everyday Ann

living the ordinary seeing the extraordinary

Moms and Lent

It is practically here, are you ready? I know I will be fine tuning my Lenten commitment right until midnight tonight along with enjoying a large bowl of ice cream. I set up the sacrifice jar today and we each wrote down our Lenten commitments on a note card last night. The boys are already thinking of ways to fill the jar, because they know the coffee beans will turn to jelly beans come Easter.

Writing over at Catholic Mom as we prepare to enter the Lenten journey. Let’s be honest, simply by being a mom we are daily met with situations that challenge us and we don’t have to look far for opportunities to make a sacrifice. All in this together!

Latest Happenings

(Don’t mind the purple mittens, they are the only ones he will keep on.)

1.Good thing I don’t make New Year’s resolutions as I would have failed in the department of devoting time to the blog, but I have not been neglecting writing altogether. Nope, I have been doing lots and lots of writing in the past couple of months as I am excited to announce that I am co-authoring a book. Please pray for this project as it will touch many hearts. We hope to have it released in October. More details to come!!

2. Winter. Will it ever end? The boys have now exceeded days off and makeup days. If they have another delay or snow day time will be added on to the end of the school year. Honestly, who wants to be in the classroom any longer in June, teachers and students alike.

3. Thankfully, the winter weather was semi-cooperative recently that we could actually take advantage of outdoor sport including sledding and taking the kids ice skating. The boys even dug out a little fort, which everyone enjoyed including the salty snow to go with it. Enough with winter it makes the headlines nearly every night in this state.

4. Last Fall Caden was diagnosed with Lyme disease so most of the months leading up to Christmas were devoted to finding the best care and treatment for him. We would have never thought Lyme, except he had the rash appear on his arms and legs which led us to go further and have him tested. Thankfully he is off the rigorous course of antibiotics as of a week ago and doing well. Not much slows the little man down! He is convinced he is two and acts like he is four.

5. Lent is right around the corner and although it is much later than normal it still seems to say, surprise your penance awaits you! I am looking forward to reading Searching for and Maintaining Peace and having some discussion with some other moms in the area. There is also a weekly podcast on it. I also considered the Blessed is She devotional, but wanted something a bit more scheduled out to hold me accountable. I found this book that we will be reading as a family, which offers a different daily fast for the family to practice throughout each day of Lent.

6. Happened upon this lovely succulent box for a reasonable price. Thinking of ways to make it green inside since I can only dream of green outside. Perhaps I will soon succumb to “growing” faux flowers in the house, tulips or roses should do the trick.

7. A friend of mine, who is an amazing artist recently started doing custom water color family portraits on her etsy shop for families that have little ones awaiting them in heaven. What a beautiful gift to those grieving and reminder for those of us with little saints already in heaven.

Happy weekend!! Linked with Kelly for more.

Laundry Room Refresh

Several months ago we took to painting a few of the rooms in our house including the laundry room and master bath (photos of the master bath to come at a later date). Not sure about you, but laundry is a never ending task in this house. No matter how hard you try to keep up or catch up you are always behind one load or several. Giving the laundry room a bit of a face lift, has made it a bit more calming to walk into.

In addition to painting I added a few cute baskets to update the room, which keep out of reach all of the cleaners, soaps and extra light bulbs. The cake on the top for me was the mini wreath I found while in Waco last Fall and decided to hang it on the cabinet.

Before
Before
After
After
Before
After

Soups On

(source)

The cold of winter has me drinking coffee in the afternoon and making soup weekly for dinner. There is something about a hot bowl of soup to take away the chill and provide a warmth to the frozen days. Besides the warmth it is an easy one pot dinner, simply add a homemade loaf of bread, cornbread or cheese and crackers.

I thought I would share with you some of our favorites that we rotate through, complete with my Dad’s chili recipe. Bon Appetit!

White Chicken Chili
Sausage and Veggie Soup
Flu-Fighting Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Wild Rice
Taco Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup – Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines
Butternut Squash Soup – Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines
Beef Stew – Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines

Dad’s Chili
1 lb. ground beef (he uses Elk meat)
2 cans (15 oz) Bush’s chili beans
1 cup of onion
2 cans of green chilis
1 can (14.5) diced tomatoes
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp sugar

  1. In a large pan cook beef and onion until browned.
  2. Add in remaining ingredients and stir. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer for 20 minutes.

I didn’t realize chili was served with noodles until I became a Wisconsinite, it seems to be the norm here. Even restaurants will serve a side of noodles with your chili. To compromise, I prefer to use small elbows when I make it.

Christmastide!

The Christmas music has stopped playing in the stores and trees are out on the curb, so posting this may look like I have missed the deadline. It may seem like we are late to the party, but we are still celebrating Christmas in this crazy house until the Epiphany.

The wise men have been journeying through our house and the children love to wake up to find which room they made their way to. Always a little conversation before bed over whose room they will show up in next.

At the beginning of the Christmas season we had a wonderful time staying with my family and seeing extended family, some which I haven’t seen in years. Lots of laughter, memories and time together. Of course late nights and a sick kiddo were part of it too. All which required a couple days of some down time when we returned home, so we could re-energize to keep the celebration alive.

In addition to the birth of Christ, we also find ourselves celebrating Kolbe and Ethan’s adoption day, my birthday and Grace’s birthday all within a weeks time.

An image is worth a thousand words, so I thought I would share our Christmas week through pictures.

Despite not feeling well she insisted on “trying out” Christmas Eve Mass. She fell asleep in my arms the moment we walked in.
Packer fan win or lose, I may have jumped off the wagon after this season.
And now he is asking for a hockey rink in our backyard.

We have been sledding down this hill every Christmas since we were little. Some things never change even though there wasn’t really snow and we are now a little older, well the impact at the bottom seemed to hurt a bit more than I remember. Cousins!
A quick picture before bedtime after celebrating four years together with my boys, the greatest birthday gift I have ever received having them finally in my arms!