Lasagna Casserole

Here's something that I threw together last week. It was a success in our house, so we had it again this week (it helped that I had already prepared twice of all of the ingredients ahead of time, which made it a no-brainer meal). All the ingredients of lasagna without the layering business, and since it's all mixed together it bakes much more quickly than traditional lasagna It tastes great as leftovers, so you could easily make it a day in advance.

Please note that you can use any lasagna fillings that you would like. We used Italian sausage and spinach (a yummy combination) but you could go for cheese, veggies, other meats, the possibilities are pretty endless. You could even try a sauce other than red sauce...you really can't go wrong with a dish like this. Also, try using fat-free ricotta and part-skim mozzarella for a lower calorie version.

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
16 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
15 oz. container ricotta cheese
32 oz. prepared red sauce
1 1/2 lb. cooked Italian sausage (ground, not links)
10 oz. package frozen spinach, thawed
2 13.5 oz. boxes whole grain pasta (penne, rotini, etc), cooked

DIRECTIONS
1. Boil pasta, shred mozzarella and reserve about 1 cup for topping, cook sausage, thaw spinach.
2. Preheat oven to 350-degrees F.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except for 1 cup reserved shredded mozzarella cheese. Mix to cover pasta evenly with sauce and fillings.
4. Spread pasta mixture into large baking dish. Sprinkle 1 cup reserved shredded mozzarella over the top.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is starting to brown and liquids are bubbling in the pan.
6. Let cool slightly before serving. Makes approx. 12 servings.

Bear

This is one of our favorite books. If you have little ones in the house and haven't found this at your local library or bookstore, you should check it out. It's a lot of fun! This is also demonstrating one of Hannah's first words: "bear".

Enjoy!

Orange Pear Apple Bear
by Emily Gravett

Sightings

Today we went to the train station. This is a usual outing for us, sometimes going even five or more times in a week. But today Joshua was looking up at the sky instead of down the tracks. He pointed and said, "People in sky." I didn't really know what he was talking about, but tried to ask some questions to find out what he meant. He only repeated, "People in sky."

During our bedtime reading we looked at the story of Jesus returning to heaven. Joshua was very concerned about this and even looked a bit teary eyed as he said, "Will Jesus come back?" Of course, I assured him that Jesus is coming back and He hasn't really left us because He sent the Holy Spirit just after His ascension. This went over Joshua's head a bit, but he seemed relieved and throughout our Bible reading he kept saying, "Jesus is coming back," as if to reassure himself.

And then he said to me, "I saw Jesus in sky." Immediately I thought of the train station and his repeated statement while looking up at the cloud coverage, "People in sky."

Even now, I'm reminded of when Joshua was under a year old. One night he crawled from his bed (he was sleeping on a mattress on the floor at that point) and came up to our bed. He sat up and said, "Jesus!" This was before he had ever said anything other than "Ba-ba-ba-ba," and the like. Claude and I felt like Joshua must have seen Jesus that night and been very aware of His presence (whether by actual sight or not I can't say).

With Joshua's sighting today it could have very well been his imagination. He is learning about Jesus returning to heaven and the Holy Spirit coming in nursery and we're reviewing it at home as well, but I wonder...

Either way, it lead to a really touching conversation with Joshua at bed time. As we continued to read in his Beginner's Bible this sentence (Jesus speaking to His disciples) "I am going to heaven to prepare a wonderful new home for you. When I come back the next time I will take you with me." I asked Joshua, "Would you like to go to heaven with Jesus?" and his response was, "Yes!"

It's really exciting to witness his growing awareness and knowledge of the Lord and I'm sure we'll be throwing a big party when he opens his heart to Jesus and receives the salvation that is so much more than a ticket to heaven.

Learning to Learn

"The Plagues" by Joshua Chew (with assistance from Mommy)
As we told the story from Exodus 7-12, we drew each plague. We also spent the week telling the story with our own sound effects. The favorites were "Blah!" for the water turning to blood that no one could drink and a noise I can't clearly type that represented swarms of locusts. Now they both think that they hear locusts nearly every place that we go!

So, we've been doing this homeschool preschool thing for over a month now. I think we're in our fifth week maybe??? Anyway...it's going quite well. In fact, Joshua has pretty much learned all of the basics I had planned for this fall and through the end of the spring.

The goal was for him to be able to easily and correctly identify colors and shapes. There are a couple of each that need some attention, but he generally knows all the basic colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, brown, white) and colors (circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, diamond, heart, octagon, crescent/moon, star).

So, we're doubling up concepts (one color and one shape each week) and seeing if we can get through them by December when we'll have a "break" which really means that we'll do everything that we normally do without a specific focus. Well...we will be doing a unit on Jesus' birth leading up to the celebration of Christmas.

But I'm learning a lot about learning. The main thing is that Joshua and Hannah just learn without much effort on my part and without me planning anything. I have realized that Claude and I have been actively teaching Joshua and Hannah without really noticing. For example, our weekly trip to the grocery store always goes more smoothly if they are involved. So, I'm always asking Joshua to help me count whatever produce we're buying, to identify the colors and occasionally the shape of fruits and vegetables.

This realization, in combination with reading a book called "The Homeschooling Handbook" by Mary Griffith, is causing me to think a bit more about teaching theories and approaches. I'm finding that Joshua and I accomplish our learning objective goals for the week without much addition or change to our non-school days. There is a little bit of forethought in terms of what we'll focus our attention on, picking a Bible verse and hoping to find an acceptable and singable melody for it, and a Bible story with some type of creative or interactive teaching element.

And then we just go about our week. Some weeks we're doing every activity I had thought of and other weeks we don't get to anything formal aside from coloring a poster with our memory verse. But every week, Joshua is learning more and more than I expect. Praise the Lord!

Shape of the Week: Triangle
On the menu this evening, we had triangle biscuits. Joshua is learning how many sides a triangle has...for now he says "1,2,3,5,6!" But he does know a triangle when he sees one and that's literally what counts for now.

This endeavor is proving to be a platform of change for me. I'm learning to be a little bit more organized, to think ahead, and above all to be patient and flexible. I'm also finding that I am beginning to be more inquisitive and to seek out information on topics that I don't know much about. Basically, I am learning to learn from a two-year- and a one-year-old.

Working on Working Together
You can see our need for this lesson if you observe closely...Joshua is taking Hannah's hand away from the tray of unbaked triangle biscuits.

I'm still thinking about what we'll tackle after the winter holidays. Probably something along the lines of counting and maybe recognizing letters of the alphabet. I'm not entirely sure. Scripture memory and Bible lessons are becoming the backbone of our daily/weekly lessons so those will certainly stay. Claude and I are talking about a memorization challenge (as Joshua and Hannah get to be a few years older) to include an entire book of the Bible. Hopefully we'll all get in on it, but I have a feeling Joshua and Hannah will out run us pretty easily! :)

So, I'll count this as an update, throw in a few photos of some semi-formal activities we've done in the past couple of weeks, and call it a night.

The Things They Know

I, Becca, had a song of the books of the Old Testament in my head yesterday morning. I began to sing it aloud and was completely shocked to hear Joshua saying the books along with me. Here's our second recording attempt. I was so distracted the first time that I lost track once we reached Jonah, which was too bad because Joshua was saying more books the first time around...oh, well.

He continued to sing along with me several times through the song and each time would say some of the same books and add others. My favorite is "Open a Daya" for Obediah. Please note that Joshua calls Claude "Daya" because he couldn't say "Daddy" until recently. So really, he was saying "Open a Daddy" as Obediah. :)

I also love to see that Joshua is really just a two year old, as demonstrated through his lack of sharing with Hannah. It just goes to show...we can know all about God's word, but when all is said and done that knowledge isn't going to bring about the life change that we need in order to be in right relationship with God and with others. Memorizing the books of the Old Testament or not, we still need Jesus.

Hair Products That Work

Are you looking for a hair product that really works? Are you tired of reapplying hair spray, gel, or mousse throughout the day? If you're sick of that wind blown look, we have got the products for you!

These in home laboratory tested styling solutions will cost you a fraction of leading hair products and will leave you smelling good too.

Looking for an alternative to mousse? Try some mashed banana on that do.

Is your hair spray just not cutting it these days? Why don't you cover your hair in fruit flavored gelatin instead? Guaranteed to keep it's hold and if you don't mind the chunky look it could supply your mid-morning snack.

In addition to our growing line of hair styling products, we've also stumbled across an alternative to that expensive makeup that seems to fade by the time you walk out the front door. For some long lasting beautifying, try washable markers on your face. Instead of spending all that money on makeup that simply doesn't last throughout the day, spend less and enjoy your made over look for at least two days!

Lastly, if you're looking for someone else to style your hair and apply your makeup, we've got just the staff you need. Meet Joshua and Hannah Chew, two up and coming hair stylist and makeup artist prodigies. Sure, they're experience is limited, but they are eager to learn and ready to try just about anything in order to satisfy our clients.

Return of the Mommy! :)

And so Mommy returned today!

Yay! I have to relinquish the role now though... :(

But yay Mommy's home!

Mr Mom Day 2

Well it's Claude again and it's day 2 of Mr Mom.

Praise the Lord He enabled today!

It was a pretty simple day, that was the goal, wake up, breakfast, clean up, get dressed, prepare some lunches for our outing, catch the train into Grand Central, walk around Grand Central both on the inside and literally walked around Grand Central on the outside and then catch train back to Hartsdale, lunch, snack, play, color, hang out, dinner, baths and bed.

Praise the Lord!

In the main concourse...


Oooo...

Joshua taking it in. Hannah wanting to wear Joshua's bear backpack.

The rope on the barrier was more interesting than the car.

Orange Moped.


After a hard morning being carried/riding around in the stroller

On the way home.


Yay back home! Praise the Lord!

Joshua's second memory verse!

Again Becca and I are amazed at the work that He is doing in Joshua!

His second memory verse,

"The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth." - Isaiah 40:28

Enjoy!

Hannah's 1st Birthday!

Praise the Lord! One year ago today, the Lord brought Hannah out of the womb and into the Chew family! What an adventure it has been and what a joy! Hannah has been taking her first steps and looks like she'll be pretty proficient pretty soon given the great example that Joshua has been to her of all the developmental milestones!

So we celebrated low key, since Becca was heading to Women's Retreat this evening, so we just went to the Greenburgh Nature Center, said hi to the goat, the prairie dogs, the chickens, ran around the lawn a bit, made some pizza, ate some pizza, sang Happy Birthday to Hannah after which she promptly put out the candle with her finger and cried accordingly and then ate birthday cupcakes and then dropped Becca off for Women's Retreat and then put these guys to bed after falling asleep in the car!

Mr Mom

Well, greetings all, it's my turn to put a post out for our family! Becca is now on Women's Retreat with the Church of the Nazarene and so I have the run of the household for the weekend!

So far the plans are to ride the Metro North into Grand Central which should be a sufficiently stimulating and lengthy enough of an outing for Joshua and Hannah. Lord give me wisdom as to when we should be venturing out for this during the day!

Tonight was easy, Joshua and Hannah fell asleep in the car after dropping Becca off!

So.... pray for me! :)