blog books.

In the middle of the all the craziness this summer, I somehow managed to get these done... 

I set a goal to get them done and ordered before we moved. I knew once we moved that there would be no time to work on them. And I was right.

Oh, how I love these books and the memories that they hold!

I'm up to 7 books now. My first one started in June 2007. I've had to do a Summer and School Year book the past two years.

I still love every single thing about these books. Zero complaints at all.

I have a friend that works on hers throughout the year. That's a great idea, but I've never been on the ball enough to do it that way. I just wait until the year is over to start on it.

So fun to go back and look at my blog headers... (and yes, I've been lazy with the Back to School header. I've just changed the year for the past 2 years. It's a busy time of year, you know.) =)

These memories are even more special to me since we moved. I love being able to go back and look at the faces of these friends and remember the fun times we had!

These books are pretty popular with my little people, too...

One of my most treasured possessions. All 7 of them.
Blurb.com is amazing.
The cost breakdown, since I know some of you are wondering...

My school year book is 381 pages. (You are allowed 440). I always get the ImageWrap cover option (the most expensive, but totally worth it!) and just the standard paper. The total was $101.95, but I found a coupon online for 15% off. The total with shipping came to $94.65.

My summer book is 169 pages and came to $70.94 with shipping. (And their shipping is super fast! They always come sooner than they say they will!)

If you're thinking about making one, you should absolutely do it!
You can take as long as you need to while you're working on it!
I promise you... you will not regret doing it!

the friendliest flower.

18 days old. 

And still just as happy. 

Daisies will forever be my favorite flower.

weekend progress.

This was all actually accomplished last weekend. 

During my crazed attempt to organize this house. 

Apparently I'm running about a week behind on everything in my life right now. Seriously. 

Craft room before... 

Craft room after... 

Playroom before... 

 Playroom after... 

This was actually all Sophie's doing. She can be a great little cleaner when she wants to be. She does like things clean and having empty floor space. But she's a great little "stasher," too. I remind her often that picking up means putting something where it actually goes, not just sticking it somewhere. (Ex: look under the art table...)

I really do love this space and am so glad we have it. 

(Although I do need to figure out an alternative to the giant mural on the wall...)

Spray painted a frame and finally got my happy little print displayed. I really love it. And it's the perfect reminder for me right now. This is HOME. It might not feel like it right now, but it is.

I have it hanging in my laundry room (right off the kitchen... which I love!) along with one of my favorite pictures of us on our honeymoon. I envisioned framing this in a white frame, with a fun, colorful mat. But white frames don't look good on white walls. (All these white walls might be getting to me a bit. I miss my colorful walls.)

My happy little laundry room. This is the first time I've ever had laundry on the main floor and seriously... I am loving it. I am way more efficient with laundry now. (Plus... our basement is a tiny bit creepy. So I'm thankful I don't have to go down there every time I do laundry.)

Wishing this was a 3 day weekend.
I hate feeling behind already on a Sunday evening. Blah.

kiss on the cheek.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, 

so that Christ's power may rest on me." 

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

I have a sweet friend that would call this "a kiss on the cheek." 

God sending me a little reminder... just when I need it. 

His grace is sufficient. 

His power is perfect. 

I am so, so weak right now. 

But I can do this. 

Through Him... I can do this. 

Thankful for that little kiss on the cheek. 

weekend.

I have big plans for this weekend. 

Not plans that others would consider big, though. 

Maybe more like big goals for this weekend. 

Goal #1: Organization. 

This house is making me crazy. 

It's time for some serious organization. 

Between this house and school, I'm still feeling overwhelmed. 

But I'm past the "this makes me so overwhelmed, I just want to cry" feeling. 

Now I'm at the "this makes me so overwhelmed, it just gives me a headache to look at" feeling. 

So I'm hoping to use this weekend to conquer the chaos. 

As soon as I finish this post, I'm starting by making myself a list. 

It's been a couple weeks since I made a list on my cute little clipboard. 

That's crazy, right?! You know how I love my lists. 

I have a new system for school lists, though. 

It's been a life changing thing for me. Seriously. 

Check out my Stickies... 

If you have a Mac, you must discover these. Different colors... you can make them just little strips and stack them up... and they are always right there on your desktop. No little pieces of paper to keep track of. I love them. Love, love, love. 

But I still need my cute clipboard list at home with my weekly to-do-list. 

I have started a few Stickies on my Mac at home, but it slows me down and distracts me to open my computer to look at a list. But I do have a few lists going... a random to-do-list (things that I need to add to my clipboard list), a Walmart list and a blog post ideas list. (Obviously not doing too well on that list lately.) 

In other randomness... (because that is how my brain is working right now)... 

* Corey caved and subscribed to Netflix through the Wii. We were trying to save $$ by only getting basic cable. We went ahead and got a DVR so that I could record the shows that I like to watch. (I hardly ever watch anything live.) I also figured I could have several kids shows saved so that they could always have something to watch (Arthur, Kratt's Kreatures, Super Why, Little House on the Prairie, etc.) 

Lawson loves it. (He's our techie kid. I have no idea how he figure out some of the things he knows how to do.) His favorite things to watch are "Phineas and Ferb" (which Gretchie says as all one word), Billy the Exterminator and the old school Power Rangers tv shows. (Wow. Some of those special effects are... I don't even know the word I'm looking for. Pretty special, that's for sure.) =) 

The Wii remotes were never getting put away though, because they were out so much more often. Happy I kept this cute little box from my favorite 1st grade teacher next door to me. (Who just had a baby yesterday!!) (fyi... Abby was my favorite, too. Just she wasn't next door. She was my favorite 1st grade teacher 2 doors down.) =) 

And just for those of you who think I am exaggerating about the disorganization that we are living with right now...

Isn't this just what you want to see when you first walk in the door? Ugh.

(fyi... that used to be a fountain under the stairs. Isn't it pretty? We're hoping to figure out a fairly easy and inexpensive way to make it look a little nicer and use it for storage.) 

Some of these pictures found a home last weekend. Others got packed into a Rubbermaid container for the basement. (Which has never made it to the basement and is still sitting in the exact same spot it was a week ago.) Ugh. 

Then there's the craft room...

and the playroom... (which quite honestly will probably never look much better than this. It's pretty much completely off on it's own in the house, so I'm okay with it staying somewhat messy. I'll do some work in here, but I won't expect this room to be organized all the time.) 

Ok... off to make my list! 

And feed these darn kids. 

still here.

I'm still here.
Still managing to keep my head above water.
Some days it's harder than others. =)

The kids are doing great.
Gretchen has stopped crying at daycare.
Lawson has made some friends and runs around like crazy at recess.
Sophie loves her teacher and her class. She made friends on the first day.
They are both doing great in school and all the staff tell me how sweet they are.

My class is great. Kids are the same here and there.
It's just everything else that is different.
Way more paperwork/grade entering/record keeping and way less plan time to do it in.
I don't love that.

Change is just hard. Really hard sometimes.
And we've had so much change. So, so much.

But we're doing okay.
Missing our old life... especially after we went back for a visit this weekend.
But also knowing that this life will be really happy someday.
Hopefully someday soon.

pork. {and a tailgating giveway!}

I don't love ham. At all. Not even a little bit.

So when the KS Pork Association contacted me about doing a post and a giveaway for them, one of my good friends laughed. 

The good news is... pork includes way more than just ham. Whew. 

And... there is a really awesome giveaway! And it just might include over $800 worth of goodies and 4 tickets to the KU/KSU football game! Just keep reading! 

Scott and Jennifer are the farmers that I was paired up with. Aren't they cute?

They have a sweet little love story about her going away to college... him coming to work on her parents farm... her coming home to visit and realizing that her dad had hired a really cute guy to manage the hogs... but then she went away to experience life in the big city. After 4 years she decided life in the big city wasn't really what she wanted, so she moved back to the family farm and fell in love with the cute guy her dad hired. Apparently there is a country song, "The Farmer's Daughter," that even though it wasn't written for them... it could have been written about them.

Scott and Jennifer have been working with their family (her parents, her brother, his wife and 3 boys) to share a little bit about life in the country. You can check out some of their videos here: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/RuralTell/videos  

(My favorite is the one about the Farmhouse Kitchen Table. "Mom is the glue of the family." I love that.) 

Jennifer is a teacher by day (at the college level though, so just a bit different than 1st graders) but she helps out Scott and the rest of their family on their family farm in the evenings. I'm pretty sure she has way more energy than me. (Although she did say that she was on "sensory overload as a sub in the K-3 grades. So many questions to answer, so many stories to hear and so many things to do, try; explain, re-expalin, watch and touch.") Yep... sounds about right. =)

I asked Scott what Jennifer does that it most helpful for him. (I'm trying to prepare for my future role as "farm wife.") Jennifer's dad talks about the importance of the farm wife in one of their videos, too. Funny... both of their answers involved the wife being close to a cell phone/computer/the internet to be able to look up parts and equipment for part runs. So it sounds like I should quit my job and stay at home by the computer, right? Isn't that how you're understanding that? =)

I also asked for their input on designing a perfect farmhouse. (Planning ahead, here!) Jennifer confirmed my desire for a big mudroom right when you come in the house. And a laundry room nearby to contain all the dirty clothes. (I'm thinking a big mudroom/laundry combined. This is on my must have list for our future farmhouse!) Jennifer also suggested a big kitchen with plenty of room for a big farmhouse table. (Again... if you haven't watched the Farmhouse Kitchen video... go watch it now. And then learn how to make bierocks. And ham and cheese pockets. And pork pizzas.)  

Scott and Jennifer also shared with me the pros and cons to raising kids on the farm. Actually... they really just shared pros. The only con they had from their experience was that neither of them really learned to swim. Sophie is a fish and Lawson and Gretchen both love to go swimming! So I'm pretty sure we'll continue to make swimming lessons a priority, even when we are out on the farm.  Jennifer sang the praises of being involved in 4-H ("I’m certain that 4-H is what made our family unit so strong and gave us ‘kids’ the passion for being involved in agriculture.  As kids growing up on the farm, it was empowering to know that we were being helpful and had a purpose on the farm. We had specific chores to do and were responsible for the outcome - good or bad.  We had some hard lessons to learn when we were young, but that made us better adjusted to the hard lessons that life threw at us when we got old.") (Lawson is excited about being involved in 4-H someday and Sophie is thrilled. She might just be in it for the clothing modeling, though. Of course.) 

I've heard several people lately talk about the work ethic of most Midwestern farm kids. Jennifer confirmed that...  "it turns out that I  learned non-farm work was ‘easier’ and I was pretty successful in all of the ‘off-farm’ jobs. My employers often commented that I had a finely developed ‘work ethic’ that comes from being raised on the farm and knowing how to work hard! Sure, it is very possible for city kids to develop a good work ethic, too, but I think that being raised on the farm sure helped in our cases!!" A good work ethic is something I desperately want for my children. For me, it ranks right up there with being kind. So, so important and one of those values that too many kids nowadays don't seem to have. If living on a farm can help instill a hardworking attitude and work ethic in my kids, then I am all for it! (I'd be more for it if some friends could come live on the farm with us, though.) =) 

{Can you see all the purple in this post?! (It doesn't show up super well.) There's a reason for that!! Keep reading!}

Now the fun part... 
I was given the recipe to Scott's favorite pork meal: Autumn Glazed Pork Chops.  (No ham! Whew!) As soon as I saw cranberries in the recipe, I knew I needed to invite my mom and dad to share them with us. They love cranberries! (Plus, it was my dad's birthday last week and I was a loser daughter and got him nothing. Except some blog fame over his sweet flower note, I guess.) =)

The recipe looked pretty simple (which is good... I like simple.) 

Autumn Glazed Pork Chops

Times

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

4  boneless pork chops, 3/4-inch thick
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup apple cider, OR juice
1/2 cup whole cranberry sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Cooking Directions

Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick coating. Heat over medium-high heat. Sprinkle both sides of chops with pepper. Brown chops 2-3 minutes on each side in hot skillet. Add apple cider. Cover tightly; cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until internal temperature on a thermometer reads 145 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by a 3-minute rest time. Drain off juices.

In a small bowl combine cranberry sauce, honey, orange juice concentrate, ginger and nutmeg. Pour over chops. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until heated through.

The only problem I had was that my skillet wasn't really big enough for 4 pork chops. But it wasn't a big deal. I just had to cook them a bit longer than the recipe says. (In hindsight, I realized an electric skillet would have worked really well for this. But we're not sure where our electric skillet is. Or if we even still have one. Darn frazzled mommy brain.) 

One of the biggest benefits of the night is that it forced us to clean off our dining room table. Our new kitchen has a table that's big enough for us to all sit at, so we usually eat out there. Therefore, the dining room table has become a catch-all, cluttered mess. But not this night...

Sorry little cows... it's a pork night here!

The pork chops were yummy and really easy! (That's two things this momma shoots for in almost all her meals!) And the kids ate them! Yay!

Now for the really fun part... the giveway! 
All you need to do is visit the Kansas Pork Association's Facebook page. (Click on those words.)  
Follow the super easy steps there and you will be entered into a drawing for the Ultimate Kansas Tailgating Giveaway! 

(And for those of you who don't live in Kansas... go ahead and enter. You can keep the grill, the lawnchairs, the cookbook, the grilling utensils, the thermometers, the cooler, the brushes, the BBQ and rubs, the apron and the $50 worth of pork coupons. I'll take the KU/KSU tickets off your hands for you.) =) 

This is a sponsored post on behalf of The Kansas Pork Association. I was compensated for my time and ingredients but all opinions are my own. (Crazy, right? They paid me to feed my family a meal!)

Click on these links to read about other KS pork farmers and their favorite recipes: 
* Dine and Dish
* Kansas City Mamas 
* Gimme Some Oven
* Amy's Finer Things
* Super Jenn
* The Rusted Chain