What's Cookin'

Mon~Hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, corn

Tues~Meatball subs, salad

Wed~Chicken Alfredo, green beans, french bread

Thurs~Chili, french bread, fruit

Fri~Pancakes, sausage, fruit

Sat~Pizza, salad

Sun~Leftovers/sandwiches

Random Recent Pics

Aaron is getting so big. He will be 9 months old on Tues. He doesn't sit, doesn't crawl, doesn't roll much, except from his belly to his back, but he is a pretty happy baby. And Joel loves him. Right now Joel is taking pics of him with his toy camera.

These two are either playing very nicely together or at each others throats! They are the closest in age of all 4 boys so it will be interesting to see how they interact together as they grow older. All the boys love books. We have been going to the library every week and checking out stacks of books and they all love to sit and look at the new finds each week. Yesterday Joel got up from his nap and went and took a stack of books back to bed with him to look at. I was surprised to see how long he stayed in bed looking at his books!

This boy's trouble! :-) He is definitely at a very active age. He likes to hang around mommy and is at the age where he likes to test his boundaries. Keeps me hopping but he's definitely a sweetie, especially when he says, "Love you mommy!"

Aaron loves his exersaucer. He spends large portions of time in here, especially because he doesn't sit. He has just started to really like his infant cereal and its so funny to see him open his mouth wide as the spoon comes toward him. We are starting to see his unique personality more and more. I love how when I pick him up, he curls his body in and snuggles into my shoulder. He always has a happy chirp when I get him up from his crib.

Daddy snoozing with the middle two boys.

Solitude

Here's Andrew's solution to escaping his younger brothers:

Climb in crib in order to work in peace!

Great Minds Think Alike

So funny to see the boys copying each other years down the road...

Here's Andrew sharing all his toys with Noah when Noah was about 3 months old.

He was completely surrounded!

And here's Joel sharing all his toys with Aaron!

Orthodontist anyone?

Andrew's double row of teeth.

The Ultimate Pie Experience

My neighbor and friend, Vonnie Engelsma, recently started a pie company. A friend gave me a slice of her specialty pie, the Sweetie Pie, to taste today and it was phenomenal! The Sweetie Pie consists of chocolate, pecan praline, cream cheese and a cookie crust. I would highly recommend Vonnie's pies for your next special occasion. Check them out at Maisy's Pie Company.

What's Cookin'

3 meals in the crockpot this week!

Mon~PW's beef stew, bread, applesauce

Tues~Beef enchiladas, salad

Wed~Crockpot spaghetti, salad, cheddar onion biscuits

Thurs~Crockpot chili, bread

Fri~Pizza, veggies

Sat~Taco salad

Sun~Swiss steak, applesauce

Noah's hat

Trying to get a picture of Noah's hat...

oops, missed...

mid-twirl...

gotcha!

Grandma V made the boys each of these nice warm hats for the snow, but they get worn inside too. :-)

Salad for lunch

Here's what I made for lunch yesterday:

It was really yummy and it made me feel like I was eating healthy. :-)

Ingredients:

Romaine and Boston lettuce

toasted almonds

mandarin oranges

Oscar Mayer chicken (I got this for $1 at Meijer this week)

provolone cheese

I drizzled the above with honey poppyseed dressing from my Joy cookbook:

1/4 cup honey

3 tablespoons cider vinegar (or other fruit vinegar)

1 small shallot, minced (I used some onion flakes)

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I used spicy mustard)

1 teaspoon poppy seed

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

*Whisk all ingredients together or shake in jar.

My mother-in-law gives this cookbook to all her daughters/daughters-in-law when they get married and I appreciate it more and more every time I use it. Good, quality recipes.

What's Cookin'

Mon~Hamburger steak, leftover mashed potatoes/rice, corn, salad

Tues~Beef Enchiladas, salad, applesauce

Wed~Spaghetti, bread, carrots

Thurs~Baked chicken, roasted potatoes, green beans

Fri~Pizza, salad

Sat~Out

Sun~PW's beef stew, bread

Preschool: N

This week we learned the letter N. I made play dough and the kids had fun making the letter N and other letters. They also cut N's out of magazines and N pictures like nose.

Kaiya, very happy with her letter N!

Connie did an excellent job.

Ethan is all smiles.

Andrew needed a break from all his hard work. :-)

Andrew's to-do list

Andrew asked me to write him a list which he dictated to me. While I was cleaning tonight, I found it with each item crossed off and checked as he finished them.

Frog in a blanket

Brotherly Love

Yesterday the boys were playing downstairs and I heard Noah start crying (rather theatrically) and then Andrew's frantic voice as Noah came up the stairs to "tell on Andrew": "Noah, punch me, Noah, punch me!"

Homemade Yogurt

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/storebought-or-homemade-yogurt.php

Has anyone made homemade yogurt? My kids love yogurt and I like giving it to them except it gets expensive. Joel has yogurt every day because we have not yet been able to get him to drink milk (its coming!).

Here's a recipe for yogurt in the crockpot that looks super easy. I think I'll get some plain yogurt and try it the crockpot way first. All you really need is 1/2 a cup of yogurt and milk, plus some sweeteners or thickeners if you choose to add those.

New favorite blog

Saving Addiction is my new favorite blog. My friend Heidi told me about it and I like it because the bloggers are both from Michigan and concentrate on stores that are local to my area. Click on the picture to check them out.

Girls already?

It was just Andrew and I last night while Daddy took Noah and Joel to visit his grandparents and Aaron was sleeping. So he and Mom sat in the kitchen and had some hot cocoa. Andrew started asking me about all the Christmas card pic photos on the fridge and then said, "Mom, next time you see Lydia's mom, can you ask her for a picture of her family?"

"Why do you want that?" I asked.

"Because she's pretty," he said, "Did you see the pretty blue Sunday shirt she wore?"

And so it begins. :-)

Divided, The Film

Here's a clip where Paul Washer talks about the grave error many pastors are making in their large churches by catering to carnal people with carnal means instead of ministering to the smaller group that makes up God's true flock.

Divide, The Film (summary)

There is a crisis. Christian youth are rapidly leaving evangelical churches for the world. This well-recognized disaster has been the topic of significant discussion in recent years for both church leaders and modern news media. DIVIDED follows young Christian filmmaker Philip LeClerc on a revealing journey as he seeks answers to what has led his generation away from the church.

Traveling across the country conducting research and interviewing church kids, youth ministry experts, evangelists, statisticians, social commentators, and pastors, Philip discovers the shockingly sinister roots of modern, age-segregated church programs, and equally shocking evidence that the pattern in the Bible for training future generations is at odds with modern church practices.

He also discovers a growing number of churches that are abandoning age-segregated Sunday school and youth ministry to embrace the discipleship model that God prescribes in His Word.

Taken from sermonaudio.com

Reforming Modern Youth Evangelism and Discipleship

Just listened to this conference message by Rev. Paul Washer. The title doesn't really contain what his message was about. He started out by talking about how many Christians try to lead unbelievers to Christ by getting them to pray a prayer and then telling them, Hey, you're saved! He says this is why there are so many people out there who say they are saved but go on living sinful lives. They were never really saved, but well-meaning Christians told them they were because they prayed a prayer. Rev. Washer says that first one has to have conviction of sin, be repentant of that sin, and then he has to dwell on the promises of God until he truly believes and has assurance that he is saved. This process could take minutes or it could take months, even years. He also explains how to Biblically approach children and youth who made a decision for Christ when they were young but as they grow older, their behavior is anything but Christian. He touched on children's church, family worship, and evangelizing to unbelievers. I think the most convicting part of his message was when he talked about how the leaders in our churches and parents have abandoned the spirtual teaching of their children and youth to the spiritually immature. Our elders should be teaching our Sunday schools, not well-meaning, but spiritually immature people or even teachers who are coerced into it because of the need. Fathers need to be teaching their children during family worship or they are not keeping the promise they made in baptism. He also talked about how boys want to be men and girls want to be women and how fathers and mothers need to spend time with their children doing manly/womanly things. He shares a humorous story of his young son and him practicing bow hunting in their backyard and how critical these types of activities are in the training of boys. I hope to listen to this message again some time this week when I can take more detailed notes. Truly a blessed message.

Paul Washer is an itinerant preacher and the General Director for HeartCry Missionary Society - their website address is www.heartcrymissionary.com (sermonaudio.com)

Recipes of Late

Cheddar Onion Biscuits

I made these tonight to go with our spaghetti since I am out of yeast and can't make bread. They were fabulous! Similar to Red Lobster biscuits, but no garlic.

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Strawberry Bread (recipe from What's Cookin' in Kalamazoo)

2(10 oz) packages of frozen strawberries, thawed (I used about 4 cups and drained some of the liquid)

4 eggs

1 1/4 veg oil

3 c. flour

2 c. sugar

3 t cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

Grease and flour 2 (5x9 in) loaf pans. Combine all ingredients; stir by hand until well blended. Pour into pans and bake for 1 hr at 350. Let stand 10-20 minutes in the pan (This is crucial! I didn't wait on the first pan and I made a big mess.) before removing from pan.

Excellent bread! Very moist and unique strawberry flavor.

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Chocolate Whoopies (from TOH)

Ingredients

• 1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  FILLING:
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  GARNISH:
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
• Drop by 2 tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 15-18 minutes or until edges are set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
• For filling, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Cool completely.
• In a large bowl, beat the shortening and butter until fluffy. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.
• Spread chocolate filling on the bottoms of half of the cookies, about 2 tablespoons on each; top with remaining cookies. Roll sides in miniature chocolate chips for garnish. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: about 1 dozen.

Super yummy!

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Chunky Veggie Dip

Veggies I used~Green pepper, red pepper, celery, sweet onion, and cucumber (made it a little runny). Served with whole wheat Ritz crackers for a yummy snack.