Unexpected Outing

We ended up going on an unexpected outing this week. My friend Kati and I both won a family 4 pack of tickets from Radio Disney to see Shrek the Musical in Orlando. Kati ventured out to pick up the tickets on Monday and she was unable to get mine. Looks like I would have to drive down to Celebration to pick them up. Since Kati's husband was working, I didn't have a clue where I was going, and our kids totally adore one another Kati decided she would ride out with us.
We decided to take the kids to Chick Fil A for lunch, eat at Celebration Park, and then take the kids to Downtown Disney. If we were going to drive out there we were going to make a day of it! Or at least a half of a day. It ended up being a fun and unexpected outing.
Let me add I had no idea there was so much fun and free stuff to do in Downtown Disney (for some free fun... check out our favorite places to play).
Here are some sweet pictures I got of the kids at Celebration Park.
My Sweet Sophia

Troy, really hamming it up for the camera.

Kati's son, Paul

Kati's daughter, Cadence

And "the monsters" (what I call my kids) and "the littles" (what Kati calls her two). So together.. maybe "the little monsters"

Lacing Beads, Computer Games and Wii

We have had a good week. The kids are happy as ever and for that I am very thankful!
Troy is learning more and more. I really feel like since we have started him on a gluten free diet his mind is clear and he is able to focus better. I am shocked at how he has changed now that his little body and brain have been able to absorb nutrients in what he eats. In the last three months, he has learned his numbers, shapes, colors, and alphabet, he is singing songs and nursery rhythms like never before. He even speaks better, he understands more too, have to be careful what we say in front of him. He has never been able to figure out lacing cards or lacing beads and today I pulled them out during activity time. He said, "no, those are Sophi's. I can't do those."
I told him I would show him how and I bet he could do them.
Sure enough... he was a bead lacing fool!

He was so proud on wore his little bead necklace until bedtime.
Sophia has been loving the whole 'summer vacation' thing... no school = time to play on the computer!

This girl loves playing on the computer! I love that everything she enjoys doing is educational! We found some really neat websites for her to play and learn on and I'm all for it.
We do limit the computer/TV/video game time in our house to 1 hour a day. Usually in 30 minute intervals. Sophia usually watches TV for 30 minutes in the morning and Troy plays on the Wii. Then again in the afternoons they play for 30 minutes, Sophia usually plays on the computer and Troy on the Wii.... have I mentioned that Troy loves the Wii. I picked up 'Marvels Super Hero Squad on clearance at Target and Troy LOVES it.. sometimes a little too
much, thus the one hour limit.

We took a trip to downtown Disney yesterday, I'll blog about that and post pictures tomorrow...
I am worn out tonight. Plus, a handsome guy is waiting to watch a movie with me tonight.

Bob's Red Mill GF Pizza

I've heard mixed reviews about Bob's Red Mill Products but I have to say... I've been missing pizza so I found the mix for pizza crust and figured I'd give it my best shot.
Oh, was it delish!
We opted for a plain cheese pizza since it was kind of last minute dinner, even requiring Tony to run to Target for mozzarella cheese, while we waited for the packet of active yeast to do whatever it is supposed to to. (20 minute wait...)
I followed the directions for mixing and baking on the back and the results where heavenly...

So... yummy!

Thanks to Daddy for the run to Target for cheesy!

I love that picture of Troy. Enjoying the GF Cheese Pizza

I've read that before..

I was sitting in church a few weeks ago. Listening to a sermon, a sermon on a verse I had read many times before.
A verse I heard many services on..
A verse I read many devotionals about...
Yet, I had never heard the verse depicted this way.
While I sat, listening, I heard someone say, "I have read that verse before"
I thought to myself...
what Christian hasn't? I mean, bottom line is it's a popular verse among believers.
So many verses, popular ones, unpopular ones, uplifting verses, humbling verses... I've heard many verses.
I was blessed to be raised by a Christian Momma, I had a strong Christian Aunt, both of these God-fearing women read me many Bible stories, sang Bible songs, read countless Bible verses to my growing mind. I went to a Christian school where you studied the Bible if you wanted to or not...
Yes, I have heard this verse before...
On of the things I so treasure about the Bible, is you can read the same verse and throughout time the meaning of that verse will transform.
As we grow from babies in His Word the Bible transforms with us, it transforms us.
We can hear the same verse over and over again, yet each time, each season in life take something different from it.

Thank You Lord for allowing your Word to be relevant in our lives while transforming our lives. Thank you for all the times I can hear your word, over and over again.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Matthew 5:6

Mother's Day Weekend Recap

The weekend was wonderful.... well, almost wonderful, but still an awesome weekend.

I'm one very blessed momma.

So thankful to be a Mother this Mother's Day. Tony planned a great Mother's Day outing to BOK Tower and Gardens in Lake Wales. It was a beautiful and peaceful Mother's Day. Tony got up early with the kids and they made me breakfast in bed. french toast with powdered sugar. So sweet to see those smiling facing so excited to bring me breakfast in bed. Troy sat in bed with me- munching on my breakfast. Then we all got ready for a much needed family outing.

The night before my sister and I celebrated with my mom. We got her a necklace and earrings set from Brighton (my sister works at a Brighton in Jacksonville, so we got the hook up). She loved it, we had dinner, and just spent some time visiting with her. It is a rare occasion that it is just the three of us. It was fun. I laughed so hard I got a headache... my mom and my sister are the only ones who can make me do that.

I hope all the momma's out there had a special day.

Back to reality today. Tony is at work and I have an enormous amount of homework to keep me busy. The kids are running around playing and laughing.... they are happy, wild children! I'm glad they have one another to play with... they are best buddies.

Today's "day at a glance" looked something like this...

May 9th -
Gymnastics (Sophia and Troy) 5:45-6:30
Laundry/Bathrooms
Produce Stand (apples, bananas, pecans)
Lana goes back to Jax-
Homework

Happy Monday!!!

Stuffed Peppers

This week we got some awesome bell peppers from the produce stand... HUGE, red bell peppers. So for dinner we made stuffed bell peppers with brown rice for dinner one night.
For all you 'glutenites' (Gluten Free people) just be sure the tomato sauce is GF.
Simple, simple, but sooo yummy.
Brown ground Hamburger or Turkey meat in skillet.
Add your favorite spaghetti sauce (I used Classico- Traditional)
Cut the tops off of the bell peppers, remove the seeds and rinse
Stuff with spaghetti meat sauce and sprinkle a little motzerella cheese on top.
Bake 350 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted on top.
Make Brown Rice to serve on the side.
I wish I had a pretty photo to share with you but all I have is the quick picture Tony snapped as I was pulling these out of the oven... yum!
This is def something I'll make again.

It's Summer Vacation and we are living it up...

Yet the learning doesn't stop!
We don't have our traditional school time but every night before bedtime the kids love to end the night with individual "learning time". Sophia's love language is quality time and she loves this one on one learning time with mommy. We usually spend 20 to 30 minutes working in a reading book.

I scooped this up on a home educators resale shop for $10. I had heard about this book and Sophia was begging me to help her learn to read. We had done a lot of pre-reading skills during the school year. She can recognize sight words but was having trouble putting sounds into words. We are only on lesson 8 and I am already amazed as to how she can now hear the letters in words. She is sounding words out. There are writing 'tasks' at the end of each lesson and even her handwriting has improved.
She is so confident and loves working in this book. It is a little repetitive but she enjoys it- it fits her learning style and it's a great match for her.
I like that it is designed for mother/father and child. I plan on using this with Troy next summer. I'm not sure that it fits his learning style but I know he'll enjoy the one on one time.

old shirt made new

Oh me, Oh my.... My little boy's shirt has a whole in it!!
This is not just any shirt. This was his cousin, Tucker's shirt. Troy is the youngest of all the boys in the family and he really looks up to his cousins and their hand-me-downs are his treasures! This shirt was no different.
And what did he tell me when he discovered this shirt... "Mommy, fix it!"
So, we did...

We cut his favorite parts from the old shirt with the whole in it. And found a plain blue shirt in his closet to attach the design onto..

Then we used an iron on adhesive to stick it onto the shirt, sewed the edges... then it was ready to wear!

Yeah, for another upcycle!! and a very happy little boy!

Mother's Day 2011

Tony and his mom went to lunch at Panera today. I'm going to dinner with my mom and my sister tonight. Tomorrow is all about me! Hurray!! This will be the first Mother's Day that we aren't running here and there.
In the years past we have gone on trips with Tony's family or we have been running from church, to my mom's house, to his mom's house, some years even adding in a trip to my grandma's house. While all this running and precious time celebrating with all of the important mothers in our lives is important I am excited for the first Mother's Day celebrating with my children.
Sophia is so excited about celebrating "Mudder's Day". We went to a cake decorating event in downtown Eustis last night so the kids could decorate Mother's Day Cakes. Sophia kept saying "you're the best Mudder". She was so sweet. Although she was rotten as ever later that night when she got overtired.

So, since I won't be blogging tomorrow, because I am going to attempt to do as little as possible I want to tell all the lovely mothers out there... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Me, my mom, my little sister

Tony and his momma celebrating Mother's Day at Panera

Old Chalk 2 New Paint

Do your children love chalk? Do they have thousands of tiny pieces of chalk from used extras that end up at the bottom of the chalk bucket?
While blog searching the other afternoon I ran across an idea to turn old chalk pieces into chalk paint.
Simple... take old chalk, divide it out by color, place the colors in plastic bags and let the kids hammer the heck out of 'em... Then pour the powdered chalk into a bowl add a small amount of water, enough to turn the powder into a paste or thick liquid, then let the kids paint away...

Some of the colors we added too much water and they didn't show up right away, but once the water was dry the colors were so pretty. This project even drew attention from other neighborhood kids and before I knew it my whole driveway was covered with paint and children...


The kids loved this new take on old chalk...