Church Retreat

As a family we ventured out in the ice and snow on Sunday evening for the Lenten retreat at church. I had heard that the featured speaker, Jesse Manibusan, would be sure to entertain. Brad asked on the way there, who is this? I just said "Oh some guy," and I think Brad was surprised. Anyways, Jesse is highly entertaining and does a nice job of getting one excited about his/her faith. I believe his method of conveying his message is geared at a teenage audience and even younger. On Monday at school I asked some kids that I saw there if they liked it, and they thought he was hilarious.

So we went on Monday night again. Mia Kate LOVED the retreat and learned all of the hand signs for the songs. When Jesse talks he has you repeat key words or phrases and Mia Kate repeated them before Brad and I could. One song goes "Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes, Yes Lord" over and over, it gets stuck in your head. By the end of the night she was standing on the pew singing and signing her little heart out, love that girl!

(This video is not filmed at our church, but found it on the internet)

Jillian, on the other hand, used her volume in a negative way. Granted, this retreat starts during her bedtime. Sunday night she was overheard (teachers mentioned hearing her the next day) by all yelling "I need a pencil!" and "Pee is coming out of me!" Seriously, I don't make this stuff up. Monday night she remembered that she had a "green pencil" the night before and pretty much screamed that she needed "That green pencil! It is IN THE CAR!" After wrestling and shushing her for about 15 minutes Brad had to take her home. She was yelling in the Narthex "I DON'T WANT TO GO WITH DADDY!" Brad said that she screamed the whole time he was driving until he started singing "Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes, Yes Lord" over and over. She then fell asleep. I was smiling when Brad told me that story this morning, so glad he got something out it.

Back to Jesse. I now know that he writes hymns including some of my favorites "Holy Is His Name" and "Open My Eyes Lord" and he was also at World Youth Day 1993 in Denver. I don't remember him entertaining, but I guess he did. We are heading back this evening for the final session.

An Anniversary Blessing

We thank You for all that we've been privileged

to experience this past year-

for both the good and the bad,

the happy, the sad,

the discouraging and the exhilarating.

Help us use love and laughter

to erase the disagreements that we had

and the resentments that we felt.

As we remember this new year Lord,

let us grow in wisdom from the mistakes we make,

in patience from sorrows we endure,

in perseverance from the disappointments we meet,

in strength from the trials we face,

and in joy from the pleasures

we are privileged to experience.

Walk with us and give us

the love, compassion, and understanding we need

to make this new year in our marriage

not only a year in which we can continue

to lovingly minister to each other

but also a year when we can build

an inspiring legacy of love

to pass on to those who choose to follow

this sacred and beautiful way of life.

We thank you for the support you gave us

when our days were troubled

and the joy you gave us

when times were good.

We spent our anniversary working, then met up for dinner with the girls. After dinner we headed to church for the Lenten retreat (another post). One thing that I have noticed when writing this is that Brad and I should have our picture taken together more often, not too many to choose from! Happy Anniversary Bradley! Then today he woke up to a great start on Year 8, I pulled (not on purpose) the towel bar clean off the wall ripping the sheet rock. Never a dull moment! Oops!

* Blessing from Prayers for Married Couples by Renee Bartkowski

Wool/Copper

Tomorrow, 2/22, marks our 7 year anniversary! Apparently, my toaster and iron had the 7 year itch, because ours (which were both wedding gifts) quit within weeks of our anniversary. Our iron actually exploded on Brad and caught my drapes on fire and the toaster just quit. I wish that my mixer only had a 7 year life, but it is still mixing away.

7 year gifts are supposed to be wool/copper or desk sets. I really don't abide by those, but I am going to mention it when 2/22/2013 rolls around. Click here if you are interested in the traditional anniversary gifts.

American Girl Event

Miss Mia Kate and I had some afternoon one on one time this afternoon. Oak Park Mall was putting on an American Girl doll event. We had such a great time together! In the car on the way there Mia announced "This is going to be SO.MUCH.FUN!"

1st stop: Barnes and Noble. The author of the new A.M. doll book was signing books.

2nd Stop: Face Painting

We waited an hour in line, but they had food samples. We were in line so long the sample booth went through 3 vendors: Gelato, Mrs. Field's Cookies, and Chick-fil-A. I gave up all sweets for Lent, so I was more than happy to see them whip out the chicken.

3rd Stop: The Runway

Mia filled out a little paper and they announced her as she modeled.

"Our next model is Mia Kate, with her doll Mia. Mia Kate's favorite color is purple, her favorite after school activity is watching Olivia (nice) and she wants to be a ballet teacher when she grows up."

Mia Kate's favorite part of the day was the face painting. Thanks for the fun day sis!

Valentine Party

Mia Kate's Valentine Party was last Friday. She was ecstatic about having the party and knew exactly how many days until the party. I was a little worried about the whole situation because I work on Fridays, but I arranged for her sitter to take her to attend school for the entire afternoon. My last actual class is over at 2:00 so I was going to head to her party then. This actually took a lot of planning to get her to school for the party, but how could she miss? We had a big conversation that I was coming, but would be a little late.

Turns out, my last class had an assembly and wasn't coming to library so I left early and was EARLY to her party! She was thrilled and so was I. Jillian actually stayed with the sitter so I really enjoyed having one on one time with Mia Kate at the party. They sang the cutest song and Sis looked so sweet up there! Happy Valentine's Day Mia Kate!

Rio Rancho Taco Meat (for those who love to spend their entire evening cooking)

A group of friends does a dinner exchange once a month. There are 5 of us total, so that makes about one meal a week that is already frozen/prepared that I do not have to cook. This month I thought I would try a new recipe found here.

Rio Rancho Taco Meat
For tacos, burritos, taco salad, or nachos.
(This should serve 6 families.)

6 med. onions, diced
9 lbs. ground beef
6 cups of mild or medium salsa
6 packages of taco seasoning
3T brown sugar
6 cans of diced green chiles
8 cloves fresh, minced garlic
1T salt
1 1/2 t pepper
1 1/2 t ground red pepper
4 1/2 cups water

Cooking day instructions: Brown onion and ground beef until no longer pink. Drain any excess grease. Add salsa, taco seasoning, brown sugar, green chiles, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Stir until mixed well. If you like your meat hotter, add more ground red pepper to taste. Add the water and simmer on low for 30 - 45 minutes until mixture has thickened and spices have had time to blend. If meat mixture is too thick, add more water and adjust seasonings. Cool. Freeze in meal-size portions, using freezer bag method.


Serving day instructions: Thaw meat or defrost in microwave. Heat through and serve in taco shells or soft, warm tortillas. Top with cheese, lettuce, sour cream, or any of your favorite toppings.

FOR THE LOVE of someone holy that I cannot say, this recipe is out of control! As I type this I am in my THIRD hour of cooking/simmering and I still have at least an hour left. Grrrrrr......Brad says most people have two skillets, I have one. I must say the meat is rather tasty, but not four hours tasty and that is NOT four hours sitting in the oven. Imagine me slaving over a skillet of hamburger/ then it has to simmer for 30 minutes, start over, etc. I prepared all of the ingredients assembly line style, so they are ready, but I just have to wait for the meat to brown and sauces to simmer before my skillet is ready for the next batch. Bless that Bradley because he played with both girls and put them to bed for me. I am going back to my other recipes.

Return to Sender

Mia Kate received her first Valentine of 2010 last week. She was SO excited that she immediately requested paper for her to make and mail the sender one back. I gave her the paper and crayons, 30 minutes later, she produced this, totally unsupervised. Yes, she copied it and the words inside, but I thought it was pretty good, especially the cherry stem and fancy lettering.




Speaking of Valentine's, pitiful me even went to CVS looking for the cinnamon hearts, they are out. Cinnamon bears however, were located at Wal-Mart, all is well.

Watch Day

Today was Parent Watch Day at dance/acrobats. Therefore, I was the miajillirazzi with both my camera and video camera. Mia Kate has mastered back bends, cartwheels, forward/backward rolls, handstand into a somersault, etc. and is now working on a handstand into a back bend and then kicking back over. I have it on video, but will have to have Brad download that for me. Mia's favorite part about dance/acrobats is "The new trampoline." Their studio recently completed an expansion project and now features underground trampolines.

Jilli is in a Mommy/Me class but her mom just stands on the side because she can do it all alone. She has mastered a somersault, but is working on getting up from it without using her hands. Jilli wants to do everything Mia can do in acrobats and she is so serious in class and stands nicely in line. Below are pictures of her back bend (trying to get her head off of the ground) and her handstand (trying to straighten it out a little). Jillian's favorite part of acrobats is "DOING BACK BENDS!"


Both girls have come a long ways this year in class. Jillian used to refuse to even stretch without sitting in my lap. Mia Kate is very brave and responds well to her teachers. Brad and I are both so proud of the girls!

Mia Kate's back bend.
Back bend with a leg up?

Kicks in ballet.

Seat drops on the new trampoline.

So much fun!

Jilli's back bend.

Butterfly stretch.

Jilli has to hold her handstand to the count of 10. Her teacher looks on.

Jilli's turn on the new trampoline.

Out of Stock

I have a real problem with candy, mainly cinnamon items. I can have amazing will power and go for a long time without it. Or, I can have no control, at all, meaning I go to the store just to buy the candy.

Now that Valentine's candy is out I am really loving cinnamon bears/hearts. I have bought several bags, enough to get me pretty much obsessed. Went to Hobby Lobby to pick some more up, they are out. Hy-Vee is out and Target. It is like some evil ploy against me, come on, I live within 1/2 mile of 4 major stores and they are all out.

It is a good thing Lent will be here soon, I can get control of myself!

Candy Bar Card

Several years ago Brad and I decided not to get each other Valentine's Day gifts. Sometimes we do gifts, or sometimes we do something big, or a project around the house, or sometimes I just buy Brad a bottle of Grey Goose, which goes over very well. But then again our anniversary is a week later, so sometimes if just all runs together. Even when you make the "no gift" pact you still have to do something, right? I found this in my pictures and thought I would share.

To Our Sweetart,

For Valentine's Day we wanted to give you 100 Grand, but the money slipped through Mom's Butterfingers. Of course we don't have a Payday and our checking account is in a Crunch. We couldn't go on a shopping Spree and we didn't think a pet Kit Kat, a trip to the Symphony, or seeing the Milky Way would do.

So we decided to Take 5 minutes to tell you how much we love you! We know sometimes Mom is a real Air Head, Jilli can get Nutrageous, and Mia Kate can pull some good Twix. No matter what, your patience is a real Lifesaver. We always Skittles when we hear you come home because you bring Mounds of Almond Joy to our lives.

We want you to have an Extra special night lying on your Whatchamacalit. Enjoy this yummy card and we promise not to Snickers if you get chubby and ROLOver.

XOXO

The 3 Musketeers

The candy was really easy to find, most of it right by the check out lane. The Air Head I had left over from Halloween of that year.