Mom of the year...

So, for a while I've really tried to change my families eating habits. I've been cooking a little better, shopping healthier... My husband and I grew up here in the south, so healthy cooking is just unheard of. In our families everything is fried, made with fat back, or some kind of grease is added to the food for seasoning. So we've changed simple things like using chicken stock in our veggies instead of bacon grease. Sounds elementary, I know, but you have to realize how great this is for us. My hubby and I both love healthier food, I just have to learn how to cook it.

So my biggest problem...SWEETS! We just can't get rid of this "healthy" habit. We are so totally addicted. I love to bake, and its something Taylor and I love to do together. So there is always something sweet in my house to eat. For example.....

Yes, I let my kids lick the batter from cup cakes while eating ice cream. O.k. so no one call social services on me. Ethan was so cute he kept going back and forth. One lick to the beater and then one to the ice cream. I'm not even going to tell you that this was right around dinner time. O.k. so this is not a regular habit. My dad came by and spoiled the children with ice cream as I was baking cup cakes for a family presentation night at CC. So we were already eating a late dinner. I have to defend myself.

So if anyone has any GOOD snack ideas, please let me know. I mean they have to be good!!! (they have to go against chuncky chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream) Who can beat that?? Maybe I'll wait until after I have the baby to fix this problem. No, really let me know your ideas.

Our day

I haven't written in a while, so just a quick update. Today was our last day of CC (classical conversations) for the year. This is a group that we belong to for homeschooling. It's kind-of a co-op thing. Anyway, I love the group so much. I love the accountability, the friendships, the "like mindness", and all the things WE have learned... However, I'm ready for a break. We will continue with "school" year round. Math, reading, reading, writing, and more reading.

I have about six more weeks until I have our fourth baby. So enough time to get things ready for her to come. We are gladly taking name suggestions. We like Tabitha, but none our family does. So after they told us their opinions, he told me we were going to name her Dorcas.

Martie and the boys started tilling the ground for our garden. We planted our seeds in cups over a week ago and it's rained ever since. (praise God) However, we haven't been able to break ground on the garden yet. We moved the garden a little closer in the yard. We are trying to avoid it getting flooded. For some reason everytime we have a garden it rains. (a lot) We were able to make it bigger this year. I'm very excited. We will have to break up the dirt a few more times before we can start planting. Believe it or not the seeds are already coming up, even with all the rain and no sun. We'll see how it goes. I'll post pictures and updates. The garden is so much fun for me and the children. The last garden I left a special row for the children to dig. This kept them from digging up the plants. So here are some pics from our day.

Our future garden, this is after tilling the ground twice. We have great dirt!

My favorite people!!!

The children on the lawnmower with daddy.

His face says it all.

The children playing on the lawnmower.