Been Sooooo Sick! But I'm back!

Happy Mom Goal

Time to take a night off! I got to have dinner with some friends the other night, and let me tell you; it was much needed! A night with no cooking or kids whining cannot be beat! If you don't have the funds to eat out right not (which I totally get!) Then just go to a friend's for a visit some night--- minus the kiddos!


Happy Kid Goal


It's St. Patty's Day! Our family always has a little fun on this day. Here are a few ideas for you!

1. Make green Jell-O for dinner. Or make green Jell-O Jigglers cut into shamrocks for a snack.

2. Decorate cupcakes with foil-wrapped coins and rainbow sprinkles.

3. Put white carnations with freshly-cut stems in a vase with water mixed with green food coloring. Pretty soon, you'll have green flowers.

4. Put green streaks in everyone's hair with hair mascara or temporary hair spray.

5. Make braids in your girls' hair using a green ribbon as one of the strands.

6. Paint a small shamrock on your kids' cheek with face paint or a green eye pencil.

7. Make quick green bracelets by cutting thin strips of craft foam, wrapping them around your wrist and securing the ends with a brad.

8. Add some green food coloring to pancake batter, milk, mashed potatoes, or whatever else you think you can stomach green.

9. Go to the library and read aloud some St. Patrick's Day-themed picture books.

10. Make green paper chains to decorate around the house. Cut out shamrocks from green paper and tape them on the walls.

11. Cut a bunch of shamrocks out of green paper and hide them around the house. Send your kids on a hunt to find them. Reward them with candy coins.

12. If the weather allows, go to the park and search for four-leaf clovers.

13. Pick up some Irish soda bread at the bakery and serve it with your dinner. Serve corned beef, too (although this is more American than Irish).

14. Make small greeting cards for elderly neighbors wishing them the luck of the Irish, or bring them a treat.

15. Wear green and be sure to pinch (gently) people who don't!

Happy Husband Goal

Lots of kisses this week! "I may not be Irish, but you can kiss me anyway!"

Happy House Goal


It's time to start the spring cleaning! After an entire winter of kids playing in their rooms and play areas all the time, it's bound to be a bit cluttered. Take some time (when your kids aren't looking!) and go through all the little things they don't play with anymore. You know, junk from birthday party goody bags, broken projects from school, etc; Get it all in the trash and make sure there's nothing lurking in corners or under beds!

Dinner TonightAs mentioned before, it's fun to have a "Green Dinner" on St. Patrick's Day. It's something my mom always did, and my kids love it! This year's menu for our little family is:

Cheese Tortellini in green alfredo sauce (colored with a few drops of food coloring)
Green jell-o (I love it with sliced bananas in it!)
Peas
Green Kool-aid
Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream for dessert!

Easy enough! You can do this with almost anything-- as long as you can handle the look of it! I try to use as many food items as I can that are already naturally green. It goes down easier! Get creative, Moms!

Dinner Tonight

Easy Honey Mozzarella Chicken



4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup prepared mustard
4 slices bacon, cut in half
3/4 cup honey
lemon pepper to taste
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place the chicken breast halves in a baking dish and drizzle evenly with honey and mustard. Sprinkle with lemon pepper. Bake chicken 25 minutes in the preheated oven. Top each breast half with 2 bacon slices halves, and sprinkle evenly with cheese. Continue baking 10 minutes or until chicken juices run clear, bacon is crisp, and cheese is bubbly.

I'm Baaa-aaack!

Happy Mom Goal

Join a book club and schedule time to actually read the book. Joining a club will force you to have the book finished by a deadline and the book club meeting will get you out of the house to socialize!


Happy Kid Goal

Write stories together! It's so much fun to help expand your child's imagination... or have them help you expand yours! Ask them to tell you a story, write it down for them, and then have them draw illustrations. If they're older, have them write it or type it up and then print it and put it in a binder for them. Get them out occasionally and read them as a family. So fun!


Happy Husband Goal

Lately, my husband and I have gotten into a thrilling TV series. After the kids go to bed each night, we sit together on the couch, cuddle up, and watch an episode or two of our show. LOST is our current favorite, so we're watching all the seasons available on NetFlix. What a great invention!


Happy House Goal

Pick a closet, any closet. Man, is it just me, or is winter time the absolute messiest season of them all? Everything just gets shoved or stashed into closets (even I do it!) Take an hour or so sometime this week to stack your board games, sort through coats and gloves, go through long-forgotten boxes, or organize your craft supplies. If you stick to it for a bit, it won't take long and it's so refreshing after it's done.

Dinner Tonight

This is my favorite thing to serve with a country-type dinner. It's not really a secret, but I get an awful lot of compliments on it any time I serve it!

Easy Sweet Cornbread

1 small box cornbread mix (I use Jiffy)
1 yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines is the yummiest)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix boxes together according to directions on back of each box. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.

Bake approximately 25-35 minutes, or until done.

Serve with honey butter!


Pep Talk!

Well, it's been an awfully long time since I've done this! Perhaps no one will even read this blog anymore, but I decided that it is definitely time for me to be a Happy Mom again. I've been having my own personal struggles; financial, physical, emotional, spiritual... and of course kid struggles! That's just part of the life of a mom. I need to regain my inner strength, and while I strive to do that, I may as well blog about it. My oldest child is a beautiful, intelligent, and fun-loving little girl. So much fun most of the time. But man, oh man! Sometimes that strong-willed side of her creeps to the surface and I am in a constant struggle for power in my own home. She's had a tough life. She's been through divorce, relocation several times, and many other things few adults have even been through. I know that all plays a part in it, but her greatest influence is me. I have to remember that daily. If I forget to be a good example to her and show nothing but love all the time, things get out of hand. I feel very alone sometimes and like I'm failing in my duties as a mother. But I'm not. There are millions of mommies out there who have felt the same thing I'm feeling. We've all been there. And the greatest thing we need to remember is that we are the greatest influence on our children. And what can we do to help them the best. Love them. Wholly and completely. Every second of every day. And let them see just how much we do. That is what will raise them to be the best they can be. And that is how we get ourselves through each day

Seriously simple, yet so delicious!

Dinner Tonight


Mac n' Cheese with a Facelift!
(got this idea from a friend and will never go back to plain ol' Kraft!)

1 box Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
1-2 chicken breasts cooked as desired and cubed

Directions:
Make boxed mac n' cheese according to directions on box. After stirring in the milk, butter, and powdered cheese, stir in parmesan, mozzerella, and ranch dressing over low heat until cheeses are fully incorporated. Serve with chicken on top. So good!

Dinner Tonight!

Oven Fried Chicken

2 1/2 lbs chicken parts (thighs and drumsticks)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp shortening

Mix flour, salt, paprika, garlic powder, and pepper. Put chicken pieces into bag with mixture and shake to coat. Heat oil and shortening in a 9x13 inch pan in 425 degree oven until melted.

Place coated chicken in pan, cook uncovered for 30 minutes, then turn chicken over and cook for another 30 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes and country gravy, and a side of sweet cornbread. Yum!

Dinner Tonight

Meatloaf, Baby!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• garlic powder to taste
• 6 slices white bread, cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons yellow mustard, divided
• 1/2 cup ketchup, divided
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix ground beef, onion, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix in bread, milk, egg, 2 tablespoons mustard and 1/4 cup ketchup.
3. Press the meat mixture into a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a small bowl, stir together remaining mustard, ketchup and brown sugar; pour on top of the meat loaf.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 2 hours.

New Goals!!! Can you believe it?!?!

This past winter has been a long one full of lots of illness and stress. But with new spring comes new hope, and a new season of goals!

Happy Mom Goal

This week, find a friend or sister with kids around the same age as yours. Have all their kids over to your house for a playdate one afternoon, and then send your kids to them for another afternoon. You both get a whole afternoon of kid-free relax time! It's beautiful!

Happy Kid Goal

This one works in conjunction with Dinner Tonight. This super fun, super easy dinner is an excellent way to lighten up the mood in your home if the family has been bored and whiney. Ever had a Barbarian Dinner?
Here's how it works.
Tell family members that you are planning a very special evening meal. Give them a specific hour and tell them you would like them to be on time. As they arrive, hand out old shirts or aprons to put on over their clothes.
At the table, they will find nothing but a disposable tablecloth (you can find vinyl ones at the dollar store) and mugs for drinks--no silverware, plates, or napkins. Once everyone is seated, begin to bring out the food. For the most fun, try using this menu: Spaghetti in sauce, green salad with dressing, french bread, spinach or corn, and chocolate ice cream for dessert.

Begin serving each family member by walking around the table behind them, stopping to plop down a heap of spaghetti on the table in front of them. Continue by serving each item on the menu, dropping it on the table in front of them. They must eat their meal barbarian style, using only their fingers--no forks or spoons allowed! Now the fun begins! Don't forget to break out the chocolate ice cream....and the camera for some memorable photos!

Happy Husband Goal

This week, find some time to just sit and talk to your husband. Take a nice evening walk, or go for a drive. Focus on him. Try your hardest to not vent to him about the kids, the laundry, the house, etc; Let him talk about work, school, whatever. And ask him if he needs anything from you as a wife and a support to him. Just knowing that you are there for them in every way they need you to be lifts a huge burden off their shoulders - and that makes for a much happier man!

Happy House Goal

Okay, this one snuck up on me, and I just had to do a post about it. Have you ever had the heart-warming experience of opening up the dryer door and finding bright red, blue, or green crayon melted all over every article of clothing in the laundry? Well, just such a thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. Apparently one of my little dearies had left a blue crayon in their jeans pocket when they put them into their laundry hamper. Now, this particular load of laundry had a bunch of our favorites in it; some super cute (expensive) clothes the kids had gotten from my mother in law, the baby's brand new hoodie from the GAP, and of course, my favorite shirt that I wear all the time. Yep. Blue crayon EVERYWHERE. I was so mad! That doesn't even begin to describe it, actually. But instead of taking my anger out on my kiddos (though I admit I was tempted to) I jumped on the web and started researching ways to get melted-on crayon O.U.T!
After an hour of searching, here's the recipe suggestion that I decided to try:

2 max amounts (line 3) of concentrated Tide (any good laundry detergent will work) 1 cup Oxiclean 1/2 cup 20 mule team Borax 1 cup Shout liquid 1 cup white vinegar

I went with HOT water (but warm may work and be best for fabrics. Let this agitate for a minute, then add clothes, agitate for another minute to work through, and soak for about an hour and run on a regular, long cycle with extra rinse.

I repeated this two times just to be safe, and voila!- crayon gone! There are only a couple tiny light blue stains left on a few of the lighter colored clothes. I decided to share this in case any of you happen upon this same unfortunate experience. It'll save you from all the research, but get you the same awesome results!

Dinner Tonight

Spaghetti, salad, and bread! *see happy kid goal =)