#12

12. Our family really loves to camp (and I do mean real tent camping...not travel trailer camping)! It does take lots of preparation, planning, packing and products but it's well worth the experience and investment! My parents started our family tradition of camping when I was about six years old. I now have lots of sweet memories of camping that helped build me into who I am today. While camping, family time together comes first and busyness does not exist. Of course there times where a nice resort hotel can't be beat (especially in the summer), but camping (in the fall and spring) truly is the perfect environment for family bonding. We have really missed camping this last year since we have had Ansley. Camping + an infant does not equal relaxation in our book. However, we look forward to perhaps venturing out this fall for our first family campout! Did your family ever camp? If so, aren't some of your camping experiences the very trips you STILL end up talking and laughing about to this day?!

Ansley Month 13

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Whew, Ansley-girl, you are keeping Mommy and Daddy very busy these days! You are full of life, energy, spunk and sweetness. You love to walk, run and clap at the same time, blow bubbles outside, climb steps, sort your food on your tray, feed yourself, stack rings, learn new words, make noise and talk, crawl in tight spaces, blow kisses, give "love" "hugs" and "kisses", turn book pages, bounce balls, take baths, ride your horse, open and close doors, hide, watch Baby Praise and Baby Einstein and pull out your hair bows! My favorite thing that you do is when you get so excited you run with your arms stretched straight out behind your back in glee! You tickle me!

This month, we celebrated our second Mother's Day together. I love having you in my life! We went to Georgia and you enjoyed spending the weekend with your great-grandmothers, your Mimi, and your Mommy! You went to church with your great-grandparents for the first time and they loved showing you off to all of their friends who remembered when your Mommy was little and visited their church! This month, you also came to Mommy's school to meet her class for the first time. They adore you! You visited the new Babyland General Hospital for the first and saw where Cabbage Patch Kids are born. You LOVED being able to "love on" all the baby dolls! Papa gave you your first ice cream while we were there! This month, you visited Uncle Derek, Aunt Kerri and Cousin Jack and they took you to the playground and splash park! They love to spoil you! You also made special gifts for your wonderful teachers this month to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week at school. Mrs. Lisa and Mrs. Linda love you so much and have taught you a lot this year!

Your diet has definitely changed this month as you have moved to almost all table foods. You love fish, ground beef, spaghetti, chili, soup, mashed potatoes, beans, bread, macaroni, any type of casserole, anything spicy and anything YOU can pick up BY YOURSELF! You love to be independent when eating. You have also moved to drinking the "next step" formula and whole organic cow's milk.

You have five teeth now and love getting your teeth brushed at night! You had your first dentist appointment/check-up this month and the dentist thought your teeth looked great.

You can be quite strong at times and we are having to teach you patience, boundaries, obedience, and respect. However, you also have a sweet, tender spirit and oftentimes your gentleness shines through.

You love to learn new things! You now saw a few phrases, "what's that?" and "bye-bye daddy". Your new words are : door, Jack, ba-day (anything hanging up), night-night, whee, yummy-yummy, and duck.

Happy 13 months, Ansley!

#11

11. Our family loves Netflix! We don't watch a lot of television (mainly because there is usually nothing good on or we have other things to do) but we really have enjoyed Netflix because we can instantly watch unlimited TV episodes and movies through our Blu-ray player and we can also rent Blu-ray DVD's. This way we get to pick what we want to watch (they have some good oldies and some new shows/movies we haven't ever seen) and when we want to watch it (a.k.a. when our busy baby girl is sleeping)!

#10

10. We love to work (even Ansley who just last night helped me pull weeds out in our yard!). It sounds odd to some, but we both actually enjoy our work because for us it is part of fulfilling the mission and purpose God has for us outside of our home. We genuinely love our co-workers and count it a blessing and ministry to work alongside them. They are not just co-workers but friends whom we share life with. It is easy (most of the time) to get up in the morning (or for Jon...the evening) and head to our workplaces knowing that we can impact the fields of business, technology, healthcare and education for Christ.

I LOVE the excerpt below from Max Lucado's book, Cure for the Common Life . In fact, I keep it on my desk at work. Read it and be blessed...whatever work you do!

By job description, I teach at a public elementary school. By God's description, I pastor a class of precious children. Do I work for a school system or for God? Do I spend my day in work or worship? Do I make money or make a difference? Every morning I walk into the classroom that Jesus loaned me (little ole' me).

Henry Giles a nineteenth-century preacher said, "Men and women must work. That is as certain as the sun. But we may work grudgingly or we may work gratefully. We may work as people or machines. There is no work so rude that we may not exalt it; no work so impassive that we may not breathe a soul into it; no work so dull that we may not enliven it if we understand that what we are doing is service for our Lord Jesus Christ."

My daily prayer:
"Let the loveliness of my Lord, my God, rest on me, confirming the work that I do. Oh yes, affirm the work that I do."
Psalm 90:17

#9

9. Our family loves to read! From the time I was a little girl, I have had a love for books. Books were one thing my parents never told me I could not have. They were always eager and willing to buy me the newest book in a series I was dying to finish. Ahh, remember the days of Little House on The Prarie, Babysitter's Club, and The Boxcar Children? During the summer, my parents actually paid my sister and I to read. I think we got $1 a book (which seems very cheap to me now)! On family vacations and by the pool, we always had a book in our hands. My parents challenged us to read all of The Classics (Tom Sawyer, Black Beauty, Little Women, The Call of The Wild, etc.) and this created in us a love for literature! Jon grew up in a family that loves to read as well. His Pawpaw always told him, "Readers are Leaders"! I want to foster a love for books, learning, and reading in Ansley. Currently, she loves to rummage through her book basket, pull EVERY book out and then "thumb" through them one by one. It's so cute. She talks as if she is reading aloud and she calls every animal she spots a "dog".

What we are currently reading:
Ansley~
Her favorite book is a farm animals book and if you tell her to "find the duck", she will turn to the page with the fuzzy duck and say "duh" for duck! Precious!

Karen~
I just started a new book last night called, Launching Your Kids For Life! It's a book that reads like it was written in my language. I am loving it and hope to learn a lot from it. I will likely post some GREAT excerpts from it on the blog.

Jon~
Jon reads a lot of books at one time. I think he's currently reading 3 Things Kids Need Most, Toddlerwise and God Owns My Business.



What book(s) are you currently reading? I love a good recommendation...especially with summer right around the corner!

#8

8. We really love the sweet and funny comments made by my students! I rarely come home without at least one funny story to tell from the day! Kindergartners have oh-so-much to say!

~ I was talking to the kids about how much we have learned this year in Kindergarten. I asked them to think back to August when they met me for the very first time at "Meet Your Teacher Night." One little girl raised her hand and said, "Yeah, I was really surprised when I saw you that night because I thought you was gonna’ be a black teacher!"

~We are studying ocean life in science for the next two weeks. Last Wednesday, we learned all about the octopus. I was sharing with the kids some neat facts about octopuses, one of which is that they change colors. A little girl raised her hand and said, "Mrs. Mitchell, do you know a lot of people think Michael Jackson changed colors?!" Hilarious!

~This year two of my professional goals are to be better at assessing my student’s prior knowledge of topics before we begin a lesson or unit and to be better at helping them make real world connections to everything we are learning. Today, I was elated when one of my students told me at lunch…”Mrs. Mitchell, I have a real world connection! We learned that an octopus sleeps during the day and is awake at night. That is just like your husband, Jon! He sleeps during the day and works at night!” Awesome and so cute!

~ When Ansley came to visit me at school the other day one of my students asked me, "Why does Ansley have blonde skin?" Ha!

Ahh, out of the mouths of babes!

#7

7. We love breakfast casseroles! Yummy! I decided to post two of our favorites. Happy baking!

Hashbrown Casserole

Ingredients:
1 package (32oz.) of shredded frozen Ore-Ida hashbrowns (I dump these in a large bowl and microwave them about 7-8 minutes...it makes it easier to mix and cooks faster)
1 8 oz. container of sour cream
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 small onion chopped
Salt/Pepper
1 stick of butter (melted)
1 8 oz. bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Chop onion.
3. Microwave hashbrowns for 7-8 minutes in a large bowl.
4. Melt butter.
5. In large bowl, mix hashbrowns, sour cream, Cream of Chicken soup, onion, salt, pepper, butter, and 1/2 the bag of cheese...mix well.
6. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray.
7. Pour hashbrown mixture into casserole dish.
8. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 bag of cheese on top.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.


Sausage and Cheese Crescent Squares

Ingredients:
1 lb. sausage (I use Jimmy Dean Mild Sausage)
1 8 oz. package of Cream Cheese
1 8 oz. package of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 8 oz. cans of refrigerated Pillsbury cresent rolls

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Brown sausage and drain.
3. Spray cooking spray on 9x13 casserole dish.
4. Unroll one can of crescent rolls and place it in the bottom of the casserole dish.
5. Mix sausage and cream cheese together in a bowl.
6. Place sausage/cream cheese mixture on top of crescent roll layer in dish.
7. Sprinkle 1 8 oz. bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese on top of mixture.
8. Unroll second can of crescent rolls and place it on the top of the cheese.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 11-13 minutes.
10. Let cool 15 min. and cut into squares to serve.