excuses

My blog has been very lifeless in the past couple of weeks. Here are my excuses. You can let me know if they're alright.

- Two immediate family members have been in the hospital recently. My grandfather was hospitalized for about a week and is now in a nursing home rehabilitation facility. He is having some neurological issues that make it impossible for my mom to care for him at home. We're homing he will be well enough to come home in about a month. This past Sunday, my father was admitted to the hospital. He was working in Buffalo at the time so my mother had to take the train to get out to him. (On the way there, her train broke down and it took 6 hours for her to get on a new train. Stress much? yeah.) My dad is having heart issues. Severe chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue. But the doctors are hesitant to diagnose a problem. So early this morning, my parents are driving home and my dad will get right in to see his cardiologist. I've not been travelling to each hospital but the stress of knowing they were sick doesn't really make me want to post a recipe or idea.

- The two big girls started Upward basketball two weeks ago. They love it and I love that they get the benefit of organized sports. But it is one night and one morning per week out of the house.

- I am pushing to get school done by June. We won't be taking a February break and if we take an April break, it will be short. Plus I'm hoping to get three field trips in before July. Our first one is in two weeks. (CFA moms, let me know if you're coming!)

- And lastly, I (really there is a bunch of us who are working together, it's not just me) am starting a new small group at church. It's for moms - in all stages, but with a real focus on moms with young children. We're only meeting once a month for now. But we have 4H that meets once a month and our family small group that meets once a month. Oh and we're helping to teach New Member's classes for our church also. That's only once every two months.

So now that I sound like a complete Teacher's Pet - you know why I haven't been posting very much. We. Are. Busy. My phone rings now! I used to go days and days with having Josh or my parents being the only people who called me. Not so any longer.

New recipes I've tried and love:
Mom and Us granola - yum yum yum. It's a weekly staple around here now.
Roasted chick peas - crunchy, salty, high in protein snack Alyssa can eat.
Wheat crackers - (not the exact recipe I used but close) Didn't roll them thin enough but they were good. Need to work on this one.
Favorite bread - Hands down this is the winner. I haven't been soaking my wheat but I still enjoy the flavor of the freshly stone ground flour.