WaCkY WeDnEsDaY!!

It's just another Sunday afternoon. I am sitting here blogging while everyone else takes a nap and I in between loads of laundry. Oh, laundry....my nemesis...

Anyway, I am still on my little mission to catch up on here. I haven't skipped any major happenings though.

The kids had their first Wacky Wednesday at church. They dress up all crazy (my kids do anyway) and meet up at the church to eat dinner before regular class time.

They usually have a special project they work on together also. The main thing I hear them talk about is when they do Snack Pack for Kids. They put together these packs of snacky food that they later pass out at various schools for kids that may not get a good meal over the weekend. Isn't that sad to think about? We talk about these missions that people participate in for third-world countries that are starving to death and that is GREAT!! I think that is necessary to help those that can't help themselves since we are such a wealthy nation. The statistics are absolutely shocking on the number of child deaths there are in this world just from malnourishment and starvation alone!! But sometimes our efforts to help people that seem "out of sight, out of mind" and desperate halfway around the world distracts us from the poverty right here in front of us. We do think of ourselves as the wealthiest nation in the world and I'm not sure if that is 100% correct, but we are pretty darn close to it if not. And yet, we have just as big of a crisis than any other country! How could this be?! It is heart breaking to think about. These are people, a lot of them children, that are in an arms length away from us! This is the United States of America and we have children, HELPLESS children, going to bed hungry every night!!! Just unbelievable.....so, Wacky Wednesday!! Our Children's Minister is such an amazing lady. Just a true gift from God. She has joined efforts with this organization and has involved our youth to teach them such a vital life lesson. So once a month, the kids come together to pack snack packs for hungry kids in our community. Helping one child at a time. I am not a millionaire by any means, but I feel so guilty knowing we could make such minute sacrifices in our family that would probably not even effect our daily living at all and make such a huge impact in our community. Definitely time for our family to sit down and make some changes.

Now, off of my soap box....while we are on the subject of changes, I am proud to say that our chore chart is still going strong and has become pretty successful. We had our first dip into the prize box and it made their hard work seem worth it. Now I am not being some ridiculous parent that puts gift cards or fancy gadgets in there to keep their interest. Madison was the first one to fill up her chart and she chose a 50 cent color pad and Braxton chose a clicky pen. Nothing fancy at all, just a simple thank you for contributing to our family. :)

The girls completed theirs several days later, but were not impressed with the idea of me taking their picture....

Not a whole lot more to update at this point, but we are getting ready to head to Maxwell's Pumpkin Farm tonight. A new family tradition we started two years ago. So, be prepared for my next post....ridiculous amount of pictures, I tell you! Ridiculous!!!

Get. In. My. Belly!!!

Last night, our small group from church met at our friends, the McCarrell's, house. Only a few couples were able to make it, but I loved it! Anyone that knows me, knows I am not a fan of large crowds. Only four families, including ours, met for a breakfast dinner, had good conversation and it was PERFECT!!!

Our conversation somehow led into cooking, which led to Pinterest. Did you know that everything can lead to Pinterest?!? It's crazy!! From home decorating tips, latest fashion, How-To ANYTHING, cleaning tips, gift ideas for anyone you know, vacation destinations, to cooking. My cooking board is my favorite and most used. I am not a good cook and never have been. I have stuck to the basics for years because I thought it was too hard to learn. And then Pinterest came to my rescue. There are literally thousands of recipes for anything you could imagine!! And the best part of it all....they all have pictures! It's dummy-proof!!! Since then, I have made at least one new dish every week trying to figure out what our family likes. And we have liked Every. Single. One. so far!! Success!! Finally!!! Don't misunderstand, there is still complaining, but the majority has always approved.

I wanted to share a few of the dishes that have made several appearances on our menus and then a few of the latest ones we've tried. I am not going to share the actual recipes because that would take forever! If you see one you really want to try, let me know and I can send you the recipe :)

Before I get started on my parade of pictures, I want you to be aware that I am still not a very good cook, so most of these are SUPER easy and/or crock pot recipes.

Let us begin......


  

 Pizza Casserole....Kid favorite, obviously :)

 Cream Cheese Crock Pot Chicken

 Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta Al Forno

Crock Pot Itlaian Chicken

 Three Ingredient Pork Chops....in the crock pot :) Duh!

We have tried a LOT more recipes, but these are at the top of our Most Favorite list. These are recipes that I have memorized and can fill a day on our weekly menu when I can't think of anything else. Super, super easy meals!!!!

I have a couple more that we have tried more recently that we WILL be making again in the near future...

Another Italian Crock Pot Chicken....but totally different from the other!!

 Taco Pasta...um, yes please!

King Ranch Chicken Mac 'n Cheese

Twice Baked Potato Casserole

These are just a few of the many that we have tried and have liked every single one. If you have not been introduced to the world of Pinterest yet, there is something seriously wrong with you! Lol! 

Let me know if you are interested in recipes or need an invite to the world of Pinterest! Lol!

Keep your eyes peeled for an updated post on more new and easy dinners.

Catching Up...or Trying!

Once again, I am getting way behind on my blog!!

I'm not sure what all has happened since my last post, so I am just going to do some updating on our latest happenings around here.

Well, our router isn't working. That's fun. FYI: new technology is not my friend.....And I have NO idea how to fix it. I called the Belkin place to have them fix it. After asking, plugging, unplugging, asking again, plugging, unplugging and asking and asking and asking......it then turned into me absolutely losing my mind and turning into a psycho, yelling at the poor "indian" (dot, not feather)  schmuck on the other end. The call ended with me ordering a new router. Perfect. So, now I have to wait five to seven business days before a new one arrives, then I have to call India to have them turn it on, or whatever they do with it.....Did I mention that we use our router solely for Wifi? They may be its only purpose, I don't know. But that's what we use it for. Our Wifi is what allows us to access our Netflix account.....no Wifi, no Netflix.....very unhappy children :( But I suppose life does go on without Netflix. Moving forward, it has now been twenty-five days....TWENTY-FIVE DAYS people!!!!! And our new router is still "broken"!!! What the crap!?!? So, if any of you know how to fix a router that supposedly is not broken, give me a call :)

Ummmm, let's see. Kenzie recently auditioned for her first play. She was so cute! 

 And nervous.

The play was Alice in Wonderland so she was fairly familiar with the story. But when you have to actually READ the script from that movie....you realize how weird that movie really is!! The way those characters talk are completely unnatural. It goes against everything you have ever been taught in English class growing up. She practiced and practiced and then we went to the auditions. We sat there looking at all of the "competition" and she became even more nervous. The room was fairly good sized and full of people....that she had to audition in front of. I guess she thought she would go into a different room alone to read her lines. Oops! She was wrong :) Then, the auditioning started and the boys went first. Kenzie very quickly realized that the judges (?) were off to the side of the room and all of the boys were facing that direction. You could see the relief in her face when she figured out she didn't have to face all of those people in the audience. The boys finished and then it was HER turn. Her name was called and off she went. She went on to read her lines and then wait an hour and a half to be called up to read a different line. I thought she did a great job, of course, and not just  because I'm her mom :) It was her first time to audition like that and she had some pretty good competition.....she had to wait three days to find out if she made it or not. It felt like FOR-E-VER!!! They finally posted the Cast List. I've never seen her read names so fast in my life! But she didn't find her name :( She was disappointed and I was a little sad for her, but this was just her first audition. By the time we were done talking about it being her first time and working hard for next time, she was all better. :) From what I've heard, The Little Mermaid and Cheaper by the Dozen will be coming up pretty soon....so keep your eyes open for the next "Aerial" :)

Last weekend Kyle went on a Men's Retreat with the guys from church. I was so excited for him! He hasn't been able to spend quality time with ANYBODY since he started school. I am his only source of making friends at church....and I'm not a very good "big crowds" kind of girl so he has been out of the loop for a while. So when he was able to go with all of the guys for some good 'ole fashioned man time, I was pumped!! Sad that I wouldn't see him all weekend, but happy for him to make good Christian friendships stronger. It took some real convincing and a LOT of consideration, but I finally came to the decision that I would "allow" him to take my camera. Of course he made promises and I made threats along with this decision, but in the end, I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he could be a responsible adult and bring it back in one piece.....and he did :) What he failed to do, was take PICTURES!!!! A picture is worth a thousand words and if you have a husband like mine, you NEED these pictures to know what went on!! He is not the best communicator!!! So this is what I got out of his trip other than the very general "guy stuff" answer....

Driving in the car....

One of three decent nature shots... this is #1

#2

#3

And a vintage lunchbox....

And there you have it folks!! They drove to Angel Fire, looked at the mountains and saw a lunchbox.

It's crazy how different guys and girls really are. You KNOW if me and the girls from church had gone, I would be documenting play by play right now with literally more pictures than I could post. Well, he said that he had a great time and feels a lot closer to the guys than he did before, so I think it ended up being a very productive trip for him. :)

So much has happened the last few weeks that I could make this post into a small novel, so I am going to end on our MOST recent news.....the girls are officially wearing bras. AhHhHhH!!!!!!!! I can. not. believe it!!! They are not old enough to be wearing bras, I swear!!! But their chests are saying otherwise and has for a while now, but I just couldn't bring myself to acknowledge that their bodies are changing. That they are growing up front little girls into young ladies :( And that our next big talk will be "THE" talk. I am definitely not ready for that one. I need to do some serious studying up about the best way to approach and address this topic with my pre-middle-schoolers when it is so hard for me to talk about it AT ALL!! Any help or suggestions on reading material or good tips would be greatly appreciated!!

And on that note, I'm going to say...

TO BE CONTINUED...