Heavenly Homemakers | Page 423 of 444 | Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Mary Had a Little Lamb

May 15, 2008 by Laura 6 Comments

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Just thought I’d let you know that all these years…you’ve been singing the Mary Had a Little Lamb song wrong.

Here’s Malachi’s version at age three:

Harry had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb…
Harry had a little lamb, police is white as snow.

And HERE is Elias’ version…which proves how ornery this six year old is!

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb…
Mary had a little lamb…she threw it out the window.

Yes, that’s one that will make a mother proud.

;)

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That little post was written back in 2008 when my blog was young and so were my little boys. Those two are 11 and 14 now. Beware parents: this really happens. Your kids are little and then suddenly they aren’t. I don’t know how this happens.

Not surprisingly, eight years later my sons still make up lyrics to songs. Sometimes the lyrics make sense and sometimes they are ridiculous. But I tell you what, parenting kids at any stage is amazingly wonderful! (I’ve even got one in college now. What?!?)

What I have for you here is something for your little ones and something for your almost big ones. (I don’t have anything for the very big ones, just advice: Feed them well, love them fiercely, be their biggest cheerleaders.)

As a special gift to you as you might find yourself needing to little help getting over winter blues and spring fever, I’ve created March “In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb” Activity Packets. They are FREE.

There’s a packet for Pre-K to enjoy, as well as a packet for K-5 to enjoy. Use them in whatever works best for your family!

Free Pre-K March Learning Activity Packet

Free K-5 March Learning Activity Packet

Gain access to the free March Lion and Lamb Learning Activities below.

Download one or both.

(If the form below isn’t showing up for you, click here to access these freebies.)

I’m super excited to share that signing up for these freebies will connect you to our new Heavenly Homemaker’s Learning Zone. It’s free, of course. You can unsubscribe at any time, your info will never be shared or sold, and being on this list means that you’ll be the first to know of the other fun (yes, FUN!) educational tools we’re putting together!

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Eat More Fruits and Veggies: Fun with Fruit!

May 13, 2008 by Laura 8 Comments

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Here are a couple of simple ideas to help you encourage your kids to eat more fruit!

The first idea is to make some fun fruit shapes with thin slices of cantelope and watermelon!

My kids devour these almost faster than I can make them! ( And this time…I had to make them wait until I could take a picture! It was torture!)

I carefully sliced thin strips of cantelope and watermelon. Then we used cookie cutters to cut the shapes!

The kids got involved in making these fun shapes too! (Which of course in our case means…climbing up onto the countertop so that they can put their whole body into the task…) :)

I am not kidding when I tell you that we went through an entire watermelon and almost an entire cantelope in one sitting by doing this activity. (Daddy got to eat the scraps when he got home!)

And the second idea is a simple one…

Use a sharpie marker to draw fun faces on your bananas or oranges (um…I don’t recommend doing this on a strawberry or an apple…just in case you were thinking of doing that…) ;)

Your kids will love these fruity friends!

One additional idea…

If you’re taking food to a sick friend…fruit is a wonderful thing to take along. Draw (or have your kids draw) some happy faces on the fruit for some Get Well Soon cheer!

Looking for more ideas like these? Come sign up to win my new e-book, Have Your Fruits…and Veggies Too!

Check out more Works for me Wednesday tips at Rocks in my Dryer!

[tags]fun with fruit, ideas for kids[/tags]

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Footprint Pizza

May 13, 2008 by Laura 10 Comments

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No…don’t worry, this is not a recipe for Footprint Pizza. If you want my pizza recipe, go here.

This is what happened one day last week when I was rolling out a mini yeast pizza crust (recipe coming soon!). I had a few already finished and rising on the pan, went into the other room to answer the phone or something…and then came back to find that Malachi had been unable to resist the soft squishy look of the dough.

First it’s Justus standing on the countertops to cook…and now this.

I PROMISE that they do not learn these things from me.

More Wordless Wednesday here.

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Gratituesday: The Month of May

May 12, 2008 by Laura 12 Comments

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While every month of the year is great in some way or another…I am reminded now that it is May…of how much I LOVE THIS MONTH!

I love it because we finish our school work…the garden gets planted, but the hard work of watering, weeding, harvesting and preserving isn’t happening yet…the weather is usually mild…we get to play outside a lot.

I feel like May is sort of a month of down time for me. (relatively speaking, of course!) :)

It’s a breath of fresh air. I feel more like I can take the time to play games with the boys. I get to hang clothes on the line for the first time.

And there aren’t many bugs yet!!

AND…all over my yard…these sweet little wildflowers pop up!

So yes…today I’m grateful for the month of May!
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Join in! Share something that you’re grateful for on your blog and come link up with us! Don’t have a blog? Tell us about what you’re grateful for in the comments section! Share what God is doing in your life!
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Make Homemade Turkey Sausage!

May 12, 2008 by Laura 163 Comments

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Make this turkey sausage recipe even easier by creating a jar of seasonings for this sausage. Learn how!

We LOVE ham and sausage at our house, but from what I read, pork is not the best for you. We do eat bacon from time to time, but this Turkey Sausage is a delicious alternative to pork. It’s easy and it tastes great!

See? It looks like sausage and everything?! My family devours this sausage.

Homemade Turkey Sausage

Homemade Turkey SausageYum

Make Homemade Turkey Sausage!

Save Print

Author: Laura

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey
3 Tablespoon minced onion
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon marjoram
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
¼ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon sage
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 egg (optional)

Instructions

Mix all ingredients.
Chill for about an hour. (If you forget to chill this ahead of time...it cooks up okay anyway!)
Form into patties.
Saute in butter.

You’ll find more recipes like this in my ebook: Think Breakfast…Outside of the Box or in my “actual book” Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy.

What can you do with this Turkey Sausage? Here are our favorite ways to use this:

Just eat it. Turkey Sausage Patties are pretty great as a breakfast meat along with eggs, pancakes, or muffins.
Homemade Sausage Gravy is amazing. I like to make a huge batch of this sausage, then freeze it browned and crumbled in 1-pound meal-sized portions. Then I just pull it out and quickly make gravy. Of course, we eat this gravy over biscuits. This means that you also need my Quick Mix Biscuits recipe.
Turkey Sausage and Red Bean Stew is a wonderful comfort food – made easier if you have this sausage made ahead of time.
Sometimes I use this sausage in my Spicy Mac and Cheese recipe.

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Getting Real With Food Pt. 1

May 12, 2008 by Laura 12 Comments

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As I begin to write this series about eating real food and about what I feel about nutrition…first I must say that…

I don’t know everything.

Not even close. I only know what I’ve read (mostly from the book, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon…and from the website mercola.com).

But this is what I know:

1. This series is really hard to write. (Because there are so many things I want to say, and I’m not quite sure how to go about sharing it all.)

2. I don’t know everything. (I know I already said that…but I want to make sure you know that I know that I don’t know everything…you know?)

3. No matter WHAT we eat…if we over-eat…we will be overweight and have other health issues. (So just because I recommend that butter is good for you…doesn’t mean I think you should peal yourself a stick and have it for an afternoon snack.) ;)

4. Not all food is created equally. (Milk is not milk is not milk.)(More on that later.)

5. There are a lot of ways of thinking out there…and many, many of them are conflicting. (Which is a really, really frustrating thing about learning about nutrition.)

6. Some of the time when you are reading this…you might not agree with me. (Thanks for coming back to visit anyway!)

7. You won’t always like what I have to say. (Like when I tell you that chocolate is not a food group…don’t get mad at me.)

8. One of the reasons I think that this series is hard to write is because I don’t want to overwhelm you…and because I never, ever, NEVER want any of you to feel burdened by the information I share or to feel like I’m judging you in any way if you don’t eat like I do. I ONLY JUST want to share some of the things I’ve learned and am learning. Okay? (Oh, and maybe I should let you know that sometimes I get hungry for a hotdog…and I buy some and we eat them. With chips. And we enjoy it.)

Okay…so maybe you could let me know some of the specifics you’d like me to share?

And I’ll continue to work on how to share it!

If you haven’t already…be sure to sign up to win my two new e-books full of healthy recipes!

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Celebrating Women ~ Friday

May 9, 2008 by Laura Leave a Comment

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As we wrap up this week of honoring women…I have just a couple more emails to share with you!

This letter came from my precious friend Hannah who is one of the sweetest little girls on the face of the earth. It completely made my day…but I wasn’t planning to post it (just treasure it for myself). BUT, Hannah’s mom insisted that I share it…so share it I will… :)

My name is Hannah, and I am almost ten years old. I would like to tell you about a mom I know named Miss Laura. She’s someone I can go to because I feel safe with her. She’s really nice. She is my mama’s really good friend. I am a lot like her when she was young. I’m glad I have Miss Laura.

I can’t read it without choking up. I love that girl.

Thank you, Hannah, for always being such an encouragement to me and for just being such a delight.

Next, we’ve got a little “right back atcha” letter going on! If you recall on Monday, we surprised Charlene with a letter from her mother-in-law, Faye.

Well, Faye…here’s one from Charlene that we’ve been waiting to surprise YOU with!!

I want to share with you a little about my mother-in-law, Faye. I’ve mentioned her several times on my various blogs, and I just need to say it all again. She has been a true God-send to me since I moved to Las Vegas almost four years ago.

When Allan and I married, he moved out of his parent’s home for the first time, and I know it was a dramatic change and adjustment for everyone. His parents took it all in stride, and practically from day one, Faye has been available to help me with the kids (well, it was just one kiddo at first – I just kept increasing the workload by having more babies!), with business, and with friendship.

She became instant Granma to Samuel from day one, with no hesitation whatsoever on her part, and for that I’ll always be thankful. Through two difficult pregnancies, she was available to stay with the kids so Allan could go with me to all my appointments, and she was also to come over to help me get through the days when I just wasn’t well enough to mother on my own. (And she still does this!) Our children adore her and their faces light up when she walks through the door.

Besides all the wonderful ways she helps me now, I’m also thankful for her, simply because she is my husband’s mother. Allan has so many fun and happy memories of his childhood, and I love to listen to him talk about the special things she would do for him when he was a little guy. Her favorite line as a grandmother is that she isn’t spoiling our children, but simply “accommodating” them. Well, she’s very good at accommodating them in special ways, and I know from Allan’s stories she did the same for him and his sister growing up.

I told Allan recently that I never could have hoped to have as good a relationship with my in-laws as I have with my own parents. I am so blessed to have TWO moms who love me, and I thank God every day for that!

For all of you who sent me links and stories and letters, be watching your email for information about the promised gifts!

Thanks again to Kristy at Homemakers Cottage…and to Char at DigiScrapChat for their generous gift donations!

And, thank you so much, everyone, for sharing these wonderful women with all of us! It’s been a wonderful week of celebrating women!!

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Kids in the Kitchen: Making Cheesecake For Mom!

May 8, 2008 by Laura 7 Comments

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We have two pretty solid Mother’s Day traditions at our house. (Neither of them involves spending much money!)

One tradition is that we take the pictures of our boys beside the peach tree that we planted a few years ago. Each year, it is super fun to see how much the tree has grown and how much the boys have grown. We then email these pictures to all of the special women in our lives for Mother’s Day. I LOVE looking back at these pictures!

The second tradition is that I get the day off from cooking. :)

And I get to choose what we’re eating! (okay…I do that EVERY day…)

I absolutely NEVER want to eat out on Mother’s Day. I find the restaurants overflowing and stressful…and that is not a treat for me.

So Daddy and the boys put on their aprons (not really) and cook for mama. I LOVE it!!

You can read about the Mother’s Day Muffins they’ll be making here. And for lunch…they’ll be making steak on the grill, baked potatoes, veggies and cheesecake.

Here’s the cheesecake they’ll be making for me (and YES, we’re compromising a bit and by eating processed sugar and graham crackers from a box. I know…you must be absolutely shocked!) :)

Simple CheesecakeYum

2 pkgs graham crackers
2 sticks butter
¼ cup sugar
2 – 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 t. vanilla

In a gallon sized Ziploc bag, crush graham crackers with a rolling pin. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Pour crushed graham crackers, melted butter and sugar into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Stir ingredients together and pat it down to create crust. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, stir together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. In a large bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Add cream cheese mixture to whipped cream and fold in gently. Smooth mixture over the crust. Chill for at least two hours.

This cheesecake is super simple to make…which means the boys can do it entirely by themselves!

The boys LOVE crushing up the graham crackers in the baggie. It IS permission to BREAK something after all! (Oh, and don’t you just LOVE Malachi’s outfit in this picture? He chose it himself…) :)

Okay, and I always do pour the vanilla myself for them. It’s organic, and it’s pricey, and I’m afraid they’d accidentally pour in the entire bottle. Just the control freak in me coming out while they make MY cheesecake… ;)

I love this Mother’s Day tradition…and so do Daddy and the boys! They look forward to it as much as I do!

I’d love to hear about any Mother’s Day traditions you have!! What special things are YOU looking forward to this weekend?!

[tags]Mother’s Day, Kids in the Kitchen, Cheesecake[/tags]

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Celebrating Women ~ Thursday

May 8, 2008 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Hope you’re enjoying these great articles about women! It’s wonderful to have great women around us who challenge us to be better!

I received this email from Anne. Here’s what she wrote about a young mama named Jenny:

I would like to share with everyone a little something about a young mom I know. Jenny has three small children, and she, in my opinion, is one of the most humble, sweetest mamas I know. Like too many young ladies of our day and age, Jenny grew up with dysfunction that left her emotionally scarred. Rather than turn to the world for her answers, she turned to our Almighty Lord and Savior for guidance and healing. And God has been faithful to her.

What an inspiration she is to me, and countless others. She serves her husband and children selflessly every day, and God has blessed her for it. Whenever she struggles with insecurities that her past has left her with, and the worry of ‘breaking the cycle’ rears its ugly head, I will always point to her children and her wonderful marriage as testimony that she is, indeed, breaking the cycle.

Oh my! If you could see her babies! They are sweet, confident children without a care in the world. They are completely free to be children.

I guess the one word I would use to wrap this up is joy. They have a home full of the joy of the Lord, and I am truly blessed to have this family in my life.

Beautiful!

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow as we continue to celebrate women!

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I Didn’t Plan on Going Broke…

May 8, 2008 by Laura 6 Comments

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Early this week, I REALLY needed to mow our lawn.

(Yes, I mow our lawn, even though Matt would gladly do it. I think it’s great exercise…and it’s exercise with a productive purpose…and I get good sunshine…and I would rather Matt spend his at-home time doing other things. I’m weird…but I like to mow.) (I also like it when I’m done mowing.)

So, I needed to mow, but after our long winter and after some really windy spring days, there were a TON of sticks all over the yard that made mowing impossible.

So I came up with this fun plan for the boys. I told them that I would pay them each a penny for each stick that they picked up. I figured it would be way more fun this way and that they would likely be way more motivated to pick up more sticks than they would be otherwise.

It seems that I was right.

I can’t believe how long they spent picking up sticks. They worked SUPER hard!

Elias ended up picking up 185 sticks….which of course meant that he earned $1.85. Great work for a six year old. (and great ability to count that high and pick up sticks at the same time)

Justus picked up 400 sticks…so he earned $4.00.

And Asa…my first born, oldest child, high achiever…picked up ONE THOUSAND sticks….earning himself a whopping 10 bucks.

So, I hadn’t counted on paying out almost 16 dollars…but I must say…it was SO worth it!! There were NO sticks left for the mower to accidentally chomp up and fling out…none! And I was so proud of them for being such hard workers. And they were quite proud of their accomplishments too!

Oh, and on another note not related to stick picking up….I made the boys a final list of school work that they needed to finish up in order to complete their school year. They finished this week (WOOHOO for ME!).

But I have to tell you, that when Asa finished his list and came in and anounced to me, “Mom! I finished my fifth grade work! I’m a sixth grader now! I’m in MIDDLE school!” I almost choked on my breakfast. Seriously, I can not possibly have a child this old.

;)

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