Multiple Awards This Week....

Well, am I a slacker, or am I a slacker? I think it's been a good three weeks since I gave out any "I Helped Kristen Cook" awards. Bad Kristen! So, this week I am giving out three. And people....I am running slim on recipes. I'm scared! So, any of my new readers out there who would like to submit a recipe to be considered for the award, just click on the "Write to Me" link on my sidebar and submit a recipe, or you can post one in my comments....whatever is easiest for you. Also, even if you have won my award, don't make that keep you from submitting a recipe....I never said you couldn't win twice! ;-) So, without further ado, onto the awards!

My first award is going to a person whose blog I really enjoy. She submitted a recipe to me quite awhile ago and I tried it on my family a couple of weeks ago with great success. It's a yummy and simple, great summer recipe. This is the recipe she submitted to me (she even included a "kid friendly" version of the recipe):

Ranch Chicken Wraps with Dried Cranberries – by Janice Croze of www.5minutesformom.com

Okay with wraps the beauty is in the improvisation. Anything goes. This is one of my favorite versions. Add or substitute to your liking. I really love dried cranberries in it though – so do give them a shot if you haven’t had them before.

• Wraps – my favorite is spinach or sun dried tomato, but any kind you like will work well
• Greens of your choice - spinach, baby greens, or lettuce etc. Whatever you like – I use all different kinds of greens.
• Cooked Chicken sliced or cubed – I never have time to cook. So I buy the whole rotisserie cooked chickens in the deli. Perfect for us busy moms.
• Peppers – red, yellow or orange. (You could use green – but I prefer the sweet ones.)
• Cucumbers – sliced, diced or quartered
• Avocadoes – thinly sliced
• Sunflower seeds or nut mix of your choice
• Dried cranberries – you can buy them bulk or buy the name brand Craisins
• Grated Mozzarella Cheese
• Creamy Ranch Dressing – preferably low fat/light

Place a bed of lettuce on each wrap. Arrange chicken and then add veggies. Sprinkle with nuts, cranberries and cheese. Top with Dressing. Wrap and enjoy.

Quick Kid Meal
Wraps
Plain Cream Cheese
Avocado slices
Chicken (optional – I often just do avocado, which is my son’s favorite)
Spread cream cheese on wrap and place avocado slices and chicken in middle. Wrap and cut in three equal pieces for little hands.

The first award goes to....

Janice from...

5 Minutes For Mom!

Thanks, Janice, for the great recipe! I do plan on using it again!!

Now, onto award #2! This person submitted a recipe to me way back when the idea of this award was first born! I think she actually got the recipe idea from someone else and passed it on to me, but regardless, it was a fantastic recipe, wildly successful and oh, so tasty! I also have several other recipes of hers....she is a fantastic cook....believe me I know, I spent several summers at her house. Anyway, here is the recipe I tried: (copied and pasted directly from her comment when she submitted it):

"I tried a recipe that someone named Mary from a blog called "Mary on a Mission" posted on blog I read regularly. It's so good! Give it a try and let her know if you like it to:

"Bake chicken breasts in the oven on 350 for about 25 minutes. Then you put a little honey mustard dressing on them, top with sauteed mushrooms and onions and a little cheddar cheese. Put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese after that. This is supposed to be like Alice Springs Chicken at Outback Steakhouse."

I baked my chicken for closer to an hour because the pieces were big ones, but it is sooooo good!"

Award #2 this week goes to:

Morning Glory from...

Seeds From My Garden.

Thanks, Morning Glory! It is definitely a recipe I plan to file in my "My whole family liked this meal" recipe box! ;-)

And now, for the 3rd and final award: This person didn't actually officially submit a recipe to me. But I am going to give her the award anyway because for the first 20 years of my life, she cooked for me every day, and throughout those years, I picked up "just a few" recipes from her that I use quite often on my family. Plus, she did give me life, so I think she deserves some kind of award. So, the final award this week goes to:

Grandma Dawn from...

Call Me Grandma Dawn.

Well, that concludes this weeks awards. Winners this week: I will send you the code to put the banner for the award on your blog, if you are interested. If you don't want to put it on your blog, no biggie...I'll just be a little hurt. ;-) (JUST KIDDING!)

And in some Feisty news today: Awhile back I posted my excitement about her apparent decision to decide to start sleeping through the night only to deflate my balloon of happiness of this a few nights later. Then not long after that, I posted about Feisty learning to go potty. She has about a dozen pairs of "uhwundare" (Feisty speak for underwear), which I affectionately refer to as "Tiny Bum Panties". She has successfully been going potty now for awhile and at our reunion, didn't have to wear diapers or training pants except when going to bed. Well, ever since the "terrible twos" commenced in full force since returning home, she seems to have switched gears. At the risk of destroying her sleeping progress, she now has decided to sleep peacefully through the night for the past week and a half, but for some odd reason has decided that she no longer has use for her uhwundare, or her training pants, and now wants to wear diapers and only occasionally tells Mommy when she has to go potty. Not knowing that she had decided this, I continued to put underwear on her, only to discover poop and pee on my floor on several occasions. She likes to inform me that she has done the deed after it has already been done. I guess sleeping through the night and going potty are just too much for her two year old self at this point. *sigh*. One step forward, two steps back...

Happy Friday all!

Going to My Happy Place....

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference.

AMEN.

I think I'll stay here in my happy place until the terrible twos run their course...

Lord help me!

Wordless Wednesday (sort of)

I say sort of because I just have to qualify that I'm not sure who drew these pictures, but I have them in my computer and when I was browsing my pictures today, I thought this would be a great "wordless Wednesday". But I can never do anything wordless, so hey. Enjoy.

Patience Is A Virtue...

As parents, we must all, obviously, possess a certain amount of patience or we would all be in the looney bin. Am I right, or am I right?! The more kids you have, the more patience one must possess. It's simple mathematics. I truly, truly admire those whose parent to child ratio is comparable to that of a 1st grade classroom. I applaud you, because you must have the patience of a saint. I also truly admire single parents. You are courageous!!

My patience as of late is waning. This could be the result of many things:

• A husband who has a full time job and in addition, does yard work on the side, which in essence makes me end up feeling like a single parent a large majority of the time.
• A husband who, when he is home, spends half his time sleeping (i.e. on weekend mornings) . Don't suggest talking to him about this because I've done so until I'm blue in the face and it never changes.
• A Feisty who has turned into the epitome of a "terrible two" and is the poster child for the cliche that women can't ever make up their minds.
• A Feisty and a Care Bear who constantly want to be held at.the.same.time not realizing what it does to mommy's body to hold 55 lbs at a time (would you believe I have 26" biceps?! I didn't think so!)
• Three children who only want Mommy to do things for them and NO ONE ELSE.
• 40 loads of laundry a day.
• 40 loads of dishes every day.
• 1,343,652 toys to pick up every day.
• Two additional children at my house until dark every day (which, may I remind you, it is summer, which means it doesn't turn dark until almost 9:30.)
• A BM (Anakin's Biological Mother) who continues to make my life miserable and my insides turn at least once a week.

In addition, of my own doing, I have added school to the equation, but pardon me if I felt the need to do something for myself for a change. (Which by the way, I got a B in my first class....whoa is me).

Do not get me wrong. What I said in my previous post still stands. I love my kids. I miss them dearly when I am away from them. I think I just need to take the advice of a loved one and sit in my room at least once an hour and recite the Serenity Prayer. And try to remember that they are children.

But wow. I can't wait til school starts again. Am I bad, or what?

Kid Withdrawl

After spending a full week with them, non-stop, 24/7 on vacation, I'm back here at work. Needless to say, I.MISS.MY.KIDS. A lot.

The Reun"fun"

Well, when we last left Mama's So Called Life, Mama (that would be me) was very excited, yet nervous, about the upcoming reunion. Nervous because I was unsure how my children were going to do on the long 13 hour trek to our destination. You may all rest easy and start sleeping again (because I know you were sooo concerned) because my children were wonderful. I did not give them enough credit. They were amazing, well-behaved, patient and, well...just great. You may applaud now....a standing ovation is in order, if you so wish.

Our first night was spent at Queen Beth's royal castle. From the minute we arrived, I barely saw Anakin any longer as he and Beth's Little Man forged an immediate and long lasting bond due to their mutual adoration of Pokemon. In fact, since returning last night, Anakin has already spoken to Little Man on the phone. He is quite bored since our return home, and the neighbor kids are no longer worthy of his company since he has spent the last week with a cool kid two years older than he. Care Bear and Feisty thoroughly enjoyed their time with Princess and Duchess and Care Bear attempted to sleep in their room, but ended up pitter pattering her way to my room after all.

Once at the reunion the following day, and the remainder of the time, Anakin spent all of his time frolicking on the beach with Little Man and Cool playing Pokemon. Care Bear played with all of the little girls and thoroughly enjoyed her time playing in the sand and in the water. I officially have a "fish". Feisty, I was hoping, would let go of the apron strings permanently attached to mommy and spend some time with the kids, but if anything, her attachment to me tightened, rather than loosening. She would have nothing to do with anyone but mommy and would not let anyone do anything for her except mommy. At least I know I'm loved.

Activites included (but were not limited to):
-canoeing
-jet skiing
-kayaking
-swimming
-eating
-eating
-eating
and did I mention....eating?

Yes, we ate quite well at the reunion, mostly out on the deck looking over the gorgeous lake. It was quite simply put: HEAVEN ON EARTH.

We are all sporting nice golden tans and lighter shades in our hair.

Coming home was not quite the picnic going out there was. The trip home, not as smooth. There was a long ride ahead of us with the anticipation of the reunion behind us. Going home? How BORING!

Hubby missed us sufficiently. Yeah. Good to know we were missed.

The kids left their beautiful behavior back at the beach and have treated me on our first day back with tempers, hitting, screaming, crying....you name it. It has been FUN. I guess I need to install a beach, complete with canoes, in my backyard.

I'm suffering from severe back pain today. Not sure of the cause, not sure if it warrants a trip to the doctor, but I feel like a crotchety old lady today.

The fun is done!

Thanks to Beth, Karen, and Morning Glory for all your hard work in making the reunion such a wonderful time for all!!

Oh, and my girls are currently displaying their beautiful little dresses made my the awesome Karen! Thanks, cuz! You RULE!!

A Myriad of Thoughts

Bear with me today as it has been awhile again since I posted and I have quite a few things running through my brain that must be discussed, and what better forum than my blog? Right? I always feel out of sorts with my blog when my "schedule" gets off, and that usually results in a very random post.

Five Assignments and Two Tests Down; One Final To Go!

So, my first class in my new adventure...that of getting my degree...is almost over. I've survived five assignments, two of them that about gave me an ulcer, two tests, and now I have the final. But guess what's so great about the final?! I get to take it while I'm on vacation this weekend. Yup. My class is on-line, and the final is scheduled to take either the 7th or 8th. The nice thing is, since it is an online class, I don't have to miss out on my family reunion in order to take my final. But I'll probably be sitting at a computer doing it while other family members are off swimming in a lake, pontooning on a boot, or water-skiing and other such fun things. Am I lucky, or am I lucky?! Woo-hoo! At least I'll have a good 13 hours on the way there to study for it.....that is unless I'm referee-ing my three kids from killing each-other, or throwing up out the back window due to car-sickness from sitting in the back seat. Good times ahead....I can feel it.

The Afore-mentioned vacation/reunion:

I'm extremely excited about the up-coming reunion as I get to see family members that I haven't seen in several years and I actually get to go on a real bonafide vacation. I can't remember the last time I left this state. For real. You may recognize the names of some of the people I will be seeing; such bloggers as: Karen, Queen Beth, Morning Glory, Amanda and of course, my mom!. Yep. We'll be having our own little bloggers get-together! Unfortunately, a couple of family members/bloggers won't be able to be there, and we'll miss them greatly: Sherry and Brooke.

While I'm extremely excited TO GET THERE, I'm not so much anticipating the actual act of getting there. My children do.not.travel.well. At all! Feisty can barely drive an hour before she starts whining "Go home now." Care Bear takes after her mama with her phrase (in full on whine), "Are we there yet?!?!". And Anakin....well, he has ADHD. Nuff said there. And most of the trip I will be sharing the back seat with Anakin. I'm fully prepared to have suffered a nervous break-down by the end of the thirteen hours. And speaking of nervous breakdowns......

Monday: The Worst Day of My Life

Ok, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but very slight. Let me start off by saying that if Feisty had the option, she would take a super sized tube of super glue and physically stick herself to me for life. Then she might be happy. Needless to say, it can start to wear on mama's sense of well-being when I can't merely walk three feet across the room without Feisty hurtling herself in utter panic after me and clutching my legs. It wears on mama's sense of well-being when I can't do a simple thing like pick up a toy, wash a dish, or even change my clothes without a two year old acting like her life is over if I'm not holding her. It wears on mama's sense of well-being when temper tantrums are the theme of the day and nothing I can do is right, and Feisty herself doesn't even know what she wants. It wears on mama's sense of well-being when her three year old feels neglected because her little sister is literally sapping every ounce of energy and strength out of mama.

And it really wears on mama's sense of well-being when I can't even get five minutes alone to do anything such as study for a certain exam coming up, take a shower, or even relax.

My Monday was bad. Just really, really bad. I was in tears by the end of the day and in utter panic thinking of the 4th of July, and the long day at the park we had planned; and in total despair at the thought of a 13 hour road trip with this type of behavior. My stomach was literally in knots, and the word "ulcer" came to mind more than once.

And then comes.....

The 4th of July!!

As though my children had sensed my mood from the day before (which they probably had), they did a complete 180 the following day (yesterday) and we had a most pleasant holiday spent in the park with the in-laws. Of course, it helped immensely that we were spending copious amounts of hours in the place they spend most of their time begging to go. They were in seventh heaven. Unfortunately, all of the pre-firework activities had Care Bear so worn out that she fell asleep before they even began. No amount of explosives woke that child up. Feisty danced, sang and clapped through the pre-fireworks band concert, and focused intently on about three quarters of the fireworks show until she could no longer keep her little eyes open and she fell asleep in Grandpa's arms. I walked them home in their double stroller and they remained asleep through crowds, people shooting off very illegal fireworks, a smart-alec girl shouting stuff at passers-by through a bullhorn, and the taking off of jackets and glasses when being put into bed. They were tuckered out!

And last thought today.....

My Fun Night Tonight!

We are leaving tomorrow morning at the super fun hour of 4 a.m. for our trip. This is in hopes of accomplishing two goals:

1.) We will get to our destination at a decent enough hour to have a little enjoyment with our relatives before we have to go to bed.

2.) Since we're leaving so early, we're hoping the kids will sleep a few good hours there-by avoiding a few hours of sibling squabling in tight quarters.

But I have NOT PACKED YET!! I hate packing. Hate.it! I always forget something. It never fails. Plus, there's not a whole lot I can pack until the last minute, so I have a feeling I'll be spending a good portion of my evening running around like a chicken with my head cut off desperately trying to remember everything. YIKES. I need Monica Gellar from "Friends" to come over and help me.....it was her favorite thing to do. Yes, people, I know she's a fictional character....I haven't really had a nervous break-down. Yet.

This may be my last post for a week or so because as I've mentioned at least 345 times in this post, I'll be on vacation for the next week, so if I don't talk to you before then, HAVE A GREAT WEEK! Don't miss me too much! :-)