Glad my kids are happy!

I am just so glad that I have the kids that I have and they are happy. They make me and my husband happy. Each one of them has had a reason to be happy recently. Tori was so happy on her baptism day and she has been very careful that she keeps the covenants that she made with her Heavenly Father. She always helps me without complaint and loves doing "girl movie night with me." Camren is happy that he has a teacher that is so nice and treats him with kindness. She does so many good thing in that class and is preparing him for Middle school. He was very behind when he came and she just took him under her wing and has helped him with anything that he has needed. They have the most fun activities in their class and also rewards. I couldn't be more pleased with Camren's teacher and his class.

Brahnson is happy about being able to have so much fun in middle school. He has had a lot of new and interesting classes that have given him so much exposure to different things. The blue clip board that you see in the picture is a project that he did in his tech ed class. He totally made that all by himself. He has also had opportunities to learn a little Spanish, French, and German. He has decided that he wants to take French for his Foreign Language requirement for next year. He is also a big help with Sydnee. He will always take her whenever I need him to and she loves it too!

Jorden is happy about all the "girl friends" that he has here. He only has one little boy here that is his age that he has played with and gets along with. The other friends that he has are all girls and they will be going to kindergarten with him next year. He also gets to go to a speech preschool and ride a bus to get there. Very Exciting!

Sydnee is happy to be able to talk and use her words now in order to communicate. We went through a very frustrating time because she knew what she wanted, but couldn't tell us what she wanted. She is getting better and even saying three word sentences now. She knows how to get her way when she wants to with those bright baby blues and her bright smile. She is also happy because she is in Nursery. She absolutely loves it!

Wisconsin has been such a perfect place for our family! Chad told me that he thought that we would still be on the west side of the Mississippi when we were thinking about moving here. He was wrong and I didn't know that until we passed it when we drove over the bridge to it. I wasn't so happy about that, but now that I am here, I can't imagine a better place for our family. Life here is lived in a lot slower pace than we have been used to. We love our ward, our neighborhood, and the schools that our kids go to. The only thing that would make it absolutely perfect is, to have all of our family move here too. I just know that they would love it too if they came here. Don't ya think? :) :)

This week's recipes March 20-26

So, I have had an overwhelming number of requests to start putting my recipes online. This blog is my family blog, but I thought that I could do this once a week. I can't guarantee that I will do it every week though. It depends on how busy my week is. I can put my recipes here, but if my husband is cooking, he is not as willing to share his recipes. Keep in mind that the recipes are not all "my " recipes. I get them from different sources and I will note the source. I figure out my menu either Thursday or Friday and go shopping every Friday, that way I don't have to go back to the store the rest of the week. It works well for me. I also usually do left overs on Thursday or Friday. I am only going to put the main dishes here. I almost always serve a fruit and vegetable with every meal and sometimes bread. FYI. Never substitute margarine for butter! Always cook with butter! So, we'll see how it goes to see if I continue next week....

Friday-Left overs

Saturday- Ham and Turkey Sandwiches

Sunday-Lasagna
Sauce:
Dry Spaghetti Mix
1# hamburger
2(6oz) tomato paste
2(60z) cans of water
onion, mushrooms, green pepper (chopped)
Cook hamburger and add veggies then everything else. Simmer for 20 minutes.

8oz. package of noodles Cooked according to package directions

1lb of shredded cheddar jack cheese (if you like it really cheesy add more)

Next Combine...
3cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup parm. cheese
2 Tbls. Parsley flakes
2 beaten eggs
2 tsp. salt
1/2tsp. pepper

Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Put a little sauce on the bottom of 9X13 pan. Put half noodles then half of the cottage cheese mixture then have of the meat mixture, then half of the cheese. Repeat. Cover with foil. It helps to spray the inside of your foil so that the cheese doesn't stick to it when it is done. Bake for 30 minutes and then let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Monday- Cheese Enchilada Chowder
1small can green chillies
1(15oz) can black beans
1(14oz) can Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
1(10oz) pkg. frozen corn
small onion chopped
green pepper chopped
Sauce:
1(190z.) can of enchilada sauce (Roserita is my favorite, El Paso works well too)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 c. milk
2c. shredded cheddar cheese
Toppings:
sour cream
guacamole or fresh avocados
more cheese
tortilla corn chips
Instructions:
In a 3-5 quart crock pot add all ingredients except for the sauce and toppings. In a large mixing bowl whisk together enchilada sauce and soup. Gradually add milk. Pour over ingredients in the crock pot. Stir and cover. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Stir in cheese just before serving until cheese is melted. Ladle into bowls and top with desired toppings. We don't use spoons with this soup. We just use the Tortilla chips.

Tuesday- Beef Stroganoff (Rachel Ray)
1# beef cut in thin strips
salt and pepper
3Tbls. Butter divided
2Tbls. flour
2cups beef consomme'
2tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4c sour cream
1Tbls. olive oil
onion (Chopped)
Mushroom (Chopped)
parsley leaves
Egg noodles (cooked to pkg. directions)

Instructions:
Heat skillet and add 1Tbls. olive oil and 1 Tbls. Butter once melted add flour and whisk in consomme and thicken 1min. Stir in mustard and sour cream and thicken 2-3 min. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Brown meat in 1Tbls. olive oil and 1T butter and onion and mushrooms. Cook through and add sauce. Serve over noodles. My kids like me to shake a little of Parmesan cheese on top too.

Wednesday- French Toast
6 eggs
11/2c. milk
1/4c sugar
2 Tbls. Orange juice
1tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 dashes of cinnamon
Instructions:
Mix all together and dip the bread. Cook on heated griddle and serve w/ syrup and Strawberries.
Butter syrup
1cube butter
3/4c. sugar
1/2 buttermilk or sour milk
1tsp. baking soda
Melt butter and sugar and add buttermilk or sour milk stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the baking soda. Stir until foamy and serve.

Thursday- Sweet and Sour Pork (Lion House Recipe)
1# lean pork cut in 1/2 inch chunks
2Tbls. Cornstarch
1/4c. Soy Sauce
2Tbls. oil
1c. carrots cut in chunks
2 small onions cut in chunks
1green pepper cut in strips
1 can (20oz.) chunk pineapple drained, reserve the juice
3Tbls. cornstarch
3tbls. Brown sugar
2cups pineapple juice
1/4 c vinegar
1/3 c soy sauce
Instructions:
Mix 2 Tbls. cornstarch and 1/4 cup soy sauce and marinate for one to two hours or over night in refrigerator. Drain, reserving marinade. Stir fry meat in hot oil until evenly browned and tender, about ten minutes. Remove meat from pan. Stir fry carrots and onions in same pan using more oil if needed. Cover and cook on low heat until tender about 10 minutes. Add green pepper and pineapple. Return meat to pan, then stir in marinade.
Make the sweet and sour sauce by mixing cornstarch and sugar in small saucepan. Add pineapple juice, vinegar, and soy sauce. Cook and stir until thickened and clear. Pour over meat and vegetables; heat until flavors are blended. Serve with steamed rice, ham fried rice, or noodles.

Dessert of the Week:
Raspberry Peach Dessert
1 Large can of sliced peaches
1 (12oz) pkg. frozen raspberries
1 (3oz.) pkg raspberry jello (dry)
1 vanilla cake mix (dry)
1 cube melted butter
1-11/2c. water

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Drain the peaches and put them in the bottom of a 9X13 pan. Put the frozen raspberries on top of that. Sprinkle the dry jello mix on top of that. Put the dry cake mix on top of that. Drizzle the melted butter on top of that followed by the water. Take a fork and try to get what you can moist on top. You will not be able to get it all moist. That is okay. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until the top is golden brown . Serve with vanilla ice cream.

My poor little Leopard baby!

So, my Sydnee decided that she need to try about 5 cashews and this is what happened! It happened about a month a go. I was browsing my pictures and thought that this would make a good post. It took us a week straight on benedryl to get all the hives to clear up. Isn't this just soo sad? She kept pointing to herself and saying "Owie owie." So, she is the third one of my children that is allergic to nuts. She, by far, has had the worst reaction. Nuts aren't too bad to stay away from. We really don't have them around. Except during Christmas when I do my chocolates.That is how we found out that Jorden was allergic to nuts too. He had a small bit of a pecan and broke out into hives as well. So far, Brahnson and Tori are okay with them. The rest of them are okay if they don't eat the actual nut. If the label says that it was manufactured on a plant that uses nuts then they are okay. If they do slip up and have a reaction, Benedryl has taken care of them so far.

Update on Kids Part 1 Photos

Update On Kids Part 2 The Story

I thought this would be good time to write a short post on my kids! We just got done with having Grammy here for three weeks and had a great time with her! Brahnson is 12. He is in middle school and letting us experience all the ups and downs that has to go with the preteen age. He loves Sydnee and gives her all the attention that she could possibly need! Brahnson loves attending Young Men's and interacting with the youth. We have got really good youth in our ward that have taken him under their wings. Camren age 11, got new glasses and loves them. He has lost 4 pairs now and I am certainly grateful to my friend Joy who introduced me to zennioptical.com so that we haven't had to pay an arm and a leg to replace them. We actually got two pairs one for home and one for school. Hopefully, that will solve the losing the glasses thing. His fifth grade class did a colonial day and had all the kids dress up, the best they could, as if they were living during that time period. He is kind, considerate and a friend to all. Tori age 8, is mom's helper. She will help me with whatever that needs to get done and not complain. She likes school and activity days. She is also my movie partner. Some of her favorite movies are Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and anything with Dorris Day, just like her mom. Jorden age 5, is our know it all. He told Grammy that Monk Sharks eat monkeys. He got on the phone with Grammy after she was back home and told her that she needed to go to the airport so that we could pick her up again and come back. Jorden and I go to the library once a week and he always needs to get a dinosaur book, a snake book, a shark book, a big truck book, and a whale book. He doesn't spend time in the story book section, just the non fiction section. Sydnee,11/2, is a little firecracker. She is by far our most vocal child at this age. She will come up to you after you have been gone and yell HI!! She is also getting to know all the animal sounds and starting to communicate quite well for her age. The two things she needs to be happy is sleep and food. If she is hungry or has not had enough sleep you know it and if you don't, she will let you know. I love my kids! I am so lucky to have such great kids! I am even luckier to have an even greater husband that is so supportive. Family is so importantand I am so grateful for mine. I came from a wonderful family and my husband and I are raising a wonderful family. It doesn't get better than this. Some people think that I am crazy because I have five kids, but I wouldn't trade any of them for anything in the world, at least I can say that today at this moment, three of them are still at school! LOL :) :)

Totally Having Mom Withdrawals

So, my mom came to stay with us in Wisconsin. Little did she know that it was going to be for three weeks! We had such a great time. We went out to eat and other places. We forgot our camera every where we went so this isn't going to be a great post that has a lot of pictures of where we went. Sorry Steph! This is the picture she took of our family when we were at church, so she could put it into her family album at home. My mom was able to just sit and relax. Some days, she didn't even get dressed! It was great! I didn't get dressed either if we were just hanging out at home. We played tons of games together. We totally got into "Pride and Prejudice". We watched the whole 6 hour version of it. We researched and found some very enlightening books called "The Pemberly Chronicles." Those books start after the weddings are over and tell about what happens to Mr Darcy and his wife Elizabeth Bennett. We also watched "Jane Eyre" three times and that is a 4-5 hour movie and "Sense and Sensibility". My husband caught up on his sleep on the weekends. Instead of me nagging him to get things done, I was so busy playing games with my mom and watching movies, he took the opportunity to take naps. She went out on our date nights also. We went to Chili's, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, and Bellini's. Bellini's is the best Italian restaurant that I have ever been to! Their Chicken Marsala was to die for. Thanks Honey for finding that one, we will be returning soon! I can't wait until she comes again! I am totally missing her already.
We had great weather while she was here. It even almost got to the 60 degree mark! Then, the day that she was going to go which was Saturday, got dumped on with 6+ inches! We had to have her stay one more day and bump her to the next day! I wasn't sad at all about that one! We go to the airport on Sunday and we are hugging goodbye and I still am not crying! I then look at her and she is crying! That was it for me. I started the tears then and there and continued them off and on the rest of the night. I am still getting a little choked up about it.
It was so great to watch my mom interact with my kids one-on-one! We have lived away from Utah for a number of years now and my kids don't get that too much. They loved spending time with her. She read to them, helped them with their homework, did their dishes, and played games with them. Jorden asked as we were walking out the door to take her to the airport, with a worried look on his face, "How long do we have to give her back?" Mom, you are always welcome at my house. It is a little slower paced than what you are used to and that is a good thing! I don't think she has ever stayed at one of my siblings houses for that long of a time. HMMM...I GUESS THAT MEANS THAT I AM HER FAVORITE!!! :) :) :)

I Love My Mom!!

Last Saturday, my sweet husband asked me if I would like my mom to come out here to Wisconsin to visit. He was going to be out of town and knows how I hate being alone when he is not here. I totally got all excited and said YES!! We got online and found a really good one way airfare. I called my mom up and got my sister Jessica. She said mom was busy and asked if I could call back later. She then, continued to ask how I was and started chit chatting with me. There was no way that I was going to tell her what I was going to ask mom before I asked her. My other sister had just taken her away a week or so before this and I am sure my sister Jessica wouldn't want my mom to leave home again. After chit chatting, I hung up and told Chad that I didn't think that my mom would go for it. About twenty minutes later, I called back and my mom answered. I told her that we found an awesome airfare and wanted to know if she would come out for a visit. I explained that I was going to be all alone and it would be really fun for her to come out to see where I lived. She mentioned that she had some prior commitments and she didn't know. Then, Jessica said that she should go , so my mom said yes! I honestly thought that I would have to have done some serious convincing on my part, but I was wrong.
It has been so fun having her here. I haven't let her do a thing. She has been totally relaxing this whole time. She will sometimes sneak and help her grand kids do their dishes. But, other than that, I am letting her relax as much as she wants. We are playing games. We actually watched the entire six hour movie of "Pride and Prejudice". Chad and I go on a date once a week and because he wasn't here I took her out on a mother-daughter date to HU HOT. It is a really yummy Mongolian BBQ place and she tried crab ragoons for the first time. I am so excited for her to go to church with me tomorrow and meet the wonderful people that are my friends here. My kids totally love having her here too. I am not sure that I want to get her that one way ticket back to Utah. I wish she and my dad could come and stay with me! I am well aware that is not reality though. I am just enjoying every minute that she is here. I love my mom and dad so much and I don't realize how much I miss having them around until they are here with me. I am not looking forward to her going home, but that won't be for at least another week or so. :) Pictures will follow in my next blog when my husband comes home to show me how to get them off the camera!

Is it just me?

I am not understanding why every member of my family can fall asleep at any given moment when their body says it is time for sleep. My body constantly tells me it is time for sleep and yet, sleep for me is hard to find. I have to at least have three things happening for me to even have a prayer of sleep finding me. 1. It has to be dark. 2. It has to be quiet. 3. Nobody can be touching me. I have never had the problem with letting my children sleep in my bed, because if they do, I will definitely not get any sleep. Tori likes to come in and she knows that she cannot come on my side of the bed. She has to go to her dad's side. The problem with that is then my husband sleeps too close to me so, I can't sleep anyway. My children have inherited the ability to fall asleep at will. Within minutes of them going up to bed, they are asleep. I can be talking to Chad right after we put the lights out and, literally, within 10 seconds he can be snoring. It takes me a good 30 minutes to an hour to fall asleep and even then I don't stay asleep all night usually. I have even tried sleeping pills. If there is some sort of secret, I would like to know. Maybe, it's genetics. If that is the case, things are not looking well for me. I know my dad has a hard time sleeping as well.

All of our kids have been born sleepers. Our kids sleep 18-22 hours for the first few weeks of life. They then have three naps during the day until they are about 9 months and then go down to 2 until they are 18 months. I am just now starting to let Sydnee have only one nap during the day. By 7:00 at night, she is so ready for bed. Even Brahnson, who is twelve, likes to go to bed at 8:00. We have even given him the option to stay up until 9:00 p.m. I usually will be in bed by 10:00, but I can't fall asleep until around midnight. We then get up at 5:30 a.m. to do scriptures. I can't nap during the day because that decreases my chances of being able to get to sleep during my normal time. I am grateful that I have children that sleep. I just wish I knew how they do it.

This was nice.

Today, I had the opportunity to meet some moms of students in Camren's class. One of the moms, Zoey, called me and asked if we could get our boys together. I said sure. We had a meeting at the school to plan for the 5th grade Colonial days that is coming up and Zoey was wondering if afterwards we could go sledding behind the fire station. One of the kids that we were going to be with has a dad that is a volunteer firefighter and he invited us to also have hot chocolate inside the firestation after we were through. I thought that sounded very fun. I went to the meeting and all the moms knew who Camren was. (I had never met any of these moms at this point) I was told some wonderful things about Camren that they had heard from their kids. I was told that Camren always shared his treats, that he sat by their kids at lunch, that they thought that he was such a sweet and nice kid. I have to say that as the mother of Camren, I wasn't surprised. That truly is the way Camren is. It is his nature. It is nice to get confirmation from people outside of your home that your children are living the way that you have tried to teach them. Anyway, sledding was fun, but very cold! I spent my time in my friend's van with Sydnee. It would not have been all that bad if the wind would have not blown so cold. I did have a nice time getting to know Zoey and her family. Unfortunately, the firemen got called away to put out a fire, so we were not able to do the hot chocolate thing. Jorden was disappointed. Maybe another time. I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of our new friends.

Sledding in the cold, cold, cold!!