Labels, Labels, Labels!!

When I first started blogging, I did NOT know what labels were.  Now that I'm a little more educated, I realized that I had not put any labels on my posts.  I am now having to read through them all and assign labels.  Kind of fun reading through them all again, but a big mess.

If you have read any post and looked for related ones and not found any, give me through this weekend to get them all updated and labeled.  Then I invite you back to read up on the topic of your liking!

For those of you wondering what labels are, at the bottom of my posts, under my signature, there are links to certain words that I have picked for each post.  You can click on one of the words to find more posts on my blog about the same topic.  Pretty convenient!

Blessings,

Ginger Snaps and Pumpkin Dip

I was just "tweeting" about my favorite cookie and decided to share it with you all AND the dip I make to go with it.  It is almost too good to make; self-control is a MUST.

I buy the ginger snaps and then make pumpkin dip.  

Here it is:

Pumpkin Dip

1/2 of a 15 oz can of pumpkin

2 c powdered sugar

8 oz cream cheese softened

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

(I often use my Apple Pie Spice mix instead!)

Mix this all together and proceed with caution!  It is delicious and hard to stop eating!!

AFTER THOUGHT  :)  (Yes, I have these quite often)

I've heard you can use nonfat plain yogurt in place of cream cheese.  I have NOT tried this, but I am going to!  It would be a good way to make this lower in fat and healthier!

Blessings,

Christmas Cactus Replanted

I posted about my Christmas Cactus earlier and that it almost died outside in the Texas heat.  I finally replanted it!

I started by cutting off some of the only green leaves left.  Believe me when I say, there were NOT many to choose from.  I made sure I cut off pieces that have new growth and have branched out.  I placed them in a glass of water.  They grew roots within a couple of weeks.  You can see the white roots in the pictures below.

   

I took each of the pieces and planted them all in the same pot, making a circle out of all the pieces.  Voila!  My cactus plant is looking great again.  And this time, I'm keeping it inside the house.

Blessings,

The Making of A Warrior: Battling for God

I posted this one a while back, Making of A Warrior.  I just read over it again and had to share it once more.  Click here ---> "Making of A Warrior" to go to my post.  I hope it inspires you as much as it inspired me!

Blessings,

Homemade Granola

I am always looking for ways to make food from scratch.  I am one of those moms that reads the labels in the store and then explains to my kids that we aren't going to buy it because it has high fructose corn syrup or the likes.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear my kids imitating me one of these days and I would probably get a good laugh out of it!

With that being said, I made homemade granola.  It is so easy to make and you can really make it to your exact specifications.  Your kids can help you too.  It is a less stressful "Kids in the Kitchen" activity!

Dry Ingredients.  Mmm!!

My helpers!!

Here's the recipe I used (off of The Chew) with a few changes:

3 c oats
1/2 c almonds
1/2 c sunflower nuts
1/2 c sesame seeds
1/2 c golden raisins
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c coconut
1/2 c honey
1/2 c peanut oil

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix wet ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.  Pour into a greased cookie sheet and bake at 250 for 1 hour.  Stir after 30 minutes.

The changes I made were:
3/4 c sunflower nuts
NO sesame seeds
1/2 c red raisins
3/4 c coconut
1/2 c canola oil

Baked Granola

You'll enjoy it, especially since you can really make it however you want to.  It is really good in yogurt.  Not to mention, that it is a great healthy snack too!

Blessings,

Technical Difficulties...

I'm trying to give my blog a new look...and I'm stuck with this until I can figure out what I want.  Somehow everything went berserk and disappeared from my background.  I'm not going to pull my hair out.  I'll wait for Nate to get home...he can always figure out my computer problems!!  So bear with me for a while...  :)

Starting Off With a Bang

I've been away for awhile.  I was getting everything ready for school and feeling overwhelmed with it all, so I took some time off.  It's nice to rejuvenate myself and get caught up with everything before beginning school. I'm back now.  And we are back in school, back in the groove!

We have one week done and lots to report!

Our first week was Cars theme.  It was a great way to start our year because my kids love all the Cars movies.  This made it lots of fun for them.  The first day was tough with Jman, my 5 year old, who is in Kindergarten.  He is naturally strong willed and you could tell!  I have tried many different ways in the past to work through his ability to be stubborn.  Letting him move on means he won't come back to finish what he doesn't want to.  Letting him sit and pout means he'll finish the task when he finally doesn't want to sit anymore.  It may take awhile, but when he does finish it, he and I are both proud of him and he'll tell me it didn't really take him that long to actually do it.  He doesn't sit very many times before he decides he wants to try each task he's given.  Good for both of us!  BG, my 3 year old, did awesome.  He loves learning and soaked up each minute.  He was the main reason Jman decided to finally do his copy work.  He was comedic relief and got Jman laughing and wanting to go play with him.  Love my BG!  Lulu, my 14 month old, watched us and played by herself.  She was a little antsy, so I finally put her down for a nap.  The rest of the morning was a breeze!

The afternoon was a completely different story.  Lulu woke up from her afternoon nap and shortly afterwards, vomited from the flu.  My night was spent cleaning.

Day 2: No Jman melt downs.  Lulu was over her flu bug.  The morning went flawlessly.  The afternoon was Jman's turn to have the flu.  My night was spent cleaning.

Day 3: Jman was over his flu bug.  The morning went flawlessly.  The afternoon was MY turn to have the flu.  My night was spent napping and feeling icky.

Day 4: I was not quite 100%, but I was feeling better.  We spent the morning lounging and had our school in the afternoon.  Praise God that no one else got sick!

Day 5: The morning went great.  We finished school, went to the library and played in the afternoon.  We all had afternoon naps too.  My night was spent cleaning.  The recurring pattern of this week is not one I hope to repeat anytime soon!!

I am so thankful that Nate and BG didn't get sick.  It is no fun being sick or having sickies in the house.  I take these situations as trials and ways to build my character.  I try not to get down or cranky when things don't go as planned.  It has happened in the past and will happen again, but it only makes matters worse.  Looking for all the blessings I have and being thankful for them make it much easier to persevere and prevail.

How was your last week?

Blessings,