Kaake Family Blog

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'...

I hope your Mother's Day was a wonderful as mine. I felt so much love from my family yesterday. I don't want you to think that I don't every day; however, yesterday they made sure to do all the things that make me feel extra special. Matt stayed up very late the night before to make me some very yummy cheesecake. He was up till almost 3am! When we got up he made me a breakfast of farm fresh sausage and (store bought) eggs. Unfortunately, my egg was spoiled. We didn't know that till I took my 3rd bite and realized it just was not right. I told him people will ask what I got for Mother's Day and I'll say "food poisoning", rofl! In the midst of there somewhere, Jon had given me his gifts. It was 2 cookie sheets! I have needed these for so long! My only cookie sheet had gotten ruined. What a huge blessing! What a perfect gift coming from our little cook. We headed off to church, everyone exhausted, but we made it. :) Good service and ni...

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

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. How many times do we get excited about a raise, tax returns, etc... and think only of our family and what we'd like to do for them - or worse yet, of ourselves. Don't get me wrong, God wants us to be debt free. But, do we let that stand in the way of helping others? When we give or help others, do we do so by the prompting of the holy spirit, or with our own flesh. I can attest that if you do something out of your own selfish gain - even the gain of satisfaction in seeing others "happy", it will not be the blessing it could have been if the Lord had been in it. The first couple years we were married, we didn't have much money at all to work with. You wouldn't believe it if I told you! lol! Yet time after time, you would not believe what God worked out for us. He used family, strangers and our church to bless us. I remember a...

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!

Matt and I had such a fun time with our own at home chocolate tasting. I encourage you to try this sometime. It's amazing how trying the chocolates next to each other changes things . Some tips I found online were: 1. Have a glass of water or plain green tea to clean your palate in between each taste. 2. Start with milk chocolate and move to dark chocolate. 3. Snap the chocolate first. Good chocolate should have a good snap (according to "them"). 4. Move each bit of chocolate around your mouth hitting all your taste buds. Our findings: 1. Symphony Not very snappy Creamy Quite sweet Not very ‘chocolaty’ 2. Dollar tree million dollar bar Clean snap Grainy Not chocolaty… almost fruity 3. Dove Slightly softer than previous 2 Very smooth rich creamy flavor More chocolate flavor than previous 2 4. Ghirardelli 83% cocoa Very snappy Not at all creamy Very bitter Slightly fruity at end of bite (spit out by matt) 5. Lindt Dark 70% cacao Clean s...

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...

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.