Rewind to Mom's Night Out

Last weekend, I was able to enjoy almost the whole day off on Saturday. I had a great time with the women at my church during the day. We had a mini ladies retreat where we talked about our hearts: spiritual hearts, physical hearts, and encouraging hearts. It's always great to fellowship with these dear women and be challenged with the Word.
We made it home for nap time, then in the evening I was off again (thanks to my wonderful husband for spending some daddy/daughter time with Hannah). My MOPS group had a moms night out. We dressed up like princesses, wore tieras, ate fondue for dinner and desert and watched "The Princess Bride". It was a great evening with more godly women that I love spending time with. It's so nice to just take a break and relax a while. It was fun to pull out an old brides maid dress (from Teri Childers wedding) and dress up! Here's a pic from the night...don't we all look like princesses?! :)

Things I Love Thursday: flaxseed

I love flaxseed! My friend Lisa introduced me to it about a year ago. I can't believe all the great health benefits that come from just a little tiny seed! Flax seed is high in omega-3's (the good fats), it's high in fiber, and new studies are even showing that it helps prevent things such as heart disease, diabetes, and even breast cancer...sounds good to me! The thing that I really like about flax seed is I can hide it in just about anything. My husband and daughter don't even know they are getting it. What can I put flaxseed in? Well...we often have it in our pb&j sandwiches, I just made oatmeal cookies today and threw some in, I throw it into mac & cheese, oatmeal, pancakes/waffles, bread, or yogurt. I buy the pre-ground and keep in my fridge.

For more things to love today pay a visit to the diaper diaries

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Pretend Play

It's been neat to see Hannah develop in the area of pretend play. She loves to pretend and even knows exactly what the word means. She loves to see characters come to life: little people, puppets, you name it. Seth and I are forever making something talk. Here is a clip of her an Seth playing with her little people house (thanks to the Mikel family for the great toy!). If you notice at the end, she even changes her voice when she is pretending to be the "Daddy". :)

More snowday fun

On Monday morning we woke up to lots of snow outside. We decided to stay home from the library and grocery store on this Monday and enjoy some time in the snow. We sure did have a ball!

The snow was so deep...that I would take a few steps then fall...laugh...get up...take a few more steps and fall again....it was fun!

I tried to make snow angels...but the snowflakes kept falling in my eyes while I was laying down...boy that sure made me giggle!

I discovered that I love snowflakes on my tongue

Mommy pulled me around in my sled...it was so much fun! I did a great job staying on! :)

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of the woods: It's a snowy day. All the schools were called off in our area. I'm thankful for no place to go and the chance to play in the snow with my little girl.

One of my simple pleasures: snowflakes falling

On my bedside table: "The Power of a Praying Wife" and "The Duggars: 20 and Counting"

On my TV: This evening it will be the Olympics

On the menu for tonight: Spud Special Soup and bread machine garlic bread

On my To Do List: laundry, clean freezer, clean bathroom

New Recipes I tried last week: macaroni taco bake, tomato and spinach pasta toss, ranch pork chops, and homemade pizza dough.
In the craft basket: Hannah's birthday party invites...gotta finish them today!

Looking forward to: studying the books of John with my BSF class. I enjoyed going for the first time last week...what a great Bible study it's going to be! :)

Homemaking Tip for this week: From Real Simple magazine: always buy white towels. They look spa like and clean up easy because you can bleach them. I don't know that I can give up my color...but it does seem like a good idea :)

Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other): Forms of art: Whether you are a wife, mother, friend...you are an artist

Favorite photo from last week: Sushi with Elizabeth and Kimberly on their mid winter break

Lessons learned the past few days: Was reminded at the ladies retreat to watch portion sizes and make sure that the calories that I'm taking in are good calories.

On my Prayer List: family, continued health, church family, teens, mops moms

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses: John 15:21 "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself in him."

Friday night...pizza night!

Many Friday nights growing up, we enjoyed pizza for dinner...and remember TGIF? I have great memories of times spent with my family. I think that tonight's dinner might just become a tradition for us. My friend Beth shared a great recipe for pizza crust made in the bread maker. It was so easy and so delicious! Hannah had lots of fun helping me put the pizza together...and just couldn't keep her little fingers out of the cheese and sauce...so cute!

the dough

sauce and cheese

pepperoni and one very excited little girl

ready for the oven

Here's the recipe:

7 oz water on bottom

2T olive oil

2.5 cups flour

3/4 tsp. salt mix these ingredients together before putting into machine

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. yeast

Let it run through the dough cycle on a bread machine.

Grease a 9x13 pan, push dough into the pan-may need a bit of extra flour so hands don't stick to dough.

OR

roll out into a circle and put on a pizza stone (I can't help but to mention that pampered chef stoneware is 20% off this month!).

Bake pizza at 425 degrees after cheese/toppings are in place for about 15 minutes (round) or about 20 minutes for 9x13

As you can see this is a very frugal recipe and super easy too. Seth said that it was best pizza he'd had in a long time!

Ann Arbor Children's Museum

Today we enjoyed a family day in "gulp"...Ann Arbor. We had so much fun at the Children's Museum. Cody and Erica bought us tickets and paid for dinner for our Christmas present...it was such a great gift! The Children's Museum had something for every age group...and little Hannah had a ball!

Here's Hannah learning about tools as she masters the tool puzzle in the Bob the Builder play area.

She got a chance to be a designer like her Pop in the Bob the Builder workshop

Having so much fun!

these rocks attached to the walls with magnets

pulling a carrot out of the ground

fishing

playing at the water table...we spent a lot of time here :)

she loved listening to our hearts. She wanted to pull our shirts up...so we let her lift just one layer.

I love the seriousness on her face as she listens to her own heart.

I love this picture of Hannah exploring magnetic pull

making music with her feet.

We concluded our day with lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Mongolian BBQ, also a gift from Cody and Erica. It was a beautiful day for a walk...a little cold, but the sun was shining! Hannah loved her balloon...and see those tired eyes? She's ready for a nap!