And she's 8...

Ten... 10!

My boy is ten... So much to say here... Will come back and tell you all about it.

Center piece

My newest Pinterest adventure... Takes some patience on my part. Good thing I have two weeks.
Wheat grass.

herb garden

Sometimes I get hung up on things not looking "just right" because I don't have the time or money or I simply can't find the perfect "thing"...  my motivation becomes paralyzed and the vision for the idea and or project never happens...

photo taken with iPhone at plant nursery

Speaking of projects and ideas... Pinterest has been such an incredible resource for inspiration and motivation... I have to be careful about the time I spend on that site. I can pin away with the best of them! But this week of spring break I didn't want to sit and pin... I wanted to get up an do.

I've pinned a few fabulous container herb gardens... I went to my local nursery to purchase the list of herbs and containers for my dream container garden. Yikes. Small fortune.

Side tracked... man, I love these chairs... dreaming...

photo taken with iPhone at plant nursery

 So I decided to use the containers I already have... I purchased a little over $10 in herbs and made do with what I already have.

 It makes me super happy.

It's not the fabulous towering herb garden I pinned... but I'll keep an eye out on those containers at thrift shops or on clearance at the end of the season. Until then... I'll have the herbs I need for enjoying and cooking...

I got up and did!

I really hope I can keep these guys alive this year... but that's another post for another day...

Red Crackers

It's spring break and the kids and I took the opportunity to visit a sweet family that we just don't get to see often enough. My friend loves the LORD is encouraging, fun, enjoyable and edifying. I always learn something when I'm with her.

When we arrived we were welcomed by her sweet children and a fabulous aroma wafting from the kitchen.  My friend, Karin, was making grain-free crackers... and we got to taste-test! Yummy!

This is their back yard... a kid's dream! The kiddos played and played and we talked and talked... good sweet wonderful fun.

So being that I've been grain-free for 8 weeks now... one thing I have missed is a cracker to spread something grain-free yummy on top. So I was inspired by Karin to make these flavorful Red Crackers myself. And they turned out super...

The original recipe comes from Nourished and Nurtured site and her Red Cracker recipe. I had to adapt the recipe because I do not have some of the tools she recommends.

Red Crackers - Grain-Free
Adapted From Nourished and Nurtured - a wealth of super nutritious information and recipes

I used:
2 red bell peppers - roasted in oven with broiler
1.5 c. almonds - because this is what I had on hand
1 t. sea salt

I followed Nourished and Nurtured instructions for the most part except I blended the ingredients in my blender. The almonds were already sliced. I do not have a dehydrator so I placed the mixture on a cookie sheet in my oven on the lowest setting and let them "bake" or dehydrate ALL DAY LONG. Literally it took from morning until night -- I had to wait a long time to taste these crackers! (But now I know in the oven it takes a while.) But once they were crispy - I could not feel dampness on the crackers - I knew they were ready to break apart and enjoy!

Project Life week 8 and 10

9 is still in the works... It was a BIG week! Playing catch-up with Project Life... well, that's life!

Week 8:

Week 10...

 

 

Linking to One Happy Mama and The Mom Creative...

Twelve of 12 in 2012

(1) dark chocolate this fun lady and this fun lady showed me (2) my newest yummy daily salad as I continue to eat grain free -- WEEK 8.  (3) Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelo...  4 levels of Cub Scouts.  (4) Hudson's art work  (5) Emma's art work - Owl  (6) my bedroom and paint swatches  (7) A little fruit snack  (8) artwork at our school  (9) glimpse of spring - weeds! (10) our neighborhood!  (11) blue and gold banquet cup cakes  (12) a sweet gift from a sweet friend with a sweet note.

Happy Spring Break... I'm going to hang out with the family now...

Scouts

The Webellos II boys bridged over to boy scouts a few weeks ago. Webellos II are boys in 5th grade. They are no longer Cub Scouts. They are Boy Scouts. All of the Cub Scouts stand back on this end of the bridge...

Our Scout Master hollers out... something like "who is here to represent this Scout?" And a representative of their new Boy Scout troop walks across the bridge... they say a few things (which I could not and nor am I supposed to hear -- but I tried), cross arms and walk over to the other side.

With out their parents. With out the other boys in their Den. They cross.   sniff-sniff

In Cub Scouts from first grade through fifth grade we are teaching and preparing the the boys skills for this rite of passage. Preparing them for Boy Scouts where they now do much of the activities on their own with out constant parent involvement. This ceremony gets me every time.  It's such a picture of parenting...

"⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."   Deuteronomy 6:5-9


One of my favorite passages of Scripture... that's what we're doing as parents. Teaching our children to love the LORD with all their heart, soul and might. That's what we do as parents... when we sit at our house, when we walk (or drive), when we put them to bed at night... when we wake them the next morning. As parents we teach them about the Lord and pray they will be prepared adults to face the world around them when it's time for our children to "bridge over" into adulthood...


Quite a task at hand... so thankful for His grace and mercy.

Good quote...