Nourished Kitchen

photo from Nourished Kitchen

Does this not look like the most DELICIOUS french toast that there is?  I came across this recipe on Nourished Kitchen.  I have been doing alot of reading on her site lately.  It is very interesting, how to change over to healthy, nourished cooking from heating things in the microwave that are processed.  I have been getting fed up with HFCS in everything, and added sweeteners, preservatives...but getting the whole family on board is another issue.  Have you ever looked into drinking whole, raw milk?  Just fresh from the cow. Our milk is ultra pasteurized and contains the dead bacteria from the pasteurization.  Shouldn't we be drinking the milk that has the good, healthy, natural probiotics in it instead of buying probiotics over the counter for $70 a bottle?  I kid you not, I have paid that much in the past for one bottle!  I am going to start making my own whole wheat bread, my own yogurt, and kombucha tea.  One step at a time!

Riverwalk Field Trip

Last Friday, Little Man had a field trip with his class to Riverwalk Park.  It is right on the Indian River, with a lovely boardwalk to walk on which leads all the way out to the river.  First we met in their educational room, where they had live sea animals and displays, had a story read to them about a pelican, and learned about the wildlife in the area.  This park is only a few miles from our house.

They learned about the gum tree, which native american indians would chew the inside and it would taste sweet, like gum.  Also a red bay leaf tree which is like what we cook with, and some very large poison ivy, which we learned NOT to touch!  In regards to how their leaves grow...

Groups of three, let it be!

This awesome live oak tree is more than 100 years old, and has a fern growing on it called Resurrection Fern. The resurrection fern gets its name because it can survive long periods of drought by curling up and appearing dead. When just a little water is present, the fern will uncurl and reopen, appearing to resurrect. This tiny plant has even been taken on a space shuttle mission to watch it resurrect itself in space!

Some boat docks on the Indian River

How lovely is this picture, looking out over the river with the palm tree in view?  I may blow this up and frame it for my beachy pool bath!

After the nature walk, the kids came back and made a cute craft. 

A pelican with some fish to put in his beak!

New Job

I have been training lately for a new job I took at our church's bookstore!  I would say it is like a mini christian hallmark store.  I just work one day a week on Saturday nights, but have to go through some training first to see how everything operates.  My first day was last week, and it was fun, I must say!  There is more to it than I thought, though.  Transfers, purchase orders, pricing merchandise, making cd's/dvd's... This 40-something brain doesn't have a memory like it did when I was in my 20's!  haha  So far, so good for this SAHM going back to work!

But what did I do to myself today?  I was taking VERY HOT soup out of the microwave for lunch, and somehow spilled some of the boiling broth onto my left hand.  The contents spilled out, I dropped the bowl onto my glass cooktop stove, and made a complete mess!  I quickly took my wedding ring off and ran my hand under cold water.  This was all after going to my workout this morning and before taking a shower!  I have 2nd degree burns on two of my fingers, and the hot water from the shower hurt SO bad!  Luckily I have some melaluca oil in the medicine cabinet which took away some of the sting!

Easter Weekend Recap

We got back from our little spring break vaca, just in time to boil some eggs, cool them of, and color them in time for Easter Morning.  Here the kids are working HARD on their designs!

Earlier that evening, Sweet Girl was up at the park playing on the tire swing, and got her hand pinched in the chain, which took a good chunk of skin out of her palm.  The Rocket Scientist took her up to the Urgent Care Center, and they put steri-strips on it.  I was surprised she didn't get stitches, but that is good for her.  Not as much pain and suffering!

The Basket that the Easter Bunny brought the Little Man

(his favorites were the Spiderman Watch and the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie)

The Basket that the Easter Bunny brought Sweet Girl

(Do you see that big yellow egg?  Filled with a $20 bill! Such a generous Easter Bunny this year!)

It was a beautiful day out, and Little Man had fun finding the Easter Eggs that...

Sweet Girl helped to hide.  Here she is sporting her injury.  The steri-strips did not stay on long, and it is pretty much healed up now.  We then went next door to the Hendricksen's house for Easter Dinner, sharing it with their extended family.  We had ham, homemade mac & cheese, devilled eggs, strawberry spinach salad, green beans with shallots, and raspberry elegance cake for dessert.  Yum!

Spring Break Fun!

What a fun spring break we had!  The two younger kids were off from school, but dad had to work up until Friday, so we did some fun things around where we live.  On Monday it had rained in the morning, so we stayed in our pajamas all morning long and watched a movie.  That was our lazy day!  On Tuesday we went to the Brevard Zoo with some of the preschool moms and friends.

Can you believe how close these giraffes are?  We were able to pet them and feed them, right up close.  We were there around 11:00 in the morning, which was perfect!  There were around 5 of them, all gathered up to be fed.

Wednesday we went to the movies and saw "How to Train your Dragon".  Afterwards, we went to McDonalds to eat lunch, where they had the toys from the movie and got a couple of them.  Little Man was thrilled!  It really was a good movie!  Even Sweet Girl loved it!  I think I even shed a tear or two while watching it.  Very touching at times!  ;-)  On Thursday we went with some friends to the park right by our house. This was also a planning day for our BIG weekend we had planned!

Ron Jon's Cape Caribe resort at Cape Canaveral!  It is a great water park resort that is close to home. 

It has a great slide which mostly the Little Man went down, over and over again.  He knows he is at least 42" tall, which they say over and over, and was so proud to be big enough to do it alone.

We also enjoyed floating down the lazy river, which the youngest kept calling the "wild" river!  lol

Sweet Girl enjoyed laying out by the pool, sipping on a strawberry smoothie and getting a suntan.

We ended the evening eating out at Fishlips, out at the Port.  I ate a little too much fried food that night and my stomach was SO full, I didn't want anything fried for a lonnnnng time!

The next day we went back to the water park, but had to cut it short.  This is why:

The Rocket Scientist's allergies were SO BAD we had to leave before noon.  I felt bad for him.  He was SO miserable and he literally could NOT see out of his eyes, the pollen was so bad!  We went inside and the kids had fun on their inside climbing area, then went to the game room where Little Man won a ball and some candy, and the rest of us had fun playing games.

So that is our Spring Break of 2010!

He is Risen!

Easter Brings Hope a devotional from Greg Laurie

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live."
— John 11:25

Easter is not about brightly colored eggs, wearing pastels, or enjoying a big meal, although it could include these. Easter is about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

For some, Easter will be a great day, spent surrounded by family and friends. But for others, it will be a sad day, because Easter is a reminder of a loved one who has died and is now desperately missed.

Death seems so cruel, so harsh, and so final. That is what the disciples were feeling when they saw their Lord, whom they had left everything to follow, hanging on the cross. They were devastated. Death had crushed them. But if they would have gone back in their memories, they would have recalled an important event and statement Jesus had made.

They would have remembered Jesus standing at the tomb of his close friend Lazarus. They would have remembered that Jesus did something completely unexpected: He wept (see John 11:35). Jesus wept, because He knew that death was not part of God's original plan. Humanity was not meant to grow old, to suffer with disease, or to die. But because of the sin of Adam and Eve, sin entered the human race, and death followed with it. And death spread to all of us. Jesus wept, because it broke His heart.

But standing there at Lazarus' tomb, Jesus also delivered these hope-filled words: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25). Death is not the end. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves it.

If you have put your faith in Christ, then Easter means that you will live forever in the presence of God. Easter brings hope to the person who has been devastated by death.