Fishers of Men Bulletin Board

This week I have been working on a new bulletin board for our church.  

Starting March 16th, our church will be presenting "The Jesus Story" at a local college. The production is a labor of love for our pastor. This year it has changed with the focus being on Jesus and his disciples. Several of scenes in the production take place on a boat in the sea, so a boat for the bulletin board seemed appropriate. 

The original plan was to make a side view of a boat but because the board is in a high traffic area, it seemed it would inevitably get bumped and damaged. So, plan B was devised - a top view of the boat.  

The base of the boat was made from foam board. A foam board edging was adhered with hot glue and pins for extra stability.

Next, I stained 12 planks of "wafer" thin balsa wood a maple color. I adhered the planks to the to the base and outer sides of the boat using Super 77 adhesive. For the edge and seat planks, I used a thicker balsa to prevent chipping if rubbed up against. These pieces I stained maple but then did a paint wash of black over it so that they would have a more weathered look. 

As the planks settled, some of them lifted a little which gave it a very nice effect once again giving it a more weathered look. 

A theme verse for the production this year is "Jesus said, 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.'" Using my Cricut cutter, I cut the verse from a pearl toned card stock. The cartridges I used were Plantin Schoolbook and Cursive 101. 

Today was the day to put up the board in its entirely.

First, I stapled a light blue paper to the board.  Then, I layered a blue cellophane wrapping paper over the light blue paper to mimic the look of water and waves. The fishing net was purchased via Amazon and stapled into place behind the boat. Finally, I added the parchment paper that has the information regarding the place, performance dates and times for "The Jesus Story".

After the production is over, the board will stay up for another month. The parchment will be taken down and in its place will go pictures from the play.

I have to say that the original "vision" in my head is very close to what was produced today. God is good!!

The Food Rating are In

Yay, I am back in the weekly dinner menu routine again.  
I took the time on Monday to make up a menu plan for the next month.  Our family has favorite "easy" meals but I find that I really do like to cook and expose the family to new food. 
We have instituted a food rating here to determine if a meal should be added to our family menu binder. It is a pretty simple rating: thumbs up for "yummy, make it again", thumb side ways for "okay, but not great" and thumbs down for "please not again" - majority rules. 
So, here are the new "items" we have tried so far this week:

Skinny Chicken Parmesan Muffins:

This meal got a thumbs up from everyone. The recipe can be found at Skinny Mom.  I think the kids love this because it was shaped into a muffin. Also, Emily had no complaints that it was made with chicken.

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork:

Everyone but Emily liked this meal. We tried to tell her "at least its not chicken".  I don't know where I go the recipe from but here it is:

Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Pork

Crockpot: 4-6 High; 8-10 Low

1/2 c chopped onion

2-4 lb. hunk of pork

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 c water

1/2 c ketchup

3 T red wine vinegar

2 T brown sugar

2 T soy sauce

1 t dijon

1/2 t pepper

salt

Arrange onions in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place pork on top and spread garlic on pork.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over pork. For best results, cook on LOW 8-10 hours, or HIGH for 4-6. 

Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies:

It was time to try a treat. I found this recipe at Tidy Mom. Everyone knows how much I love red velvet so making this cookie should be no surprise. This one got 4 thumbs up, no surprise there either.

Baked Potato Soup:

Made this soup tonight for dinner. The recipe can be found at Skinny Taste. This one had mixed ratings:  Emily, side thumb; Matt, thumb down; me, side thumb; Dave, thumb up. Matt, doesn't like mashed potatoes so the fact the he gave it a thumbs down wasn't a surprise but he did eat the whole bowl. I liked it but wasn't "wowed" by it. 

So far it has been more good than bad ratings and we have more to go this week too!!  

Time for the Dentist

The kids had Monday and Tuesday off for the President's day holiday. With the holiday, came their 6 month dental appointments. 

Emily got a "clean" report, Matt on the other hand did not. We were back at the dentist Wednesday afternoon, for the extra work that needed to be done.

Matt had a very bad cavity in one tooth which required a baby crown, the tooth next to this one was effected and needed to be filled. He had to have the sealant on one tooth repaired and a surface cavity buffed from another tooth. This wasn't all.....

Matt's tooth next to his front left tooth fell out a while ago. We've been waiting for the front tooth to fall out but it was not budging. About a week ago, I looked at the tooth that was coming in (you can see it off to the right in the pic) and thought it looked too big to be that side tooth. I was right. It turns out that front tooth decided to come into the "open space". The dentist pulled the front tooth during this visit.

Looking at the tooth, you can see that the root was just as wide as the tooth. There was no way it would fall out on its own and it created a barrier for the front tooth causing it to shift to the other side. Now we are in a waiting game.....for the next 2 months we have to see if the front tooth shifts over. If it doesn't, we go back to the dentist and possibly the orthodontist to ensure that the side tooth doesn't "swap" places with the front tooth.

I have to tell you at this appointment, I was more nervous than Matt. Of course, we omitted telling him about the tooth pulling part. He only knew of the "repairs" to the cavity that needed to be done.

Normally, I do not go in with the kids while they are being treated. I asked Matt if he wanted me to go in with him and of course he said "yes" because I normally don't go in with him.  

Thankfully Matt did great.....the dentist had scheduled a 50 minute treatment for Matt and because of his cooperation we were done in 35 minutes.  So proud of my boy!! 

Matt took the rest of the afternoon off of school and within an hour he was asking if he could eat a pickle. 

One plus that has happened because of the tooth pulling is that Matt has not sucked his thumb for 2 days now. We told him that his thumb could have germs on it and if it gets into the open "sore" it could get infected. Crossing our fingers that maybe his habit is broken. Time will tell. 

Shadowbox Valentine

I wanted to make something for Dave this Valentine's day and this is the outcome - a shadowbox valentine.

The shadowbox was purchased at Michael's. I painted the inside with Martha Stewart's Chipolte Red acrylic paint and the outside with a glossy black paint. The back is lined with scrap book paper that says "I love you". Then, I cut the heart "layer" using the Paper Lace cartridge with my Cricut. I chose to adhere it in the upper left side so that I could place the "scrabble tile" letters in the lower right side evening out the "weight" of the elements. To finish it, I glued in some garnet gems as a border for the paper background. 

Sadly, I finished it this morning. Better late than never, plus I do love him more than just on Valentine's day. I gave it to him today after work. He said "it is nice" and then "thank you for making it for me." 

Family Love Notes

This Valentine's day our family project was to fill small pails made for each family member with hearts that had reasons why we loved that person written on them. After dinner, we opened the cards we had purchased for each other and then read our hearts. 

I loved all the ones I received but the two funniest I got were from Emily. She wrote a message on the front and a special little "p.s." on the back.

Heart #1: I love you because you are beautiful just the way u are

Heart #2 : I love u because you give my (should be me) great bear hugs

Now hold on......here comes the part that will make you laugh, the back side of the hearts

Heart #1: p.s. wear a bikini.  Emily has been nagging me about wearing a bikini with high heels for 2 summers now.  UGH!!!  I keep saying "do you know how old I am?" Talk about putting me outside my comfort zone.  She is still hoping for this to happen this summer.

Heart #2: Stop making chicken!! Hmmm.....that one speaks for itself.  I keep trying to explain the economics of eating chicken but she still isn't buying my answer.

These are Emily's favorite hearts:

 

Heart #1: I love how you take good care of Jingle

Heart #2: I love how much you want to be a fashion designer

These are Matt's two favorites:

Heart #1: I love how much you love the Titanic - the boy is obsessed with it. For valentine's day, we got him two Magic Tree House books about the Titanic. One is a story and the other a fact book. He was so happy!!

Heart #2: I love you because you try hard at school.  Matt says this reads " I love you because you love tornadoes.  In addition to his Titanic fascination, he is just as interested in tornadoes. 

This was a great family project. Now to start brainstorming about next year's valentine family project.  

Dinner for Four

Valentine's day is a family day including the dinner part!

Once Emily & Matt came along, this holiday went from being "date night" to "family night". Valentine's day generally doesn't fall on a weekend and Dave's work schedule tends to run late making weekday dinner reservations a little rough. Our valentine's dinner consisted of salad, ravioli with red sauce and rolls. Of course, we added "a little romance" (as Emily would say) eating by candlelight.  

Dinner was followed by eating some yummy desserts. Earlier that day I went to Whole Foods and got a treat with each person in mind. Matt is not big on cake or pie but he LOVE strawberries, so I got him a chocolate covered strawberry. Emily is obsessed with cheesecake, so I fed that obsession. For Dave, I found a mini chocolate cake he & I could share. Everyone enjoyed their sweet treats, especially Emily. Look at that face!!  Dinner for four was a 5 star experience. 

Tacos = LOVE

Today is a day to celebrate LOVE!!  

I don't find loving my family and friends difficult but the area I struggle with most is loving/accepting myself as I am.

This isn't something I like to admit, I know this is personal weakness. After all, I believe I'm made in the image of the God who created man and He makes NO mistakes. Also having accepted Him as my Savior, I'm His child.  

Oh but that personal struggle of lack of self esteem, taking too much time to focus on my shortcomings and not on the purpose of my life which is to be in the will of God, I wish I could change that. 

Today I choose to LOVE myself.....not in a haughty, prideful way but in the assurances I have been given by my God in His Word.  He has created me just as I am....He knew me before I even existed and He made me, Me!! He loved me enough to send His Son to die for all my sins. Because He loves me this much, how can I not embrace the way He has made me, the talents He has blessed me with. He has blessed me with an amazing husband, two amazing children, extended family and friends who are family to me!!  He allows me to fellowship with and be encouraged by my church family. When I look at this and so much more, how can I not feel love, love for my God, my family & friends, my church family, others and myself.

Today I choose to LOVE. Today I decided to show myself an act of kindness or love if you want to call it that. I treated myself to my favorite lunch - Taco Bell Crunchy Taco Supreme with Salsa Verde. This may sound silly but love can be show in the most simplest of ways.  

I encourage you to show LOVE today. It can be something so simple....as simple as a favorite food.  Most of all show LOVE to God by spending time with Him. In doing so, you will receive LOVE right back!! 

Valentine's Day

Its Valentine's Day. Can you feel the love?!!!

Last night while the kid's were sleeping I hung the heart "curtains" that I made for them last year. Emily had asked me a few weeks ago if we would be decorating with the hearts. I told her that it was something for the night before. Sadly, Matt's "curtain" would not cooperate with being hung so I improvised and laid them all over his floor. This morning he had all the reason that he is loved laying at his feet. 

I woke a little earlier than normal this morning to be able to make the kids and Dave pancakes with mini red M&M's for breakfast.  

Tonight after dinner, we will be going through our heart pails to see the reasons why each of us is loved by the other.  

Yes, I can feel the love!!

Chore Chart Up and Working

Although it took a few more days than anticipated to get the chore chart up in it's place, the kids have been doing their chores since the day the chart was created. 

I wasn't sure if the kids would be responsive to the idea of set chores. Dave & I want the kids to be able to care for themselves and also contribute to the keeping of the home, their home. What I didn't want was to have to be constantly reminding them what their chores are and to complete them. Nagging and aggravation isn't what I want from this. 

It hasn't been much of a surprise that Emily is very on target when it comes to getting her daily and home chores done along with some additional jobs. Of course, her motivation tends to be the allowance she earns if she does her jobs. Matt on the other hand needs a little more "reminding". Thankfully I only have to say "have you checked the chart" in order to get him to check in on his tasks. Our rule is if you don't complete the tasks for the day, you don't get paid. Yes, even if they miss just one job, they don't earn their day's wage.

I do have to report how nice it is to turn over some of the daily chores to the kids. Seeing them pitching in even though they are not always sure how or why they are doing it gives Dave & I the satisfaction of knowing that they are learning skills that will benefit them later in life. The other day I had Matt helping me with laundering his sheets. He asked me "why do we have to learn this?" I answered "because you need clean clothes and you won't be living at home all your life". He seemed satisfied with the answer and helped me to the very end.  

All in all the chore chart is a success and looks amazing hanging on the wall!!

Chicken Pot Pie....Yummy!!!

As a kid, I always remember when we would have pot pies for dinner. They were Banquet and I loved the crust on the bottom of the pie. I remember trying to flip the pot pie out of the tin pan so that it could be eaten from the bottom - yummiest part first!

Now, I wouldn't classify Emily and Matt as "picky" eaters but they do let me know when the don't like something or are tired of eating a certain something. Emily latest "complaint" is "chicken again!"

I've been attempting new recipes recently and we have had some successes, misses too! I decided it was time to introduce the kids to my fond memories of pot pie. Hmmm, wonder how the chicken will go over with Em?

I found a recipe for making individual chicken pot pies at this link, Call Me Mrs. Rapp . I was hoping that the "cupcake" style would intrigue them and the kids would find them delicious. They were so easy to make and smelled so yummy baking.  

I placed one on each plate. I made the recipe to serve 8. Emily asked, "What is this?" I told her "pot pie". Okay, I omitted the chicken part with the hope that they would give the pot pies a chance. Both kids took one bite and they were sold. Emily even liked the filling more than the biscuit - so much for chicken worries.  The only "readjustment" request was made by Matt and that  was no green beans in the veggies the next time I make them.  

The pot pies got two thumbs up from the whole family.  As a matter of fact, I've already been asked when we will be having them again.  I LOVE when a recipe is successful!!!

Time to Play

Saturday morning we woke to a good amount of snow....nothing drastic like parts of Long Island, Connecticut or Boston. 

After Dave & Matt along with our neighbor and his teen sons "removed" the snow, we headed out for lunch and then a few small errands. One errand included having to get Emily snow boots. The only boots we had for her were size 3...... we bought her new boots, size 5. The girl is growing like crazy!!

Dave took the kids to another town to go sledding. When they returned home, the kids stayed outside to play some more.  Matt was busy building a fort, Dave pitched in to help him.  Emily, she was busy ringing the doorbell trying to get me to come and answer with no one there.  She then took the time to throw snowballs at me standing at the dining room window. It is something she does every snow fall.  

What shocked me most was that Emily came in from outside first. Usually Matt succumbs to the cold weather first but not this time. Both kid were very happy to find hot chocolate with marshmallows when they came inside.  

A Little Bit of White

Like the majority of the northeast, we had a taste of winter visit us on Friday. When we woke that morning, nothing was happening but by the time the kids were headed out the door for school the flakes started to fall. Because of the predicted deterioration of conditions later in the day, Dave was able to work from home. This was such a relief knowing he would not be making his 40+ minute drive home later in the day. 

Due to his being home, Dave and I were able to have an impromptu lunch date. A nice perk to his working from home. 

Our early snow had turned into a few hours of sleet, which shortly after lunch turned back to snow. When we went to pick up the kids, the streets were getting a little tough to maneuver. Thankfully we made it home safely and spent the rest of the evening indoors.  

This picture was taken around 7 pm Friday evening. Dave had gone out to do a quick shoveling. Overnight is when we were expected to get the majority of our precipitation.  

The kids for reasons unknown to us woke up at 5:30 the next morning and were thrilled with the snow. Thankfully, our neighbor assisted with snow removal with is snow blower. Dave went out to help him and his two teen boys. Of course, when Matt saw all the "boys" outside, he asked to go out and  help.  So, I geared him up and out he went. He helped with the shoveling of a fellow neighbor's driveway. I was so proud when Dave told me of his efforts.  

The sad part for the kids was that they still have not had a "school closed" snow day.  There is still some "winter" left for that to happen!!

Kid's Chore Chart

We've been talking with the kids for a while now about the chores they need to do on a daily basis and how they can contribute to our home. They are receptive to doing chores and wanted a chart to keep track. Both kids are highly visual so I was not surprised by this but I wanted to make the chart appropriate to their age, not too childish.  

I used a cork board I purchased a while ago. The line separations were made with crafting/washi tape.  The tags are from the Martha Stewart collection at Staples - yellow for Emily and blue for Matt. I also bought some small tags for extra jobs. The chart titles are "scrabble" style letter tiles I hot glued to the board. 

Now, every one has different feelings regarding allowances and you may not agree with ours but this is the system we have set up. The kids are assigned personal daily jobs - the things they should just be doing like making their bed, homework, getting laundry to basement, etc. They are also assigned two home jobs to complete each day (the number of these jobs will change based on time available and age). They must complete all the jobs for the day in order to get that day's allowance. If they miss one job, they don't "earn" their allowance. Oh and reminders by mom and dad are not part of the program....they need to be accountable for looking at their jobs and getting them done. The kids can also "earn" extra by completing additional jobs that have been written on the small hanging tabs.  

Emily was so excited when she saw the board. Already she has complete her jobs for the day, looked at the "extra" tags and asked "how do I do the laundry by myself".  With just a little "technical" help (where to set the dials and the amount of soap needed), she did the kids uniforms start to end. Oh she did also ask for help in telling  the difference between her and Matt's shirts while hanging them.  

Many times the kids ask for something they want and are told "it costs money".  There are things we get for the kids because they need them but as they are getting older their wants far outweighing their needs. So, we decided on an allowance system in order for them to learn not only about earning money but also to help teach them about tithing, saving, sharing and spending of money....those are hard things to teach if your child has no money to learn.  As I said, you may not feel the same as us and that is just fine, we can agree to disagree but I am praying this new system will help our home run smoothly and help my kids gain some financial "smarts".

Bunny Raid

Last week, we were able to start feeding Jingle veggies. He is now one very HAPPY bunny!!

The other night we were all upstairs for a quick moment leaving Jingle alone downstairs. Prior to our being upstairs, Dave had taken down a bowl of veggies he was going to Jingle and put it on the stairs just on the other side of our makeshift stair barrier.  Jingle loves climbing the stairs!!  

Well, that little bunny's nose when into overdrive smelling those sweet veggies. When Dave went to go downstairs, this is how he found Jingle. Jingle had knocked down the "barrier" to get to his yummy treat.  

W-H-I-S-P-E-R

Last Friday, Matt participated in his first ever Spelling Bee.

We practiced a few weeks prior to the bee. Sadly, Matt got stumped in the preliminary rounds by the word whisper. We were proud of his effort but even more proud when we heard that he had no negative reaction when he was told he was "out".  As a matter of fact when he came back to the room where I was waiting with the other parents, he told me he didn't make it because the word whisper gave him trouble but "that's okay". It was like he was letting me down gently that he wasn't going to the final rounds.  

Ironically, this week's spelling words include the word whisper.  

I took this picture prior to the bee starting ..... Matt was being a little goofy while waiting, no surprise there!!

I LOVE Matt's Heart

Matthew is a sweet, sensitive boy and I so love him for that!  

When I unveiled our valentine "Heart Pail" family project, Matt chimed in that we should have a pail for Jesus because we love Him. I loved his sentiment but didn't make a pail. 

The other day I told Matt he needed to write some hearts for the pails. Once again, he mentioned our need for a heart pail for God. Not having one didn't keep Matt from writing this heart to God which says, "I (heart) you  because your cool".

I cannot tell you how amazing it is as a parent to see and hear how much your child loves God.  

Next year, I think God will be having his own heart pail.   

Our Kind of Busy

Once again, I find it necessary to apologize for my lack of recent posts. 

It seems that the last few weeks have been filled with life's "normal" occurrences and busyness. 

Last week, I worked on and completed my first bulletin board for a fellow church. I was very pleased with the outcome. Then, I became busy making items for my church's winter bulletin board - it needed a little bit of "love". 

The kid's are busy at school, Dave at work and me, I'm keeping myself busy with projects.  All in all just the norm for our home this time of the year.