Teacher gifts

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I always like to give my kids teachers some kind of gift at Christmas to let them know how much we appreciate their time and effort with our children. This year the Wednesday night choir and mission teachers got Bath and Bodyworks hand sanitizers and small chocolate candy bars. My children will be handing out homemade Sugar Scrubs to their Sunday school teachers tomorrow.

We make these in small Mason jars. It’s simple but I love it!

All Natural Sugar Body Scrub

1/4 cup sugar

melted organic coconut oil

4 drops of essential oil of choice (we used grapefruit)

I put the sugar in the jars, pour in the oil and the essential oil. Stir and add more oil to get the perfect consistency. It should be soft enough to apply without losing a lot in the transfer from jar to body. You have to play around with it until it seems right to you.

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We are crafting, creating, baking, and wildly cleaning around here!

Backyard Campout

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I do not like the cold. I’m not the biggest fan of bugs or wildlife (i.e. opossums and raccoons). Despite these facts since my children and their father along with their cousins and their fathers enjoy camping out, I gladly play along. Our backyard is wooded and provides a great place to camp. You have all the convenience and goodness of indoor plumbing while still feeling like you roughed it (a little).  So, every year or so we plan a night of camping.

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When your s’more catches fire

A few weeks ago, we had our family campout. We roasted hot dogs. We made s’mores. (Try making s’mores with Town House crackers instead of the graham. I’ve heard it’s life changing). We let the children shoot paintballs. We talked and laughed and had a great time. When it was super late, I went inside with the baby and we enjoyed the great indoors while all the rest enjoyed the other.

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Baby Boy making “fire”

 

One of my favorite parts of our tradition is making breakfast for everyone the next morning. I love this little campout tradition and hope they all want to do it for a long time.

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Food for the masses

A Chicken Recipe {low carb}

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This is one of my go-to recipes. I love that it can all be thrown into my Dutch oven and slow cooked most of the day.

It is low carb and delicious!

Hot and Spicy Ranch Chicken

2 to 3 lbs. chicken breasts

1 container Philadelphia jalapeño cream cheese

1 packet of dry ranch seasoning

1/2 cup full fat, no carb, ranch dressing

Put in all on the Dutch oven. Bake at 200 degrees until done (about 4 hours). Shred and add 2 cups of pepper jack or haberno pepper cheese.

Stir until melted and well combined.

Enjoy!

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Cheeseburger Casserole {Low Carb}

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Here’s a quick little recipe that is pretty fast to throw together. I offer the kiddos low carb ketchup and shredded lettuce to eat with it.

2 to 3 lbs. ground beef or turkey (I use turkey)

1/4 cup of dill relish

1/4 cup yellow mustard

1 tsp. black pepper

2/3 cup mayonnaise

2 cups shredded cheese

3 eggs

1 or 2 cups of cheese for the top.

Directions:

Brown meat in a skillet. Drain. Put meat into a bowl and add mustard, mayo, pepper, relish, eggs, cheese. Mix well. Transfer to a greased casserole dish.  Put the other cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until set.

Enjoy!

Hypothyroidism

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Years ago when my youngest daughter was just a baby, I was experiencing extreme fatigue. I felt badly all the time. I talked to our family doctor about it thinking I might be anemic. He quickly responded that I had four children six years old and younger and I had good reason to be tired. I then went on to explain to him that this tiredness was more extreme and was nothing that I’d ever experienced before. I asked for a blood test. He said I didn’t need one.

Fast forward about three months, I was working out on an elliptical at the gym. I was pushing myself really hard and when I went to check my pulse it was about 48. I thought it was an error so I checked again and again. My heart rate was not in the normal range at all. I ignored it and just went on with my day. I was a little worried, but not scared YET.

The next day I woke up with chest pain. It was a weird kind of pain and it, along with the low pulse, freaked me out! I went to the doctor right away. I saw a nurse practitioner and at first she was hesitant to believe it was serious.  She thought I was just having blood pressure drops as some people do when they get up too quickly and the pain didn’t seem to worry her at all. But this time I pushed. I had four little ones at home and I was scared of what was happening to me. She reluctantly hooked me up to the EKG and very soon after she left the room and I had doctors coming  in telling me that something indeed was going on with my heart and that I needed to see the cardiologist very soon. Before I left, I insisted on a blood test. I told her to test my thyroid levels.

The very next day I got a call that I needed to go to the pharmacy and pick up my thyroid medication. A few days later, I had an appointment with the cardiologist. He said all my heart problems were due to hypothyroidism. When I finally found out what my numbers were I was shocked. The normal range for a person my age is 1-3. My TSH was 28.6. No wonder I felt terrible. It tooks months to get my level to where they needed to be. Today and everyday to come I will take a pill to keep my levels in check.

I tell this very long story just to let people out there know that sometimes you have to be your own advocate. You sometimes have to insist on the healthcare you believe you need. Trust your instincts and listen to your body. You know it better than anyone!

Gas or Electric?

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Last Monday night, I was cleaning my Dutch oven and I went to place it on the trivet on my cooktop. I missed and the edge of the oven hit the glass cooktop and shattered half of it. I was devastated. I hate making mistakes like that;  and I always seem to make them around the holidays. So, here we are looking for a new stove. We are trying to decide between an electric or gas. The gas is more expensive upfront, but the cooking quality is supposed to be so much greater. I’ve only cooked with gas while we were on vacation. I enjoyed it, but am not entirely convinced it really is that much better. Also, we are trying to decide between just getting another cooktop to fit into the island or change the island to fit an entire range, which would give us another oven.

I’d love to hear y’all’s thoughts on it!

gas top

Photo credit: Sears: Kenmore Elite Downdraft

What do you all think?

Peanut butter chocolate cookies {Low Carb}

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Since it’s basically baking season, I thought I’d give you all a little cookie recipe. It has more of a hint of peanut butter than really tasting like a peanut butter cookie. It is a sugar free low carb cookie.

2 cups almond flour

2/3 cup peanut butter powder

1 cup Splenda

2/3 cup Torani sugar free brown sugar cinnamon syrup

1 tsp. Baking soda

1 tsp. Salt

1 Tbl. Vanilla extract

1 egg

1 stick of melted butter

1/2 bar of unsweetened chocolate melted

Mix all ingredients together. Put on a greased or parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Bake about 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

I hope you enjoy these little treats!

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Keto Peppermint Patties {Low Carb}

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Peppermint during Christmas time is practically required. I used to love candy canes and the peppermint bark that came around every Christmas. Now, that I’m low carb I make my own peppermint treats.

This could probably also be used as a fat bomb for those that do the keto diet, especially is you left off the chocolate.

Low Carb Peppermint Patties

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup Splenda

2 tsp. peppermint extract

1/2 of a whole bar of unsweetened chocolate (no sugar at all)

2 Tbl. Spenda

1 tsp. vanilla

Start by adding the coconut oil, 1/4 cup Splenda, and the peppermint extract together in a bowl. Stir until it is as smooth as possible. Set aside. In a microwave safe bowl, put chocolate. Melt. Add to melted chocolate 2 Tbl. of Splenda and vanilla in a bowl.

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In 3 to 4 cupcake liners, put the coconut mixture. Then place the chocolate mixture on top. (Mine got pretty thick so I rolled it between my hands and place the circle on top, but yours may be more pourable. Either way, the taste is not affected. ) Place in the refrigerator until solid and cold.

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Enjoy!

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Gift Giving {Books}

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There are two books that I love and want to share with as many people as possible. I give these books to every child I buy gifts for and recommend them to adults with little ones. At the last baby shower I hosted, we requested that people bring books instead of a card and I gave these books.

The first book is The Jesus Storybook Bible. It is the very best children’s Bible I have ever seen. It weaves the Bible stories all together to make the message of the Bible more transparent.

Goodreads says,

“The Moonbeam Award Gold Medal Winner in the religion category, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the Story beneath all the stories in the Bible. At the center of the Story is a baby, the child upon whom everything will depend. Every story whispers his name. From Noah to Moses to the great King David—every story points to him. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle—the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will pick up the clues and piece together the puzzle. A Bible like no other, The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to join in the greatest of all adventures, to discover for themselves that Jesus is at the center of God’s great story of salvation—and at the center of their Story too.”

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The second book is The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde. I love this story so much and I usually get teary at the end. Oscar Wilde has a number of children’s stories and they are all really good; but this one is my favorite. I don’t want to spoil the book because the end is the best part. Just trust me.

Goodreads says,

“This magnificent new edition of Oscar Wilde’s beloved tale tells the story of the selfish giant who built a wall around his beautiful garden to keep children out. It was always winter in the garden, for no other season would venture there. Then one morning…..”

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If you’re looking for books to give as gifts, these are great ones to consider.

 

Grow Your Heart

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Pretty much everyone has read How the Grinch Stole Christmas or at least seen the movie. Well, since I can feel a little Grinchy about Christmas this new Grinch Good Deeds Grow Your Heart program is perfect for me. .

Along with our daily Advent scripture reading, we will be racing to do as many good deeds as we possibly can for the next 24 days. The best part of all is that at the end of the 25 days,you can send in your good deeds letter and Random House and First Book will donate a book to a family in need in your own community. How great is that?!good-deeds-letter

There are lots of printables on Seussville.com.  There is even a printable activity book.

We introduced the whole thing to our children last night at dinner. I made Grinchy Spicy Broccoli and Chicken Casserole, Grinch Cookies, and they had Grinch Punch (Lime Sherbert and Ginger Ale) too.

We read the book and we went over the Good Deeds Journal. They got started right away doing as many good deeds as they could.

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“Then the Grinch thought of something
he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought,
“doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas…perhaps…
means a little bit more!”

Hopefully, this along with our daily Advent reading will make the holiday seem more like it should. I would love to think that my own little Whos would celebrate Christmas even if the Grinch had stolen all that we think makes up Christmas; that their spirits wouldn’t be dulled by a lack of presents or a tree. I want love to shine through this season just like it did all those years ago in a simple stable.