Our Family Project

This week's Table Time Tuesday is a recipe I tried back in July when I got my Kraft Food & Family magazine. I used leftover grilled chicken for my filling. We also put sour cream atop our enchiladas and I really liked it that way. Anyway, here's the recipe: What you need: 1 small onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 4 cooked small chicken breasts (about 1 lb.), shredded 1 cup salsa, divided 4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, cubed 1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 cup shredded cheddar & monterey jack Cheese, divided 8 flour tortillas How you do it: Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat large skillet spayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Add onions and garlic; cook and stir 2 min. Add chicken, 1/4 cup of the salsa, cream cheese, cilantro and cumin; mix well. Cook until heated through, stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese; mix well. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture onto each tortilla; roll up. Place, seam-side down, in ...

I was talking to my sister recently while she was at work, and while we were talking Maryanne started to fuss a little bit. My sister starting oohing and aahhing at all of the baby sounds. Next thing I know, she's telling me that she put me on speaker phone so all of her coworkers could enjoy the baby sounds. It got me thinking that my family won't get to hear Maryanne at all since we probably won't be out to visit for a while. So, here's a little video of Maryanne coping with the hiccups.

I got a request to post lots and lots of pictures of Maryanne. Babies change so much just within the first month or two ... and since we live out in the middle of nowhere, without any family near us, I'm going to post as many pictures as I can for everyone to see Maryanne growing and changing. Those of you who really don't care will probably get sick of all the pictures. But, for those of you who do care ... ENJOY!

Andrew holding Maryanne, or as he affectionately calls her, "Kara" Today at lunch the children were talking about nicknames for Maryanne: Eliza: My nickname for Maryanne is "Annie." Andrew: Well, I call her "Kara." Eliza: Who's Kara? Andrew: My girlfriend. Kate: Andrew you're too young to have a girlfriend. Andrew: No I'm not. Eliza: Yes, you are. Andrew: Well, I want a girlfriend. Me: Andrew, you can have girls that are your friends, and friends that are girls; but, you are too little to have a girlfriend that you hug and hold hands with. Kate: Yeah, but I'm not. You have to wait until you're as old as me.

I saw this shirt on another blog ... and just had to share it!

Adam turned three-years-old today. It's hard to believe that he is three! I don't know if I just haven't noticed within the last few months, but just recently ... well, okay ... since Maryanne arrived ... Adam's personality has blown up! He is very talkative, and says some of the cutest things (from the mouth of 3yo, but from anyone older they are really annoying and rude). One that comes to mind is when he says to his siblings, "Sorry. Poo, poo" and then he giggles. Anyway, since he is only three years old; I'll share eight of his favorite things (since he turned three in 8th year of this century). Adam's favorite ... 1. Toy: Anything Lightning McQueen 2. T.V. Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 3. Movie: Cars 4. Food: Fruit 5. Color: Green 6. Thing to do: Play with Shaving Cream 7. Treat: Pop Tarts 8. Game: Go Fish Here's Adam holding his cake. Funny story: I asked him all day long what he wanted for his b-day dinner and his response every time was, ...

Last night we were watching a video we got from my in-laws for Christmas. (Adam decided yesterday morning that he just couldn't wait for Christmas, those presents were calling to him. [Maybe he'll get it out of his system tomorrow when he unwraps his b-day presents.] So, he unwrapped his present, Kate's present, Eliza's present, and the family gift [which was the video] that we got in the mail from my in-laws on Saturday.) After we were done watching the video, Jon was able to snap this picture of our oldest and youngest daughters together. Aren't they just precious like this? Just a little story about Maryanne and her hair. Everyday I look at her hair in amazement. She has way more hair than any of our other children had at her age, and it is light brown instead of the white blond that we are used to. But, the most fascinating thing about her hair is that she already has natural highlights. Each time the nurses switched shifts, the new nurse would comment on Mary...

Today I recorded my children singing Happy Birthday to their grandpa; and, while I was uploading it to You Tube I started looking at all of the other videos I had on there. I came across this one from March and just thought that I enjoyed watching it all over again so much that I had to share it again.

Yes, it's Finished Projects Friday. I'm posting my two recent finished projects. In fact, they were both finished within hours of each other. In respective order, the first project is my sister's Christmas gift. She knows this is coming ... she helped to pick out the fabric when she was here visiting in September. So, I figured it was okay to post it on here. My sister (who works in graphic design) definitely has an eye for colors and patterns. I never would have put these two fabrics together, but she picked them out and voila! They look great together! My second project was finished only three or four hours after the first. (Yes, Kristina, I was sewing your apron while we were on the phone Sunday.) You guessed it, it's Maryanne! Hee hee. I asked Jon to take a picture of me in the apron for Finished Project Friday and he said I should have my picture taken with Maryanne and call it Finished Projects Friday. Anyway, here are just a couple more pictures of...

Wow, pictures with our camera are so much better than with our camcorder! Here's Jon holding Maryanne yesterday. Please excuse the socks on her hands ... they really are socks, although they do look like casts or something. (Just trying to keep the scratching down to a minimum. Speaking of scratching ... Adam wouldn't come near Maryanne in the hospital because he was convinced she would scratch him. He held her for the first time Wednesday night. And, I think he's still scared of her; he doesn't go near her very much at all. I'm sure he'll warm up to her though.)

Meet Maryanne Jon mentioned that I'd give a more detailed account of our morning. So, here's the slightly-longer-than-Jon's version of what happened. I woke up around 2 or so with contractions. I had three contractions before I decided to get up (I was hoping to slow down labor by lying down since it was really early and I didn't want to wake up our neighbor that early). When I got up Jon woke up and I told him I was having contractions. I hadn't timed them yet, so I wasn't sure if it was time to go to the hospital. I had two more contractions and they were two minutes apart, then my water broke. That's when I turned around and told Jon that we had to go to the hospital right away. (From experience, when my water breaks the baby is born within minutes.) So, I called our neighbor and Jon called Labor & Delivery. Then, we got in the car and when we got to the hospital I felt my first urge to push while I was changing. They got the ER doctor up to my room ...

This morning Maryanne Debra Hill was born at 2:41. She weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces; with a length of 19.5 inches. Marisa and the baby are doing well. Maryanne has more hair than any of our other children did as newborns. We'll post some pictures and video shortly. Thank you to all for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. By the way, labor started around 2:05 a.m. The nurses called a her a "rockstar". I'm grateful I was home and not 45 miles away at work. A special thanks to Nikki Branson and Erin Currie for their kind help this morning. Marisa will likely post a more detailed account of our early morning adventure in the next few days. Regards, Jon

Me and Andrew, a few weeks ago after playing soccer in the playroom When my sister first suggested I start writing a blog I wavered on the fence for a long time wondering what I could have to blog about that would be interesting to others. I'm so grateful that I decided to start my blog because Andrew has certainly given me enough to blog about (especially within the last month or so). Plus, I'm so grateful to have a place to instantly write about and remember the precious things he does and says. Tonight was his turn for family prayer. Usually he gets a little caught with the phrase, "And we could." So, a typical prayer goes something like this: "Heavenly Father, thank Thee we could play, and we could {pause}, and we could. ..." Tonight, however, I was reminded of what it is like to be a little child and to feel grateful for the little things. His prayer was pretty close to this: "Heavenly Father, thank thee we can be healthy; and we could. And for lo...

This is actually a project I finished last Saturday, but haven't taken the time until now to post it. I was inspired by my friend, Rivka , last year when she posted a picture of the stockings that she made for her family. (That's something you'll learn quickly about my projects ... rarely do the ideas behind them originate from my cranium.) Anyway, I decided then and there that I was going to make us some stockings for this Christmas. The fabric I actually bought two years ago, and barely had enough to make the seven stockings I need for this year. (Actually, I was able to cut out eight stockings ... which turns out to be good because I definitely needed an "oops" stocking.) I pieced together my squares and then took my square of fabric to my local quilt store to use the quilting machine there. It's an awesome deal ... if you quilt a lot. Basically, the deal is that once you take the class to learn how to use the machine you can come back and rent the machine ...

Jon and Adam at the State Fair, 2008 Have you ever had a moment with someone when they say something that totally blows you away? That moment happened last night when Jon and I were talking while getting ready for bed. For months and months he's been telling me that he'd made a certain decision, and practically begged me to agree with him. I finally did and had fully embraced his opinion on the matter. And then, last night he turned the tables on me and pretty much said that he had almost changed his mind into the opposite direction! I was floored! At first I just laughed because I thought he was joking. Um, no. He wasn't joking at all. He went on to explain himself even further and now I find myself actually laughing at the whole situation because our roles are completely reversed now. I find it so strange that one brief five minutes of time can alter the course we take so drastically and completely.

Today is Table Time Tuesday! I know, I know, I haven’t posted a new recipe is two weeks. That’s why this post is just called: Pasta! A few years ago, my friend’s husband (who served a mission in Italy) taught me how to make two different pasta sauces. I’ve already shared one (I call it: Chunky Red Pasta Sauce), and now I’ll share the other one (of course with my modifications), plus one of my own creation. This first one is an alfredo sauce (or as my family calls it, “white sauce”). If you like alfredo sauce, this is the sauce for you! Well, that is if you want to gain a few pounds. It is rich, creamy, and THE BEST homemade alfredo sauce I’ve ever had, if I do say so myself. We prefer it over the bottled sauces you can buy in the store. And, when I’m in a time crunch, or I just can’t think of anything to make for dinner, I make this and it’s on the table in at least 20 minutes, sometimes sooner. ALFREDO SAUCE What you need: ¼ cup butter 1 clove garlic, minced or chopped finely ¼ cup fl...

This child never ceases to amaze me. I think I posted on my old blog a video of Andrew opening his birthday cards when he turned 4. (See video .) My favorite part was when he opened the card from my mom (which accompanied his presents that she sent him) and exclaimed, "Hey, there's no money!" Well, at lunch we had kind of a similar thing happen. He asked for a peanut butter and cinnamon-sugar sandwich. So, that's what I made him. He took one bite then said, "Hey, I said I wanted cinnamon!" I told him that I put it on there and to open up his sandwich and he will see it. He opened his sandwich and giggled then said, "Oh, there it is." Then, he hugged my legs (I was standing beside him) and said, "Mom, you're the best." I could hear that over and over again everyday until I die and be blissfully happy.

Yesterday as I was driving Andrew to his parent/teacher conference he was talking to me about a knight costume we have. He was pretty concerned because we couldn't find the helmet or the sword. I told him that I thought I'd thrown the sword away because he kept stabbing his siblings with it, but that I didn't know what happened to the helmet. Andrew told me that we should "frow" out the rest of the costume because we don't have the helmet or sword anymore. I almost immediately commenced in teaching him the right pronunciation of the word "throw." For the first three attempts he still said "frow," then he very slowly said, "th-row." I praised him and told him that he was right in the way he said the word. His response to that was, "You know, maybe we should just toss it."

Okay, so I've been a little bit distracted. Alright, A LOT distracted! But, I have all my material cut out for my various projects; so, at least I won't have to worry about that. I do, however, need to get sewing! Anyway, I've been planning on added a list on the side of all my projects ... and what their status is. Hopefully, I'll be able to look at the list and glean some satisfaction and motivation as I'm able to cross things off!

I started a tradition last Christmas to print out my blog (or select entries with pictures) for my in-laws who aren't so computer savvy. This was one of the other reasons that I switched over to Blogger: because it's easier to upload my entire blog to make a photo book. For the last book I made, I had to spend a ton of time formatting the pages according to the templates I was given. It was rather annoying trying to fit all of my ramblings on a page with minimal text space. But, because of my blog switch, this year was a little different. I wasn't sure what I was going to do since half of this year was blogged on a different blog that I couldn't upload from. So, I decided to just cut out all of my writing and just do pictures with short captions. And, this year, I was inspired by a digital scrapbook my friend made of her family. It was an ABCs book. So, I thought I'd just take the pictures from this year and put them in an ABC book for my in-laws. I got online and f...

We recently have had a hard time getting the boys to go to sleep at night. So, in my mind, the solution was to totally skip naptime! Well, I don't think this little boy likes this idea too much. The last two days, he's put himself down for a nap ... granted, it's on the couch (or the laundry), but it's still a nap. Do you remember this picture? Yeah, I guess he can fall asleep anywhere. That's something he got from his dad.

Last year around this time (I think) we had a talent show for a church activity. I decided to sign a song that I did in high school with a couple of friends. I hope we do another talent show so I can sign another song ... it seemed to be something that touched everyone there. It's been a long time since I've signed with anyone, and I know I don't remember as much as I used to. Anyway, as I was looking through all of my old files and found this video, I thought I'd share it with everyone! (Anyone from hs remember this? We actually did it in the dark, dressed in black clothing, with white gloves, and a black light was in front of us. It was kind of cool then. Jon said I shouldn't do it like that when I did it for the talent show because he thought that my facial expressions would get lost.) (Hmm, for some reason the video is not showing. If you want to see it, click here .)

My friend asked about freezer meals, which reminded me that I am planning on freezing a lot of the dinners that I'll be making in the next few weeks. So, I'm going to try to feature those as often as possible. In the meantime, I've updated my Recipes entry with all of my old recipes (thanks goes to my little sis for saving my old blog: it made bringing back the old recipes a lot more efficient). I've also added astericks to the recipes that I've frozen before. Here are some tips I learned for the recipes I've listed that I've frozen: Let the dinner/bread thaw completely before warming it up. You can do this in the microwave, otherwise let it thaw completely in the fridge (which may mean taking it out of the freezer the morning of the day before you are going to eat it for dinner, make sense?). When freezing a casserole, line the casserole dish with foil. After the casserole has cooled partly, place the dish in the freezer. When the casserole is frozen, lift ...

Last night Jon took Kate with him to the church for the youth activities. Usually he goes by himself so he can help, but Kate was having an especially hard day, so he took her with him to get some one-on-one time. When he came home he said, "Kate broke my heart tonight." I wondered what he meant by that; then he explained that she was telling him all about the times when she plays with her friends, including recess time at school. She said that she always wants to play with a particular friend, and then after they play for a little bit that friend goes off to play with someone else and Kate just stands there. Then, she'll go ask another friend to play with her and that friend tells her "no." Jon asked her what she does then, and she said that she just walks around being sad because none of her friends will play with her. It was surprising to hear all of this because last year it seemed like Kate was good friends with everyone in her kindergarten class. Seemed li...

So, on Sunday it was our turn to feed our missionaries. And, for some reason I hate having them come for dinner and not serving them some form of a dessert. The best part about dessert on this particular Sunday was that I had a craving ... and was able to follow through, even if I had to make a substitution. I was craving my grandmother's fudge sauce on ice cream. Occasionally when we'd visit with my grandmother Werner (the " White Grandma ") she would give us ice cream (in some glass dishes that I inherited from her when she moved), then drizzle on her homemade fudge sauce. It seriously is the best fudge sauce, ever! (It even makes great chocolate milk!) GRANDMA’S FUDGE SAUCE What you need: 1 large can evaporated milk 2 cups sugar 3 squares unsweetened chocolate 1 tsp. vanilla How to do it: Bring to boil over medium heat milk, sugar, and chocolate. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring vigorously. Remove from heat; add vanilla. Beat with rotary type beater for 1 minute. Add a...

Once a year at church instead of speakers, the children present what they’ve been learning all year in their class (called Primary). Today was their presentation. All of the children got to say something in the microphone, plus each of the classes (classes are determined by age) got to sing either a song, or a verse of a song. Well, almost all of the classes. Andrew’s class and the 5yo class didn’t get to do a song. But, Andrew and one of the girls from the 5yo class sang a duet for a verse of a song. It was so cute. So many people came up to Jon and me afterward saying that they were adorable. I have to admit … they really were. I got to help my/Kate’s class (the 6yo class) learn their song. And, when we practiced yesterday we really had to practice the last verse of their song a lot because they couldn’t remember the words. Today, it was the best understood verse that they sang! Eliza’s class did a good job too. The funny thing there is that there are four children in her class, two ...

When my Grandma moved I inherited a couple of my Grandfather's old hats for my children to play with. Wearing this hat is one of Adam's newest obsessions. He wore it when we took Andrew to school yesterday, and of course we got many, many comments on the hat (just like when he wears his cape). Today, he put on the hat and started running around in the living room, chasing Andrew, and saying that he was Indiana Jones. Even Andrew played along and said that it was an Indiana Jones hat and that Adam was Indiana Jones. It's funny how they can come up with these things, and play pretend that they are people and characters that they've never seen before, nor do they know anything about them. Where do they come up with these things?

Okay, so I noticed that it's hard to filter through all my labels to get to the recipes you may want. So, I'm posting an entry that will list all my recipes, which I will keep updating. Then, I'll get rid of all the recipe labels except for "Recipes." Just to make it easier for anyone trying to find a certain recipe. Update: All of my "old" recipes are linked now! Yeah! Also, those recipes with an asterick (*) are recipes which I have tried freezing and they turn out okay. Just remember, use them within 1-2 months. For other tips, and instructions referring to freezing meals, check out this entry. BOSCHY ADVENTURES Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins BREADS Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins Dinner Rolls Ham & Cheddar Loaf Making Bread Video Rivka's Cinnamon Rolls BREAKFAST Banana Buttermilk Pancakes Buttermilk Syrup Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins Cream Cheese Clouds Crepes Oven-Baked Caramel French Toast Rivka's Cinnamon Rolls CASSEROLES Beef & C...

Okay, so I know I should probably wait until next Tuesday to post this recipe, but we had this tonight for dinner and it was so good I just couldn't wait to pass it along! You know when a recipe is good when your husband takes one bite and says, "Ooh, this is good." Anyway, enjoy! CHEESY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP What you need: 4 chicken breasts 2 celery stalks, sliced 1 onion, chopped 1 lb. carrots, sliced 2 cans cream of chicken soup 8-10 oz. Velveeta, cubed 16 oz. frozen peas 1 (12 oz.) bag Reemes frozen egg noodles (Optional: 1-2 cans chicken broth) How you do it: Cook chicken in boiling water for 30 minutes. Remove chicken and strain cooking water, replacing the water in the pot. Add celery, onion, and carrots to pot. Let cook until tender. Add cut-up chicken, cream of chicken soup, egg noodles and Velveeta. Let simmer until Velveeta is melted. Throw in the peas before serving. What I did differently than above: I used 2 cans chicken broth instead of the chicken water. I a...

I started a tradition a few years ago: chili for dinner on Halloween night. The first couple of times I did this, I tried two different recipes and we weren’t really keen on either. Then, I had this White Chili at my friend’s house during a card exchange. So, I got the recipe from my friend, Melissa , and the last couple of years this is what we’ve had for our traditional Halloween Chili Dinner. It’s super yummy … you just have to try it. WHITE CHILI What you need: 2 lbs. chicken, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces 1 onion, diced 1 lb. Velveeta, cubed ½ lb. Monterey Jack cheese, cubed 1 can white corn, or 1 cup frozen corn 1-3 cans tomatoes with green chilies, drained really well* 2 cans white beans (great northern) 2 cans cream of chicken soup 1 can chicken broth *This is what makes it spicy; the more cans you use, the spicier it will be. How you do it: Combine all ingredients. Let simmer until warmed through. Serve with tortilla chips. Semi-Step by Step: I’ve combined my steps. Th...

Just in case you're all curious (since most of you don't see me on a day-to-day basis). Here I am at 34 weeks pregnant. Okay, so I don't look that good ... but remember I've been sick; and this picture was taken at the end of the day. Anyway, I'll probably get a little bit bigger in the next few weeks ... so maybe I'll take another picture then to compare (I've never really compared before).

Okay, so since Jon accused me of “super-posting” (in essence, my entries seem to be a lot of rambling and much too long), here are two pictures from Halloween: Here are our pumpkins & jack-o-lanterns. From left to right: Eliza’s (bat on a pumpkin), Adam’s (bat), Andrew’s (ghost), mine (spider w/ web; btw, I LOVE white pumpkins), and Kate’s (cat). Jon’s was the big fat one that didn’t get carved because he was pretty busy this week. And, here’s the picture of our little trick-or-treaters. Adam (Batman), Eliza (witch), Andrew (Spiderman), and Kate (snow queen). Jon took the children out so I wouldn’t have to go outside (since I was still sick). This year the weather was perfect: just a little chilly, hardly cold at all; so they were gone for a long time, and when they came back I felt like I didn’t give out enough candy. I mean, isn’t it supposed to be like a trade? It’s a good thing I save half of their candy for their Christmas stockings. Happy Halloween!

Okay, I hate doing this on only the second week, but there's no project to post this week. I've been sick all week and just haven't had the energy to do anything except what has been absolutely necessary. I have a check up on Monday, so I'm hoping that if I haven't kicked this bug that my doctor will give me some antibiotics. The frustrating thing is that everyone in the family has had this stuff for the last week, and I'm the one who got it the worst. Anyway, the most I've done this week on my project is cut out the fabric. And, since it's " Finished Project Friday" I just can't post my fabric! I'll try for next week.

Andrew got to wear his costume to school today. He was ecstatic to be SpiderMan for his class party. As you can see, his teacher was dressed as a witch. Thankfully, Jon took a sick day today so that he could rest (which he didn't really do so much of), and also help me out. I've been sick since Sunday and it just keeps getting worse, so it was nice to have Jon home to take the children to school. It sure was fun, though, to go with Jon to pick Andrew up at school ... we got to see all the children in his class in their costumes (some were quite creative).

Monday night, Jon exercised his expertise in pulling teeth! Kate's been wiggling her bottom teeth for months without even telling us. Monday morning she showed me how far back her bottom left tooth could bend back and when I wiggled it, I also wiggled the right one and that one was just as ready. So, that night Jon pulled the left one, then the right. She got two teeth out of the way. The only hard part was getting the bleeding to stop. Her top teeth are pretty loose too, so she couldn't bite down on the gauze very hard. I wouldn't be surprised if those two on the top came out by the new year!

(*Side note: I apologize for the time stamp in all of the pictures ... I still haven't figured out how to get that to go away!) I first had this shortly after Jon and I were married and my sister-in-law served it to us. I had no idea how to make it at home until then. My sister-in-law took her chicken breasts to the butcher at the grocery store and had him tenderize the chicken breasts for her. But, we liked it so much, we invested in a meat mallet so we could do it ourselves. (Yes, WE; Jon has made this before.) It's actually a lot of fun to make when I'm stressed out or upset about something! Hee hee. What you need: 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 4 deli-thin ham slices 4 deli-thin Swiss cheese slices 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup evaporated milk 1 1/2 cups cornflake crumbs (more or less) toothpicks 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese rice How you do it: Tenderize the chicken breasts. Place one slice ham and one slice Swiss cheese in middle of chicken bre...