Monday, August 27, 2012

Mother Goose Goes to the Gym


I'm gonna stop blogging and live my life any minute now.  3 blogs in 3 days is excessive, but here goes...

Handsome Prince's new job came with a gym pass.  Never had one of those before.  It took three months, but I finally went today.
Not me...She's in better shape.
I don't own any spandex (It's just better that way) and let's just say that no one will ever be intimidated by my physical prowess (unless we're talking about my amazing baby-making skills).  I wore some baggy shorts and a T-shirt.

I took my trusty book and started on the treadmill.  One hand on the treadmill, one on the book.  Here's what happened.
Unfortunately no one was there to capture my event on film.  My fall was less spectacular, but most assuredly more interesting.
Hey, I firmly believe that everyone is here for a purpose.  Mine is to make you feel good about your personal gym experience.

As embarrassing experiences go, throwing up on the Handsome Prince at Lagoon still takes the cake.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Dinner

My buddy Bridget on the At Least I Don't Have Boils blog link had a great idea and is posting her meals for the next week.  I just got a great-sounding recipe for Cafe Rio Sweet Pork in the crock pot that I'm going to try.  My sister-in-law just sent me a recipe for cheese chicken that I was going to make tonight, but will save for Tuesday instead.  Anyway, I liked the recipe sharing idea, so here is mine for the week.  My health goal for the week is to offer 3 fruits/veggies at each dinner, and to bake the snacks with 1/2 applesauce 1/2 oil and 1/2 whole wheat.  I made Zucchini Bread yesterday with those substitutions (and I added nuts and chocolate chips.)

Monday:  Zucchini Pie
I shred my Zucchini instead of slicing it, and I don't measure, and I add sausage and/or hamburger and I'm pretty sure I add more cheese than it calls for, but the concept is the same.  I usually cook it in the frying pan before I stick it in the shell and oven, as we like ours REALLY solidly cooked on the inside--no runny egg at all.  

Tuesday:  Crock Pot Cheese Chicken (Sent by Mari Cuthbert)
 3-4 chicken breasts (frozen), 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 1 can cheddar cheese soup, garlic powder. Put frozen chicken in crock pot, dump in the soup cans over the chicken, sprinkle a little garlic powder on top, cover and turn on high for 4-5 hours. Shred (or eat whole, but I prefer shredded chicken) and serve over either rice or egg noodles.
Wednesday:   Lo Mien Noodles, Orange Chicken, Something with mushrooms, fortune cookies
(Panda Express--it's my birthday and I'm not cooking.)
Thursday:  Leftovers
Friday:  Pigs in a Blanket and maybe crock pot mac and cheese
Crock Pot Mac and Cheese
Saturday:
Sunday:  Cafe Rio Sweet Pork in the Crock Pot     from sixsistersstuff.com
3 lb. pork
16 oz. chunky salsa
1 can Dr. Pepper
2 c. brown sugar

Put pork in crockpot and fill halfway with water.  Cook 4 hours on high.  Drain water, cut pork in thirds, mix together sauce and pour on top.  Cook 4 more hours on low.  Drain liquid and shred pork.  Save a little liquid and mix it in with the pork so it is really moist.  Enjoy!

Back to School

It's Back to School time, and Little P about ripped my heart out by leaving for 1st grade.



I'll be the first one to say it, I hate working my day around the stupid Kindergarten schedule.  Still, I really miss having this girl around, and things have changed.  I haven't seen one snail all week! 
Here they are, all riding off to elementary school together.  Aren't they cute?  Can't believe Mr. Lamadingdong is almost 12.  6th grade.  

I worry about each child.  I have a special section on my "List of Guilt" for each one of my kids, and most especially for my husband.  One of the many things that keeps me up at night, is the concern that I'll run out of oomph for the youngest.  I already feel myself being slightly fatigued, and not really caring about things that were top priority for the oldest kids (The Kindergarten sight words come to mind.)  I want to keep up some kind of momentum, and not drop the ball with the youngest kids.

Anyway, with that in mind, now that Little K is the oldest one at home, I decided to start a preschool for her and a few of her little friends.

I have my teaching degree, for crying out loud, and I love these little people.  Why not?

Aren't they cute?  Some of them wore their backpack the entire time.

So, Wednesdays and Fridays we're having preschool at my house from 10:00 to 12:00.  We've got about 8 kids, which is just about right.

It starts with a little organized play. Then we do circle time with the calendar, weather bug, story time, introduction of the letter of the day and the theme.  I then tell them the plan for the rest of the day, and we head for the table to do book-work.

 Everyone does one page of alphabet stuff and writes their name and the letter of the day.  Then it's snack time!  Then the craft.  Singing time and a playtime end the session.

Last week we did A is for Ant--learned a little poem, sang ant songs, did an ant craft with egg cartons and pipe cleaners, etc...Then B is for bubble.  We blew bubbles, sang B is for bubble, chewed bubble gum and built buildings with colored Popsicle sticks and tons of sparkle glue.

This week will be C is for cookies, cake and candles (Wed. is my birthday.) and costumes, etc...and then D is for drink and drip--the water cycle.

Anyway, I'm so psyched that the parents will let me have their kids, as I'm pretty sure I'd never do it if it were just Little K, the Caboose and Little A.  (Little A is a sweet little neighbor who comes to play on Wed and Fri each week.)  It's perfect and will be a great way to be THE MOTHER this year.  It also gives Little K something to lord over the older kids and a way to be special.

We're also starting a monthly field-trip playgroup with some friends.  The first field trip is scheduled with Krispy Creme. Should come away with a cool hat and a sugar high!  It's fun to get back into the fall schedule!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Meal Time


One of the first concepts that was forced upon me as the mother was that MOMS FEED PEOPLE.

For some reason, it's important to the Handsome Prince that we eat a healthy dinner together as a family every day.  Sigh.  I see the importance, it's just a major headache.
Daddy's Dream
Mommy's Fantasy
So.  Whereas I default to fast food if it's after 5:00 and dinner isn't planned, I try to plan it sooner, like in the morning, or for the entire week.  Even better if it is planned around what's on sale at the grocery store . In an effort to be organized, I've planned out my next year of meals.

Now that school is about to begin again, and the food storage has been replenished, here is my plan for the year.

I'll try to have chicken on Monday, beef on Tuesday, soup/chili on Wednesday, leftovers Thursday, kid food Friday, a freezer meal Saturday and a big meal prepared Saturday for Sunday.  I have canned chicken, beef, hamburger and tuna in food storage.  There are a variety of beef, chicken, sausage, turkey, hamburger, pepperoni, veggies and cheeses in the freezer.

I have 12 meals that I can make just from the things that I have on hand in my food storage*, and about 20 meals that I can make with a little something extra from the freezer or the grocery store.  I try to make double and freeze meals when I can, so I have ready-made meals, too.^  At least once a week I'll freeze an extra meal, and then usually once a week we'll have one of the previously frozen meals for dinner.

I'm hoping to rotate the meats as stated above, and also rotate it so that each week I serve one rice meal, one potatoes, one pasta and one bread based.
I'll also rotate American, Mexican, Chinese and Italian.


Stouffers makes all of our lasagna.  (Because really, what's the point?)  I try to have this in the freezer, too.  It counts as real food, or as kid food.  Versatile and delicious--should have it every night!

Here are the "Basic Standard Meals":
  
*Chicken soup/Pot Pie^ (I make a huge amount.  Freeze 1 tupperware for another soup meal, make three Pot-pies--1 to freeze for another day, 1 to give away, and one to bake tomorrow, and then add noodles and broth to the rest to serve with home-made bread tonight.)  = 4 meals+ leftovers
Cranberry Chicken  (Chicken, 1pkg lipton onion soup mix, 1 can cranberry, 1 sm Catalina Dressing)
Chicken Enchiladas
Fried Chicken
Marinated chicken
Sweet-n-sour Chicken
*Chicken chunk gravy on potatoes
*Hawaiian Haystacks
              
*Beef soup/stew/pot pie^
*Beef stroganoff^
*French Dip
Meat Loaf
*Beef chunk gravy on potatoes
    
Hamburger Roll-ups
*Shepherds pie
Tater tot casserole
Taco variations (Tacos, nachos, taco salad, burrito, 7 layer-bean dip, Navajo Tacos, deep-fried tacos)
*Chili^
*Cherokee Casserole^
*Spaghetti
*Rice a Roni Casserole
Giant shell meatball casserole
Potato Bar
  
Fried rice
Won tons
Stir fry
13 bean soup w/ham^
  
Sausage broccoli stuffing egg bake
Zucchini Pie
Zucchini sausage pasta (There's quite a bit of zucchini in my freezer.)
*Ziti Casserole w/pepperoni or beef
Turkey-potato-stuffing-corn casserole
Lasagna
  
Sunday Dinner:
Meat Loaf
Roast Beef
Crock pot chicken
Pork Chops
Steak

Having all of these mostly-liked standard meals with the spices, etc...on hand should make meal-making easier.  Yet, I would default to take-out Chinese, Fried Chicken, Burgers or Pizza every single night if I could.  It's a serious weakness.  I like to think that I also try new recipes, sometimes.  I also cook up hamburger and turkey  and keep it in the freezer.  The crock-pot gets a lot of use, too.  We have less soup in the summer.  It would be nice if I could say that we eat more salad, but we probably just eat more fast and/or kid food. 

Dinner would be easier if I didn't hear, "EWIE, YUCK!" from at least one source every night except for kid-food and fast-food nights.  Our favorite kid food is "Make Your Own Pizza" night.  We love to do this with friends.  I try to keep all the ingredients for this, too.  It's messy, but great fun.

I'm hoping that sticking to this plan will bring down our food bill.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Vacation Time

Family Vacation.  The words alone have the power to thrill.  And chill.  Goosebumps, all up and down my arms, or maybe that's a rash.

It took a full week to pack.  The entire vacation we only had one major tantrum--me, unfortunately in public.  Just when I think I'm a full-fledged grown-up.  Sigh.

The week before the vacation, Handsome, Cool, and Mr. L all went to camp.  Mr. Cool was High Adventure, the others were Scout Camp.
Mr. Lamadingdong earns one of 6 merit badges
  This meant that I had to pack everything for the next week.  Two days before the Grand Tour we had a fabulous Family Reunion at a resort in Park City with the ones of us who were not at camp.  This was the Pre-vacation vacation that was actually a nice break from packing for the vacation, and a relaxer for things to come.

The Family Reunion
    
My parents rented some condos at Park City and they were fabulous!  There are 11 adult kids, their spouses and children, making...um, a lot of us.  Anyway, most families shared condos, as they were very large and spacious.  Our family is rather large, however, so we qualified for our own condo.  As Handsome and Lamadingdong were not going to join us for the first night, and  Mr. Cool wouldn't be home until after the reunion, we had a little extra space the first night.  I talked one of my best buddies into bringing her little girls to stay with us the first night.  They went shopping while we were reunioning.

It was so fun seeing everyone, playing and swimming and eating.  I didn't take my camera, so if anyone posts pictures, I'll steal them and share later.  

My brother and his wife came over after we tucked the little girls in, and we all watched the Olympics and then some comedians until MIDNIGHT.  I cannot remember the last time I stayed up with friends and watched TV.   

For the talent show our family sang, "The Lost Sheep" which meant that I gave them a pitch, and then we all yelled "Baaaaa!"  We crack me up.

Grandpa and Grandma gave everyone a ticket for the Alpine Slide


and the Alpine Coaster.  Awesome fun!
  


Jana and her kids headed home on Friday, but Handsome and Mr. Lamadingdong never came--they arrived home too late to come up, which meant that they weren't in the big family picture.  Maybe we can photo-shop them in (and Mr. Cool).

We headed from Park City for the Great-Grandparents' family reunion.  On the way through the Canyon, Little K got carsick and puked twice.

We skipped the 2nd reunion and regrouped.  Was it carsick, or was it the stomach flu?  Should we stay or should we go on for the family vacation?  We changed our minds a couple of times, but Little K decided it for us, and after laying down for about ten minutes, she jumped up and ran outside to play in the water.  We loaded the van and the trailer behind us, took a deep breath, said a prayer, and headed out.

1st Stop:  Grandma's House!  We spent the night with Grandma and Aunt Becky (who the Caboose is named after, and was one of  my best buddies from High School.)

The next day we went to church with Uncle Chris and Aunt Shennie, who came from Korea for a visit and to have a baby.  I need the recipe for the baked beans they served afterward.  Yummy!

Then, instead of heading to Wyoming to stay with favorite family there and officially begin the adventure, we went back to Grandma's, as our cousin in WY was puking his guts out with the stomach flu.

We got an early (snort!) start on Monday for Jackson Hole, stopping only at Wal Mart for a couple of supplies.

Let's have a show of hands here, folks!  How many of you have taken 8 kids for a little jaunt at Wal Mart?  Anyone?  Well, looks like we're the only idiots on the planet.

We then staggered through the parking lot to the van, turned the key, and watched the   light flicker on.

Oye!  We'd just left Grandma's house, and we cleaned before we left.  I was NOT going to reappear with the gang--it just would have been too cruel.  So, we invaded Aunt Lisa's home.  COUSINS!!!  Not only that, but they have electronics, toys and LIVE chickens in the backyard.  (Plus, laundry facilities.)


(Just something to keep in the back of your head--we produce 2 or 3 loads of laundry a day right now.  This  will be applicable at the end of the vacation.)
 The Prince got the car fixed, and we were on our way!


Caboose drove
 First stop, the campground.  We drove through some really beautiful country.
 

The next morning we packed up camp and went to Jackson Hole WY.  We toured the visitor's center, then drove to a cool old log cabin church with a loud bell.  Here we are, standing in front of it, ringing the bell.  The Princess decided she had HAD ENOUGH and was sitting in the hot car.  Whatever.




Then we went to Jenny's Lake to take the boat across and hike the Mountain, when we saw the parking lot, we drove right on past, and pulled over at the less busy String Lake.  Uh...OK, I'm flexible.  PB and J for lunch, and "Hey!  Let's go swimming!"



Now, I'm not big on change.  I want to know the plan, and follow the plan.  Especially when the swimming stuff is all packed for DAY 3.  (Neatly, in the van.  Organized, ya know?)

I was the only one, of course who cared.  So we swam.  Beautiful.


Nellie L and the Caboose in the sand

Little P







Little P
Lil' Mama



Handsome
Primcess, Lil' Mama and Mr. L


Mr. Cool , Nellie L and Caboose

Littles P and K

Princess

Mr. Lamadingdong

Mr. Cool

Little K



Fun times.  Then I asked Handsome Prince if he wanted the kids to wear our suits under our clothes in case we swam again that day.  He thought we probably wouldn't have time, and I agreed and headed for the outhouse to change the little girls back into their clothes and clean them up.  The facilities were NOT comfortable, and did not have a flush option.  UGH.  I helped the little girls an tried to be sanitary as I put my clothes back on.  About the time that the Caboose decided to pee all over the already disgusting floor, Lil' Mama came back in to tell us that Daddy said maybe we should keep the suits on  under our clothes instead.  This comment prompted a mass stripping by the little girls, who felt this was the best idea all day, and wouldn't let me talk them into changing back later if we stopped to swim.  "What if you need to use the bathroom?"  I plead as they each took a turn stepping into the urine--it was like a magnet.  "You'll have to take everything off to do it.  Let's just keep the suits off and change again when we need them.  PLEASE!  You're already dressed.  STOP, EVERYBODY!  JUST STOP STEPPING IN THE PEE!  IT'S 200* IN HERE!  WE'RE NOT CHANGING MID-STREAM!  OUT, OUT!  EVERYONE OUT!  NO!  IT'S TOO HOT AND SANDY."
I baled out of the hut and started spewing venom at my baffled, innocent Handsome Prince.  (Who only had large boys to supervise and no foggy urine to guard.)   I'll spare you the details--you have most of them already.  Let's just say that I'm not proud of losing it in public.
Later, in the (now completely sandy, wet, disorganized, stinky) van, I apologized.  Lil' K was the funniest--she kept reminding me that we were going to a hotel that night, and that I was still Mama.  (I'd sort of alluded to that fact that I was turning into...well, an undesirable.)

On to Yellowstone!

Old Faithful





We toured some hot pots, saw Old Faithful, teased about souvenirs, and saw some amazing stuff.
We decided to eat dinner outside of Yellowstone where the prices were better, which would have worked if we'd realized that we were still in West Yellowstone when we stopped at the Golden Arches for a cheap meal.  OVER $60 LATER... (Sheesh!)


After the final drive of the day, we went to the hotel, showered everyone off and had everyone tucked away by midnight.  The next day we went to the farm!

THE FARM:
My Aunt Julie and Uncle Gaylen have the most awesome farm ever, and they let us come for a visit.
Aunt Julie let us help feed the cows, horses, chickens, goats, cats and bunnies.  We were in Heaven!!!

Little K and  Mr. Cool led by Nellie L

Lil' Mama and Caboose

Little P, Nellie L and a hag

Princess wants to go back alone next summer

Mr. Cool


We milked the goats and tasted the milk--she even gave us some soap she made with goats' milk!  Unbelievable.  The best part was riding the horse!
Caboose couldn't get enough




Aunt Julie says, "You don't do STUPID on a farm!"

Little P

Mr. Lamadingdong and Little K

Princess


















Little P and Lil' Mama







I think this was the highlight of the entire trip, and it was the thing the kids talked about the most before and after.  A ton of work goes into a farm, and we were so blessed to get to share the fruits of the labors with the Sommers'.  THANK YOU!

Most of us weren't ready to leave when the time came.

After the farm, we met up with Aunt Brenda, Uncle Jeremy and the S cousins at a playground for some lunch.  Unknown to the adults, the park had puddles that were knee-deep in several places.  Let's just say that some of us tried to take a bath.  It was a muddy, glorious mess!   (Can you feel it?  Can you feel the laundry?  It's starting to hang over your head, isn't it?)

I was as surprised as anyone else that there was not a huge Mommy-tantrum after this one.  Is our Mom learning patience?  No, probably not.  It was just a fluke.

On the way to the Bear Lake campground, we stopped at Soda Springs.  OK, get this.  There are these natural springs that you can drink from that are carbonated!  We just dipped a cup and drank.
  
 There was also a man-made geyser.  So cool!
We mixed up some Kool-Aid with the spring water and it was delicious!

CAMPING:
Little K chillin'

Princess has some hot cocoa









The very first thing that the Caboose did as we lighted from the car was trip and fall full-force into the fire pit.  Thank goodness there wasn't a fire!

As I put the little girls to bed that night, Handsome Prince took the oldest four to tour the nearby ice caves.

The next day, we all toured the Minnetonka cave.  Breathtaking.


I carried her to the end, and a little of the way back.  Nellie L took her up the Stairway to Heaven and most of the way back to the entrance.



Mr. Lamadingdong


Little P

Nellie L




 
 The Caboose was hilarious--she had to wear the headlamp, and it was either backwards and shining in her eyes, or flashing into mine the whole time.  It made the experience that much more freaky.

When we were are far into the cave as we could go, the guide turned off all the lights and we experienced total darkness.  It was awesome!




After that, we headed for Bear Lake.  We didn't take any pictures, but it was perfect, and relaxing and fun.  We all buried Daddy in the sand, and collected rocks and tiny shells.  Afterward, we stopped for raspberry shakes.

That night we spent the night at Grandma and Becky's home again.  Becky bought me a copy of "Mirror, Mirror" and we stayed up until midnight watching it.  So fun!  Twice in two weeks--I'm practically a real person!

The next day, Aunt Lisa watched everyone while the Prince and I went to The Korea House for lunch.

Now we're home and I'm going to do the laundry.  We left all the church clothes at Grandmas, but stole two of her pillows and a rubbermaid container.  Maybe we'll get together and exchange hostages.

Side note--Saturday morning, two different kids came in to tell me they were bored, and asked if we could maybe go do something fun.

School starts in six days, not that I'm counting...