Things My Kids Say

I would like to say that my kids have been extra quiet lately so I don't have many things to share but in reality, they are getting busier and busier and I find trying to remember things to write down gets difficult!  So, this is what I remember at least :-)

1. Nate is very into rhyming right now (can you guess where this is going???)  Most things are very simple - bat, cat, sat, etc.  Until he has an Itch.  Then he says, "Mom, I'm Itchy, _itchy  . . .can you fill in the blank? (And yes, it is a swear word!!)  I seriously had to scrap myself off the floor from laughing so hard (which made him say it more) and then I suggested we say "Itchy, witchy".  Obviously, he has no idea that is a "bad" word and I didn't want to make a big deal about it but boy, I hope he doesn't do any "swear word rhyming" in Church!!!

2.  I overheard this conversation this week:  Josh: Nate, you are my friend.  Nate: Josh you are best buddy.  Josh:  Well, you are my best friend and I love you.  Nate:  You are MY best friend and I love you too!  (And then sealed with a kiss! HA!)  Well, then later in the week, they had a little disagreement and we discovered how important this friendship is because Nate, after Josh broke the string on his balloon, told his brother that he was not his friend anymore.  Josh broke down and SOBBED over this fact.  It was priceless.  They truly are best friends

3. Have you ever wondered why your butt is cracked?  Well, Nate has it all figured out . . . .it is cracked so you can poop.  hahahahahaha  OH that kid and POOP!  He described it every time he goes . ."Mom, that one was smooth followed by two hard ones."  Or, "Mom, that one was bumpy, smooth, bumpy." 

Happy Birthday !

Today I'd just like to wish my husband a very happy birthday! 

I love him with all my heart and he is my best friend; my soul mate (for all of you Anne of Green Gables Fans!).  He can make me laugh harder than anyone else and always has my best interest in mind.  He is funny, caring, thoughtful and kind. 

So, Happy Birthday Darryl!!!! 

Food Friday - Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Swirl Cake

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Swirl Cake
adapted from Just a Pinch

 
 Yes, this cake is so good that I had to snap a picture of it before we ate it all!  Every once in awhile a recipe comes across the Facebook news feed that looks too good to not try.  Then, you read through the ingredients and you realize that you have everything on hand!  That happened with this recipe last Saturday and this did not disappoint!  It was good still really, really warm (almost hot), it was good warm and it was good cold.  The perfect dessert.  I altered it slightly so my husband could eat it and I couldn't tell - I have some vegan butter that I use for him and then, well, I just used water instead of milk.  It turned out perfectly fine :-)  

 Ingredients:

Batter:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted

Topping:
1 cup butter very softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1.  In a large bowl, mix all of the "batter" ingredients, except butter.  Mix well
2.  Slowly add in melted butter and mix well (It will splash so SLOWLY is important!)
3. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan.
4. In a seperate bowl, mix topping ingredients together til combined.
5. Drop topping onto prepared batter and swirl with a butter knife
6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. 
7. Pull cake out of the oven and mix glaze ingredients in a seperate bowl
8. While the cake is still warm (hot), drizzle glaze over the top.  Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting/serving. 

Weekly Menu - the one with a Birthday

So, we've been sticking pretty close to our weekly menu lately which is a good thing.  I will admit that I miss some of the dishes I used to make that have cheese in them . . .like Cheesy Rice and Broccoli casserole . .. I might have to make it for me to eat for lunch one of these weeks.  This next weeks plan is a little different as you will see below.

Friday - Celebrating Darryl's birthday with my parents.  My mom is cooking and said it is a "surprise". 

Saturday - Darryl and I are taking off for the day to celebrate his birthday.  We'll eat out a few times which is always nice!

Sunday  - We are eating lunch with my parents and brother and his family after church.  We'll have dinner when we get home - either McDonald's on the way in or just some Mac and Cheese/Sandwiches.

Monday - Thursday: Last Wednesday I went to the grocery store and picked up some basics to get us through until, well, Monday.  Then, my goal is to use what we have and spend as little money on groceries as possible.  In fact, most of what I got on Wednesday were things like Laundry Soap, Kleenex, paper plates, etc.  We have meat in the freezer to use, canned goods on the shelves, rice, potatoes and even some noodles.  Not to mention frozen rolls.  Therefore, I'm not really planning at the moment.  I do know we'll have chicken and pork :-)

That's all!

The Olympics are still on.

So, the Olympics are still on which means I'm watching a lot of TV in the evenings and not really thinking about blogging (or reading) too much.  I had every intention to read at least one chapter in my list of books but that did not happen.  I am slowly coming out of winter hibernation, though, and am getting things down around the house. 

That's all for today.  We have a busy weekend planned so hopefully next week I'll actually have some interesting things to right about!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my Husband's grandma . . . I figure it is notable to mention since she is 93 . . .or 94. . .what's a year when you live past 90?? :-)

Homeschool Corner - Learning, Fun, and lots of Ice

This past week was full of fun.  Yes, we did a little learning.

The boys got these build-a-letter for Christmas but this is the first time they have really gotten into them.  They loved building the letters together and I loved hearing them say words that start with the letter.  They also got out the Straws and Connectors they got also and build a huge "building" which required some serious problem solving on their part.  We've also been working on counting to 100 - we do it at night when we count how long it takes for their clocks to turn from 7:59 to 8:00.  It's been fun listening to them count with greater confidence even though there is silence every time we hit a "9" number (29, 39, ect) as they wait for me to say what comes next HA!

Friday, of course, was Valentine's Day.  Our homeschool group had a Valentine's party which we had to prep for the day before.

 I found this cute idea on line over at Fabulessly Frugal.  I love that it came with a printable and that the straws were so in expensive (Wal-mart Party Section - 6 for $1.00!)  Yes, I put them all together but while I made 35 of these, the boys made their own hearts and wrote names on them for fun. 

Our Valentine Box - yes, I cheated and bought it at the store.  After school on Friday, we stayed long enough to pass our Valentines, then headed home to get lunch at McDonald's. 

Finally, one thing that Josh has asked to do all winter was to see the beach in the winter.  Well, this was the winter to do it because it has been so cold that Lake Michigan is about 90% frozen which, well, never happens.  Josh loves the beach in the summer so this was important to him.  We finally had a weekend where we did not have a blizzard forecasted so, after church we headed out.

Our first stop was a Chinese Buffet.  Now, that is not my favorite style of food BUT we have one little boy who thinks that a Chinese Buffet is the best thing since sliced bread.  Darryl took him to get his food and asked if he wanted french fries (which, of course, they have at a Chinese Buffet) to which he replied, "No, lets start with the fruit" - gotta love that kid.  He picked out everything from Fruit to Jell-O to Fish and Chicken on a stick.  Talk about being proud of his plate!  He told me he got the meat on a stick because he loves sticks - sticks are fun to play with, fun to eat with, and straws are like sticks so we drink with them!  Not to mention, Chinese Buffets always have Ice Cream :-)

From there we headed out to the lakeshore. 

 This mountain?  Ice!  We are walking quite a ways out onto the very frozen Ice Michigan.  As the lake freezes, the waves push huge chunks of ice toward the shore and they froze into gigantic ice mountains.

After spending about two hours out on the ice, we headed back to the truck.  We stopped on the way home for "Chicken and Fries" to end our perfect day ;-)

And yes, the boys were tired!!!  They never made a sound after they went to bed!

Food Friday - Superbowl Snacks

So you may recall that I mentioned prior to the superbowl that I had to come up with some new snacks since Darryl can't seem to stomach dairy currently.  I thought I would just a couple of links to two of the items we tried.  It was kinda funny because as I was prepping the food I discovered that most of what I was making was . . .well, tomato based.  How weird is that?  I will say that I missed our cheese based dishes . . .the dips and spreads. . ..

I decided to try the Pioneer Woman's version of Bruschetta which is slightly different than the one I've tried in the past.  It was pretty good but, to be honest, I like my original one which I think I've shared before.  And yes, that is cheese on top of those little pieces of goodness - I love fresh mozzarella on top of bruschetta. 

Then, I tried a new meatball recipe that used Maple Syrup and Chili Sauce to make the sauce - this recipe comes from Taste of Home.  I used frozen meatballs because I was already doing a lot of prep cooking on Saturday but, as I say every time, I really don't like the frozen meatballs.  I need to make some homemade meatballs and put them in the freezer . . .. we'll see!