Growing up my family didn't really eat anything fried. I grew up in a health food family, we ate lots of baked fish, veggies, brown rice... that kind of thing. Oh always with sprouts.

Alright now lets look at how my honey grew up. He was born into a southern Indiana household. I think their state food is "fried". Anything can be friend there. I had no idea, it was a completely new concept to me. If they eat fish, it has to be fried. Before me, he didn't know you could eat it without it being fried. It was weird.

So anywhoo because his mom is an expert frier and I am so not. I have never really tried my hand at frying foods. Here and  there I attempt it, but it is never really good, if you know what I mean.

My honey had made some comments like he missed homemade fried chicken. I thought "Well thats nice, hope you visit your mom soon". I ended up convicted like maybe I should look into making some for him. So I gathered up my courage, found a wonderful recipe, bought all of the ingrediants Then I prayed.

I dipped in egg, flour some breadcrumbs and threw those little flourery pieces of chicken in the hot, bubbleing pan of free radicles, Oh I mean grease. They bubbled themselves until golden brown. They really were beautiful. I should have taken a picture.

My honey was shocked that I had attempted this. As we ate I was in great anticipation of a comment, he withheld until the very end,when he said "What did you do to this chicken?"

Me: "Uh, I fried it"

Him: "No, did you dip it in something special.

Me: No just egg and flour and breadcrumbs

Him: Well, it is great. It stayed crunchy.

NOW THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD!!!

Him: It is so much better than moms, her crunchy stuff always falls off. I love this, maybe I'll by you a fry daddy so you can make this some more. (UGH)

I can't believe he said it was better than his moms! Whoo Hoo! I will never tell her that but I will always hold my fried chicken compliment in my heart.

I am a little concerned that he now wants to invest in a Fry Daddy. Like I want to fry  on a daily basis or something. Why would I want to do a thing like that. My entire kitchen is now coverered in a thin layer of grease from floor to ceiling. It really is a mess to fry stuff. Maybe in another 11 yrs I will try frying something else. I am glad for my success though. I am officially a good frier, and my husband would know.

Blessings,

Andrea

TC brought up that I haven't blogged in a month. Yikes, I didn't know it had been that long. Well lets see if we can sum up the last month. Lots of unpacking, I just finished the last 2 boxes 3 days ago. Go me!!

We have been doing school. I would really like to be done the 3rd week of June. Public school is out this week so I am hoping that we will still be able to get school done. This neighborhood has far to many kids in it. For some reason they all want to play with my kids. The door bell rings all day. My kids are exhausted from so much play, just kidding. So the battle will begin to educate my kids while their friends are outside waiting for them. This should be fun.

Also, the pool in the neighborhood is opening this next weekend. Nothing brings me joy as the thought of having to get in a bathing suit and spend the day at the pool chasing my children around. Oh, summer. Bathing suits just aren't the same after 4 kids.

In the last month I also had a birthday. I turned 35. I am now in my mid 30s. So far so good. 35 has been good for the last month now only 11mts till my next bday. I do love my birthday.

That should suffice for now. I can't remember anything else that happened. That tells you how eventfull my life has been. We have only had one car the last mt and a half. So I have been at home all day with all the kids. My days are running together. Last weekend we got a second vehicle. Now we can actually go to the park, or just take a drive. I was getting house fever.

Off to make a memory and even possible post about it before another month passes.

Blessings,

Andrea

I have to praise my son Drew. He is my 8 yr old and has always had such a sweet, gentle spirit. Homeschooling has been such a blessing for him. He is probablly the smartest kid I know. He takes in any and all info you give him. He will remember it too and he often will think about a nugget of knowledge for along time and ponder and expound on it. He has been really slow in learning to read though. I knew he would get it and just let him go at his own pace. We did Kindergarten really slowly into first grade and then slowly just kept at a slow pace. It was always a struggle for him to get his letter blends, he always would feel "stupid" was the word he used.

At that point I backed off of pushing him to read. He is ahead in history and in math by at least a year. I just knew if given the TIME he would hit his stride with reading.

I am happy to say that it has been hit. In Drew's time!Not in a teachers or a  classes time. Or because his grade level would have said he needed to be reading more fluently. It has been amazing to watch him. He is reading fluently! It is like he has been reading since Kindergarten. I am so thankful that we homeschool and he never had to feel like he just wasn't were he should be in reading. Now he is so proud of himself. He reads everyday to his younger brothers before nap and every night to his dad. I am so happy for him and know that he was given what he needed at HOME!!!

I can't imagine what could have happened to his sweet, sensitive spirit had he been in school and been forced to do something that he wasn't ready to do yet. He would have been labelled as slow, put in the slow group or in help classes. I think it would have effected him in all areas. I don't know if he would have thrived in any other subject if he felt like he didn't measure up in reading. Especially if this was played out in front of a class room.

Praise God for homeschooling. Praise Him for giving me the wisdom for this particuliar child. Praise Him for his timeing. Praise him that my son is reading at his grade level for the first time (at the end of 2nd grade). And that, that is alright.

Blessings,

Andrea

Since we have been in TN we have been doing the skateboarding ministry at the church. It has been fun and our kids are getting to know some other kids.

Today was CCCOOLLLDDD!!! The storms that came through really cooled things off. We were outside since @ 9- @3 . Now I just can't seem to get warm. It is like I caught a chill, the very core of me seems cold. It was because of the wind. It was sharp.

Really it was a lovely day spent with our kids, but I really need to soak in a warm bath right now.

When we came home some of our neighbors had an Easter egg hunt for the kids that live right by us. The kids had a blast and I think they now are suffering from a sugar shock. My 3 yr old has never eaten so much chocolate, UGH!!!

Our 8 son is eating dinner at his friend across the street and is just so happy to have a boy his same age. I am really happy for him. They seem to play well together. My daughter, 10, has movie night at church. My honey went with her. She was so excited about it and has no problem meeting people. I was never that outgoing when I was her age so I worry about her not knowing anyone. I am glad my honey went. I am praying she has a wonderful time.

Me and the little boys are home alone tonight. I told them I would put my bathing suit on and take a bath with them in the big bathtub in mommies room. My 3 yr old gasped in delight. Who knew taking a bath with me was that delightful, but I guess it is to some. I have alterior motives for getting in the bath, remember the chill!

So I am off to clean up the kitchen and then onto the bath date with my 5 and 3 yr olds.

Tomorrow is church day and family day. See you all on Monday.

Blessings,

Andrea

Things are finally settleing in to a wonderful pace. We are mostly unpacked and life is almost back to normal. We even started back to school this week.

I was amazed because the kids started back with an excitement they had seemed to have lost @ the beginning of the year. It has been a really wonderful week. I also was able to see much improvement in my 8 yr old sons reading. Sometimes it takes a step back to be able to see clearly.

I have been really thankful this week! Also the Lord has been molding my heart and prompting me to put prayer in a proper place again. So I have, and boy has it been rewarding. I have seen the Lord answer prayer, even this week, and just felt His presence in my life. I have missed that closeness to my Father and am just glad to be back where I should have been for so long. I do love to see Him work in my life and in the lives of those I am praying for.

Now this week I am going to work on getting my pantry up to par. I am starting from scratch so this should be fun. I am definitely filling it with healthy, whole foods and having fun doing so. I am even hoping to make some yummy treats this week.

I hope all of you are doing well.

Blessings,

Andrea

We are here in TN. We got here last Wed. and since then we moved in and unpacked, met the neighbors. We like the area alot. I haven't been out and about to much, because I don't know how to get around all that well yet. When I am out I love it. The land here is beautiful.

My 5 yr old ended up in the hospital today. He got a very weird infection on his "private parts". It was awful. So I did get my first drive into Nashville to the Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital. It really was a great hospital. Prayerfully Things will be on the healing end for my little guy.

I will unpack school tomorrow and get my homeschool room organized. I am ready to go again. Probably not full throttle until next week.

Blessings on you all,

Andrea

I can't believe it but our move is here! How time flies. The truck is all packed, the house is all cleaned and ready for exiting. The kids are in bed and I am exhausted.

So we head out tomorrow and we should get to TN Sunday night. We are still staying in a hotel until Monday and then we get the keys to our home. We are hoping to get there early enough Sun Pm to drive around and see some of the area.

The kids are so excited!!! We also have there last soccer games tomorrow. They all have their tournament game and award ceremony. Then we have lunch with my parents and sister and niece. We will be leaving by 3.

The really cool, God thing is I met some people thru homeschooling websites that live in the area we are moving to and their husbands will help my honey unload the truck. God has so taken care of us in all areas of this move. I really am praising HIM!!!

Next time I am here it will be coming from TN. Blessings on you and yours. Please pray for our family and our move. For safety and health, remember our little Gabe and ask for his health especially with travelling. Thank you all so much.

Blessings,

Andrea

Alrighty, Hi everyone,

I have been lax on getting over here to update. I can't believe it but we only have 6 days till we move to TN. The time has flown by, 2 mts can go by faster than I expected.

So I am in the midst of a mess. Packing is not my favorite thing. I feel like I have way more packing than days left to pack. I am doing amazingly well though, for the moment.  School is officially put on hold until we move and get settled some. We are on Spring Break, the extended version.

We bought some furniture yesterday. When we sold our home my husband thought it was a wonderful idea to sell everything so the people that bought our home paid us a flat extra fee and got almost every piece of furniture we owned except things we loved. Now he isn't thinking it is so WONDERFUL! When you have to buy bedrooms for  4 kids and us, the mattress prices alone could kill someone. So our 2 older kids rooms are bought and we have a family room. We kept our dining so we are good to go there. We now need to buy some bunk beds for our little boys and 2 cheap dressers. I don't really care if the little ones have wonderful furniture at 3 and 5 yrs, just something nice and easy to clean. We only have our mattress and rails, I don't think we have the money right now to buy a bedroom set for us. I am fine with waiting, I don't want to just get something now because that is what we can afford but I don't love it. I have my wonderful mattress and my honey and we will be fine.

Today I am trying to pack up everything we won't need for another week. It is like packing for a trip but backwards. Everything we need stays in a drawer everything else goes in a box. Sound like fun?

I am doing laundry and finishing up my room and my daughters. We also have some outside toys that need to dry off, then I need to pack all of the homeschool stuff. I am actually dreading this. I know it will be easier than I am making it out to be, I just don't like packing books. I always pack things to heavy and that drives my honey NUTS! I think I will tackle that on Tuesday. Monday we have our last homeschool coop.

The weeks schedule is  Mon: coop, Tue: finish packing and laundry, Wed: pack and clean really good, family dinner with my parents and sister, Thur: manicure and pedicure you can't move without your hands and feet looking pretty; Friday: finish any packing and cleaning and then we get the truck and load it to the gills. Saturday we have soccer in the am and the award ceremony and then we LEAVE for TN. That is the week at a glance.

I am praying everything falls together and we all treat each other kindly. Moving brings out all sorts of ugly emotions in families.

Blessings,

Andrea

We are home and doing much better. Between packing for our move and illness, school has been a do it whenever we can situation. The kids don't mind and I have found that we find all sorts of ways to learn about things.

We have 2 wks until we move. I can't tell you how much I still need to do. Packing is not even close to being done, we are going to work on this over the weekend. I need to send off checks to our gas and electric companies, finalize moving truck details, and we need to order some furniture for our kiddos.

I am also needing to get all of our insurance stuff transferred, especially because of Gabe. I am praying for an awesome Dr in TN. So I will be focused on insurance and packing today, making some calls. School will consist of their math lessons, some reading and a LA lesson. We already did devotions this morning. Very basic, but it is working for now.

I am excited about our move, a little nervous, but mainly excited.  A bit ready to get there and get settled, learn my new environment. I am praying that it will be a great move for us. I really believe it will be, it is just that it is always a little scary going somewhere that you haven't been before.

I just wanted to pop in and ask for prayer. My son Gabe has severe asthma. He was addmitted to the hospital late last night and is still in there. He has had a really hard time. His heart rate was extremelly high and his blood oxygen level was extremelly low. He is doing some better, yet they have talked about transferring him to  The Joe Demagio Childrens Hospital.

I am asking that God will heal him totally, TONIGHT! It is so scary to see him trying so hard to just breath. His breath is very labored.

He just looks so small and this has been very hard on him. He has an IV and had alot of shots before that. On top of it he has the flu. He feels awful and I just really am asking that you all will pray for his health, and for me, I am tired. I haven't slept that much in the last 2 days.

Anyway we are hoping that thru the night he improves greatly and they will release him in the morning.

Thanks for praying,

Andrea

I just want to share a really neat praise with you all. As you know, I am moving away from my parents. I have been looking for ways to spend some really wonderful moments with my mom before we leave. I heard the Woman of  Faith Conference was going to be here and I knew my mom would love to go, but it is so expensive to get those tickets. I also heard to late and tickets were sold out.

On Tuesday my mom had mentioned that she would have liked to go and it was sad we found out about it to late. I had to agreeed with her. Today I go and check my email and there is an email from a woman in my homeschool coop. She had tickets to the Conference, not ordinary tickets but box seats with a caterer and private parking pass. So I called thinking that they couldn't possilbly still be available and they were.

So, my mom and I are getting to go to the conference for free. Not only did God bless us with the desires of our hearts He upgraded our tickets and parking. I have been praising Him all day. We start tonight, it is Thurs evening all day Friday and Sat. God has just had everything fall into place. I am so thankful and just wanted to share my praise with you all.

Blessings,

Andrea

This weekend is the beginning of our 1 mt till we move. So the count down is on. We spent Sat at the soccer fields and then went to Sat night church. Sunday we did our taxes, always fun. I am really looking forward to the return.

I had a wonderful moment with my 3 yr old boy, he is my youngest. He had gotten up from his nap, yet he was still sleepy, so he asked if I would rock him. He is still small enough to curl up in my lap and lay his head on my chest. He quickly went back to sleep. I just loved looking at his sweet boy face. His blond hair was still damp from his nap and it was all curly around his face. His little lips were parted and he was breathing that rhythmic, breath of sleep. His little eyes danced behind his lids. It was just such a precious moment for me. I know that soon he won't be able to curl up on my lap, because he is becoming a big boy. I just loved rocking with my baby. He didn't sleep long and when he woke up he sleepily put his sweet hand on my cheek and said "Mama, me love you". I couldn't resist and said "Me love you too".

I am so blessed to be a Mama!

Homeschooling is taking a break for Presidents Day. My niece is spending the day with us and my mom is taking us all to see a movie this afternoon. It is a surprise for the kids, they will love this. With us moving I keep thinking we will be missing school and I need to stay on track, I could really get myself in a worried mess. Yet, I am trying to stay calm and just enjoy my family that we will be leaving behind. I guess if I miss a few days here and there and then when we move we can make it all up, it really isn't a huge deal. So for today we are enjoying family, my honey is even coming home early to go to the movie with us. So it is a good day for a break.

Blessings,

Andrea

Our computer flopped! We lost all control of it. I was nervous that we lost everything on the crazy contraption, Praise the Lord we did not. The mouse didn't work, it was in safe mode, it lost some of the drives. It still is working kind of off from the norm, I am thankful it is working at all.

It got me thinking if I did lose the use of my computer I would lose some really important stuff... like all our pictures.All our pics are digital so they are on the computer, I backed it up today.

It was crazy but for 2 days I couldn't get on the internet. Now I don't spend all day on the computer, yet I felt lost without it. I knew my emails were pileing up and I couldn't check my blogs...OH NO! Happily I survived and am now in the process of backing up all my important files on this thing.

Hope you all had a lovely 2 days, I have to spend some time catching up with everyone.

Blessings,

Andrea

Today we spent the afternoon and evening with our neighbors. The ones next door are from Venzuela and the others are from Italy, Torino to be exact. So we spent the day very internationally.

We had marvelous sausages from Argentina, with a different mustards from Germany. Then we had steaks grilled and served with a spicy sauce from Barbadoes, they even gave some to us to take home yum! We had potatoes and yuca's. The salad was wonderful with avacados and mandarine oranges and a wonderful dressing. It was a lovely meal.

The company was even better. We learned all about the Countries they came from They were both so well traveled and encouraged us to go to Europe sometime. It sound so beautiful over there. I have to say these are some of the nicest, friendliest and just plain happy people I have ever met. They definintely know how to live without being bogged down by stress.

It was great fun for me and my entire family. It is amazing how many different languages they all can speak, spanish, Italian, German, English,French...among others. I only know English, I feel really inadequat in the language area. My daughter is learning French right now, so I better start paying better attention. I would love to learn another language.

Well, I just wanted to share our wonderful day with you all. I hope you had a wonderful day also.

Blessings,

Andrea

Hi all,

Since last Friday when we had our bought with asthma, things have been pretty low key around here. So we went to the ER and while we were there I think we picked up the flu bug. Yes, ER's are great for getting sick. So Gabe is feeling much better. The rest of us have all gotten the flu. I haven't been that bad, Praise the Lord. 2 of my kids have been SICK! Fever, stomach yucky and cough, achey all the typical flu stuff.

It seems to last @ 2.5 days and then the fever goes away and we are all just left really tired. So I am happy that it should be out of our house today. We are done with the flu. I am azazed that we have been sick so much in the last few months. We NEVER get sick, so I am not sure whats up with that. I am praying for God to keep us healthy.

We still managed to get all LA done and math. We always enjoy our read alouds even when we are sick.

Today is our soccer day. 3 out of 4 kids were healthy enough to play. My honey is out at the fields with them and I am home with my littlese sickie.

I hope you all are feeling well. I am going to go snuggle with my baby guy now.

Blessings,

Andrea

Alright this is one of the best soup recipes. It is definitely a family favorite around my house.

Turkey Curry soup (This doubles well)

1/2 C butter

2 med. onions

4T flour

2t curry

6C chicken broth (use homemade, canned or boullion whatever you have)

2C potatoes (cut all veggies in small pieces, they cook faster)

1C carrots

1C celery

4T parsley

1t sage

4C turkey

3C 1/2 & 1/2

1 Package frozen spinach

Melt butter and saute onions until translucent slowly add flour and curry stir constantly for 2 minutes. Add 6 Cups of broth and all veggies, parsley, and sage. Bring to a boil and take down to a low simmer for 10 minutes. Add Spinach and turkey. When the spinach melts add the cream and re heat.

That's it and it is soooo good. Hope you all enjoy!

Blessings,

Andrea

Lets start with last Friday, my little guy was so sick with his asthma. We are praising Jesus because he is doing so much better today. He is on lots of medication!!! Which I can't stand and makes him act nutty!

Everyone else seems to be doing well so we are praising the Lord for His hand on our family and keeping everyone else healty.

My honey went to church with the big kids on Saturday night and I watched church on line. It was a really good message on Ruth 3.

Sunday, I packed all the kids rooms. We got rid of 3 large garbage bags worth of STUFF! Clothes, toys, and garbage (crafty things). I cleaned and organized all my honey and my stuff. Our closet is perfectly organized and I got rid of some of our clothes. I packed up alot of toys except for beloved babies and bears and some Star Wars guys, gotta have star wars guys!!!

Yesterday was pretty quiet we all spent the day mainly at home. It was a nice day with the family. We ordered pizza in honor of the Super Bowl, and I didn't have to cook. Yay, super bowl.

Today, we are doing school. I need to make a Dr. appointment for my little guy and I am finishing up laundry. I may also iron, if I feel so led.

I am making a wonderful turkey curry soup for dinner with homemade whole wheat bread. I will post the recipe later. It is definitely worth trying out, it will become a favorite. My family LOVES it.

Have a wonderful day! Blessings,

Andrea

I do love my God. Right about now, we are @ a month away from moving. We had hit a bit of a wall with school and just life is a bit hectic. So, God has stepped in and brought peace. I don't know how? He has done it though.

Naturally I can be a bit uptight. I tend to want to be perfect, and I am far from it. I have found that I am much better at being me than perfect anyway. I haven't been nervous though. Everything is falling into place. All the moving plans have worked out like only God can do. He has even lifted our school spirit. We are all happily working together again.

The other big thing I am doing different is we have changed our diet. We are eating only whole foods. I finished The Makers Diet book awhile ago and have slowly worked us into eating this way. I do believe it will make a difference with how we all feel. Also the Lord has convicted me that my prayer life was not where it was suppossed to be. It is now. He had to give me a swift kick in my hiney, but every morning He is the first person I spend time with.

So lots of things going on and for now the Lord is holding me up. I haven't had a melt down or cried. I am hopeing to get all the way to TN without having a meltdown. Now since I am up and praying every morning that can be somethig I pray for.

Blessings,

Andrea

I have begun a new quest for the perfect curriculum for our family. We have done Sonlight for 4 years but one of my sons doesn't do the reading thing well. He really struggles with it, it doesn't seem like a great fit. So now I am on the search for what will fit him, but also let my other kids learn well. Some of my kids LOVE reading so Sonlight has been such an incredible fit for them.

So anyway now I am trying to figure out if unit studies might be the best thing for us. We can study the way my one son can understand, yet still supplement with all the books my other kids can read..

So I am asking what do you all do? I know we don't all have kids that learn the same way, so what does everyone else out there do to meet all the needs of their kiddos. I have been spoiled because Sonlight has the weeks all planned out so there isn't alot of planning. I do like that because we have to do the 180 days and it just lets me know I am doing what I need to do.

Does anyone have any wisdom for me on this one. Thanks  in advance.

Blessings,

Andrea

This is just a great snack idea that we use in our home and it always gets rave reviews. Fruit kabobs: we cut up strawberries, bananas and grapes, then we skewer them. This is easy and you can even get the kids involved. My 5 yr old likes to do his fruit in a pattern, look at that we just did school. Enjoy!

Blessings,

Andrea