Frozen Waffles

I love waffles. For years I would borrow my friend Jessica's waffle maker when I got a hanker for waffles. I contemplated shelling out the money for my own but all I could find at Walmart was the cheap little square maker. Then one day at a garage sale I struck pay dirt. For fifty cents I got a nice little Belgium Waffle Maker. Still waffles were a rare occurrence in our house. I need a Saturday or a Sunday with a little bit of time. There was no way we could have them on a school day. Then one day I was at my friend Erika's and she was making dozens of waffles. I asked her what she was going to do with all of them since the kids had already had breakfast. She said she was going to freeze them. Eurkea! Now when I make waffles I make sure to double the batche. I let the extras sit out on a plate until they have cooled. Then I place them in a galloon sized freezer bag and throw them in the feezer. When big E wants waffles on a school day I pull one out, pop it in the toaster oven for a toast and in less than a minute it is ready to butter and syrup! It is cheaper than buying Eggo's, lacks all the preservatives, and if you want you can make whole wheat waffles.

A Day In The Life...

Dr. J has recently started rotations and so I feel like I've almost entered real life (real life being not school life :) Here is what today looks like

5:00 - The alarm goes off. Dr. J hits snooze. I start nursing Peach.
5:09 - I ask if he is getting up. Yes he says.
5:20 - Peach is moved to her crib so mom and dad can have some alone time.
5:30 - Obviously not a lot of time was needed (TMI I know but this is married life with three kids people). Dr. J hits the shower, I put on work out clothes and go for a quick jog.
5:55 - I come home and pack a quick lunch, Dr. J leaves for the VA Hospital an hour away.
6:00-6:20- I do some light weights.
6:20-6:35 - Shower
6:40 - I crawl back in bed for a twenty minute snooze.
7:00 - Back to nursing Peach.
7:20 - Start yelling at the kids to get out of bed.
7:20-8:10 - Get G Bear, Big E, and Peach dressed, hair done, and teeth brushed.
8:10-8:25 - Feed the kids cinnamon toast, milk, and fruit.
8:25-8:35 - Drive Big E to school. Walk him in since he is still a little wary about the whole thing.
8:40-2:30 - Free time. Wash dishes, mop floor. Read books to G Bear. Organize dresser. Nurse Peach a zillion more times. Check e-mail. Write Blog. Nurse Peach again. Play games with G Bear. Dance to music with G Bear. Make lunch. Load kids into the car to pick up Big E from school.
2:30-3:10 - Drive to school and wait in crazy line with other parents. Unload kids, walk to school doors, pick up E, load kids in car drive home.
3:40-5:30 - Play with E and G. Feed Peach some more.
5:30-6:00 - Start dinner. Dr. J comes home. Wants to go for a bike ride to unwind.
6:00-6:30 - eat
6:30-7:30 - entertain children
7:30-8:30 - Try and wrestle kids into pjs and into bed.
8:30-10:00 - Nurse Peach. Read trashy book. Listen to Dr. J complain about how he can't get anything done because he has to entertain the kids after he gets home (the result of having him watch them Tuesday night while I went to a woman's group).
10 - pass out so I can do it all over again in the morning.

Despite all this I've decided I'm a school mom. I love the schedule. Summer is fun, but you sleep late, you don't eat until nine, don't get dressed until ten, spend all your time at the pool, and never clean your house. School days might be stressful but by 8:35 everyone is dressed, has eaten, and is gone. Chores get done. Meals get made. And you have more time to work on doing cool projects. This week I had some picture printed off. I framed them and hung them up in my living room next to my papyrus of the judgment. They turned out pretty awesome. When I pulled them out at Sam's to check them out, and said, "Cool." The photo lady said, "Oh we loved these. We usually don't make comments about people's pictures, but we all definitely liked these ones." If you are looking for a place to get big prints Sam's is an awesome place to do it. For each 11 by 16 I only paid two dollars and change.

Tiered Skirt Tutorial

I made this little tiered dress for #2 using the tiered skirt tutorial posted by Kuky Ideas. The dress is completely reversible with the inside being the exact opposite of what you see here. #2 loves the full skirt. She is a big fan of sashaying and also lifting her skirt above her head. Not quite a lady yet :) It was fun because I got to learn how to use my button hole foot on my sewing machine. THAT WAS AWESOME! Also I used my machine to put the buttons on. I didn't even realize you could do that. It was so funny. I like the idea of a skirt though and if I get some time this weekend I'm going to make one out of some teal fabric I have. I think it would go supper cute with the white leggings I made. It is fun to sew when you have a daughter to sew for! Oh Kuky Ideas also has a making a shirred dress tutorial. I didn't even know you could do that but I looked at my sewing machine last night and found I have a stitch for that. I love the internet. It gives you access to all kinds of cool ideas. Thank you internet and thank you Kuky Ideas.

Next Project...

So I finally got around to sewing the reversible jumper for #2 out of scrap fabric I had left over from making baby blankets. I'll get a picture posted after Sunday. Considering I drew out my own pattern I think it went pretty good. My biggest problem...I used white fabric for one side and what is the point of doing a reversible jumper if one side is just plain and boring. I'm thinking about maybe taking the hem out and sewing a butterfly onto the white side but maybe I'll just leave it alone and move on to this next project I desperately want to try. This dress is made from a man's dress shirt. How cute is that! My only problem...finding a dress shirt suitably cute to begin. Dr J has some cute shirts but those are the ones I like seeing on him so I'm not willing to sacrifice them. I guess I need to go to Good Will but that will take some serious will power on my part. I know that isn't how I was raised but mom I HATE THRIFT STORES! It isn't the cheap used clothes I mind. I go to consignment stores and garage sales all the time but I just hate Thrift Stores. Anyway I realize it is a mental block I need to get over if I ever want to try this project...or mom could you just keep your eyes out for cute men's dress shirts. Here is the tutorial if anyone wants to try it. Let me know how it works for you.

Dinner Pancakes

We are breakfast cereal people. It isn't that we don't like pancakes, French Toast, or bacon and eggs, it is just cold cereal is easier. We do love other breakfast foods though so when I can't come up with a good dinner idea we always eat breakfast for dinner. I guess what takes too long for the morning doesn't for the night. Last night as I was starting dinner at six I decided to spice up our pancakes a bit. I chopped up canned peaches and added the fruit to the pancake batter. Then I took the peach juice, put it in a sauce pan with 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, and a tablespoon of corn starch. I thickened that up and then we had a nice fruit syrup to go with our peach pancakes. Delicious and a meal the kids both ate with gusto!

Cookie Experiment

Today I decided it was time to try something a little different with my cookies...a cookie experiment I guess you could say. I made a normal oatmeal cookie:

mix
3/4 cups softened butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tbs vanilla
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tbs baking soda

Then blend in
1 and 1/2 cup flour
2 cups oatmeal

Then came the good part. Instead of the plain boring raisin cookies I normally make I added semi sweet chocolate chips and Crasins. OH MY GOODNESS...DELICIOUS! I love CRASINS!

Cook them for eight to ten minutes at 375 and enjoy. I'll add a picture soon when I'm not too lazy to go get the camera.

Homemade Pasta

Two Christmas ago Dr. J bought me the the Betty Crocker Cook Book. At the time I thought, "Honey do I really need another cook book. I mean I really love them but another one." Well apparently I did. This is the cookbook that is more then just a cookbook. It tells you how to set a table. It clues you in on how long to cook your meat. It lets you know secrets on how to make your cooking better. I LOVE IT. Anyway I've never made homemade pasta but two nights ago thanks to Betty I decided to try. Then I needed something to go with it so we made Chicken Marsala although we just used chicken broth instead of wine. So I guess it was really more Chicken Chicken Broth. Anyway #1 was supper help getting dinner ready. He loved rolling out the pasta and called himself the baker. He name #2 little chef and spent time trying to feed her mushrooms he had cut up himself with a butter knife. He also was a huge fan of smashing the chicken.

Wondertime

I mention this site from time to time. Wondertime is a magazine I get at home but really everything you have access to at home you can see online. They send out sheets to help you keep memories from what your kids are up to, give you access to fun printables, and have articles like, "How to teach your child to catch a ball." I love them!

What to do with black beans...

Dr J. is a mad fan of black beans. I blame two years in Mexico but since they are cheap and he pretty much accommodates everything we do in this house I accommodate him. These are two easy meals you can make with a bag of black beans.Meal one: Clean and rinse a bag of beans. Quick soak the beans by brining them to a boil in a pan of water, a sprinkle of salt and backing soda. Turn the heat off and let the beans sit on the stove for an hour. Dump water and put beans, several dashes of salt, water, chopped garlic, and sliced onion on to boil. Cook until tender (about one hour). We like to eat our black beans with corn tortilla quesadillas and Spanish rice.

Meal Two: Take four cups of cooked beans with bean juice and pour into crock pot. Add three chicken breast, a cup of salsa, and two cans of diced tomatoes. Cook on high for four hours. Add chips and cheese and you have tortillas soup.

Warning

Warning...when you are frosting your first cake stiff frosting is probably favorable...oops!

More Christmas Gifts

These little babies are beaded bookmarks. The wire letter sits inside the book and the beads sit on the outside of the spine of the book. My friend from church taught me how to make them, wire, beads, and a lot of twisting. That's the hard part, seriously. The first night I twisted when I went to wash the dishes...ouch, but after a day or two you adjust. I made one for all the parents. I wish I would have taken some more pictures. My moms was my favorite, imagine blue beads with swirls.

Christmas Gifts for my Sisters

Last February my lovely mother-in-law bought me a sewing machine. I intended to pull it out immediately and start making baby clothes for #2 but having a two year old and new baby just wasn't conducive to a new hobby. This Christmas after things slowed down a bit I decided it was finally time to teach myself to sew. I pulled the machine out and picked a project. I found these reversible handbags online. My attempts weren't perfect...far from it, but they helped me feel more comfortable with my machine and I hope my sisters liked them.