I'm going to try to do these Thankful posts more often,
I hope you don't mind.
It's not that my life is perfect,
but that I am trying to look past the imperfect to see the blessings
that are hard to find sometimes if we are not looking.
Thankful for rosey cheeks on little girls that dress themselves!
Don't worry little one, I'll pick up your coat...
Thankful these kids were busy for hours making a car out of this diaper box
(Christine--this is not the box I told you about)
Thankful I've got at least one daughter interested in cooking and baking!
She made
No Bake Cookies
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup milk
3 to 4 cups quick cook oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
In pan combine butter, sugar, cocoa and milk. Boil one minute.
Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until melted.
Then add vanilla and oatmeal, mix well
(may have to add oatmeal to get to the consistency you want)
Spoon onto wax paper.
Cool in fridge.
Or if you live in MN, put it outside on the porch for like 5 minutes.
Thankful these taste amazing
How am I doing?
Well...I'll be honest here,
I lost 7 lbs before Christmas.
Then Christmas happened.
I gained one pound back.
I have not gone back to counting points.
I need to.
There has been a lot going on here.
I'm distracted.
I'll get back to it. I have to.
I'm thankful for life's distractions, truly I am.
Sometimes they are hard ones though.
Thankful this beautiful Amaryllis I bought as a bulb just 3 weeks ago,
is blooming, and brightening up my kitchen.
And reminding me that winter is not eternal.
Just amazing.
I found these at Wal-mart the other day.
Thankful that for $3.33 each, I can bring a little spring into my kitchen.
They make me smile.
Thankful we are now Catan settlers.
Yep.
The kids love this game!
We need to get the add-ons though so more can play...
Doesn't it look fun?
Thankful for French toast Fridays....
When I was little, my mom made French toast
with plain bread, milk and eggs.
I hated French toast.
This is what I do now:
Cinnamon bread (a must)
Eggs
Milk
Cinnamon sprinkled in mixture
vanilla--a dash or a tsp, whatever, I just squirt it in
and
of course syrup warmed up.
Add some smoothies and you've got the perfect meatless Friday meal!
Thankful my kiddos love playing outside
(except Little Red--he hates it now that it's cold)
She wants to go see the...
Snow fort!
Nice mailbox now, huh?
And the best part?
Thankful for hot cocoa and marshmallows....and Hero Factories...
Thankful our little baker
made our Sunday dessert
She picked Red Velvet Cupcakes...
We tried to copy the recipe picture...
Thankful my littles are still little.
Oh, if I could keep you like this FOREVER, I would.
Thankful for snotty nosed toddlers with a forehead full of bruises....you little honey....
Thankful for my weekly kitchen helper, starting this week with her.
She's 7, which is much later than the other kids started with helping jobs
but 9PeasMom inspired me to get to work on the younger ones too.
The person that empties the dishwasher, puts dishes away and sets the table for the week,
is the weekly kitchen helper.
This person is there to help while I"m cooking.
Cutting up veggies, putting together components of the meal,
learning how to cook real food!
It takes a little longer to train littles, but I know in the end,
it will be so worth it.
(in like 5 years)
Here she's making Popover Pizza
(if you want the recipe, it's a favorite of ours, go HERE!)
Thankful my baby still fits in the sink.
What?
His knees are on the edge, but he fits.
He fits.
Thankful for babies toddlers in the sink.
I love your thankful posts and the pictures of your sweet kids. Yes, they grow up almost before you blink-enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI know that growing before we blink thing happens, so I'm trying to catch it before I blink.....Thanks so much Jan!
DeleteJamie...I love your home! I love the love all over the place...
ReplyDeleteNo Bakes! A favorite! Don't you just love the smell of them?
Your kids are adorable...and you are one awesome momma...
Thankful for you!
Chocolate and peanut butter? Are you kidding? YES they smell wonderful. BUT with 6 kids they were gone pretty fast--thank goodness!
DeleteThankful for you too Billie Jo!
Oh Little Red...you make me coooooold!
ReplyDeleteI love that little kitchen helper. Awesome! My kids are SUCH complainers.
Oh, but the water is warm!
DeleteTonite she was like, "Can I go read?" "No honey, you are the kitchen helper:)"
I think he needs a warm washcloth on his shoulders. ;-)
DeleteYour spring flowers…what a beautiful touch to your beautiful home. I'm so glad that you are going these Thankful posts because you remind all the rest of us to do the same. Sometimes I say I"m going to do it, but I don't remember in all of the hecticness. And then I read one of your lovely posts to remind me.
ReplyDeletePatty, all your posts are filled with loveliness!
DeleteThose cupcakes look delicious! We have Settler's of Catan. Fun game, but we haven't played it for a while. We need to get it out - maybe have a game night! I love those no-bake cookies, but they never set up here in Arizona, unless they are in the fridge and I never have room in the fridge for a whole cookie sheet of them. You really do have much to be thankful for. I do love your thankful posts. I think I need to do one this week as well. Have a good day tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteDo you have room for a whole cookie sheet in your freezer? (I guess if it's a side by side, it wouldn't work)
DeleteGame night sounds wonderful!
You have a wonderful day too Deb!
I love your thankful posts! I should do them, I seem to never blog any more! And ummm my blog is down and I'm trying to fix it. If I figure it out I will have to do a thankful post! Thankful that I figured it out at least!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Allison! I'm thankful I get to see your beautiful creations on Facebook! Hope you can fix your blog soon!
DeleteThat is so great that your kids take turns being kitchen helpers and learning how to cook. It will serve them well in the future. I wish I'd done that with my boys. They weren't all that interested in what went on in the kitchen, but I should have tried to make them interested!
ReplyDeleteAlso, your French toast is almost exactly like what I used to make for them when we had French toast dinners--which was one of their favorites. I put cinnamon and vanilla in the egg mixture, too--but I didn't use cinnamon swirl bread. That is pure genius! (When they're back home and I make it for them, I'm definitely going to add that twist!)
This post was so sweet, thanks for sharing.
Oh, I have one Laura Pearl, my oldest daughter, she is not interested at all. I keep telling her it will teach her the skills she will need when she grows up.
DeleteThis was the first week of having a "kitchen helper" and supper has been at least a 1/2 hour late each night!!
Your boys will love the French toast you make even more!
I LOVE your thankful posts, keep doing them and the more frequent the better! I need to do one of these, possibly you might do a Thankful link up??
ReplyDeleteIf you ever want to visit about the weight loss journey, I'd love to. I lost quite a bit and have kept it off. One thing that really kicked the weight loss into high gear was when I gave ALL meat up for Lent, it was sort of like a detox/cleanse thing and really aided my healthy changes. I still eat meat, but giving it up for the entire Lent was really helpful in many ways...not just healthy but spiritual as well.
I could do a link up...not sure that many would link up though. I could try next time. No pressure, no certain day, just whenever people can do it.
DeleteThat lent thing has me thinking. I don't eat that much meat, I don't really like it. BUT I like hamburger. I love a good burger once in a while. And then, while I was thinking about it, we had calzones, and there was meat in those....and I had a piece....so I do eat meat...I might do the lent thing just to see how it goes. Thanks for the idea.
I would love to visit about your weight loss journey!
I love, love your thankful posts.I still cannot get over how COLD it is up there, and the kids just take to it like ducks to water! I would be dead within 5 minutes. So sweet to have a budding baker in the house, and Little Sims in the sink is ADORABLE!!! Love your beautiful flower~
ReplyDeletehahahhahaah!!! You would NOT die!!! You are so funny!!! I don't know why I live here. It's my parents fault, isn't it? Now I'm stuck.
DeleteMy kids love the cinnamon bread as french toast too. Then I cut it in strips and they dip in applesauce, I'm not a big syrup person. I would love that pizza recipe, looks goooood!! My younger kids love being helpers, the olders...not so much! But we have a car starter (on the cold winter mornings), a daily prayer helper (leads prayers), and they all like to help me cook and they all have to clean up the toys/books/etc before they get to watch the tv show at night. I think I had way more chores as a kid, but so far, they just do what we ask of them (pretty well) and don't have specific lists.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a syrup person...actually, I don't even eat pancakes, waffles or French toast...my kiddos do though, and they love syrup!! That applesauce idea sounds fun! You are such a fun mama!
DeleteI'll try to link the Popover pizza recipe soon!
We can get our kids to do anything to watch a show on TV or a movie!
Oh my goodness, that top photo melted my heart! Sploosh! There it is, a great big puddle on the floor.
ReplyDeleteI got my parents a double amaryllis for Christmas. Don't you love them? They're like an alien springing forth from the pot; they grow so fast.
Awwwww, Maggie!
DeleteOh, yes, the amaryllis is amazing. Next year, I might have to buy more than one!
hello friend who woke me up from my nap...HA...I fell back to sleep and I feel so much better. I woke up to the best smell in the world! Your rice soup. I was laughing so hard when Brian told me he called you on how to cook it. He said he was embarrassed afterwards because he felt like he asked how to boil water. I never thought of the stove top myself...I would have done the oven also. everything was so good. thank you thank you thank you.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to see my goddaughter wearing that cute shirt with the bunny on it. she is cute inside the house and outside.
nice you have kids that can and like to cook. I wonder if my kids will?? because I am not a good cook myself? or or or I just don't like to cook either.
flowers are pretty. anything helps to get us through the winter.
thankful for your posts...I love seeing pictures and seeing what you are up too. sims is so adorable. he still wont let me give him a big hug. thankful for you.
Oh, Christine!! I thought it was so cute that he called! He didn't even know I'd called earlier. I tried to stop Colette from yelling for you....See? If you'd have told them you could have not been awakened by my call!! (haha-just teasing you)
DeleteYes, she loves the clothes from her godmama, especially the bunny one!! (more than the owl one)
Your kids won't cook, if you don't get them in the kitchen!! They will not know how!! I don't like cooking, but I like to know how! haha!
Thankful for you friend!
What a wonderful kitchen helper! It looks like you've got lots going on in your kitchen and yummy goodness. OH, and spring in the windows...that is something to be thankful over. I have an amaryllis bulb that I recently started and each day it amazes me how much it grows. I am looking forward to the colorful cheer it will bring as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder to be THANKFUL :)
Oh, aren't those bulbs fun? The kids kept trying to measure it daily. It happened so fast!
DeleteThanks for popping in!! It's so nice to see your pretty face!
Your children are so precious! I always love reading your Thankful posts...it always inspires me to remember to look around and be more mindful of all of the things I am thankful for! Also, I have poinsettias from my wedding all around our house just to remind myself that there are things to look forward to in the summer (I love gardening!)
ReplyDeleteOh, Lisa, thank you so much! You are so sweet! Gosh, being newly married, everything is to look forward to, especially the first year!! God bless you!
DeleteI so cannot wait to go back on Weight Watchers!! This baby weight is awful! One more week of pain.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a passion for cooking. I can't stand cooking. It's more like a chore than a pleasure. I'm not good at it either...lol. I do love baking through. Sweets are my weakness. Chocolate cupcakes....yes please!!!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend! God Bless
One more week? Yahoo!!! I bet you are anxious. I will be praying for you, the end is so hard. (what am I talking about, the whole dang pregnancy is hard!)
DeleteGod bless you and that sweet little blessing!
Who would say no to more Thankful Posts?
ReplyDeleteThat's great that you lost 7 lbs before Christmas and only gained 1 back with the holidays. I think that's good! You already know it works for you so that is a huge step.
I hope one of my kids like the kitchen. Right now they say they want to do something but then we start to and they scatter. I like the weekly helper. I need to start something like that. But... I also like the quiet time of making dinner, one of the rare moments.
Love the plants. I love, love, love hyacinths. That's a great idea for bringing in a little spring early. :)
God bless.
Oh, my gosh Nicole!! You are so right about our cooking time being our quiet time!!! I like how the bigger kids take the littles away, because "I can't watch them!" hahah!! It has been an interesting week, it's taken a little longer, but I know in a year (not 5 like I said) they will all be good in the kitchen! They do not have to like it, but they have to know how to do it!
DeleteI have had to make sure she is busy, she will cut something up, like celery for our jambalaya we had last night, and then, she's gone!! I have to call her back, and I have to keep her busy, or she's gone. She's fine while she's doing what I ask her to do....but is easily distracted! The one week thing helps, for me and for them to know, "it's only a week!"
It will be interesting to see how the rest do.
This cold weather is not motivating me at all to workout or watch my points!
I can't wait for those hyacinths to bloom, they smell so wonderful!
God bless you too, Nicole!
For those who want the Popover Pizza recipe, go here:
ReplyDeletehttp://jamieskitchenblessings.blogspot.com/2014/01/popover-pizza.html
I updated it in the post too!