DeGoede's 2012

~erica

Yesterday we made our annual trip to DeGoede's in Mossyrock to see the Tulips. Between baseball, rain, and everything else going on its been hard to find time, our church had Community Serve so we had an early service and then we had to be back mid-afternoon to start dinner. The kids weren't too happy to have to go, in some ways outings were easier when I could just pick them up and strap them in their carseats and the promise of a treat made them compliant. Now they want treats like "can we go to lunch at Spiffy's in Morton and get burgers as big as our heads?" Umm, no....

Last year we took Grandma Hendrickson so she could see the tulips for a last time. My mom, grandma, and great-aunt also went with us.

The Troll at the end of the bridge... "Mom, this is my happy face!"

Arin's Senior pictures will be fun, he likes to dress up and pose for the camera.

The gift shop/ nursery was closed since it was Sunday so we couldn't buy any tulips to bring home, however Jonah has a game in Glenoma Tuesday night so we can stop on our way out and buy some. Then just he and I will eat at Spiffy's on the way home after the game.

Snow of Epic Proportions

~erica

The snow started on Saturday, just in time for Tovah's birthday. It mostly melted on Sunday so we were able to have 5 giggly girls over for her birthday party (cupcakes, cocoa, nail polish, and the new Judy Moody movie- it was a very successful birthday party). Monday we woke up to more snow but it was a day off of school so it seemed like a waste.

Tovah and Grandma built a little snowman in the backyard. This is the "normal" amount of snow we get, on the years that we even get any snow. On Tuesday they cancelled all the schools in the county for a day of rain, but I still had to go to school. The college cancelled all evening classes and classes for Wednesday at about 1 p.m. The news and weather channel started talking about a snowstorm of epic proportions, the State Meteorologist said that this would be a "once in a lifetime" event. We'll see...

At 5:45 my cell phone alarm went off. I got up to go to the bathroom and looked out the window and came back to bed and told Ryan that there wouldn't be any school today- the tops of the cars were covered in white. He took this picture out our bedroom window. At 6 we got the automated call from the school that school was cancelled so we turned off the news and went back to sleep. At 7 Rush got up and showered and then looked out the window. He checked the website and saw there wasn't school today so he went back to bed. I got up at 7:40 to send him back to bed and make sure he didn't get Tovah up.

At 8:30 everyone was up and they sent Jonah (the shortest of all the kids) out to knock the snow off the dish so the TV wouldn't be messed up (priorities). I stepped off the back step and the snow went up over the top of my rain boots. It was up over Jonah's knees.

Arin had to go out to rescue Jonah when he fell into the snow. The snow fall totals in the areas around us are 12-19", I'm not sure how much we got, but that's the birdbath back there that looks like a frosted cake on a stand... I guess we really did get an epic snowfall. It's supposed to taper off this morning and then turn to rain but they expect the rain to freeze on the top of the snow so I don't know how fast the snow will go away. No school today for any of us (except Ryan, his is online), no rehearsal or practice, no church. Tomorrow, who knows? And there may be another weather system coming through on Saturday with more snow. Whether or not the kids are out of school we have our non-refundable or changeable airline tickets to Disneyland for June 16!

Snow! It's made with love- just ask the kids....

~erica

I've pondered all week on what to post for Made With Love. I figured I'd skip this week since I haven't taken any photos this week and I've been too busy with school to be creative and the one great meal I made, I didn't have a chance to photograph.

Then the snow arrived, right in time for Tovah's birthday! Snow is actually pretty rare in SW Washington and its forecast a lot more often than it actually shows up. Flurries with sun breaks teased us all afternoon and I just wanted it to hold off long enough for us to get home from shopping and birthday lunch. By the time we got home it had pretty much stopped and I figured it was a bust but at 5:30, when Ryan headed out for work, it really started in earnest.

This is how the backyard looked when we went downstairs at 9:30 to have cake and ice cream. The dead Christmas tree I threw out the backdoor last week looks great. The best birthday ending ever!





I'm linked up with project 52 photo challenge at my3boybarians.com Next week's theme is "I Dreamed a Dream."

Goals

~erica



Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

 I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions but I do try and set out some goals for each new year. When I was good about homeschool planning, I would work over the summer to set physical and spiritual goals for each child that we would work on that year. I'm not sure my personal goals can be divided that way- they have components of both.

• Read through Proverbs each month
• Read Psalms twice during the year (1 Psalm a day, except for Psalm 119 I'll give myself a day for each letter)
• Listen to Chuck Missler's commentaries on Acts and possibly Hebrews (on my MP3 player)
• Read Crazy Love
• Read Families Where Grace is in Place
• Upload and Print pictures each month
• Get pictures up on the walls
• Do Couch to 5K  I'll start by walking 3+ times each week, 2 of them will be the nights when Tovah is at Winter Academy Soccer (I will walk the track under the lights)
• Be more consistent with menu planning and dinner prep

This post is linked to the project 52 photo challenge at my3boybarians.com

Low Carb Eating

~erica


Make-Ahead Meatballs



In September we went back to Low Carb Eating around here. After my dad had a horrible reaction to Statin drugs, his doctor told him he needed to go on an Atkin's type diet. Ryan does much better on the diet as well. I'm not sure of my dad's cholesterol numbers but Ryan's off his Diabetes meds and totally controlling his blood sugar with diet. We've done okay over the holidays and even hosted 2 gatherings, I supplied food that they could eat and had everyone else bring the goodies and other sides.

Note: the kids and I are not on this diet but if we eat cereal and bread at breakfast, lunch, and snacks then we don't need carbs at dinner to balance. I sometimes make pasta or potatoes if the main dish needs it but I've stopped making rice since the kids really don't like it and my mom and I don't need the extra carbs either.

Dinners now look like a high protein main dish, a huge salad, and a vegetable (if I'm good, 2 if I'm really on the ball). Ryan and dad take care of their own breakfast and lunches- lots of eggs, sausage, cheese, and fish (for my folks). Dad makes jalapeno omelets that Jonah and Tovah really like and I found a baked omelet roll recipe that I want to try using jalapenos instead of ham. I'm finding Pinterest to be very helpful when searching for something new, I just need to make a low-carb board so I don't have to go back and weed through the pasta recipes.

Some of our favorite dinners (I'll link to the recipe if I have one):

• Make-Ahead Meatballs- I'll type out the recipe at the end of this post
• Upside Down Pizza
• Chicken, Sausage, & Peppers
• Corned Beef- I can't find the link or recipe, but basically after boiling it you glaze it with Honey Mustard and brown sugar and broil until bubbly. My family went from Corned Beef haters to lovers! I boil it with the cabbage and carrots but make oven fries out of the potatoes and the kids are happy.
• Creamy Chicken Picasso - I also did a variation on this with my homemade enchilada sauce
• Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork - I got an enamelled dutch oven for Christmas just to make this recipe
• Cream of ??? Soup- 12 years ago when we first did Atkins I found that Alfredo Sauce in a jar has relatively few carbs and when thinned with 2-3c of milk makes a wonderful creamy soup. I add whateer I have on hand: cooked chicken, cooked bacon, broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions and peppers (red and yellow are my favorite), cauliflower, spinach. Ryan made a variation in the crockpot for a work potluck that he really liked- italian sausage and spinach. Once I had some leftover baked potatoes and I fried them up and let the kids add them to their own bowls- actually that night I just made basic soup and let everyone build their own bowls, it was the best option because no one threw away mushrooms they didn't want.
• Roast Beef or Pork
• Roast Chicken- I do 2 at a time in my Pampered Chef baker with lemon pepper, garlic, and chili powder

During the fall we grilled everything- chops, steaks, veggies; but even though our BBQ is under cover it's just too cold to stand out there most nights. We've cut back on Taco Night because my dad and Ryan only get Taco Salad and neither is excited about it. I'm going to try adding some dried beans in and see what happens, mainly because we are getting a little tired of meat all the time.

Make-Ahead Meatballs

10# hamburger

6 eggs

1 onion, finely minced so the kids don't see it

2t salt

2t black pepper

2t garlic powder

Mix well. Shape into 1" balls (I use a med. Pampered Chef scoop). Bake at 400-deg. for about 15 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle. Makes 160 meatballs. Freeze in meal size batches.

For our party I just transferred them into my crockpot once they were baked. I served BBQ sauce and Swedish Meatball Gravy (I had packets from Ikea) and cranberry sauce on the side. I also served Chicken, Sausage, & Peppers- I doubled the recipe and as each step was finished I added it to the crockpot.

Has our grocery budget gone up? I'm not sure that it has, Yes, I'm buying a lot more meat but I'm not buying a lot of snacks or baked goods or convenience foods and those are what always seemed to drive our bill up at Costco. Since I've been on break we've taken the time to go to Winco and Cash & Carry when we shop. During school Ryan usually does our shopping and I don't know if he'll continue.

Our Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas! The biggest news is Ryan finished his RN in August! We aren't counting how many years its taken him, as he started his prerequisites when he got out of the Navy in 1992... Now we wait for an RN position to open up in the NICU.

Tovah presented Ryan with his pin at the pinning ceremony at Lower Columbia College in August. It was a long summer, he had clinicals 4 days a week and worked the other 3. Thankfully he did his hospital work at our local hospital. It was rather funny, the other students were astounded by how many of the staff and patients he knew, I think he got tired of explaining how he knew each person but when you live most of your life in the same small community, you have connections, people who don't live in small towns just don't get it.

Nathan came home from Afghanistan March 28. One of his first visits was with Grandma Hendrickson. Sadly, she passed away June 20. We are thankful that she only had one bad day and was able to die at home in her blue chair, just as Ryan had promised her.

He reenlisted in August and leaves for Scout school in March, then he will be stationed in Colorado. I guess we'll be making a road trip in the next year or two.

Ryan and I celebrated our 23rd Anniversary with a weekend in Seattle. We toured Safeco Field (we're sitting in the visting dugout), Smith Tower, had lunch at Ivar's on the waterfront, did Starbucks and Pike Place Market, and finished off with Mary Poppins at the Paramount and a night at the Hyatt.

The end of the first day of school

Rush and Tovah started public school this fall. Rush is in 11th grade and enjoying band and drama and wanting to get his driver's license. Tovah's in 3rd grade and has to be reminded by her teacher that she isn't there to socialize (umm, what about socialization?) She's excited about all aspects of school and is excelling academically. They both are looking forward to baseball season in March and Rush is talking about running Cross Country next fall.

Arin and Isaac are in a school at home program that will carry their transcripts. Arin is in 9th and enjoying taking a Biology class with other students, they are looking forward to going to Alaska in May. He's started wrestling for the high school team and has a great attitude, he's discovered that he loves to run so I foresee Track and Cross Country in the future.

Isaac is in 8th grade and takes all his classes at home right now. He's on the Chess team and enjoys going to tournaments. Grandma and Grandpa are going to take him to Spokane in April for the Middle School/ High School State Chess Tournament.

Jonah's in 6th grade and is also homeschooled. He'll also be playing baseball this spring.

The 4 boys are still active in Scouts and next summer Rush and Arin will be working on their Eagle projects. Rush, Arin, and Isaac will all be eligible for High Adventure. Also Jonah will go to Camp Hahobas for a second year. It'll be a busy summer...

In June I'll be completing my AA from Centralia College and I got my acceptance letter from The Evergreen State College this week. I will be doing the Spanish program next year but not sure what else I'll focus on. Ryan is starting his BA in Medical Informatics in January as well.

Life is busy but I don't think I would want it any other way. A busy life means we are healthy and that we have the freedom and opportunity to pursue our interests.

The Eagle

~erica

Coming home the other afternoon I noticed this eagle in the tree across the street. I ran inside to get my camera and called the kids to come downstairs to see.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31