Pinning it Down Tuesday

 

I tried two recipes off Pinterest this week.  They aren't the healthiest, but they are crowd pleasers!

The first was Crispy Cheddar Chicken.  It was one of those baked "fried" chicken recipes where you dip the chicken in milk and cracker crumbs.  But the difference here was that you dipped them in shredded cheddar before the cracker crumbs.  Made for a very tasty and moist crust!   My hard-core chicken finger lovers turned their noses up a bit, but I think it might grow on them!  (As usual, excuse the horrible phone photos!  I'm hoping to find a new little camera very soon, like on my birthday this weekend!)

The next dish...I just wasted a half hour of my life trying to find it again!  It was based on this recipe which I had pinned.  But somehow I did some searches and came up with this recipe, which is what I used, but can't be pinned since there's no photo!  I halved it since I wasn't sure how well everyone would like it.

As you can see below, it was very well received and I shouldn't have halved it!  The sauce was great and reminded me of the alfredo dish at the Cheesecake Factory.  I liked that it uses chicken broth and regular milk, since many of these creamy pasta dishes use heavy cream.  It also uses mozzarella, which I usually have on-hand.  I'll post the recipe below with some adjustments so I can have it for safe-keeping, because my family will want it again!  I'll write it for a full recipe in a rectangular baking dish, not the square one like pictured here.  We ate it with salad, but I think it would be great with broccoli in the dish, or on the side, too!

Creamy Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
based on this recipe on food.com

Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 t minced garlic (I used 2 cloves for our half recipe)
20oz chicken broth (I used about 1/3 of a garlic-flavored box, for our half recipe)
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 T basil
1c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 grilled chicken breasts, cubed
1 c sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1 box/bag penne pasta

Directions:
1. Set oven to 375 and cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Melt butter, then stir in flour, salt, pepper, and garlic.
3. Stir in chicken broth, milk and basil.
4. Bring to a boil. Boil for one minute.
5. Stir in mozzarella until melted.  Add sun-dried tomatoes.
6. Place cooked and drained pasta at the bottom of a greased 9x13 glass baking dish.
7. Top with chicken, then pour cream sauce over chicken.
8. Add a bit more shredded mozzarella if you like, and bake until bubbly (about 25 mins).

Monday Motivation

I'm going to try to post completed and new goals each Monday.  So let's see how I did!

 

Monday Motivation

10 Goals for January 23-29

Prayer and Community

1. Pray the Divine Office at least 3 mornings.  

Did this 4 nights, but I think that counts!  I'd like to have morning prayer time though.

(For non-Catholics this is just reading scripture, mostly the Psalms, and is the same readings for Catholics all over the world)

2. Pray a decade of the Rosary with the children. 

Not at home, but we prayed it before Sunday Mass with the parish.

3. Set up our house blessing with Fr. Bill and invite a few families.  

I did finally register at the parish, and filled out a ministry form everyone got this week, but haven't picked a date for this yet, maybe I'll call in the morning.

Health

4. Attend two Zumba classes. 

Made it to one.

5. Take a nature walk with the children.  

Went to the beach today and climbed the dunes, also played on the seawall with 3 of the kids while Ellie was at ballet one afternoon.

6. Plan at-home dinners each night. (Mon-Pasta Bake, Tue-Crockpot Roast, Wed-Homemade Pizza, Thur-Crispy Cheddar Chicken from Pinterest, Fri-Leftovers, Sat-Grill, Sun-out?)

Yes, did good at this.  We didn't have leftovers for Friday but picked up Little Caesar's Pizza, and today we had baked chicken.

Home Management and Homeschool

7. Tackle Mt. Washmore in the living room.

Almost done, just SJ's clothes to do as soon as I stop typing this!

8. Donate a large bag of children's clothing.

Haven't donated but have it set out and folded, some may go to resale.

9. Get in 4 mornings of homeschool and visit a Classical Conversations program (2 families who do it together).

Yes, got our schoolwork done and enjoyed the CC class.  We're going to start it weekly with one of the families next week (the other is moving to our old area)

10. Write encouraging notes to the children and Steven in their "fridge pockets."

 

 

 

Monday Motivation

10 Goals for January 30-Feb 5

Prayer and Community

1. Read the daily Mass readings 3x this week.

2. Pray a decade of the Rosary with the children.

3. Set up our house blessing with Fr. Bill and invite a few families.

Health

4. Do 2 exercise videos on Netflix.

 

5. Take a nature walk with the children.

6. Plan weekly meals 

Mon-Creamy pasta with leftover grilled chicken and sundried tomatoes/salad, Tue-Spaghetti/salad bake bread, Wed-Enchiladas (chicken in crockpot), Thur-Pasta bake (w/ leftover meat sauce from Mon), Fri-Pizza, Sat-my birthday-OUT, Sun-grill?

Home Management and Homeschool

7. Sort SJ's clothes and donate/resale all the clothes we don't use.

8. Finish hanging artwork on walls.

 

9. Get in 4 mornings of homeschool and visit a Classical Conversations program (2 families who do it together).

10.  Make new files for bills.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Joining the link up with 7 quick photos, from our outing to the nearby university trails last weekend. I'm halfway through sorting through the kids' clothes; the boys' clothes are next! I think I'll do some of that while watching my third episode of Downton Abbey. Have a fabulous Friday, friends!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty}

This weekend we went on a beautiful nature walk near the local university.  It's a great place to bird-watch and walk along the water.

{happy}

I've been trying to find something to do with the other kids while the girls are at ballet class.  The studio isn't big enough to wait there, and there isn't really a place to play.  The parking is a nightmare, and many times I end up just letting them play on some kind of electronic device (my iPhone, the Leapster, or watch a DVD).

Today, while Ellie was at ballet class, I took the others down by the water, and they had a great little time!  If only we could keep Thomas from trying to climb up to street-level and run away.  He's not impressed by the sand yet.

{funny}

A funny little photo of SJ trying to fill up his tires with half an air pump, and T throwing a football which actually appears to be in-air in this photo!  The picture below also makes me giggle, thinking of the kids just playing their silly games in the backyard.  It's rare that they are all in one place, and it's fun to think about how they'll be pairing up more as the years go by...girls in their dreamlands and boys with their baseball bats!

{real}

  I was overdue for an oil change, and ventured out with all the kids yesterday afternoon to have it done at Wal-Mart while we shopped.  Took an hour and a half.  Then they tried to charge me extra money for no good reason, and we waited for manager after manager.  Had to feed the kids bananas, and oranges, and Juicy Juice.  They became monkeys, and SJ climbed on the side of the shopping cart and the whole thing fell on him!  What a zoo!  Finally they took a few dollars of my tab and I was outta there!  What a mess.

Overall, though, we're getting into our groove here, and I'm grateful to be making progress around the house and with homeschooling.  Slowly finding contentment in everyday life in our new home and new city!  Hope you are content just where you are right now, too.  Have a blessed day!

Happy, Healthy Learning and Living in 2012!

I'm not usually one for New Year's resolutions, but it does seem to be a natural time to look at our goals and lifestyle and rethink the way we do certain things.  I'm going to try to follow this up with a "Monday Motivation" post each week.  Hope it works out, you guys keep me accountable!  Here's a summary of some things I've been pondering so far in 2012...

::Eating
We need to improve our eating habits.  One way is by curbing our fast food and restaurant outings, which tend to become frequent when we go through busy and/or stressful times for our family.  It's so easy to just grab a burger or chicken basket, but it isn't good for the pocketbook or the belly.  I'm going to have some more specific goals about this during Lent, but for now I'm going to try to cook more from scratch, work on healthy snacking, and try some weekend cooking and planning.

We have a Sprouts grocery store nearby (photo above) where there are lots of healthy snack options to buy in bulk.  We went on Friday night, and the girls enjoyed picking out different snacks, bagging them, and labeling them for checkout.  All of the kids love fruit (save for one who only eats apples and bananas), so we can try to keep a steady supply of that for snacks.

Another big help with curbing our fast food intake will be to remember bags of snacks and fruit when we go out for classes and activities.  The kids start whining, and if I don't have a plan in place we'll end up grabbing fast food.  We live probably 3 minutes from a great HEB for quick grocery trips, as well as two drive-thru restaurants that have more healthy options (BBQ and wraps/salads), so that can be a last minute go-to for food.  I'll be trying to add healthy side salads with dinner most nights or a large vegetable option.  We need to increase our veggie intake!  Putting small veggie hints in our fruit smoothies (which ALL the kids love) should help too.

Weekend grilling and smoothies--This weekend I made a bunch of fruit smoothies (frozen fruit, Simply Apple juice on sale, and ice in the Magic Bullet), and I put some of them in plastic cups in the freezer.  I was hoping they'd last several days, but it looks like there's only about half a cup left.  I guess I need to make more next time, and maybe invest in a large blender.  Steven grilled meat and chicken last night, and if we grill enough, we can use that chicken in salads, quesadillas, and pasta dishes over the coming days.  I know meal-planning would help a lot, but I haven't been too successful at that.  Best I have done is to have a general idea for a few dinner ideas in my head while shopping, keep staples for them on-hand, and then improvise as needed. I'm going to work on this!


::Exercise
This is a big goal for both Steven and me, and we're still working on the details to succeed at this.  I'd like to go to two Zumba Fitness classes each week (we have a studio just down the street), and one or more walks, jogs or rollerblading outings aside from that.  We found a nice hike and bike trail at the university nearby; it would be good to visit there weekly for exercise, nature study, and bird watching.  We have so many unique places within 5 minutes of our house, from the Zumba studio to the university, to several Churches and convents, and we need to take advantage of this!  The girls have started ballet classes, and hopefully we'll get Steven Joseph on a t-ball team this spring.  The kids are so active and spend a lot of time outdoors, so I don't need to worry much about exercise for them!

::Laundry
I feel like I have somewhat of a handle on the basic house stuff, although I could very well be back to frustration level with it in another day or two!  But the laundry is my arch-nemesis and always has been.  I can get it washed but never put away.  I'm committed to purging our clothing.  We purged a lot of belongings, mostly toys and adult clothing, when we moved.  But the kids' clothing is taking over the living room.  I'm working myself up for this.  You can see it is time to get things under control... (this is all kid clothes)

::Homeschool
I've been in a real rut for the past maybe 2 years.  I think it started around the time I got pregnant with Thomas and lost my vision and motivation for our Charlotte Mason Alphabet Path year.  We've stuck with most of the Mother of Divine Grace (MODG) program and lesson plans for last school year and this school year, but I think I'm ready to venture out on my own again next school year.  We are happy with Math U See, and MODG's recommended Abeka Science, Geography and History.  I also love the recommended reading books for a more "living" approach to history.  I'm sensing that we'll stick with Math U See, but move to possibly the Story of the World or the Catholic Connecting With History program and Apologia for science next year, along with adding Latin (probably Prima Latina).

The MODG language arts program was just not working for me and the kids.  It consists of The Writing Road to Reading intensive phonics and spelling program, Primary Language Lessons, and a handwriting workbook for 3rd grade, and 100 Easy Lessons and a handwriting workbook for 1st grade.  I've also been substituting the Funnix online reading program for some of their phonics instruction.  My girls just haven't been progressing as I feel they need to with reading and writing.  I have been worried that if they ever needed to be enrolled in school, they'd be terribly behind in these areas.  I know that they will get there eventually and the Classical and Charlotte Mason models of education encourage a slower progression of reading with lots of dictation and copywork, and we've done that too.  But I have been feeling like they need some of the nuts and bolts and repetition that a more standard educational model would give me.

Enter the Seton workbooks.  For Mary Clare, I bought Reading, Phonics (MCP Plaid), Spelling, Vocabulary (Wordly Wise), English, Handwriting, and Religion.  Ellie has started Phonics (MCP Plaid), Spelling, English, and Handwriting workbooks in addition to her Funnix reading program.  In just the three weeks or so we've been using these, I can already see improvements in their reading and writing.  But most importantly, I have gained some confidence and feel like I'm giving them a more thorough program and am not as worried about gaps in their education.  I think by the end of this year we'll be able to get them where they need to be, and I'm so happy about that.

Girls were reading to SJ in the corner.  This is our front room, the "piano room," 

with all the kids' books and my sewing desk and prayer altar on the other side

I think we're also closer to finding some music instruction for them, which has been on my heart for a very long time.  Hopefully we can start some piano or violin lessons for them next month!

::Prayer
I saved the best, and hardest, for last!  I keep saying how we're really spoiled here with Catholic churches and convents all around.  We don't have many outside obligations and should be able to grow more in our faith during this time.  Our parish and homeschool group consists of very devout families who are always encouraging and challenging each other.  I know I need to find a spiritual director, and I'd like to venture to one daily mass each week.  I'd also like to start praying the Rosary more often with the children and teach them the Rosary prayers they don't know yet.  I'd like to continue to work on praying the Divine Office (on my iPhone) in the morning or evening, and slowly get back into journaling and quiet time.  Baby steps will be my motto for all of this!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So to end, I'm going to start my first Monday Motivation Post!  I'm going to try to imitate what Crystal does on Money Saving Mom each week and join on her blog link.

Monday Motivation

10 Goals for January 23-29

Prayer and Community

1. Pray the Divine Office at least 3 mornings.

(For non-Catholics this is just reading scripture, mostly the Psalms, and is the same readings for Catholics all over the world)

2. Pray a decade of the Rosary with the children.

3. Set up our house blessing with Fr. Bill and invite a few families.

Health

4. Attend two Zumba classes.

5. Take a nature walk with the children.

6. Plan at-home dinners each night. (Mon-Pasta Bake, Tue-Crockpot Roast, Wed-Homemade Pizza, Thur-Crispy Cheddar Chicken from Pinterest, Fri-Leftovers, Sat-Grill, Sun-out?)

Home Management and Homeschool

7. Tackle Mt. Washmore in the living room.

8. Donate a large bag of children's clothing.

9. Get in 4 mornings of homeschool and visit a Classical Conversations program (2 families who do it together).

10. Write encouraging notes to the children and Steven in their "fridge pockets."

 

The girls saw these on a show, made of one sheet of printer paper.  
They made one for everyone in the family, and we've all been finding sweet little notes!  So cute!

Junior Livestock Show

Last Thursday afternoon we met Steven at the Jr. Livestock Show in a neighboring town.  We watched children showing pigs and then walked through the areas of other animals being shown that day...cows, sheep, goats, rabbits, turkeys, and chickens.  I didn't get any photos of those areas; I was chasing and strolling the toddler.

After seeing the animals, we went to the exhibit hall to see all the 4-H projects made by children in the area.  There was quite a variety!  Photographs, dresses, flower arrangements, baked goods, canned goods, quilts, purses, and more.  It was fun to walk around and see the different items, look at the ones which won awards, and brainstorm projects that Mary Clare could do next year.  4-H is for ages 8 and up, so Ellie still has a bit longer before she can participate, but MC looks forward to joining in the fun!  Maybe next year we'll plan ahead to see more of the show, dress more "for the part" (we were some of the few not in jeans and books!), and take the children to the carnival area.

Mary Clare's 9th Birthday

From the time we first started talking about moving, Mary Clare was insistent that she would have her 9th birthday party with her friends back home.  She had been planning to have a board game party at my parents' house with a few girl friends. 

But since my mom was very sick all week, we ended up having the party at our favorite park in "the woods," still bringing some games as well as scooters and skates to enjoy at the park.  When they won a game, they got some pennies to get candy out of Ellie's new gumball machine...all the kids loved that!

Since it no longer had to be a drop-off indoor party, we had some siblings join along.  The night before, we stayed with the K family, who were so generous in helping us pull everything together, offering their serving platters and even putting together party bags about a half hour before it started! 

Party was at 10am, and Mary Clare and I rushed out to the store at 8am to buy all the goods.  We were really able to pull things together quickly!  She had a fun morning; it was a totally gorgeous day, and we were grateful for her sweet friends who were able to come and celebrate! 

Even though she'd been sick, NeNe still was able to have a candy stick bouquet with personalized tags for Mary Clare.  There were lots of colorful candies, fruit, and presents!

The kids had some races in the tennis courts and played Guesstures (charades). 

 The littlest ones seemed to enjoy the candy the most!

 

SJ really wanted to help put on the candles, but big sis wanted to do this all herself!

Happy Friends!

It was so windy, it was hard to keep the candles lit!

SJ enjoyed going off on his own and continually scaring Mommy when I couldn't find him!  Over and over again, "You MUST stay with people you know!"

The skate park is a fun place to hang out!

 

Hmmm, I always seem to have a photo of Baby with a slice of pizza.

Checking out the checkers game...

And a sweet big sister to help with little Thomas!  She even babysat the kids the night before while we went to a very late dinner date with her parents!  Thanks, Johanna!

The birthday girl opening all her fun gifts...everything from craft and bead kits to bath soaps, to inline skates!  What a special day!

Mary Clare, you are a bright girl with some very big aspirations.  Right now you are really hoping to go to medical school and be a pediatrician.  Today while in Target, you were commenting on how fun it will be when you're a mom and get to decorate a nursery for your baby (only a baby girl, that is, but I say that God will give what you need!).  I look forward to walking along the journey with you.  Whatever you become, I know you will do some great things for God.  May He guide your steps and lead you to his perfect will.

{pretty, funny, happy, real} Aquarium Edition

~Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

(again please excuse the poor photo quality!)

{pretty}

 

The girls had science classes today, so I took the boys to the Aquarium while their sisters were in class.

Beautiful boys, beautiful fish, beautiful day.

 {happy}

This was the lone "success" from the plaster molding kit we worked on earlier this week (the consistency was not right and the others were all ruined).  He is very proud of his painted fire hydrant and thanks the K family for his birthday gift! 

 {funny}

 Steven Joseph was really fascinated by the underwater diver presentation.  He kept standing in front of the diver while others were watching and trying to take pictures, so I had to keep reminding him to kneel down!

{real}

Wouldn't it be really great if all public restrooms had step stools like this?  And water fountains too.  They're mostly all built for adults, so we are always having to lift the kids up to wash their hands or drink from a fountain.  Maybe I can start a campaign to include children into the accessibility requirements of public places!  It's so hard to deal with multiple small children in public restrooms, and this would make it one bit easier!  I know I once posted a photo on the blog of the kids and me in a Kohl's restroom where they had a mini-potty!  Genius!  Our pediatric dentist has one of those, too!

Grateful for a fun morning with my boys, educational enrichment for my girls, new friends for us all, and feeling that we're finally settling into our new city.  It's still not quite "home" yet, but we're getting closer.