the boy keeps it real

this one is the one that makes me think twice.
he keeps me hoppin and i guess that's good for me.

i completely delight in the funny things kids have to say. the really unexpected off the wall stuff. love. it.

for example....

last night he was drawing in the kitchen & the tv was just sort of "on" for no reason & when i turned it off he looked at me & i said, "it's just the news".

"the news is a very important part of my life!" he says.
really, you've got to be kidding.
the news is depressing. i'm still trying to find out why the news is so very important.

what do you bet there are ulterior motives here?

and then last week, this boy was looking through some library books of famous works of art. after looking, he quietly told me that "one of those books has something disgusting in it". oh no. now i'm worried. i had gotten the books from the children's department, but i should have looked them over thoroughly. sometimes they put a "masterpiece" in there that show a little nudity. you know, the special parts. my kids are pretty sheltered & there are still parts they really haven't seen.

so i looked through the book in question to find michelangelo's "the creation of adam".
you know, the one where god's reaching out touching adam in all his glory. and there was another work that i'd never seen that showed a naked rear end of a youngster, a toddler i'd say.

so i explained the "adam" painting & being that the parts showing were boy parts, i didn't think it would be that big of a deal & adam was probably naked when god created him, right? and the other painting, it was news to me, but i didn't see what the big to-do was.


so later that evening, i brought up the subject of painting nudes and told him that in art schools and colleges, there were classes were you could sit in a room with other students and a model would come in and pose nude for everyone to draw/paint.

you should have seen the look on my innocent 10 year old's face. all he said was:

"O. M. G. .... & i mean the bad G!"

literally. OMG.
what in the world?
i don't even know how he knows what omg means!
(seriously, my kids are not literate in that stuff)

so, i say keep it up kid. mom can always use a good laugh☺

baby girl | nappanee children's photographer

can you say babelicious?


those big eyes & lashes...
those little teeth...
that drooly chin...

i'm in love ♥

out with the new...in with the old

cooking. supper. groceries.

these are all dirty words to me.

i have been cooking since i was a little girl & probably for the past 10+ years it has gotten pretty old to me. i still enjoy baking most, but cooking - i could really not care much less for it!

so as in the past, when i get down right tired of all things "meals", i look for something new to add some spark to this dull chore of mine.

in the past week, i have tried 3 new recipes. hey, that's a lot, people!

i found a recipe called unstuffed cabbage. it was in a recent family circle magazine & it looked good to me. well, it got 1 thumb up in my house (which means dad liked it, but that's it). it's not a keeper.

then we tried chicken mushroom chowder. now this one looked really promising. but once again, it got only 1 thumb up (guess who? what can i say, the man is easy to please☺).

so monday, we tried the white bean chicken chili. finally...a winner! 4 thumbs up at our house. it was oh so yummy.... and don't forget the cornbread. i used the recipe from the quaker container of white cornmeal, rather than yellow. i think it was the best cornbread i've ever had.

this stuff was awesome... you really must try it!

easy corn bread
1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. quaker enriched corn meal (i used white)
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. skim milk (i used 2%)
1/4 c. vegetable oil (i used canola)
2 egg white or 1 egg, beaten (i used 1 egg)

heat oven to 400 degrees. grease 8 or 9" pan. combine dry ingredients. stir in wet ingredients until dry ingredients are moistened. pour batter into prepared pan. bake 20-25 mins. or until light golden brown and wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. serve warm. 9 servings.

then last night we had an oldie, but goodie. my favorite meatloaf, served with baked potatoes, corn from our garden and rolls. yumm-may!

this is the old standard. i started out making meatloaf the old-fashioned way, throwing a little of this and that in there & baking it. no one ever complained, but i felt it was lacking. i found this recipe several years ago and haven't looked back.

i thought this made a perty picture☺

look at those chucks of carrot....that's the secret, baby!

and because i'm not creative enough to find a beautiful presentation for meatloaf, this is the best i could do.... don't you love how the roll is bigger than the main course? personally, that's fine with me☺

favorite meatloaf
2 lbs. ground beef
1 carrot, chopped fine
1 onion, chopped
3 pieces of bread, torn into pieces
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 oz. tomato sauce

topping
4 oz. tomato sauce
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. cider vinegar
1 Tbs. mustard

preheat oven to 350 degrees. combine all ingredients except for topping. fill 9x13" pan with the meatloaf mixture. combine topping ingredients, then pour topping over meatloaf. bake for 30-45 mins.

this new year...

i am loving this new year.

as much as i was not ready for the holidays when they began, i am more than ready for this new year. right about now, i am all about chances to make things fresh, new, better.

last night we had a discussion with our boys about the new year & setting goals.
somehow the whole conversation sounded like some sort of dreaded punishment we were bestowing upon them. that was totally NOT what i intended, but it had that general feel. i tried to impress upon them that setting goals is a good thing & it's great to have that feeling of accomplishment.

they really weren't impressed. but still, we are asking them to come up with 3-5, realistic, do-able goals by the end of the week.

so, what are your goals this year?

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usually, i have a list and keep it pretty short & simple. it's catagorized & everything. i like it that way because life has so many catagories, doesn't it? usually it's something like personal, family, homeschooling & other (home, hobbies, work, etc).

this year, i am flooded with things that need to be done & it's hard to narrow it down.

first, more laughter. laugh with my family, my friends, myself. i don't do this enough & i don't know why. i'm too serious & i know it. laughing is good for you & i need to come up with a way to do it more. enuff said.

secondly, hang pictures. i want to get off my hump about hanging things on the walls. i really don't even want to talk about it because it's so dull....but suffice it to say that we have lived here 4 1/2 years and there's almost nothing on the walls, pictures or otherwise. it's starting to get on my nerves.

...and curtains. i should really start thinking about curtains, but i'm not sure that's going to make it into this years goals. i envsion the big boy moving out before curtains get put up in his room. but here, i'm rambling...

third, a vacation. and i don't mean camping☺. we are talking sunny beaches here. i think this is going to be my favorite goal to achieve and i'm soooo looking forward to it. *this is a joint goal between the man & myself. i like those goals. they're happy goals ☺

fourth, do art. in school, i have severely slacked about art projects. and you would think i'd be all over it, but i just don't want to take the time to fit it in. but i've promised myself that this winter, we'll be all about art. so i'm getting my stuff out this week. it's GOT to be done!

fifth, do better & be better. i want to be a better wife & mom. do better, living each day with it's own little "on purpose" set of goals. there's so much i could toss into this pot, but i don't want to bore the masses. i just know that if i do the same, i'll be the same & i'll get the same results. i want things to be different, and that means i have to do & be different. this one's going to take the most work & it's probably not going to be finished this year, but i've got to start now.

oh... and fear not, there will be lots more knitting too.....

above photo courtesy of the big boy☺