What if ...

So I often think thoughts such as: "What would it be like to not have to get up and go to work?" "What could I get done if I stayed home all day?" "I wonder what I would be like as a stay at home mom?" Well, today I got to answer some of those questions. I woke up at 5:30 when my alarm went off. Tatum was sick yesterday and had been up a lot of the night coughing and sounding croupy. So I went into her room and felt her head; sure enough she felt warm so I decided I would stay home with her and try to get her a doctor's appointment. So I did what any hard - working, dedicated, concerned mom would do. I texted my boss and told her I wouldn't be there today and went back to bed. So after tossing and turning for about 45 minutes I got up. I did enjoy lesiurely (and quietly) drinking my coffee! I could so get used to that! I checked my email, and facebook, and Pinterest, and any other social networking that I could think of. I watched a little of the Today Show and Good Morning America. Unfortunately, I was not very engaged by the guy from Florida that hacked a lot of celebrities and while I really wanted to see the interview with Hillary Clinton, I became a little bored with the teasers and lead - ins and forgot to keep watching. Thankfully, my sweet little boy came stumbling down the hall and wanted to sit with me so we watched a little Disney before I got up and got him (and his necessities) ready for the day. Micah took him to school and Tatum and I were left to it. So, I began washing clothes and straightening up the house. Somewhere along the way, I got a little side - tracked and the pictures of the rest of our day follow...

                                                       

This was the beginning of our supper. I saw a recipe on Pinterest I wanted to try but I wanted to use my crock - pot and I didn't have all the ingredients so....I improvised. Looks gross now but remember...good things come to those who wait. Ingredients: (in this order) 3 frozen chicken breasts, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp chili powder, 3 cups chicken broth, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can stewed tomatoes, 1 small can tomato paste, 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed), 2 cups frozen corn, 1 8 oz. cream cheese.

                                                               

These are so cute!! What do you get when you mix Nutter Butters, chocolate chips, Hershey's Kisses, and a little chocolate icing??? Fabulous little Fall treats!!! Tatum didn't really like them but she thought they were cute. Micah later on gave his stamp of approval ("forgetting" to give them to a friend at the hospital and eating them himself).

 

Now, these I really liked!!! Walker concurs (we let him try our treats when he got home from school)! Pretzels, Hershey's Hugs...pop in 300 oven for 2 minutes, let cool for 1 minute. Put the top on and let cool for what seemed like FOREVER!!! I finally put them in the fridge for a few minutes! Wow!! New favorite!

There was definitely plenty of this. Most of the day was spent in a princess dress with these fabulous little choppers! Tatum was quite the entertainment and such a little helper!

And at the end of the day we sat down to this...I mixed in about 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, 1 cup of chopped cilantro, and I shredded the chicken. And as I do about 75% of the meals in my house, I topped with a "dollop of Daisy"! This "chicken enchilada soup" was really good. I was talking about how to make it better and Micah (the victim of many of my experiments) says "please don't change anything, I REALLY like it! I liked it, Tatum liked it, and Walker didn't ...but what's new? 

So at the end of the day, I am looking at clothes that did get washed but not folded, bed sheets that did not get washed and I am pretty sure the counter is still cluttered and the table didn't get wiped after supper. But I had a fun day with my sweet girl (I did squeeze in her appointment and yes, she is just fine) and we had plenty of good vittles. 

So I think the answers to my questions would look like this: "I got up early anyway but did enjoy sitting and drinking my coffee..." "I got a lot of cooking done but very little cleaning..." "I would enjoy every minute spent with my kiddos..." So what would our lives be like if I stayed at home...we would all be AS BIG AS A HOUSE and the house we do live in would remain as messy as it is now!!!!! I am off to fold laundry and head to bed...I must go to work tomorrow...back to reality!! This stay at home mom stuff was hard work....

Micah strikes again...

First off I will begin by saying how much I love and adore my husband. I will follow that by saying, there will soon be domestic violence in this house if he does not shut that stupid dog outside UP!!!!! Many of you probably know the revolving door policy we have with dogs. Our poor kids don't know which dog (besides Hercules) to attach themselves to because one day Dad may realize that we don't need all of these canines and give it away. We get dogs and get rid of them as quickly as Micah changes cell phones (and for those of you who know him, you know that is A LOT - that will be another blog)!
Somehow, Micah gets himself (and the rest of us) into the middle of things that have ZERO to do with us. Someone wants to get rid of a dog so they call Micah and offer it to him. (We have the repuation of taking any dog someone has to offer. Sometimes we pay for them, sometimes not but regardless we will take it.) To his defense (and good for his safety) Micah says, "my wife will kill me if I get another dog" (boy, was he right on!)! Regardless, Micah spends a fairly decent amount of time finding someone to take the dog and is actually going to drive the dog to Prescott tomorrow. Again, I am asking why in the world are you having to arrange and do all of this? But until he can go to Prescott tomorrow, we have to keep the dog at our house!!! It will not shut - up!!!!!
I really like dogs, especially the ones we have but I am really over this dog sanctuary that we call a home! No more dogs Micah!!!! (And rest assured, he has tried diligently to convince me why we should keep this dog! Absolutely NOT!!! I am not giving in!!!!!!!) The problem, according to him, is that I just don't see what a great deal this is (they always are)!
Can you see how I feel about this will all of the ! tonight? But, I love my husband and wouldn't change him for anything. He makes life interesting.
Off to look for some ear plugs...

God should be tops....

I know I talk about my kids a lot but they are really my life. Besides God and my husband, there is NOTHING in this world I love more than my children. I guess the reason I talk about them a lot is because they are my light and joy. I feel that if they bring me so much joy then I should definitely share that joy with others. They say the most comical things. For example, today Walker finally colored his 5th triangle and finally got to go to Wal-Mart to get a new slinky. We get there and literally search every aisle and can find NO slinky. Walker tells me "Mom, there are no slinkys in this store, I'll just settle for these two guns." (As if he made such a sacrifice) At any rate, the NERF guns it was and all was well. We rejoiced and were so proud and happy that he had 5 good days of school (in like 3 weeks!!!!).
I love to share Walker and Tatum's perceptions and ideas about the world. We read Rumble in the Jungle a lot at night. Every night after we read it, Tatum asks me "tomorrow can we go to the jumble?" She is very serious, as if we can just drive on over tomorrow. Anything is possible to them. I love to sit back and watch how they would do things without my help. As I was getting them ready for bed tonight, Walker runs back in the living room and turns the TV off. He informs me I do not need to turn it back on tonight because that wastes energy. Where in the world does he hear this stuff (but apparently the shows he watches do not waster energy)?
Tonight Walker told me "I was a horrible reader" (thanks, Walker!) and said he would read his book himself. Well, as with most of their books, he has heard it a few times and not word for word and definitely aided by the pictures, he "read" Tatum and I the book. I love to share these funny stories and revel in how well they do when I step back and let them do things themselves. (This is never much of a problem for Tatum. She wants to do everything "by my....seeeeeelllllffff"!)
Now the main idea...
The reason for this entry and what is in the front of my mind is .... what would this world be like if I, just one person, talked about Jesus as much as I do my children. Not that children are not important and not that I plan to stop talking about them ANY time soon, but what if I was simply one for one. For every post on facebook or every conversation I had with someone about something funny, cute, silly, frustrating, aggravating, etc that one of the kids did, what if I made a post or conversation about Jesus and something he has done for me? Could I make a impact on the world? Well, I could make an impact on the people who read my facebook statuses or that I carry on daily conversations with.
I love to tell others about my children being my light and joy and I want to share that. However, I know Jesus is my true light and joy and I, shamefully, share him very little. I rejoice and celebrate over Walker having 5 good days of school but do I rejoice and celebrate over someone coming to know the Lord or for seeing the Lord working in a situation. I dwell on Walker's bad days at school and Tatum having accidents (and thinking it is funny) but do I dwell (and cry and pray and fret) over friends and family dying without Jesus? I share Walker's and Tatum's takes on the world but when faced with situations do I refer others to the Bible and Jesus's guide to life? I share that Walker and Tatum literally think anything is possible but do I strive to convince other that through "HIM all things are possible?" Do I publicly (or privately) give God the glory when he handles problems. Do I really step back and let him handle them and then am I careful to give him the honor and glory he deserves? Sadly, I find myself sharing the successes, failures, and wisdom of a 2 & 4 year old more than I share the wisdom, love, and hope of the Light of the World.
Now, I doubt seriously any of you believe that I can quit talking about Walker and Tatum so much. I can't help it; they are just so funny and cute. But I do pray that I will be more aware of how much I talk about other things of the world and how little I talk about the Father. He should be front in center in every aspect of our lives...even facebook statuses and blogs.
Phillipians 1:27 "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ..."

Fabulous new recipe!!!

I pinned this recipe on Pinterest and decided to try it tonight. It was so easy that Micah is the one who actually assembled it! A big huge thank you and I love you to him for handling the supper tonight. I had to leave the house at 5 AM this morning so I gave him the instructions and it turned out really good! Here goes...

In the crockpot:

• place a bag of chicken breasts (about 4) in the bottom of the crock pot

on top of the chicken put:

• a can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
• a can of corn (drained)
• a can of rotel 
• a block of cream cheese

Put on low and let cook for about 8 hours (ours actually cooked a little longer). About 15 - 20 minutes before serving add a package of taco seasoning. We had our rice and topped with sour cream. Micah suggested putting it over chips (similar to taco soup) and I think that would be great too! It would probably also be really good with a little avocado and cilantro on the top. But it was great tonight. Tatum scraped her bowl clean and Walker ate about 10 bites (painfully).

Fall for some reason makes me want to cook and especially try more recipes so I imagine there will be more new recipes to come. I love fall. I love cooking. I love food. 

Fat and happy...

Walker is so lucky!

So Walker has been having some really terrible days at school lately. As in, really really bad. Numerous time - outs (two during the same outside play time), hitting others with his blanket during naptime, calling names (poopoo head but that is a bathroom name and not nice), hitting a friend in the head because she didn't want to play puppy dogs anymore, and the list goes on and on. His teachers and I talk every day and we are all working so hard to get this fiesty, full of life 4 year old in check. He has been getting in trouble daily when he gets home for how he acts at school. We have a reward system at home that he has to get 5 triangles colored to get a new slinky (his choice). He gets to color in 1 triangle for every good day he has. Unfortunately he only has 2 colored in so far.
Yesterday, I actually let him color one in even though he had a little trouble at nap and got a time out for playing with pencils. Actually, let me be clear...he actually went to time out because his teacher told him like 4 times to put the pencil down. He got to color in the triangle because his sweet teacher, Miss Reagan, said he did great during circle time. I am not sure if she feels sorry for him or if he was really good during circle time ... but, I'll take it either way. So, we colored in a triangle and cheered really loud because we are making progress...One thing at a time, sweet Jesus. It is really sad when I drop the kids at school, get back in the car, and literally pray all the way to work (and whenever I think about it during the day) that Walker will just listen to his teachers and have a decent day.
Well, today his Daddy picked him up early for a check - up. Neither one of his regular teachers were in the room and Dad doesn't ask a lot of questions anyway; therefore, we don't exactly know how the day went. So, Walker gets to color in a triangle. He reports that he had a good day which doesn't necessarily mean much. He always says he had a good day; he usually has to be gently reminded of all the time - outs,etc. Whatever the case, he now has three triangles colored in on the refrigerator and only needs 2 more to get that new slinky. Please Lord, let him have a good day tomorrow...he doesn't have to be perfect just not terrible!
I would like to add this here. This is all actually my mother's fault. She admits that when I was little she told me that she hoped I had a child just like me. And from her report, her wishes came true. Thanks, Mother!
Praying for a good day tomorrow...

Let's Try This...

So this is my first time at this whole blogging thing.I really don't have time to do this and know this is probably a bad idea before I even begin. My goal of this blog is, and prayerfully will always be, to honor and glorify Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Who knows how this will go? It will probably be a whole lot of whatever is on my mind each day - funny stories about the kids, recipes, books, prayer requests and my one goal is to blog about the great things God does in my life on a daily basis. I hope you enjoy. Here we gooooooo..........