A beautiful spring day!

I love the fall so much, but really must say that spring is my favorite season! There is something very special about everything coming back to life and the refreshing warm air after a long, cold winter...I love it! I love watching the flowers pop up in my garden and being able to go outside with a light coat or no coat at all.

Hannah and I sure enjoyed the day today! We started the morning out with a shopping trip to use a coupon that expired today. I got tons of great deals and Hannah was such a good girl! When we got home, we walked to the park and she played and played. It's neat to see how much more independent she has gotten at the playground..what a lovely day! We came home for lunch and she again picked lunch meat and cheese...one of her favorite lunches. We ate lunch together on the porch and enjoyed watching this squirrel jump back and forth from the fence post to the tree. It's the little things in life that bring so much joy. Thank you Lord for springtime!

My First Bible Verse

One of my favorite parts of parenting is watching Hannah learn about God and his Word. It's neat to see her develop a love for his people, his creation, and His Word. She loves reading Bible stories, singing songs about the Lord, going to church and Bible study....we hope and pray that this continues through her whole life!

After listening to Hannah recite lines from her favorite tv shows and sing songs perfectly, I knew that it was time to help her start memorizing God's Word. We started working on a verse a month back in February....but Hannah's first verse ended up taking two months. I think that she knew it a lot sooner than she actually said it...but it sure was a joy to hear her recite God's word for the first time!

We started with 1 John 4:19. Here's a cute video of her trying to get it right for the camera...it's sure to make you giggle..and I do apologize for her that she's talking with food in her mouth...we haven't quite mastered that yet.

I was glad to catch her reciting her verse perfectly on camera today. :)

Lovin' some tomato soup

Hannah loves soup! I think one of the reasons that she loves it so much is that she can drink it from the bowl. On Sunday Seth made grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. Hannah hadn't been eating the greatest the week before...so it was so good to see her gobble this meal up. Here she is enjoying every last drop of tomato soup!

Mom's Spanish Rice

Need a quick/easy dinner tonight?
We are having Mom's spanish rice! It cooks up so fast and is so yummy.
This recipe is from my mother in law (I hope it's okay that I share it!) and I think is originally Grans recipe. I needed to type it up to share with my sister, but thought I should share it with any of you that might be interested too :)

1 pound ground beef
1 28 oz can Deifratelli seasoned diced tomatoes (sorry...it has to be Deifratelli...I just watch for them to go on sale)
1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 c. minute rice

Brown ground beef (I've made it with ground turkey before, but my husband would much rather ground beef, so tonight...it's ground beef). Add seasoned salt as bronwing and drain. Add 1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes , 1 can tomato sauce. After it boils, remove from heat and add 1c. minute rice, uncooked. Stir the rice into the mixture- over for about 5 minutes or until tender. Enjoy!

Banana Nut Muffins

This is a great recipe for banana nut muffins that is super quick and easy because it uses biscuit mix. What a great way to use up those over-ripe bananas!

Ingredients (makes 18 muffins)
3/4 c. sugar 2 1/3 c. biscuit mix
1/3 c. vegt. oil 1 1/2 c. mashed banana's (about 3)
3 large eggs 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (can I just say that I LOVE chopping
1/2 tsp. vanilla walnuts with my pc food chopper?!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 18 muffin cups.
2. Combine sugar and vegetable oil in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer set at med. speed until well blended.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add biscuit mix and bananas. and mix well. Stir in walnuts.
4. Fill the prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.
5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean, about 17 minutes.

Perfect with a warm cup of coffee...ENJOY!

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of the woods:
46 and sunny

Things that make me happy: seeing our teenagers excited about spreading the good news of Jesus Christ!

Book I'm reading:
still working through "The Excellent Wife" and "The Power of a Praying Wife" reading both with other people, so we are just slowly plugging through them :)

What I'm enjoying on TV:
Just started watching "Undercover Boss" on Sunday nights...I cry every time...neat show.

On the menu for dinner:
buttermilk pancakes
On my To Do List:
laundry
grocery store
bathroom
vacuum
mops phone calls

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
Banana nut muffins made with biscuit mix...so yummy! I'll post the recipe soon.

In the craft basket:

finally got the hot glue...hope to get these hair bows made this week.

Looking forward to this week:
So looking forward to the warm weather coming our way..should be in the 70's by Thursday! Also looking forward to making Easter sugar cookies, dying eggs, making resurrection rolls and celebrating a risen Savior on Sunday!

Tips and Tricks:

save and freeze bananas that are overly bruised or too ripe to eat. Thaw them in a bowl, then slip the fruit from the peels.

My favorite blog posts this week:
P.S. Your Hands are Beautiful
Today's the Day
Comparison Unmasked

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

On my prayer list:Still praying for my sis in law, Jill...it seems like she has been discharged today! Praying for continued healing and praising God for the answered prayer so far!
Praying for wisdom and patience as parenting a toddler as proved to be a true challenge lately.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." John 8:31

Easter Egg Hunt

We are having a great Saturday!

Seth was so kind to spend some Daddy/daughter time with Hannah this morning while I got to get out of a while. I enjoyed some Mom 2 Mom shopping with my friend Trenda. When I got home (with some cute new summer outfits in hand) we had a super quick lunch and headed up town to the Easter Egg hunt. Hannah had a great time filling her basket with eggs and watching the Easter Bunny. It was a cold day, but it was nice to be outside and see the sunshine!

Hannah was super good at picking up those eggs!

Hannah loved just watching the Easter Bunny. She would walk up to him and just stand there shrugging her shoulders (she does that when she gets excited). It was pretty cute :)

Family Day

We love Friday's with Daddy! It's been a while since we've had a family day, because of traveling here and there, so we were super glad to be home today and enjoy a day together. Mommy had a dr. appointment this morning, so that was our first stop. Daddy and I played and she was done real quick...then we headed to the mall. We walked for a while then I got to play! I loved running, sliding, and jumping all over the play area. Mommy and Daddy could hardly keep up with me.

After that, we got to see some puppies at the pet store. One of the ladies that works there let a little Lab puppy come out and play with me. It was so much fun! He gave me kisses all over and chased after his toy! (Mommy didn't get any pictures because she was busy chasing both of us :)). I loved this little Basset Hound puppy too...Mommy and Daddy said that maybe one day I can get a puppy. :)

It's always fun to have lunch at the mall...I loved the noodles from the Chinese place!

We dropped off a few birthday treats to friends with bdays and then headed home for naptime. What a fun morning!

Growing SO fast!

I'm a big 2 year old now...and have been busy showing my Mommy and Daddy what a big girl I am. All of these things happened in just one day last week...my Mommy was a little overwhelmed with how quickly I'm growing up!

I spent my first full day in big girl pants last Tuesday. I did great all through the day...but did have two accidents after nap time. Mom said that was pretty good for my first day! I do love my big girl pants though!

I had a snack (jello with Mandarin oranges..mmmm) at my little table after nap today. When I was done, I took my dishes to the kitchen and put them on the counter!

I love to help Mommy make dinner. That night we were having Chicken Tortellini Soup...yum! I had fun helping Mommy open all of the chicken bullion cubes and plopping them in the water

see my concentration face? Mommy says this is good for my fine motor skills....and she loves that I have little jobs to do in the kitchen now. :)

I was super excited when I got it open!

When Daddy got home from work, we decided to go for a walk. I went to my room, got my boots and then put them on all by myself! I'm a big girl!!

I'm learning my ABC's

I'm having so much fun learning my alphabet! The kindergarten teacher in my Mom has her already keeping track of the letters I know....and I'm almost half way there! Here are the letters I know so far (I recognize them in uppercase):

R, B, A, M, H, Y, N, C, O, P, I, & G!!

and did you know that I can count to 14 and I know all my colors? Maybe Mommy should get a video :)

Hannah's weekend with Joshua

As you know, we took the teens to the Dare2Share conference in Chicago this past weekend. Aside from being sick, we had a great weekend. Hannah didn't go with us...I missed her terribly..but I'm afraid that I was missing her a lot more than she was missing me. Rachel, Randy, and Joshua shared our ministry to the teens this weekend by taking such good care of our little one. I am so thankful for a friend that I can trust so completely with my precious little girl. I was so sick on Saturday, I didn't have the chance to even call and check on them once, but knew that I didn't have to...that they were totally fine. To see some of the fun adventures that she had with Joshua, you can go to his blog here. Enjoy!

Dare2Share

This past weekend, we took our teens to Chicago for Dare2Share, a teen evangelism conference. The conference was wonderful, our God did a great work in the hearts and lives of the teenagers that we took! I was incredibly sick the whole weekend, which was hard, but it was still such a blessing to be there and watch Him work.

Love these girls! Meet Erika (on the right) my new sister in Christ!

The most exciting part of the weekend, was watching one of our teen girls come to know the Lord as her personal savior!! Can I hear and AMEN?! She has been heavy on my heart and mind..and it was so exciting to see her accept God's free gift of salvation. It was neat that this happened on Friday night! We were able to celebrate her salvation as a group then focus on sharing our faith on Saturday. The people at Dare2Share did a great job of equipping the kids and teaching them how to share their faith. On one of the breaks Saturday afternoon, they were on their cell phones calling unsaved friends and sharing the gospel!

God created us to be with Him

Our sins separate us from God

Sin cannot be removed by good deeds.

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.

Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life

Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever!!

(the GOSPEL explains God's redemptive plan for humanity from Gen. 1 to Rev. 22...to learn more go here).

Some of the kids were texting back and forth with unsaved friends at home the whole afternoon, and others have committed to write letters...so exciting!

Another highlight of the weekend was sitting in a coffee shop and hearing (I was very sick & totally observing by this point of the weekend) the kids talk with Seth, Jeff, and Amber about what they can do to practically apply all that they had learned when they get home. It was neat to hear them say specific names of people that they need to reach out to and and how we can grow as a youth group in the area of evangelism.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit come on you; and you will be my witnesses..." Acts 1:8

The Lord used the music of Starfield and Propaganda to speak to our hearts too!

Is your name on the list?!


"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said 'Here am I. Send me!'" - Isaiah 6:8

St. Patty's Day

We had a great St. Patricks Day!

For breakfast, we enjoyed green eggs and Hannah got to have Lucky Charms (a very special treat) for the first time.

We played with green playdough

then met Seth for a lunch date at Baja Fresh. They gave away free burritos to anyone wearing green...so we all enjoyed yummy burritos!

The day was SO beautiful, so on the way home, we stopped at the park to play.

We decided to save our normal Irish dinner (Irish beef stew, Irish Soda bread, salad, and mint dessert) to enjoy with friends who would be coming over on Thursday and have a quick meal since it was crosstrainers night...but don't worry...it was still green: we had creamed cabbage with hamburger.

I made yummy green Lucky Charm cupcakes for the teens and we enjoyed the evening with them at Crosstrainers. It sure is fun being Irish!

My new table & playdough set

A few weeks ago, Mommy was able to snag this great table for me at a mom to mom sale. We had been thinking about getting one, and pricing them a little bit, so when she saw this one...she knew it was just right! It fits me perfectly, and my Mommy likes it because it looks like furniture and matches our house nice. She got it for only $20!! I love to sit at it and play with my new playdough set from Mr. Randy, Ms. Rachel and Joshua. I also like to color, eat snacks, and look out the window. I love my new table!

Happy Homemaker Monday- March 21

The weather in my neck of the woods:
cloudy and 44 degrees. Kinda miss last weeks weather..but at least it's not the snow that we had in Chicago this weekend!

Things that make me happy:
the joy of staying home each day with my little girl

Book(s) I'm reading:
The Power of a Praying Wife
The Excellent Wife

What I'm enjoying on TV:
American Idol & The Office

On the menu for dinner:
Chicken Pasta Primavera

On my To Do List:
unpack from weekend,laundry, change sheets
baking

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
Pepperoni Pizza Pie (very yummy!)

In the craft basket:
still working on those spring hair bows...I need to get to the craft store for more glue sticks!

Looking forward to this week:
our weekends have been super busy lately...looking forward to being here this weekend and spending a family day together on Friday.

Tips and Tricks:
When you can't use bleach in your laundry, hydrogen peroxide (1 cup to a load) makes for a good disinfectant.

My favorite blog post this week:
Celebrating Jesus with your kids...go here for great ideas on making your own resurrection eggs!

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

My sweet nephew: I love those blue eyes and his sweet smile!

On my mind:
Praying hard for my sister in law, Jill who is in a drug induced coma right now. She is having trouble breathing on her own, but slowly improving. I'm so glad that my God is the Great Physician and that she is in His hands.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" -Isaiah 6:8.

as always...thanks to Sandra for hosting Happy Homemaker Monday each week!

Hannah Reads to Baby Ethan

Hannah just loves her baby cousin Ethan! She had so much fun seeing him this past weekend. She loved talking to him and reading to him. Here's a clip of her reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"

Helping the Adam & Beth and more birthday

We had a great time with my family this past weekend. We are so excited for Adam and Beth who just moved into their dream home last weekend. Beth said that instead of coming down on moving day, that it would be more helpful for me to come and help with unpacking...so that's just what we did. While Beth was at work on Friday, Seth worked on his sermon and Mom, Hannah, and I enjoyed some time together. We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and some playtime them headed back to the house to get some work done for Beth. We washed and polished all the kitchen cabinets...they were shining by the time Beth got home from work. We enjoyed Mom's yummy soup for dinner and celebrated Hannah's birthday that evening.

It was so great to see Ethan...he changes so much every time we see him. It was fun to share Hannah's Bumbo seat with him and see him enjoy it!

look at those blue eyes and that sweet smile!

Friday was beautiful...so we headed out for a walk. Here's Momma and baby posing in front of their beautiful new home :)

Hannah loved reading to her baby cousin

She's getting better at the candle thing...she blew one of them out all by herself this time!

so excited!

she loves licking the frosting off the candles

yum!

a new jumper from Nana & Pop

a personalized train whistle from Uncle J

fun bubbles from Auntie Beth and Uncle Adam

how fun! Swimming butterflies and a net for the bathtub!

She loved sitting on Nana's lap to open gifts

thank you family for all the great gifts!!

On Saturday, Beth and worked around the house. We did lots of cleaning, unpacking, and organizing. Seth moved the rest of the boxes that were in the living room to their respective places which was a huge help too! We helped Jeremy learn how to make lasagne and enjoyed a delicous dinner together before heading home. It's always hard to say "good-bye" but we are so thankful for the special times we have together!