the island because we were advised that it would be much cheaper. Loaded up the mini van (yes we actually drove a mini van) and proceeded to our destination.

We check in and then drove to our house. Our house had three different levels. We opened the door and the kids ran every which a way. It was so fun to check out the super spacious house. The kids were claiming their bedrooms as they discovered them.

The week was filled with lots of beach time, swimming and sunshine, some shelling on an uninhabited island, good eats and seafood. It was a relaxed time and just what we all needed.

We reluctantly boarded the plane for home. The week went entirely too quick.

I have a funny story to tell. They left us a 6 seater golf cart to get around the island on. It was so fun tooling around on that thing. Anyway, the first day we all piled into the cart and drove it to the little general store to get a few things we forgot.  I ran into the store and came back out to the parking lot. There was an almost constant beeping noise. I got to the cart and Dan was looking quite embarrassed because the beeping was coming from our golf cart. I got back in and we decided to head back to the house as fast as we could go. We avoided eye contact with others because whatever Dan did, the beeping wouldn't stop.

We parked the golf cart in the garage and turned off the key. Dan looked at it and tried to find the source of the problem. A bit later, Dan laughingly told me that the horn button was on the floorboard and without knowing it, his foot had been on the horn the whole time! We had a good laugh over that.

We are so thankful to the Dream Foundation for this wonderful vacation. It was just amazing how God put it all together and at just the right time.

Captiva Florida here we come!

We have all had a great day around here! Let me tell you what went on.

I'll start by telling you what happened about five months ago. I went in for treatment and one of my nurses brought me some paperwork to fill out for a dream vacation. She said I should fill it out and see what happened. 

I read through the papers and was shocked when I found out that it was a program similar to Make a Wish Foundation for kids and was for terminal adults. 

I asked Holly, my nurse about this and she encouraged me to fill the papers out and disregard some of the terminology.

I filled everything out and sent it in. My doctor filled out forms as well. He later told me that when he was asked about my life expectancy he wrote down,"I really don't know how long she'll live. Most everyone else would be dead by now."

I waited and waited, coming to the conclusion that I didn't qualify for the vacation. 

A box of games from Hasbro arrived at the house one afternoon for the children compliments of Dream Foundation - the foundation I applied to for a vacation.

The box was decorated colorfully. The kids were excitedly opening the games. I watched them and thought that this was the "consolation" prize for not getting the vacation. 

The next day I received a phone call from Dream Foundation telling me that I had been chosen to pick a dream vacation as long as it was within the continental US. 

I couldn't believe it! I was so sure that I had been disqualified. 

Fast forward to today. The whole family went over to my doctor's office to receive our dream vacation. 

We are all being flown to Captiva, Florida where we will spend a week in a beautiful house that includes an elevator, swimming pool and hot tub, and six bedrooms just minutes from the beach. 

All I can say is "Yay God". He knew how much we need this time for our family. 

I'll let you know how the trip went when I get back. 

Hi ya'll

I have been horrible about updating my blog this summer. I'm sure the few readers I had got tired of seeing the same page pop up all the time.

Lil update. I'm doing well. I now have spinal treatments every five weeks. My treatment usually goes smooth and I loose about a day to it. I can remember loosing weeks to treatments so this is good. I don't think I'll ever hear the words, "you are in remission" or "you are healed" from my doctor. That's ok. God has healed me and I'm good with that. 

I started school today with the three. Dan is checking up with Shelby but she's mostly doing school by herself as a tenth grader. 

My son, Levi, did something funny today. He put on a mask and thought it would be fun to go into our local bank dressed that way. LOL. I had to tell him that was not a very good idea and then I explained why. 

He decided he would read on the back porch with his mask on. 

Kids!?!!!

Chillin' at the lake...

We took the boat to the water this evening. Five kids, snacks, something cool to drink, squeals of laughter, and sunshine. Mmm, a recipe for relaxation! 

Tractor

I was going to a doctor appointment today when I rounded the corner and saw this...

The pic doesn't show the restaurant/bar but I personally have never seen a field tractor parked at a bar until right now. He did a pretty good job of parking it I might add. 

He must have been a thirsty fellow! LOL

Our 25th Anniversary

We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on Saturday and renewed our vows.  We had a party and most of our family was able to celebrate with us. 

Our get together was not only to celebrate our anniversary but to praise God for the crazy miracles He's done in our family's life and mine especially. 

The forcast predicted rain but then it was revised and we had a beautiful evening of fun with friends and family. 

School's out for the summer!

We finished up homeschool for the summer. We all were going a bit stir crazy so we finished up the Friday before Memorial Day.

We then celebrated by taking a trip to Gooseberry Falls with a friend and her boys for the day. 

We had a great time! The water was going over the falls so quickly and the water was also quite chilly so we decided to forgo swimming in them. 

We also brought along a picnic, and then ended the day in Duluth. As luck would have it, a ship was just leaving harbor and we were there to see the bridge raise and lower. 

We walked along the boardwalk and took some nice pics. 

We had so much fun we are thinking of doing it next year too. 

Wash your hands

I was going to put up a rub-on on the bathroom wall with the saying "wash your hands". It's the bathroom that the kids use the most and a nice way to remind them to always wash up. 

Rub-ons are expensive and I figured I'd be close to dead before I had $ for that so I improvised. 

I stenciled the words on the wall and got out my paints. I kinda went with the colors in the shower curtain. Besides my neck being a bit stiff from looking up for so long I think it turned out fine. It was mucho cheap too! 

Not perfect but good enough for us. I think I got the idea from Pinterest. 

A Little Ditty

I was busy making an apple dessert the other evening for our care group that met this last Sunday. I was peeling and slicing apples when I noticed a strange sight. All of the apples in the bowl had one bite out of each of them. 

This puzzled me. Then I remembered that Dan went to the store for me and picked up some apples. 

We are kinda picky about the apples we like. They have to be firm and tart when you bite into them. Our favorites are Honey Crisps and Granny Smiths. 

Dan had picked up apples, not noticing that they were not our favorite kind. 

We laughed later and talked about the apples not being so tasty. The kids noticed immediately.

When I went to the store I picked up some more Honey Crisp apples and put them in the bowl with the others. 

So my best guess is that one of the kids, looking for the honey crisp apple, bit into each apple until he/her found the right one.  

I haven't asked the kids yet to see who fesses up. I used the apples anyway, cutting out the bite spots. Hilarious!

April 18, 2014

Gray and rainy this morning. Got up early and fixed sausage, egg and cheese English muffins for the guys. I forgot how yummy these are - just four ingredients - cooked patty sausage, egg done like you like, cheese on a toasted English muffin. Anyway, they were headed to church to help put tongue and groove ceiling on the new addition.

The triplets have an Easter egg hunt at a friends house later this afternoon. Trying to decide if I should run to the store and get them rain boots. Would be nice for today and the puddles in the driveway that they love to play in. But they are growing like weeds (Kylie is tallest for now). They are all getting taller it seems like everyday. Hmmm, decisions. 

We will go to church tomorrow to celebrate our risen savior and then back home for a traditional ham dinner. 

May the peace and joy of Christ be yours today!

Happy Easter!

Easter 2014

Winter, Winter Go Away

I'm going crazy. Funny... I can hear most of you say, "But you already did a long time ago". It's April 2 and I'm SICK of being in my house! I'm tired of and bored with everything. I got up this morning and I had to convince myself to complete the bare minimums for the day. I wanted to lay in bed and watch reruns of something and not be bothered. I guess that is what "cabin fever" is all about.

I want to go barefoot. I want to have the sun, hot and glorious on my face. I want to see flowers bloom and watch the grass grow. I want to be out on the boat and hear the water splashing on the sides. I want to go outside without having to bundle up. I want to wear totally indecent clothing. Scratch that, I'm too old. LOL

I want to be done homeschooling. Only 45 more days of school to complete. I think the kids feel the same way, also. We've had such a cold winter that we have spent many days inside.

I'm guessing we have at least another month of "winter" weather. It just snowed a few inches the other day and it's 36 degrees at this moment. As I look out my back window, I see white everywhere.

I love winter and snow, especially. I think I've hit my quota for this season, though. I'm just itchy for a change and I think changing the seasons would do it.

I know, I know, I know. It will come in it's own sweet time. I can't say anything to speed up the process or slow it down, for that matter. But I can be whiny for a bit and feel better for a few seconds. :) Happy spring to you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Since it be St. Patrick's Day I'll be lettin you know that I have a we bit o Irish in me.

We went to the St. Patrick's Day parade here in our town on Saturday. It was a balmy 25 degrees with a quite chilly wind from the north. No bother, though, because by the St. Paddy's Day parade pretty much everyone will do ANYTHING to get out of the house. Cabin fever has set in.

It was quite fun to see everyone out and about and the kids got all jazzed up on the candy thrown out by the parade floats. We collected lots green necklaces and other various things.

Today, St. Paddy's Day, I am fixing beer bread and an Irish Beef Stew for supper.

Irish Beef Stew

1/4 c olive oil
1 1/4 lb stew beef
6 garlic cloves, minced
6 c beef stock
1 c guinness Beer
1 c red wine
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 Bay leaves
1/4 stick butter
3 lbs potatoes
1 onion, chopped
2 c. carrots, diced

Heat olive oil and brown stew meat about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for a minute. Add beef stock, beer, wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Bring mixture to boil, reduce heat. Cover and simmer around an hour. Stir occasionally.

While simmering the stew, melt the butter and add vegetables and saute until done and golden, about 20 minutes or so. Add veggies to stew and simmer uncovered about 40 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread.

This is a really tasty stew. Something about the beer gives the broth a wonderful taste. I do not like the taste of beer but it's good in here.

The beer bread recipe I use is from the Creme de Colorado cookbook circa 1987.

Quick and Easy Coors Beer Bread
1/3 c butter
3 c self rising flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 12 oz can Coors beer

Melt butter and pour enough into a 9x5 loaf pan to coat the bottom. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and beer. Spoon dough into loaf pan. Pour remaining butter over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until bread is light golden color. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting with a serrated knife.

Serve bread warm with butter and honey. Yum!

I have used regular flour in this because I never have self rising flour in the house. So, if you use regular flour, add 4 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 tsp salt. It turns out great each time!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

Olaf

We got a new dog today. His name was Oliver but the kids want to name him Olaf  (like the snowman in Frozen). We drove to meet Jill, Dan's sister, in St. Cloud to get him. 

He's about Samson's height but a bit trimmer. He's only ten months old and we think he will grow some more. 

He's a Great Pyrenees and Mareema cross. Never heard of the breed Mareema so we googled it. They look very similar to Pyrenees. Both are livestock guardian dogs. Their cousins are Newfoundlands and St. Bernards. 

He has a great, thick, white coat of fur. He seems to be gentle and loving. 

The kids and Dan are outside with him right now getting to know him. 

Still missing Samson but needing another dog in our lives! 

More Snow

It snowed again last night. Looks so pretty! I thought I would show you how much snow we have by showing you neighbors mailboxes. I know that the plow has helped pile up the snow but it's still deep stuff around here.

I'm loving the white!

There is a mailbox under there somewhere! I pinky swear!!

Our back porch

Our firepit and chairs! LOL

Psalms 52, 8-9

Right there in the middle, while I was reading my Bible, sat a pearl, a winking jewel in Psalms just for me. These verses were there for me to discover on that very day by an all-knowing, all-loving God. I LOVE what is said.

Here are the verses I read that day.

But I am like an olive tree

flourishing in the house of God.

I trust in God's unfailing love

for ever and ever.

I will praise you forever for what you have

done;

in your name I will hope, for your name

is good. 

I will praise you in the presence of your

saints.

Psalms 52 8-9

Snow What Snow?

We are having a real Minnesota winter. It's cold and snowy and I love it! Here's a few pics. 

The UPS truck got stuck in our driveway the other night. Came home from running the kids somewhere and here he was. I couldn't get into the house and he couldn't get out! He was a bit frustrated and kept rocking the truck back and forth to no avail. He had gone over to the neighbors to get a snow shovel and that hadn't worked yet either. 

I told him my husband was on the way home from work in his big Ford truck and he had a tow strap. He could get him out. 

Dan came home and hooked the tow strap to his bumper and he was out in a few seconds. The man was a bit agitated but thankful to be his way. I know they have killer schedules. 

Anyway, all ended well. 

Snow on our back deck

My husband and the UPS driver

Back deck again

God's Unfailing Love

I had a PET scan and MRI in November and I had a Dr's appt first part of December to give me the results.

Both of the tests look great! :) My doctor said the only thing they found on the scan was that I have a kidney stone. Wow! Nothing else. Miraculous!

I am getting stronger. I am doing more than I've done in quite awhile. Last week, I joined the gym where Dan works out. I have been working out on the eliptical and I added some weight lifting to the routine.

It feels good to get better. I'm so glad to still be here. Everyday, I thank God for his work in my life.

Life is precious and a sweet, sweet gift.


Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4

Broccoli Cheese Soup

It's -27 degrees here. That's  negative 27 degrees. I know, I know, it's been cold a lot of places. I'm not complaining just sayin'.

I had a burning desire for some hot soup. No pun intended. Shelby had been at a friend's house and had had a similar soup for lunch a few days ago. I tried to call my friend to get the recipe and she didn't answer so I used this recipe off of allrecipes with a few moderations.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 onion
6 Tbsp butter
1/3 c. flour
4 c. milk
3 c. chicken broth
1 carrot
1 c. broccoli
1/2 c. celery
1 lb processed cheese
salt and pepper

Chop onion - I only had 1/2 onion so I used that.
Saute butter and onion in a large sauce pan. Cook the onions until softened. Then, sprinkle flour over the butter and onion mixture making a nice roux.
Add milk - I added 3 c. milk and 1 c. 1/2 and 1/2
Stir and cook until mixture is thickened.
Take chicken broth and put it in small sauce pan.
Add carrot, shredded or dice it like I did.
Broccoli florets - I chopped these up into small pieces
Celery - I didn't have celery so I used 1 Tbsp of celery flakes
Bring the chicken broth, carrot, broccoli and celery to a boil. Cook about 5 minutes or until veggies are tender and then combine the chicken broth mixture with the milk mixture. Blend.
Add cheese -I only had 1/2 lb so I used it. I'm thinking it would be good with Cheddar or Colby Jack cheese also.
Cook soup over medium heat until cheese is melted. Do not boil or cheese will curdle and separate. Salt and pepper to your heart's desire.      

I'm already looking forward to left overs for lunch tomorrow.

We are suppose to have one more day of super, duper cold and then it's above zero for a bit. If it's cold where you are try this soup recipe. It's a good one!