Maybe I AM Old!

It's Friday! Looking forward to the long weekend with my little guy and hoping it stays dry for a few days. It stayed wet and yucky all day yesterday so the potato soup made for a great dinner! It was so easy and probably the best potato soup I've ever had. Here's the link again: http://pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com/2011/03/outback-aint-got-nothin-on-me.html?m=1

I packed a Pacman themed lunch for Scotty today. He knew who Pacman was but couldn't remember his name. Maybe I'm just old?!? I thought Pacman was still around.

Tonight is Friday Family Movie Night! We're watching The Pirates Band Of Misfits. We'll probably make pizza for dinner. I think I'm going to try a fun little project for movie snacks that I found on Pinterest. You put pretzels, popcorn, fruit loops, etc, onto a string necklace and they kiddo can snack on it throughout the flick. I'll post a picture tomorrow!

Good Day For Doing Nothing

I didn't sleep so well, not feeling so good, looks like another gloomy day, sounds like a good day for soup. I just put it all into the crock pot. I'm trying a new recipe, (thanks again, Pinterest). It's a copy cat version of Outback's loaded baked potato soup. Here's a link to the recipe: http://pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com/2011/03/outback-aint-got-nothin-on-me.html?m=1

Scotty's lunch today was all bunny themed. We called it the Thumper Thursday lunch.

Cats & Dogs, People!

Rain, rain, go away!  I thought this hurricane was affecting the Gulf Coast but it seems we've gotten a taste of it, as well.  It POURED all day yesterday.  Serious flooding, the market was filled with 4 ft of water, cars floating down East Bay St, just pure chaos.  Luckily my house is still here, and dry, (for the most part).  They're calling for more rain over the next 2 days.  Ughhhhhhh.  Here's a picture that was circulating around facebook yesterday of 2 guys kayaking down Market St, not photo shopped.  I also saw video of people wake boarding and tubing.  (Imagine what's in that water!  Anyone who's been down by the market knows how those drains smell.  Gross!)

We didn't have our taco Tuesday dinner last night.  The boys were asking for breakfast for dinner, so we had biscuits, bacon, eggs & home fries.  It was tasty.  Tonight I'm making crock pot pork chops.  They are so good!  Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
-boneless pork chops (I use 4, you could use up to 6, nay more than that and I think you'd need to add another can of soup)
-1 can of cream of mushroom soup (I like the one with roasted garlic, but you could do whatever you'd like)
-1 can of cream of chicken soup
-1/2 empty soup can of water
-1 Tbsp of oil
-dash of salt & pepper

Directions:
-heat the oil in a skillet, sprinkle chops with salt & pepper and lightly brown them in the pan (no more than 2 minutes on each side, you want to just brown them, not cook them)
-pour cream of chicken soup into the bottom of the crock pot and mix in water
-place chops in the soup mix
-spread can of cream of mushroom soup over the top of the chops
-cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4 hours
I like to serve it over hot egg noodles, but it would be delicious with mashed potatoes or rice.  The chops practically fall apart when you pull them out, they're so tender.

Today's lunch was Lil' Guppies themed, (in honor of all of the water around).  I remembered a story that Scotty told one of our neighbors at the pool a couple of years ago.  She commented on what a great swimmer he was and asked if he had been taking swimming lessons.  He responded, "Yes, I'm in the little guppies class for beginner swimmers".  Total lie, he's never taken swimming lessons, I have NO IDEA where that came from but it was hilarious. 

Hope you're weather is nice than ours!  Have a great day!

Homework For 2nd Graders

Times have certainly changed. My 2nd grader came home with almost an hour worth of homework; daily oral language, math, reading, spelling and an 'all about me' project. Geez. I'm a stay at home mom & I thought it was a pain, can't even imagine how moms who work out of the home get everything done. I worked as a retail manager for over 10 years, but luckily Scotty wasn't in school yet. I'm sure I'd manage, but I think I'd go crazy.

Scotty told me that in class today he had to pick 4 words that describe him. He chose smart, kind, brave and handsome. If I had to add a 5th word it would certainly not be humble! He's so funny, though. I'd love to hear what the other children chose.

Scotty helped me make today's lunch. It's my favorite one so far. He named it the Dino-mite lunch, complete with a cheeseosaurus rex sandwich, Dino doody nuggets, cretaxyrhina carrots, (apparently that's a prehistoric shark), stegosaurus super juice and a Cretaceous cookie. I love that he's so creative and smart. The cookie turned out super cute, I used one of my cookie cutter, sugar cookie dough and decorating icing. It wasn't difficult, but it looks so good!

Dinner will be super easy tonight. It's Taco Tuesday!

Soccer Season!

We had a fantastic weekend! I didn't cook dinner, as I was all alone on Saturday night and we ate out Sunday night at Panera Bread, (I LOVE the mac & cheese!). I did make a big breakfast on Saturday morning with pancakes, eggs & bacon. I tried to make triceratops pancakes with my metal cookie cutter but I forgot to spray it with nonstick spray first & it got stuck. I'll remember next time. I made small, round, babycakes instead.

We went to Dick's Sporting Goods and picked out Scotty's new soccer gear on Sunday. Practice starts on Thursday and his old cleats & shin guards were too small, (his foot has grown through 4 shoe sizes in 1 year, a 12.5 to a 2.5!). They've got a good deal going on right now, Umbro brand cleats, shin guards & soccer ball for $34. They look cool, too. You can choose blue or pink in all 3 products. I can't wait see how he plays this year, he told me he's serious this season & isn't going to goof off. We'll see.

We also practiced riding the big guy bike, no training wheels. It's frustrating for both of us. I think it's going to be a lot harder than I anticipated. Pray for us!

Today's lunch is Scooby Doo themed.  Scooby & friend's shaped pasta, a ham & cheese sandwich, fruit and Scooby graham cracker sticks.  I made this lunch after he went ot bed so he's going to be surprised.  I hope I can keep this up through the year. I told one of my friend's who asked that I have 110 cookie cutter shapes and I think there are 180 days of school so there will be some repeats.  He loves it and I think it's nice to have a fun little lunch in the middle of the day to reenergize him.

Tonight we are having buffalo chicken strips with potato wedges and celery.  I buy the Purdue Simply Smart frozen chicken strips lightly breaded and bake them according the the directions.  I make the buffalo sauce with 1/4 cup of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and a few tablespoons of Tabasco hot sauce, (melt the butter then add the hot sauce and bring to a boil, mixing it really well), then roll the cooked strips in the sauce.  It's so good. 

I'll end with a funny Scotty story.  He told me yesterday that he went to feed the ducks with Pappy and while he was walking he saw a wriggly worm on the road.  He said, "I put my face just 2 inches away from it.  Okay, maybe it was more like, 10.  I wanted to respect it's space".  What a little charachter he is.

Another Difference Between Boys & Girls

We had a fun day yesterday visiting the aquarium. We stopped at Easy Bay Deli for lunch before going to the aquarium and I had an awesome French dip sandwich. I think they called it the Charleston dip, whatever it was named it was delicious. The aquarium was fun, Scotty was literally running through most of the exhibits. We stopped at the face painting booth so our little friend Ella could get a unicorn on her face and Scotty asked to get his painted, too. He has never, ever wanted his face painted, I was surprised. He chose to become dinosaur, it was a little creepy but very impressive. Ella kept Asking if she looked beautiful, Scotty kept asking if he looked hideous & terrifying, another difference between boys & girls I suppose!

No Sleeping In

It's Saturday, and my child still woke me up at 6:45am, (I've got to work harder at keeping him up later on Friday nights, I suppose).  He said he didn't mean to wake me when he was crawling around on the floor around my bed and blowing at my hair the back of my head.  If waking me up wasn't the intention then I'm a little scared to learn what was.  He won the battle against a rested mommy and I got up and made pancakes and bacon.  I've got to recommend Oscar Meyer select bacon, smoked but uncured, no nitrates or nitrites, (it's the new line of products with the little green leaves on it).  It cooked so well, crispy and perfect.  I baked it on a foil lined cookie sheet at 415 degrees for a little less than 15 minutes, (I start checking it at 12 minutes).  If you've never cooked bacon in the oven you have to try it, it's life changing.  No mess and WAY less work.  My only suggestion is put thicker pieces on the edges of the pan and thinner ones toward the middle so that they all cook evenly. 

Last night we watched Beethoven, the movie about the unruly but lovable St Bernard.  I haven't seen that movie in so long.  Scotty thought it was hilarious, me too.  We started Friday Family Movie Night when he was in kindergarten, I thought it was a good way to get him through the school week, looking forward to Friday nights.  He loves it, he always plans out the snacks. I hate to think about it ever ending but I'm sure there will come a day when spending Friday night watching movies with your mom won't be cool :(

I made Scotty a couple more felt Angry Birds this week.  They turned out so cute.  He likes to build structures with Lincoln logs and throw the birds at them.

We've got a fun day planned today.  We're going to lunch downtown at Sweetwater Cafe, Scotty's been asking to go there for months now, then off to the aquarium with Monkga & Pappy.  I think we might be able to squeeze in a trip to Cupcake, as well.  Hope you all have a great weekend, the weather is supposed to be gorgeous here!

Amazing Crock Pot Roast Recipe

I've had a few requests for this recipe so I'm going to post it here for future reference. I've made this roast twice and it was SO GOOD both times! One tip I have is to go to the store EARLY in the morning. My grocery store usually marks down meat approaching the sell-by date, sometimes up to half off. Roast can be expensive, a 3-4lb cut is usually $12 or more but I can get it for around $7.

Ingredients:
- 4 lb chuck roast ( or whatever cut you like best), any larger size might not fit into the crock pot easily.
-1 packet of dry Ranch dressing mix
-1 packet of dry zesty Italian dressing mix
-2 packets of dry brown gravy mix (set one aside to thicken up the drippings after cooking to make gravy)
-1/2 to 2/3 cup of water (the bigger the cut of meat the more water I'd use)
-a few pats of butter (if you'd like, it's certainly fine to omit it)

Direction:
-Place the roast into the bottom of the crock pot.
-In a bowl, combine the dry ranch, Italian & 1 packet of the brown gravy mixes. Sprinkle the mix over the top of the meat & pat down.
-Place a few pats of butter onto of the meat, over the dry mix.
-Pour the water around the edges of the crock pot but not directly over the top of the meat.
-Cook on low for 8 hours.
-Strain the drippings and prepare the extra brown gravy packet according to the directions, substituting half of the water with drippings.

It's so good with mashed potatoes or hot egg noodles. I usually serve a green salad on the side and King's Hawaiian rolls. Yum!

TGIF!

Last night I made a crock pot recipe that I found on Pinterest, my recent addiction.  If you haven't started using Pinterest, I strongly encourage you to do so. It has so many great ideas and recipes.  Anyway,  I found a recipe for Italian chicken with pasta and decided to try it.  It was amazing!  I posted the recipe on my blog post yesterday, go check it out.  It's a keeper, for sure!

Scotty had another awesome day at school yesterday.  He's especially excited today, as it is library day and he loves to read.  I'm really blessed to have a child that's so interested in learning and reading.  He makes me so proud!  He's a constant source of entertainment for me, as well.  This morning as we were driving to school I played Taylor Swift's new song 'We Are Never Getting Back Together', (I know I'm too old to love her music but I have to admit that this song is my current favorite!  Don't judge!).  Scotty said to me, "I should've played this song for Emmy.  I kept telling her that I was 'breaking up together' but she kept telling me that I was her boyfriend anyway!".  Wow, those 1st grade romances are tougher than I imagined and the girls are a little more aggressive then I would've thought!  A little backstory on Emmy, she sat at Scotty's table in the first grade and was quickly nicknamed 'the torublemaker' by him.  She's adorable, blond hair and big, brown eyes, but quite a little character who seemed to get into trouble every day.  Scotty came home on the first day and announced that he met 2 girlfriend's, Emmy being one of them, then came home on the second day and announced that Emmy was a troublemaker and he 'breaked up' with her.  Who knew that 1st graders had such serious relationship troubles?!?  At least I know that my son won't bring home just any 'ole girl.  He seems to spot the 'bad girls' right away, this brings me a great deal of comfort!  Here's a picture of the little heartbreaker on his 2nd day of school.

I made Scotty an 'Under The Sea' themed lunch today.  I love the octopus, or is it octopi?  He had fun helping me cut out the eyes with a straw and said that he's going to make Scott's lunch when he gets home today.  That should be interesting.  I'm sure he'd be the envy of all of coworkers with a lunch like this, right?!?

Tonight is Friday Family Movie Night.  Poor dad has to work, so it'll just be me & the little guy.  I've got Back To School themed sugar cookies to snack on.  We're going to make biscuit pizzas for dinner, (we usually have pizza on Fridays).  It's a fun activity for kids and super easy. 
Ingredients:
-1 can of Grands or jumbo sized biscuits
-1 cup of pizza sauce (you can make your own or just buy it, it's super cheap wither way)
-2 cups of shredded cheese & a little grated Parmesan cheese
-any topping you like, I use mini turkey pepperoni and green peppers on mine but I've also used sausage crumbles, ham, pineapple, etc.
Directions:
-use your hands or a rolling pin to thin out the biscuit and make it a little bigger, the thinner it is the crispier it will be.  Place on 2 greased cookie sheets.
-spread the sauce around on the dough but leave the edges dry (you'll want some 'crust')
-sprinkle cheese on top and then add your toppings
-bake at 375 degrees 10-15 minutes or until edges are browned and cheese is bubbly.
These are so much fun for the kids to make and everyone gets what they like.  We usually eat 2 per person.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!  We're off to the aquarium tomorrow.  I'm sure we will also sneak in a little visit to Cupcake!  They always have cake pops on the weekends, they're Scotty's favorite!

Day One Went Great!

Day one of the 2nd grade went well.  Scotty said he had an AWESOME day, he loved his teacher, loved his classroom and made lots of new friends, (although he couldn't seem to remember anyone's name, we'll work on that!).  He came home with a 'green', the teacher color codes the student's behavior.  Green=excellent, yellow=good, blue=no so good, red=problems, possibly an office referral or an email/call home.  We're hoping for no reds and very few yellows this year, although the teacher did say that she occasionally gives reds for excessive talking.  Upon hearing that Scotty looked at me with a great deal of concern and said, "Uh-oh".  He's had a few issues with talking in the past, but he comes by it naturally because I always got an "NI" on my report cards in elementary school for "needs improvement" on excessive talking.  Like my grandmother said, "I'd rather have a child that speaks their mind over one who just sits like a bump on a log".  He ain't no bump on a log, I'm certain of that!  The teacher also offers a reward system, earning a 'punch' on your card when your caught doing a good deed or being a great friend.  Scotty said he almost earned a punch for telling her that she was a really nice teacher on the way to lunch, she told him he was definitely getting a green for the day!  I've got a feeling he's gonna try that every day until he wears it out.  Here's a picture of him at his desk:

As a back to school surprise I made an Angry Birds pig toy out of felt for Scotty.  I stuffed it with cotton balls, as I was out of fiber fill that I would normally use, but it turned out cute and he had fun throwing it around.  It took about an hour & a half to construct, but I do sew the seams and decorations instead of just using fabric glue.  Let me know if you're interested in the directions and I'll be happy to send them to you.  Here's a picture of the pig below.

I made a Phineas & Ferb lunch for him today.  He loves the show and we found chicken noodle soup in the show's shapes.  He got a ham & cheese sandwich, soup, juice box and fruit.  I also made a Perry The Platypus hat cookie that isn't in the picture but it was cute.  Here's a picture of the sandwich:

I'm making a new Pinterest crock pot recipe for dinner tonight, Italian chicken.  It looks great and is all over the internet so I assume it's good.  Sounds easy enough.
Ingredients & directions:
-boneless, skinless chicken breasts (use what you need, it seems silly to make 6 for a couple of people, I'll use 4)
-one 8oz package of cream cheese
-one packet of dry, zesty Italian dressing mix
-one can of cream of chicken soup
-1/2 cup of water
Spray the crock pot with nonstick spray and place chicken breast in the bottom.  Cut the cream cheese up into cubes and toss over the chicken.  Mix Italian dressing packet with the water and soup and pour over the chicken & cheese. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  (I should note that the recipe I am using says you can use frozen chicken breasts but I think I'm going to use fresh as I want the chicken to be seasoned well and I'm a little unsure if that would happen as well with frozen.)

Hope everyone has a great day!

The First Day Of The Second Grade!

Today was the first day of the 2nd grade and Scotty was super excited!  I'm seriously lucky that way, in that he loves school and has yet to give me any trouble about waking up every morning and getting ready for school.  He thinks that he's mature now, he actually asked me what men use to smell good.  I quickly shot down the idea of wearing deodorant and cologne to elementary school.
The school parking lot was a madhouse, they actually converted a field beside the school into extra parking.  We arrived 10 minutes before the school doors are open, (40 minutes before school actually starts and the regular parking lot was already full!).  As we walked down the halls I saw so many kindergarten moms tearing up, I sort of felt like I might cry dropping of my big boy.  I got a big hug before leaving the classroom but no kisses, he told me that he was too big to give/receive kisses at school but he whispered that it would still be okay at home.

I made an Angry Bird themed lunch for him, he's super excited.  I was pretty proud of the creation.  It took a lot of time, definitely more than I anticipated, but he's worth it!

I'm making one of Scotty's favorite meals tonight as a 'back to school' celebration, hot dog roll-ups and tater tots, (I know, super nutritious, right?!?).  It's a simple recipe though, the direction are on the back of Pillsbury Crescent Roll packs.  Basically you take the number of hot dogs you need, cut a slit length-wise and put a little sliver of American cheese in it.  Then roll the hot dog up in the crescent roll, rolling the dough as you would normally to make the crescents.  Bake them at 375 for around 13-15 minutes.  They're tasty!