The Under the Bed Bed

Not a week goes by where my husband and I aren't woken up in the middle of the night to a sweet voice saying,

"Momma, I had a bad dream, can I sleep with you and daddy?"

We used to say "sure honey" and they'd hope into bed with us...the result?  Ryan and I didn't get ANY sleep.  We learned quickly that our boys are VIOLENT little sleepers!  We were getting kicked and pushed all night...

So although we'd love to say yes, we know better now....plus, we're in a queen and it's barely big enough for us (especially when I'm pregnant and if you haven't noticed yet, I'm pregnant more often than I'm not!)

So our solution to the situation is a toddler bed mattress tucked under our bed.

We pull it out, throw the pillow on (also under the bed) grab a blanket (yep, that's under there too), say a prayer with them and roll back over to sleep.

It used to be a huge hassle.  We'd either spend 30 minutes convincing them to go back to their bed (without crying so they didn't wake up the siblings in the room) or 10 minutes setting up a makeshift bed on our floor for them.

But now it's much more simple...they're even at the point that they'll just come down, pull the bedding out and fall asleep with us never even knowing they came down (until morning when we almost trip over them!)

It works for me!!...Anything to simply life and get everyone to sleep a little better is a blessing around here!

Homemade Pizza Sticks

This is another favorite off of my new Homestead Blessings DVD "The Art of Breadmaking"!

It's FAST and EASY and YUMMY!!!

Dough

2.5 cups flour 

(plus additional flour for rolling out)

1 T yeast

1 t salt

4 T Olive Oil

1 C warm water

1 T honey (not necessary, but helps activate the yeast)

Spread

1 stick melted butter

Garlic mixed into butter

Mix dry ingredients then add wet ingredients.

Knead dough for 5 minutes, then let rest 5 minutes.

Roll out dough (*on parchment paper--this will make transferring to pan easier!) into an oval.

Brush on melted butter/garlic spread.

Add cheese and herbs (I used Cheddar, Mozzarella, Oregano, Basil and Rosemary, then top with Parmesan).

Pat it all down with your hands and quickly fold in half.

Pinch edges and lightly roll the dough so it's a little more flat.

Transfer to pan (this is why you use parchment paper because it can get messy and floppy without it!)...plus, you can cook on parchment paper!

Bake at 375* for about 15 minutes.

Once it's out of the oven, I brush on olive oil and lightly cover with more Parmesan Cheese.

Cut in long strips then once across the middle.

I serve it with garlic butter and my homemade marinara sauce.

Marinara Sauce:
-2 cans Tomato sauce
-3 T Tomato paste 
-3 T Brown sugar
-Seasoning (like oregano, basil, garlic, thyme, etc)
-a dash of flour

One Note To Self and One Note To You...

Note to Self: 
Next time give the bread more room to rise...

Note to You: 
Check out the Moby Wrap Giveaway at "The Modest Mom Blog"...my MOMYS friend Caroline is giving away a Moby Wrap that retails for almost $40!!!  These things are so popular and I keep hearing rave after rave that mommas love these...so I'm hoping to win, but you should go enter too!!!

When My Hubby Brings His Work Home...

My hubby is the principal at our Christian School here in town.

For the Spring Fundraiser, a few of the moms (who also happen to be some of my very good friends) made enchiladas...140 dozen to be exact!!!

They had been working 2 days straight, juggling all their children after school while they cooked in the school kitchen!  So my hubby decided to "bring his work home" by bringing their kids to our house to play for the rest of the day...

It was so much fun!  Even the little siblings came!

Braddox and Liberty-One month apart

We are so blessed to have such wonderful kids in our school!   

My hubby LOVES his job!!!

Lessons I'm Learning As I Surrender...

Psalm 119:71

"It was good for me to be afflicted
       so that I might learn your decrees."

Mornings around here are busy. They are unpredictable. They are tiring.

A while back, I discovered that I'm definitely not a schedule person, I'm a routine person. And while the routine I have set up really does help our mornings run smoothly, there are always unknown factors that can disturb a perfectly scheduled morning.

--A potty-training toddler has an "accident", leaving quite a mess to clean up

--Momma has a headache and is running in slow motion

--The baby is teething and follows you around in a half scream/half cry all morning

--Someone dumps over the gallon of milk

--The sink is leaking

--Someone spills oatmeal all over another child's worksheets

--Someones tummy is hurting

and sometimes the hardest to deal with...

--Momma didn't get to have her quiet time with Jesus

The first thing I'm learning as I am freshly surrendering my days to the Lord, is that if I am truly surrendered, I'll be content even when events happen that are out of my control.

If I am surrendered, I know that whatever happens in my day is for a purpose--

If I wake early to have my quiet time, but the rest of the house decides to wake up too, the Lord must have known that I could creatively get time with Him another way that day.

If I didn't get my timing down right and missed my morning shower, the Lord must have known I'd still get by without that coveted shower.

If...If...If...lately seems more like "when...when...when" but I've become okay with that because I'm surrendered to HIS plan, not mine.

He is the Author of my day and it won't do much good to pine after how I wanted the day to go, when obviously it's not going to look the way I had hoped.

Over the years, I have become SURE with many things about my Lord...a couple of those things are~~

He is purposeful.

He is in control.

He is always working on me.

It's because of those reasons I can be assured that surrendering my day to Him means trusting Him that He knows my needs even better than me.  AND that He will supply all my needs, BUT that he loves me enough to sometimes not let everything happen the way I plan and hope.  

Because thankfully, He knows better than to always let me get my way...He has too many lessons to teach me to that happen!!!

Psalm 119:71

"It was good for me to be afflicted
       so that I might learn your decrees."

(Looking over last years routine, I'm realizing it's time to update that post...that'll be coming soon!)

More Birthday Celebration!!!

This weekend the birthday celebrating continued!

Trusten was able to invite one friend out to dinner with us, 

so he chose Karsin, a precious friend of our family who is just absolutely adorable!

"Papa and Nena" came for the party too!

First we opened presents...
(This is one of Trusten's favorite gifts--a Nerf gun
from his Nena and Papa!)

Karsin got the perfect gift for Trusten--Legos!
He loves to build and rebuild!

And present #2 from Nena and Papa was a big hit!
A Razor scooter!

Then on to El Pueblito!!

Trusten's "Pawga and Mawga" celebrated with us...

(For the record, Trusten named all his grandparents when he was about 2!)

The El Pueblito servers love birthdays...

And they are known for getting a bit carried away...

But as long as Trusten got his sopapillas, he didn't care!

Me with my brand new 6 year old!

Happy Birthday again, my sweet "Trusser Man"
I love you with all my momma heart!

Surrender

"I Surrender!"

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately that have been really inspiring to me--people seeing a need for change in their lives and how they are deciding to change the way they are living (diets, cleaning habits, routines, etc)

For me, it's been the "kick in the pants" that I've been needing...I have some changes I want to make in my every day life, but they aren't easy (well, I guess change never is easy!).  They are changes I've tried to commit to over and over, yet they usually are short-lived.

Even with the best intentions most of my commitments usually don't last long...

--I want to wake up early to prepare my heart for the day, pray and read the Word.
--I want to memorize more scripture and practice having a constant prayer life.
--I want to make good choices to eat healthy foods.
--I want to be more intentional with my neighbors.

But what I have been learning is that my commitments usually don't last long, because I am the one in control of seeing them through.

The ball is always in "my court" and so when I don't feel like doing something...well, I just don't do it.

My good intentions are usually pushed aside when I am feeling extra sleepy, super busy, lazy and selfish (which happens more often than I'd like to admit!).

This past Sunday our pastor talked about surrender...and I realized, THAT has been my missing link!!!

"COMMITMENT IS NORMALLY CONNECTED 

TO CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNDERSTANDING. 

SURRENDER IS CONNECTED TO LORDSHIP."

Surrendering my commitments to my Savior, giving HIM control of my "good intentions" and falling back on Him when I "just don't feel like it"...

So I've been trying this week anew--
--Surrendering my mornings to Him
--Surrendering my thought life to Him
--Surrendering my body and choices to Him
--Surrendering my free time to Him

So, if you've been finding yourself in the same hopeless cycle with your commitments as I have, whether it's food, devotions, church attendance, behavior or whatever, I'd encourage you to surrender it to the Lord.  Don't just make a commitment and then strive for it alone...It's so refreshing to follow through in His power and not rely on our own weak will power!

"Failure, frustration and disappointment are the legacy of commitment, because it is always about me and depends entirely on me to achieve some outcome. Surrender takes 'me' out of the equation. As I heard a person once say, 'When I began to follow Christ, I resigned as General Manager of My World.'"

 -From Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray

Lord, this week is yours.  I surrender my mornings, my homeschooling and my parenting to you.  They are yours.  When I feel like taking the easy way out, I will carry through, but only by your strength.  I will work as unto You...not to please myself or my resolutions, not to check something off a list, not to pat myself on the back.  Instead, I'll do it to honor you...the Giver of my life and all that I have and do!  I am surrendered.

Announcing the Winner of the CSN Stores Giftcard!!!

I was so excited to see that there were 69 entries for this giveaway!!!

As always, I prayed before hitting that "Generate" button on Random.org that this giveaway would go to someone the Lord knew needed it...or just needed a little blessing from Him in this season of their lives!

So with that, I'm so happy to announce that the winner is...

# 28...Jill @ PathwayToPurpose!!!

I even decided to decorate the house for my Giveaway Reveal...

Well, okay, not really... it's actually for Trusten's birthday celebration , but the festiveness was too fun not to share!!!

So congrats Jill!  I'll e-mail you soon with more details!

I'd encourage everyone to go visit Jill...she is such a sweet woman who has had an emotional year with her son Brandon who had some medical issues that suddenly arose in the Spring.

She also recently started her own business called "Simple Delights".  She'll be donating a portion of all her profit to families in the process of adoption!  Pretty cool, huh?!

Birthday Boy!

When we went up to Kansas City to get our new van, we had an early birthday celebration for Trusten who will be 6 years old very soon!!!

Trusten's "MooMaw and PaPa" always like to spoil the boys like crazy, so first we went to the "Dinosaur Restaurant" (aka T. Rex)!  This is one of the boys favorite places, we went there for Brahm's 3rd birthday...

It's such a fun place because there is SO much to look at and listen to!

Every 30 minutes there is a "Meteor Shower" where the lights flash, the dinosaurs roar, and other fun, crazy stuff like that!!

Samuel was quite distracted by all the dinosaurs that were so close to us...

Liberty was completely unaffected by any of it!  :)

Then after we finished our dinner, Papa had a big surprise for Trusten...

The next day, they bought Trusten a cake...

So we celebrated with cake, ice cream, cousins...oh and presents!

A Telescope!!!

This picture doesn't quite capture it,
but he was SO excited to get a telescope!!!

Legos!!!

Clothes!!!

And the sweet fellowship of cousins and "Great MooMaw"!

And we still have another celebration yet to come with his "Nena And Papa"!

***I wanted to post some "through the years" pictures, but we don't have a scanner anymore, so these I've already had scanned will have to do...

Trusten just a few days old...

(to hear about his birth story, click HERE)

Trusten 1.5 years old, meeting his new little brother...

Trusten 3 years old, with another new little brother...

Trusten's 4th Birthday...

Trusten's 5th Birthday...

So Happy Birthday Week, my sweet 6 year old little man!!!

 Linked to Wednesdays' Walk Down Memory Lane.