my blessed life

Right now we are in Tennessee. Vince spoke at a church in the Lawrenceburg area today and we had a great time visiting friends here that we don't often see. On the way here Saturday night we even stopped in our former *hometown* in Alabama to have dinner with a couple of friends there. It's always wonderful to see friends who are far away. I hadn't really planned to take a real Spring Break from our school work this year, but it has worked out that way after all. And it's a good thing! I think we need it this year especially. Today we are getting up super early and driving to Huntsville, Alabama to take the kiddos to the US Space & Rocket Center. We're all excited! We've taken them before, but they were much younger and really don't remember it. Since we were so close, we thought it would be fun to go~especially since The Princess' birthday is this week and she has been mentioning wanting to go for a while now. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursd...

This week kicked off with some educational fun in the kitchen. Our family enjoys watching the Food Network~especially shows like Cupcake Wars, Chopped and Iron Chef America. So my kids are totally into the whole idea of competition and judging. Sunday night they decided to create their own *dishes*. It was so fun watching them get creative and come up with their own things. It was also great to watch them help each other and work together in the kitchen. We don't always see teamwork between them at these ages. Mr. B's creation: BBQ potato chips with banana slices topped with hot dog slices with grape tomatoes on the side. One of The Princess' creations: chocolate covered banana slices. These were actually pretty yummy! They completely ate whatever they made though~even if it was *weird*:) On Monday morning they were still inspired so they made breakfast for everyone. I was asked to be the sous chef, so I got to be right in on all of the action. Mr. B cre...

We were definitely *green* for St. Patrick's day! Frankly, you had to be or Mr. B would pinch the dickens out of you:) Here's some of the highlights from our day: ~Green goody bags for the kiddos that included stickers and rainbow sour gummy strips. ~The Princess created a Lego shamrock with gold (above) . ~Green fruit smoothies (thank you, food coloring)! ~Leprechaun paper dolls ( found here ). These were a big hit! ~We had a delicious dinner of corned beef with veggies and Irish soda bread--so good! We ate it so quickly I forgot to take photos (sorry). ~Finally we wrapped up our day with a fruit rainbow ( idea found here ): We began with fruit in all the colors of the rainbow, bananas for our pot o'gold and mini marshmallows for the clouds. It was fun making it together! And it turned out GREAT! We gobbled that rainbow up very quickly:) It was another fun St. Patrick's day for us. I have so much fun finding creative ideas for ways to celebrate the holidays here ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you! We've got a few fun things planned today and I'm looking forward to them. We're going to kick the day off with fruit smoothies....green ones, that is (thanks to food coloring:)! Then in the afternoon I'm planning this fruit rainbow for a snack (I got the inspiration from here). We'll wrap up our evening with a good Irish dinner of corned beef and veggies...including potatoes, of course. We made this last year and it was a hit, so I'm sticking with the same recipe . And if I decide I have the time I may even whip this up for dessert. I mean, since we already have Girl Scout Thin Mints and all.... After all that....it's workout time! I'd love to hear how you and your family are celebrating!

We had this the other night~I hadn't made it in years, but it was as good as I remembered! Have you ever tried it? Broccoli Cornbread 1 stick butter 4 large eggs 1 medium onion, chopped fine 2 pkgs. corn muffin mix (like Jiffy) 12 oz. cottage cheese 1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen chopped broccoli, thawed ***** Heat oven to 375F. In a 9x13 pan, melt the stick of butter in the oven while mixing the following ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the eggs, onion, cottage cheese, muffin mix and broccoli until well mixed. Then add the melted butter to the mixture, but don't scrape the baking pan~leave a little butter in to keep the cornbread from sticking. Stir again until ingredients are combined. Pour into baking pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 30-40 minutes. This can be frozen and reheated.

0321. daffodils 0322. the feeling of relief 0323. forgiveness 0324. watching my kiddos be creative in the kitchen 0325. hope 0326. fresh Spring breezes coming through the open window 0327. hanging out at our favorite book store 0328. playing at the park with my family 0329. silliness and fun 0330. wonderful friends for my children

Well, here we are at Monday again, planning our menus! I just need to say it once more: I don't know how I existed so long with out my weekly menu plans~they are such a lifesaver. Now if I could only start doing the monthly plan thing...I'd really be cooking (pun intended) ! Last week's meals went well, although I didn't get around to the crepes because we got home too late from our little road trip . We also didn't have Cincinnati Chili ...scheduling conflicts:) But the beans & cornbread , dirty rice w/sausage and poppy seed chicken were all good! The kids especially loved the poppy seed chicken. I'm always glad to find another dish that they like during this picky phase of their lives. This week brings us a couple of fun days to celebrate: Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day. For Pi Day we'll be joining our homeschool group at the park for some math-related fun and some circular snacks:) On St. Patty's day we'll have the tradi...