~Count Your Blessings~

 

Oh give me patience when wee hands

Tug at me with their small demands.

And give me gentle and smiling eyes.

Keep my lips from hasty replies.

And let not weariness, confusion or noise

Obscure my vision of life's fleeting joys.

So when, in years to come my house is still

No bitter memories its rooms may fill.

(unknown)

 

ten on tuesday

1. Gotta keep this short as The Hubs and I are headed out on our weekly date night here soon. We plan to hit P.F. Changs, Pottery Barn and a movie. Yay for live-in-babysitters! :)

2. I am in the process of getting set up to do a sleep study. And I feel nervous and scared and happy and relieved all at once. I sure hope this helps me figure out my sleep issues and that there will be a simple solution that does not involve hacking my tonsils out. That is for sure my last resort option.

3. Micah has all of the sudden gone from "sweet lil baby boy" to "super active, cannot sit still, has to climb everything and get into all kinds of trouble boy." Whew...I am tired. But he sure is stinkin' cute and lights up my life.

4. Lauren has taken a strong liking to Laurie Berkner's Victor Vito CD and she takes my breath away with how adorable she is just sitting in the back of the van singing her little heart out. Grammer mistakes and mispronunciations and all. LOVE.

5. Oh, I have no less than 5 library books waiting to be read. When I have time to read I feel so stinkin' tired that I just want to sleep. But I really WANT to read more. Osmosis is looking pretty awesome, if only it worked. Kaity also has about 6 books on her nightstand to read. Like mother, like daughter. {{smile}}

6. I bought some lovely mini peonies (?) today at Costco. They are just wonderful. I will post a pic on my 365. Fresh flowers brighten my day so much.

7. We are making some great headway on de-toxifying and simplifying our household cleaners & beauty products and food & kitchen utensils. I will need to do another post on all that and the reasons for all these changes soon. 

8. We have recently gotten into the show Prison Break and it is really good.  It can be a little disturbing at times, but I am sure it is quite realistic. Which is really crummy.

9. Kids and boxes...forget the toys. Just give em' a box. 

10. I am getting the girls Easter clothes in order and THEY ARE GONNA BE SO CUTE! We are doing a black and white theme for the girls this year. Something a little different will be fun. Still not sure what the babe will wear, but he will be adorable no doubt. :)

Have a great week!

Sausage & Cheese Tortellini Soup

I made this soup tonight and IT WAS DELICIOUS!

 

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:

1 lb. ground sausage 1 medium onion; diced {I used 2 small ones} 3 garlic cloves {or 1 t. garlic powder} 4 - 5 c. broth or water {I used 2 c. beef broth and 2 c. veggie broth} 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce 4 carrots; peeled and chopped 1 green pepper; chopped 1 15 oz. can sliced mushrooms with liquid 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes {I just used 1 quart of my home-canned tomatoes} 2 t. white sugar 1T. parsley 1 T. basil 1 T. oregano 1 19 oz. package frozen tortellini {I used cheese, but beef would be good too} Parmesan cheese

In a large stock pot, cook sausage, onions, and garlic until meat it no longer pink Drain meat and return mixture back to pot Add in all the rest of the ingredients {except the tortellini} and bring to a low boil Simmer until veggies are tender -- about 15 minutes Add frozen tortellini and simmer until it is cooked through {another 10 minutes} Serve with Parmesan cheese on top

Printed from: SimpleOrganizedLiving.com

 

 

snow day

We enjoyed a wonderfully unexpected snow day yesterday. Which made our already short week even shorter. {{smile}} While we didn't get all that much snow (still more than they had called for) the roads were very slippery. I had to venture out to an early appt and I was VERY glad they called for school closures. It was NOT SAFE to drive.

Here is how we spent our day together...

~Making and eating cookies.

 

~ Playing our new Super Mario game and lazing around on the couch in jammies.

(I especially like the look of an apron over jammies. :)

 

~ Enjoying lots of warm and cozy drinks.

 

~Making chicken noodle soup and honey oat bread.

 

~ Lots and lots of playtime.

(Lest you think Micah is beating up on his big sister already, Lauren was having a GREAT TIME. They played with this plastic bin for a long time together. So cute.) (And amazingly, no one ended up crying or getting hurt in any way.)

I {{heart}} everything about snow days. 

random thursday - EXCITED Edition! :)

~ Wow - is it really Thursday already?! Although having this week over won't be such a bad thing. Joel has been swamped with work and I miss him. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend and time with my Lovelies.

~ We had a super fun time with Joel's parents going out to dinner and My Fair Lady last week.

~ Belle is going snowboarding with her BFF tomorrow. I am excited (and nervous) for her! She is out-of-this-world-bursting-at-the-seams excited so I am trying to be mostly excited too. But the Mama in me is scared she will get hurt or freak out and need me and I won't be there. But I know she will be in good hands with my BFF so all will be just fine. (I think.) :)

~ Joel rocked the Valentine's Day dinner again this year...My fav strawberry/spinach salad, parmesan crisps, Steak Diane, roasted red potatoes, roasted asparagus and chocolate dipped strawberries. YUM-O.

~ My gift for Valentine's - A week's worth of cooking ala Joel. I can either take them all in one week or break them out over time. However I do it, it is gonna be NICE.

~ His gift - a new wedding band. His old one was making him break out and was getting too small. It was weird. He could only wear it for short times before it made him all itchy and rashy. So he hardly ever wore it. And I can't have my man going around without a ring on. ;)

~ Micah all of the sudden became very mischievious today. Lil' stinkpot is into everything and especially into all of the things he is often reminded not to get into. I think his little will is in full-on development mode this week.

~ My sister comes for a visit tomorrow and there are lots of excited peeps here awaiting her arrival! And I know Mary is bursting to scrunch on a lil Mouse. :) It will be nice to see her. Cannot believe she has been gone for over 5 months already!

~ We are not sure why but the greenway behind our house is often overrun with blackbirds...like hundreds of them...weird. Here is just a portion of what was out there the other evening.

~ Also excited for a visit from dear friends on Monday. Gonna be a fun weekend with all this visitin' going on! :)

~ I have to say I was uber glad to get all the girls Valentines made and out the door this year. They all turned out great, but it was a bit much to handle on top of making favors for Megans bridal shower this past weekend.

And the favors...

~ The shower went really well and it all kinda started to really hit me that my baby sister is getting married. REALLY getting married and REALLY moving away to start her life. {{sniff sniff}} I am going to miss her so. very. much.

~ I just now noticed all the "excited's" in this post so I made it the EXCITED edition. :) tee hee

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for...

~ A husband who is volunteering at the girls school science fair today. Just because he loves them and wants to be involved in their lives.

~ Two sweet children by my side every day making messes and giving me snuggles.

~ Health - except for a little stomach thing here and a little head cold there, we have all had a pretty healthy winter season. (so far)

~ The sun that shines brightly into our new home. I can't tell you how much my soul needs that light and how much of a difference that light makes in my demeanor. No wonder Jesus is the "light of the world." Light is wonderful.

~ Thankful that Joel and I are both in prayer over a couple really big decisions coming up in our future. Thankful that we seem to be on the same page about these things too.

~ Thankful for noses to wipe, diapers to change, laundry to fold and toys to pick up. It means I am surrounded by my most precious and lovely gifts.

{14 Months}

~ Eating less
~ Sleeping more
~ Newborn-like outfit changes required daily
~ Loves to cuddle
~ Very busy
~ Only communication is lip smacking for his paci and for milk and occasionally saying "Mama"
~ Has the best laugh in all the world
~ Melts his Mama's heart every day with his sweet nuzzles and precious smile.

Monday Miscellany

**Lauren was Dancer of the Month for January! Yay!

 

 

** Oh I love this girl! From her stinky little face...

**...down to her grubby little feet!

 

 

** The Annual Snowman's Ball is such a cute book. Both the story and the illustrations are just lovely.

 

 

** Tents under tables and little ones inside make my soul sing.

 

 

** "Little Guy in a Giant Chair"

 

 

** Typical

 

 

**Smarties. 'Nuf said.

 

 

**Pottery Barn reward cash is fun to spend!

 

 

**These little toy milk jugs were mine when I was little. It's so fun and special to see my kids playing with my treasured things.

 

 

**Spaghetti Night with Dads (Jan. 25th)

 

 

** Kaity adores this lil man. When she gets home from school, she immediately scoops him up and loves on him. So sweet.

 

My Goal

"Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all." 

Julie Beck