Weekly Recap

Last weekend I was able to spend time fellowshipping with other moms while we watched Sense and Sensibility and then Monday night was Bunco. This past Saturday I spoke at our local homeschool mini-conference on using Tapestry of Grace to simplify homeschooling. I also attended a workshop about reluctant writers and learned a ton.

Dd got to enjoy playing and chatting at the park on Tuesday while I again got to fellowship with other moms. She also had riding twice last week, so she was pretty busy.

I have started reading Les Miserables, but am only 1/3 of the way through. I don't get too much time for free reading so it will take me awhile. Dd and I are reading Black Storm Comin' for our read-aloud.

I made a yummy banana roll, similar to a pumpkin roll. It was delicious. Today I made a three-layer raspberry chocolate cake. Dh will be thrilled.

For my quiet-time, I am reading 30 Days to Experiencing Spiritual Breakthroughs by Bruce Wilkinson and Discovering the Treasures of a Godly Woman by Elizabeth George.

I am still having problems with daily headaches. I am on a new medication and had 2 days last week of no headaches, but other than that, it has been headaches every day.

Yard Work Part 2

Our poor, uninteresting tree in the front yard. Again, this was taken last spring.
This is a view of the whole front yard with the new flower bed in all its glory.
We are very pleased with how this one turned out as well. The flowers are starting to take off and getting fuller.

Yard Work Part 1

This is off our front porch and was taken last spring. We hated these bushes as they were so sparse and blah.
This is our new and much improved flower bed. We are very pleased with the way it turned out. We also had gutters installed to keep the rain from 'waterfalling' into that area.
Here is a view of the front porch as a whole. The hanging basket has fake flowers in it this year because last year we had a mama bird make a nest in my freshly planted real flowers. She came back this year and is currently residing in her nice, comfy home with her two babies. Our cat loves to sit in the window right there and watch all the goings-on.

Awesome Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 jar Prego Italian Sausage and Garlic pasta sauce

1 cup fresh spinach leaves with stems removed

Lasagna noodles (I used 8 no-bake, but you could also use 10-12 regular. No need to bake them,

either.)

1 pound Italian sausage, browned and drained

16 oz. Ricotta cheese

3/4 cup Parmesan

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 t. oregano

Directions:

1. Lightly cover bottom of 8x8-inch baking pan with pasta sauce. Layer with noodles. Top with browned sausage and spread 3/4 of the jar of pasta sauce on the sausage. Add another layer of noodles. Mix ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella and oregano in small bowl. Spread cheese mixture over noodles. Add one more layer of noodles and cover with remaining pasta sauce. Top with additional mozzarella or fresh Parmesan.

2. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 5 minutes to completely melt the cheese.

Spring Horse Show

Getting ready with her awesome instructor.

Look how poised she is!

Dd and friend with their hard-earned ribbons.

Dd had her second horse show yesterday at the stables she rides at. She did really well and took 1st, 1st, 2nd and overall champion for her class. She looked so good on her horse, with really great posture. Her friend was in another class and did really well, also. She took 1st, 1st, 1st and overall champion. Way to go, girls!

Easter!

I hid all the eggs last night and made them a bit harder than in previous years. Since the kids are older, I figure they should have to work for their goodies. I even hid their baskets! Dd and I decorated the real eggs yesterday with acrylic paint and they turned out so cute. I made one to look kind of like a 'humpty dumpty' and we did polka dots and swirls on the rest. I will try to get a picture posted.

We went ice skating yesterday and had a blast. Both hubby and I are sore, me from the workout, him from wiping out. He was in the process of spinning around to get a picture with his cell phone when he crashed. It was funny as he slid pretty far across the ice. He is feeling it this morning in his hip, where he took the brunt of the fall. FYI-Nick and I did not fall once!