Family Dinner!

   For those of you who have been following the updates on our Christmas present decision to have a family experience instead of gifts; here is the update. Since my brother-in-law is still dealing with the blood clot issue in his leg, we decided to do a family dinner.  We went to a little restaurant that has been around a long time but none of us have eaten there before. 

   We had a very enjoyable evening but since our family is getting bigger we were seated at a long table and it was slightly difficult to converse with everyone.  We had planned on going bowling after dinner but Jeremiah's work schedule changed and we needed to cancel going bowling.  We have decided that we would go bowling another time instead. Yay! I am not sure when we will do that though.

   I will say that the family dinner was much better than doing the family gifts.  We talked and laughed and made memories for ourselves and the kids.  I personally think that these type of evenings are better than having stuff sitting around our house.  I appreciate the creative gifts (honestly) but memories will last a lifetime.  We are all getting older and it is better to spend time together.

   As for the restaurant itself...  It isn't a place that I would recommend going to eat.  It has a casual atmosphere and our family didn't have to worry about noise or anything like that but the food wasn't the best.  I would say that half of the family liked their food and the other half was on the it's only ok side. Madi and my father-in-law ordered the same dish- hot roast beef and fries with gravy-they both said it was lukewarm and didn't taste good. I felt bad for Madi as she has recently started to try eating meat again and received an icky dish.  Boo... I had ordered a chef salad and it was huge and good. Jeremiah and Ryder each ordered a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and fries and they were in the it's ok group. The portion sizes were giant but the taste just wasn't there.  Quality vs. Quantity-  Quality lost.  Those that ordered steaks and ribs said their orders were good.  My mother-in-law ordered some sort of pasta and shrimp dish and she said it was good also.   

 

Giant Nacho Plate!!



   Jeremiah ordered a plate of nachos and it was giant!  We passed the plate around the table several times and it never seemed to get smaller!  HaHa.  Madi snapped this picture of it (the only picture of the evening-my apologies)  You can see how small her thumb looks.  This was taken after the first pass around!  :-)  There was also an order of cheese sticks, jalapeño peppers and an onion blossom going around the table too. I didn't try any of those but was told they were really tasty. 

 

   Overall, the dinner was a huge success (in my mind) even if the food wasn't great.  The company was and that is all that mattered! Take the time to spend with family and friends if you have the chance and make some memories!

 

   Be blessed! 

The Awful Candy Experience!

   My mom, Madi and I went to a little store that makes goat cheese. My mom has been there before and she likes the cheese a lot. Madi and I tasted some of the cheese selections.  I have to say that I am not a fan.  Madi liked one of the cheeses but honestly they just tasted "goaty" to me.  I couldn't find an enjoyable taste to them. 

   Mom and Madi each bought a chocolate candy they were selling.  They were made with dark chocolate and looked so good! Mom got a cherry chocolate  drop and Madi got a vanilla chocolate drop.  When we got to the car mom popped her chocolate in, chewed a bit and got the most horrible look on her face.  She promptly opened her door and spit the chocolate out right there in the parking lot!!!!  She said she either spit it out or something else would happen!  She felt bad about it but it was nasty!  Madi decided to try hers carefully.  She took a small bite of it and got a horrible look on her face.  She didn't want to swallow her bite either.  I took a small bite of hers and it was AWFUL!  Truly awful.  I haven't tasted something so bad in a long time.  My mom thought it couldn't have been as bad as the one she had so she took the remaining third of the chocolate.  It exited her mouth also.  Yuck was the defined word to describe that awful chocolate! 

   We discovered that just because they had fancy names and looked beautiful the insides were horrible and left a bad taste in your mouth.  Life learning experience from some chocolate drops... 

I've Been Under the Weather Lately!

   Hi All!  It has been quite a long time since I updated.  As you can probably guess from the title, I have not been feeling well.  I got that blasted stomach bug that was going around our area right after first of the year.  I would guess that it was around the 3rd of January.  I had that awful sickness for 6 days.  Jeremiah and Ryder had it prior to me but it was about a 3 day virus.  I wasn't so fortunate.  Madilynne was able to avoid getting it.  I am happy she didn't experience it.  

    However, this virus was so intense for me that everything- and I mean everything- I ate gave me a terrible upset stomach with lots of pain. Madi and I started keeping a food log about what I was eating and what caused pain.  Well, Madi (aka The Food Warden) has been keeping a tight rein on what I am eating.  I am not a person who has a lot of will power otherwise I would be skinny and super fit so she is helping me make wise food choices!  ;-)  We figured out that anything with eggs, dairy, nuts and wheat were causing me issues.  I made some major changes to my diet and cut all those foods out. It seemed like I only had 5 things I could eat but I was feeling so much better.  I started taking a good probiotic and kept my eating to a minimal. OH HOW I WANTED A PIECE OF CHEESE!!!!  I like cheese almost as much as my tea.  I think not having cheese was the worst possible part of it.

   Madi and I quickly figured out a new eating plan for me focusing on what I could eat and not what I couldn't eat.  That made the process much easier.  I really wanted cheese and something chocolate.  I am not a big chocolate eater so that was surprising to me.  We went for groceries and I got a gluten-free brownie mix at Aldi's. Oh my gosh, it was so good!  The rest of the family even thought it was good.  I got over the chocolate craving and all has been good.  Madi and I have slowly introduced trigger foods back into my diet.  Nuts were the first thing to bring back without any issues. Then I really wanted cheese so I decided that if I only ate one piece of cheese or some shredded cheese on my salads I would be ok.  We tried it and I can only handle a little bit of cheese.  I don't drink any milk or anything like that.  I save the dairy for my cheese!  LOL  Eggs... well eggs are still not something I can eat.  I can handle them baked into something like the brownie but I can't eat them plain, like scrambled or an omelet.  Next is wheat/gluten...that is still a no go. I don't have any major pain if I eat something that I didn't realize has gluten in but my stomach gets upset. 

   I am hoping with a controlled diet, taking probiotics and eating some fermented foods that I will get this under control and get back to eating normally again.  I can say that I do feel better eating a better diet and not so much in the grain/bread/pasta group so that is a good thing!

   As for the rest of life, we went to visit a new creamery that opened recently for lunch.  We met my mom and step-dad, my nephew and his momma there.  Our homeschool group is going to tour the cheese making part of it next week but the idea to meet for lunch came up and we jumped on it.  It was so much fun to eat somewhere new.  I had some yummy food choices so that made it much better.  I got a chicken salad with a delicious ranch dressing.  Oh boy was it good!  The focus of the foods is to eat local, Farm to Table style. They had the local farms listed and I recognized three of the five farms.  I think that it is great that they are supporting our local community farmers.  They also had a gift shop that had some items made locally.  The prices weren't extremely high either.  Usually those kind of places have a high price point but honestly I didn't think it was too bad. I didn't feel like it broke the bank to eat there and we will definitely go back. Examples: my chicken salad was $5.50 and it was a nice sized salad. The Philly Cheese Wrap and homemade chips was $7.50 and the Cheeseburger and homemade chips was also $5.50.  I think I have those prices right.... Not a bad price overall. I can't remember the cost of the drinks though.  Madi ordered some fried cheese curds and they were pricier around $7 for the order but she really liked them.   

   Our extended family was supposed to go snow tubing as a family experience instead of Christmas gifts last Saturday.  My brother-in-law developed a blood clot in his calf muscle and as a result can't do anything physical like tubing for several weeks.  We decided to change plans and just go out to dinner.  What good is it to have a family experience and not have the whole family?  Dinner was scheduled and then my B-I-L got sick. He and his wife decided to stay home.  Dinner is now rescheduled for this Saturday!  HaHa  I personally don't mind changing the schedule because my stomach issues are getting better so I have more food choices now.  Jeremiah's family is pretty close so it's not like we won't do something else at a later date.  The restaurant that was chosen is also new to us.  I think only two family members have eaten there before so it will be another fun experience. 

   Well, I will wrap up today's post since this is getting pretty long.  I could have done this post in several different ones but I just wanted to get it typed up.  I hope it wasn't too long for you. Have a blessed day!

From My Front Porch- New Year's Version

   Happy New Year!

 

 

   Welcome to 2017!  I am not a big fan of New Year's resolutions.  Resolutions are meant to be broken....right?  I figure if I need to make some changes I should do it then and not wait for change.  However, I do understand that the new year is a great time to start some new habits or set some goals.  I have some ideas toying around in my head about some new goals but really I haven't addressed them yet.  I need to step back and really look at what is working and what isn't before I make some changes.  The new year is a good time to reflect.

 

   One idea that I do know that I am going to implement into my daily routine is a suggestion that was given to us at church Sunday morning.  I am going to start reading a chapter of Proverbs every day on the corresponding date.  Example: read Proverbs 12 on Jan 12, Feb 12, Mar 12, etc. Proverbs 25 on Jan 25, Feb 25, Mar 25, etc.  This isn't a new idea to me but one that I think has merit at this point in my life. Other ideas deal with our budget, healthy food and self improvement are rolling around in my brain but I am not sure what I want to do about those yet. 

 

   Now onto the photos from my front porch today.  Today was overcast and cold with temps I the lower to mid 30's throughout most of the day.  We experienced some freezing rain overnight into the early morning.  It was also foggy.  The rain melted a lot of the snow covering we had earlier.  That's okay though because we will get more, I am sure of that! 

 

 

      The tracks in the snow are from our golf cart.  Jeremiah and Ryder put some chains on the tires and it really goes in the snow. They need the golf cart to get wood in from the woods.  We have wood cut and ready for winter, Jerm and Ryder just like to cut wood and we have some trees that my dad had cut down earlier in the year that needed cut up.

 

   Well that's all for now.  Hopefully your New Year is a great one!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What's left to be done on your Christmas to-do list? EVERYTHING!!  I haven't even started to shop! Ok, well I did order one thing from Amazon but it is materials for something that I still have to make. We will be going shopping on Friday to take care of the gifts.  Oh and by the way for those who are wondering...this doesn't stress me out at all...Jeremiah yeah a little, me- not so much.  It will get done, sometime!  One year (many years ago) Jerm and I did ALL our shopping on Christmas Eve.

 

2. The Hodgepodge lands on the first day of winter this year. What's your favorite thing about winter?  I like the beginning of winter. It's the end of winter that gets me...It is just too long and cold!  :-)  But for my favorite part, it has to be those first couple snows.  I love when we get a big snowstorm and it coats everything in a dazzling white!

 

3. In what area of your life are you immature? Feel free to elaborate or not.   This is hard.... I will say...parenting.... I don't know if I will ever get it together in this department but I am trying! Lord willing, I will keep trying!

 

4. What was the most (or one of the most) important lessons you learned in 2016?   It has to be to savor each moment we have together.  

 

5. It's Fried Shrimp Day...are you a fan? What's your favorite way to eat shrimp? Will there be shrimp somewhere in your holiday feastings? SHRIMP!!!  YUCK!!!  I do not like ANY seafood.... Shrimp may be part of our holiday feastings because Ryder LOVES shrimp.  We usually get one or two shrimp rings for an appetizer for the Christmas Eve dinner that we host.  

 

6. What sound lulls you to sleep?  A fan.  All of us are lulled to sleep by a fan.  Our first home was right by a busy road.  Lots of noisy vehicles going up and down the road.  It would wake up the kids when they were babies.  We had found that running the humidifier helped all of us to sleep better.  Summer arrived and the hum then came in the form of the fan.  No going back now!  :-) 

 

7. What one word best describes your 2016? Blessed

 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.  For the past several years we have exchanged home made gifts with Jeremiah's family.  One gift per couple.  (The kids are the exception, they still get gifts)  This year we decided to change up the gift to have a family experience.  So as of now, we have decided to go snow tubing at a local ski resort in January. 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 

1. Are you more task oriented or people oriented? Elaborate.  I am definitely a people oriented person. I don't care much for working by myself and will happily delegate tasks to others.  Now, I will say that once upon a time, I would have rather done the work myself so that it was "done correctly" but I have learned that I can't do that anymore.  It was very wearing on my mental health!

2. December 15 is National Wear Your Pearls Day...do you own/wear pearls? If you're a man answering the question, does your sweetheart own or wear pearls? Everyone share a 'pearl of wisdom' with us here today.   I do not own any pearls. I have a set of small earrings that are fakes. My pearl of wisdom is to enjoy every moment of each day.  I will add more to this in #8, the random thought.

3. Speaking of pearls...oysters? Are you a fan or not a fan? If you answered yes, tell us your favorite way to eat oysters? If you said no, be honest-have you ever tried one or does just the idea of eating an oyster make you gag a little?   Not a fan of oysters and no I have never, ever eaten an oyster and hopefully for the rest of my life I will never have one of those slimy things in my mouth.  For me, it's a texture thing and I will never willingly eat one!

4. Time Magazine has named President-elect Donald Trump Person of the Year. Let's take presidents and presidential candidates out of the mix for a minute. If a political figure had not been chosen who would you name Man or Woman of the Year for 2016?  Honestly, I have no idea.  I guess they want famous people or newsworthy folks and really there are very few of those worthy of being called the "person of the year" to me.  I don't have an answer to this question.

5. The Pantone Color of the Year for 2017 has been announced, and it's a vibrant green aptly named-greenery. Your thoughts? Is this a color currently in your home or wardrobe? Will you add something in this shade for the new year? Click here to see the color.   I like the color.  I don't think I have anything in that color anywhere.  It's pretty but I don't think it will show up in my home or in my wardrobe.

6. Today I've had too much________________________.   To do!!  I have cabinets to organize, my kitchen needs some major attention and as usual the laundry is out of control!!  Oh, I also need to get the Christmas cards out! AND what am I doing....blogging!  HaHa!  I will get to it though!

7. Share a favorite lyric from a favorite Christmas carol.   One of my favorite carols is Mary Did You Know? and Silver Bells is a song that makes me think of my grandma.  She used to play it on the organ a lot when I was a little girl. I don't enjoy shopping or going to the city but the song is sweet. I am going to post the lyrics to both songs. I think that Mary Did You Know? is a deep song.  Madi sang this song at our homeschool Christmas Variety Show.

Mary Did You Know?:

Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God

Mary did you know, Mary did you know, Mary did you know

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I am

Mary did you know, Mary did you know, Mary did you know

 

Silver Bells:

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks,
Dressed in holiday style,
In the air there is a feeling,
of Christmas
Children laughing,
People passing
Meeting smile after smile,
And on every street corner you'll hear :

Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
ring- a- ling, hear them ring,
soon it will be Christmas day.

Strings of street lights,
Even stop lights,
Blink a bright red and green
As the shoppers rush,
home with their treasures.

Hear the snow crunch,
See the kids bunch,
This is Santa's big scene,
And above all this bustle
You'll hear :
Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city,
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,
Soon it will be Christmas day.

 8.  Insert your own random thought here.  In keeping to my answer in #2 about enjoying every moment of every day here's why... This isn't to necessarily be a Debbie Downer but it's what happening in my life in real time....

 

I say to enjoy every moment because we don't know how many days we have with those we love.  In August, Jeremiah's cousin and her hubby lost their little girl in her 7th month of pregnancy.  It was a devastating loss to them and the family.  They have 3 beautiful little girls and she would have made their fourth blessing.  On Thursday of last week my mom called me and said that my cousin and her husband lost their little boy in her 7th month of pregnancy.  He would have been their fourth little boy.  His funeral is tomorrow. 

 

Yesterday, I kept my nephew.  He just turned 10 months old and is a sweet baby boy!  He had two vaccinations on Monday and wasn't a very happy camper.  He was fussy and didn't feel too good along with not sleeping well.  He wasn't easily entertained or his regular happy self yesterday.  I have a metal star hanging on the glass patio door that leads to the playroom from our kitchen.  He liked touching it and playing with the star. There are little fingerprints on the glass now and I will be letting them there.  It seems like just last week that my own kids were leaving little fingerprints on the glass.  They are both bigger than me now.  I will savor those little messy prints for a bit longer.  It won't be but a couple blinks and he will be taller than me!

 

Enjoy each and every moment you have with those you love.  We only have so many days and I want to savor as many of those as I can.  I will snuggle, hug and kiss my little nephew and pray God's favor on him as I do my own two kids.  I hope that as we enter into this wonderful Christmas season that you embrace those around you and enjoy every moment spent with them....even the ones who try your patience!  Blessing to All! 

Homeschool Program!

   Last night we held our annual Christmas program for our homeschool group. It is always so much fun.  It is our own version of a talent show, if you want to call it that.  We have kids who play instruments, sing beautifully, dance, do stand up comedy, drama, art work, etc. 

  I am always impressed by our kids.  Last nights show was did not disappoint.  Ryder helped the younger kids with a song they sang about patience.  Madilynne was in a drama, played  Carol of the Bells on kazoo with 7 other teens, and sang and played guitar for Mary Did You Know? Ryder isn't one to be on stage.  He prefers behind the scenes type activities or black light puppetry where he isn't seen.  Madi on the other hand, LOVES front and center stage.  My job was to run the lights for the drama. 

   The fun continues after the program as we enjoy snacks and a time of fellowship.  I like to visit with everyone and we usually have some folks visit who once attended our group or friends and family that come to see the kids.  I have made so many dear friends throughout the years because of our group. 

   The only drawback to these evenings....CLEAN UP!  Oh how I dread clean up.  We need to vacuum the entire church, clean up the kitchen and put all the tables back and reset the classrooms, red up the bathrooms and turn the lights off.  Many hands make light work but it is still work.  As is the norm for us, we were in the pack of the usual three to four families to leave. We were able to get out a bit earlier than normal though... 10:30 pm.   In the past it has been 11-11:30 pm. I am used to it though. We have been part of the clean up for many, many years.  My kids know that we will in the crew that locks the doors!  Now that I think about it, we are also there to open the doors!  LOL

   I don't mind really as these clean up times also have good memories in them for Jeremiah, me and both kids.  I can't tell you have many years Jerm and another one of the dads have run the vacuums so the moms can clean other areas.  The teens are a huge help in putting away tables and resetting the classroom areas. 

   It is a fun evening but I am glad it is over.  We will repeat everything again in the Spring! I will dread the clean up but do it anyhow!  As my kids are getting older I don't have many more of these functions to look forward to but I plan on savoring each and every one!