Beautiful Food

So, I decided to use a very delicious looking recipe of Breanne's, Sausage Florentine. And, being the person that I am, I just couldn't resist taking pictures of those amazing colours!!

Doesn't that just make you smile? It does me! :-D

Delicious sausage with red onions (even though they look purple - tell me, how do you explain that one to your 2yr old??) There is something extra special about having red onions instead of ordinary white onions. 

There are few colours so cheery as fresh spinach and tomatoes tossed gently together. 

And, voila! a delicious dinner (I am so tickled that asparagus is finally on sale! I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and it was extra delightful to finally enjoy it!)

Having started, I had a hard time stopping taking pictures of beautiful food, and saw lovely colour combos in everything I cooked. Like the beginnings of this Mexican Meatball Stew. 

Or, the delightful contrast of home-made pickled carrots and pickled beets. 

  

As a side note, Peter decided to squeeze out the extra juice from his grapefruit "just like Daddy". It was so very cute that I had to take pictures! :-D We were impressed to see him get a decent amount of juice onto his spoon. 

The funny part though, was when he tried to get the juice off his plate. Yup, all the juice down his front, and the funniest part was he didn't seem to notice he'd lost most of it, just smacked his lips and returned his plate to the table. :-D

Pictures from our month

Timothy, feeling just a bit satiated by supper... 

Isn't he amazing? It's a rare night that he's not washing dishes for me... 

Me 'n' my littlest one

                                     

Laughing at each other

Peter loves to make Timothy laugh... And Timothy obliges him most readily. :-D

We had the pleasure of watching a fox hunting out our window for about an hour last week. 

I was delighted to actually catch him pouncing! 

Tracks showing he'd walked right across our yard

Evening together

I forgot this part of our Family Day events... We watched a Truth Project with Peter, and enjoyed popcorn with peppermint hot chocolate.  

         

Popcorn is truly one of life's little pleasures. 

  

Of course, true hot chocolate must be made with milk, and milk must be warmed on the stove to have that complete Hot Chocolate Experience. 

Have you ever had peppermint hot chocolate? I would highly suggest you try if you haven't already! I add a touch of peppermint flavouring to the drink, and then pop on a small candy cane for effect. Most delicious! 

Peter, enjoying his treat and fascinated by the rare opportunity to 'watch a movie' (I know, we're depriving our child if he gets excited about watching a 'teaching movie' :-P)

And, of course, this one is my favorite. I so love these two men of mine, and I especially love watching the close relationship they enjoy! :-) 

Family Day

Just thought I'd post a few pictures of our family day activities... 

Timothy is quite into licking everything right now... :-P 

My handsome hubby... :-D

Peter got tired of holding Timothy, and decided it was much more fun to PULL Timothy. He didn't want any help, even on the uphill sections where he was huffing and puffing to make the sled move. 

Timothy was just kind of hanging in there... 

"Man this kid is heavy!"

We enjoyed the outdoors for a bit, tried to sled in the heavy snow (the sled didn't want to slide - we need a toboggan), and then Josh and I played a game of chess. The game went very well from my perspective - until close to the end when he snuck his queen into a bad spot, and it was all downhill from there... That's ok, we played Scrabble on Wednesday night.... bwahahahah :-D 

Eggnog

I just HAD to share this most delightful discovery with whoever-reads-my-blog! Josh and I have been on the lookout for a special sip-as-you-work/talk/sit/play drink. Something finer than juice, less commonplace than hot chocolate, healthier than pop... Something I can make with ingredients I have on hand.

Something... exquisite.

And, ladies and gents, I have discovered it! A simple recipe for eggnog that is truly delicious, uses ingredients we have on hand (including eggs which are fresh from our chickens!), and is that 'something special'.

Eggnog

2 egg yolks

2 cups milk

Vanilla

1/6 c sugar

Rum flavoring

2 egg whites, beaten stiff

Beat the first 5 ingredients in a blender while beating the egg whites separately. Pour over the egg whites, stir gently, and pour into a glass.

And, remembering my sis-in-love (Breanne)'s injunction to 'make it beautiful', I sprinkled a dash of nutmeg over top.

Isn't that delightful??! :-D

Oh, look at that! Pictures of the two cutest children ever. Imagine that... ;-)

Lack of sleep...

These last few nights have been rather challenging, involving minimal sleep and maximum popping out of bed shortly after falling asleep. Coming on top of 5mon of broken nights, it has felt especially overwhelming at a few different points.

I almost find the days easier, as I would much rather just focus on doing the next task than constantly waking out of a deep sleep to go deal with little ones.

This morning I was definitely fighting a bad attitude, because even though I had actually gotten more sleep than the previous night, I hadn't had the luxury of sleeping more than 1 1/2hrs in one stretch.

As I began my devotional time, I started to realize that my perspective was all out of whack. I knew my attitude wasn't right, and was fighting to keep it in check, but realized that what I really needed was a new perspective.

You see, I had been viewing consecutive hours of sleep as my prerogative, something that I may not get all the time, but should be able to except at LEAST 50% of the time. God reminded me that I am a soldier under His command, on a mission for Christ to raise these boys and fight with Josh on our particular battlefield. Not only that, but according to James 1:2-4, the 'trying of my faith' works patience, and will eventually work in me to be 'perfect and entire, wanting nothing'.

So, if I look at these seemingly endless nights of interrupted sleep as my mission for Christ, and be on my guard against attempts of the enemy to entice me to be grumpy/short/lazy/etc and excuse it as 'I'm tired', it actually becomes much more bearable, and even a bit exciting... :-)

Not that I always feel that thrill at 2 in the morning, but it did help me through today, and hopefully through tonight... ;-)

And, they're definitely worth it...