Pinterest Crock Pot Misfire

A long time ago I pinned some crock pot freezer meal recipes.  I've only put together 3 meals, but I have to share the misfire on one.  Here's the original recipe for Teriyaki Crock Pot Chicken.  Although this recipe wasn't inedible (I think I just invented a word), it wasn't a hit either.  Here's what I would do differently next time.

 

{pic via Test Kitchen of Melissa Fallis}

1. Nix the extra 1/4 cup Teriyaki sauce you add in before cooking.
2. Hold off on the pineapples until you are ready to serve.  They soaked up the Teriyaki sauce and looked disgustingly brownish black.  Not appealing at all.  Flavor wise they should be there, but not until you plate it up.
3. Add colorful bell peppers to the freezer bag.  It will add some color and taste.  

With these little tips in mind, I will serve this again hoping these changes will improve the end result.  Now I'm curious about your freezer meals.  Go on, share away.  No really, share.  I want to know.  I neeeeed to know.

My Little Girl

A picture is worth a thousand words...or thoughts. It is my favorite picture of her.  No, you can't see her big brown eyes or her light up smile, but it's so her.  The bare feet.  The messy hair.  The dress (she's always in a dress).  Taking in the moment without any knowledge of what's going on around her.  It's just so Little Miss.  I love my little girl so much.

Despite my love for this precious gift, we've had a hard week.  As sweet and loving as she is, Little Miss has developed a bit of sass.  I'm going to get very real here and share some very real mistakes I have made with her recently.  

I truly believe in the power of what you say.  Steven and I guard our words carefully when we come against troubles.  However, I have fallen short in this area regarding my only little girl.  I found myself discrediting the wonderful gift I have been given.  I have accepted the sass through my words by saying things like, "She's sweet, but sassy," or "Oh, Little Miss, she is sassy," or even worse, "God knew what he was doing when he gave me only one girl."

You know what?  What I have been saying is wrong.  My job is to build her up and teach her in the way that she should go.  Not accept the bad habits she has formed, or point them out.  This has really convicted me  lately.  

In all reality, I need to see things from her point of view.  She is the only girl in a world of boys.  Without the sass, she would probably get run over by the rough and tough business that goes on in this house.  Regardless, where I have failed is in the training.  She needs me to help her find where she fits in with these boys without demonstrating sassy behavior.  She needs me to spend quality time doing activities that are important to her without the interference of boys.  She needs to see me demonstrating behavior that builds her up.  She needs me to not speak of her as sassy, but stop it when it comes out.

So here's my game plan.  I'm going to speak her into greatness.  I'm going to tell her this everyday...

You are mine.  You are sweet.  You are precious.  You are strong.  You are beautiful.  You are determined.  You are playful.  You are adventurous.  You are a go-getter.  You are a princess.  You are giving.  you are carefree.  You are loved.

She is NOT sassy.

Chubby Cheekers Time

Hello Ladies,

So many changes have been happening at my house.  Some changes that I like and some changes that  I don't.  I'll start with what I don't like.  My big brother is gone a lot.  He goes to this thing called school and it really interferes with our playtime.  Little does he know, though, that I army crawl myself to his room and chew on all his toys.  Now that I have two little teeth on the bottom, Mommy says I'd better not leave marks on those toys or he's not going to let me play in his room anymore.  Psh!  She doesn't know how much my big brother loves me.  Teeth marks or not, he won't kick me out of his room...I think...

I do have some new loves and those things are called sweet potatoes, carrots, cantaloupe, bananas, and apples.  Man o' man.  Those foods are tasty.  Mommy does those up right.  She even makes my spoon do roller coaster moves before landing in my mouth.  That is the most hilarious thing ever.  I just laugh and laugh until sometimes, just sometimes, food comes right back out on Mommy.  

Mommy also tries to be sneaky and slip in a few bites of avocado and zucchini.  I am not a fan.  Not a fan at all.  I make my yucky face at her, but she doesn't seem to get it.  I don't think Mommy speaks Yucky Face.  Can someone please tutor her? Pretty please?

Other than my big bro starting school and my new foods, I don't have too much going on.  I mean, I crawl everywhere and recently discovered these places on the wall that my finger can fit in just perfectly.  Those things are so cool!  My best discovery yet.  Only guess what?  Those things are gone now.  Mommy put plugs over them.  

Well, Ladies, it's really getting close to my bedtime.  I've already had my bath, boobie, and now it's bed.  The 3 B's.  Gotta love them!

Love,
Chubby Cheekers

{Me, at 6.5 months, looking all adorable.}

Menu Monday

I *think* I'm going to start posting our weekly educational goals on the same day as the menu.  I'm not even sure if it will help you out if you are a parent to a young one.  We literally spend about 20 minutes total on 'school' at this house.  I don't push a whole lot to get Chunky Monkey and Little Miss to learn an outrageous amounts of concepts at home, but there are some basics I want them to be knowledgeable of when they hit the classroom next year.  Things I feel they should know.  However, I am NOT an Early Childhood person.  My degree is in Elementary Education (1st-8th grade).  I am strictly going off my two kiddos at home.  Not what I think every child needs.  Over and out.

Menu
Monday- Mexican Casserole, Corn on the Cob
Tuesday-Monterey Chicken, Butternut Squash, Parker Rolls
Wednesday-Baked Chicken, Potatoes Au Gratin, Salad
Thursday-Fajita Bake (in the crockpot) and Corn Casserole
Friday-Club Sandwiches, Fresh Veggies with Dip and Fruit
Saturday-OSU GAME!!!
Sunday-Fried Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Activities
Monday-Review shapes (square, circle, oval, heart, diamond, rectangle, pentagon, star)
              Practice counting items to 10 (pennies)
              Practice writing names
Tuesday-Library Day
Wednesday-Flash card drills on shapes
                   Practice counting items to 10 and higher (buttons)
                   Practice writing names
Thursday-Practice counting items to 10 and higher (beans)
                Name writing
Friday-Sorting buttons, then counting how many are in each group
           Practice correct letter formation of letters A, L, d, i, c, o, n, s, l

Have a Great Week!!!

                 
           

Getting It Done

Do you ever feel like this is your life?  Working hard to get all of it done in a day where seconds don't tick by, but FLY!  Golly gee this is me.

First off, I consider myself to be a master of time management.  There are few gifts I'll admit to, but time management and budgeting time is one of them.  Despite this gift, I have found myself with items unchecked on my daily list.  It drives me mad.  Bonkers, actually.

I was discussing this with one of my fellow time management pals, when she revealed to me her cleaning schedule.  Now I'm going to be really honest.  I have seen these so called 'Cleaning Schedules' on Pinterest and rolled my eyes at them.  My thoughts were, If you need a schedule to help you clean your house, then you don't use your time wisely.  Then school started...and dance...and football...and gymnastics...and wrestling...and five children...you get the point. We are going strong all week long.  The house was suffering and so was my sanity.  So when my time management gal pal mentioned her 'Cleaning Schedule', I wasn't rolling my eyes.  In fact, I asked her to email it to me.

Well, guess what?  She did.  I read it.  I did it.  I love it.  The end.  It even has me breaking down other items that were overwhelming me.  Items like preparing Chunky Monkey and Little Miss for Pre-K.  Now I have organized daily goals for the house and kids.  And it goes a little something like this...HIT IT...

Cleaning Schedule* 

(Thank You, Jamie!)

Monday: Vacuum floors
Tuesday: Windex Mirrors, windows, and glass doors
Wednesday: Scrub the toilets, tubs, and bathroom floors
Thursday: Mop
Friday: Dust/Polish Furniture

*In all actuality, Jamie has a much more detailed schedule that goes beyond the week.  It has daily and monthly chores as well.  The daily things go along the lines of doing a load of laundry and wiping down counters.  The monthly ones are items like dusting baseboards and blinds.  It is broken down in a totally doable manner that will enable me to remember when I last dusted those darn blinds!
As far as our Educational goals, this is what it looks like this week.

Educational Goals*

Monday: Review and identify basic shapes (circle, square, triangle), letter recognition within their names

Tuesday: Introduce oval to basic shapes.  Color each shape by category (circles red, squares blue, ovals pink, triangles orange).  Begin printing names as we review letters.

Wednesday: Introduce difference between square and rectangles.  Color squares blue and rectangles purple.

Thursday: Counting sides to triangles, squares, and rectangles.  Introduce pentagons.  Continue with name writing.

Friday-Play Shape Memory, and letter jumping (call out a letter within their name and they have to jump on the correct letter)

*Each week we will focus on one Math objective and one Language Arts objective.  During the evenings we cover reading aloud and such.  Science/Social Studies gets covered by read alouds and checking out the daily stuff around us.  Like yours, my kids ask a TON of questions.  Steven and I like to answer them all and then some.  Our poor kids.  They get earfuls!

Doesn't this seem so Type A?  It is.  I realize that, but it has helped me stay focused on what I would like to accomplish.  It gives me purpose in life.  Yeah, I'm seeking help on this.

Gettin' With the Times

I jumped off the deep in and purchased and iPhone a few weeks back.  Do I love it?  Yes.  Could I live without it?  Yes.  Would I want to? Eh...

I absolutely love to have information at my fingertips any time day or night.  I don't love how often I have found myself on it.  Temptation.  It's a slippery slope.  Sitting in the carpool line I find myself checking facebook or seeing what PW's doing instead of playing games or singing songs with the kids.  Something that we have done for so long.  I don't want those moments to pass by because I was dying to know what 'so and so' was doing.  I don't want my kids and nephews to see me with my nose in my phone instead of my nose in their faces.

With Little Man in school all day, it really has me evaluating where I spend my time.  Sure, I like social media and this blog, but I like my family more.  That's where I'm going to spend my time.

Since I've been the Negative Nancy on the phone, I would like to share my major positive.  I don't miss out on deals!!!  You all know how much I love saving money.  With this little dude I can look up any coupons or  price matches before making purchases.  I L-O-V-E that aspect of having a smart phone. Love it!

Menu Monday on Tuesday

So there was a bit of an absence on Thursday and Friday.  Sorry.  Actually, I'm not.  Sorry that I'm not sorry.  We were kind of living in real life.  It was a real damper to say, "Hey, can you hold on for about 10 minutes while I update peeps on the deets of my life."  We had some amazing company in town.  Steven's uncle that is the exact same age.  Literally, they were born on the same day in the same year.  December 9, 1978, Steven, Rene, and Jaime were born.

It was a blast to get to spend time with them.  All 3 boys are cut from the exact same mold.  The same things make them tick and laugh.  It's quite comical.  What else was comical was the amount of children running around us.  Besides our 3, Chunky Monkey, and Mr. Fluffy, Jaime and his wife, Bebe, have two kids, Gideon (3) and Selah (4 months).  We were busy.  Despite the tornado of toys and excessive noise that surrounded us at all times, we actually enjoyed adult conversation and laughed often about how much we've aged since our pre-kid days.  I wish I would have snapped more pics, but I didn't. Here's the kiddos.  Too bad you can't get the full effect of all kids in one pic.

Introducing The Babes...

And The Bigs...

{Try to mentally block out the Happy Meals...I did}

Enough reminiscing, time for the menu.

Monday-Welp! I missed out on that one.  

Tuesday-Tomato Cream Pasta with Grilled Chicken, Bruschetta, Green Beans

Wednesday-Tater Beef Bake, Crescents

Thursday-Terriyaki Crock Pot Meal, Brown Rice

Friday-Grilled Chicken, Corn on the Cob, Baked Potato

Saturday-Pizza Bread, Salad

Sunday-Dinner @ Mom's