Jacob - just because

Creative kids

Rebekah & Samuel decided the trucks and racecars needed "beds." This is what they came up with for putting them to bed one night.

Notice, even the big trucks got something :)

Trip to Chicago

I'm on this committe for Rebekah's pre-school. They sent me to a conference in Chicago - at the Hilton!! The food was amazing and actually the conference was not that bad. It was all about literacy training. In any case, we had a little fun one night in Chicago - here are some pics.

The Willis Tower is the new name for the Sears tower. We actually watched an educational video all about how it was built and why and so on to the name change. As far as museum-type-videos go, this one was not too bad.

It is 105 floors tall. The elevator travels at about 18mph. I got a little motion sick myself - but nothing too major. It probably would not have bothered me if I were not pregnant.

Random Chicago buildings from the top.

More Chicago.

Yep, still more. Notice how small the cars look.

They had these cool glass room things (3 total) added to the tower (I think just to impress tourists). But they were kinda cool to stand in and take pictures.

Looking down in one of the glass room additions. Yes, those are my feet.

Me, getting proof of how brave I was. (Some of the people would not step out into the glass rooms - I must admit, the first step was a little frightening.)

I belive this is called "the bean" and other than that I'm not really sure of its story. But it sure looks cool.

I'm not exactly sure what it is made of but I do know it is not glass - as you would think.

This is a view from underneath - looking straight up. Kinda neat I thought.

INTRODUCING. . . THE NEW ROOM!!!

With another little one on the way we decided we needed another bedroom in the basement. Our three children share a room now and that seems to work well but it is (was) a little cramped. In any case this recently finished room is their new room and they are very excited about it. I am excited to have a place to put the new baby, as well (their old room) rather than in our room. The baby will often sleep in our room, no doubt, as babies do when they are very little, but it is still nice for the new babe to have its own room for when it starts sleeping better and such.

I am really bad about forgetting to do "before" pictures when I start a project. Here is the earliest pictures for this "project." These are right after I put the first coat of sealant on the concrete walls.

Here is where we put the closet in. Did I mention my husband is amazing?

Here are the walls again after two coats of sealant, two coats of texture, and one coat of primer. They are "very" ready for paint I think.

Here we just put the door in and started mudding the other walls in preparation for painting them. As you can see to the left here, these walls had some nasty stains on them (we think they might have been from laundry detergent spills - as this was the laundry room) but my amzing husband was able to cover them :)

More mudding on the ceiling and such.

Fresh paint on the walls. The table in the middle shows that no room in this house goes un-used for very long - in some way or another - no matter what the circumstances.

The closet door is up in this picture - I was very excited about the closet (I am a girl, you know :)

Carpet time!! We got this great deal on carpet and once again my amazing husband cut it and did all that jazz. I really love him.

Jacob loved to "help" Daddy. He would often be found downstairs with Daddy when everyone else was upstairs doing other fun stuff.

More carpet.

Finished carpet - notice he managed to cover the platform over the drain, too? And the kids love having that step. I love that it is wide enough for a dresser.

Finished product. (So as I look back on this picture I find it entertaining to see cloth diapers on top of one dresser and box for disposable diapers on the other - as if we can't make up our minds or something. The real story is that we occasionally use paper diapers for trips or what-not. I believe this box was used while I was gone in Chicago and Grandma & Nana watched the kids for me. Of course, it does not actually have diapers in it now - it has pull-ups for Rebekah in it. She is too big for my brilliant cloth-night-diaper-solutions that work so well on the boys. I'm still working on coming up with a cloth solution for her but maybe she will just save me the trouble by being dry at night sometime soon. Of course, my pediatrition says it is totally normal for this not to happen until age seven. . . )

Thanks for "taking the tour" - hope you enjoyed. We are loving it for sure! :)

Muffins!

This is a general muffin recipe that can be easily adapted to what you have on hand or what you like better.

Grain – 2 to 2.5 cups of flour, oatmeal, cornmeal or flake cereal (last two can only be used for one cup of grains)

I usually double this recipe and use 2 cups wheat flour, 2 cups white flour, 1 cup oats.

Milk – use 1 cup or substitute buttermilk or fruit juice (or some combination)

Fat – use ¼ cup veggie oil or 4 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine, or peanut butter (keep in mind that peanut butter makes them a little drier and a little heartier – as you would expect)

Egg – use one egg or substitute one heaping tablespoon soy flour and one tablespoon water

Sweetener – use 2 Tablespoons to ½ cup granulated sugar or substitute up to ¾ cup brown sugar or ½ cup honey (and decrease milk to ¾ cup)


Baking Powder – use 2 teaspoons (if using buttermilk, decrease to 1 teaspoon and add ½ teaspoon baking soda)

Optional additions (may be used in any combination) – use up to 1&1/2 cups total (if using more than 1 cup of wet additions, decrease milk to ½ cup)

Dry additions: nuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, coconut, wheat germ

Moist additions: blueberries, chopped apple, shredded zucchini, shredded carrot

Wet additions: pumpkin puree, applesauce, mashed banana, mashed cooked carrots or sweet potatoes

Spices: use spices that compliment additions (for example, 1 teaspoon cinnamon with ¼ teaspoon nutmeg with apples)

Jellies & Jam: fill cups ½ full w/batter, then add one teaspoon jam or jelly and top with 2 or more tablespoons batter

Topping: sprinkle cinnamon sugar on batter once separated into cups

Combine dry ingredients and then mix in wet ingredients until just combined. Batter should be lumpy.

Grease muffin tin (or use paper cups) and fill 2/3 full.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (give or take 5 min)

Two of my favorite recipies from my mother-in-law

Chalupa

2lbs hamburger
1 small onion chopped (I use about ¼ cup minced onion spice)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cans kidney or red beans (~15oz)
1 large can (~one pound)) mild enchilada sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 medium size can tomato sauce (~15oz)
1 small can tomato sauce (8oz)

Brown ground beef, drain fat
Combine all ingredients and simmer at least 4 hours in a crock pot
Serve with fried flour shells, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, & sour cream

Chicken Enchilada

Sauté 1/3 cup chopped onion in one Tablespoon butter

Stir in:
¼ cup ripe olives (optional)
1 (4oz) can diced green chilies, drained
½ cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup

Reserve ¾ cup sauce and set aside

Add 1&1/2 cups cooked chicken and 1 cup shredded cheese

Fill 8 tortillas with chicken mix & roll up

Place seam side down in greased baking dish

Add ¼ cup milk to reserved sauce and spoon over tortillas

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min

Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese and return to oven

Turn oven off and let sit 5 min or until cheese melts

Newsflash! The homemade clock works!

So my amazing creation actually works!! This morning Rebekah came out of her room (with her brothers trailing behind) at exactly 7:20. She said she was watching the clock and when the sevens matched she knew it was time to get up! You are probably thinking 7:20???!?? This was Gordie's brilliant suggestion, set the clock 20 minutes slow so that it would match at exactly 7:20 - because that is really when I wanted them to get up but was not sure how to do that with the minutes. I'm sure they could match 7:20 exactly but if they did not happen to be looking at the clock for that minute I am not sure they would know that 7:15 comes before it and 7:30 comes later. In any case, we are very excited here! :)