Christmas Spirit

As Christmas nears our family was feeling a bit swayed in a non Christmas spirit way...not being with family, our decorations, stockings in storage still from our move out of state. But we are reminded through Church, new friends, the story of Christmas told in song at a Church event, a breakfast with 'Santa' with welcoming families and a family outing last eve to the Nutcracker for the first time for the children that Christmas is here...whether or not we have stockings or decorations this is a time for celebration. A time to reflect, to be thankful to take notice of our blessings and to remember our Savior. It is a glorious time of year- no matter where you are at, with family or away, no matter how you feel, down or happy, no matter if you have a tree and stockings or not- we are showing our children we don't need much - we just need to have Christ in our hearts this holiday.

Sharing our favorite song...the kids just love the piano guys! Angels we have Heard on High.

May you feel the Lords blessings this holiday season and be thankful for all he has given us.

Dinner & Drive

The weekend was pretty quiet...Saturday we took a trip to the library in town, a few new books, a few free downloaded music songs for the kids, a little shopping trip to pick up Momma a pair of short black heeled-boots for church and an afternoon visit from the Missionaries and a couple husband and wife from the church as well. We enjoyed the afternoon with company then some yummy roasted veggies and pasta for dinner. We finished the day off with letting the kids stay up late for a family movie. Sunday, today, brought church- our first time since our move. Met with welcoming and open hearts it was a wonderful feeling..a close knit community feeling, a family feeling. A little bit of leftovers for lunch, a Skype call with out-of-town family and then a drive up to the Lake for some sight-seeing. What beauty. I've been saying that and thinking that since we moved. I continually can't get over the glorious beauty that surrounds us here. Today was no exception. Unbelievable. The quiet...the way the water was so still and reflecting the sky. The trees, rocks and branches reflecting in the water as well. Oh the glorious tree's. The kids had fun exploring, skipping rocks...we all daydreamed about summer time when we would make plans to come fishing, swimming and camping. Yes, my heart says we were definitely brought here for a reason, for a purpose. Between a wonderful session in church, a chat with family so close to our hearts and the bountiful beauty we saw today- Yes we are blessed.

Sharing our Roasted Veggie Dish & Herb Pasta Side

Sweet Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, Mushrooms and Leeks...In the pan we melted butter (not real butter- we used Earth Balance) and bacon bits (yeah you're supposed to use real bacon!)...added veggies after 5 minutes and added some salt, pepper and rosemary, mixed/made sure everything was coated and put it in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes. So good! Pasta as a side with some butter and rosemary as well.

 Sunday drive to Priest Lake...first to a trail leading to a picnic/bbq/swim area then to another picnic ground.

Pretty sure I'm beginning to really understand why so many people refer to the area as 'Gods Country'. Amazing.

Family Dinner

Yumm too good not to share our family dinner tonight! We've finally gotten back on track since our move to meal planning, eating healthy and finding great recipes. In our last weekends travel we picked up some great goodies at the Asian market- I've been eating Miso soup practically every day. So tonight we made Sinigang (Filipino soup dish)  with mixed seafood, tons of greens, eggplant and more. Some brown rice under it- warm goodness in your belly. Our daughter also found a Japanese dessert to make - Dango (Japanese sweet dumplings). Recipe: Dango 

Its a joy when everyone gets in the kitchen and helps- the kids worked on the dessert together while we cooked the meal. Our basic recipe: Sinigang- We omit the pork and use seafood or just veggies, no tomatoes and extra types of veggies always, plus a couple potatoes!

Yumm.

Frozen Fun

Late afternoon, evening trip into town on an errand, then to grab some dinner and off to a 4H meeting...but stopping first at the frozen water to view the sights, see some birds, step on the frozen ice and jump back quickly into the warm car! The breeze coming off the water was quite cold!

Beautifully chilled eve.

Snow Play & Shopping Day

Our week ended with more snow coming and then by the weekend rain came too. Beautifully the snow dusted all the tree's before finally the day after the rain washed it all away. We all played out side in the snow and let the dogs play outside in it. Two of our three pups were more excited than our poor little Jack Russel mix, Rusty who was just cold. The other two ate the snow, bounced around and chased each other in the snow as we ran with them. Hubbie thought he'd be funny and hop on our kids sled and get our son to encourage the dogs to pull him, which they didn't but they thought it was quite amusing seeing hubbie on the sled and just bounced all around him, barking, play bowing and getting excited! Our daughter not wanting to join the crazy shenanigans watched from the warmth of the house through the window laughing. Our son and I took a snowy walk to 'look for things' as he says. He pulled on tree branches and made it 'snow'...pulled off icicles and ate them...followed tracks around...sled a bit down a little hill and had me pull him all over the yard in the sled too- a good work out! Yesterday, Saturday we headed into Spokane, a good hour from us. We had only traveled there once. We went shopping for the day in town for church clothes, had a family lunch, stopped at an Asian market to pick up a few things and admire the interesting array of items the store stocked and then traveled back home by dinner time. A beautiful day spent together. 

The bridge above crossing over the water into WA state...gorgeous tree and snow lined shores.

{this moment}

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{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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Linking to Soule Mama 

 Sweetie pups just figured out SNOW is edible!

A Slow Week

The week has been slow-moving, relaxing which is nice sometimes. Everyone has been sleepy, sleeping in, taking the day one step at a time. Its been quiet around here. Schooling is thriving in our daily rhythm now that we've begun to feel settled in our new home. Our library trips are on two days to two different libraries and give us an abundant resource of schooling books, fun books and new stories. This week our load included books on cooking, bread making, parkour, eagles, worms, animal tracks, Pokemon, Benjamin Franklin, Jamestown and a few others. Can you see where we're headed this week in our studies and fun? A little bit of everything. On our trips out the kids have been taking turns cleaning the outside of the car of the ice and snow build up. A daily duty they aren't used to but are getting used to. The different aspects of living in an actual winter. Blessed today to be heading to a neighbors birthday for dinner with their family, the feel of the town and people within it continue to be welcoming and warm.

Blessed for this slow week with the family at home.