(And All My) Work Be Praise

As you've heard me say repeatedly, from September to May, the kids and I all attend Bible Study Fellowship . I can't say enough good things about it, for myself and for the children. Go check out the website, and make plans to attend a welcome class the second week of September in whatever city you reside! (Just note that you can't take your kids the first time you go.) While it's nice to have a few months off from getting somewhere at 9am with all of the children reasonably well-dressed (other than church), the schedule does  leave me without any set Bible study plan for the summer. In various past years, I've used this devotional  of Psalms, Proverbs, and the New Testament, usually choosing a book or two at random to read slowly over the summer months. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this Bible reading plan , the Gospel of John, broken up into sections appropriate for elementary-aged children. Levi reads at about a third-grade level at least (we think),...

So, about this whole baby announcement . I'm due December 26, making me ten weeks along today. I'm feeling about like most women do at ten weeks: tired, not great, but most likely on my way out of it as second trimester approaches. I have learned a lot from carrying three babies, and I know that as long as I get 90-100 grams of protein a day, spaced out throughout the day, I'll be fine. That sounds like a lot, but since I was shooting for 150g/day at the end of my pregnancy with Silas, it's been pretty easy so far. There are a great number of reasons to be happy about being pregnant right now (and I'm keeping a list in a journal I bought just a few weeks ago, when the emotions of early pregnancy threatened to overwhelm). I lost all of my Silas weight before I got pregnant. Since I've been in the habit of watching what I eat for months, it's been relatively easy to keep doing the same -- I'm just watching the protein number instead of the calorie num...

Before Isaac and I had kids, we occasionally pulled out the bed in our sleeper-sofa and slept in the living room. We don't have a TV in our room, and very, very rarely stay in hotels, so to me it feels like the ultimate luxury to be able to watch a movie while lying in bed. I knew May would be busy, and that our primary babysitter (Isaac's mom) would be out of town for half the month, and therefore getting in an out-of-the-house date night would be tricky. So, I invited Isaac to sleepover in our living room ! (The linked idea is from the Dating Divas , but I merely used the printable invitation and did not do the other things she did.) I included a $10 Kroger gift card in the envelope (leftover from a previous P&G diaper study ) so that we could stock up on snacks without hurting the grocery budget. On Friday afternoon, we stopped by Kroger on our way to a graduation party and picked out our snacks. Back at home, I set up the sleeper couch while he put the boys to bed. ...

I know this couple who is always eating at interesting new restaurants. They take real vacations -- I mean, the kind where you sleep in hotels, and go on your own dime instead of your parents', and don't spend three weeks beforehand panicking that you have enough diapers. They take mini weekend road trips to see fun things, just because the fun things are there. I confess: I covet. Oh, how I covet. It's not that I've ever been particularly cosmopolitan (those of you who are familiar with my hometown can have a good chuckle now) or cared about interesting new restaurants. But I do like a good road trip. I like occasional spontaneity and fun things and sleeping in hotels. (Yes, I know it is possible to go to a hotel with children, but let's be honest: when they're all in pack'n'plays, it just ain't fun.) I am attracted by the idea of having enough time and money and energy and freedom to leave the house for more than 2-3 hours at a time. But here...

What I'm Cooking Homemade pizza. I used the whole wheat pizza crust recipe out of the Bread Machine cookbook , using all freshly ground flour but sifting half of it, and this method for cooking it in my new (birthday present!) giant cast iron skillet. I thought for sure it would stick horribly, since it's my understanding that everything sticks horribly to cast iron the first few times you use it, but Isaac seasoned it well and I buttered it well and the whole pizza just slid right out! I rolled up cheese sticks in the crust to make stuffed crust, then topped with pizza sauce (I'm a Ragu girl), sausage, pineapple, and a generic pizza cheese blend. It's the first time I've been pretty happy with my homemade pizza! Pancake-sausage muffins . Actually, Isaac made these a few weeks ago for his father's group, and I pulled the extras out of the freezer. Creamy chicken and rice casserole . Also pulled from the freezer. It's okay. Needs a lot of salt. Baked ...

Coming approximately December 26, 2013.

Haircut night + popsicle night = diaper-only night. Last summer, a sweet friend from college sent me a Zoku Quick Pop maker. I'd never heard of it before, but popsicles and kids seem to go hand-in-hand, so I gratefully accepted her gift (her very generous gift, I now discover, having looked it up on Amazon!). What with having a new baby in June and all, I never got around to using it last summer. This week, with our highs in the upper 80s, it was time! The product review: it really is as fantastic as it looks. Freeze for 24 hours initially, drop the sticks in, pour in your ingredients, and in less than 10 minutes, you have popsicles. Super easy to extract as well. Two thumbs up! Popsicles freezing before your very eyes. The popsicle review: great texture, not great taste. I made this recipe for orange creamsicles , and they were a big tangier than I generally prefer. Lots of room for improvement, though, and we -- at least the adults! -- are looking forward to ...

Nestled on the kitchen shelf with the popcorn and basmati rice. I am not an exceptional pray-er. Never have been. I wish I could tell you that having children has driven me to my knees more than ever, and in truth it should  have, but it hasn't -- or, at least, not to the extent I'd like it to. We pray as a family at bedtime, but that tends to be more simplistic, "thanks for this day" type of stuff. It's a tricky business, then, to teach one's children something one does not do well themselves. I first saw the idea for a prayer jar on Pinterest , but it wasn't until a friend posted the same idea on my Facebook wall that I decided to follow through. The picture she posted was much, much cuter -- painted terra cotta or something equally crafty -- but I'm all about using what I have in the moment (an old applesauce jar, construction paper, packing tape, a Sharpie, and some leftover colored craft sticks from another failed project). We have sixteen ...

What I'm Cooking Lemon-Lime Squares  (with apologies that this links to a video and not the whole recipe; it was taken from a magazine). My mother-in-law requested these for Mother's Day. I'd prefer to stick with simple lemon, but she loved the addition of lime, so I guess it was a success! Chocolate granola bars . These are extremely high in calories, but I love them! I use coconut oil in place of the butter. I keep them in the fridge and just nibble off little bits when I need a snack. Buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake . Actually, Isaac made this for me, as my Mother's Day breakfast. It used to be one of my favorites, but I think I actually like this version better these days. The rest of the week was rather hodge-podge, and this coming week will be as well, with Isaac at a conference for half the week. What I'm Reading Well . . . nothing, really. Silas isn't nursing much anymore, and I haven't made time to read regularly outside of that. I di...

If option A was toddler-cide, than option B had to be going outside to splash in puddles. Naps were either incredibly insufficient or non-existent on a day when the mama really  needed one (and, in fact, she may have fallen asleep during the fourth game of Chutes & Ladders). Mr. "I'm three and three-quarters but soon I'll be four" forgot who's in charge around here and we quoted Philippians 2:14 about a hundred times during lunch. With an hour left until Daddy got home, there was no choice but to vacate the bad-attitude-infested walls. And when they looked up at me all wide-eyed and practically whispered, "can we dance in the puddle?!", what else was I to say? Shoes dry. Pants can be washed. The best puddles, of course, were grouped like the Great Lakes in the busiest street corner of the neighborhood. It was so very Wayne's World : I'd call out, "CAR!" and it would echo, Levi then Owen, "Car! Car!" and the...

I don't have time for a full report this weekend, so let me just do a quick run-down of what's happening in my kitchen today: Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos  (for the freezer) Homemade sunscreen  -- an experiment Coconut lotion bars  -- also an experiment, cooling in silicone muffin molds right now. Wishing I had some essential oil other than lavender for scent (not being particularly drawn to tea tree or eucalyptus for lotion, the other two oils I keep on hand) Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal (a triple batch for the freezer) I'm still waiting on a shipment from Amazon (of dried calendula petals and bentonite clay), but up next in the "experiment" department will be calendula salve (because we have angry wasps on our deck) and a new deodorant recipe (one without  coconut oil, so that it won't melt in the summer heat). I always feel a little guilty when I don't have anything to blog about: not because I'm concerned about building a big, money-...