Take a look at this giveaway!!

Check out this giveaway for an amazing Bento package! Also, check out her blog at Meet the Dubiens. This is where we get lots of ideas for our cute food!

Tiny flip-flops and pink toothbrushes

I'm a night owl. I'm almost always the last one to sleep here. Tonight was no exception, except that I had a moment. You know those times when thankfulness overwhelms you? Do you ever have those times? Tonight as I walked down the hall to the bathroom, I did what I always do.... Went in to see each child sleeping, put the toys away that they tucked themselves in with, cover them up , etc... Then, as I went in to go to the bathroom, I noticed 2 tiny, glittery flip-flops in front of the sink and toothbrushes piled on the cabinet full of pink blobby toothpaste. And there it was... Right after I stepped over those flip-flops...that warm feeling of "I am so blessed" that feeling of, no one else in the world has what I have! What an amazing feeling. I hope I never get too caught up to remember that I have what so many people long for. I think I'll use those flip-flops as my excuse tomorrow to not clean the kids bathroom. Have a goodnight. You're blessed too. Find your tiny mess and go be thankful for it.

Chocolate Cake for Breakfast? Yes, I think I will.

Today we had leftover chocolate cake for breakfast! Have I mentioned how much I love summer... so much! On my defense, I did look up recipes for "what to do with leftover chocolate cake" there was a lot out there on how to make cake balls from it, or how to crumble it and put it in pudding... but I'll admit... I was looking to have it for breakfast and those ideas just were telling me to make other things and that required work. So, here's what I did. I toasted it like toast (in the oven under broil) and then buttered it. For my kids, I drizzled a little bit of chocolate syrup on it too. :) OH YES I DID! -with a 'z' snap! I'm cool like that! Hey! I made them eat strawberries with it too.. and yogurt! It's all good. Fresh fruit and yogurt with it makes it healthy, right? Summer vacation is great. I love time off to play with my kids. Here's what we had for breakfast today:

On Monday nights our boys go to Boy Scouts and it's just me and the girls here... so usually we do something just with us.. take a walk and look for lightning bugs, or go to the park... So tonight, they had a meeting that was supposed to last a long time, so it was just me and the girlies for dinner. I decided to try one of my favorite plates from one of the blogs that I love "Meet the Dubiens" She has great ideas for making food fun. Here is our attempt at our 'girlie' dinner making 'girlies' with our food. I wish so badly that I had taken a picture of Josie's that she made... she loves scrambled eggs and kept piling hers on. In the end her girl looked a little like Marge Simpson.

Fun! Thanks for the idea, Jill at Meet the Dubiens. Check out her blog here:

Beautiful You at OneTrueMedia.com

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I say.. Let Them Use Knives!

Today, when talking to an old friend of mine, she asked me about a picture that i put on FB last week of the dinner that my son cooked for us. She said, "I can't believe that he made that and you let him." -- what??? I don't understand.... First of all, my son is 11 years old and has been cooking since he was 3, but has been making things on his own without help since he was probably 6 or 7. I have taught him to cook. Sure, it started with pudding and cookie dough, but now he makes several things on his own, including dinners. He's home after school and most days, while driving home, I will talk him through how to AT LEAST start dinner while on the phone, so that I can finish when I arrive. Sometimes he can go ahead and finish it before I get there. HOLD ON TO YOUR IPAD NOW>>> he also uses knives to chop veggies... whoa.(eye roll) I also have a 7 year old with Down syndrome that cooks and cuts and a 3 year old that is beginnining now... NO, I am not a chef or anything, I just think that cooking is a missing art that should be shared but has gone missing somewhere. I don't let them run around my living room with knives swordfighting.. but I do teach them how to use them properly to slice tomatoes or carrots or potatoes. "Aren't you scared of them chopping their finger off?" she says... well, I guess I am because.. gross!! But, is that really going to happen? Probably not. I have showed them how to properly use them and to be careful. They probably will cut themselves. Don't gasP! They're probably going to burn themselves while stirring a pot too... Don't GasP! They'll be ok. I'm NOT going to let them carry boiling water across the kitchen yet... but I've seen my 11 year old make a pot of water for tea and not even blink before carrying it to a pitcher (that was safely placed into the sink by him first to pour into without me telling him) and pour it out while carrying on a conversation with me. I didn't teach that.. it just comes with maturity and confidence in the kitchen. He was ready - on his own terms. I swear that my 7 year old could make spaghetti for herself and WOULD DAILY.. if she ever got to go through with it without us catching her. She knows to put the pan on "M.E.D" she knows to break the pasta and put it in and wait for it to get soft. I'm quite sure that if she could figure out how to get that big spaghetti jar open, she would make this for herself with complete confidence and we would not even have to know anything... OF COURSE, I'm not sure that this would be from learned confidence as much as sheer desparation, not to have to eat what we are having. Sometimes Down syndrome brings along with it... picky eaters. It's ok.. have your spaghetti, sweetie! You made it! :) So anyway..here's what the 11 year old made for dinner.. nothing you can't do for your family today... it's sooo easy...

Here's how you can make this at your house: Take 2 PKGS OF CRESCENT ROLLS unroll them and put them on a cookie sheet flat and kind of press all of the perforations together so it makes one giant crescent pizza dough.. cook it. Follow the directions on the can. While it's cooking brown your meat and add taco seasonings. Use a packet if you want... - by the way - on a side note, I usually buy my meat in 4- 5 lb pkgs and brown the whole thing and season it , then I separate it out in freezer bags and keep it for dinners like this. Then I can just go to the freezer and pull out a bag and go for it!- so when the crescents are done pull them out. Spread out a can of refried beans on top (no, I didn't cook them) then your meat, then lettuce, tomatoes,sour cream and I did green onions and black olives and avacadoes. Notice that Jack added fancy stuff to our side.. but left their side blank, and left some without sour cream for my 3 year old who only likes hers cold.. Add your shredded cheese all over the top and back into the oven for about 10 minutes of so, until your cheese is all melty on the top. YES, IT IS REALLY THAT EASY. Make it tonight and eat it together at the table. Enjoy it and teach your kids to cook even with knives!

51 - the countdown begins

This is a bittersweet day for us. Friday, March 16th. The last official day of spring break. Sadly, again this year we had no trips planned but we still spent time together just me and my kids. One of these years, we're going to have extra money and we are going to take a trip somewhere.... even if it's just a few hours away.. it would be nice to not be here in the house. Although, I do enjoy a recharge. I always think this week is going to be a refresher for school. It's really not. It's hard to refresh something that wasn't actually fresh. This is my 18th year teaching and I really think every year that I may need to think about something else that I enjoy. I do enjoy teaching, but that's just it.... I enjoy teaching. I'm not really teaching anymore... I'm disciplining, I'm mommying these sweeties that have women at their home, but sadly enough, do not have a real mommy because the person that decided to have them doesn't have time for them, or doesn't want to be the selfless person that you have to be to actually mommy. I'm also analyzing test data... that's what I do.. instead of teaching... I collect data. Because "that's all we care about.. I don't care about the kids.. all I care about is the data" I still can't believe that I actually heard those words from my leader, but that's the reality. They don't really care if these kids grow up to be respectful, or grow up knowing from their 1st grade teacher that they're wonderful in their own right, or grow up knowing how to show compassion to others, or grow up knowing the difference between reading and loving to read, or grow up knowing how things work rather than how things compute. to anymore. And next week they'll want performance on something new... that was drAll they want is performance on a standard that was set by people that aren't even listened eamt up by someone in a suit that never put their child (if they even have kids) in a public school. This is why teachers need spring break.. and relish everything about it. Ok, I'm done for today. I am still sad that my week is dwindling. I have seen BeAuTifUl BeAuTiFuL weather this week. I have seen my kids all week, every day for every hour during the day. THIS WEEK.. I have seen my kids more than their teacher did.. and for that I'm soo thankful. So, I guess on one note, I'm glad to be a teacher...because I do get spring break. And on Monday I will go back and I will "teach the test" and I will hate it, but I will try to squeeze in some fun and I will try to squeeze some lessons on respect and compassion. I will definitely sneak in moments when I share with my young impressionable kids that reading is something that you experience.... not labor over. I hope something sinks in, but I cannot honestly say that I hope it's the first thing on this list! I will count every moment that I get to see my own kids at home even during the madness of homework, dinner, and bathtime. I refuse for their teacher to know them better than I do. I want to mommy!! I want to be everything to them. Afterall, I am raising 2 future mommies and a daddy. I will start my countdown on Monday.. 51 days until Summer break! Peace and love, go read a book and enjoy it..jen

It's HOT!

For those of you that do not know me reading today.. I live in Texas!  To say " it's hot " is really a huge understatement.  We are on our 20th day in a streak of days over 100 degrees and there's no end in sight.  This morning the 5 day forecast looked like this:

Friday       Saturday       Sunday       Monday       Tuesday         
100             103              104             103             100               

Can I say R.E.L.E.N.T.L.E.S.S. 

I look out the window and it looks so beautiful out there... and I go out to turn the sprinklers on and come in drenched... AND NOT FROM THE SPRINKLERS!

We are accustomed to heat and our bodies do adapt.  A friend of mine that lives in Maryland asked me.. "how do you go out and run errands or go to the store...?"  I thought this question was so odd.  What does she mean??? I just go to the grocery store or to Target if I need to.  I just get in the car and go.  Yes, It's hot.  Damn hot!  I have to start my car and let it run for 10 minutes to cool off enough to get in so that the seatbelts don't singe the hair off of me and my kids, but let's face it.  Life just goes on... and we will start school and it will probably still be 100 degrees or more.  It happens.  I guess it's no different than my thinking this past winter when we had RECORD miracle snow over 12 inches here and EVERYTHING shut down and closed because none of us could get our cars out and we certainly weren't prepared for dressing for that.  I always wonder.. "how do people in the north do it"  I bundle my kids up in layers of clothes from their tiny head to their toes -everything covered but their eyes- and then they get in the car with the heater and stifle. I hate being cold.  But I will tell you.... I hate being hot too... this is ridiculous.  Can I please have my sweet 80 degree days back?  I rememeber a couple of days in March that were like that.  I'm going to pretend it's like that today.  I'm also adding a "Let it Snow" blinkie on the sidebar...
Love to you all, Jennifer

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Time come back!

It's summer here in Texas, so of course, it is about 104 every day on average.  This is no new thing for us.  We are used to it and we adjust.  When it's that hot, you can do some errands during the day, but after about an hour or 2 you have to go home and just sit.  And I know what you guys that aren't from TX are thinking... "why don't you do things early in the morning".. well I know this may be hard to imagine, but most of the time we don't even get below 90 until after midnight, and that's IF we do.  Most mornings, we begin at 85-90 degree temps, so by 9 or 10 we are well up into almost 100 temps already. So usually, with a 2 year old and a 6 year old, the afternoon is a great opportunity for nap time.... OH how i love nap time (for myself too) So every year, I say.. things are going to be different this year.. we are going to stay on a schedule! Every year I'm wrong. So nap time gets later and later every day and then we end up pushing bedtime later and later and then we sleep later and later in the mornings... My kids are off schedule, I'm off schedule, aghhh... I just want my nights back.  During the school year, my kids go to be around 8:30 and I have until around 10 or 11 when I go to bed to MYSELF.  Now, my kids are up until 10 or 11 and I don't get up until they get up... I want my time back. I'm alone zero time. I must work on it.

Welcome 2011

Happy New Year. 2011 is here and we welcome a new year and a new beginning. This holiday season was great and went by way too fast. Today was our first day back to school and work and so on and so on, and although it was rough on our little one to go back after 2 weeks home, I think the rest of us rolled into 2011 just fine. Jack is luckily staying with his Nanny and Papa this week because he doesn't have to go back to school until Thursday, so his vacation is still going strong. Lucky boy!
So 2011, This year I do not wish to make resolutions, but instead I want to spend each day being kind and encouraging to others around me. It occured to me during the break while talking and joking around that I do not wish to be 'known' for some of the things that I've been 'known' for before.. like "pulling a jennifer" in a store, or "being late" I think that I want people to remember me as someone that encouraged them. Oh sure, I'm sure people can say lots of good things, like.. 'she's a good mom... or she's a good teacher, .. or at work I'm kind of known for having cute handwriting, so I get called to write "cutesy" on several things or signs... but really do people think of me as an encourager to them??? I want that. I will work on encouraging this year. I hope I run into you for practice. If you see me, make sure to come and see me, so I can encourage you!
I will also try to keep up with my blog better too. Have a good 2011~~jen

Tacos... you can do it!

Hey if you are someone that thinks they can't make tacos.. you need to raise your hand and slap yourself right now.... Now that you have some sense knocked into you.... let's talk. Tacos: once a week dinner at the Macdonalds. All five of us love tacos and we have it once each week. If we have left over meat, we use it later in the week in our eggs for breakfast or on a salad for lunch. So to make tacos you can buy a packet of taco seasoning at the store for about 75 cents. Brown your meat (we use ground turkey because we don't eat a lot of red meat here and it tastes the same when you add seasoning to it anyway) when it's brown drain the grease if you have a lot.. if it's just a little.. who cares! Add the packet and then add 3/4 cup of water and let it simmer about 5-10 minutes. It will take you this long just to get your tortillas heated up (in the microwave with a small bit of water on a paper towel for steam - about 3 minutes) your tomatoes cut and your shredded cheese and sour cream out. Then dish up and dig in.

HOWEVER...

If you're like me and you love tacos and make it a lot or want to make it a lot.. you do not have to buy those silly packets every time. You probably have the ingredients in your spices right now to make it.

If your spices are from a spice rack that was a wedding present from someone.. I hope you just got married, because otherwise.. they're probably too old to have much flavor. Just go spend the one dollar and 50 cents to get new ones, folks!

Here's how you do it.

Taco Seasoning:

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp garlic salt or salt

1/2 tsp oregano

I love to add 1/2 tsp of cumin too. I just love how it tastes. It's up to you.

It's that easy. Enjoy!

Anyone Cook anymore?

hey guys.. as I spend time talking with friends, I'm amazed at the amount of people that don't cook dinner for their families. I guess as we began to grow up it became more important than it had been before to be involved in activities around the community and school. I think we didn't spend time with our moms in the kitchen as much, or our moms didn't spend time there and in turn it didn't run down to our generation. I have talked with so many people that have babies and as their kids grow and they begin to eat dinners as a family will say to me.. how do you know what to cook? or You made that??? How?? how did you learn to make it?? I'm no expert in the kitchen, but I do know my way around and have a few standard recipes that I think anyone can make or turn into their own. I'm going to try often to post some of them and share. Please feel free to make them your own and add or change as you need.

Last night we had twice baked potatoes. Now for my 5 year old.. we call this "mashed potatoes with hot dogs" for some reason she'll eat it that way, but only if she thinks it has hot dogs. It's really ham of course, but she doesn't know.

Here's how it goes... this recipe is demanded from lots of my friends.. I just made this up folks, so just make it up how you want it.. i'm sure it will be good.

TWICE BAKED POTATOES:

You will need potatoes. I use big baking potatoes.. one for each person that will eat a baked potato. I estimate 1/2 for my little kids.. so we use 4. Wash the skins and stab a couple of holes in them to vent while they cook. I stab my holes just down the center where I will cut them in 1/2 later. Wrap them in paper towel and cook them in the microwave for about 6-7 minutes PER potato.. so it's going to take a while to do 4. Don't underestimate your time. They take a while to cook, but will take 2 or 3 times more in the oven.

While the potatoes are cooking, put into your bowl all of the things that make a good baked potato. A big scoop of butter and sour cream for each potato you make, about 1/2 a bag of shredded cheese or more if you like. Then the best part is the diced ham. I get this in the grocery store usually with the breakfast meats (sausage, bacon, etc) but sometimes it's by the lunch meat. We use about 1/2 the package, because we like it in our omlets later and in our mac and cheese. Do however much you like. Don't leave it out it's sooo good. Don't forget the salt and pepper!

Beep Beep Beep! When they're done, cut them in 1/2, and just scoop the potatoes out with a spoon. IT WILL BE HOT> i have to do it with oven mitts. Although, I try everytime with just my hands and end up yelling. Scoop it out and into your pot and then mix it up... You can just mix with a spoon, I just prefer to use my mixer... I want the least amount of work possible. Put the peels into a pan. I use 9x13, but I have more people. The peels will fall apart a little. That's ok... who cares, they'll eat it anyway. So after you mix up your yummy mixture.. it's time to pile it back into the peels. Just lump it all in there anyway you can fit it. It's ok to pile them up high. Now for the best part of all. Stick it into your oven ON BROIL for about 5-6 minutes. The broiler gets really hot.. I mean really hot! So, watch it. This is just to brown the tops a little. When it's brown and yum .. it's ready. Enjoy!

Happy Valentines Day

Making Valentines Day fun... it's easy. Every year after holidays I try to go to walmart or target and shop the 50-75% off holiday stuff. You can easily set yourself up for a cheap and easy holiday if you're patient and can stand waiting a year. Last year I bought Valentine plates for $ .25 cents each and little heart dishes for about the same. I also bought VDay confetti and a few other cheap things. I used these things for Lucy's "I love Lucy" bday party and a few bdays in between or on sick days with the kids and now we're back to Valentine's Day.
For breakfast I made our regular breakfast (scrambled eggs, biscuits, etc..) but I put it in heart dishes and on heart plates. Take your straberries and cut the tops off and then cut a tiny triangle out of the top. Viola! you have the perfect little heart fruit. It just makes things special.
At lunch, we punched our sandwiches out with heart cookie cutters, and served red chips, red strawberries and red apples and had milk in fancy cups. It doesn't take much! Just make it pretty.

A SNOW DAY!

Feb 12, 2010 - When I say "snow day" I mean it this time! We had record snowfall today. We beat all of the records on the books today for a historic 12.5 inches in Dallas/ FW area in a 24 hour period! We may never see this again in our lifetime. Amazing.... It was a nice, fluffy, wet white snow. Perfect for building snowmen, having snowball fights and snow ice cream. When Lucy fell in the snow, you could barely see her, because it was deep. I have never seen it literally snow allllll day and not stop for a single minute and then continue for a completely new fresh blanket of 5-6 MORE inches through the night! Even adults with no kids were out in the snow playing today. We were an entire metroplex of children today! fun!

Chili Frito Pie and Fall...

Today has been a great day. I was off of work today for Fair Day, although we don't use this day for going to the fair for some reason. It's just really expensive and why not use it as the *bonus* day off that it is! That's what I did. All of my kids had school today, because their fair day is on Wednesday, so after about 8 am.. I was free! I went shopping, did some planning for Lucy's bday, had a lunch date with my husband and did some minor housework! When I say minor.. I really mean it. With 3 kids, to do only one load in a day of laundry is minor. What a relaxing day, then to top it off, for dinner we had chili frito pie. I would say with that alone is a sign of fall. I love to have warm soups and chili in the fall. It's so yummy and the weather is perfect at about 65 degrees and a little windy. Now, if I just had something sweet to top it off, I'd be set. All of my kid are home now, and the house is no longer quiet. Instead, it's full of 2 girls playing chase in the living room, an enormous dog chewing something up behind me..( I'm afraid to look ) and 2 boys getting ready for the Monday night cub scout meeting. Back to normal... i guess. I love normal though. It's hum drum days that really make me thankful. No one is sick right now, no one has a big school project due, there are no bills to be paid.. (ha! that's just outright funny) well there are bills, but for right now, I think I will just go play chase with the girls. Enjoy your fall night tonight too. Hey, does anyone really read my blog or do I just write for the therapy of expression?

Hot Summer Rain

I love when it rains in the summer. It never ceases to amaze me that it can be 101 degrees out and raining. I'm thankful for the tiny breeze that occasionally lofts our way as we sit out in the backyard and swing in the hammock in the rain.

Today we will celebrate our cousin Mason's First birthday!

We hope you have a super time at your Chunky Monkey birthday!

Yesterday we had pictures made with all 3 kiddos! I always go in as prepared as I can for situations like this. Josie isn't the best at new situations, so I try to prepare the camera man and I always ask for another helper to help make her laugh, and I try to remember to pack the bag with as many things that I know of that will make her laugh.. balls, pompoms, etc... and of course I try to pack "baby" just in case we need it. Don't forget about the snacks for bribery and colors and a coloring book to work in after we're done and mom is picking out pictures so that we won't have a repeat of Christmas Pictures 08 when Josie LOCKED herself into the dressing room. So I get there and have my guns loaded.... and who was the problem.......????LUCY! the giggliest baby that I know... cried. And cried. The photographer went to take the very first shot of the day and pretended to sneeze to make Josie laugh and threw this little stuffed animal... and when he did, it scared Lucy and she never did come back to her giggly self. We got some good shots at the end when Jack made her laugh, but that was it... most of them, she has this look like "what the *&^%$" looking at the photographer. It's nice! also, it didn't help that he refused to call Jack by his name and insisted on calling him Jackson even after I corrected him. I guess he thought he was in charge. Then to top it off.. he told Jack... don't touch the ball again. I don't want it in my shot. OH NO HE DIDN'T!.. I will tell you that I withheld from pulling what my husband refers to as "A Jennifer" and going off on the guy that was about 18... because I had 3 kids there in front of me that I'm trying to teach respect to, so I tried to remember to be graceful and show responsibility, but it was tough. As soon as I get to a computer that has a disc drive that actually works... since mine in permanently sticking out, I will post some of the shots.

Cracker Toffee

Cracker Toffee

1 cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 tsp of salt.. and boil for 3 min on med heat

pour over 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers flat on a baking sheet

heat on 350 for about 5-7 minutes

cover with a package of chocolate chips and chopped pecans let melt and come to room temp.

put in fridge for 2 hours.. and enjoy! YUM Jack!

Lunch Time Pizza Rollers :(

Well lunch time was like fire and ice today... fun, fun, fun to make... but then not fun to eat! take a look at the pics and I'm sure you'll see why. To our defense... I believe the temp in the cookbook was listed wrong because the insides were still cool. YUCK