Some Pinterest Fun...

I like Pinterest. Just like anything, you have to find the good but generally, I enjoy all the ideas that people have tried and liked.

Here are some of my pinterest recipe finds that I have actually TRIED and LIKED!

Orange Chicken

Pad Thai


(picture from browniesfordinner blog)

Greek Salad Dressing


(pic from cookingoncloverlane)

Rub For Whole Chicken in Crockpot


Strawberry Muffins


(picture from dashingdish.com)

Marshmellow Fluff




Smoothie Packs (so helpful) I also you the fruit/yogurt packs to mix with my steel cut oats



(pic from laceyinloveblog)

Birthday Boy

We have had a week of 3 yr old Birthday Fun! 

The fun started at Grandma and Grandpas house.

Then we had a friend party. We called it the Kster Olympics. There was long jump and hockey shot and shotput. And there was even a special Olympic water balloon event where the kids tried to get rid of the chalk target on our fence by throwing balloons.

We arrived late the night before the party. Plan A was to make a blue cake (birthday boy request). The cake was a bust. Plan B was to make cupcakes. I overfilled the cupcakes. I was done. So off we went in the early morning to go buy donuts. 

Hurray for Plan C.

Then it was Ksters actual birthday. We started off with Chocolate Chip Pancakes.

Dropped the kids off at school, played a little Wii and headed up to go ride the horse. I love this horse. It costs a penny. A PENNY! He was so excited. 

Then off to get his birthday balloon from the dollar store (he's a cheap birthday boy) and then to Dad's office where he requested we bring ham sandwiches (we told him he could have ANYTHING he wanted) and then didn't eat anything. 

The night ended with more cake! He wanted a baseball cake.

This was the best I could do. 

 

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

First Day of School

Msterisms

"You know what they say, the less the merrier. So whoever leaves my room will be merrier."

Big Brothers

Kster has reached a phase of life where his older brother is the coolest guy EVER! Whenever I ask him what he wants he has yo consult Lster first.

I'm full

This week I've noticed a change. I've been able to better recognize when I am full. I feel so empowered. I'm finally starting to get my body back. Not just the loss of weight but the ability to read what it's telling me. This is a great feeling.

Chaos

I wouldn't say we live in chaos completely but sometimes I feel like our life is pretty crazy. There is a newborn who needs to eat every 3 hoursand loves cuddles. There are 3 other kids who just want something right now. There are still meals to be made and eaten, laundry to be done. There is a girl turning 8 who is getting baptized in a few weeks. There are many guests coming to celebrate said baptism. There are lawns to be mowed, kids to keep clean, bathrooms too. There are friends to play with, thirsts to quench, exercise to fit in. But I love it. I love my baby. I love summer. I love watching Lster learn to add double digits. I love helping Mster get ready for her baptism. I love witnessing the magical moments when Kster shows love to his little sister. I love eating well again. I love life, chaotic or not.

Homemade Popsicles

Out of fear that I will never actually post again if I try to wait for everything to be perfect here is a half blog post about homemade popsicles...

I've been so worried about the reaction of my 2 year old to our new addition to the family that I haven't spent a lot of time with our 5 year old. Yesterday I asked if he wanted to make popsicles with me and he JUMPED at the chance to help out.

Step 1. Get out Blender.

Step 2. Add yogurt (about 3/4 cup), cut up fruit, milk and/or juice

(I'm lazy and I just keep a container of orange concentrate in the freezer and had a few heaping tablespoons in the mix when I make it instead of trying to find juice in our house.

Step 3. turn on blender

Step 4. Prepare dixie cups into muffin tins.

Step 5. Pour into dixie cups (about 3/4 full)

Stop and take a picture

Step 6. Put a layer of aluminum foil on top of the dixie cups.

Step 7. with a knife, add slits into each dixie cup.

Step 8. Add Popsicle sticks (aluminum foil with slits will make sure that the sticks go in vertically and don't lean to the side and freeze that way.

Step 8. Freeze

Step 9. (And this is where we are a lacking a bit in the post) Eat. Popsicles come out of dixie cups really easy when they are run under water for a few seconds.

Our Pseudo Recipe

3/4 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla)

strawberries

banana

3 heaping tablespoons of orange juice concentrate

3/4 cup milk

bit o' vanilla (if using plain yogurt)

But you could use any mixture of fruit and yogurt...

Also...

If you are against the waste caused by throwing out a dixie cup and popsicle stick with every snack time, might I suggest you try these. I have a set at home and we love them.

Kster loves his little sister!

We had a baby! Hurray for babies!

Her name is Annika Jill Valentine. Anikka because we like the name. (I've heard liking the name you pick for your children is a good thing) And Jill for some family love. We have a thing about family love and middle names. 

She came on June 8, 2012 weighing in a whopping 8 lbs 7oz. and we all love her so much that we are going to keep her.

 

Preschool Graduation

Lster graduated from Preschool last week. He has had a BLAST!

At the top of the slide the kids had to say what they wanted to be when they grew up. Lster said a "DAD"! 

Puffed Wheat Squares

Msters school had an immigration day for the 2nd graders. They each were assigned to be an immigrant and spent the day going through Ellis Island. In addition to dressing up and playing pretend all day (what 7 yr old girl wouldn't love to do this for a school day) they had a potluck lunch where they needed to bring a dish from their heritage. After much thought and consideration, I chose to make Puffed Wheat Squares. I had so many ideas from my friends but I had to pick something easy for me and kid friendly and something that I didn't have to serve hot since I couldn't make it to the school that day.

Here's how you make them...

I found puffed wheat at Sunflower Market. This store reminds me of a less wholesome Whole Foods. The bag was on sale for $1 so it really isn't that expensive to make.

1/2 c margarine or butter
1 c corn syrup
1 c white sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
6 (heaping) Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
10 c Puffed Wheat

Combine butter, corn syrup, sugars and cocoa in heavy saucepan.  Bring to boil.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Pour over Puffed Wheat.  Mix well and press into greased 9x13 pan.  Makes 24 squares.

They are very similar to a Rice Krispie square. 

Soccer Season

We had a VERY busy soccer season with games 4 days a week between Mster and Lster.

Mster LOVED to play Goalie.

Lster was a little soccer SUPERSTAR! His favorite memory would probably be when he got a "hole in one". He made a goal from the center line when it was his turn to kick. 

And here is our trouper, Kster. Who desperately wanted to play on his own team. It was a rough few months for him. He had just finished his Soccer Buddies team and because of our crazy schedule I couldn't sign him up again. So he just tried to make the best of it and ran around at all the games asking every day when he would have a coach again.

Chore Charts for the Summer

I decided to make chore charts for the kids this summer. I didn't want to take a lot of time to make them and I didn't want them to be too intricate. So here's what I did...

Kster has one too but it didn't make the picture and it has more age appropriate items (Bed, Numbers, Letters)

Their chores are: Piano, Read, Writing, Math, Make Bed and No toys on the floor (in their room)

• Reading is 20 minutes a day
• I made a Math bin for them a long time ago that has lots of math games and all the supplies they need. (dice, money, dry erase crayons, etc)
• For writing, I made a writing jar filled with cut up ideas for them to write about. They glue the idea to the top of their journal and then they fill the page with whatever they want to write about that idea.

Thunderbirds

This is starting to become a GREAT tradition. We found a great spot to watch the Thunderbirds perform at the Airforce Academy's Graduation. This year we parked our cars strategically, set up camp, ate some lunch and watched the show. Luckily, it was Msters last day and they already had early release so pulling her a few hours early was no big deal and she could come too. She didn't seem to mind missing one last recess to come join us. I was too busy holding onto kids during the show to take pics of the airplanes but I did get one of all the kids.

I got a new toy!

A month ago there was a service project that I was invited to where they had lots of different projects. One of the projects was making pillowcase dresses for girls in Africa.  I really wanted to go and learn how to make them but I had a conflict that morning. Luckily a friend of mine had heard of them before and told me she could teach me how to make them. We invited another girl who had gone to the service project and had 10 extra little dresses to finish and got to work. We were able to finish a bunch of the dresses to be sent to Africa and I started working on the one for Mster. So its only a month later and I finally finished the one for Mster on Saturday night. I had to change it up a bit so that the neckline was lower for her.

The other thought I had was that this might be an easy way to make matching dresses for the baby and Mster to have. So, part of the reason it took me so long to finish Msters is I got distracted making a little peasant girl dress for baby girl. Too bad she's not here yet to model it for us.

The problem with all this sewing is that I used my friends machine when we were at her house but when I got home I was stuck using my machine that was having serious issues sewing any type of uniform stitch. My mother decided to buy me an early birthday present and I got a NEW sewing machine. Hurray! I was able to finish up both dresses and make a few cute other things too.

Like this headband...

I originally made it for me but it fit Mster way better. She was thrilled and now wants me to make more in as many colors as possible.

Because I said so...

Kster is entering the "why?" phase. Every time I tell him something he asks, "why?". At first, I tried to explain it to him but he would always respond with "why?" or "why, mom?". I realize this is part of his learning process. He's trying to engage me in conversation. For Mster it was "where?" She would ask all of her questions in the "where" format.

But there is no end to the conversation and nothing I say will suffice his questioning so after a few attempts I always end with..."because I said so" to which he replies, "otay mom" and we can move on.

------------------------------------------

Also involving Kster is our over-abundance of soccer. Mster and Kster play games 2 times a week on different nights. Its a lot of fun and they seem to love it but Kster is in the pit of despair. He used to take a soccer class in the day. It was a parent/child class which he refused to let me participate. He would tell me that it was HIS soccer class and that I could watch him from the chairs. So, I did. I watched all the kids with their moms coaxing their children to score goals and kick the ball. Kster, ran past them all and followed his coaches instructions beautifully. He REALLY, REALLY, likes soccer. But, the soccer session ended and the next session happened to be over spring break, and was still not finished when school was let out for the summer and I'd probably have a baby sometime in there too. He would miss so many classes and the logistics of getting him to soccer amidst all the future family chaos was just not worth the pricey soccer fee. I promised we would sign him up again in the fall when the kids were back in school. Unfortunately, delayed gratification is just too hard a concept for a 2 year old to understand. All he sees is his brother and sister playing soccer 4 days a week and he plays none and its become a daily tragedy. Every day, he tells me he wants to go to soccer. Every day he asks me to drive him to soccer. And unfortunately, "because, I said so..." just isn't cutting it for this big "Why?".

What would you do for a quarter and a pez candy pack?

Today Mster had early release and I was so very tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. I really didn't want the kids to just watch tv so I told all the kids that if they were all good and let mommy take a nap I would give them each a quarter and a treat. They let me sleep/rest for 1 hour. And now they are happily having a "party" in Msters room with their pez and money.

I Can't Sleep

My kids are usually great sleepers but when they are sick they struggle and with their struggle comes my struggle. I thought we were finally back into the swing of unwakeful nights until Kster decided to wake up every 1/2 hour between 12:30 and 4AM.

There was no apparent reason for his risings. He had something new to say every time. He was thirsty. He was hungry. It was too dark (turned on a closet light). He didn't like the shirt he could see on the floor (turned off the closet light). It was too dark (turned on the closet light). He wanted to know where everybody was in our family. He wanted to talk about the smoke detector that was beeping earlier in the day. He just wanted somebody to talk to.

I could not fall back asleep after each adventure down the hall. Part of it was the howling wind that I thought might rip the siding or roof off my house. Part of it was the fact that every time he yelled I had to get up and go see what was going on which involved a big procedure in getting off the bed and walking over there (I'm too big and pregnant) and part of it was that it was really dark and Cster and I have been watching the Walking Dead series. I know there are no zombies in my house but I'm not necessarily rational at 2AM. I really really didn't want to meet a zombie on the way to his room.

My saving grace this morning was a glorious text from the school district that school was cancelled and I could let the little guy sleep in and I could lie in bed for much much longer than I normally would on a Tuesday school day.

Hopefully tonight will be better...

My Children do Love to talk about...

I'd like to say that this is a phase. I'd like to say that our routine leisure conversations will reach a higher level of intelligence. But, lets be honest, toilet humor is funny. And my 3 children (aged 7, 5 and 2) are all about singing, joking and having general discussions about all their bodily functions down at "that" end of the body. They work it into EVERY conversation...

Overheard in the car:
Mster: How was Grandma's house today Lster?
Lster: Horrible. She pooped all over my face and I had to wipe it off....just joking, it was AWESOME!