Thanksgiving Weekend

I know and I am so sorry its been too long. But I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! MIne was spectacular. With mom gone Thanksgiving dinner fell in my lap. I cooked the turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potatoe casserole, sweet rolls, baked potato dip, chocolate pie, and banana pudding. My sisters made the potatoes, green bean casserole, green bean wraps, cheese ball, reeses cake. We had so much food and it was soooo good. Delicious. I slept 1 1/2 hours the night before getting everything ready but it was so worth it.

Then of course, after dinner I slept about 3 hours and got up at like 3:30 in the morning for the best day of the year: BLACK FRIDAY!! I got some great deals and went shopping for like 15 hours. I got a new Christmas tree and I love it. I stayed up last night and decorated it and wrapped the presents I bought yesterday and got it all ready and put up!! I went to bed at 11:00 last night and I was so exhausted I could not stand up and my whole body was shaking. I literally slept till about 4:30 this afternoon. I got up at like 10:00 this morning and was back in bed at 11:30.

It was wonderful. Tomorrow my goal is to get my whole house cleaned up and caught up for my husband this week and then get ready for Christmas!!! :)

I hope you all wonderful holidays and enjoyed the long weekend.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!! I can't wait to cook out with the family and celebrate freedom!! Nothing sounds better than some grilled chicken, mac n cheese, maybe some pasta salad, and fresh fruit!! oh, and good ole home made lemonade!! YUM YUM!!

I hope you all enjoy your celebrations today!! Dont forget to thank a soldier!

Super Busy Weekend

Okay, so it wasn't super "busy" but I stayed super busy. We had nothing on the "calendar" except cleaning out one of our storage buildings (Yeah!) so I got my table out of storage FINALLY and the kids toys and my movies. Now, as you know, I am a movie junkie. We are a movie family. I don't know why, we just love movies. We like to pile up on the couch or lay in the bed and watch movies. That's our thing. We don't do it all day every day, but when we want special "family time" that's what we do. And when Derek and I want a date night but we don't feel like going out we go to our trusty movie collection. However, I did not realize how vast our movie collection was until we toted those bad boys home. Its obscene. Ridiculous really, but I love my movies. I am going to have to buy a HUGE cabinet just to store those. Its not that we didn't know we had a lot of movies in storage, but see, in the last year, we have bought movies too and its ALOT. I could probably start a small movie rental business! :0) I know...so bad...

But on another note, I did get alot done yesterday. Got most of my laundry through, my house all clean and organized with all my crap from storage...It put me in a pretty good mood and I slept pretty good last night as a result!! Always a plus!! It was just nice to feel on top of it all for a change! Plus, I CAN'T WAIT to go home and cook dinner and sit at the table as a family like we used to do. I am "old-fashioned" that way I guess. Dinner should be with everyone at the table. I love that and I am a stickler for it and the last year has drove me insane that we couldn't do it. So yeah!! I have everything at home waiting on me! I am making new stuff tonight per the family's request...chicken n bowtie pasta, broccolli casserole, crusty italian bread and strawberry pretzel squares. yummy!!

what happens when you ask a 5 year old whats for dinner...

You end up making (from scratch - cause nothing else is good enough for the princess!) chicken enchiladas and home made mac n cheese...

Yes. That is the weirdest combination EVER. So, my house smells like the yummiest mac n cheese and my favorite chicken enchiladas.

AND...I have to brag...my hubby is working grave yard this week and is getting home right after
I leave for work. So I get home today and guess what....my kitchen was SPOTLESS. Sparkling. Clean and BEAUTIFUL. And the three laundry baskets of laundry that I didn't do last night cause I fell asleep early...WASHED. DRYED. FOLDED. HUNG UP. Is he not a prince or what!?!?

I am so happy. So I can eat my dinner...and R.E.L.A.X.

Happy Memorial Day!!

Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed my day off!! :) Even though it wasn't a true day off b/c I spent the first half of it cleaning my house - what I didn't finish last night. But I am satisfied. I stayed home most of the day with my family. I got to cook lunch and eat with my kids, which never happens cause we are usually on the go during the weekends and eat lunch on Sundays at Grandmas. I feel refreshed and relaxed!!

I am in the process of cooking my manicotti for my family (per their request) and am looking forward to a yummy home cooked family dinner!! yeah!!

Now to gear up for a short but busy week!!

and last but certainly not least....Thank you to the soldiers who have laid their lives down for our country so me and my family could enjoy the freedom we all love so dear!! Thank you!!

Rainy Sunday

Well, both kids rooms are painted and the trim up! YEAH!! All that's left is the hall, kitchen, living room and back bathroom...then the carpet and then a break while I decide what to do with the rest of the place! FINALLY!! So excited.

We had a ball tournament yesterday. I don't know what my deal was. I was so pumped to play yesterday but I got up in a SERIOUSLY pissy mood. I don't know why. I think it was in the air, because Shanna and Carson were both pissy, alot of my girls were whinier than usual and NONE of them seemed to want to play. That could be because we were playing like teams that are waaaaaaaayyyyyyy above us on skill level, but hey like the other parents were saying "its good practice". And it is good practice, but we have a tournament for the next two weekends. I didn't want to start our tournament weekends playing these teams ya know? and I am not even sure that all our parents realized this, but we have a tournament at our ball park next weekend and district the weekend after...sooo.....but I am excited for the girls because we do have some awesome games coming up that I am really looking forward to. :) We did get a tournament trophy yesterday though. Not sure how we managed that but we did. Our girls were so excited! They deserved a tournament trophy so much this year so I am excited that they finally got one!

I am in a much better mood this morning, I think I maybe just didn't sleep well the night before and after sleeping about 4 hours a night all week with Derek's hours last week it just caught up with me.

We went grocery shopping last night. In my attempt to be more on top of things at home, I spent last night clipping coupons, planning a menu and grocery shopping. Hot Saturday night with the husband huh? ha ha ha....So I get to cook this week! I haven't cooked in awhile and may be part of my problem. Cooking is my stress relief and I tend to get crabby when I go for awhile without doing it. So instead of the usual grilled hotdogs, hamburgers, mac n cheese and stuff for Memorial Day, I am making my husband's FAVORITE FAVORITE dish, My manacotti and crusy italian bread. He loves my manacotti. It was the first thing 'from scratch' I ever cooked for him and from that day on, he has NEVER said I could not cook. In fact, when he sees me cooking the kitchen and there are no boxes around, he gets all excited and wants to come taste. The best part of being in my kitchen is my kids. They LOVE to sit on the other side of the bar and ask questions "how do you know what to put in there?" "Why does it look so gross right now but taste so yummy later?" "When I get big will you show me how to cook?" So, this week, I am cooking almost every night. Shanna and Carson got excited when we got home with grocery bags. They like to help unload the groceries and this is usually what you hear "YYYEAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! Apples, Look Shanna, mom bought Apples!!" "ooohhh, oooohhh, Carson, look POPTARTS!! MY FAVORITE!" Its hilarious. You would think these kids starve and live on bologna and ketchup when I bring home groceries. :)

But today, today is housecleaning day. We are having family time tomorrow and not doing anything but staying home and spending time with our kids. So today, I have to get my house immaculate (which is going to be a miracle! Luckily, my mother-in-law has been painting for us and in between she will do laundry or my dishes or clean a room - I get on to her but I am SO grateful for her help. It was much needed since I have not had the energy the last two weeks to do it all alone and Derek's help is sometimes nonexistent).

So I am off to start in my bathroom and work my way back to the kids rooms so I can enjoy a TRUE day off tomorrow!! Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Kids in the Kitchen!!

Okay, so like my biggest stress relieving hobby is cooking. I absolutely love to cook. LOVE IT. I love spending hours in my kitchen and I drool over other people's kitchens. Seriously. No exaggeration. Its my favorite room of everyone's house. You Tim Allen on Home Improvement? How he was with cars and tools?? Yeah, me with a kitchen and kitchen gadgets. My brother brought a breadmaker someone gave hime (practically BRAND NEW AND NEVER USED) to dirty santa last year as a "white elephant" (I KNOW RIGHT?!)...Needless to say, I got it and whenever ANYONE looked my way like they were going to take it, they got the bad stinkeye! ha ha ha...obsessed.

My kids absolutely love to be on the other side of the bar when I cook. Its how I grew up watching my aunt in her kitchen and I believe is why I love to cook. She used to watch us in the Summer and she was bound and determined to make me and my sister Ms. Susie Domestic so we spent every summer with her planting in her garden, cleaning house, learning how to cook, and learning how to sew. Cooking is the only thing that stuck. :)

Well, in my children's school, the Kindergarten apparently make cookbooks. My kids had different kindergarten teachers. My son made one for us last year and my daughter just brought hers home. I love them. This was the best idea and the perfect mother's day present!! The kids tell their teacher their most favorite recipe that their mommy's cook and the kids draw on a piece of paper and give the teacher their version of the recipe (which is hilarious!) and then they type up the actual recipe behind it! So, I thought I would share my kids recipes....and I reckon share two of my family's absolute faves with you!!

Kindergarten 2007-2008 - Carson's Recipe: Carson actually said my lasagna, but I buy a frozen one more often than I actually do one from scractch, so I gave up my manicotti recipe (which my mom couldn't believe, cause I used to refuse to share it, but since I have my dads top secret chocolate pie recipe and am the only one with it, I decided it was okay ha ha ha!):

LASAGNA, BY CARSON
Cheese
Noodles
Sauce

I'm not sure, but I think she buys it at Wal-Mart. She puts it in the oven. She cooks it at 300 degrees for 3 hours. She takes it out and lets it cool. We eat it with bread. ***side note from me- he has colored around his recipe with the phrase "salt is good. Tamatos are good with salt. Yum!!! Good!!!" My son eats tomatoes like women eat chocolate! He loves them. They are his fave!***

MANACOTTI

Boil manacottie noodles as directed on the box. Cook 1 lb of pork sausage and crumble. Mix the sausage with a large container of ricotta cheeese. Mix in 1 egg, garlic powder and oregano (to taste, a little or a lot, doesn't matter). Stuff the noodles with the mixture and place in a large lasagna pan. Pour 1 jar of pasta sauce over noodles (I use Prego Ricotta Parmesan). Cook in oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until sauce is bubbling. Sprinkle mozzerella cheese on top and cook until melted. YUM YUM YUM. Awesome with crusty italian bread.

now under this recipes, hes colored a picture of salt and tomatoes and wrote yum yum yum yum yum down the page! ha ha ha...he's so silly.

Now for Shanna....she absolutely loves my biscuits and gravy. Its a knockoff of cracker barrells. I won't eat biscuits and gravy unless it is from cracker barrell or I make it. I am too picky. :)

BISCUITS AND GRAVY by SHANNA

Get flour as big as two spoons.
4 eggs
2 inches of water
Mix with mixing spoon. Slap biscuits with your hand. PUt in 5 degree oven for 7 minutes. Chop biscuits.

Gravy
Take a little bit of pepper and hardly any salt and put in a little pan on stove. Cook for 5 minutes.

how hilarious is that! ha ha ha...and of course she drew me in my apron and some funky hat (which I don't wear hats, so not sure where she came up with that!)

SAwmill Gravy

1/2 lb ground pork sausage
3 1/4 c. milk
1/8 tsp dried italian seasoning
1/4 c. butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp pepper

Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring it until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Remove sausage with a spoon leaving the drippings (that's how I do it, you are supposed to leave only 1 tbsp drippings but I use a big ole skillet) Melt butter with drippings in skillet over low heat. Whisk flour until smoothg. Cook, whisking constantly 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Stir in sausage, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.

Sooooo yummy. :)

ENJOY!!