It happened

I had blogged awhile back on the problems I had been facing with Laurelin becoming potty trained. I knew and she knew - that she was ready to start using the potty, but she seemed rather content to go on with life in her Princess pull-ups. That is until last week. For some reason out of the blue she started using the potty all by herself! No prompts, no bribes. She would come running to us and tell us she used the potty. In fact, we failed to realize that we had gone to church with no pull up and that she was still wearing her panties, which made me worry that she might have an accident at church, but no nothing. We were all so surprised how easily she picked it up, she was even out and did #2 in the potty, something we can't get her to do in her diaper. Of course she has had an accident or two, but overall she is pretty well potty trained. I guess we just needed to leave her the hell alone and she would get to it when she was good and ready! Oh the many joys of strong-willed stubborn children!

It's arrived!

What has become one of my favorite times of year, is new school material time. 
We just received our shipment for next years school supplies. All the books and materials necessary to teach four school aged children. {Gulp} I sorted through everything and separated them out by grade. That actually isn't all of it since I have some of the girls stuff that I bought awhile back. As you can see reading is a big thing with this curriculum, I think we are pretty close to having a full size library. I am so thankful that I can look at all of that and see how God has provided for us.

Split Pea Soup

This has become one of my favorite recipes, it is yummy, nutritious, and cheap. Three musts for me! On top of that it can be prepared in the morning in your slow cooker and dinner will be ready by evening!
Ingredients:
1 pkg. kielbasa 
2 carrots
32 oz. chicken broth (or if you are cheap like me I use half broth half water)
1 medium onion
1 pkg. dried split peas
salt, pepper to taste
1 tsp. marjoram (not necessary, but makes it taste yummy)
1 tsp. celery seed (you can add actual celery, but I am not a big fan, so I use the seed instead)


Cut up the kielbasa into bite sized pieces and brown in a pan. While that is cooking, chop up the carrot into bite size pieces and dice the onion. 
Then place everything in the slow cooker, and set it to low, and cook for about 8 hours. 
Serve with crusty bread. It is quite yummy, and I have even served it to my kids when they were babies and just starting to eat lumpy food. 
This is a family favorite now, kids look forward to having it served, and I have even taught my daughter how to make it also. 
Enjoy!

A new Tradition

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays, if not my favorite. (Thanksgiving is up there too.) I of course am so thankful that we have a day to celebrate the fact that our Lord and Savior died for us, but also that he was risen from the dead and conquered death for all eternity! Yeah!! What can be better then that? My sins have been washed clean with his blood, and now I know I can spend eternity in heaven.
Besides that part, I love the Easter outfits, so pretty and colorful. And all the springtime flowers. Just a great time to be joyful. And lets not forget all the Chocolate waiting to be eaten! It seems like Americans have alot of Easter traditions that we do every year. Easter egg hunt, pictures with the Easter bunny (not our thing), dyeing of Easter eggs, Easter baskets, Easter dinner, new Easter outfits. I do enjoy all these things, but with six kids that adds up to alot of money! The other day I was loading up my cart with all the goodies I would need to create six baskets of candy for the kids. And as I was figuring the number in my head, I was getting annoyed that I was spending all this money on candy that in a matter of a few days, they would be on sale! So I got to thinking yesterday about how I try to teach my kids about the real meaning of Easter (although the actual word "Easter" is used for the pagan holiday, so Derek wants us calling it Resurrection Day), and not so focused on all the other stuff, although that is alot of fun.What could I do to separate the two? Well I decided that Sunday would be sacred to us, only focusing on the Resurrection, but the FOLLOWING day we would celebrate all the bunny and eggs things. That way I could go out early Monday morning and snag the Easter items on sale!! I know, I know... seems awfully cheap of me, but I know the kids dont care if we celebrate it a day later, as long as they know they are going to get  it, and it will help us keep our budget, and I can feel good getting good deals. Wahoo!!! 

Crazy Crazy

What a crazy afternoon we had dealing with Crazy (aka Matthias).  In the past few years we have dealt with alot of problems with running away, I mention it now and then and ask for prayer with our daughter Katie. If anyone has had a child run away, they know how hard and stressful it can be. Thankfully Katie seems to be doing better as of late (praise God!!!) but we had such a scare today! 
The kids and I went shopping today and had a pretty good time and came home this afternoon. As is the usual hub-bub after shopping everyone was looking over their treasures. Matthias had gotten a new baseball since he has just recently started T-ball. So Sarah and him went outside to practice throwing and catching. I went upstairs to try on my new clothes. (Yeah!) When I came back downstairs I saw Sarah inside and asked where Matthias was at, she said that he ran off outside, and she didn't know where he was at now. Matthias does tend to get annoyed sometimes with Sarah, so I figured he was around the corner fuming about his sister. I went outside and yelled for him, but he didn't come. The other kids came out and we started yelling for him, but no answer. I went and got Derek and we started walking around looking for him. By this time everyone was starting to get worried, since he never goes outside a small area around our house, and has never ran out of the yard before.  After we walked around for awhile, Derek and I got in the car and drove around the surrounding neighborhoods calling for him. Now we were starting to panic, this was not like him at all, and of course I start wondering what kind of mother I must be to have my children run away so often. By the time we came back, our neighbors were out looking for him, and we were considering calling the MPs. When I came inside, the girls and I were all talking wondering where he could be, and we heard something. I yelled out "Matthias if you are in here, you won't be in trouble, but you have to come out."  Matthias was curled up under our little living room table!!!!!  What the hell??!! I was so relieved but so mad too. Didn't know whether to kiss him or spank him. I did talk to him and told him how scared I was, and told him he had to go to his room as a punishment for not coming when he knew we were all looking for him. Sarah on the other hand spoke up and said " Oh, I saw him come inside earlier, but didn't know where he went in the house" Now that made me furious!! She also is sitting in her room as punishment, for not telling us. Good grief, what an afternoon!!  I am going to curl up and eat some chocolate, and watch a good movie, and enjoy the silence of having only four kids for the afternoon.