The Epic of Isaac...

Guess who stayed dry all day today?

Yep! Isaac did!

I am doing the happy dance as I type this! What a blessing!!!

My little boy is growing up. (and I couldn't be happier!lol)

Blessings,

Lisa

Recipe...

Granola (I got this recipe from SHS in 2005, can't remember from who though)

4 cups regular oats
1.5 cups coconut (sweet) (we leave this out)
1.5 cups wheat germ
1 cup brown sugar
.75 cup raisins (we leave this out)
.5 cup pecans, chopped
.5 cup almonds, chopped
.25 tsp salt
.5 cup water
.25 cup oil
2.5 tsp vanilla

Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients and pour over dry. Leave out raisins until cooked. Bake on two 9x13 jelly roll pans at 275 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Stir in raisins and cool. Keep in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Lisa

My Daily Ramblings...

My little rug rat...

Whew. I hit the ground running this morning. I was up at 2am for Sophia's breathing treatment and accidently slept in this morning. I woke at 8:15 and needed to give Sophia another treatment, give her oral meds, feed her rice cereal so she wouldn't gag up the meds, fix everyone breakfast, get dressed, change 3 diapers (2 Sophia-1 Isaac) and get out the door by 8:50 at the latest. We were late.LOL I think I did pretty good anyway. I think the kids were only late by a few minutes and Allison said that the class hadn't even started.

Once, I dropped Allison and Genevieve off for P.E., I came home and got everyone else ready for the day. It was also time for me to dig out the 6-18month old toys out of the garage. Sophia has been getting more mobile and wanting a little more excitement than her rattles were giving her. I found 3 bins in the garage that kept mostly Isaac and a little Sophia busy for most of the morning.

Mess? What mess?

I put Sophia to sleep, had Jon watch her and went to pick up Allison and Evie. They were wet and covered in whipped cream. I put Evie in the bath in my room, took my shower for the day and Allison was going to class so she stayed wet. Well, Sophia didn't wake in time for the older kids class so Allison graciously offered to stay with her and let Jon go by himself. It was so nice, since Sophia is still very sick and I really didn't think waking her was a good idea. I took Jon to class and Allison took a shower.

A clean but sunburned Allison...

A clean Evie...

After all that running around, I almost forgot to pick Jon up! Crisis averted. I was only a few minutes late and Jon never noticed. He was too busy cleaning up from the water and whipped cream. He showered once he got home and everyone was clean, except Isaac.LOL I guess I need to give him a bath just to be able to say that we were all clean on the same day.LOL

Do you think we might be related?

Maybe some day I'll be able to say that we were all clean and had our hair brushed on the same day. Nah, that's just pushing it. lol

Blessings,

Lisa

My Daily Ramblings...

Here's some of the week so far...

Allison helping make meatballs...

We made about 150 meatballs for the freezer and I was able to make granola while Allison did the meatballs.

I also worked on the dreaded cabinet...

I'm not sure that I'm done, but really, I don't think I can get it any better...

Meanwhile, here's Genevieve getting ready for her second week of homeschool p.e.

Dy-no-mite!

She absolutely LOVES homeschool p.e.! What a difference a year makes. If she had been old enough last year, she would have fought us tooth and nail, even if she thought it might be fun.LOL Now, she asks everyday if it's PE day. My Dad has just started taking her to roller skating lessons on Saturday too. She's amazing! I've never had such an out-going little one before. Things are really coming together for her this year.

So, pretty much, my whole day yesterday was playing taxi.lol I went back and forth to the YMCA all day long. In between running, I gave Sophia a breathing treatment and tried to get kids to eat lunch. I was not very successful on the lunch.LOL After everyone had their PE and ate something, I went to the grocery store. YIKES, groceries are getting expensive! I didn't even need any meat.

Isaac is still sick. It sounds like it went straight to his chest. We're trying to get him to take medicine but it's really hard. He thinks all medicine is the stuff that we give him at the hospital to make him loopy for the surgery. He completely freaks out. He was even freaking out when we gave Sophia her medicine. NOT FUN!!! I've been trying to bribe him with chocolate but it's not working.lol

On to better things...

Here's a cute photo of Sophia, she's such a ham for the camera...

Yep, I'm cute and I know it...

She's getting better. I keep trying to move her breathing treatments to 3x a day instead of 4x a day, but she's just not ready. We were supposed to be able to do that after Sunday but every time I move them further apart, she gets wheezy again. Maybe in a day or two she'll be ready.

I guess that's it for now. Blogger's being a pain and this post took me forever with all the photo errors I kept getting. I'm going to work on some more of my list today since the only running I need to do is tonight for Allison's bible study group. I think I'll make the chicken soup since Isaac's not feeling well and maybe the muffins.

Blessings,

Lisa

My Menu for this week...

This past week was a complete wash in the cooking, cleaning, and school departments. Soooo, this week, will have to make up for it. I've already swept and mopped the hard floors this morning and the kids vacuumed the carpets. We're working on the huge amount of laundry and the kids have done some school work. Sophia is on a good regimen of meds and such and I can see that they are working. I'm not getting much sleep since she needs her meds every six hours and one of those treatments is at 2 am but I'm just glad that she's getting better.

Isaac now has this illness. Please pray that he doesn't get as bad as Sophia did.

My plans for the week are:

1. make granola
2. make granola bars
3. make tortillas
4. make muffins for freezer
5. make meatballs for freezer
6. finish that horrible cabinet in dining room
7. get some chicken soup in the freezer

Hopefully, we'll get some of the above done. If we all fall ill, I hope to at least get the freezer stuff done.

Here's my menu;


Dinner

Fried Rice
Skillet Lasagne
chicken and dumplings
lentils and rice
Porkchops, noodles, and steamed broccoli
Meatball subs

(all served with salad and fruit)

Blessings,

Lisa

The Sophia Chronicles...

Here is one of Sophia's new outfits. That's a 12-18 month size Zutano sleeper from Babycenter.com. I love this company and will buy more Zutano stuff in the future. It's very soft and has lots of room to grow. It has a very cute little beenie hat but since she's been sick I didn't want to mess with it.

There's mom with that camera again...

Look Mom, I'm reading!

She's not been able to handle tummy time for the past month, until today. She's really enjoying the new found freedom now that she can breathe! I can't wait until she's all better. This has been one of the longest months I've had in a while. Please continue to pray for a complete healing for Sophia. She's feeling better, the breathing treatments are working, but it's going to be at least 2 weeks before she's completely off her meds and hopefully all better.

Tummy time!

This little romper I got from Old Navy. I love the light pink color with the brown trim. It goes sooo nicely with her strawberry colored hair. I don't love the quality, but it's a keeper.

Watch me roll!!!

Well, that's it for now. I will have to take some more photos of all the really cute things I found for my very chunky lady. I want to thank all the ladies over at Support4Homeschool for helping me find some cute little baby things for my not so small lady.

Here's another photo...this one is of a new sleeper from Old Navy...

Mmmm, phone...

blessings,

Lisa

The Sophia Chronicles...

Just look at that jaunty happy gal...

I don't MEAN to be any trouble...

Sophia is now on breathing treatments. This is actually a good thing. She's been so winded and wheezy I'm thankful that the dr. has given us something to help her.

What a difference it has made! She's back to her usual bouncy and happy self. She may never sleep again, lol, but at least she can breathe! Another major blessing is that she's not afraid of the 11 year old nebulizer that sounds like it's going to suck you in.LOL Isaac on the other hand, went balistic, freaked out, screamed a high pitch scream that you could feel more than hear, then tried to fight us off, protecting his little sister from the evil machine. At least we know he cares.LOL Poor guy is still in shock.

Blessings,

Lisa

The Epic of Isaac...

What could this sweet unassuming child need a whole post for?

Here's my black and blue, glue eating, devil may care monster right now...

Well, for one thing notice the black lip? That's from him running through Grandma's house, falling over a shopping cart and busting his lip.



Now, if that wasn't enough, yesterday he decided to eat some glue. You know the kind that says, "Harmful or Fatal if Swallowed!!!" After calling poison control and finding out that he will be fine and I quote, "If he doesn't vomit, get dizzy, become lethargic, or act 'funny', then he'll be fine." Has this person ever had a 2 year old? The very first thing he did was choke on a cracker and cough for an hour, spin around until he fell (over and over again), then try to take a nap (since it was the end of the day) and basically act goofy all day long.

I think he's going to be the end of me. Luckily, HE survived.

Blessings,

Lisa

The Sophia Chronicles...

What's all the fuss about?

I'm sorry that I haven't updated my blog on Sophia's health. She's holding steady right now. Her congestion is better, praise God but she's still wheezy. If you all could pray that she continues to improve, I'd be grateful. Also, if you could pray that she eats more, that'd be a real blessing. I'm starting to get sore.LOL

I'm getting there...keep praying!

Blessings,

Lisa

The Sophia Chronicles...

My little Sophia is very ill. If you all could pray for her, I'd be grateful. She may have pneumonia, we'll find out tomorrow. If you knew her, you'd know that she isn't one to complain. She's been happy and quite the bouncy little girl. We had no idea she was this sick. Yesterday, I noticed a little wheezing in her chest and decided a doctor's visit was in order. They tried to clear the wheeze with a nebulizer treatment but it didn't clear so off we went to the Hospital for a chest x-ray. Please pray that she will be able to be treated at home with stronger meds. We are quite worried about her. Thank you so much!

Blessings,

Lisa

My Daily Ramblings...

I have a confession to make...this isn't easy for me to admit...I've tried for years to deny it but now that Allison is involved, I have to face the facts...














Allison and I are "Crack People."

What? She doesn't look it!

Yes, we are some of the unfortunate souls, who sadly, fall through the cracks during dinner and lunch time. Allison usually misses dinner on account of helping me with the baby. She'll be off rocking or playing or singing to Sophia so that I can prepare a tasty meal for those who do not ever miss a meal. During lunch, I'm so busy fixing everyone else food, food that I can't eat, that I completely forget that I haven't eaten.

Signs that you too are becoming or have already become a CRACK PERSON...

1. You fix 42 different things for lunch and not one of those things is something that you can or will eat. Give yourself -42 points if the name of one of those items has the word "nuggets" or "sticks" in it.

2. You find yourself eating a bowl of "something" after everyone goes to bed each night because otherwise you'd eat your pillow in your sleep.

3. If you do eat one day, you do it standing up. Otherwise, someone will help you eat it.

4. You find yourself fiercely defending the "seconds" because you know some people haven't even had "firsts."

5. When you look in the fridge for leftovers, nothing looks familiar.

6. The last time you sat down was last Tuesday and you're looking forward to doing it again sometime soon.

7. If, before you consider sitting down to eat, you calculate the time you think you have before your fellow crack partner asks for a break.(She doesn't look THAT hungry, I'm sure she can wait 10 more minutes...)

8. If you don't have a partner, you wonder just how long you can go before you starve.

If you have answered yes to even one of these, you're beginning the spiral downward and you probably have a sick and cranky baby. Unfortunately, there is no cure. You must just wait out the condition, a bit like chicken pox. A nice bath after your bowl of something can sometimes make you feel better. Thankfully, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In 2 or more years, you will be free from the Crack and on your way to healing.


Now, there is a different type of Crack People out there and unfortunately, my poor son Jon falls into this category. He has Information Crack. No matter what is going on, he will miss the MEMO. He is the poor soul who, for some unknown reason, never knows what's going on until we are leaving or it's happening. I will go to the bottom of the stairs and yell up to him, "JON!!! Hurry up, we're going to be late!" and the poor guy will open his door, look confused (this is a major symptom of Info Crack), and ask, "What? Where are we going?!?!?" Somehow, I manage to tell everyone in the whole house and never Jon. Beware, Info Crack can make you paranoid. It makes you walk around, aimlessly asking people if something is going to happen soon. There doesn't seem to be a cure, although I'm sure if you spent more time out of your room you'd hear more of what's going on. (hint, hint, Jon) ;)

Well, back to work. I KNOW I'm forgetting to do SOMETHING but I can't remember what...

Blessings,

Lisa

My Menu for this week...

This week is going to be busy. So I've decided on easy to make dinners that don't have a lot of prep work. I'm also going to be restocking my freezer with some family breakfast favorites this week for the freezer challenge.



Breakfast



Pancakes (blueberry, chocolate chip, plain)
Muffins (PBJ, chocolate chip, oatmeal/brown sugar, donut)
eggs, bacon, and biscuits (I'll freeze some biscuits and bacon)
granola bars (plain and peanutbutter/chocolate chip)
granola for the pantry





Lunch



Grilled PBJ or Cheese sandwiches
"Salad" sandwiches (egg, chicken, or tuna)
mac and cheese (I'd like to freeze some so I'll make it from scratch)
Ramen (without flavor packets, made with chicken broth, veggies, and a little leftover meat)



Dinner


Tuna Noodle Casserole (we missed this last week)
Grilled Steak, baked potatoes, broccoli w/cheese
Chili, corn bread and salad
Pasta Carbonara, bread sticks, salad
Black Beans and Rice w/salad
Hamburgers, spicy oven baked potato wedges (from hillbillyhousewife.com) fresh steamed greenbeans w/hambits.

Enjoy!

Lisa

My Daily Ramblings...

This photo is getting framed!lol

Well, it's been a nice summer. Nice and relaxing, even if we did school the whole time.lol I just love the weeks where I no longer have to "be somewhere". Next week all our stuff starts back up again. We'll be going to homeschool p.e. twice a week, at two different hours. Evie will be old enough to be the the youngest class. (I can't believe that she's going to be five.) It's going to be interesting to see how our school year will go with all the extra things thrown in. I'm praying over each thing we add and will evaluate each of them at the end of the month. If I feel it's taking away from the family as opposed to adding, well, it's not going to last. We're also going to try Sunday school this year. Allison and Jon already go, but we think Evie will be ready this year. So we'll have P.E. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Bible study for Allison on Wednesdays, Confirmation on Fridays for Jon, Sunday school for the three oldest on Sunday mornings, Skating for the two oldest on Saturdays, and I still need to add one or two more activities but I'm going to see how these hold up first.LOL Allison wants to take guitar lessons and may do dance again this year if they offer it. Jon could use an art class, since I don't know how to draw and he's interested in it. Evie needs something this year, maybe a dance class. Oh, and we need to make it to the park each week as soon as it gets a little cooler outside. Isaac really needs his park time. Writing this all out makes me realize that there just isn't enough of me to go around. I sure do wish I had more help. Luckily, everything is pretty close to home so I don't have huge drives to each thing.

I pray that each of you has a wonderful school year!

Blessings,

Lisa

The Sophia Chronicles...

Sophia's still sick. She is really beginning to hate medicine.LOL At first, she humored us. Then she learned how to clamp her mouth shut. Now she's learned the fine art of spitting it out after you think it's already gone down. Poor little lady. Prayers are still appreciated.

In good news, Sophia's learned a new trick! She can now roll over! Yay! She also loves her nightly walk around the block. She loves to sit straight up and watch the world go by. It's pretty exciting to her. Sitting and rolling. It's pretty amazing to watch this little one grow and learn new things each day.

Blessings,

Lisa

My Daily Ramblings...

In my quest for an organized liveable space where the kids use what they have to play with, I've moved somethings around again.LOL I had this corner in my kitchen that was unused and decided that the littles would probably play with their kitchen better if they were out where everyone else is. I also like the fact that it is behind the gate so they can only play if I invite them into that area of the house. No big messes without ownership of the mess. LOL Here's Isaac showing me that yes, indeed, this was a good idea...

Kitchen and store set up...

Isaac cooking some pasta...

I've been working on some ideas on the china hutch that we keep all our supplies on. I bought some more bins of different sizes to see if that would help. So far, it's just made things easier to access for the littles.LOL I'm not convinced that's a good idea but Evie was able to set the paint up for both her and Isaac with no help from me and well, that's a good thing. I think we'll see how this pans out before I'll decide whether it's good or bad.LOL Here's some photos of her and Isaac painting...

She even came up with the q-tips to paint with...

Here are the bins that I bought...

Here's Isaac playing with the paint...

I won't post the clean up but let's say that it was messy.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa

My Daily Ramblings...

Today is a do whatever doesn't require me day.LOL Sophia seems to be feeling a TINY bit better today. I'm praying that this is the turn for the better that we've been hoping for. She's not sleeping much but she seems to be breathing better and eating better than the past two days. Well, here's some photos from just a few minutes ago...

Which photo do you all like better? I'd like to get one framed for the grandmas but we all liked different ones (lol)....

Sophia 1

Sophia 2

Here's what the kids decided to do while I veg out...

Video games anyone?

Allison's able to play and be played on at the very same time...

Jon called this his "Serious face"...lol

The kids said I should post all the outtakes from this little photo session but I don't want to scare you all so I'll just say that these were actually the best shots out of 20.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa

The Back To School Clean Up Challenge...

Here is the first cabinet...

I will still be switching things around as I reorganize the other monstrosity over the next week or so. I bought some more bins to keep things in and hopefully it will help keep the art supplies under control.

Blessings,

Lisa

Why would I take time to make my own tortillas...

In one word...YUM! They are soooo much better than store bought.
All you need is a rolling pin. Make sure that the dough is a little sticky, if not then add a little more water to the mix. It should look like this...

Spongy and slightly sticky...

Take a ball about this big...

Then let it rest that 10 minutes. You'll have an easy pliable dough. Roll it out with ample flour under and over it and make it thin.

Roll it thin...
Now, have your pan already hot and just lightly grease it, I use Pam. Throw your tortilla in and wait until it gets some light brown spots on it and flip. Wait until that side is speckled and it's done! Each tortilla will only take about 1-2 minutes to make. I usually make my next tortilla while one is cooking.

It'll get bubbly and rise slightly, then flip it...

Now it'll rise some more, when it gets speckles, it's done...

The finished product. I got about 22 from my dough...

Here are some ideas that we are going to try this week or things we've done last week...

Lentils and Rice (yum)
Eggs and Bacon (yum)
Potatoes and Pintos (Dorothy)
Beef and Refried beans
Chicken Salad
on the side with soup (Split Pea is good!)
BBQ Pork or Beef
Taco Stuff
PBJ

Really, anything goes!

Tortillas

3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup hot water

Combine first 3 ingredients. Add Shortening and combine until it looks like little peas. Add hot water and knead together to form a ball. Let rest for 10 minutes. Roll out in 10-12 tortillas and cook on a med hot skillet.

Here are some updates on my tortilla making...

I LOVE making tortillas! I make them once a week right now. The recipe is on my blog and since then I've perfected the cooking.I make the dough and then roll them all out at once and drape them over my plastic bowl rim. Then I get my pan nice and hot. I've found that you need to cook them pretty fast. I set my burner on med high and put the tortilla in the pan. Watch it puff up quickly and turn it. It should be spotted brown but not blackened. If it is, turn your heat down a little. Each tortilla should only take about 30 seconds on each side. Then I flip, wait a few seconds and flip it onto my waiting plate. Now this is another secret...cover the tortillas with foil. Just lift the foil and add the newly cooked tortilla on top of the previous one and replace the foil. It steams them and makes them very soft

Enjoy! We are. :)

Blessings,

Lisa

My Menu for this week...

Sophia is miserable! I have no idea how long this cold is going to last but I'm beginning to think it'll outlast me. I'm beat. Prayers for a quick healing would be so appreciated!

Here's the menu for this week. I went shopping during Sophia's nap this afternoon and I'm happy to have that over with.

Taco Lentil Rice
BBQ Chicken, potatoes, steamed broccoli with cheese
Fried Rice
Tuna Noodle Casserole and salad
Hash, steamed greenbeans
Roasted Pork Loin, rice and salad


Kathy,

You've never had tortillas until you've made them from scratch! These are fabulous! They make every meal taste better.LOL We had them wrapped around eggs and bacon for breakfast the other day. YUM!

Blessings,

Lisa

Recipe...

Tortillas

3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup hot water

Combine first 3 ingredients. Add Shortening and combine until it looks like little peas. Add hot water and knead together to form a ball. Let rest for 10 minutes. Roll out in 10-12 tortillas and cook on a med hot skillet.

YUM!

Lisa

My Daily Ramblings...

Here are a few photos from today. I'm feeling poorly and have put off anything that takes too much effort until I'm feeling better. I hate being ill but it is something that I've been dealing with my whole life. I guess the only thing I hate most, is how it affects my kids. Sometimes we can't do whatever it was that we were going to do that day. I gain tremendous strength and undying hope in knowing that someday I will be healed, even if it is when I get to heaven. I am truly blessed by this time that God has given me and by all that I have been trusted with while I'm here. I WISH that I could be whole and healthy but I'm thankful that I have this time with my kids. They have been such a blessing to me and I pray that when they grow up they will think fondly of me even though I wasn't always able to do everything that they wanted. I love them all so much!

Allison and Sophia in a contrived photo...snort,lol

Jon, being watched when he's not looking...lol

Evie doing what she loves most, hanging out in Jon's room playing video games...

Allison doing what she loves most, singing and playing her guitar...

Sophia, bouncing and bouncing. I'm thinking we should have called her Tigger...

Isaac saying THE END...

Blessings,

Lisa

The Back To School Clean Up Challenge

I have picked my clean-up challenge. It was hard to pick just one thing since many things need my attention BUT I wanted to pick a room or area that directly affected our homeschooling experience. So without further ado...

This is one of my supply cabinets...it contains old preschool stuff, a few appliances, and some very old snacks and drinks...

This just plain is the bane of my existence. I clean it, organize it and it looks like this in a week's time.

I'll try to do the other two cabinets also but these need it the most. I have my work cut out for me. I not only need to clean and organize. I need to find a way to keep it that way!

Blessings,

Lisa

My Daily Ramblings...

Just look at that face...lol

Yesterday we took a trek to the local Michaels for some much needed art supplies. Everyone left the store happy with what we bought.LOL We also received some toys for Isaac in the mail yesterday from Amazon. I happened to look at their close out toys and found this hot rod for $5.00. I thought it was going to be the size of a matchbox car but it is huge! Very nice quality and all the doors open as does the trunk and hood. He loved it so much, he slept with it last night.LOL

Checking out the new vehicle...

In exciting young adult news, my dd passed her drivers test yesterday! I'm so proud of her. We go tomorrow for the Learners Permit and she'll be driving in no time. My wonderful dh has accepted the challenge of teaching her to drive. I just don't think learning with 4 other kids in the car is the best environment.LOL Although I guess it would be like a trial by fire...lol

I'm going to work on my freezer and a quilt project this week and I'll post some "during" photos for you all.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa