Something to make you smile...

Rosemary Ranch Chicken

DA took one bite of this and declared that it was a keeper. It was full of flavor and the kids loved it too. I got the recipe from Real Mom Kitchen.

Rosemary Ranch Grilled Chicken

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup ranch dressing
3 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste (optional)
6-8 boneless skinless chicken cutlets

In a gallon size baggie, mix together the olive oil, ranch dressing, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt, lemon juice, white vinegar, pepper, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Place chicken in the baggie, and coat chicken with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 4-8 hours. Preheat the grill for medium-high heat. Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill chicken for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear.

Cheesesteak Subs

I am crediting Real Mom Kitchen for this recipe. It was fast and easy and really good. TJ even liked it. AM turned up her nose but that's pretty typical these days. This one has made the cut and will be going into my cookbook. The only changes I made was to replace half of the butter with Olive Oil and I added tomatoes after the sandwich had been put together. Thanks to Maria for having some oregano on hand. I had forgotten that when we moved I threw a lot of outdated spices away.

Quick and Easy Cheesesteak Subs

3 tablespoons butter
1 green pepper, halved and sliced
1 onion, halved and sliced into thin half moons
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons A-1 steak sauce
1 pound deli roast beef, cut into 2-inch strips
Salt and pepper
4 -6 (6-inch) sub rolls (depending on how meaty you like them – I did 6)
4-6 slices provolone cheese, cut on half

In a large skillet, melt the butter, add the onion and peppers; cook until softened and golden.  Stir in the garlic and oregano and cook for a minute, until it smells fragrant. Add the A-1 sauce and the beef, stirring well to coat the beef with the sauce and onion/butter mixture. Cook until the meat is heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the sliced rolls on a rimmed baking sheet. Place to halves of provolone on half of each roll.  Broil until bread is toasted and cheese is melted. Top each roll with meat mixture . Serve immediately.

Have you ever heard of Trios?

I hadn't, but my friend Juana's friend is having a giveaway on her blog. They look pretty cool and I think TJ would like them so I'm trying to win them. I get an entry for posting about it here so...... go and check it out. Since I am the most unlucky person and never win anything,  you'll probably be the one to win them!

http://www.thedietcokediet.com/

What a moment for my mama heart...

TJ has always been very shy. He's always on the fringes of crowds and never joins into groups until he's sure of the reception he's going to receive. Moving has been hard on him. He's struggled to find where he fits in. I didn't realize how bad it was until he started carrying around his puppy that he's had since he was a baby. For 2 years puppy had only been slept with at night and all of a sudden he was being carried around the house and talked to. Puppy was swinging on the swings with him, watching TV with TJ and was a constant companion. Nearly broke my heart once I clued in to what was going on. But, things have improved over the past two weeks and the past two days have been even better. *Whew* We didn't ruin his life by moving.

Part of his shyness has also extended to all those primary programs at church. DA and I have had 5 years of Mother's/Father's Day programs with no one singing to us. He's never participated in the Christmas programs at church or the yearly Primary Programs. Every year, to each of those events, we would walk him down the aisle to the front just to have him start sobbing.

Until this year.

He went down on his own without a qualm. I'd been praying the whole week that he would be able to do it and not be scared. He went and sat up on the stand and sat there smiling. He sang the songs and when it was time for him to speak his part he did so without a quiver.

Totally made me cry. He's finding his way and he's going to be okay.

My sweet, soft-hearted, geeky little boy who INSISTS on tucking his shirt in each day. I wouldn't trade him for the world!

Our new house

It's still a work in progress. I was going to post more pictures but when I saw how cluttered they looked I decided not to. It started to make me feel stressed just looking at them. One drawback to this house is there aren't many storage options. So we are busy building shelves and trying to get projects done without completely neglecting our kids.

So.... the front of the house. It's another open floor plan so the kitchen, family, and dining rooms are all together, but at least you can't see the kitchen from the front door!

The entry way. The stairs to the basement are on the right.

The kids room. I lost the "paint before we move in" discussion, so it's a lovely shade of mint green in there. This room is just off the front door, directly across from the cutout in the entry way. We put french doors on it so we could use it as a bedroom until the basement is finished. Then we will use it as a living room. DA is currently painting those doors as we speak.

the kitchen

The Family room. The mirror will soon be going in an area in the entry way and the TV will be mounted on the way where the mirror is now. The antenna situation is hopefully going to be fixed next week. I'm trying to figure out how to decorate this area (shelves) without it looking so cluttered. It's better than it was, but it still has a way to go.

View from the kitchen to the front door.

And that is the end of our short little tour. If you want the real tour, clutter and all, you have to come and visit us!

Land of Imagination

TJ has always been a very literal kid so it's been really interesting to see him start to play pretend. He has been the guy at a drive up window, and worker guys (construction) and a whole bunch of other things.

Tonight he was a waiter and it went something like this:

TJ: what would you like? (Ordering pad and pen ready)
DA: Oh.... I'd like the Tour of Italy.
TJ: Well. We've got pancakes. How about that?
DA: That will work.

He then moves on to AM.

TJ: What would you like to order miss?
AM: mumble, mumble.... bacon.
TJ: The cooker is making pancakes. How about that?
AM: Okay.

I'm so glad that everyone is so easy to please here at the A restaurant.

AM's constant companion

AM hardly goes anywhere without her baby.

My sweet SL this summer

Giving up on waiting for Mom to pick her up. Don't worry, I did make sure she could breathe in that blanket.

This was taken last week. She loves being outside. This week I've started sitting on the porch before she goes to bed at night. She is so calm and quiet in my lap when out we are out there. I'm going to miss sitting there with her when it gets cold.

What a sweet girl we've got!

First lost tooth

TJ lost his first tooth. It was a Sunday afternoon. The day before I noticed some white stuff behind his loose tooth. I kept thinking "yuck" and told him 3 or 4 times to go and brush his teeth because there was food stuck behind it. Finally DA looked and noticed it was a tooth and not food. So we got to work trying to get that tooth to wiggle more and more. We worked on it and worked on it and it wasn't getting any looser. He kept saying that it hurt and I thought he was just being a baby. Finally I grabbed a bib (it was close by), grabbed that tooth and yanked before Toby even had an idea of what I was doing. (bad mom, I know) We'll it came out soooo easily. We were both surprised and TJ was happy until some blood started to come out. Then he panicked and cried for a bit. But, Holy Cow. Look at that tooth! No wonder it wouldn't wiggle and it hurt. The front was totally longer than the back.

My brave boy.

First Day of School

TJ was soooo excited. We had met his teacher the week befoe and TJ was pretty confident that he was going to have a good time. Mrs. H seems to be the perfect teacher for him. He hasn't had any anxiety about going and every morning he gets dressed carefully because "He wants to look good for Mrs. H." Makes my mama heart smile.

My AM

As I am sitting here I watch AM as she tries on all my clothes. I went shopping yesterday for my birthday and I left everything I bought over the back of the couch. She tries something on and then announces that she is cuuuuute. I just love this girl! She is sweet and loving, but still her crazy little self.