Congrats to each of you!

Doing the Dance of the Children~

I’ve been spending time each day exploring all the new places around me and this is by far, one of my VERY BEST finds! There are global issues that make us all feel so small and helpless and Human Trafficking is at the top of that list for me. As a mom it’s one of those things that absolutely hurts my soul and I’ve never known what to do, except pray for the victims.

A couple of days ago, Lex and I were on the hunt for a new place to grab some iced tea or coffee and I saw the sign for Origins Coffee & Tea. It intrigued me because it said something about making a difference. A coffee house making a difference? I had to go in and see what it was about. I’m sure glad I did!

Origins Coffee and Tea was started by dads who couldn’t let this issue go without a fight. You can read Chad Salstrom’s blog here. Arianna, Maddi and I went in today to find out about volunteering and we were able to meet Chad, get a tour and hear a little of his personal perspective. The shop is run by volunteers who are asked to give a minimum of 4 hours a week for 3 months. These are people working for free to help this important cause. You can easily sign up to give a little time, but if that won’t work for your schedule, you can simply patronize the shop. It’s spacious and comfortable, offering free wifi and is open from 6:30am-11pm each day. Chad showed us the meeting room they have available for groups looking for a place to hold a meeting or a gathering. There’s no charge for this room! Think about holding your next meeting there and let the coffeehouse provide your drinks and refreshments.

I’m so excited about this shop and what they’re doing! The girls and I are signing up to donate our time and plan on visiting the coffeehouse often. I’m drinking coffee anyway, my caffeine addiction might as well help out those in need!

This is seriously Good Stuff! If you’re local to the Rocklin/Roseville area, consider visiting the shop, bring your laptop, your friends and your goodwill!

Doing the Dance of the Children With the Hope of Helping a Little~

Here’s a solution to 2 common household problems;

Problem #1) How many hundreds of times have you picked up and dumped water bottles that have been partially enjoyed and then left sitting around?

Problem #2) Do your ice packs seems to disappear as often as the match to almost all your children’s socks?

Solution!- Fill those 1/2 full water bottles with tap water, mark an X on the top (this is how my kids know not to defrost and drink them), throw them in your freezer & BAM! No more searching for ice packs (though these are a little large for lunch boxes, if you DO choose to use them that way, I’d suggest putting them in a plastic zipper bag to keep everything else from getting wet) and no more frustration over dumping all that water!

Doing the Dance of the Children & Finding Practical Solutions Along the Way~

Yesterday the teacher I work with came up with this fun and beautiful project. It did take time, but the end result is worth it!

You will need-

Brown paper bags

red, yellow, green, brown, copper and gold paint

Paper plates

Wire, ribbon or string (we used copper wire)

Leaf templates

Scissors

Glue sticks

Tape

Cut brown, paper grocery bags. Use the 2 large portions. Discard the rest. Crumple each section.

Cut the center out of paper plates (we saved the centers for future projects).

Cut out leaf templates (we got ours from familyfun.com)

Dilute red, yellow and green paint with water. Have children paint the entire section of bag with each color, encouraging them to overlap colors.

While bags dry (they dried quickly), paint each of the paper plates with brown paint. If you are working with younger children you may want to paint the wreath portion for them. Older children can do this step while they are waiting for their bags to dry.

Then have the children sponge gold and copper paint onto the dried and painted bags.

Use a toothbrush dipped in brown paint to lightly splatter across the bag.

Let bags dry.

Trace the leaves onto the painted and dried bags. Cut out the leaves. Have the children use glue stick to glue the leaves around the painted paper plate wreaths.

Cute wire, ribbon or string, loop and tape to the back of the wreaths.

Fall Leave Wreaths!

We love how these came out!

I brought the stock home, broke off the amount of sprouts I wanted to use (starting at the bottom of the stalk), washed them, removed any yellowing leaves, cut them in half, laid them in a rectangular, stone pan, drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar on them, crushed 3 cloves of garlic over them, sprinkled with sea salt and roasted them for 45 minutes at 500. Yum! Next time I’ll roast for 60-75 mins, so they’re a little crisper on the outside.

So…the recipe is;

Preheat oven to 500

2 lbs brussel sprouts
1/4 cup Olive Oil
4 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
a sprinkling of Sea Salt

Wash sprouts. Cut them in 1/2 and lay them in a 9×13 baking pan. Drizzle with the olive oil. Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar. Crush the cloves of garlic over the top of the sprouts. Sprinkle with sea salt. Toss until all sprouts are covered.

Place in your preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour, turning sprouts in the pan every 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Oh! If you have unused sprouts that are still on the stalk, store them in water.

Doing the Dance of the Children and Getting Them to Eat Their Sprouts~

Yesterday I put 4 frozen chicken breasts into the crock, added 1/2 a jar of pesto from Costco, a few sun dried tomatoes and turned it on. I cooked pasta and served the chicken over it. Veggies were served on the side and there you have it! A super easy crock pot meal!

(never mind that when my 11 yr old looked into the crock pot, he asked why we were having pesto chicken with prunes!)

Doing the Dance of the Children With a Few Tricks Up My Sleeve~

A little improv turned into a tasty meal.

Have a great day~

1 pkg Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 can cream-style corn
1 can whole-kernel corn, drained
1 cup sour cream
1 stick butter, softened
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well. Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Good night~

I decided to make a super easy treat since I have a little time.

2 pkgs of Dr. Oetker Dark Chocolate Truffle Mousse
2 cups milk
1-12oz. tub of extra creamy cool whip

Follow directions on pkgs of mousse. Fold in the entire container of Cool Whip. Chill 2 hours and EAT!

Super easy and extra moussey! Yum!

Have a great day~

We have been talking about farms and ranches, the different animals on each and the duties of the people who live and work there. We came up with the idea to have the kids learn about sheep and wool. So we made each child their own wooly sheep to shear.

Then we explained about the process and that they would be shearing their sheep with their hands.

Then we had them collect their “wool” and explained that it gets sent to factories and is made into different things that we use at home. We gave them the choice of making a sweater or a blanket.

It was a fun and easy project that taught them about sheep, wool and some of our household items.

Have a great day~

Now that Black Friday is over and we are in full, “it’s time to think of gifts for the kids” mode I wanted to share a great gift idea for those looking for a fun and educational idea for their younger kiddos.

Jump Start Pet Rescue for wii! My 3 youngest have been having a blast with it. And I’m truly surprised at the fact that it’s not only fun but educational. It’s recommended for ages 3-6 but my 7yr old and our 8 yr old friend have been enjoying it too.

The kids have been enjoying JumpStart.com for awhile now and getting Pet Rescue was another way for them to have fun and learn with all that the Jump Start family of products has to offer.

Good luck with all the holiday shopping! I hope all your gift choices can be as easy as this one!

Have a great day~

This morning I had a few minutes left before waking the kids when Luke-Xavier came walking into the kitchen. I cuddled him a little (I love that he’s still little enough to scoop up and cuddle on!) and set him on the counter. He asked me for chocolate milk and I had to explain that we are out of chocolate but that I could make him vanilla milk with whipped cream. He wasn’t too sure about it, but he let me get started anyway. I pulled out the container of whipping cream and he giggled at me and said that that wasn’t whipped cream, it was for coffee. Oh! A moment for magic! I told him I would turn it into whipped cream. He smiled at me like I was the silliest mom ever. So, I poured some into a bowl, added sugar and took out the hand-beater. He still thought I was silly. Once I turned it on and started mixing he watched closely. Pretty soon he yelled, “it’s whipped cream!” and clapped. I scooped up a finger full and put it in his lil mouth. He was so happy! Then I warmed the milk, added a little vanilla and plopped some cream on top.

Happy boy. Happy face. Happy morning moments!

Have a great day~

JJ requested this tonight and I realized I had forgotten about it.  For awhile it was a staple around the Lang house.  Having Kateri and JJ home for a little while in the summer brings back some of the things I used to do and have just let get dusty in the back of my memory. So, here’s a simple recipe that serves 8-10 but, as with every recipe I post, it can easily be modified to serve fewer or even MORE!

Tortillas

1 can refried beans

1 can black beans

1 can cut tomatoes (you can use any type or even substitute a chunky salsa or Rotel if that’s what you have on hand)

1 can corn

Cheese, sour cream, salsa, olives, avocado….whatever you want to top it with after it’s been cooked

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl dump the refried beans, black beans (drain first), can of tomatoes (do not drain) and the can of corn (drain first).

Mix well

Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with tortillas. I use 3-4

Top tortillas with mixture from the bowl

Top mixture with tortillas (again, 3-4)

Cover pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes

Uncover, top with cheese and bake for 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted

Cut and serve with chosen toppings

Done!

EASY and INEXPENSIVE!

Let me know how you like it or if you modify it and, as always, feel free to share your recipe ideas.

Good night~

~sigh~ 

M.O.M. is thankful for the ease of housing maintenance and challenged by this first week of summer.  

Have a great day~

Well, I’ve been down this road 8 times and I’ve always started right around each kiddos second birthday.  Last year, as Luke-Xavier’s second birthday was approaching, I decided to wait a little while since Clay had just deployed and I knew that it wasn’t the best time to try to introduce any other life changing events.  So, I waited.  Then summer came and we were busy running around and I thought, “well, I’ll just go through the summer and we’ll worry about potty-training when everyone’s back in school”.  Then school started and I found myself homeschooling two 7th graders and I thought, “well it’s certainly not a good time to worry about potty-training!  Maybe after Clay gets back from deployment and we’re into the holidays….”  And so it went with one “reason” after another until yesterday when I thought, “ok, we HAVE GOT TO GET THIS DONE”!  Not only has his 3rd birthday come and gone, but he’s going to preschool in the Fall and he MUST be potty-trained to be there.  So my mind started working on strategy (I’m a little out of practice).

The other night when he was in the bath, he started to pee and stopped himself and I put him on the pot and he finished there.  Hmmmm….not bad!  So, I know he’s got some control over the whole thing.  Hmmm…..how to motivate him?

Ah Ha!!!!! M&M’s!  I remembered the old trick of giving an M&M (or other small treat) every time a trip to the bathroom is successful.  So, I told him we were going to go to the store to buy a bag and he quickly reminded me of the successful pee episode of the other night and that I owed him ONE M&M.  Who was I to argue with memory, math or motivation?!  One bag of potty-training motivators was purchased and ONE colorful candy was dispensed into a eagerly waiting hand.  

But today!  Oh today!  He gets it!  Man does he EVER get it!  He’s come to me saying he’s gotta go, several times.  So, off with the diaper and a boost onto the potty and he sits there until he makes himself go.  Then he excitedly puts his little hand out for the ONE M&M.  This last time, he was so determined that he spent 20 minutes sitting there, insisting he had to go.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I found something that was gonna work and work fast, but this kid has the patience of a saint!  

So, let’s hope he stays motivated and that it’s quick and easy!  I’d love to make my next shopping trip without purchasing another box of diapers!  

I’ll let you know!

Have a great day (and an M&M!)~