Our family trip to sunshine

The real Lords prayer

There is just so much i want. but only one thing i need. One thing that will satisfy the deepest longing. Jesus. I want him. All of him. But what does he want from me?

Jesus prays for himself in John chapter 17. He prays the "real Lords prayer". You see his heart, and his love for his children. He wants our hearts. He wants us to do what we were in truly made to do! To worship him! Heartfelt worship. vs 1-5. Evangelism and edification of the saints. He talks about in verses. 6-10 make disciples and encourage believers to grow, to change and to learn and meditate on the word! And to do what it says! He wants his disciples to to be vigilant and ready, because the world will hate them. But he wants us to be progressively holy. He wants us to be sober minded and watchful so that when the trials and persecution come it won't rock our world. ( Peter 5:8)
Verse 24...i will quote. It is that good!! "Father i want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." This is why he died. This is what he desires more than anything, that we would be with him in glory. This is my desire. To spend more time with him.... and in the word.{ It is truth. It is life and it is power.}
Jesus is speaking of heavenly longing! Lastly, in verse 25 He is saying to us to Love like Christ. "that my love would be in my disciples." This is also my desire.

Air Zoo

The boys and i decided to take an impromptu field trip to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo with Sarah (my sister) and Amy! Admission is free, they have alot of hands-on activities, flight simulators, and rides. This is Ethan walking in...He LOVED IT. Levi didn't really know what to think. (I didn't have time to mess with my camera's lighting settings so they are a little blurry.) Helicopter ride

Guns....Ethan magnet!

Turbo Jet engine.

This one's for daddy!

The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" (The fastest man made aircraft ever made)

My cleaning neccesities

Micro-fiber rags Baking soda is a nice abrasive for cleaning the sinks and shower, and it's CHEAP, pure and natural! (I also use it to get scuff marks off of walls and doors)

I bought this Simple green concentrate at Sam's for like 8 bucks and it lasts FOVEVER.

This stuff is awesome because its CHEAP, smells really good and safe to use around kids! We use it to clean pretty much everything...I have 3 squirt bottles that i keep around the house to clean everything from the kitchen counters to the shower, floors, furnature and whatever else i feel like! (it only takes less than an inch of concentrate and the rest of the bottle is water!) Side note: When Bill was in the marines they used this stuff to clean their rifles! Like i said. Safe and effective! As you can see i dropped this bottle and broke the nozzle off. Oh well i have like 5 more! hehe
This little guy is also pretty handy. I think i paid under 10 dollars for it and it came with 2 washable pads. I get the pad wet with warm water, wring it out and spray my cleaner (simple green) right on the pad, and i'm good to go!

Hope you enjoyed my favorite cleaning products, what are yours? Happy cleaning!

*SNOW* Cones!

Here's a fun winter treat that is fun to make and VERY yummy! (it tastes like ice cream and probably a lot less calories!)
Ingredients:
Pure white sparkling CLEAN snow (roughly 8 cups- Use a LARGE bowl!
Mix following ingredients together in a separate bowl and add to the snow:

1/4 cup milk (we added a little more)
1/2 cup sugar
A few drops of food coloring-ethan chose blue of course!
1 tsp. flavoring. (we used vanilla and LOVED it!)

Next time i am going to try strawberry or watermelon and Red food coloring for valentines day....Ethan (and his friend Jonah) LOVED it!
We finished it off with some SPRINKLES!

Rubber band gun & spiderman

Here's a typical day, shooting each other with guns! Levi chasing Ethan (spiderman) with ethan's rubber-band gun. He just looked so dang cute!

Tuesday

Weather:
Cold and slushy.
Things that make me happy:
Taking care of my family, seeing my boys play together nicely, family dinners, and coffee. kids afternoon nap time and a quiet house.
Books I'm reading:
Having a Mary heart in a martha world by Joanna Weaver, Same kind of different as me by Ron hall and denver moore-(which i highly recommend) my bible.
What's on my TV today:
Nada.
On the Menu for dinner:
Leftover Chile, bread and probably some kind of salad
On my to-do list:
menu plan, grocery shop, and spend some quality time as a family tonight.
Recipe i want to try soon:
Vienna bread.
Dinners i make on a regular basis...maybe a little too regular...
Fajitas, pizza, enchilada's, parmesan chicken, Chicken cordon bleu. sandwiches.
Tip:
Static hair? grab a dryer sheet and wipe your hair down, works PERFECT for me after using my straightener.
My new blog discovery:

http://mealplanningmommies.blogspot.com/

Things

It's a new year. Here are a few things i am going to try really hard to do in this new chapter of my life.

1. Spending money carefully. and only using cash to do it. (this one is hard for me!)

2. Spend quality time with God daily and digging into the word.

3. Letting the holy spirit lead me in every aspect of my life.

4. Letting go of the things in my life that i cannot change. ( my past, my body, my family etc.) and working on the things i can change....also hard for me.

5. Being very careful what comes out of my mouth. (Is it edifying and uplifting? does it have the power to heal or to destroy?)

6. Spending more time with my man. Encouraging and praying for him.

7. I want to try to be more strategic with grocery shopping and meal planning.

8. Contentment... This is where God has me RIGHT NOW. This season of my life. poopy diapers and long days at home. I need to love it and embrace it. I am so blessed.

Spiced Pecans

Ok, so one of my friends posted this recipe. It is AWESOME. seriously. you can't stop eating them. Thought i would share it.


1 egg white (wisked until frothy)
Add in 1 lb (4 cups) pecan halves. Stir until coated.
Add 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp salt/

Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake them at 350 for about 20 minutes. Turn half way through. ENJOY these wonderful little holiday delights!

~*Christmas tree hunting*~

This is one of my favorite part of the holidays. Cutting down a tree and decorating it! Saturday we put on our snow gear and took off on our family adventure. Screw the fake tree in the box in the storage room. Let's go freeze our butts off and pay $25! No, I love the look and smell of the real deal. It is not christmas until your floor is covered in pine needles and tinsel! Not to mention the smell of fresh pine! A few things we learned this year. 1...Bring enough warm clothes for the kids on the tree finding journey. 2. Make sure everyone (including myself) uses the restroom before the hike!!! that was interesting to say the least. 3. Don't forget to take the tree off the top of the truck before driving into the garage. Luckily, We survived. And so did the tree!!!
Afterwards we went to Red Robin, our fav burger joint, and ate our FREE ((big huge greasy 90- million calorie)) birthday burgers. They were freaking awesome to say the least. sidenote: RR has the BEST campfire sauce! Have a blessed holiday season! :::

Fun weekend at the cabin

A few snapshots of the boys at grandpa and grandma's cabin up north....

Pumpkin Bread

1-15 oz. can pumpkin
1- 1/2 c brown sugar
1 stick butter, softened
3 eggs, beaten
3-4 cups flour
2 T baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 c. chopped walnuts (ethan likes chocolate chips)
Combine pumpkin, brown sugar, butter and eggs until creamy. Mix in the dry ingrediends Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
Makes 2 loaves

Fall Tip: Dip your pumpkins in bleach water to prevent mold, and they will last alot longer!

Pasties

When the weather starts getting cold, there is nothing quite like a warm pastie right out of the oven. This is my mom's recipe, I made it the other day and it brought back so many memories! Memories of Fall. Good memories of my dad and hunting for rabbits with him in our backyard. memories of my mom's kitchen. This recipe has a buttery flaky crust that is to-die-for!
I like dipping mine in ketchup.

Pasties:

Brown 1lb ground beef in a skillet. When the meat is starting to brown throw in one chopped onion.
Season with salt and pepper and some minced garlic.
Remove from heat and add chopped carrots, diced potatoes, turnips or parsnips. set aside in a separate bowl.

Pastry crust:

Mix together 3 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar. Cut in 2 sticks of butter, and add 1 cup cold water. Blend with a pastry blender. Roll out on a heavily floured counter and cut into squares. Place your meat in the middle of the square and fold over into a triangle. Dip a fork into flour and press along the edges of the dough to seal it. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.

For the love of Lindy...and really cool pink porta potty's

Well i ran my very first 5k this saturday.
What a great time. There were alot of people there. It was powerful and exilerating to see literally thousands of women running together, supporting each other and standing together. Well running rogether. It was a blast. Lindy we love you! and we can't wait to run with you next year! Amy even let me spray her hair pink!

Also, i had to add a few pictures of the porta potty's. They were awesome. I loved them.