Embrace the 38th Birthday!

On Monday I turned 38!!!  Holy Cow!  40 is just around the corner!

Here are some highlights from the fun birthday weekend

It started with breakfast at the airport!  Yep, that's right!  Maybe my new favorite place to eat!

(we didn't fly anywhere, just a small local airport where the food is amazing and the view is even better!)

Crazy amazing jumbo hot cocoa for me!

Lots of airplane watching

Gigi brought her Bible for morning devotions!

Me and the little Jesus lover!

The Doodle wouldn't smile with Moma -  weasel

Next day, lunch at the harbor.

I love that he's playing with my ring - what's left of it...

I lost my engagement ring, only the wedding band remains

What could have been a super yummy photo at lunch, but the hubs cut off my head!  I still like it anyway

A nice stroll on the beach

Someone helped make me a cake...

I took making my wish very seriously

And now we'll wait and see if it comes true!

Happy Thursday - go embrace the camera and get yourself in a photo!

*Tomorrow is my second to last Yummy Summer Post!  Come back and share some great ideas of things to do with your littles this summer!

Hero

The hubs rescued this umbrella on the beach last weekend.  The lady was running fast after it, but my super hero was faster and grabbed it just in time!  This isn’t the only thing he’s rescued in the past month – 2 turtles, a baby bird and now a run-away umbrella.  He’s my hero!  Do you remember as a child, thinking that your dad was your hero?  I always felt safe if I knew Daddy was home.  I was confident waterskiing if my Dad was driving the boat.  I never hesitated getting on a motorcycle, jumping off the houseboat or riding the rapids of the Colorado River if my Dad was by my side.  There is something so comforting and reassuring about the presence of a father.  My Dad can fix anything, answer any question, trouble shoot any problem – I’m not sure if there is anything my Dad cannot do!  As I watched my husband running after this umbrella, I also watched our children watching him.  They cheered him on and were so thrilled that he beat the wind and captured the stray umbrella.  “Daddy is a hero."  I’m grateful that my children admire their Daddy. 

I’m grateful that their Daddy is a man who is worthy of admiration. 

Birthday

It's my birthday today, so I'm taking the day to reflect on the past 37 years and embrace my new 38th year of life!!  Hopefully I'll discover something great to share on Wednesday!

Yummy Summer - Summer Treats Part II

My grandmother used to can things in the summertime to enjoy throughout the fall and winter.  These are the jars that filled my Grandmother's basement.

I love the idea of preserving summer vegetables, especially ones that come from my own garden. There is something so enchanting about doing things that the generations before me did, so for the past few summers I’ve been trying my hand at canning and I’m loving every moment of it. I’m longing to purchase real canning equipment (any recommendations?)
But for now I’m limping along with my lobster pot and tongs!

So far, it’s working quite well.

If you’ve never tried canning, I highly recommend it! It’s not as scary as it seems!

Although this isn’t a fun summer activity that I can share with my children yet (they are too young to help with sharp blades or boiling pots!), I’m hoping that they’ll carry on the tradition when they get older.

Our pastor’s wife used to can zucchini relish and I always loved it. This summer my giant zucchini were threatening a garden take over, so I knew it was time to make relish!

Zucchini Relish by Nancy Worth

10 c. ground zucchini

2 c. ground onion

5 T. salt, non-iodized is best

2 c. ground sweet pepper, 4-5 peppers (I used a combination of red, yellow and orange)

4 c. sugar

2 ½ c. vinegar or apple cider

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. turmeric

2 tsp. celery seed

1 T. cornstarch

Mix zucchini, onion and salt. Let stand overnight. In the morning, drain and rinse with cold water and drain again. Mix with remaining ingredients and boil 30 minutes. Put in hot jars and seal. A food processor makes this easy and quick. Makes 6 pints.

We love to pour some over cream cheese and serve with crackers. Or on a grilled hotdog!

Some great canning sites

http://www.freshpreserving.com/home.aspx

http://www.simplycanning.com/



Embrace Their Direction

For today's ETC, I let the girls have the camera and told them to "direct" the shoot!  It's no secret that they are completely sick of me taking photos of them, so I thought I'd let them be on the other side!  It was fun, funny, and I had to pry the camera away!

 "Look at me and smile a little" - that was our direction!

 "Hug and pretend like you're sleeping"!!!!!!  (love the summer freckle attack I have going on)

 "You look at her and you smile." 

"Look at each other and be serious."

I wonder if they made that stuff up or if they heard that from me?  Hmmmmm

*PS - anyone else having lots of problems with Blogger?  I can't leave comments on most sites :(

STOP

I’m not really sure how it happened.  I don’t really know when it started.  But I recently knew I had to stop.  They’d ask for one more cookie – “no, not right now.”  They’d ask to pull out all the paints to do art – “no, let’s do that tomorrow.”  They’d ask me to play school and be their teacher – “no, how about we build a puzzle.”  On and on, to nearly all their requests, I said, “no.”  It wasn’t an angry “no.”  It was more of a lazy, I don’t really feel like it, selfish “no.”  Yuck!  I didn’t even know I was doing it and I’m not sure what woke me up to stop, but enough was enough, it was time to say “yes.”  I became totally aware of my “no” obsession and tried new responses – “ok, sure, that sound’s great, I’d love to do that, do you want more milk with your cookies too?”  The whole mood has lightened.  Their faces smile more.  I feel alive and present instead of dragging and tired.  I’m having fun!  And best of all, I feel like I’m honoring God with the responsibility He’s given me to be a Mother.  I’ll bet it was Him who told me to stop.  He’s a loving Father like that and wants more for me and more for my kids.  He disciplines those He loves.  Do you need to stop?

*Come back Friday to share your favorite summer recipes

Amazing Grace

After we sang this song yesterday in church, our pastor got up and asked those who know Jesus to take a moment and thank God for his amazing grace. I once was lost. I once was blind. But now I’m free. But now I see. As I bowed my head, “thank you” didn’t come to mind. “I’m sorry” did. I’m sorry that I don’t fully live into this amazing grace. I’m sorry that I’m not fully living into the woman God has ransomed. I’m sorry that I’m not ever mindful of his incredible sacrifice. I’m sorry that I don’t always live like I’m free. I’m sorry that I often walk around focused on the things of this world.

Not today.

Today I get it.

Unending love.

Amazing Grace.

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Was blind, but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed

My chains are gone

I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy rains

Unending love, Amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me

His word my hope secures

He will my shield and portion be

As long as life endures

My chains are gone

I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy rains

Unending love, Amazing grace

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow

The sun forbear to shine

But God, Who called me here below

Will be forever mine

Will be forever mine

You are forever mine

10 on 10 July

This is my first time participating in 10 on 10!  It's when you take a photo every hour, for 10 hours, on the 10th of the month!  So, on July 10th, here are 10 photos from my day!

1.  early morning jaunt to the garden to pick jumbo zucchini in our jammies

2.  ground zucchini, preparing for canning zucchini relish

(come back Friday for the Yummy Summer recipe - it's so good!)

3.  ironing my top for church

4.  rushing out of the house to get to church on time

(Daddy bear was working today and I successfully got all 3 kids out of the house on time!)

5.  Little dude in full tantrum in the car after church

(he stayed in there and screamed for about 1/2 hour!  Awesome!)

6.  Sissy helping make quesadillas for lunch

7.  what 2 year old prefers a salad for lunch?  mine!

8.  a little show the ladies put on while little dude napped

(obviously he needed it after the melt down!)

9.  swim time

10.  BBQ flank steak for dinner

It was a great day!

Linking up with A Bit Of Sunshine

Yummy Summer - Summer Treats Part I

This week and next week my yummy summer posts will highlight some of my favorite summer recipes! If you have some fantastic summer foods that you love, please share them with us all and link up below.  I will be featuring some of the recipes on my food blog,
"What’s For Dinner?” – perhaps one of yours will show up there! - giving you full credit and linking back to your blog.

Today I'm highlighting my abundant lemon tree and all the treats it provides,

starting with Homemade Lemonade!

I always recommend getting your kids involved in the kitchen. Not only do they learn a lot, but you’ll find that they’ll try more new foods if they’ve had a hand in preparing them! And summertime is a great time to get your kids in the kitchen because we’re not fighting against school schedules and homework.

The children have lots of fun squeezing the lemons for homemade lemonade!

And even more fun drinking the finished product!

Homemade Lemonade

It’s so simple!

1 c. sugar

1 c. water

1 c. fresh lemon juice

Put the water and sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Allow the simple syrup to cool completely. Pour lemon juice and simple syrup in a pitcher and add water to make the lemonade. You can add 4-5 cups of cold water, but I like mine more diluted and will add more water.

One variation is to add slices of the peel of 2 lemons into the simple syrup once you remove it from the heat to cool. The lemon peel will steep in the syrup and add a stronger lemon flavor. This might require you adding even more water to the finished product, yielding more lemonade. Make sure to only cut off the yellow part of the peel, leaving the white still on the lemon.

Here is my favorite variation –

Blueberry Mint Lemonade

1 c. sugar

1 c. water

1 c. fresh lemon juice

¼ c. fresh blueberries (more for serving if you wish)

2 sprigs of fresh mint

Put water and sugar in a sauce pan and simmer over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved into the water, remove pan from heat and add ¼ c. fresh blueberries and 2 sprigs of mint. Allow those to steep in the simple syrup until cool. Smash the berries slightly with the back of a spoon. Pour the syrup through a strainer, add lemon juice and water for a beautiful and delicious summer drink.

Other Yummy Summer Lemon Recipes:

Lemon Blossoms

The Best Lemon Bars

Embrace America

As I mentioned yesterday, we got to be in a super fun parade on the 4th of July!

Here we are, post parade, pooped out!

It was rather warm!

But that didn't stop us from having a wonderful time!

My hubby on the Mary Popins Mobile!

It Only Takes A Spark

We had a lovely 4^th of July! 

The children were in their first parade, we made homemade lemonade, friends came over to BBQ hamburgers with corn on the cob and potato salad, and I got a private fireworks show from my backyard while the rest of the family was fast asleep! 

I must tell you about the parade though – my dear friend Sheena is amazing! 

She is the creative mom that always goes the extra mile to make every occasion special and memorable.  2 years ago she made a little poster inviting the neighborhood kids to be in a 4^th of July parade.  There was a cute turn out and the kids had a blast.  On Monday, for the 3^rd annual, Liberty Canyon 4^th of July Parade, there were about 400 people there!  It was amazing.  Old cars draped in red, white and blue bunting led the way, followed by kids on bikes, families walking with flags, a man playing his trumpet, a girl pulling a wagon with a homemade float blasting America The Beautiful!  You name it – it was there in red, white and blue!  With tears in my eyes, I looked at Sheena and said, “you did all this.  Can you believe it?”  Her response was, “it only takes a spark.”  How many times have you had an idea but didn’t act on it out of fear of failure?  “What if no one comes?”  “What if I look like a fool?”  “What if I make a mistake?”  BUT, what if people are blessed by your idea?  What if you start a movement?  What if 400+ people show up?  What if you succeed?  It only takes a spark!

Happy 4th of July

The real reason why we have true freedom:

at Vacation Bible School...

we decorated special little cards...

they say that ____  loves you....

we placed them in a super cool little red case....

so we could carry them around and hand them out to anyone we meet

Jesus Loves You

knowing this is where true freedom comes from

Happy 4th of July!

Yummy Summer - Grandparent Tour

If the grandparents live next door or a few states away, making a special summertime visit is so special both for the grandparents and grandchildren. When our first babies were born in Southern California, all of our family was still in Northern California. I decided that every summer I would do a Grandparent Tour and visit all 3 sets of grandparents. Even though it means a long road trip, sleepless nights as the littles adjust to new beds and messing up our fine tuned schedule! It’s so worth it.

Highlights:

1. the Grandparents love having the children in their home

2. the kids get to explore and experience an area that is not their “norm”

3. Moma doesn’t have to cook!!!

4. lifelong memories are made

You might be thinking:
Our grandparents live 10 minutes away and we see them every day! Most likely your daily visits incorporate babysitting or welcoming an extra set of hands to help! Well, designate a special day visit this summer that does not include any babysitting and make it a special grandparent day.
Have your children make a fun invitation to invite them over
Make a special lunch (without having to make one more run to the market, leaving the kids with the grandparents to watch them!)
Play a fun game together or make a craft or some memorable project that they can take home.
Take tons of pictures and send them to them later
Make the grandparents feel like they are on vacation, visiting your family, as honored guests!

Or you might be thinking:
Our grandparents live far away and making a trip is out of the question. Perhaps it’s cheaper to fly them out to you rather than flying your whole family out to them! Or, set up a special skype date, or phone date. Send them a care package ahead of time with fun treats (homemade by the children), pictures drawn by the children, photos… and set your phone date for when they receive the package so that you can talk about all the fun contents.

Bottom line – make it a point to get some devoted time with the grandparents that’s all about making memories, not just getting their much needed help!!

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Here are some bonus Yummy Summer ideas that are awesome!

Fabric stamping t shirt fun

I tried this with $5 Target t-shirts and they are adorable!

kid’s art tee

love this and can’t wait to do it this summer!

Our Summer Box 

what a fun way to remember all the fun of summer!
4th of July Banner
I hit up Home Depot last night to make this!