Happy Birthday to my Mom

Happy Birthday to my fabulous mom who turns 70 years old today.  I figured, if you reach 70, you deserve to have it shouted from the mountain blog-tops!!  

My mom is one of those hands on moms.  She was at home with my brothers and I making sure we all made it on the bus . .. AFTER we made our beds HA!  We used to tease her because she would clean the house before we went on vacation (and I mean CLEAN) or before a big storm was coming because she didn't want burglars or tornadoes to hit if the house was dirty!  One of our favorite things to STILL do is to rearrange little things and see how long it takes for her to notice - one time, Darryl and I turned furniture backwards and hung pictures upside down just for fun!  Really, all of this shows what an extremely hard worker my mom is - she doesn't quit until the job gets done even if it almost kills her! 

My mom loves her grand-kids.  I've watched her through the years with all of them, especially when they were little, and she spoiled them as much as she was able (and trust me, I let her spoil my boys TONS).  She is a kind, caring, loving Nana.  Just recently we were driving away from Papa and Nana and Josh said it best when he yelled out the window, "Nana, I love you SOOOOOOO Much!" 

My mom WAS a great cook ;-) LOL  This is now a family joke because my mom doesn't (hardly) cook anymore.  For real.  You know how I joke and say I don't cook when the kids are gone - she says she doesn't cook when the kids are gone either (and it's true - she doesn't HA!)  Growing up though, she always had dinner cooking when we got home from school and made sure to make our favorites even if my dad was not a fan (which he never confessed until years later).  She does have a few great meals like BBQ ribs, Steak on the Grill, Burgers . . .oh wait, my dad cooks those :-) hehehehe  She really is a good cook but, again, at 70, I think you are allowed to quit cooking :-)

So, happy birthday Mom - we are glad we get to spend the day with you!

Family Fun

You might be wondering (or maybe not) how our week finished out without kids.  We ended up having a really great week.  Darryl was off work most of the week so even though I still babysit, we ended up with a lot of time together.

Monday - I just caught up on house stuff and made a run to the store.  I also planned out my flower bed/garden a little more after checking out the garden center.  After the extra kids left, Darryl was ready to for a ride so we took off and went a back way into town for dinner.  We enjoyed some wonderful Chinese food.  Funny story of the night - Darryl's hernia surgeon was sitting on a table near us at the Chinese Restaurant and no, we did not go up to him and ask if he remember us HA!

Tuesday - I was able to go to the garden center and pick out flowers, veggies, mulch and sand to do yard work.  This year I've seen black mulch showing up in yards and I love it!  I figured it would be pricey but it was just 20 cents more a bag for the black stuff!  Darryl and I took after again on another road trip and this time we headed to Cracker Barrel.  Now, I will admit, we aren't usually big fans but Darryl was hungry for breakfast so we figured we would give it a try.  Guess what, it was so tasty!

Wednesday - Today, I planted all of my stuff and laid mulch.  Of course, I had to pick the most humid day of the week UUUGGG!!  But, I got it all in and the ground was super soft after a rain storm through the night.  I then made another run to the store (it's nice having Darryl home - I get to run errands!!) I picked up a deck planter for some strawberry plants, a A/C unit and a swimming pool.  WHEW!  It has been so warm that I decided to get the A/C unit put into our bedroom too.  THEN, through a serious of events, we decided to pick the kids up at the train station so we took a road trip . .. ate dinner at our favorite Coney Island place by my parents house, "broke into" my parents house (hahaha) to pick up the kids stuff and met them at the Railroad Station. . ..kinda.  We got there and the only way in was completely flooded!  It was so crazy!  We parked elsewhere and let my dad drive out through the water covered road :-) OH, and I hooked up my new printer today too!

Thursday - The kids slept in (we didn't get home until almost midnight).  It was nice having them home and hearing about their trip!  I did the grocery shopping (thrilling, I know!).  AND put the A/C until in the boys room too!  Their bedroom gets so stuffy at night so this should help them sleep better.  We ended the night with a perfect evening for soccer and here are some photos to make this post actually worth reading!

 They spent time at practicing kicking goals.  Josh was very determined and kicked it in every time.

 Nate enjoys the idea of soccer but . . .his attention span is pretty short.  He actually picked a lot of grass at practice :-)

 My two favorite soccer players :-)

 Josh played full force at the game . He was always after the ball and was bound and determine to get his own goal.  To keep it real: One of the kids on his team is a bully.  Yes, a true all out bully. (We even witnessed him hitting his mom and pushing his sibling to the ground after the game)  He was come up and scream in Josh's face, push him down and steal the ball from him but, to  Josh's credit, he never got made or reacted - he just kept going after the ball.

 Josh finally got his own goal and was beyond excited!

 Nate did actually play but he also sat out a lot today - he said he was too tired.  :-(

It was a perfect night for soccer and it's always fun to watch the boys play :-)

Food Friday - Amish Breakfast Casserole

Amish Breakfast Casserole
adapted from All Recipes.Com

I can't remember if I have shared this recipe before but it isn't on my outdated recipe list and I just love this simple recipe.  It's got great flavors and is a very easy recipe to cut in half OR double for a big gathering.  

Ingredients
1 pound sliced bacon, diced (note: when I cut this recipe in half - I still use a pound of bacon because I like the casserole to be "meaty")
1 sweet onion, chopped
4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed (Note: I never thaw mine . . .just had an extra 10 minutes or so to the cook time)
9 eggs, lightly beaten (Note: when I cut it in half, I use 5 eggs . .. )
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded swiss cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Heat a large skillet and cook the bacon and onion until bacon is evenly browned.  Drain.  Transfer bacon and onion to a large bowl.  Stir in potatoes, eggs, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, and swiss cheese.  Pour  mixture into the baking dish.

Bake until eggs are set and cheese is melted, 45-50 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting and serving. 

 

Weekly Menu

When will I learn that I absolutely, 100% do not want to cook dinner when the boys are gone?  Every single time I say I will cook a few meals and then, dinner rolls around and that is the last thing I want to do!  Oh well, at least I have most of what I need for this coming week!

I also had the realization that I need to do some prep for when Darryl has back surgery.  We'll have two weeks without the kids between VBS at my parents, days in the hospital and then the first week home after surgery.  There is no way we (I) can eat out every night HA!  So, I want some crock pot meals that are all inclusive or just need some pasta cooked to add to it.  So, now I need to start thinking that way and get some stuff in the freezer.

On to the coming week.

Friday - BBQ Pork Chops, Corn, Rice and Rolls

Saturday - Chick-Fil-Lay Nuggets and Fries

Sunday - Today is my mom's birthday so we are heading to my parents.  There is actually a big Memorial Day Cook-out at a friends house so we are all hanging out there for part of the day.  I'm going to take some sort of salad for my dish to pass - not 100% sure what kind I'm going to take yet . . .maybe a simple marinated veggie salad with broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, olives and feta cheese :-)

Monday - We'll be grilling.  Either at my parents if we stay over or at home :-)  I'm REALLY hungry for a super good burger!!

Tuesday - Swiss Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans and Rolls.  This is one of the dishes I had planned for last week that we never cooked ;-)

Wednesday - Grilled Pork Chops, some sort of potato and some sort of veggie with some bread.

Thursday - It's Soccer :-)  Grabbing something after the game is such an easy thing to do :-) 

Simplify - Become "unbusy"

You've heard me say it before, but I'm really striving to simplify.  This photo above is from our vacation last summer.  There is nothing better to me than sitting on the beach by Lake Michigan and I will do anything to get "unbusy" enough that we can go as often as we can each summer. 

I recently came across an aritlce that was very well written called A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy.    I just realized as I was writing this that I'm reading a book by this blog author called "Clutterfree with Kids".  He's got great ideas and really hits on the basics to living a more simple and "unbusy" life. 

Monday!

Last week I posted about some things I wanted to get done while the kids were away.  I thought I would share some bullet points of where we are at in the process.

* My husband had hernia surgery this past Thursday.  It was a long day.  We left home at 9:00 am and got home around 7:00 pm.  Really, sitting around the hospital for hours should not be tiring, but it is for some odd reason.  I got to enjoy a quiet lunch in the Hospital Cafe, which was surprisingly good and so inexpensive - we should just "eat out" there more often HA!  I also was able to get a fabulous foo-foo coffee from Starbucks while waiting.  I tried hard not to laugh at my husband when I was finally able to see him after surgery but he is quite funny when he is drugged up :-)  He did have a fabulous nurse AND it was a very slow day in the post-op so we got to stay longer than normal which was actually a good thing.

* I know I had thought about painting and setting up a new entertainment center but, on Friday, I was exhausted.  Since a week ago Thursday I haven't slept well thanks to some unexpected hot and humid days (our room is very stuffy and hot even with a window open!) and then sleeping on the couch one night followed by the day mentioned above . . .I didn't feel like doing much.  I did manage a quick trip to the store to get some groceries but otherwise, we hung out at home all day and, yes, I did nothing.  It felt good.

* Saturday I considered going to the garden center but . . .I didn't.  I even thought about going to town and wandering the mall but ultimately, I was tired.  Darryl was still in a lot of pain so really, we just hung out.  I watched a lot of HGTV and Food Network while he napped

* Sunday . . well, repeat of the above HA!  We did sit out on the back porch in the sun for a bit in the afternoon but otherwise, we were 100% lazy.  Darryl was still in quite a bit of pain so we just . . ..enjoyed hanging out together. 

Do you see how much I've gotten done? LOL  Oh well, Today a little reality comes back with babysitting so I'm going to actually work on some things like scrapbooking and homeschooling.  My printer took a lightening his last week so am waiting for my new one to arrive on Tuesday which means . . no printing :-)  That really cramps my style  .. . .since I am a huge list maker and love to print stuff!

We are missing these two little boys this week.  The older they get, the more fun they are so when they are gone, well, we miss them :-)  Don't get me wrong, the break is also great but they are just so darn cute!!

Things my Kids Say

Nate comes up with some awesome sayings:
* "Mom, it is hotter than a jacket out here!"
* "Mom, it is hotter than a hot chair!"


Josh came out of his room one night and said, "Just one more thing mom, I love you and . . .make sure and get enough sleep!"  This was done 1 1/2 hours AFTER he went to bed so I think HE is the one that needs to get enough sleep!

We had storms recently during the day and it was fun to watch Josh, who is scared of storms at night, say things like, "It's ok, it's just the sun fighting with the clouds to shine."  Or to Nate who was scared of the thunder, "Don't worry Nate, you don't have to be scared, I'm right here with you."  Now, if only he would do that at night when it storms instead of crawling in bed with me HA!

Another peek into Nate's imagination - he likes to smell things and tell me what he smells.  The other day he told me that I smelled like shirts, Josh smelled like pants, Darryl smelled like hair and he smelled like noses.  Or he has told me that China smells like the number 6.  The kid comes up with stuff that just makes me go, "WHAT???" LOL

Nate was putting some puzzles together and brought me some pieces.  He informed me that white cats are called Cats and all other colored cats are kittens.  I love how he thinks ;-)

The boys have not had great weather for soccer.  This past Thursday it was cold and damp.  Josh informed the coach that "This was not soccer weather and he was allergic to the cold".  Then he told my mom that "it was so cold he couldn't breath" :-)