My Enthusiasm for the "Fall Back" has dwindled!

I spent the day at the zoo with first graders helping to chaperone a field trip.  As you might imagine, I'm just a little tired now.  My group was all boys since it is one of my sons that is a first grader right now.  A friend and I laughed at the difference in having a boy group versus a girl group!  But, I did not lose anyone, there was only a little blood (One boy's lip got dry in the cold wind and began bleeding.  He got blood all over both hands before I realized where is was coming from!), and we had fun, so the day was a raving success!

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We showed my daughters the recording of the world championships of women's gymnastics recently.  They loved it and proceeded to watch while imitating the various gymnasts.  They were very cute, but I have no idea how the TV did not get kicked over during their stunts!

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In other news, we had to get a new kitchen faucet recently and it was unexpected.  The plumber showed me all the ways our old faucet was beyond repair and we were better off replacing it.  And then he regretted ever being assigned our house that day because I could not for the life of me chose a faucet!

There were just SO MANY CHOICES in his book and I was unprepared for such a decision and I really don't spend much of my day thinking about kitchen faucets until mine doesn't work and then the only feature I really need is "one that works".  Finally, I begged the man to please just choose for me!  He seemed surprised that I didn't have more opinions about faucets or want to look around at some stores or drive to their showroom to see choices and talk about features.  "Oh, I just don't have time, and even if I did, I'm not sure faucet shopping is how I would choose to spend it!"

He installed a new one and it works so I'm happy with it.  And then I talked him into re-caulking around the bottom of the toilet in my kids' bathroom that had gotten stained from years of little boys and their bad aim, which he did without charging me extra.  He's my new hero!

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Remember how excited I was to "Fall Back" last week?  Well, after a week of my kids waking up 1 hour earlier than usual, my enthusiasm for the "Fall Back" has dwindled.  Gaining one extra hour is not a good trade for all four kids awake at 6AM every morning!

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Happy Friday, Friends!

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A Nearly Perfect New Recipe!

Here are the things I love in a recipe:

1.  Healthy

2.  My kids will eat it

3.  Easy (I love me a Pioneer Woman recipe but not for weeknights, then I really appreciate simple!)

4.  Can be cooked in the crockpot (So if we have soccer practice until 6:30pm, we can come home to dinner ready to eat!)


Do you think I ask for too much?  Can no recipe really live up to all that?

Well, I have a small arsenal of ones that do and they get replayed around here so often that we get sick of them (I am talking to you, Taco Soup!).

But, today I tried out a new one and it is a keeper!  Totally fulfills the quadruple crown of recipes!

Do you want to know what it is?

Salsa Verde Beef (click for the recipe)

I served it wrapped in whole wheat tortillas (made fresh at HEB) with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and extra salsa verde.  It was yummy!  AND all 6 of us ate it happily (three-fourths of the children did not have tomatoes with theirs).  This recipe is going to get worn out, I can already tell!

Is there anything cuter?

Is there anything cuter than a little girl and her doll in matching pajamas?

No, I don't think so!

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The Unstuffed Dog

The carnage in my kitchen:

Poor unstuffed dog!

Madeline the goldendoodle is very sorry, she couldn't help herself!  There are few things more fun to her than ripping the stuffing out of something!

Here's to hoping that dog really is unstuffed this time, he's been losing his stuffing all over the house for weeks now!  Just how much stuffing could they fit inside that guy?

When Frodo, Laura Ingalls, a knight, and Princess Sophia all live in your house

Life with these four can never be dull!

I'm not sure what Frodo, Laura Ingalls, a knight, and Princess Sophia have in common but for today they were all family, brothers and sisters!

I managed to finish my daughter's Little House on the Prairie costume right around midnight last night, nothing like last minute!  Also with the last minute, the fair-trade, wasn't-made-by-child-slaves-in-Africa chocolate candy I ordered finally arrived on my doorstep literally minutes before our first trick-or-treaters!

For only hitting about 3 streets in our little neck of the neighborhood, my kids sure did take in quite the haul of Halloween candy!

 Some pumpkin carving fun earlier in the week (the 6 year old is patiently waiting his turn to scoop out the pumpkin):

 

Funny pumpkin faces:

 

It was nice that my older two kids wanted to man the door this year and gave me a break from the every couple of minutes opening the door to trick-or-treaters.  My 10 year old even combined his door duty with a little studying!

And Laura Ingalls took a turn passing out candy:

   We handed out an entire big bowl of candy (and were stingy only giving out one piece per child) before turning off our light!

Speaking of being helpful, my guys were at the kitchen sink this week and I heard my 10 year old tell his 6 year old brother, "Okay, hands up!" and then he flipped on the garbage disposal.  This happened again before I asked what was going on, was the little guy under arrest?  My oldest told me that's his way of making sure nobody's hands are in the disposal when he turns it on, he tells anyone nearby "Hands up" and has them raise their hands up high before he turns it on!  It's good to have the safety police around!

 

Happy Friday, Friends!  I'm really looking forward to the extra hour this weekend. I love Fall-back, just that feeling of gaining a whiole hour of time!  Enjoy!

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The Eve of Halloween

'Twas the night before Halloween, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, 

Except the sewing machine whirring!

Why, oh why, did I agree to make one of my children's Halloween costumes again this year?

Didn't I learn my lesson with the Dorothy costume a couple years ago?  Store-bought costumes are GOOD.  Store-bought costumes are my friends!

Why did I put off so much of the project until the last minute?

And why was I so overconfident that I could easily sew together a Laura Ingalls costume?  Turns out those Little House on the Prairie dresses are not as simple as they appear!

Also, there's the little issue that we have no Halloween candy!

The fair-trade, no child-slaves were used in the making of them, chocolates I ordered over the Internet have not yet arrived!  So, it's looking like we'll be the lame-o house giving out raisins and pencils!

Those Little House on the Prairie women did have it easier without Halloween to worry about.  No rain for the crops and fires in the barn seem like much more preferable worries at the moment!

Breakfast delivered right to my front door!

I have 4 kids.

As much as I try to avoid highly processed foods to feed my family, breakfast cereal is an exception.

We eat it for breakfast about 5 days each week.  I know it would be better to cook a from-scratch breakfast each morning, but that just is not going to happen on most school days and with one child allergic to eggs I struggle to find healthy breakfast options for her anyway.  I do at least pick the healthier cereals, ones with more protein.

But, all that being said.  Six of us eating cereal 5 days every week adds up to A LOT of cereal.

So, wanna know what I'm loving right now?

This delivered right to my front door every few weeks:

Cracklin' Oat Bran Cereal, 17-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 10) from Amazon.com.

The price is comparable to what I'd pay at my local grocery store!  And the convenience of fewer items on my grocery store list, not having to fill up my cart with just cereal, and an automatically replenishing supply is awesome!

Even the dog is happy!

Now, to bring back the milk delivery (and not pay a fortune for the service). . .


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