Oh, Happy Days

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I love, love, love the holidays. One of the best parts of the holidays for me is the joy of cooking special meals for my family. Yesterday my DH had the three oldest kids at a movie, and my two youngest were sleeping, so I took advantage of that time to turn on a sappy Christmas movie I had recorded and begin cooking for Thanksgiving. (I don't feel the need at this late stage in the game to keep my holidays separated!)

The first thing I made was my traditional cornbread stuffing. Oh, how I love this stuffing. If the truth be told, it is the part of the meal I most look forward to, and truly could stand on its own any other day of the year as a one dish meal. Because I love you, I am going to share the recipe, which is based on one from the 30 Day Gourmet's Holiday Cookbook.

Holiday Cornbread Dressing

2 T. Butter
1 c. diced onions
1 c. diced celery
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. poultry seasoning
1 c. raisins, or if you wish, craisins
1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (I prefer walnuts)
1/2 pound sausage, browned and drained
1 c. tart, cored but unpeeled apples, diced
6 c. stale cornbread cubes
3 c. chicken broth (more or less, just enough to get the mixture very, very moist.)


For the cornbread, either make it from scratch with your favorite recipe, or do what I have done in the past and just bought the little cheap mixes and baked them up. All that matters is that it is stale and cubed. If your cornbread is fresh, cube it up and place it on a cookie sheet in the oven at 300 degrees for about an hour, stirring occasionally until dry and toasty. Then fully cool.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and saute the onions and celery until they are starting to soften. Add the pepper, salt and poultry seasoning to the celery and onions, and keep cooking it for a few more minutes. At this point you can add the apples, walnuts, sausage and raisins/craisins and cook it all together for 5 more minutes. Remove it from the heat and add in the chicken broth, about 2 cups to start with. Pour all the pan ingredients over the cornbread in a large bowl. If it doesn't seem very, very moist add more liquid until it does. This will dry out while baking so you want it to start out quite moist.

If baking immediately, go ahead and bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered. You want the final product to be browned on top and toasty, but moist throughout the inside. If you would like to make this ahead and freeze it, it will work VERY well. Just make it up to the point that you have added the broth, and then cool it completely and freeze it, either in the pan you plan to cook it in, or in a gallon sized freezer bag.

If freezing ahead, just be sure to thaw it out thoroughly, and then set out at room temperature 2 hours before you bake it. It won't get crispy and perfect unless it has come to room temp first.

So, I hope that this recipe will bring your family as much enjoyment as it does mine! If not this Thanksgiving, then maybe one in the future! I am not kidding, with the fruit, veggies, nuts, meat and cornbread, it could be a meal in itself. Many a post-Thanksgiving meal has found me eating the stuffing as my main course!

Now, I head off excitedly into the realm of some new recipes I haven't tried before for dessert this year! I'll let you know how it goes!

Holidays

I have always been crazy about the holiday seasons. From the end of October to the beginning of January is such a fun flurry of decorations, special dishes and extra family get togethers. Since having children, I have only enjoyed it more than ever. With one exception. For about a year after having a baby, I am just toast. Tired, sleep deprived, and committed to keeping things at a minimum so that life isn't so busy and consuming.

This year, I am glad to say my little lady is 19 months old, and I am finding energy to put toward the upcoming celebrations! In planning my menu for Thanksgiving, I have found myself excited and ready to go! So much so that I decided not to wait, and have today baked my first turkey of the season! Even though Thanksgiving is still a week away, I just couldn't wait, plus at a price of $.50 per pound, the turkeys beat out all the other meats at the grocery store for the bargain of the week!

So, 20 pounds of turkey are currently roasting away in my oven, along with 2 acorn squash and a pound of brussel sprouts! Tonight we will be feasting on that lovely turkey, and tomorrow we will be scarfing down a delicious turkey pot pie. The next day, turkey tetrazzini! I do plan to put a lovely beef and chicken bumper between this turkey and the next, so Thursday of this week and the weekend will involve meals not featuring my favorite seasonal bird!

My all consuming thought now, though, is the Christmas tree. Usually my DH prefers to wait until after Thanksgiving to put it up, but this year he uncharacteristically agreed that it might be fun to put it up early. I was shocked! His work schedule has become such that we can't really do it before the day after Thanskgiving, so my current plan is to pop that pupppy up first thing in the morning on Black Friday! I may have to make some celebratory cinnamon rolls just for fun!

For some reason today I have been overwhelmed by the amazing privilege it is to stay home with my beautiful children, teaching them, holding my babies, and making our home festive and cozy for the holidays. What an amazing blessing to know that my husband provides enough so that I get to stay here and love on our kids. I don't ever want to take that for granted.

Here's hoping your family has a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that your eyes will be constantly open to the amazing blessings God constantly lavishes on us all!

In Sickness and In Health

I am coming out of hiding to confess a terrible problem our family is having this week. Early this week we discovered that I and all of the boys have head lice. Man, this is nasty, and way hard. Have I mentioned that my hair is currently several inches below my shoulders in length? The boys have been easy! We chopped theirs down to a 1/4 of an inch, so now the lice and their eggs have nowhere to hide!! Mine, on the other hand, has been an absolute nightmare. I have also considered chopping mine down to 1/4 of an inch, but my husband has gently reminded me that I have to go out in public soon, so we decided against it.

There are a number of situations in a marriage that will either affirm your love for one another, or confirm that your marriage is in trouble. I firmly believe that head lice infestations are a perfect example of one of these situations. I can happily say that we have a GREAT marriage after this week!!

A couple of days ago, I discovered a bug in my hair. Okay, so if you know me, you know that bugs and I are not friends. AT ALL. So, I proceeded to freak out. I called Jeff at work and asked him to come home, armed with lice shampoo and a nit comb. The baby was already in bed for the night, and the boys were on their way. I was totally freaking out and knew I couldn't deal with this alone. Jeff very kindly left work and ran to the store, armed himself with lice-murdering implements, and flew home.

With all of my voluminous hair to go through, it took us a good two hours of shampooing, leaving the shampoo on, then combing through my hair with the nit comb tiny section by tiny section. People, seriously, the girl has a lot of hair. So, Jeff spent his night pulling nits out of my hair. Thankfully, he never actually had to witness a bug being removed from my head. This may have sent me over the edge.

Several times during this process I expressed my fear that he might never want to touch me again, or that he might decide this was enough and head out the door! He made it very clear that nothing was going to drive him away, especially not some dumb little louse! (Or its millions of friends.)

So, we did the baboon act for a couple of hours, and went to bed. The next morning, the great head-shaving of 2010 began. Four young boys and their daddy lined up in the back yard for their 1/4 inch buzz cuts. Then we searched. Every boy had at least one louse on their heads, but not much more. Daddy was in the clear.

As I completed each head, Jeff took them in the kitchen and applied the lice shampoo. The timers were set, then when their timers went off, either Jeff or I combed their hair with the nit comb. We continued on with this process until all heads were shaved and combed, nit and lice free.

Then, we pulled off all bedding and went to town, washing and drying at hot temperatures. Actually, our dryer has only stopped for a short time in the night since 2 nights ago. Today, all of the boys' stuffed animals are being sent through the dryer for a hot, bug killing ride!

So, this trial has shown me one thing for sure. My husband is here for the long haul, and our marriage is in good shape! We have pulled off some major team work this week to get a really big job done together, and I feel blessed beyond measure to have such a great man as my husband. My mom always tells me that he is not normal, and that not many men are are as wonderful as he is. I believe she may be right!

Boys are Unique Creatures

Today was an interesting study in the crazy boy-ness that is my sons. Here they are a year or so ago. Flexing their testosterone for the camera.

Even though they are bigger now, not much has changed as far as the testosterone goes. After a quick trip to the chiropractor for mommy, we made a run to the library, and I got an unexpected lesson in the uniqueness of these creatures.

After an amusing ride with Tobe on the elevator, we approached the double glass doors that lead to the children's section of the library. On the wall is the button for handicapped access to the door. Tobe loves to push that button to open the door for me and my stroller full of beautiful, pink little girl. So, I asked him to go and push it for me. What followed was so stunning, so stereotypical, I just had to laugh!

Tobe propelled himself, top speed, toward the button, and at the very last minute, he leaped into the air and body-slammed the button and the wall surrounding it. Seriously, I think he was 4 inches off the ground. Then, he bounced off the wall and landed on his feet, complete with a huge, proud smile!

Happily, and with me laughing a little too loudly for the library, Tobe ran through the doors and then through a second set of doors, where he promptly wacked his head on the door bar. Bouncing off, he kept going, while rubbing his bumped spot. By this point I was laughing so hard that the librarians were shooting me looks.

Fast forward about a half an hour. We had our books in hand, our videos chosen and checked out, and we were out in the parking lot. As soon as we crossed the street, and the tell tale beep of the door clicker let us know the doors were unlocked, my two middle boys took off running.

If you have spent any time with boys, you know that they cannot just run. It was a race, and apparently, a battle to the death. Not only were they running full speed, but they were shoving and pushing one another out of the way! You would have thought there were mountains of cheeseburgers in our van or something the way they were busting to get there first.

Time for an important reminder. I am a girl. Therefore, this crazy boy mindset is foreign to me. I have learned much through the immersion method, though, so I speak the language. I am no longer shocked by it! For some reason, today it just struck me funny. It was just so innate. No thought, no decision making, just instinct. Run. Be first. Kill if necessary. Subdue the button on the wall. Make it do what I want it to. And do it with style!

I have to confess, sometimes this boy world is frustrating and alien to me. Today, it was just FUN! They are a hoot, and I love the way God made them. Hopefully, I'll remember that the next time I hear them armpit tooting in the living room and laughing hysterically! I can't make any promises.

Life

I have dreams. I dream of being a blogger who daily blogs about all her funny, quirky, and exciting life experiences. I dream of creativity, and time to download my thoughts.

And then, I wake up. I start my day in God's word most days, and try to get my head on straight for another period of serving my family and guiding my children. I get dressed, eat breakfast, check my email, and begin rolling along in morning chores, laundry, and math!

Then, lunch, naps for the littles, games to play with older boys, outside play, hopefully some gardening, more laundry, and if I am very lucky, a nap for mommy!

It is a blessed, wonderful, busy and crazy life we live here in Indiana! And, unfortunately, this translates into a sad little blog that is rarely visited! I promise I'll do more soon!

Now, on to dinner, showers, bedtime, and a late arrival home from daddy! Then bedtime, and up to do it all again!

Two Crazy Weeks!!

Whew! I finally have a moment to gather a thought or two. It has been two incredibly crazy weeks here in the Schwind household. Here are some highlights since my last post:

• Two visits to karate and judo with my oldest three boys.
• Two great visits with our small group from church, one of which involved making a bacon wrapped meatloaf from The Pioneer Woman. Oh, mamma.
• One long day spent serving an underprivileged community near downtown Indy with my oldest two sons. What a blessing!!!
• My 7 year old asking Jesus to be his Savior! The best day of all of these by far!
• One long evening setting up the polls for our Primary Elections here in Indiana.
• One VERY long, 17 hour day running the polls for a nearby precinct. What a big job, but what an incredible experience watching first hand as one of our country's most vital freedoms played out in front of my eyes!
• One closing ceremony for my AWANA Sparky!
• One rehearsal at church and one wonderful morning leading worship for three services with our band and music pastor. As usual, this was an incredible honor and blessing.

Now, the reality of things is, this is sort of a normal state of busyness for us Americans, is it not? However, I forgot to add in one stressful thing that was the under-current of most of this crazy busyness. About a week and a half ago, we had an unexpected occurrence. The drainage hose on the back of our washer popped off mid-cycle, and poof! Instant swimming pool!

Unfortunately, the unwanted body of water leaked under three walls into the adjacent living room, hallway and garage. We had just an incredible amount of water to clean up, complicated by the fact that we aren't equipped to deal with that kind of thing!

It was quite entertaining to watch us sucking up water with our wet/dry vac and our tiny Bissell Little Green!! I'll save you from having to hear about all the hoops we jumped through to dry this house out. Needless to say, we prayed a lot. Replacing carpet isn't in our budget right now!

If you know me, or have known anything about my past, you know what a faith-stretcher this thing was for me. When we have issues that could potentially cost us the big bucks, I get scared. Panicky. My faith usually takes a tumble.

While I will admit I had one moment of sitting down and crying over it all, I have to say that, for the most part, my heart felt sure that God would provide for our needs. This was a major step for me to see my heart leaning toward faith rather than toward doubt. I am so thankful when I see God changing me for the better!

And, as usual, God showed Himself faithful in all of it. We had a restoration company come out, and all the pains we had taken, (and they were a PAIN) had done their job, and we were dry! Our carpet doesn't need to be replaced. Amazing! God is so good to this little family.

So, today I sit here thankful, blessed and pooped! It may take a year long nap to recover from the last two weeks, but I'll be napping full of joy and praise for God, who carried us through!

Why I Love Having a Daughter

There are many reasons, but one stands a bit above the rest. I can sum it up in one word: Clothes!

That is the truth! She is sweet and fun and such a blessing to our family. And so were all of my four boys! The main difference is, I can dress her up like my own living, breathing baby doll! It started early. Here is our first example:

This was taken in the hospital. And, truth be told, she was gorgeous! All 10 pounds, 4 ounces of her! I especially loved the pink nubby blanket.

The fashion show continued on, as each new outfit had me whipping out the camera to record it. She only wore some of these once or twice before she grew out of them! For example, this one:

Clearly, she wasn't happy, but she looked so sweet in this shirt!!! This was the one and only newborn sized shirt she was able to wear! It must have been for a HUGE newborn! Next!

This was one of her two adorable fourth of July outfits! I just loved this one, and she grew out of it soooo fast! (She always seems to have an admirer nearby!)

This one just kills me! Oh, I wish we could make the clothes grow with the child!

Truly, there are no words. None.

Finally, yesterday, she entered the "blouse" phase of her life. Oh, it was a happy moment in my life to place a peasant blouse on my baby girl. Again, I followed her around, took pictures, ooo'ed and ahhhhh'ed all over her! I could die a happy woman! Not to mention, the pants have a belt that matches the floral print on the blouse. (Happy sigh!!)

This picture is the perfect example of why I love having a daughter. The only thing that will be better is a wedding gown!

I would like to make one clarifying statement! If all this little girl had to wear was brown sack cloth, I would still be so thankful to have a daughter. There is a gentle sweetness to her that isn't present in my boys! I am so glad, though, that we have more than brown sack cloth because this is FUN!! Thank you so much, Lord, for giving me this sweet little angel to dress up!!!