First lost tooth--LOTS more to lose

After lots of wiggling, crying, bleeding, wiggling, flossing, crying, bleeding, and more flossing, Nate lost his first tooth today!!! He is very excited! Don't you LOVE the gum in the picture?!

The root of the tooth was as long as the tooth itself...crazy! I tried to get a picture but couldn't get my camera to focus on something so small!

I'm off to leave some money under his pillow!

some soul searching...

Introverted. Reserved and private. Little interest in small talk. Not socially-oriented.

So, I just got the results of a personality test that I took for our praise team at church. The above words are a few of the words/phrases that were on MY RESULTS.

I'm thinking....WHAT????? Seriously. Honestly, I was a little upset. And, since God is working on freeing me from a tendency I have to obsess over things, I feel as if I need to think about this ONLY TONIGHT and then move on. Somehow.

Actually, I'll probably lose sleep over this, because that's how I tend to be.

You see, I really have NEVER thought of myself as reserved or not talkative. Now, please don't get me wrong; it's okay to be that way, but it is SO OPPOSITE of what I think I am. My husband is usually more of an introvert and I am the extrovert. I have had to take many personality tests over the years, and this one just came back different.

But, then again, upon further reflection, I AM DIFFERENT.

Ten years ago, I loved being the life of the party and talking to everyone there at least 25 times. Now, although I do enjoy a night out with friends occasionally and hanging out with my close friend over coffee, I love being home with my husband and sons. I love it.

Also, I look forward to and long for some alone, quiet, down, ME time. I love my Sunday drives to Mannford, just me and God. I LOVE long, quiet, relaxing baths. I love curling up with my favorite book. I love going on walks alone. I feel like I give, give, give all day every day, so if I get a chance to sit quietly for a while...AWESOME.

Now, these situations sure don't happen very often, so maybe this personality test picked up on the fact that I DESIRE more alone time...therefore, I am an introvert.

So, it's not that I'm unfriendly or unsocial, I'm just in a totally different place in my life now.

And, I'm okay with that.

I do, however, have the capability of being a crazy, outgoing, loud, fun person who LOVES dancing with the kids during kids' worship at church! It's in there. Maybe it's just a little deeper in there these days.

To close, here is the beginning sentence of my summary:
"Margo is an intense, results-oriented person, whose drive and sense of urgency are tempered and disciplined by her strong concern for the accuracy and quality of the details of any work for which she is responsible." hmmmmmm.....

flour tortillas!!

For the first time ever, I made my own flour tortillas!! They turned out so yummy; even the kids ate them :)

Here is the recipe I used. I used an organic all-purpose flour for the flour and coconut oil for the oil, but you could use anything. I also left out the Lecithin, since I don't have any and don't even know what it is! Seriously, this was the EASIEST thing ever and SO CHEAP!! It only is flour, water, baking powder, salt, and oil! If you have a rolling pin and a pan or griddle, you can do it!!

Our friend and old pastor in Maine told us once that he remembers times as a child when he only had mustard and bread in his refrigerator because times were so tough. So now, when we are having a tight month financially, which is actually pretty often, and I need to be creative with what ingredients I already have in my pantry, I call it a "mustard month."

It's amazing how God provides during these "mustard months" and how He spurs on my creativity! For example, two Sundays ago I led music at a little church out in Mannford. The pastor of the church has chickens and left a container of eggs for me on top of the piano. I was ECSTATIC!!! Good-for-you-no-hormones-added REAL EGGS, FREE!!! Yippee!!! Can you sense my excitement??

And now, tonight, because I was completely out of my totally good-for-you tortillas that are slightly overpriced, I took a shot at making them. Yes, I ran the risk of creating something that didn't even resemble a flour tortilla. But because I had all the ingredients and really needed them for dinner tonight, I thought what the heck! See, THIS is a benefit of a "mustard month"!!!

By the way, dinner tonight was SUPER easy! I just threw 3 frozen chicken breasts, a couple of cups of black beans that I cooked and froze on Sunday, and cup or two of salsa in the crockpot and let it cook all day. Then, I cut up the chicken into small bites (the meat kind of just falls apart actually), put it back in the crockpot, stirred it all up, and then served it with my flour tortillas! Easy!!!

Next, I want to try another way to make yogurt!! I gave up a while ago, but this looks like it could be promising!

Caden's friends

I have SO many blog ideas going through my mind, like our time with Mike's sister Maria (in March), Easter, Earth Day, etc. Well, instead of playing catch-up and trying to blog in chronological order, I am starting FRESH hoping that I can just add in those other posts as time permits.

Anyway, what I really want to write about today is my sweet, precious Caden. He is such a big boy these days (not with potty-training yet) and just a joy to be around. He loves, loves, loves his big brothers and always wants me to "hold you" (for me to hold him) especially after nap times and bath times.

Well, on Saturday, I was wrapped up in a blanket sitting on the couch because I was very feverish.

Little man walked up to me and said, "Mommy, I want to go outside and play with my friends."

A little confused because it's not like I just let my 2-year-old (or actually any of my kids) go wander the streets with the neighborhood kids, I said, "What friends?"

In the sweetest voice ever he replied, "Nate and Kyle and Ian."

Oh my goodness!!! How sweet is that!! They were all outside helping Mike wash the cars in the 50 mph wind!!

My "brainwashing" is WORKING!! I tell my boys often that they are BEST FRIENDS!! Well, I think my 2-year-old gets it!!



Oh, and I am totally aware that he needs a haircut! That's in NEXT month's budget!!

flashbacks...

This is our family in April 2006.

We still lived in Maine at the time and because there was probably 15 feet of snow on the ground at this time (slight exaggeration), our church Easter Egg Hunt/outreach event was held indoors! This was after the festivities during clean-up. Nate obviously had been running around and working off some energy, and he had just shoved a piece of candy in his mouth!!! By the way, I was about 3 months pregnant with Caden at this time!

Also, 10 years ago today was Mike and I's first date! I'm totally the type to remember things like this! We have never really talked about it or celebrated it, but since it is the 10th, I decided to do something to remember the event...

On our first date, he took me to a place in Moscow, Idaho, called Winger's. Upon the arrival of our server, Mike promptly ordered Buffalo Chicken Wings, not knowing that I didn't really eat chicken off the bone (I don't mind it so much now). He eventually figured it out as I was trying to cut the chicken off the bone with a fork and knife...then it was FUNNY!!!

this was just a couple of weeks later...we look SO young!

So today, I asked if we could go eat lunch at Chili's (this was un-budgeted, so I said it could come out of my grocery budget) after church (it was an awesome Easter service). As we were walking to our table, he decided to go to the bathroom. Our server came while Mike was gone, so I ordered Buffalo Chicken Wings. When the server brought us the wings, Mike was surprised and we talked about our first date! I told the boys how much I really, really, really liked their dad all those years ago!!

Fun times!

The Last Supper

Last night, we remembered the Last Supper with our boys. I used this http://www.ebibleteacher.com/children/lessons/lastsupper.htm as my guide.


Michael started off by reading Mark 14:10-25 and talking about betrayal. Then, we talked about how Christ's sacrifice was foreshadowed by the Passover.

Tenth Plague	Christ's Sacrifice
Firstborn of all men and animals killed	Firstborn of God killed
Only the blood of the lamb saved Israelites	Only the blood of Christ saves us
This plague freed the Israelites from slavery to Egypt	This sacrifice frees us from sin
Commemorated by all Israelites in a feast	Commemorated by Christians in Lord's Supper

Then, we broke bread, drank from the cup, and prayed.

After that, we sang Jesus Loves Me, which was a RIOT!!

The whole thing ends with a game that you print from that website...it was fun and ended like this:

It was a special time, something that I would definitely like to do as a family every year. Wow! I think I may have just started a tradition!! I know our boys are young, but I think this is the perfect time to start!!

highlights:
Nate wanting some more yummy bread
Caden doing jumping jacks during the game

I'm still here

I'm still here...just a little silent these days, I guess.

Life is life...ups and downs, highs and lows, but through it all God is still my God and I will sing praise!

I just got home from worship band practice and I LOVE that God totally speaks to me, even in a practice! Check out this song and WORSHIP our loving, victorious, AWESOME Father!