Our Trip to the Great Wolf Lodge

This is how the boys felt about their time at the Great Wolf Lodge!!
Ashton on his favorite slide in the smaller pool.
Ashton's ready for day 2!
Cutest baby in the cutest swimsuit!!!
Quintin had a great time playing basketball and going down the "big slides" with a new friend.

I think Thea even likes it!
See that huge slide way up at the top?? Yeah...I went on that...and I screamed.

Landon looks scared, but he really loved it...just as long as someone caught him at the bottom.


We had such a wonderful time. I loved that it was inside and we didn't have to worry about rain, getting cold or sunburn. We've decided to make this a yearly trip (at least) and the kids are more than happy to agree to that!

Remembering Hawaii

Right before we left we went to Bellow's AFB. I took these pictures on my old camera and just now finally got them uploaded on the computer.

How babies are made...

Just in case you didn't know, babies are made in the breadmaker!

Silly baby!!!

Thea was fussing for awhile this afternoon. All of the sudden I thought, "she's quiet!" Now every parent knows that when it gets quiet something's going on! Then Ashton tells me that thea dumped out the chips. Here's what I found when I went into the kitchen!

Chip, mama??

I'm so funny!!!

1st Soccer Game!!

I loved watching Ashton play. He also loved playing! We got beat...bad. But that's OK because they technically do not keep score. Ashton did score his team's 1 goal. He almost made a second, but missed the goal by a few inches.

Waching them was so cute!! It was really cold and so many of the kids did not want to play. When it was Ashton's turn to sit out a quarter he cried and cried. It ended up that a little girl did not want to play he went in anyways. Dan loves coaching them. The other coach's son isn't very into soccer so he has to spend most of his time holding his son's hand and encouraging him. I have to figure out how to post videos so you can see the cutest soccer playing ever!!

A trip to the zoo

Friday is our playgroup day. Now, I've only been once before so I guess I can't really consider it something we do regularly, but I would like to get out more. The group is technically a homeschooling group, but almost it's not strict on that rule and most of us only have pre-school aged kids anyways. This past Friday we met at the zoo. It just turned out to be us and one other family. It was fun...for the 10 minutes before it started pouring! We got to ride the train for the first time. The boys loved it. I was surprised at how many animals you can see while riding it. We saw rhinos, zebras, pink flamingos and heard the wolves howling. Maybe they were warning us about the upcoming storm. Well, weather.com had already warned us, but I really wanted to get out of the house and was hoping it'd be wrong.

Ashton on the train

Landon on the train

I wish I had thought to get pictures of us all in raincoats with umbrellas. We tried to keep going in the rain, but it just wasn't very comfortable.

Highlights from soccer practice 2

Coach Dan and Ashton getting ready
Ashton goes for the goal.
The team getting ready to do drills. As you can see, 4 year old soccer is very intense.

Q's big day

So yesterday was the birthday as you've already read...

but here's what we did!

Q did some over the phone opening...

He got the day off of school and chores (probably his favorite present)





When Daddy came home, Q got to make dinner with him. Now most people wouldn't think cooking would be fun to do on one's birthday, but Quintin loves to cook. So this was so much fun for him. He got to choose the recipe. He chose fried rice.




Daddy tried to steal all the cool presents.

The helmet is now glued to Q's head

I wish I had a picture of Q sleeping with his arm around the WWII helmet he got. He's worn in non-stop since yesterday. I had to make him take it off when we went to Bass Pro Shop today. What a great day.

He's 9!?!?!?!?

Can it really be?? Quintin is nine already! Wow, time really does fly. Yesterday was his birthday and it was a wonderful day.

I can't write a birth story for him, but I can remember the first time I ever met him! Quintin loves for me to tell this story...

Dan and I had been dating long distance and I had not met Quintin yet. Q came to live with Dan in early September and soon after I took the train down to visit him. I was so nervous that Quintin would not like me or be scared of me! Dan had shown him pictures of me and had tried to teach him to say my name. He couldn't, so Dan called me "E" (a nickname one of my sorority sisters had given me) and pointed to my picture.

I got off the train and there was Dan with the cutest little red-headed boy ever! Dan had a rose in his hand and Q had a daisy in his. Quintin said, "here" and handed me the flower. Later Dan told me that he had said, "E" when he saw me get off the train...even before Dan had told him who I was.

It seems like such a long time ago. Quintin was 2 at the time. Now look at him. Such a young man. We have gone through such a journey to raise him so far. I can't say that it has been easy, but I can say that God has been faithful!! I remember crying out to God one night feeling so overwhelmed with a situation and a calmness came over me and I felt the Lord tell me to be faithful and keep going, because HE had a plan for Quintin. So watch out world...the God of the universe has a plan for our Quintin! And if I know Quintin, it's going to be big!

Jer 29:11 (NIV) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

And Saturday...

was date night! The boys ate leftover soup and crackers and Dan and i ended up at the food court at the mall. Not exactly where we had planned to eat, but we weren't up for a 1 1/2 hour wait for a table.

Quintin had his belt test today. It's so exciting for the kids. It was a very long day. We were there from 9:30am until about 1pm. Unfortunately, Dan had to work so I was trying to watch all the littles by myself. They actually did really well, but were more than ready to go afterwards. Quintin did great. He kicked the board in half like it was nothing! I can tell he's really nervous out there with everyone watching him. We think that tae kwon do is going to be wonderful for his focus and self confidence. We were also treated to a show from the demo team. It is a team made up of about 30 students. They do synchronized form to drum beats and jump over each other to break boards. Quintin says he wants to try out for the team as soon as he gets his green belt. I am trying to figure out how to post my videos, but am having trouble. At least I can get these pictures up!! I didn't take too many because we had to watch from up above. I got video of his entire test, however.

Way to go, Quintin!!

On Friday we...

Ate leftovers :-) Dan had to work really late so we just ate something easy. I wanted to post a couple of dairy-free, sugar free, egg free bread recipes that I like to make in the bread maker. The honey whole wheat bread goes well with the bean soup that we had on Wed. The Cranberry Oat Bread is wonderful for breakfast.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread (bread maker)

Add ingredients in this order
1 1/8 cup warm water
2 T. butter or marg.
4 T. raw honey
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast (poke a hole in the flour with your finger and add the yeast into this hole so the yeast does not touch the wet ingredients)

Set machine to whole wheat setting, 1 1/2 pound loaf, light crust
Remove promptly

Notes: you can use all whole wheat flour in this recipe. Just add 3 tsp. vital wheat gluten so the bread won't be hard and flat.


Cranberry Oat Bread

Add ingredients in this order
1 cup warm water
2 T. Butter or marg.
4 T. Raw honey
3/4 t. salt
1 T. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup old fashioned oats
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 3/4 tsp. active dry yeast (after poking a hole in dry ingredients)

Set machine to basic bread setting, 1 1/2 lb. loaf, light crust
Add 1/3 cup raisins or dried cranberries at the "raisin beep"

Notes: I suppose that using butter makes this not milk free...however, we choose to use butter (preferably organic) over margarine for health reasons!

And now for Thursday

Tonya's Peachy Pork Picante (crock pot)

1 lb. boneless pork, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1 T. taco seasoning mix

1 8 oz bottle chunky style salsa

1/3 cup peach preserves

Directions

Place pork in crock pot

sprinkle seasoning on pork

mix salsa and preserves together and then pour them on the meat

cook 8 hours on low

Serve with rice and pour juices over the meat and rice.

Notes: I used pork loin (5 pounds actually) and did not cut it up for simplicity's sake. It seems to have more flavor when cut, however. This freezes very well so I normally triple the recipe...1 pound of pork doesn't come close to feeding the 6 of us!!

Wednesday's Dinner was...

2 Good 2 Be Bean Soup (crock pot)

Ingrediants

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained

1can garbanzo beans, drained

1 lb. frozen mixed vegtables

1 small bag frozen cut ocra (optional...I love ocra so I add it)

1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained

1 large vegetarian vegetable bouillon cube

1 can (11 1/2 oz) vegetable juice (I use V8)

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Put it all in the crock pot and cook 8-10 hours on low. Serve with crackers.

Notes: I have a 6 quart crock pot and always double this recipie. It freezes pretty well and is great to have on a hand for a quick lunch or for dinner. This soup is so good. Even my meat loving husband dosen't mind that it's vegetarian. It's probably the easiest dinner I make.

Ashton's first soccer practice!

Warming up with Daddy
Listening to Coach. When he asked for volunteers to help coach the games, Ashton rasied his hand! Daddy is going to be assistant coach.
Going for the goal!

Tuesday's dinner

Ashton has his first soccer practice tonight so I chose something easy that will be easy to clean up. We're going to eat on paper plates and I'll just have to cover the leftovers with foil and stick it back in the fridge.


Miss Eryn's Brazilian Chicken Salad (I'm calling it Chicken casserole so my hubby will think it is a more hearty meal)

Ingrediants
1/2 rotisserie chicken chopped
green olives, sliced (LOTS)
sweet corn (1 can or 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh)
2 apples, sliced and diced
potatoes, cooked and cubed (1 1/2 cups)
carrots, 3 shredded
fresh basil or dill, 1 1/2 T.
dried rosemary 1 or 2 t.
mayo to taste, 1/3 cup appr.

Mix it all together and chill.


Notes: I made this today during naptime with hopes that the flavors will be blended by dinner. It would have been best to make it the night before. We will serve this on top of lettuse greens with cherry tomatoes and yellow bell peppers with fresh strawberries for dessert. So colorful!