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It seems lately that our house has gone to the dogs. Yes, we’re in charge (mostly), but puppies have completely dominated the schedule. Our routine tends to revolve around them. In time, that will change, but for now, it’s a dog house. lol!
Our morning routine looks a little something like this…
- get up at around 5:00 am as that’s when Wyatt usually needs to go outside to relieve himself.
- come back inside and sleep until around 6:00 when the dogs get fed
- go back outside for a little bit
- come back inside and play for a little while until D comes downstairs to get breakfast before work
- I head back upstairs to go back to sleep (Wiley usually likes to come with me)
- before D heads back to work, he brings Wyatt back upstairs and puts him in his crate
- get up for good around 8:00
- do a little dog training after I eat breakfast
- head outside for a little play time
- back inside – they rest (if I’m lucky) for a little while while I check email and what not
Our school day starts when Munchkin gets up. We take turns letting the dogs out as needed. We break for lunch usually when Daddy comes home, but his schedule has been a little crazy lately so we just eat lunch between 11:00 and 12:00. The dogs eat lunch when we eat. I’ve found that they both do better getting 3 smaller meals rather than 2 larger meals.
After lunch, it’s back to school work. Usually the dogs need some play time. We’ll also give them chew treats (or treats in their Kong toys) to keep them occupied if we need to really focus on what we’re doing. Once Munchkin is done with her school work, she does her chores, and then she’ll allowed to play. I sneak in household chores here and there throughout the day.
Since we have two very active dogs, we make sure they get lots of play time and activity that keeps their minds busy. Active dogs, busy minds means less problems with mischief. (Wyatt is very curious about the camera here, so he started to stalk both me and the camera. I moved just in time to avoid getting pounced on. lol!)
The dogs eat the evening meal around 5:00, and then they enjoy more time outside (while being supervised as they often play rough with each other). After Daddy gets home, we eat our dinner and relax for a bit before heading out on our evening walk. Lately, we usually head over to the dog park as part of their evening exercise as it helps tire them out. The last couple of nights, they’ve enjoyed playing with some other dogs at the park. When we get back, the go directly to the back yard for some water and a bathroom break. By the time we get done with their nightly routine, it’s time for everyone to start getting ready for bed. Wiley and Wyatt play briefly before Wyatt is put in his crate for the night.
Wyatt decided to bury his pigs ear in the toy basket to hide it from Wiley. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t a good hiding place because Wiley came up right behind him and snagged it. Having dogs is a lot of work – especially when they are younger, but it’s definitely worth it!
These tasty little biscuit cups are great at home or on-the-go. They do freeze well, so go ahead and make extras for later.
Ingredients:
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into small pieces)
- 2 Tbsp taco seasoning (separated into 1 Tbsp portions)
- 1/4 Cup sweet onions (finely diced)
- 3 Cups Pamelas gluten free Ultimate baking and pancake mix
- 1 Cup milk
- 3/4 Cup butter (softened)
- 1/2 Cup shredded cheese
- cilantro (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut butter into the mix. Stir in milk and 1 Tbsp of taco seasoning. Set aside.
- In hot cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, cook chicken pieces with 1 Tbsp of taco seasoning and 1/4 cup of diced onions until chicken is no longer pink.
- Grease 12 muffin tins. Divide biscuit dough evenly between the muffin tins. Create a cup by pressing dough into bottom and up sides of muffin tins.
- Divide chicken between the 12 cups.
- Top with shredded cheese and a sprinkle of cilantro.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Serve with sour cream and tomatoes, if desired.
…I tend not to do quite as much blogging.
So much going on, and I’m sure that I’ll write more about some of the major things soon. For now, I’m trying to get back into a regular routine plus get ready for some possible changes. No, I’m not trying to be cryptic. Just focusing on the here and now.
I’ve been having fun creating some new meals for us to try (and trying to document what I’m doing). I’m enjoying taking food pictures again. Munchkin was thrilled when I agreed to make some cupcakes (gluten free chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter butter cream frosting with mini chocolate chips) after we watched an episode of Cupcake Wars. It’s been a long time since I made cupcakes, so they were a real treat for all of us.
Homeschooling is going well. Munchkin just started an online class through Answers in Genesis. It will be the first independent online class that she’s taken. It will be interesting to see how it goes. In addition to this class, we’ll be adding a logic class to our normal class schedule. Daddy and I haven’t decided if that is going to be a good thing or not. lol! Just kidding. We really do want her to be able to think logically. Critical thinking is an asset all too often overlooked these days. Between the logic class and the Answers in Genesis class, we hope to see Munchkin’s critical thinking skills improve.
Tomorrow, I’ll be posting one of the recipes that I put together - gluten free chicken taco biscuit cups.
Sorry this is late posting. Apparently, I scheduled the post for the wrong date. Ooops!
We’ve had a bit of a roller-coaster week, and the ride isn’t over yet. Thankfully, we know the Lord is in control of it all…
Chronological Bible – Week Four Readings:
Resources:
If desired, you can do the Bible readings online at biblegateway.com or another site. Biblegateway.com even has an audio Bible version, so you can listen to the scripture passages. If you have a favorite online reading and/or audio source for the Bible, please let me know, and I’ll add it to this resources section.
Prayers and Praises:
In addition to the daily Bible readings, I am starting up a prayer list linky where people can post prayer requests. We can then pray for each other.
Click here to enter your prayer request(s) and view the prayer request list…
As prayers are answered, we can add them to the praise linky which will allow us to see how the Lord is working through our lives.
Click here to enter your praise(s) and view the praise list…
Little did we know at this time last year that D would be going through two back surgeries in one year. I don’t think any of us really understood how much this would impact our lives. Yes, we knew there would be changes, but the extent of the changes weren’t really grasp until we were actually in the trenches going through the process.
Now that we are finally through the worst of it (in theory), the rebuilding is beginning. D’s surgeon said that coming back from back surgery once is tough and twice is even harder for a “normal” person. Since D is a Marine and has certain physical standards and tests to pass, the road to recovery is even more difficult. Having been away from pretty much all exercise for so long means that he’s starting back at square one. He has to retrain his muscles and build up strength and stamina before he can even attempt to truly get back into peek physical shape.
The unexpected side effect of D being down for so long? Munchkin and I also found ourselves out of shape as we relied on our family outings and activities to really keep us in shape. Yes, would could still do physical activities, but the reality is that we were use to doing things with Daddy. He was also our motivator to keep moving. When he went down, much of our family fitness went down with him. It’s the sad, but true reality. Oh, I exercised here and there, but I was not staying in shape like I was previously because I had lost my motivation.
So, here we all are – as a family – starting to get back in shape. We really are starting at the very basics as that is what Daddy needs right now. It frustrates him to no end when he sees how far he’s slipped out of shape. He knows that he has a huge uphill battle to get back to being Marine fit. To make it more fun and encouraging for all, we’re taking that journey with him. No, Munchkin and I won’t be Marine fit, but we want to be ready to tackle whatever fun family outings come our way.
Our journey began with walking – lots of walking. Active new pups tend to make this part of fitness a little bit easier as they need to be walked, so you can’t really back out of it. Most evenings, we take family walks. The pups get walked every evening, but not everyone makes it each evening. Very rarely do I not take the walk – the exception was the few days that I was fighting with the flu. As Wyatt (our youngest pup) gets older and builds his endurance, our walks are getting a bit longer each evening. Eventually, D hopes to be able to go running with Wiley (our one-year-old pup). For now, we walk.
The newest edition to our exercise routine is Your Shape Fitness Evolution on the XBox. I had previously been using Your Shape on the Wii, but we decided to try out the XBox version. Wow! Your Shape Fitness Evolution is really nice. I love, love, love not having any controllers to deal with while exercising. It’s so much nicer. We all have our fitness profiles and routines set up, and we encourage each other as we exercise. On the off days, we play some sports on the XBox. We quickly learned that you cannot stand too close to Daddy while playing tennis because he’s a little crazy. lol! Because we do have quite a few exercise/sports games on the Wii, I’m sure those will also get incorporated back into our routine as well.
We still walk around with aching muscles after especially difficult sessions, but we’re finding that getting back in shape as a family is a lot of fun. Our journey will be a long one, but we will slowly and steadily reach our goals one by one.
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