Fit Friday/Bloggy Giveaways

***THE GIVEAWAY MENTIONED ON THIS POST IS NOW CLOSED***

***THANKS FOR STOPPING BY, HAVE A GREAT DAY!***

Halloween is upon us and not only am I so thankful for the candy season to be over, I'm also thankful that the family down the street will be taking down their Hollywood grade, life size murder and graveyard scene. I'm hoping for it to be replaced with some pumpkins and haybales soon so I can once again drive by without giving my kiddos nightmares.

As of tonight, all the good candy will be given away. No more peanut M & Ms to tempt this girl. The faux chocolates that Lily brings home from the neighborhood just don't appeal to me, so I'm hoping to get this diet of mine up and running again.

I do have one lingering chunk of chocolate that I've decided to giveaway lest I commit sin and consume it. This Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate bar will be on its way to one of your lovely homes. Then you can be tempted by its tagline..."twilight delight"..."moments of timeless pleasure".

Be sure to let me know in your comment if you want the candy bar. I'll pick a winner tomorrow morning.

As far as Fit Friday goes, I had a decent week all things considered. With Jade's ear tube/adenoid removal surgery being scheduled for today, I din't want to have her in the gym nursery much. Of course she ended up coming down with a slight fever last night anyway, so now we aren't sure if the surgery is going to happen afterall. I did get in one cardio workout and one good workout with weights. And I managed to shed .5 lb. Whoopee.

I hope that your Hot for the Holidays week went well. I'm looking forward to checking in on everyone when I get home this afternoon.

For more Hot for the Holidays/Fitness Fridays go here.

For more Bloggy Giveaways go here.

Have a fun night with your little ones.

It tastes so good you'll forget it made you cry

I am so enjoying the crazy Texas weather. It got down into the 30s earlier this week and the heater got its inaugural run for fall. Does anyone else enjoy the smell of the heater when it turns on for the first time each year? Something about the smell of burning dust on the coils just warms my soul. This may be admitting too much weirdness, but I also enjoy the smell of filling up the tank and a freshly lit match. Not to be enjoyed simultaneously obviously. Another scent I love, a little less peculiar perhaps, is the smell of freshly carved pumpkin.

I pretty much like to smell everything and it occasionally gets me in trouble. Once when Jerry and I were still dating, he accompanied me on a quick run to the drugstore. I was there to pick out some new shampoo and he was just learning my habit of having to smell everything. He was making fun of me as I picked up several different bottles and gave them a little squeeze to get a good whiff. When I squeezed one bottle though, it gave a bit more quickly in my hands and I ended up with shampoo completely up my nose. He smirked and asked me if I had gotten a good enough smell of that one.

Anyway, Halloween is forcasted to be in the 80s here, so I wanted to jump into some cold weather cooking while it lasts. When BooMama mentioned doing a Souptacular / Crockpotalooza today, the first recipe I thought of was for Crockpot French Onion Soup. Onions do not happen to fall in the category of things I enjoy smelling, so I can guarantee you this is the only recipe I make that calls for 3 large onions...thinly sliced, no less. Expect to shed a few tears, ladies.

Crockpot French Onion Soup
(prep time 15 min; cook time 7-9 hours; 8 servings)

Ingredients:
· 3 large onions, thinly sliced
· 1 Tbsp. butter, melted
· 1 Tbsp. olive oil
· 1 tsp. sugar
· 3 Tablespoons flour
· 1/4 tsp. pepper
· 4 (14 oz) cans ready to serve beef broth
· Shredded Mozzarella cheese
· French bread, sliced

Directions:

In 3-4 quart crockpot, combine onions, melted butter, olive oil, and sugar. Cover crockpot and cook onions on high heat for 30-40 minutes or until onions begin to brown around the edges. Stir thoroughly. Sprinkle flour and pepper over the onions; mix well. Let cook for 15 minutes longer on high. Then add beef broth and stir again. Cover crockpot and cook on LOW for 7-9 hours until onions are tender.

Finishing touch:
Top sliced bread with shredded cheese. Place in broiler until cheese melts and bread is browned. Float a piece of toasted cheese bread in each serving.

This is one of my favorite recipes because it truly only dirties your crockpot. It is the only one I've found that doesn't require you to saute the onions in butter first.

Oh and the original recipe mentions that you need to peel the onions. I thought that was a given, but just in case I don't know my audience...please PEEL the onions, folks.

Head back over to BooMama's for other great recipes.

Jade's Baptism

Jade was baptized last Sunday, October 19th. It was a beautiful day that just so happened to also be my in-law's 41st wedding anniversary, making it all the more special.

The service was at our old church, for reasons I explained here. Worship was wonderful. I really enjoy the "contemporary" worship style (for lack of a better word) at our new church which we love dearly, but still have a great appreciation for the pipe organ and hymnbook. I also enjoyed being in worship with all of my closest family members. I'm so thankful to be surrounded by a family of believers.

Remember how I was in need of a sweater for Jade? Not because it was chilly, but because the familial baptismal gown was designed for infants, and she hasn't fallen into the infant weight class for about a year now. When I had tried it on her the previous week I was unable to button the back, so I needed a sweater to cover the gaping neck line. I'm not sure if I stretched it out while ironing it or what, but it fit perfectly that morning. I was glad to not have to cover up any of the 60 year old gown.

The girls did beautifully up in front of the church. I wasn't sure if Lily would be intimidated and clingy or if she would see this as the perfect opportunity to break out into some of Ariel's greatest hits while she had the stage and a captive audience.

At one point she got a little restless and started up the stairs to the choir loft...where there are lots and lots of microphones. I was relieved that she was easily reined back in and even let me hold her during the other baptisms. Of course then she discovered my silver necklace (I rarely wear jewelry) and proceeded to thump it repeatedly against my chest. I just ignored it and I'm sure everyone on the first row mistakenly now believes I have the patience of Job.

Our standards for her have been lowered after the flashing incident at our new church. I don't think I've aired that news on the blog yet. Let me flag this post as one to remove before she's a teenager.

A few weeks back we had a meeting at our new church with a couple of ministers to discuss our views on baptism and how it might affect our ability to join the church. They graciously offered to provide childcare for our kiddos while we met. Just prior to that meeting Lily had been down for rest time. At rest time (notice I don't call it naptime anymore), we always put her in a pull-up just in case the Lord hears our prayers and she actually falls into a long deep sleep and has an accident. When she got up it was time to go, so I told her to take off her pull-up and get some panties back on.

We got to the church and were surprised by how many people...staffers and volunteers...that happened to be gathering in the foyer during the gap between morning and evening services. We began introducing ourselves to some of them, all the while Lily was twirling around in her favorite dress. Then she loudly announced to the whole group, while lifting up her dress no less, "Mommy, I don't have any panties on!"

That's when I remembered that kids need ONE instruction at at time. She had at least gotten the pull-up off. Step TWO...oops. This would have been one instance where I wouldn't have minded if she hadn't listened to me at all.

I'm sure the first impression they had of us was just excellent. There we were trying to join a Baptist church while holding to paedobaptist beliefs and our four year old flashes the whole foyer. Fun times.

Anyway, back to baptism Sunday. Jade was a breeze. No problem being handed off to the pastor or anything. She was in the I'm going to suck my thumb, hold my blankie, and not give anyone a smile type of mood...which is evident in all the pictures below. I didn't care though. I was just glad that we didn't have to enact any of the "hollering baby exit strategies" that they had gone over with us before the service.

A few of you had mentioned being curious about why we believe that the Scriptures teach not only the baptism of believers, but their children as well. My husband found a link to a site that has 3 brief articles written on the topic. One of which is a letter from a father to his college age daughter...written to explain how his views had changed when she inquired. Click here if you're interested.

And remember, my blogoversary giveaway is open through Friday at midnight.

A Savior on Capitol Hill

Any Derek Webb (formerly of Caedmon's Call) fans out there? Back in the days when we didn't have a sitter racking up charges in our absence, they were a band whose concerts we frequented.

Anyway, my hubby found a little video of Derek singing some thoughts on the election. Since I am the epitome of someone who is not political and also too lazy to post it from GodTube, you can find it here.

That would be on my hubby's blog. The one he posts to about once every two months. Isn't it a funny thing...husbands and blogs? He just had to start one...probably out of sheer curiosity of what in the world I found so fun about blogging...I'm not sure he gets it. Quite. Yet.

Do any of your hubbies blog?

My daughter really IS well rounded

We were traveling on one of the main roads through town when suddenly all the cars came to an unexpected halt. Lily has always been fascinated by traffic, so I wasn't surprised when she started commenting about it.

L-Mommy, there sure is a lot of traffic.

K-Yep, lots of cars on the road today. I wonder where they are all going.

L-Probably either to Old Donalds or Chick-n-Play.

K-Really? What makes you think that?

L-Because those are the only places we go.

K-Really? We don't go to pre-school, church, the bank, the doctor's office, the post office, the library, the grocery store, music class, kids club or anywhere else?

L-No. Only O'Donalds and Chick-n-Play.

I'm sure the grandparents are really impressed. We probably eat 19 out of 21 meals at home weekly. And the two times we eat out are rarely at those places.

Maybe she's tired of my cooking and trying to drop a hint. Oh and those aren't some weird knock off restaurants, those are her names for McDonalds and Chick-Fil-A.

What have the little voices in your car been saying lately? Visit Mary @ Not Before 7 and let everyone know on Tiny Talk Tuesday.

Oh, and another place we go to is Starbucks...will be headed there soon to get the giveaway giftcard...you can enter by leaving a comment on my blogoversary post before Friday at midnight.