Spring Garden 3

Many of you will get sick of garden talk and pictures of little green things. To that I say, tough! I posted pictures of dirt a few days ago. As of yesterday we are actually seeing some progress! They are even bigger today! It is always so exciting to find little frail seedlings peeking through their damp, dirt cocoon. I have been obsessing about keeping the seed wet and making sure they were warm. It is nice to see a little payoff.




Here is my garden hero! He does all the hard work.

Just look at the expert way he breaks apart the dirt.

But this is my favorite thing that he does!

Spring Garden 2

So I am a little late. No, no, it is not what you are thinking. I am late planting my seeds. My plan was to plant last week. I don't know why but things just don't go according to plan around here. So tonight I finally did it! I started my tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and a few different flowers. I planted then I prayed. I know that whatever comes up is by the Father's hand. It amazes me that he has given us seed and the ability to grow food and beauty. Have you ever thought about that? Flowers really have no purpose. They are just beautiful.

My planting began with seeds!!!! Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. was introduced to me by my darling friends the Emmitts. Get the seed catalog just to look at. It is one of my favorite winter activities. Additionally, they have some really unique varieties and a cool story to tell. Here is the link http://rareseeds.com/blog/



Now I know this looks just like wet dirt in an egg carton. But just wait. I hope!


This, my friends, will be teaming with little green life in a few weeks. I can't wait to show you. I pray!


This is one of the bigger planting projects going on at our home. Trees! Plus a few grasses and shrubs! Look at Asher and his daddy work.



So I know it was freezing and we were all wearing jackets but we had our first meal outside this week! Gooooooooooo Spring!


Finally, oh my goodness. This makes a mama melt and fall into a puddle of goo. Not gross goo but sweet, little, chubby baby in my heart goo.


Blessings to you all and may Yod Hey Vav Hey be with you this Passover season. Shalom!

Spring Garden 1

Oh joy and happiness! It is planting season again! I love the newness of all things green. I love the smell of dirt that has been cradled beneath a crust of winter. I just stinkin' love being outside! I want to share with you, what I do in my garden to prepare and grow the most wonderful of God's creation. Fooooooood!

This time of year is cool-weather crop planting and warm-weather seed starting. I am not quite ready to start seed but for the first time have planted onions, potatoes and garlic. I am very excited to see how they grow. You know, no matter how many seasons I plant, I am always amazed when stuff actually grows. It seems like magic. Not magic, just a Creator who is very consistent in his design. Amazing that a little seed will use dirt and water to make something delicious to nourish our bodies.
These are seed taters.

Now they are in their new dirt home!

These are onions. In a month I will pull up every other one for green onions and leave the rest with more space for bulbing.

Here they are in the really not straight row that I lovingly planted. Who cares about straight?


Here are some other spring beauties to enjoy. I hope all of you are considering doing even a pot of herbs. If you can start small you can build as you learn. I add something new every year!







Doesn't he look like a child from the old days? I just loved this.

And here he is. I just love him too!


Tell me what you are planting this year!!! I would love to hear.

Shabbat food. A celebration!

So I am a foodie. I love all types of food. (I know someone reading this just said, "Yeah, we can tell by your round hiney." For shame!) I do not discriminate. Okay, so maybe I discriminate a little bit. I cannot stand prepackaged, bland, cafeteria style food. I crave food with a simple, fresh and delicious personality. So I love to use our celebration of the Sabbath as a chance to make things that I love. Tonight I am making a pot roast, mashed potatoes, simple cucumber salad, and challah. Dessert will be as American as apple pie. Okay, so it is apple pie. But it will be served with Blue Bell! And of course there will be wine for me and a beer for the hubby!

So this post will take you, my dear friends, through a bit of our Shabbat(Sabbath) meal preparations. Just don't linger too long or it might go straight to your hips!

This is my roast. I pat it dry, season it and sear it. Then I add a little water to the pan. I add onions, garlic, sage, oregano and thyme. I cover it or put it in a dutch oven, pop it in a 300 degree oven and cook the heck out of it! I am serious. If you want it to be tender you have to cook it for 6 plus hours. You won't be sorry. Just make sure it's covered or you will be sorry. Does pot roast dust mean anything to you?



Then we have the serious part. (It's bread and that is always the serious part around here.) Challah. My family has grown to love this traditional Jewish Sabbath bread. It is a simple recipe but becomes special when it is braided, egg washed and bespeckled with sesame seeds. It is a huge loaf that is promptly devoured by my grubby little munchkins. I wish you all could smell the yeasty yummy bread smell coming from my kitchen right now!




The potatoes are easy. Boiled and mashed. This time I put 5 small red potatoes with the roast. I'm going to mash them in with the rest of the potatoes along with some of the drippings from the meat. Also I like to use REAL butter and some cream. Sometimes when I am feeling frisky I use sour cream! Yum!




The salad is much better in the summer with fresh veggies. But I love the crispness and acidity of this dish. Slice sweet onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. Make a dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, a little sugar, salt and pepper and pour it over the veggies. Let it marinate all day and enjoy!




Mmmm, apple pie. So good with some homemade vanilla Blue Bell. Crazy good.



Here are the Shabbat lights that are kindled for us to remember our Adonai and obey Him.


And here is a plate of Shabbat goodness.


And here is my family enjoying the meal and each other!


Shabbat Shalom!

PS-Here is my sous chef:

Company clean

Have you ever though, "Gee, I need to host a jewelry party"? I don't know what possessed me but I am sooooooo glad that I did! We had a blast. All of the cleaning and cooking and kicking my family out of the house was totally worth it. And after the fact, I have reconnected with friends, got some really sweet bling and my house is really company clean. You know company clean don't you? It's when you clean things that no one is going to look at because we women think that people (other women) are going to judge us if we have a cobweb in the corner of the attic closet or dirt under the mudroom rug. Crazy? Maybe. What is funny is that most everyone that came to the party has been to my house on a regular day and has seen how we really live. What made me think that my house had to be perfect for a group of my friends that know the truth about me? I am a closet slob. I really love to have a clean house but just can't seem to find it more important than the rest of life! So I will reside in my fairly clean house. And if some of you would please come and visit sometime so that I can get my house company clean a few times a year, that would be great. Thanks.

Here are some pics from my party!


That is Amanda. The most fab jewelry lady. And so sweet too!

This is the part where we eat.

This is the party's college beauty, Mandi!

Ms. Jaylene

Ms. Cathy

Ms. Manda

Ms. Jill

Ms. Michelle

Ms. Lindsey

Ms. Kate

Ms. Pammy

Ms. Rachel

Ms. Marlene

And finally...

Icky Sicky

Dinner tonight included one of my favorite things to eat. We had some leftover roast from our Sabbath meal, (which we got to share with some very dear friends!) So I cubed it and let it warm in a sauce pan. I had popped 2 potatoes into the microwave to bake. (How else do you bake a potato?) I cubed those as well and threw them in with the meat. Then I took some red chili that I had made earlier in the week for Huevos Rancheros, and poured it on top. I let it simmer then served it up on a flour tortilla with some cheese and chopped onion. Matt had sour cream on his. Remind me to tell you sometime about my husband's unnatural obsession with sour cream. It's a sickness.

Speaking of sickness, I have just completed a marathon week with a sick baby. Oh how I dislike those days. I have such a hard time watching my sick baby struggle. They just don't know what's wrong and get very cranky about it. Now I realize that my son was very mildly sick compared to what some babies have to suffer. I am extremely thankful that my son's illness was temporary. But the scary thing for me is always wondering how bad it's going to get. I have had a child in the hospital with lung issues. It is so scary to be out of control of what happens to your baby.

I have experienced the healing power of my Savior. In my own life, and in the life of my child. Let me tell you, it is a real thing! So naturally, every time my children get sick, I pray for their healing. This past week, I spent hours asking God to heal my son. I just knew that the next time he woke up, he would be his normal non-sick self. It didn't happen. And in the middle of the night, when my sweet little baby was wheezing and coughing and crying, I was asking my God, "Why won't you heal him?" I felt abandoned in my sadness and exhaustion.

In the days after Levi got better, I felt relief. I was so happy to have my sweet smiley baby back. And suddenly, our everyday existence seemed, well, easier. He wasn't crying all day or coughing and struggling. I was actually able to sleep in my own bed, no longer afraid I wouldn't hear his cries. And then it hit me, sometimes God has to show us what our reality could be, to make us appreciate what our reality is. In my reality, I am incredibly blessed with typically healthy children and a very worry-free life. But there are times that I let myself become disenchanted. I complain about being bored or overwhelmed with my daily tasks. I believe that there are times that God needs to reset my perspective. I need that spiritual slap in the face.

I pray for my brothers and sisters who have real struggle everyday. I pray for the Burns and baby Sarai, I pray for Jeffery and Noelle, I pray for Janet Brown's family, I pray for the mamas sitting in the hospital rooms with sick ones. I pray for those who have lost things they can never get back. Adonai, your ways are not are ways, but though you slay me, I will hope in you. Let us be blessed by your grace and mercy.

Love you all. Be blessed today. -chelle

Family Fun

Dinner tonight was Tortilla Soup which my kids were not happy about. So, I was very surprised when they asked for seconds! Here's the basics. You boil a cut up chicken with the skin, bones and all. You use the broth as the base of the soup and add all sorts of yummies like zucchini, corn, tomatoes, and cilantro. You shred the cooked chicken back into the soup and you have a tummy-warming dish. We always tear up a corn tortilla in the bowl (Matt has used Fritos!) and also add cheese and avocado. If you really want to walk on the wild side, top that with some fresh chopped cilantro. Aaaaaah. So good.

I get a magazine called Family Fun. They always have very cute and easy projects to do with the kids. Matt found this one and tried it out. It involved food so everyone was excited to give it a go. They are called squid dogs. You will see why! I recommend that everyone try them at least once. They are kinda gross but kids love gross!

I know it looks weird, but you cut a hot dog into 4 pieces. Then you jab dry spaghetti through the dog and out the other side.

Some of the spaghetti breaks so you have these funky little squid arms. You can just pretend this guy had a bad accident.

This is how they look before they meet their demise.


"I'm not dead yet", says the squid-dog.


AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! That's the sound of a squid-dog dying.


Ever think you would see a 4 year-old eating squid?


We dipped 'em in ketchup and mustard.

This has nothing to do with squid but is hilarious. My two children dressed up for 80's night at church.

And because it wouldn't be my blog without a pic of my little fatty...