Our Royal Family (according to Emma)

Last night as Emma and I were getting to the end of our bedtime routine, she said, "Mommy, I am a princess." I replied, "Yes! Yes you are! In so many ways." Then she said, "But we need a King. Daddy can be the king, and you can be the queen. Christian can be a prince, Jenna can be another princess, and Jordan can be Indiana Jones." Oddly enough, upon reflection, Jordan would probably be happiest as Indiana Jones. When I asked him he gave me an enthusiastic "oh, yeah"

Pasta with Broccoli and Sausage

I also made this recipe a couple of days ago and finished the leftovers for lunch! The whole family liked this one. I did add some yellow crook-neck squash and a little garlic to mine and used Hillshire Farms sausage (you know the ones that are shrink wrapped in an oval shape).
http://workitmom.com/bloggers/orderingdisorder/2008/08/07/pasta-with-broccoli-and-sausage/
Check out her recipe for hummus as well! I really liked it with whole wheat pitas. Too bad it was too "healthy" for the rest of the family.
I enjoy her recipes and sense of humor; though she does have some colorful language as she describes some of the cooking instructions (not too bad, I would be careful about letting my kids cook from her site).

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

I am always looking for new recipes and so I thought I would share some of our family's favorites. I am making this tonight. This recipe has been adapted from two different sources: my friend Bethany and this site http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/06/crockpot-salsa-chicken-recipe.html (great crock pot site) but since she got it from someone else and I am combining them, I am claiming the following recipe as mine!

6-9 chicken thighs, or 2-3 breasts
1 can rinsed black beans
1 cup chunky salsa
1 cup frozen white corn
3 T lime juice
1 T chili powder

The Directions. Put your chicken in the crockpot; mine was still frozen. Top with the rinsed black beans, salsa, and corn. Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. Cooking time will vary depending on whether or not your chicken is frozen, and how big the pieces are.If you decide to use breasts, increase your salsa by 1/2 cup. Breasts are drier than thighs.
Serve as taco filling, as taco salad topping, or even enchilada filling, etc. Leftovers freeze great in a freezer bag!

Don't you love a recipe that people can eat at different mealtimes? I have parent teacher conference at 6 pm and Paul doesn't get home until after 7 pm. It's one of those nights! I'm just glad it doesn't happen very often for us. I feel it is so important to have meals together as a family!

Paralyzing glare?

Tonight my boys were trying out some super powers (maybe inspried by Harry Potter or Pokemon, I never can keep track of what they're playing). Jordan said, "I'm giving you a paralyzing glare." with a strained slightly cross-eyed look on his face. Christian responded with "No, that's not a paralyzing glare, that's a confused stare. This is a paralyzing glare!" (giving an even more strained look).
As I listened to this exchange, I thought to myself, "I wonder how many times, when I am trying to give my children paralyzing glares, (like during church) do they come out confused stares!?" Probably more often than I want to know. :) I don't often get the response I'm trying to send to them through ESP and some pretty strong body language. It must be all in the delivery. I guess I'll never quite have "THE LOOK" like my mother!

Funny family stories

Okay, I am hoping for many responses to this blog. I am asking everyone in the family (both sides) to record their favorite story or stories that have been passed around the family at every single get together. I think it's about time to get these oral traditions written down. Then feel free to copy, paste, and print your own copy of the stories for your posterity! ;-)

A mom's self-esteem

A couple of days ago, we were all in the family room and I wanted to sit on our coffee table/footstool. I asked Christian to move over because he was laying in the same spot. He ignored me (more common than I like to admit) so jokinglyI told him that if he didn't move I would sit on his head. He then started yelling, "Oh no, my Mom's big, big bum is going to sit on my face!" Paul of course thought this hilarious. I had a little more trouble finding the humor in it.
Luckily, when we went out to eat that night, we passed a table with a cute little girl who was about 6 yrs old. As we passed she looked straight up at me and sincerely said, "You're pretty". I gave her a heartfelt thank you and as I walked away, felt that there really is balance in the world.

It's a Bruderer record!

It's official! Jenna took her first steps last night. She is our youngest to walk at 10 months & 9 days! (Just what we need, another runner!) We were all in the boy's room getting ready for family prayer and she took 2 steps to come to me. That was one great mommy moment after an especially difficult afternoon. It is good those moments come every once in a while or I would be a basket case!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

Yep, it's that time again...back to school! I have been buying school supplies like a mad woman. Not that I don't like my children, but I seem to like them a little more when I get a chance to miss them sometimes :) I have found some cute ideas from various sources that should help us start off with a little fun and stay organized! We will have 3 children in 3 different schools this year and so I was struggling with how to keep up with that many schedules etc. Then I found a great idea on one of my favorite websites (link in my links list) http://www.meckmom.com/2008/08/11/get-rid-of-multiple-charts-with-a-family-big-board/ She took a giant white board and divided it into sections for each of her children and then put in categories. Here is a picture of our new board. I think it will definitely help. The kids got to choose their theme color and we had fun making magnets the other day.

I have also bought new backpacks and loaded them with fun stuff like character notebooks, markers, watches for the boys, workbooks...all things schoolish. Next week I plan to do a treasure hunt around the playground at our local school leading to their backpacks which I will hide.

Another thing I have been trying to come up with are some creative ideas for home lunches. I have sent Lunchables in the past but for some reason one kids doesn't like the meat, another doesn't like the cheese etc. I found a recipe for pizza pocket things that involes stuffing crescent roll dough with sauce, cheese, and a slice of pepperoni then baking. It says they are good even cold. We'll see if the kids go for it! If anyone has other ideas I would love to hear them! Please comment.

I have been trying to get the kids to read and practice some of their academic skills to make up for some of the brain dead time we've had but they don't seem too enthusiastic about it (go figure!:) Oh well, I am going to keep trying. I'm a mom, I'm supposed to be mean!

If you go to meckmom.com be sure to check out her entry a couple weeks earlier naming some great games. We bought Hyper Dash which the kids really love ( I like it too since it runs them around and expends energy from my little zombie couch potatoes). We also just got Monster Maker but haven't had a chance to play it yet. It looks fun though.

Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere!!

This morning we pulled out something that we haven't done in a while...bubbles! Even the word seems like magic. I make a bucketful of bubble solution (I'll post my recipe below) pull out the large bubble wands found at the dollar store as well as other bubble devices and we have a blast! Today the kids were trying to bite the bubbles and really enjoying themselves giving me a good chuckle. Whenever I need to see that my kids are still cute despite the arguments I can always pull out the bubbles.:)

Homemade bubble solution
Exploratorium recommends :
2/3 cup Joy or Dawn dishwashing soap
1 gallon water
2 to 3 tablespoons of glycerine (available at the pharmacy or chemical supply house.)
Pour the water in large container.
Add liquid detergent and gently stir.
Add rest of ingredients and stir.
Set aside for four hours before using to allow bubbles to settle. If the bubbles get too stirred up and don't work as well, just let them sit undisturbed for a few hours and they will be good as new.

Bubble Wand ideas!
commercial wands
bend pipe cleaners to make your own shaped wands
Use gum drops and toothpicks to make geometric shapes and hang from string to dip. (Do not eat gumdrops after using)
Use your hands, forming a circle with your fingers.
Use cookie cutters
Use telephone wire to braid and bend your own colorful wands.
Use your imagination to find other things around the house.

Giant Bubble Wand
Materials
String
Two drinking straws
Bubble solution
Large, flat baking pan
Directions
Thread a length of string through two straws.
Tie the ends together to make a loop.
Leave as much slack string between the straws as you like, depending on the size of bubble you want.
Pour bubble solution into a large, shallow baking pan.
Hold one straw in each hand, leaving the string hanging slack between them.
Dip the straw-and-string loop into the bubble solution, then lift it out slowly, taking care not to break the film of bubble solution.
Pull the straws apart until the string is taut, then hold the bubble film in front of a fan or the wind and watch a giant bubble take shape!


Group Activity

I have also made huge batches in a wading pool for large groups. You can have a child stand in the middle and using a hula hoop, raise a bubble around the child. Just make sure the pool is on a very level surface. This will only work a few times until the solution is too weak and needs to settle again.

It works for me!

I am linking to Try and Tell at Mom Tried It.

What ARE they thinking?

The other night, one of our boys, who shall remain nameless (but whose name starts with a C), was watching a friend hitting balls with a golf club. He asked Mom and Dad if he could get his clubs out but, being bedtime the answer was no. Then he saw Emma's bike helmet on the ground and thought "Wow, I could turn Emma upside down and using her helmet as the ball and her head like a golf club, I can hit a long drive!!" Needless to say, he dropped her on her head and tested Mom and Dad's creativity to come up with an appropriate, relevant consequence. He ended up grounded and having to weed a flower bed. (How do you come up with a related consequence for THAT lapse in judgement? :)