Kickin' it After Skool

So, due to the rain, power had been off in our neighborhood since noon. I came home and picked up K and had a sudden realization. Our power was out so no Arthur or Wordgirl. it had been raining all day so no playing outside. What in the world was I going to do in a semi-dark house with an almost 2 year old?? C was not going to get home and take us out to eat (hey, side benefit of no power!!) until 5:30 or so. How would I keep my sanity and K occupied?? Then my creative side shouted at me, "I have an idea!!" A month or so ago, I subscribed to a fantastic magazine. There really isn't a magazine that I can pick up and see cool fun things to me and my family to do within the first 5 pages!!! My latest issue came on Friday. While we were out on Saturday, I bought the two things I needed to do this cool project. What cool project? I think of it as the uber-cool project. This project starts a few months ago. For Christmas, C's brother's family got K a pair of Chuck Taylors that were funky and perfect for K. He wore them a couple of times and then the zipper on the side broke. We were upset about it because they had really put in a lot of thought into this particular pair of Chucks. So, I hung on to them hoping that one day we could get them fixed before K outgrew them. Then, enter fabulous issue of fav magazine. In a special section on how to get kids active, they had this craft using old shoes. You take a dowel rod and put it into the shoe like it it a leg. You then screw the rod to the shoe from the bottom. Cost? $3 for one rod. I cut the 4 ft rod into two 2 ft sections. Took me about 10 minutes. End result? K and I spent the rest of the time playing "kick ball" in the living room. Luckily, the lights came on around 4:30. I was able to get dinner done and K had a great time!!

Good Night Moon...goodnight...what?

The other evening, I was getting K ready for bed. He was up on his changing pad and I was just putting the last diaper strap in place when I said, "Bye, bye penis." K has started calling his business by the anatomical name. We have no idea where he got this but we follow his lead. K replied, "Night, night penis." Then he turned to look at me and put his forefinger to his lips and said, "Shhhh! Sleeping." and point to his business. I cracked up!! My thoughts are that it should stay asleep for a VERY long time!!

Super Yummy Casserole

Here it is:

Santa Fe Chicken Casserole

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
9 oz. pkg. frozen fully cooked diced chicken (I used a 10 ox can of chicken in water)
2 (15 oz.) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
24 oz. jar thick and chunky salsa
1 cup taco sauce
8 corn tortillas
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded Colby jack cheese (I used the Mexican shredded cheese)
Preparation:In medium microwave safe bowl, cook onion and garlic in olive oil on HIGH for 2-3 minutes until tender.(I am a saute person so I sauteed the onion and garlic on the stove top.) Stir in frozen chicken, black beans and salsa. (If freezing, cool onion and garlic mixture before adding frozen chicken.)
In 2 quart glass baking dish (I used a square one), pour taco sauce. Lay four corn tortillas over sauce. Top with half of chicken mixture. Spoon on half of sour cream in small dollops. Sprinkle with half of cheese. Top with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture, sour cream and cheese. Cover with foil. At this point, you can wrap the casserole well and freeze up to 3 months.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes until bubbly. Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes longer until cheese is melted. If frozen, thaw casserole overnight in refrigerator, then bake covered at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes until bubbly; uncover and bake 5-10 minutes longer until cheese melts. Serves 6 (This served 5 adults and 3 kids plus some had seconds and thirds AND we still had one serving leftover for C's lunch the next day!)

B-day Boy!

My hubby's b-day is April 1st. That's right. I found my very own April Fool to have and to hold (I will hug him and squeeze him and call him friend). Unfortunately, it feel on a Wednesday. for us, those nights are church nights. Our church serves up an awesome $3 dinner (complete with Nestle Toll House cookie for dessert) plus I have bell practice - ugh! So, we saved the celebrating for Thursday evening. My parents, grandmother and two nephews came over for dinner. Before dinner, the boys came over to help us rip up the carpet in the hallway. We are big fans of hardwood floors. We put hardwoods in our house in Houston and they were gorgeous!!

Plus, our little guy is big time into cars and loves to drive them all over things and carpet isn't race car friendly. So, we asked our landlords if they wouldn't mind splitting the cost of hardwoods for the hallway with us. They decided that they did not want to do that. They wanted to pay for the whole thing - WOW! So, they boys came over to help us pull up the carpet. We told them that they would earn $5 in commission for their work. We are big Dave Ramsey fans and agree with the way he taught his kids about money. Our children will not receive allowances. They will earn commission. Basically, this is their first job and we are their first bosses. If they do the work the way they are supposed to, they get a commission. If they don't do it, then they don't get paid. We feel like since the boys are over here so much that we will give them commissions. Tonight was the first go at it. TE still had homework to do so we had to send him back to my parents. CE was ready to work! He is such a workhorse! He could not wait to get the carpet up. I showed him how to use a flathead screwdriver and a hammer to pull up the carpet tacks. He was in hog heaven. You could tell that he really enjoyed being able to use tools. TE came over after we had pulled up the carpet but he got to pull up the padding. He only worked for about 30 minutes and then went outside to play. We realized that he was going to have a quick lesson in commissions and how they pay out. CE worked right alongside C until the work was all done and dinner was ready. We had printed out recipes a few months ago and C picked out a new one to try for his B-day meal. It was awesome!! It is called Santa Fe Chicken. It was super easy to make, cooked in 35 minutes, and fed 8 people (and seconds and thirds for some!). It was soooo good. There is a little bit left over for C to have for lunch tomorrow. We then played a few rounds of our favorite family card game. Halfway through, it was K's bedtime so we did our routine and he went right to sleep. We then had birthday cake (C's favorite Mexican Spice Cake: Chocolate and cinnamon...mmmmm). C opened his cards and gifts. I got he and I tickets to see Dame Edna at Bass Hall. Hilarious!! Can't wait! After cards, it was time for the family to go home. We went ahead and paid the boys their commission. CE got $7 and TE got $3. TE was a bit confused and C explained to him that he did not do the all the work that was expected of him. He decided to play around. We also used that time to explain to the boys the three ways our family uses money. We explained that we first set aside money to give to God as our offering. We then explained that we set some aside for money for savings. The rest is for spending. They can spend their money on whatever they choose. Momma then explained that when they got home, they were going to work on decorating their three envelopes: Give, Save, Spend. Part of Dave deals with changing your family tree. We hope that by giving them ways to use money in a positive form and talking about it will help them be better with their money than we have been.

Speaking of Dave, mark your calendars!! April 23rd at 7 pm, Dave is doing a live webcast from OKC. He will be discussing the current economic situation. Our church is hosting a viewing of this event. If you need more info, just let me know!

Big event this weekend: Easter Egg Hunt at church. Pics and posting sometime afterwards.