Life has changed alot

Since my last post we have had a baby girl and talk about life changing. We have 4 children and I never knew how much you could love and care for these little babies. We have had an amazing journey with Bethani she has had a number of struggles just to grow at an average rate. She is healthy and happy and my walk any day now.  She has started really jabbering and sometimes I would swear she is saying Mama or Dada. She is growing finally although she is only in 3-6 month clothes at 9 months of age. Caleb has grown very fast and despite just turning 4 he is wearing 5t clothes. He has had his first tooth pulled due to hitting his mouth months ago.  Aaron is still growing but he can still wear a few 5t pairs of pants he is very strong and agile and I will soon be finding him a gymnastics class to increase his skill levels.  Kody is growing fast and is in his 8 year old clothes he is really bright and excelling in school.  I love my little family I am so so blessed.

Let it Get to you

In our society we are told to keep our emotions and our beliefs to our selves, so that we can tolerate the behavior of others and except those behaviors. But God has required more of us we can indeed show mercy and walk humbly with out compromising our truth which is Jesus Christ. So my challenge to you is to let it get to you, what others say and do. Show Christ in love to everyone we meet. We have to be willing to be uncomfortable and be courageous. WHY? Because it is required of us!
I choose not to offend because I do not want others to feel unloved by me. However here is a question, if I am so worried I am going to offend that I do not display Christ in all his glory am I hurting them worse than just offending them?  

As you are reading this you are thinking of someone you are afraid to offend or you are thinking she is out to get all those that do not believe as she does. So if you are thinking of someone know you can love and show Christ and he will make your offenses bring glory to Him. If it is the second question you are indeed correct I am out to get them, to seek Christ because scripture is specific about how we get to heaven and I want everyone I know to get there too.
My prayer is not just for this week but for weeks to come: Lord help me to love them through it help me to be light and salt. Help me to show people your path, not to bicker and argue about the things of earth, but to lift up and show others the way, because sin should not define us as people.  Our relationship with you should or lack of it. Help me to help others to not walk to you, but RUN to you. Thank you for making the sacrifice I can not imagine making to give me a way back to you. In your sacrifices name I pray, amen.
This is a video of the song courageous by casting crowns pay attention around minute 2:22 you might here a and see a familiar verse. Micah 6:8

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI1LgfkF8J8

Wanna help?

Hey all so recently our pastor has been really pushing us to share the gospel. I see this as a personal challenge, since it is something I do not do regularly or hardly ever in all honesty. As matter of fact I think other than speaking to youth for a few weeks on Wednesday night I think I can count on one hand the people I have shared with.  I thought I am living my witness and I am, however I have been convicted that is not enough.  I am embarrassed to sound like one of those in your face fanatics, and I do not have all the answers.  Plus I am not even really sure how to approach it. So I am trying to step out of my comfort zone and practice. How do I practice? I bring it up to the cashier at walmart. I say something like so have you found Christ? So far no one has rejected me in person, but if they say yes I don't know what to say. If they look at me funny I try to stray away and hope just that question has them thinking. My biggest issue is what to do after this. I mean I am not giving them any resource and I am not helping them so what do I do next?   I am going to try to practice more and find more people to try this out on. I mean what is the worst thing that could happen if I refuse to argue and just open a window a crack right?  What I am hoping for is some advice on this and maybe to inspire others to practice as well. I know I have very few readers but those of you that do happen by please give me some input.
Thanks Sunni

My Baby is turning 2

Caleb will be 2 on Sunday. He is growing fast and talking more everyday. We recently went to the stock show and Caleb loved the pigs. I have had 3, 2 year old birthday parties now and I always have a difficult time picking something fun for the cake, since 2 year olds love everything sometimes and nothing some of the time. I made Caleb this cake it was super simple two round cakes one Funfetti and one chocolate stacked. The Nose is a small cake made with a a Pyrex type little oven safe bowl. Iced and added skittles for the eyes and little triangles taped to toothpicks for the ears.  It was fun and he already has called it piggy and cow so at least it is close to discernible.  

Yummy turkey left over Soup

Slow cooker recipe
1 1/2 c milk
1c flour
2tbs corn starch
1/2c water
1 small block of Velveeta cheese
2c Broccoli Normandy (frozen) mix
1c finely diced turkey
2c chicken broth
1/4 c diced onions
1/2 tbs garlic
3 tsp salt
2tsp pepper
2tsp favorite season salt
1/8 c sugar

in a small bowl
mix milk and flour until fully dissolved
in another small bowl combine water and cornstarch til fully dissolved

In cold slow cooker pour in broth, milk and flour mixer, sugar, and cornstarch and water. Stir together with a whisk. Add turkey and onion mixing again. Cube your Velveeta and sprinkle it in. Add your Broccoli Normandy. At this point it should look like this.

Now, you need to season your soup with salt, pepper, garlic and your favorite season salt.  Then, put just enough water to cover your veggies. Close the lid and turn it on low for 4hours. If you are a slow cooker watcher you can stir it occasionally with out fear of destroying.

 The final yummy goodness. You can stir in some cheddar before serving if you like.

Indian Fry Bread

 

Indian Fry Bread 

2 c. flour 

2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt 

1 c. water

Mix dry ingredients. Add water. Mix gently but thoroughly. Should be very sticky dough. Pinch off small handful. Flatten in flour. Cook in hot oil (375 degrees). Brown, turn over and brown other side. Drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with powdered sugar to finish.

My Sister learned how to make this in home ec. years ago so simple and very tasty.

My One Creative Skill

In the last 2 years I have been enjoying crochet. I have been doing it since I was little (just not very well). My Mom and Granny Wells taught me. Sometimes I think they did to keep me from talking so much. However, I have recently started playing with it and LOVE IT!

18-24 month dress

6-9 month dress for Cora.

I am posting my latest creation the first preemie dress I have made. I make dresses often God only granted me boys so I make these dresses for the ones I love and maybe someday a paying customer.
0-6 month for Autumn

This Dress has an adjustable empire waist line. The bow can be loosened or tighten like a draw string in order to accommodate even the smallest baby girl.

Aaron Turns 5

So I have been really behind on posts, but after giving this blog a new face lift. I plan to blog more often and share more recipes. Aaron my middle child turned 5 on Oct 17th, 2011. He is a very sweet and loving kid. He is such a pleasure to give gifts to. Everything you give him is the most special and best thing you could have bought in the whole world. After he received his gifts he then picked out something to give away to each kid there. He has a very tender heart.

Thanks to Grammy and G.P. for all the great gifts and the fun for our quick trip down there. (as it now takes almost 8 hours to get there, we did not have tons of time to spend actually there.)

Sour Cream Enchiladas

Ingredients

• FOR THE SAUCE:
• 16 ounces, weight Sour Cream
• 1 can Cream Of Chicken Soup (10 Ounce Cans)
• 2 cups Milk, Divided
• 1 cup Flour
• 1 can Diced Green Chilies, 4 Ounce Can (2 If You Like Them A Lot)
• 1 Tablespoon Pamesan Cheese
• 2 teaspoons Cumin
• 2 Tablespoons Seasoned Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinagar
• 2 cups Broth Saved From Chicken
• ½ cups Mozzarella Cheese
• FOR THE ASSEMBLY:
• 3 whole Chicken Leg Quarters
• 16 whole Corn Tortillas
• 1-½ cup Grated Cheese, Your Choice

Preparation Instructions

To begin with, put the chicken legs in a pot covered with water and boil until fully cooked (probably about 15-20 minutes). Then remove the chicken from the broth, saving broth for sauce.

In a large pot bring sour cream, chicken soup and 1 cup of milk to low simmer. While this heats, mix 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of flour in a mixing bowl until flour is fully dissolved. Stir in flour and milk mixture once the sour cream mixture is simmering. Lower heat and add all remaining ingredients except mozzarella. Raise heat to a low slow boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. After 5 minutes, remove from heat. Add mozzarella. Salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool slightly before assembling the enchiladas.

Finishing the enchiladas:

Steam or heat tortillas for a few seconds so that they are pliable.

Shred your boiled chicken and salt and pepper it lightly.

Fill each fried or steamed tortilla with chicken and grated cheese (your choice) and roll. Place in a 9×13 pan, seam side down, till every inch of pan is used.

Pour warm (not hot) sauce over the rolled enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake in oven, uncovered at 350F for 25 minutes or until edges are boiling. Or you can heat them in the microwave if you used a glass pan – heat on full power for 10 minutes.

I will be making these on Saturday and will include a picture then.

We did not fall off the face of the Earth!

Or move to Canada, but we did move to the panhandle and if it were not for the distance from family it would be the most wonderful place to live. We bought a house we really love and can see the park from the backyard, which the boys think is AWESOME. They ride bikes all over the neighborhood with all the kids that live around us. The other day I looked out the window to see at least 5 kids all drawing with sidewalk chalk on the driveway. Only 2 of them were mine. It is already cool here and in the early 40s in the mornings. Right now in the heat of the day it is 76. I have heard that we can expect multiple days below 0. So that will be new. Just wanted to let anyone who stumbles across this page that we are alive and well. THE CATES

WOW

6 Weeks and little Caleb will be one year old. This year seems so strange. We have been so very busy I am ready for Christmas to come. I love the time with family. All of my boys are growing so fast Kody will start his second semester of school, Aaron will be spending the last half a year at home with mom before pre k. I am amazed at how fast the time has flown. I love my family and am so thankful to be a stay at home mommy. God has really blessed us. Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Life gets way from us

As you can see it has been a very long time since I have posted anything. When Caleb was 1 month old my parents were in a major car accident. They are both alive but that accident changed my Mom's life forever. In the accident her hip and femur broke. The boys and I spent the next couple of months in hospital waiting rooms. Since then things have been crazy I lived down there on and off for 2 months helping and seeing my hubby on the weekends. My mom has endured tremendous amounts of pain and 10 surgeries. She is not not well and and may never walk with out a limp. But I am thankful that she can walk and that she and my Daddy are breathing. I am going to try to post on here more often there is so much that has happened in this last year that I have a hard time thinking of what to post about, but I will be posting and life will get fall back into some routine in the near future. I can feel it. Thanks to those that check up on us. I will be giving you more to read.

I wrote this post a few months ago

I never realized I did not publish this post

Here is a little bit of the Caleb. Life spun out of control when Caleb was 2 days over a month old. I got a phone call on April 26th after a scary visit at the door, my parents were in a serious car accident. Dad was ok mom was not after 2 weeks in the hospital she was sent home with a patch job hip. I stayed with her for quite some time when I left fever got worse and she had an infection after 2 more surgeries we thought things would get better however this is when the joint failed. Mom will have a total hip replacement Moday 2 days shy of an entire 3 months since that day. Please if anyone reads this pray for her and that she will be infection free.

I love you MOM! Caleb is 4 months old today!

Caleb will be here

Caleb will be here in a little over 4 weeks. I find that I feel very unprepared. With the last 2 at this point I was so tired and uncomfortable I could not wait. However I think since this will be my last baby I am reluctant to let this preganancy come to a close (as if I have a choice). However, knowing this does not keep me from procrastinating. I just wish I could make myself get everything taken care of and not feel sad about this being my last baby. I want to hold him and love on him, but the sooner he gets here the sooner he grows into a 1 year old and so on. I sound like a crazy a person when I put this on paper. I will miss the movements of this little one and it breaks my heart to know I will never feel this again.
It is so hard to know this is the last one. I feel heart sick, but now I am going to grow past this pettiness of being self-fish. I stay tired all the time and I am uncomfortable so in 4 weeks I will be so happy to be able to go for more than 1 hour with out peeing. I will be loving on this little angel and enjoying each of his milestones. Thanks for reading my insane rantings as little as a blog it still a great outlet of my feelings.

Baby Caleb Arnett Cates

Due January 29, 2010. Here are a couple 3D sono pics of our 3 rd wonderful boy. We did not have a 3 D sono with Kody or Aaron so this was a great gift from my ob. When I say gift I mean it since our insurance deductable reset 6 weeks before this appointment my ob Dr Deborah Hajovsky in San Angelo. Did not charge for this Sono. She is the best ob I feel very comfortable asking her questions and she is very sweet. She also talks football with Daniel so I say she is quite a keeper. Ok now for the pictures thanks for taking time to read the ramblings before the pics.









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Washed my iPhone update

Well this is my very clean iPhone. Everything seems to be great except for a few watery streaks under the screen. Great response normal battery life. Yeah for iPhone. Yeah for me. Even the camera is working see Kody for exmple.




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Washed my iPhone

I was really glad to be going to bed with a really clean kitchen. I was hungry so I fixed me some cereal. Daniel was already in bed so I was hurrying along and relized oh man where is my phone. After a quick look around, no phone! So I asked Daniel to call it straight to vm. That never happens so I made him get up to help me look. He says maybe it's in the dishwasher I am preto and once in a while put things in strange places. But, then I think maybe it is in the laundry with my pants. All of sudden I relize that I had put my pants in the washer. I went in there the washer was on the spin cycle and in my back pocket so was my phone.
I grabbed a bag of rice after lamenting that u can not take an iPhone apart to dry it and threw it in. I went to my room with my old iPhone which is cracked but works and began so e research. To my surprise this bag if rice thing has worked for a number if people. So for the next 2 days I sport the old messed up phone in hopes that my phone will work. I am so thankful I did not sell this one. I think I will try to sleep, but this seemed like a blogging opportunity I did not want to pass up. Will blog more in 2 days hopefully on my rice saved iPhone.

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It's a boy!!!

We will now have our own all boys 3 on 3 basketball team. Have to admit I really wanted a girl, but God knows our needs and limitations and this baby boy is right for us. At this point I am a little weepy it was the best Sono ever and I love seeing his little heart beat. All in all I am tremendously blessed and loving this baby even more now that he has a name and have seem his little face. Thank you Lord for our baby boy.

CHAOS times 3

Soon this blog site title will be changing since I am now 14 weeks prego with little Cates number 3. I am so excited as this is the first baby we have planned. At 8 wks we had a sono and everthing looks great. At 12 weeks we got to hear the heart beat of 170 bpm. So everything is great and the little one is starting to get bigger and I can now feel little movements. I am wishing for a girl or a beautiful baby boy. I can not wait to find out the gender in 5 weeks, pretty exciting.

Anyway Daniel, Kody and Aaron just went on a short vacation with out me so I was alone for the first time in over 3 years. It was really nice and gave me a little time to relax and do some laundry. Here is a great picture of my kids out with their Daddy. They had a very good time.

AZ

If u have never been to Arizona in July I would not recommend it. We stayed at a laquinta in north Phoenix for almost a week. It was so hot that going out to the pool was only an evening activity. One day I decided to take the boys to the park we got there at 9am when we got out of the Burb it was already 99 degrees. We did not stay long. We saw lots of neat things and played in the pool every day.
We went to see ice age in the theater and that was great fun. Toward the end of the movie Aaron decided he needed to rawr back at the dinos and even though it was a little embarrassing it was really cute. If u ever go to Phoenix in July make sure u have a lot of indoor things to do. One day the Burb thermometer read 123. It was a lot of fun, but I am so glad to be home with my hubby.