Friday, June 6, 2008

Bah-ha-ha-ha!

Obviously, the second person to comment on my previous post didn't actually read the post....just the title...... For some reason I think that's funny....

Alright, off to OC with me!

And, of course, it's the start of the heavily-attended "Senior Week." At least I'm not planning on being in that part of OC, but we are planning on taking the kids next weekend.....ugh....

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Dream Dinners/Make-n-Take/OAMC/Let's Dish

Or whatever you may call it, I do it with friends once every three months and IT ROCKS!!

We just did a swap tonight for the first time. Usually we meet here and assemble, but our schedules were crazy so we made 'em up, froze 'em, and met to swap out at Chili's tonight. Here is our breakdown. There were 8 of us this time and we each do two recipes....

*Baked Ziti
*Sweet and Sour Chicken with Veggies
*Creamy Baked Chicken
*Beef Stroganoff
*Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloin
*Mexican Tortilla Casserole
*Alice's Chinese Barbecued Chicken
*Marinated London Broil for the grill
*Mini Saucy Meatloaves
*Manicotti
*Cranberry Meatballs
*Chicken and Spinach Lasagna
*Rainy Day Chicken with Rice
*Lemon Pepper Chicken
*Chicken, Penne, and Sun dried Tomatoes & Veggies
*Biscuit Beef Bake

So, we have a total of 16 meals but in addition to that we each made one extra of each meal to give away (we have two families in need of meals right now). So, 18 meals (each serves at least 6) for a grand total of:

$126!!



WOO HOO!!!!!

Tomorrow is Coby's last day of school. He is so excited. I'm leaving tomorrow night for OC with my grandmom to help her get her house down there in shape to sell. I'm looking forward to a weekend away even if it is to work...

I just started watching my niece one day a week. Today was the first day. I had so much fun! I feel like a grandma....love 'em and hand 'em back!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Important Info...

I came across this on a message board I frequent.

I have never even heard of this but thought the info would be helpful since we are coming into pool/swim season.

DRY DROWNING

*Warning - this is a link to a real news story about the death of a 10-year old boy*

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Give her an inch, she takes a mile....

So, Ella's new fascination is pretend playing in her kitchen. Okay, maybe it's not so new, but her idea of using real water is. So, the rule for water in the playroom is a little in one cup. Perhaps I was naive to think that she would actually follow this rule? I don't know. But, she is now punished from her kitchen for a week. To which she said, "I don't like playing in my kitchen anyway." Uh-huh....

When I went upstairs I found a Rubbermaid lid filled with water with two bowls on top. After my initial reaction to that I look over and see that her Crayola Art Table is ruined because the dry-erase part of it has gotten all wet and we all know what wet coated cardboard looks like. As I lifted the lid to that (where the chalk and markers are stored) that entire well is filled as well. So, as I'm clearing away all the kitchen stuff to put it up I found another two large pots filled with water, two cups filled with water, and her entire tea set filled with water.

I thought I had made it through all the toddler/preschool years without incident.

I guess it's better than writing on the walls (which my kids have never done - knock on wood...)?

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Fun Recipe...

If you have a few hours and are looking for something to do (ha!), here is a recipe for you!!


(This is stolen from Cheryl)


Rainbow Jello


Small boxes of Jello, in rainbow colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, or whatever colors you want)
Cool whip


Grease a pan with baking spray. Clear out a level spot in the refrigerator. Put the prepared pan in the refrigerator to chill. Add one packet of Jello to 1 cup of boiling water. Stir 2 to 3 minutes to dissolve completely. Pour 2/3 cup of the Jello into the prepared pan, and chill for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, add enough Cool Whip to the remaining Jello to make 2/3 cup. Stir to completely melt the Cool Whip. When first layer has set for 15 minutes, carefully pour Jello/Cool Whip mixture over it, and chill for 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining colors. Once all layers have been poured, allow to chill for at least 2 hours. Unmold onto a serving platter, if desired, or cut into squares and serve.

**Note**
The cool thing about this recipe is that you can cater it to any color needs according to the even you are making it for. Red, White and Blue for 4th of July, Green and Red for Christmas, Sports Team colors, etc…

This is from when we did it for Mother's Day this year:




Sunday, June 1, 2008

Note to Toothfairy (see blog below first for story....)


Tooth #2!

Ella lost her 2nd tooth today! She knew it was very lose and got upset while we were at the store because she didn't want it to fall out there. She actually didn't talk for a full hour (one for the record books for sure!)!!

So, she was partaking in her dessert donut after dinner tonight and Jon said to her, "Be careful biting into that, it might take your tooth out." She smiled because she thought he was being funny. I saw a missing tooth....so I said, "Ella! Your tooth fell out! It's gone!" She thought I was kidding... So, I made her spit out what was in her mouth and and inspected the donut real good and the tooth was nowhere to be found. She still didn't believe me so I took her to a mirror and had to make her look.

Lesson: Ella apparently does not chew her food really well.....

She was very upset but we told her we would write a letter to the tooth fairy explaining what happened.

Also, just a note to let you all know (since I haven't updated in forever) that we have taken the house off of the market. God wants us here for now, and so we are anxious to see what He will do with this next year.