dear annabelle {today you are seven}

March 19, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

Dear Annabelle,

Today you are seven and Madelynne is exactly eight-and-a-half and Amelia is exactly three-and-a-month, and Gus is left out of the perfect counting because he was born on the 1st and not the 19th. That sets him apart, just as it binds you and your sisters and makes 19 something of a special number for us.

But I want you to know, today, on your 7th birthday, that just because you share your days with one older and one younger, you do not ever have to be just like your sisters. You only ever have to be you.

You’re pretty good at being unique. You’re the only one who really likes to work the garden with daddy, but you’re also the only one who hates being dirty. You’re the only one who falls asleep the moment you lie down, and you’re the only one who gets up when your alarm rings. You’re the only one who doesn’t like Chic-fil-a, and you’re the only one who would request meatloaf for a birthday dinner. You’re the only one who can wear skinny jeans, and you’re the only one with an Angry Birds shirt that you wear at least twice a week.

You’re the only one who’s more stubborn than your daddy and more sensitive than your mama. You’re the only one who never gives up, not on spelling words, not on two-wheel bike riding, not on memorizing verses for AWANA.

You’re the only one without tonsils, and you’re losing teeth much more slowly than Madelynne did. You’ve only lost one and I think the new one will be in completely before you lose another!

You’re the only one who doesn’t complain when hiking with Marmie, even though you’re still too small for a real pack. You’re the only one daddy trusts to help put up the tent, and you’re the only one who remembers to take off your shoes before you go inside.

Daddy thinks you’ll be an engineer or an architect who pays great attention to detail; I think you’ll be a tenacious lawyer righting social injustice. You want to be a teacher like Mrs. B and right now, your greatest goal is for everything to just be fair.

I’m sorry to tell you that can never be. Life isn’t fair and as much as we try, nothing is ever exactly equal. But I hope you are coming to realize that despite those truths, there is another greater one: Jesus is fair and His love is equal and lavished upon you everyday.

Happiest of birthdays to my Annabelle Faith, may your name remind you always to keep the faith, and may your strong-will remind me always that I want to do more than just raise a good child. I want to raise you to change this world.

Love,
Mama

No More Manic Mondays {link up}

March 18, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

I originally started this post to be a real, true link-up. But I confess: I’m struggling a bit.
with what I want this blog to be
with what I believe is really important
with what I really want to write about and be known for
with eliminating from this post all of the struggles of the past week because I’m becoming too concerned with creating something else

I’m struggling with the technicalities of blogging, how in the world do I create a button? should I just pay someone to do all this for me?

But mostly, the past two hours (give or take the ups and downs to get milk and applesauce and change a diaper) I’ve spent working have not been fun. They’ve been stressful. They’ve been frustrating. They’ve been work. I didn’t create this space to be work. I created it to be freeing, to be my voice, to be real. Today it’s not being real. So forget the link up. If you want to tell me about your Monday, leave a comment and a link back to your site. If you don’t blog, leave a comment anyway. I know I don’t always respond back, but I read all my comments (here and on facebook) and treasure them all.

Here’s a bit of my Monday for you. I’m off now to actually do the things that can make it less manic.

It’s raining. Again. But I guess rainy Monday is better than rainy Saturday, right? Plus keeping us inside should be helpful in my quest to cross “tag consignment clothes” off the never-ending to-do list.

Around here, Mondays have always been a bit manic. Productive usually because I’m fresh from weekend extra rest and daddy help, but manic nonetheless. But today I thought, what if I made an effort to change that thinking? What if instead of rushing through the manic, I reveled in it? At that point wouldn’t it cease to feel like a burden and instead become a blessing? Maybe….

So welcome to my first-ever linky party: No More Manic Mondays! Let’s build a community together and let Mondays become days we anticipate rather than days we agonize through. Write up a little post about your Monday plan to keep life simpler and link up below. And, listen, I know sometimes we’re still going to have that day, so let’s write about that, too, and then you can take a deep breath and let it go.

where I spent a little time before I got this party started
working always on patience…

I discovered this morning that I am definitely a creature of habit. Tucked in her carseat for the brief ride over to our early morning workout, Amelia lined out our day, “First we got to jazzercise, then we go to grocery store, then we go to bank.” Well, if last week had been payday, she’d have been 100% correct, but as it is, today was just a bare bones grocery run and no sucker from the bank.

I think routines are good and the teacher in me knows how much kids thrive in routine, but the scattery-disorganized-overwhelmed mama in me struggles with forcing routine upon myself. Because what inevitably happens is life and then I get all flustered and can’t figure out how to get everything done that I had planned. But routines that grow naturally out of everyday habits suit me well, like Monday morning workouts followed by Ingles donuts and Starbucks.

The best thing I’ve done so far to keep Monday (and all the other days) from being less manic is menu plan. This week is incredibly simple and tonight is leftovers from Sunday dinner.

This is Tuna Bake with Cheddar Cheese Biscuits from Jane over at Thy Hand Hath Provided. Joshua gave me her cookbook for Valentine’s Day and we’re trying new things. Verdict? A great success with all the kids and even the daddy, who doesn’t love tuna. I used 4 cans instead of the 2 called for and made my biscuits from scratch. I also used homemade cream soup substitute and frozen peas and homemade baking mix…..otherwise it was exactly the same as hers 🙂

So tell me, what would make your Monday less manic? And if it’s already there, tell us all about that, too!

Next week I’ll work on a button…one thing at a time, folks.

amelia · birthdays · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · monday · pinterest

A Monday Menu & A Saturday Party

February 11, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

So last week my post about what’s been cooking for dinner around here was pretty lame. It was actually more about snow than food. But that’s what we were loving last weekend, so that’s what got written. I did post a picture of my roasted chicken, so this week I give you the source of that deliciousness. And what is clearly a superior food photo.

{source}

Over the weekend, we needed a power breakfast. You know, something more than cereal because it requires a bit of protein to keep up with a passel of toddlers at a three-year old’s birthday party. An early Saturday morning Pinterest search revealed this.

{source}

Crescent rolls, scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese. Yes, please. Except bacon isn’t a staple in my house unless it’s on sale, so I opted for lining my crescents with deli ham. Highly recommended.

So here’s a menu idea for you this week. We’re having leftover soup, church dinner, and a special Valentine’s feast that will include homemade rice-a-roni and brussel sprouts because that’s what they requested.

I know. My kids are weird.

But you could have this.

My husband gets a kick out of how often I take pictures of the food I’m making. Sometimes, though, he gets really into it and decides to arrange his supper like he’s in a fancy restaurant. I made my balsamic pork roast (which is actually a Boston Butt) in the crockpot. That’s brown rice drizzled with the sauce and these green beans. Looks more impressive than it probably was.

Okay, that’s a lie. It was really, really good. I have only great love for balsamic vinegar.

Party time! Amelia’s birthday is still a week away, but for various reasons, we had her party this past weekend. We had gorgeous weather, sweet friends, and only a couple of meltdowns (me and the birthday girl). Seriously, these parties are really too much work.

Except that morning, she crawled up in my lap and said, “Mama! Today is my birfday party?” When I said yes, she flung those arms that are still baby-chubby around my neck and squeezed.

So, the meltdown was worth it after all.

Yes, those are balloons in that horse corral. She wanted both. Don’t argue with the birthday girl. Or the mama who forgot to order the cake and had to buy one off the shelf.
The fence is pretzel sticks. The horses were borrowed from a game of big sister’s.

I’m not a treat bag fan. I think party favors should be simple and creative. We had a horse theme, so this is horse food, i.e. candy corn and dinner mints to represent sugar cubes.
Yes, at the Dollar Tree in Buford you can buy candy corn in February. Who knew?
These are upcycled baby food jars with tags assembled by the birthday girl’s daddy.

My cowboy.

Opening presents with Sam. He’s two days older, so he was the helper. He also has one of the sweetest mamas in the world.

Mary Lynn gave her legos. I think she’s trying to convince Amelia that it’s okay for her to move far, far away, but we aren’t falling for it.

Linking up with
Miscellany Monday
A Mama’s Story

amelia · gus · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · joshua · madelynne · monday

And Then It Snowed….

February 5, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

We had no idea it was coming. In fact, we didn’t alter our plans to attend the UGA Gym Dog meet just because the white stuff was falling because we really didn’t think it would amount to anything.

I’m sure to all those folks who think it’s warm when we’re freezing at 34 degrees don’t think this amounts to much.

But we’re in Georgia, baby. This is as good as it gets.

And then it was gone.

And it was Monday. I roasted a chicken.

cooking · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · Manic Monday

A Monday Menu {& a Sunday Dinner}

January 28, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

Just so you know, this isn’t what we’re having for dinner tonight. It sure was good when we had it last week, though. Also, you should probably know I made it up. Usually that turns out pretty well for me. Joshua says I only ever use recipes for inspiration, which is true. This one definitely was inspired by the recipe for Creamed Spinach in this. I love this dish because it’s full of vegetables that kids normally won’t eat alone, but once you wrap something in a tortilla and put cheese on it, mine are begging for more. Well, Annabelle does pick out the tomatoes.

Creamy Spinach and Beef Enchiladas
10-12 tortillas
2 lbs ground beef
1 tbsp taco seasoning (I use this homemade recipe)
1 c fresh spinach
1 tbsp butter
1 can evaporated milk
1 tbsp flour
1 can diced tomatoes w/pepper and onion
1 c shredded monterey jack cheese

In a large pan, brown the ground beef. Sprinkle with taco seasoning while browning. Drain and set aside. In the same pan, saute spinach. Set aside with beef. Melt butter in the pan and whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until smooth on medium heat. When mixture thickens, add back in the beef and spinach. Stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper (or more taco seasoning) to taste.

In a casserole dish, pour out half the tomatoes and spread across the bottom of the dish. Spoon beef mixture into tortillas, roll, and place seam side down in dish. My dish will hold 6-8 rolled tortillas. Extras I roll and place in a gallon freezer bag for later. (I just thawed and cooked some last week and they froze really well.) Top tortillas with remaining tomatoes and then sprinkle cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake on 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes more until bubbly.

Now how about this for dessert? That’s my mama’s lemon pound cake. She made it for our the first Payne-ful Sunday dinner of the year yesterday. My siblings and I are trying to hang out more and have less drama. So instead we played a board game.

It went pretty well.

Gus is bonding with his Uncle Corey, who my girls still call Uncle Bubby. Corey’s going to teach him how to survive in a house full of girls. He should know how, after all.

Poor Gus. They just try to keep him contained all the time. Doesn’t work.

Yeah, that’s my onion bin.

It’s 6:37. I’ve been working on this all day in brief moments that I can snatch between fussy baby, laundry, vacuuming, making butternut bisque over orzo with sausage (that’ll be next week’s Monday Menu post, I told you I’m always behind). I think I’m done.

Enjoy!