End of the year

New Year's Eve tonight. Thinking it's just going to be a quiet night at home with Gabby. I'm going to put dinner for us in the crock pot in a few...simple easy chicken and stove top stuffing recipe. It's basically just chicken breasts, a package of stove top, a can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup, and some milk and water. I'll have to let you all know how it turns out after I make it since I've never done it before. Not sure what else we are going to be doing today. Hopefully I can at least get some reading time in today!

A new year is coming

I haven't updated this blog in a very long time. Since the new year is coming I have a few resolutions. The first one is to update this blog more frequently. The next one involves a bit more time and thought. I'm vowing to use my crock pot more in the coming year. My goal is at least once a week but I'm aiming for more. To coincide with writing in this blog more I'm going to post about my crock pot cooking adventures....will try to post the recipes I use as well. Here's hoping I stick to my goals in the coming year! (and as I say every year I'm aiming to read my bible every day too!)

~Rach

Family = love

 Gabby and I spent the weekend at my parents house mostly cause I was going to my cousin Mary's baby shower on Saturday. The baby shower was wonderful. Everyone did such a great job putting it all together. I can tell this little girl is going to be so loved! After the shower we took a slight detour and drove by the old house that my grandparents used to live in (the house on the right below).

It sure has changed since they lived there! For one thing, it used to be red! The house next to it on the left was one that my dad lived in for a while when he was growing up...lived there the same time my mom lived in the house next to it (the one that used to be red). This picture, despite the fact that it's changed a bit over the years, brings back so many memories of growing up and spending time there with my grandparents and my cousins. We had such great times there!

On another note...I'm still waiting to hear back if I got another interview for the job I put in for at work....will be spending most of the week at the garage this week helping them out. Should be an interesting week!

Missed my EHC family this week! Hopefully I can make it to group Thursday night since I'll miss church again on Sunday.

Sunny Days

Finally a nice warm spring day so my friend Todd and I took our kids to the park. They had a blast watching the geese there.

 I'm looking forward to more fun days like this with the kids. Gabby is exhausted after playing all afternoon. I know she'll sleep well tonight!

Love Isn't Love Until You Give It Away

Wondering where my post title comes from? It's from a song I heard on the radio, Give it Away by Michael W. Smith. I love that line "Love isn't love until you give it away". I wanted to put it in my blog post somehow but wasn't sure how to incorporate it, so I just used it as the title.

Okay, on to my post for the day....

Last night was home group...one of my favorite nights of the week. Tiffany talked about this book she read called Heaven is for Real. After hearing her talk about this book I really want to read it myself. We talked some more about our week and then Rick taught for a while. The best part of the night was Georgiana prophesying over everyone. She is such a blessed woman of God and was so spot on with everything she was saying. I just love her! Overall it was a great night...so glad I started attending this group.

Today was an alright day except for the fight at the dentist with Gabby. She started off being really brave and wanting to sit in the chair by herself. As soon as they asked her to open her mouth she screamed. Guess she hates the dentist as much as I did when I was a kid...lol. After the dentist I dropped Gabby off at school and went to do a few quick errands. Then it was time for the parent meeting at her school. Basically they said they are cutting the lunch program come June and there's nothing we can do about it. It was kind of frustrating to her how upset the parents were that were there but I can see where they are coming from. Basically they said they don't get enough revenue to cover all their expenses and lunch is a huge expense for them so they felt it necessary to cut it. Hopefully I can come up with fun creative lunches for Gabby and it won't be so bad after all. After the meeting I went and got some books for my cousin Mary for her baby shower next weekend. Then back to pick up Gabby and head to Fayth's house for dinner. Gabby loved the chicken....Thanks Brenda and Fayth!!

All in all it was a good couple of days. Not sure what the weekend will hold...maybe a trip to the park so Gabby can play and ride her bike...

Lunch Time

An email came from Gabby's daycare today that basically said in June they will stop providing lunches for the kids and I'll have to bring her lunch. At first I was kind of upset about it. I mean, having lunch provided was a big factor in why I like her daycare so much...just one less thing to worry about it the morning. I was freaking out cause I had no idea what I could bring her for lunch. I started searching lunch boxes for her (I know, I started a bit early but I just couldn't help it) and came across bento style lunch boxes. Here's a few I found that I am considering:

Laptop Lunchbox
Go Green Lunchbox
Goodbyn

I really became interested in the idea of bento style lunches for her. I love the idea of reusable containers and giving her a lot more variety in her lunches. Plus some of the ideas I saw looked super cute...especially the ones at Another Lunch. Maybe trying this new way of doing lunches will encourage her to try new things and actually enjoy them. Once I figure out what kind of lunch box I want for her then I can start hashing out ideas for different lunches to put in it. This whole bento style thing has totally changed my perspective on having to bring her lunch to daycare. I'm no longer upset by it like I was this morning. I can totally understand that they need to cut costs, and lunch is a big one, in order to not have to raise tuition.

I'm hoping once I start having to make her lunches that I can come up with some good fun healthy lunches for her. I'll be sure to post pictures if they are worthy of it...lol!

Fight the good fight of faith

I've decided that I want to start writing again. I figured the best way to get back into it is to try and keep up with a blog again. I've made several attempts in the past but none of them lasted very long. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this one better than my last.

Today started off with church at Engaging Heaven Center. I'm so glad I found this church...it's amazing. Pastor James is such an amazing preacher...speaks the truth right from the Word of God. The people that go there are amazing too....i'm especially glad I finally connected with a home group. Today he preached about fighting the good fight of faith from 1 Timothy 6:12. Awesome message as usual. It stinks that Todd had to leave and wasn't able to hear the message. Wish they could record them on cd so he could have heard it. Maybe someday. After church Fayth, James, Gabby and I all went out to lunch. Always love spending time with my friends. Then we came home and I hung out with Gabby. Sat with her while she played on the computer for like an hour or so. I'm amazed at how easily she can do things on the computer. She just kept going and didn't want to stop. Dinner later turned into a mess...ended up having to put Gabby in time out. She spilled milk all over her table and failed to tell me about it. I wouldn't have been so upset if she had just told me at the time. When I asked her if she was going to tell me she spilled it she said no, hence the reason for the time out. I made her sit on the stairs for 3 minutes and then she had to get up and apologize for not telling me about the milk. I hate having to put her in time out but she'll never learn unless there are consequences to her actions. I'm gonna put Gabby to bed soon and then relax with a book on my nook and then watch Sister Wives. I don't know what it is but I am so fascinated by that show!