Happy Birthday

Today would have been my brother's 26th birthday.

Isn't he a handsome son-of-a-gun?

Man, I miss him.

Adventures in Mommyland

Welcome to our newest endeavor. Chickens!

The chickens we were planning on adopting met an untimely death when their barn burnt down. Poor chickens!

But since we were all set and wanted some just the same, we went to the farm store and bought six three-day-old chicks.

Look out world! Here we come!

My friends think I'm crazy. I'm sure I agree.

What's for dinner?

We've started a monthly family dinner and this month I hosted. I planned on making the following recipe but it ended up being a beautiful day, so we improvised a little. I made the potatoes in the oven and Brandon grilled the chicken. It was still super yum. But I thought the recipe is definitely worth sharing.

Country Chicken and Potato Bake

2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 whole chickens (about 3 pounds each), cut up

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary or

2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Fresh rosemary for garnish

Preheat oven to 425. In large roasting pan, toss potatoes and onion with chicken pieces, salt, rosemary, and pepper. Arrange the chicken pieces, skin-side up; bake, uncovered, 1 hour or until potatoes are tender and browned and juices run clear when chicken is pierced with tip of knife, basting with pan drippings occasionally.

To serve, skim any fat from pan drippings. Garnish with fresh rosemary.

Now, I'd like to say that I made this exactly per the recipe (amazingly enough) the first time I made it. It is delicious. Maybe that's because of the chicken fat... If I were going to make it for my family on a more regular basis, you better believe I'm gonna make it with boneless, skinless chicken breast. I'll just add some canola or olive oil when I'm tossing it all together. That's what I did today when I made just the potatoes. To use one of my favorite phrases from a dear friend, yumola.

And thanks for coming for Sunday dinner!

Getaway!

Brandon and I got away for a night this weekend. It was fabulous!

He arranged it all as a Valentine's gift, but since Baby wasn't quite ready for me to be gone overnight in February, Brandon, in all his wisdom, arranged it for April. He booked a "no kids allowed" room on a recommendation from his sis and her hub. I'll spare you the details, but the giant tub with an ocean view was amazing.

I'm just going to say this. If you haven't gotten away without kids in a while (or ever, like us) DO IT! Add it in the budget, take a little of your tax return, even go camping, but sans kids. It was so nice to get away. And we actually got to have entire conversations without little voices interrupting!

Feeling attacked

One of my very best friends recently asked why so many parents are choosing to homeschool on her blog. I made the mistake of commenting. Oops! I don't think I've ever felt so attacked in my life. I thought for a long time before I commented to make sure what I said was what I really felt and that I stated it without causing offense, but, as I've learned time and time again, some can be offended by the smallest thing. So, I'd just like to say this.

I'm choosing to homeschool my children not because the school is terrible (it is fabulous), not because he doesn't get along with his teacher (she is so kind) and not because I don't think she's doing a great job (she is truly loving, patient, committed and caring).

I'm choosing to homeschool my children because I've been prompted to do so. I've prayed about it a lot. I mean, a lot. Especially on days when the boys are at each others throats and I don't. think. I. can. take. ANYMORE!

I don't feel exactly qualified. I have days when I think, "gosh, he's doing great. Maybe first grade wouldn't be too bad."

But, since I'm not the one at the head of this family, and I turn to the Head for all the big decisions and guidance and help and love and patience and clarity and answers and ... since He's the one who keeps saying this is what our family needs, then that's what I'm going to do.

My feelings are hurt and I have never felt attacked for my decisions or beliefs. Now I know what that feels like.

Please don't leave a comment. If you feel like you must, just email me.

And thanks, Julia, if you're tuning in, for following up there. I didn't know what to say.

What's for dinner?

I'm thinking of starting a weekly post. It will require some participation. Here's the background.

I hate coming up with things to make for dinner. Sometimes my dinner mojo just isn't working. So, what if we all posted one thing we're planning on making for dinner that week? It could include a recipe, or not. If you're like me, you'll check out the recipe and then adjust it to what I have on hand. Just a new idea would help jumpstart my brain sometimes.

What do you think? Wanna join in? I'm thinking we should all post on the same day. I don't know which works for you.

To get the ball rolling, I'll tell you what I made tonight.

Taco casserole

(inspired by some recipe searches and Pampered Chef's Touchdown Taco Dip)

2 pound pork roast in crockpot (season to taste)

refried beans (2 cans)

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

2 T taco seasoning

2 cloves garlic

shredded cheese

tortilla chips

Pull the pork apart and put in 9 x 13 pan. Spread the refried beans on top. Mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, taco seasoning and garlic. Spread that on the beans. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Crumble tortilla chips on top and serve.

Here are some afterthoughts:

My kids loved this. It wasn't too spicy.

I mixed spinach in with the refried beans. Gotta mix veggies in where I can.

If I were making this for adults, I would have seasoned the meat with taco seasoning.

I think ground beef would be yummy. And some corn in the beans as well.

Brandon thought it would be better as a lasagna with tortillas in between the layers. A good thought.

Anyway, that's what was for dinner here. Let me know if you think this is just plain crazy!

Fearless?

I think not!

I used to think there was nothing that would or could phase Hyrum. We were out digging in the front flowers the other day and he was picking up worms, examining them closely, performing experiments on worm movement only a little boy could imagine, and there was no fear. He even enjoyed the spider friends that came out to see what we were up to.

Those days are long gone. I think his kind older brother (who I'd like to slug) had something to do with Hyrum's new found fear of... wait for it... mosquitoes. Quite anti-climactic, I know. But let me tell you, he can scream bloody murder if he even thinks he sees one.

Now here's the fun part of the story. I put the boys in bed tonight and went about my nightly clean-up when I hear Hyrum crying. I go in assuming he'd gotten hurt and find him cowering in the corner and Sterling had a very amused look on his face. I assumed Sterling had hit Hyrum or something, but no. He decided it would be fun to scare the snot out of his little brother by telling him there's a mosquito on him. Hyrum was seriously having a panic attack.

An hour later, and a LOT of patience (which sometimes I failed at and had to send in reinforcements), Hyrum finally fell asleep on my bed next to me watching a movie to keep his mind off the creepy-crawlies he was imaging. I even had to get a mirror and prove to him there was nothing bugging him under his chin. (No pun intended, that's what he kept saying. "What's bugging me?")

Looks comfy, huh?

The part that's really bugging me is Sterling showed no remorse for how he made Hyrum feel. Yeah, he was upset he got in trouble, but he only said sorry because he was forced to. Not very happy with that child tonight.

And why do siblings torture each other? I'm sure it was done to you and you did it to your siblings, 'cause I sure did, but why?