Monday, October 15, 2007

My fabulous ramblings about nothings...

I survived Fall Break! YAY!! I'm really glad they have that. I start hearing the whining about not wanting to go to school too soon after the year starts! We didn't have money to go anywhere and do anything super exciting, but my kids got to have their cousins over for 6 hours last Wednesday! Here's a visualization of the fun they had...


This is a car (incase you couldn't tell) they put together to go on a "trip". This picture was actually taken at a "gas station"...you can see my nephew, Landon, standing by the "gas pump" (the piano) filling the "car" w/"gas"... Loads of fun. I think Camden and my other nephew, Jacob, had to ride in the "trunk"...hope they didn't get pulled over.

On Friday, Leslie (my sister-in-law) and I went to Michael's, w/all 8 of the kids, and bought them some little Halloween crafts to make.

The cute cat is Rylie's. It was made out of a bell a few pompoms and some tiny letter blocks that spell "BOO".

These other 3 were made out of prepainted terra cotta pots. The vampire is Alyssa's, the ghost is Trenton's and the spider w/the freaky legs, is Camden's. They were a pain to put together. Hot glue would have been the ideal way to go, but we used craft glue. They turned out cute and the kids were happy w/the results. That is all that matters.

Besides driving around the block to pick up a lawn mower from my brother's house on Saturday, we stayed home all day. That is so not a normal Saturday for me. (My parents were out of town though, otherwise I usually go to their house to scrapbook w/my mom and sister.) I mowed the front yard and weeded out some grass that was growing in our rocks. Then Josiah and I traded mowing on and off in the backyard, which after being put off for way too long, had become a jungle. We had attempted a few times w/our push mower, but it was more than that could handle. With the regular lawn mower that we borrowed, we had to go over the yard 2 times. Once w/the mower at the higher level, then again w/it set down to trim it closer. It was dark by the time we were done. Now that it's cooling off again, it will be nice to be able to send the kids out there. I think we're going to also be able to put our baseball gloves to good use that we bought the whole family last Spring. Josiah plans on taking the kids out their to play catch with them. It will be good to help get some of their energy out.

Yesterday we had our early morning church, which really came too early, since Josiah and I had stayed up late Saturday night playing games. After church I didn't get to take a nap like I normally do on Sundays because I had much preparation for preschool this week. I get to be the "teacher"....YAY! I had to get my house ready to have strangers over. I realize that Sunday is NOT the best day for doing such things, but I'm a big time procrastinator. With the help of Josiah and the kids, it all got done. I had a meeting for Cub Scouts at 6:30 so dinner didn't get made til I got home at 8. Yep....totally late dinner, I know. It was good though. I made a variation of my mom's "Cream Tortillas" which is typically made w/ground beef and cream of mushroom soup. I had made it a few weeks ago and it was good, but I had this insane curiosity to find out if it would work w/chicken and cream of chicken soup instead. It did, and it was good! Here's the recipe for anyone who might like to give it a try...

"Chicken Cream Tortillas"

2 large boneless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can tomato soup
1 soup can of water
12-15 corn tortillas
cheese
olives (optional)
green chilies (optional)

Cut chicken breasts into small chunks. Cook in a skillet like you would ground beef except add a small amount of oil to prevent sticking. Season chicken w/salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder for added flavor. Pour cream of chicken and tomato soups + 1 can of water into a large pot. Heat to boil. Tear up corn tortillas and toss into pot. Cook 1 minute over med-high heat, stirring. Stir chicken into soup mixture. Pour into a pan sprayed w/cooking spray. Top w/cheese. Cook in 400° oven for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I didn't add olives or green chilies because I have some picky eaters. But it was still yummy. And now you all have something to add to your rotation of recipes. Unless you're like me and don't actually have recipes that you rotate through. I tend to make the same 4-5 dishes every couple weeks. Between pito (pop in the oven) pizza or sandwhiches. It's hard to cook for picky eaters!

Sooo...like I mentioned previously, this is my week to host preschool. I was pretty much dreading having to "teach", but it was all for nothing. It went pretty well.
We discussed fire prevention, since last week was "Fire Prevention week". But because there was no school last week, we get to go over it this week.

They did get to go to the fire station on the 5th though. They all had lots of fun and got to see a fireman up close and personal w/his "fire gear" on. It was cool the way they did it too, to help the kids know that they shouldn't be afraid of a fireman who is decked out in his gear.

I had about a little more than 3 pages of stuff to do and was almost positive we'd run out of time, but ended up getting through it all a 1/2 hour early. I'll have to plan a little more for Wednesday.

So now that I've finally blogged about everything that I've attempted to blog about atleast twice in the last week, I can go take a nap!

HAPPY MONDAY!!

3 comments:

idahohubers said...

YOu've been busy! I love the car and the cousin fun. And the preschool, oh my, I could not commit to that - Are all those kids in the preschool or are the bros and sis's of the kids you teach? Sounds like you're making the most out of your rotation though. I'd love to see you teach a class, I bet you do a great job.

Sarah said...

All but the smallest boy on the right are in the preschool. The little girl in the white shirt/pink skirt doesn't come all the time. There were 8 kids here on Monday, counting my boys of course. I allows thought it would be fun to do a preschool in my home back about 15 or so years ago. There was a lady in my home ward growing up that had one and my brother Michael was in. I was very envious of the lady for doing it. I always thought it'd be a good way to make a little money while staying home with my kids, but I never followed through with my feelings. This rotation preschool was another ladies idea, I was just invited to participate if I wanted. Well, I did have to pay for my boys too, but it was a super inexpensive, 1 time fee. So that was nice.

Jenna said...

Cute little crafts! I love that kind of stuff. And the preschool sounds fun...lots of work, but fun, and at least it's not ALWAYS your turn, right?