Bubble Wrap

This site is as addicting as popping bubble wrap. Go on. You know you want to.

Planning Meals

I don't know about everyone else but I seem to be unable to plan a weeks worth of meals. It's so hard for some reason. I've attempted to do it quite a few times, but never seem to get past the planning stage. Maybe it's because I try to do too much and get carried away planning all of the glorious meals that we will have instead of sticking with the basics. But damn, I'm so tired of the basics! Here's something I ran across last night when I should have been sleeping...



I bit the bullet this morning and downloaded it. And... it looks fabulous! The program lays everything out for you, it even tells you how you should have your pantry organized. Sweet! It gives you 20 weeks of menus, all the recipes, and the shopping lists. The shopping lists are even divided into things you will have to buy and things that you should have on hand already. And, the recipes are fancy enough to please me, but look quick and easy to prepare. Yay!

Here are a few that look good to me...

• Sweet Chili Chicken
• Honey Beef
• Vietnamese Chicken & Veg Salad
• Potato & Bacon Fritata
• Lemon Lamb Chops (but I'll use pork chops)
• Chutney Drumsticks
• Snapper & Balsamic Veg
• Chicken & Lemon Veg
• Hawaiian Pizza Mini Muffins

That is just a sampling! So many of the recipes look great AND there is no overlap of recipes in any of the menus which is nice. Quite a few people have been emailing me about the recipes that I post on here so I thought this Menu In A Box might appeal to them as well. I'll update in a few days after we have tried some of the recipes. Now I just have to decide which menu to pick first. Here's hoping that this time I can make it past the planning stage!

If anyone else buys this let me know what you are starting with and what you think of the recipes. (Just click on the link above to go to her website).

Bubbles

I just spent the best $1. At Dollarama I found a bubble blowing machine! And it works! The kids had a blast with it tonight. Lukas didn't know what the fuss was all about but Mikah was beside himself with happiness.

~Warning~ I plan on going back and buy a bunch more tomorrow. Just saying...

It's my Friday!

I'm so happy that it's my Friday today! It feels like it's been a really long week for some reason. I wonder what fun the weekend will bring??? I was thinking about going to my parents for a night, but we'll see.

Baby Steps

Lev informed me last night that Lukas took his first unassisted steps the night before. It was only a couple of steps, but once they start it doesn't take them long to progress to running.

Yay Lukas!

Grrr

Here's my day BEFORE 9:00 this morning. In order.

• I slept in
• Mikah painted the bathroom with bubble-bath and then did his hair with it. Alek watched him while he did this. Mikah has beautiful crunchy hair today.
• While I was drying my hair Mikah found an orange sharpie in his brothers room and colored himself with it.
• Lukas decided to poop AFTER he was dressed in his snowsuit.
• While I was changing Lukas, Mikah found a package of nerds in my jacket and gobbled them as fast as his hands could shovel and his mouth could chew.
• The van wouldn't start. the side door didn't shut all the way last night so the battery was dead. Awesome.
• Mikah got ahold of the sharpie again and colored on his clothes. Alek was "watching" him while he got dressed.
• My neighbor gave me a boost.
• Alek found the scholastic order that had to be in today. That was quickly filled out.
• While I was writing a cheque Lukas fell down the stairs because one of the boys forgot to close the gate. no one will fess up. Thank god it was only 6 stairs!

All of this was on top of everything else that I have to do in order to get us all out the door in the morning. And, I was too tired last night to care about making bottles, so I had to do that this morning too.

New Toy

Lev bought this remote control bus for Mikah the other day. The kid loves buses. Dad did good as you will see...

Overheard from the Back of the Van

Saturday afternoon we decided that renting a few movies would be just what we needed. We had been out running a few errands and stopped there as our last stop before heading home. Mikah was fidgety so we decided that we would all brave the store together. When I opened the van door he didn't have any boots or socks on. Of course, just then the people in the car next to us show up but had to wait until we were out of the way before they could drive off. At least we provided them with a laugh while they waited.

Me(exasperated): Mikah, why did you take off your boots and socks?
Mikah: No.
Me: Um, then why are they laying on the floor???
Mikah: No.
Me: You didn't take them off?
Mikah: Baby.
Me: Lukas reached over and took off your boots and socks? Right.
Mikah: Baby! (points at his little brother who can barely peer over the side of his new
carseat, let a lone reach all the way across the van and take off Mikah's boots.)

Meanwhile the couple next to us were peering in the van to see what all the commotion was about and burst out laughing when Mikah was blaming the baby. They laughed harder when I told them that he always blames either the baby or his dad.

Funny, trouble making little boy.

Baked Veggie Chili-Lime Quesadillas

The other night for supper I made Baked Veggie Chili-Lime Quesadillas. They were sooo good that I'm glad I made lots (I ate them for 2 days LOL).

If anyone wants to try it out here's what I did...

• saute about 2 cups of mushrooms and 2 red peppers in about 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of Epicure's Chili-Lime Sansel
• preheat oven to 435 degrees
• rinse and drain 1 can of black beans
• lay out 4 tortillas on 2 baking sheets
• top tortillas with mixture, black beans and cheddar cheese
• top with another tortilla and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes

I ended up with enough filling to make 6 large quesadillas, but leftovers are always appreciated around here. This was also my first time baking them and it worked out great! It was nice to have them all ready at once so that we could all eat at the same time. Oh, and if I would have had some cilantro to add... yum!

You Communicate Honestly

You don't mince words. You are to the point and all about the facts. However, you are charming enough to tell people the truth yet still not offend them. It's likely that you have a hilarious, no holds barred sense of humor. And you sure tell an entertaining story! You're also quite open. People can ask you anything, and you don't shy away from controversial conversation topics.

What Kind of Communicator Are You?

Photo

Just because you never know when safety might be an issue...

Happy Valentines Day

Here is an original poem for you to enjoy. It was originally from me to Mikah...

I love you a lot;

But I don't love your snot.

I think it sums up our Valentines perfectly. Although I am attempting to go all out this year andam busy cooking up a feast for my family and my sister and her boyfriend. Usually I'm the Valentine Party-Pooper, so it's looking up.

Here's my menu...

Baked Honey-Soya Chicken

Oven Roasted Carrots, Baby Potatoes & Parsnips

Steamed Snow Peas

and... a warm brownie served with ice cream, whipped cream and a strawberry

Fridge Locks

We need one or more fridge locks. Mikah is driving us insane! He absolutely refuses to stay out the fridge and the locks that we have he figured out in no time. I've looked in Walmart, Babies R Us, Canadian Tire, Superstore... where else can I look? The basic ones are a joke and that's all I've managed to find anywhere. A friend of mine had to resort to putting one at the bottom of the door and one at the top and they both had to be opened at the same time in order to get the door open. I'd like to see Mikah manage that one. Hah! Oh, what am I saying, give him 2 days.

But I can't seem to find locks like she has.

What does everyone else do? Or are their kids just better behaved? Any suggestions people???

It's my Friday!

Thank god! This week has just dragged by for some reason. Probably because I am really looking forward to having the next week off. My in-laws are taking all three boys for 3-4 days next week and I can't wait. Is that a horrible thing to say? But it's true; I really can't wait. I feel bad for them (even though they love taking the boys, but mostly I feel happy for myself).Here's my to-do list while they are gone...

• go out for lunch with Heather
• go to one or more movies with my husband
• sleep in
• go out for a nice supper
• lay on the couch in silence
• research casein free cooking
• go to the library
• read library books while laying in the tub
• sleep in
• catch up on my TV shows

This is one list that I can't wait to finish LOL! Although I do hope to get some sewing time in as well. I have about 30 pairs of slippers that are half finished and I better get them done so that Carmen and I can start cutting the new material. Oh, and it will be nice to have them done and up on the website too...

3 Days in a Row!

Mikah has decided to use his potty successfully 3 days in a row! I'm leaving it up to him at this point so we'll see how it goes.

It's funny how much thought revolves around potty time when you have a 2-3 year old in the house. Between Mikah and Lukas the next three years will be focused on happy dances and accidents. Oy.

Little Boys Can Fly

Last night Lev was out so it was just me and the boys. Lukas is very sick and cranky right now so dealing with all three can be a bit trying to say the least. Needless to say, when Alek and Mikah disappeared downstairs I managed to happily tune them out. There was no screaming, or the worse, dead silence so really, what bad could they be doing? Ha!

When Lukas and I went investigating (about half an hour later I confess) we found two boys practicing flying. Well, leaping off the stairs anyway. Thank god that Alek takes safety precautions so seriously; he hauled the crib mattresses over to act as a landing pad at least. And it was nice to see that Mikah has at least some sense of self-preservation since he was only jumping from the third step. Only.

Lukas' colors are finally shining through also; he thought the whole thing was hilarious. Yep, he's definitely one of my boys.

Banana Bread

Here's what the Dr. ordered for February. I made this the other day and it is seriously THE BEST! This recipe makes a lot of muffins which is nice after all of the work.

I dare you to try it...

Banana Sour Cream Bread
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
3 cups white sugar
3 eggs
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans.
Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Success!

Mikah peed in the potty!

He came up from his bath and was busy running around when he said "pee" and ran to sit on his potty. In true Alek form, Alek yelled "he's peeing!" and Mikah jumped up in mid stream to have a look.

We were all so proud of him that we had to do a pee-pee dance.

Overheard from the Back of the Van

Today while Lev and the boys were out doing errands...

"Dad, I have a project for us. I'm not going to tell you what it is.
All I can say, is that we're going to need lots of shovels."

Yikes.

Boys

I just caught Mikah peppering his little brother. Literally sprinkling pepper on him.

For some reason they both thought this was hilarious. I'm just glad that no one got pepper up their nose. I remember being about 3 or so and it happened to me at my aunt and uncles house. Oh the pain!

I wonder what the rest of the day will bring???

The Week the Women Went

Here's something to keep me going today. Lev and I look forward to winding down with this show Tuesday nights.

I'm Feeling Tired, so Very Tired

Mikah was sick last night. All night. I have so much laundry to do.

*sigh*