"Shows" at Nana's house

This morning's conversation while brushing teeth:

Olivia: "Mommy, can I watch a show after morning prayers?"
Me: "No, we don't watch shows in the morning"
Olivia: "But Nana lets me watch shows in the morning at her house"
Me: "Well that's at Nana's house...you get to do special things when you're at Nana's house that you don't get to do at Mommy's house"
Olivia: "I want to go live at Nana's house!"
Me: "Believe me, if you lived at Nana's house, you wouldn't be able to watch shows in the morning!"

New Country

Olivia in the playroom with her fort made out of an old tablecloth:

"Mommy, we were in the living room and the bad guys started caming, so we moved to this new country!"

Sisterly Bond

Olivia and Timmy fell right to sleep tonight without a problem. Naomi took a nap this afternoon, so she's having a bit of trouble falling asleep. I could hear movement in her room and went to check on her. She had climbed up into Olivia's bed and tucked herself in next to Olivia. She was awake but laying quietly. I did make her get down and get in her bed as she's still too little to sleep on a top bunk, but I thought it was so cute! I would have taken a picture if she was asleep!

Tuesday's Tip

To cut an onion without crying, try the following...
throw it in the freezer for about 15 minutes before cutting. This helps keep the juices from spraying everywhere and causing you to cry!

Prayers

Olivia and Naomi were just being punished for misbehaving and had to sit on separate couches. They still weren't behaving, so I corrected them again. A few minutes later I hear Olivia praying something like this:

"Dear Jesus, please help us to be good. Jesus and Mary please come up to Heaven with us."

She came over to me a few minutes later and said "We prayed to Mary and Jesus to help us to be good! I think they're praying for us up in Heaven right now....yup, I hear them. They're praying for us so they can come up to Heaven with us!"

Random Pictures

Sunglasses!

Olivia made 13 of these along the perimeter of the backyard the other day. They are "crowns for Jesus" and each one consists of sticks stuck into the ground in a circle with a rock and flower in the center. She was quite proud of them and very serious about building them. She has the most unique imagination!

Matching Jammies, Happy Sisters

Princesses

Making Princess Crowns

Sacked out after a long outing!

Garden Update!

These pictures were taken sometime last week. We got a new batch of seedlings in.

Broccoli

Lettuce and Parsley

Snap Peas, Lettuce, Carrots, Onions, Parsley, Cabbage, Swiss Chard, Kale, Spinach

Stakes! (Wish you could grow steaks!)
This kept Olivia and Naomi busy while our mentor Luci and I planted the plants in the correct spots!

Mother's Day 2011

We had a wonderful Mother's Day in Boston, where we met up with Mom, Dad, Kate/Dan, Lindsay and Ang for lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant, then walked around Boston by ourselves. We visited Boston Commons, Gardens, the Frog Pond, the playground and the kids enjoyed a ride on the Merry-Go-Round! The weather was beautiful and the day was very enjoyable! Thank you to my wonderful husband and children! And Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers!

More Funny Quotes

We went to Boston for Mother's Day and walked around Boston Commons and Boston Garden. While out and about, our little country mouse (Olivia) saw a man walk by with a yamakah on his head and said "What is that squish ball on his head?"

Today Naomi ran outside without shoes on and proclaimed to Pete, "Daddy, look! My feet are naked!"

One Roast...Five Meals!

I'm always trying to stretch meat to reduce the cost of meals. My goal is to never pay more than $5 for a dinner for the five of us (granted that is 2 adults and 3 young children). I found a bottom round roast marked down at Hannaford the other day. I don't remember exactly what I paid for it, but it was definitely less than $1.99/lb as that is my target price for meat. I believe the roast was about 4 lb. I was able to stretch it to 5 meals doing the following:

Meal 1: Crockpot Roast Beef(adapted from a recipe on the back of Lipton Recipe Secrets Beefy Onion dry soup packets box)

4 lb Bottom Round Roast with fat removed
1/2 cup flour
2 envelopes of Lipton Recipe Secrets Beefy Onion Soup Mix (which I got free with coupons)
2 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (which I got for pennies with coupons)
1 cup red wine or water (I used the wine)

Place roast in the slow cooker; mix ingredients and pour over roast; set on low and cook for about 8 hours. The meat tasted so. good.!

I served this with a vegetable and oven roasted potatoes.

Meal 2: Sandwiches

I shredded part of the beef and made sandwiches out of the beef and cheese on hamburg buns marked down at the grocery store. Served this with chips and a veggie.

Meal 3/4: Beef Barley Soup

I used the remainder of the broth from the roast, shredded some of the beef and dumped it back in the broth, poured in a bag of frozen veggies, put in 1/4 cup of barley, filled up the remainder of the crockpot with water, set the crockpot on low for a few hours and voila....soup! We got at least 2 meals, if not 3 out of the soup (I have 2 jars of it in the freezer for later use!) This I served with drop biscuits.

Meal 5: Enchiladas

remainder of shredded beef- about a cup
1 can refried beans- free with coupon
1 package of guacamole- free with coupon
2 cup shredded cheese
1 package tortillas
1 can enchilada sauce- free with coupon
salsa (optional)

Lay the tortillas out and spread beans and guacamole on each. Place shredded beef on each and top with cheese or sour cream. Spread some salsa then wrap each tortilla. Place seam side down in a casserole dish or 9X13 pan. Pour can of enchilada sauce over the top. Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 350 for 30 min.

Serve with brown rice and corn.

And there you have it! One roast....5 meals!

From the mouths of babes...

We were driving home from Boston on Mother's Day when Olivia (talking to herself) said, "I have a golden Mommy and a black Daddy". Pete and I just about died laughing!

Timmy was getting into trouble outside yesterday and she grabbed him and said "Timothy Maney Gianna!" Whenever she's upset with Naomi she says "Naomi Patterson Maney"!

This morning, she was underneath her child's table pretending it was a tv and she was fixing it (like Pete was doing to the car the other day). She kept calling out for tools and said to Timmy "Thanks Bud Bud for being my helper!" Then I heard her say to Naomi "no, I'm the Daddy!"

As my mother-in-law often says, even on your worst of days, you never go without a laugh thanks to the kids!

Tuesday's Tip!

I have been struggling for much too long with my bathroom mirrors streaking...and fogging! I tried everything I could think of...I even went as far as to wipe cucumbers on them and shaving cream! I recently discovered that using newspaper and rubbing alcohol shines them up like a charm!

Growing Places Garden Project

We were so excited this year to be accepted to participate in the Growing Places Garden Project- a local program helping families build, plant and learn how to grow a vegetable garden! A group of volunteers, including the president of the local garden club, her husband and their daughter, along with the leader Lisa, came early one Saturday morning and helped us put together this beautiful garden! We are given a mentor to mentor us through the growing season and walk us through the process! We are quite excited to see what we can grow!

Before the work begins!

The girls attempt to climb the garden frames before they are reminded that this is not a jungle gym and they are not allowed on top of them!

The dirt is delivered

"Wow! Look at all that dirt we can play in!"
In all seriousness, the dirt was beautiful dirt! Our plants should have no problem growing in this stuff!

Laying the frames in the correct spots

The girls lay each newspaper and shovel each shovelful of dirt in just.the.right.spot!

Newspapers are laid to prevent weeds from growing

Keeping Little Man out of trouble

Climbing Mount Dirt!

The girls have loads of fun filling their buckets with dirt and dumping it in the boxes!

Lisa, the head of our project, sprinkles in organic "Chickity Doo Doo" fertilizer and vermiculite

Mommy's little helper "raking!"

Raking out the dirt

Planting the seeds with our mentor!

All fenced in to keep the deer and rabbits out!

Finished product! We were able to plant:
Snap Peas
Swiss Chard
Lettuce
Kale
Cabbage
Carrots
Beets

We already are seeing some growth! When it stops raining out, I'll take a picture and post an update!

The Butterfly Place with Jess and Lily

We took a little field trip (in the pouring rain I might add!) to the Butterfly Place a few weeks ago with Jess and Lily! Thankfully it was inside and it was warm! Jess and I thought the butterflies and flowers were beautiful! Timmy and Lily were in awe, Olivia wasn't so sure about it...she kept trying to convince herself that the butterflies were ok and wouldn't hurt her, and Naomi was terrified! She spent the majority of the time clinging to me crying "I don't like this...I want to go home!"

Random Pictures

Family Fun Night in Clinton

The littlest butterfly

Enjoying a wheelbarrow ride!

Timmy's favorite outdoor toy! Loves to ride in it and loves to push it!

Looking for bugs with Nana on a beautiful spring day!