Busy Weekend!

Well, the weekend is just about over... and it was a busy one!  Brannon flew out on Friday night to attend a lecture in Denver, CO.  While he was gone, we attended two birthday parties and I hosted our annual Couples Book Club meeting at our house.  He made it back on Saturday evening just in time to catch up a little with our Book Club guests before they left for the night.  Then today we went to church and followed that up with yet another birthday party.  Needless to say, the weekend has flown by.

I am happy to report that my homemade lasagna was a success at Book Club!  (I've taken my mother's recipe and tweaked it a bit by substituting Italian sausage for 1/2 of the ground beef and making the pasta sauce and noodles myself).  The hostess always makes the entree and everyone else brings an appetizer, side, dessert or wine.  We had 13 in attendance (including spouses) - the food was great and the company was even better!  This month we read The Hunger Games.  Next month's book: Heaven is For Real.

Kindermusik

There is a lot of research that shows the benefits of music in early childhood development. Besides bringing the child joy, it helps with language development, gross and fine motor skills (when dancing and playing simple instruments is involved) and spatial-temporal skills. For these reasons, I've always enrolled our kids in Kindermusik classes. Sometimes we do a class with just me and the child, other times we've enrolled in a "family time" class where the whole family goes together.

All of my kids have loved music, but Charlotte has demonstrated a particular interest in it, and she has done so at the earliest age of any of the three. She has always loved to sway and dance to music - we did a family time class last spring when she was not quite a year old and she loved it. But in the last few months she has started singing - she can't say all the words to the song, but you can definitely make out the tune and tell what song it is. Her favorite is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." She sings to herself while she plays and she always helps me sing herself to sleep at night. So today was her first "mommy and me" Kindermusik class - she really seemed to enjoy it (jumping right in there with the other kids and not being shy at all) and I expect she will come to love it even more as the semester progresses. Madeleine sings very well for her age too and learns songs very quickly - maybe we will end up with a couple of choir girls! We shall see...

Moms' Night Out

The kindergarten moms had not gotten together in a while, so I decided to host a Kinder Moms' Night Out this evening in honor of the 100th day of kindergarten. A little over a third of the moms came - several of us brought desserts and the rest brought a bottle of wine. It made for a very nice evening and hopefully we will be able to do it again soon.

100th Day of School

Today Madeleine has her 100th day of Kindergarten. To celebrate, the teacher asked that each kid wear a hat with 100 things on it and the entire day will be centered around the number 100. I made a hat from craft foam and Madeleine picked out and glued 10 sets of 10 items on it. She chose various glitter stickers, pompoms, buttons, jewels, paper clips, and letters (MadeleineM is 10 letters...). And of course we needed to make it fancy with a big bow and curly ribbon off the back! :-)

Each kid also brought from home a bag with 100 items in it - they will be counting and sorting them all day. There is also a special snack that the kids will assemble from 10 baggies, each with 10 items in it (raisins, cheese-it's, popcorn, M&M's, etc). I am sure that they will all be tired of the number 100 by the end of the day!!

Good Enough

Well, it has been a while since my last post.... Life with three kids is busy!! I still need to post some Christmas pictures too. Unfortunately, my tax season is getting under way and I am still trying to figure out how to get it all done. At this point "good enough" is the new standard... So the next few posts won't be amazing, they'll just be good enough. :-) And hopefully I will be caught up soon!

Chicken and Chickpea Chili

It was 5 o'clock (again!) and time to make dinner... since it has been so cold outside, I was wanting something to warm me up.  We had soup last night (butternut squash with potatoes and apples, yum!) so that was out.  As I am standing in my pantry, staring at my inventory, I decide to do something with the canned chicken I keep on hand.  I also always have a large inventory of diced tomatoes for making pasta sauce... so, canned chicken and diced tomatoes.  But we had mexican for lunch, so I don't want to do something along those lines.  What about chili?  So I start perusing my Weight Watchers cookbooks and come upon a recipe that I can adapt to use the ingredients I happen to have on hand - Chicken and Chickpea Chili.  Tasty and hearty - and low in points!  I served it over brown rice (the points value below does not include the rice).

Chicken and Chickpea Chili
4 teaspoons canola oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
2 large cans of chicken (Kirkland brand from Costco)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
3 - 14.5oz cans diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Heat the oil in a large nonstick Dutch oven or saucepan.  Saute the bell peppers and onion until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the chicken, breaking apart with a spoon.  Sprinkle with the flour, chili powder, cumin, cocoa powder and cayenne; cook, stirring briskly and constantly, 1 minute.  Stir in the tomatoes and vinegar; bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until thick, 30-40 minutes.  Stir in the chickpeas; simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Servings: 7 (two large ladlefuls)
Points Plus per serving: 5

Requesting a Re-Start

Well, today did not go as planned. Instead of working on tax work all day (4th quarter 2011 estimated tax payments are due next week), I ended up attending a funeral, overseeing a contractor, and picking up my oldest child from school early to take her to the doctor. I am now also behind on the laundry and the grocery shopping. Not a good start to the beginning of tax season. This work-from-home momma needs to get back on track if she's going to make it to April 15th in one piece!

The Secret to Immortality

As James and I were playing "Star Wars" today with our homemade light sabers (wrapping paper rolls and duct tape), I finally managed to get in a particularly good blow to the chest. James fell to the ground "dead", but jumped right back up. 

"Mommy!" he exclaimed. "I came back to life! Do you know why?" 

"No" I replied, "How is it that you are not dead?"

"I am made of Legos."

Ahhh...that's the secret. Good to know.

Texas Caviar

I served this at a couple of gatherings this past holiday season and received several requests for the recipe, so here it is:

Texas Caviar
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can black eyed peas, drained
1 can white hominy, drained
a few slices of jarred jalapenos (to taste), chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch green onion tops, chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped
8oz bottle of Italian dressing
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Combine all ingredients.  Chill at least 2 hours.  Drain before serving.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Grocery Shopping...

... Is fun as long as Mommy lets me try all the free samples. (She and her Granddad Stanley share this sentiment.)

Happy New Year!

This past weekend we went to the Lakehouse with Mom & Dad, John & Tiffany and their girls. It was a full house, but we loved spending time with family. The kids played inside and outside, using their imaginations and taking nature walks to collect "treasure". They were thoroughly worn out by the afternoon and so the adults instituted a mandatory "rest time" (plus we needed a break from the intense noise level of six kids playing). One afternoon Madeleine took a nap in the hammock and after she woke up, Charlotte wanted to join her. So the two sisters had some quality snuggle time.

On New Years Eve we went to church in Mineola and had some all-you-can-eat fried catfish and BYO wine in the tiny town of Pine Mills (the diet starts after Jan 1st!).  Back at the house we followed Stanley tradition and celebrated the new year with Black Cows (coke floats) and glazed donuts. Brannon and I did not make it to midnight to ring in the new year though - I think we are getting old and valuing sleep more these days!  But I am so glad that we got to spend so much time with our extended family in such a relaxing setting. We are just sorry that JM could not join us as she was on call that weekend. Hopefully next year we will all be able to get together!

Our Little Fashionista

For my birthday Brannon bought me a fur vest. Madeleine loved it do much that when we saw this faux one at Nordstroms, Brannon decided to get Madeleine one for Christmas. But apparently we bought it for the wrong daughter. Our little fashionista Charlotte put it on and would not take it off!! As in "If you even try to get this off of me I am going to scream at the top of my lungs and throw myself on the ground in a fit of self pity." This girl LOVES clothes. She is the only one of my kids that actively wants to wear a hat. And each day before she gets dressed she has to examine the clothes I've picked out and ok them for wearing. If she doesn't like what I've chosen, she throws it on the floor. And don't get me started on her addiction to shoes... Let's just say that "shoe" was the second word she ever said (right after she said "mama"). I am totally dreading the teenage years with this kid!!