Do your husband a favor and try this...

I made this off yet another Pinterest recipe link...if you haven't signed up, YOU HAVE TO!! It is a wealth of information and of course recipes.

Mozzarella Stuff Meatballs
2lbs of ground beef
1 package of fresh basil
1package of fresh oregano
1tbl Dijon mustard
1/2 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese
1 small can tomato paste
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

First I put the herbs in my food processor...and you are going to wish you have smell-a-vision! I love cooking with fresh ingredients...smells so good!

Move the rest into your kitchen aide mixer with the exception of the bread crumbs.

Mix together, then add bread crumbs

Cut your mozzarella...I cheated and used cheese sticks because I ALWAYS have cheese sticks on hand...part of the life with 5 kids!

Take a decent size of meat, flatten in your hand, add cheese and 'wrap' the meat around the cheese to form a ball. Remember...most of the time the meat cooks down so they will be smaller once cooked. Layer them on a tray or glass dish...I used a small amount of cooking oil in the bottom of the pan to help get a crisp outside, but this is totally optional.

Cook at 350 for approx. 20 min. I just kept checking to see if they were done. This is also the time that I started my spaghetti noodles and sauce cooking and it all got done at the same time. You can also use these meatballs to make a meatball sub...which is what I intend to do with the leftovers!

Melted cheesy goodness...and they delivered on taste too!! Get creative...make them into just about anything or eat them plain.

Enjoy!

I didn't DO anything...

 It is hot here...like 110 degrees, melt anything, burn my buns, HOT! This is the part of the summer I dislike the most. (dare I say 'hate' the most) All I want to do is get all my errands done before 9am and then lock myself in a quiet, cool house and wait until sunset, which seems to take the edge off the heat. Of course that is not possible every day...today was one of those days. I found myself out running a quick errand in the middle of the day. As I drove into the parking lot I saw a man, with a sign saying "Homeless Veteran, please help." My heart sank. Who, on purpose, would sit out in this oppressive heat? Or was is completely out of necessity? As I drove past him I noticed he was clean shaven and groomed fairly well. My mind went straight to judgement. I thought, "Oh, you are one of those who sit here and prey on the hearts of others in hope to get money from them for your inappropriate reason." Ouch...yes, I just wrote that because I actually thought it and I am overwhelmed with sadness at my own judgement of this man. I have no place to make such a harsh judgement. Do I really believe a man would purposely sit there, in the 110 degree sun, just to make money? (Lord, I hope not!) I had to stop and take a good look at myself. God in his grace brought to mind the following verses...(from The Message)

^34-36"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:

   I was hungry and you fed me,
   I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
   I was homeless and you gave me a room,
   I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
   I was sick and you stopped to visit,
   I was in prison and you came to me.'

 ^37-40"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'

I am sad to say I kept driving past him, not offering this man anything from my surplus and I feel terrible. I feel like regardless of his reasons or intentions, God has blessed me abundantly. I have WAY more than I could ever ask for and yet I didn't even stop to offer him a few water bottles which I had in the truck. Thankfully, I serve a gracious God, one who hears my confession of judgement and forgives me. I will stop next time...because God knows the hearts of all men regardless of what I see with my human, sin-filled eyes. I am praying this afternoon that someone, anyone, will stop and offer this man water, food, or what ever he needs. I pray He gives me more conviction every day to reach out to the least of these, because frankly, we are all the least of these in the eyes of our Savior. 


Today, in this moment I am thankful to a God who can in one moment change my heart, turning it more towards His path, so I can give to others from my abundance. 

Fantastic weekend in our pool!

We invited friends and family over this weekend and literally spent ALL day, EVERY day in the pool. This is the first summer in about 3 or 4 that we haven't had a baby to worry about. All of our kids are swimming on their own and so now we can get back to playing games in the pool. You will notice a slide in some of the pics. Shane used a play ground slide we had given to us, and welded up a ladder and BAM, the kids have something new to do. They spent hours in the pool, using the slide, and we even pulled out the volleyball net for good old fashion competition!

Summer Fun Jar week 3

We had an unusually busy week last week but managed to do a few things from the jar.

I cannot remember which day was which, but we played Balloon Ping Pong, basically hit a balloon around the house.

The biggest hit of course was Building a Fort. My brother and I used to do this in the summer...all the way up until Jr High I think...(and a little embarrassed to say!) We got quite good at it too...at one point we had set up by Dad's 12" black and white tv inside. I will say it was equally as fun doing it with my kids!!!

Again the daughter's imagine and heck, humor makes me smile. Not sure how she comes up with this stuff...but it is classic Samantha!

Hannah joined the fun after this picture...she was taking some time to decide if she wanted to play kindly. She eventually decided "yes"!! 

If you don't mind getting your house, or family room, in a total disaster for an afternoon build a fort with your kids!!! They played for several hours together and it blessed my day!

Happy Father's Day

Tacos with a twist

I took a family favorite and 'twisted' it to make something completely different. I am finding it is fun to make what is boring, simple, or routine and with a small tweak, make the kids smile BIG!

Tacos are a food my oldest would like me to make every. single. day. The rest of us need a little more variety than that. This twist wasn't any more difficult than boring taco shells but had a huge fun factor. So, if this is something your family loves too, go on and try something new...the kids will think you are super cool!

Ingredients:

2lbs ground beef (for a smaller crew, 1lb should be plenty)
cheese
taco seasonings
lettuce
tomato
sour cream
won-ton or egg roll wraps
salsa...anything else you love on your tacos!

Line cupcake tin with wraps, add cooked meat and bake for about 8 min, or until the edges are crisp. Add toppings and YUMMY!!!

And this is what happens when you add a little fun to dinner...

15 years of wedded bliss

Today is our 15th Wedding Anniversary...and we both keep looking at each other is awe. Not that we never expected to be married at this point because we did, but that 15 yrs has gone by so fast. It seems extra significant to us...this milestone. So many people give up long before this point and we are just blessed to be committed to each other and this marriage. We are praising God for a love that is growing all the time...

This has become sort of a tradition with us too...chocolate covered strawberries! This was such a simple thing to do with things I already had on hand. I melt the chocolate chips, dipped strawberries and then melted white chocolate chips to decorate with our special year. I poured the melted white chocolate in the small ziploc bag, snipped the small corner and bam, I can write on what ever I want. (The kids thought this was so cool!)

Then because we are limited on pictures of the two of us we snapped a couple in the front yard before we went to dinner. I wanted to get a better background but just didn't have enough time before dinner. It was a special day...

Summer Fun Jar, week 2

Well, week two went a little off kilter. But excited to get back to it for week three..

Day one: "Letters to Grandma and Grandpa Self"

Day two: "Letter to Grandma and Grandpa Thoma"

Both of these days I had hoped to inspire some sweet notes, and of course it a certain way they did write them, but the excitement level was off. It as "off" all week so I know it wasn't about this activity in particular. Now it is my responsibility to get these in the mail...

Day three : WE TOTALLY FORGOT!!

Yup, that's right...funny thing was we didn't have anything on the schedule to keep up busy or distracted it just was one of those lazy summer kinda of days...not complaining!!!

Day four: "Went out to lunch"

Jacob finished his first week of summer school so this was perfectly timed, and always enjoyed by all the kids.

Day five: "Hot Rock Crayon Art"

We took river rocks from our front yard, set them to 'bake' in the backyard all day and by about 5pm, we grabbed the crayons and had some melty art fun. This was one of the coolest things we have done. I can see each individual in their rocks and I love their creativity. This is just another twist on a typical summer art project and now they help decorate my front porch!

Summer Fun Jar - week 1

We just completed our first week of the "Summer Fun Jar" and I have to say it has been a huge hit. I do not plan on doing the activities on the weekends. I want to document this summer obviously for our own family memories but also to show other moms out in the blog world that this is beyond easy and your kids will enjoy it more than you will ever know.

Day one: "Bike Parade"

Thanks to some great friends at church who wanted to do this over a camping weekend and adapted it to fit here at home as a jar activity. $20 at the dollar store for streamers, party decorations and glow sticks!! A funny note about this activity in particular, Jacob made the comment to Shane on the way home from soccer practice that he did not really want to do this when I described it to him, but once he got started and it was getting dark he was so glad he decided to join the fun. THIS right here is why I am doing this jar thing this summer...I do not have many more summers left that he will want to participate, and I plan to make the most of the time I do have!

(I need your grace for the picture quality...I am not the best at evening/dark light action shots)

Day two: "Water balloon fight"

No explanation needed except that we lined the four older ones up first thing so Grace could get her best shot at hitting them because once it started she was going to be out gunned. And yes, the referee is on the trampoline watching for any personal fouls and such.

Day three: "Backwards Day"

I enjoyed this one more than I thought. I took it to the next level from when the kids had it in preschool. I made hamburgers and hot dogs for breakfast and pancake, bacon, and eggs for dinner. This was unique because it was an all day affair. The kids all put their clothes on backwards and laughed all day when they would talk to be about doing things backwards. The other major thing I loved about this one it is cost no money. I have everything on hand it was just a matter of changing up the schedule. One word of caution, hamburgers in the morning are HEAVY for the stomach...but again, totally worth it!

Day four: "Make cookies for the neighbors"

Samantha helped make the cookies, but all the kids went to deliver them. I think is a great opportunity to not only serve someone else by making  their day, but it is great to branch out to neighbors you may not know all that well, or never met.

Come back next week for our second week jar adventure!