It happened one night . . .

Ian went to bed a nine-year-old:

And woke up a TEN-year-old!


Happy 10th Birthday to my favorite little man! You still make me smile every day!

Mommy doesn't get new math!

I am glad Ian "gets" his math homework because I would be seriously perplexed and at a loss for words as to how they want him to solve problems. His district uses the Everyday Math program and I'm just wondering how on earth these people at the University of Chicago think this is easy!

Anyhow, Ian has now entered the unchartered territory of double and triple digit multiplication. He's not having any problem with it and dare I say, I think he might actually enjoy it (further proving that I was just the pod and he got none of my genes). Now, any of you who are around my age certainly can recall the way you were taught. This morning, Ian asked me which method of multiplication I preferred: the partial products method or the lattice method. ?HUH?!!! Neither really resemble how I learned to multiply. So, my answer for my preferred "method" is simple - the calculator!

PB&J Pizza Picnic

When I am on my own with the kids while Rich travels, I like to do "special" things with them for meals to (a) keep it simple for me, (b) create less dishes and (c) have some fun.

Tonight, I decided that we would have a PB&J Pizza Picnic. The original "recipe" for PB&J Pizza came from a friend at Lifetime Moments. It's just such a neat little twist on pizza and it's sure to please even the pickiest child's pallet.

So, here is what you do:

You will need (and may probably already have on hand): 1 tube of crescent rolls, 1 jar of your favorite peanut butter, 1 bottle of your favorite jelly/jam and a baking sheet (I prefer my Pampered Chef Medium Bar Stoneware).


Pop open the can of rolls and roll them out flat. Place them on your pan and press all the seams together to make a "crust".


Bake in a pre-heated over at 375 for approximately 15 minutes (the longer you let it bake, the crispier your "crust").


This is what it should look like when you are done baking.


Now, this is important: immediately after taking the crust out of the oven, spoon use a tablespoon to equally distribute peanut butter on top of the crust. The hot crust will cause the peanut butter to start getting to its ooey-gooiest (yeah, that is so not a word, but I'm talking about a kid's meal here).


You can then spread the peanutbutter evenly across the crust with minimal damage.


And now a word about how much I love squeezable jams and jellies! Sure, you can use a spoon, but it makes much less of a mess and you get to hear that cool "slurp" from the bottle. I squeeze some large globs in equal spacing across the pizza.


Finally, you can share it with your oh-so-adorable dinner guests. (and, for an added treat, we followed up this brilliant meal with root bear floats!)

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday - January 26, 2009

Here it is another week already! It's just me & the kids for a few days so I'm not going to be fixing anything "ornate". In fact, this week's menu isn't really much of a menu so much as it is a listing of what restaurant we will be dining at each evening. I mean, after all, I am on my own with the two kids - why add dishes to the mix?

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by I Am An Organizing Junkie. Here's this week's plan:

Monday: Not sure; Applebee's maybe?
Tuesday: Peanut Butter & Jelly Pizza (kid friendly = good thing; never got to it last week anyway)
Wednesday: Kid's Eat Free Night @ Charcoal Grill
Thursday: Ian's Birthday - his choice (more than likely Cheese Ravioli)
Friday: Ian's Birthday dinner @ Red Robin

Wow! I am a menu plan slacker! Have a wonderful week!

Photo of the Week - January 25, 2009

Please excuse the graininess of this week's photo, but I didn't want to disturb the princess when I took it. What is the siginificance of this week's photo? Kyra is actually sleeping without a nuk! And there was great rejoicing in the house!

She's been cut off!

It's been a battle royale here. Not since the transition from the bottle to the sippy cup have there been more tears shed in our house than as today. We have been "negotiating" (for lack of a better word) with Kyra to give up her nuk. She only uses it at bed and nap times, but it is the be-all-end-all of securities for her. It pained me to take it away from her, but I know she's getting too old for it and we had to do something.

Well, I decided that today was "D-Day". While Kyra was watching her pre-nap movie, I went upstairs and snipped the tiny top part of her beloved nuk and placed it back in its normal "safe spot." When we went up for naptime, I heard, "oh no! It's broken!" Immediately, there was a flooding of tears and pleas to fix the broken nuk. It really did break my heart to see her in such anguish, but I took a deep breath and summoned all of my inner-mommy strength and held my ground for I knew the situation would only be temporary.

There was really a sweet moment when she wanted to see Ian and she looked at him and broke down when she told him her nuk was broken. Ian got right down on her level and assured her that it would be o.k. and that he used to have a nuk too, but he lost all of his and he was still happy. I think that clicked with her on some level.

After calming her down, tying the nuk around CareBear's neck with a green ribbon, changing the pillow case and putting on some music, I closed the door and she has been quiet ever since. We are definitely going to be celebrating this victory in this house!

Crock Pot Brown Sugar Chicken - A Review

In my most recent edition of Menu Plan Monday, a couple of you asked for a review of Crock Pot Brown Sugar Chicken from A Year of Crockpotting. I used boneless breasts instead of thighs and I cooked it on low for around 6 hours. I also threw in a bag of baby carrots so we'd have a complete meal in a pot. Everyone in our family ate it though when I make it again, I will probably cook it for less time (I'm thinking 4 hours or so) because I found the meat to be a little on the dry side. Other than that, it was a good recipe for a house of picky children!

Menu Plan Monday - January 19, 2009

It was a weird week last week. Rich's trip ended up getting postponed so I had to improv a bit on the meals. Nonetheless, I did find a winner of a crock pot recipe for a pork roast. I'll have to remember to post it because it sure was yummy!

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by I Am An Organizing Junkie. Here's this week's plan (and I have confirmation that the husband IS officially on his way out of town this time!):

Monday: Breakfast for Dinner night at Perkins
Tuesday: Peanut Butter & Jelly Pizza (kid friendly = good thing)
Wednesday: Brown Sugar Chicken
Thursday: BBQ Bacon Bit Burgers
Friday: Crab Meat Quiche

Have a wonderful week!

Photo of the Week - January 18, 2009

The cold weather this week kept us mainly indoors. Ian didn't have school on Thursday and was delayed two hours on Friday. Needless to say, we had a lot of free time in the house. Kyra loves playing with her dolls and decided that her dolly needed a hair pretty or two, or three, or four, or five . . .

Thank goodness for weather-watching kiddos!

I got off to a bit of a slow start this morning and when I got up, Ian informed me that something was wrong with our outdoor thermometer because it was reading "Lo" and not an actual temperature. Alas, it is too cold here for it to register (and that, my friends, is wrong on so many levels). In any event, the wise 10-year-old-to-be suggests that Maybe we turn on the news to see if there will be a two-hour delay. I told him I had my doubts but low and behold, not only is there no dealy, but there is no school! This is certainly a record for our school district. It's our third no-school day this school year. I just had to laugh though because I told Rich it was a good thing Ian was alert because otherwise I would have been sending him out to wait for the bus! Now, what are we goint to do today . . .

Menu Plan Monday - January 12, 2009

Has another week gone by already? Menu Plan Monday is hosted by I Am An Organizing Junkie. So, here is the plan for the week (I realize it's not really a "full" plan for the week, but Rich will be traveling and I'm just not going to make any huge recipes or dinners since the young ones will be satisfied with some sort of breaded meat or fluorescent orange pasta):

Monday: Leftovers (not really original, but hey, I have lots leftover from last week!)
Tuesday: Ranch Beef Stroganoff
Wednesday: TBD
Thursday: TBD
Friday: TBD

Photo of the Week - January 11, 2009

Last week, I posted my first Photo of the Week for 2009.

Last Sunday, we had a thaw/freeze that coated the roads, streets and remaining snow with a layer of ice. On Monday and Tuesday, the sun came out and everything just sparkled! This is the view of our back yard. It really looked like you could just skate across it.

What a game!

As a football fan, I'm used to the unfortunate reality that there are going to be in any given playoff year, a few stinkers. Not so with this afternoon's Baltimore/Tennessee match-up. Wow! I'm still in awe. That was a fun game to watch!

Sometimes, the truth hurts!

Part of any daily routine with Kyra involves an incessant series of questions and answers. Given that is just a fact of life these days, I tend to "play along" and basically say what comes to my mind when she asks. Here is our discussion this morning at the grocery store (and just for added background, we're in the midst of re-financing since the rates are so low right now).

K: Where are we going next?
A: To meet Daddy.

K: Where is Daddy?
A: At the bank.

K: Oh. What are we going to do at the bank?
A: Mommy is going to sign her life away.

K: What life?

OUCH! That one hurt!

Menu Plan Monday - January 5, 2008

It's been a while, but I really need to get back to meal planning as it really does help my week go better and I can plan my shopping list around it. Menu Plan Monday is hosted by I Am An Organizing Junkie (and for those of you who know me, quit laughing - it's not my blog!) So, here is the plan for the week:

Monday: Ranch Peppercorn Chicken Breast Salad
Tuesday: Ginormous Oven Baked Omelette
Wednesday: Sloppy Janes
Thursday: Roasted Turkey Breast
Friday: Pecan Bourbon Crusted Boneless Pork Chops

Photo of the Week - January 4, 2009

Some of my friends on Lifetime Moments are doing a "Photo of the Day" blog but that's just too much of a commitment for me! Anyhow, I really like the idea of having an album at the end of the year of some of my favorite shots of the year. So, I thought I could certainly do a "Photo of the Week". This is my first for this year. It pretty much says everything that I've ever thought it would be like to have a little girl of my own one day. As you can see, Kyra is very into playing "dress up". Isn't she stylish?

I'll try to post my picture every Sunday. (keep me honest!)

I Am Not Going Anywhere!

We had a late night last night watching football (and I won't even get into my bitterness about the Colts' loss) so I slept in this morning and planned on going to 10:00 services. A big thanks to Ms. M for the phone call because church cancelled all services because of the icy road conditions. Unfortunately, due to weather and travel, it's been several weeks since we've made it to services so I was disappointed as I was really looking forward to it.

So we are here at home now. Good thing I am well stocked from the grocery store as I almost killed myself going down the driveway to get the paper. Becca and ice are definitely not a good combination!

January Playlist

Here's my new playlist for the month:

Too Much Time on My Hands - Styx
So Long Self - Mercy Me
Shine - Newsboys
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
Secret Valentine - We The Kings
Who I Am Hates Who I've Been - Reliant K
American Dream - Switchfoot
Lost Highway - Bon Jovi
Bring 'Em Out - Hawk Nelson
Harder To Breath - Maroon 5
This Is How a Heart Breaks - Rob Thomas
Hey Hey - Superchick
Made to Love - tobyMac

Happy moving!

Embrace the Power!

"I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms." - Ephesians 1:19-20 NLT

After quite a bit of reflection, this scripture speaks volumes to me going forward into this new year. Just imagine what we can accomplish with God's infinite power at our disposal! May the Lord bless each and every one of you in this new year!