Lent Observation Week 1

We have a basket filled with 40 different activities that will encourage ways for us to observe Lent - as suggested in the book that I posted about a few days ago. Here are some of the things we've been doing.

Wednesday: We cleaned the patio window (the Israelites cleaned to prepare for Passover)
Thursday: Find something purple and talk about the royalty of Christ
Friday: EH washed our feet and we washed his (as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples)
Saturday: Talked about Jesus being the Lamb of God and glued cotton balls to paper plates to make little lambs
Sunday: Practiced the Easter greeting "Jesus is Risen!" "Risen Indeed!" (Actually I guess you're not supposed to observe on Sunday but I forgot . . . opps!)

After each activity the boys go color in a piece of fruit on their Lenten Tree posters, also from the book. This has been such a meaningful way for us anticipate the coming of Easter.

I'm on my way over to LapbookLessons looking for material to do an Easter themed lapbook. I'm loving the paper version of the Resurrection Eggs that I saw and can't wait for us to pull out our own eggs to go along with this.

Note: I just found out that the Lent book is posted as free over at the author's website.

Unveiled

Around this time of the year I usually pull out my copy of Unafraid, Francine River's version of what being the Mother of Jesus could have been like (click here for my post about it last year). This year I'm going to back up in Jesus' lineage and read again about Tamar in the book Unveiled. Tamar's husband dies and she has to marry her brother-in-law, then he dies and she has to marry another brother-in-law, then . . . I'm not going to spoil the ending, unless you remember how it ends from the Bible. Gesh! I'm glad I wasn't a woman in those days!

Putting that crock pot to use

I found a fun blog about crock-potting! I'm planning some meals to make up ahead of time for when this babe joins us on the "other side". Most of my plans are coming from the book The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet but the crock pot is another good way to go without heating up the kitchen with oven use. This lady is using her crock pot every day for a full year and is posting all her recipes. Wow! Anyway, here's her blog, A Year of CrockPotting, if you'd like to get in on the action. Tonight we're going to try her Peppercorn Steak. Enjoy!

Breakfasts

We've been stuck in a cereal for breakfast rut for about 12 years or so. I grew up on cereal too so really longer. We love cereal though so there haven't been many complaints. However, organic cereal is pricey, plus I've heard many times the benefit of eating a more balanced breakfast. I picked up an ebook called Breakfast for Busy Moms over at The Urban Homemaker and I've loved her ideas.

So far we've tried:
- Puffed Apple Pancake (3 of us finished up a pan made to serve 6!)
- Apple oatmeal
- Scrambled eggs (I had never thought to add Braggs Liquid Amino Acids to this before - yum! It is a non GMO version of soy sauce)
-French breakfast muffins (for Father's Day)

And this morning might be one of my favorites . . . strawberry/blueberry smoothies with scones and raw honey (frozen left overs from Sunday's morning family snack). I'm looking forward to trying her oatmeal pancakes, baked oatmeal, pancake and waffle dry mix, sticky buns, etc! I love breakfast food!

Something I've started making for EH is egg/english muffin sandwiches (since he's been leaving for work pretty early these days). Add some cayenne pepper to the eggs and he's a happy camper. For now I've been making them the evening before and then he pops them into the toaster oven. I found a recipe for making up a batch of these and freezing them - I think I'd like these even for lunches. I might even try my hand at homemade english muffins - no commitment yet.

By the way, The Urban Homemaker has a free ebook at her website called Fast and Healthy Meals for Busy Women and she has her bread, batter mixes and lots more in there.

Pita Love

I can't believe it took me months to get up the courage to bake pita bread. I put my hands to it the other day and I was so very impressed with how easy it was to make. I had myself all prepped for the first batch to be a flop - I mean how do you get them to bubble and be "open" on the inside? They baked up into perfect little pillows in the oven and looked just like store bought ones when they were done. Another plus, there are only 4 ingredients in the recipe making them a great money saver. The other day I ate spinach and egg salad inside freshly baked pita for lunch - so delicious! One more plus, the pita bread doesn't crumble like my homemade bread does so it means less clean up under the boys' chairs after they eat.

Per request :) I found my recipe in an e-book called A Beginner's Guide to Baking Bread by Marilyn Moll over at urbanhomemaker.com. The book is $9.95 but if you watch her site or sign up for her newsletter I think she has lots of sales or deals where she'll bundle a bunch of her e-books for sale.

What I Won: 2

I also won (see below) The Dangerous Book for Boys from Frantically Simple! We've given this book away as a gift and I've thought I would love to own it as well. Agent H loves to study the naval flags and tell everyone about the naked pirate flag - ah yah, I'll just leave it at that then. . .

Heidi from Frantically Simple also mailed us some seed packets so we'll be planting a sunflower/hollyhock fort out back. It was fun to read Heidi's posts as we have a few things in common. For one thing, we both have fond memories of dirt hole forts. One summer my neighborhood buddies and I dug out a huge pit in a vacant lot. We carved shelves out of the walls and even scavenged old sheets of plywood to build a roof. It was cool down in the dirt and great place to lounge on hot summer days. EH has his own dirt hole fort memories - I think he even attempted a sleep over in it with his buddies.

Well thanks to Heidi for all the fun we're sure to have reading adventure stories and plotting dangerous activities!

What I Won: 1

Okay I know it's been awhile since the great Bloggy Giveaway has been done with but I never mentioned what I actually won, and I won some great stuff!

I was so very thrilled to win a copy of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover! from The Happy Housewife. EH picked up More Than Enough a few years back after hearing Dave on the radio and was really inspired by it. I polished off TMM in 4 days and now EH is reading it. Since finishing the book I've now checked out his revised Financial Peace University and workbook from the library and am learning even more about money management.

You would think that with my dad being a financial advisor and very wise in the area of finance some of it would have rubbed off. . . he has been a great resource over the years but I've got to say that it feels like I never "took ownership" of the information. So last night EH and I signed up to do Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University online class. Feel free to take pop-shots at us as we cut up our credit cards and attempt to pay cash for groceries and what not. It should be an adventure!

Thank you to The Happy Housewife for getting us started on this journey!

A good read

A personal tradition this time of the year is to read Unafraid by Francine Rivers (my favorite author). It's a short book about Mary that helps lead my heart back to the tenderness of the season. Mary, the mother of Jesus, who were you? A very young woman of uncommon faith. The unlikely chosen to birth God's plan for reconciliation to His creation. Thank you precious Father for perusing undeserving me.