FHE

If you were to listen to my children, you would get the impression that we are barely above the poverty level. Living in a shack with no running water or indoor plumbing. They are constantly letting us know that "my life is so hard because_______" with reasons from because I don't have an ipod to we didn't go to McDonalds for dinner.

I realize that they are just kids, but that is not a message that I want to be sending them. So with it being February, and a time for love, our theme for the month is "Love One Another as I have Loved You". We made a chart, which is now hanging on the pantry. Anytime one of the kids performs an act of service, they put a heart with their initial on it. If we fill the chart out we will have an ice cream sundae party for the last week in Feb. With an extra something going to the child who has the most on there.

Last night we decorated Valentines and will be sending them to all the Grandmas. The kids had a great time!

Whole Lotta Love

All right, I have a confession. I am a hopeless romantic. Hopeless. I have loved romance and romantic comedies for so long. I always tell my kids that the best part of any movie is the kissy part! Valentines Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love the idea of having a day to just let people know how much you love them. I ecspecially enjoy giving my kids all the hugs and kisses I want and they don't complain...too much.

When my sister got married, her family in law, introduced her to their tradition at Valentines. She has talked about it a lot, and I decided that I wanted to do it this year. Yes, I stole their idea. But her Mother in Law emailed me that it had been going on for over 25 years now!

Anyway, they celebrate the 14 days of love. A little token of love every day until Valentines Day. So I thought it would be fun to post what I have/will be doing.

Day 1 (today) was a fun note tucked in my kids lunchboxes. Letting them know what I was doing and sharing with them one thing that I love about them. I have a card for my sweetheart but haven't had a chance to surprise him with it. I want it to be found, not handed to him, know what I mean?

Day 2 will be some red Peeps candy that spell I love U and a coupon for one free getting out of walking the dog once. I know they will appreciate that!

So stay tuned, there is a lot of lovin' going on around here!

Holiday lunch bag

One of the things that I try to do is to make lunches fun. And there is nothing like the holidays to make it that way! It is somewhat hard to add things to my kid's lunches because they are not allowed to have toys, cards (like Pokemon)and candy! They can have treats, teachers just prefer no candy.

I like to make their holiday lunches, in the color scheme of that holiday. For Halloween ( I forgot to take pictures) they had orange and black. Their lunch consisted of...

mac & cheese (which I placed a spider ring on top!)
purple grapes
oreos
carrot sticks
grape juice/orange juice
cheetos

(I am sure their teeth were AWFUL after eating cheetos & oreo's! Poor teachers!)

For Christmas I did red & green!

sandwich cut into a tree shape
green bag of Pringles (sour cream & onion)
fruit cup with strawberries
red and green Fruit by the Foot
the bakery had these fun tree cookies. They were $1.24 for 6 cookies. I sent one for the kids and one to share with a friend!

It really is easy to make their lunches fun with very little effort. I am looking forward to a red and pink, heart filled lunch bag come Valentines Day!

Finding a balance

It's been a long time. I don't have an excuse. Just the normal...life, kids, the holidays, church obligations, wardroom (the people Ben works with) obligations...etc. etc.

My life is a little beyond control right now.

Right now I am trying to exercise, lose weight, keep a home running, keep my children alive and well, be a wife, and find some time to myself in there somewhere. So far, I am not managing well!

My kitchen counters are covered with dirty dishes. So this morning, someone had left the lid off of my cookie jar and...it fell and shattered. ): Then my boys got in trouble on the bus, and so I had to go talk to the bus driver. As I was walking back, Ivan wanted to "race." After maybe 5 or 6 steps, pain shot through the back of my left leg. I am now limping as I can't even walk. Get the boys in the car and get to the gate and...my military ID is in Ben's car...clear across island. He is (still) not answering his phone and so he doesn't know what is going on.

And today, like a ton of bricks, I realized I don't have balance. I focus on one thing (right now it's exercise) and let everything else go. Obviously I can't do that. So it's time to realign priorities. I know I can do it! I just need to set some goals. This post is too long already though so I will share them at a later time! (: Until then...

Chicken spaghetti

**Please keep in mind...I am NOT a food photographer!**

So the first of the new recipes that I am trying is...chicken spaghetti! Tonight is a busy night at our house...Harmony has Achievement Days and Ben and the boys have scouts. So I was hoping to get this done before they left. Unfortunatley...that didn't happen! But I was the lucky one that got to try it out. Can I just tell you...yum! So good! The recipe I followed can be found here under her casseroles link on the side!

Besides the fact that I started later than planned, this was a pretty easy recipe.

For the chicken, she suggests you cook a fryer and than debone it. I happened to have a rotisserie chicken and a container of chicken that I had cut and frozen on one of my freezer days. Because of this, it went very quickly!

I accidently omitted the green pepper. Oops.

I did decide to make extra and freeze one. Well one recipe makes ALOT. I probably would have been fine just making one and halfing it. But I will just divide them and have 3 for the freezer. 2 portions from the extra, and 1 portion from the other. Does that make sense?!

All I can say is a good easy yummy casserole. The only things I had to buy were Velveeta and celery. I had everything else in the pantry. Not too shabby! If you try it, tell me what you think! Oh and just as a side note...the kitchen smells so good while you are making this! My kids kept coming in and out sniffing the air! (: Kind of like those cartoons where the person floats to the smell of the pie!

Menu Plan Monday

My daughter is trying to earn money for a video game. So while she cleans up I am sitting planning my meals for the week. And I sigh. I have a notebook that I keep my weekly menu's in. That way if I get stuck for an idea, I can look back. Well guess what? All of them look eerily the same. I haven't tried a new recipe for way too long!! Which is probably why, I haven't looked forward to MPM for awhile! So I sat down at my computer and looked up my favorite cooking site. I decided to try a new easy recipe every day this week. So come back and see what I am making for "casserole week". Here is what my plan looks like for the week (dinners only for now!)

Monday: hmmm not sure yet ( I live on Guam and it is already Monday here!)

Tuesday: chicken spaghetti

Wednesday: Tater Tot casserole

Thursday: Cheesy Hash Brown casserole w/ ham

Friday: chili corn bread casserole

Saturday: Honey lime grilled chicken

Sunday: clean out the fridge

On Saturday I will also be making a Strawberry Pop cake.

All the recipes that I will be using come from one of my fav. sites Mommy Kitchen

Also, if you are interested, Amazon.com is offering a years subscription to Cooking Light for $5! I know that at the store, one issue is 3.99! So that is a total score!

Happy Homemaker Monday

( My son as Harry Potter at school)

Whew! Feeling really under the weather today. I have not been feeling well since Friday evening. But I wanted to get this done as I haven't done one for so long! Here goes...

~Weather in my neck of the woods: blue skies, palm trees swaying in the breeze. Guam is gearing up for the dry season.

~Simple pleasure: big bear hugs from my husband and kids

~On my bedside table: Chocolate Chip cookie murder by Joanne Fluke

~On my tv:Scooby Doo season 2

~Menu for tonight: I am not 100% sure. Ben and the older boys have cub scouts, Harmony has girl scouts. I am thinking of just ham sandwiches, potato salad and apple sauce

~On my to do list:
fold the mountain of laundry sitting on the couch
afternoon routine
a nap since I am feeling yucky

~New recipe I tried last week: lol well I made a recipe called "ham and noodle bake". It was not good! I actually ended up tossing the whole thing and just making mac & cheese!!

~What is in the craft basket:getting my Christmas card idea ready to turn into reality

~Looking forward to: Friday. There is no school. Hoping to sleep in just a little!

~Homemaking tip of the week: my kids still struggle with cutting their food. Some meats and things like enchiladas etc. So I let them use a pizza cutter. It is easier for them to handle but they still feel like they "did it all by themselves!"

~Favorite blog post: I read so many it is hard for me to remember what I read and where!

~Favorite photo: at the top

~Lessons learned the past few days: I have been busy doing a lot of different projects for church, school, home etc. Some things have just not turned out the way I have planned. So I am trying to learn to let go a little. Things don't have to be perfect to be enjoyed.

~prayer list: family & friends

~Devotional: "If you unravel the family unit, you unravel the nation." -Bernard