With Spring Comes Change

We're starting to see the signs of spring here at home. The daffodils and leucojum (pictured) are up, cherries are blooming (a bit early, though) as well as our peach trees. It's nice to see that it's just around the corner. I'm not very much of a winter person. I get cold easily, and it's typically too cold to be outside much during the winter season. Spring, summer, and fall are very fun, happy times in our family. We spend most of our time outside, playing, walking, hiking, camping, gardening...you name it. We feel it is essential to instill a love and respect of nature in Andrew. We also believe that we are stewards of the earth, and have a spiritual obligation to protect and conserve this beautiful planet that God created. How can you not look at the wonders of nature and not believe that God exists?

Spring holds a lot of wonderful surprises and experiences for us this year. We've just gotten word that we have serious interest in our house and may be expecting an offer next week! There just might be a move in store for us in the next few months! We're sad to leave this house, but excited at future possibilities. We've settled quite well here. But I remind myself constantly that a house is just a 'thing,' and it's the family that makes it special.

We're also very excited that our Total Money Makeover is progressing very nicely! We're greatly encouraged by family and friends that have either done it or are doing it. It helps to see real-life success stories! We were blessed to get an unexpectedly large tax refund this year, which went a loooong way towards our debt snowball. And with buying a new house on the horizon, it does wonders to our credit ratings. We have very near-perfect credit, but wish we didn't have some of the debt we do. However, it is shrinking as we speak!

We can't wait to share with you the excitement (and sadness) over our move! Hopefully sometime in the next week we'll have good news to share!

A Little 'Venting'

Today at Mother's Morning Out Andrew's class had a Valentine Party. They made cute little bags to collect the Valentines in and everything. His teachers had said, just a small card with some candy. I didn't really like the candy idea, so I made some oatmeal cookies instead. I mean seriously, what one- to two-year old needs candy?! And besides the whole sugar factor, most candy out there is too hard, sticky, or chewy for children that age. Here's the haul Andrew got today at the party.

Can you believe it? We didn't even get this much at Halloween! There are several lollipops (which are okay, until he starts to bite them), JuJu Fruits (WAY too sticky and hard), at least 10 chocolate hearts, several bags of M&M's, Peanut Butter Cups, Jolly Ranchers (are you kiding me?) and Marshmallow things. I couldn't believe that some of these parents would give this stuff to other children, that are younger than two! I wouldn't dream of giving Andrew some of this stuff, simply for the choking hazard, nevermind the sugar factor! Try explaining to an 18-month old that, no, you don't bite or chew a Jolly Rancher, you keep it in your mouth until it's gone. Please!

I know I must sound like a Scrooge, but I just couldn't get over the fact that we even had this party in the first place. None of the kids have any idea what Valentine's Day is, why they had a party, and what all those square pieces of paper even mean! There wasn't even a lesson on God's love! It's a church Mother's Morning Out! It just seems like a missed opportunity for a good lesson on love, instead of giving out potentially hazardous candy to small (very small!) children!

A Warm Winter Day

Finally, it is now warm enough to go outside! Thank the Lord, because we're about to go stir-crazy stuck inside. Lately we've been playing outside for a few hours each day, which makes for a tired little boy. Which, in turn, makes for a happy Mommy and Daddy, when that tired little boy sleeps all night without making a peep! And as you can tell from the picture above, even Duke the dog is happy for a nice day!

Here's some action shots of Andrew in the yard this past week!

His newest 'hobby' is falling down. And of course, its so much more fun when you fall down in a big pile of leaves!

Big Coupons in the Upcoming Sunday Paper!

For all you couponers out there, this Sunday's paper (Feb. 8) is going to have four inserts! One Smart Source, one Red Plum, one Proctor & Gamble, and one General Mills! Check out Southern Savers (www.southernsavers.com) to see an actual list of each coupon within the inserts. It looks like a really good haul, so I'll probably be getting 4 to 6 papers.

Just giving y'all the heads up! Happy clipping!

An Easy, Yummy Potato Wrap

I am not sure what these things are called, but I found the recipe in a magazine and tried it last night for the Super Bowl. They are basically tortillas rolled up with a yummy diced potato filling. Perfect for a party or for lunches.

Here's the ingredients:
8-10 tortillas, 10" size
3 cups of diced potatos
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 chopped green onions
2 tbsp melted butter

Cook the potatos according to the package directions. I put mine in a skillet with a small amount of oil, and cooked them until they started to brown and get a tad bit crispy. Then, mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Warm up your tortillas. Spread the potato mixture all over the tortilla. The thickness depends on how full you want your burrito to be, I did about1/3-1/2" all over. Then roll the tortilla burrito style, and place on a cookie sheet. Place burritos 1" apart, then lightly brush the melted butter on the tops. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Let them cool down for a minute or two, then slice them in 1/2's or 1/3's diagonally (like the Cool Wrap at ChickFilA, this is hard to explain!)
Serve with a little more sour cream and some salsa to dip it in. Y'all, it's sinful. And I used the fat free sour cream and wiped the grease off the bacon, so it was a little less fattening.