Lessons Learned

I. Need. Potatoes. Real, dried, frozen shredded. Anything would have worked today as I was scrambling to find something for a breakfast casserole for my Mila Bonita Party tomorrow. http://www.milabonita.blogspot.com/ Check it out! Lindsay is SO talented and has THE cutest things for little girls, babies, and girly girls who need that extra little accessory. Dinner tonight? Welllll, that's another story. I had a piano student at 5:15, and during that small 30 minute space of time, my two youngest went through the kitchen and ransacked it. You name it, they ate it. Fresh Rice Crispy Treats I had just made to put in lunches this week, Cheezit Crackers (ya, the ones in the cook containers from Monday's post) banana's, banana bread I'd just baked. And since apparently Chandler did the same ransacking at Grandma's house while he was over there today, I am on strike tonight, and no dinner will be served. Hey, don't look at me like that. These kids made out like bandits in a bakery tonight. Do you think they're revolting against my salads?

Oriental Chicken Salad

It was SOOO hard to be at Walmart today picking up a canister for my flour (since it had a crack and was leaking) and to not pick up any food. Matt and I passed by an end cap that had lunch goodies piled high (on sale....of course) and had to totally resist the temptation to grab 1/2 a doz to bring home for kids lunches. Dinner tonight? Well, again, really hard not to just drive through someplace on the way home from picking up Morgan from ballet after a 10 hour work day for Matt and I. BUT, we resisted, and we came home instead and made Oriental Chicken Salad.

Now, this is my mom's recipe, but I didn't have everything, so it was just kind of what's in my fridge tonight, plus what I borrowed from grandma)

Salad:

1/2 head of cabbage (chopped in thin slices)

1 head Romain lettuce (chopped also)

2 carrots shredded

1/4 red onion thinly sliced

handful of cran raisins (I love these in everything! and usually have at least 2 Costco sized bags on hand in our food storage)

5-6 breaded chicken paddies, heated, and sliced (I like mine a little crunchy, crispy)

Dressing:

3 tbsp. Honey

1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar

1/4 cup mayo

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/8 tsp sesame oil

2 Week Challenge!

We were challenged in church yesterday, to go 2 weeks without going to the grocery store. To live off of what we have in our pantry/food storage for 2 weeks. Luckily, I had made my bi-monthly trip to Costco the weekend before. But I actually didn't buy that much. Now, our family may have a different idea of food storage than others. I have the usual #10 cans with macaroni, spaghetti, dried fruits, and what not, from the cannery. But I also have everyday food that I KNOW my family will eat. I try to keep at least 3 months of it on hand, and we rotate through. So along with the challenge, I wanted to bare all when it comes to my food storage. Kind of like the "what's in your purse" tag. Well, here's what's in my pantry/fridges. This is our top drawer, where I keep most of my "diet" food. My frozen fruit, weight watchers Popsicles, and skinny cow ice cream.

Lovely, yummy halibut from our charter last year. Boy have we gone through this stuff. I can't wait for Matt and the boys to catch some more this June on their charter down in Homer.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my fridge? The wonderful owner of Allen & Petersen (Kenny Petersen) made us an offer on this beauty that we could not refuse. (price of delivery) It has a veggie drawer, meat drawer, soda drawer, and my favorite misc. drawer. We don't always keep "soda's" in this other drawer. Its usually mostly slim fast, protein shakes, vitamin waters, water bottles. It just so happens the kids (and I do mean Matt) caught me at a weak moment, and the sodas were on sale, so I grabbed some.

Ok, so here's my dirty fridge. But considering we have to live off this for 2 weeks, I'm glad for once its so full! I have a 2nd fridge out in the garage, and love it! We tend to have A LOT of fresh stuff at our house, and its so nice to have the extra storage for that. During Christmas and party times, its nice to have a place to put the extra food. salmon, salmon, salmon. Actually, we're running pretty low, and can't wait for fishing season to start so we can fill our freezers with awesome fresh Alaskan Salmon!

Our isle of Food storage is 2 shelves, facing 2 others, and right now is piled high. The kids came out last week after a Costco run and helped me organize and sort through everything.

The small pantry cupboard I had them build next to my fridge. Its narrow, but perfect for the everyday stuff we use.

Here's 2 of 4 of our "food storage" shelves in our garage. The crate is chocked full of granola bars and cracker packages the kids can grab for lunches or a quick snack. My kids are BIG Pasta Roni and Rice fans.

Matt gives me a hard time about how much Mayo I store. But come on! You can do so much with it! And you gotta have EVOO to do any cooking with!

Luckily, we have enough marshmallows and baking items to get us through a Christmas season. Plenty of after school chocolate chip cookies to be had at our house!

So, what's did we eat the first day of our challenge? I forgot to take a picture, but we had crusted halibut, baked potatoes, and green salad. If you ask my kids, green salad is pretty much a given for every meal. I don't know why. Dinner just seams incomplete without a nice green Romain salad with sweet peppers, celery, feta crumbles and cran raistins. LOVE IT!

Dinner tonight? Well, I had to work till 2, then come home and work on this blog, soooooo, enchiladas and salad it is!!! Pictures to follow. We were told to try and keep a journal for the two weeks of how our challenge went. What things we ran out of, new recipes we had to try, and things that went wrong. I will do my best to journal through my blog.

Derby Day

Well, we survived a Pinewood Derby without Matt. He had time right before he left to help Gabe with the basic shape of his car, but the rest was left to me, and Grandpa. Unfortunately, the only scale I had to weigh the car with was an old Weight Watchers one, which was off....a lot! Despite the setbacks, Gabe did well, and had a lot of fun!

Bowling during Spring Break

The kids had spring break last week while Matt was still in Utah, so one of the days, we took off to our local bowling alley, and I told the kids they could each invite a friend to come along. Morgan, ling up her ball.

Chandler has always loved bowling, and did very well this time too.

Gabe invited his long time buddy, Emma. They have know each other since 1st grade, are in the same Primary class, and are really good friends.

Chandler is trying so hard to make new friends in our ward, and invited Ethan, who is the son of a friend of mine from High School. Funny how things come full circle, hu?

Welcome home Matt!

Well, as most of you know, Matt has taken a new position with my Dental Office, and is our new Lab Technician. What is that? Well, when you get a root canal, and the dentist says "you need a crown", Matt is the guy who makes those crowns. Our boss is sending him to a school down in Utah for training every month, and he is also training on our new E4D machine in the office. He LOVES it, and has picked up on everything VERY fast. We are very blessed, and he gets to stay with his parents in Orem, just minutes away from the school, which is basically across the street from BYU. This last month he was gone for 2 weeks. So, when he got back, the kids and I met him in Anchorage at the Marriott, and spent the weekend playing in the pool, and watching movies in the room. They had so much fun!

Family Skate Day

We decided to take the kids ice skating today. Can you believe our oldest is 11, and we've never been before? Matt and I went a few times when we were first married, and served in young womens and young mens, but haven't been since. 11 years is a long time! I was very nervous about getting out on the ice again, but once I did, it wasn't so bad. I definitely wasn't brave enough to cruise around the rink like I did as a teenager. Matt was way more adventuresome than me today. And the kids did pretty good for their first time. The boys both spend about half the time on their backs.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of Matt and Morgan. Perfect daddy daughter moment. They are both such dare devils, and took off, skating fast, and very well. It was Morgan's first skate, and she did great!

A few seconds after this shot, Chandler nearly knocked down this poor girl as he scrambled to the wall as he tried to stop himself from falling.

He was killing me with the hood! Every time I tried to get a good shot, all I saw was hoodie.

Gabe trying to "glide" on his skates, verses the tip toe walking running, scrambling thing he had been doing at first.

This was after, his tip toe running.

He wouldn't admit it, (cause he's 11, and a boy) but he had a really good time skating today. Even if he did fall a lot.

The boys goofing around.

By the end of the day, she was a total rock star on the ice.

Morgan watching the Zamboni clean the ice after our skate.

From Morgan's lips....

Morgan was so sweet tonight. While trying to comfort her older brother (she's such a little mother) she went and got a picture we have of the Savior off the piano and brought it to me, saying: "mommy, I love Jesus. He gave us the earth, He gave us the sun, He gave us this house! Mom, He gives us food, He gave us all the stores, and He gives us all our money! I just love Him. "

Gas? Who's got gas?!!!

To start with, I have boys. Oh boy are they boys. Burping, farting, wrestling, inappropriate questions, comments, and timing. They also have the ability to hear half the conversation, then chime in with a comment. Tonight, at the grandparents, for example.

Mom and I were talking about the incident I just posted below, about Chandler and his pants. And my mom said,
Grandma: oooh gads.
Chandler: Gas? who's got gas?
Gabe: I've got gas!!!

I thought my mom was going to fall off her chair.

Where are Your Pants?!!!!!

Tonight, we decided to walk the dog down to grandma's tonight after dinner, to burn off some energy (and the grilled pizza I made for dinner). We got there, the kids scattered and I sat down to visit for a few minutes. Suddenly I look up as Chandler enters the room wearing his t-shirt, and what? A pair of boxers? That's not what he walked down to Grandma's wearing, (in 30 degree weather)!!!
Me: Chandler, where are your pants? (a question I feel I am constantly asking this kid)
Chandler: points to the other room.
Me: Weren't you wearing pants when we got here?
Chandler: nods
Me: Then where are your pants? (a smile starts to spread across his face)
Chandler: What? I'm wearing jammy bottoms! (short ones that I've continuously put in Gabe's pile because they ARE too short)
Me: (sighing) Chandler, you don't just walk into someone's home and take off your pants. Where were raised, and by who? (my dad's sitting in his chair just shaking with laughter by this point...not helping dad!)
Chandler: Well, dad raised me.
Me: To my knowledge your dad has never walked into someone's home and taken his pants off.
Chandler: But he reads!
Me: Not with his pants off while he's a guest in someone's home!

What? I have a Blog?!

Sigggggh. I know. Its been few and far between lately. Well, what have we been up to? Exciting stuff actually. Matt was recruited by my boss to start a new career and direction for our family. So now, he is in Provo, Utah, going to school to become a Dental Lab Technician. ??????? I know. BIG change! He comes back after 2 weeks, is home for two weeks, then leaves again. This will probably continue for the next 6-9 months. He is super excited! Its an amazing opportunity and perfect for him. Our office recently purchased a new machine and computer system which will allow Matt to virtually design and produce crowns for our patients. See why Matt's so perfect for this? He has already been down to Dallas for a training seminar, and has fallen in love with the system. So, while he's gone, what are we doing here at home?

• I have been painting, remodeling, re-organizing, and cleaning out the entire house. Finished the kitchen, got new appliances for the kitchen, and now I'm working on finishing the bathroom. I'll post pictures of the finished projects soon.
• Since Gabe has finished his basketball season, we have suddenly freed up our evenings.
• Morgan is still in ballet, and excitedly practicing for her big recital in June, which her dad and brothers will miss, due to an office fishing trip in Homer. I'm staying behind, and we've decided to have a girls weekend at the hotel in Anchorage. Hey, we couldn't give up an all expense paid halibut charter/rented house weekend in Homer entirely. The boys will just have to represent.
• Gabe has earned his Bear in scouts, Chandler his Arrow of Light, and we survived yet another Pinewood Derby. Why is this such a necessary thing? I don't get it. But then, I am not married to a man who's entire manhood rides upon how well his son's car does in the derby. Seriously. What is up with that? Men standing around whooping and pounding on their chests as their sons wooden car crosses the finish line first. I don't get it.
• Since Matt's been gone, the kids have really pitched in and helped around the house. They got out in the garage with me this week and successfully filled two garbage cans. Then we organized my room, and the boys even hauled a very heavy tv down to the basement, along with an extremely heavy box of books. They've been absolute rock stars when it comes to chores, and when their names are called, come running.
• This week is Spring Break at our school, and I'm looking forward to my new part time status which enables me to be home with them. I have missed that. We plan on bowling, ice skating at Wasilla lake, playing basketball at the church, and ending with a stay at our favorite Marriot when Matt gets back. The kids love this, since there's a pool, and they get unlimited mom and dad attention, late nights with board games and pizza.

Memory Lane

I found a bunch of CD's while cleaning this week, and couldn't help myself. I had to take a walk down memory lane. of this face, and far too few of the smiley face above and below. I LOVE Gabe's expression in this picture though. He still poses like that.

Ahhhh, I miss the days when the boys use to let me dress them in matching outfits. Aren't they cute?

Oh, the days when there were hugs, and not just opportunities to wrestle and inflict pain on your sibling.
Morgan's first birthday cake. I copied it from a magazine, and was really happy with the results.

Time spent with cousins. Growing up, I remember being close to all my cousins. Those on my moms side, as well as my dads. I wish my kids had more of that. I love that we have my family close by, and the kids are able to have those cousins. I just wish we had Matt's family around as well. Those Stastny reunions are too few and far between.

My little cheeseball. I miss those baby teeth smiles. Morgan is now losing the 3rd out of 4 front teeth, and growing those horrible permanents.

This was a good day. Time spent with cousins on a wonderful, sunny, Alaskan summer day. The kids loved riding bareback on Sundance.

I love these three. Some days they are my biggest challenge in life. But then there are moments like these, where everyone's happy, and life is good. (and the three of them could all fit in the same chair.)

Me and my sweet little girl. I always wanted a little girl. The outfits. The hair. Teaching her things I could never teach a son. Like putting on make up. How to walk in heals. Getting our ears pierced. Pedicures. And chick flicks where there's (gasp!) k-i-s-s-i-n-g!

I don't even remember taking these pictures... but I remember watching my then 5 year old make his first PB & J sandwich. Seems like a small thing now, something I took for granted with Gabe and Morgan. They just did it. Now it seems I have to let this one grow up, and have other firsts that I'm not quite ready for. Middle School in the fall. Braces. Movies with friends. Yikes. How will I ever survive?