running. walking. fighting.

See this group?  I love them.  They all crawled out of bed and put other things aside on a rainy Saturday morning to support me and others with breast cancer at Wentzville's Fight Like a Firefighter Run/Walk.  This is actually only a tiny bit of how they have loved me the past few months, but this was so awesome to see so many of them together at one time.

There were a lot of friends there.

And some of my family came over from Illinois, too!  In fact, my Aunt Gayla and cousin Jordan surprised me that morning!  All of them traveled at least 2 1/2 hours just to come to the walk.  They're awesome.

 

Brian, Joe and Christy were brave enough to run the 5K.  I think it poured the whole time they ran - love them for sticking it out and running anyway when it would have felt so much better to head back to bed in warm dry clothes! 

The 5K is a little over 3 miles. When Brian crossed the finish line and came over to me he told me he broke the run into the 3 parts.....the first mile was for my surgery, the second mile was for the chemo, the third was for the radiation. I love that guy so much! I believe if the tables were turned I would be so frustrated with me by now. I tend to be pretty needy about one out of every three weeks, and he is so patient about it and does whatever he can to make things as easy as possible for me. I am so ready for this to all be over. I know he is too, but he doesn't complain (although I'm sure he wants to) - he lets me do all of that!

There were LOTS of goofy faces.  I love goofy faces.  I love that we have friends to make goofy faces with!

There was a lot of rain, lots of umbrellas, and lots of happy kids to play with umbrellas in the rain.

There was a sea of yellow hats waiting to start the walk after the runners returned.  Some of our friends from church arranged for everyone to have hats, buttons and for a banner for us to carry as our group walked.  Thank you Jana, Stephanie and Annette!!

Look at the banner - yay!  Stephanie added one of my favorite verses to it.  Oh, and look how excited Elliott was to be standing there in the front getting his picture taken :)

I love my Makayla. 

All kinds of emotions hit me as I look at this picture. 

She and I go way back. 

Way back to when we started bonding when she wouldn't stay in her preschool class at church unless she was sitting in my lap.  Back to when I brought her family meals when she was beginning her chemo and now her family goes out of their way to care for me and my family during my chemo.   She inspires me to be strong and to fight.  I love that she came and walked for me and handed out buttons and helped carry the banner and just smiled the whole morning.

Wentzville has this cool pink firetruck.  If I'm not mistaken, it even has those girly eyelashes on its headlights too! 

And this, to me, was the best picture of the day.  Not just because it's Sheryl (although she is awesome), but because it captured something that I am so fortunate to experience pretty much daily.  Love from my friends.  I know my family loves me, and they show me daily.  But when you realize how much your friends love you and how many friends love you, it is a humbling experience.  At least to me.  I am so thankful that they go out of their way to give me hugs and let me know that I am loved.

Thank you to everyone who was there with us last Saturday!  We are truly surrounded by incredible people.  We love you!

our first ever soapbox races!

Elliott has asked for a couple of years now to participate in our local "Hill of Thrills" soapbox races.  We've put him off until this year thinking that it would involve designing and creating your own car, which neither of us were up to.  However, this year, when we got the flyer from school we realized that the cars are provided for you!  What?!  No sketching, Googling, hammering, arguing?  Yes please!  We just had to make sure that the boys met the height and weight requirements - and since they are usually off the charts for height and weight we really weren't worried about that. 

 Don't these cars look so fun?

 Elliott was very serious about the whole thing.  He was very excited to win his heat!

Ethan got confused at the very beginning of his race, thinking that the brake was a gas pedal.  It put him a few seconds behind his competitor, and he wasn't able to catch up :(  I think his favorite part of the race was at the end when there was a bit of a malfunction with the way they stop the cars which caused his car to take an abrupt 90 degree turn right into the other lane barely missing the other car and one of the staff members!

The Durbins were so awesome to come and watch the boys race.  Wish I had gotten a picture - don't know what I was thinking!  Hopefully next year all the boys will be able to race.

Fall Dinner Ideas

So this is the way I plan meals around here.  I try to come up with 6 weeks worth of dinner ideas at a time according to the season, etc.  Then I use those ideas to plan weekly meals.  It's been working for almost a year now.  I just finished the September-October ideas and thought I would share them with you all.  These are all dinners that most of my family likes most of the time, except for the ones highlighted in yellow.  Those are new recipes that I want to try, so don't hold me responsible if you try them and don't like them - but let me know so that I don't try them at my house :)

September-October Dinner Ideas

Chicken-Mozzarella Panini

This recipe calls for grilled chicken.  I guess you could grill chicken before assembling the paninis, but I don't have the patience for that.  We usually grill a lot of chicken when we grill so that we have extra to put in the freezer and pull out when we need it - that's the route I usually go with this.  I'm sure it tastes even better freshly grilled, though!

Chicken-Mozzarella Panini

prepared pesto
mayo
thin chicken cutlets, grilled (with whatever seasonings you prefer)
fresh mozzarella slices
ciabatta rolls
olive oil

Spread pesto and mayo on both the top and bottom roll. Add the chicken and mozzarella, and then brush olive oil on top of the roll.  Grill the sandwich on a panini press or indoor grill until cheese is melted and the sandwich looks done (sorry - that's just the way I do it!).

Asian Chicken

This one came from my days of doing freezer meals with my friend, Vicki.  Those were fun, exhausting days!  I don't miss the work involved, but I do miss all the meals in my freezer.

Asian Chicken

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/4 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
3/4 tsp ground ginger

Mix soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, oil, garlic and ginger to make the marinade.  Place chicken breasts into a gallon ziploc bag, pour the marinade over them and seal the bag.  Marinate for 1-2 hours.  Pour the chicken and marinade into a baking dish.  Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 30-45 minutes until juices run clear.

Pork Chops with Apple Rings

This gem is from my mother-in-law.  It's one that I can actually replicate.  She is one of those really great cooks whose recipes usually involve "a little of this"  "just enough of that" "you just cook it until it's done".  I watch her make them, write everything down, follow it exactly and it never tastes the same.  So I usually just wait and consider it a treat to enjoy those foods when I'm at her house.  But with this one I can actually come pretty close to making it taste like Nana's.  And it's great for this long-awaited fall weather we are having now!

Pork Chops with Apple Rings

4-6 Pork Chops
1-2 apples
brown sugar
salt and pepper
cinnamon
butter

Salt and pepper the chops.  Brown them on both sides in a large skillet, and then place them in a greased 9x13 pan.  Core apples and slice into rings.  Place 1-2 rings over each pork chop.  Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over both sides of the apple rings.  Dollop butter on the apples.  Bake at 325 for about 1 hour.

swedish meatballs

This recipe is one of my mom's, and my kids eat them with no complaining (rare occurrence at our house)!  I'll add a picture the next time I make them.


Swedish Meatballs

1.5 lbs ground beef
1/2 c. milk
1 c. quick oats
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. chopped onion
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients together and form into meatballs.  Place in single layer in baking dish.

Sauce:

1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 c. ketchup
1/2 tsp. mustard
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 c. brown sugar

Mix sauce ingredients and pour over meatballs.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.