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Resurrection

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Many of us just celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. As I soak in the spring season, after a full year of seasons, I realize that it’s also a reason of resurrection for the earth. What once was dead, we are watching come back to life. It’s truly a beautiful time that I can say I have never fully appreciated.

In this season we also celebrate the Mother’s and Father’s in our life. These people aren’t always the ones that have ‘given you life’. Many have never had children of their own. Mother’s, father’s, grandparents, aunts, uncles and those that we call aunts and uncles because they ARE family…

Many people & relationships impact our lives, the old, the new, the long, the short. They all matter. I hope we can all celebrate those this season that in many ways, give us life, and carry us through. Make that call, write the letter, send a card, share a smile, give a hug and let those people know they are loved.

I know there are many struggling in this season with hurt, loss, pain. If you would like an ear, need extra prayer, let us know, we are happy to be here for you. You are loved, wanted and a beautiful person, created by the one true God.

May you be blessed in the beautiful life!

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Pictures

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I am sharing pictures of what has been going on the last month; Some this momma took, some the children did. However, its only pictures, I’m not captioning any of it. Of course we will be happy to answer any of your questions! Love ya’ll!

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Largest Garden EVER

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Okay at least for us, this is the largest garden we have ever attempted. I’m also attempting to start a lot from seed, NOT in the ground. There are a lot of firsts for us in this garden too. One is a potato patch! Doug was able to get some wood from his work so he has been busy building me “stuff”. We have a table we plan on making out of a stump and a spool, he’s been working on a chicken run as well, hopefully the foxes don’t get them this time! None of it is quite done, but now we have to wait for it to dry up just a little again. I have plans for asparagus, strawberries, onions, garlic, beets and kale to get in the ground ASAP!

tilling
seed starts
garden
Potato Patch

I cannot lie, I am now thinking it would be nice to have a small orchard and a separate area for a berry patch….. We will have to see what we can get in this area of about 20ft x 40ft because there are other projects that need worked on too.

I will get the pancake recipe to you next, for all my lovely people who have asked! Love you all and see you on the flip side.

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Littlest Birthday Boy

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Baby TAZ, who isn’t so baby like anymore, is loving dinosaurs, Grogru, Pikachu (because he’s yellow), just about anything yellow, especially blankets. His favorite book right now is one he got for his birthday, The Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone. We were very limited in what we could do for his birthday with his broken wrist so there was lots of board games and video games played. He’s more often then not ready to share with his brothers and sister when he gets a treat, even when he doesn’t have to. He gives the best morning cuddles, too.

It’s been a challange keeping him from using his broken arm, thankfully the cast comes off in a week or so. With the nice weather this week it’s also going to be hard to keep him from getting dirt in the cast as one of his favorite activities is digging and he is very eager to use his new sand toys treasure chest he got for his birthday.

He had such a hard time decided what he wanted for his birthday dessert. I decided to take him to the store to pick out what he wanted, he settles on cupcakes with rings on top and neapolitan ice cream. He decided it was the best day ever and is already working on his plans for when he turns 6!

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Cooking for Our Large Family

Posted on by MamaZ

Hello! Sorry it’s been so long but this momma was on the struggle bus. Nothing serious just a couple weeks of survival mode, so there’s lots to catch up on.

First up, I turned our large banana bread recipe into muffins and added walnuts a few weeks ago (the walnuts were not a huge hit with some of the kids, oh well its food in their bellies if they’re hungry). It ended up making 4 dozen regular muffins with a few jumbos to send to work with Doug. Two weeks later now, we still have a dozen in the freezer for a quick easy breakfast or snack. We usually pair them with fruit and or yogurt. If you want me to share my version or any other recipes let me know in the comments.

We also had a birthday in the beginning of the month, baby TAZ isn’t so baby like anymore… cue momma crying. Birthday’s around here usually mean pancakes or waffles for breakfast. The blackstone has certainly changed our breakfast game around here, especially in the nicer weather. We decided to do cinnamon banana pancakes, which the majority of the family topped with peanut butter and syrup.

Doug got me an air fryer for my birthday this year and I am loving it! I use it mostly for my lunches to do a quick frozen fish lunch like this salad. I also like to throw veggies in, such as okra, broccoli and brussel sprouts. We typically use frozen for ease and affordability.

I’ve got plenty more food pictures to share but I will end this here to not bombard you with my love of cooking of food. Be prepared for more posts as we have been very busy getting ready for chicks and the garden season, also have a few pictures to share of our birthday boy this month. I’ve also been busy with some new crochet projects that I can share as well.

May God bless you today and please share with me your favorite meals to make/eat!

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A Time of Reflection

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View from the front window

February 20, 2021 – We started our journey from Arizona to Kansas. Something the Lord had put on our hearts for a loooooong time! He gave me a dream the summer before and Kansas was literally spelled out in neon lights. We even looked in other states, offers and houses fell through many times. The evening of this day a miracle and what seemed like a tragedy hit. We rolled our trailer with the majority of our belongings in it. Doug was driving the van with three of the children with him. By the grace of God, and my VERY LOUD prayers, the van stayed upright and everyone was safe! But now we were stuck in Albuquerque, NM.

February 21, 2021 – We woke up to immediately hunt for a moving truck and to get us out of the city. We had extra family traveling with us to help us move. I was soooooooo grateful. We got quite the run around, we had to go across town to find the only 20ft truck anywhere near the metro area. Then the work came, we had to unload our 26ft trailer and van into a 20ft moving truck with only 3 of us. We also had to leave room so we could empty out my grandmothers van of stuff so we would have room for the children that were in the van. We did it, we got to keep about 90% of our things! We had to unfortunately leave our chest freezer and Refrigerator behind due to no space as well. In the end, we got out of the city that night and made it to Santa Rosa. Whew, that was a sign of relief for all of us!

February 22, 2021 – The day we expected to make it in and unload the trailer…. didn’t happen since we were delayed a day! But we did make it all the way into a town near by. Decided to get another hotel because the beds were all buried in the back of the Penske truck.

February 23, 2021 – Birthday wished come true! Once the accident happened, all I told Doug was that I wanted our home for my birthday. Well, bright and early this day we headed to the house to unload the Penske and another vehicle and small trailer. Our awesome neighbor, you know who you are, called Doug that morning wondering where we were since we weren’t in when we told him we would be. To say the least, when we pulled in he was ready to help unload so we could go get the rest of the family from the hotel before checkout time. It only took us an hour and a half or so. My poor neighbor though had no idea how many boxes of books he would be unloading, haha.

Once we got everyone “home,” Doug and I headed to the nearest Sam’s club to get groceries and cheesecake, because that was my only other birthday wish, ha! We all collapsed that night, but my Nana and Auntie T stayed up to have cheese cake with me, and just take a deep breath for a moment. We were on one heck of a roller coaster ride…

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Birthday Girl!

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The last time we celebrated this sweet and spicy girl we were days away from leaving Arizona and everything we ever knew! She had so much fun all weekend and was definitely the Princess. We let our children choose their birthday dinner. Her first request was for daddy to grill hamburgers and hotdogs with rice and beans. We saved that meal for when we had friends over the following day. Instead, on her birthday she had the option of homemade pizza or beans ‘n’ cornbread; she chose the latter! She always knows how to take us by surprise.

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THM Bootcamp results

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In the beginning of this year I was able to join a 6 week bootcamp with a THM (Trim Healthy Mama) coach. I was tired of being tired, fighting against inflammation and wanted to be a little lighter on my feet. I chose bootcamp because the accountability REALLY helps me stay on track. What helps you stay on track when your aiming for a goal?

Here are just a few of the meals I’ve been eating…

I’ve been eating MORE food, and more frequently. My biggest take away from this round of bootcamp, was finally, FINALLY, I figured out how to make eating healthy, whole food easier than not. Also, how to make it work for me. Something clicked after 5 yrs with THM, a mindset shift, if you will, that has made it all easier this time around.

All this said, are you ready for the results?

I thought so…

I have lost 11.8lbs and 10 inches since January 3rd. Nothing crazy dramatic. But I am fitting into old clothes again, and I have more energy, confidence and stamina.

I am currently working though another bootcamp that runs for another 7 weeks or so, The Diastasis Bootcamp Fix, with my now friend Olivia Cagle. I love her! I have been moving very slowly this time round. Currently only on Week 1, day 5 I believe. That’s what happens though when you fall down the stairs backwards carelessly at 4 am! Ha, I’m ok, just threw myself more out of whack than I thought.

So now I want to know, what are you working on right now? What goals, short or long term are in your focus? What is helping you stay on track, or do you need to look for an accountability partner? I’d love to know. 😉

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Prepping Ground Beef

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We did the biggest shopping trip we’ve ever done at Sam’s Club.  It included a case of ground beef…. I did quite a bit with it, some of it we froze raw, ready for any creation. I also cooked up 20 pounds of it on my black stone grill (10 lbs at a time).

I also cooked up 10 lbs of taco meat one day. Followed a few days later by 10 lbs of THM sloppy joes for quick easy meals! I couldn’t believe how much sauce it was!

In addition, to spice up leftover night I have been making big batches of cookie dough and freezing it. I made peanut butter chocolate chip this time around.  I also decided to put my mixer to the test… 4 batches of my recipe makes 8 doz large cookies. we ended up making 4 doz this past weekend for church potluck and super bowl Sunday.  Here’s what my mixer looked like

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A Search for Earth

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On this bright sunny Thursday in January we went on a search for rocks. Definitely not as easy as it is in Arizona, nor is it all that easy in the middle of winter.  It was a decent day in the low 40’s, but this momma was reluctant to take on such a task.  It was a part of our geology study we are doing, so it became a school trip and a “relaxing” walk for mom.

The kids mostly had a good time, and wanted to keep exploring the creek, but I was still sore from a preventable fall.  Each child had an egg carton and everyone came home with nearly a full carton of rocks, some were overflowing.  Over all it was a good day and a successful school day! It’s a win!

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