foster: To Parents

Your children LOVE you. They love you even though you have weaknesses. All they want is to feel wanted, loved and needed by you. No matter what you do they will love you. Young children who have been abandoned, neglected, and abused love their parents, want to protect their parents, and just want to be with their parents. So parents become a permanent fixture in your child’s life. Make sure they know you will be there tomorrow. Do what you can do to insure that you will be. Cut out those things in your life that may prevent you from being there- things that may take you away from your children, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Take a minute and spend some time with your children, laughing, talking, playing. One day they will wake up and you will be gone. Leave some memories for them to hang onto. Love your children.

food: Easy Recipes

So I hear it's been a while since my last post. =) I'm waiting for some pictures so I can post about G's B-day. In the mean time, I've found these quickish and EASY recipes from Allrecipes.com.

Check out this Easy Chicken Alfredo. We used whole wheat pasta and fat free milk products to make this more figure friendly.

Check out this Chicken Florentine Rice Casserole. We used brown rice (not instant) and precooked it before adding it to the casserole.

Both recipes are yummy and lend themselves well to substitution. Oh and did I mention that G and Lil G both ate it!

So FYI: Both these recipes called for cottage cheese. I think fat free cottage cheese is GROSS! But the Kroger brand at Smith's is YUMMMY. If you have a Smith's check out the fat free cottage cheese! Why not cut the calories and the fat if you don't have to cut taste!

Oh and Whitmer Family-Don't even bother looking you won't eat it! =)

family: Moms

Happy Mothers Day to my WONDERFUL MOM. I strive to be more like her every day. She is my ultimate example of the kind of Mom I want to be, kind, patient, generous, with "1st things 1st," as my Stake President may say. Mom I hope you had a wonderful Mothers day!

Happy Mothers Day to my WONDERFUL Mother-in-law. What a great example of strength, love, and unity. I am grateful for her advise, urging, and encouragement that helps me be a better person. I am SOOOO grateful for the example she has set for her children. J is just the most thoughtful, loyal man and I owe it all to his wonderful MOM.

And finally Happy Mothers Day to our dear sisters and sister-in-laws. I'm learning from each of you all the time. I'll often think on memories of your children to help me gage these children. And I mean it-I'm thinking of each of you! Thank you for being great Mom's to your children and setting an example to the world of family.

foster: Lil G and His Nails

Today I was taking care of some Real Estate business first thing. I go to my room keeping an ear out for Lil G. I come out, and sitting in the middle of our hallway is Lil G with his sister's lip gloss- pretty, pink, sparkly lip gloss. What comes next? He has it all over his face, right? Nope! He has taken the wand and is "painting" his toe nails with the pretty, pink, sparkly, sticky, lip gloss. He wants to be just like his big sister, whatever she does he does too, including painting his nails!

Sorry about the bad cell phone picture. I can't seem to ever have batteries in my camera!

foster: Settling In

It's been an adjustment doubling our family overnight. But now we've settled in, gotten to know each other better, and have a routine. I've found there are some key things that keep me sane.

#1 Date Night. I need a night off at least every other week if not every week. It's easy to get burnt out doing Foster Care and taking a break is important. It makes me a better, more patient Mom.

#2 Five Minutes: Every night, just before scriptures and prayer, we set the timer for 5 minutes. Everyone chooses a room and races the clock to get that room clean. It's fun and it has relieved sooooo much stress. I can go to bed with a tidy house and wake up with one.

#3 Individual Quality Time with Each Family Member: Including J. Crafts and projects have been a big help with the kids. And after the kids are in bed J and I can talk. I have a lot to say. It's helpful for me to talk (and re-talk) through the day. ;)

My husband's gone tonight and I can never sleep well when he's not here. So, after feeding, bathing and putting 2 sick children to bed (2.5 hours ago) I'm STILL up. I'm tired and I've tried everything to shut my mind off and get some sleep before my 6 AM wake-up call named Lil G comes back to life. Maybe I'll start over with eating more cookies ;), watching Disney Channel movies, and playing games on my phone. Wish me LUCK!

food: Cookies!

Today's project was Chocolate Chip Cookies (whole wheat of course!) Check out the fruits of our labors!






Culinary Tip: Cream the fat (butter) with the sugar eggs and vanilla for a significant amount of time (at least 5 but can up to 15 minutes) before adding the dry ingredients. Creaming the fats and sugars together give the sugar time to dissolve and distribute evenly. Allowing the sugar to dissolve adds moisture to your cookies and the cookies will brown evenly in the oven. It makes the prefect balance of softness and crunch! We like SOFT cookies.

Also, add your dry ingredients at the very end of mixing. Being careful not to over mix at this stage will prevent your cookies from developing too much gluten. Too much gluten results in gummy cookies.