A Balanced Diet is a Cookie in Each Hand

Recently, I posted a picture in one of my thankful lists of the monster cookies that I baked. One of my friends asked me for the recipe, made the cookies that day, and said they were the best cookies EVER! I figured I should share this goodness with you all!

Monster Cookies

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup butter (I did 1 cup of butter and no margarine)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup Smarties
1/2 cup peanut butter

Grease cookie sheets. Cream together first 4 ingredients until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Combine next 5 ingredients separately and then add to the other mixture. Mix in the last 3 ingredients. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Makes 3 dozen. These were thoroughly enjoyed by myself + my family! I love cookies!

An Unexpected Gift

I've been wanting to go out for supper to the Olive Garden for a while now, as it is one of my favorite restaurants. This morning, it popped back into my head, so I decided to ask God if He could somehow provide the money for us to go there, maybe in the form of a gift card or something since when we do have extra money, it often goes to other things that we need. Jared came home for lunch today and said,
"Your Dad called me this morning. He's supposed to pick up your Mom at the airport, but he has an important appointment + meeting to go to, so he asked if we could pick her up. He said to go out for supper and he would pay for it and he would also pay for our gas."
My eyes immediately filled with tears when I told Jared that just this morning I asked God to provide for us to go to the Olive Garden. I honestly wasn't expecting an answer so quickly! Jared said, "That's funny because just yesterday, I was thinking how I would like to take you to the Olive Garden." WHAT?! I hadn't told Jared about my desire to go there. Only God could orchestrate all of that! I know it may not be a huge thing, but it meant A LOT to me that God would bless us with a gift like that and so quickly after asking Him. His goodness just makes me want to cry tears of joy!

Thanks!

“Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God…” Psalm 50:14a

Recent gifts I’m thankful for:

651. Farmer sausage burgers

652. This game, which I often beat Jared at

653. My new blog post divider (the thing with the pink + blue flowers on it in between my posts)

654. These two, for as many moments that can be frustrating with them, there are more that just make me smile

655. That the nausea I had this afternoon passed by suppertime and I was able to eat

656. The mini kleenex box (a free sample I got in the mail)

657. These new crackers that we bought…great flavor!

 

658. That “The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace.” Psalm 29:11

659. This sweet moment

660. That God healed me from scoliosis (curvature of the spine) when I asked Him to at 11 years old

661. That my kids love books (when I was pregnant with Kiera, I prayed that she would love reading)

662. That “those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.” Psalm 34:5

663. Finding alternative uses for an old shower head, like using it as a microphone

664. For my friend who is watching my kids for a bit while Jared + I go to my ultrasound this week!

665. Kiera’s creative use of stickers.  I forgot they were there and Jared came home and I started talking to him and he burst out laughing and I didn’t know what was so funny!

20 Weeks Pregnant

I’m halfway through my pregnancy now and I’m quite happy about that!  I do have some mixed feelings as we are planning to be done with 3 kids.  I’m mostly very excited to be done and to be moving on from the baby stage after this year.  I do have a couple of friends who are convinced we’re going to have 4 kids for some reason, but that would take a miracle.  It would take us changing our minds or God giving us a surprise, both of which would be a miracle, which I also know is possible.  We are planning to permanently close that door, though.  It makes me a tiny bit sad that all of the baby’s firsts will also be lasts in our house, like the last time seeing the first tooth and the last time learning to walk, etc.  I’m mostly very content, though.  I don’t think that the “perfect family” has to have an even number of kids.  I grew up with just me + my sister and always wanted another sibling and Jared was an only child, so we’re having as many kids as both of our families combined.  We also thought it would be neat to be done having kids at the age that 3 out of 4 of our parents started having kids.  My Mom was 27 + my Dad was 26 when I was born.  Jared’s Dad was 26 + his Mom was 24 when he was born.  Jared will still be 26 and I will still be 27 in August.  I’m also really looking forward to turning 30, not because of the number, but because we will be at the end or nearing the end of diapers!  I feel VERY busy with our 2 kids, so I’m praying that 3 kids won’t be total chaos for me, at least some of the time! 

I am planning to keep teaching piano starting in October + I’m also thinking of joining 2 friends and their kids for home pre-schooling with Kiera, so I’m praying and praying for a content baby who will be a good sleeper, too.  Sending Kiera to preschool isn’t an option for our budget, as it is pricey, and I’ve been praying about this little home pre-school group and really feeling like that is what I would love to do and I think Kiera would really enjoy it, too.  It depends how this baby is and whether or not I could find a baby-sitter or if I could bring all 3 of them and Blake would just play and the baby would be fairly quiet or just sleep (in a perfect scenario).  Right now we just have to wait and see.  For the record, I do not plan on homeschooling our kids and Kiera will be going to Kindergarten next year!  So, I will have one year with 3 kids at home full-time and then things will change.  The thought of having 3 kids 3 and under makes me go, “Yikes!” but then 2 1/2 months later, Kiera will turn 4. 

I am having my ultrasound next week, which will probably be my very last baby ultrasound!  We are not finding out the gender.  We never have before and I just LOVE being surprised! 

Here are pictures at 18.5 weeks + 19 weeks

This one was taken by my Mom-in-law last week

The White Stuff

No, I’m not talking about snow or drugs.  I’m talking about cauliflower.  I found another great salad recipe which I really like.  Cauliflower tends to be a rather bland tasting vegetable, so this dresses it up very nicely!

Creamy Cauliflower Salad

2 cups chopped cauliflower

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup shredded cheese

2 bacon strips, cooked + crumbled (I just use bacon bits)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. vinegar

1/8 tsp. salt

Dash of pepper

In a serving bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients.  In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients, pour over cauliflower mixture, and stir until coated.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

I pre-made this for my supper today and the rest of the family is having leftovers for supper, so supper is super easy today + already made ahead of time!

♪ ♫ OOOOWWWWW…I Feel Good (da na na na na na na)!! ♪ ♫

Someone asked me yesterday about my digestion problems, so I figured I should give an update.  After following my naturopath’s advice of sticking with the diet and then cheating one food at a time, after about 5 weeks, I came up with a list of the foods that bother me:

-Corn

-Tomatoes + tomato sauce

-Chips

-Kraft Dinner

-Hot dogs

-Plain milk – if it’s cooked or baked into something, it doesn’t seem to be a problem

-DQ blizzards – my naturopath said that is very common and that if people are going to have a problem with a certain kind of ice cream, it’s extremely often DQ because they use ice milk

-Tater tot casserole

-Oranges/orange juice

-Canned soups

-Chinese food

I still often cook different meals for myself than my family because I often use either canned soups or tomato pasta sauce in their meals.  One thing I can eat without a problem that has some tomato in it is pizza, which I’m SO thankful for!  It’s also a huge blessing to not be intolerant to gluten or cheese and I can have other kinds of ice cream!  The naturopath said I don’t have to go back to see her unless things get worse again.  When I was there for my last appt. she said, “The last time you were here, you were running to the bathroom at least 3 times a day, had a lot of stomach pain, gas, and weren’t able to eat a full meal.”  I said, “Wow!  I had forgotten how bad it was!”  I don’t have any of that now, praise Jesus!  He has blessed me beyond measure!

The Past Couple of Weeks

“The more I count these blessings, the more I realize that they really are not the product of my own efforts. They are truly gifts of grace from God above. It’s incredible to open my eyes to them week after week. And humbling. That I should be graced with such wonders? Me… whose heart is weak and black, yet covered with much mercy. How great is Your unfailing love, Lord God of all!” ~Sharaya Crossan

These are the gifts I am thankful for today:

631. My son cuddling with me today and laying his head down on my chest while I sung worship songs and we rocked in the rocking chair resulting in my heart totally melting.

632. Subway for lunch (oven roasted chicken breast footlong, except we didn’t have onions or pickles on it)

633. That Jared always takes our vehicles to the car wash

634. Strawberry applesauce

635. Listening to what Kiera says she’s thankful for

636. Clearing the nose in order to breathe better :)

637. Watching a chick flick with Jared after the kids are in bed

638. Having “help” with housework (I can’t count how many times I sweep the floor in a week)

639. Books that tug at my heart, like every book Karen Kingsbury has ever written

640. Cute hoodies

641. My kids getting invited to a birthday party

642. Baking monster cookies for the first time

643. My new niece, Sophia Grace, and her head full of dark hair, which my kids never had

644. Cinnamon hearts

645. For every day that I feel great, that is God’s grace

646. Watching my kids enjoy treats

647. Vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate pudding which we enjoyed for dessert yesterday

648. Cheeseburgers, which Jared bbq’d for supper yesterday

649. Our sort of Skype conversation with my Mom, my sister, + brother-in-law on the week-end: our sound kept cutting out, so I did some interpretive dancing for them.  Ya, so we probably need a new webcam.

650. The best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made: recipe found on allrecipes.com (LOVE that website)