BLONDE & BLACK

No, I'm not talking about how our blonde kids are 1/4 black. I'm talking about the discovery we made several months ago that Naomi has black hairs mixed in with her blonde ones. The recent haircut has shown us that she not only has some black hairs on top of her head, but she has a ton on the bottom and sides. Check this out.

Lots of blonde on the top.

Lots of black on the bottom.

This shot shows the line where the black hairs really kick into high gear just above her ear.

It's going to be interesting to see how dark her hair ends up as the years go by. If she's anything like an older cousin who was born with similar coloring, she'll end up looking way more mixed as a teenager than she did as a toddler. Time will tell!

OF FACEBOOK, CREATIVITY, AND A CONTEST

I frequently link recipes from For the Love of Grub on my Facebook page, but I recently asked Facebook friends who use my recipe blog if they would find it helpful to have a Facebook page dedicated solely to linking recipes. Enough of them said yes that I decided to do it. I'll still link things on my own page when the mood strikes, but a separate page will be convenient for friends who use Facebook as their primary online hangout.

I started the Facebook page a week or so ago, but I didn't think about the fact that it needs a cover photo and profile picture. Two things I don't have because my site is just a plain ol' recipe file for myself and my friends to easily access, not a real food blog that's trying to drum up business. The problem is the page looks kinda naked without them. The other problem is that I have absolutely zero creativity or skills in the "let's come up with profile and cover photos" category. Actually, I could probably just take a shot of a regular meal at our house, do a collage of a few recipe shots from the blog, or just use some fun pattern for the cover photo, but I'm at a total loss for the profile picture.

That's where you come in, oh creative friends of mine. I would be forever grateful if someone could create a profile picture for the Facebook page. Really grateful. Here's what it needs to be. Simple (because I'm not a fancy kind of person) and ... well, yeah. That's the main thing. Simple. And square, because that's the shape of the profile picture space. The blog has a lot of blue in it, so something that coordinates (or at least doesn't horrifically clash) would be a bonus. 

If you want to contribute a profile picture for me to consider, then please e-mail it to me at missesweathersby @ gmail . com (spaces removed, of course) by the end of next weekend (11:59 pm on 4/5/15). Do not post them on Facebook. Just e-mail them to me. Assuming I get entries, I will look at them with the other Ws on Monday (4/6/15) and either make a family decision or post them up for a public vote. I'm not sure which it will be yet. Either way, the person whose profile picture gets chosen will get a $10 gift card to the place of their choice or $10 in their PayPal account. I know that's not much for spending time creating something, but maybe someone is bored and can bust out a cool profile picture in 15 minutes or someone wants to give the project to their kid for school or ... something. If no one gives it a shot, then I'll just stick with a naked Facebook page until I figure out something else.

Ready? Set. Go!

ANOTHER ROUND OF CHICKEN

We picked up two cases of Zaycon chicken yesterday and this was our most efficient order yet.

The first time I didn't think of putting any in marinades until it was already in our house. I scrambled to figure out which ones I could make and did what I could.

The second time I planned marinades ahead of time and froze a bunch of the chicken in them. Tim helped for part of that round, making up some of the marinades as I cut chicken into palm-sized chunks.

This time I actually made the marinades a couple days before picking up my order, split the breasts without cutting them into smaller chunks, and dropped the split breasts into bags that Tim held open for me.

The work is the same no matter what order you do it in, but this was the fastest order day we've had so far and I'll definitely do it this way again from here on out. Little chunks of time over a few days instead of a large portion of an entire evening is much more pleasant!

Here's what my fridge looked like a couple days ago. Several bags of marinades and the veggies for a soup waiting to get chicken added to them.

Here's everything bagged up and ready for the freezer. It's 36 lbs. of chicken in marinades or with veggies and 44 lbs. bagged in 3-ish pound portions.

This time around I used do-it-all marinade (good with chicken and salmon), Jen's chicken (a sweet & spicy-ish kind of thing), Hawaiian chicken, coconut chicken, and hearty chicken vegetable soup (I'll just add broth when it's time to cook it). They'll all be cooked in the crockpot and I'll shred the chicken when they're done cooking.

We have an order of Zaycon beef coming soon, so I need to figure out if I want to freeze it plain or do some prep work ahead of time.

** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. ** 

SPRING BREAK FUN

Yesterday was the only day during spring break that no one had anything on the calendar, so we claimed it as a family day. The little Ws were up until about 10:30 Wednesday night, so we all woke up alarm-free the next morning, then busted out chores, breakfast, and lunch-packing before heading out the door. The weather was gorgeous, so we went to Tryon Creek to breathe some fresh air and move our bodies. Our family has lived in the greater Portland area for almost ten years and Tim's lived here even longer, but none of us had ever been to this beautiful, huge park that's right in the middle of a metro area.

I wisely plugged in our camera in the morning so the battery would be full for our hike, then foolishly left it plugged in the wall when we loaded into the van. Thankfully we entered the world of smart phones a few months ago and Tim was able to get a couple pictures with his phone. They aren't perfect, but I'm glad we have some pictorial proof of our day together.

A bunch of trees, sunshine, and the 6 Ws.

The little Ws making silly faces inside of a tree stump.

I could have stayed there all day, but we hiked for a couple hours before the previous night's late bedtime started catching up with some of the Ws and we headed out. It was too late to have naps without messing up our night, so we did a few quick errands on our way home and then started a super calm afternoon and evening. All the little Ws took baths or showers, Tim worked on a project, and I got some soup cooking. Next up was 101 Dalmatians for the little Ws, blogging for me, and a combo of projects and watching basketball updates for Tim.

Naomi and Teebs went to bed super early, Silas and Devon watched Courageous with Tim and I, and we declared the day a success.

(This post contains affiliate links.)

MENU: 3/26/15 - 4/1/15

Update: I'm coming back a day after this post went live because I forgot to mention that I have a menu on Frugal Living NW this week. I've given them two or three menus over the years, but they like getting menus from their readers and I've decided to be more intentional about helping out with that part of their site. You can check out that menu right here.

We tried two new recipes last week, one savory and another sweet.

* potato & cabbage soup - Tiffany posted this recipe at Eat at Home right about the same time I stockpiled some bargain cabbage. I had sausage in the freezer and some red potatoes that needed to be used up, so we threw this soup on the menu. Simple, but tasty.

* peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies - I was looking for a cookie recipe that would use chocolate chips (we have a stockpile of some bargain ones), peanut butter (we grind a batch or two each week), and oats (we buy it in 25 lb. bags). This is what I found. I love soft cookies!

ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* I'm picking up 80 lb. of Zaycon chicken on Friday, so I'll be bagging some of it plain and bagging the rest in various marinades before popping it all in the freezer. I actually spent the last two days making the marinades ahead of time, so Friday should go by fairly quickly.
* I'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like I do once or twice every week.

BREAKFASTS
* wheat germ whole wheat buttermilk pancakes/fruit & spinach smoothies
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x5

DINNERS
* sesame noodles/stir fry with a bunch of veggies
* lentils & rice
* green salad - Asian style (crockpot with raw chicken in marinade from the freezer)
* kale, chickpea, & orzo soup
* Greek chicken (raw in herbs from the freezer)/rice/roasted cabbage
* tacos - seasoned meat, crockpot beans from the freezer, and some other toppings served in a tortilla, bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice

* leftovers 

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* banana chocolate chip bars
* Crunchy Flax cereal (We scored a case of 12 for $4.99 at a local discount store, so we've been using it as a snack.)
* produce 

* popcorn (kernels from the Winco bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )

(This post contains affiliate links.)

3/26/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for times when the little Ws make each other laugh.

What is something that you are thankful for?

A DATE WITH LUIS

Dad and Debra gave us cash (because online purchases of gift cards/certificates aren't available) for a date at Luis's Taqueria at Christmas, but Tim's basketball schedule kept us from going for a couple months and then we just keep forgetting about it. Tim's home because of spring break this week, so I sent him a text while he was out getting tires changed yesterday afternoon to see if he wanted to go for dinner. I already had dinner prepped, so the kids ate what I made while we headed a few blocks away for an hour or so. It was pretty spur of the moment and we weren't gone long because we had stuff to get done at home, but it was nice to get out for a little while, eat some tasty food, and talk about various things going on in our lives.

As a sidenote, I love tamales. A lot.

3/23/15 - WORTH REPEATING

********


You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering. 

~ Harold Hill in The Music Man


********

Chauffeuring is not a mandatory part of your job description. In this season that you’re in right now, maybe one more thing is just one too many. Maybe you rotate kids sign-ups by seasons. Maybe you have a one-at-a-time rule, Maybe you set an age limit for participation. Maybe you just say no for now. Maybe you say no forever.

That doesn't make you horrible, or awful, or selfish, or less-than. It makes you family-centered rather than activity-centered. Last I checked, that was the whole goal of having, you know, a family.

~ Heather Schwarzen in It's ok to say no at To Sow a Seed


********


Don’t just stand in your own little place, reach out and touch a friend. Give of yourself and you will find the blessings never end.

~ Ha La La La, written by David Williams on Kids Praise! 3


********


Our health is like the laundry, it is never done. We just keep moving forward, one step at a time.

~ Pam Carter


********


One day she finally grasped that unexpected things were always going to happen in life, and with that she realized the only control she had was how to choose to handle them. So she made the decision to survive using courage, humour and grace. She was the queen of her own life and the choice was hers. 

~ Lupytha Hermin


********

FOUR CORNERS

Some of my friends need to see this part of my life. They think that being naturally organized and tidy with a tendency toward minimalism means my home is all pulled together ... but it's not.

I need some of my friends to see this part of my life. I feel completely embarrassed by this space because it doesn't reflect who I am ... yet it's part of my home.

I know it's a garage, not an indoor living space. I know some of you don't think it's too bad since you can still see some of the floor and walls. I know some of you would prefer having a pig sty of a garage than no garage at all. I know that the negatives have positive spins. I know it's just a trashed garage, not a terminally ill family member, abusive situation, or malnourished country.

I know.

That doesn't change the sense of being overwhelmed when I try to figure out solutions to the chaos. the frustration every time I walk through the obstacle course that it's become, or the embarrassment when the garage door is open to the street or guests need to go in for something.

I've actually thought about sharing these pictures for months, as I get regular comments about how our home is generally in order and want people, especially those friends who are prone to being messy, to see for themselves that none of us have it all together, but I've avoided it because I'm so embarrassed.  In fact, I feel totally nervous right now knowing that I'm about to post this. So ridiculous! 

I'm hitting "publish" anyway because this is real life and I need to get over my pride.

MENU: 3/19/15 - 3/26/15

I don't know why there's been such a shortage of new recipes lately, but I'm trying two new ones this week.

ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* I'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like I do once or twice every week.

BREAKFASTS
* cherry oatmeal muffins/yogurt with blueberries (Devon and Naomi asked to make Barbara's pancakes one day last week, so we're bumping this breakfast from last week into this week)
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x5

DINNERS
* kale & feta casserole/rice
* pasta with broccoli pesto (from the freezer)
* new recipe/whole wheat biscuits
* sesame honey chicken (crockpot, raw chicken in marinade from the freezer)/rice/frozen peas & corn
* lentils & rice
* tacos - seasoned meat, crockpot beans from the freezer, and some other toppings served in a tortilla, bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice

* leftovers 

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* new recipe
* Crunchy Flax cereal (We scored a case of 12 for $4.99 at a local discount store, so we've been using it as a snack.)
* produce 

* popcorn (kernels from the Winco bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )

(This post contains affiliate links.)

3/19/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that for most of my adult life I've lived close enough to tracks that I can hear the sound of passing trains from my home.

What's something that you're thankful for?

SPRING CUT

Naomi has been asking for something for a while. It's something that Silas and Devon have also asked for in the past. We've made all three of them wait a while before we fulfilled this particular desire, just to make sure it's what they really wanted.

See how unhappy she looked before she got what she asked for? (Ok, so maybe she just looks like a goofy kid who can make her eyes wander. Whatever.)

See how happy she looks now that she has what she wants? And how pretty?

Even shorter than last year's snip. And even cuter, in my opinion.

She recently had her first haircut from Britt, who cuts my hair. It was a long-awaited cut and she loved it. She especially loved the part where Britt granted her request to completely remove the very bottom of her hair ... and she's been asking me to finish the job off ever since. "Then I'd look like my brothers." We talked about the absurdity of getting rid of all your hair right after paying to get a cut, but she wanted to do it so badly that she actually offered to reimburse me for the cost of the haircut. I told her she didn't have to, that I'd extend some grace this time, but I still made her wait a couple of weeks.

See how she looks like her older brothers?

I love how our kids just do whatever strikes their fancy when it comes to their hair and don't give a rip whether it's what other people do or not. It's created a lot of opportunities for me to have clippers in my hand, that's for sure!

WARM FEET

I wear slippers every day and have had the same pair for several years. I don't even know how long, but it's been ages and they've held up well. Until this year. Evidently they decided to wear out all of the sudden.

Yesterday Silas and I had to kill a couple hours between the end of the first service at church, which we attend, and a meeting at church that we needed to go to after the second service. We were given a Sears gift card a while back, so we headed to the mall and I snagged some slippers from the "winter's just about over" clearance rack. Regular price? $28.00. Sale price? $8.99. Love a good sale! Check out the difference.

Lining intact on the new pair and totally loose on the old pair, which meant I had to straighten it every time I put the slippers on.

Ummm ... yeah. Intact soles on the new pair, not so much on the old pair. This is what the death of a pair of slippers looks like. They lived a long life, were a great color, and kept my feet toasty. Their sudden death, as evidenced by the little chunks of black rubber that I kept finding around our home, was inevitable after many years of faithful service.

Goodbye, dead slippers. Hello, new ones!

PI(E) DAY POTLUCK - 2015

We had three families join us again this year, though it was a totally different group than last year. I had my camera packed away for most of the time, but I did get a picture of our pies (not a great picture, but the recipe links have better ones) and one of some of the kids.

This year we added savory pies to the mix, so I made a turkey pot pie with double-ish veggies for dinner and Colonial carrot pie (the little Ws love and requested it) and Nantucket cranberry pie (one of my favorites because of cranberry almond combo) for dessert. Other people brought cheeseburger pie and rotisserie chicken (gluten-free option) for dinner and lemon meringue pie and chocolate chip cookies (not a pie, but still round and delicious, so we'll take it) for dessert. 

Over the course of the night we had a total of five adults and fourteen kids, people from our homeschool group and church, friends and acquaintances. I love the mix! This picture got taken before one family arrived and isn't particularly flattering of anyone, but it's proof that we had people over and that all the kids scarfed food together.

It was a full day between the community clean up in the morning and a potluck in the evening, but I always enjoy opening our home to anyone who wants to show up and seeing what combination of people we end up eating, playing, talking, and laughing with. 

CLEANING OUR COMMUNITY

I've been planning on having our family clean up a particular stretch of road that we run on a lot because there's always a ton of trash there, but I keep forgetting to schedule a time to do it. It turns out that today is our town's community clean up day, so we decided to join the crowd and do that instead. Tim had an opportunity to hang out with a guy he's been friends with since high school who no longer lives in the area, so he took Teebs and went off to spend time with his friend while the bigs and I headed to City Hall. We got there at 8:00 this morning, sat through a brief orientation, claimed the zones we wanted to clean, then headed out. Rain was in the forecast for the entire clean up time, but we never got more than a little drizzle and a few gusts of wind. Four Ws, two hours, two miles, and several bags of trash later we headed back to City Hall to turn in our gear and grab a cookie. Hopefully we can do this each year!

MENU: 3/12/15 - 3/18/15

Tim and the big boys went fishing on Saturday and caught several trout, so we bumped our rosemary & white bean sandwiches to lunch another day and ate fish one night instead. Tim likes to wing it, so he seasoned and fried the trout, then I made a pot of rice and sliced up a bunch of raw orange bell peppers. The fish was great, but there's no recipe to share because it was all in Tim's head.

ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* One of the kids will make some more seasoned salt.
* Devon and I divided and bagged thirty pounds of frozen blueberries.
* I'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like I do once or twice every week.

BREAKFASTS
* cherry oatmeal muffins/yogurt with blueberries
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x5

DINNERS
* turkey pot pie (for our Pi(e) Day potluck)
* pumpkin lentil soup/cracked wheat & honey bread
* Thai chicken & coconut rice/sesame asparagus
* lentils & rice
* creamed eggs over toasted English muffins/fruit & spinach smoothies
* tacos - seasoned meat, crockpot beans from the freezer, and some other toppings served in a tortilla, bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice

* leftovers 

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* apple bars (post-Bible study dessert)
* Nantucket cranberry pie & carrot pie (for our Pi(e) Day potluck)
* Crunchy Flax cereal (We scored a case of 12 for $4.99 at a local discount store, so we've been using it as a snack.)
* produce 

* popcorn (kernels from the Winco bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )

(This post contains affiliate links.)

3/12/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for morning snuggles with Teebs, reading books while the bigs sleep.

What is one thing that you're thankful for?

I MISS GRANNY

It's been almost four months since Granny died and I miss her.

The last year that she lived near us was hard. She had people who called and wrote to her, but our family was the only thing going on in her daily life. We saw her regularly, but in the trenches of parenting and homeschooling young kids we couldn't see her as much as she wanted us to. The mismatch of needs, desires, and reality caused some stress for both her and I at different times. But I miss being able to send kids over to play Skip-Bo with her, running errands together, and having her join us for dinner.  

The last time I saw her was hard. It was awkward for reasons beyond our control, we didn't get the picture with her that we planned on getting, and one of the little Ws wailed Granny's name for over an hour when she left. I will forever regret not getting a family picture with her that day. But I miss seeing her walking through my door in her pink coat to say goodbye, hugging her, and telling her I loved her.

The last three and a half years were hard. I hadn't lived that far away from her since I was a very young child, had lived a few minutes walking to a few hours driving away from her for several years. I resented the fact that I couldn't see her at all and that she never got to meet the little W I was pregnant with when she moved. But I miss being able to keep in touch through writing letters, talking on the phone, and sending pictures.

The last year or two of her life was hard, even though we lived far away from each other. She slowly forgot our names and our phone conversations were the same every time we talked. But I miss the predictable things she'd say, the sound of her voice, the details she remembered about our life even when she couldn't remember our names, and her excitement at getting phone calls.

She was not a perfect grandma and things weren't always sunshine and roses, which is par for the course in any relationship and with every person, but she was a consistent part of my life and regularly demonstrated her love for our family. 

I'm thankful that her cornbread recipe I've gotten so many people hooked on got published and I was able to send her a copy of the magazine just a couple months before she died. It reminds me that little things about her will continue to live on long after she's gone. I'm thankful that the little Ws recently requested dump cake, a recipe Granny introduced me to, and that we'll have it for our post-Bible study dessert this week. It reminds me of sitting at her dining table. I'm thankful for the person who, after finding out Granny had died, told me that a blessing in our life from years ago was something Granny had done anonymously. It's proof of her generosity. I'm thankful for the memory of her showing up at our house at lunch and leaving a bag filled with KFC (one of her favorites) for everyone at my front door when I had three little kids and was sprawled on the couch with a raging fever. It reminds me of her thoughtfulness. I'm thankful for the final photo calendar that I was able to send for her last birthday, the one she talked about in every phone call. It reminds me that we mattered to her. 

I could go on, but I won't. 

I just miss her a lot lately. 

TEARS & SMILES

I've been having a hard time lately. It's everything and nothing. It's big things and little things. It's predictable and unpredictable things. It's people and circumstances. It's nothing that I want to talk to anyone about and also want to dump in one big verbal vomit. I have imaginary conversations and I cry. I read my Bible and I work on puzzles. I lose my temper and I withdraw. I pray and I run. There's just a lot weighing on me right now. 

However, the last two days have had some bright spots that made me smile. And cry, because that's how I roll these days. I just want to share the good stuff with all of you.

I've desperately needed to go grocery shopping, but somehow the scheduling has been tricky this week and it hasn't happened. Yesterday I woke all the kids up and told them we had to be out the door by 8:00. We're always out really late for Bible study on Wednesday nights, which makes Thursdays our roughest day of the week, so I had super low expectations for how the outing was going to go. I love grocery shopping and enjoy taking all the little Ws, but a tired group of kids doesn't make for a good shopping trip. 

We ended up having a perfect morning, though. They were ready 15 minutes early, WinCo was pretty empty (love shopping on weekday mornings), we split up into three groups and got our list tackled faster by having people in various parts of the store at the same time, the bulk guy and another worker found two spices I needed in the back of the store and replenished some empty containers, and we met a woman we recognized from church. I don't buy treats for good behavior or impulse shop, but I even bought bagels for everyone at the end because the trip went so well. 

We swung by Franz after WinCo, the kids helped load a bunch of bread in the cart, and the cashier gave them cookies, as per usual. Our final stop was a farm to pick up some frozen blueberries we'd pre-ordered at a bargain price and we met a man we recognized from church there. Last night Devon helped me divide the big box of blueberries into bags for each month of the next year while everyone else got the house whipped into shape.

The day certainly had some rough spots and I cried before it was done, but the morning couldn't have been better, I got to volunteer in the afternoon,and Tim surprised me with some Cherry Garcia. Today has been the same in that I feel emotionally drained, but there have been good things. 

Our homeschool group meets on Fridays and today's planned event got rescheduled, so we decided to meet at a park. I had to swing by the post office first because we'd received a notice on our door while we were out shopping yesterday that we had certified mail from an unknown address waiting for us. I picked it up, tossed it in the car, then headed to the park. I was fighting tears and not wanting to go chit chat with everyone, so I sent the kids out to play and just took a few minutes to pull myself together in the van. Then I opened the certified mail and found this.

Seriously?! Needless to say, I started crying again. I don't know if we'll use it for food, gas, or both, if it will be for regular expenses or something extra, but it was perfect timing. I needed to open it more today than yesterday. Just a reminder that God loves us, that we matter to people, and that God often shows his love through people who are generous with their resources. I wasn't doubting those things, but the tangible proof was exactly what I needed in that moment.

I finally got out of the van and headed toward the park playground. A few minutes later a friend sat down next to me and I started crying about 30 seconds into our conversation. I told her a little of what was on my mind, but she knows the "everything and nothing" mindset enough that I didn't have to articulate all the details in order for her to understand how I was feeling.

I pulled myself together. Again. Then I enjoyed nearly three hours in the sun with a group of women (and a couple men) that I love while our kids played together. I also ran into an acquaintance who works at the school next to the park and was there with some students, so we got to chat for a bit. Our original plan for the morning would have been fine, but I'm so glad that it worked out to just visit, talk about whatever came up. and picnic together. 

We finally headed home so that nappers could nap ... and found this on our doorstep. I just started laughing, which is an improvement from all the crying I've been doing. Regardless of what was inside, the fact that someone left a sneaky blessing at our door was awesome. 

I  opened it up and found this. The little Ws are ecstatic and immediately started figuring out how many gummies each family member could get if we divided the box evenly. We'll call that math for the day.

I'm sure I'll cry again before the day is over because I can feel more tears pent up, but I'm thankful for helpful kids, sunny days, bargain groceries, ice cream, anonymous gifts, good friends, and all the other positive things that happen in the midst of the negative stuff. So thankful!

MENU: 3/5/15 - 3/11/15

We didn't try any new recipes last week, so I'll just jump right into what's coming up.

ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* I'll make up a bunch of taco seasoning, some for the cupboard and some for the month's worth of taco meat that I'll cook and freeze.
* I'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like I do once or twice every week.

BREAKFASTS
* toasted coconut and pineapple granola over yogurt
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x5

DINNERS
* chicken & roasted veggie soup/no-knead bread
* lentils & rice
* do-it-all chicken (raw in marinade from the freezer, crockpot)/rice/frozen green beans
* death by garlic/roasted asparagus
* rosemary & white bean sandwiches (dip/spread from the freezer)/raw bell peppers
* tacos - seasoned meat, crockpot beans from the freezer, and some other toppings served in a tortilla, bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice

* leftovers 

SNACKS & DESSERTS
* dump cake 
* snickerdoodles (taking to a function)
* Crunchy Flax cereal (We scored a case of 12 for $4.99 at a local discount store, so we've been using it as a snack.)
* produce 

* popcorn (kernels from the Winco bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )

(This post contains affiliate links.)

3/5/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that we have a window above our kitchen sink.

What is something that you're thankful for?

3/3/15 - TEN ON TUESDAY

Big boys - Silas recently invited me to join him for an at-home date. He bought candy for each of us, split some ice cream he had in the freezer, and rented a movie for us to watch together. Devon recently treated the family to ice cream. He asked for a ride to the store, spent his own money on ice cream, then dished it up for the whole family to enjoy.

Coaching - Tim coached a freshman basketball team in our first year of marriage, took the next two years off, officiated basketball for ten of the next twelve seasons, and then coached a sixth grade team this year. His season ended a few weeks ago and it was a good experience. His team lost more games than they won, but he talked frequently about how the kids were making progress, he got positive feedback from the coach who hired him, and one of the rival coaches at a tournament, a coach whose team had just beaten Tim's, said they'd improved a lot since last year and he is confident they'll be a challenge to beat next year. All good things!

Dairy - After several months of eating dairy-free, Teebs is eating dairy again. The rash behind his knees that didn't respond to any treatment and cough that lasted a couple of months went away immediately when his doctor suggested cutting out dairy and returned when we tried to add it back a couple weeks later. However, he's never had a dairy problem before. I  know allergies or sensitivities can start out of the blue, but I've wondered if he just had something go wonky and needed a dairy break while his body reset itself, so to speak. We decided to put him back on dairy and see what happened. Nothing. That's what happened. He's totally fine. If he ends up with problems later, then we'll just cut out dairy again, but it appears that it was just a flukey thing.

Double date - We spent an evening out with Steve and Deanna and had a great time chatting over burgers, worshiping together with All Sons & Daughters, then chatting a bit longer before we headed home. Silas babysat the other little Ws and all the kids had a fun night together.

Free time - This happened one morning. Four kids chatting while they worked on various projects. I love these moments!

Outdoors - I've been able to spend some time in the yard lately. I love mowing, edging, planting, and transplanting. Our yard may not be as immaculate as it was when we moved in, which is fine because the previous owners were in an entirely different season of life, but I enjoy getting my hands in the dirt, working the clippers, and jumping on the shovel.

Puzzles - We almost always have a puzzle in the works, but I've been frustrated with missing pieces and decided to do something about it. We're doing all of our puzzles, one at a time, then re-bagging the ones that are complete (we store puzzles in ziploc bags, which are stored in a plastic tub for an efficient use of space) and putting the ones with missing pieces on our laundry room counter. Once all the puzzles have been put together we'll decide what to do with ones that still have missing pieces.

Role models - Devon and I were on a run last week and had a car heading the opposite direction with two men in it wait for us to cross an intersection. I thought nothing of it until they looped around, came up behind us in a business parking lot, hopped out of their car quickly, then hustled toward two cars in a neighboring parking lot that we were approaching. It appears that there was some sort of domestic dispute between a man and woman, each in their own vehicles, and the two guys in the car had seen something concerning as they passed by and got there as quickly as they could to help. I paused our run long enough to make sure there was nothing I could do and just listened as they asked the woman if she needed help, started getting more information on what was going on, and mediated the conflict. It became clear that I wasn't needed and I didn't want to appear to be gawking, so we moved on. I don't know how it all ended, but I told Devon, "Be that kind of man." I want my kids to be the ones who don't hesitate to stop what they're doing to help someone in need, work to resolve conflicts instead of causing them to escalate, use their strength to protect others, and spend time with people who will join them as they try to do what's right.

School - I'm in a "let's figure out what to do next year" mode right now. As of now, everyone will be home, but I'm ready to change some things up. I'm not sure what that's going to look like, but it's kinda fun to brainstorm, seek input from specific people, and weigh options. Silas and I are also in a long-term, ongoing conversation about high school, as that's going to be here sooner than later.

Spring - We have several different types of flowers in bloom in our yard right now, plus blossoms and new growth on our trees and shrubs. I love it! Here are two of our flowers.