Our trip to the Zoo

This week is Anthony’s spring break and aside from the requisite sleeping in, staying up late and no homework we are throwing in a few friend sleep-over’s, family trips and a movie.

Today we went to the Zoo. Kenna was the most excited, jumping up and down at each animal that moved while we were watching. Hailey, the calm one, just stared mesmerized at each animal. Anthony had the map and was directing us where to go and what we were about to see.

Feeding the Giraffe - Look at that tongue! The girls and Anthony had no fear, as a matter of fact, I couldn't even get a picture of Anthony or Hailey feeding the giraffe because they ran right too it.

Makenna was in her element! No strollers, no hand holding and going commando!
(oh yea, did I mention that? Somehow I ended up being "one of those moms" today and left the house without diapers in my purse or car and of course by the time we got to the zoo, Kenna had a good pound of pee stored in her only diaper. So, commando it was! At first she kept grabbing herself but after a bit she got kind of use to it. Too use to it if you ask me. More animals were mentally harmed in our visit today than all the kindergarten field trips combined. Every time an animal was down low or a bird hopped past, Kenna squatted down...in her dress. Getting the picture? Fortunately she’s had enough success with potty training that we made it the entire 4 hours with out an accident. Maybe it was the yin to my yang since I already dealt with my fair share of messes with her. Either way, I was very fortunate to not have to explain to the poor zoologist in training that already has to shovel elephant poop and rake giraffe turds why my daughter was running around commando and soiled the walkway. Poor girl, if only her mom wouldn't humiliate her maybe her therapy bills would be less in the future.)

Moving on:

Hailey and Sara in a log.

 Anthony the turtle. (can I just say that I LOVE his sense of play and imagination, how many 10 yr old boys do you know that would stop and pose for a picture as a turtle, let alone climb in the shell on their own and ask for the picture)

I love this smile!

This was by far my favorite though. At about the 1/2 way point, there is a "bug" room that is indoors. They have hissing roaches, an ant farm, and a turtle tank. In front of the tank is a coloring station intended for  the kids to recreate their version of the turtles. Makenna sat for about 10 min's coloring away, picking out colors and scribbling. I say scribbling because she was frantic about it. She even insisted on taking a piece of crayola outside with her.

She spent the rest of the zoo doing this:

Then stopping every so often to look around and back down. Here she's showing Aunt Sasha where we are. Get it? She made a map! She was so stinking cute walking with her nose to the map

We sat out front of the zoo and had a picnic then drove home. It was of course past nap time by this point and the girls were exhausted. Anthony and I had a funny time trying to get Kenna to stay awake on the drive home. If I can figure out how to edit the video I'll post it but as it is now it takes too long to get to the funny parts.

Why having coupons is not always a good thing

When I first started couponing I was bringing home all sorts of junk; cookies, ice cream, chips, Hamburger Helper and a whole array of personal care items that we didn’t normally ever use or would use over the course of a year.

I was addicted to the savings. If I could get it for $.50 or under I considered it “free” and just couldn’t pass it up!

Well, guess what? My grocery bill was slowly going up, not down. After all, twenty-five deodorants at $.50 a piece (over the course of a month) costs me more than the one deodorant I actually needed at regular price of $2.25. But damn it! I had two coupons for deodorant this trip and they’re on sale at Fry’s, then next weeks papers had 3 coupons for deodorant and they were on sale at Safeway and the next week….and on and on and on it went until I was way overspending, over eating and over deodorizing.

Eventually, I learned my lesson and was able to let the great deal go if I already had 20 of the same item or it was something that we did not normally use. But, like most lessons in life, sometimes you have to re-learn them every once in a while just to drive home the point.

This weekend I was meandering thru Safeway, coupons and paper in basket, when I came across a large end-cap stand of clearance items. Some things were 50% and others were 75%. Score! The hair spray we like was there along with a deep conditioning mask, a tube of mascara and some anti-wrinkle cream (for my mom, I swear!) were all 50% off plus I had a coupon for some of them.

There were also several hair coloring boxes in various shades. I’ve always wanted to color my hair a darker brown but have never had the guts to do it nor the motivation and money for the upkeep. Well, this box of L’oreal caught my eye.

I loved the color! Look how sexy the woman looks, how sultry and intriguing she was with her dark hair and light eyes. Oh yea, I want that look.

But, no, what if it doesn’t work out?

What if it turns my hair orange?

Wait, wasn’t there a coupon in this weeks paper for hair color?

Yes! $3 off and one L’Oreal Prefrence color.

The coupon combined with the already 75% off made the box $.99. Who could resist? It was a great deal! I had to do it.

Mistake!

My hair is now an unnatural shade of baby poop after eating too many strawberries. In other words, for you non-parents, it’s a muddy brownish with the sheen of fake coppery-red. Got the picture? Good because there’s no way I’m posting an actual one here.

Oh well, I guess this time I actually got burnt by the hot pan. Maybe I’ve learned my lesson for good. Just because it’s a killer deal does not mean I have to buy it, slather it on my hair and thus suffer the consequences of hiding in a paper bag for the next 60 days.

Our New Baby

The kids and I anxiously awaited her delivery.

And here she is being delivered:

Princess Mia

Isn't she the cutest thing EVER! She's a lion head long hair bunny. Her name is Princess Mia, she loves to have her hair done (see the piggy tales) loves to free roam, is litter box trained, leash trained and was a classroom bunny for the first 6 months of her life. She is 8 months old and her mom is being deployed to Iraq and needed to find her a new home. There's more to the story that will just remind you of the kindness of humanity and the twists of fate but for now I have a new 4 footed baby to acclimate to my 2 footed family.

Baby on the way!

Guess I was wrong, I AM getting another baby! Delivery is at 4pm today. Fingers crossed all goes smooth. Tons of pictures to follow.
(smile)

1000 views

Yea! I feel special; I just crossed the 1000 mark for blog views. The most popular? The naughty leprechauns and Another Installment of Where in the House is Makenna.

Thank you readers! Don't forget to sign up as a follower if you can. I also just moved past 10 followers. I know there are more out there....either that or those 11 followers REALLY like my page.
(Smile)

Following only requires a google account (it's free and you don't ever have to check it if you don't want to) and it makes it easier to leave comments too!

Thank you!

The aftermath of 7 kids

Oh yea, I could do this! No asylum for me this time. The kids were GREAT! Everyone was fed by 530, bathed by 630 and in bed asleep by 730. I kid you not! I only had to mandate one time-out the entire time, no broken bones, no hurt feelings, no hissy fits. I swear, if having 7 kids was like this all the time…Sign me up!

 (Anthony's the only one missing here because he still had school this week)

 Happy and ready for nap

Thank goodness for the trampoline and swing set though, they spent the entire day sun up to sun down outside playing. No wonder they were so tired, they played all day long! That is when they weren’t eating me out of house and home! Have you ever seen that Sponge Bob Square Pants episode with the nematodes? They go thru and just eat EVERYTHING in sight. I make breakfast, they clear their bowls, wait 5 and ask for more food same with lunch and dinner! That’s life with 7 kids. Oh and did I mention 7 kids and a broken dishwasher? Handwashing for me! I think that's earned me another manicure, what do you think?

They ate 4 lbs of carrots, 2 pineapples, 6 lbs of apples, 4 lbs of mangos and two bunches of bananas and that's not counting the boxes of cereal, loaves of bread and dinner fixings. All for 2 1/2 days.  At least it wasn’t candy, cookies and junk, but still, that’s a ton of food! They’re my nematodes!

(I'm so grateful for Bountiful Baskets, all but the apples were supplied from last weeks basket)

And this is what happens when you're a little boy in a house of girls....He got stuck in a pink jacket.

Ok, ready for some quiet time though. That’s one thing, it’s never quiet! Even during nap time, not everyone naps and at night one of the babies has night terrors (frown) so there are sounds constantly.

The rest of the week is pretty calm for me so I may not be posting much. We’ll see if life intervenes though.

Weekly Meal Plan 3/21

My niece Abby helped dictate this menu this week. She had a few dinner requests while she was here.

Monday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and a side salad

Tuesday: Teriyaki Pork in the crock pot over baked brown rice and stir fry veggies

Wednesday: Chicken fajitas, black beans and spanish rice

Thursday: Chicken, lentil and pastina soup

Friday: Dinner out

A full house!

Today marks the beginning of spring break for my niece and nephew's school district so I offered to have the kids come spend some time here with us this week. Man is my house full with 7 kids! And you know what? I LOVE it! I could totally do this. I could have 7 kids.

(Now, check back with me after Wednesday when they go home, I may be blogging from the asylum)

I love our "little" family of 5 and we are officially done having any more kids but you know, if I could I would have had at least 2 more kids. I may have ended up more like octo-mom, doing it on my own as I'm pretty sure my husband would jump ship, but I'd seriously consider it none the less. I love kids, I love being a mom and I love having a full house.

That all being said, I'm done having more. I'm ready for the freedom that comes with older kids. Ready to be able to go out with out car seats, diaper bags, sippy cups etc... I would love to be able to go to a movie with the kids. Go to a restaurant for more than a rushed thru, who's gonna occupy the baby while the other scarf’s down their food, dinner. I want to be room-mom, den mom and things like that. It's too hard to do with babies. Finding a sitter is a pain in the butt, let alone finding one on a regular basis that either doesn't get burnt out or request your first born as payment. Besides, isn't the whole point of being a stay at home mom to not have to get a baby sitter for everyday tasks?

I can get my full house fix a couple times a year when I volunteer to have my nieces, nephews, cousins, neighbor kids, best friends kids and any other parent’s kids who need a break. The beauty of it? They all go home in the end!

Those naughty leprechauns!

Well, the leprechauns got my kids again. They woke up to a messy house littered with green streamers, green napkins, green toilet water and once again we got tricked with green milk!


*smile*

St.Patricks Day is Anthony's favorite holiday aside from Christmas. It started at my mom's house years ago and has grown thru the years. I get up in the middle of the night and over turn chairs move things into odd or wrong places and "litter" the house with green things. I also put green food coloring in the toilet and claim that it's leprechaun pee. (Remember, he's a 10 year old boy – body functions are funny and green pee is hilarious!)


The best is the milk though. We use to color the whole gallon of milk green but it gross me out to have a green latte in the morning (and for the few days after) so instead my step-dad came up with the best idea. Now, the night before I set out a bowl of dry cereal for the kids with what ever trinkets are from the leprechauns, this year it was balloons. In the bottom of the bowl I put a few drops of food coloring before I add the cereal that way when Anthony pours in the white milk, it "magically" turns green in the bowl. It amazes him every year!


This afternoon as a reward for Anthony helping around the house on his short day of school I told him we could make cookies. Darn if those leprechauns didn't get to those too - (Sorry it's in two parts, my camera got too full so I had to delete some pictures before I could record more)

I got the random idea today that if I took a cold stick of butter cut it in half and scooped out a small bit in the center, I could fill it with a few drops of green food coloring then put it back together and smooth over the cut marks. Worked like a charm!

My crappy adventure - literally!

Eww, most disgusting ever! I'm warning you, don't read this if you are weak of stomach! This is a way TMI story but I had to share my pain. (B-pa - you really don't want to read this, you'll gag!)


In my effort to be out of the house this week, I took the girls to the park this morning then onto McDonnalds for a treat and some more play time. It's getting a bit warm here and they were already pink cheeked at the park by 10 am, so the indoor play place at McDonnalds was the perfect extension to their play time.
At the park, Missy notices a used condom on the steps leading up onto the jungle gym. She bravely spears it with a stick and takes it to the trash. A few minute later her son finds the wrapper and gets very upset when Missy snatches it away from him and scrubs him with a sanitizing wipe. Seriously, who does the nasty at a public park, on the kids equipment then leaves the nasty dirty condom stuck to the steps.


Fast forward 30 min's and Makenna announces to the entire echo-y room, that she farted and has to go poop! Great! So I pack up my ipad (did you know McDonnalds had wifi? I could sit there for hours and let the girls play while I blog and blog-surf) my purse and organize our food so it doesn't look like leftover trash and whisk Makenna off to the bathroom. As usual, the poor potty training girl has a hard time distinguishing between a good fart and the urge to poop. (TMI right? I warned you!) So, we pull back on her clean pull up, wash our hands and head back to our seat.


She plays around for a bit and I made a phone call. I noticed while I was on the phone that she was playing under the table but didn't think much of it. Several kids had just bombarded the play place and I figured she was being a bit shy. Well, Hailey comes over at this point and, again loudly because toddlers don't have any other level, shouts "Eww, Mom! Kenna has poop all over her dress....eww, it's in her hair! Yuck, it stinks! It's on her shoes!"


I immediately end my phone call and sure enough, Hailey was right, Kenna's pretty little dress was poop stained running down both her legs, into her shoes, where she was picking it off with her hands and had apparently tried to brush a stray hair off her neck and instead smeared more poop. I quickly grab my belongings and Kenna and once again whisk off to the bathroom just off the playroom, plopping little nuggets of diarrhea as a trail behind us. (Gagging yet? Wait, it gets better!)


Thankfully the bathroom is a one room bathroom not a stall type of public bathroom. I unbutton her dress, throw it on the floor, which at this point is already smeared, take her shoes off doing my best to preserve my two day old manicure and turn on the water in the miniature version of a sink. I stand her up in the sink and using my hands and the antibacterial soap, scrub her clean of the poop. Meanwhile, the sink is filling up with all the lovely "bits" that accompany poop and starts to back up. So, I take 20 toilet seat covers because it would be too practical for this bathroom to have paper towels, and prop Kenna up on the changing table sitting on the seat covers. I clean off her dress since I don't have anything else for her to wear. Then, using my hands and an entire industrial roll of toilet paper, and the entire bag of soap, clean the bathroom. Including fishing the "bits" out of the sink and throwing them into the toilet.

I use the blow drying machine to dry Kenna, and attempt to dry her dress. By this point she's pretty restless and done with being in the small bathroom. It dawns on me that my diapers and wipes are in the car. So, I'm stranded with a naked toddler in a McDonnalds bathroom that stinks of poop and the overuse of the flowery anti-bacterial soap. I had the ingenious idea to take off my dress-shirt and give her my tank top that I was wearing underneath. Brilliant! Not! My dress-shirt was pale yellow, now brown in spots and wet in others rendering it completely see-thru to my black bra and oh so glamorous stretch marks that are now plainly visible thru the clingy material. I grabbed the white under tank this morning in a rush since I couldn't find my white bra and knew that the tank would cover up my fashion faux pas of dark bra under light shirt. Ha! No such luck.


I exit the now devastated bathroom in a see thru wet, poop smeared dress, carrying a toddler in a womens XL white tank top held together at the back with a hair tie and a handful of wet clothes and poop covered shoes wrapped in the remaining 20 sheets of toilet seat covers. Pretty picture huh!


I rush over to our table (still poop smeared underneath) grab our drinks and pry an upset Hailey away from the play place while trying desperately to avoid the eyes of the other parents and snickers of the kids yet still hold my head high. After all, it wasn't me who pooped everywhere and I know every mom or grandma in that place has a horrific poop story lurking in their past.


This last part is the ONLY reason I will ever frequent this McDonnalds again. Lets face it, regardless of the fact that its a part of parenting and nature at that, I was still completely embarrassed.


On my way out, I stand patiently by the end of the counter waiting until the patron at the register orders their food and walks away then I get the managers attention. I tell her that my daughter got sick in the playroom under the table and in the bathroom. I quickly and apologetically say that I cleaned up the bathroom to the best of my ability and that it really just needs sanitizing. I sheepishly say that I did not get to clean under the table. The manager looks at me, reaches her hand out to touch Kenna's cheek and says in a sweet, calm voice "Oh no worries, we'll clean it up, it happens. I have kids hun, I understand, you didn't need to clean it up yourself, we would have helped. Thank you for telling me." and to Kenna says "I hope you feel better sweetie, come back and play again another day ok?"


Thank God for working moms! Had that manager not understood my plight or given me one cross eyed look I think I would have burst into tears right then and there and made a complete blubbering idiot of myself on top of everything. Either that or I would have launched into her for her rudeness and made a scene of verbally ripping her to pieces.


Needless to say, I left there with my head held high, a promise to the girls of returning another day soon and made a be-line for the shower!


What a crappy end to a beautiful day at the park. So much for being out and about with healthy kids.

Weekly Plan 3/14

This weekend I ran away for a bit. I gave the kids over to Brad and left the house for a few hours. I went out to lunch, shopping, had a manicure and pedicure and got dinner to bring home. It was magical. Yep, magical! I think I actually moaned when I sunk my feet in the hot water.

Sorry for the late post. I woke up today brimming with creativity. I got my sewing and surging machine out and made a gift for my mom. I can't say what it is yet because I missed out on my opportunity to give it to her tonight so she has to wait until tomorrow which means I don't want to post it here on the chance that she logs in tonight. But, I'm happy with it and plan on making one for myself tomorrow. I even got several loads of laundry done and kept the house clean through out the day. It's amazing how much I can get done when the girls are well and playing, instead of sick and clingy. It felt good to get creative again, sometimes I forget how much I enjoy sewing.

With cute toes, pampered fingers and a few new outfits, my outlook on this week is much cheerier than last week's. Since the girls are feeling better I plan on being out of the house as much as possible. Tomorrow we're going to Target, the park and the supermarket. Wednesday I think we'll spend most of the day at my mom's since she's hosting Bunco for us that night. Thursday is St. Patricks day and we always have a bit of fun those mornings. Check back tomorrow or Wednesday and I'll share my plan. I also want to head to the mall and let the girls play at the indoor play place and I want to window shop. I cant tell you the last time I was at the mall. I don't often have the patience for it but it's amazing what a few free hours can do for my patience meter. Lastly, since we're enjoying beautiful weather here I want to take the girls to the zoo before it gets too hot. Fun times!

(Who's taking bets on my patience meter come the end of the week?)

My meal plan for the week is:

Monday - Vegetarian Lasagna, bread sticks and salad
Tuesday - Big Dinner Salad with Grilled Chicken
Wednesday - Bunco Night! (Peter Piper kids for the kids with Brad and I am making Quiche for Bunco's breakfast themed dinner)
Thursday - Green Eggs, Green Bread (broccoli bread) with ham and cheese, Green monkey bread
Friday - Dinner out
Saturday - DATE NIGHT! Yea!!!

Red hot applesauce

Noshtalga - food invoking a sweet memory.

Hailey and I made Red Hot Applesauce in honor of my Great Aunt Do who passed away on Monday after 89 blessed years on earth. She is being laid to rest today.

Not only did this kind woman raise her own children and step children but she expanded her mothering heart to her nieces and nephews, my dad included, after their mother, her sister, died at an early age. My dad was only 3 when his mom was taken from him by ovarian cancer and it was only a few short years later when their father passed on as well. My dad and his 2 sisters and 1 brother were all cared for by a village of Aunts and Uncles. Aunt Do was the closest to the mother that my Dad, as the baby of the family, never got to know.

This recipe was one of the treats that Aunt Do used to spoil her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews and, knowing Aunt Do, probably a whole host of neighbors, congregation members and friends.

The first time I met Aunt Do, she had a large pot of this simmering on the stove. The warm cinnamon smell combined with her cheerful manor made us feel welcomed and cherished.

This is unfortunately not from her exact recipe but, like any good noshtalgic food, you just feel the concept and know the taste in your memory.

Red Hot Applesauce

10 apples, peeled and sliced
2 jars red hot candies (found in the cake decorating section of my supermarket)
1/2 cup apple juice

Combine all ingredients in a large pot on the stove or in your crock pot and simmer on low until the smell makes you smile, the color is lollie pop red and the apples are tender.

Mash with either a potato masher or blend using an immersion blender/food processor.

Enjoy warm over vanilla ice cream, cold out of the fridge in the middle of the night or in your oatmeal for breakfast. All it requires is a smile and a memory of a woman who's heart was large enough to encapsulate all those who knew her and will forever carry on her legacy.

I will miss you Aunt Do, Thank You for all you shared helping to raise my Dad!

The family dynamics in fish

For Brad's birthday the kids wanted to get him a fish for our new fish tank. We got the tank a few weeks back for Anthony's science fair project and let the kids each spend $2 getting fish. The tank had two neons (Kenna's because she's the equalivent of these two energetic twin fish), two orange fish (Hailey's because they are mellow and entertain themselves) and a Mickey Mouse fish (Anthony's because he's a tough lone fish with a cuddly soft side watching after the other fish) but no adornments. So, it was a large tank with 5 fish and nothing else.

Because the kids were sick, I couldn't take them out to pick out the fish for dad so Brad and I picked them out when we were out on Saturday. (Shh, don't tell the kids he saw the fish first.) Anyways, we picked out a big Daddy fish, a tank ornament from each kid and since we were there, we got a cleaner fish. You can't buy a cleaner fish right away since the new tank won't have any algae for the fish to eat and it will die. Well, now that out tank is a few weeks old it was safe to get a cleaner fish,  or Sucker-fish as they are often called. The lady at Wallmart just bagged the two up together and we were on our merry way.

Fast forward to Saturday night and the kids are giving Brad his gifts. They each proudly give him one of the tank ornaments then the "big gift" which was the bag with the fish. Dad masterfully acts surprised and asks the kids what the fish is. After being told by me earlier, they reply "A Daddy fish!" Well, I don't remember who but someone asked about the other fish in the bag, the little one, and Brad tells them its a Sucker-fish, "It cleans the tank for all the other fishies."

Kids: "Oh! It's the Mommie fish!"

Doh!

So, I'm the Sucker-fish, the one that cleans up after all the other fishes. Ahh, how astute kids can be.

Here's the tank with it's fancy new adornments. The Starfish is Kenna's, the Shark is Anthony's and the red-lip fish is Hailey's.

Here's Daddy Fish

And here's me, the Mommie fish, cleaning the tank so everyone has a nice place to swim.

Comfort food

I hate drama, stress and all it's accompaniments. I really do, but lately it seams to like me and it's one of those guests that you can't kick out until it's ready to move on. That old saying "When it rains, it pours," yea, it's a freaking  monsoon here! Thankfully nothing too serious and nothing more than anyone else has had to deal with in life it just feels like it's all piling up right now. The kids have been sick, my mom was hospitalized (false alarm, thankfully - but scared the poop out of us none the less), my Dad's aunt passed away after a long wonderful life (she was a very prominent person in his life and I hate seeing my parents sad) my husband hasn't been home before 8pm any night last week or this so far, my father-in-law had a knee replacement and the list goes on and on. Hailey is still sick, or according to the doctor, she's sick again. So it's been two miserable nights up with her and two more days stuck inside.

Truthfully, we have been with out hospitals, deaths, surgeries and sick kids for so long now that I suppose it's our turn. I am very grateful that we've gone as long as we have with out any of these. I guess, if I wanted to be altruistic, I would say that I suppose I'm ok with Drama camping at my house for a bit if that means it's leaving another family alone for a while but we all know that the world doesn't really work that way and I'm not quite that altruistic.

Needless to say, I've needed some serious comfort food lately! (Have I mentioned that I'm probably fat for a reason? My idea of comfort is good food and cuddling up on the couch with my family watching America's Funniest Home Videos. That breaks, like 10, "how not to be fat" rules! But ask me if I care right now)

Monday night was my brothers last night here in town. He's been here for a little over a month, living with my parents, while in job transition and it was time for him to go back to Dallas. To send him off full of good food and hopefully some comfort, I made him his favorite, stuffed manicotti.

Stuffed Manicotti (no pictures, sorry)

3 boxes manicotti shells or jumbo shells
2 large tubs ricotta cheese
3-4 cups mozzarella cheese
1 package Italian sausage
1 head (or bag) of spinach
Italian seasoning
6-8 cups of your favorite marinara sauce

I can't give you the recipe to my marinara sauce because I don't have one. I do it by the memory of my heart from making it for so many years. I use smell and taste to adjust as necessary and despite the fact that I'm blogging on a computer the size of most magazines, technology just hasn't advanced enough to bring you smell-o-vision or wet-n-taste. (Ok, eww, can you imagine the computers at the local library if they actually had either of those! Bleh!)

Moving on - In your crock pot simmer the sausage in the sauce until the sausage is cooked through. You can certainly do this with a few jars of your favorite sauce, I promise I won't tell as long as you don't rat me out for doing the same now and then! Cool slightly then dice. Wash and chop your spinach into small bits. In a large bowl combine the ricotta, 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, the diced sausage and spinach and about a tablespoon of the Italian seasoning. Mix well to combine, then transfer to a large zip top bag.

Boil the water for the noodles and cook them until the are just before done. You want them to still have a bit of a chew to them. That way they hold their shape well. They'll finish cooking in the sauce in the oven. Drain and transfer back to the pot.

Cover the bottom of a lasagna pan with 1-2 cups of sauce and set next to your filling station. Snip a chunk of the corner of the zip top bag off and use it like a piping bag to fill the shells. This beats the heck out of trying to spoon the mixture into the shells, trust me. Some of the shells will bust open, or split but that's ok, just lay them in the pan with the seam to the side or up, not seam down or the cheese will all melt out.

Layer side by side till the pan is full then cover with more sauce. Make sure the noodles are all covered with sauce or they get crispy in the oven. Top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 till golden and bubbly.

This made two large trays and two single serve trays.

YUM!


Tuesday I spent the whole day worried about Hailey after she was up all night with a fever and terrible headache. I was cuddling her and debating if I should take her into the doctor and did not get any of my grocery shopping done so I had to use just what was on hand for dinner. So, I made breakfast! French toast with the left over french bread from Monday's dinner, eggs in a basket and bacon. The heart just makes it all the more comforting!

Tonight's dinner is another one of my favorites. It can be made in the blink of an eye or done slow and fancy. Here's both the recipes.

Chicken taco soup (quick method):
3 chicken breasts
1 large can refried beans
1 bag frozen corn
1 can green chillies
1 small can tomato sauce or 1 cup salsa
1 packet taco seasoning
4-6 cups chicken broth
tortilla chips
salsa
cheese

Cook the chicken breasts in the oven, microwave or in the broth. Shredded or dice, add back to the pot and add the remaining ingredients except the chips and cheese. Simmer till hot. Serve with crunched up chips, a dollop of salsa and the shredded cheese.

Chicken taco soup (slow and fancy):

1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp Lawry's or other seasoning salt
1/2 white onion
3-4 medium carrots
3 ribs celery
3 cloves garlic
1 yellow or red bell pepper
1 can green chillies
1 large can refried beans
10-15 pieces of chicken, skin on (I used thighs this time and two chicken breasts)
1 bag sun dried tomatoes
1 bag frozen corn
chips
salsa
cheese

Wash and dry your chicken bits. Combine all the seasonings and rub onto the chicken.

Dice the veggies into small bits, set aside.

Sear the chicken 3-4 at a time in a large pot over medium high with olive oil or bacon grease. Once all the pieces are seared on each side, set aside to cool and drain the grease. Put the pot back onto the medium-high heat, add the veggies and 4 cups of water.
See all the yummy bits:

Scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom with a spatula. Remove the skin from the chicken and add them on top of the veggies. Add enough water to cover and cook on low for 2 hours until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the pot and cool again. Shred and discard the bones. Add the chicken back in, add the beans and simmer on it's lowest setting until hot and ready to eat.

Serve with crunched chips on top, a dollop of salsa and shredded cheese.

YUM!

This is one of those soups that can be changed up a million ways. Add a can of RoTel or a jar of salsa, use ground beef or turkey, add hominy, omit the veggies and go "pure" you name it!

The stories of our lives

On Saturday night we had one of two parties for Brad's birthday.

Does your family do multiple parties for a birthday? We always seem to. One with one side of the family and one with the other. Not because they don't get along but it just works out that way because of scheduling, it's impossible to get everyone in one place at one time. Anyways, as a present for Brad I had the landscaper come and clean up the back yard so we could have dinner out there. (I KNOW! Do you get the irony of that statement? Wasn't I just moaning the other day that everyone has a secret maid that I just don't know about and here I am talking about a landscaper. Trust me, the irony was not lost on me when I called him on Thursday night. The thing is - justification time - Brad and I both hate cleaning the back yard. Neither of us are yard people. Some people love working on their landscape, we do not! So, we found this great guy who charges a super rate and does a phenomenal job. He even cleans up the kids toys!) During the party, we were relaxing on the patio under the lanterns and twinkling lights relaying funny stories of our lives. It was a movie worthy moment in my life. It wasn't our intention to be in story telling mode it's just that there's a story from at least one of us for every situation. What I realized while laughing was that every story we told had not only been told multiple times before, but told to at least two of the 8 adults previously and included at least two of us in the plot of the story. Did this stop us from laughing? Nope, we all got involved, telling different parts of these stories for the one or two people who had never heard this story. Let me tell you, they just get better each time we re-tell them. There were parts that were so funny we choked, doubled over in laughter and shed tears.

It's the stories of our lives!

Stories of dates gone wrong, embarrassing moments in life, childhood memories, etc... I wanted to grab a recorder and record us sitting out there story telling so that our kids have the stories when we're long gone. It dawn on me though, that this wasn't the first telling of the story, nor would it be the last and if we do our jobs right, our kids will be sitting around at their 31st birthday telling the stories of their lives some of which were told tonight. I can only hope they recognize the bond tying all the stories together and how deeply it ties us generation to generation. That and I hope I'm the grandma sitting there to hear my kids version of their lives.

Have you ever been on a date with someone who tried to prove to you that you can in fact eat all of a lobster? Shell and all? One of us has! Have you ever seen those internet dating sites come up with "no match found" after telling you it was searching its million customer database? One of us has! Have you heard the scream of a live crab as it's being thrown into a pot of boiling water? Or witness someone eating the brains of a boiled octopus? Yep, a few of us have!

Broccoli Bread - Trust me!

At this point I'm not going to go back and post all the recipes that we used in the last baking day. Most of them are one's I'll make again so I'll just wait till then and post them. Sorry!

However, the Broccoli Bread is totally worth sharing right now. When you go do your shopping today grab a crown of broccoli and a few carrots and just trust me. (Even Anthony eats this - that's HUGE!)

For all those with out a bread machine, I did this one with out mine to show how easy it is to make!

Broccoli Bread

1 crown of broccoli
2-3 large carrots
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup warm watter
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup butter
3 3/4 cup flour (I used 2 1/4 unbleached white and 1 1/2 whole wheat)
3 tsp yeast

Boil a pot of hot watter and cook the carrots and broccoli until both are soft. The carrots take a bit longer sometimes. This can also be done in the microwave if you want. Once soft, puree the carrots and broccoli until smooth, add some of the boiling water if you need to for a smooth consistency.

In you mixing bowl, add all ingredients.

 Using your dough hook, mix until it starts to pull away from the bowl.

Because the broccoli mix is wet, I needed to add about an extra 1/2 cup of flour just to get the consistency right. You're looking for  it to start to form a dough ball in your mixer, not sticking to the sides.

Once that's achieved, plop it out onto a floured surface and kneed for 3-5 min's until it is smooth and elastic.

Transfer to an oiled bowl and let rise in a warm place, covered, until double in size.

Punch it down, kneed it back into a ball shape and rise again.

Take the dough of  the bowl, pull into two semi-equal halves. Form into a log shape and place into oiled loaf pans.

Rise again until doubled then carefully transfer into a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-30 min's or maybe a bit longer until golden brown (or more like golden green) and internal temperature is 180.

This bread is phenomenal cut into thick slices, trenched out a bit and filled with either tuna or ham, topped with cheese and broiled in the oven until crunchy and bubbly.

You can barley taste the broccoli but it certainly adds a good flavor to go with the meats. I wouldn't recommend this for a PB&J but then again, wouldn't judge anyone for trying it out, especially if it means your kids are eating broccoli!