kid rooms

It's been a while since I have posted pictures of the interior of our house. We still have a TON of stuff to do. There are a lot of bare walls and mis-matched furniture. It's a work in progress. We've been in our home for almost one year now. I plan to do a blog post of before and after pictures to show our home improvements, but until then, enjoy the pictures of the kids' rooms and guest room: This is Lyla's pride and joy. This bed was a lifesaver when, at the worst time possible, Lyla decided she didn't want to sleep alone anymore. Absolutely refused. I was about 9 months pregnant at the time that she decided to go into terrible-two mode with gusto. Not awesome. My dear friend Diana gave us this bed and saved our sanity. Lyla now loves to hop into her cool bed! She also loves to play in "the cave" underneath.

This is the guest room/nursery. Still have tons of work to do in here.

This is an alcove off of the guest room. We turned it into Cody's nursery...which he has yet to sleep in. He is still sleeping in our bed and Travis is not stoked about it. I am having a hard time with moving him into the crib because, a) I will miss having him next to me, b) I know there will be at least a few rough nights of transition, and c) he is still not sleeping through the night, so nursing or soothing him back to sleep means a walk down the hall in the middle of the night.

The crib which Cody has yet to grace with his presence. The art on the wall was done by my uncle in Japan many years ago. Those paper-cut-out animals always hung on the walls through my childhood. I love seeing them in my kid's room now.

a quick break from work

I needed to take a brief break from the computer, so I stepped out of the office for a walk around the bible college grounds. I was again reminded of how blessed I am to work at the conference center. It was so beautiful... One of the many hot springs that you can take a dip in to relax and refresh.

The hot springs and a partial view of the building where the large swimming pool is.

The lake, dock, and small beach.

The idea of the conference center is to "refresh the saints", which is a concept taken from Philemon 7. It is the ideal place to visit on a retreat and leave feeling renewed and refreshed. You can't see it in the picture, but there is steam coming off the waterfall at the top. The water gets hotter the higher the elevation.

I like to call this Snow White's wishing well. Lyla loves to peer over the edge and sing "I'm wiiiiiishing...."

Stuffed Shells Florentine

Now that I have a new job close to home, I am getting home at a much more reasonable hour and have started to cook dinner on a regular basis. I am really enjoying trying new recipes and planning out our dinners. This one turned out particularly well and I just wanted to share it because it was super easy and yummy.

Ingredients:

1 box jumbo shell macaroni
1 lb italian sausage
32 oz pasta sauce
2 - 10 oz boxes chopped spinach, thawed
6 oz ricotta cheese
8oz shredded mozzarella
2 eggs, 1/4 t garlic powder, 1/4 t salt, parmesan
*This recipe feeds 4-6 adults.

1. Boil noodles as directed. Drain, rinse in cold water. 2. Peel sausage from casing, cut into small pieces, and cook in skillet on medium. Add sauce and simmer. 3. Press moisture from spinach. In bowl, combine eggs, ricotta, mozzarella, garlic powder, salt, then stir in spinach. Stuff shells with spinach mixture. In a 13 x 9, spread 2 cups of meat sauce on bottom (maybe more?). Arrange shells in layer on sauce. I did 4 rows of 5.

Pour remaining sauce over shells. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Serve with garlic bread & salad and enjoy! I would love to hear other variations on this recipe. I would also like to know if anyone tries this recipe and what your feedback is.