love love love pintrest

I owe pintrest a lot. Because of that fabulous blogland database, I have made some DELICIOUS food. Here is a new favorite of ours.

Crockpot Pork Chops
5-6 pork chops, thawed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 envelope either ranch or italian dressing mix

Throw the chops in the pot with soup and dressing sprinkled on top. Set your pot on high for 4 hours and let it cook and tease your nose with the awesome smell.

Make a batch of mashed potatoes any way you like and serve drizzle the soupy sauce all over. We drizzled it over the chops again on our plates too.

All 3 of my boys - yes I am including my picky 5 year old and the 11 month old too - ate. every. bite. And they ALL had seconds!!!!! Um.......that never happens.

Bread

First batch of dough, made December 26th, 2011. It's still shiny even with flour dust. That's pretty cool!

This post pays homeage to my AMAZING, AWESOME, WONDERFUL, LOVING parents. They gave me a new Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas. Yes, one with enough flour capacity to make 3 large gigantic loafs of bread dough at the same time. It has guts, it has power, and it's really clean......unlike my old Kitchenaid mixer that has been around since 1980 and had the motor replaced 2 or 3 times. THANK YOU DAD AND MOM!!!!!!!!!!! And my family thanks you because this is, by far, the best wheat bread recipe ever. How do I know? It actually raises!

Picture review of November

Thanksgiving skit Ammon's class did for the parents

Hiking in Red Rock Canyon with my parents and sisters 

Laundry day means they play in the buckets 

Eating a bag, tryng to get to the crackers inside. He discovered he can open the cabinet doors. I now have pony tail holders on all the ones I can "lock."

Sitting in Santa's chair

Seeing the lights at the Cactus Garden at Ethel M. Chocolate Factory



Ammon made up a story and drew this transformer, Roadbuster. He did such a good job!

"Helping" do the laundry

From us to you

I didn't get my pictures ordered in time to make cards to send in the mail this year. So we emailed this card I made and a newsletter type review of our year. If you didn't get an email from us, just leave a comment wih your email address, and I'll send it out right away. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!

Music

My boys LOVE my christmas Trans Siberian Orchestra CD. We listen to it in the car all the time. Last night we were listening to the radio, and Zenock's favorite song Carol of the Bells came on, but not by TSO. He said, "Hey, this isn't the right song. They are using the wrong instruments, and I like the other one better." And then he preceeded to insist we change the song to the right one. This morning on the way to take Ammon to school, we were listening to the TSO CD and both of them were immitating the sounds of the guitars and drums and totally rocking out in the car. I think you would have had to be there to get the full effect, but it really was super cute. I hope my kids keep up their intrest in music and want learn and instrument when they are in middle school.

On a side note, currently Gideon is in the hallway making very loud sounds because he is listening to the sound of his voice bounce off the walls. He loves to hear himself, and he loves it even more when we immitate the sounds with him. I can't believe he will be a year old in a month.

Love my boys even if they are a little weird

Now it's time for something amusing from Ammon. He came out of his room this morning holding the gun he build out of blocks last night. Both boys seem to be really attached to toys they make themselves. I think they may even sleep with them so they won't get lost or "stolen" during the night. I just think it is really funny that he woke up ready to play today. Perhaps it's a good thing he's out of school today for parent teacher conference. He has more time to play!

Sewing project

This is Gideon's stocking. I made it last night.

I also made another one for the new baby for next year. Now I just have to hem some pants for my friend and then I can put away my sewing machine for a while. It's been hogging the end of the kitchen table since the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Someday I'm going to have a sewing room so I can leave my machine up all the time and sew whenever I want.

something cool

last night we were on the way home from seeing the festival of lights at the speedway, and we hear this really loud airplane engine. even though it was dark outside, brady and i could both tell one of these puppies had taken off and was flying right over our car. we stopped to watch it for a minute, and then another one took off. it was so so so awesome. when we started driving away, we saw a third bomber take off and we could see the afterburn of the engines really well in the dark. i can't even tell you how cool it was to see those planes flying in the sky. this one of the things i really do love about living here, so close to an air force base. their planes rock!!!

wingers recipe

both shift keys on my laptop have been yanked off, so there are no properly written sentences in this post....sorry.
ok, so i saw a super good looking recipe on pintrest the other day. we went and got all the stuff to make it tonight for dinner. holy crap. super good stuff. are ya ready - pretend there was a question mark there.

wingers sticky fingers
1 bag tyson breaded chicken fingers
6 tbls franks hot sauce - has to be franks or it won't taste like wingers
4 tbls water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar

cook your fingers in the oven like the directions say. while that's cooking, make the sauce. combine all ingredients in a pan and cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved. when the chicken is done, dip the fingers in the sauce. eat promptly, or at least right after the food is blessed.

seriously this stuff is really really good. the blogger lady who posted this recipe said she thought it was better homemade than in the restaurant. i think i might agree with her. and even with buying the chicken and the bottle of sauce, and the bag of frozen fries not on sale it was still less than 10 bucks to feed all of us for dinner. i think i might have a new pregnant lady food. click on this button right HERE to go to the recipe link directly if you want to see a picture of the sticky goodness.

Good news and bad news

Last night Zenock came up to me and said, "Hey mom, do you want the good news or the bad news?" I said bad news first. "Well, the bad news is I don't want to fold my laundry." Okay, so what's the good news? "I still want to feed Fred so do you have any other jobs I can do instead?" I love that boy!

Fred is a paper man in Primary, and when the kids do a good deed during the week they get to write it down and feed it to Fred. At the end of the year the box is being given to our Bishop. I just thought it was sooooo funny that he was thinking of ways to get out of folding his clothes. Honestly, I don't blame him at all. I hate folding my clothes too. But fear not, he had to fold his clothes anyway.....we all did. It was a laundry folding party over here.

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

November is a month of gratitude

24 Days of Thankful

1.      I am thankful for my boys

2.      I am thankful for my husband

3.      I am thankful we have a source of steady income

4.      I am thankful for my ward family

5.      I am thankful for friends who are willing to help me

6.      I am thankful for my parents and siblings and their families

7.      I am thankful for beautiful weather in November

8.      I am thankful for rain and wish we got more of it

9.      I am thankful Ammon loves 1^st grade

10.  I am thankful Zenock has an art preschool class

11.  I am thankful Gideon loves to cuddle

12.  I am thankful I can already feel baby #4 moving around

13.  I am very thankful for a husband who is willing to help clean the house

14.  I am thankful to have a temple 20 minutes away

15.  I am thankful my parents and sisters are coming to our home to celebrate Thanksgiving with us

16.  I am thankful my car is fixed….hopefully for good this time

17.  I am thankful we don’t have to drive very far to go to Church or the store or school

18.  I am thankful for Church activities

19.  I am thankful for a garage to store things in

20.  I am thankful for good friends

21.  I am thankful for a clean home….when it happens

22.  I am thankful for indoor plumbing and an automatic dishwasher

23.  I am thankful we have enough food

24.  I am thankful for Christmas music

Battling

I asked the boys to get dressed for church fifteen minutes ago. They are using their clothes as weapons and fighting eachother......we may be late for church today.

2 weeks of birthday fun

Smiths 350 NASCAR truck series

 We got some free tickets from Smiths Food for the truck race out at the motor speedway on the 15th. We went to celebrate Zenock's 5th birthday.


Cleaning up a wreck

  Just to the left of this picture is where Dan Weldon died in an accident in the Indy 500 race the following day. It was a huge trouble spot for the trucks too. The whole race there were 11 caution flags thrown up all in the first half of the race. It seemed everyone was having a hard time staying off the wall.


  We found the King's number. They were both super excited.

Batman cake. Zenock inspected my work and said, "oh wow, that's cool mom!"

 I think I should submit this cake to the cake wrecks blog. I had a horrible homemade frosting experience. And no backup option, so this is what Zenock got. He loved it though, so that's what counts. He turned 5!

And he is in love with Batman. He got a Batman shirt and jammies and he would wear them every day if I let him.



How old are you? 5!




Batman cupcakes for joint friend party

Frosting experience was much better this time, but I just couldn't get it to go black.

At the park with all their friends. Since both birthdays are so close together we did a friend party for them together too. They each got to invite their own friends, and they loved it. I was really happy a couple of Mom's decided to stay and help because Brady was home with napping Gideon, so he couldn't help me like I had planned.



awesome super hero capes made by my friend Melonie



Monster trucks vs. Army. Ammon's idea

 If I had my way I would have done green men vs. brown men, but he insisted the monster trucks were the bad guys. It's his birthday, so I gave up. The sand is actually crushed grahm crackers.

He's 7!

Bullring at LV motor speedway. We got to go for free, and saw some cool crashes.

 We got into this race for free on Ammon's birthday because the previous race we went too had a canceled demolition derby. It was fun to watch all the mini cars and late models racing. We had to leave right before the final race started because Gideon fell asleep. I love going to the races, and so do my men.

Qualifying laps are done and everyone is lined up for the big finals race.

Last race for the mini cars. These were so small we didn't need our earplugs.

Kids say the darndest things

1. A little girl: was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher: said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl: stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher: reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossib...le. The little girl: said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah". The teacher: asked, " What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl: replied, "Then you ask him".

2. A Kindergarten teacher: was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl: replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher: paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl: replied, "They will in a minute."

3. A Sunday school teacher: was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat one little boy: (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

4. One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

5. The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.' A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, She's dead."

6. A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face.." "Yes," the class said. "Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?" A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."

7. The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples

Have you laughed so hard your belly hurts? You will after watching this

Trick or Treat

 Gideon the puppy

 Zenock was Bumblebee and refused to smile

 Ammon was Optimus Prime

And this is our trunk of vampire teeth. The boys insisted on helping draw the blood, so it's not as authentic looking as I was hoping to get, but they were so happy to help. We put some purple lights inside the mouth and orange lights outlining the whole thing. We had a chili dinner in the parkinglot. I made the best chili.....in my humble opinion. There were some carnival games in the gym, and lots and lots of candy being passed around. I think my boys went around to everyone 3 times. The weather was perfect. It was a blast!

Busy day

Last night I ran out of laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid detergent. Since I am finally out, I decided to get busy making my own because I have had the recipes for a while now. They are super easy and super cheap.

Laundry soap

1 bar fels naphta  -- $0.97 @ walmart – one per batch

½ cup borax  --$ 4.79 @ Smiths – 76 oz box makes abt 10 batches

1 cup washing soda  -- $3.59 @ Smiths – 55 oz box makes abt 5 batches

= abt $2.16 per batch

= abt 160 loads per batch

= abt $0.02 per load

Grate soap with cheese grater (I cheated and used my Kitchenaid attachment). Pour in pot with 4 cups water. Cook on medium heat until soap is mostly melted – just a few tiny chunks is ok. Add to 5 gallon bucket. Add borax and soda. Add hot water until bucket is ½ full. Stir well until mixed and smooth. Add water to almost top of bucket. Stir and put on lid. Stir every few hours throughout day or leave overnight. Stir very well next morning. May have to use hands to break up goopy chunks – very therapeutic J. Pour carefully into a smaller container with measuring lid like fabric softener container or small detergent container. Shake well before each use. Pour one cupful in each load. Will have to use bleach or oxyclean as well to keep whites from graying.

Dishwasher detergent

½ cup kosher salt – $1.25 @ smiths – 48 oz box makes abt 5 batches

1 cup lemi shine – $4.19 @ smiths – 1 container is 1.5 batches

1 cup washing soda – $3.59 @ smiths – 55 oz box is abt 5 batches

1 cup borax – $4.79@ smiths – 76 oz box is abt 5 batches

= $4.72 per batch

= abt 56 loads per batch

= abt $0.08 per load

Mix all ingredients. Let sit with lid off for one day, stirring often. This makes it less clumpy. Use 1 tbsp per load.

A change in our family

Ok, so now that we made the big announcement to our families, it's time to make it public news. We are expanding our family by 2 feet, and I am due May 29, 2012. We are all very excited. We have known for a couple of weeks, but it took a while to decide how to tell everyone. Yes I am sick, yes I am tired, yes food is my enemy - especially food commercials and dinner smells - and given that I am very thankful for a husband who is willing to make dinner and entertain the boys. We are happy that Gideon will have a partner in crime, as they will be only 16 months apart. Welcome to this new adventure. Enjoy the ride with us :)

Whole wheat bread recipe

Here is a pretty good bread recipe.

3 cups warm water
1/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup honey
3 T yeast
1 T salt
3 T vital wheat gluten
3 T dough enhancer
5-6 cups whole wheat flour

Mix first 7 ingredients together until well blended using Kitchenaid mixer and paddle. Add wheat flour until dough clean sides and bottom of bowl. Switch to dough hook. Knead dough on medium speed for 8 minutes. Divide dough in two and shape into loaves. Put in greased bread pan and let raise until double in size. Bake at 350* for about 30 minutes.

My kitchen was cold today, so it didn't raise as much as I wanted it too, but it still tastes good. And that's what really counts right? I think if I keep making bread every week I'm going to wear out my mixer by the end of the year. The poor thing is older than me, so I guess that's okay, but I'm gonna miss it when it's gone. I wonder if I can find a bigger size in lime green. Wouldn't that be awesome? I would love to be able to make like 4 or 5 loaves of dough at the same time.

My helpers

 Helping make dinner

 Helping unload the dryer

 Zenock helping Gideon read a book

 Gideon helping Daddy eat some nachos

 Helping with the laundry

Helping make dessert by doing a puzzle on the counter

Dry onion soup mix recipe

I have been out of dry onion soup mix for a while now and I keep forgetting to go buy some. Last night I wanted roasted potatoes with our sloppy joes, so I did an internet search for homemade onion soup mix. This is the recipe I found.

1 T onion powder
1/4 cup beef boullion powder
1/2 cup dried onions

Mix it all up and sprinkle away.

I had all this stuff on hand, and it turned out so well on my oven roasted potatoes. I doubled the recipe and I think can use it 5 times. Wow!! Love saving money :)

Observations

Some observations I have made in the last little while:

-          It is easier to change a wiggly baby when he has something to play with that is not a toy.

-          I really like to cook, but if the kitchen is messy, my motivation is quick to dissipate – bet you didn’t know I knew that word.

-          Gideon doesn’t crawl around stuff, he just goes over it.

-          Me time is way important to my sanity. I got 3 hours to myself yesterday to go to a bridal shower and it was so fun. I came back energized and happy to see the boys.

-          I feel so productive when the kitchen gets cleaned first thing in the morning. It gives me energy for the rest of the day and makes the day seem longer – which is a good thing when we have fun stuff to do.

-          Gideon loves to eat off my plate

-          Mormon Tabernacle Choir is in Pandora’s database, so I jammed to Church music while making dinner today.

-          Trying new recipes is awesome!

-          It is an advantage to be a Vegas local. Lion King (the broadway show) tickets are ½ price so we have an awesome Anniversary date planned already, we are getting in free to the NASCAR Truck Nationals on October 15^th just for spending $5 on Little Debbie snacks, and we are going to more races at the LVMS on Ammon’s birthday for free.

-          Today was the first day since the summer began that Brady was awake enough to attend all three meetings of Church today. I got to go to Relief Society kidless, and it was so awesome!!!!

 I love the big and little men in my life. They make me happy J

Love to laugh

Stuff I've been meaning to share but never did for some reason

 Ammon's Kindergarten graduation with his teacher Mrs. Prickett

 Solid foods......blek! Of course, he loves to eat it now, but then not so much!

 Dinner date at Cafe Hiedelburg.....fabulous German food!

 Making a racecar cupcake creation with my friend Alexis

 So tired he fell asleep mid play

 Gideon's baby quilt I made him

 The cake pops I made for Ammon's spring pary at school. They tasted great but look really uncute. I had major trouble dipping the cake balls and rolling them in sprinkles. I really need to figure out how to make them cute.

One of Ammon's tball games

 Swimming at a friends pool. It was lonely until we got there :)

 Playing a game with Dad

 Ammon's whole tball team. It was so great to watch him play! He loved it so much, we're doing it again next spring.