Family

   This is mine,   all 24 of us.      

  We're all so different,    we all have different opinions,  lives, and personalities, 

  But we all love Jesus. 

  He is our glue,  and he is what defines our history,  and our present.    

 It's not uncommon for us to share messages of what the Lord is showing us,  or a verse that stood out to us in our personal devotions.  I treasure these messages and look forward to them.  Any conversation centered around Christ and his love for us is a good one.

  These are my people,  and together we have a story.   

  We are loud,   we're a bit crazy,    we laugh,  we cry,  and we carry each other burdens.    In a moment of sadness, we'll grab each other's hands and hold each other tight.    

  We've indeed Had our ups and downs,  Oh so many of them.

  Weddings,  births of lots of babies,  celebrations,  birthdays,  retirements,  new homes,  and jobs.

  We also experienced grief, hard losses, and health scares.     And in those moments, we come together stronger. 

   We are family. 

Mini vacation!

  For us prepping is one of the most important things we do, it helps us abstain from sugar, eat healthier, and spend a lot less when it comes to groceries.  

   As a family we were gonna take a Mini vacation and go visit my family in New York, and in the year's past we just stop at fast food or Tim hortons and just grab quick on the go things to eat while traveling,    costing us a fortune,   and obviously so unhealthy.  

     So before this trip I started to think of little ways of making easy finger foods but healthy and hearty foods at the same time to make our trip a lot easier/cheaper. 

  So I made batches of home made bananna oatmeal muffins,   blueberry muffins and I turned my Italian bread in lunch meat sandwiches.  

  It worked great!   Every ate,  and the only time we stopped was for a quick bathroom break and gas!   

  Stay tuned for family pictures from our trip!   

   

Valentines day!

It was tradition with Ben from early in his life to make homemade personalized photo valentines to hand out in his class.  It was personally a favorite of mine and something I really enjoyed.   And it was the one time of years that Ben would cooperate and take a decent smiling picture (*sigh,   photographers kid) with out moaning and growning.  Lol. 

   We made these special valentines for years till sadly he grew out of it and asked to stop one year.    I graciously understood him wanting to stop and let it go....

 Till this year!  

  You guys!   I have a little girl that I get to do it all over with again!    I was so excited and Brooklynn loved it!    She rocked her photo and proudly handed them out to her class mates,  teachers and principle.   

 

And Ben wasn't a total dud,  he handed out some suckers and pencils to his class mates!

Randomness.

 Over hearing Ben talk on the phone with his friend 

  Ben "I'm goona buy a goat,   and I'm goona milk that goat!"

  He is my son.  

  Matt's in trouble.  

   Cause this week I said "I'm goona buy a piglet!"

Snow day bake off!

 When it snows huge so everyone has a day off from school,  and both your kids ask to help you make bread,   you decide to make it fun and have a competition!   

  It made a mess,  and if I'm being honest was NOT on the days to-do list,  But how could I pass up the opportunity to make memories with my kids,   teach them something useful in life AND have fresh rolls to go with dinner?!    It was a Win-win if I put my selfish desires of the day aside,  so we made rolls.  

  They had a blast!    I handed them the ingredients,  and each kid made their own batch of rolls,  they mixed and kneaded everything themselves,   (Ben did need some help with the mixing part as he only has one hand,  But he rocked the kneading with one hand all on his own!)   

Soft dinner rolls

Visit with the Ortho

It went really really well.   Hardly any wait till we were seen and everyone was so kind.    They re-did the exrays and the Dr. swears he only sees one break near the thumb bone and said that with a cast it should heal very quickly.  He was very optimistic and said Ben will only need it on for a little over 3 weeks.    He did roll his eyes when he saw it was us as he walked into the room,  as last time we were there for Ben with his football injury he wrote "till next time" on Bens's discharge papers, and sure enough,   Here we were again  ... We laughed and said "Hey!  It's been over 2 years since our last visit!"    Granted with covid and no sports means fewer sports injuries for Ben.  lol.  But I'll take an active kid who plays sports and lives life to the fullest any day over isolation.

 

Ben choose a bright green cast and was relieved once it was on as it was more study and felt safer than the temporary cast that urgent care put on.

Overnight French toast.

Learning to plan my meals,  and time them out wisely has really helped with always having good foods on hand,  and Healthy meals to feed my peoples without stressing out.

Mornings around here are busy,   Especially the days where both kids are in school and I work in the  lunch room all day,   All of us being out the door before 8 am,   with hair done,  teeth brushed,   everyone dressed,   breakfast served,  waters/coffee's/snacks packed,  homework collected and anything else part of the days routine doesn't always go smoothly.  

Overnight French toast has become life saver!  Its a great way of getting my kids a hearty breakfast but also saving time with only a tiny bit of meal prep required. 

I used my homemade bread,  slicing it up in think pieces,   whisk some eggs up with a dash of cinammon and place the sliced bread in a baking sheet and pour the egg mixture over it.    I then cover it and place it in the fridge to soak overnight!   Its takes minutes to do,   but Oh saves ups a half hour of time in the mornings!

When we get up the next day,  I throw a pan on the stove,   slightly grease it,  and throw in the slices of eggy bread to cook up on low,  while I quickly do other things in the kitchen!  And They come out so good,  and the kids get a protein filled start to their day!  

Its a learning process and Im having to think outside the box,  but the extra steps,  are actually SAVING me a ton of time,  and making life simpler in the moments I need it to be.  

      

 

Never a dull moment around here!

   Yeppers.     He and Daddy were out back working on some things when Ben hurt his hand.    Thankfully Matt was right next to him and was able to act quickly,  get him inside where we assed the issue and felt a trip to urgent care was the wisest.     Ben fought us saying he was "fine" but momma and daddy had a gut feeling he needed to be seen.   We had him to the nearest office within 30 minutes.   

      Thankfully the waiting room was not busy at all and He was taken for x-rays right away,  which showed 2 small fractures in his left hand.      The Dr's were amazing with us and did their best to help Ben feel better as they put a temporary soft cast on him.   Their friendliness worked and Ben was in better spirits by the end of the appointment and joking that he could now add to his "brag" of # of broken bones.    The dr's laughed and told Ben that as kids they had more broken bones with sports and such that they lost count of how many,   And said "battle wounds" were pretty much a part of growing up.      They COMPLETELY understood Ben and showed so much compassion while expressing a fun side of living life to the fullest.      It was a good experience and I give a huge thumbs up to both of them,  They clearly knew how to respond to kids in these situations.   

  Next stop- a visit to the Ortho to get an official diagnosis and possible further care.   

Date night!

Dinner and a movie while the Kids hung with Pa and Gigi for the evening!   

It was a wonderful time of talking without interruptions,   and just focusing on each other.   Family is everything,  but the bond between husband and wife is the glue of it all.     It was good to make us a priority.

Out with my best friend!

Hanging with the "Pa"

Dinner @ Red Lobster

 

Honey mustard

In our effort to go sugar free and healthy as a family,  we are striving to do allot more homemade in general when it comes to meals in our home.    Making more things by scratch and being creative in what we serve and doing better with meal planning.   Its allot work I tell ya,  but man,  so far- its been worth it!    The homemade stuff we've been making as been better than anything we've ever bought in a store.

One of our favorites has been our honey mustard sauce (minus the brown sugar)!     Its so good!    We pour it over some tortillas,   loaded with diced chicken,   crisp spinach,  red onions,   and sliced tomatoes,  all rolled up into a tight wrap.   We've made them twice already and both times,   complete thumbs up!    

Best part,  the dressing took minutes to make,    had nothing bad in it,  sweetened with honey,   cost effective,   and beyond delicious!