Step Two In The Journey....

One of the ways I am preparing for our trip to the beach is to plan for the food we will eat. Since so many families are sharing a house at the beach, we have agreed on a way to streamline cooking. There are five siblings and each one is responsible for preparing supper on one night. We will take food for breakfasts and lunches for our own families then prepare one supper for the entire group.

So, this week I have been grocery shopping and cooking and planning. For our breakfasts, I made one of my kiddos favorite things: banana chocolate chip baked oatmeal. This is a breakfast fare that was introduced by my friend Connie several years ago. Over time, it has evolved and grown into many variations, but my kiddos love this one best.

After baking the oatmeal in muffins and mini muffins,


I flash froze them, then placed them all in a container in the freezer until our trip. They will thaw quickly and satisfy my children's appetites as they begin each morning.

As for my meal, I will be cooking Caribbean Chicken, Cheesy Potatoes, Fruit Salad and peas. As a shortcut, I will make the marinade for the chicken beforehand and take it with me. I have also recruited my hubby to grill the chicken!!! I've already bought all the ingredients I need and will transport them in a cooler to our vacation beach house.

One last thing I will do as we get ready to leave: I will pack us a lunch for the road to the beach (this will save us time and money).

Edited to add: I also found time to bake Crisp Cookies! Check them out on my recipe blog.

The Journey To The Journey

Isn't it amazing how much work must be done in preparation for a trip? About a week before we go anywhere, I start to stress about all that must be done before I leave. There's laundry to do before I can pack it in the suitcase. There are groceries to be bought before I can make food preparations (which I'll tell you more about later). There is house cleaning to be done before I leave so that I can come home to a clean house. There are endless lists to be made so that I don't forget anything important (which I usually do anyway) and lots of decision making and second guessing...and so on. Of course everything mentioned has to take place on top of all the normal activities of our house.

In the end, it's all worth the time, thought and stress....getting through it is the hard part. And getting through it is what I'm doing this week. This Saturday we leave for a vacation with my hubby's family at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. My hubby has 4 sisters all of whom are married with children. The whole clan including Mom, Dad, siblings, in-laws and kiddos are gathering in a rented beach house to spend a week. It is a rare occasion that ALL TWENTY-TWO of the clan are able to be in one place at one time, so this is a special treat! I can't wait to get there, and I can't wait to tell you all about our fun. But in the meantime, you'll be hearing about the steps on my journey to the journey.

Step One:
Start a pile. I have cleared my dining room table and have begun to gather items that come to mind as I go through the week. As the week goes along, my pile grows and grows, but when its time to fill the suitcase or pack the tubs, everything is in one place.

Stay tuned for nail biting (probably not) posts about food preparation, a vacation birthday party, plans for family portraits and a special family activity while at the beach.

Too Good To Pass Up!

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Go here to read more about this huge sale! Hurry, though, the price goes up tomorrow--get this money-saving ebook package at a ridiculously low price while you can!

Yesterday, we attended a presentation by local game wardens about alligators. Apparently, more of them than I knew live in our area. It's a little unnerving to think about, so I just tried to concentrate on the fascinating facts that we were learning.

I was very proud of our son who was brave enough to hold both of the alligators. This picture shows him holding the smaller of the two.

After the alligator presentation, we strolled through some of the trails at the park. Here are some of the creatures we saw.

This one gave me the "creepy-crawlies."


A lizard of some sort:


This one's nice and cute, but I couldn't help wondering if there were any alligators lurking nearby.



The best part of the day, as always, was watching my children's awe and wonder:

Who Needs a Swimming Pool?

My original plan was to just post the above photo. But these just make me laugh out loud and I have to share them with you!

This whole idea was my kiddos'. As I was gardening, they got the bright idea of filling this tub with water to use with their shovels and pails. Later in the day, they asked me if they could put their swimsuits on and get in the tub. I said, "sure" and went on about my task. When I looked up to see this, I just couldn't resist a series of photos.....giggling all the while.


It brings to mind the washtub baths that people took before indoor plumbing was available.

What made it even funnier was the pink flamingo my son dragged up.


Now, I must take a moment here to explain that we do NOT have pink flamingos in our yard! Our son found this one under a bush....left over from a prank several months (years?) ago.

Anyway, I guess Mr. Flamingo needed a bath and apparently a drink, too!

To use an old phrase left over from my high school days. "Son, you slay me!"

Portraits at the Beach

There is no better subject in my photos than my children. There aren't many better settings than the beach. So I took the opportunity during a recent stay in Destin, Florida to photograph my children. Gaze on the most adorable children in the world (in this Mom's eyes, anyway) by clicking here.

Fabulous Flips!

Look what may sis-in-law made for me. I got them in the mail today, and can't wait to wear them! If you're interested in her work, check out Something Girly!

Beach Beauty

During our recent trip to the beach, I had a lot of fun taking pictures of anything and everything. I posted some of the landscape pictures today over on Avoiding Dishes. I hope to follow it up soon with some portraits of my kiddos on the beach. So, if you're interested, hop on over there and check it out.

Small Town American Fourth!

Today, we met one of Joel's sisters and her family half way between our homes (they live 4 hours away) and had a patriotic picnic. It was nice to visit with them, and our children enjoyed seeing each other.



Our town's celebration came earlier in the week, however. This past Tuesday, a celebration was held on our town's square. The Tri-State Community Orchestra and our town's community choir performed patriotic music. People brought their lawn chairs and sat in the evening breeze to watch and listen. I joined several families who spread their suppers together and shared them potluck style.


I also participated in the community choir. This was a lot of fun, and as I stood on the gazebo singing patriotic songs, I was moved with emotion. I am so grateful that God has granted us the freedoms we have, and I pray that He continues to do so.

waiting our turn to sing (the orchestra is set up in the tent you see in the background)

my view from the back row of the choir

the community choir
photo by Lynn Sanders

For several weeks, my children have been wanting to have a lemonade stand. They saw someone on tv running one and they thought it would be fun. They even got out their paper and markers and drew a picture of what it would look like. My friend, Connie's kids have been begging her to let them sell baked goods at the ball field. So, we put their ideas together and let them do it at the patriotic celebration. They didn't really know they would make money, just wanted to have fun. And it turned out great. People were so nice to come by and chat and pick up some lemonade or a brownie. They had so much fun (and made some money, too)!

photo by Lynn Sanders

Y'all, its events like this that make me love a small town. This big city born, Midwestern girl always dreamed of living in the South....and here I am in a small town in the deep south and lovin' every minute of it!

The Art of Multi-Tasking

This was definitely a multi-tasking day. Here's how it went:

*at mid-night I went to bed....stayed up too late uploading photos.

*was jerked awake by a loud noise at 3 a.m. Hubby and I searched the whole house to discover that my razor and its pod had fallen from its suction cup home in the shower...that'll get your blood pumping!

*didn't really sleep well the rest of the morning.

*dragged my groggy, couldn't sleep body from the bed...grimaced at the bags under my eyes, and sat down to read Bible and pray.

*pulled a comb through my hair, got dressed and put on BIG sunglasses... made a quick trip to nearby Piggly Wiggly for milk (so my kids would have some for breakfast) and cantaloupe and chicken breasts for tonight's supper (its my turn to cook for the co-op).

*tried to keep George, my neighbor, from seeing the bags under my eyes when I ran into him at the Piggly Wiggly (commonly referred to as "The Pig" around here).

*returned home to kiss hubby goodbye as he left for work.

*rushed my kids to get out of bed, dressed and out the door so I could meet a friend at our town square to walk....stuffed water bottle and a baggie of cereal in their hands as we got in the car....guess I didn't really need the milk for breakfast, huh?

*walked briskly with friend for an hour while kiddos played on the square....was sweating buckets!

*returned home and put kids to work on their chores.

* started a load of laundry which I promptly forgot about until around 3 p.m.

*made some phone calls relating to my home show business.

*yelled (I'm ashamed to say) at my kids for not getting their chores done.

*put up some corn (in freezer) that a friend had given me.

*started cooking the black beans for tonight's supper.

*chopped onions to flash freeze.

*checked my email, blogs, etc.

*sat down with hubby and kids for lunch.

*started yellow rice for tonight's supper.

* remembered the laundry and changed it to dryer.

*talked to sis-in-law twice, several friends and hubby on phone (this makes my neck cramp since I lodge the phone between head and shoulder and continue working on the tasks at hand).

*load and start dishwasher.

*pack a care package to send to missionaries furloughed at a nearby university.

*jump up in alarm when my daughter starts crying/screaming....only to discover the "tragedy" is a penny has gone down the bathroom drain......try to catch my breath and hope my heart can recover from the alarm.....take moment to teach daughter not to panic....especially not over a penny.....sit down to recover....heart still pounding.

*finally shower my stinky sweaty self.

*prepare main dish for tonight's meal: southwest chicken.

*call to make arrangements for delivering tonight's meal to members of co-op.

*load the car and make deliveries.

*stop at a friend's house to chat.

*go home and serve supper to kiddos.

*crash in a pile, unable to move....so..weary...must...have...sleep.

*force myself to get up and clean up kitchen.

*get kids in bed.

*start another load of laundry...make to-do list for in the morning.

*write this post...............headed to bed.