Category Archives: Others

Apr17

Company Dinners: Fettucini Alfredo

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Company Dinners: Fettucini Alfredo

I have ALWAYS loved Fettucini Alfredo. As a matter of fact, almost every trip to Olive Garden results in us ordering a boat of alfredo sauce to dip our breadsticks in. For some reason, I had never thought of making my own until a few years ago. I had tried that jarred stuff in the store and it was nothing like real alfredo to me. So when my sister made me some during a visit to her house, I decided to find a recipe and try it myself when I got home. After several tries and substitutions, here’s my current recipe.

Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 c.  Butter

4 oz.  Cream Cheese (1/3 less fat works fine)

8 oz. Evaporated Milk

Dash each of garlic powder, black pepper, salt

1/2 c. Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Melt butter over medium heat in small saucepan. Cut cream cheese into small cubes and add to butter. Pour in evaporated milk and whisk until cream cheese is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Add seasonings and parmesan cheese. This recipe might feed our family of six, but I almost always double it to make sure I have leftovers. When I have company, I use a bigger pan and triple it. (Just ignore how many sticks of butter you are unwrapping and putting in the pan! I never said it was healthy, but it sure tastes awesome!)

 

We prefer cooked linguini over fettucini. The noodles are still thicker than spaghetti, but not as thick as fettucini. Of course that is a matter of preference. When I make this, I ALWAYS steam a pan of broccoli because they go so well together. I’ve also steamed carrots or green beans. The kids hardly notice the veggies when they are chopped up in the pasta and covered with that creamy sauce! And usually, I’ll cut a chicken breast into strips and saute it for Jason, though the rest of the family doesn’t miss the meat.

Leftovers:

I mentioned making extra sauce so we have leftovers. I use the alfredo sauce instead of regular tomato based sauce to make homemade pizza. Spread a thin layer over pizza dough, add chopped ham, and top with mozzerella cheese. It is the best variation on homemade pizza that I’ve ever tasted!

Have you ever made your own alfredo sauce? Is the taste worth the calories to you?

 

Mar30

Ten Cents (and a servant’s heart)

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Ten Cents (and a servant’s heart)

Just a quick post to share a serving idea, carried out by my girls. A couple of weeks ago, we were checking out at our favorite grocery store. As always, the kids started asking if I had any pennies, because they wanted to go ride the horse. (It’s funny to me that this horse has made it into so many of my posts over the last year! Who knew?! Here’s one, and here’s the other.)

When we made it over to Sandy, the horse, we noticed about 10 pennies lined up along the window sill beside her. The girls realized that someone had been kind enough to leave extra pennies so someone else could ride. They got excited and kept talking about how they could do something like that.

Several days passed and we headed out for our next grocery store run. I didn’t know that the girls had anything planned, but when we got inside the store, they kept talking about wanting to ride the horse. I said the same thing any mom would say upon entering the grocery store, “We’ll see.”

After we wrapped up our shopping and were waiting in the checkout line, they couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Mom, can we go on over to the horse?” I told them to wait until I finished and I would check my purse for pennies. “We don’t need your pennies! We brought our own. And we brought some extras to leave for the next person.” So while one was on the horse, the other was spreading pennies out on the window sill. (Then they traded places and my daughter with OCD began to arrange them in a staggered pattern, making sure each row was straight.) Anyway, I was so happy to see them caring for someone else. And they were all smiles because they knew they had helped someone else.

Mar22

Why I Homeschool

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Why I Homeschool

I must start by saying I am not trying to prove that homeschooling is for everyone. I am not giving arguments for homeschooling. I am only sharing my personal reasons for doing so.

I have been asked many times why we decided to homeschool. There are many reasons, but the answer I always give first is that I LOVE teaching! I went to college determined to major in music, but realized once I was there how valuable an education degree would be to me at home. So I merged the two and graduated with a music education degree. As of right now, I wake up 5 days a week and teach. We start with academic subjects, and sometime in the process of our day we do music.

I love being in control of what my children are learning–this is the next reason we made the choice to homeschool. With our flexible schedule, my kids get the chance each day to learn math, language arts, music, cleaning and organization skills, food prep and cooking along with healthy eating choices, hands on science, laundry, history (this one is a favorite for all of us), goals and rewards, work ethic, current events, and many more things that vary each day. Because I am mommy, I can see when they are ready to learn certain things and when they aren’t quite ready to handle them. I also am able to give them the biblical foundation for WHY we learn various skills.

In contrast to that reason, I am also able to loosely control what my kids are NOT learning. When my child is away from me for the majority of the day, there is no way to know what they are learning during that time. I have some tough conversations with my kids about things that go on in our world today, and I am grateful for the chance to be able to use Scripture in introducing them. It is also incredibly important to me that they view everything through the lens of grace. It is too easy to point out sin without teaching them to have love for the sinner. This simply leads to a superior attitude, “Well, I don’t do that so I am better than that kid.” I want my children to notice the sin going on around them (and choose not to participate), but I also pray that with a biblical foundation, they will see that a person without Christ has no real choice in the matter. None of us do, except for Christ’s sacrifice on that cross. His mercy provided an escape from damnation, and His grace gives us victory in Christ.

This post is not an attempt to convince anyone that homeschooling is the “right” option, I am simply sharing with you why we chose that route. However, each of us DO homeschool, whether it is for 14 hours a day or for 6 hours a day, whether it is academic subjects or other things, whether it is formal learning or a more relaxed environment. I encourage you to make every hour you have with your kids intentional in what you teach them. Even though they must learn some tough things in our world today, determine to teach how those things relate to them in Christ. And teach them to show the love of Christ wherever they spend their time.

Feb16

5 Minute Learning, Email

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5 Minute Learning, Email

I’m not sure how many of you live apart from Grandparents and other relatives, but our closest relatives are 2 hours away. We don’t get the chance to see family every day, every week, or even every month. So one of my kids favorite things to do (besides color pictures and mail them) is to sit down at the computer and send them an email. Last week when Daddy was gone on his trip, they got a chance to email him too.

How is this educational? They are familiarizing themselves with the computer keyboard. Because they haven’t yet memorized where each letter is, they have to “hunt and peck” to find the next letter. Eventually they start to remember, “Oh yeah, letter E was top left.” It is beginning preparation for learning to type.

Also, I have found that it is good spelling and punctuation practice. I won’t allow them to send an email that I haven’t checked for errors. Once they are finished typing their message, I’ll read over and point out the words that are spelled incorrectly, or need a capital letter, and have them fix the errors.

I will open up gmail, insert the email address, and type “From Clare” in the subject line so the recipient knows right away that it is from the kids. Then I will leave them to type their email. When they are finished, or when I determine they have had enough time, I return to check it over before sending it. When they girls were a little younger, I always clicked the send button myself, but last time I allowed Miranda to do it while I was standing there. It takes them a long time just to type a few sentences, so the emails are never long. Just a short, fun note to say hi to family.

And you should see the smiles on their faces when the recipient emails them back! They usually ask me to read it to them several times in a row so they can digest it all. Even though they talk to them regularly on the phone, getting that “letter” electronically is just something special.

Do your kids email yet?

Feb13

Little Things 5

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Little Things 5

Here are some little things I noticed last week, that I want to add to my list.

 

#1)  Jason was gone for three days last week. Before Daddy left, Grant wanted to help him pack. He was running back and forth between me downstairs, and Jason upstairs relaying messages and carrying items up the stairs.

#2)  Knowing my hubby was gone for three days last week, my wonderful sister called to check up on me and the kids.

#3)  My two older girls have really been helping out with Elsie lately. Both girls jumped at the chance this week to bathe her and get her dressed. (I’m pretty sure that is so exciting because they get to choose her outfit for the day.) This frees up several minutes of my time, so I am thankful for this service.

#4)  Since the girls knew Daddy was coming home on Thursday, they hurried through their chores and jumped right into their schoolwork for the day. They wanted to finish everything before he got home, so they could spend extra time with him.

#5)  Miranda loves having her dogs, but with that also comes the responsibility of feeding them and taking them outside each day. It is one of those jobs she does, because she has to, but also gets very tired of doing daily. Clare got up to feed the dogs one morning, so Miranda wouldn’t have to.

 

I’m sure you have seen kindness this week. Care to share?

Feb7

Little Things 4

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Little Things 4

I have been writing this series of posts on the little things that sometimes get looked over in a day. I want to be more conscious of those little acts of kindness (serving), so I am making a list!

 

#1)  My girls watched our neighbors dog back in December, and had a blast! They enjoyed having another dog to play with and to snuggle with. Though they did it without expecting to be paid, our neighbor paid us back with the softest, comfiest, warmest University of Kentucky blanket. (I know, enough about UK already, right?!?) Not too sure how much the kids are going to get to enjoy it though–Jason called dibs.

#2)  My kids were allowed to take a quarter from their banks to buy a gumball from those kiosks in the mall this week. Miranda begged me to be able to take an extra quarter from her own bank to buy her baby sister some M&Ms.

#3)  I had a rare, but pretty intense headache yesterday (which is sometimes caused by a lack of caffeine intake), so my hubby made a special trip through the Chick Fila drive through to get me a “large sweet tea with very light ice”. (I’m not picky or anything…)

#4)  A good friend of my girls came over last night, and brought them a beaded pin that she made them, to wear on their shirt.

#5)  I got the sweetest Thank-You card in the mail today, from my dad. He was saying thanks for the retirement party last week, and letting me know how much he enjoyed it. It’s great to have such an awesome Dad!

 

Let’s hear yours! Who has served you recently?

Feb1

Little Things 2

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Little Things 2

Today I am compiling a list of things from our trip back home on Monday. These are pretty routine happenings, but could have gone the opposite direction if someone had chosen the selfish route.

 

#1)  Miranda is in charge of the DVD player on our trips. Before I even had a chance to give instructions about who was to pick the first movie, she had already served her sister by giving her first choice.

#2)  All 4 of the kids served me with good attitudes when I asked them to split a bottle of juice and 2 large cookies. Many times I hear complaints about them wanting their own bottle or their own snack, but this time they chose to be grateful for their snack.

#3)  Clare served her brother by helping him buckle his seat belt multiple times. (Without complaining, which is a rarity!)

#4)  I caught a little cold while I was in Illinois, and every time I would sneeze or blow my nose, Clare showed me such concern. “I’m sorry you are sick, Mom. Can I do anything to help you?” she would say. So sweet when they notice these things and show sympathy.

#5)  I served my Clare by pointing out a quarter on the pavement at one of our stops. As I mentioned before, it makes Clare’s day to find a penny on the ground, much less a quarter! She dropped the quarter in the van and fretted about it the whole trip. As I was cleaning out the van, I spotted it underneath her booster seat. Put the smile back on her face!

 

Have you had any simple acts of service that put a smile on your face lately?

Jan31

Little Things

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Little Things

Many times every day, we are faced with a choice:

To serve others, or to serve ourselves.

I want to stop myself BEFORE I make the selfish choice, and in order to do that, I need to be more aware of the choice. I also would like to point out these instances to my kids–to praise them when they make the selfless choice and  to correct them when they make the self-centered choice.

So I am going to make a list, that I add to daily, of acts of service. Some may be really big and noticeable, like the one I want to share with you today. Most others will be the smaller, simpler choices that we see each day. I want to notice the little things.

Today’s act of service happened over the weekend at my dad’s retirement party. Stephanie and I watched in happiness as each of our older kids walked around serving our guests. They seriously waited tables! They threw away empty bowls and plates. They took orders for dessert, went to fill the plate, then brought it back to the table. They got drinks for others. I remember actually having to ask Miranda to stand back away from the tables because she was hovering over people waiting for them to finish. :) They seriously wanted to do everything they could to give Grandpa a great party!

Feel free to comment and share these acts of service that you notice each day. You might become more aware of them, and we’ll all enjoy reading them!

Jan22

Served By A Stranger

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Served By A Stranger

 

This is after the initial "light up" face. She's eyeing Miranda's ice cream sundae!

Today we were blessed by the kindness of a total stranger. My beautiful Miranda turned 8 today, and picked Red Robin for her birthday lunch (probably because she knows they serve up a pretty cool ice cream sundae for birthday girls). During our lunch, we watched a couple of boys at the table next to us go play the games in the front lobby. You know the money waster game where you have a moving arm, with a weak clutch and you are only a winner if that clutch actually grabs one of the elusive stuffed animals. Well, these boys had the game mastered, and returned to the table 4 times with stuffed animals!

They finished their meal before we did, and as they were leaving one of the boys (I’m guessing around 9 years old), walked up to Elsie and offered her this little pony. Oh how her face lit up! She beamed and hugged the animal, and even managed to squeak out a “dant dou”. She didn’t even want to put it down to eat her food, and almost NOTHING is as important to Elsie as food right now!

Pretty cool, huh?

Jan10

Be A Minister

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Be A Minister

A couple thoughts I have had on serving others recently:

Isn’t it funny how we can do things for others, but in reality we are only SERVING ourselves? It is easy to perform acts of service when we are receiving a benefit as well. “I’ll do this for you, because it will make me feel good, or look good, etc.”

And here’s another one that frustrates me, when I realize I’m guilty. “I will serve you, as long as this is done on my terms.” As long as I can conduct this action MY way, then I’ll do it. However, if I have to give in and do something the other person’s way, then I’m not so willing to serve.

I have this picture in my mind of kids playing, and one of them says, “C’mon. You play this game with me FIRST, and later I’ll play the game YOU want to play.”

 

In contrast to these selfish thoughts, I love the word “minister” in the Bible. Sometimes, Christian words or phrases become so overused to us, that we forget their true meaning. Minister, ministry, serve, servant. I wanted to point out the definition since this has been on my mind lately.

The word “minister” in the New Testament is used in many different ways, but two well used definitions say the following:

“One who executes the commands of another”

and

“To attend to anything, that may serve another’s interests”

When you apply these definitions to our acts of service, we are serving others to execute a command given to us by God. And we are to do so with their best interest in mind, leaving ourselves and our gain or comfort, out of the picture.

Isn’t it so hard to keep our service completely selfless?