Why Rhonda rocks

I have this good friend that I truly have known for a long time (And I've know her hubby FOREVER). Her name is Rhonda and I am so blessed to have her in my life. Not only is she doing what I would L-O-V-E to do (homemaking diva), she is active in her faith, community, and life PERIOD! She and her hubby are raising two beautiful girls. She has a fantastic laugh that she's not afraid to use. And she inspires me to write my blog even though she's the only person who does. I love that she shares freely things that she cooks for her family. She mentioned tilapia fillets at Costco and we picked some up. I am always looking for great ways to get more fish into our menus. Boy was she right on target with those. We all enjoyed them - even K! He ate a few bites and started going "Mmmmmm". He ate all but a few bites of a whole fillet. We were impressed!
So, in the spirit of sharing, here is one of our recent (and easy) recipes: Bubble Up Pizza

1 can spaghetti sauce (any flavor but not plain)
1 can refrigerated biscuits
toppings you like on your pizza (onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, etc)
mozzarella (2 cups)

NOTE: I like hamburger on my pizza so I brown a lb of ground meat (can be beef or turkey). Preheat oven to 350. Mix in other toppings in and get them warmed up. Add in can of spaghetti sauce. Quarter the biscuits and mix in with sauce and toppings. Mix in 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Put in a 13x9. baked for 25-30 min or until biscuits are golden. Put the other cup of mozzarella and baked for 5 more minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

Our adventurous boy

Well, Sunday was not a good day for Keegan. His absolutely loves climbing. He'll climb up anything - coffee table, kitchen chairs, the bricks in front of our fireplace, ANYTHING!! This weekend though was a rough one for our fearless wonder. On Sunday, he was playing in the kitchen and ran into the kitchen table and got a nice shiner under his left eye. Of course, this was BEFORE we went to church so he looked so beat!!
He also has about 6 mosquito bites on his face so he looks like he also is recovering from chicken pox.
The scariest thing, though, happened Sunday evening when we were preparing dinner. My parents and grandmother were coming over for enchiladas. K decided that he would crawl into one of the kitchen chairs. We try to prevent this by pushing the chairs in but he is strong enough to pull the back out. Anyways, he was standing up talk and then he lost his balance and fell. Face first. Onto the tile floor. We were both scared that he had chipped a tooth since the was blood in his mouth. And, being the 2 year old he thinks he is, he immediately clamped his mouth shut when we tried to examine him mouth. If you have never seen a toddler wail with their mouth clamped shut and tears running down their face, you are missing a sight! In the end, we finally got a peek and started wiping away the blood from his mouth. His teeth were still in place and no chips. I know that his mouth hurt so I gave him a Popsicle which totally cheered him up and stopped the tears.
My biggest fear was how his face would look the next morning. Due to the fact that I have to be AT school by 7, I do not get to see my little boy in the mornings. I called Chris and he said that K looked fine. YEAH!! Now we are looking for toys he can climb on.....in the living room!!!

All the little children

For those of you who may now know, Chris and I teach the 3 and 4 year old Sunday School class in our church. We usually switch off months with another teacher but she delivered her first child in July so we taught the summer lessons. I have taught the class for the last two years and have enjoyed it so much more since Chris joined in to help teach it. Last Sunday was our last class until October. The lessons that our children's director purchased are super easy to use but a majority of the stuff we just can't do with our little ones (lots of cutting things out!!). Most of the time, I pick about 3 things to do along with our video lesson and song of the month. I did not get a chance to copy anything off so I just looked through the lesson. It was about offering - what it is used for and why we give it. I decided that this was a great chance for our kids to go on a field trip! We walked over to the sanctuary where there were setting things up for the 11 o'clock service. We were on a hunt for the offering plates. It took a few minutes but they were located and each child held one. We talked about if they were heavy or light, what they were made of, etc. Our pastor took a few minutes to talk with the children about the plates and why there was a cushion in the bottom of the plates (I didn't know why it was there - learn something new every day!). We also talked about what things offering was used for and how it helps people. So, we then venture back to our room to make our own offering containers. I had gone out on errands with my mom the previous day. At Hobby Lobby, I found boxes like the ones that Chinese takeout comes in. They were plain white and had a handle that were perfect for what we needed them for. So I get out the boxes and the kids get to coloring (crayons only since they were kinda slick). They kids had a great time coloring. One adventurous tyke (was supposed to be in the kinder class but didn't feel like going) colored the outside and inside of his gold. He took special care to paint the bottom of the inside red - just like the offering plates!!! We admired each other's boxes and then I told them that we had a problem with all the boxes - they were empty!!! We can't help people when our offering boxes are empty!! What did that call for? Another field trip! We went to the Adult building and visited the class that Chris and I belong to. It was really neat since some of our kids' parents were in there. We explained what we were learning and about our problem - we had no offering for children's church. They all immediately started digging out change and bills. The kids went around the room and ended up with "noisy" boxes. It was so fun to see them smile at everyone and hold out their boxes! We thanked everyone and headed out. We realized that we had extra time and room left in our boxes so we headed to the class next door, the Pacesetters. It is lovingly referred to as the "old people" class since the members of the class are super seniors. We knocked on the door and went in. Again, we explained our lesson and before we could explain why we were there, they were all ready getting out change!! The adults had a great time giving. It was so funny to see them making sure that they gave offering to each child!! We apologized for interrupting their class and they invited to come back anytime. We then headed back to the Children's building to show our children's director, Miss Julie, our offering and put it in the offering plate they use for children's church. She got out the plate which is a smaller version of the offering plates we saw in big church. I truly cannot describe how soul-warming it was so see the kids line up and pour the contents of their boxes into the collection plate. They totally lit up the room!! And they got really excited when the plate started to flow over and coins dropped on the floor. Miss Julie said that she had never seen the offering plate that full before. We headed back to our class and got ready for parents to pick them up. We told the kids that they were to bring their boxes every Sunday with their offering from the week in it. I doubt it will happen but at least the kids got a chance to experience what offering is. I am a firm believer in kids knowing why we do what we do in church, not just because it's tradition. Chris declared that it was the best class he'd ever been to!

Wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles!!

I totally forgot to mention we had a complete breakthrough at the Airhogs game Monday night. I have mentioned earlier that K is totally enthralled with the mascot, Ace Bacon (hehehe). It has taken all season, with Ace dutifully coming to see us every game, for Keegan to not cry when he gets close. Well, Monday, it all came together. K let Ace hold him!! Yippee!! Ace was so excited that he has warmed up to him. I hope to post pics this weekend but no promises.

Air Hogs win!!!

We were really ticked that they moved yesterdays home game from 7 pm to noon in order to have the game before any chance of storms rolled in. Luckily, Momma was able to go and keep us updated on the score. Our hogs pulled off a great victory. The Canaries thrashed us when we played them earlier in the season. So far, we are 1-1 in this final series. The winner is best out of 5. Here's hoping the Hogs can keep us the winning spirit that got them to the finals. Please keep the players and their families in your prayers as they travel up to Sioux Falls today. They play tonight at 7 pm. If you want to hear a fabulous play-by-play, they broadcast the game through their website. GO HOGS!!

Happy Anniversary, LOML!!

Today marks 8 years of wedded bliss. It is sad to say but it truly has been bliss. Chris and I rarely argue (unless we are fake arguing in the car so that panhandlers will just walk by our car and not stop). To celebrate our anniversary, we went to Ruth Chris's Steakhouse in Downtown Fort Worth. It was fantastic!! It was expensive but we had a gift card so that helped. When Chris made reservations, he mentioned that it was our anniversary. When we got to our table, they had spread heart shaped confetti around the table. It was a little gesture that meant a lot to us. Right now, they have a summer special that is a three course meal for two for $89. It was fantastic! We cleaned our plates!!! Of course, if you pay that much for a meal, you either eat it all or take it home. There were people who were leaving food on the plates - what???? During dinner, we played a question game. We've always loved to do this to get conversations going and it really got us reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the next year. We took forever to eat our meals due to our conversation. It was lovely to just sit there and relax. It was funny that we were sat before the people around us and they left before we did!! The only low point of the meal was the couple next to us. They were silent for the majority of the meal. They were older but were hardly speaking to each other, only commenting one a few things, like the fact that her steak was bigger than his. I made Chris promise me that we would never be THAT couple.

While I freely admit that we had a great time, we did miss K. He stayed at my parents' house that night (Thanks Nanny and Pop!) When we got home, I missed him so much. I think it had a lot to do with our conversations at dinner. So, we called them and then walked over to their house to peek in on our little man. He was having a great time sharing a snack with Nanny. It was so funny to see him watch his Pop's every move and just smile.

So, in honor of our 8 years together, I have made a list for my beloved:
Reasons why my love for you grows
10. You make me see things from a different perspective (both intellectually and height).
9. You make me tell you how I really feel about something.
8. You make me laugh.
7. You are still a kid at heart.
6. You miss your family when you are gone.
5. You can and will cook.
4. You like doing little surprises for me.
3. You take me places all over the world.
2.You put up with me and my moods.
1. You take an enthusiastic approach to raising our family.

Those are just a few of the MANY things that I love about you, Babe. Here's to an eternity of anniversaries!!

Hogs keep on Truckin'!

Our beloved Airhogs beat the Fort Worth Cats in a fantastic game Friday night. We had a great time as always. Even K joined in when we were clapping and chearing the team as the celebrated on the field. One great thing about winning Friday night - no game on Saturday!! That means our guys had 2 days of rest before playing the first game of the finals against the Sioux Fall Canaries. Go Hogs go!!