A week in review

I'm stealing this idea from my friend Becky - each Monday she posts some great tid bits that kind of summarize what's been going on in their life - I'm thinking I might try to make this a part of the blog as well - we'll see =)

Recipe Pick of the Week: Six Can Chicken Tortilla Soup


1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth

1 (10 oz.) can chunk chicken or leftover rotisserie chicken

1 (15 oz.) can black beans

1 (10 oz.) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, drained



Open the cans, pour everything into a large saucepan, and simmer over medium heat until the chicken is heated through.



Serve with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese, a spoonful of sour cream and some tortilla chips - SOOOO YUMMY!!!!

God's Powerful Word of the Week - I am so stealing this from my son - it's part of his memory verse this week and it is SO SIMPLE and SO TRUE - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - Rejoice always - pray without ceasing - in EVERYTHING give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Wow - that's some good stuff to chew on and put into practice!!!



This Week's Weather - I thought it was wonderful - upper 30's to near 40 and super sunny at times - plus with the snow on the ground everything sparkled!


Favorite Picture this week -
I so love seeing God's joy in his life!!!
















What I'm reading - Power of a Praying Wife - just started it today - I try to read through this and pray through this once a year - I am so blessed to have an amazing husband that provides for our family unconditionally. I love praying for him and watching God's power work in his life!!!

TV time this week- Randy does a great job of recording shows for us to watch during our evening down time commercial free - this week we watched the season premiere of "Chuck" - super goofy - but fun!

Favorite Website this week - http://www.e_mealz.com/ - love the meal planning!!!!

Most listened to song this week - How Great is Our God - Northridge Church style =)

Hope your week was blessed!!!

More learning fun

Today was Day 2 of "school" - mom said she probably won't post something each time we do school (2 days a week), but since the camera was charged up and ready to go she decided to take some pics.

We started out with prayer, my memory verse and a song. Then we read "I Am Snow" and mom helped me make a paper snowflake - it's cool! Then we turned on some music and had a snowball fight with all of my white socks. It was a blast! I especially like rolling around in the "snowballs." Here I am running a "snowball" to the basket with it in my mouth - so silly

He shoots!

Then I was able to explore the snow inside the house. It was fun to build with it, smash it, taste it and watch it melt.

I even got to paint today!!! I made a winter snowflake scene with lots of round shapes.

We even made a healthy snowball snack with oats, peanut butter, honey, graham crackers, vanilla and a touch of powdered sugar - mmmm mmmm good!

Thank you Lord for giving us wonderful minds that love to learn, explore, and create!!!!

First Official Day of Toddler Home Schooling

Thanks to a friend of ours (thanks for the great Hubbards Cupboard tip Jenni - I love it) we are well on our way to enjoying some great toddler friendly learning activities. Yesterday afternoon mommy pulled out the learning tub and it was loaded with fun things to do. Our theme is "snow" so everything we did had something to do with snow...songs, books, snack, games, craft, play time etc. I'm even learning a bible verse along the way - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - Pray continually! (sung to the tune of Skip to my Lou). I love school time with my mommy!!!!

Here I am with my book "All you need for a snowman" as I make a batch of brownies that will soon be snowmen brownies. Here is my "fluffy" snowman picture I made - my favorite part was pulling apart the cotton balls and adding the black pom poms.

When I woke up from nap time my brownies were ready - we made them in mini cupcake tins, sprinkled powdered sugar on them and added marshmallows for the buttons - mmmmm good!

We even went outside to play in the snow - it was a beautiful day out and mom, Mocha and I loved every second of winter fun!!

Here I am throwing a snow ball at my mommy - ha ha ha!

Pure joy!

Sledding with a snowball - woo hoo!

Gotta taste it!

We even made a mini snowman - Here I am adding the eyes.

We both agreed that it was a great day loaded with learning, laughs and lots of love!!!

Nick bakes up a batch of yummy treats

I am so amazed at how much Nick has learned over the years. One of his favorite snacks is cupcakes with Chocolate frosting. The other night we decided to whip up a few cupcakes - I have to say he did the majority of it on his own (minus taking it out of the oven - he's still timid about the heat). I'm soooo proud of him!!!!

Oven preheated - check Liners in pan - check

Water, oil, eggs -check

Mixing and getting tired of Mrs. Cripe snapping pics - check!

Awwww - one more pic - so sweet - we forgot to take pictures of us chowing them down after dinner - oh well!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

We got home from Frankenmuth in time to celebrate my Grandma's birthday with her! We met them for dinner at the Village Grill and enjoyed hugs, kisses, yummy food and of course - presents!!!

Here is Grandma opening her birthday present from us. It was a jigsaw puzzle of me!!! Can you tell that she was soooo surprised and loved it?!?!?!?

I love my Grandma and I love lollipops!

Bye Grandma, I love you and I hope you had a wonderful birthday!!!!

Just Stuff

My Grandma and Papa like to come over to surprise me during the week ... this time I pretended that I was Papa's doctor and took very good care of him. I also made sure to feed my doggy friends - Mocha was included of course!

A quick little getaway

My dad and mom are members of the Bavariann Inn Lodge Perks Club. They signed up about a year ago for $10 and have scored some tremendous savings on quick getaways to Frankenmuth ever since. If you aren't familiar with the club or with the hotel you should check out their website http://www.bavarianninn.com/ . Every time you use the card you get points towards gift certificates to use at their hotel. Well, just after Christmas my daddy read their newsletter and seen that they were offering rooms for $24 a night - wow! We had also received a couple of gift certificates in the fall from our perks membership - soooo...we went on a mini vacation for FREE!!! I had a lot of fun! Check out the clips and pics!!!


Phew...it was a crazy drive to get to the hotel due to a mid day snowfall - but we made it safe and sound!!! We were so happy that the Christmas decorations were still up - they have the biggest decorated trees we've ever seen!!

Here is dad and I checking out one of the big trees on our way to the pool

Ahhhh...water....SO MUCH FUN!!!

I loved running around and aiming the water guns at different spots in the pool

After dinner we did some hysterical hula hooping - notice there are not pictures or video of my mom and dad - it was really crazy!!!

Snuggling up for a quick picture!
Yum! My favorite "pass the time" activity to do at hotels is to go get the ice bucket filled up - I love munching on ice!

When mommy told me we were going to Frankenmuth I immediately asked to go see the bears at the Christmas store (Bronner's). I remembered going there on my 2nd birthday. My eyes lit up when we spotted them!!!

I found lots of reindeer while we were there :-)

I love looking at Christmas trees - this one had a water tube in the middle of it that made all kinds of pretty bubbles

more pool fun!