Dad's 50th!!

We just got done celebrating my dad's 50th birthday. Yes, just 19 days after celebrating my mom's. We always joke that he married an older woman :) It was another great celebration. The weekend before my dad's birthday, his sister and husband drove 8 hours from northern Wisconsin as a surprise. It was so great. They were at my parents house waiting when my dad came home from work, but they were hiding, and their car was hidden. Dad came in and chatted for a minute, and then he went outside to carry groceries in. Mom said we'd come help him, so we followed behind him. My Aunt Paula and Uncle Mike snuck up right behind him and starting taking groceries from him. He handed Aunt Paula about five things before he realized who it was! He was so shocked I thought he was going to fall over! We got to have lots of family time that weekend, and it was great. We had pizza that night and watched the Olympic opening ceremonies. The next day, we went to my cousin Ben's basketball game and then to Steak 'n Shake for lunch. That is kind of a tradition when dad's family comes in town because they don't have any in northern WI or in New England, which is where his brother lives. That night, mom made a good dinner. Dad got several nice gifts. All of us kids chipped in and got him a nice lawn trimmer, made extra long for a tall guy :) On his actual birthday, we had another small dinner, and all of us kids made a list of our top 50 dad stories. I read them all out loud. I think dad liked it. I had fun reading through them and seeing what everyone remembers. I think the list is a testament to dad's love for his kids, his goofiness, and his involvement in our lives. My favorite personal entry was when dad took me out to the country in the middle of the night when I was in 3rd grade to watch shooting stars after I had to get stitches in my wrist. The girls remember watching thunderstorms on our porch swing with dad. Phil remembers never being able to beat dad at HORSE or at a foot race. Paul remembers listening to his favorite song-Crocodile Rock-with dad in the car and getting to go on Boyscout camping trips before he was really old enough. Lots of other stories involved dad singing crazy songs to us or the goofy sayings that he has. It was a lot of fun to celebrate my parent's 50th birthdays, and I pray that the Lord blesses them with many more years!

A Year and a Half!

A shopping day with mommy-we got lots of clothes for next winter!

Hannah is 18 months old now. She is 33" and 27 lbs which is about 75-90th percentile on both. She has 15 teeth with one stubborn canine trying to come through. I think she will feel so much better once it does! She is becoming a little chatterbox and seems to pick up new words every day. Josh is so good at teaching her how to do new things too. It's fun to see how quickly she can pick them up. My favorite new one is "gentle." She lightly strokes her hand against both of your cheeks and then gives you a hug. I love it! She is full of hugs and kisses; she for sure is a little cuddler. I had a little scare with her the other day at church. We were up on the 3rd floor at church, and she ran down the hall, pushed the elevator button, got on, and rode to the first floor and was wandering around before I even noticed that she was missing! She keeps me on my toes!

A day with my buddy Hayden!

Playing with Grandma!

I love mommy's new treadmill!

Walking in the snow for the first time!

50 Years Young

My mom turned 50 on Monday. All of us kids organized a fun family day on Sunday. To start the day, all five of us kids, along with our significant others, sat with my parents at church. We filled up two pews! Although we all go to the same church, it is rare that we all sit together. It has actually probably been years since that has happened. Between Paul's crazy work schedule, our children's ministry obligations, Emily living in southern IL, Betsy at college, and Phil not being able to get out of bed (haha), we are NEVER all together for worship. It was so nice to all sit together, and it made me think 25 years down the road and hope that all my children would be around to be in church with me. After church, all of us went to The Beef House for lunch. This is another extreme rarity. Our family NEVER goes out to eat! Of course, with 14 people, it is not cheap, so you can see why it never happens. All of us kids pitched in to cover the bill, and it was nice to give my parents a break from entertaining for once. My mom prepares a huge meal EVERY SINGLE Sunday after church for all of us, so I was glad she could have a break (although she does love it). After lunch, we all came back to our house and my mom's mom, brother, and sister and their families all came over for cake and presents. Paul's wife Alisa has been taking cake decorating classes, and she made a beautiful chocolate cake that looked like it was from a bakery. All of us kids went together and got mom lots of new shirts. She also got several gift cards to go shopping, so she should be set for awhile! Everyone hung out and played games and visited for several hours. It was a great day. I hope my mom loved it as much as I did. I have to think that as a mother with grown children, there is no better feeling than this. I pray that my children and I are as close as we all are with our mom.

Happy 89th Birthday Grandma Downing!

Josh's Grandma is about the coolest Grandma there is. I hope to be like her one day. She loves her grandkids so much and has always been there for them. We got to celebrate her 89th birthday last week at The Beef House! I hope I have as much spunk as she does when I'm 89! On a side note, I got Hannah's hair all up in pigtails for the first time for the party. It made her look so much older! At the party, Josh's dad said to her, Hannah, I'll give you a dollar if you say "papa." Loudly and clearly, she stated "Papa!" right on cue! It was hilarious. Grandpa gave her a dollar!

Haiti

Our children's class at church has supported a little boy in Haiti through Compassion International for almost five years now, so we were especially concerned about him and his family during this crisis that is going on there right now. Josh looked up his city, and it seems to be far enough from the earthquake that he likely was not injured, but our hearts are still broken by all of the devastation there right now. Just days before the earthquake, our class had sent extra money to help his family out. Now, the people of Haiti need the extra help more than ever. It is so hard to watch the images on TV and to be sitting in our comfortable home with everything we need. I want to jump on a plane and go help. Or I want them to bring me the orphaned children. The problems seem so overwhelming. There are living people still trapped who need saved, and there are dead bodies on the streets that need to be respectfully laid to rest, and there are people living in the streets who need food and water. Where do you start? The key is to do something. I have four easy ways you can help today and only one costs money: 1) Pray for the people of Haiti 2) Give money (through Compassion International or The Red Cross) 3) Blog about the issue and leave a comment at moneysavingmom.com and she'll donate $10! 4) Money Saving Mom has a list of over 50 blogs that you can visit, and if you do, the blogger will do something to help Haiti! http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2010/01/help-for-haiti-everyone-can-do-something.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+moneysavingmom%2FmNWf+%28Money+Saving+Mom%29 PS-I visited about 1/2 of these sites and over $50 was given just because I visited and posted a comment!

Favorite Recipes

I want to share a few of our favorite family dinners in the hopes that I will get some new ideas from my friends as well. Here are the top twenty meals that I make most often, along with five recipes that I think others may not already make: 1) Homemade Pizza 2) Spaghetti 3) Italian Beef 4) Asparagus Chicken Stir Fry 5) Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry 6) Pizza Sub 7) Tacos 8) Roast, Potatoes, Carrots 9) Chicken Vino Bianco 10) Chicken Marsala 11) Porcupines 12) Fettucine Alfredo 13) Cheesy Mostaccioli 14) Cream of Broccoli Soup 15) Chili 16) Beef and Noodles 17) Stuffed Green Peppers 18) Chicken Enchiladas 19) Angel Hair Pasta with Chicken 20) Grilled Chicken Tortilla Soup Asparagus Chicken Stir Fry: Ingredients: 1 Cup Asparagus Cooked 1" pieces (I use Green Giant microwavable), 2 tsp. cornstarch for coating, 2 tbl. cornstarch for sauce, 2 egg whites, 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed, 4 tsp. olive oil, 3/4 cup sherry or chicken broth, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 tbl. sugar, 1/2 cashews, 4 green onions chopped, 2 cups jasmine/minute rice First, start cooking asparagus and rice according to directions. In a medium bowl, whisk 2 tsp. cornstarch and 2 egg whites until smooth; add chicken and toss to coat. Stir-fry chicken in oil until no longer pink. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch, sherry, soy sauce, & sugar until smooth. Gradually add to pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in cashews, onions, & asparagus. Serve over rice. Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry Ingredients: 2 tbl. vegetable oil, 1 lb. thinly cut steak/beef, 2 cups broccoli chopped (frozen or fresh), 5 green onions, 4 cloves minces garlic, 2 cups jasmine/minute rice Sauce: 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup cooking sherry, 1 1/2 tsp. white sugar, 1 tbl. cornstarch First, combine all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside. Heat oil in skillet. Add steak and fry for 3 minutes. Add broccoli, green onion, and garlic. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or until broccoli is tender. Add sauce and cook for one more minute until mixture is thick and coats food. Serve over rice. Chicken Marsala Ingredients: 2 tbl. flour, 1 tbl. McCormick Basil & Garlic Seasoning Blend, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced horizontally, 2 tbl. butter, 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms, 1/2 chicken broth, 1/2 cup Marsala cooking wine (can be found at Wal-Mart with cooking wines-not in the alcohol section!), your choice of pasta-orzo, linguine Start pasta of your choice. Mix flour, seasoning blend and salt on a large plate. Moisten chicken lightly with water. Coat evenly with flour mixture. Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 6-8 minutes or until almost cooked through, turning once. Remove from skillet; keep warm. Add the mushrooms; cook and stir 2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and wine. Cook and stir 3 minutes longer. Return the chicken to skillet. Cook 1-2 minutes or until heated through. Serve over pasta. Porcupine Meatballs Ingredients: 1 lb. ground beef, 1/2 cup uncooked minute rice, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. celery salt, 1/8 tsp. garlic powder, 1/8 tsp. pepper, 15 oz. can tomato sauce, 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce. Mix all ingredients but the tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Form into meatballs and brown. Pour sauces in and heat until boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 45 minutes. Prepare two more cups of minute rice to be served with the meatballs. Stuffed Green Peppers Ingredients: 6 medium green peppers, 1 1/2 lbs uncooked ground beef, 1 cup uncooked minute rice, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped celery, 1 small tomato, seeded and chopped, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, 1 can tomato soup, 1/2 tsp. basil, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese 1) Cut tops off peppers and remove seeds. In a large kettle, cook peppers in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and immediately place in ice water; invert onto paper towels. 2) In a large bowl, combine the beef, rice, onion, celery, tomato, garlic, salt, and pepper. Spoon into peppers. Place in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Combine soup and basil; spoon over peppers. 3) Cover and bake at 350 for 55-60 mintues or until beef is no longer pink. Sprinkle with cheese; bake 5 minutes longer until cheese is melted.

Les & Sarah's Wedding

Last weekend, Josh was able to be in Les and Sarah's wedding in Lincoln. It was a very nice wedding and reception and we had a lot of fun. We loved getting to see college friends that we don't see often enough. We had a ton of fun and we look forward to getting to spend more time with Les and Sarah. We left Hannah overnight for the first time. My sisters spent the night at our house with her, and she spent a lot of time at my parents house as well. Krista Weber and I spent the night at Josh Weber's dad's house, while all the guys stayed at Les' house. I told Josh it was his responsibility to make sure Les got some sleep, and Les told me the next day that it was Josh who stayed up talking with him until 2:30! At least they had fun :)