Jennifer

Veggie Tales Coming To A Town Near You

September 16, 2010 by Jennifer 7 Comments

The Veggie Tales are coming… The Veggie Tales are coming… The Veggie Tales are coming… take cover hurry. Just kidding! We are huge fans of the Veggie tales and just love the morals and values that they incorporate in each of their songs and movies. M and I got the chance to meet the Veggie Tales in person for the first time last year at my Dad’s work Samaritan’s Purse.

L was with us but took off across the building far away as she was not too keen on meeting them in person. BUT, that is not to say she will not sing as loud as she can with the songs and the DVDs that we have. She loves the Veggie Tales just as much as the rest of the family.

You will now know the reason we are all over the top excited that the Veggie Tales are bringing their show LIVE here to Raleigh, NC and other cities all across the United States.

As stated on the Veggie Tales home site:

The Veggies are at it again! Bob, Larry and the whole crew are taking to the stage with the silliest Silly Song Countdown ever! They have prepared the best of the best, the most classic of the classic, and the absolute silliest of the silly. But sometimes silliness just isn’t enough! Archie prefers lesson songs, Mr. Lunt wants to sing about food, and Jimmy and Jerry are stuck in the 80’s! Everyone wants their turn, and their songs in the show, but there’s only so much time! The entire VeggieTales crew will have to learn the importance of sharing to make this show work!

A high-energy song and dance spectacular for the whole family, this show will have you singing along, dancing in the aisles and smiling so hard your teeth will ache! Fan favorites include classic silly songs such as His Cheeseburger, I Love My Lips, The Hairbrush Song, and so many more! So join your favorite singing and dancing Veggies and SING YOURSELF SILLY!

Does the show not just sound like so much fun?! We will be going next month and are counting down the days till we get to go!

Would you like to go to a show near you? Awesome! Here is the deal… I need you to do a short little video of you and your kids, or just your kids either way singing your favorite Veggie Tales Song. Upload it to YouTube and then post the link of the video in the comments below. I will choose one winner to receive a huge prize package of free tickets to the show of your choice, backstage passes, and a VeggieTales DVD library!

Contest ends September 24 at 11:59pm EDT. The winner will be published on September 27, 2010.

Get your videos in. I am eager to see all your videos! If you would like to go ahead and purchase your tickets, I am able to offer you $3.00 off each ticket by using the coupon code OMWVeggie.

Snacking Can Be Healthy Too

September 16, 2010 by Jennifer 6 Comments

I get lots of questions and emails on how I create healthy snacks for my family. Most of you all know, that I started a healthy weight loss journey this time last year. It’s still going strong and I thought I would share with you some of my ideas that I do for my family.

At the beginning of each week, I go to the grocery store or farmers market. It depends on our schedule of the weekend to which location that I go to pick up our weekly produce. I select the veggies and fruits that I know we all will eat. I come home then and begin the big divide. I pack the girls lunch everyday so I use several small containers. Each container will get a serving size of either fruits or veggies. All these containers reside on our bottom shelf all week. I then will fix up four big containers of the fruits and veggies. The big containers are used for snacks here at home and the small serving size containers are used for packed lunches every day.

It does take time on Sunday’s to do this every week, but it is worth it during the week when the girls and I can just go to the fridge open and take out a quick and easy snack. Now, we also have a wooden cabinet that sits in our dining room. This is our dry food cabinet. I will fill that cabinet up with wheat thins, veggie crackers, baked lays, fruit snacks, peanuts, graham crackers and granola bars. The girls are allowed to pick one of these snacks when they get home from school and one before they go to bed. Now notice, they can go into the fridge unlimited to get the fruits and veggies, but we do limit them on the dry snacks. For the dry snacks, they are allowed to fill a bowl half way.

That is the big thing, it is all about portion control and teaching the kids early on. Now, listen up! Do you notice what types of snacks I have? I do not have little debbie cakes, cookies, and etc sitting around. All that carb, and high fat stuff will do is cause your family to be unhealthy, so why even buy it? Do not bring it in the house and you will not be tempted to eat it! It is simple as that. Make sure you have the healthy snacks and just keep doing this process each week. You will feel better about yourself (not sluggish) and you will lose weight in the process.

Enjoying God’s Creation at Ocean Isle Beach

September 14, 2010 by Jennifer 2 Comments

Taking a moment while the girls are on 3 week Fall break to enjoy God’s creation. We so get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, that sometimes we forget to just stop and cherish what is around us. The girls and I are having a blast enjoying the sights and sounds of Ocean Isle Beach. The weather is beautiful. Enjoy!

Remembering The Day With The Would Be Pilot

September 11, 2010 by Jennifer Leave a Comment

September 11, 2001 will always be etched into my head forever. I will never forget what I was doing at that exact moment. I was at work and we were in an insurance meeting and just had walked back upstairs when someone had called my phone and saying we were under a terrorist attack. I did not believe them at all. How could the US really be under attack? We did not have a TV in our department so we were all glued to our radio all day long. When I got home that evening, seeing the images play out on TV just left me crying my eyes out. This really was happening.

Last Sunday at church, we had a guest minister speak to us. This was just not a guest minister, this was a minister with a story. A story that left me sitting there with my mouth open. You see his name is Steve Scheibner. He is the pilot for American Airlines. He is a reserve pilot meaning he will go in and select his flights that no pilot is assigned to. Like any other ordinary day on September 10, he logged into the computer to see if there were any flights available. Flight 11 from Boston to LA was available for the morning of September 11. Naturally, he had to check with his wife first to make sure the schedules could align so he could take this flight. The schedules were covered and it was a go for him to take the flight. He went back to the computer and accepted that flight. That night he got all his bags packed and was all ready to fly out September 11.

He woke up that morning of September 11 just like any other morning, went to the airport and checked the status of his flight. You see a senior pilot can bump reserve pilots off their flights if they want that flight instead. 30 minutes before he was suppose to take Flight 11 from Boston, Steve was bumped by his co-worker. Steve would no longer be flying out Flight 11. As all of America knows that morning of September 11, that very Flight 11 was hijacked and crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Steve was suppose to be on that flight. Is that not one powerful testimonial? How can you not be shaken from that? If you would like to listen to Steve’s September 11 testimonial, it is on his site Character Health. Steve is still flying for American Airlines. Him and his wife have also started this parenting ministry of Parenting, Marriage and Character Matters. They will be back at our church first week of November doing a conference. Hubby and I plan to attend.

You just never know what God has planned for our length of stay here on Earth. This story just goes to show you! I am praying today for all the families that were affected by these horrific events. Praying for protection from these evil ones!

Much love to all my family and friends!!

Black Bean Brownies

September 10, 2010 by Jennifer 5 Comments

The other day on the Dr. Oz show they showed how to make a more healthier version of chocolate brownies. Now, you all know my family is all about eating healthier. I am not a big chocolate person, but I do have to say my husband and our girls definitely are! Even though, I couldn’t imagine how black beans would make brownies taste good, I decided to give it a whirl.

I grabbed a box mix of brownies (any mix will do)

1 can of 15.5 oz of Black Beans

and I blended them all together in the blender. I did want the beans to be smooth after all ;). I poured the mixture into a 13 x 9 dish that was sprayed with PAM. I placed the dish in a pre-heated oven of 325 degrees. The wait was on. My husband was giving me weird looks and saying, I know you don’t expect me to try them. Oh of course I do honey.

The time was here… let’s open up the oven door and see our creation.

Phew… they do look like brownies. That is a relief! Let’s now get down to the real stuff and taste test them. We love whip cream on our brownies, of course make sure it is the fat free kind. We are keeping it healthy you know!

M is our first person to taste test.

L is our second person to taste test.

I think we have a winner with the Black Bean Brownies. Hubby and I really enjoyed them as well and now we can eat brownies without feeling so guilty eating them. Let me know if you try them and how you like. I know.. I know… it does sound like a weird combination, but I can say you will not be disappointed!

Jennifer

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