Thankful Thursday

I'm linking up with Curious Georgi for her weekly Thankful Thursday posts.

So here are my ten things I am thankful for today:

1. I am thankful that God brought me to this verse a couple of days ago when I was quite in need of it: James 5:13

2. I am thankful that God answered my prayers with providing me an answer that I needed.

3. I am thankful that my sister's roof is finally getting fixed before baby arrives in 3 weeks!

4. I am thankful for my darling niece, whose birthday it is today.

5. I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is so helpful and always willing to serve.

6. I am thankful that we have sunny skies again.

7. I am thankful that my first-ever apple pie turned out quite yummy!

8. I am thankful for all the wonderful blogs that provide me with spiritual uplifting and kid's craft/school inspiration and cooking inspiration.

9. I am thankful that things are on the right track in my older sister's life.

10. I am thankful that November is almost here, which means that Thanksgiving is around the corner!

Wordless Wednesday - Enjoying the Beauty of God's Creation

Linked up at: Mama to 4 Blessings Wordless-Wednesday
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Creamy Pumpkin Smoothie

During this wonderful fall season, I have been baking with pumpkin alot and I find that I have little amounts of pumpkin leftover.  This is a great way to use it all up!

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens:
1/2 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
milk, thin to desired consistency

Add all ingredients into the blender and voila - delicious smoothie ready to go!
Recipe serves 2

An Inviting Autumn Road

I'm linking up to a fall photo challenge at Aspire because I love all things fall. We took a trip to North Carolina two years ago right when the fall colors were in all their splendid glory and I love to take a trip down memory lane and browse through the photos that we took frequently.  This particular photo wraps up in a variety of ways why I love fall.  Fall beckons you to go outside and experience the season, it invites you to drive down a quiet country road.  The cool gray days make you bring out the hot cocoa and a warm blanket. The colorful leaves ask you to jump in them and take vibrant photos of them.

"Nature is but a name for an effect whose cause is God."

Weekly Wrap-up...A Few of our Toddler Crafts

Whew...glad the week is over. My youngest son is going through some kind of growth phase and doesn't want to let me out of his sight or reach! But, I still managed to get some crafts done with my older son this week. There isn't any particular theme to them, just fun learning, hands-on activities.

First, we made felt animals. For the fish, I attached it to a plastic ring, tied string to it and then tied it to a pencil.  That's his new fishing pole. You could also attach the felt animals to some cardboard with a little stand behind them, like a picture frame.  I'll probably make more animals each week to add to the collection.

We also made a fall tree using a toilet-paper roll and paper-punched leaves. My son really enjoys his tree and carries it around with him.

Also, I'm just beginning to introduce him to letter recognition. We brought out our alphabet-train puzzle by Melissa and Doug and we matched up letter cookies to the letter on the train. Of course, he had to match up the letters before getting to eat any cookies! It's kind of hard to see, but there are some cookies on the train in this pic.

We did a few other printable sheets emphasizing circles that I found on Kid Zone's website. And that was our week!

Linked up at:

Wordless Wednesday - Getting Into Mischief

 

Linked up at: Mama to 3 Blessings

Pumpkin-Apple Breakfast Cake

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the cake, since I gave the last slice away before I could snap a picture of it! This is a delightful fall treat, best served warm with maple syrup drizzled over it. Yum!

Pumpkin-Apple Breakfast Cake

2 small shredded apples

1/2 c applesauce (unsweetened)

1/2 c pumpkin puree

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 c brown sugar

4 beaten eggs

1 c white flour

1 c whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices.  In a separate large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, applesauce, pumpkin puree, oil and apples.  Add the dry ingredients to the apple mixture.  Stir until just mixed.  Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Linked up at: Tasty Tuesdays and Tuesdays at the Table

If You Give A Boy Some Water...

If you were wondering where I've been these last couple of days, I've just been a little busy with my two active little boys.  Yesterday was quite comical actually, so I thought I would share with you a little portion of my day.

If you've never read the children's books If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, If You Take a Mouse to School or If You Give a Pig a Pancake, they are all humorous books about a series of events that happens once you give the animal what they want, then they keep asking for more things. Well, the series of events part is what was so humorous about my day yesterday.

I was washing my hands in the bathroom sink and my older son asks if he can wash his hands too. So, I start to fill up the sink a little bit and turn around to discover my baby son is standing at the toilet trying to put his hands in. I pick him up, turn around to discover the sink is nearly full and my other son has his arms in the water with his sweatshirt sleeves completely wet. As I attempt to pull the drain plug, it breaks. I send both kids out of the bathroom, change my sons shirt and now that the rain has stopped, decide to go outside with them. They are both crying now since baby wanted to play at the toilet and older son wanted to play in the sink. :) Outside, my baby son is standing at the sandbox (he wants to stand up on everything and anything, including using my hair to do so) and I am right there with him, but the split second I look over to my older son, the baby puts sand in his mouth. Sigh, go inside, wash the mouth out at the sink again.  It may not sound that comical when reading it, but it felt like a circus!

Anyways, I hope I have given you a moment of humor!

Joy

My youngest son recently discovered that he now knows how to crawl through his big brother's tunnel.  Boy, did that make him super happy!

Because it is so joyful, I entered this photo in the Aspire Photo Challenge.

Rainy Day Toddler Activities

Well, yesterday was a totally unexpected, stay-inside, rainy day. There was not a drop of rain predicted in the weather forecast. And it rained all day!

• So, in between a few breaks in the rain, my son #1 put on his rain boots and splashed in the puddles and pretended to fish in them. 
• Then, we played "grocery store" using play money and play food. 
• He also fingerpainted a picture of raindrops and lightning flashes.
• We made paper-chain people. The people in the picture are supposed to be him and his little brother, according to him! (I helped hold the crayon as he drew the face in.)

 Linked up at:



and