Ready...... Set.......

Don't forget!  Tomorrow starts our 31 Days of Good Habits.  To clear up any confusion, these habits are geared towards children.  My three older girls are doing this (ages 3,5 and 6), but there are a few that Ella (2) can join in and there are several that I can apply to myself!

This is not an exhaustive list of habits that should be learned, and several may not apply to your family at all!  If you're following along, tweak, bend and customize your habits to fit your family!

We actually started our 31 days LAST week, so that I could stay up to date here and let you know how it's working.  It's been GREAT so far!!!

None of these habits should be too overwhelming and if any planning ahead is required I will attempt to give you sufficient notice!  Can't wait to get started tomorrow!!!

Heart For Home Thursday~ Habits (Preview for March!)

I love being a homemaker.  Love.  It.

I love being home and being the one responsible to make it run smoothly and be beautiful.

The truth is though, I'm not very good at it.  And I'm not joking.  I am really, really, not a very good homemaker.  I have learned much these past years of being married and I've grown quite a bit, but there is still a long journey ahead of me.

When I think about my daughters growing up and becoming young women there are so many things I want to teach them and train them in.  But I am their example.  I'm the one they watch day after day.  There are so many things I'm striving to grow in, like wisdom and self-discipline, but one of the practical things I can do for my daughters to assist them for years to come is to help them establish good HABITS!!!

Habits are what we do without thinking.  When it comes to the little "right choices" in life, I want them to be habits.  It should not be a struggles to remember to make my bed each morning.  It should be second nature.

So this next month I am focusing heavily on forming good habits, first for myself and then for my daughters.  This is kind of a "preview" for my blog agenda for March. 

During the month of March I will be devoting the month to 31 Days of Good Habits.  These will cover what I am working on with my girls.  Feel free to jump in with us, gather ideas or just encourage us as we walk this path.  I'm excited and nervous, but mostly excited!  We'll be starting next Thursday so don't forget!!!

A Quick Catch Up!!!

I've really missed you all!  I feel like I've barely been poking my head in here often enough for you to remember me.  This blog started out with just a couple family and friends.  I posted pictures of my girls and few thoughts.  That's really all I still do.  For awhile I was amazed at how many of you were stopping by here.  Obviously, I've been so scarce lately that I'm not so sure if anyone is still around.  So here I am.  Back to basics!  Here's some pictures of life to catch up you family and friends who are  still here checking on me!

Two Sundays ago Lydia and Great-Boppa put on their "Sweetheart's Party" that they had been planning.  Lydia is ALWAYS scheming and dreaming some great plan so for Great-Boppa to come along side her and make this party plan a reality was like a dream come true for her.  It was wonderful for the rest of us too!

It was a wonderful day, and we got to spend it with our Caleb boy which made it extra special.  Speaking of Caleb, he got to spend all afternoon with us this past week while his mommy and daddy celebrated their anniversary.  We loved it!  We are all pretty crazy about that boy!

The girls and I planned our Valentine's Day dinner for Monday night.  While we had been decorating and celebrating all month, we pulled out all the stops and had a beautiful dinner together.  The girls loved it!

The next morning I surprised my beloved with breakfast in bed, then he took me out for a wonderful dinner and date that afternoon.  Every moment spent with my man is a good moment for me!  It was a wonderful day.

One new thing that I've enjoyed this past week has been taking this each morning.......

...... and turning it into this!!!

I'm actually loving my veggie juice which astounds me!!!

This past weekend David cut his hand badly with a chainsaw.  (I was going to add pictures here, but they are pretty gory!)  When he called me from the ER I couldn't believe the peace that washed over me.  Isn't it so good to be held in the arms of a loving Father?  Graciously, his fingers are all still intact and should heal completely over time.  Please continue to pray for his healing!

Other than that, we've been living life!  I'm so blessed to live each day with my beautiful family!

 

Heart For Home Thursday~ Help For the Non-Creative Me

My mom is creative.  As creative as they come.  You would think genes like those would pass down just a little.  But they don't.  Or at least, didn't, in this situation.  I don't think I have a creative bone in my body.  I appreciate creativity and feel inspired by other's creativity, but it doesn't "spring" from me at all.

I have a friend who loves to decorate her home.  She posts pictures on facebook of her little house that she is completely "creatively making over" from basement to attic.  She probably has no idea how I look at her pictures and just sit with my jaw dropped.  How does she come up with such beautiful and original ideas?!?!?

When it comes to my home, I can tell you exactly what areas I would love to "do something" with.  I know what I want to change, I just have no idea how to change it. 

Enter....... Inspiration.

I put off the "pinterest bug" for a long time.  I really tried to stay away.  But it has won me over.  Officially.  If you've never checked it out, go to http://pinterest.com/ and see what it's all about. 

 For a crazy, non-creative creativity lover like myself, seeing all of these amazing ideas in one place makes me think that maybe I'll actually get to some of those "somethings got to change" places in my home.  Maybe my heart for my home will begin to be matched by what my home turns into!  I'm so excited!!!

Raspberry Stuffed French Toast

So this morning was one of those mornings were we all got to sleep in and have a good old lazy morning.  These are few and far between these days so it felt very good!  By the time I had rolled around to the kitchen, I really had no idea what to make for breakfast (or more accurately, brunch).  Of course Valentine's Day is heavily on my mind so when I saw my loaf of french bread sitting on the counter I remembered last Valentine's Day's breakfast.
Last Valentine's Day Jonathan and Laura were staying with us (Sniff. Sniff.  I MISS YOU!!!!) so that made it extra special.  I decided to try out a new recipe and I loved it!  Here is my make shift version!

Raspberry Stuffed French Toast

For the French Toast "Dip" I mixed 6 eggs with 1 1/2 milk then added 1/2 sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon and 2 tsp. vanilla.  Whisk together with a fork.  (This ended up being way too much so cut it down if your serving as many people as I was!).  

 

I always mix my mixture in a pie pan.  That's how my daddy always did it, so that's how I ALWAYS do it!

Next I pureed 1/4 cup of frozen raspberries and mixed it into 4 oz. of cream cheese.

Make sure you slice your French Bread thinner than usual as you will be using two pieces for each final serving.

Take one piece of French Bread and spread it thinly with raspberry mixture.

Place a second piece on top and repeat with remaining bread.  ( I was serving my family plus my sister who had spent the night so..... Three adults, four children...... Ten servings... Twenty slices of bread.)

When they are all assembled let them soak in the "dip" for a good minute or so (flipping mid way).

Next fry on a hot, buttered griddle until cooked.  (Don't cook on TOO high of heat so that the eggy bread has a chance to cook.)

We served ours with powdered sugar and whipping cream.  They are pretty sweet themselves so syrup felt a little overkill, but I'm sure whatever sounds good to you would be just fine!

I'm not sure yet what I'll be serving for this year's Valentine's Day breakfast, but if you're stumped, give this a try!

Heart For Home Thursday~ Just Smile!

Is it really Thursday again?  I find that hard to believe.  We've been battling sickness here for a solid two weeks so I guess time has flown by even more than usual. 

Today we have been busy doing school and visiting with Grammie so here I am with the day almost over and I seriously have NOTHING to write about.

When I think about home today, I'm not inspired or challenged.  I don't feel discouraged.  I don't feel ambitious.  I don't feel overwhelmed or overly excited.  Today when I think about home, I just smile.  I am surrounded by a million reasons to smile.

So today I'll just share a few of the reasons I have to smile.  Today, I pray that you'll find the reasons in your home to smile about.  And may your smile be one of the reasons your family smiles about your home too!

Heart For Home Thursday~ Speaking of Hearts...

Did anyone else around here notice that it's February?!?!  If you've been around here much, you know that I love February.  One of the biggest reasons being, I love Valentine's Day.

It's interesting isn't it?  You either love it or you hate it.  I've been told it has to do with whether you actually have a valentine of not, but I've seen that theory proved wrong. My dear sister-in-law has a cousin who is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met.  She blogged last Valentine's Day about why she loves the day even though she is very single and plans on remaining so for quite awhile.  It dripped with wisdom beyond her years.

I've heard many married friends say, "We celebrate our love every day so I don't really care about Valentine's Day."  To each his own I guess!  For me however,  I get giddy just thinking about a specific day just to dwell on the precious gift of love God has given to us as a couple.

This year, my girls and I decided that one day was not quite enough time to get in our full celebration.  Decorations are already coming out and gears are spinning as I look for ways to show my husband how much I love him and how thankful I am to be married to him. 

This is also a priceless time to teach my daughters God's love for us, God's design for marriage, the joy of sharing true love and the beauty of waiting for God's plan to bring it about in each of their own lives.  Even though this holiday isn't really "about them" they say it is one of their favorites.

If you come to our house these days, you will see hearts.  Lots and lots of hearts.  I encourage you, no matter how much you "daily celebrate your love", to appreciate the beautiful gift God has given us and truly find a way to show how thankful we are for the gift of love.

These Days....

These days, everyone is sick.

These days, it's runny noses non-stop.

These days, Mommy feels like nothing gets done.



These days, my babies just want to be held.

These days, I get to kiss feverish heads all day long.

These days, a day doing "nothing" feels like priceless work.

These days, there is nowhere in the world I would rather be.