There's a Terrier in the House

There is nothing like watching another person’s dog to make you appreciate the one you have.

We have been watching a friend’s dog since Monday night. He is a Yorkshire terrier and he is approx. 6 months old. But man is he whiney!! And unfortunately way to small for Jasmine to play with. I tried to introduce them and he barked and growled at her.

At that moment Jasmine got this glint in her eye like she was going to just take one chomp, so I separated them.

So now we have been playing canine trading spaces so everyone has equal time out and play.

On top of all the normal puppy stuff, nipping, yipping, yelping, and chewing this little guy has a couple bad habits that we have never allowed. For example, waking at 5:30 in the morning and crying, loudly. By 6 months our puppies knew better than to start yipping at 5:30 in the morning.

But the girls have done great taking care of him and Mike and I have had very little to do with him. Oh, except when he decided to relieve his bowels on my kitchen floor the first night he was with us, I cleaned that up.

All this brings back memories of the time when Jasmine was about a year old we had to go out of town and left her with some friends of ours. Let's just say she was less than good.

So maybe this is pay back?

Kristen

Moping

This is lame. I know it isn't right to feel this intense jealousy, but I do.

Mike is at Wicked right now. As I write Mike is seeing the play I've wanted to see since it came out.

It's kind of like me going to see.....Dokken and leaving him home to take care of the children. And I choose Dokken for it's significance. I don't like Dokken at all. I never have and never will appreciate it or want to spend time listening to them. That has always been Mike's opinion of musicals, plays, or theater of any kind. Did I mention I was a humanities/art history major in college?

Yes, I know he didn't chose not to take me with him but it still sucks.

And yes, I am moping.

And yes, I need to get over it and move on.

And I will.

Tomorrow.

Kristen

Work Out Day 2

Mike had a staff outing and had to be at the train station too early to work out with me this morning, but I went on my own. I am feeling pretty committed to this right now and that feels so good! I don't want this to become a burden or something that I have to do.

Mike bought me these really great ear buds for my mp3 player. Not only do they fit my super small ear holes, but they totally lock out all other sound!!! What better way to listen to the All American Rejects? (Which I highly recommend for keeping you going while your working out.)

And I am so glad I have them because there is this older lady who gets there right before me and takes control of the t.v. Now I am all for distraction while working out but her taste in shows while working out is not ideal. I mean old, old, old, sitcoms that really should no longer be on t.v. are not work out material, they are what you watch at midnight when you can't sleep and you need to!!!

Whatever.

Kristen

Seth's Other Tooth

A week ago the other tooth came out. This is the first of our kiddos to have both top teeth gone. Too cute!!

And the little teeth next to the ones missing are loose. I could make a southern joke here but I won't.

Kristen

I Feel Great!

Okay, so Mike and I had a little walking thing going last summer and it went pretty well. We were pretty committed. But then our lovely Illinois weather took a turn for it's usual and the bottom dropped out of my exercise plan.

Been talking all winter about going down to our clubhouse, right down the street from our house, which we pay for because it is part of our home owners dues, and working out in the morning. But I haven't been too motivated.

Until now. After the entire winter of being pretty much sedentary I feel like a mother bear that has been in hibernation. No, I am not over weight. I just feel soft, like I have a protective layer insulating me from the cold. And it needs to go. Now.

Any ways Mike and I got up this morning and went to the clubhouse and walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes, which, I think, is a great start.

I am glad we are being healthy and I am glad that I am going to get rid of my insulation.

Kristen

Take a Swig

Yes, that is exactly what it looks like.

I bought this Greek salad dressing a while back to make a recipe with it. Kylee tried it on her salad that first night and became a slight bit, shall we say, obsessed with it. Every night at dinner, no matter what the vegetable, it seems out comes the greek dressing.

So last night I was joking and said something like,"You know, Kylee comes down to the fridge at night and just takes a little swig of that stuff before she goes to bed."

Then it happened. The gleam in her eye. As if to say,"Is this an option?"

And being the good mom that I am I encouraged her to take a drink. And she did. Luckily, Mike had his trusty phone next to him otherwise this picture would never had been taken.

I just have to say she doesn't get this from me. But her Papa Jones has been known to pick up a straw and drink ranch through it.

(Don't worry it is still safe to eat salad dressing at my house, she didn't put her mouth on the bottle!)

Kristen

A Quote About Yesterday's Rain

You know mom, when it is raining and you don't have a hood on

it's just like taking a shower

with your clothes on

and no soap.

Thanks Josh.

Kristen

Phoenicia, Science, and That Love Holiday

We had a really really busy week this week!



It seemed to just fly by. Here is a brief recap.



We are finishing our last section in Unit two of Tapestry. We read the second half of 1 Samuel and all of 2 Samuel. Such exciting stuff. Our history focus was on the Phoenicians, again an ancient group of people I knew nothing about. Fascinating and their impact on future cultures including our own was pretty big. Cool stuff. We studied them because of their contribution of cedar to the palace built by David and soon to come Solomon.



I began my search for new curriculum and am not coming up with much success. I don't have much hope finding my Tapestry used, and will most likely have to buy it new but I have time to purchase that one. I decided that for summer though, I am going to do four day weeks with a focus on math and science. I am trying to find Faith's Saxon Math 8/7 used but all the great deals on ebay seem to slip by me. So I keep looking but she only has a couple more weeks before I need it, so I must find it soon. Also, I have decided to try Apologia for science. I really like what I have seen of their stuff on line, but again it is a curriculum that is hard to find for a good deal used. Everything I choose seems to be that way. Of coarse if it is cheap you have to ask yourself why????



I know with Apologia I will have to do some balancing because it is based on creation science. Which I believe but I don't want to ever present only one side of the story to my kids. I don't want to spend 18 years teaching them one thing to have them go out in the world and discover that I didn't tell them all these other theories. I just want them to know they exist and let God reveal the truth to their hearts like I know that He will. Does that make sense?



Okay, this is really long. But just also want to say that we had a great Valentines day as well. I will admit that one of the things I miss out on for the kids in them not being in school is all the cutsey stuff. You know the stuff they make mom and surprise you with, the little parties and fun stuff. But I only miss it briefly. My friend and I decided to take the kids to lunch and a dollar movie on Valentines day as their party. I gave them math and language and history off for the day and had some fun. Then we came home and cleaned up the house, Josh made valentine crowns for everyone and we made a fun dinner for Daddy. The kids like to get him some chocolate and little treats and hide them in the house for him to find. They get a kick out of it.



Mike and I don't make a huge deal out of it, i try and make him feel special every day and he does make me feel special every second of our lives together so there isn't a need for a forced love holiday. But the kids love the cheesy stuff.



Well that is it for now I am off to Seth's last basketball game today. Mike had fuel at church and was so sad he has to miss it.



Kristen

Seth's tooth

It has not been easy going for Seth's mouth this weekend.

Thursday of last week his two front teeth started to get loose. He was pretty excited about it all and decided to start wiggling and pulling at one of them. It really wasn't ready. But by Friday morning this poor little tooth was hanging by one side, but hanging on firmly.

He talked Mike into tying on a peice of dental floss. But once he got it on he decided that he really didn't want to pull it out.

Yeah.

He convinced Kylee to give it a yank. It didn't come out, he started crying and Kylee too started crying. Now the tooth was really hanging out of his mouth. The crazy thing was that the one side was still soooo attached.

Mike finally cut the dental floss, so there was just a tiny bit left, but still wrapped around the poor little sore tooth. He wiggled it all day and around dinner I told him he really needed to get it out before dinner. I even bribed him with chocolate, fresh baked cookies, and extra video game time! He finally pulled it out right before dinner. Let me tell you that tooth had a huge long root on the side that was still attached and when he pulled it, brace yourself, it had a little peice of skin, gum, whatever still attached to it. EEEWWW!!!!

This parenting stuff is not for the squeamish.

Anyway, I told him that he needs to wiggle, NOT PULL, the other tooth out. So he has been, and it is pretty loose. This will be our first kid that had both front teeth out at the same time. Pretty cute.

And, finally, yesterday as we were leaving for church he came running into my room and told me he was giving the dollare the tooth fairy gave him to God. My first instinct was,"No,that's your tooth fairy money!!" But I didn't say anything and let him take it.

Funny, that the lesson at church was on being generous, giving generously. You think God was trying to tell me something?

Kristen

The big snow hasn't hit yet. I am having my doubts that it is really going to dump as much snow as they say. Just some flurries so far.

So I am sitting here listening to the kids eat their lunch and devouring a delicious chicken salad sandwich made from the chicken I made last night from this recipe here. I highly recommend it it tastes just like a rotisserie chicken. But you must, must, must, make gravy with the drippings because it made for the best mashed potatoes and gravy ever!!!

My main goal today is to make sure the snow doesn't get too deep before we shovel the driveway.

Kristen

Update: I take it back it is snowing really hard now with huge snow flakes.

Yikes!! More Snow!!!

I took this picture on Friday after Mike had cleared half of the drive way and before he hurt his back out doing it. He was a trooper though and took some Ibuprofin and went sledding with us anyways.

We got about 7 inches last Friday. Then Sunday night we got another 4+ inches. I got to shovel the whole driveway myself that time.

Now they are saying we are going to be getting 6-12 inches between tonight and tomorrow!!

I keep asking God to send me a snow blower but he isn't doing it. He must think that all this shoveling of snow is building my character somehow.

Kristen

Super Game!!

No, I am not talking about the football game.

We had Terri and Dave over after church yesterday (we missed you Paula, and you too Todd) for lots of food and cards. What a great afternoon!!!

Terri and Dave are just fun to be around. And on top of that us girls had a fantastic day of cards. We played four games of Euchre and the girls won three out of those four games.

We turned "the game" on and played Oh Man which is not a team sport, but the women did come out ahead in that game as well.

And finally, we finished up with a game of Shang-hi which again the women came out ahead.

It was like the Super Bowl of Cards!

And yes, we did watch the commercials, half time show, and the exciting parts of the game.

Kristen

Hittite Recipes

Last night Faith made hummus, lentils and pita bread. She has been studying and reading about the Hittites this week and those were all foods that had ingredients that came from that area. We also made some greek chicken from a recipe I was sent, and even though it was cooked on the inside grill it was still yummy!!

Let me tell you the hummus and chicken stuffed inside the pita with some fresh cut avadcado was so good!!

here are the recipes:

Hummus-

1 can garbanzo beans

1 fresh lemon juiced

2 cloves garlic

2 1/2 Tbs Sesame Tahini

1/4 tsp cumin

dash or salt and pepper

Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth; adding water and or olive oil to achieve desired consistency.

You can find the pita bread recipe here. I gave Faith the recipe and told her to start it while I was vaccuuming. All of a sudden she came runnning into the room and she was visibly upset. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she ahd really messed up the bread!! So I said i was sure we could fix it and good job catching it. So I followed her into the kitchen and she explained that she had read 1 1/2 CUPS of sugar instead of teaspoons. Okay, this was a dump and restart but at least she caught it before she baked it!!!! She did great the second time around and they turned out so good. Really easy to make.

You can find the Greek chicken recipe here.

Thanks Alicia!!

Kristen