No News is Good News...err....

No REAL exciting news to blog about, but still, some good stuff is going on.

- Salem drank from a bottle for the first time yesterday. He's been a no-bottle type man, but lately has been showing more interest...so we tried it. Hooray for some freedom for mama!

- We've started our February challenge. Already I feel like we're eating healthier. Really, how often do you ever eat a veggie when eating out?! mmmm, I'm buying broccoli by the bucketload and steaming it with just a touch of butter.

- We got about 5-6 inches of snow this past weekend (pictures to come) and schools closed Mon-Wed...even though today it was 50 degrees and the snow was here more in the form of running streams than snow drifts. AND even though roads are all cleared and the forecast is predicting sunny weather...schools are doing a delay start in the morning. Odd, I tell you, odd. But then again, SUVs are the minority here.

- Yesterday Eden locked me out of the house while only she and Salem were inside. mmmm,hmmm. Well, maybe it was kinda my fault, or at least stupid of me. Before loading the kids in the car, I decided to start the truck and get the heater going so I took the truck key off of my keychain so I could still lock the apt door when we left. So...out I go to the truck and when I returned, the apartment door was locked. I took a minute to yell to Eden through the door to turn the lock back. Then, panic-stricken, ran down to our neighbors for help. By the time I returned, 2-3 minutes later, she'd figured it out and unlocked the door. whew! She was about as freaked out as I was when I got inside!

- Over the past week, we've been thoroughly seeking the Lord's guidance concerning our exact location when we head back overseas. We've got two possibilities that are incredible and it would be awesome to work in either position, but we're leaning toward one that would take us back to the area in The Big Chicken where we were almost 2 years ago. It would be a different type of work and would require a little bit different preparation, but we can see God's hand guiding us toward this area/work beginning even 2 years ago. We're looking forward to finalizing it all and having a clear idea of where He's going to take our family in Jan. 2011!

The Chain Gang

I was invited to be a "guest vendor" on The Chain Gang. Since I have so much free time (sensing my sarcasm?) I decided to do it! I've been way too consumed in it the past week or so getting ready for Tuesday, which is the big "stocking" day for it to all go up for sale. It's posted on there just for the month of February. So if February 27th rolls around and you happen to notice it's all still on there...umm...I'm not too prideful to ask for pity purchases. :) ha!

Mr. Handsome

A week or so ago, when we were still at Brandon's parent's house, I took advantage Salem's incredibly happy mood and some awesome light coming in the window. I plopped him up on the dining room table and started rapid firing with my camera. Below are the results! And I know I'm going overboard posting 10 pics, but well, he's just so darn cute that I can't resist posting them all! :)





Discovering the art of zerberts...and experimenting with flying...




ok...so, they're all my favorites. But the next three are really the icing on the cake. I could just eat him up! :)








Isn't he a such a sweetums?! (answer: YES!!!)

Chicken Almondine

Is this my first recipe post? hmmmm...interesting. Is that a testament to my cooking? I hope not.

We're back on the East Coast now. Within the past week we snow-skied (sp?) Taos, flew home on Wednesday, and Brandon has worked 30 hours over just the weekend. I'm feeling exhausted. Even though, really, I've not done much. Maybe part of that is because I've spent the last 3 days trying to get Eden pacifier detoxed...to no avail. Next time, I'm going to make sure Brandon is here with me for every bedtime and naptime because I CAN NOT withstand the screaming by myself.

So I gave in to her screaming during this afternoon's nap. And decided to take advantage of the peace and quiet and get my own coma-nap. But then some kids outside woke up me while playing the 2010 equivalent of Cowboys and Indians.

And now, with not much else to do, I'm passing on the recipe for our lunch today because it was DE-LISH. My awesome sister-in-law made this for us while we were home and I decided to give it a go. It's super easy. Super yummy. And in my mind, totally healthy because it's topped with almonds. (my reasoning on that is yet to be found)

Chicken Almondine

8 Chicken Breasts (I used 6)

8-oz carton sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pkg Ritz crackers

2 sticks butter (yikes! I opted for half a stick! you could probably go without)

sliced almonds

cook your chicken. I baked it for 60 minutes at 325 degrees. Then shred it up and place in a 13x9 pan. Pour in sour cream and cream of chicken soup and mix all together. Crush 1 roll of the Ritz crackers and sprinkle them on top. Melt however much butter you decide to use(c'mon, think of your arteries here) and pour it on top of the crackers. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350.

YUM!

February, oh February

I know, it's still January.

But let me get a little ahead of myself and inform you of one of our new goals for 2010. Well...really just February of 2010.

A few months ago we were convicted about how much money we spend on eating out. Let me defend myself real quick and say that I do cook quite a bit, and we really don't eat out THAT much compared to the average American (I think.) But still, as a challenge to ourselves and in an effort to save money, live more conservatively, and use our resources wisely, we're committing to only eating stuff that we've bought from the grocery store for that week! YIKES! I know, it's going to be tough. Tough for me to steer clear of DQ Blizzards and tough for Brandon to avoid the pull of a vanilla latte at the coffee shop. None the less, we're going to attempt to do this. Granted, we have picked the shortest month of the year for this endeavor AND we're coming off of an eating out high with our families over the past few weeks, but we're sticking to it. And we're hoping to make it a yearly commitment. So look for lots of new recipes posted on here over the next several weeks!

The reason I'm posting this now is to give you an opportunity to say you'll join us! :) Maybe not for the whole month, but just whatever you think you can commit to. So, if you're up for it, join us for a month of meals at home!

Same. Same. But Different.

The Etch A Sketch. One of those classics from the 90s. (I'm just guessing on that...maybe it goes back further?!) We dug it out of the bottom of the toy box at my parent's house this week. Eden was confused why there weren't more colors. She lost interest pretty quick.

But Brandon was transformed into a 6 year old for several minutes today and was taken back to 1991 while etch a sketching (?) a masterpiece. After a serious several minutes spent turning the creaky white wheels back and forth, he turned it towards me and said, "LOOK! I drew you!"


Really?! That's supposed to be me?! Well, I'll give him a little credit. The Etch A Sketch doesn't really allow for a whole lot of creativity.
But really, what's your first thought when you see his Etchy Sketchy Masterpiece?
My first thought was this:


I know, I know. DaVinci's Vitruvian Man doesn't normally have a black square over the middle of it, but for G rated blogging purposes, I'm including it. :)
And granted, it's pretty far fetched to compare Brandon's squiggely lined Etch a Sketch weirdo to the Vitruvian Man, but can you at least see some similarities?
Maybe not.
Maybe I really am the squiggely lined weirdo.

Winter Wonderland

First off...I'm apologizing for all these picture/caption blogs I've been posting lately. I know you're just dying :) for a good read, but apparently living with family for the past 3 weeks leaves me very little time for creative blog thought. It also drains my wit (in a very good way!) and anything I'd try to write that would be remotely interesting might leave you drooling while sleeping on your keyboard.

So wake up! More pictures!


We had a white Christmas this year and loved getting to take Eden on her first very short-lived sledding adventure.
She started off as this, eager and ready:


Braved a few extremely short slopey hills, and really enjoyed it despite what her face is telling you...


Watched mommy and daddy enjoy the short slopey hills too...



About five minutes later and after deciding gloves are for weenies, with only racking up 3 sled trips total, she ended up as this...


That's one bitterly cold little girl being forced to try her very first snow angel. As you can tell, it didn't go over well.
Maybe next time she'll keep the gloves on and spending 30 minutes bundling up to go outside won't seem quite so futile. :)

We'll see next weekend! We're headed to Taos!