Where oh where did my enchiladas go?

During lent our church serves dinner before the church service. The whole church works together to bring different item for these dinners. This Wednesday it was enchilada night. I usually bring something every Wednesday and this time it was a big pan of enchiladas. Yum! Now I do not want to brag but I can cook pretty well. After the ladies served everyone we opened the ovens and there were my wonderful enchiladas. I was thrilled because I would not have to cook Thursday night. We enjoyed them Thursday evening for dinner. But low and behold a half of a pan of enchiladas were left. They would go so nicely with a big salad for Friday at lunch. Plus my husband would also be able to take some for his lunch.
I was not home last night. My daughter had dance and I took her there then I drove to town for choir. This morning my husband called me to tell me about the happenings in our house last night. He said, "The enchiladas are gone." "Oh?", I said. Then I heard about how our third child, Constence, got some grapes out the fridge last night before bed. It seems that she did not get the door shut all of the way. So, while Birk and the children were in the living room the dog, Toby, pulled out the pan and enjoyed. Can you believe it? He ate my enchiladas. Birkley told me that if he (Toby) asks to go out I better let him out quickly. My husband is still holding a grudge against the dog. Lets just hope Toby does not figure out how to open the fridge.

DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Barb had this on her blog and I thought it was so cool. But of couse she is one of the coolest gals.

Birthday parties

My oldest son has his birthday party last Saturday on the 10th. The boys had fun playing together and the Dads had fun visiting with each other. As you can see from the cake he had a race car theme going. I love to decorate cakes for my children's birthdays.
This is Tristen just before he blew out his candles. He is very proud to be eight years old.
Little Constence who will turn 5 tomorrow had her party on Saturday. So that meant two parties in my house with in 8 days. My house was clean for a whole week. This cake took a little bit of time to make. I was not able to start baking the cake until 7PM and then I was up until 11 finishing it. I had made the pony hair a few days earlier. It is made out of sugar, water, corn syrup and pink food coloring. I then cooked it until it was at the soft crack stage. Then I had to form each strand of pony hair. It sure did turn out nice.
Here I am with Constence before all of the little guests arrived. This was her first birthday party with friends.
Finally, our new couch, chair and ottoman were delivered last Friday. We had never bought a couch before because people in the family had always given us hand me downs. This past month our recliner broke and we decided it was time to buy real furniture. I think that the leather will last a lot longer than cloth. Our dog is trained well enough that he will not be getting on it. My husband and I are still helping the kids to remember not to put there shoes on it or to cut paper on the couch. We did buy the five year protect plan so if anything does happen it can be fixed. I really like the wood feet on the bottom and the rolled arms. It is traditional with looking to stuffy.

Chocolate anyone?

I know that just a few chocolate lovers may read my blog. So please be careful not to drool onto your keyboards. Our 4-H group went on a wonderful field trip today. We were able to go into the production building of Baker's Chocolate. They produce a very high quality chocolate in this building and I can say that it is very creamy and has a wonderful taste. This is the machine that the melted chocolate is pumped onto and then it is quickly cooled down.
Here is where the chocolate is sliced and diced then covered with a very creamy melt in your mouth chocolate. The inner chocolate is harder and that is what they add the flavor to.
Pre-coated chocolates. Yum!
Constence is looking into a large box of chocolate. Does anyone need a chocolate fix?
These are the final products before they are wrapped. Of course we did not leave without buying any of their delicious goodies. I pick up some champagne dark chocolate raspberry meltaways and some milk chocolate raspberry meltways. Wouldn't you know it, my two daughter like the dark chocolate. You can click on the title to go to their web page.

I already knew this

Your Personality is Somewhat Common (ISFJ)

Your personality type is stubborn, conservative, trustworthy, and caring. About 13% of all people have your personality, including 18% of all women and 7% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

I saw this quiz on one of my friend's bogs. It seems to be true in picking my personality. What about you?

He's home

My dear husband made it home safe and sound. He rode home with one of his friends who lives out of town also. Then his buddy let him drive his truck to our place and my husband will pick him up in the morning.
I think that his buddy's truck looks pretty nice in our driveway. Note how high the snow is on the bumper. He had to bust through drifts up to the headlights. And of course my oldest son is still out there playing. There will be no dance class or choir practice for us tonight.

Super Mommy

Look what I did! I cleared our driveway all the way down to the street. All of the roads are still closed in SE Nebraska. But if they open up later on I know that my husband will drive home to me. His little car would have never been able to drive up the driveway with all of that snow. My arms are going to be hurting tomorrow.

Can you say SNOW?

Here is the lovely view from our front windows in our living room. There is about two feet of snow in our driveway and my dear husband took our little ford escort to work this morning. When he left is was not very bad yet but it sure did pick up. I am now wondering if he will even be able to make to back home tonight. He has about a 30 mile drive to make it home. Maybe he will have to stay over with one of his friends from work. With the winds blowing so hard there are going to be huge drifts and our the road leading to our town is not know for clearing away drifts. I have tried to shovel the area of the driveway where his car will be parked. Hopefully after lunch I might be able to make it a little closer to the street. My arms already feel like Jello.

Here is the view from the back door. It is not very often that we have snow stuck onto our trees. The kids really want to play out in this weather but I am making them wait till the winds die down. I think that I will be making a big pot of warm chili for supper tonight. I just hope my husband will be here to help us eat it.

I can't give it up

This is my favorite food. I could eat popcorn everyday and I would never dull of it. It is perfect you can eat it with your fingers, it's salty, and fun to eat. Popcorn is something that I can not give up for lent. Just looking at the picture makes your mouth water, doesn't it?
This is my famous popcorn pot. It is a heavy cast iron dutch oven and it works wonderfully. All you need is some olive oil and butter in bottom and your good to go. Of course you must salt the crunchy treat after you dump it in a bowl.
And look who has raised their ugly head in my house again. The dreaded sock monster has returned with more power. There was a full scale battle last spring and I was victorious. There remained only a slight remnant and it seems that the remnant grew. I do not know where this monster gains his strength but I must beat the beast.

Oh No!

Whoever would like to see a picture of me big and pregnant needs to check out nanaporcupine (My Mom's blog). She posted a picture of me the day before Wyatt (my fourth) was born.

This little girl

This is my third daughter ,Constence, and is she something else. I do not know if it is because she is the third child or what but she is different then all of the other children. Usually she is a very soft spoken girl and almost whispers. I am constantly telling her that she must speak louder while she is telling of her dreams or about a story she made up. She will talk quietly to herself most of the day and imagine the wonder and exciting things. All she needs is two pony tail holders and their will soon be a adventure happening. But watch out if she if fired up about something because she can be a ball fire. The loudest thing in the house running to and fro. She will laugh so loud and squeal that it makes our ears hurt. Her whole goal in life is to be 14, have braces and talk on the phone. So I guess I better watch out. A few days ago she had a bad dream during the night and talked about for most of the morning. She told her dream to everyone and we were all getting a little sick of it. Suddenly she starts telling me that today she will be praying to God so that she will have good dreams. When a child speaks of such things it helps to let you know that something is sinking in. This morning I was reading her one of her favorite stories and she wanted to know both of the girl's name. Wouldn't you know it, but this story did not give us the name of the main character. It was a beginner reader book. She then decided that she would name the little girl. After a little while she comes into the kitchen and tells me the girl's name. "I named her Sarah, Mommy" she said. "Oh", I said. "Yeah, it's in the bible you know." said Contence. I just smile and finish making the oatmeal.

James won

I must brag about the beautiful springer spaniel that won at Westminster last night. James was just wonderful. I really did not think that he would win. As the judge was looking at all of the dogs a second time he walked right by the springer and did not even look at him. I was very surprised when he won the competition. He is just beautiful without any spots and his markings were beautiful. Does anyone else enjoy dog shows as much as I do?

Vanentine's Day

Wyatt's Birthday party on Sunday was very nice. We had my husband Mother, our friends the Bolin's and our friends the Kuhlman's over for goodies. We had cake, ice cream, brownies, nuts and popcorn. I thought I should have a little more than just cake and ice cream because there were 27 people in all. I was a nice time to visit and watch the little guy open a few gifts.

Today is Valentine's Day and the children are all very excited. They awoke to find a little pack on homemade valentine cookies taped to their door. They were surprised that I let them eat both cookies before breakfast. I knew that I would be making waffle this morning and they always take such a long time. The cookies would then buy me a little time.

Oh Yeah, when I went online my Google home page said that it was -3 degrees. My feet are chilly today.

Super Duper 2 year old

Here is the newly potty trained Wyatt. He really think that he is a super duper. He came up with this word when we bought him his superman underwear. Today he wants to wear his favorite pair outside of his pj's so he looks really super. He also like to wear his cape very day.

Here is a picture of Wyatt when he was only 1 day old. Now little guy is turning two years old. This afternoon we will munch on a large cookie for his small birthday celebration. My friend Leslie sent a gift for him and he has been looking at and wanting to open it all week. He will open that gift today and maybe one small one from us. On Sunday we will have a few family and friends come over for a larger birthday celebration.

Potty training 101

I now have a potty trained 23 month old. We began training 3 weeks ago this Tuesday. The little guy is doing just wonderful and has only had 6 accidents. I thought I would make a list of training hints.

1. There must be a lot of hype leading up to training day. I am talking "super bowl" hype. I started talking about potty training about 2 weeks before we started. We looked at his favorite underwear at the store. We talked about how these underwear could not be dirty and he must keep them clean. All of these discussions were done in a very upbeat and positive way.
2. More hype : we talked about how fun the potty chair would be and he watched older brother and sisters use the potty.
3. The day before we bought a new potty chair for him. (Our old one would be used in the upstairs bathroom but there would be a new one down stairs.) Hey, if $6.99 helps train a boy why not pay the money.
4. We bought the Superman underwear that he had been looking at for a few months at the store. He carried them through the store and we made a huge deal about them being kept clean and dry.
5. He got to the unwrap the potty chair and underwear when we got home.
6. He sat on the potty without a diaper and reminded what would happen when he woke up.
7. Before bed we (he was involved) set out his pile on clean underwear (I always have at least 12 pair on the back on the toilet) and we also got both potty chairs in position and ready.
8. Right before he went to bed, we went to the bathroom and looked at the potty. We put his favorite superman underwear by the potty and I told him that tomorrow he would not ware any more diapers. He would go pee on the potty as soon as he woke up in the morning. After that he would get to wear his underwear.
9. I made him repeat the words I just said, "Tomorrow I will not wear diapers, I will pee and poop on the potty."
10. Then bright and early as soon as I heard him we hurried to the potty and he peed on the potty. Huge HUGE excitement is them showed by everyone in the house and the little guy was given a small (one smarty) piece of candy. This reward is then given every time he pees for about a week.
11. That whole morning until noon you talk to the child about keeping their wonderful underwear clean and dry. You remind the child every five minute about staying clean and dry and have them sit on the potty chair every ten minute at least.
12. Chips, popcorn, drinks and snacks are given as bribes for sitting on the potty chair. He can see the snack but will not have it until he has sat on the potty chair.
13. When the child has an accident then you must be disappointed and he should feel bad about messing up his underwear.
14. Practice time. From ten location in the house he will practice saying "I have to pee" running to the potty chair, being placed on the potty chair and standing up. I say the same exact thing every time we practice and talk him through the whole thing. Your job is to teach and you must tell and show them everything.

This is how your life will be for about three days. Mom and Dad must be wonderful actors and make this very fun and exciting. On the first day of our training with Wyatt my wonderful husband came home and ran a bath for me then said" Go enjoy your bath, I will take over." Of course he also knew the whole training routine. Believe me, I needed a break by that time. At the end of that day we had over twenty picture book and other various toys in the bathroom from spending so much time in there. My older two spend the day reading to and playing with my four year old and letting the dog out so I focus on training Wyatt. Meals were also very simple that week and we did not go anywhere until church on Sunday.

Here is another resourse that will aid you in training your child. I found this book very helpful.

What can I do?

It has been a long while since I have done any serious blogging. It seems as thought my "blogging" is catching on with people in my family, and now I find myself pondering different subjects. I want to talk about them and many of the ideas in my head are still in their infant stages. Please hang in there if I fumble with me words.
One of my favorite lines from Luther's small catechism is, " I can not by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him". It runs through my mind often and I find myself wondering "What can I do?" Well I know what I am capable of; becoming angry, frustrated, lazy and not wanting to be in my vocation. This is me, a sinner, 100%. I grumble often at doing everyday tasks such as cooking and cleaning. I need patience in dealing with my children, and I, as a sinner, have none.
But during all of this the line from Luther runs through my head. A light is ever present even through I sometimes can not see it. The Holy Spirit had called me and because of this Jesus Christ is in me and he does not grumble. So even though I can not do all of the things required of me I know that he can. His work is ever present in me even though I may not know it. He is always in me taking care of my children, cooking for my family and teaching my children how to pray. I, as a sinner, could never do those things but Christ living in me can. For this I can simply say Amen!

spa night and snow time

Here are pictures of a fun night spa night the girls had while Birk took our oldest son to a hockey game. The girls wanted facials, a bubble bath, manicures and pedicures. I was a busy Mommy that night but my girls loved it. They even had one of my special chocolates while they were in the tub.

We also had snow in Nebraska and the kids loved. The younger two love to eat the snow. Constence made sure the she and Wyatt at the "most sparkly" snow to munch.

Here are the four children in front of the house. Excuse my mess front porch but I do not clean my porch in the winter.

2 days till Christmas

I have four beautiful nativities on my buffet in our dinning room. The large one was bought by us at hobby lobby. The have nice sales on nativities before Christmas and my husband thought we needed a larger one for the house. The tiny glass one was given to me about 11 years ago by my sister. I have a nativity Advent wreath (on the left). It was given to my by my Mother, she is very good at catching my little hints that I toss around. I do not have any blue candles in it because I have looked at three stores for them and could not find them. This item will now be on my list every time I go to town so that I will have them for next year. We do have a white Jesus candle in the center that we will light after our Christmas Day Divine Service. And finally, I was just given the Nativity snow globe by my husbands Grandmother. I have a few other snow globes but have not posted the pictures of them yet.

On our piano in the dinning room I have two German Christmas pyramids. The one on the left was bought in Germany by my Mother. We lived in Germany from 1989 till 1992. My Father was in the Air Force and was stationed over there while I was in high school. I miss those lovely Christmas markets that they had there.
And here is the infamous "large red candle". I do not like, let me say it again. I Do Not Like The Red Candle! My husband teaches Sunday school at our church and he got this two years ago from one of his students. I was making fun of the thing even before it was unwrapped. I really believe that it will be a part of my Christmas decorations forever. It is the thorn in my flesh.

Now folks you really must understand that I am kidding. (A little) Now I may not be able to post again before Christmas because I am having a house full of people over for Christmas Eve day. I wish everyone a most Blessed Christmas. And to my Mother and Father who will read this, I Love You!

six stockings

These are my children's Christmas stockings. I finished little Wyatt's yesterday. I had lost my pattern to them so I had to free hand Wyatt's and I think that it turned out just fine. Each of the kids have a snowman on theirs because the kids always make everything fun. I also made the boys stocking green and the girls red to help keep track of them. The girls also have stars on them because girls like to make everything pretty.

Here are the grown up stockings. Mine is red and with a star and my husbands is green. I put two trees on ours because the two of us together keep all of our "little snowmen" in line.

Muddy Mess

What fun for a young puppy. Rain, and a flower pot full of potting soil can make a big muddy mess. This was what I found outside my back door yesterday afternoon. Toby had so much fun digging in my flower pot. Needless to say he became a huge muddy mess.

And here is little Toby. His nose is usually pink with brown spots but I guess the mud took care of that. My husband took the dog straight to the tub upstairs and gave him a bath. I have mud splattered on the walls around the bath tub so after I am done posting this blog I will washing the tub.