Make Church a Priority.

One of Cody’s new duties as a part of the youth ministry is to write a bi- weekly column in The Contact, the church’s newsletter.  I could not be more proud of his article for this week and wanted to share it with you.

School is out, summer is here, and our lives just got a bit busier. I am finding that this is especially true for parents. Every conversation I have with a parent involves all of the events they shuttle their kids to and from. These events can move you to a different part of the sate every day of the week. The temptation we find during this hectic season is complacency. When baseball, softball, theatre, golf and music keep us moving at a constant pace, the thing that usually gives is church.

One of the things you notice when you work with kids is that they (often, but not always) become like their parents.Making church a priority in your life does not guarantee that your kids will do the same, but if you don’t, it is almost certain that they won’t either We have a lot planned for this summer, and I know your kids cannot attend everything, but I hope to see them as much as possible. I also hope that when you drop them off at the church, house, park, restaurant, or wherever else we meet over the summer, that you will stay for a while. We can always use the extra help and I would love to get to know you a little more. 

One of the main questions that we talked about with the youth committee when they interviewed us was “How do we keep our kids involved in church after they leave our youth ministry?” Cody and I both believe that it’s important for students to start asking questions and learning to search out answers in the Bible now, so that when they get out into the real world, they will already have a base for their own faith, not just the faith their youth minister told them they should have. We were shocked once we got here and realized that church is an option for a lot of students… students whose parents are involved in church, yet don’t make them get involved to.  This really amazes me and is hard for me to wrap my mind around, because church wasn’t an option growing up. 

Now, I realize I only have a nine month old, and while he is starting to show some defiant attitudes, I know it’s no where near what he will be as a teenage boy. Someday I will probably beg for the days when my biggest problem was keeping Griff out of the pantry and telling him no when he gets into Dakota’s food. I read a blog the other day that said something along the lines of - “Is [this] an easy choice? No. In fact, it’s the hardest choice for me. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t the right choice, and as a parent, I need to make the hard choice to do what is best for my kids.”  There will be a day when getting G up and ready to be at church by 9 will be a struggle. He’ll probably sit with his friends on a Wednesday night, complaining that I’m mean because I took his phone away for some reason or another. You know what? I’m ok with that. I want to make the hard choices and know that I’m giving my kids the best chance to continue to be involved in the church even after they graduate from youth group. 

If you’re a parent in the trenches, making the hard choices to get your family to church as often as you can, keep up the good work. Your child may not understand it now, but they will thank you for it someday!

Simple Summer Salad

The ladies in the church office host monthly "Summer Daze" luncheons as a small way to get multiple age groups together over the summer. I took this super easy recipe last week and wanted to share!

Cook your pasta according to directions. Once drained, pour a generous amount of Italian dressing over it and let it marinate for 1-3 days. {I only did it for 16 hours or so and it was still great.} Once ready, Add in chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, bell pepper and onion if you wish. Serve and enjoy! 

My mom first served this as a side dish, but I think it's a great light summer meal. Warning: if you make a full box of pasta... it makes a TON!!!!  So unless you're serving a small army, you should probably cut the recipe in half for a family!

Creamy Chicken Taquitos

A few weeks ago I participated in a casserole exchange with a few moms through MOPS. I will admit I was a little nervous about the whole event, as the participating ladies said they liked to add in extra veggies, only used whole wheat noodles and used organic, free range beef.

Yeah... I use what's on sale.

I made a Paula Deen Chicken and Rice recipe that I'll share at some point, but I tried one of the meals I received in exchange and it was too delicious to not pass along!

I have to admit, when Stefanie, one of the mom's, first shared that she was making taquitos, my mind immediately flashed to the tiny frozen ones you see in the store. Didn't really leave me super excited to try this one out. The taquitos ended up being bigger than I thought they would be, but I was still worried about how filling they would be.

Which is why I ended up heating up three for Cody and I for dinner the other night, thinking we would split the third.  Turns out these are super delicious and very filling, so we didn't need the third. Next time I make these I will either heat up two or four, but never three.

Why?

Because the next day, when I excitedly went to eat the third for dinner while Cody was still at church, I was utterly disappointed to find that Cody actually ended up eating it for lunch that day! If you're looking for a quick, delicious dinner  {and healthy!} to have on hand for your family, stock these up in your freezer!

Griffin - 9 Months

I can hardly believe our sweet boy turned 9 months old on Tuesday! And forgive me, but as a parent, I can't help but be cliche, where has the time gone??  It seriously feels like we were just making our 5 mph drive home from the hospital and now we are on the downhill side to a year!

Griff has grown so much developmentally this month and his little personality is really starting to come out. He's weighing in at 19 lbs 6 oz (35%) and is 26 in long (10%.)  Yeah... it's not looking like Griff will be topping 6 feet some day! Our pediatrician is very please with his size and he's following along the growth chart well. We did ask him about his eyes, as you can see in the pictures below that they do turn in sometimes.  We're going to watch it and reevaluate at a year, but because both eyes are turning in at some point or another, it most likely that the poor kid just has a really wide bridge that makes it harder to focus and not a sign of a bigger problem.

I try to talk a walk several times a week with Griff and we usually end up at the park. He loves digging in the sand and trying to eat whatever he can find, if I'll let him!  His biggest changes happened about a week and a half ago, when G got two teeth, started scooting, learned to go from laying down to sitting up, and pulled up for the first time! I can't imagine how much his brain hurt from all of that growin' he was doing! If he really wants to, he can technically crawl, but army crawling is much quicker so he sticks with it!

We can mark down our first words in the book, which is a slight toss up between Ma Ma and Da Da. Girf first repeated Da Da after us occasionally when prompted, but never at Cody. He would then babble "da da da da da" a lot, but didn't seem to connect who it went with. I tried my hardest for a Ma Ma, but got absolutely nothing. Last Thursday night we were huddled in the bathroom without power during a storm and G was playing with something that he shouldn't have been. When I took it away from him, he yelled, "BAHHHH! MA MA!!!!"  Cody and I were both like, "Say what?!?!" and Griff kept repeating Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma.  Since then, Griff has continued to use Ma Ma quite frequently...   when we take something away from him, when he's hungry and I'm not getting the food quickly enough, when I put him down for a nap and he's not ready to go to sleep... it's real sweet! :)  He has actually said both Ma Ma and Da Da when reaching out for Cody and I, which is just about the sweetest thing ever.

We are working on more finger foods. Graham crackers remain the favorites, though green beans, gold fish, sandwich meat and tortillas are becoming easier  and quicker for him to eat. Sleeping is mostly good. He's going about 12 hours each night, with about 2 nap times and one rest time in the afternoon. Naps are kinda hit of miss on if he falls asleep, but I at least make him stay in the crib for the whole time.

We moved him up to a big boy car seat last week, thinking it would make him happier when we put him in. Yeah... he still screams at first! We went with a Diono, so we shouldn't have to buy another car seat from him! {which is really strange to think about.}

And finally, while we know Griffin loves us, it is clear who is his favorite!

 {also, Griff TOTALLY repeated me tonight and clearly said PUP PEEEEEE. I was trying to catch it on camera, which is why I am repeating it over and over!}

Happy 9 months sweet boy! We love you so much! 

Pinspiring Feet

Y'all, I am embarrassed to admit that I haven't had a pedicure in 9 full months. I've kept my toes pretty and painted, but the dry skin situation was just bad. So bad, that when I go next week to get my vacation pedicure, I was afraid that the nail ladies would just turn me away and say they couldn't do anything for me.

Have you ever seen something on Pinterest and gone, "Seriously? Who was whack enough to come up with that??" {I'll be honest, I think that about a lot of things on there!}  This particular pin seemed crazy enough to maybe work and wouldn't take more than 10 minutes of my time, so I decided to give it a shot and see if it could get my feet into a conditional where I would be accepted into the salon.

I ended up pouring all of the ingredients into an 8x8 dish and my feet just fit. I kept thinking that I should have doubled the recipe to make the liquid come up over the tops of my feet, but I had to remind myself that that was rather silly, as the dry skin is on the bottom of my feet. The review is spot on and your skin really does just rub off. It's also easy to see where to rub, as your feet will have a blueish tint! Next time I try this I will also use a pumice stone to help it work even better, but our Walmart doesn't carry them {which is a whole 'nother blog for some other time!}

If you're looking for a way to keep your feet looking smooth this summer with something that won't break the bank, try out this crazy pin!

Blog Lovin'

Just a little housework... I've mourned the loss of Google Reader, but I'm not saying my goodbye until the day I have to. 

If you've moved on more quickly than some of us though, I've added the blog to blog lovin' if you want to follow along!

Confessions

- It's 7:20, Griff is in bed, I sent Cody off to see the new Star Trek movie, I've got a large Diet Dr. Pepper... I think I can make it to the weekend!

- Since we have less than a month till we leave on vacation, I decided I should finally start doing something to get beach ready. Let's just say that a carb free abby = a cranky abby.  I'd made it 4 days without carbs (save for a few potatoes on Monday) and was doing good.... until I ate a ginormous piece of buttermilk pie all by myself today. Oops! {I am happier now though!}

- Teething is just no fun. Griff has been equal parts whiney/needy and utterly bored with me all week long. Coupled with the fact that he's justalmost about to start crawling, homeboy has had so much going on developmentally, it's made for a long week around these parts. So much so that we went to the park today and there's no telling what exactly ended up in his mouth... but at least he was happy!

- Since I've started staying at home, I've developed a bad habit of drinking three cups of coffee a day. This wouldn't be such a bad deal if I drunk straight coffee, but I like creamer with a little bit of coffee. {hence the carb free cranky abby} I've weaned myself back to two and will eventually make it to one.. though I can't say there won't be some three cup of coffee kinda days in my future!

- I realized today that I haven't done anything fun and crafty in way too long. Which is probably contributing a lot to edge I've been feeling lately. Looks like this weekend will be focused on finishing up my craft room so I can create something.

- I've joined the Teva world, outright copying several of the girls here. Admittedly, we all say they're not exactly the cutest shoes ever {some might even say ugly!} but y'all, THEY ARE THE MOST COMFORTABLE SHOES EVER.  I've worn them all day long, every day since I got them and will definitely live in them all summer long. The only problem I've found is that that black sole seems to rub off on my feet... making it look like I don't shower. Fun! I've already found a remedy for this though.. weekly pedicures! 

 

Those are my confessions for this week... what about yours?