Priorities

The kids are all tucked into bed and Travis should be home any minute from football scouting.
This week has been long.
A good long.
Just long and somewhat overwhelming in the "getting everything done" department.
Life can be hectic and messy at times. 
And when I say messy... I mean my house was messy :) wow.
I've been coming back time and again to this verse

1 Corinthians 14:33
"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace."

I've also been thinking alot about ministering to others.
It's easy for me to get caught up in thinking about places we can serve outside our home.
I would love to someday work at a pregnancy support center...
I would love to volunteer with the youth group at church...
I would love to visit the nursing home more and minister to the elderly...
I would love to help the lower income families in our area...

The list could go on and on.
I found myself thinking about it often.

It hit me today.
I've known this next little tidbit all along... I had just forgotten.

My ministry is MY HOME.
My husband.
My kids.

Before I can serve anywhere else I need to make sure that my home is taken care of.
Folding laundry and doing dishes a ministry and blessing to my husband and kids?
You bet!
I know that Travis really appreciates a clean home.
It really doesn't take a minute.
I teach piano lessons once a week and on those days I make sure that my home is relatively spotless.
For other people.

Which is fine.
But I was hit with the guilt of "why am I not trying my hardest to keep the house clean and organized for my best friend and babies?"

And obviously it's not always going to be clean.

Little people are messy :) It's just a fact of life!
What I do know is I haven't given it my very best effort.

Instead I've been burning time reading...blogging...who knows what...

My effort was more along the lines of "if I get to it" :) ha which never works!

I want to be a blessing to my husband.
So...here's the deal :)
I might be blogging less... we'll see!

But I've made myself a mental deal that I will only blog if my chores are done, babies in bed and husband either gone, in bed or busy!
I'm going to be spending more time ministering to those I love most.
Playing games with the kids...
Chatting with Trav on the couch (instead of being on the computer!)...
Keeping the house tidy...
Cooking up delicious food...
Spending time cozying up our home for the fall...

I want our home to be a safe and cozy place for my family.
A place where they can relax.
I want to bless them with clean sheets and blankets in their beds...
With yummy smells coming from the oven...
With fun crafts to do...

So... with that said.
I'm taking the weekend off from blogging.
Travis has the whole weekend off and I plan on spending every minute with him!
So excited!
I'll be back Monday... ha that is if my household duties are completed ;)
Have a wonderful weekend friends!!!

*they spotted a roly poly and were trying to dig him out of the bark :) *

*I know I'm his mom and am partial.. but he is SO yummy!!! I could just eat this face!!!*

Mexican Crockpot Chicken

I came across this recipe on Mel's blog awhile back.

Talk about DELICIOUS!!! It is the kind of delicious that you can't stop eating.  The kind of delicious you give yourself a gut ache because you keep refilling your plate :)
I switched a few things around in the recipe... for the original go over to Mel's blog!

MEXICAN CROCKPOT CHICKEN

~Bag of frozen chicken breast tenderloins
~8 oz. package of cream cheese
~Can of Corn
~Can of Rotel
~Can of Pinto Beans (Mel used black beans...equally delish!)
~Good dash of salt and pepper

~1 Tablespoon Cumin

Place your frozen chicken breasts in the bottom of your crockpot.
Add your can of Rotel.
Drain and add your corn.
Add your whole can of beans.
I then placed my block of cream cheese on top of it all.

I cooked it on high for 5 hours.
You could also cook it on low for around 8 hours.

You can either shred your chicken or leave the tenderloins whole.
Here's how I served our Mexican Chicken...

A layer of rice, your mexican chicken, a sprinkle of cumin, dallop of sour cream, cilantro and diced tomatoes.
Absolutely DELICIOUS!!!

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I spent the morning putting away most of the kids' summer clothes and getting out their winter ones.
I feel like it is time to do it since October is in just a few days.
However I think I'm a little premature in my efforts

considering the highs will be in the high 80s-low 90s all week.

We'll just keep rotating the same summer outfit until the weather decides

 to cooperate with what season it's supposed to be :)

I also spent part of the morning making baby food for Cade.
Does anyone else do this?
I'll write more on this in the next day or two.

Hope you're enjoying your last Wednesday of September!

Giveaway...

Happy Tuesday friends!

I'm joining in on a giveaway at my friend Casey's blog today!

Head on over there and enter!

I'm offering a great sale in the shop for the next two days...

Enter the word CASEY at the checkout and receive 15% off of your order!

English Muffin Pizzas

One of my favorite weekday lunches are these little English Muffin Pizzas.

In the past I've always used regular pizza sauce on them.

But last week I had run out of pizza sauce and ended up using tomato paste and oregano instead.

OH. MY. DELICIOUS!!!

The tomato paste added just a hint of sweetness to the pizzas!

Another reason I love making these is because the kids have fun helping!

 

 

English Muffin Pizzas

 

INGREDIENTS

English Muffins

Tomato Paste

Oregeno (I used dried)

Mozzarella cheese

Pepperoni (or any topping) *I've been buying the Hormel Pepperoni Minis... love them!*

Spread your tomato paste on the english muffin.

The more the better!

Then sprinkle your oregeno on top.

Place your toppings on.

Or take them off and eat them if you're a sweet two-year old boy :)

Sprinkle on your cheese.

Then I put them under my broiler in the oven for a few minutes.

I prefer mine to be a little crispier and brown on top.

It gives it more flavor!

Just make sure to keep a close eye on them... the cheese melts fast!

 

Weekend Pop In!

Just a quick pop in!

My family is visiting from Missouri!

I am in heaven:)

Half of the group is taking naps right now

and the other half went to drive around for a bit.

We went to the football game last night.

It was a disappointing loss.

But we had a great time in the stands enjoying each others company!

The weather was perfect.

Just a tad bit chilly!

My mom knit Cade a special "football" hat.

It was so cozy and warm it made him fall asleep within ten minutes :)

Hope you're enjoying your weekend friends!

Off to make some chocolate chip cookies with my sister!

Colt loves being tickled by his Pawpaw :)

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

I'm sure most of you have at one point eaten or made this recipe.

And if not... get to it!

It's the perfect treat for baby/wedding showers or a party!

Or in our case a yummy before bedtime snack :)

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Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

8 oz block of cream cheese (room temp)
1 Cup of Powdered Sugar
3 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add all the ingredients to a bowl.
Then use your mixer to blend until smooth.
Cut up some apples (or any sort of fruit!) and dip away!

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I'm off of here to finish tidying up the house.

We're having very important company tomorrow.

MY FAMILY!!! :)

They're coming from Missouri to stay with us the whole weekend!

I am beyond excited!

So if you don't hear from me again until Monday that's why!

Have a great weekend my friends!



House Tour- Family Room

Hello friends! I'm taking a brief break from reading, "The Help" to get this post up.

So if it's short and sweet..that's why :)

I have yet to see the movie and thought I'd start first with the book.

I am LOVING it so far!

I'll let you know my thoughts when I'm finished.

Have you read it? Watched the movie? Both?

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I'm linking up today with Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop.

The topic for today is, "Family Room".

I thought it was quite appropriate since quite a few of you

have been wanting to see the home we just moved into!

I LOVE our family room!

It's Grand Central Station at our house.

We do everything in here.

One side of the family room is used for tv watching.

The other side houses the kids toys and my computer desk.

I'm excited to experience different seasons from inside our family room.

So far it's kept us cool through the scorching Texas heat...

I can't wait to see the changing leaves from our windows...

to maybe see some falling snow?!...

to cuddle in front of the fireplace...

to set our Christmas tree up...

I'm just plain old excited to build some new memories in this new family room!

One of the things that I want our family room to convey is the feeling of "coziness" and comfort.

I want it to always be a place where my husband can relax after a long day at work.

Where my babies feel comfortable and safe.

Some of the ways that I try to cozy up our family room is by making sure there are always clean quilts and soft pillows to snuggle up with.

I keep a large basket behind my big chair that is full of blankets/quilts.

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So there it is.

It's not fancy or big.

But it's cozy :)

Alright...I'm off of here to get back to my reading!

Hope you're having a great week!

Bird Costume Tutorial

My kids love to play dress up!

The only problem is the majority of the dress-up clothes that we own are princess dresses or tutus.

This is great for my daughter but it leaves my boys with a limited selection!

They love to pretend they're birds so I came up with this EASY
 outfit for both of them using what I had at home.

There was no sewing involved and it took me MAYBE 15 minutes to make each bird costume (30 minutes total).  The fun part is you can make these as simple or as elaborate as you want!

These would be a great birthday present or even Christmas gift for a little one you know!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Hooded Sweatshirt- I just used old hoodies that we had around the house. Zip up hoodies would be ideal!

Fabric for Wings- Any color and around a yard

Orange fabric for beak
Hot glue gun & glue
Fabric Interfacing (optional but suggested!)

Scissors

This step only applies if you have a hoodie that doesn't have a zipper up the front.

I wanted my kids bird costumes to be easy for them to slip on and off by themselves.

I simply cut a slit from the bottom to the top.

I also cut out the zipper at the top of this particular hoodie.

Cut your yard of wing fabric in half.

Lay your hoodie on the table face down.

You will be working with the back.

What I was doing in the picture below is making sure my half of the fabric was long enough.

Lay it down and make sure it covers from the middle of the neck to the wrist.

You might need to trim it down a bit. 

Now hot glue your two wing pieces together down the middle seam.

JUST down the center.

You're basically gluing back together what you had previously cut.

The reason I had cut it in half is because I thought it looked more like two wings.

Look at the picture below....

Now you will hot glue the top of the wings down to your hoodie.

Make sure the center of the two wings is lined up with the center of the back of the neck.

I just did a straight line of glue from one wrist to the other.

I didn't glue anything else down.

I wanted the wings to be fluttery when they ran!

Now get out your scissors and trim the bottom of your wings.

I just made a little arch on mine.

This is the part where you could get really fancy and creative!

I was just in a hurry to make the costumes :)

What would be cute is to make individual fabric feathers and have the kids help glue them on.

Or even to buy some colored feathers from the store to glue on!

Perhaps color it with markers, put glitter on it, etc.

Your wings are now done!

Lay the hood of your sweatshirt flat on the table.

At the very top cut a slit along the seam.

My slit was around two inches long.

Take a piece of your fabric and cut it into a large triangle. 

My triangle was roughly a foot long.

Fold the triangle of fabric in half.

Then fold it in half once more.

Cut a smaller triangle that is similar in size to your folded triangle.

Hot glue the smaller triangle to the larger triangle as shown below.

Fold the glued triangles in half.

Then poke them through the slit of the hood that you just cut.

The thicker folded triangle should be facing the front.

Once you have the top of the triangles poking through the hole, flip over the hood so you're looking at the inside.

I simply opened up the bottoms of the triangles and glue them to the hood.

Thus, securing your little triangle feathers on the top.

It looks kind of messy on the inside...but not a big deal because it will be hidden by your child's head!

Cut two yellow triangles for the beak.

I wanted my beak to be a little bit stiffer so I hot glued a piece of interfacing between both yellow triangles.

Open up the hood so you're facing the inside top.

Hot glue your beak to the underneath part of the hood.

This shows how fast this project is... I still hadn't finished my morning cup of coffee! :)

Flip it over and voila you're done!!!