A little old lady stopped me in the store yesterday to tell me that Ella is the sweetest looking baby she's seen in awhile. I was carrying her in her sling and she was wearing this floppy hat and my favorite knit sweater of hers. I agree with the little old lady, don't you?
This is Camden, enjoying his new Melissa and Doug Easel! He had a great time last night drawing on the dry erase side and erasing. He just loves erasing. It's so cute. :) The roll of paper that I bought ended up being too big for the length of the board, so I'll be taking that back, and we'll have to find the right size! The other side is a chalk board and Camden was happy to learn that his sidewalk chalks work great on that side. I haven't been bold enough to get him any paint yet, but we may do that. I know Melissa and Doug have some spill proof paint cups that we just may have to get if we decide to let him paint on it! For now I know he's content with the markers and chalk :).
Around this time of year, I am usually working with my students to pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child. It's an event that happens every November, and in my mind, is a great way to gear up for the Holidays. Start the Holidays by giving with your whole heart.
If you don't know much about Operation Christmas Child, go here to learn more. I encourage you to pack a box and pray for a child in need.
It's easy to explain to Middle Schoolers where these boxes are going and why we have to pack them, but it was very difficult to explain to a 2 1/2 year old. We looked at the map and I told him that our box would either be going to Africa or South America. He looked at me and said "I live in America". I said "yes, honey, that's right". So, in trying to explain to him that there are other countries in this world, I showed him photos of other little boys that this box may be going to.
The heart of a 2 1/2 year old is huge. They are really loving, caring, giving beings. My son, the one that doesn't listen very well, and is always running and jumping and whining and crying and yelling and getting put in time out A LOT of times during the day- in this moment, was a different child. He really tried to understand what we were doing. He wanted to send more toys. He couldn't understand how this boy that we were packing for didn't have any toys or soap or toothpaste, etc. He asked a lot of questions. It was incredibly sweet. He wanted to give away all of his toys. My heart melted.
This was an incredible 15 minutes out of my day today- Hopefully this post will inspire you to pack a box.
Happy Holidays!
In an effort to get our Christmas Cards done early, I was determined to get a Christmas photo shoot underway! Gee had bought Cammy a nice red and white striped shirt awhile back, which I knew would be perfect for his Christmas pictures. I had to find a Christmas dress for Ella, and I found the most perfect one!! (It's an April Cornell and I got it at an awesome price!) So, all I had to do was take the picture. We took a trillion photos, and finally got a good one! Seriously, it was tough to get an almost three year old to "smile, but not too big", and a three month old to "look at the camera and smile"...LOL. WE FINALLY GOT IT!
We've had some computer trouble - a virus that just will NOT go away. We're just WAITING for the computer to NOT work anymore... and I'm concerned! However, if I can recommend ANYTHING, it's not only backing up your files, it's backing up your PICTURES! I can live without all the files... the "book" that I started writing and never got to, the million lesson plans that I have saved, etc. BUT MY PICTURES! Oh, man, I would be so upset if I lost all of them, because many of them I haven't printed yet. I have been really good about loading them to flickr, though. I have a ton of pictures on flickr, and a lot of them are set to "private" so you probably don't even know that they are on there... the ones that you see are only about 1/4th of the pictures that are on there! So, if I can recommend anything to you today, I recommend that you get a service like Flickr and pay for it. For $24 a year, it's SO worth it to me to know that all of my photos (my prized possessions) are safely stored on SOMEONE ELSES server! :) And that's my business plug for today!
My friend Kacy gave me this recipe. Let me tell you what, this was good. So good that we all ate it the next day for lunch and there was not a drop left. In fact, I didn't even have to wash the dish, it was so clean. Haha, just kidding. It was great though. It was simple, and my boys LOVED it... We're surely going to make this again, and again!
Kacy calls this: Super quick, easy & cheap Chicken Pot Pie (I think we need to add GREAT in there somewhere...)
Ingredients:
-1 can cream of chicken soup
-1-2 cups cut-up chicken breasts
-Bag of frozen mixed veggies
-1/2 cup milk
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Pie crust (just buy the 2-pack Publix brand in the freezer section. Less than $2 for 2!)
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350
-cut up chicken breasts and cook
-Mix soup, chicken, veggies, milk, salt & pepper together and put into pie pan
-Place thawed pie crust on top and cut a few slits in the top
-Bake in the oven according to the pie crust directions
Camden LOVES waffles. The other morning, he asked for waffles like Gee makes. Gee has a big belgian waffle maker and is known for making good waffles. So, I pulled out my waffle maker, which is never in use, and decided to make a double batch of waffles, some for Camden to eat then and some to freeze so he could have homemade waffles whenever he wants. (They are a million times better than Eggos!)
Here's the quick and easy recipe:
1 3/4 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 lg. eggs, divided
1 1/4 c. milk
4 tbsp. melted butter (I use "I can't believe it's not butter")
Sift dry ingredients. Crack eggs and divide. Add egg yolks to sifted mixture. Melt butter, add to sifted mixture. Beat thoroughly. Take egg yolks and beat until stiff. Fold into mixture gently.
Pour onto preheated waffle iron, close, and wait for steam. (I spray mine with Pam each time I make a new waffle so they come off very easily, I learned that from my mom too.)
We enjoyed the waffles and I froze about two dozen of them in large freezer bags. From there, I just pop one or two into the toaster (just like an eggo)... and voila! Freshly baked waffles whenever you'd like!
This is Ella's Christmas stocking! My mom made it!!! Isn't it LOVELY! She has made everyone in our family one of these... Ella's is sooo intricately done! It's beautiful in person, ya'll. When I get my Christmas stuff out, I'll certainly take a photo of all of the stockings on the banister together. I'm in love with the little cupcakes and the little lollipops on Ella's. :)
We attended a family reunion this weekend. Food, fun and family, what more can you ask for? How about this: My aunt took our grandmother's recipe box and photocopied all of the recipes in it and made a book for each family member. I was so excited to get this. Most of the recipes are in her own handwriting. I. Love. This. This will be a book that I'll treasure for sure! What a legacy.
