Merry Christmas

Make Aheads

For those of you who know me well, you'll remember that I LOVE organization! My friends joke but I really do love my label maker :) Orderliness (is that a word?) makes me very happy. A part of being well organized is planning ahead.

Having a newborn in the house makes both organization and orderliness (I say it's a legitimate word) difficult or near impossible. Especially when it comes to meal planning. Through God's kindness, extended through our amazing church friends, we've had meals delivered for the past two weeks. It was great not having to shop for, plan and cook dinners for two weeks. I never wanted it to end! But end it did. Now I'm trying to figure out, again, how to plan meals for this growing family of ours.

We are still involved in our dinner co-op which takes care of three of seven nights but what about the other four?

I found these recipes that look delicious and might be the perfect answer.

I love using fresh ingredients. Especially fresh fruits and vegetables because we never seem to get enough of those. And I love using my crockpot, because it's EASY! So these recipes seem like the perfect combo.

photo from Mama and Baby Love Blog

What's even better is you can plan ahead (YAY!) and freeze these crockpot meals for as needed. LOVE IT. I can't wait to try them and thought you might like them as well.

This busy mom wants to know: how do you plan/prepare/think ahead for meals for your family?

The Newest Big Brother

 

Being a big brother is a big responsibility. I was the oldest of four children so I know the burden that can be. I frequently share with my oldest boys the importance of their own example to their younger siblings, of their need to contribute to the responsibilities of the home and most importantly, how to love the little ones. It’s not easy to do, but through it all comes maturity, patience and gentleness for young children.

In my experience, I’ve found that when you have subsequent children, the most commonly asked question is this…”is the youngest child jealous of the new baby”. Truthfully, I’ve never had that problem with my first two boys. They were genuinely excited and happy when the new baby arrived. Then again, the first three were all three years apart. This is the first time I’ve had children so close together (2 years apart). So I wondered (and mostly feared) how Austin would react when Evan came along.

To my delighted surprise, he has been the MOST loving, the MOST thoughtful and the MOST concerned for the baby! I am so blessed with wonderful children. Sure it’s difficult for him to learn to wait for Mommy and it’s a hard lesson to realize you can’t have what you want when you want it, but, he deeply loves his little brother.

He wants to help at every turn and is the first to let us know when the baby is crying. Sometimes, it’s the first thing he asks when he wakes in the morning is “Bebe?” Meaning, where is the baby?

All that to say, our 2 year old is genuinely enjoying being a new big brother!

A Golden Birthday, turning 9 on the 9th.

This month, we celebrated two births, one week apart. First, the birth of our fourth son, Evan. Second, the birthday of our first son, Jacob. I would love to know how other families celebrate sibling birthdays that are so close together. My brother and sister were born on the same day two years apart and I know they did not always appreciate sharing birthday parties. Does this just mean we're destined to spend two of our December weekends having back-to-back birthday parties? Maybe I should ask my sister-in-law who has 3 of her 6 children's birthday's in May.

Jacob looks forward to his birthday each year and likes to think of fun and creative ways to celebrate. So this year, he wanted to have a Lego party. Because of Evan's birth, we knew it had to be low key but I still wanted to make it fun. So we invited two very close friends...

built some Lego sets...

and ate some Lego cake!

The very next day, Jacob was hard at work on his birthday present. An 800 piece pirate ship. Needless to say, he was a very happy boy! Happy Birthday Jacob.

Guess Who

Having the privilege of being an all boy family is fun to think about. Counting up the gazillion sports events we'll go to, times I'll have to say "boys, go wrestle outside" and hospital visits we'll end up making, makes me think, "you gotta love boys!".

Each one of them is so unique. Fearfully and wonderfully made by their Creator. When Jacob was born, we were amazed at how adorable the combination of Ian and I were. When Nathan was born, we thought he looked EXACTLY like Jacob (even though he doesn't). When Austin was born, we thought he looked like a perfect combination of his two big brothers.

Recently with Evan, we couldn't see any of the boys in him. He looked like his own person. So what do you think? Who does he resemble most?

Any way you look at it, he is now a part of one handsome bunch!

Evan-"God is gracious"

His name says it all about this little-big guy!

God has indeed been gracious to us. Gracious to answer prayer, gracious to give our family another beautiful son and gracious to grant us a safe delivery and healthy baby.

Evan Manny Jorgensen was born at 11:35pm on December 2, 2011 to two very proud parents. Weighing in at 9lbs 6oz and 22 in. long, he is officially the biggest of all the boys.

The boys couldn't wait to meet their new little sibling and were surprised relieved to find out he was a boy. Nathan was most anxious to love on his new little brother and only gave up holding him when he declared "Mom, this baby is making me hot".

He smells so sweet. His skin is so soft. He is so fun to snuggle. We love him already and are so glad he's finally here!

For A Sweet New Nephew

There are a lot of hobbies I really enjoy doing. The only thing is, I spend most of my time educated my young boys and the rest is spent keeping our home. Needless to say, there isn't much time for doing the things I really enjoy doing.

Every now and then, a special occasion brings the opportunity for me to do one of the hobbies I really enjoy. Since Ian and I were first married, and he bought me my first sewing machine, it has been a tradition for me to make each of my new niece and nephews a baby quilt. Some have been quite elaborate and some stray towards the simple side.

I love working on each one of them as I think of the new member of our extended family that will soon be joining us. I think of what a delight that little child will be to their family's as well as ours. To me, the best crafts are the ones you get to give away as gifts.

So this one's for a special new nephew who joined our family. Made with love from his Aunt Angie!

Having A Little Fun

Even though currently, I have 3 boys, that doesn't mean we don't enjoy a good craft every now and then. By now, my boys have learned they have a mom that loves to do crafts and they have become happy to play their part.

This project was actually Jacob's idea so I can't even take credit.

Edible Peanut Butter Playdough
It calls for just a few basic ingredients that yield lots of fun and smiles.

In a mixer, beat ingredients together.

*Warning-with children involved, this is a messy project!

It will end up looking something like this...

For best playdoh results, divide into equal portions and refrigerate before attempting to play with it. Afterwards, you can do this...

Or this...

Or this...

And even this...

The best part about this recipe is it really tastes yummy. Because I prefer NOT to play with my food before I eat it, I covered mine with chocolate!

The lesson we learned today, you can have fun with what you eat! This recipe makes a whole lot so I would suggest cutting it in half.

Peanut Butter Playdough

3 1/2 C peanut butter

4 C confectioners sugar

3 1/2 C honey

4 C dry milk powder

In a large bowl, cream together peanut butter and sugar, then beat in honey and hold in milk powder. Divide into 15 equal portions and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

36 Weeks

My pregnancy tracker says 29 days until the baby is due...how crazy is that? Although with all the contractions I've been having the last two weeks, I can't help but wonder if this baby will come early (or just on time).

In honor of not knowing exactly how much longer I'll have this glorious belly, we staged a home-made photo shoot. Courtesy of the best 8 year old photographer I know, Jacob. It's kinda hard to take pictures of yourself, you know?

Just For Fun

Around here, any occasion to dress up in a costume is most welcomed! Also, any opportunity for me to take pictures of my kids being cute is welcomed too.

We like to call him, "Ninja Nathan". Because he's so darn tough!

This one reluctantly put on his costume...and then ended up loving it so much he didn't want to take it off. I must say, it looked particularly cute on him.

"I don't want my mask on!" Does it make me a bad mom because I take pictures of my kids crying?

Jay's costume was a very unique request. Don't ask me where he got the idea from. With the mask off, you can tell he's not himself. He ended up having the stomach flu and getting sick later that night. In the middle of the night, that little boy came to my bedside and said "Mom, I don't feel good...bluaaaahhhhhh". Oh the joys of being a mother.

What would trick or treating be without a friend in tow? This is the crew we took out.

Beach Babes

One last trip to the beach before it gets too cold. Although, it's kind of bizarre that we can still go to the beach at the end of October...I'm not complaining though! We have had a few friends in tow that made the day extra special!

First up...the Jorgensen's version of Baywatch.

I call these, "fun in the sun and sand"

And I just love this Daddy moment

Little Pumpkins and One Big Pumpkin

One of the great things about living in a large metropolis is the plethora of choices when it comes to activities.  In the fall, one of our favorite things to do is go to our local pumpkin patch. We have a really great one on the west side of town. It's a whole day event. There are tons of kid friendly activities, animals and food. It's a blast to get to go there. But this year, with our schedule being as full as it is (and my belly being as full as it is), we aren't going to make it out there.

Fortunately, just down the road, there is a local church that displays and sells thousands of pumpkins on their property. Even better, the proceeds go to their missions program. So the boys and I decided to go and pick ourselves some lovely pumpkins for the fall. I always think of my mom when we go "pumpkin-ing", it's one of her favorite things to do this time of year. Love you mom.

My favorite photographer (Jacob) even snapped a shot of my little "pumpkin"

This one, is just for Nathan...

Austin was trying his best to be a helper (even though he was picking up all the pumpkins and throwing them back on the ground. Forcing me to buy more pumpkins than I wanted!)

Happy Fall Y'all!

What I Never Knew...

We live in Texas. We are familiar with pesky mosquito's and their nasty bites. What I wasn't familiar with is their ability to deform your child!

I took this picture of Austin a few weeks ago. Normal Austin.

Now Deformed Austin. This was taken this morning a few days after a mosquito bite to the forehead.

Apparently it's common in children with mosquito bites to the face to have swelling that can last up to 7 days! How did I not know that already? It doesn't bother him. He doesn't even itch it. It just LOOKS really bad.

Hoping my alien baby gets better soon. 

Library Day

Spooky Treats

We're not big fans of Halloween around here. With all the evil looking and scary stuff, my kids are happy when it's over. (even though, they are not opposed to an opportunity for a sugar induced coma once a year.)
And we do enjoy it as an opportunity to meet and greet with neighbors and see more of the people in our community.

Anytime of the year, my boys love crazy and funny looking things. So, when I saw this idea on a decoration kit from Target, I thought it would be fun to try.

Ghost and Goblin Brownie Bites

They were fairly easy to make. I just put together a box mix of brownie's and baked them in a cupcake pan as directed. When they cooled, we put large marshmallows on top of each brownie.

The next step is to mix two bowls of powdered sugar glaze. We made one white for ghosts and the other green for the goblins. Then spooned it on top of the marshmallows. Then we let the fun begin as we decorated their faces and hair.

And even though they looked funky, they tasted quite nice! What other time of year can you get away with making such weird looking treats?