Wish List.

Here's my wish list for those who may be interested and you know who you are!

Wish List

Paperclips

Hi-lighters

Scotch Tape

Masking Tape

Construction Paper

Coloring Books

Rubber Bands

Dinner!

A maid!

Favorite Potatoes.

Growing up my mom used to make the yummiest potatoes on the grill. In fact, I think it's safe to say that they were, and still are, my favorite potatoes. I have such great memories of enjoying these potatoes with grilled steak. Another favorite of mine! Oh, and if she added my all time favorite fruit salad with the meal........talk about heaven!

Well, a couple weeks ago I was really craving those potatoes. So in celebration of finishing my first week of school I decided we were having steak and grilled potatoes for dinner. I emailed my mom to get the recipe and promptly made them. I could hardly wait for dinner to finish cooking that night I was so excited. Except.....well.......

The potatoes sucked! I don't know what I did wrong, but they did not taste like what I remembered. They weren't "my potatoes" as we used to call them. They weren't my mom's potatoes. Suffice it to say, no one liked them except for Addison. She ate two packets of them. But then Addison will eat just about anything so, I don't know how reliable of a source she is!

Well, I was craving steak again Saturday night (what is it with craving steak lately?!) so I decided to attempt my potatoes again. Tonight's version was a little better. They still weren't great, but they were better than last time. I still don't know what I did wrong though and it's really bugging me. Luckily, I'm not one to give up easily. I'll give it a couple more weeks then try it again.

In the meantime if you feel adventurous and want to tackle them yourself, here's the recipe:

Grilled Potato Packets
Cut up a peeled potato into long "sticks" (about the size of McDonalds's french fries). Butter the bottom of a piece of foil. Pile the potatoes on the foil. Season with celery salt, onion salt, garlic salt & Parmesan cheese. Dot the top of the potatoes with more butter. Wrap up the foil and place on the grill for about 30 minutes. To get the bottoms nice and brown and crunchy put the foil right over the heat source.

Just don't tell me if they turn out and taste just like the ones my mom used to make because I'll be really disappointed!

My Noah.

Absolutely love this guy!!!!

Have Pool? Will Swim!

So this little munchkin has turned out to be our water lover. I'm so proud!!!! Turns out she has absolutely no fear of it and once she gets in, it takes an act of God to get her out. The beach? The pool at the Y? Her little pool out in the yard? She doesn't care. Heck, she doesn't even care if she has her swimsuit on!

Oh Addison.

What can I possibly say?!

Week Two Down!

Woohoo! Second week of school down, nine more to go this quarter. Again I got everything done and turned in with one day to spare. yes!!!! In some ways this week went better as I had a better idea of what to expect from my classes so it was easier to plan my studying time. In fact I was even able to find a bit of a rhythm. Just a bit of one, but a rhythm all the same!

The downside to the week was life happened, making it tough some days to balance school, the kids and.....well.....life! There were a few days where I just couldn't get to my school work until after 9:00 when Addison was in bed due to the days events, but I just made up for the lost next day by heading to campus for a few hours to get my studying done. I will say there were a few days when I looked around and thought "this is crazy, what was I thinking going to school full time while I was a parent full time and a wife full time?!" And there were a few times when I thought I'd never get it all done, but I persevered. I reorganized my day, I reorganized my study calender and in the end I got it all done. With any luck I'll have gotten it all done well.

My law class is going better. Could be because over half the class dropped out?! Not that it was going bad, but the comments from the other students were uncalled for and immature. But thanks to Gabe, my instructor, posting an announcement on the class page pretty much telling them to knock it off, the comments immediately stopped and then half the class dropped out! Anyway, it's been going well. For those who know me you know that in any law discussion I always take the less popular side. Considering I want to get into criminal law, that should come as no surprise! But, all the same, I tend to be the lone wolf in my thinking. And this week in my discussions, I was still the lone wolf.

But the difference this week was I actually got a few compliments from my classmates. One person said she really hopes I go on to law school after this because I am "really good at this stuff." Another person said she has always been one to think that criminals need to be locked up for life regardless of their crime but that because of me and my discussions she has started seeing things in a whole new light. She has found she's starting to agree with me on a few things and even considering going into criminal law based on my stances. Someone else said that the way I present my side and my supporting statements makes it really hard to offer a debate. She said you read them and say "well there you go" even if you're on the opposing side. So, whew! Much better than the comments telling me to leave them all alone and go to law school instead.

Anyway, all stress aside, I am proud to say out of all my assignments I have only missed one point and that was because I didn't double space my english paper last week. So, I am sitting at all A's right now. Yippee!!!!!! I would've been happy with all B's........but all A's is even better!!!!!!! And now I am lookng forward to spending two full days with my family.

Powerful Message.

We watched this story church a couple weeks ago. Very powerful. Really makes you think. I should add, that the video was filmed in March and Zac died two months later. He was a pastor at New Spring Church in South Carolina.

A Spoof To Live By!

Funny but so true!

Scratch The Mac.

OK, don't make that mac and cheese recipe. It was lousy. No flavor. Dry. The ham in it was just odd. And the egg and evaporated milk just made scrambled eggs~ there was no cheesy creaminess to be found.

Summertime Joys.

Nothing like a bike ride to get some ice cream on a summer evening. Almost makes you think we're living in simpler times. Almost!

Dinner Tonight.

Here's dinner tonight:

Crock Mac-n-Cheese
Cook and drain 16 oz elbow macaroni and put into a crock pot.
Drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil over macaroni and stir it in.

In a bowl, mix....
1 can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 eggs
3 cups shredded cheese
2 cups of diced ham

Make It!
Pour over macaroni and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours.
Stir occasionally to prevent the bottom from browning.
Serves 8 - 10.

Hopefully it's good. After seeing my assignments for school this week we need all the help we can get! Today's help? The Crock Pot.

The Airplane Project.

This is what Noah worked on for two hours Sunday afternoon while Marty and I cleaned the garage out. As we ripped out shelving Noah scooped up the scraps and before too long he had created this airplane.

Saturday Fun.

While Meghan was out with some friends we biked with Addison and Noah to their favorite park (aka the green park) tonight then biked down to Kwik Trip for some ice cream treats for some Saturday fun. It was so nice getting to spend some time outside with them!

Yes, Addison is wearing her rubber boots. Please don't ask why because we don't know. She wore them all day. We were just grateful we got her to take off her spring jacket and polka dotted winter hat before heading to the park.

One Week Down.

Just finished my first week of school. I am beat from the lack of sleep, and I'm convinced that in a week or two I'll have extremely gnarly knuckles from typing on the Mac so much, but I am sooooooo glad I am doing this.

It has been an adjustment, that's for sure. I was up until 1:00 am or later most nights studying only to sleep for a few hours before getting back up by 5:30 am to study some more. I haven't had the freedom to just pick up and take the kids somewhere. I haven't watched television or surfed the internet all week. And I was only at Target once this week. (I'm afraid of losing my preferential treatment!!!!)

The kids are feeling the change and have voiced their dislike. Several times. I just keep telling them to give it a couple weeks. I keep telling them just go with the flow and don't fight settling into a new routine. I have also told them to keep the bigger picture in mind: I'm not only doing this for myself, but for them as well.

With that lecture in mind, Meghan decided to embrace the situation and took to finding creative things for the three of them to do. She also decided now was the perfect time to learn how to cook. So we were treated to chicken nuggets and french fries for lunch all week. I have to say, by Friday she had it down to a science! Next week she's tackling macaroni and cheese~ yum!

Actually, whether they feel it or not, they have already started to adjust to the change. Gone seem to be the days of complaining that they only had McDonalds twice that week. Or that we didn't go to this park enough. We managed to hit McDonalds once during the week for lunch. You would've thought I took them out for prime rib the way they thanked me up and down. I was floored! I took them on a long bike ride one day and they acted like we went to Disney World. It's been nice! If nothing else comes from schooling, at least my kids have a new appreciation for getting to do things in life!

I myself have struggled at times. I am loving being back at school and very excited about the field I've chosen, but there have been some issues with fellow classmates in my law class that are making it hard. Could be that I'm old enough to be their mom. Could be that I seem to understand what our chosen profession is a little, OK a lot, better than they do, I don't really know. But I do know their comments on our class postings are uncalled for and very immature. Luckily our law instructor posted a comment of his own this morning regarding the things being said and quite clearly gave the impression that they better knock it off.

Anyway, overall the week has gone well. We survived. The house survived. And I got all my work completed and turned in with one day to spare!

Egg Bake.

So, waaaayyyyyyy back in February one of my most favorite friends emailed me this recipe. Her family loves it. It's one of their favorites. It is now one of our family favorites. (Thank you K!!!!)

Egg Bake

1 Bag (32 ounces) frozen shredded potatoes, thawed
2/3 cup melted butter
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1-2 cups diced cooked ham or smoked turkey
1 cup milk or half and half
10 eggs
½ teaspoon seasoned salt
Chopped broccoli or spinach, optional

Make It!
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Meanwhile grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with butter or cooking spray and press potatoes between paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Next fit potatoes into pan, pressing slightly to make a solid crust. Brush potatoes with melted butter and bake for 25 minutes. (This can be done the night before – but then reheat for 10 minutes before going to the next step). Top potatoes with layers of cheese and meat. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, milk and salt together and pour over cheese mixture. Return pan to oven, reducing heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

the fun thing about this recipe is you can mix and match the cheeses, meats and vegetables. I've made this roughly five times (maybe more) but have yet to make it the same way twice.