Giveaway Link!

(This picture has nothing to do with this post, just wanted to brighten your day!)

Diana from "To Everything a Season" has a wonderful blog and I highly recommend reading her wonderful posts anyhow... but to sweeten your day she has a Giveaway for a cute bag and a couple of crosses to wear! Go check it out!!!



And while I'm spreading the linky Love around I want to mention that I am dying to get back to my kitchen in Texas to retrieve my springform pan. ( Seriously cooking was not high on my priority list when we moved here with a then 1 year old learning to walk.... ). But I must make this Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe from Sam, My Barefoot Farm. And can somebody do me a favor? I keep trying to leave a comment on her blog, from my main computer...my laptop and cannot get it to work. Am I a computertard or what??? I even tried changing my computer's settings with Hubby's help but it still won't work. Can one of y'all try leaving a comment on her blog, I know that some folks do but just trying to figure out if it's my computer or what!



Lastly I'm feeling kinda run down lately and am still visiting blogs, just not feeling up to commenting. Hopefully I'll get my blog mojo back! Hugs, Jennifer

Sunday Verse

Matthew 4:18-22 As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.

St. Lawrence Market

Several weekends back we had the chance to finally make it to the St. Lawrence Market which has over 100 plus vendors of culinary goodness. If you like to cook or eat then this is the place for you!

Loved these flowers. I adore sunflowers!

Mmmm, cheese!

Fresh baked bread.

Fresh pasta!

Look at that olive bar.

More antipasto goodness.

Stuffed grape leaves, stuffed cherry peppers,

jalapenos stuffed with feta cheese!

Fresh veggies......

Fresh fruit.....

Somehow I managed to be too busy absorbing all the loveliness to get any more pictures that show the other fine products from meat, fish, maple syrup, caviar, crepes, teas... okay you get my point. They have got it all!

And you can get prepared food too.

I think I died and went to heaven!

Rude Awakening

This has been our home in Canada for over a year and several months now. We are leasing here as we still have our home in Austin. During our residence here we have had to schedule repairs for the hot tub, the furnace, the gas fireplace, the stove, and the latest.....

..... the refrigerator! We woke up this morning only to discover the drippy mess. How rude! On a good note the fridge got cleaned out and is now working again thanks to the service man and a new relay part. Sorry for not visiting with blog friends today. My daughter also decided to get up about 2 hours earlier than normal so I've been dragging today.

Addendum: We pay for the repair and get re-imbursed by the homeowner. It just stinks that we have had so many things go wrong was all I was trying to say!

Sunday Verse

Psalm 121: 1-2

I lift my eyes to the hills -

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

Thankful

Oh Internet, this blogging thing is contagious. I was caring for my little ones and feeling overwhlemed by the balance with house work the need to do's, and the want to do's....posting a blog right now should be the last of my priorities today. Then my daughter dropped her toast and jelly on the floor and as I wiped it up there were the other crumbs lingering on the floor. I was feeling frustrated about my "To Do" list for the day, then I had an aha, coming to Jesus moment. I am Thankful for those crumbs, it means my children are well fed.

I am Thankful for the messy toys, it means my children have something to play with. I am grateful today we have a roof over our heads and the shelter of this home.

I've been praying this past week to really feel the Holy Spirit with me. The more I desire Godliness the harder the struggle it seems. But today admist the clutter and chaos of little ones I feel blessed and recognize it is from my maker. To paraphrase Joshua 24:15 .... Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my (messy) household, we will serve the Lord!

I'll even claim gratitiude for the piles of laundry waiting for me. For it means we have clothing to wear. Okay enough babbling off to those crumbs and chores with a spirit of gratitiude and a little more grace in my corner!

craft i am

So I made a bunch more tissue holders and posted about it on a new craft blog I am starting specifically to feature stuff I make, projects on my radar and hopefully tutorials someday. It's hard to get everything done I want to with 2 little ones. So I don't expect to post often or even get many projects done but I like the idea of having a blog dedicated to all things crafty.




My Barefoot Farm, I keep trying to leave a message to your blog and it isn't accepting. :( Hoping you'll see this and help me figure out why and I can pop over to say Hello. Your homemade pizza dough looks fantastic!

Bento Fun

Okay these first two pictures are for a bento blogging friend Susan who mentioned she'd like to see my cookie cutters. All the red ones and a few others came from my Mom, who used them with the kids to bake and with the grandkids as play-doh molds. My Mother in law sent me some more as well including a State of Texas shaped one!

Here is a close up of the ones that make an imprint. I thought they might be tupperware but they say Chilton on the back. The four leaf clover one is tupperware though. If you want a better look click on the picture to see more detail.

So after seeing inspiration at Susan's blog today I decided to try an imprint sandwich. I think I need white bread, multigrain wasn't too cooperative! We have a bread here called smart-white, it's wheat but looks like a white bread and would probably work better for this in the future.

Anymoo, anyhoo, er... anyhow this is a (jelly and bread- remember we have to be peanut free at school) cow jumping over the (cheese) moon. Underneath are some freeze dried green bean chips, funny my daughter won't eat fresh but these are her favorite out of the veggies chips. Also a pickle which she loves, raspberries and another favorite oriental rice crackers.

Son's lunch is different because using up leftovers from lunch. So he gets some hotdogs with a cheese airplane flying over. Fresh fruit and veggies. Not pictured but to be included are some catsup and red french dressing for dipping. He won't eat pickles or oriental crackers like his sister, but he has her beat on vegetables! Since my daughter has just gotten over a cold not sure how much she'll eat though.

It's been awhile since I posted a picture of Hubby's lunch and since I was feeling the bento inspiration he gets extra love too. And nothing says I love you more than a heart boiled egg. Hah, I'm cracking myself up tonight with all my silly puns! He has a ham salad sandwich. Fruits fresh and dried and fresh veggies also a mini raspberry danish. When I showed him his lunch he responded, "Guess I have to work out extra tomorrow." Which made me ponder and ask him, "Do I send too much, not enough, or the right amount." He said that I send the right amount. I usually send a square lock and lock container with his lunch but had more food tonight so using this rubbermaid.

Tomorrow for bible study I am taking some cheese and crackers and grapes. The cheese is cut in small flower shape to go with ritz cracker. Also I am taking rice crackers, sliced cucumber-center cut out and add ginger, wasabi, and garnish with sesame. It's like a mock sushi without all the fuss of rolling rice. You could add smoked salmon as well. Mmmmm, sushi!

Santa's Village

Before leaving the cottage country we headed over to Santa's Village for the park's final day of the season on Labor Day.

This was a fun photo opportunity!

The kids had fun.

Yeehaw!

We fed chipmunks!

We fed reindeer!

We rode Santa's train.

We hugged with Mrs. Claus.

We saw Santa!

We liked Santa!

We took a ride on Santa's boat in the Muskoka River.

Hey, Ho... Santa's boat operator was playing some fun songs!

Cracking up on the ferris wheel.

Santa's Little Helpers

Cottage Country

This post is full of pictures I'm afraid but there are just so many wonderful ones to show from our visit to Cottage Country over Labor Day Weekend.

Going to the cottage is a huge part of the culture here and I was so hoping we'd get the chance to experience it.

We really enjoyed the relaxing setting and the beautiful nature. It was awesome!

We had our own private deck by the water where we ate every meal!

The water was clean and temperature was pleasant. The kids loved it!

I got caught up in the beauty of nature all around us and had a pretend national geographic photo shoot!

God's workmanship is so glorious and incredible when you stop to observe it.

I wanted to soak it all up and place it in a bottle and bring it home with me.

Besides our little ones, this was the most wild life we got to see. Along with some busy chipmunks.

The place we stayed had a playground, perfect for little ones! I love capturing moments like this.

One happy little fellow.

My son looked up and I followed his gaze and took this picture just because he inspired me to see from his perspective.

We enjoyed smores every evening!

We went to Algonquin National Park.

Hiking with the kids was great fun!

Young Master loved the sequence of counting the markers numbering the trail route.

Love this picture of the kids. It should be titled "What does a bear say?" "Roarrrr!"

Grandma these last two pictures are for you! I know how you love to see the babies and what fun to see them reading.