Being Thankful

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I have been thinking about what I have to be thankful for this year. The first thought that came to my mind was that I am thankful we will having a healthy baby girl. Then I thought to myself, "Wow, I sure do complain a lot about something I am so thankful for." I feel like I have been constantly complaining about all my aches and pains that late pregnancy brings. I say several times a day, "I just want her to be born so I can be done being pregnant!"
It has been so easy for me to forget how we almost lost Grace when I was 13 weeks pregnant. (You can read those blogs if you want. They were some of the first ones I wrote.) Ever since about 18 weeks of pregnancy I have been blessed with uncomplicated pregnancy. This is especially a blessing since when I was pregnant with Ezra I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at 30 weeks!
Anyway, I have 30 more days of pregnancy if not fewer, and I am so thankful that I am carrying my daughter and we are both healthy. She will be worth all of the aches and pains. I just needed an attitude adjustment. I can't promise there won't be anymore complaining in the next month, but I will try to stay positive and keep praising God for our miracle girl.

Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies

These cookies are a lot of fun to make and easy to do! Ezra had a blast decorating his cookies!
Ingredients: Sugar cookies, frosting, m&m's for eyes, candy corn for feathers, orange frosting for beak, and black decorating gel for center of eyes. I got this idea from http://www.billyandgreen.blogspot.com/.

My finished turkey cookies



Ezra's Turkey Cookies
Ezra Decorating Thanksgiving Cookies

Ezra was so proud of his finished product! He made one for mommy, daddy, and himself! The three-eyed one with the extra candy was the one he made for himself!

34 Weeks--Belly Pictures

34 Weeks--5 Weeks Left!

Nothing to new this week. Grace is for sure growing at a healthy rate. I can't touch my toes, I can hardly bend over, and I am tired. I am counting down the days....35!

My Man's Blog

Check out Ross' blog! He starting blogging last week.,
http://twoscoopsofmymind.blogspot.com/

Work Can Be Fun!

To make yard work more fun we often make it a family activity so we can all work together and have some fun doing it. It is also a great opportunity to teach Ezra about working hard and taking care of the things the Lord has blessed us with. I like to think God also wants us to have fun with the beautiful leaves He created!

You and Me, Baby Girl

On Thursday, the Women's Ministries had a Holiday Extravaganza. Women in the church volunteer to host a table and they decorate it elaborately. We got served a wonderful dinner by men in the church, and then we enjoyed entertainment provided by the Konzelman Family. If you ever get a chance to watch them, go for it! They are great!

Anyway, as I was looking over the 350+ women and all of the beautiful holiday decorations I found myself day dreaming about being able to take my girl, Grace, to events like this. Someday she will be old enough and we can get all dressed up together and make it a night out. I am also so excited to have a girl to take to Mother's Day Brunches!

Wow, I am going to have a daughter.

My mom always found special ways growing up to have girl nights. (I have two older brothers.) I remember one year, when I was about ten, my mom took me to the hair salon, bought me a new dress, went to a fancy restaurant, and we ended the day by going to a pageant! My mom told me that at dinner she had the puberty talk with me.....I don't remember that part at all though! I just remember the pleasant parts of the night. I even remember what I ate for dinner.

Children are such a blessing. They are all so unique in personalities. Ross and I want to make it a priority to always spend special individual time with our kids. My dad used to take me on Daddy/Daughter dates. I looked forward to our dates so much! He showed me how a girl should be treated. I know Grace will love going on dates with her daddy too.

Do you have any special memories of something you and one of your parents did alone together?

Thanks Ellyn!

Thank-you Ellyn for the I Love NY shirts!! Ezra LOVES his and he was so excited the night he got it he wanted to wear it to bed. I can't wait to put Grace in her pink onesie!

33 Weeks

6 more weeks until Grace will be here!

I just noticed in this picture that Ezra must not be getting all his spit from brushing his teeth in the sink...I see quite a bit of it on the mirror! GROSS! I'll make sure I clean that off tonight! =)

Homemade Pizza from Grandma Barb

When, I was about to get married my mom wrote out family recipes in a blank recipe book. It has become my favorite cookbook. I love using recipes that have been passed down the generations. I also love cooking my childhood favorites for Ezra to love.

I made a pizza recipe from my Grandma Barb tonight. It was wholesome and delicious!

The possibilities with this pizza are endless. You can make an all veggie pizza using random veggies that you have on hand, or you can make your favorite pizza using all your favorite traditional pizza toppings. Enjoy!

Homemade Pizza

Dissolve yeast and water:

1 pkg yeast

1 C very warm water

2 Tbl olive oil

1 Tbl sugar

1 tsp salt

3 Cups flour (I used 1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour and 1 1/2 Cup White Flour) You can do all white or all wheat or a mixture of the two. Obviously, the more wheat you use the heavier, but the crust also becomes more filling and nutritious.

Mix with a spoon. Add a little more flour if dough is sticky. Let set for 5 minutes and then roll out on pizza pans or stones.

Layer pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, meat, veggies, and then top with more mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese in melted and dough is baked through.

Makes 2- 13" pizzas. Or one larger thicker crusted pizza.

I made our pizza tonight using Italian sausage, fresh tomatoes, and mozzarella.

Healthy Shepherd's Pie

Double this recipe and make one for your family and one for another family who could be blessed with a meal! This meal has everything you need all in one: veggies, starch, and meat!

You can also make this recipe ahead of time and have it in the fridge ready to bake at dinner time!

Ingredients:

4 med potatoes

1/4 C fat-free sour cream

1 Tbsp margarine

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 C onion

2 medium carrots- diced

2 medium celery, diced

1 lb uncooked ground turkey (can use ground beef, but calorie and fat goes up)

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 Cups chicken broth, or beef broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Boil potatoes until fork tender. Drain potatoes, transfer to large bowl and add sour cream and margarine. Mash until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion, carrots, celery. Cook until soft. Add turkey and cook until browned, breaking up meat as it cooks. Add flour, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir to coat. Add broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer until mixture thickens.

Transfer turkey mixture to a 9 inch deep pie plate, or casserole dish. Spread mashed potatoes over top. Use back of spoon to make decorative swirls. Bake until potatoes are golden, about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

The above picture is the pie before it was baked. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. I had a couple hungry men that were ready to eat!

Laptop Bonding

Words from Ezra

Ezra - "Look Mom! I apple sauced my shoes!"

What he actually did was criss-cross his velcro, but he thought it was called "apple sauced".=)

Slow Cooker Chicken

I have been using my crock pot a lot lately. I have been really tired by the end of the day, so it is nice to prepare a meal early in the day when I have more energy then by dinner time we just eat it and there is less work for me. Anyway, perhaps you all have already done this, but tonight I simply put a whole fryer chicken in the crock pot and added some onion and celery to the pot. I sprinkled the chicken with a little salt, rosemary, and basil. Then the chicken cooked on high for 5 hours. Oh my goodness it was so juicy and delicious! The meat literally was falling off the bones. It was so easy to do too! I made mashed potatoes and peas to accompany it. I wouldn't cook the potatoes with the chicken because the crock pot fills up with chicken juice and the potatoes would just fall apart and be hard to separate from the chicken and all the juice.

Try this for a quick, easy, and delicious dinner! You can usually get whole fryers really cheap too! I paid just over $4.00 dollars for ours! I love an inexpensive and tasty meal!

My Christmas Wish

I really want to get a new digital SLR camera. With the baby about to be born, I would just love to have a high quality camera to capture sweet moments. All I have ever had is a point and shoot camera and I am just not getting the quality of pictures that I desire. I'll let you know if I get my wish.=)

Halloween 2008

Introducing: Ezra the race car driver!

Story Hour at the Library

Face painting that Ezra got at Fallapalooza (church activity)