It's been a while

Good morning friends! I'm so proud of myself..I did the dishes at 7am this morning AND I did them before I had my coffee! Weird. Doing the dishes has to be the #1 chore that I hate the most. Coming in 2nd..laundry.

So yesterday God shared the most beautiful sky! So I took a picture :) I love when God shows beauty like that. I love to just look out the window and admire He's creation. Anyways, I'm feeling blessed this morning.




Today's cleaning day for me. I'll let you know how it goes lol. Better get started now or it's just not gonna happen.

Food Family Faith

Well this eating healthy is going great! I really love seeing all the colors in veggies and fruit...makes is more delicious to me. Tonight I'm going to make Greek Caponata again. So good!

My Breakfast


It's raining and the kids are sleeping. This is nice :) We went to the park earlier while the sun was still out. I had 3 cups of coffee this morning, and I'm still shaking (too much caffeine). I just got off the phone with my sister Courtney..had a great talk about life and family. Thank God for sisters! Speaking of family..my parents could use a heavy dose of prayer. Some of you may know that my Mom has had Multiple Sclerosis for 30+ years now and it's really getting tough for her and Dad to carry. She's been dealing with MRSA and bladder infections, so you can imagine the stress that it's taking on her body as well as her spirit. Dad too carry's this stress not to mention his heart disease. You know the saying "when it rains it pours?" well it's pouring down right now. I could mention lots of other little things that are currently piling on top of them...and then I'd say Geez..what's next?! I don't know how they do it. What would we do without Jesus? I'm so thankful, that when we can't find peace in this world, we can always rest in the arms of our heavenly Father. There's no greater love than the love he gives. Just talking to him brings me comfort. He never promised us a life without struggles and pain. Just like our own parents couldn't promise this. But he promises to love us unconditionally..and he'll never give us more than we can bare. When times are tough it's so important to look within our spiritual strength. It's easy to give up when we feel so weak.

Then I'm reminded of a song by JJ Heller titled Your Hands.

Here's the link PLEASE go listen to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlL8LayF0uw

Here's the lyrics:

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
That You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crookedly lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

When You walked upon the Earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know You hate to see me cry
One day You will set all things right
Yea, one day You will set all things right

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

Your hands
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave You when...

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave...
I never leave Your hands

Don't you just love that song?? It's a big favorite of mine.
Please take a minute and pray for my parents and your loved ones. It breaks my heart to see them go through these struggles. They have an amazing testimony that just keeps growing and I'm thankful for that.

Another day another dollar

Today's menu was...

Breakfast: Coffee with a banana and strawberry's

Snack: Almonds

Lunch: Roasted Potatoes, celery with peanut butter, and grapes

Dinner: Salad full of lots of veggies, almonds.

I DID GOOD!! YAY! :D This is me making a food log.

Great day..SOLD my car! Enjoy it Cameron :) So yeah..we're a one car family now. It'll be different, but I'm fine with that for now. Well..because I'll be the one with the car most of the time lol. Paul will be buying a bike tomorrow. That's right. Bike to work! By car we're only 3 min. away from his office so it won't take him long. Honestly..I wouldn't mind selling the other car now. I'd like a van. That's right, ya heard me.

I get to see my sisters this weekend!! They both live out of town. We'll be celebrating my Dad's birthday. :) Hope it'll work out all right cause Anna's sick, and now Samuel's getting a runny nose. Oh joy. We're watching Babe right now. You know the movie with the pig. The kids are lovin' it.

Can I just say that I'd like for the olympics to be over already. They're cool n all, but I'd like to see some of the shows like parks and recreation and the office.

I'm excited to go to church this Sunday. The Invisible Children Legacy tour is stopping at the wherehouse. Jacob, a former child soldier, will be there to share his story. It will be an incredible Sunday! You should come! 9am or 11am at Northpointe Church in the wherehouse building.

peace.

Veggies!

Tonight I made myself a tasty meal. I love bruschetta and asparagus!
So I'm off to a rocky start with my healthy new lifestyle..BUT these things take time. I can say that I'm eating lots of fresh food..and yes, I have eaten some junk here and there. I just need to create "good" habits. I made my kids try a bite of the asparagus..they still hate it. Boo.

My Dinner

Photo Fun

Still learning how to work the camera..but who cares! :) I'm having fun. Here's some photos I took today.













Overexposed..but still cute :)


Always save the best for last. I love this face.

A little booger never hurt anybody

Remember being a kid and discovering the fun stuff in your nose? Sure you do. Question..what did you do with the fun stuff? And don't lie and say you used the kleenex. Did you eat it, flick it, or wipe it on something? My kids like to make art with it on the walls. Yes, I'm aware that this is a gross blog :) I'm just tired of scrubbing crusty boogers off the walls, so I thought I'd vent about it here. Lucky you :) I tend to find them right above their beds. Isn't that special.
I remember a while back Paul and I were putting the kids to bed, and Anna was picking her nose. Paul asked her if she needs a tissue. She simply says; "No thanks Daddy, I'll just put it on the wall." Well that's juuuust great.

My kids make nose picking a part of bed time. I'm being honest here. In fact almost every night one or both of them come out of bed to inform us that they have a booger. They keep it safe on their finger for us see it, and grab it. OR it just joins the others on the wall. Oh, and there's always the boogers on the blankee. Fun.


Another Day is my son's world

Slice Chop Toss

Tonight I made a delicious Greek Caponata recipe minus the eggplant. I hate eggplant. Anyway, it's one of Giada's recipes..and oh it was so good! It's kinda like an Italian version of the French Ratatouille. And because this was my first time making this dish, I HAD to eat it with the toasted sourdough bread..yum. Still taste great without the bread though :) bye bye bread..you make me bloated..I now shall resist you!

My Greek Caponata




Giada's Greek Caponata Recipe

Ingredients

* 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with their juice
* 2 zucchini, cut into 1-inch rounds
* 2 summer squash, cut into 1-inch rounds
* 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
* 1 large Japanese eggplant, cut into 1-inch rounds
* 1 red onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch wedges
* 1 potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 4 to 6 slices toasted sourdough bread, optional for main dish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Pour the canned tomatoes into a 3 1/2-quart baking dish and spread to cover the bottom. In a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients (excluding the bread). Toss to coat. Pour the vegetables over the canned tomatoes in an even layer. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the edges of the vegetables are golden, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Serve alone as a side, or over toasted sourdough bread for a main dish.

Life's not a dress rehearsal

Some of you may know that I'm desperately trying to change my lifestyle. It's been a little rocky, but good for the most part.

Along with my weekly commitments to working out and taking my vitamins, I'm also trying to eat only veggies, fruit, beans, potato, brown rice, nuts, eggs, and maybe fish. I've never been a big meat eater, so eliminating meat won't be a problem for me. Guess that would make me a semi vegetarian. And dairy products have never settled well with my stomach..BUT I refuse to give up my coffee creamer. That's my one treat :) If I have any dairy it may be ranch dip or something like that. For now anyway :)

I've already notice a big difference in the way my body feels when I eat fresh. And I notice how crappy I feel when I don't. Duh :)

You might be thinking that this a "diet" I'm trying. It's not. I would LOVE to live this way forever! To only eat food grown from God's good earth..and keep it fresh (not in a box) is what was intended for us. This is also a spiritual approach for me. The idea that our body is a temple, and how we're suppose to keep it pure and so on. Not sure how extreme I'll get with this. I'm just ready for a change, and I want to set a good example for my kids, along with living longer!!

I've heard there's book called "You are what you eat" and I'm going to buy it. Curious what I might learn from all this!

Here's my yummy lunch

Yesterday

Valentine's Day was pretty cool.

We had heart shaped pancakes with Mmmm coffee, M&M's for a snack, baked a pink cake, went to the park, had home made burritos, sipped some corona with lime, ate the cake, Paul and kids built a huge train track, watched an old movie called Sneakers (from the 90's), then sweet slumber by midnight. Good day :)

Currently..I'm watching Paul and the kids put together a newly bought kids picnic table :) Pretty cute.

Today we shall finish are taxes!!! YAY for refunds! Thank you Jesus :)
Can't wait to pay off some lame debt. Hoping that this year we can seriously crack down and get more than half of that yuck paid off! Thinking we might sell a car too.

Aaaanyways... We almost attempted to dive out of town for the day..mountains or beach. The kids wanted to see their cousins in Bakersfield. Better make a trip there soon.

Well friends, enjoy this beautiful holiday..hope you're not working and just relaxing. :)


Sam loves to pick his nose with his nigh night blankee

Here comes the sun

Hello Friends!
Well, I've been off here for awhile and here's why...

So we moved into our new house on Feb 1st and didn't get internet set up until last Wednesday. Not having internet was both good and extremely annoying. It's was a healthy break anyway :)

We are finally unpacked! What's left to do? Hang family pictures, finish the kids room, organize closets, and give the yard lots of love. We're loving it though! I'm gonna cross fingers and hope that the NEXT time we move (cause with us there's always a next) we'll buy a house. But hey..we only pay $895 here..sooo I'll be happy to take what we got for now. The kids are enjoying it!

It's been awesome having the park just around the block. We had a picnic their yesterday. Aren't picnic's fun?! It's like an adventure when you're a kid. Anna was pumped :)


Oh! Here's something.. So last Thursday our washing machine decided to flood our hall way. Yep. Welcome to the new house! And of course it happen like around 7pm. Paul quickly rented a steam vac to suck up all the water, and my Dad (bless his heart) came down from Madera to help and bring his big floor fan. Bedtime quickly became midnight. We had that fan blowing non-stop for like 4 days. Here's hoping that the carpet/pad dried up completely.

Valentines Day... My opinion..it's for single people and kids. When you're married, everyday should be Valentines Day.
We never do presents, and hardly dates since the kids came along. Which Paul and I are totally fine with. We make it a family thing. Nothing big. I think we'll pick a recipe we haven't tired and stay home and cook together, and bake some pink and red goodies with the kids.

So I've been taking more pictures..playing with the camera..and learning a bit more :) Not sure that this will turn into a job or anything..I just want to have fun. Soon I'll be taking some shots of some friends in some cool places. The feeling of capturing a moment just fills me up. Everybody needs a hobby or two! I still would love to start massage therapy school. Hope that happens this summer. BUT for now things are just the way I like them to be, and I'm happy. Here's some recent pictures.

Ashley Joy Wuth




Kaedyn McNamara

Sunrise..Sunset

Man do the days seem to be going by fast lately. I'm pretty sure I feel this way every year..the same time of year..right after Christmas has passed. Time..what an interesting subject. Do I like clocks? No. They make me anxious and sometimes irritated. I'd rather let the sun tell me when to get up, and the moon when to rest. Not some tick, tock, tick, tock. Clocks are everywhere! They're sneaky. There's one in almost every room. Always there to remind you. The kitchen is clock crazy. There's one on your microwave, the oven, the coffee pot, the wall! Time is the head of every house. When I was in Africa..there was always time for any and everything..Not clock time..just time. Just the day, the night, and fellowship. I miss that.

Turn...and point

So Anna LOVED her dance class last night! She melted my heart as I watched her glow with excitement. She was dancing in the lobby..the teachers thought it was too cute. Let's just say she was ready to begin! She noticed trophies everywhere, and asked the teacher if she will get one after class was over. It was pretty funny.
When we got home Paul and I asked her to show us what she had learned..and omg we almost got teary-eyed watching are little girl demonstrate heel..toe..heel..toe..turn..point..turn..point.. and so on. I couldn't help but think of her as a baby in my arms... it was in my arms that I dreamed of her being this age and doing dances. I just can't believe that it's actually happening! So of course I had to post some pics of the special day..enjoy :)

Twinkle Toes

My little Anna Banana is so pumped for tonight's dance class! Last night we bought her dance clothes and tap and ballet shoes. She put everything on and instantly put on a show for us. She's too cute to watch! I remember being a little girl..I was in tap, jazz, ballet, and gymnastics. Speaking of my little angel darling..here's some photo's I took yesterday.

Rise and Shine

Proverbs 27
14 A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning
will be taken as a curse!

If I knew that this verse existed when I was a teenager, I would have posted it on my bedroom door for my Mother to see. Many mornings I was woken up with the door swinging open and my Mom would smile and sing; "Goooood MORRRinnng!" "You better get UUUuuup!"
(I love you Mom)

Speaking of love. The hubby made me coffee and served it to me in bed = Glorious!

Today is Multitude Monday.
At the moment I'm thankful for:

God's Grace
Proverbs :)
My hubby
My little darlings
Good company
Cupcakes
Coffee in bed
The sun peaking through my window
Vitamins
Music that fills the soul
Fresh flowers
My computer
Blankee to comfort my baby

If you want to join the gratitude community, click on the button below, add your name and share your list with others!


Well Paul has today off, so that means today we have a lot to do. We're moving for the 7th time to a house near Polk and Herndon on Feb 1st. Not buying, just renting. Sooo we have much to get done this week. I'm so excited! Sharing walls is no fun. Our neighbors are very loud.

Paul and I are currently hip-to-hip in bed on our computers :) I'm blogging, he's watching a coldplay concert. Correction. Samuel is now between us. And hello Anna..thank you for 5 pages of scribbles. Anna says; "Here Mom, here's your listes (lists)." Now she wants us to read them. Hmm, I'll try. We asked her what's it about. Apparently it's about a fish for bath time. And one is about a map to get to the waterfall. Another is about Ethan and Hunter (her friends). She's now asking if we can do all these listes. Yesterday she told Paul; "Daddy I'm gonna make your listes because I know you like them." And the imagination continues. I love this...I love having us all on the bed in the morning.

Something for me... Today I want to experiment with photography...I think I might enjoy this very much.

TGIF

I was thankful that Sam woke me up this morning WITHOUT poop in his diaper.

For those of you that don't know already..I'm a die hard fan of The Office. But most importantly, I love Dwight Schrute. Last night's episode was too funny with all the flash backs. If you missed it, watch it on hulu.

Another TV show I love is Parks and Recreation...Why? Because Amy Poehler is my favorite and that's how I roll.

Grey's Anatomy used to be my favorite. It's still a good show..but I'm a stay-at-home Mom so I need comedy.

So has anyone else gained 10 pounds? Nevermind. Now I'll share with you a family recipe. My absolute favorite!

Momma's Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:
1 stead (tenderized sirloin)
Sliced mushrooms
2 cans tomato soap
2 cloves garlic (I use about 4)
12oz sour cream
Worcestershire sauce
Spaghetti noodles

Instructions:
Cut meat into small pieces and coat in flour, salt and pepper. Heat skillet with oil, low temp. put meat in skillet and brown on all sides. Add soups, garlic and mushrooms (add up to 1 can water if too thick) and simmer for 35 minutes, stir often, covered pan. Add sour cream and 6 splashes of Worcestershire, mix well, let cook another 10 minutes, continuous stirring.
Serve with french bread and salad. YUMMY!

If I actually make it outside today, I think I'll just have to go buy this stuff for dinner. :)
The kids and I are still sick, but better. I haven't wanted to take us out anywhere because of it..but we're all cranky and stir crazy!

Here's something fun! Anna will be starting a tap/ballet class Tuesday evenings. She's such a little entertainer here at home. She's always talking about being a dancer or an actor. Just like her Mommy! So we're totally excited, and I can't wait for her to have this outlet, cause she's not in preschool, and she's desperate for girl friends her age. I'll be sure to post pictures once she starts.

Here we go

The children are running in circles, I'm drinking peace in a cup (coffee), and it's raining..again. The good cartoons are already over, so I'm guessing I have about 2 minutes before I'm interrupted.

"Hi Sam." :0) "No you cannot have another snack." Interruption complete. 2 minutes is overrated.

You'll quickly learn that I'm a lover of the .........

Not much on my list to do today. Well...I should probably shower. The kids and I have been sick with the flu...I know, yucky. I need to kick this in the butt because there's lots to do this week and the next! Looks like it's lunch time, so off I go.

I'm hoping to give a daily dish of life on here or at least once a week. So dig in once a while :)