Photo Bomb

I was just going to post a few pictures since I haven't posted any in a while, but I started going through them, and an hour later, I was able to narrow it down a little bit. This is why I'm so behind on editing pictures; I need to stop taking so many! I still have pictures from march that I haven't even sorted through yet. Here are some snapshots from April:

The Easter Egg Hunt that our apartment management sponsored.

 

 This is the hunt we had outside our unit for just our boys.

My friend Jessi gave me this idea for our Easter eggs: little caterpillars!

The boys were hanging out in their fort.

This is how we know when Silas is really tired: he scoots along on his head.

It's very rare for any of our boys to get a bath alone, but on this day I brought Silas home early from the pool while Dan kept the big boys there. Silas had such a great time having the pool tub all to himself. I took almost 500 pictures during his bath. Did I mention I need to start taking fewer pictures?

 

This was the same day as our trip to the pool and Vince didn't even make it to dessert before falling asleep at the table. Dan and I were clearing the table, and we thought he was just looking at something behind him. Nope. He was out. Cold. He didn't even wake up when I carried him to bed. That was a good night of sleep for him.

Ripley Nuggets

I have been trying to feed our family healthier, real foods lately after learning some really disturbing things about the "food" we eat in America. So, taking itty bitty baby steps, I'm slowly incorporating and substituting healthier ingredients in our old favorite recipes, and I'm also brain-storming for new healthy ideas. For the past couple months I've been making some really yummy granola bars. Each time I make them, I play around with the recipe a little bit, so we've had them several different ways.

You can probably guess this on your own, but the chocolate ones are my favorite and Dan prefers the peanut ones. All of the kids love them both.

Last night as I mentally mapped out the day ahead - meals, activities, school work - I groaned at the idea that I might need to give the kids chicken nuggets AGAIN for lunch. It's such a staple for us, and I feel a little pang of guilt every time I serve them. Then I remembered a bunch of chicken I had in the deep freezer and wished I had thought ahead to thaw it so we could have that for lunch. 

Instead, I took it out in the morning, allowed it to thaw just slightly, so that it was still frozen, but soft enough to cut into bite-sized pieces. I had enough chicken that I decided to separate it out and try several different flavors. On the first group, I just sprinkled it with garlic powder (because that was the first thing I saw in my spice rack) and sauteed it. I sprinkled the second group with poultry seasoning and then covered it in a Garlic & Herb marinade (something Dan had picked up from the store) and cooked the same way. Then I sprinkled a third group with poultry seasoning and covered it in Taco Sauce, and sauteed it. The final group was sprinkled again with the poultry seasoning, covered in Ranch Dressing, and sauteed. Once I figure out the kids' favorite kind, I'm hoping to make most of this stuff on the grill. I'm thinking the Taco ones will go great in quesadillas, so I'm pretty sure I'll make more of those, and I let Vince try one of the Ranch ones before I put them in the freezer and this was his response: "Mmmm! Mom, that's good!!" It feels so nice to hear that from your son and know he's not lying. He hasn't started telling those little polite social fibs, so I know that if it was gross I would have seen him gag and spit it right back out, crying at the injustice of it all.

I'm not that bright: I wanted to freeze them all while they weren't touching each other because I thought that they might stick together if they were frozen in a pile...I may have just wasted A LOT of time though.

The dark pieces are bits of dark meat that had been on sale and I stockpiled them at the time because they were so cheap.

They look a lot like the Chick-Fil-A nuggets! I wish I had thought of this sooner...like the first time we experienced Chick-Fil-A!

Columbus

It's been a while since I've actually written a post! I've been skating by with photos and just neglecting to give any details of what we're up to. This is in part because we have been so hectic that there hasn't been a spare minute to do any of that! This semester I participated in two growth groups (or small groups) at church. One was a play group for moms and another was a Bible study for women. I get the chills just thinking about what wonderful experiences they both were! We finished our last week this week, and I am already so eager for the summer semester to begin! I've also been blessed to meet each week with two wonderful friends while our kids run wild at a Burger King playground as we read a book called The Resolution for Women. (I highly recommend it, by the way.) The big boys love their gymnastics class, and Silas is just itching to get started! They are all such little monkeys; it's a natural fit for them.

I can't believe we're already going to be leaving Columbus so soon (end of August). It seems like we just got here, but I'm so grateful for each person we've met. I have learned so much these last few weeks, from things like homeschooling, to healthier eating, to studying the Scriptures, and loving each person who has been made in the image of God. We are so extremely privileged to be here with such amazing, authentic, generous, and genuinely kind people. This is, by far, my favorite place I have ever lived.

With that being said, we have sold our house in Murphysboro, IL and we're in the process of looking for a place that's much closer to Dan's job site in Olmsted. We're not sure yet if that will put us in Paducah, KY, Cape Girardeau, MO, or Marion, IL territory, but either way, I'm preparing myself for a lot of seclusion. This might actually work to our advantage, since next year will be our first "real" year of homeschool, as Vincent will be in kindergarten. I have found it difficult to keep a good school schedule with so many activities going on here in Columbus.

As the weather heats up, we are getting more and more excited to get pool time in. We have two pools in our apartment complex, so we should be able to get lots of swim time in; I am expecting that it will be too hot to do anything else in the afternoons once the temps get into the triple digits!

I want to share some of what I've been studying on my own at home. I'm going through the most recent Beth Moore Bible study on the letter from James to the early Jewish believers; the study is called James: Mercy Triumphs. I'm working on memorizing the book of James, and it has been such a treat to commit these first few verses to memory. So whether I make it the whole way through or not, I am so glad to have these precious words imprinted on my heart. Chapter 1, verses 1-5:
"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." That's all I've got so far, but those are such encouraging words! I love that we can have supernatural joy in the midst of the muck that we're facing, because we can trust that once we get to the other side of this hardship, oh, we will see the faithfulness of God! And we will have grown through the process! And to know that the Lord is willing to grant us the wisdom we need to weather the storm?! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! If you're looking for something to study, I really recommend this Bible Study from Beth Moore. She has been given an incredible gift of teaching.

Easter pictures

The boys in their Easter outfits (which they didn't wear on Easter).

Anthony and Vincent

Silas and Vincent

"Hey, whatcha got there, big bro?"

"Waaaiiit a minute! I was wearing that!"

"Yeah, but it looks better on me."

"Yeah, you're right. Here, let me help you."

And it's Silas for the WIN!!!

New Adventures

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted, and I'm not even posting pics of our own family. With Dan's blessing, and even his heartfelt encouragement, I've been making the voyage into amateur photography. It's exciting and fun, and I have a LONG way to go, but I am hoping at the very least to capture some memories for ourselves and for some other families.

These are our precious friends, The Joneses. We've been so blessed to get to know them. Their boys are such good friends to our boys, and their youngest little beauty, Josie, is an absolute princess. She is such a little treat! So here are some pictures I've done for them recently. I'm a little nervous about posting my work for the first time, but here goes nothin. Thank goodness I had some great subjects to work with!

You can imagine how much fun I had with all this pink and tulle!

Brent was so sweet. He came to get some smiles out of his baby sister
and just couldn't resist a little lovin'!

Peek-A-Boo!

Silas, Stormy, and Josie watched the big boys run wild.

Angry Birds. Happy Kids.

I have to give props to my dear friend, Mariah for these shots. Her silhouettes were my inspiration for these. Stormy and Josie were perfect models for my little experiment. Stormy caught my vision right away, and "rocked the shot" (to quote Chantel).