Christmas Time

Bugdeting/Simplifying

With the new year drawing close, I have our family's budget in mind.  Having 6 mouths to feed I think I need to start buying in bulk.  So this past week I've been researching and crunching numbers.  It seems that Walmart's store brand beats out places like Costco and Sam's Club for dried goods like beans, rice, pasta,and baking supplies. 


Here is a new recipe I found for Laundry detergent that costs 5cents a load:


2 cups Borax
2 cups sodium bicarbonate (cleaning strength baking soda)
1/2 bar of finely grated Zote soap (you can sub any bar soap)


Only 1 T. is enough per load!


For my dishwashing detergent:


2 cups Borax
2 cups sodium bicarbonate (cleaning strength baking soda)


Use 2 T.


For sparkling dried dishes, fill the little place you would usually pour Jet-Dry with vinegar instead...It works great!!


Starting in the new year I plan to break my weekly chores up differently to try and save money and time.


Monday-Laundry
Tuesday-Shopping
Wednesday-Baking ALL good for 1 week and freezing things.
Thursday-Cooking for the week
Friday-Deep clean house, prepare for Shabbat
Saturday-Shabbat
Sunday-Lord's Day


For Baking day:


5 yeast loaves bread
2 pizza dough
3 quick breads (pumpkin, banana, zucchini, nut)
24 corn muffins
24 apple muffins
3 dozen no-bake cookies
4 dozen oatmeal cookies
2 quarts Homemade ice cream
Pre-make 5 dozen pancakes (boys pull from freezer and pop in toaster)


For Cooking day:


Soak/Boil rice, pasta, beans to have on hand.
Two different large pots of soup (divided and frozen).
Chop and prep all veggies.
Anything to make nightly prep easier.

Hope to make a dent in our grocery money by homemaking things instead of buying the quicker options. And if I buy the bulk things at the beginning of the month, I'll stay out of the grocery store and not buy last minute things I don't need.

Staying connected with good friends

So we have finally connected Luke with his best friend Zach in Kennewick.  Zach has a computer in his room and the two of them spent the afternoon "playing" games together.  Luke snuggled into his bed with my laptop and you wouldn't know there was a screen keeping the two apart.  It is a blessing the two can stay connected.  Zach and Luke both have a brother with high functioning autism.  I believe Zach and Luke share an enormous capacity for patience and compassion. The two share similar frustrations, too.  I'm so glad Luke has found such a friend so early in his life.  Because they are both home schooled, it will be a great incentive to finish up schoolwork to have a play date with each other...:0) not to mention that his mom is one of my all time best friends forever...I missing her greatly at the moment..but we, too, have plans to make our yogi tea and sit and talk like the good old days...although I'll miss her neighbors plenitude of garden goods and the out grown clothing..it will be just as good as long as I get a glimpse of a naked Abbey running around in the background :) I love the Brooks and I'm thankful for Skype to keep us together..oxoxox

Better Than A Hallelujah Amy Grant

My name is Eva and I'm a www.stumbleupon.com addict..

My friend Marie-Eve mentioned in one of her blogs about this site.  I check it out! BOOM!! I'm hooked..a homeschooling paradise! You go from quotes by Nietzsche to art history to buttons that make farting noises!! We also checked out huge toothpick sculptures that we are going to try and make.  Move over math and reading...we are going to submerge ourselves in toothpicks and Elmer's glue!! Can not wait for Monday!


In other news, Sergio is sick. Always the last to get stuff..Fever and sore throat.  Thankfully he has tomorrow to sleep in and relax..poor guy!

Isaac made some major progress in sharing his feelings today.  While watching The Polar Express, he told me that the part when the conductor punches the children's tickets makes him want to cry because they all learned what they needed to learn...pretty big stuff for a kid who "shouldn't" (because of autism) be caring about how others feel. Earlier this morning he was telling me how lucky he feels to have brothers..he said he always has a friend to play with.  These children are teaching me more than I can ever teach them..

Oh, another fun thing today, I got to talk with my Mom, Aunt Debbie, Macy, and J.R on Skype.  Can I tell you how much I love THAT..Macy looked and looked! I miss her so much.  I love technology!

Matt Maher - Hold Us Together

Mexican Lasagna

Tried a new recipe last night and it was a huge hit.
~Mix a can of refried beans with a large jar of salsa.
~Boil a package of lasagna noodles.

~Spread small amount of salsa mix in the bottom of 13x9 baking dish, then a layer of noodles, another small layer of salsa mix, noodles, 1/2 cottage cheese, sprinkle cheddar and mozzarella, noodles, salsa sauce, noodles, 1/2 cottage cheese, sprinkle Cheddar and mozzarella, noodles, last of sauce, top with mozzarella.

~Bake for 45 minutes until bubbling...HUGE HIT WITH THE TROOPS!

3 years post heart failure...THANKSGIVING

Every Thanksgiving these feeling well up in me now..Thanksgiving 2007 Sergio's heart started to fail...

That Thanksgiving in the hospital was probably the roughest, emotionally, of all days for me. The children were all spread apart..and here we were in rainy Seattle in a hospital facing a major giant. But I remember how God made provisions for us and how He made that Thanksgiving one of the best I ever had. First, my grandparents lived close to the hospital and visited everyday..they brought us a pumpkin pie. Then the Mormons (God love em) came and turned the gloomy waiting room into a glorious feast for the families left there over the holiday...I went to thank one of the older ladies and couldn't make it through without crying (crying now as I write this). She held me for a long time and told me she had been in my very shoes and knew what some turkey and mashed potatoes can do for the soul...there was only one TV channel working in Sergio's room that day..and the one movie that was playing was The Holiday..my all-time favorite holiday movie...I climbed into that hospital bed with Sergio..I had a full tummy and my favorite movie and a husband I thought I was going to lose...but for a moment..it was the perfect Thanksgiving...

Ingrid Michaelson - Maybe (Official Music Video)

Homeschool woes..

It was one of THOSE days!

You know the ones where you actually call the public school registration office to request papers to send your children away for 6 hours a day..oh, it was tempting. Then the Lord placed a phone call to me through a friend who reminded me that this is not the path I chose but is the one He chose...so I'm ready to mount the steed again in the morning...

Shepherding children is not for the weak!!

Sara Groves, "I Saw What I Saw"

23 children (2-7 yr. olds) in my Sunday School class today!!!! It was absolute guided chaos! We read some stories, ate rice crispy treat w/apple juice, stood in line and took turns jumping from a chair to a pile of bean-bag chairs on the floor, made "quilts" by gluing squares of fabric on an extra large piece of paper (very amazed at the ability of Anat's girls and Gigi's kids..wow), we then had a race to see who could fill their cup with water first using just a sponge, everybody got a prize for coming, we finished by feeding them all pizza before sending the angels to their parents..whew!! I'm pooped! Enjoying a glass of Merlot in my cozy jammies..

It was a good day!

Rosie Thomas - Red Rover

Noah is making dinner...pot stickers and egg rolls! Yum.





Off the phone with Sonia and she told me that after her mammogram last Thursday they called her back for something suspicious. With her sister Sandra just having been DXed she didn't want to concern any of us until she knew further. Thankfully after another test, all was well. But I've been a little weepy since getting off the phone. She is such a wonderful friend, and when I think about losing someone like her...whew! I'm so glad she is OK.





I'm meeting her at her house in the AM and we are taking the kids to the beach..meeting Veronica and her kids, too. Looks like it will be cooler weather, but I really can't wait to feel small next to the enormous ocean..makes me feel safe knowing that there are things so much bigger. The smell is worth a months therapy sessions... with Sonia and coffee I should be so lucky to have such a friend.

Ingrid Michaelson - "The Way I Am" Rap Remix on the BOB&TOM Show

November 9th 2010

House smells of warm spiced apples and downy (have been folding laundry all afternoon). Quiet. Littlest ones sleeping, waiting for older two and gorgeous man to come home from Bible Study at Montebello. A traveling brother from Europe is speaking.



Have started my Christmas movie list...you know, to get into the spirit. The Holiday, The Family Stone, Nothing Like the Holidays, Deck the Halls, A Christmas Story...the list is long. But it is only November, What are your all time favs reader? Is there one out there I have missed..you are challenged to find me a great movie!



Making my famous "Candy Apple Salad" this week. If you can call it a salad! It tastes just like a caramel apple but is easier to eat.



Chop 6 Granny Smith Apples,

stir in 8 oz. cream cheese

and 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Raid the kids Halloween candy,

and add 10 to 12 mini Snickers (chopped).

Thaw a tub a Cool Whip and fold in.

Refridg. until serving.

The Weepies - Gotta Have You (Audio)

Remembering three years ago to this weekend..Serg was in heart failure and admitted..the beginning of the long journey.

On this side of it, I still feel a little shell shocked. I wonder how these life altering circumstances change people. My friend from MOPS Calliegh lost her baby boy Matthew in a car accident this week. In a blink of an eye...gone. Words just fail in these situations when you want desperately to comfort. I did feel God during our ordeal, but have to be honest that since then, I've lacked the intimacy I once felt. I guess the trusting has become more risky...the realization that His plans are certainly not our own. And sometimes when you feel the closest to Him, tragedy strikes. Our mental deduction would lean toward a better life (more blessings) if we are following Him closely. !But we can not comprehend God who is every contradiction....

I'm still struggling...working out my salvation. Trying desperately to walk the path here. There must be more I need to know, something I'm missing. All the neat little boxes I used to love have not withstood time. And I could just keep making them, or I could jump into others boxes. It is certainly more safe. Black/White, Right/Wrong, Good/Evil...no room for gray. Life has structure and opinions fold neatly into one another. Then there is the one idea that shakes the little boxes...the people in the box start furrowing their eyebrows saying things like, you better be careful with that idea, it cracks the foundations upon which we stand. If you want to be one of us then this is our mantra...get in or get out. No compromise, no room for questions, no room for anger, no room for thinking.

Ranting at 10:49pm...better take my meds and go to bed..Night

So Much For My Sad Song

Another day with sore throat. Maybe the weather...40's last week, 90's this.

The kids are finally settling into their new surroundings. Things are calm and everyone is in a routine now. My sleeping pattern has been a bit off. Probably the naps in the afternoon. Need to not lay down to read when the boys do or I fall asleep.

So the interesting thing about Tourette's and Autism is the compulsion to say bad words. Luke is now 9 and Isaac 8...I'm hearing things like suck my balls, douche bag, son of a bitch, retard!!!!!!!!!!!! So I wash their mouths with soap...but it doesn't seem to be working. SO any other MAMA's have ideas, let me know! I think hard labor will be next on the list of punishments.

We bought a coconut and some pomegranates for the boys to investigate for this afternoon. They threw the coconut off the balcony with no luck. I wonder what the neighbors downstairs think. Eating pomegranates has proven to stain shirts...mixed opinions on the taste. Seems like a lot of work to eat!

We are loving our afternoons listening to Adventures in Odyssey and playing with Lego's. I have found that Luke will do ANYTHING (including reading) for a pack of Pokemon cards! YEAH!!! School is going better for him now that I found a hot spot! His overall moods have been very level...thank the Lord.

Boys begging to go to the pool...better be off.

More babies!

Or no more babies..that is the question.

I know some of you other mommies also struggle with this problem...even when surgery seems to be the final say, my heart still cries for more. Is this a selfish motivation, we need more babies to make ourselves happier? That I do not know. But for now my heart is heavy for more children. I wonder if the longing ever really goes away. For some, the answer is a simple yes. Yet for many other (close friends who I've sat hours discussing this) the drive is not easily abated.

I've been reading Max Lacado's new book, Outlive Your Life. Here is a quote from page 6..."we have enough bedrooms to house the orphans. Here's the math. There are 145 million orphans worldwide. Nearly 236 million people in the United States call themselves Christians. From a purely statistical standpoint, American Christians by themselves have the wherewithal to house every orphan in the world."

I have been following the story of a some dear frinds I know from childhood...they married and had three of their own children. They have since adopted two boys from Haiti..one who needed major facial reconstruction. They are in the middle of a major governmental struggle with Uganda as they are adopting a girl with seizures there...he had to come back while she stayed becasue the paperwork has been locked up...they are'nt thinking about the money, or inconvienience, or time...they are focused on service and God and go forward everyday KNOWING they are in His will. Many of us may say, Oh well I don't feel that calling...and maybe you don't. But shouldn't it be something we consider?

So we've been praying for an organization called Reece's Rainbows for some time now. They make adoption for kiddos with Down's Syndrome and other special needs possible in a country that disposes of them by age 4-5. Russia admits special needs children into adult institutions at the age of 4-5. The need is desperate. And I've begun to put money aside for a time when adoption may be possible. The waiting is a labor of it's own...for now I'll blog about it.

Check out the site www.reecesrainbow.com

Halloween 2010

Fun Fun Fun...

We drove into Mission Viejo to Jon and Sonia's on Saturday afternoon. At 5pm Sonia, Nancy and I and all the kidlets met Veronica ( and her kidlets) at a Chinese Church in Irvine for a Jana Alayra concert...had so much fun and will post pictures here soon..We had 12 kid cousins all together!!)

We spent the night and went Trick-or-treating on Sunday night...so much fun! Sonia and I came back early with the little ones as they were tired. We had them watch It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown while we had hot cider and a great chatting session. Serg and Jon took the older kids out longer for more candy! They had a great weekend playing basketball, and watching some games together..I can see Sergio really enjoying his friend and it gives my heart such joy!

This week we have schooling to catch up on. I've been keeping up with Flylady chores throughout my days and the they seem to be getting done. Dinner is getting made, too. It's nice to be on top of the day to day stuff so we can enjoy our weekends..

Moving..

Looks as though the steamboat of change is forcing it's way in my life again.

Serg is going to accept an offer in California...back we go to the beginning. I'm feeling a real circle coming back on itself. Many things in my heart have changed and I'm ready to accept this new road.

Both Luke and Isaac are taking the news hard. Noah is very excited to be back with cousins. I am, too. the beach and the wind and the Santa Anna winds..

Therapy..