Thursday, November 12, 2009

Whats for dinner?

It's a question not only the people in my Family ask me on a daily basis, its a question I ask myself! I grocery shop with meals in mind and plan out my week as to what I am going to make according to our schedule. Our kids are not busy yet, but even one activity can have you out of the house and home later in the evening than you would like.
I try to think of good, quick meals that everyone likes. One likes this, the other likes that and one is always trying to watch what they eat. Me, I just like to eat!
keeping these things in mind and the fact that I am NOT a five star restaurant or a short or cook, ONE, QUICK, YUMMY meal is all you get in this house!

When john is home (which is pretty much all the time now) I really try to make a "meal" and feel actually really good when its all done and I haven't spent hours in the kitchen, the food is still good and everyone is happy.
LOVE to see his face when he comes in the house and he can smell something yummy!
I wanted to share a couple recipes that I have made that seem to work for our Family. They are not MY recipes, but are easy, yummy and did I mention easy?


Chicken and Dumplings:
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoons of butter
2 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 large can of chicken broth (maybe 1 and 1/2)
1-2 large onions (depending on how much you like them)(I use 2-3...)
2 pkg refrigerated biscuits (cut each one into 4's)
salt and pepper (to Taste)

Put ALL the ingredients into the crock pot EXCEPT the biscuits and cook on high for 7-8 hrs. the last 30 min of cooking, add the cut up biscuits.

This stuff is REALLY HOT, so make sure you let it cool for a while before handing it to the littles!!



Pot Roast:
One roast (your choice of roast)
1-2 pkg lipton onion soup mix (depends on size of roast)
1-2 lrg onions (cut into rings)
Kosher salt
blk pepper
1/4 c. red wine
1 t. olive oil

heat your crock pot on high
heat a skillet to high and add the oil.
pat your roast dry with paper towels and rub with the salt, place the roast into your heated skillet and carefully sear each side of the roast until it is brown and crisp.
remove the roast and put it in the crock pot
if needed, add more oil to skillet and add your onion rings, let them sear also so that they have that nice burnt, caramelized look to them. (heat should be high so this happens fast) add your wine to them for the last bit of cooking.
sprinkle onion soup mix on top of roast and then add the cooked onions to the top.
I add potatoes and carrots as well, but this is optional.
I fill it with water and let it cook ALL DAY!!

What got me thinking about this post was the fact that I have cooked every day lately and last night I decided to just make Tuna sandwiches and mac&cheese and my Family's reaction was so funny! They LOVED IT, went on and on about how we should have a sandwich day every week!
I guess quick and easy really is the way to go!!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009




Visit to the school...

Story #1.
Every Tuesday I get to go to Emily's class and help out with the "centers". Usually we are doing a little craft of something. Right up my alley, I LOVE that kind of stuff. I also get to listen in as Emily rotates to her other centers, Every now and again she will look at my and give that little thumbs up!! So cute!
So, the kids rotate in small groups and come to my table for my center. It's really great to have small groups so that I can get to know all the kids. (I really miss teaching at the preschool.) They are the sweetest little kids, all with such personality and desire for independence. Today we worked on making the Mayflower ship and painted hand print turkeys. It was a lot of fun watching them put everything together and all the different ways they do things, every ship looked a bit different. They had to cut waves from blue paper and not one looked the same. At the end of my time in the room today one of the little boys came up to me and said "I LOVE YOU, I REALLY DO LOVE YOU"!!
Melt my heart!!

I have to enjoy this time in the classroom while I can, once they get bigger there aren't many opportunities to go in! BOOO HOOO!!


Story #2.
Trying to help your children understand how to make GOOD friends and how to BE a good friend, can prove to be very difficult. Lets face it, even as we grow older we have to live and learn in the Friend department. Emily said she has one little girl in her class who insist she COPY her work or she will not be her friend. She gets very upset about it and says she wants to do her own work and they can still be friends. She also has another friend who can only be friends with one person at a time. The whole "If you play with them, than I wont be your friend" thing. KINDERGARTEN stuff. So silly the things that can affect a friendship, make a friendship, ruin a friendship. I tell them everyday before they jump out of the van, be the best friend you can be, the best YOU!! Not everyone is going to like you, you wont like every person you meet and THAT'S OKAY, but be your best YOU!


Story #3.
When I go in for centers on Tuesday I usually hit the gym after so that I am not going into school smelly. Emily does not like this. She is insistent that I have lunch with her, holding onto my neck and whispering in my ear "don't go mom, you have to have lunch with me"...I'll be changing my work out routine next week, and those kids will just have to deal with smelly me!!

Holiday traditions...

Growing up every Family (hopefully) has some great Family traditions. Ones that you look forward to all year and think about long after they are over. We have tried really hard to do just that with our kids, create traditions that they will love and take with them when they grown up and have Families of there own. Some of our traditions...

*1st day of summer celebration, yummy treats and a day in the sun
*dressing the whole Family as Pilgrims and Indians for Thanksgiving feast and making all our table decorations.
*Sloppy Joes on Halloween night and making our our costumes
*hiding the pickle in the Christmas tree
*everyone gets to open one gift on Christmas eve and its ALWAYS new Pj's
*Sunday game night
*1st day of school treats and letters
*the kids always put the Angel on top of the tree



So many things that me and John don't even really think about that the kids will say "its tradition". They count on them already, even the very tiny little ones!
What are some of YOUR traditions?

Monday, November 9, 2009

LOVIN LIFE!


SCHOOL:
They have adjusted great and have made lots of new friends and are having a great year so far! We had our first rounds of Parent Teacher conferences and all the kids have gotten FANTASTIC marks!
Jacob is having a great year both academically and socially. We were so nurvous this year after last year him and his teacher did not click and things kinds got squirly! This year he comes home excited and full of love for school! He comes home with crazy amounts of fun facts and things that he is learning!

Emily has adjusted to her first year at "big school" very well and as you can imagine is loving all her new responsibilities and new found independence! Her teacher said "thank you for sending me a child who listens and follows directions so well!" She is now reading and writing TWO sentences!!!

Katelyn is all A's people! She is doing great, even with all the new responsibilities that come with being fifth grader! Seriously, they have A LOT to keep track of!
She tested for the gifted program and MADE IT!!!!! So proud of that little thing, she is amazingly smart and so, so, so sweet! She even gets to do the morning news at school and boy does Emily love seeing her big sister on the tv!!

ACTIVITIES:
All the kids have chosen Tennis as the choice sport for now. Jacob just finished up with Football and Katelyn is doing riding still. I love that right now they just enjoy being TOGETHER and love each other so much. They really are kinda a package deal when it comes to play dates and things of that nature. They are lost without each other! Emily got invited to a birthday party today and said "Katelyn and Jacob, you can come with me if you want to." Warms my heart that they are best friends!

COMPLIMENTS:
I got the best mommy compliment the other day at the gym. I took them with me on Saturday to the kids room and when I went to pick them up, three Mom's went on and on about how great they were, how wonderful it is to have three kids who are so sweet with each other and are so patient with the babies and younger kids. "How do you do it" they asked.

I just said "thank you so much, I am very lucky". John later told me "The kids are lucky to have you, you have raised them to be smart, caring, outgoing, well mannered, loving kids."

I AM LUCKY, LUCKY TO HAVE A AMAZING HUSBAND AND THREE WONDERFUL KIDS WHO I CAN SPEND MY LIFE WITH!! Enjoy your Family!!!!