Lee's thoughts....

7 months.

2010-01-27T06:18:00.001-08:00

photo credit: Lincolnian(Brian)

Seven months waiting for our Ethiopian referral.

A fostering update.

2010-01-15T12:08:00.000-08:00

I've spoken with our social worker to find out what happens next in our fostering application. She is going to finish up her report and meet with us to sign off on it.
We will be recommended as foster parents but not approved to have children placed with us at the moment - the point of this is to be in the system so in the future we could just call if anything changed (daycare) and then begin having children placed in our home.
While this is not the outcome I had originally hoped for, it is at least not slamming the door closed as completely as we thought earlier this week.

the end...

2010-01-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

Well this has been a disappointing couple of days.
Two weeks ago, after months of waiting we finally had our homestudy visit and walkthrough for fostering. Our references gave us glowing (really - seriously amazing - your confidence in us is so encouraging and validating) reviews and our social worker (who doesn't work for Winnipeg child and family - she was contracted the work because they were/are so far behind) had no problem with recommending we be licensed to foster.

I had one question throughout this whole process, which I have asked numerous people at CFS - Should I be applying to foster when I run a home daycare? And the answer that I consistently received was that it was up to the social worker who did the homestudy. So I am really disappointed to find that that's not the case after all and it really just comes down to numbers. It's not our social worker's decision at all.

I do agree that numbers should be considered and I purposely keep my daycare numbers low so I can enjoy the kids and not just endure each day. I have no issue with the fact that there are set numbers - I just don't understand why we weren't honestly told that it wouldn't work, before we invested in this.

Which means that all the forms we filled out, the doctor's visits we attended (and paid for forms signed) the minor renovations we completed, the friends we asked to be references, the months we waited and wondered when this would happen, the consideration we made about whether this was right for our family - could we handle another child? (yes) could we love a child we didn't give birth to? (yes - 8 years experience with daycare has shown me that I can) did we have room in our home and our hearts? (yes) and many more were really all for nothing.

Not doing daycare is really not an option for me right now. I love my job, and it is funding our adoption. We would not be able to pay cash for our adoption without my job and taking on debt is not something we are comfortable with. Also, the families I work with are amazing and their kids have become an extension of my own family. So my regret here is not my daycare, it is that I invested so much of my heart into fostering.

So, now I have to ask - what's next - this was more than a job, it was a ministry opportunity I was passionate about, and that fit into our lifestyle and family so well that I am at a loss for what to do next. It's incredibly disappointing and frustrating.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-25T07:52:00.001-08:00

Dec 4 i ♥ faces fix it friday

2009-12-04T07:23:00.000-08:00

Super cute baby to edit today - here's the original.

Here's my color edit:

Played around with a seventies action from Pioneer woman for a bit of a vintage feel.

and a black and white which is my favorite.

5 Months!

2009-11-26T06:55:00.000-08:00

photo credit: Always 13

Well, here we are at 5 months since our dossier went to Ethiopia, and 16 months since we started the paperwork to get this adoption rolling. Timelines continue to increase and I think that my initial estimate of two years to referral (from the time we send our dossier) might be a bit conservative. Our agency is now telling families that it could be 36-48 months. It does not do my heart good to hear this but it's better to know, I guess.

I ♥ Faces Fix it Friday

2009-11-20T12:49:00.000-08:00

Another really cute photo to play with this week. Here's the original:

My color edit:

And a black and white:

I'm usually a huge fan of black and white but I actually prefer the vibrancy of the color one this time. For editing, I kept it pretty simple - brightened facial (and overall) tones with curves and levels adjustments, boosted the color saturation just a wee touch, sharpened and brightened the eye detail and a crop to draw your eye to her face.

Happy Birthday to me

2009-11-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

Well, my birthday is not actually until next week but I can't think of anything I would rather receive than water. Maybe you'd like to get some water too? If I'm on your Christmas list - this is what I'd like this year. :)

Every day, 4500 mothers bury their children due to contaminated water. They are forced to sustain their families with a diabolical liquid that contains both life and death. This lack of clean water is the leading cause of death in underdeveloped nations. And it just doesn't have to be!

So as we gear up to scurry through department stores and browse endless catalogs in search of new jeans, Tonka Trucks, gadgets and dolls....we are pausing. We are pausing. And today, November 13th, we are buying water. Clean, life-saving water.

$10 will provide one person in Africa clean water for 10 years. It will literally change and possibly save someone's life. A mother. A child. A brother. A grandfather.

We are rallying together for a cause. Clean water. One day. $10. Asking everyone to let this be their first gift. Let water, let life be their first gift of the season.

Click here to be directed to the secure donation site of the highly recognized, non-profit, charity: water. All donations are tax deductible, and 100% of your donation will go to clean water solutions in West Africa.

Adoption Timeline

2009-11-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to post our adoption timeline as I know I was eager to follow along with other adoption timelines:

April 2008 talk to Keith on the way to the Brandon Fair about fostering or adopting and agree to look into fostering

May/June 2008 Attend fostering seminar (4 weekly sessions) in preparation for application.
Continue to discuss International adoption.

July 2008 order application packages from CAFAC and Imagine for International adoption
August 2008 Select CAFAC adoption agency for our Ethiopian Adoption (Agency fees 1 & 2)
Choose 4 families to act as references and prayer partners.

October 2008 Attend attachment seminar for fostering

November 2008 Attend CAFAC training seminar at Elkhorn
Everyone’s Dr Appointments – letter of health for homestudy

December 2008 Our lab tests/bloodwork and Mantoux tests (TB) 4 visits! for Homestudy
Order Criminal record checks for homestudy req.
complete homestudy questionnaire

January 2009 Order birth and marriage certificates for Dossier
2nd Dr apt for Keith and Leanne to confirm test results.

February 2009 Expresspost Homestudy Paperwork to CAFAC

March 2009 Complete Homestudy visits with social worker
Expresspost Dossier paperwork to CAFAC
Social worker confirms our homestudy is complete and sent to CAFAC
Make first ½ of Country payment to CAFAC

March 24 – Apr 13 Dossier Notarized at CAFAC

April 14, 2009 CAFAC sends dossier to the province

June 5, 2009 Received Provincial approval

June 5, 2009 Dossier sent to Foreign Affairs.

June 19, 2009 Dossier sent to Ethiopian Embassy in Ottawa for authentication

June 26, 2009 Dossier to Ethiopia! Arrives July 4, 2009

GATHERING OF DOCUMENTATION
(Agency estimated times in blue, Our actual times in red)
• Home study completion (*3-7 months) 7 months
• Collection of Dossier documents, including CAFAC course (*4-7 months) 7 months
• Provincial letter of approval for home study (1-2 months) 7w 4d. (14-4-09 - 5-6-09)
Estimated Running Total: 9 months
ACTUAL TIME: 9 months (minus 3 days)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DOSSIER PREPARATION
• Notarization (2 weeks) 3 weeks March 24 – April 14
• Legalization by Foreign Affairs in Ottawa (4-6 weeks) 2 weeks June 5-19
• Authentication by Ethiopian Embassy in Ottawa (3 weeks) 1 week!
Estimated Running Total: 2 months
ACTUAL TIME: 6 weeks
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DOSSIER SENT TO ETHIOPIA – June 26, 2009
DOSSIER PICKED UP IN ETHIOPIA – July 4, 2009
PROCESSING OF FILE IN ETHIOPIA UP TO CHILD REFERRAL
• Translation, legalization, and authentication (4 weeks)
• Adoption Committee Approval (4-8 weeks)
• Child Proposal [the "Referral"] (8-14 months **revised – likely 20-24 months)
Estimated Running Total: 10-24 months
ACTUAL TIME:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL STEPS UP TO TRAVEL
• Immigration paperwork (*3-7 months)
• Adoption Finalization (*2-8 weeks)
• Travel to Ethiopia (4-7 months after referral formally accepted)
Estimated Running Total: 4-9 months
ACTUAL TIME:

i ♥ faces Fix it Friday.

2009-11-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

This week's photo is of an incredibly cute little boy and really needs very little done to it.
Here's the original:

Here's my color edit:

And a black and white:

I made adjustments to the levels, curves, reduced the dark circles under his eyes with the patch tool, brightened the eyes just a tad, brightened and smoothed his skin and cropped out the post on the left side of the picture.

Joy

2009-11-12T19:54:00.001-08:00

Sweet boy

2009-11-11T11:54:00.001-08:00

Sunday Morning

2009-11-09T11:34:00.001-08:00

Can't believe this is NOVEMBER - and we're out without jackets!! YAY

Nice day for a walk.

2009-11-08T13:46:00.001-08:00

When you take a walk it's a good idea to bring along a big dog and a sharp stick.

The Experiment

2009-11-07T06:39:00.001-08:00

This morning Dora felt like concocting a little something in the kitchen and this is what she came up with: Graham crackers, peanut butter, chocolate chips and mini Hershey bars. Delicious enough that she said she might just make them again next week for a little celebration when Keith gets home. :)

I ♥ Faces - Fix it Friday

2009-11-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

Just for fun I thought I would play along with the I ♥ Faces Fix it Friday.
Here is the original(before)and my edit (after)

Edits: 1)adjustments to levels and curves,
2)run touch of light/touch of darkness (MCP actions)
3)select iris of both eyes with magnetic lasso tool and copy to new layer set to color dodge and slide opacity until it looks natural.
4)run "lovely and ethereal" action from Pioneer Woman and adjust opacity. Add layer mask on lips, hair and eyes at aprox 60% opacity.
5)create hue/saturation layer and decrease the red skin tones.
6) flatten and sharpen for web.

Is this a test?

2009-11-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

Often when Keith has a rough day he will come home, tell us about it and wonder aloud - is this a test?
I think I am being tested today.
Not too sure how I'll score...

Now for a happier picture to brighten things up a bit:

No Dan.

2009-11-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

If William was getting a report card today it might say "does not share well with others."
Keith is away for the week visiting the Rogers family in BC. William is not impressed and continually asks for his daddy. Tonight Noah was saying grace and thanking God for Keith's safe journey to Mr. Dan's and of course Will had to pipe in with "no Dan" for about the 64th time today. :)

30 Days of Giving - Nov 2

2009-11-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

An easy one today - we get to go to the Crisis Pregnancy Center banquet tonight with friends - we went to the spring one and it was a great evening. The CPC is a pro life center that offers help and hope for women facing an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy.

Blessings coming our way: Babysitting swap with a friend - she is watching our kids tonight while we're out, and we will watch hers soon so she can get out too! Awesome :) I am hopeful that William will be on his best behavior but he's been a bit of a stinker lately.
Blessing #2 - we are on our 12th month of budgeting and I can say with certainty that it has transformed our finances! YAY! We are debt free, saving up to pay for our adoption with CASH, and have enough cushion to be able to freely help others. HUGE blessing - and also way less strain on our marriage! :)

30 Days of Giving

2009-11-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

Alyssa at Kingdom First Mom has a great idea for November and I am joining in! 30 days of Giving - Want to come too?

This is not just a monetary challenge - time, talents and resources are all in and I am going to keep a personal journal of giving and receiving for the month. Giving can be large or small - the important thing here is to take notice and to take action.

Alyssa says it better than I can so I will quote her:
"Just remember to write it down. Not in a boastful, look-how-generous-I-am kind of way. But to keep yourself accountable and be transformed.

Write down the blessings that come your way each day, too. Get your whole family on board!"

Today, we went to our annual harvest dinner at church and learned about UGM's new women's shelter which is opening to serve addicted women and their children. Because it's a new shelter, and a new building there are lots of opportunities and ways we can help. Obviously, there are monetary needs, as well as volunteer opportunities and donations needed.

I am also collecting winter jackets and ski pants and was blessed to receive an amazing snowsuit today which will be making its way to Norquay school this week to keep some little girl warm this winter! Thanks Jobina! Last week we sent a few winter jackets that were hanging around in our basement to the school with one of my teacher friends and she told me that they were on the kids by morning recess - I posted on facebook and we are going to be able to keep a few more kids warm this winter! AWESOME!

September challenge wrap up.

2009-10-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty quiet about our September grocery challenge. My budget for September was $515 (regular 500, plus $5 from Keith and $10 cash we had lying around that we threw in) We spent $185 on groceries which means we get to donate $330 which is AWESOME and very exciting.

I must admit that this challenge really threw me for a loop - I did not expect for my heart to be so heavy for the hungry, but trying to decide where to donate the money has been extremely difficult for me. There is so much poverty and so much need that I have been overwhelmed.

I am challenged - we have so much cushion in our budget - our cupboards are quite a bit more bare - but there is still food in them. Our freezer is has less meat, but still plenty for probably another month or more. Honestly - I am ashamed of our extravagance. At one point, one of the kids asked what was for dinner and when I replied that it was leftovers from the previous day, one groaned. Because we prefer not to eat the same meal twice in a row. We've been so blessed, and instead of feeling gratitude, were tempted to feel spoiled and entitled.

Before this post becomes depressing, there is so much to celebrate!

I was incredibly blessed last month as over and over and over we were given gifts of food and meals - we received, apples, applesauce, apple jelly, strawberry jam, muffins, cucumbers, tomatoes, hot peppers, juice, a fantastic lunch at church, brunch with friends and at least 2 or 3 meals at Keith's parents place. There's probably more that I've forgotten to mention. So, thank you to all who shared and gave because we wouldn't have $330 to give without you!

I've decided to donate money both locally and internationally. I know I want to donate to Winnipeg Harvest because it's local and it's a great program set up to really help hungry families. I plan to give the rest to an international organization - but I am still struggling with this decision - There are so many people, literally starving and I just do not know the best place to send this money. I am off to do some research and I will update this post with my decision.

I will definitely do this challenge again. I can't wait to do this challenge again actually.

September challenge update

2009-09-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well posts in September have been sparse...in fact I think this is the first and we are a third of the way through the month. In spite of that, the September grocery challenge is alive and well at the Howe household - and here's how we're doing so far:
Total budget for September: $505 (Keith kicked in $5 extra)
Total spent so far: $59.82
So far I have been using cash - and I really like the accountability. Keith uses his debit card when he runs to the store for me.
We spent (K-debit) $3.12 on buns Sept 1
(K-debit) $12.93 on milk, cream, bananas and deodorant Sept 8
(L -cash) 43.77 on bananas milk, cream, oatmeal, sugar, brown sugar, 3 pkg pasta, frozen peas, 6lb pears, cheese, and 10lb potatoes.

It has been interesting to take a look at the flyers these past 2 weeks as it seems that ALL the meat sales are on - there have been SO many $1 and $2/lb sales! I just keep telling myself that these will all go on sale again another month. I will not be tempted. :)
We have also been blessed by a lot of our friends - my friend Tannis made us applesauce, and apple jelly which is delicious. May sent us 6 of her luscious tomatoes - I have not been able to grow tomatoes in our shady yard so I am looking forward to real tomatoes! :)
Also, we were away at family camp from the 4 - 7 - the meals were amazing - we were fed often and well - in fact we felt a bit like gluttons as we were eating the next meal/snack before we'd even had a chance to feel hungry.

Seeing our progress so far makes me wonder - could we stay under $200? How awesome would it be to write a cheque for $305 donation? Speaking of which, I still have not made a decision about where the grocery savings are going - there are so many amazing organizations and I am going to try and highlight a few of them in the next little while. If you have any that you love - let me know and I will check them out!

Buy Nothing Challenge - wrap up.

2009-09-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

My buy nothing challenge is officially done! And, I do not feel the need to rush out an buy something! YAY! I declare it a success. :)
This past weekend we did take the family to a movie AND we bought snacks while we were there. We spent $26. I feel a little bad about spending the money, to be honest. Some friends had told us that UP was playing at the cheap seats, and we decided to go kind of last minute really. We had wanted to see this movie, and we don't usually take the kids to many theatre movies so it was nice to enjoy that with them. We actually made a deal with the kids on this one - back at Christmas we had given them a coupon for a family bowling night and I had put aside some cash for that - but we could not come to an agreement about when to use it as there was always someone who didn't want to go. So, we traded the bowling night for the movie day. A good trade, as everyone was happy to hit the theatres.
Don't ask me how the movie ends though since Dora had to pee and I had to leave the theatre with her, causing a chain reaction with Will breaking down after I left and Keith having to chase him up the stairs as he tried to catch up with me. Grr... Note to self - if you buy the kids a drink, don't give it to them until halfway through the movie.
Second note to self - movie popcorn is so delicious and ridiculously overpriced.

Onward and upward - September is a new month!

Gearing up to save some serious CASH!

2009-08-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we are nearing the end of buy nothing month. This week we bought batteries for our indoor/outdoor thermometer. That's it.
I still have not bought school supplies but I did drag out the lists and I will be buying 2 packs of markers. (already have the pencil crayons, and 3 boxes of kleenex) My children dislike shopping and insist that last years runners are fine, so we will replace those when they have outgrown them, or need them for outdoor runners.
My thoughts on buy nothing month - aside from the occasional treat, we don't usually buy a whole lot of extras, so this wasn't that difficult. I am anticipating the next challenge to be quite a bit more, well, challenging! :)

I am gearing up for next month's grocery challenge. I have $60 left in this month's grocery budget that I will be using tonight/tomorrow. I think blueberries are still on for a great price so I may get some more for the freezer.
To recap September's challenge, I am taking my current $500/mth grocery budget and I am going to slash as much as I can, eat out of our pantry and freezer and donate the money saved to someone (yet to be determined), but as this is a food challenge it will be to provide food for the hungry somewhere.
This is totally changing the way I shop and prepare food - usually I go over the flyers weekly and stock up on whatever's a killer deal, often I have a (small) stockpile in the cupboard or freezer. This month I will be focusing on purchasing only as much as we need for the week/month at the lowest price I can find. I am hoping that a side benefit will be clearing out some of the excess in the freezer!
There are a couple ways we have already been blessed - we are receiving crab apples today from friends who have a tree in their yard. We received lunch meat this past week from another friend who is vegetarian and bought lunch meat to serve us at lunch and sent the leftovers home with us (pizza tonight with that!)
We're also heading to Red Rock on the long weekend for family camp so there will be 3 less days I'll have to come up with meals this month!
My kids are starting school but they will be coming home for lunch so that will be a bit of an adjustment but should save on some things like ziploc baggies which come out of the grocery budget.
I will also be shopping with CASH for the first time tonight! I will let you know if it truly does save money by cutting out impulse buys.

Today, one of my goals is to spend some time creating a pantry list so I know what I have on hand. Then I can make some menu plans and focus on a smarter shopping list.

Lazy Granola

2009-08-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a granola recipe but when I came across this one I had to give it a try. Putting "lazy" in front of any recipe always gets my attention. :)
This is a super simple recipe for granola purists who don't want a lot of additions in their oats. It's quite yummy - when I make it again, I will definitely grease the pan - I had flying granola bits all over the kitchen trying to scrape the stuck bits off the pan. Also I might add some nuts or grind up some flax seed to sprinkle into the mix. If you are going to add any dried fruits (our favorite is dates) you'll want to do that in the morning after cooking as they tend to get a little burnt tasting if you bake them - at least the ones on top.
Here is the recipe. I'm linking since I haven't asked permission to post the recipe. And also because Amy's blog is great and you might want to add it to your blog list! :)

2 months

2009-08-26T18:48:00.001-07:00

2 months since our dossier went to Ethiopia...and many many more to go!

photo credit to jhanna#

Buy Nothing update

2009-08-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

All right, I am overdue for an update on August's buy nothing challenge.
update: Here are the rules straight from Crunchy herself:
* No new clothes
* No new gadgets
* No new furniture or housewares
* No salon services
* No makeup
* No tools
* No whatever else people buy
Things that are okay
Necessary items like schools supplies and the like are okay, so don't panic about back-to-school items. Also, items used for canning and food storage are okay so don't worry if you are running low on pectin, mason jars and whatnot. If you have a vacation planned in August, just confess ahead of time accordingly. But that doesn't give you free reign to totally undo your efforts the rest of the month.
I did spend in the last two weeks. We were at Hecla Aug 16- 20 so no extra spending that week - lots of relaxing, rain, library books and near death experiences (specifically for William).
I did take Dora shopping for school clothes and spent $24.10 on 2 pairs of pants, one fleece jacket and 2 belts. I also bought William 3 shirts and one pair of shorts (for next summer) for $10.
We took the family out for DQ on Saturday (we always have an ice cream treat while up at Hecla, but didn't make it to the store this time so this is a vacation splurge.) $17 I think?
And, two birthday gifts $35 total.
So: aprox $86
Yikes - that's a lot! The only real splurge here was the ice cream - it would have been much cheaper to buy a box of ice cream sandwiches or drumsticks and have the treat at home, but it was fun to surprise the kids with DQ.

We are in the homestretch of August's buy nothing challenge - I don't anticipate many purchases this week - possibly markers for school but that's about it I hope. This has been a fun challenge and one I will do again.

fostering update....

2009-08-13T14:55:00.001-07:00

Not much to say here, I'm actually feeling a little discouraged about our (lack of) progress.

Three of our references have received their letters and I'm pretty sure they have returned them. (right guys?!) Our last ref. is moving so I just sent in her new address since she didn't receive a letter at her old address.

I sent an email to one of the social workers to see if I could find out anything about our status but I haven't heard anything back.

Sometimes I'll hear an ad on the radio about the need for foster homes, and I can't help thinking, "Really? Because here we are waiting...."

Disclosure and A New Challenge!

2009-08-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

I realized that in my last post listing any expenditures for the week, I forgot to mention that while I was at Superstore and Costco buying groceries, we also ordered Noah's glasses....so a hefty $120 went there, however I hope to get some of that back from Keith's benefit plan, and I also categorize that as a school expense since he can see just fine without the glasses for most things - but they do help when he's reading the board at school. We sprung an extra $20 on the frames and got the bendy wire frames since we've gone through 2 pairs already, and because they no longer carry his previous frames.
Buy Nothing challenge is going along famously this week - no expenditures so far, and I do plan to grocery shop sometime on Saturday or Sunday for a few things.

OK, on to the new challenge for September - I am extremely excited about this - in fact, I almost can't wait for September to start! I'm doing a grocery challenge, coupled with a giving challenge - so here's the deal: my grocery budget is $500/month. This includes all our meals, diapers, toiletries etc, plus lunches and snacks for my daycare. I am going to slash my grocery budget, shop with cash (because I think it will help me be more mindful of spending), shop my pantry and bake more and whatever I save, I will donate to the hungry - I haven't decided where yet - there are hungry people all over so there are many many options. I love this idea because it's so easy for me to throw some money at a "cause" but combining it with my own grocery budget and feeding my own family should hit me where it hurts a little more and help me be more mindful of our own excess.
Anyone want to join me?

Buy Nothing week one update

2009-08-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well, We are through week one of the buy nothing challenge and I think I am doing well so far. One of the interesting things about doing this challenge is that I am way more conscious about my spending - not necessarily in a good way as instead of thinking to myself "no, I don't need that" I think "no, I can't have that because I'm on the buy nothing challenge."

So, how did I do? Well, let me tell you about my week. Wednesday I went to Rainbow stage's production of Beauty and the Beast, this was planned with Keith's mom as a Grandma, daughter, granddaughter event along with some of Keith's aunts and cousins. Keith and Noah ended up coming along with us because my sister in law bought us two tickets for the same night as a gift. The production was well done and we had a good time. Cost: free.
Saturday I went grocery shopping and because my kids were sleeping over at Keith's parents place (first time for William - he had a great time but is EXHAUSTED!) I bought some steaks for our dinner that would normally be out of our budget. Grocery purchases are allowed for the buy nothing challenge, but this was a splurge. Of course, had we gone out for dinner, we would have paid around $70 for a similar meal, cooking at home cost us aprox. $15.
Since the kids were gone, we wanted to go out to a movie, and redeemed our SCENE points for movie tickets. We saw Julie and Julia, which I really enjoyed (except the previews which were trash) Cost: free We did forgo popcorn /drinks at the theater as we didn't have enough SCENE points to cover that. Went home for ice cream.
So, we had a great week, we ended up doing a lot of activity that we normally wouldn't do, but didn't spend money. I do feel a bit like it was cheating since we did consume a lot activity-wise, but there was no cost and I declare the first week a success!

This coming week, we are doing Summer Adventure Camp at our church. I don't anticipate a lot of spending as our mornings will be at the church, then home for lunch and send Keith off to work from 1-9, but I'll check in next week to let you know how I did.

No more free ride, baby

2009-08-07T09:20:00.001-07:00

We have 3 kids in the house so things can get a little messy. Since 2 of the 3 are pretty capable of helping out, we needed some kind of system to organize their underused skills.

There are many creative ideas on the web, but I really like the simplicity of this one at Pretty Organized Palace. We simplified it even more and made two lists of jobs, each kid gets one list, and they swap on Sundays. Now, this is new, so the kids are pretty gung ho, but the beauty of this system is that the jobs are written down so the kids know what needs to be done rather than wandering aimlessly around their assigned room until I come in and snap some orders at them. Yeah, that was our previous "system" – you can imagine how well that worked.

If this keeps working well, I might have to have a few more kids and pretty soon I can live a life of leisure while my kids take care of me….hahahahahahahahaha.

Free Audiobook

2009-07-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

I generally prefer to read a book rather than listen to one, but Christianaudio.com gives away a free audiobook each month.
This month's giveaway is Crazy Love by Francis Chan - use the coupon code JUL2009 and download this book - it's not long, but it's so worth it. The book is about God's unfathomable crazy love for us - and I'll be surprised if it doesn't challenge you in your relationship with God and with others around you.

I know it's the end of the month - so don't wait - there will be another audiobook available in August, but don't miss out on Crazy Love.

Buy Nothing Challenge – Starts Saturday!

2009-07-30T09:02:00.001-07:00

Two more days - I am gearing up for August's Buy Nothing challenge hosted by Crunchy Chicken. I'm looking forward to it – I do love a good challenge! Now, this may be a bit easier for me, because I'm not much of a shopper anyway, but like everyone, I do have a list of wants hanging around in my head.

I grocery shop at Superstore, so it can be tempting to visit some of those extra aisles – especially the ones with end of season sale items. We will be buying back to school runners for the kids and any school supplies we don't already have, but we will be sticking to the basics allowed in the challenge. If I do fall, I will post what I bought and the reason I needed it – that should keep me honest!

Guess what?!

2009-07-27T07:48:00.001-07:00

A month ago, I started a blog countdown (count –up?). A year ago, we committed our hearts to a child who is not yet born, and our time to a huge paperchase. We have a long road ahead, possibly another 2 years or more, but we are officially expecting. We are adopting from Ethiopia.

I am usually one to keep my feelings close and not share them with the world – but God has moved in our hearts and our lives to make all this possible and I believe it glorifies Him when we allow others to see what He has done in our very ordinary lives. So, I am sharing.

Through the fall/winter of 2007/08, I began reading a lot of blogs about adoption and fostering. I've always been drawn to both and in fact, Keith and I have completed the fostering orientation twice, and filled in the paperwork 3 times. (Flash forward – as you know if you read the blog – we actually did submit our fostering application package this past March and are currently waiting for homestudy – we have heard from our references that they have been sent their forms – so a BIG thank you to all who are references for us – I know the forms are quite lengthy!)

In spring 2008 we were driving to the Brandon Fair and I finally brought up the subject of fostering/adoption again, rather expecting that this would be an introduction conversation and that many conversations would follow, but to my surprise, Keith was willing to look into fostering once again. Not adoption though – not because he was unwilling to adopt, but because of the cost – I'm going to be honest – it is relatively expensive. (I say relatively because I hope to write about the cost later) When we got home from that trip, I registered us for the fostering orientation in May/June and we attended 4 evening sessions and in the fall, an additional attachment seminar – which was excellent.
HOWEVER – I was feeling more and more, that we were being called to adopt. We had ongoing conversations about adoption, our family and God's heart for adoption and ended up ordering application packages from two adoption agencies.

We liked both agencies, but decided on CAFAC for two main reasons: 1. We could pay in installments, allowing us to pay cash – the other agency required payment in full to start, and we just didn't have all our funds together. Partnering with CAFAC allowed us to begin our process right away. 2. CAFAC has been facilitating adoptions from Ethiopia for a long time – we were attracted to the stability of the program, and though their wait times for referrals were longer, because we could begin right away (instead of waiting while we saved a lump sum of money for a retainer fee) we figured the wait would be relatively comparable.

And so, in the past year, since signing on with CAFAC in August of 2008, we have attended an adoption orientation at Elkhorn resort, completed physical exams including blood work and TB tests for the Keith and me, ordered criminal record checks, copies of birth and marriage certificates, filled out extensive adoption homestudy questionnaires, met with our social worker for a homestudy (4 meetings) and watched our paperwork travel around the world to Africa where it waits for our family profile to match the needs of a little one who will become part of our family forever!

July 26, 2009 - One

2009-07-26T05:50:00.000-07:00

August - buy nothing challenge.

2009-07-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

Crunchy Chicken has a buy nothing challenge up for August. I'm in. Anyone want to join me?

June 26, 2009

2009-06-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Self medicating....

2009-06-05T11:11:00.001-07:00

Stop everything and make this super easy fudge. It's delicious and contains no calories...ok that last part is a lie.

on med -low heat melt together 1 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1 can condensed milk (super yum...feel free to take a moment and lick the lid clean....mmmm)
when melted, add 1 cup peanuts.

spread in greased 8x8 pan. keep refrigerated. When set, cut in bite sized pieces so you can grab one each time you pass by the kitchen.

Fostering update...or non update as the case may be...

2009-04-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

This week I contacted our social worker to see if they had sent out the reference letters yet. Normally I would just let things happen but one of our references is in the middle of a pretty big move and I want to give them a heads up when they can expect the letter.
Can you guess the status?.....................drumroll.......they haven't sent the letters yet.

I assume they are completing our police checks first and are waiting for results before proceeding but it makes me think that getting our homestudy completed this summer is not so likely.

So, we'll wait!

Summer plans....

2009-04-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

We like to keep things kind of low key in the summer - we usually head to Hecla once or twice, a couple day trips to Birds Hill or Gimli, and one or two camping trips. Last year we were able to rent a yurt in Spruce Woods, and that pretty much spoiled us - no more tenting for us - yurts are the way to go.
Unfortunately, if you know us in real life, we are great procrastinators....and now the yurts are all booked for July (at least in Spruce Woods) HOWEVER, there are some new yurts this year at Camp Morton - with lots of availability. So we are going to book some time there instead - if you want to know when we booked, send me an email - we'd love to have friends along!

Mouthful of missing teeth

2009-04-21T13:13:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Dora came racing home to proudly present me with a ziploc bag containing her tooth (the one to the left of her front tooth) This was not her loose tooth, (the one on the right) but one she had knocked out during a game at recess. When I took a look at her I had to laugh - she looks just like a jack-o-lantern. Too bad it's not Halloween or we could paint her face orange and set her out on the front step. I have no idea how she'll bite anything in another week or so when her other tooth falls out as well!

baby by day....superhero by night

2009-04-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

the skinny on fostering.

2009-04-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

So, back in June (scroll down for an update...don't scroll too far - it's been awhile!) we finished up our orientation sessions for fostering.

In October we attended the attachment seminar - I have been to a couple attachment seminars but this one was particularly good. I would love to attend again after we have had a couple placements and a bit of perspective. We filled out our paperwork and made dr. apts to verify our health and sanity (!) and FINALLY, whew, handed in our applications on the last day of spring break (that was Apr. 3)

Now, since this is a government run program, we wait.

A few things have to be done like police checks, child abuse reg. checks and reference checks (if you're reading this and you're one of our references - please please fill in your form right away when you get it! And I wouldn't mind knowing when you get it so I have an idea of our progress! oh - and thank you for being our reference - we think you're grand!)

Once all the information is gathered, there will be a homestudy. The 'rush' for this is based on need. We are applying to care for emergency and short term care infants/toddlers. According to the social worker we talked to, the greatest need is for teens, therefore those apps will be processed first. Second in line is infants, so we would likely be processed next. She estimated about 4 months before the homestudy, at which time we will either be approved, or not. If we are approved, we will then receive a liscense to foster, and eventually a child placement.

There is a chance that we won't be approved because I run a home daycare. One of the social workers I spoke to mentioned that some social workers might see that as a conflict of interest, while others wouldn't find it a problem. This is one of those areas where we leave it up to God - if this is where He wants us, then He will work out the details!

"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." Mark 9:37

2009-04-16T17:23:00.001-07:00

Our most recent family picture...right after this William poked Noah in the eye. I would love to do this once a month (the picture, not the poke in the eye) - maybe my kids would get used to it and maybe even smile :)
Wishful thinking....

ahem....it's been awhile

2009-04-15T12:03:00.001-07:00

Keith's mom took the kids to Monsters vs. Aliens on spring break and they came back with these very stylin' 3D glasses. Quite fabulous and also much nicer than the flimsy paper ones we have at home. I should try and remember to stash these away.
The movie was declared very funny, and awesome, but the kids are not permitted to give any specifics as Keith and I haven't seen it yet!

Fostering update.

2008-06-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the last in a series of 4 orientation meetings that we've attended. Keith's parents have been coming over on Thursday nights to watch the kids for us which has been a blessing in two ways - first, because the kids are with someone we know and trust. Second, because it's given William an opportunity to get to know them a little better and enjoy them a bit (he's a bit of a mama's boy which just means he's healthy and attached to me - which is awesome - but makes it hard for others to enjoy him!)

We also have to attend an attachment seminar - which is scheduled for this saturday - but because it is an all day seminar we are going to miss it and go to the next one in the fall. We talked about having one of us go now and the other go in the fall but the truth is, we would rather go together! And hopefully in the fall, William will be ok without me for a longer period.

So tonight we should be able to pick up the application forms and get started on our paperwork/appointments in preparation for our homestudy.

Parents of the year!

2008-06-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

When Noah turned 9 a year ago, he got a skateboard for his birthday. And, a helmet and pads as the Howe's aren't known for their grace and athletic ability! :)
After a couple afternoons of carefully riding up and down the sidewalk from our house to the neighbor's the skateboard sat unused for months....and when we asked him if he wanted to ride it he wasn't interested at all - he said the skateboard wouldn't go straight and it was no good.
Of course, he's been watching the teenage boys across the street that ride every day and hop the curbs and do all their fancy little jumps - he just needs more practice, but he is now frustrated and refuses to even touch it.
Fast forward a year and I pull out the skateboard for my daycare boy to play with in the back yard. He is SO excited and has a great time zooming back and forth from the back door to the garage. Since no one is watching, I decide to give the skateboard a try - GUESS WHAT! It totally pulls to one side! Noah was right and we didn't listen to him or even try out the skateboard!

You should have seen the grin on his face when I told him last night - total validation! :) And he didn't even hold it against us.

In other bonehead news, yesterday I was making chili to top our baked potatoes. I was in a hurry and sprinkled the chili powder on liberally as I stirred and chopped and did about 4 things at once. As I sprinkled I thought...hmmm...that looks odd....turns out I grabbed the cinnamon so it was more like Jamaican Jerk Chili. (yes I still served it! and Noah had 3 or 4 helpings of it so it wasn't even a total flop tho I think I will leave it out next time I make chili!)

Dora's Room

2008-06-11T13:22:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you have a tiny tiny bedroom with no closet and a little girl with a ton of stuff...
You get Dan Franklin to make built in cabinetry for her room!

Here's the mail!

2008-05-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

I love getting packages in the mail...and today I got a new sling I ordered from HUGS (Help Us Give Slings). I haven't been able to get it tight enough to tie it in the traditional selendang fold but with a little practice I think I'll be able to do it. Of course I can always knot the fabric for any of the alternate folds and I think I'll see if I can pick up some sling rings too for even more options. :) This is a departure for me as the fabric is a really beautiful Indonesian Batik print and I usually stick to solids or really basic patterns but I am loving the color right now! There are a lot of colour choices - I had a hard time picking just one.

HUGS is a non-profit family effort started by two sisters as a response to the 2004 earthquake in Indonesia and subsequent tsunami in Southeast Asia. When you purchase a beautiful Indonesian selendang baby sling the funds raised are used to donate slings to mothers affected by the tragedies in Indonesia and East Timor.

So many traditional cultures spend the first few years in almost constant contact with their little ones and I have found since Will LOVES to be held, wearing him in a sling has saved my aching arms many times! Slings can tend to be a bit overpriced in my opinion (as is most baby gear!) so the $20 ($26 with postage!) price tag is a steal! Plus it benefits another mama!

(image taken by Dora! - there is one where he is smiling but it was blurry. Really, he does love the sling!)

*top image courtesy of HUGS website.

2008-05-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

"When we sense God leading us on a new journey, we want all of the information up front. .... For you to become a seriously disturbed, surrendered person of faith, you will have to be willing to say yes in advance-- to give God your answer before you've heard the question."

I read this quote on Deedee's blog today. It's a passage from Kay Warren's book, Dangerous Surrender, which I'm thinking needs to be on my reading list soon.

Something New.

2008-05-08T13:30:00.001-07:00

It's been quiet around the blog for awhile now as I have had a lot of things to mull over and some changes are afoot in my life. God is challenging my heart, my life and my wallet in a big way and I think I'm ready to start sharing a bit of that with all of you. It's time for a little action around here. I find myself filled with discontent for the complacency of my life and lifestyle.

Keith and I have made a decision to pursue foster parenting and we are going to begin orientation classes at the end of this month. This is something we have talked about before, and we even took the orientation back in 2001 but put it on hold as we were expecting Dora at the time. Then we decided to have a third (and final – HA) baby and I wasn't sure I could ask Keith to consider fostering again when we had three of our own at home. But when God is knocking (POUNDING!) on the door of your heart, I dare you to ignore Him. So on our trip to Brandon in April, I brought it up again – thinking I would just mention it and not press the issue, letting God do the rest. By the time we reached Brandon, we had decided to go ahead.

It's taken a while to get the orientation booked, mainly because I was on a bit of a rabbit trail trying to find out who I should be calling and trying to get a response back. However, it was all for the best because the orientation we are attending is Thursday evenings (4x 2hr sessions). The lady I spoke with said the previous session they had was a weekend session – which would not have worked for us, since William is still primarily nursing and I can't leave him for any length of time.

So that's a start. I have to admit, paperwork frustrates me. I feel like I need to hurry up and get registered, then I can wait on God's timing for placements.

As for the WHY of it, well, our lives are busy – but they are busy at home. It is difficult to get out and volunteer at a soup kitchen, to arrange for childcare to get out in the community – but this is a way for us to be God's hands and feet where we are right now. It's time.

2008-04-01T12:05:00.001-07:00

This morning I had 3 cavities filled at the dentist. He said the freezing would last a little over an hour. That was 8AM. It's 2 PM and I can finally feel my face again. It's such a weird feeling to be frozen - I don't really like it but I guess the alternative (no freezing) is much worse.

When I got home, the kids and I drove Keith to work so we could have the van for the day. I was hoping to visit my Grandma, but Will has a fever and I don't want to make her sick, especially since her immune system is compromised from all the meds she's on for her bone cancer.

Will was up 4 times last night, so maybe I'll grab a quick nap with him instead.

Awwwwwwwww...................

2008-03-26T19:54:00.001-07:00

Birthday pics of my boy,

2008-03-26T19:50:00.001-07:00

He chose ice cream cake this year. This is the second attempt at cake pictures because the first time I didn't have my memory card in the camera!!
So he actually got 2 attempts to get all 10 candles out and BOTH times he left one burning....
Serious ribbing about a girlfriend followed, naturally.

Spring...inside at least...

2008-03-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

It seems we've taken a little dive back into winter this week...here in the house we are bringing in all things spring...there are little bits of green infiltrating everywhere.
Last year I missed spring - it was grey and brown when I had Will, and then I was so sick for 6 weeks that by the time I got outside, everything was green already.
I'm looking forward to seeing all the budding and leafing this year and it can't come soon enough for me!

This is my first Easter lily. So pretty.

These little chicks in the grass were our placecards at Easter dinner. So sweet. After I took this picture, I gave the grass a little trim. mmmm...fresh cut grass smell....

When I was growing up, there were pussy willows growing wild in the field by our house. It seems ridiculous to have to pay for them at the florist. But I am enjoying them so much!

Stuff I Love....

2008-03-25T11:27:00.001-07:00

This came in the mail yesterday. I love my kids interpretations of themselves and our family and my plan was to have a wall filled with framed pictures of their art. Then I saw this post, and fell in love with the idea of having a painting of our family for the center of the wall.
I searched on Etsy to find an artist that I liked and found Shannon Harris, sent her some pictures of us and she came up with this! I LOVE it!! Thanks Shannon - It's even better in real life and it was a huge surprise for the family!

Welcome Spring!

2008-03-20T07:22:00.001-07:00

Happy Spring everyone! We've made it through another Manitoba winter and I am so excited to see leaf buds on my lilac bush and puddles on the sidewalks! And can I mention how much I LOVE the Spring Forward time change….Light…welcome back. I missed you.

Yesterday Will and I went on a little evening walk. It was icy and slippery and took us an hour to get around a route that normally only takes half that time but we were out in the evening for the first time in ages and it felt GOOD! (I have grand intentions every day about getting out and doing things in the evenings but once it is dark, I have no desire to leave my house!)

Today I have been a mother for 10 years. Happy birthday sweet Noah – you're in double digits now! The first day of spring is a wonderful day for a birthday.

Something to think about.

2008-03-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

"The best thing you can do is make the right choice. The next best thing you can do is make the wrong choice. The worst thing you can do is nothing."

I was listening to a conversation about indecisiveness today and this quote jumped out at me. Sorry I don't know who to credit for this one.

2008-03-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

I'm usually much more a thinker than a do-er....there has been something chasing me around for years that I have yet to act on. Lately it's been everywhere I turn.
To be honest, it inspires me, ignites me and scares the everloving crap out of me.

My new desktop wallpaper...

2008-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

I am way behind on editing my own pics....this was taken at Christmas time! I love it though - Might have to hang this one up...
I'm terrible at getting my pictures printed.

My nephew, Arthur

2008-03-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

Freecycle.

2008-03-13T11:38:00.001-07:00

One of my biggest pet peeves is clutter in my house – on every surface, it seems to accumulate out of nowhere. In an effort to declutter, to simplify things a bit and to appreciate the things we truly enjoy more, I've been trying to get rid of some of our excess. I have found this to be a never ending process.

I've been posting a few things on Freecycle lately. It's very simple. I signed up to the Winnipeg Freecycle group and started posting items to give away. It's very handy – you post what you have on offer, people who are interested reply, and they come pick up your item! In the last month and a half I have gotten rid of: a Christmas tree, a digital camera, 2 playstation memory cards, maternity clothes, children's books (ones we weren't reading), a doll house, an exersaucer, a metal stand to hold video tapes, old magazines, a toilet, a pair of jeans, a novel, reflective strips, jars and canning lids,and 4 home depot kids aprons.

I like to donate to Canadian Diabetes too when they call for pickups, but what I love about freecycle is that the item gets used right away, instead of sitting in a second hand shop for months until someone buys it.

You can find the cutest things at Superstore...

2008-03-10T14:00:00.001-07:00

Shhhhhhh...........

2008-03-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

Oh the LOUD this morning! The kids are just doing their regular thing but everything sounds deafening to me today. I've dropped my own voice to just above a whisper to see if they respond. Oy....I can barely think!

One of my new favorite pics!

2008-03-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hug It Out

2008-03-09T16:20:00.001-07:00

It's just in the last year or so that our older two kids have started to pick on each other for entertainment and while I know it's fairly normal, it's irritating for everyone – and tiring for Keith and me to either listen to them bicker or get after them to leave each other alone. The other day they were going at it at the dinner table and Keith came up with a new solution which went something like this:

K: that's enough you two. You need to respect each other ….blah blah (insert parental talk here)….now, I want you to give each other a hug until you feel better.

N: groan

D: ok.

They reluctantly hug. Dora is smiling. Noah is not smiling.

K: Do you both feel better?

D: YES!

N: No.

K: ok, Noah, it sounds like you need another hug. Go hug your sister again.

Another very reluctant hug. Dora is smiling. Noah is not smiling.

K: Now, Noah – Do you feel better?

N: (sullenly) yes.

Guess what - There was no more picking on each other that night.

Hiatus

2008-03-08T14:38:00.001-08:00

Oopps. I am back after an unplanned blogging hiatus. I keep meaning to blog, and write the blogs in my head but haven't gotten them posted! J You probably didn't miss much – I'm much more eloquent in my head than in writing anyway. I also haven't downloaded my pic's in a couple weeks so there's a lack of quick material for posts!

So, things that are happening here. Well, William is crawling a mile a minute now and getting into all sorts of stuff. As is typical, he is not that interested in toys and far more interested in pulling down stuff off our desk, tv cabinet, unplugging things, etc. He is a bit busier than our other two were at this age! (read: A LOT!)

Dora is currently with my in-laws who took her overnight to celebrate her birthday (which was last month, but around here birthday celebrations just go on and on….that or we are procrastinators!) Keith's mom picked her up at lunchtime yesterday and the rough plan was to head to Cora's for lunch, get manicures, and fill out the day from there. They are meeting us at Pan Am for her swimming class at 3:30 so we will see what else they got up to! Dora was SO excited and I'm sure they had a great time. (I LOVE that they do one on one stuff with the kids for their birthdays.)

Keith is at Promise Keepers this weekend so he was gone last night as well as all day today. He thoughtfully slept in Dora's room last night since he got in late and was getting up early so he wouldn't wake me and Will. William had a fantastic sleep – he does much better when he goes to sleep between 6:30 and 7 but it just does not fit into our schedule at all and I can't seem to make it work (that's our suppertime!) Last night Noah and I had McDonald's and watched "Meet the Robinsons" so he nursed to sleep on the couch and slept there on me until 8 when I transferred him to his crib. Unfortunately he wasn't in a night diaper so even though he slept, I kept waking up thinking just how wet he must be! Finally at 5 I decided to get up and change him when he woke and miraculously we both got back to sleep again after that.

Keith was nice enough to grind the coffee beans and get the machine all set up for me this morning so all I had to do was press start. A nice surprise!

We had a very lazy morning and are about to head out to Noah's gymnastics in about 10 minutes.

I have not been posting menu's the last few weeks, which means I've not been making menus and guess what – things are a lot more chaotic around supper time. You'd think I would learn my lesson….I suppose I could recycle the menu's I already have but that feels boring to me. Perhaps boring is better than stressful though.

I'm off to pack the diaper bag and head out in the snow!

Happy Saturday everyone!

party favors!

2008-02-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

So these are the party favors I have been working on for Dora's little friends. They are double sided aprons, and we are going to either give out a cookie-in-a-jar recipe or a cookie cutter and some sprinkles to go with it. Hopefully that won't amount to to much clutter going home with the little ones. I think these are so cute and I love how they are turning out.
I still have a few more to topstitch (I cut more than I need) so my little daycare friends may get these for Valentines day too!)

Dora's party is a cooking theme - we are going to have pizza (I would let them make pizza but it takes too long to cook individual pizzas so they wouldn't all be able to eat together). They are going to decorate cupcakes, and have some free time to play groovy girls, and polly pockets or whatever they want. I'd like to find some cooking theme games to play too - any ideas?
We are going to keep things short, simple and easy as I think birthday parties have a tendancy to be super pricey and over the top.

Birthday Girl

2008-02-10T19:35:00.001-08:00

Here's the birthday girl, blowing out the candles on her blueberry muffins! This year we are doing birthday activities instead of gifts and Dora chose to take the family to lunch at the Two a Tea teahouse on Corydon. When the 5 of us walked in on Saturday they initially said no, they didn't have room for us (I think we scared them, walking in with 3 kids!) But they reluctantly gave us a table, mentioning that they had a reservation for 1:00 that would need the table. No problem, I said, we need to be gone by 1 anyway. A few minutes later the waitress came back and mentioned that there was no rush after all...they could open up the upstairs tables and we could take our time. :) We had a very nice tea/lunch and our kids are very well behaved in restaurants - I think the staff were pleasantly surprised!
Tuesday night, Dora and I are going to Brushfire so she can paint some pottery (most likely a plate) and that will complete her family celebrations. She's also going to have some friends over on the 23 for a cooking party!
I can't believe my baby girl is 6! It's so cliche - but the time really does fly by.

Thanks Auntie Jen!!

2008-02-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my sister in law made us each a basket - they are awesome, and the kids baskets were stuffed with all kinds of goodies including cookies in a jar, and playdough in a jar. Noah didn't waste any time and made his cookies right away - all by himself! This is the first time he has used the oven. He was very proud of himself and the cookies were delicious!
(click on the pic to make it bigger!)

Menu Monday

2008-02-04T11:50:00.001-08:00

Last week's pork tenderloin was AMAZING – I highly recommend it! It's going to become a regular around here (and next time I'll try not to burn my entire hand grabbing the hot handle of the frying pan after I take it out of the oven. But I'm still going to make it again -That's how good it was – burn worthy. ) Anyway – on to this week…I was starting to run out of ideas so the kids came up with some of the menu's this week.

Jerk Roast Pork
Scrambled Eggs, bacon, toast, fruit salad, blueberry muffins (Dora's birthday dinner!)
Lasagna, Pioneer Woman's Buttery Thyme bread
Shepherd's pie
Split pea soup (compliments of my Sister in law's Christmas gift to us of dinner in a jar – I just have to dump this in the crockpot, add some water and a ham bone and we're good to go!)

This weekend was rough. Friday night Keith was out at a friend's house for the evening and Will got his first fever so I was up until about 1am. Finally got him to sleep and Dora came in around 3am – her foot hurt and she couldn't sleep. Normally she would just crawl in my bed for awhile but because Will was sick, I didn't want her too close. I told her to go try again. She (sadly) went back to her room and I heard her rustling around for awhile and then she ran downstairs. I thought maybe she went for a drink of water. I couldn't get up and check on her though because I really didn't want to wake Will. Around 3:30am Keith got home and I heard her scamper to the back door "HI DAD!" (He was a bit surprised! J) She had decided she was not tired, had dressed for the day and turned on all the lights on the main floor!

Soon after that, William woke again so I went down to find them on the couch watching cartoons. We stayed up until about 5 and then all headed back to bed for a few hours. I ended up staying home for the day on Saturday while Keith went to his work party. The kids had planned to go to Keith's parent's place while we were gone, so it was just Will and me. He was feeling better but still not 100%. Keith picked up the kids and brought them home around 11:30 – we all slept in and stayed home from church since Will was still kind of fussy. I was getting a bit of cabin fever tho so we headed to the community center to go tobogganing for about 45 minutes. It was a gorgeous day yesterday!

Will was really fussy the rest of the afternoon and we finally broke down and bought some Tylenol as I thought he must be in pain – I thought maybe he was getting an ear infection. About an hour later he had a gigantic poop (so maybe he was crampy?) then I popped him in the tub and he was much happier.

February!

2008-02-01T12:58:00.001-08:00

It's February! That means I made it through January! My motto for February is going to be…"one day at a time"…wait – wasn't that January's motto? Well, yes, but February is gearing up to be another busy month!

As it turns out, I did enjoy most of January – I am working on making meal planning a more conscious habit and we are reaping the rewards of that each evening. This past week was difficult with the extreme cold– I had a lot of help from neighbors and friends to get Dora to and from school and that was much appreciated. I don't mind bundling up but I worry about the little ones getting a touch of frostbite when it's below minus 30! (or -40!) We were getting a touch of cabin fever tho – I left the house for the first time this morning and it was GOOD to get out! I am feeling a little overwhelmed with my house right now – we just own so much stuff! It's time for a purge of some of the excess – I am tired of seeing clutter on every surface.

This morning I reminded Dora that her birthday is coming up and she would get to pick what's for dinner on Tuesday. Scrambled eggs! And Blueberry muffins! What a funny thing to pick – but it's her day! I think I will add some bacon, toast and maybe fruit salad and cheese and that could be pretty yummy. This is the first birthday in our family where we are scaling back – instead of a gift (STUFF!) Dora gets to pick an activity she would like to do with the family. I am feeling a little unprepared as I haven't had to rush out to the store and buy anything to wrap up. We will be planning a birthday party so she will probably get some gifts then. I am STILL working on the party favors but I hope to finish them soon and have a little reveal on the blog! (I'm quite excited about them actually!)

Noah's poem

2008-01-29T13:31:00.000-08:00

Snowy moon

On a cold February night
the snow blasts past me
freezing my cold face.
Get inside.
So freezing, I can't move an inch.

I found this poem that Noah wrote last year and I thought it was appropriate for today.

Menu Monday

2008-01-28T12:58:00.001-08:00

Ahh….Monday again! A few notes from last week – 5 menu days is about right for our family. I did 6 last week and guess what – number 6 has been recycled to be number 1 this week! J Also, Jobina's soda bread was awesome – so much nicer than other soda breads I've tried – I think the whole wheat flour is what did it. Anyway, it's a keeper! On to the menu:

Meatloaf, baked potatoes, veggies
Pork Tenderloin, rice, veg.
Lazy holopchi (cabbage roll casserole)
Pizza
Cheese and Veggie make your own Quesedillas (Just found this blog today and I am drooling over her recipes and food pics – if you're a foodie you'll want to check this out!!)

I suspect I will have to switch up the days a bit this week as we've got Kids Club starting again on Wednesday and MTYP on Friday which makes for a rushed dinnertime.

I'm noticing that this seems to be turning into a food blog which isn't particularly my intention but is serving a purpose for me right now as I am making an effort to be conscious about dinnertime! In other news, we are dogsitting this weekend and my parents will be in to celebrate Chinese New Year – I will have to find out when they are going out for Chinese food because if I can get in on that I will! J We have a pretty busy weekend planned tho with theatre Friday night, Keith is going out afterwards, regular kids activities on Saturday and then Keith's work party on Saturday night (pool tournament)

I am off – I hear little people waking up upstairs!

Monday morning

2008-01-28T08:20:00.001-08:00

This morning my little daycare boy requested muffins for morning snack. We have a stash of frozen bananas in the freezer for this purpose and I pulled out my super easy muffin recipe – I like this one because it whips up super fast and it's lighter than my usual banana bread recipe. These are great with sliced cheddar and apple quarters.

Banana Muffins

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

½ cup miracle whip

1 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ cups mashed banana

Dash nutmeg (optional – I usually leave this out, or put in a sprinkle of cinnamon instead)

Mix all ingredients together and add to greased muffin tin
Bake at 350* for 30 min (makes 12 muffins)

My kids are off school today and while it's nice to not rush off to school in the morning, they are a bit cranky and snappish today. We are heading out to the school after Will's nap to burn off some energy at the snow hill and play structure. (oh, and yes Keith we did save some muffins for you)

Granola

2008-01-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

This morning I made granola for the first time. I'm trying to use some of the food we have in our cupboards and this is something I've been thinking of trying for awhile. I love Quaker Harvest Crunch and I ate boxes of it when I was expecting Will. I can't say this is the same, but it is very good - on its own or with milk. Mine isn't as clumpy as the photo in the recipe link, maybe they used more honey than I did - I used what they called for, but I kind of eyeballed the other amounts. I only added dates, but I might try it with dried apples, apricots or cranberries. I left the nuts out too, in case I decide to serve it to the daycare kids. I bet this cost me less than $1 to make vs. $5 for a small box at the store.

Menu Monday

2008-01-21T15:27:00.001-08:00

Ok. It seems like the last week went really fast and here I am needing a menu again!! It is definitely relieving some stress for me to know what I am going to make in advance though. Another plus is that this is an easy way for me to love on my husband – I know he loves coming home when dinner is waiting for him. Last week I tried to make our meals out of our pantry – well I am going to try and continue that at least a few nights this week. I will have to round out a few ingredients but I think we can minimize our trips to the store again. I have 6 nights planned instead of the usual 5 so we'll see if that throws off next week's plan or if it works out.

Tacos or Nachos
Fried Chicken, potato wedges and veggies
Tuna casserole
Skillet lasagna, buns
Chicken stew and biscuits (note to self – try Jobina's soda bread)
Meatloaf, baked or mashed potatoes, veggies

Impromptu Photo Shoot

2008-01-21T12:01:00.001-08:00

Someone around here is going to be turning 6 next month. Birthday plans are beginning.
I am working on party favors - there is much crafting and sewing going on!
We're taking pictures to make our invitations...
Oh there are plans to be made!! Sneak peeks will follow sometime soon!

2008-01-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

This morning I noticed a really big white van outside our neighbor's house. Just as I was saying to the kids - "wow - look at the big van outside" my uncle climbed out of it! He is installing some carpet for the neighbor's addition (you can't tell in the pic, but they put on a huge two story addition in the back)
So the daycare kids and I made cookies and had company over for coffee. Nice change of pace for a friday morning!

Here are the two pearly white culprits that have been keeping us up at night! One of them is just poking through today, and the other should break through any minute!

The Fam!

2008-01-18T17:03:00.001-08:00

Blair snapped this pic for us after Ryan's performance as Acha the Goblin at Fantasy Theatre. Thanks Blair - we rarely have a picture with all of us together! I think it's funny that Keith and Will are matching in their green waffle shirts and brown cords, and that the lady on the far right is wearing the same parka as me!!

Plug for our carpenter friend Dan Franklin!

2008-01-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, I promised to post pictures of our bathroom renovation, but never got around to it. But, this week, Dan asked if I could send him some pictures of it for his new website (which I will link to when he gets it up and running because he does AWESOME work and everyone should have some Franklin cabinetry in their home!) Just to give you an idea of how talented he is - I gave him a very rough sketch of what I wanted, and he put everything in the correct scale and built it from scratch!

Hemming Jeans

2008-01-17T14:09:00.000-08:00

I usually wear my jeans quite long because hate the look of hemmed jeans - they never look like the original hem. I do get tired of pulling up my pants to keep from stepping on them all the time though.
Well, one of my friends told me I could take them to a tailor and ask for "original hem." I saw a pair of hers that were hemmed and you really couldn't tell! She paid $10 for this service. Not bad I thought.
So, just for kicks, I googled "how to hem jeans" and found this awesome tutorial - the result - 2 pairs of jeans hemmed this afternoon and one more still waiting. And the price...FREE! That's my favorite! :)

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes....

2008-01-15T13:09:00.001-08:00

Dora's hair has been getting so long that it is hard for her to take care of it. Today we finally decided to give it a substantial trim.

Before
After

Much more manageable....I will miss that long red mane though!

This Week’s Menu

2008-01-14T08:06:00.001-08:00

Ok, Posting last week's menu really helped me stay on track, so I am going to do it again. I expect I will probably change up the days as necessary for our schedule.

Day 1: Beef Barley Soup (to use up the beef stock I accidentally opened!) This is a crock pot meal so should be a quickie! We'll have this with bread machine bread if I get to it, or Harvest bakery buns if I don't!

Day 2: Tourtiere (my spell check wants to change this to Torture – haha!) this recipe calls for ground beef and pork but I just use beef. Probably with a side salad or veggie plate. Maybe I'll try out our new Olive Garden Italian dressing – yum!

Day 3: Crock pot 3 cheese tortellini and veggie plate

Day 4: Pork tenderloin with spice rub, mashed potatoes, steamed cauliflower and cheese sauce

Day 5: BLT's – Bacon makes everything better!

There we go – With the crock pot meals, I am almost guaranteed a couple leftover meals and with the exception of some fresh produce (and buns) I have everything I need for suppers this week!

Recipe Requests…

2008-01-12T19:27:00.001-08:00

Rice and Beans

2 tsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, diced

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

Pinch ground allspice (I didn't have this last time and it was fine)

1 ¼ cups long grain rice

2 ¼ cups veg or chicken stock

¼ tsp hot pepper sauce (or to taste)

1 can black beans (540 ml)

1 sweet green pepper, diced

Heat oil
Cook garlic, carrots, onion, thyme and allspice for 5 min.
Stir in rice for 1 minute
Stir in stock and hot pepper sauce
Bring to boil
Reduce heat, simmer 20 min or until liquid is absorbed.
Drain and rinse beans
Stir beans and green pepper into rice and cook for 7 min.
Serve with extra hot sauce and sour cream.

Chicken and Rice Soup

1 large chicken breast (or 2 chicken leg quarters, skin removed)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 med. Onions, chopped

1 cup rice (this is a lot of rice – you may want to reduce the amount of rice, or add more liquid if you want it soupier!)

4 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

Salt and pepper to taste

1 litre chicken stock

In a large pot, cover the chicken and all veg with water. Add ½ tsp salt. Cook over med-high heat until the chicken is cooked through and all the veg are tender. Remove the chicken, set aside and let cool. Remove pan from heat and let cool (so it doesn't crack your blender – alternatively, use a hand blender in the pot.) Puree the water/veg stock – it will be fairly thick and creamy. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and add back into the pot. Reheat the soup and add rice and chicken stock. Simmer until rice is tender. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Serve with biscuits or fresh buns.

Recipe recap:

2008-01-12T14:59:00.001-08:00

Ok – the menu went well. I did switch up the days, depending on our schedule.

Chicken and rice soup: This was good – I would make it again – it's a little bland but in that comfort food kind of way, not a boring way. Bonus was the kids liked it. It was more like a stew than a soup tho because I used real rice not the instant rice it called for and I wasn't sure of the ratio….so it's pretty ricey. We had it with biscuits.

Marinated Chicken breasts, Rice, Roast Pepper Salad – not bad, but nothing to write home about. And a bit fussy to make – I'd prefer just plain roasted peppers (yum). The chicken was good (marinade from a bottle so nothing fancy here.

Tuna Pita melts & Broccoli Salad: This was a winner – will definitely make these both again. Dora did not like the salad at all but she really enjoyed making it with me.

Sloppy Joes & Potato Buns: Good – and worth it just for the Harvest Bakery Potato buns. Made enough for Keith's lunch and a daycare lunch – YAY!

Rice and Beans: So yummy, super cheap and filling. William liked this too.

I may post next week's menu when I get it made. At least one meal will have beef stock, since I accidently opened a carton when I needed chicken stock. I am going to challenge myself to make things out of our pantry and freezer (with the exception of any produce we may need – must have fresh veggies!)

Good Morning Sunshine

2008-01-11T11:51:00.001-08:00

Having a baby, I'm often up a few times during the night. Last night I felt particularly refreshed upon his first waking – I looked at the clock 5:30!! WOOT! Way to go Will! It's been tougher than usual lately as Will's bottom teeth are getting ready to pop – they seem to be giving him a bit of trouble at night. What a treat to have a full night's sleep. (Well except for when Dora's alarm clock went off at midnight…but Keith handled that one – luckily you don't need mammaries to turn off an alarm!)

Salty or Sweet?

2008-01-11T08:43:00.001-08:00

If I had to choose, I usually reach for sweet before salty but these new (well new to me anyway) Rice Works chips in Sea Salt are super yummy! They are worth a nibble if when you're feeling snack-y. Apparently they are good with Salsa or Hummus but I must be a purist because I like them nekid!

Meanest mom EVER

2008-01-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Over the Christmas break we bought Noah a new jacket and ski pants and two pairs of (identical) gloves. Exactly one week later, he lost one of the gloves in the neighbor's front yard. A search of the yard (with shovels) has not revealed the lost mitten. Now the purpose of buying these two pairs of identical warm gloves, which were not cheap, was to ensure he was warm on the upcoming father-son camp weekend. He will have to make do with one pair, and an extra pair of liners.

To encourage a little more responsible behavior, (and to be honest, to relieve my own exasperation) I told him there would be some consequences for his carelessness. I would transfer $20 from his bank account to mine to pay for the gloves. If he finds the glove, and makes it through the rest of the season without losing another one, he'll be reimbursed. If not, well, at least I'm not out the $20.

I may have been up for meanest mom ever....but I think this mama wins out. She's my hero.

Frosty morning

2008-01-09T08:20:00.001-08:00

Woke up to a frosty world today. Mornings like this make me appreciate living in the great white north :) So pretty.

Whew!

2008-01-07T11:24:00.001-08:00

Well, this morning was a success!! I was not sure what to expect but everything went smoothly. First it was back to school – our kids have been enjoying their break and have been sleeping in regularly, but everyone was up and ready on time. It was back to work for me too – my regular morning 2 were here, and my new daycare baby came for half a day today and her first nap here! Well my kids really took it easy on me today – the 4 and 2 year old played nicely together while I got the baby down to nap, and then nursed William down for his nap too. They are all gone for the afternoon, and Dora's friend is over – Beads, crafts and Polly Pocket Princesses are out in full force. Will is back down for his nap and I am taking a quick breather to update the blog and drink my (oops) first glass of water for the day. I have some catching up to do. Must remember to take care of myself while I'm taking care of everyone else too.

Tomorrow, the new baby is here for the whole day – but it's just her and Will for the morning plus one daycare boy (3) and Dora for the afternoon.

One day at a time – that's my motto for January!

Menu for the week

2008-01-05T10:02:00.001-08:00

Just for kicks, I'm going to post the next week's menu. I make a 5 day menu and try to have enough leftovers for Keith's lunch the next day. (and if we're really lucky, lunch for the rest of us too if it's daycare/school friendly)

Day 1:

Chicken and rice soup (must be winter – soup is sounding really good! This is a new recipe.)

Potato buns (from Harvest bakery – these are really good! Failing that, I'll make biscuits)

Day 2:

Roast Pepper Salad (another new recipe – but how can you go wrong with roasted peppers)

Marinated Chicken breasts (easy peasy since the peppers will take most of naptime to roast/peel)

Rice

Day 3:

Tuna Pita melts (easy again – January is a really busy month for me with a new daycare baby starting)

Broccoli Salad (I love this salad but have never made it myself – so I guess we can call this new)

Day 4:

Sloppy Joes (old faithful)

Potato Buns (again, harvest bakery)

Day 5:

Rice and Beans (my dad's recipe – I haven't made this in ages and it is really good – and also cheap!)

Yes, I know there are actually 2 more days in the week…I generally find that there are enough leftovers for at least one extra supper and often something comes up during the week that changes our plans and we end up throwing in a quickie dinner (ex: Chicken fingers and fries on Sundays – last year Keith and I realized that it is much cheaper/better to buy a couple frozen entrees that are easy to pop in the oven with no prep, rather than going the fast food route – so that is what I'm going to try and do – we get in and out of this habit periodically.)

I am hoping that with these easy recipes, I'll get dinners done – I'm a little nervous about January – I've got a really full work schedule this month with one daycare baby starting full time and a couple of my part timers requiring extra care on days they don't usually attend. I may be in hibernation most evenings/weekends this month to recuperate! February should be a little more manageable – at least it looks that way on paper! One day at a time….

Building a habit

2008-01-04T08:49:00.001-08:00

One of my goals is to drink more water. When I'm hydrated I feel better, have more energy, my skin maintains itself better – less dry, less acne, my voice doesn't crack, I am more confident that I can produce enough milk for Will. (have you seen him? He's not suffering!)

I used to be great at drinking my water but with having a baby and going back to work (albeit at home – lucky me) sometimes it is easy to forget to take care of myself in this way. So, the past few days I have been setting my oven timer and every hour, if I haven't finished a glass of water, I finish it and refill it. If I do this throughout the work day, I allow myself some type of soda at dinner. (did I mention I'm cutting back on soda as well?) I also substitute herbal tea if I'm getting bored with plain water.

So far so good….I'm starting late today though – we are still in holiday mode around here for a couple more days…so I'm off to drink my water!

Looking forward…

2007-12-31T11:25:00.001-08:00

I'm not one for resolutions, but there are a few things I'd like to do more of in the coming year. I'd like to use cash more, and credit less. I'd like to get back in the habit of drinking more water, and making meal plans again. I'd like to continue to make our family a priority by not over scheduling us. I'd like to give more. I'd like to spend more time with friends and get to know new friends better. I'd like to entertain more at home.

I would like to remember that each day is an opportunity to minister to my daycare families, my photography clients, my neighbors and my own family.

And I wouldn't mind getting the roof fixed!

Happenings

2007-12-13T13:11:00.001-08:00

You know it must be the Christmas season when every day on the calendar has at least one activity penciled in! On the list today – the Winter Concert at school. This year the kids are performing to the Nutcracker and it is fantastic. We've been to a number of concerts now, and since we got a new music teacher the last few have been so well done. She makes the whole production enjoyable (not just that little bright spot when your own little star is on stage!)

Dora was the star on her class' Christmas tree and Noah did a Russian dance. No pictures because I refuse to use flash so you'll have to take my word for it that they were adorable and I'm sure some of Noah's Polish and Russian ancestors would have been proud!

Next on the to do list today…a visit from the nurse – blood shots and pee tests for all the grown-ups in the house! We are getting a new life insurance policy and the application includes a home visit for the tests. When they say no caffeine they don't really mean it do they….. J There was just that one cup this morning. Since I run a daycare, (and nurse a baby!) I'm used to eating every couple of hours so the fasting since 11am is killing me! I hope she's not late!

Time flies...

2007-11-08T12:17:00.001-08:00

A little birdie reminded me that I haven't posted in awhile. So here's a recent picture of Will who's been with us for 1/2 a year now. Crazy how the time is flying by. We are enjoying every minute with him and it is especially nice now that he has figured out how to nap in his own crib! He sleeps with us at night but I feel much better laying him in his crib for naps since he now rolls and I obviously can't be there for the whole nap!
Will is my granola baby - we are cloth diapering him, baby wearing (sling), feeding him whole foods and encouraging self feeding. This is very different for me as I was pretty mainstream with my first two babies but it feels very natural to take a different approach this time around and I am enjoying it very much. For Christmas, we are buying him a goat. (kidding)

Actually for Christmas we are scaling back a LOT. I've been feeling like we have so much excess lately, and with the blessings of hand me downs we've received, we really don't need much so I'd like to avoid going so commercial this year. I will have to avoid the stores because I do have a bad habit of impulse buying, especially this time of year!

In other news, I have been running off my feet with photo editing, daycare and just daily life. All is well, but very busy and we are being careful to not burn ourselves out.

Oh - and our Christmas Block Party is coming up at church on November 24. It should be a lot of fun - so if you're around, you should drop by! (And it's FREE!)

Thursday's theme....Freedom

2007-09-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

when I saw Tracey's theme for today, these shots from tuesday evening came to mind....

mmmmmmm tap water

2007-08-12T19:41:00.001-07:00

There are articles all over the web and in the media lately about tap vs bottled water and how most bottled water is really just purified tap water, marked up to ridiculous prices. It didn’t really bother me to pay $5 for a jug of water for my water cooler because it tasted so much better than my chlorinated city water. But, I started thinking, what if there were something I could do to make my tap water more palatable? I searched online, hoping I could accomplish this without buying something, but it seemed the easiest way to do treat my water at home was with a filter. So, we looked into the Brita water jug. The pro: It goes in the fridge, so no extra electricity needed. Con: It needs to be refilled often – probably more than once a day, and since our kids are pretty independent, it may get spilled fairly regularly. Also, it requires the filter be changed every 2-3 months. And, we already own a water cooler which we like.

Looking at the list, the cons outweighed the pros, but the next time we made a visit to Canadian Tire I found myself in the Brita aisle checking them out anyway. I ended up finding a water filtration system which fits our existing water cooler. Pro: It uses the cooler we already own; the filter lasts 6 months; it holds more than 2 litres so I won’t have to refill it every day; the kids won’t spill any more than usual J. Keith figured out that we would save about $120/year on water. Cons: we’re still plugging in the cooler so we’re not saving any electricity.

We decided to give it a try and this afternoon we got it set up – I’m happy to report that the water tastes great! Now I plan to work on taking my reusable water bottle with me more often so I don’t find myself running into 7-11 for a bottle of water for the road!

new pictures of Will...

2007-08-11T15:10:00.001-07:00

bread and pie - by request

2007-07-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

This is the bread recipe that I have been making lately – I love it and it has a lot of variations which is also nice! I grew up on whole wheat bread and switched to white as soon as I moved out on my own but I’ve rediscovered my love for whole wheat, whole grains, taste and texture. Today I added ½ cup sunflower seeds, ½ cup flax seeds and a handful of oatmeal to make it more of a whole grain. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Molasses Wheat Bread

4 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour 2 pkgs dry yeast 1 tsp. salt
2 1/4 cups of milk (or water, or buttermilk or whatever you've got)
1/4 cup oil (whatever sort you have, or you substitute mashed squash or pumpkin)
1/4 cup molasses (or sorghum, or honey, or sugar (but add some extra liquid) 1 egg, beaten

Stir together 2 cups of flour (doesn't really matter which), the salt, and yeast. Combine the milk, oil and molasses in a saucepan or solar oven and heat until just warm - stick your finger in to test. Add the warm liquid and the egg to the flour mixture. Beat for 3 minutes with a whisk or wooden spoon. Gradually add the remaining flour until the dough is soft but elastic. Knead for 2 minutes (knead means to smoosh it flat, fold it over, smoosh it some more and generally whack it around for a while).

Place the dough in a bowl in a warm place, covered by a slightly damp cloth (the cloth shouldn't touch the dough - it is merely to provide humidity), and let it double - 1-2 hours (we actually generally do the above the night before and leave it sitting around on the kitchen counter until morning. It does just fine. That way, we get fresh bread in the am without bothering with a breadmaker.)

When it has risen (or when you are awake enough to contemplate it), divide the dough into two portions and turn it into something vaguely loaf shaped. Let rise for an hour or so somewhere warm. Bake at 350 for 40 -45 minutes, until the bread is nice and brown and sounds a little hollow.

This bread keeps quite well for days, and freezes extremely well.

Also by request is my Chicken Pot Pie recipe – which is super yummy but a little different everytime I make it, depending on what I throw in.

Chicken Pot Pie

1) Prepare a pie crust (I use the tenderflake recipe, on the container – it makes 6 crusts or 3 pies)

2) Sauté or roast 1 chicken breast with pepper, salt and garlic (or use leftover chicken); chop

3) Boil veggies (potatoes, carrots, peas, onions, - whatever you like) until tender; drain.

4) In a pot, mix 2 tbsp margarine,

2 tbsp flour.

5) Slowly add ½ cup milk, mixing constantly and allowing to thicken over medium heat. Once thick, add garlic powder, onion powder, seasoning salt, dill, pepper, chicken oxo (I just sprinkle these on to taste – I don’t have amounts)

6) Mix together chicken, veggies and sauce. Put in crust. Top with second crust

7) Bake 1 hr at 350.

I often double the amount of sauce (step 5) – this recipe is great for company because it makes two or three pies – depending on how many veggies you cook. I assume you could also freeze it tho it never lasts that long at our house!