Here’s his Star Wars backpack, which he likes a lot.

His teacher is Mrs. W.  I sneaked a few pics of her at orientation. Note the projector and Power Point presentation.  Pretty impressive.  When I was teaching high school, they thought you were something else if you could manage a computer presentation; here they have a built-in projector in a Kindergarten classroom.

We love all of his teachers and classmates!

And we wish you…

John was a sheep.  (Sorry for the crooked video.  I don’t have a program that will rotate them)

I was asked to create a banner for the Christmas decor.  I was surprised to find almost nothing on the web about how to make banners for church.  Maybe I just wasn’t searching with the correct terms.  I learned a lot in the process and would do many things differently if I had it to do again, but I think it turned out OK.

This is better than TV!

Won’t these girls be a sweet little package under the Christmas tree this year?  I love how this Christmas ribbon has stripes of metallic gold that pick up the light.

The fire fighters were great with the kids.  I never even considered how scary a fighter-fighter, all decked out in a mask and full gear, would be to a small child.  We certainly wouldn’t want John or Garrett to run away in fear from fire-fighters in an emergency situation.  Fire-fighter Natalie demonstrated how she gets dressed to go into a fire.  The smaller children were very taken aback at first.  After Garrett saw Mommy interact with her and give her a “high-five” he was able to go to her and touch her.

Wonderously, after demonstrating putting on the gear, they let the children crawl all over the equipment, touch it and try it on.  Very cool.

Even better yet, they pulled out several of the fire trucks and ambulances and let the children crawl all over them and in them, mess with all the buttons, and generally do kid things.

They concluded by passing out “fire chief” hats to the children.  John and Garrett spent the rest of the afternoon running around the house in their helmets playing fire-fighter.

Sometimes, John will ask me what a hero is.  Certainly, it entails running into burning buildings and saving people.  But this much less dramatic patience certainly made an impression on my children.  Not as glamorous, but this mom was impressed.

(The precious blond in the last picture is my son’s “girl-friend”…but that’s another post)

The theme of the party was trains, though much of the fun revolved around playing in the water.

Wondering if they were too practical and not enough fun, I was worried that the kids wouldn’t really like the party favors.  They turned out to be brilliant though.  The kids loved them!  They served as cups for the kids during the party, kept the kids from getting their drinks mixed up, eliminated the need for wasteful paper cups for them, and even held a very non-practical treat…

This morning, I went through my computer and browsed all of the pictures of Garrett since his last birthday.  It is amazing how much they change in one year.

Lord, help me be in the moment with these children.  Help me train them to know and love you.  Write your Word on their hearts.  Amen.

³⁵“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.

Chili

• 1 lb. ground beef, turkey, or chicken
• 1 can beans
• 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, or diced tomatoes
• 1 packet chili seasoning
• 1 onion
• Other veggies as desired, steamed and cut up into small pieces or pureed

I’ve found that you can at least quadruple this recipe.  If I do, I use a 6 quart pot and that fits the recipe nicely.  I recommend just cooking up a big pot in the morning when you are nice and relaxed and then heating it up again at dinner.  So dice up your onions and throw them into the pot with a little oil in the bottom over medium heat.  Then throw in your meat.  Cook until all of the meat is brown and has come to a safe temperature.  Drain out the extra fat.  Then throw in all of the other ingredients.  Leave out the beans if anyone in the family strongly objects, but they are a great source of protein and fiber.  Really tricky clever mamas will grate in all kinds of extra vegetables at this point.  The other flavors and colors will hide a lot of veggies.  If you have the time to let this simmer for a while, you can put the veggies in raw, otherwise, just steam them up first.  If you put your veggies in raw, keep an eye on the pot and let it simmer on low.  Add a little water or stock if the chili starts to look to thick, but be careful because the veggies can release a lot of liquid as they cook.  Keep simmering until the veggies are so tender that they disappear into the chili or if you didn’t add raw veggies until it’s heated through.

Serve with cornbread.  Jiffy makes a very inexpensive and good mix, or you can make from scratch if you have the time and energy.  Freeze the leftover cornbread in aluminum foil, and you can just throw the whole packet in the oven at 350 for just a few minutes (10-20) to warm it up.

I couldn’t resist a little preview of and upcoming new product.  I’m not saying any more yet, except that I love this product so much that there may not be any left for you guys to order after I finish making them for myself.

Sweetness Loves Italian Grilled Chicken!

I’ve found that working from home leaves me exhausted by 5 o’clock.  Even though I enjoy creative cooking, I need a set of go-to dinners that come together quickly and that the family loves.

Here are the Friday Meals principles:

1.  Few ingredients: Fast cooking doesn’t help if I have to spend hours with 2 antsy pre-schoolers in Walmart finding stuff.

2.  Prepare dishes that you can start in the morning.

3.  Make it your goal to cook at least 3 meals at once.  Serve one and freeze the other 2 for another night.  Eventually, you will have a freezer stocked full of meals you can pop in the microwave or oven quickly and easily.  Invest in a stand-alone freezer (a huge money-saver) or freeze your meals in freezer bags.  Lay them flat to freeze and then you can stack them upright after they’re frozen.

4.  Easy clean up.  There’s no point to a quick meal if you dirty up a depressing mountain of pots and pans.  My best friends in this are my grill and my crock-pot.  I keep the grill on my (covered) porch so that I can grill year-round.

OK, now that we got the main principles out of the way, here’s my first offering.

Italian Grilled Chicken

Classic but not boring.  Gets a compliment from my family every time.

• 1 packet Italian Dressing Seasoning mix (located with the salad dressings in most stores)
• 1/3 c. (Apple Cider) Vinegar
• 1/3 c. Olive Oil or some other vegetable oil
• Splash of lemon juice (optional)
• Sprinkle of oregano (optional)
• 1-3 lbs Boneless or Bone-In Chicken Breasts, (or other parts!)

First of all, I suggest buying the 6lb. bags of frozen chicken and freezing the leftover breasts individually in freezer bags.  In that case, you’ll double the recipe for the marinade.

Combine all of the ingredients in the morning and marinate the chicken in the fridge until about 20 minutes before you want to eat.  You can marinate these for less time, but I find that the longer the marinade, the better the chicken.  Pre-heat your grill.  Grill chicken over a low flame about 8 minutes on each side or until a safe internal temperature is reached.  My grill is pretty old and pretty simple, so sometimes after I grill the chicken, I put it on a plate and stick it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes to finish it up on the inside.

Last night, I made this with skin-on chicken thighs.  I have to say, I much prefer it with boneless, skinless chicken breasts.