Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
A dino hunting we will go.
This week in Zach’s class they’ve been studying dinosaurs. To end this special dino filled week the class is having the Great Dinosaur Extravaganza today. (Seriously – nothing is funnier than hearing a bunch of snaggle tooth first graders trying to say “extravaganza” lol) Tuesday his teacher sent home a sheet about this extravaganza. The students were to bring in dinosaur related books, posters, toys, etc PLUS they were supposed to do one of the following to bring in on Friday:
- draw or color a dinosaur picture
- make a dinosaur diorama
- make a dinosaur fact poster
- make a dinosaur fact book
I’m going to say it’s very safe to assume that most kids will probably bring in a dinosaur picture they colored that their parents either printed or got out of a color book. But did my son want to take that easy route? No. It’s not like we live with dino-obsessed Ryan so we have literally twenty dinosaur coloring books. It would just be much too easy for him to find a page in one of the coloring books to color. Oh no no no. He wanted to created a fact book AND a diorama. After it taking him almost all of the time we had during the week for him to gather the information for his fact book alone I managed to talk him out of the diorama also.
What we did with the fact book was for both of us to sit down Tuesday and think about what we wanted to put in the fact book, and how we wanted it to look. We worked on how he wanted to phrase the questions, how he wanted the pages set up, and then I showed him around the websites he would find his answers on. Wednesday I gave Zach a piece of paper with his questions, opened the websites, and told him to find the answers. (I had to help him some, but really only on big stupid words that the letters don’t say the sounds that they’re supposed to) Then we got together the dinosaur images we wanted to use. After he went to bed I opened Photoshop and started putting the pages together.
Thursday (after doing his whole weekly homework packet because we were too busy doing the other stuff the other days lol) I sat with him on the computer while he put together almost the entire covers to his book, and I guided him in typing the title and info on the back cover. Next, we went to my mom’s to print, came home and he used his questions and answers sheet to fill in the answers on the sheets. Then we sat in the hallway with pillows and blankets for 45 minutes reading Ramona the Pest because the weather decided we should have tornado causing conditions last night. Thank God there were none, we just ended up getting some bad straight line winds, but even more thankfully, no damage. After everything calmed down we ate dinner then got back to work. Zach then colored everything for his book and folded the pages. Since we had to use some really strong glue to glue the cardstock pages together I did that while he cut out a piece of felt to use as the spine to his book. At last we were done. We literally worked yesterday from the time he got home from school until he went to bed at 8:30.
And now… Zach’s Dino Fact Book! 
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
How many times can I mention cookies on Facebook?
So, Ms Pudding and I made cookies today. Us making cookies really means we bought one of those logs of dough things from the store, sliced it up, and stuck it in the oven. I don’t like cookies… I don’t bother to buy ingredients to make them from scratch. Sue me. She doesn’t care how I make the cookies, just that I make them. lol
Ohhhh fun. Gooey slobbery chocolatey kisses and hugs. Why yes Pudding, I will lean in and let you put those icky fingers all over my face. Not.
As I’m reading through my Facebook posts tonight (cause I do that sometimes to jot down ideas for blog posts) I noticed that I might have made too many cookie posts. In my opinion, cookies maybe warrant one post. (Now, I’m sure some of you cookie fans may disagree) But I’m sure all of my non-cookie-having friends did not appreciate the saltiness of me, cookie-hater that I am, having cookies while they remained in a sad cookie-less state. I do so pity them.
Anyhoodles, here are the cookie updates, which darnit, they’re freaking cute cause they talk about the Pudding as well, and the Pudding is adorable (and no I’m not just biased).
*Bella is standing in the kitchen in front of the oven singing "cookie, cookie" over and over to the cookies we just put in the oven.
*A certain little girl is very happily munching away on her cookie now.
*Would you like some chocolate-y goodness hugs and kisses?
And yes, I did just turn a few cookie posts on Facebook into a whole blog post cause I’m talented like that. lol
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
How you can tell your 5 year old obviously did not nap.
Today, when getting into the van when I picked him up he asked if we were going to my mom’s today. I told him no, we weren’t, and we won’t be doing sleepover this weekend also because my parents have something to do at church all weekend. Ryan immediately starts crying and yelling that it’s all mine and John’s fault, because obviously we are plotting ways to ruin his life. Then when we get home and we are starting homework Ryan starts screaming and crying because someone broke his favorite orange crayon. (We have like 4 of them, not to mention Ryan broke it the day before last) As we’re doing homework he slips one little bit of color out of one of the shapes and he starts crying about how he is never going to learn to color, he just scribbles like a baby. Lastly, Zach asked Ryan to not touch his (Zach’s) reading book while he is working. Ryan throws the reading book on the ground, jumps up off the couch and screams “You’re all just babies and none of you like me!”
Ryan is now enjoying a nice quiet nap in his room now.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Getting months of certain seasons is overrated.
What?!
It is.
I don’t need 3-4 months of freezing cold and snow to know that I don’t like it. You know what I like about the southeast? The weather changes during winter.
This time last week it looked like this outside: 
Today Belly and I went to the park before lunch to play for an hour and you know what? It was 68 degrees and sunny. (Well, overcast when we arrived) I’ll take 68 and sunny over snow any day thank you very much.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Well, I feel totally cheated.
My baby lost his first tooth. The one next to it is now loose too.
See that bill in his hand? Yeah, apparently the tooth fairy left him $10. TEN DOLLARS! Uh, hello feelings of being unloved by the tooth fairy as a child. I got 50 freaking cents when I lost a tooth. When I asked John why the tooth fairy he left Zach so much money he told me he got $10 when he lost his first tooth. So I asked him how much he got for all the other teeth and he told me got $2. (Mind now freaking out because the tooth fairy apparently even loved John more than me also) I look at John blankly and ask him if he is aware of not only that some kids lose more than one tooth at a time but also that we have another child coming up on loosing teeth also. He just shrugs and tells me not to worry about it. I tell him that once he sets the tooth-worth amount, he can’t change it. He tells me he knows. So I tell him he just dug his own grave. Zach might wait patiently to lose more teeth to rake in the money, but I have a feeling Ryan is going to somehow mysteriously end up with lots of injuries to his mouth soon.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
A Six-Year Old’s Views on Mothering.
“Mom, I don’t want to watch Toy Story during quiet time.”
“Well, you made Ryan watch Indiana Jones last time and he didn’t want to watch it, it’s only fair that he gets to pick this time. Right?”
“Uh, no. It’s annoying.”
“Annoying? Really? Are you calling the movie, Ryan, or my mom-law annoying?”
“Your mom-law. I think it’s st… uh, annoying.”
“Well, aren’t you just out of luck since it’s my job to annoy you for the rest of your life.”
“Yeah, it’s bad.”
“Does dad-law annoy you too?”
“Yeah, but I’m not going to tell him that, and you better not tell him either.”
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Yum-ditty, yum-ditty, yum, yum, yum. (aka Chicken Pot Pie)
Yummmm….
I know your taste buds are jealous of my taste buds because mine tasted the deliciousness of homemade chicken pot pie on Monday.
Yup, you heard me right. Chicken. Pot. Pie. ((aka heaven in your mouth))
Oh man my mouth is drooling in memory.
It’s very rare that I make something for dinner that everyone in my house likes. What can I say? We’re all picky eaters who are picky about different things. Zach doesn’t like spicy or tomatoes or beans. Ryan doesn’t like any green food except green beans, nor does he like rice (though I make him eat it often). John doesn’t like way too many things to list. Belly does not like smooshy food, pickles, cheese that is not mixed into things, or eggs not mixed into things. I don’t think I’m the least bit picky, but I could be wrong since my mom says I am a very picky eater. BUT I do the cooking in this house so it’s not picky if I just don’t make things I don’t like.
Everyone in my house enjoyed that chicken pot pie though. We were in hoggy-yummy-delicousness taste bud heaven. And yes, I plan on telling you how to make it, I just wanted to gloat a bit. This is a recipe that is a blending of two other recipes plus my own touches.
Firstly, since most instant potato directions are different, let me tell you that you will need to do the amount for 6 servings and will need the amount of chicken broth that it will take to replace the amount of water needed for the potatoes plus an additional 1 1/4 cups of broth.
Ingredients:
| 2 cups cooked diced chicken | 1 can mixed vegetables (drained) |
| chicken broth (see above) | 1 egg (thoroughly whisked) |
| 1 pie crust | 3 tablespoons butter |
| instant mashed potatoes | 2 teaspoons ground thyme |
| 1 can cream of chicken soup | 1 teaspoon ground pepper |
| 1 can cream of celery soup | 1/4 teaspoon salt |
| preheat: 375 degrees | cook time: roughly 40 minutes |
1. Cook your whole uncooked chicken in 1 1/4 cup of chicken broth, 2 tablespoons butter, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to boil and let in sit at a rolling boil for about 10 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and let cook until chicken is done. (I used tenders and it took about 20 minutes.) Remove chicken and set it aside to cool. Strain fat from the broth and spices you cooked the chicken in and set the broth aside.
2. Mix together your instant potatoes (substituting chicken broth for water) then cook. Spread them in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. (lol I used more butter to grease mine since I was out of everything else)
3. In a separate bowl mix up the soups, vegetables, and chicken broth. Once chicken has cooled some cut it up into itty bitty pieces (or not so itty bitty – that’s up to you; just remember diced) and add to soup/veggies/broth mix. After you have the chicken well coated in it spread it on top of the potatoes.
4. Place pie crust over over top of mixture. (I had to stretch mine some by placing it on the counter and going over it with my rolling pin some) Melt your tablespoon of butter you have left and thoroughly mix it and the egg together. Get it as blended as you possibly can. Brush the crust with the egg/butter mixture until it’s almost all used. Then punch some holes in the center. (small ones – best tip, gently do it with a fork)
Let it cook until the crust looks all goldeny all over, mine took roughly 40 minutes. Make sure you rotate it once while cooking.
Happy eating and enjoy!
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