Mississippi Mud Roast

First, let me apologize for my absence however; I have been severely under the weather.  But, thankfully I am doing much better.
Let me introduce you to one of my favorite recipes:  Mississippi Mud Roast

Put chuck roast in crock pot, sprinkle with Hidden Valley ranch dressing, ass McCormick Au Jus Mix, a stick of butter and 5 pepperoncini peppers. DO NOT ADD WATER. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.   We serve ours with mashed potatoes and the left overs make a great sandwich. Enjoy!

Creation Story: Day 3

Creation Story: Day 3

Today's tot lesson was about Day 3 of the Creation Story.... “And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.” -Genesis 1: 9-13

Where God made flowers, plants and trees's and the snack we enjoyed... We planted seeds and decorated our number 3 with flowers, plants, and trees. *Apologies I forgot to take all the pictures.

Creation Story : Day 2

Creation Story; Day 2


Today at tot school was Day 2 of Creation : Sky "And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault "sky." And there was evening and there was morning -- the second day." Genesis 1:6-8.


We first reviewed day 1 with the marshmallows being the light and the raisins being the darkness.

We reviewed our Number 2 and colored it blue for the water/sky and added clouds. Our other craft was a sheet of blue construction paper with water waves colored with blue Rice Krispies and cotton for the 

Our snacks for today are popcorn (clouds) and water

and blue jello "water" and cool white "clouds". 

The Un- Pepperoni Pizza

Toddlers are very picky eaters.... mine's included. She loves pepperoni pizza without the pepperoni. Yes, we have tried plain cheese pizza but nope its not Pepperoni Mom.  So, when I stumbled across this recipe for pepperoni pizza in a bundt pan; I had to give it a try.

Ingredients:  

2 Cans of Grands Jr. Biscuits
3.5 ounce package of Pepperoni 
16 ounce package of Mozzarella cheese 
1/2 t Italian seasoning 

1 T Parmesan cheese 

Directions

You will cut the biscuits into 4 pieces and layer them in the bottom of the pan.  Next slice the pepperoni's in half and that will be your second layer. Sprinkle your mozzarella cheese on and that will be your 3rd layer. Finally you will sprinkle Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning as your 4th layer. This process will be repeated 3 times until the Grands are gone. 

Preheat oven to 350.  Make sure that you grease the bundt pan or use a nonstick pan. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. I hope your family enjoyed it as much as mine's did.  We enjoy dipping ours in marinara sauce. My toddler even asked for seconds... Yay Mom! .

Let's Revive: Sunday Dinner

One of my favorite childhood family traditions growing up was Sunday Dinner.  I loved having all of my family gathered around the table and sharing a home cooked meal. What meant the most to me were the stories shared, the laughs, and the memories created. Since I enjoy meal planning and love to cook we are restoring a valued family tradition of Sunday family dinners.  We always ask two questions: "What was the best part of your day?" and "What was the hardest part of your day?" We avoid the word worst because it infers defeat and our main goal here is to get our children talking.  


Some of you call it Sunday supper, some dinner, but whichever you call it, it was considered the main meal of the day on Sunday, most often served earlier than the usual weeknight dinner, usually between 1 and 3 in the afternoon. 

Even in the south though, it appears that Sunday dinner has taken the back seat to the busyness of life, but I am praying for a revival.  Even in the age of modern technology, we all need to unplug and reconnect with other human beings, face to face.... not on Facebook, email or texting but real live conversation.  We recently went out to dinner and I was astonished at the number of people whose phones were right under their nose, so that they could read and respond to every text or Facebook post.
Seriously why are these parents not engaging in conversations with their children? More importantly, what are they teaching their children?  If you can't be away from technology long enough to sit down and enjoy each other's company and your meal, then, well you might just be addicted. So my challenge to each of you is to put all technology away for an hour or so, and enjoy each other's company.  Let's revive not only Sunday dinners but our families as well.

What are some of your favorite memories of your family Sunday dinners? Do you have a favorite Sunday dinner meal?

Servant of Peace

As we made our decision to homeschool I discovered very quickly that our home left something to be desired in the areas of being peaceful and comfortable. So, I begin to pray. My first inclination was to pray that the Lord would change my children into children who loved each other and change my husband into a "more godly" man who will listen to my way of doing things more readily. I also thought about praying for a house since we had made the decision to homeschool now and be at home all day....

{Since that time I learned that God has supplied all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. What I have is what I need at this time. Philippians 4:19 It's all in how you look at your "needs" and your "wants" }

I was impressed to pray instead for God to change me.  So I prayed that He would change me into the wife my husband needed, that He would change me into the mother who could model good and kind behavior for her children and discipline them in love. I prayed most earnestly for a peaceful, holy, happy home.  And something began to happen right away. It's not the peace of the soul that I am speaking of here, but the peace of order, quiet, congeniality and kindness.  These traits in the members of a family can encourage the peace of our souls which only Christ can bring. 
Here are a few ways to create the servant of peace in your home:  

I personally cannot pursue a wise management of my home apart from my relationship with the Lord.  I need to cry out to Him daily for the ability to faithfully complete the task He has called me to do.  Even if I can just take a few moments to pray, pick a verse to meditate on throughout the day, I am strengthened to complete my homemaking responsibilities with a joyful countenance. May the Joy of the Lord be your strength. Nehemiah 8:9-12  Starting each day with prayer, asking the Lord to give you a peaceful spirit and servant’s heart will go a long way in promoting peace in your home.
Keeping a clean home is one of the ways that I am creating a peaceful atmosphere in my home.  Decreasing my stress level in this manner allows me to have a better attitude, which in turns allows others in my home to be more content as well.  I am currently participating in the 31 Day Purge at A Bowl Full of Lemon's Blog  which is greatly assisting me in no longer organizing clutter but instead actually purging it.  I am sure you are wondering how I plan to maintain the cleaning part of a peaceful home. I am currently a Flybaby with Flylady.net because it has greatly assisted me in developing a consistent routine to maintain my home on a daily basis.

Next, seriously consider clearing your calendar. Most of us are way too busy and having a overly-hectic schedule does nothing but adds stress to everyone in the family.   We have to learn to prioritize our time, balance our priorities and cut out things that are non essential to making our home peaceful. Whether it’s meal planning or choosing what to wear the next day, planning ahead and preparing for the future will assist you in avoiding feeling frazzled and keep you from making last minute decisions. Not only will this benefit you, but your entire household.

Finally establish house rules and keep them out in the open so that your entire family can refer to them to assist in promoting peace.   As our homes become a place of tranquility and rest, they will naturally become a haven to those who are weary and overwhelmed.  May we strive to allow the Peace Giver to rule, rest and abide in our homes each and every day.

Are you being a servant of peace in your home?  How can you promote peace in you home? 

Homeschoolin Mama!

We chose to home school our youngest child because God gave her to us alone to raise. We alone are responsible for her. We're responsible for her education, her spiritual state, her moral values and how she views life. If she can't function in this life as a wife, parent, employee or friend the blame falls on us. We see no distinction between teaching her to clean up after herself, love others or read. We want her to love learning and continue to learn throughout life because she curious, not to pass a test. She is not perfect just as we are not perfect. There will be holes in her education just as there was in ours. Our hope is that what she learns from books in our home school will only be a small part of her education. In the end, we are trying to raise an independent, confident, loving member of society while doing it all for the glory of God.   We are having fun in the kitchen today at tot school.... The Letter this week is "C" so we made cupcakes.  We practiced the following: reading the directions, math since we measured our ingredients, counted the eggs, and how many cupcakes we made total. Lastly, she used her motor skills as she frosted each one. #learningisfun