I know it is early...

... but when our Saturday afternoon and evening opened up we could not resist. We put up our Christmas tree and watched and enjoyed a Christmas movie.

Thankful For The Little Things

There is a new appliance in my kitchen. It is drifting such wonderful smells of fresh baked goods through my house. We even woke up to fresh baked bread this morning because of it. This new appliance is a bread maker. We have one thanks to my sister who found one 50% off at Wal-mart. 

I love fresh baked bread but have never been good at baking. The whole yeast in warm water, first rise, second rise, it never seems to turn out right. With the bread maker I have enjoyed making bread, rolls, pizza dough, and cinnabun coffee cake. I never realized all that you could make with one machine, and it does all the work for you. I am looking forward to trying new recipes and, in the weeks to come, sharing some of our favorite bread machine recipes. I think I might just start with the cinnabun coffee cake recipe!

If any of you have ever thought of getting a bread machine, I have heard that thrift stores are a wonderful place to find them, as many people purchase them and never use them. Or if any of you have one sitting in your closet, take it out, dust if off, and get baking. There are whole cookbooks just for bread machines. It is so easy and I'm sure you and your family will enjoy the end result!

Picture thanks to Allposters.com

Thankful for the Little Things

One of the fun and challenging parts of motherhood it trying to keep your children busy and occupied while trying to get various tasks done. For me the challenge always seem to come during meal prep time. On this particular morning I was trying to get breakfast in the oven and Macaylee was fussy and ready for a nap (she got up a little too early). All she wanted was to be held. I just needed about 5 minutes to get our breakfast in the oven and then I would be able to put her down.

As you can see from the pictures I am so thankful for this cabinet that holds all of our Tupperware and mixing bowls, all the things that the girls can play with. In my last kitchen my Tupperware was in a basket that was on a low shelf, that Maddie and Miriam could easily get to. Now all I have to do is open up the doors, take out some mixing spoons and they are good to go. On this particular morning it worked like a charm. I had breakfast ready in a few minutes and then we were off to nap time.

Lord help us to be thankful always

in all circumstances (Thessalonians 5:18)

And most of all to be thankful because

You are good,

and your love endures forever (Jeremiah 33:11)

Thankful for the Little Things

Thursday is our grocery shopping day which brings me to the little thing that I am thankful for today. With three little ones it can be a task to get the grocery shopping done. When I first found out that I was pregnant with our third little one who was a bit of a surprise. At the time I did not know how I was going to get certain things done (like grocery shopping) with three little ones, three and under.

We were shopping at the Wal-mart Supper store back then and they had the carts that had plastic sunken down seats, which is all well and good except my youngest would not stay in them for more then 2 minutes. My guess is that the cart made her feel confined and for those of you who know Miriam know that she does not like being confined and is good at making it loud and clear to all around when she is not happy (something that we are working on).

The little thing that I am thankful for is the Meijers Grocery Cart. When we found the Meijers grocery cart, that is pictured here, that had a bench for my two oldest to sit on it made grocery shopping with my little ones so much easier. All I need with it is a few snacks to keep them occupied along the way and we are good to go. Thank you to Meijers for their shopping cart with a bench!

Oh, and let me take a minute to introduce you to Penny the mechanical horse. Penny lives at Meijers. I do not usually let my children ride the toys you find inside and outside of stores, but it only cost a penny (hence her name) to ride and it gives the girls something to look forward to once we are done with the shopping.

Miriam on Penny

Madisen on Penny

Lord help us to be thankful always

in all circumstances (Thessalonians 5:18)

and most of all to be thankful because

You are good, and your love endures forever (Jeremiah 33:11)