Thought I would share what we had for Christmas dinner. It is a lot like Thanksgiving, but I didn't make near as much food!

Turkey - roasted, butter on top, stuffing inside

Stuffing - easy as can be

      2 loaves bread, broken into pieces and then seasoned with rubbed sage, salt and pepper (until it smells like sage)

       1 bunch of celery and 3 onions, chopped and fried in 1 lb margarine until soft (equal amounts celery and onion)

        Dump celery mixture into bread and stir. This goes inside the turkey and extra goes in casserole dish to be baked later.

Marshmallow Salad

       1 bag mini marshmallows, 3 cans mandarin oranges -drained, 1 can pineapple tidbits -drained, 1 jar marashino cherries -drained, 8 oz sour cream, 8 oz heavy whipping cream

      Add drained fruit to the marshmallows and stir. Beat cream til stiff peaks form. Add sour cream and stir gently. Pour over salad and stir. Refrigerate.

Mashed potatoes

Corn

We are still eating turkey and really enjoying the sandwiches!

Seems like this is the only time I get to type right now. Baby has decided the only place to be during the day is in Mom's arms. Not terrible, but it sure doesn't help get things done!!

Our Christmas was very nice. We try to limit presents - not only to keep costs down, but to keep the focus on the real reason for the season - Jesus Christ. We made and consumed our Happy Birthday, Jesus, cake after singing Happy Birthday. This is one of our favorite things about Christmas.

The children love their presents. I might add that we do not buy our children electronic gifts. The grandparents do not have this restriction, so they do end up with some from time to time. The gifts this year included: drawing paper and pencils, chess set, books, shape sorter that doesn't make sounds (not easy to find), wooden frog pull-toy (real cheap at www.thebigzoo.com), weebles, stuffed turkey (don't ask - ds #2 wanted a squeaky turkey and this was all I could find) and a blow up punching bag. I received a Magic Bullet system, a book from a favorite author and a Rachel Ray cookbook.

My oldest has decided her favorite dinner is my Sloppy Cheeseburgers. This recipe came about because I wanted to make cheeseburgers for dinner, but forgot to pull the hamburger out of the freezer.

Sloppy Cheeseburgers

Brown 1 lb ground beef with some meat tenderizer and pepper. Add some ketchup and grated cheese. Serve on buns.

Simple as can be! Everything is to taste. Really yummy, too.

A friend from T2CHK just had a baby today - Congratulations on the birth of your son! Happy Anniversary, too!

Blessings from our home to yours!

Wow! It has been so busy around here!

Things got turned upside down when our son, due Thanksgiving Day, arrived on the 3rd of November. We were not ready, but he was!! He is a bundle of joy and we feel truly blessed.

Seems my days are spent trying to keep up with the housework, laundry and cooking while holding the baby. This has proven to be a little challenging, but I am gradually getting the hang of it.

School continues through Christmas - we have had too much time off and need to stay on track.

I have been trying a bunch of new recipes from my new MOMYS cookbook. We have loved all of them so far.

I plan to start posting more here as soon as things get organized around here - should be soon.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

I have been so busy, I haven't had a chance to come here and say anything!

We have been cleaning and decluttering - a daunting task to say the least. We pick one room per day and just work until we either finish or run out of time.

It will be much easier after G is born - I will have more ability to get things done. Now it is do the best I can with the help I have.

A has discovered she is a really good cook, and is enjoying some freedom in the kitchen. She made cookies the other day for some friends.

That about catches us up!!

It should be a busy day around here. The priority is school, of course. Then there is the  and cleaning to do.

Tonight we are having spaghetti - it is a dinner that everyone in our house loves (a rarity). I make our sauce from a recipe my mother gave me. I have changed it a little for our taste.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb hamburger

2 onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 small cans tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

1 lb can tomato puree

4 c water

1 pkg Thick & Zesty Spaghetti Sauce Mix

1/4 c Worcestershire Sauce

2 T apple or pear juice

1 heaping tsp oregano

Brown hamburger and drain. Saute onions and garlic in a little olive oil. Add tomato sauce, paste, puree and water. Stir in Sauce Mix. Add Worcestershire, juice and oregano. Simmer for at least 3 hours - the longer the better. Serve over spaghetti noodles. This serves our family 2 dinners and 2 lunches (but there are only 4 of us eating sauce at dinner and 2 at lunch). Freezes well.

The children have AWANA tonight, so it will be a late one!

It is so much cooler here this morning! The sky is so clear - I look out the window and see so many stars!

More school today. We got the house caught up yesterday - hooray. Dinner tonight will be homemade spaghetti before we head out to AWANA.

This year we have been doing a mixture of Sonlight and Christian Light Education. We are using CLE LightUnits for Math, Language Arts and Bible. I really like the challenge the LightUnits present and that the children can do the work on their own. We are using Apologia for science - Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. I am using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for ds who is 5. He is doing very well.

I will be ordering more LightUnits soon since we are almost through the ones we have. Next year we will be using a more classical approach to school. We have done this before so it will not be a difficult transition. This year we have been covering early American history, so next year will be more recent. Then we will return to Ancient history and start a 4 year history cycle. We will continue to use the LightUnits for Math, Language Arts, Bible and maybe Reading.

God's blessings to you today.

I finally decided to take the plunge and start a blog!

Today our house is in utter chaos! We were gone all morning and then hubby went in to work (not his normal work day). This put laundry and cleaning behind. Then we went to the high school volleyball game which put dishes behind. So...today we play catch up. School, of course, is number one.

We have a different school schedule around here. We school year-round and Tuesday-Saturday. This is best for us with hubby's schedule (he works Tues-Sat). We love year-round schooling because it allows us to take vacations when we want to. We also begin our year in April. We are just beginning week 20 of our school year. This is nice because we avoid the curriculum buying rush that creates slower shipping times.

Tonight I am hoping to serve a full dinner of roast chicken, corn bread (made by dd), broccoli and fruit. Roast chicken is so easy! I just put the chicken in the roaster and throw some seasoning on top (usually garlic, sometimes onion, celery seed, sage and butter) and put it in the oven for a few hours. We have avoided it most of the summer because it really heats the house up, but since today is cooler I think it will be fine.