Our Family Project

Yes, that is what you think it is. Doesn't quite look human, does it? Well, it is the best behaved kitchen helper I have! I LOVE this new addition to my kitchen! I've been wanting this mixer since my Kitchen-Aid mixer died last year. Jon got me this for my b-day, and on that day my Bosch-y was used three times. Let me tell you ... these rolls are so much better having been kneaded in my Bosch-y. Their texture was just so satiny and they were so yummy! To date, I've made rolls, wheat bread, and red-velvet-cake-balls . I think I'll try him out again when I make pretzels for the girls to take for their snack at school. And, I can't wait to make cinnamon rolls! YUM! And, Jon? Well, he broke in my Bosch-y last Saturday to make my birthday cake! It was a yummy recipe for a raspberry cake that I found online. However, I'm not a big fan of buttercream frosting (the recommended frosting for the cake), so I found a recipe for Raspberry Cream Cupcakes and used the cream f...

I feel very blessed to be in a school district that fits snack time into the school schedule. The catch is that we have to send our children with their snacks. I always try to have something salty with protein of some form for Una's snack because that combo seems to help her with her hypoglycemia. I would LOVE to send just plain regular chex mix because of the salty nuts and lack of sugar, but she HATES that stuff. In fact, this is the only snack mix I've been able to make (find) that Una will eat and thoroughly enjoy. And, although it is rather sweet, it's not something she'll get everyday. (Thanks, Jessica, for sharing this with me!) SWEET MINGLE MIX 1 1/2 cups pretzel sticks (broken in half) 2 cups Chex 2 cups Cheerios (not honey-nut) 1 cup peanuts 1 cup M&Ms 10 oz. vanilla candy coating Line driper pan with wax paper. Combine all ingredients, except candy coating in a large bowl. Melt candy coating in microwave. Pour over dry ingredients. Pour mixture into dripp...

This week there are two TTT posts because I skipped out last week. This one is dedicated to a super easy chicken pot pie. Papa LOVES this pot pie for the flavor; I LOVE this pot pie for the simplicity. ZESTY CHICKEN POT PIE 12 oz (1 1/2 [8 oz.] pkgs.) cream cheese, cubed 1/2 cup chicken broth 3 cups choped cooked chicken 2 pkgs. (10 oz.) frozen mixed veggies, thawed* 1 pkg. Italian salad dressing mix 1 refrigerated ready-to-use pie crust** Preheat oven to 425°. Place cream cheese in large saucepan. Add broth; cook on low heat until cream cheese is completely melted, stirring frequently with wire whisk. Stir in chicken, veggies & salad dressing mix. Spoon into 9-inch pie plate. Cover wtih pie crust; seal and flute edges. Cut several slits in crust to allow steam to escape. Place pie plate on baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minuets or until golden brown. Serves: 8 *I use a peas & carrots mixture for the veggies. **The first time I made this, I used two pie crusts, placing one in the pi...

It's my birthday today. I turned 29 today! So, to be true to form, I'm sharing 29 of my favorites: 1. Movie: Pride and Prejudice (pretty much any version) 2. Soda: Root Beer 3. Color: Blue/Brown 4. Cake: Spice 5. Breakfast: Apple Spice Pancakes w/ Cider Syrup 6. Sandwich: Peanut Butter & Jelly 7. Sport to Play: Softball 8. Sport to Watch: Volleyball or Football 9. College Team: BYU 10. Song: "Piece of Mind" by Boston 11. Book: This is tough .... either "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer, or anything by Jane Austen 12. Period in History: World War II 13. Room in Our House: My Bedroom 14. Place ever Visited: Utah 15. Dream Car: Mazda RX-7 16. Car ever Driven: My Blue Geo Metro (or maybe I should call it my bro's) 17. Summer Pasttime: Hiking 18. Winter Pasttime: Reading in front of the fireplace w/ a mug of hot chocolate 19. Family Activity: Card/Board Games 20. Video Game: ATV Offroad Fury 3 21. Way to Relax: Play Piano/Read 22. Way to Kill Time: Re-Reading...

Okay, did you notice the absence of Table Time Tuesday (TTT)? Cuatro shoved my camera's memory card into my card reader sideways, bending all the little prong-thingys that read the card plugs into. So, I have yet to upload my photos for TTT. Rest assured, it will be fixed pronto ... and we'll be back on schedule soon. Just thought I'd let you know!

Okay, this is extremely frustrating for me! Eliza came home from school today with a letter from her teacher explaining that one of the reading goals for this year is for "third grade students to read 60 minutes at home each week." Okay, so that goal's not too unrealistic ... especially considering that Una came home the first week of school explaining that her teacher wanted all the students to read for 20 minutes a day. (Which, btw, I have been making her do. She sets a timer and reads in her room for 20 minutes a day.) Now, here's the clencher: the letter says that my child "can read to [me], listen to [me] read a book to [her], or [we] can read together. Please record on the blue reading log each time [my] child reads or [I] read to [her.] " And, attached to the letter is a log on which we are supposed to record the date, author, title of book, and number of minutes read. Okay, maybe you're wondering why I'm so upset about this. The reason I'...

Today I read an article in a magazine about becoming happier as a person. There are ten ways in which the author spent a year trying to develop happiness. Some of those ways surprised me and some of them were no-brainers. Here's what, in her opinion, helped her to feel more happiness: Start with the basics. Such as going to sleep at a decent hour and eating regularly. When anger strikes, take some down time. According to the author, "Expressing anger related to minor ... annoyances just amplifies bad feelings, while not expressing anger often allows it to dissipate. Take a chance at failure. People who do new things are happier than people who don't. Don't treat the blues with a "treat." Usually it's something not good for your body (like the Ben & Jerry's you've got stocked in the freezer), and the "high" only lasts a short while. Fake it till you feel it. If you're trying to fool everyone around you into thinking y...

Today I feel like my six-year-old. Dos is always trying to put on makeup. Always. She got some of those little girl makeup collections and carries it around in a purse. This purse goes everywhere with her, and while we are in the car, she is constantly trying to apply this "play" makeup. And, I am constantly telling her not to do it ... to wait until she's older and then she can wear makeup. Why is it that she keeps trying? And, why has she stopped asking to wear makeup? Is it because I've told her to wait, that she's not supposed to right now? Has she given up hope that I will ever let her do it? This is how I feel right now. We keep hoping and asking for approval to do something ... and every time we try we are told to wait, that we aren't supposed to do it right now. IT'S SO FRUSTRATING!!! Kind of makes me lose hope and faith that we will ever be told that it's the right time to move forward. And, why do I have such a hard time acceptin...

This week I'm posting one of my absolutely favorite dinners. Luckily for me, my sister was here while I made it, so she took pictures for you. (That's why they are so much better than the pictures I take!) She also said that she prefers step-by-step instructional photos, so that's what she took! Originally I got this recipe from the Kraft Food & Family magazine a couple of years ago. Since then, I've altered it to my liking. (Actually, the original is much more health conscience: using things that say "reduced-fat," "light," "fat-free," and "reduced sodium." We're all about getting extra fat in our house [and flavor], so I just steer clear of such statements. But, to each their own; make it the way you want to make it!) So, I'll post the original recipe at the bottom in case you want that. Otherwise, this is the way I make it: Start by heating about 1/3 cup Italian Salad Dressing in a skillet. Use more or less dependi...

Okay, so my sister has been here visiting over the weekend and she decided she wanted to "help" me make bread so she could do it at her house. Little did I know that when she said "help" it really meant "you-make-the-bread-while-I-make-a-mini-movie!" Anyway, she recorded me making bread and posted it on her blog. I figured that since the video was of me that I'd post the video on my blog too! So, here you go!

I was looking online for something new to make the other day and came across this recipe. It reminded me so much of Hot Pockets that I just had to try it. I can't wait to try all the variations; although, I think next time I'll make individual sizes. Oh, the recipe says that it has six servings of one slice each; which I thought wasn't enough to feed my family of six for dinner (based on the picture of how big their slices were), so I made two loaves. Totally only needed one, so I froze the other for another day! I also needed to make bread, so I just used my favorite white bread recipe* in place of the frozen bread dough. HAM & CHEDDAR LOAF 1 lb. frozen bread dough, thawed 1 pkg. (9 oz.) ham slices 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded ¼ cup Miracle Whip dressing 1 egg, beaten 1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated Heat oven to 350°. Flatten dough on lightly floured surface with hands. Roll into 12x8-inch rectangle with rolling pin. (If dough is difficult to roll, cover with plasti...

Today was the first day of school ... for Andrew. The other two started last Tuesday. But, I have been in such a hurry every morning trying to get the two girls to the bus that I haven't been able to take a picture. Today I had to drive them to school because I needed to drop off Tres at preschool. So, I was able to take a little extra time to snap a few pictures. Eliza and Kate have really enjoyed school so far. I've been a little bothered by our new bus stop, though. The bus company totally eliminated all the bus stops in our neighborhood except for three because of fuel prices. Which means that our old bus stop that was just four houses away down at the corner is gone. Now we have to walk around the corner to the cul-de-sac ... the one that I can't see from my house. That would be okay if my children were in fifth grade, maybe. But, they are not. Anyway, it's been a little hard trying to get out the door early enough to get to the bus stop. Before I could watch for ...

Okay, so while I was making the bed yesterday I started thinking about all the little things I do around my house to make "keeping house" a little more efficient. I do have to admit that as I think about some of these things that they are pretty quirky, I could probably keep my house just fine without doing things the way I do. But, where's the fun in that??? Anyway, two of the things I was thinking about are emptying and relining the garbage cans, and folding the sheets and making the bed. Emptying and Relining the Garbage Can I always, always, always put my extra garbage bags in the bottom of my garbage cans. That means, that since I buy my kitchen bags in bulk that I keep the box under the kitchen sink; and, when I pull out the last bag in the can, I go grab 10 or 20 bags out of the box and put them in the bottom of the garbage can before I reline the can. The same goes for my other garbage cans in the house, except that I reuse my grocery bags. And, I always, always, ...

I looked at my comments really late one night and noticed that my friend, Kelley, had tagged me. Usually, I'll read someone's tag and think, "That would be really fun." So, I looked at Kelley's blog and internally groaned! I guess what you're supposed to do is get off the computer RIGHT NOW and take the pictures before you do anyting. That means NO CLEANING, and NO MAKEUP or PRIMPING! I was just so not ready for this one. But, before I got up the next morning and started cleaning, I took my pictures. So, they are pretty true to the real thing. And, it's ... well, scary! My Toilet (Seriously, it could have been a lot worse.) My Sink (It's usually fuller than this. But, because I always try to get the dishes done before going to bed, I'd done the dishes the night before.) My Closet (Okay, so everything on the left of the picture, and all the pants on the top of the picture are my husband's. I know, I know ... I am totally lacking in the clothes d...