Puzzles, Prayers, and Pasghetti

After a weekend of beautiful weather, farmers markets, four-wheelers and flowers, dearest Mother Nature decided to hit us with a day of stormy weather.  So, naturally, mama had to step up her game and keep these kids busy. Thankfully, since a few days have been spent completely outside, a day in wasn't THAT difficult to pull off.  However, tomorrow looks like a nice one... and I'm TOTALLY okay with that!

 My Sweet Girl is a preschooler and is now familiar with letters and sounds.  Word finds are the thing around our house lately... she loves them! I love listening to her sound out the words and we enjoy searching for them together. I think it's amazing to see how far she's come in just the last 6 months.  It's crazy how smart these preschoolers are!

While I was browsing the dollar bins the other day, (if you are one of those who can actually pass by those things, I'm stunned.  HOW??!!) I came across the cutest little pail and decided I had to do something with it.  I decided on a "Prayer Pail" and had a great time with the girls

coming up with inspiration for prayer.  Some of the ideas we came up with were:

*Family

*Health

*Happiness

*Hungry Children

*Healthy Food & Clean Water

*Our Soldiers

Tonight before bed, we sat on the bed and each girl closed their eyes and pulled out a prayers.  Little hands folded, I lead them in prayer and we decided that would be our new way to pray before bed. I love that it will be something new each night and it's very direct, which can be SUPER helpful to those small children that are just learning how to pray.

Another thing my kids really enjoy is cooking with me.  YES!  I really love to cook and I'm glad it's something I can pass on to them.  Tonight was a crowd pleaser.... spaghetti!  Or as Little One calls it, "PASGHETTI!"  In the fall, I make a big batch of sauce from a mix of my own garden veggies, and those I pick up at the local farmers markets. I freeze it in freezer bags, but we go through it pretty quickly around here.  So, on nights when I have a bit more time, I forgo the jar sauce and use my OTHER go-to marinara sauce recipe.  This is easy and fabulous. You'll need:

* 1/4 cup olive oil

* 1 red onion

* 6 garlic cloves, chopped

*2 (28oz) cans of crushed tomatoes

*salt to taste

*a pinch of sugar to balance the acidity (or more of you want sweet sauce)

*3 tbls chopped fresh basil

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic, and cook until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and salt.  Bring to a boil and then cook over low heat for around 20 minutes.  Be sure to stir often! Add a bit of sugar to help out with the acidity and cook another 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat and throw in that delicious fresh basil... by now your mouth will be watering and your family will be slowly trickling into the kitchen asking what that delicious smell is.  This recipe is fail proof.  You will love it.