Cooking Blahs

I know most of my mom friends go through the same thing as I do...the cooking blahs. You know where you just don't know what to fix for dinner, you feel like you make the same things over and over. Most of the time I would love to try new recipes but lately feel like I just don't have the time. So I decided that on Saturdays and Sundays would be my days to try new recipes to see if we like them. I found a recipe in a cooking magazine for chicken subs. It sounded really good and seemed pretty easy as the chicken you use is from a store bought rotisserie chicken, so it was basically layering all the ingredients and warming it all up. It is called Chicken Tequila, except I left out the tequila part. Mainly because I didn't want to buy a bottle of tequila just for this recipe, because we are not Tequila drinkers, but to us it was still really yummy. Bree didn't want to try it but Chris, Katie and I all gobbled it up.

So the pictures don't really make it look great but I promise it was really good, even better heated back up the next day. You heat it all up in aluminum foil so really no mess.

Serve is on sourdough bread or any bread of your choice.

I'll post some other stuff I am making as well.

Homework, Progress Reports and Two Smart Girls!

We are almost done with the first 9 weeks of school year. Katie is really enjoying 1st grade, she loves her teacher and learning lots. I am surprised however how much homework she has each night. Every night she has to read at least 15 mins. and then answer 4 questions about what she read. She also has spelling words she has to learn each night for a test each Friday and then she has at least one sometimes two math packets she has to complete each week. She gets off the bus from school each day around 3:30pm and then she has a little time to grab a snack and just veg before we have to start working on homework. We try to get it done before dinner because by then she is tired and we try to have some family play time after dinner before bed. I do have to say that Katie is very good about getting her homework done and she likes to do as much as she can by herself and then come and show me so I can check it. Last week she had a 5 page math packet with about 30 questions. She asked if she could answer them all on her own and then let me check it. She read each question and answered each question. When I checked them she got all of them right. I was really impressed!

Here is a short video of her reading a book for her homework. Click here to view the video

Last week I had her first parent teacher conference this year. Mrs. Gibson just let's us know how she is doing, what they are working on and if there are any areas that may need improvement. As expected, Katie does really well in class. She is well behaved, except for a little chatty with her friend that sits beside her. But hey she is a girl and that what girls do...we chat :) Mrs. Gibson said that she was tested for her reading and she is considered an advanced reader for her age. She is at a mid 1st grade to mid 2nd grade level. She has also been put on the list for the "gifted and talented program" based on her creativity in drawing and story writing. I know I am her mom and probably biased but Katie really does have a talent for writing and drawing. Her pictures and stories she writes to go with the really amaze me. I don't need her to be in the gifted and talented program for her to be great, but I do like the idea that in that program she will be challenged and encouraged to develop those skills more.

Oh and the craziest thing to me about school now is how fast they learn how to use computers. Katie came home on Friday and  this was our conversation

Katie: Hey mom, I need to use your computer
Me: for what
Katie: I need to do some research and need to google something
Me: Laughing out loud. You need to google something
Katie: Yeah, we learned how to google to answer questions we have and don't know the answers.
Me: Ok, can Mommy what you google something
Katie: Sure

So I sat there amazed at my daughter going to google.com and typing in a question about Japan (they are learning about different countries). I told her you know how mommy used to research when I was young. Nana and Papaw had a wall full of encyclopedia's. I had to look it up. Katie looks at me and says " that is crazy". I also learned that next year, that possible all kids who are in 2nd grade and up will actually do all their work on a laptop. No paper, everything is on the computer. That just seems crazy!

Bree is doing really well in her Pre-K class this year. She is also learning lots. She is writing both Bree and Breanna as well as her last name. She write all of her numbers from 1-10 and can write all of her ABC's. She LOVES to write everything now, and is constantly asking me how to spell words so she can write them. Is so much fun to watch them learn something new and be so excited about how to do. She has a great Pre K teacher Ms. Brittney. They do lots of fun play and learning. She gets really excited when Ms. Brittney gives them stuff to take home to do as a family project. Bree thinks she is a big girl and has "homework" just like Katie. She is so ready for Kindergarten and can't wait to go. I on the other hand am not looking forward to have my last baby start school. Everyone at Bree's school always says how sweet she is, she is always given all the teachers hugs. It really make me smile to see everyone just see a glimpse of how sweet and loving this little girl can be.

Soccer Fun!

The girls started to play in a recreation soccer league. They both are so excited to play and can't wait to go to practice or the games. They had their first game on Saturday. It was so much fun watching the both play.

A little pre game practice

 You notice Bree is in a white shirt above and below in her game she is in yellow...she got traded to the other team right before the game. :) Each team has to have 4 players to play and the yellow team(the Lions) only had 3 show up so Bree went to the their team for the game. This was her first year playing and she has been doing so good. She stays with the ball and runs hard to try and get it.

 She got the ball and taking down the field. After the ball ended up going out of bounds she jumped up and down, ran over to us and gave each of us kisses. She was just so excited that she got to kick the ball. I love her excitement over getting to do new things. The whole time she was playing she had the biggest smile on her face.

Katie's team is made up of 3 girls and one boy. Each team is suppose to have at least 5 players so they can rotate them during the game but for her team they all have to play the entire time. Her game on Saturday was the classic underdog story. The other team was all boys and they looked at our team and saw that is was basically all girls. I think they thought they had this game in the bag. It was really funny to watch the all boys team running round the field looking confused because our girls were running them all over the place. James, the one boy on our team was defending the goal and Katie, Lucy and Elizabeth were up and down the field. They ended the game with a 4-1 score. We were so proud of them and the were all so excited that they beat a bunch of boys. Coach Mike works them hard during their practice, he makes them run laps at the beginning and the end of the practice. He does a great job of teaching them the game and how to play and use their feet to move the ball where they want it to go.

Break Over

I am back to blogging after a short break. Life is getting back to manageable to me or maybe I am just planning and organizing better so I don't feel like I am going crazy. So I will have a few more posting coming soon. Since my last post, I had to travel to Fort Smith AR for work. I was there a week and because of plane ticket prices being cheaper to fly on a Saturday, my company had me fly in on Saturday. This was going to work to my advantage as my plans were to rent a car once I arrived at Fort Smith and drive over to Tulsa for the weekend since it was only 1.5 hours away. But....car rental places in Fort Smith don't believe in working after 4pm on a Saturday and since I didn't get in until 6pm I wasn't going to be able to rent a car. I was pretty bummed that I was going to be so close and not get to go back and see some of my friends. My friend Stef was going to drive over on Sunday to see me so we could spend some time together. I was excited about that, she is one of my best friends and I have missed her. As I was sitting in the Memphis airport waiting on my last plan to take me to Ft. Smith Stef called me and asked me what time my plane landed. I told her 6pm, and she said okay I'll see you then. I said "what" and she said I am going to get you and bring you back to Tulsa so you can see everyone at church on Sunday. I was floored...and BEYOND excited. Shortly after I landed Stef pulled up to my hotel and we were off to Tulsa. Even though I was only going to get to be there for basically 24 hours it was more than I could have asked for. An answered prayer...one that God knew I need for my soul. When we got to Tulsa on Saturday night we went over to my other favorite people in this world, the Hughes. I love this family and all three of their daughters. I taught two of them in Sunday School and their oldest was a youth leader with us. We hung out with them for a few hours and laughed more than I have laughed in the past 6 mths. It was a much needed. I loved catching up with all of them. I loved being back in our old church on Sunday and seeing some many faces that I have missed, hug them and talk with them. My heart was so happy that day.



 Before I headed back to Ft. Smith Stef and I headed over to Cherry Berry to get some frozen yogurt. Yum!!! I love this place...so I had to have some before I left. Two of the girls I taught in Sunday School also joined us.

Me and Jeanie...aka one of my favorite Hughes girls.

Me and Caitlin

Stef and I....she is one amazing friend.

On my flight back home on Friday I was on my last flight into Wilmington, the sun was setting and I looked out my window and I just had to stare. The sky was just breath taking to me and in awe of how wonderful our God is and how beautiful He can paint the sky. I think I more now than ever I see how God works in my life and He has giving more of the ability to see Him in everyday things. I am so thankful for that, it is something I hope and pray I don't take for granted.