Mother's Luncheon

I don't know if any of you fellow bloggers do this or not but once I go a few days without blogging I get writer's block.  I have had a really bad case of writer's block/sick kids/out-of-town guests/messy house/pretty weather/my first trip away from my children in 2 years/...  I could go on and on but obviously I have a lot to cover so I better get started on my recap of what we have been up to over the past week and a half.  I thought that last weeks Mother's Luncheon with Hannah might be a nice place to begin.  This luncheon has been on Hannah's school calendar for the past month and we have both been looking forward to it.  Each week I could see via the calendar that Hannah and the other children were preparing feverishly to make this a very special day...the class was baking rolls and cookies, cutting vegetables, making super secret artwork and practicing songs that seemed to be on repeat in Hannah's brain week after week.

The day of the luncheon finally arrived and I went up the stairs of the school to the hallway by Hannah's classroom.  The doors to the classroom were closed and each mother was asked to knock on the door and enter the classroom one at a time.  It was my turn so I knocked and Hannah's teacher opened the door and let me in.  I was greeted by a class of little faces sitting quietly in their chairs and eagerly watching to see if it was their mother's turn to walk through the door.  I looked down and Hannah was by my side handing these to me...

 

I took my beautiful handmade flowers from her and she took my hand and let me to my seat.  After all the mothers were seated each child left the room and came back in carrying a plate of delicious food...  

  

Once the mother's were all served we were then entertained by some of the cutest kids I have ever seen (if I do say so myself)...

  

  

Oh and I can't forget my favorite part.  When we arrived we were greeted in the hallway with a portrait...

  

and underneath each child answered some questions about their mother...

 

My favorite answers are that I am "2 years old" and "My mommy is a worker in the garage with my daddy.  He works on cars and they are car workers."  Hannah's teacher now thinks we are a family of car mechanics.  Matt is just excited he got a shout out from Hannah on my special "My Mommy" paper. :)

Be back with more soon...

Jelly Beans and More

We have been preparing for the beginning of Lent here in the Brown household and since today is Ash Wednesday I thought I would share a couple of activities we will be undertaking over the next 40 days.

Today begins the first day of our Lenten activity based on the Jelly Bean Prayer...

RED IS FOR THE BLOOD HE GAVE.
GREEN IS FOR THE GRASS HE MADE.
YELLOW IS FOR THE SUN SO BRIGHT.
ORANGE IS FOR THE EDGE OF NIGHT.
BLACK IS FOR THE SINS WE MADE.
WHITE IS FOR THE GRACE HE GAVE.
PURPLE IS FOR HIS HOUR OF SORROW.
PINK IS FOR OUR NEW TOMORROW.

A BAG FULL OF JELLY BEANS COLORFUL AND SWEET,
IS A PRAYER, IS A PROMISE, IS A SPECIAL TREAT
MAY THE JOY OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION
FILL YOUR HEART AND BLESS YOUR LIFE.

This activity involves some jelly beans...

and a jar...

Today we set out a large jar for Hannah with a copy of the Jelly Bean Prayer attached.  For the next 40 days Hannah can earn one jelly bean a day of each color to place in her jar.  Each color jelly bean corresponds with a specific task or behavior based on the colors in the Jelly Bean Prayer.  The exception is the white jelly beans, which cannot be earned - they represent the Grace of Christ, which is a gift not earned ourselves.  On Easter morning, Hannah will wake up to find any empty space in her jar filled up with white jelly beans (Christ's grace).

Here is how we will interpret each color...

• Red is for the blood Christ gave (each morning we will choose something to sacrifice that day to earn the red jelly bean.  It will have to be something Hannah will have the opportunity to have or do on that day)
• Green is for the palm's cool shade (green jelly beans are earned for good deeds.  It was a good dead to provide shade for Jesus with the palm)
• Yellow is for God's light so bright (yellow jelly beans are earned for sharing God's light through kindness to others)
• Orange is for prayers at twilight (orange jelly beans are earned for attentive behavior during bedtime prayer time and night time bible story)
• Black is for sweet rest at night (black jelly beans are earned for going to bed like a big girl)
• White is for the Grace of Christ (white jelly beans cannot  be earned as mentioned above)
• Purple is for His days of sorrow (purple jelly beans are earned through apologizing to anyone we hurt with our words or deeds that day)
• Pink is for each new tomorrow (pink jelly beans are earned when we forgive those who apologize to us for hurtful behavior).

Because I am a little OCD and I needed something for Hannah to do while I was cooking supper, I had her go ahead and sort our jelly beans by color...

and Lily, who is a little young to participate this year, closely observed what her sister was up to...

We are also participating in 40 bags for 40 days this Lent.  The basic idea is to commit to 40 days of potentially uncomfortable "letting go" of some of the "stuff" that clutters our lives and so often interferes with our relationship with God.  It’s a pretty simple concept: We are committed to ridding our home of 40 bags of “stuff” during the 40 days of Lent.  We can throw it away or give it away—garbage, clothing, toys, books, etc.  We can pick the size of bag that makes the most sense for our circumstances—large garbage bags for a lot of clutter, smaller bags for less.  The rules aren't really hard and fast but we are going to try to do the best we can to "let go" of some of the material possessions that are cluttering our lives. 

This will truly be a challenging Lenten season but hopefully we are up to the task!

Not just another snowy day

We have had quite a bit of snow lately and I have found myself wishing for warm sunshine and green green grass.  I have a very bad tendency to not live in the moment especially when it comes to seasons of the year.  In the heat of summer I crave the cool of fall, in the cool of fall I am ready for the cold of winter and the hope of snow, and in the seemingly never ending dreary days of winter I am ready for the first signs of spring.  Well all of this changed somewhat for me last week when I was introduced to William "Snowflake" Bentley....

"Snowflake" Bentley was the subject of an article I just happened upon while I was doing a little online reading.  "Snowflake" photographed and cataloged over 5,000 snowflakes during his lifetime and provided proof that no two snow flakes are alike.  I have heard this saying many times in my life..."no two snowflakes are alike"...but I never really paused to think much about it until I came across this article.  What first made me stop and look twice was this picture...

Aren't they wonderful!?  I could probably spend a good portion of the day looking at all of his images but then I am sort of a nerd like that.  With the naked eye we see snowflakes falling from the sky as little fuzzy white balls but under a microscope they are absolutely perfect and beautiful.  Each and every teeny tiny itty bitty one.  Think of the blizzard that just occured in Washington, D.C.  How many snowflakes fell from the sky?  There is no telling.  Each one of those snowflakes was different, perfect, and amazingly beautiful.  Wow!  One of God's miracles that I have never even opened my eyes or mind to before now.  We are given so many gifts and how often we overlook them.  I can tell you this though after seeing these images of snowflakes and reading about good ole "Snowflake" Bentley's tireless work I am a little more thankful for the beauty of winter.  Spring will come soon enough but until then I am going to try to appreciate the blessings of the season that I have right now.

I will leave you all with some pictures of Hannah and Lily enjoying the snow...

 

  

  

 

 

Celebrating our anniversary

This past Saturday Matt and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary.  It was a great day of remembering how special and fun our wedding ceremony and reception were, looking at how far we have come in such a short amount of time and sharing some of this with Hannah and Lily.  We pulled out the wedding album to show our girls pictures of our ceremony and reception...

 

  

 

February 7, 2004 was a fantastic day from the start.  I will never forget pulling up to the church that morning and it began to lightly snow all around us.  It was almost a magical feeling.  Well I have to share with you all that this past Sunday morning, February 7, 2010 as I walked into Sunday Mass a light snow began to fall again.  It was a great feeling...one in which I had to immediately say a huge "Thank you Lord!"  What a wonderful start to my day!

Even prior to the arrival of snow my anniversary had gotten off to a good start with the discovery of this on my doorstep...

It was filled with beautiful lilies from Matt.  I loved the flowers, the girls loved the box...

 

We spent our anniversary playing with Hannah and Lily, baking bread and enjoying the many blessings of marriage and family life.   Our day was topped off with a good dinner served on our "fancy" china. Dessert was molten lava cakes with real whipped cream.  I have included a link to the recipe from the Pioneer Woman's website.  If you only make one thing that I suggest on this blog you should choose this.  It is VERY easy and it is delicious.  I am not exaggerating when I tell you I wish I was eating it right this very second.

  

Lily wishes she had the whipped cream right this very second...

 

Okay folks...I am off to watch Lost with my hubby.  Have a good night!

Preparations and more preparations...

I thought that Hannah and I would get a head start on Valentine's Day this year so we spent yesterday taking these..

 

and turning them into these...

  

I wanted a cute valentine that we could create together but wasn't so complicated that it took a lot time or so difficult that Hannah couldn't participate.  This fit the bill and was a quick and successful project.  After we finished Hannah took a break to enjoy a Tootsie Pop...

  

and then paused to consider exactly how many licks it does take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop...

  

and then finished it off...

 

A sweet reward for a sweet girl! 

In other news...we are busy around here preparing for a special day tomorrow. You are probably thinking Super Bowl Sunday right?  Actually it is even more exciting...Matt and I are celebrating 6 years of wedded bliss! :)  I have a special dinner planned that involves a 14 month old, a three year old and my fancy china so keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly!  Be back soon!

Feeling Better

I don't have much to report around here since my last post.  The girls have been sick and so we have been snuggling under blankets, blowing noses and giving regular doses of doctor prescribed antibiotics.  I received these in our Vegbox this week...

They are the biggest carrots I have ever seen and they were perfect candidates for "the sickness cure all" - a pot of chicken soup.

Thankfully Hannah and Lily are feeling better and Hannah at least is back on the other side of the stethoscope...

 

Everyone felt well enough today to play outside for a few minutes.  I always love a breath of fresh air after being couped inside and we were prepared in case anyone started feeling ill...

  

 

I am looking forward to a happy and healthy start to our Wednesday!

Baking Bread and a Soup Recipe

The girls and I went to Florence this weekend to spend some time with Nana and to learn how to make this...

Every Sunday when I was growing up we would go to church and then afterwards to my great grandmother's house for lunch.  Grandma lived with my great aunt, Cissie, in a wonderful old two story white farmhouse with a huge grassy yard.  Cissie grew up in this house and then became a caretaker for my great grandmother in her later years.  Here is a picture of Cissie with a "on her way to her morning nap" Lily...

Behind Grandma's house was a small garden where she and Cissie grew many of the vegetables that they used in their cooking.  Our Sunday lunches were always completely homemade and always included fresh baked bread.  I have really fond memories of these lunches and have been hoping to find a time when Cissie could share Grandma's bread recipe with me.  Both of our calendars happened to be open this past Saturday and so Cissie came over early for breakfast and then afterwards the bread making commenced.  I was warned that this would take some time because the bread has to rise twice.

 

I only have a couple of pictures because as you can imagine taking photos with sticky, gooey hands is a little difficult.  Hannah was invited to help but after warily touching the dough with the tip of one finger she announced that her hands might get dirty so she was just going to watch.  She is very particular about having clean hands and so I forged on alone.  Making bread is actually very easy but letting the dough rise is a little time consuming.  The rising dough was a good excuse to sit and visit with a cup of coffee (for Mom and Cissie) and tea (por moi).  Cissie left us to do the actual baking ourselves and I took Hannah and Lily outside to play while the bread was in the oven.  When I came back inside Mom's house smelled exactly like Grandma's house had so many years ago.  The bread tasted just like I remember and we all agreed that it was way better than any store bought bread. 

I think the bread would be great with this...

 

Bekah has been constantly bothering me asking for Matt's vegetable soup recipe.  After several requests Matt finally typed it out and I thought I would post it here...

1 lb Stew meat
3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
½ cup Flour
1 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s

1 large Onion chopped
3 stalks Celery chopped
1 Bell pepper chopped

1 can Tomato paste
1 can Rotel tomatoes
2 cups water

1 large bag frozen Mixed vegetables
1 small bag frozen okra
1 bag of cabbage slaw mix or one head of cabbage sliced
Salt, Pepper, Italian seasoning, Tabasco to taste.

Note:  I don't really measure amounts or follow a recipe so the quantities listed are an approximation.  Once the tomato paste is browned you can vary the ingredients.  I prefer frozen vegetable mix without potatoes and will often chop up and throw in older vegetables from the refrigerator.  I will say it twice in the recipe, but DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH WATER, it will ruin the soup and you can’t take it back out.

Place the flour, Tony Chachere’s seasoning, and stew meat in a Ziploc bag and shake it until the meat is thoroughly coated

Heat the oil in a large soup pot on medium high heat

Add the flour coated stew meat to the pot and stir until all sides are browned

Remove the meat from the pot and add the chopped onion.  Cook until it starts to soften.

Add celery and bell pepper and cook until everything is softened and water has begun to cook out of the vegetables.

Stir in tomato paste and continue stirring until the paste starts to brown.  Be careful not to let it burn to the bottom of the pot, you will have to scrape it off the bottom every few minutes. 

Add the rotel, stew meat, and enough water to thin the tomato paste to tomato sauce consistency. 

Add the mixed vegetables, okra and cabbage and a half cup of water.  I usually just fill the rotel can with water, swirl it around and pour it in.  You may need to add a little more water, but it should not look like soup at this point.  Do not add too much water, the water will cook out of the vegetables as the soup cooks.

Bring the pot back to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to medium low.  Continue cooking for several hours until the cabbage begins to cook down.  Add water and seasonings to taste as the soup cooks.  I already said it above, but do not add too much water. 

I highly recommend this recipe. It makes a lot but we freeze part and have it whenever the mood for veggie soup hits.  It is dee-lish!!