Wonderful site!

http://www.homemakingcottage.com/mother/10ways.htm

What a wonderful article. I think it is the best thing in the world to spend time with your children. I try to spend time with my son. Unfortunatly I have to send him to daycare while I work. But when we get home, we spend as much time together as we can. It is just the two of us. It was hard to do family scripture study or FHE. It felt awkward. But we are working on that. I started the BOM reading at the end of last year - and we are only in Jacob. He is only 3 and has no attention span. I found the perfect way to keep him in place when I read the scriptures. When he has his bath, I read books and we have scripture reading when he is splashing around. At least he cannot run out of the room.

72 Hour Kits for Children

I was looking for 72 hour kits on the Internet and found this article. It is getting close to our rocky season. We have actually had several tornadoes in the area these past several months. This week we have had so much rain we have had a flood warning this whole week. The Ohio River is over the flood stage and is not supposed to crest until possibly tomorrow. So it is time to prepare. The last thing people think of is bringing things to keep your kids occupied during these scary times.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20070816/ai_n19470748

Also, another thing I invested in is a weather radio. I think it was a year or two ago in Evansville, IN (I went to high school there) a tornado hit a trailer park. Many people were killed. No one had weather radios. I love mine and it even goes off if there is an Amber Alert. My weather radio went off two years ago when there was a train derailment in the city. The train cars were transporting chemicals. The weather radio went off to alert of the hazard. It happened only a few miles from my home at that time. Trust me, they can be loud and annoying when they go off...but they could save your life!

Yummy Recipe

This is a great recipe - and luckily you will keep any vampires away! And also you might keep unwanted guests away with your lovely breath! I was really surprised at how this tasted. But it was really good. I served this meal with couscous (I know, even though this is only my second recipe I have posted....you will start noticing that I like couscous!). I also served dinner rolls (I am such a carbivore. Sorry!)

Crockpot Vampire Chicken

40 cloves of garlic
2 fresh sprigs of thyme, sage, parsley, rosemary (love the homegrown stuff!)
black pepper/salt to taste
3 lbs of roasting chicken - but I just use a few pounds of skinless/boneless chicken breast
3 stalks of celery

1. Put the celery at the bottom of the crockpot
2. If you are using the roasting chicken, stuff one sprig of each herb in the cavity.
(Now, when I did my dinner.....I used my dried herbs and it worked fine)
If you did the S/B chicken breast just throw all that in the crockpot
3. Peel the garlic - but leave the skins ON. Place them in the crockpot around and on top of the
chicken.
4. Low for 8-9 hours

You can break open the garlic after it is cooked to spread with butter on your bread.

I am not really sure what the nutrition value is of this recipe.

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Italian Chicken recipe

Tried this tonight. Although I hate to say it was not 3 year old friendly. My son cried with food in his mouth "I hate mados!" Poor thing. He didn't realize that there was a finely chopped red pepper in it. This kid is not afraid of spicy foods though. He loves the buffalo flavored fish crackers which I think are kind of spicy. He went through speech therapy for a while and they loved that they did not have to upset him by giving him spicy chips. They said it was wonderful for kids who have problems speaking to eat spicy chips and sour (like the sour gummi worms). They said it "stimulates". Well, I was more afraid of what it would "stimulate" in his tummy. Luckily not much. So anyway, I made this recipe my own. I added a few things but you can find the original recipe online titled "Italian Chicken Simmer". So with me doing a different variation, I am not sure if it changed the nutritional value of the meal.

1 tbsp of olive oil - I used oil that had italian flavors
2 lbs of skinless chicken breast
1 can diced tomatoes-undrained
italian seasoning
minced garlic - a few tbsp
1 small can tomato paste
2 cups chopped red peppers
grated parmesan cheese
1.2 cup shredded italian five cheese blend
-heat oil in skillet and cook the chicken. Add tomatoes w/ liquid, tomato paste, seasonings, peppers and garlic. Reduce heat and simmer. Make sure chicken is completely cooked- 180 degrees. Stir in parmesan and sprinkle the shredded cheese on top. Let cheese melt and serve. I served w/ couscous and rolls.


This wasn't too bad. I found the following recipe off the Kraft Food and Family website http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf If you get a chance you need to sign up for their magazine. It is awesome. And it is free. No, I am not getting paid for this :) I just really love the magazine. I get it every quarter and have made may things from it. If you like black bean soup, you should search for that also because their recipe was quick and wonderful. I used it at a potluck and work and everyone loved it. And I did do anything different in that recipe.

Recipe Books

Okay, these two books have been under major controversy in several areas. I really don't see what the big deal is. Some people just make too much out things. The cookbooks are Deceptively Delicious http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/ by Jessica Seinfeld and The Sneaky Chef http://www.thesneakychef.com/ by Missy Chase Lapine. The idea for both books are to hide healthy veggies (which I am 32 and I would give up broccoli for a cheeseburger anyday!) into spaghetti or - one example is spinach in brownies. Okay, I have both books but I am skeptical on that one recipe. Well, it was in the news that Ms. Lapine was suing Ms. Seinfeld for plagerizing. That was canned of course - because like the Judge had said, is Ms. Lapine the only person in the world with the idea to sneak veggies into food by puree? Hm.....don't think so. I wish my mom and dad would have been nice to do that for me. HA! They plopped nasty brussel sprouts (sorry to the people who love brussel sprouts-if it isn't made of sugar, don't even bother) on our plates. That's okay, that only sparked my imaginative mind on coming up with ways to get rid of brussel sprouts. I couldn't even get our dog to eat them. And they say dogs are your friends! Anyway....that was the first controversy. The second was that there were many, many people complaining it was "lying" to children. Must be the same people who don't believe in Santa Clause and the Easter bunny. Because I am so sure that every parent who thinks this is lying goes over every single ingredient with their children prior to them eating it. "Yes, honey. I put liver and sprouts in that soup." Okay, I hope there really is not a recipe with those two ingredients in it. Yuck. Anyway, I say who cares as long as your child is eating. Tell them there are beets in the cake. Who cares, it just might make it easier for them to swallow! Less fight at the dinner table. Would you like to argue with them about eating, finally making them leave the table and not eat or eat their dinner w/veggies snuck in?



Like I said earlier I have both books. And I think some of the recipes don't "sound" good, but I want to try them. I haven't been able to at this time. It does take some time to puree the veggies. But still, they are good ideas. I would not recommend one over the other because they all have different ideas that are good. So I think many people should try them.

Preschool Activities

I found this website today. I think it is neat. I was trying to find some astronomy activities for my son. He is starting to be facinated with the solar system. I have a moon on his wall that will light up the lunar phases. Today I have purchased glow in the dark plastic stars that I am going to put around it. But this website has so many neat things to do for your preschooler.

http://science.preschoolrock.com/index.php/home

Motherboard

I have not been able to post anything for a long time. One day I was using my computer and it just shut off. Then it smelled like it was on fire. My dad, who lives in Memphis, is my computer tech. Who needs the Geek Squad? He works in the IT department as a director so I am lucky to know people in high places! So now that I am back on I am hoping to get started with some fun information.

I am sure there are many who know about this wonderful website, but if you don't you need to check it out! sugardoodle.net
I love the website and have been able to do some family home evenings with some of the ideas. I have a preschooler and I haven't been able to find many ideas for family home evenings. It has been hard for me since it is just baby boy and I