Time to make the Baby Food

Caleb is already at the stage where he is rapidly consuming baby food!  Yeah!  It is hard to believe that… he just jumped right in and has really gotten it!  So far I have made squash, carrots, peas and green beans.  I need to make sweet potatoes and regular potatoes then I will start making some fruits!  He is going to LOVE banana and apple sauce!    (And by the way, I got a WONDERFUL new food processor for Christmas… it is perfect for all of the baby food that I make! Thanks, Danny!)

If you have never made baby food, DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED!! It is really easy.  I just buy frozen veggies and cook them on the stove (I boil them.)  Then drain the water off of them… but reserve some for the baby food.  Put the veggies in the food processor or blender with a little of the water that you saved.  Then whip them until they are smooth… the consistency that you like.  You may need to add more water if it is a little stiff.  Then take the veggies and spoon them into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer.  Once they have hardened, put them in a labeled bag in the freezer.  When you are ready to use them, take out the number of cubes that you need (2-3) and heat in the microwave.  Make sure they are not too hot before giving them to baby and mix with cereal if you like…. EASY AND SO MUCH CHEAPER!!

Christmas cookies…

Here are the pictures from the adventures in making cookies with the kids….

Does this face say “trouble”?  It should…

We made these cookies for our friend Sarah and her family. She is a leader in Cubbies and has a birthday two days after mine.  We brought them to Cubbies for the kids to eat and the extras came home for us to enjoy!  :)

A little seamstress

One activity that we did while Vick was in town was going to the toy store to show her some toys that the kids would like for Christmas.  One of the items that Grace and I picked out was a kid’s sewing machine.  She has always been fascinated by mine, but I thought she was still too young to try mine.  MomMom got Grace it for Christmas.  She was THRILLED!

One day in the week before Christmas, I was trying to think of an easy project to do with Grace using her machine.  SO.. the kids and I went to Hobby Lobby to get Dallas Cowboys fabric.  We measured how big Danny’s pillow was and cut the fabric to size, sewed three straight lines and made…. A PILLOW CASE!! She was beaming the whole time. We wrapped it up and put it under the tree as a Christmas gift for Daddy… we also made him and our friend Julie scarves using the leftover pieces – Grace cut fringe for each one!    I am sure that there will be MANY more activities using this machine…. it worked well and she did GREAT!

Activities with MomMom

Danny’s mom came to visit in the middle of December to celebrate Christmas together.  She arrived on her birthday!  We planned many fun things to do while she was here… there was more than enough to keep us busy.  The girls always had something up their sleeve as well.  Grace really enjoyed playing Sorry together… playing 2 games with her isn’t enough!  Here are some great memories of the time together.

Vick’s birthday…ready to eat the peanut butter dessert

Making our gingerbread house and eating the candy…. yummy!

Playing with new toys

Fun times at the zoo…we got to eat cookies, drink hot chocolate, make a craft, see some animals, take pictures in a sleigh with reindeer and watch the tiger open his Christmas presents… COOL!

My favorite birthday message...

Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful birthday messages yesterday.  I had fun reading them, listening to them, and just feeling special!  :) BUT my favorite birthday message was from my little 2 year old.  Josiah made my day by singing Happy Birthday over and over and over.  Here he is:

7 months….

Caleb is 7 months old today.  Time is flying… I am hardly remembering to take pictures and record the news in our baby books.  That reminds me… have I recorded that Caleb has his first tooth?  I will have to do that right after I am done with this.  He also is getting REALLY ready to crawl.  Just this week he has started getting up on his knees and toes and move forward.  He has been going around in circles, but now he is moving forward… I DON’T think I am ready for this yet!!!

Conviction in Giving

Living in a city there are ample times of seeing homeless people or hungry people along the side of the rode.  We are often asked for money or food as we wait at a stoplight.  The people’s sadness and sunken eyes are hard for me to ignore, and the thoughts of their families get to me.   What am I to do?  I have heard the stories of homeless people using their money to buy beer or cigarettes, but I have also known those same ones come to Jesus from the love they get from people on the streets!

So…. with God working on my heart in this area, I have had a softening heart to these people.  Who am I to judge them and decide for them what they are going to do with the money or food I give? I am called to give.  The Word tells us that when we have clothed, feed, given drink to those in need it is like giving to Jesus.  MY HEART is what is important...not what they are going to do with what I give. That is THEIR responsibility!

A few weeks ago on the way home from church we met a homeless woman at our exit.  I had a large bag of pretzel rods that I had brought for the kids and I gave what I had to the woman.  (One of the kids was so disappointed that they were all gone! But it was a great teachable moment!) The next week… she was there again, but I had nothing… except for an “emergency” bag of Chex Mix that I keep in the van.   I gladly rolled down the window and passed it to her.  The kids and I decided that we were NOT going to be unprepared on the following week.  We made a bag for our friend on Saturday night and put it in the van.  It had an apple, crackers and a granola bar.   She wasn’t there again, but at least we were ready.

That got me thinking of an idea that I had seen from a friend from church… have bags ready in the car for when you see a person in need… WITH the Gospel in it as well!

In homeschooling we decided that the word GENEROUS would be our character trait for this month: “Willing to share what God has given without expecting anything in return.”  As an activity we made those bags for needy people.  We shopped for the items, packed the items, added a Gospel tract and then put them in the van and the car!   We hope that this teaches our kids and ourselves to be MORE GENEROUS as we learn about what God has given us and what a sacrifice He has made for us this Christmas season!

An Advent of Fun

Each year we have a daily activity leading up to Christmas.  We open the door of the Advent Calendar and have some special thing to do each today.  On this day from last week, we got to finger paint Christmas trees!  It was really fun… and pretty messy!  They had a blast doing it and the giggles were payment for all of the cleanup!  It was SOOO worth it!