Show Us Your Life - What do you feed your kids???

So I love Kelly's blog over at www.kellyskornerblog.com. Check it out if you have some time! This Friday's "show us your life" was on feeding our kids which gives us mommy bloggers the opportunity to share with other mommies what and how we feed our children. I just had to jump in on this one because it is something that is very important to me and I'm constantly on the look out for new and creative ways to feed my little blessing. I will enjoy reading the other posts but for now, here are some of the things that we eat around our house . . . . . .

Breakfast:
oatmeal - made with pureed pumkin and ground flaxseed. Its delicious, nutritous and Isabel LOVES it.
"panny" cakes - aka pancakes made with the water from boiled beets. Beets are incredibly nutritous and their water turns the panny cakes a delightful pink color, which by the way, is very popular with little girls. I also add ground flaxseed to these.
eggs - an all around great food!
berries - you just can't beat them

Lunch:
boiled egg, steamed broccoli, celery w/ peanut butter, homemade pizza (using round wheat flats, ground turkey and organic pasta sauce), berries, orange slices, apple slices, organic yogurt, spinach with homemade ranch dressing (of course I would love for Isabel to eat the spinach without the dressing but hey, I think the advantages of the spinach far outweigh the disadvantages of the ranch dressing), pb & j sandwich with all natural pb on whole grain, whole wheat bread

Snacks:
frozen fruit (Isabel loves it and its a lot like eating a popsicle), more berries, whole grain cheerios with organic milk, yogurt, all natural cheese (we like the Sargento mickey mouse cheese)

Supper:
I serve Isabel whatever we eat . . . . always have!! We don't eat very much red meat. As a matter of fact, I never buy it. We generally eat most of our meals made with all natural, no hormone and no steroid ground turkey or chicken. We like to add black beans or lentils a few times a week and we eat a lot of steamed broccoli and steamed green beans as well as fresh spinach salads. And we choose brown rice over white.

So there you have it! I'm sure we could do a lot more to eat healthy but I am confident that we have given Isabel a pretty good start!

What are some your tricks and treats around the kitchen??

Angela

New Year

I can not believe that its really 2011. Really?? My little girl will be 4 years old this year . . . that can't be! It was just yesterday that I was pregnant with her. Often times I get sad when thinking about her growing older but then I have to stop and put things into perspective. By that, I mean that there are many, many parents who would love to celebrate watching their children grow and its with that thought that my frown turns to a smile and I say, "thank you God for allowing me yet another year to enjoy my child and watch her grow". What an honor!!

You will see from the pics below that we had a very fun, exciting and busy close to 2010 and beginning to 2011. Scott, Isabel and I traveled to TN to spend Christmas in the Great Smoky Mountains with my brother's family and our parents. We had a really great time! We woke Christmas day to a downpour of snow which continued for 48 + hours. It was beautiful and such a special treat for us! We really did have a white Christmas and the time spent with our family was priceless!!

Two days after returning from the mountains Scott, Isabel and I boarded a plane for Chicago to visit with his mom and brother for the new year. Our flights were nice and smooth and we enjoyed bringing in the new year in the big city! On that visit we ice skated, had lunch with Bitty Baby at the American Girl store on Michigan Avenue (fabulous experience), visited Greek Town, toured the Lincoln Park Zoo to see the Christmas lights and spent some great quality time with Nan and Uncle Bob. It was a total blast!!

And it doesn't stop there!! Two days after returning from Chicago my parents came into town for the weekend of my brother's deacon ordination. Wow! That was incredible. We were able to watch my brother give his testimony in front of the entire congregation before being prayed over by the ordained men of our church. It was soooo special and I am so very proud of the fine man that he has become and the way that he has stepped up to lead his family by example. I love you Lance!!

So as you can see, we've been busy but its been great!! Now we are home for a little while, taking it easy and enjoying "family time". We do leave in 4 weeks for our family vacation at Disney World and we are really, really excited about it! This year, Scott and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary and we always said that we would do it with a big trip to Disney. Yay!! It will be so fun and I can't wait to watch Isabel and Claire experience the magic.

As well as all of the fun stuff that we have been doing and the places that we have been going, we have also started some new things at home. For instance, I have begun teaching Isabel the books of the Bible. Yes, she is only 3 but never under estimate what children can learn at such an early age. So far, after just one week, she can tell you that, "the first book of the Bible is Genesis", "Jesus had friends Luke 2:52" and "God so loved the world John 3:16". Isn't that great??!! We will add a book of the Bible each week along with a new Bible verse and more words to John 3:16. You know, Scott and I have always prayed that Isabel would have a love and a longing to know God and a genuine desire to study His Word and God has been faithful!! She gets so excited when she learns a new Bible verse and we love to see that in her. We pray that what she sees in us will cause her to long to know Christ. We must be the example to her and discipling her must begin now. Parents have no greater job than that of discipling our children. Wow!! Its a big job but what an honor that God has chosen me to parent this precious little girl for the time that I have her on earth. Thank you God!

Enjoy the pics,

SUYL

Its "Show Us Your Life" Friday over at Kelly's blog, www.kellyskornerblog.com, and today is kitchens. I think I barely made this post in time but I wanted to because I love our kitchen which is, like many, where a lot of our daily activities take place. Sooo, enjoy!!

This is my neat little twig bowl with fresh fruit.

This is a great, healthy and hearty oatmeal recipe and my little girl loves it . . . . from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld. Good Stuff!

I had to post pics of my great chair covers that my mom made. They are custom and have our initial in each one . . . . love them! Mom is soooo talented.

Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous weekend!

Angela

The Simple Things

We've been having fun . . . lots and lots of fun!

The weekend was great, for the most part, for all of us.

Friday night was "Girls' Night" for some of the young girls from my church. We try to get together once a month just for some chill time. We all bring food, we eat, we fix each others hair, we give massages, we tell embarrassing stories on ourselves, we eat some more and we just have a really good time. So, I did that on Friday night while Scott and Isabel had a "date night" together at the high school football game. It was a yucky night but all was well when Scott took Isabel shopping for rain boots and a poncho before the game . . . . boy, were they a hit!! She and her daddy stuck it out for the whole game, in the rain, and had a great time. They even dined on pizza and skittles . . . . . now that's what Isabel calls fun!!

Saturday morning, Isabel and I woke to the wonderful smell of "panny cakes" that daddy had cooked for us. After breakfast we headed to the farm to feed Mr. Darryl's goats and cows and to go fishing at his pond. By the way, does anyone have any idea just how long a cow's tongue is?? Yeah, well, neither did I until I walked right up to the cow and began to give her a piece of bread. Holy cow (no pun intended) that cow had a long tongue and I was quite grossed out when the slimy thing touched my hand. But no fear, I quickly learned how to lay the slice of bread on the tip of her nose just right so that she could get it with ease. It was quite fun and Isabel had a blast!! Grady, on the other hand (our springer spaniel) wasn't so sure about the farm animals at first but he did warm up pretty quickly and he, too, had a ball. I wasn't so thrilled that he enjoyed walking and rolling around in all of the horse poo that was everywhere. Oh well, he enjoyed it none the less.

We also went fishing and though this mommy absolutely despises buying crickets just so that they can be attached to the end of a hook and sacrificed to the fishies, it does do my heart good to watch my precious darling shriek with delight each and every time she reels in a fish. It was great fun and Isabel was thrilled to report to her mimi and poppy, immediately after leaving the farm, that she had "fished better than daddy" because she did, in fact, catch more fish than him. And is it a bit ironic that we snacked on fried fish as we were fishing?? Funny, huh??

Anyhoo, friends came over for a visit Saturday afternoon and played in the tent . . . in the living room. They did leave just in time for my ugly stomach bug to show up and torment me with a vengeance until about 4 am Sunday morning. Ugh. It was awful!! Scott and Isabel slept in the guest room as I was up and down, barfing, all night long. At least it didn't last very long and I was still able to cook a delicious roast for Sunday lunch. Lance, Toto and Claire joined us for lunch and after we finished eating we released the lucky crickets that escaped death on Saturday and then it was time for our nap. Oh, the joy of Sunday afternoon naps!!

All in all, it ended up being a pretty good weekend!!

Today, we've played at the park and the girls are now down for a nap so its nice and quiet . . . . for a little while anyway. But oh, I wouldn't have it ANY OTHER WAY!!! And tomorrow we have a swim date with friends. Yay!!

Enjoy the pics (although none are from the farm b/c I totally forgot my camera!!),
Angela

Life . . . . . .

Life is good! We've spent our days playing, feeding the ducks, reading books, learning to write our name (that would be Isabel), having play dates, building tents and just loving the last days of summer. And as you can see from the pics, we've spent a few nights playing in our tent . . . . . in the living room! Fun, fun times and priceless memories. We are looking forward to the cooler weather so that we can put our tent to use in the great outdoors rather than in our living room. Won't that be fun??

Scott took me to dinner this past weekend to celebrate my birthday. We went to a local Japanese restaurant for sushi and it was delish. After dinner we headed to Quakes for some yummy frozen custard to top off our date night. Isabel was at my brother's but we ended up having to go get her by 10:00 that night because she was crying for us. Though its a slight inconvenience to drive to Ocean Springs late at night, it is nice to know that she would rather be at home cuddling with mommy and daddy . . . . . . . and I love it!!

On our way home from dinner on Saturday we saw the most beautiful rainbow! It was incredible! I was in awe of God's creation, I mean, how in the world can you explain something like a rainbow?? How can anyone deny that there is a God?? I was sad that Isabel wasn't with us to see it but I did take a few pics, which do it no justice at all.

My mom will be here in a couple of weeks and I am so excited to get to spend some time with her during the days . . . . . . yay for moms!!

And thanks to Shellie for bringing a fabulous birthday dinner including corn on the cob, which Isabel LOVED!! Love you Shellie!!

For now, its time for Claire's morning nap, Bible story time with Isabel and then breakfast clean up . . . . . . . so,

Have a wonderful day,
Angela