just testing this out...

i know you just saw this pic below. thanks for endulging me as i learn how to play with some photo editing. have a great weekend! here's hoping i cross even more off of my to do list!!

Kindergarten

not everone was excited about luke going to kindergarten...

on the way to school this morning,(which for the inaugural first day included all 5 tuckers) luke said "Seth, I'll miss you while I'm at school." "Luke, I'll miss you too." Seth said "Mama, I sure will miss my brother..."



Luke's teacher is Mrs. Carter. Seth is feeling better for now (nothing like a little Blue's clues and finger painting.) I asked him what would make it better on the way home. He said "when my brother comes home...". can you even stand it??

unlike seth, Luke and I couldn't have been more excited!!

What's for Supper Wednesday?

sorry i didn't get this out yesterday. i had every intent to get you a recipe on tuesday. but alas, tuesday got away from me. i have added a list on the right side of all of my upcoming projects. so if i go missing for a while, i'm probably weilding a paintbrush and continuing my quest to make our house a home (i mean, we've only lived here 7 years!) and so...

Broccoli Chicken Casserole
(your hubby that doesn't like broccoli, will have 2 helpings. i PROMISE!!)

you need about 2 cups of chopped cooked chicken

and about 2 cups of chopped fresh broccoli (i don't prefer stems...so this is about 2 heads of broc)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of celery soup

3/4 cup of sour cream

8 oz. velveeta

mix soups, sour cream and velveeta and heat in the microwave until the velveeta is almost all melted. in the mean time, sautee broccoli with a little butter until it becomes tender. then mix broccoli and chicken into soup mixture and pour it all into a 13x9x2 pyrex dish sprayed with pam. bake at 350 until bubbly.

when bubbly, add a sleeve of crushed ritz crackers and some french fried onions pieces. spray that with butter spray (or you can melt some of the real thing and pour it over!) bake until topping is slightly browned.

dish it up and yummmm!! serve it with some sister schubert's.

GIVEAWAY

my friend DANA has a giveaway on her blog. in this world of everything artificial will cause you harm and probably causes cancer, it's a great giveaway. i have slowly but surely been changing my cleaners out (meaning i'm not throwing out something that is full b/c i am that cheap. but when it runs out, it'll more than likely get replaced with vinegar.) however, there is a company with natural products giving a $25 gift. so go...comment. tell her i sent you and that that should count as another vote for me too!!


wanna know how i know dana? we met in college. she was dating a great guy who was basically like a brother to me. at the time, he had NOT quite settled down. i didn't realize anyone had come with him to devotional that week and i asked who his "flavor" was that week. yeah. she was sitting behind me. {{blush}} but she loved me enough that she asked me to sing at their wedding. and it was the first time i said yes. considering my stage fright, we were even. love you dana!!

confession

mainly because i would like your opinions. and i'll take them as only that. opinions. we know what they are like, right? anyway, here is the deal. i don't allow my boys to keep toys or books in their room. they own them, but i don't let them keep them inside. and here is why. BOYS ARE BORN WITH THE NATURAL INSTINCT FOR SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST AND ARE COMPLETELY TERRITORIAL AND ANYONE WHO TRIES TO ENCROACH ON SAID TERRITORY, WILL HAVE A HIT PUT ON THEM, OR THE OBJECT IN QUESTION. it is on their DNA code to destroy anything not nailed down.

there. i said it. i'm not a boy. i don't get boys. i think men should stay home and have to raise little boys. you know...it takes one to know one. that kind of thing. i know things are just things and toys are just toys, but it infuriates me beyond belief to buy something, only for it to be torn up that same day. no amount of discipline or teaching on how to take care of things seems to get through. (i'm sure some of your girls do it too, and you think i am terrible by talking about and blaming so much on the boys, but i can't compare them yet. and this is my blog, so i get to make my generalization.) i am so super mad at the cavewoman who thought it would be so much more civilized if her caveman could pee inside (or was it the woman who started going inside as to not get bitten on an exposed tush and the man came in and peed all over the floor in attempts to mark his territory??) anyway, tangent...here is the deal. a long time ago, i put a chain lock on the closet door in the bedroom because when they boys would strow toys every-stinkin'-where and then refuse for a whole day to clean them up (after repeated attempts at discipline), it was easier to put the offenders--the toys--in timeout than to repeatedly put him/them in. (and timeout isn't my sole choice of discipline...i'm just saying). and so when i had had enough, and people were old enough to reach said lock, i started loading them up in bins and taking them out to the garage. you know kids, they use toys as weapons, as stools...for most anything that it wasn't it's original intended use. DRIVES ME A LITTLE NUTTY. we are not rich. we don't have money to rebuy and i do my best to teach my kids how to treat/respect their/others' stuff. we don't have a play room (YET, BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON THAT HAS YET TO BE REVEALED TO ME, GOD HAS DECIDED TO KEEP US IN THIS HOUSE FOR ANOTHER YEAR...I DON'T RECALL PRAYING FOR PATIENCE) so what we have either has to be in their room--which they have proven needs to be a no-no, or outside. and outside is the current situation. but outside isn't ideal. so what's a mom to do? be content with going crazy? get rid of it all and become minimalists? stop doing laundry and turn that into a play area? just give up and let them have the living room? oh, and they love to play dress up. and while they have plenty of costumes, they started to get into all of their regular clothes. so those are now designated to other closets. am i expecting too much? (it's okay if you say yes.) i'm not expecting robots. just for them to take care of what they have and put it up when they are done. (i guess that is too much.)

ok. enough on that. can i ask for your help on something completely different? i have akward windows in the 2 front rooms of our house. (i have no really current full pics, but i think you get it.) how do i decorate these windows?

this was luke's room before he got a roommate. the sun comes in pretty strongly in the mornings, hence the need for the half moon cut outs (unless you tell me something to do to block it other than custom blinds, which ain't happening.) they are 6 feet in length and atrociously wide...like 84 inches i'm thinking. there is trim all around the windows and between the top of the window and the moon window, but no trim/moulding vertically between the windows.anyway, help me. it obviously doesn't have to be anything pre-made and i prefer to make something on my own...i'm just not sure what. another problem...i'd kind of like them to open and close. but if it's pretty enough, i can get over function. i mean, i already said i wasn't a boy.

praying for stellan

pray for this little fella again. he needs it so. click on the button and follow his mama as it unfolds. hit your knees.

thankful thursday

i am thankful that i serve a faithful and forgiving God. if i didn't, there would be no hope.

i am thankful that my monica is pregnant. for some, the road to a family is a bumpy one. but again, my God is faithful.

i am thankful that while we are cramped, we have a roof over our heads. it fills our needs and we have no problem affording it.

i am thankful that my children are happy and healthy and brilliant. each child is exactly what i wanted and needed to make me who i am and to make me whole.

i am thankful that my husband has a job and is such a wonderful provider for us. we never go without and we often have more than we need. he always comes home from hard days full of love and time to give each of us. he is exactly what i need.

i am thankful that we have family that we love and who love us. i wish we could spend more time with them.

i am thankful for my new job. i haven't even started yet, but i am soooo greatful to have an outlet for my nursing brain that will also allow me to be home. no guilt, no babysitters, and wiggle room in the budget. who wouldn't be completely thankful for that??

i am thankful for the blogosphere. without it, i may not be who i am now. with it, i can have a better chance at becoming that proverbs 31 woman. i learn more about making our house a home in so many ways. thank you for teaching me how to be better.