Success!

Look who is all smiles in the dental chair. Woo hoo! Jadyn has had a fear of having her teeth cleaned and checked for some time.

She's had lots of exposure to the dentist's office, but it just wasn't working out to get her into the chair. She had watched two of us have our teeth cleaned, sat in my lap in the dental chair and had her teeth counted once, and then when we tried to have her own appointment, it was a No Go. She would have nothing to do with the hygienist and the dentist.

Finally, yesterday she was unafraid to have her teeth cleaned, X-rayed, and the whole bit.

I was one happy mom, and I know she was proud of herself as well.

We've always been diligent about brushing her teeth, and I'd kept an eye on them. I really felt there were no problems.

If she'd had any kind of problem and needed dental work before now, I suppose she would have needed sedation. I might have needed sedation! :)

Her check up was just wonderful and we will stay on the road to good dental health. She even has her photo on the No Cavity Club wall.

Look, no cavities!

Letting Evie clean her teeth. Yay!

As a reward (bribe) for being so good at the dentist, I took her to the $1.00 store and she picked out a couple of things.

Next, we went to the pet store. This is one of her very favorite things. We needed some new fish anyway, since we lost some recently to illness.

Should we get the Chinese Water Dragon? He might be a good fit with our family. :) $45 for a lizard seems like a bit of a gamble to me.

Picking out new fishy friends! Always a treat.

~~Have a great weekend.~~

Black and White Wednesday

Just The Two Of Us

This is a photo that Alan took in December. Jadyn and I were watching TV. I suppose that's kind of obvious. While this may not be a spectacular photo, I like it for what it is. Just a together moment.

I'm a bit camera shy, or often I'm the one behind the camera. I'm glad for simple shots like this one.

For more Black and White photos, please go to Lisa's blog. You'll enjoy!

Gratituesday

Today, I am participating in Gratituesday. It's hosted at Heavenly Homemakers.

Each day, there are so many things to be grateful for, whether they are big or small.

Here are just some of the things I'm grateful for today...

♦Sunshine! The sun is out today. It may be a bit colder out, but hooray for sunshine!

♦I'm glad my husband is coming home tonight. He's been in Texas for a week, helping his siblings to deal with their father's estate. They have worked so hard all week. I know he will be so glad to get home. We're very glad he's coming home.

♦Playdates! I'm so grateful for little friends who can come and help entertain my daughter on a

cold winter morning. :)

Jadyn and her friend "J."

♦I'm grateful that God makes each of our children unique.

Bryan has always enjoyed drawing, even from the time he was very small. He hasn't spent much time doing it over the last 2 or 3 years, because his interests have taken him elsewhere. He's been taking a couple of art classes this trimester in school, since he had some extra space in his school schedule. He said he'd almost forgotten how to draw, since he hadn't spent much time doing it in years.

Here is something he drew yesterday, by copying a photo he printed from the computer. It was an assignment for school.

While I do think the guy in the photo is a little odd, I was so amazed at how the drawing came out. I know that I couldn't do this at all.

Seeing this just reminded me how cool it is to see God's handiwork in our kids.

Recipe Monday - Candy!

My mom used to make this candy when I was a kid. She had not made it in many years. I was thinking about this candy not too long ago and I thought it would be neat to have it again. Just like magic, my mom suddenly made some before Thanksgiving and we enjoyed it when we were visiting them.

I made some around New Year's.

My mom said she also made some with watermelon flavored oil after Thanksgiving. I'd like to try some in cherry flavor.

This may seem kind of holiday-ish right now, but I think it could also work for Valentine's Day. No fat in this recipe, and that's good.

Oh, does this make your house smell good when you put that cinnamon oil in!

Rock Hard Candy

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon oil
• 1 teaspoon red food coloring

Directions

1. Cover 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil. Sprinkle the foil very generously with confectioners' sugar.
2. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the white sugar, corn syrup, and water. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Stop stirring, and boil until a candy thermometer reads 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C). Remove from heat.
3. Stir in the cinnamon oil and food coloring. Pour onto the prepared foil, and allow to cool and harden. Crack into pieces, and store in an airtight container.
4. Caution, this will be very hot when you pour it onto the cookie sheets and the pans will be hot for quite a while. Watch those kiddies. :)

This will take about 45 minutes to cook, and about an hour to cool.

Makes 2 small, rectangular Gladware containers full.

I Miss My Phone

Bryan's friend took these photos when she was here at our house earlier this week. I thought they were cute and wanted to share them.

Meghan snapped these with her phone, and they came out pretty well. Oh, how I wish I still had a phone with a camera......

Bryan age 17, and Jadyn age 5

Some of you may recall that I would often put photos on the blog which were taken with my phone.

So why don't I have a phone with a camera anymore?

Several months ago, my phone had a little accident. It went for a swim....in...the...toilet.

Yep! It really did. I shared that story with a few friends and family members, but never really got around to sharing it here.

One evening, the phone flipped right out of my back pocket and into the toilet. It was a clean toilet, and it was at our house. That makes it a lot better, right??

I yanked the phone right out of the water, opened it up, took out the memory card, battery, etc. I dried it out overnight. It started right up the next day, and worked pretty well, except for an occasional issue or two.

I used it for several months and then it just completely died back in November. I took out the SIM card and put it into my old phone and so that's what I've been using.

I am not the type to go out and buy a new phone, especially since I can use my old one. I will just wait until our cell phone plan renews in the spring.

When I get that new phone, I'll probably keep it out of my back pocket when I'm heading for the bathroom.

Black and White Wednesday

Today I am participating in Black and White Wednesday, which is hosted by Lisa at The Long Road to China. If you enjoy black and white, you can see lots of entries today at Lisa's blog.

Daddy and His Girl

I took this photo of Alan and Jadyn in August, when the three of us went on a little trip to northern Wisconsin. Here, we were on a cruise of the Apostle Islands.

Boat In Black and White

Winter Days With Jadyn

Winter came down to our home one night

Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,

And we, we were children once again.

~Bill Morgan, Jr.

Jadyn loves playing in the snow so much. She asks to play outside each day, and it doesn't matter to her how cold it is. Here are some pictures I took about a week ago.

She found a piece of snow out back that was kind of heart shaped. We both thought it was pretty neat.

I ♥ Playing In Snow!

Here's Jadyn, looking all princessy. You can see that she has a horse and small bouquet to complete her look. :)

We bought this stick horse a few months ago at a children's consignment store. I think we paid about 3 bucks for it. Boy have we gotten our money's worth. This horse has seen many miles around our house. She plays with it daily. She sometimes calls it her "horse stick".

On Sunday, she even talked one of her older sisters into riding it with her. :) Wish I'd had a camera nearby for that one!

About that little bouquet - I made that for her to carry at her sister Lauryn's wedding in 2006. She loved it so much before the wedding, but refused to have anything to do with it that day. She was only 17 months old and I guess if she didn't want to carry it, she didn't have to. You don't argue with a baby. :)

Here is a picture from today. Jadyn decided to wear a Polly Pocket hat on her face. Where does she get these ideas? She attached it to her face by suction. It was all fun until it was on so long that it left a "hickey" mark. Oops!

Recipe Monday - "What a Crock"

Today I am participating in Colleen's newly created Recipe Monday.

I enjoy cooking and always have. Right now, I am enjoying a phase of trying lots of new recipes and feeling creative with my cooking. This is WAY better than being in a cooking slump. Ever had a cooking slump? Not good.

In recent weeks, I have been using my crock pot a lot. This is kind different for me, as I've never really used my crock pot very often. I've been cooking in it several times each week. What a crock!

Our son has been quite concerned about all of this crock pot use. It's been pretty funny really. I've been getting comments like: "The crock pot again, Mom?" or "Mom, I think you need to give that thing a rest." :)

I asked him what bothers him so much about the crock pot cooking. He said it's because most things that come out of there have chicken in them. He's not a huge fan of chicken unless it's fried. I did remind him about the pork chops and soups that I've cooked in there.

Here is my recipe for today and yes, it has chicken. :)


Easy Chicken and Wild Rice Dish

4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless

1 and 1/2 cups finely chopped onion

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Broccoli Cheese soup

2 packages (6 oz. each) Long grain and Wild Rice mix with seasoning packet

8 ounces process cheese spread, such as Velveeta - cubed

2 and 3/4 cups water

Cut raw chicken into bite-size pieces. Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Put chicken in pot, along with 2 and 3/4 cups of water. Add remaining ingredients. Stir. Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 5 hours or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
Note: Start watching carefully after 4 hours cooking time, rice can vary somewhat, especially in a crock pot.
Serves 8.

Foxy

Last night at dinner, we had a brief discussion with Jadyn about where we get our meat for meals. We'd had this conversation before actually, but I guess she needed to hear about it again. All of the basic animals came up - chickens, turkeys, cows, fish, pigs etc.

Jadyn said, "But what do we get from the fox?"

Umm...WHAT!?? LOL!

We were having ham, and she called it bacon. I reminded her that it was ham. Alan said, "Well they do come from the same animal." That's how the whole conversation started.

Now if you are a vegetarian reading this, I apologize. It probably seems quite unappetizing.

No worries, the foxes are safe.

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of the woods:

I am excited to say that we are experiencing a warming trend this week. We'd had days and days of bitter cold, and this week we'll have 20's and 30's to enjoy. Yay!

One of my simple pleasures:

enjoying a cup of coffee, or lighting a candle

On my bedside table:

my new Reader's Digest magazine and a book called Secrets of the Secret Place

On the menu for tonight:

ham, potatoes, tossed salad

On my To Do List:

laundry

exchange a gift at the store

New recipe I tried last week:

a recipe of pork chops in the crockpot, with cream of chicken soup, green chilies, etc. We liked it.

In the craft basket:

I will do some scrapbooking later in the week. Fun! I haven't done any since November.

Looking forward to:

Hearing about our daughter's mission trip to Belize. She'll be returning tomorrow night.

Homemaking tip for this week:

If you're heading upstairs, always try to grab something (laundry or etc.) that needs to be put away up there. Helps cut down on trips upstairs and keeps the house more tidy.

Favorite blog post of the week (mine or other):

Nothing comes to mind at the moment.

Favorite photo from last week:

Lesson learned the past few days:

Fish can get sick when you least expect it. :(

On my prayer list:

friends and family

Sweet Kids

As I was looking through photos tonight, I saw these. I took these photos when we were down in Texas, for Alan's dad's funeral and Thanksgiving.

This is Jadyn with our grand niece, Bryleigh on Thanksgiving day. Bryleigh and Jadyn are only 7 months apart in age, with Jadyn being older. Since we live at opposite ends of the country, they are only able to play together about once per year. Play they do though.

I think they are so cute together, and what always strikes me is how opposite they look in appearance. :)

Bryleigh is my nephew's daughter. Many years ago, as I watched my nephew grow up, I would never have dreamed that some day, his daughter would play with my daughter of the same age. I mean who would have thought? I think it's very cool.

Now for a bit of silliness. Here is my nephew, Thomas. He is 7 years old. Do you think maybe he had a bit too much Thanksgiving lunch?

Good times, good times.

Wordless Wednesday - Monkey Business

Monday's Rambling Post

My goodness, where does the time go? I hate it when I don't post very often. I know, you all hate it too. :)

My husband was here at home for 2 weeks. We both survived it. :) He needed to take the vacation time from work - a use it or lose it thing. We enjoyed the time very much.

We watched quite a few movies, played some card games, and even had a date one night. Our

New Year's Eve was quiet. We ordered take-out, built a fire, played a game and watched a movie.

Alan did some projects while he was home. I appreciated that so much. He installed a new sink and faucet in the laundry room. (The old one left a lot to be desired.) The new one looks great.

We rearranged furniture in our family room, moving a couple of large pieces to our living room/dining room. The fish tank got a new home in our front room. It's a 29 gallon and a heavy

thing to move. It took both Alan and Bryan to carry it. So the fish have a new location and new tank mates as well. We bought them 4 new pals on New Year's Day.

Fish with their new tank mates. New friends are at the top. :) They are GlowFish which Jadyn had been asking for.

It's been ridiculously cold here in Minnesota. This is our 10th winter here. It always seems like a novelty at the beginning of the coldest part of winter. We marvel at how cold it gets. I heard that

it reached about 16 or 17 below zero a couple of nights ago. Craziness!

The kids went back to school today, and Alan went back to work. It felt good to get out and run some errands. I do love to check things off my to-do list.

There's no business like snow business!

The best part of playing in the snow is warming up afterward, with hot chocolate in your cup.

Kitty demands equal time on the blog. Look at those eyes....would you want to mess with her?