Happy Monday!

The results

The chili chicken soup was good, not great, but it certainly made a lot of soup and dumplings. The bummer was that the leftovers were soggy and weird and had to be thrown out and I really hate wasting.  My recommendation is not to make this recipe unless you plan to eat it all in one night!

I am posting way too much today but this is really strange...

This year we will experience 4 unusual dates....
1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11

 

ODD..........

NOW go figure this out.
Take the last 2 digits of the year you were born
Plus the age you will be this year and it WILL EQUAL TO 111.

no, seriously mine did equal 111 and so did everyone else.  If you want one more odd or rather funny thing to look at
‎1. Go to Google Maps and click on "Get Directions."
2. Write "USA" as your start point.
3. Write "Japan" as your destination.
4. Go to the 31st point on your route. LOL!!!

 ( Obviously, I had plenty of time on my hands today)

Hey Christian peeps, the Persons need some prayer's!  We found out that Jeremy's job is changing his hours. So, between 3 nights a week at grad school, working Saturdays and Sundays and now closing every shift he will see the kids a total of 3 hours a week (so not kidding).  Jeremy is crazy super smart and I don't know many people who can get an undergrad degree with 2 kids, one of whom was born during his final year and then decide to get an MBA, all while working full time and having a family and moving across the United States.  He wants to work in finance or really anything that will challenge him and use what he has learned that last 2+ years.  His might lack in business experience as he has worked in fashion the last 12 years but he is a really hard worker who is on the Dean's list and he just really needs a new job, soon.  We would would really appreciate some prayers during this stressful time and if you hear anything anywhere (he graduates in June) let us know.  Thanks.

I thought Theo was being awfully quiet during his little afternoon movie (aka, chill out time), it turns out he was quiet for a reason.

notice Bryn hanging on the back of the couch? 

roast chicken recipe

If you are not making a roast chicken at least once a month, you should be!  It's so easy, cheap and so super yummy and makes your house smell so mouth watering delicious.

you will need;
5-6 pound chicken
rosemary
garlic
lemon
kosher salt
melted butter (about 3 tablespoons)
paprika
baking twine
2 parsnips, 1 large sweet potato,  2 medium Idaho potato's, 2 onion,  a few carrots

Start by removing chicken giblets (the worst part by far) rinse the chicken and pat dry with a paper towel, I have no idea why this needs to be done but every roast chicken recipe says to do this so I do.  Cut a lemon in half and pierce with a fork and put it inside the chicken with a few springs of rosemary and a few cloves of garlic ,tie the legs of the chicken together to hold everything in.  Start chopping the veggies, I love parsnip and sweet potato, Jeremy likes Idaho potato so I do both types, I quarter the medium onions and chop some carrots, I place all the veggies in a large baker dish and sprinkle with kosher salt and a few springs of rosemary and leave an area in the middle to place the chicken.  I melt some butter and pour it over the chicken and then cover the chicken in salt, pepper and paprika.  Bake at 425 with the legs towards the back of the oven (once again not sure why but most recipes say to do this) it takes about an hour and a half and voila a yummy easy dinner!


I have a bunch of leftover chicken, so today I am going to try a recipe I saw in a Bisquick cooking book I got in the mail.  Chili Chicken Soup w/ cilantro dumplings.  Luckily, I happen to have fresh cilantro in the house.
soup:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
chicken breast cut up
1 medium onion chopped
3 tablesppons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups chicken stock

dumplings:
2 cups Bisquick (original mix)
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 jalapeno chopped if desired (I have no jalapeno so we will try this without)

in a sauce pan heat oil over medium heat with chopped onion, chicken, chili powder and salt. Stir in broth. Heat to boiling, reduce heat.

in a medium bowl mix Bisquick and milk until dough forms, fold in cilantro, cumin and jalapeno (if desired).  Drop dough by 10 spoonfuls into simmering soup.  Cook uncovered 10 minutes then cook covered for another 10 minutes. 

I'll let you know how this turns out, the picture looks delicious!

lovely

The kids are outside playing in sunshine and I am making a roast chicken, it's a lovely day!

seriously...

this day is getting better and better by the minute, I might need to pull out the old dress up box more often!

and he cracks me up again!

Theo and I were just playing Richard Scarry's Busytown eye found it! game (great game for a 3 year old), he spun a "move 2" but he insists it was "move 5" which I guess if you look at it upside, like he was, it does look like a backwards 5!

or a fancy 7

This kid cracks me up!

ho hum

All this non-stop rain has made me have the blahs and the blahs are certainly not very fun especially when errands need to get done and life needs to go on.  I actually do like rain and I really appreciate how beautiful and green the rain makes the Northwest but after about two months of rain, I'm over it.  I have so many errands to do today but dragging Theo in out out of the car and many stores when it's literally raining buckets out, just did not seem fun.  We instead went to our favorite toy store (Bellevue Art & frame) to buy his cousin Cooper a 4th birthday present and I went to Trader Joe's where I bought myself some flowers, I already feel better!

oh, and...

in case you are wondering what I am nibbling on all day, here is the best dip ever!

Sweet Vegetable Dip
2 cans black eyed peas, rinsed and drained
2 cans white (Shoepeg) corn, drained
1 jar diced pimientos, drained
1 med sweet onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Use a slotted spoon to transfer a portion into a serving bowl. Enjoy!
(it's pretty looking too!)

I love a good mail day!  I was delighted to get all three of these lovely things in one day.



2010 Person photo book, Boden catalog, Architectural Digest



Yes, Please!  I'll take a spacious loft in NY and new spring dresses for Carter.



2010 was a great year!



My doctor called, I have atypia cells (the same as last time) they may or may not be precancerous, so the plan is to just monitor them and see what happens.  Phew!

Monster Jam 2011!

Okay, I will admit that I often whine about living here but honestly the Monster Truck show proved that Washington rocks. It was loud and dirty but we had a blast!  Theo kept saying over and over again "mom, this is really exciting".

Whoa!

Monster Mutt

Superman

catching some air

awesome!

The whole gang

I don't know what you think...but this looks like a pretty scary ride!

"look mom, no hands!"

I guess it's a popular ride since there is a huge line of Playmobil kid's just waiting for their turn.

I noticed yesterday evening that Carter's voice was starting to get a bit hoarse but we still went to a fun church party and I let the kids stay up much later than usual.  We have a very strict 8:00pm bedtime so staying out at a church pizza party until 9:30, is almost borderline crazy for me (I like early bedtimes and a regular schedule).  I think the late night party with pizza, and screaming and jumping on a big bouncy castle just made Carter lose her voice altogether.  So, although she is not really sick I could hardly send my little girl to school with no voice, so she is home writing notes.

tell Theo I can't talk

tell him that is why I need paper

I need water

I need a vitamin

thank you

tada

(my Carter is a lefty so her handwriting is a work in progress)

So...this post has the word Cervix in it, can you handle it?

I haven't posted in a while and I actually do have a lot of stuff to post about but I have just been dealing with some health issues that have me pretty darn drained.  I hate drama, well no, that's not true, sometimes drama is really fun but I hate hypochondriac drama so I rarely mention when health stuff is going on because I like to have real answers before I freak everyone out (including myself). I am a total wimp with health stuff, I really have no idea how I survived two c-sections, without being completely knocked out.  Just the thought of blood makes me super woozy and nauseous.  So, imagine how delighted I was to find out that I needed to get a colposcopy and biopsy of my cervix (yuck)....again. This is the second time in less than a year that I have needed to get this done and let me tell you it is NOT fun, it's much worse (much worse!) than a pap smear.  It's completely unpleasant and the fact that they are looking for cancer just makes everything so not fun. Do I have cervical cancer? probably not (tests are not in) but they are more than a bit concerned that I keep getting bad results with my paps so this means I will need to get pap smears every 3 months, every gosh darn 3 months!  Most likely, I will need to get a few more colposcopies and biopsies in the next year too.  I am okay, I really don't want cancer so I am glad they will keep looking and hopefully catch anything before it gets too unmanageable.  I do, however, want a 3rd baby and the most devastating news was that I need to get going on that sooner than later.  I am only 33 years old, hardly an age issue but it turns out that if you keep taking bits of your cervix out it becomes increasingly harder to carry a baby.  There is a very high chance for miscarriages and premature birth, a worn down chopped up cervix just can't handle it.  It's been a lot for us to take in and we are still waiting for lab reports from my biopsy, but luckily cervical cancer is very treatable and hopefully my not so great cervix will hold on for one more kid!

ahhhh...

Do you hear that? silence!  Theo wanted to stay for lunch at school which is an extended day option, so I won't be picking him up until 1:30.  I have 4 hours of quiet Carissa time.  I am trying really hard not to clean!

easy peasy dinner-

So...now that we are back to our regular lives and Jeremy is back in school, it's time to start cooking again (we ate out way too much over Christmas break or just ate leftovers).  I had been making homemade pizza almost every Wednesday (before break), and I decided to start back up since the kids love it and I love how super easy it is!

Quick and easy pizza dough:
1 pkg. dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (about 120degrees, but I never check)
mix yeast in water, mix well until it is a tan cloud
pour into a large mixing bowl
add:
2cups flour, trying to make sure all the flour covers the watery yeast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

mix well, get some eager child to knead for a few minutes, mold into a round ball cover with a towel and let it rise for an hour or longer.  After it has had time to rise, punch it down and roll it out.

I buy the small can of garlic and oregano tomato sauce (about .69 cents) I sometimes add other spices like dried basil.  I buy shredded mozzarella on sale for about $2 a bag, and if I have pepperoni in the house I'll add that too.  

Tonight, I let the kids make their own little pizza's with leftover dough.

They loved their own mini pizza's, especially since they did it all themselves.

The big pizza made on my new Pampered Chef stone pizza dish.

Voila, dinner for about $3.50 for a family of 4!

I am not making any New Year resolutions because they eventually never work out, but I am making some goals for myself.  My main goal is to just spend more quality time with my kids.  It's true that I am with them pretty much all the time but I rarely sit down for a game of Candy land, dinosaur play or block building.  I want to enjoy reading at night with them and snuggle extra and try to not get so uptight if we are 15 minutes past bedtime, snuggles and books are worth it!  I also want to get my "scrap booking" in order.  I started making a photo book on Snapfish for the last few years.  My goal for this year and hopefully the coming years is to download pictures every month and then just add them to an ongoing project.  That way when December rolls around I don't have thousands of pictures to upload and organize. I hope to one day have a library of photo books that the kids can look through and reminisce.  My one and final goal that I basically make and break every year is to go on a monthly date with Jeremy.  We love spending time with each other and with so much family nearby we have no excuse not to go out. So, my fingers are crossed that I can accomplish some of these goals.

Ha!

Today, as I was driving, I was thinking (quite smugly) that I really don't hate Monday's at all and that it was a rather lovely day...until I realized that it was indeed Tuesday!

Happy 2011!

I have a really good feeling about 2011, I really do think it's going to be a fantastic year.  Jeremy will graduate from grad school, we will celebrate our 10th anniversary, we may or may not move to a new state (NY, please?!), we may or may not have another baby (pretty please!) we will celebrate an 8th birthday and a 4th birthday, Jeremy and I will both get older and hopefully wiser, we will laugh and cry, and we will have adventures but the most important thing is that we will do it all as a family and I really love this family!