Monday, March 30, 2009

No sleep and puppies

Hi all.

Faith started labor yesterday about 4pm. I have been up all night in a cold garage with Faith while she has labored hard. She has delivered 6 healthy puppies, 5 girls, 1 boy, but she still has some in her. Please pray that she can get them out without us having to interfere. It has been a long hard time without any sleep, plus extra kids today. I will update again later with pictures when all this is done. Stay tuned....

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Ballet

Here are a few pictures of Sierra's ballet recital from this weekend. She was soooo proud of herself. She looked beautiful and she danced like a princess.

Friday, March 27, 2009

A great picture

It might be a little hard to see, but this is an X-ray of the puppies in Faith's tummy. If you look really close, you can count spines and some skulls. Although we weren't able to get an exact count, we believe there are 8-10 puppies in there waiting to be born on Monday. We will keep you posted with more pictures as that day arrives.

Monday, March 23, 2009

My soccer boy!

Saturday, soccer season started again. Evan loves soccer and is extremely good at it. He loves to be on a team with his best friend, Jacob. They play off of each other really good. This is a very rare picture. Evan hates playing goalie because it is boring. He would much rather be offense. Isn't he just the cutest?Here is another picture of him just before they started to warm up. It was cool and breezy.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Another GREAT recipe!

This is another great recipe from the "Eating for Life" book. This is a lunch item. It only takes 20 minutes to prepare and it is really, really good. This is the last recipe I am going to write about. I don't want you all to get bored with recipes.

Chicken Quesadillas

Servings:2 Prep time: 20 minutes

Ingredients-
2 portions chicken breast (about 1/2 lb)
1 cup salsa (chunky works best)
2-8 inch flour tortillas
1/4 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream

Directions:
*lightly coat a medium skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Slice chicken breast into 1/2 inch cubes. Saute chicken and salsa until chicken is no longer pink, about 10 minutes.
*lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the skillet and spread half the chicken mixture over the tortilla. Top with half the cheese. Fold tortilla over filling and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Turn and brown the other side. Remove from skillet and set aside.
*repeat with remaining tortilla, chicken mixture and cheese.
*cut quesadillas into wedges and place on small plates. Put half the sour cream on each plate for dipping. Serve and enjoy.

hint: you can buy Foster Farms chicken breast strips. They are precooked and yummy!!!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Yum, Yum, Yum!!!

A few weeks ago, Gordon and I started changing our eating habits and trying to eat healthy and right. We have been trying recipes out of the book, "Eating for Life". Gordon has already lost 29 lbs. and I have lost 12 lbs. Gordon tends to lose weight easier because 1. he is a guy, 2. he is working out and I am not, 3. did I mention that I am not working out?

Anyways, last night Gordon followed a recipe out of the book and it was by far the best meal we have had in a long time. So far, all of the recipes are good, but this one is GREAT!! So, I would like to share it with all of you. It is worth it!

Baked Chicken Parmesan

Servings:2 Prep time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/3 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
4 Tbsp reduced-fat Parmesan cheese, grated, divided
2 portions chicken breast (about 1/2 lb)
1 cup low-fat pasta sauce
2 cups baby spinach leaves

*Preheat oven to 400 F
*In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites with fork until slightly frothy. Then, mix breadcrumbs and 2 tablespoons of reduced-fat Parmesan cheese in a pie plate.
*Dip chicken breasts in egg whites and then into the breadcrumb mixture, coating both sides.
*Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place chicken breasts on the baking sheet; bake for approximately 12 minutes, turn over and bake approximately 12 more minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in the center and coating is golden brown.
*While the chicken is baking, prepare spinach pasta according to its package directions.
*In a small saucepan, warm pasta sauce over medium heat.
*Divide spinach leaves between two separate plates. Layer portions of warm spinach pasta and baked chicken breasts over spinach leaves. Top with pasta sauce and remaining Parmesan cheese. Serve and enjoy.

I encourage you to all try it. It is easy and wonderful!!! Let me know what you think.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Evan-the all around sports guy

The other day, Gordon was hitting a low during the day, so he decided to go for a run. He planned on leaving our driveway, going to Lindsay Rd to Van Buren; Van Buren to Hampton; Hampton back to Trapline and to our driveway. That is a total of 3.5 miles.
Evan heard Gordon tell me this and decided he wanted to go too. I was a little skeptical about that. That is a long way for those little legs, but he was determined to go. Gordon told him ok, pretty sure that he would have to call me to come get them half way through it all. They took off and I watched them from the window and said a little prayer to keep those little legs going! They ran all the way to Hampton; walked Hampton to Trapline; then ran the rest of the way home.
I couldn't believe it! Evan ran a total of 2.75 miles and walked .75 miles in the wind and cold and all in 35 minutes!
I have an awesome kid who is very athletic! I had my doubts, but he did it. I thought for sure that would be the end of that, but last night he asked Gordon if they could run again.
Way to go, Evan! Keep up the great physical fitness!!

Eggs, Eggs, anybody want some eggs?

I have extremely happy chickens. I should say; very, very, very, happy chickens. How do I know that my chickens are happy? They are laying lots and lots of eggs!! This is a picture of three days worth of collecting eggs. I hadn't had a chance to clean them yet, so when I got the time, I figured I would see how many I had. This is 124 farm fresh eggs, all produced in three days! Notice the little tiny one in the corner. That is from a pullet (a young chicken just starting to lay).

Tell all of your friends and family-we sell our eggs for $3.00/dozen, and sometimes I even deliver Baby





Thursday, March 12, 2009

Watch out, Project Runway!!

Sierra decided today was a great day for a fashion show. She even conned Carson into one pose! I think I may have a designer on my hands. She loves to put things together and make them work. I am going to post pictures small so I can get as many as possible on here. Enjoy!!!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

A plea for Box Tops

So I am going to assume that all of you know what a box top is. If not, here is one....they are pink in color.
The elementary schools always collect box tops as a way to earn money for supplies. Evan's school, Sumas Elementary, has a new Box Top Coordinator. Yes, that is right, me. We set a goal at the beginning of the year to raise $1000.00 by collecting as many box tops as we could. We have 3090 more to collect before June 5th. Can we do it? YES WE CAN!!!

My plea is for all of you adults to help Evan collect box tops. Not only to reach the school goal, but to earn the students a popsicle party! Whoohoo, who doesn't enjoy a good popsicle on a nice June day, right?

Anyways, it isn't that hard and it doesn't take long. Just be aware of your canned and boxed foods, feminine hygiene products, Ziploc brand bags, etc.. Cut or rip off the box top, put it in a baggy, and save them. Then at the end of May, put them in an envelope and send them to us. Evan would be thrilled to get mail, especially when he opens an envelope and box tops spill out! Yeehaw!

So please, help us out and save your box tops. Evan and his school will really appreciate it. Thanks, all.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Action packed weekend

We had an amazingly fun weekend. I am still not feeling well, Evan is still not feeling well, and Sierra has a runny nose still, but we decided that we were tired of looking at the inside walls of our house. The kids had mid-winter break this last Thursday and Friday, so we had a nice four day weekend. Thursday was spent at home recouping from the week. Friday Gordon worked and the kids went to Jacob and Anna's house to play. I had a day to myself.
Saturday morning, Gordon got home from work and we made a big breakfast together. Pancakes, bacon and eggs. Yum! After that we tended all the chores so we could get started with our fun time. Around 2pm, we left to go into Bellingham to the movie theater. We went to see the movie, "Hotel For Dogs". It was a really great movie. I encourage you all to take your kids to see it. Of course, who could go to a movie without sodas and a huge tub of buttery, salty, re-fillable popcorn? Yep, chow time!!! I am not a fan of popcorn, but there is something about movie popcorn that makes me eat a few handfuls. I was sure that with the amount of popcorn the kids ate, they would have stomach aches and want to go home after the movie, but No, they were ready to go to Olive Garden for a yummy, fun dinner. We over-ate and enjoyed every second of it!! On the way home that evening, we stopped at Rite-Aide to grab some Claritin to see if that stops my headaches. After that, it was homeward bound. We took care of animals and just had a relaxing evening after Gordon and I went around the house and switched all the clocks forward. We finally went to bed around 11 (which to us felt like 10).
Sunday morning we got up and got ready for church. After church we went to Subway (eat fresh) and then to the bowling alley. That was a blast. The kids are really starting to like bowling and they are both pretty good at it. I even did good and got a few spares and a strike! (Yay me!!) When we got home, I decided to go clean the vet building early so I could be home at bedtime. Gordon and the kids decided to go with me and help out. I enjoyed having them with me, but with their help, we got done faster and that means less time on the paycheck. So, I thanked them for their help and told them that I would continue to do it on my own from now on. Sierra really liked talking to Petri, the gray parrot. He likes to say hello and his name. She thought that was pretty cool. (BTW, Gordon is a very good mopper.)
We came home and made dinner, helped Evan with all of his homework and then got the kids ready for bed.
I didn't stay up much past 9pm. I am still trying to get rid of this cold, plus losing an hour and having a busy weekend. It wore me out.
Today.....more studying!!!

Friday, March 6, 2009

A day of rest....

Today, my wonderful friend Jenn, came and got the kids to have a play date at her house with Jacob and Anna. She knows I haven't been feeling well and wanted me to have a quiet day. Gordon is at work, so I had the whole day to myself. I really appreciate Jenn for giving me this day to rest, but I will admit; other than sitting down for an hour and a half to watch last night's Survivor and CSI episodes, I haven't rested. I slept a lot yesterday and today I am tired, but not enough to lay down and rest.
Instead I have done 4 loads of laundry, a huge pile of dishes from last nights dinner, ran the dishwasher, fed animals, taken a walk to get the mail, talked to Holly on the phone for 57 minutes and 43 seconds (we almost made an hour, Holly. We haven't done that in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it!!), talked to Tiffani for a few minutes, made our March calendar, and am now working on decorating a gourd for a friend who wants to give it to her parents for their anniversary. Considering I have been a bump on the couch the last few days, I have accomplished a lot!!! Whew, maybe I CAN lay down and rest until the kiddos get home.
Now if I could only stop sneezing, get rid of my headache, and get my nose to stop running....

Thursday, March 5, 2009

I am still sick!!!

Ok, I am soooo tired of being sick! I have been feeling yucky since Tuesday, and as of right now, I don't see any chance of it going away by tomorrow. I have spent all day on the couch and sleeping. I am not happy about this. I have homework, housework, and other things to do around here. Not to mention, playing with my children. I haven't even made our March calendar yet!

Ok, enough complaining. Now for the good stuff...
Gordon has been taking care of everything! The only thing he has not done for me while I have been sick is my studying! He could do it better and faster than me, but that kind of defeats the purpose of me learning anything. Anyways, hats off to a wonderful husband who takes care of all of us and does the job of both me and him while I am out of commission!! Love you, Gord!!!

Now, can somebody please have a talk with God and ask him to heal this family? We are all tired of being sick. There is a lot that needs to get done around here! Thanks,

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Petri dish

I am sick. I am coughing, I have no energy, I want to sleep, I feel yucky. I need a blankie and a good book and the couch.

Evan has been working on a cough/cold for a week or so now. This weekend when all the family came up from Portland, he ran a fever of 102. Now, I have it, Gordon has it, Grandma has it, Aunt Sherri has it, and Sierra has a yucky runny nose.

My children are little petri dishes. They bring home every germ and spread it around for everyone else to get. I don't like feeling sick, and I don't like having things to do when I feel sick.

Yes, I am whining. And no, I do not want any cheese with my whine! I am grouchy and proud of it!!!

Little petri dishes.....!!!!