A Winner for Lunch!

Today is Columbus Day which means the Mini’s have no school.  As I was browsing my cookbooks this weekend for dinner ideas, I stumbled across a great idea for lunch.  Something different from the classic PB&J or lunch-meat sandwiches.  Since both kiddos were going to be home today, I planned on trying this new lunch idea on this day.

Wrap n’ Roll…

I’m happy to say my kiddos really enjoyed their lunch today.  I was thrilled to see that the recipe made 8 wraps and that they freeze well!  That means that my son’s lunch is basically packed for tomorrow

What you need:
Can of beans, rinsed and drained.
salsa
cream cheese
sliced ham
flour tortillas

Rinse and drain your beans.  Mash the beans in a bowl with a fork.  Add about 1/4 cup of salsa.  Add about 1/4 cup of softened cream cheese.  Mix very well.  Pour about 1/4 cup of bean mix onto one flour tortilla.  Spread mix evenly almost to the edges.  Place a slice of ham on top of the beans.  Roll the wrap.  Serve and enjoy!

I wasn’t too sure about the ham and bean mix going together.  But all three of us ate our wraps without complaint.  I don’t know about your house, but complaining about what is served for a meal is a painful reality at this house.  It sucks but it happens.  To which I say, “its your lunch/dinner, eat it or be hungry”.  Anyway, I didn’t think the ham/bean combination tasted odd at all.  This was a great lunch.  Very filling and filled with healthy stuff.  I’m glad I gave it a try.

Menu Monday

Last week, I was super sick over the weekend.  The last thing I felt like doing was planning a menu.  I barely felt like eating at all.  I will say, that the Making Dinner Rush was much more difficult without a pre-planned menu.

So here I go for this week…

Stacked Chili Wedges with a salad

Creamy Chicken Stew with pasta

Ravioli with fresh vegetables

Apple Pork Chops with broccoli

If any of these ideas sound interesting to you, just leave a comment and I’d be happy to post the recipe.

Tales of Hosting our First Sleepover

I know I’m a newbie when it comes to sleepovers.  I wasn’t really sure I was ready to take on this phase of life.  And now that its over, I’m thinking, I probably am not ready.  It wasn’t horrible.  It just was very stressful.

To celebrate my sons’ seventh birthday, we let him invite 3 friends to spend the night.  4 makes a nice even number so 3 guests were allowed.  He didn’t hesitate as he chose who to invite.  I thought to myself…okay, four boys.  We’ll take them out for pizza.  Come home, have cake/presents.  Watch a movie and off to bed they go”.  That is actually pretty much how the evening went.  I just didn’t expect the noise level.  And some of the personalities didn’t mix together as smoothly as I would have liked.

One friend had to go home after the movie because his parent’s were going out of town the next morning.  Disappointing but okay.  When it was time for bed, the boys were still pretty excited.  But sleep was necessary because the birthday boy had to be up early the next morning for a football game that started at 9 the next day.  That’s right.  9 am.  Every other week the games haven’t started until 10 or 12 but of course, this weekend, the game had to start at 9 which meant he had to be on the field at 8.

One kiddo fell asleep…two did not.  They were calming down but  not sleeping.  I went to bed.  Eventually another boy fell asleep.  One did not.  At 12:45, the last one came into my room to say he still couldn’t go to sleep.  The poor guy had been trying for hours to go to sleep.  He had this awful cough all night.   I started to think it was an asthma cough so we called home.  Mom came to pick up her little man so he could get some medicine and hopefully, fall asleep.

Two boys gone, two boys left to wake up the next morning.  I wonder what they thought when they woke up and noticed they were one sleeping bag short from when they went to bed last night.

So my little man had to get up and get ready to play football so there wasn’t much of a sleepover after-party, sorry boys.

All in all, this wasn’t a bad experience.  It was probably typical for something I try to pull off but we rolled with the punches.  I think I have learned I am ready to have one friend at a time sleepover.  And I think I have learned that I still really dislike midget football and how it ruins my schedule.   I also think I’ve learned that I love my son’s friends and I really hope they had a good time.  Despite our many tiny bumps along the way.

I imagine a sleepover with girls will be much different.  And I am almost positive I am not ready for a house full of squealing little girls.  So we will hold off on trying this with my Girl Mini for a few years.

 

A different point of view

Naps…I believe they are wonderful things. It’s just one of those things where everyone has different thoughts on naps.

We spend our early childhood fighting this daily event. And for some families, I hear naptime turns into an event. Lucky for me, my kiddos have always been good sleepers.

Andy sees a nap as a waste of time. This is an unproductive way to use your time. He’s lucky I like him despite his opinion of naps.

A nap for me is a luxury. I don’t even make my bed on the weekend in hopes that I’m going to make it back into my cozy haven for an afternoon nap. The way I see it, I go and go all week when Andy is at work. I’m not complaining, it’s just what I do. But on the weekend, our Daddy is home so I don’t have to answer every question or do everything around the house. I can disappear for a little bit and relax. Enjoy some quiet time for me. The other stuff will wait. Let me have my Time Out from the world. I’ll be back shortly. And if I got a good nap in, I’ll be in a much better mood to get things done. Naps are not a waste of time. They are a way to be refreshed so you can carry on with your daily tasks.

What do you think? Are naps a luxury or a waste of time?

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Scooby Snack Treats

My husband and I think that party bags for a kids party need to be forgotten. What a pain to fill them. And then they are filled with junk that get thrown away within a few days. He always tells me not to bother but of course, I can’t be the mom who starts the No Party Treat Bag Movement. So here is my plan for this year.

My son is having his first sleepover. Just a couple of boys. They are going to watch a Scooby Do movie. So this year, I am getting creative with my treat bags.

I needed Scooby Snack graham sticks, chocolate chips and sprinkles.

I melted my chocolate in the microwave. Dipped each Scooby Snack in the chocolate. Then ran the chocolate covered end through the sprinkles.

I happen to already have pumpkin bags on hand. So I put a few snacks in each bag and Voila! Party bags are done

I think they turned out pretty cute. And no dollar store junk to be thrown away. Not to mention it made me feel pretty crafty.

What do you think? Are party treat bags ridiculous?

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Don’t forget. Don’t forget. Don’t…

                                                         

This Friday my kiddos have an early dismissal from school.  That’s fine.  I had to move an appointment that was already made when I realized the Mini’s would be home at that time, but no big deal.  It isn’t, not really.

Except…my daughter, who has afternoon kindergarten, starts school very early that day.  She normally catches the bus at 12:30, but not this Friday.  On this day, school STARTS at 11:15.  Last year, my son had morning kindergarten so I had no idea “they” could play around with the time school starts.  It seems that they can.  Okay, so starting early isn’t a very big deal either.  The school is even providing a free school lunch for her.  But I am terrified, I’m going to forget to get her to the bus stop on time.

On Friday, my little one enjoys her gymnastics class and then we be-bop around until it is time to head home for lunch.   No can do this week.  I have to remember to bring her school clothes to gymnastics.  And after class, she must quickly get dressed.  Then we will drive straight to the bus stop and off she will go.  I don’t really handle change very well.  And until she is on the bus, I will constantly be worrying that I will forget to send her off at this special time.   Friday will come and go and it will all work out.   Until then, it’ll just keep running it through  my mind.  I’ll probably set a reminder on my iPhone as precaution.  And if you listen closely, you’ll probably hear me chanting this to myself, “Don’t forget, don’t forget, don’t forget…”

Slide, swings or climber?

Slides, Swings or Climbers?  No doubt, if you were to see me playing at a park as a kid, I would be on the swings.  I loved to swing.  The back and forth was so soothing.  I loved swinging high.  And I loved singing while I was on the swing.  I spent a lot of time singing on the swings.

That’s not to say that I didn’t go down the slides or climb the climbers.  I did.  But the swings were my favorite.  Such a simple piece of equipment.  But most likely, where you would find me.  Of course, it probably doesn’t help that I broke my wrist twice as a child.  Once when I landed wrong when I jumped off the monkey bars.  And once when I landed wrong trying to jump off of a slide.  I know, you are not supposed to jump off of a slide.  What else can I say, I was a kid.  

Its your turn.  Slides, Swings, or Climbers?  

Can’t get it write…(haha)

Just so you know, Write was misspelled on purpose.  But I have noticed that there is one word that I misspell EVERY time I use it.  And apparently, I use it a lot.  I actually went to use this word as I was writing another post and when the squiggly red line showed up below, I got frustrated and started this post.

So the word I can never get right is “definitely”.  I didn’t even get it right just then!  All I have to say is I’m so thankful for spell check.  When I was in high school, I always spelled “special” wrong.  One teacher pointed that out to me and I learned how to get it right.  Of course, for the next few years, I was always anxious if I had to write that word.  ”does the i or the a come first?”   Eventually, I’ll figure definately(how I want to spell it every time!) out.

There you have it.  The one word that trips me up without fail.  Please share a word that you misspell below so that I don’t feel like such a goof!

Flashback…

Question?  Which author made you want to be a reader?

I saw this question and got fired up.  I know, I’m such a nerd, haha.  Anyway, it got me thinking.  Not for long…I knew right away.  It is pretty ironic that for someone who reads several books a week, I did not like to read at all until I got to 8th grade.  And when I say, I didn’t like to read, I really mean, I HATED to read.  Ugh!  Misery!  It was awful work.  My parents used to joke they couldn’t even get me to read the comics.

I was just telling someone about this the other day.  I could not even remember what the book was about.  But I knew the name of the book and the author who wrote it.  This book had a huge impact on me.  I enjoyed the story for the first time.  And before long, I was reading a book a day.  Really, a book a day!  It was amazing that by reading for enjoyment, I was obviously entertained, but I also started getting much better grades.  I was even moved to the next reading group.

Back to the question…
The book that turned me into a reader was The Pigman by Paul Zindel.  I had to read this book for my reading class.  I was not looking forward to reading this book anymore than I looked forward to any other chapter book for school.  But I opened the book and started to read.

As I said before, I couldn’t remember what the book was about.  I knew there were two teenagers and a young man, so I decided to google this book and read a synopsis as a refresher.  Below is a copy of the synopsis found on TheBestNotes.com

This novel relates the story of two young New York City teenagers who feel unwanted and unloved at home and are on a path of self-destruction, when they meet by chance an old man named Angelo Pignati. They find his name in the phone book in a random game of telephone pranks and with all the wrong intentions, go to his house and become his friends. They meet there nearly everyday after school as well as taking trips to the zoo with Mr. Pignati to feed his friend, the baboon named Bobo.

In the process of this relationship, John and Lorraine learn some valuable truths about friendship and betrayal that can never be forgiven. They make the decision to have a destructive party in his house while he is in the hospital recovering from a heart attack. That coupled with the death of his wife and then the death of the baboon he had come to love at the zoo results in his death and Lorraine and John are forced to deal with their fault in this final outcome. 

Reading this little bit, brings a little back.  I can see how this would be a story that I would connect with.  I might have to find a copy of this book and read it again soon.

Do you remember the author that turned you into a reader?  

Silly Picture

Meet our Family Preying Mantis. No, this picture is not upside-down. This visitor has been staying with us all week.

My daughter discovered him at the beginning of the week. She named him Cookie Climber. I’m not sure where that came from but she didn’t hesitate on the choice.

On our front stoop, we have a huge flower display. We watch him from inside the house because he likes to hang out on the other side of the sidelight (the windows on the side of the front door).

I have no idea how long he will be around but for now we enjoy looking for him each day. And when the kids’ friends stop by, he is a very neat attraction to be shared

I never thought about how long an insect stays in one spot but now I’m curious to see if he is still there each day. Time will tell. I wonder what the life expectancy is of a preying mantis. This one seems huge, does that mean he has had a long life so far?

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