Good morning, all!!
I hope your week is off to a happy start.  We can’t complain here at the Sewell abode.
Although, I was in need of a little retail therapy yesterday.
Yep, it happens to the best of us.

On my little excursion (that I spent mostly window shopping) I got inspired to put together something cute, Eastery, and simple for the center of my kitchen table.

I picked up two little bags of faux eggs in the dollar section of my local Target.
I brought them home and searched my shelves and cabinets for something to use.  I found this cute little white cake pedestal.

I gave the assembly job to Ruthie.

At which I think she did excellently.
It’s simple, cute and cost me all of $2.

I had some eggs left over  so I went around the house once again in efforts to put those cuties to use.
The fruit of my search was a little bird seed, a simple clear vase and a piece of ribbon.

I love it!!

Petite, pretty things make me smile.
Christ is risen y’all!!
Let’s decorate!

Happy Monday everybody!!

It’s been a COLD weekend in our neck of the woods.  The first meteorological day of Spring (March 1st) was a FRIGID one.  I hear it’s supposed to warm up near the weekend and I’m more than ready!!

I love my springtime and sunshine!

Speaking of weekends, I hope yours was relaxing and rejuvenating.  We kept it close to home and quiet.

On Friday night we had a fun family movie night.  I really wanted to see the movie Rise of the Guardians when it was in the theaters back near December….we missed it then and have been anxiously awaiting it’s arrival to iTunes, Amazon, Red Box etc.  We purchased it through iTunes and viewed it through our Apple TV

It was really good.  Some movies are worth a purchase and others are not.  This one was definitely worth it for us.  I was a little nervous when the villain, Pitch, showed up.  One of his first scenes has him standing over a young girl’s bedside turning her “sweet dream” into a nightmare.  CREEPY!!  I thought this might send my little ones (ages 4, 7, and 9) over the edge but the contrary proved to be true.

The main role of the guardians is to protect children from fear and in this case, they did their job.

So, along with our movie we enjoyed my husband’s most favorite dish ever!!!

Spicy Chicken Tacos!!!

I found this recipe in Martha Stewart’s magazine Everyday Food

They are simple.
They are delicious.
and
They only have 5 ingredients!!

Grab some chili powder, Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, jarred salsa, 4 cloves of garlic and 2 pounds of boneless/skinless chicken thighs.

Now….the name of this recipe ain’t playin’ when it says SPICY.
The instructions say to add in 2 tbs of chopped chipotles in adobo sauce.  If I am cooking this for the children or don’t feel like chopping I just measure out 2 tbs of the adobo sauce alone.  If you like the spice, add in the peppers and you can also use a hotter jarred salsa.

This time I went with the full monty and chopped the peppers.  I had some seasoned ground beef for my kiddos to enjoy on their tacos.

Mix it all together in a mixing bowl.

Add in your chicken and coat it well.  I also used boneless/skinless breasts this time because that’s what I had on hand.

Pile it all into your crock pot and cook in low for 8 hours or high for 4.  I did add a little bit of water to the bottom just to keep things from getting too dry…maybe like 1/4 a cup.

Once it’s done shred it up and serve!
It is juicy and FULL of flavor.

We’ve done this in taco shells with sour cream and cheese but I think my favorite way to have them is nacho style.  You know, spread over tortilla chips and cheese topped with sour cream.

You could also put this on flat bread and make a spicy chicken pizza.
The possibilities are endless.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Happy Tuesday!!  And if you live in my neck of the woods, happy SUNNY Tuesday!!  I thought the rain was NEVER going to end!!

We’ve been stuck inside it seems forever.  Instead of having a boring afternoon doing nothing but watching t.v. yesterday, Tobin suggested making some melted crayon art; to which I responded, “Why not!!”.

So here’s what we did.
Grabbed up our crayons…

peeled off all the paper, broke them into pieces, and put them in a silicone baking dish.

We organized them by color here unlike the last time we made star crayons. Pile it on a baking sheet and pop’em in the oven.

I did these at 350 and just kept an eye on them.  And after a few minutes, they looked like this.

Now here comes the fun part.  We dipped q-tips in this melted colored wax (careful!!  It’s hot)…

and painted!!

It was so fun!  The colors were very bold and it dries with a nice texture.

Of course when I mentioned texture, I was answered with 2 simultaneous, “What’s that??”.

tex·ture

  [teks-cher] noun

We explored our talents of abstract art.

Obviously, the wax hardens as it cools.  I put it all back in the oven for a second to liquify it again.

After all of our creativity was expired for the moment, we were left with these fun star-shaped crayons.

This is a perfect project for either a rainy or sunny day!!

We made one of our regular treks to Birmingham this week for GI check-ups.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything health related.  You can read about the allergic inflammatory disease, called Eosinophilic Esophagitis or EoE or EE or Eos, that both Tobin and Lilly have HERE.

You can also watch this 3 minute cartoon that CLEARLY (although not comprehensive) explains what is going on inside the esophagus of an EoE patient.  Please watch it.  Eosinophilic Esophagitis is much more than “just a food allergy”.  It’s a rare allergic inflammatory disease that is effecting more and more adults and children and we need a cure!!

Gus and Phil

Tobin and Lilly go for check-ups anywhere from 2 times to 4 times (or more) a year, depending on what’s going on with them.  They LOVE taking these day trips.  It’s fun to just get away.  

They pack up all kinds of toys and fun stuff days before.

I always pack an organizing utility tote with busy bags and fun stuff for us to do while we are waiting in the exam room.

Although we sampled a little bit of everything in the bag, the bubbles were the biggest hit!!

Bubble Blowin’ Fun

The bottom line for this appointment is that Lilly is well managed overall.  There are a few things that make me think she needs another scope just to make sure the eosinophols are not congregating in her esophagus.  She’ll be re-evaluated in about 3 weeks.

Tobin is a little different.
About 2 years ago, we reintroduced wheat into his diet.  It had been removed since he was 18 months of age.  After multiple allergy testing in the fall of 2010, our doctors decided that we could try adding it back and just see how things go.  After approximately 30 days he was scoped again and got a great report.  So we rocked on with cookies, and bread.  Then we also added in eggs.  This opened up the world of Cracker Barrel pancakes and MORE “outside of the home” options for eating and fun.

After several months I started noticing that he was getting full quickly…eating small amounts at a time of his most favorite things.  And really I don’t know that there were any other symptoms at that time other than I just had a “gut feeling” that something wasn’t right.
We scoped again in September of 2012 and found an esophagus FULL of eosinophils (in numbers greater than 100 per high power field) as well as inflamed and thickened.  A normal esophagus has no eosinophils by the way.  This was so disappointing because he was greatly enjoying the bit of culinary freedom that he’d been given.  So after we all shed some tears we just picked right back up with our original diet.

In the weeks to follow, he told me that he was spontaneously “throwing up in his mouth and swallowing it”.  Sorry for the graphic description  :) But he was having some major reflux as well.

So, we’ve increased and changed up some meds.  Now he’s having some other reactions/issues and we aren’t sure at all what is causing it.  It’s hard, frustrating and disappointing but I’m confident we will get him back under control and well managed.
He’ll be re-evaluated as well in about 3 weeks with a GI and allergist together.

Overall it was a fair appointment and I’m looking forward to getting some fresh faces involved as well as some answers and a game plan.

How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day??

I’ll be honest and admit (as I’ve done before) I’m not a huge fan of Cupid’s holiday.
The whole idea of chocolate, flowers, and dinner on the town has a feeling of superficiality to me.
My husband and I have regular date nights.  Flowers die and in my minimalistic mind are a total waste of money.  And goodness and my waistline knows that I do not need a box of chocolates!!

As a matter of fact, I have a large bag of “love” colored peanut M&Ms hidden in the top of my pantry as I write–no one knows they are there and by the time anyone gets suspicious the only evidence left will be the smell of chocolate on my breath. *sigh*  It’s a good thing M&Ms are not fermented!!

But back to the topic at hand….here in the Sewell house we don’t celebrate the 14th of February in the traditional way.  However, it is a great day of celebration laced with gifts and special treats for our children and time spent being together, laughing and enjoying each others’ company.

You would think it’s a National “everybody’s out of school and off of work” holiday if you talk to my children!  As you know, we homeschool the three of them.  My oldest said to me earlier in the week after talking with her public school friends, “Mom, can you believe that public schools are OPEN on Valentine’s day??”  My affirmative answer was in her eyes equivalent to the worst crime against children ever!!  Especially when I said we would most likely not take the entire day off ourselves!!
[Since that conversation, they've talked me into declaring February 14 a "no work" holiday in the Sewell house.]

Our day starts out with them waking up to a trail of paper hearts and candy leading them out of their bedrooms, down the stairs, and into a room that holds awaiting bags of goodies.  I think next year we’ll just leave up our Christmas tree and change the decorations to a LOVE theme.  Each holiday gets the same reaction!!

We’ll probably do lunch out and then end up at our favorite hang out at some point in the afternoon to enjoy coffee, chocolate milks made special by the barista, and books, books and more books.
Lunch at BW2

Let the reading begin!

It’s a fun time enjoying the ones I love.

Ever wonder how Valentine’s Day got started??
Well, it all began with a priest who defied a third-century Roman emperor who outlawed marriage.  The emperor made this law against marriage to keep his soliders from longing for home and their loved ones while on the battle field.  However, despite his logic, in taking away family and love he also took away the soldiers’ will to fight.  It was for their wives and children that they fought and died.
To the human heart, love and family are worth fighting and dying for.

Here’s a link from our favorite series in radio theatre, Adventures in Odyssey, on the story of Valentine’s day and the priest who is now known as St. Valentine.
To listen you can download on iTunes for $1.99.  It’s well worth it, especially if you have children.  It’s a little history lesson that is wrapped up in a fun and exciting adventure.
The Last I Do

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Sewells!!

Love is in the air!!

Can you feel it?
Can you smell it??

You could smeill it for sure if you were in the Sewell kitchen.  ”What does a Sewell Valentine’s day smell like??” you ask.

This year the aroma of melting butter and marshmallows permeates my culinary lair 2 days before this celebration of love.
On a side note, anytime I am melting butter on the stove it never fails that my husband will walk through the house and say, “Wow!!  Something smells good!  Whatch’a cookin’ ?”  My answer, “I’m just melting butter babe.”
I guess it’s a southern thing.

But this Valentine’s day I am whipping up a batch of my famous rice krispie treats.

I call them “my famous” because I’ve made rice krispie treats an abundance of times for my babes and I’ve gotten it down to an art.  I will boldly proclaim that you won’t find a better rice krispie treat for miles around.

I have 2 tricks up my sleeve that makes these treats a winner.  First, it’s all in the melting.

You want to remove your butter and marshmallows from the heat immediately after it’s MOSTLY melted.  Stir it all around a few times to completely melt everything.

Fold in your rice krispies.
Use Kellogg’s Gluten Free brand to make these safe for you and your loved ones who may be sensitive, allergic or intolerant to gluten.

My second trick?  Adding in mini marshmallows right before the rice krispies are completely combined with the melted butter and marshmallows.  You can add anything you want to…gummy bears, chocolate chips, etc…but I like to keep it simple and add in about a cup and a half of the mini marshmallows.
Since the pot is off the heat the marshmallows don’t melt but are slightly gooey.  It’s divine!!!

However, this time I’m adding in love colored M&Ms.  The chocolate is nice and soft inside the candy shell.

Place your yummy concotion into a well greased pyrex dish and let’em cool.

You have my word they’ll be soft and delicious.  If you want leftovers, you’d better set some aside before you serve these to your guests.  If you don’t, you’ll be out of luck as there will be none left.

This batch will be going with my children to their classes at our local chapter of  CBS along with these fun marshmallow pops.

These are all packed up and ready to go!!

PRINT RECIPE HERE 

Rice Krispie Treats
3 tbs butter
1 10oz bag of large marshmallows or a 10.5 oz bag of minis
6 cups of rice krispies cereal
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows, M&Ms, chocolate chips, etc. for filling

Melt butter and marshmallows in a large pot.  Once the marshmallows are almost completely melted, take them off the heat.  Stir.  Fold in cereal.  Before the cereal is completely combined add in your filling.  My favorite is the mini marshmallows.  Place in a well greased 9×13 pyrex dish and let cool.  Then cut into squares and enjoy!!

Happy Wednesday!!
We are half way through the week!!  It seems like the days and weeks are clicking off the calendar faster than I can keep up!
Wednesdays are super busy for us.
We have Community Bible Study  in the mornings, school after that and in the evenings we have a packed house for our Gospel Community Groups through our church.  It can get pretty wild around here on Wednesdays!!

We are settling into our school schedule rather nicely.  I can’t believe we’ve already been at it for 6 weeks!!  As we explore countries and cultures this year we’ll be doing an art project to go along with each country.  We started with the United States.  For the art project…we got a little dirty and made some dirty pictures.
How exactly did we make dirty pictures??

We painted with sand of course!!
What were you thinking??

Here’s what we used:
rubbing alcohol, food coloring, white school glue, gallon sized ziplock bags, plastic bowls, plastic spoons and measuring spoons

 You’ll also need some SAND!!
As you can see, I bought a bag of play sand but you can certainly use any light colored sand that you find anywhere.

 Put a good amount of the sand into several ziplock bags.  The amount of bags you use depends on the amount of colors you are wanting to make.

 Grab your bottle of rubbing alcohol.

 Measure out 2 tablespoons into a bowl and stir in some food coloring.

 The alcohol helps to distribute the color and because it evaporates quickly it doesn’t make mud.

 Pour this mixture into a bag of sand and give it a shake!!

 Shake! Shake! Shake!

 And shake it some more!!

 Repeat this process until you have all the colors that you want.  And then pour them into a bowl.

 By the way, this is definitely an outdoor project!!
Things can get a little dirty!!

Once you’ve colored your sand, get creative with some glue making designs on a sturdy, heavy weight paper.

It works just like glitter.

Somebody got tired of the glue and wanted to get really messy!!

And here are our finished projects!

I made one too but there was nobody who could take my picture.  I made a beach scene of course, complete with a sailboat!!

Sand painting is an art form given to us by our Native American friends from the Southwestern United States.
We had a fun time getting dirty!!

Well, it’s that time of year again!!
BACK TO SCHOOL!! 

Although our summer of 2012 was probably the best summer we’ve had in a couple of years, we were ready to get back into the swing of things with our school routine.

We have homeschooled from the beginning.  It’s just one of those things I feel like I was crafted to do.  I enjoy getting all the supplies and books together and making our school room into a learning haven.  And believe it or not, I enjoy spending A LOT of time with my children (and it’s a good thing too because it takes a lot of time…and patience!!).  We don’t always like each other in the moment, like when I hear an “awww…” from somebody after I say it’s time to get started but it all works out in the end.  And I get to take part in so many firsts in their lives.  We have actually just completed our 3rd week of this school year and we’ve already gotten to do so many fun things and have learned so much!!  It’s like a second education for me and I love it!!

 I want to answer a few FAQs really quickly
Q. What curriculum do you use?
A. There are TONS of wonderful books and products out there to use when it comes to schooling at home.  I personally use a curriculum called My Father’s World: Exploring Countries and Cultures.  The style is a Classical/Charlotte Mason blend.  We LOVE it!!  It’s written with a Biblical world view and pretty much all of the planning is done for me!!  PLUS, I can teach two (or more)  children who are in different grades at the same time.

Q. What do you do with Lilly (who is 3)
A.  She sits in the school room with us (if she’s not at the table).  I have simple worksheets for her to do, cutting activities, flash cards, games and puzzles.  I am focusing on teaching her numbers, shapes, letters and even some letter sounds.  I’d like for her to be reading some simple books by the end of the school year.  I think she’s ready and she LOVES looking at books and has asked to learn to read….but there is NO RUSH there!!  I’m starting her just like I started the other two, with Handwriting Without Tears Get Set For School materials.

Q. What’s your schedule like?
A.  I like to have a pretty structured day.  I also like to be done with school by lunch time.  So we start in between 8 and 8:30 and we are done by 1.  We have a snack time in between, normally after English.  If we have an art project, I save that for last or for after lunch even. So our subject order is Bible, Language Arts, Spelling, English, (snack) Math, Geography, Science, Latin, Reading, Art/Music. There are several things that I get them started on and they do the work themselves.  At these times I work with Lilly, swap out laundry machines, take attendance, check school email, etc..  And sometimes they have “homework” which is extra practice on concepts we’ve learned that day/week.  This is normally math and english.

And finally, the MOST FREQUENTLY asked question…
Q.  How do you do it all??
A. Discipline.  Intentionality. Determination.
Homeschooling your children is just like any other difficult thing you do in life. It takes pushing yourself and hard work.  As the creator of P90X, Tony Horton, says, “You have to feel the burn!!”  I don’t always get to do what I want to do.  I really like to sleep until about 8 or 8:30 (after having at least 10 hours of sleep).  That RARELY happens.  :)
My “motto” for this school year (and every school year) is to “start well and finish strong”.  At this point in my life, the education of my children is my top daily priority.  Everything else comes after.  That’s something I have to remind myself of often.  It also takes some planning on my part.  I plan my meals one month at a time.  I have scheduled laundry days (folding doesn’t always happen in a timely manner).  We ALL help around the house.  The children clean up the school room while I work on lunch and they sometimes even make their own lunches. They help vacuum, unload the dishwasher, dust, put away laundry, on top of keeping their rooms picked up.  And things aren’t always “deep cleaned” but overall it’s pretty well put together.  It’s NOT easy, but it CAN be done and the key is organization, being intentional, determined and self disciplined.  I expect my children to be disciplined and I should keep myself in check as well.

I am not a perfect mother.
I remember doing pre-admission 2 days before Lilly was born.  I’m sitting in a nurses office answering questions with yes, no, no, yes.  After I completed the paper work the nurse looks at me and says, “Well, you are the perfect mother.”
My answer…maybe on paper.
I do not have it together every moment of any day.  There are many days that tears are shed (by all of us) over whatever subject is frustrating us that day.  There are many times I wonder if anybody is learning a single thing other than me!!  And then there are those moments where I ask Tobin to name the 7 continents and Lilly pipes up and names them all unprompted simply because she’s catching what we are saying and doing by sitting in with us.

I am investing in the lives of my children.  I am pouring my faith and myself (faults and all) in to them.  And I call it a privilege to do so.

*And let me add that having a school ROOM is not a prerequisite to schooling at home.  I have only had a room designated for school for 2 years.  Prior to that we schooled at the kitchen table with space in my pantry or cabinets designated for school supplies.*

Here’s a look at my students.

Ruthie

 She wants to be a homeschool teacher when she grows up.  Her favorite subject changes with the sun.  Sometimes it’s math and other times it’s art.  Her favorite color is pink.  Her favorite book is Usborne’s The Princess And The Pea.

Tobin

 He hasn’t quite decided what he wants to be when he grows up.  But he does know that he either wants to work at a pet store, a zoo or Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach, Florida.  (Hmm….there’s a theme there:)  His favorite school subject is math (and it is amazing how his little logical mind works).  His favorite color is blue.  His favorite book?  The giant book titles Digging For Dinosaurs.

Lilly

 When she grows up, she wants to play with Tinkerbell, Strawberry Shortcake, and Dora.  Her favorite thing to do in school is Starfall.com.  Her favorite color is pink.  And her favorite book is Strawberry Shortcake’s Filly Friends.

We really do have a good time on most days.  We have our moments but we make it through.
I hope you and yours are having a GREAT start to your school year!!

Lots of Love!!

Once Summer officially arrived, we scheduled a week long trip to the beach!!

I. Love. The. Beach.
So we loaded up in daddy’s pathfinder and headed on down to PCB, Florida with the windows and sunroof open and the radio blasting some U2 and Ray LaMontagne!!

This little girl is on mission!!

I grew up spending my summers at PCB and we’ve taken our children pretty much every summer of their lives and this was the FIRST time we’ve ever taken them to the jetties at St. Andrews park.

They enjoyed it but we had to get back out on the “real” beach the next day.
And then we hit up our favorite marine park while we were there….Gulf World.

Back on the beach flying our kites HIGH!

This is taken from the beach house swing on the back porch.  It’s a relaxing view!

As usual, we got our season passes to Water World so we could spend some time in the waves even when we weren’t at the beach.

We had the MOST fun this year spending our time at WW with some great friends!!

We love Water World.  Author Henry de Vere Stacpool writes, “There is no elixir like nature.”  Being outside in the fresh air does a body good!

We conquered ALL the slides this year!!  Even the Great White!!  I did it one time and one time only!!  No free falling from up high for me!!

This was my most favorite way to spend my summer days!  My husband handed down his kindle to me so I was able to enjoy all of Jane Austen’s novels for free!!

Whenever we weren’t at the beach or the pool and we just wanted to get out of the house, we drove over to our favorite hang out, Barnes and Noble.  We participated in their summer reading program so everybody got some free books!!  YAY for free!!

This is pretty much our summer in pictures.  Throw in some visiting family, a trip to Birmingham for check ups, chiropractor visits for Ruthie and some Thirty-One parties and that’s it!!

I can tell that the earth has shifted and the next season is on the way.  It will be slam packed with trips, school Community Bible Study, football and FUN!!
Thanks for going through the Seasons With The Sewells!!

Hey y’all!!

I’ve been on a Summer blogging hiatus and it has been WONDERFUL!!
But I’m BACK now and I’m hoping to catch up on what we’ve been up too this season.

We started out the season in April by picking our favorite berries.  I know April isn’t summer but it was warm pretty early this year and the berries were ripe for the pickin’.

I can’t help but smile as I look back at my little ones (who aren’t so little these days).

Somebody DEFINITELY needed a hair cut here!!  ;)

We picked two full buckets this year because I wanted to make sure we’d have plenty to last us for whatever we wanted to do with them.  I still have some in fact.
I think I smell a strawberry cobbler in our near future!

She LOVES to pick’em but eating them….not so much.

I love my sweet boy!!

Alright…so that’s installment number 1!!

It’s great to be back and I hope you all have had a GREAT summer!!