Jen made an afternoon snack. "Plating things for presentation have become important around our house after too much food network!

Jennifer on her way to America at a pretend Elis Island.

Jen in "Detention" at an immigration simulation!

Maggies hair cut!

This was an Apple stuffed french toast that rocked!

Lots of new things this Spring!

This spring we have a lot of new and exciting things happening which I will be blogging about often. The first will be our new puppy coming sometime this next week-lots of pictures will follow when he gets here. I just planted asparagus and am eagerly awaiting it to shoot up, so I will update you on that. I also hopefully will be trying a mushroom kit which will be fun to watch as lots of mushrooms grow. (And eat too) Later this spring my CSA (Farm share) will start and I want to take pictures each week of what I get so others interested will know what to expect, and also I hope to make lots of fun new dishes so those pictures will come too. Speaking of food- you may catch a picture or two of new dishes I have tried. Me and the girls have been watching the food network alot and it has been inspiring to all of us, so If something tastes or looks really great I may post it-only recipes if you ask! And finally, my girls seem to be growing like the weeds in my garden so there will always be lots going on with them!

Sick of being Sick!!!!

We have not blogged at all this month because much of it has been spent with someone in the house sick. First we got hit with a round of the stomach flu which everyone got over the course of a week-wait before that it was a cold, then the stomach flu, and as I write this Jennifer and Samantha are downstairs sick-we think with the real flu!! So much for the girls getting perfect attendance this semester. Well other then that there have been a few things that have happened of note this Feb. First of all is that Todd decided to not continue on his path to becoming a Sergent in the police department. He realized that politics was not his thing, and so he is back to doing what he loves which is being a police officer. This of course means more changes of schedule, but whats new in the life of a cops family right? On the major plus side he gets to go back to church which had been really hard on him. (And me) Also he gets to see all the girls weekend activities like games and such. I'm back to being a single mom four nights a week, but at least as the girls are getting older that is getting a lot easier! The other thing to note is what is going on in the world around us right now. Obama has spent his first month as president trying to fix the economy-remember according to everyone Obama can fix everything! I sure hope "they" are right because right now this country is a mess. I am very grateful for Todd's very stable job-because many are not so lucky right now, with job loss starting to hit home around our circle of friends. We have seen the affects as we looked at our retirement account that is now almost half of what it was 7 months ago. Yikes. We also refinanced our house this week and were shocked at what our house is really worth. It appraised at 320,000, but would probably only sell for around 310,000. When we bought this house four years ago for 285,000 it was under priced. We then put in 10, 000 work on it (which would have cost more had we not done most of it ourselves) by adding almost 300 sq feet of space and a computer nook. I tell you they said prices may fall to a three year ago price, but they are already down about four years when I look at it. Moving is not in our future that is for sure! I find thinking about the economy so depressing that this week Todd and I have spent way to much time debating the outcome of the reality t.v. series The Bachelor. Somehow it is so much easier to wrap our minds around. With that being said Oregon of course is leading the nation in not putting education first, but cutting more from the states already small education budget. What worries me the most is how this will affect the girls school. It is already running on such a small budget that if more gets cut in the years to come, I don't know if it will be able to operate. They are doing so well there that I would really hate that. Well, I am rambling now and hope to have less sickness this month and more positive posts!