Surf Beach

A while back we had some unusually hot days for our location in California. It got to be above 100 degrees and since we have no A/C in our apartment, we headed out to the beach where it was a beautiful 75 degrees.

Em and I-guy just LOVE running from the waves over and over.



"Why did Mommy make us wear these silly hats?" Here are the babies. They aren't too fond of the water.

Instead, they like to dig in the sand together. In this picture they were looking for little crabs and bugs.

I love how the beaches around here are never crowded. Then again, they are usually cold and foggy. But you can't have everything! They sure were beautiful this day!

MENU PLAN MONDAY 2/4/08

Monday: Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad, Cheesy Cauliflower, Raspberry Lemon Bread

Tuesday: Fabulous Fajitas, Gelatin Fruit Salad

Wednesday: Spaghetti w/ Meatballs, Garlic Sourdough Bread, Green Salad, Chocolate Mint Pie

Thursday: Crockpot Chicken w/ Rice and Black Beans

Friday: Homemade Pizza, Veg w/ dip

Go check out more menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie's Blog!

Wow! I was trying to type this out while watching the SuperBowl, but it was just too exciting! And I could care less about professional football! But, boy, was that an awesome football game! Great job New York! And how neat that Peyton Manning's little bro did so well with his big brother watching! I even liked the half-time show with Tom Petty as I was expecting some stupid act trying to be cool. I wasn't too impressed with the commercials, but I did miss most of those. The only one that I saw and thought was cute was the Coke one with the parade balloons where Charlie Brown gets the big Coke. Overall- a fun night watching football with DH!

MENU PLAN MONDAY- 1/28/08

Monday: 40-Clove Garlic Chicken, Herbed Swirl Bread, Gelatin w/ fruit, Green Beans

Tuesday: Fabulous Fajitas

Wednesday: Crockpot Chicken w/ rice and black beans

Thursday: Turkey Meatloaf (from the freezer), Mashed Potatoes

Friday: Noodle Heaven (from the freezer)

Saturday: Date night (Kids- smoothies, PB, popcorn)

Find more menu plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie's site!

This last week has been very stressful so I had to make an extra effort to get this menu planned and posted. Saturday evening, I-guy and Em were jumping from the table to the couch and I-guy missed and hit the front of his face. There was so much blood coming from his mouth I knew it was serious. Ends up that his teeth went all the way through his bottom lip/chin area and he needed several stitches on both the inside and outside!

DH took him to the ER and I-guy was so brave and held so still while they stitched him up that the staff couldn't believe it and kept commenting on it the whole time. The Dr. mentioned that I-guy has such self-control that'll come in handy when he's older. I-guy has always been like that so I can't take any credit. I'm amazed at how much of a role personality plays in how kids are. I-guy's always been a thoughtful and observant boy. We're very proud of how brave he was!

Yesterday he woke up with a bottom lip puffed up to at least three times it's normal size. So I went and bought him a bunch of soft foods like ice cream, yogurts, and puddings which made him happy.

MENU PLAN MONDAY 12/17

Baby K is sitting on my lap right now while I type. She's been very clingy due to coming down with a cold. Yesterday she sat on DH's lab for almost 2 hours while he was working on some music. It was so cute!

Saturday night we went out on a family "date" to our favorite local pizza place. Then we drove through the park to look at all the light displays they had set up. I-guy just LOVES anything to do with Christmas and was so excited to see the lights. Everytime we drive by a big Santa decoration in town he says "Look it's Santa! Ho, ho, ho!"

It's back to school today though Em and DH have Friday off- YAY! I'm trying several new recipes this week so I hope they turn out! I want to gear up for another freezer-cooking session. We'll see if I have time to plan that.



Monday: Chinese Chicken Salad, Winter Squash Muffins

Tuesday: Steak and Rice Roll-Ups, Coffee-Lover's Coffee Cake

Wednesday: Amy's Crockpot Chicken w/ Rice and Black Beans, Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thursday: Herbed Pot Roast, Rolls, Blue Cheese/Cranberry Salad

Friday: Chicken Rollatini w/ pasta, Green Salad


Have a great week and find more menu at I'm an Organizing Junkie's Blog!

MENU PLAN MONDAY 12/3

Brrr.... it was FREEZING this week!!! We had to pull out the parkas and hats and scarves and such. It didn't get above zero at least one of the days and boy the wind!!! I'm so thankful that we have a two-car garage that is attached to our house. No more plugging in the cars (and then forgetting about it and ripping the plug out of the block heater as we drive away! :)) It's about time after having to walk outside to get to our cars for the last five winters here in North Dakota!

A couple of weeks ago I watched that show "Kitchen Nightmares" with Gordon Ramsay for the first time. I kind of want to go to culinary school and become a chef, so I found the show pretty interesting. Bethany also watched the show and attempted to recreate the hamburger they created for the new menu. Some of her commenters said that it reminded them of a meatloaf on a bun. So I'm going to try it for myself as I'm a little tired of plain old hamburgers.

Monday: Lemon Chicken Schnitzel w/ Roasted Red Potatoes, Pumpkin Muffins

Tuesday:Hamburgers, Tray of Health

Wednesday:Crockpot 40-Clove Chicken, LO Herb Bread, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Thursday: Homemade Pizza

Friday-Chicken and Rice Soup/ Chicken and Dumpling Soup

While I was menu planning, both Em and I-guy told me they wanted to plan the menu. So I asked them to come up with their own choices, some of which I am going to use for lunches. Here's what they came up with:

I-guy:
1-Macaroni, Vanilla/Chocolate Cake w/ Yellow Roses made w/ Vanilla Frosting
2-Noodles
3-Chicken Rice Soup
4-Meatball Soup
5-Split Pea Soup, Bacon & Hot Dogs
6-Waffles, Eggs, Hashies

Emma
1-Hot Dogs
2-Macaroni w/ Vanillia cake w/ blue frosting
3-Noodles w/ Salad
4-Pancakes
5-Macaroni w/ ham, cheese and parmesan

Right now as I am finishing this up they are sitting at the table with me looking through cookbooks and drawing pictures of foods they think look good. Nut was at the table drawing, but now he's sitting on the floor looking at a cookie magazine. It's very cute!

MENU PLAN MONDAY 11/26

The Thanksgiving feast went well! I prepared all the dishes and it wasn't too stressful as I did do a bunch ahead of time. Which was a good thing since I got a cold and was miserable on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday I woke up feeling somewhat better, but my head was still messed up so I couldn't taste very well! I did have a bunch of leftovers this weekend and they were so good. Too bad I couldn't taste them the first time around! Em kept exclaiming how she just "loves Thanksgiving," all day long which was cute.

This week is back to the routine of school and work. I like the routine, though it's nice to break out of it every once in a while.

Monday: Mexicalli Pie (from the freezer), Tortilla Chips, Celery Sticks, Peanut Butter Cookies

Tuesday: Deluxe Baked Potato Bar w/ Bacon, Split Pea Soup, Winter Squash Muffins

Wednesday: Spaghetti w/ Meatballs (from the freezer), Salad, Garlic Bread

Thursday: Honey Rosemary Chicken, Herbed Swirl Bread, Baked Spinach

Friday: Pepper Rice, Peach Cobbler

Have a wonderful week and go visit I'm an Organizing Junkie's blog for more menu plan madness!

Pics from Children's Museum

On our recent trip to Omaha, we visited the Children's Museum with Uncle J, Aunt M and Cousin C.

Here's Kabe's playing with a puzzle in the baby area.


Cousin C. in the baby area. There's so much to choose from!

DH kept trying to take pictures of me the whole trip. I used to get annoyed at him for this and give him dirty looks that he would try to capture on film. However, I have switched tactics and always give a cheesy and toothy smile every time. So far my new plan is working and he has had to resort to doctoring the pictures of me after they are taken. He added stubble to this one, which I will not be showing online. He did show the altered pic to my brothers, much to their delight.

Nate with the play dough.

More Nate:

Nate says: "Help! My pants won't stay up!"

Playing with some cool animals.

"I'm having so much fun!"

Fun with a big ball.

"My pants are falling off again!"

Overcoming obstacles.

Em with two little guys.

I-guy having fun with water.

Uncle J and Cousin C- what a cute smile!

Curly hair.

"Forget the toys. I'm trying to remove my sock!" (as usual)
Peek a boo!

Cousins- they are only 6 weeks apart.

There aren't many pictures of Em and I-guy because they went off with Aunt M and Uncle J while DH and I stayed mostly in the baby room with the younger two. Our boys really warmed up to Uncle J. and I-guy would climb up into his lap and hang around him. Kabe's gave Aunt M a snuggle on our last day there that was very sweet! And Em had a special time each evening playing with only Aunt M. They played Polly Pockets and made some crafts. Em can't wait to go back!

Classic K.B. Look

MENU PLAN MONDAY 11/5

Well I was finally able to bring myself to use the crazy yellow happy face menu plan banner from the Organizing Junkie! I'm a pretty conservative gal and it took a little while to get used to this one! :) But my menu plan for this week is rather ambitious, so I will need all the exuberance I can get to stick to it! :)


Monday: Balsamic Raspberry Chicken, Rice, Sesame Broccoli or Garlic Broccoli (I think I'm going to use elements from both these recipes and come up with a new one)

Tuesday: Herbed Pot Roast, Rolls, Double Chocolate Pudding

Wednesday: Homemade Pizza, Fresh Veg Tray w/ dip

Thursday: Cashew Chicken, Gingerbread Cupcakes w/ Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Friday: Penne a la Betsy w/ Shrimp

I also want to try making homemade whole-wheat pita bread since we LOVE eating pitas stuffed with scrambled eggs, ham, veggies, etc. I love to eat a toasted pita filled with fresh veggies, sprouts and a little mayo or ranch dressing. Healthy! Lunches:
1-Pitas
2-Fried Rice
3-
4-
5-

Snacks:
1-

Adventures in Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) August 2007

The freezer-cooking marathon is done! I've done freezer cooking sessions before, but had never planned to do so much in one day. Things didn't go quite as planned, but I learned a lot. My husband had one Friday off of work and I was supposed to have that day to myself to do the bulk of the cooking. But the plan changed last minute, and my husband was away for most of that day. So I had to do most of it during an evening, which didn't work too well. I think in the future I will plan to do mini-sessions here and there instead of a whole day marathon.

A couple of my meals didn't work so well in the freezer, so I won't be putting the recipes on here. The enchiladas turned out soggy and the veggies in the chicken veggie packets turned out rubbery and undercooked. So I will only be including the recipes for things that I've had success with.

It's handy to have an empty trash-can nearby for easy clean-up:

I enjoyed chopping the onions and green peppers in my new chopper contraption:

A couple of helpers sped things along (yeah, right! Oh well, they were cute and had nice helpful attitudes so I didn't want to discourage that! In the original plan my DH was supposed to have the kids. I didn't make much progress in between changing a yucky diaper... then washing my hands for five minutes and making sure they didn't dump the whole salt shaker out!)

Fully assembled Noodle Heaven:

Cooking the chopped up onions and peppers for Mexicalli Pie:

Add the browned ground beef:

Next comes the cheese:

Two fully assembled Mexicalli Pies:

The marinade for 2 large batches of Grilled Marinated Pork Chops:

The Grilled Marinated Pork Chops after the raw chops have been added in. I freeze it at this point. When I'm ready to cook them, I thaw and broil them like the original recipe says:

My progress so far:

On to the chicken recipes. Here's the Cashew Chicken base. This is the only part I cook and freeze as I stir-fry the veggies fresh when serving for better results.

Pan-frying the coated chicken nuggets in some olive oil:

The Chicken Nuggets are done! These heat up so quick and well in the oven later on and are WAY better for you than fast-food nuggets!

I forgot to take pictures of the meatballs, meatloaf and a couple of other things since I had to finish them up later due to the change in plans.

Here are the recipes:

1) Noodle Heaven (x 4)

2) Easy Cabbage Roll Casserole (x2)

3) Mexicalli Pie (x2)

4) Meatballs x2

5) Chicken Nuggets (x2)

6) Cashew Chicken Base (x2)

7) Turkey Meatloaf w/ Mashed Potatoes (x2- doubled recipe can be split into 3 parts)

8) Grilled Marinated Pork Chops (x2)

Misc.

1) Cooked Sliced Chicken for Salads

2) Cooked Crumbled Bacon for Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad

Links of Interest to me

I have a bunch of links that I've bookmarked that I want to get off of my desk-top. So I'm going to be posting them on my blog so I won't lose track of them.

A Low Impact Woodland Home

21 Tips on Keeping a Simple Home w/ Kids

Planning Days

Holistic Asthma Treatment

Headache Home Remedies

Cough-Variant Asthma

Case Report: Cough Variant Asthma

How to do Time-Outs Correctly

Audio Stories for Kids

StoryNory

Candlelight Stories

Green Cleaning Resources

Clean & Green

Make-Your-Own Non-toxic Cleaning Kit

How to Make Green Household Cleaners