Kaake Family Blog

It's a Wonderful Life The Bell's of St. Mary's A Charlie Brown Christmas Samantha's Christmas A Christmas Carol The Nativity Story Veggie Tales: The Star of Christmas Kingdom Under the Sea: The Gift Bible Hero Classics: A King is Born

I often see facebook posts of people looking for good, wholesome movies to watch with their spouse or their family.  Because of that,  I thought I'd make a list of netflix movies that our family has enjoyed, found educational, etc...  If you have some you think I should add to this list, leave me a comment.  I'll be updating periodically. Here goes!! Family Movies: The Hiding Place *The Last Sin Eater The Ultimate Gift *The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry Flywheel *Saving Sarah Cain Letters to God - this is a tear gripper! Faith Like Potatoes - caution here is the language used by an unsaved man in the beginning. End of the Spear *Chariots of Fire Facing the Giants *Beyond the Gates of Splendor Chronicles of Narnia One Night with the King *A Vow to Cherish The Inn of the Sixth Happiness Little House on the Prairie Swiss Family Robinson 17 Kids and Counting - this is the Duggar series.  I love this!  It's so inspiration! Mandie Series ...

How many times have we heard that one; or even said them ourselves? It's true, it really is the little things in life that make my day. Hand picked wild flowers from the kids, someone doing the dishes, a song sang to me or written about me, etc... Those are the things I treasure. Now, thinking about your kids, do you do those little things for them? Sometimes it's easy for me to think about doing those things for my hubby but overlooking them for my children. I'm around my children 24/7 almost 365 days a year. Sometimes it's easy to over look those small things that my children need as well. What are some little things that would just make your child's day? Here's some ideas from my kids. Lyshie age 11: getting her a game for her gameboy as a surprise picking her flowers taking her out for a special treat special movie night (even at home) with either her brother or mom lego time with daddy Jon age 4: making him mac n cheese cruisin'...

Here's some silly Jon pictures. We had so much fun together. These were of course taken on his birthday :) "Children are a gift from the Lord: they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior's hands. How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates." Psalm 127:3-5

Ok, so I couldn't wait till Monday to post this since I"ve had it done. Here's the list of dinners we'll be having the next couple of weeks. Sunday: Oven fried chicken, collard greens and sweet potato pie. Monday: Fish, baked potatoes and coleslae Tuesday: Homemade Mac and Cheese Wednesday: Broccoli soup and salad. Thursday: Tuna noodle casserole and Lyshie's garlic bread. Friday: Pizza Saturday: Baked Alfredo and salad Sunday: Baked potatoes and a main dish salad with chicken. Monday: Fish, baked potatoes and coleslaw Tuesday: Taters and sausage - one dish meal with applesauce Wednesday: Spaghetti bake. Thursday: Burgers and homemade potato salad. Friday: Pizza

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and we decided to eat in. The wonderful family we get our meat from gave us 2 filets. Matthew and I decided to use them for Valentine's Day and boy were they good! Matt's plate of filet, mashed potatoes and carrots. The carrots were from Door to Door Organics and the filet was from Turtlebee and Honeytree Farms in Byron, Michigan. The carrots were lightly steamed then put into a baking dish with butter and maple syrup. They roasted for about 10 minutes. The mashed potatoes were inspired by Rachel Ray. We put 5 cloves of peeled garlic in the pot while we cooked the potatoes. Yum! You can find the recipe for the filet here . Lyshie's chicken, potatoes and carrots. Here is the recipe Matt found for the chicken. Jon's macaroni and cheese - his favorite food! He also had chicken and carrots. Gotta love good company and good food!

I remember awhile back when I was first married I dove into the book,  The Five Love Languages. This helped me learn much more about my spouse and how he communicates with his love language. What a difference that has made. Taking that a step further, I have been looking for the love languages in my children. They too need to be loved in a way they understand. I have not yet read the book that was made for children but I believe the concept is probably the same. What have I found out? Lyshie's main love language is gift giving. That is followed up by words of affirmation. Let me give you an example. Lyshie loves to purchase and make gifts for everyone around her. To her, that is the way she shows them love. In turn, the way you show Allysha love is by getting/making her gifts. The same thing rings true with words of affirmation. She needs to know she's doing a great job in her chores and school, etc... That is also the way she shows love - by telling others h...

Breakfasts rotate between eggs and oatmeals. Lunches are any leftovers or whatever we can find. lol! Below are the dinner meals for the next two weeks for our family. Monday: Chicken and Rice soup with homemade bread and applesauce. Tuesday: Wet burritos and salad. Wednesday: Pancakes, breakfast meat and fruit. Thursday: Baked chicken with parm and buttered noodles and salad. Friday: Matt's homemade pizza and antipasta salad. Saturday: Burgers and sweet potato patties. Sunday: Baked potato bar with salad with grilled chicken. Monday: Goulash and veggies. Tuesday: Grilled bbq chicken, and potato salad. Wednesday: Chili, cornbread and applesauce. Thursday: Breakfast for dinner. Friday: Matt's homeamde pizza and salad.

I just recently read a post where someone wanted to know what they should teach their their kindergarten child. That led me way back to the time when I was teaching Allysha in grade K. One of the things that should be taught in pre-k, K is recognition of our different coins and bills. Later on they learn what each coin value is and how to add and subtract. Here's a few ideas that helped us tremendously. You would not believe how fast Allysha learned this way. She had quite the incentive. lol! Oh and before I forget, there's no need at all to go out and purchase fake money. Use what you have on hand. You don't need that much of each coin/bill and it teaches them how to use the real thing. Pre-k I purchased a few items at Dollar Tree and Goodwill - items that would very much capture the interest of my daughter. Each item had a different price tag on it. $.01, $.05, $.10, $25, $.50, $1.00. Next, we got out one of each coin and a dollar bill. We then procee...

This was something I threw together today in 10 minutes. IT was so yummy! The kids loved it as well. With it we had some leftover chicken rice and cheese soup. Perfect for this day! I however, was not able to take pictures because Matt had to take the camera to work today. So, the pix above is borrowed. Enjoy the recipe below! This is very satisfying, the flavor is very good and it's super easy to make. This is one of those perfect meals to make for an unexpected guest. I used some chicken I had cooked in the crockpot heavily seasoned with garlic powder. You could also use a rotisserie chicken. A lot of chicken caesar salad wraps have croutons in them. I didn't feel this needed it. This is great for those people who don't prefer spinach. Because it's mixed with a lot of chicken and some dressing (and of course a bit of cheese and onion), it's more like a lettuce most people are used to. The flavor of the spinach is not overwhelming. Chicken Casea...

I saw an idea for this picture on a friends facebook page and just had to try to get a cute picture of my son myself. That little stinker would not sit still! This is the best we were able to do. I just love the idea of pictures like this. I see the two rings and think, yeah, it really does take two. Two to fall in love, two to make that precious little baby, and two to take care of it the way babies need to be taken care of. God designed man and woman from the beginning of time to be with one another in a beautiful and intimate way and look at the little reward that love has given us!

Today Joshua and I had such a lovely time together. We explored his little hands along with my own. I showed him my hand and he showed me his. I rubbed my fingers on his and he rubbed his fingers on mine. He then grabbed my thumb and gently held it in his little hands. This made me realize just how a relationship with a new baby and a relationship with a new couple are the same. In both relationships, everything is so new, sweet and tender. Every touch is divine. May my relationships with my children, husband, family, friends and everyone I meet be this sweet and tender.

Sorry for getting behind on these. Here's our meal plan for this week:) Monday: Tuna Noodle Casserole with salad. Tuesday: Cornish hens w/cranberry stuffing, salad, and some other kind of veggie. Wednesday: Pasta bake, Lyshie's famous garlic bread and salad Thursday: Smoked Sausage, Taters, Peppers and onions with bread and butter and applesauce. Friday: PIzza bites and salad. Saturday: Homemade chicken soup. Sunday: Oven fried garlic chicken, mashed yams and salad.

So much has been going on here in our household. Nothing that God can't handle and for that I'm thankful. First up, the reason I have not posted much is because ever since I've had my son, my health has been very up and down. Praise the Lord for his guidance as to what needed to be done. I'm still building myself up but I'm doing much better. The kids and I had been very sick for a couple weeks as well (not nearly as bad for about 9 of those days). I'm hoping the creeping crud stays away now. lol! Most interesting is that my son, Joshua is such a joy. He's an amazing little boy with such a great personality. He's always so happy and LOVES to talk. Him and his brother will have so much fun as they get older, I just know it. HE's so in love with each person in our family. Lyshie plays like a little mommy and takes good care of him when I need her for a few minutes. They sure love each other! As a family we're learning a verse p...

Here is my dinner list for the week. Breakfast and lunch is always simple and leftovers so I don't know for sure what we'll be having. Just a little bit of this and a little bit of that:) I am finding that if I prepare things for dinner at lunch time while I'm making lunch, things are so much easier later one. Plus I get to relax more with my hubby! Monday: Taco Salad Tuesday: Brats and baked potatoes w/veggie. Wednesday: Japanese (type) Stir Fry and Chicken Egg Rolls - you can get msg free at Aldi! Thursday: BBQ Chicken w/Baked Potatoes and rolls Friday: Pizza Saturday: Potato Soup, homemade bread and soup. Sunday: Breakfast for dinner

Here's a picture of Jon with homemade yogurt and frozen blueberries for a snack. He LOVED it! I thought this would be neat to start after seeing it on another blog. I'm still not great about lunch planning so I'll skip that for now. We usually do either leftovers, some kind of sandwich or soup and bread. Monday: Breakfast: Oatmeal and homemade yogurt. Dinner: Roast with carrots, onions and potatoes Tuesday Breakfast: Breakfast scramble and toast Dinner: Macaroni helper with veggies Wednesday Breakfast: Oatmeal and homemade yogurt. Dinner: Beef and noodles (with leftover roast) and mashed potatoes Thursday Breakfast: Eggs and toast Dinner: Chicken, stuffing, veggies Friday Breakfast: Oatmeal and homemade yogurt. Dinner:Homemade pizza and salad Here's my dinner menu from last week: Monday: Chili - made extra and froze half of it. Tuesday: Baked spaghetti with meat and cheese Wednesday: Grilled chicken, cheesy potatoes, and salad. T...

We have about 1 1/2 months till Christmas. How crazy is that? To be easier on our budget, I try to purchase gifts year round as I see them on sale or for a good price. That also keeps us from spending $100's at one time when we wouldn't have it. I also like to save money where I can. This year one of the $$ saving tips I'm passing along is paper shredding. I got out a huge stack of Christmas scrapbooking paper, folding them in accordion style and shredded them in my paper shredder. I'm using this instead of tissue paper. While it probably wouldn't be cheaper if you went out and bought the paper, it sure was for me because it was just sitting around. You could do the same with any kind of newspaper, or other papers you may have lying around. My two wonderful children and beautiful nieces 2 years ago for Christmas. How time flies! I thought I'd give you a peak into what my family does yearly. Here goes.... 1. Have a birthday cake for Jesus as w...

This past Friday we decided spur of the moment that we should make the trip down to see my grandparents. It was so much fun! Because of health issues, my grandparents cannot travel up here to see their new grandson. So, Joshua went down to see them. I just love my grandparents so much. I cannot begin to tell you the amazing impact they have made on my life. My Wonderful Grandma Good. My Amazing Grandpa Good. My wonderful husband took our camera with us and got these neat pictures of the kids at my grandparents home. How neat to see them where I used to play! Lyshie with a book from Grandma's bookcase. I thought Matt had such a neat idea with this picture! Here is Lyshie in front of my Grandpa's shop. Oh the hours he'd spend out there when I was a kid. He'd bring out sawdust for me to make a sawdust cake. I would put mud frosting on it and decorate it with flowers. Those were the days! Jon in front of Grandpa's shop. Lyshie on the swing I swu...