A New Week

I started my day with a terrible Migraine, that sent me back to bed after getting my children's cloth's out.  I really only thought I was going to rest for a moment, but a few hours later I woke to a strangely quiet house.   After a long day a feeling better, my headache is gone, but my body feels like it ran a marathon.  But in my house I can't be down for long and since this is Dan's and my traveling week I need to get things organized!  Things on my list:
-Kids clothing:  I have developed a system of hanging 5 days of of clothes in the closet.  I am making M-F tags to put on the hangers so they know which clothes to wear everyday.  I have M made, but need more ink.
-Lunches:  AnQuenette has decided that she would like me to send lunch with her.  So I am going to set out five days of lunches besides the sandwiches.  That way it is easy to put together.  And I need to get some lunch ideas for the boys put together.
-Dinners:  I need to work on the next months worth of meals.  My last five weeks ends this week.  I have many ideas, but now I need to put it all together!  This week's menu is planned with a few tweaks.  We are having:

• M-Fish Sticks (I know Jeremy doesn't like them so I will find something for him)
• T-Sesame Chicken 
• W-Enchiladas
• Th-Chili Corn Bread
• F-Pizza night  

-Daddy Daughter Dance is this Friday.  I will not be here.  So I lined up our friend to get AnnieQ all ready with her hair.  Dan is not much of a Dance person, but he will learn the important of this special "Daddy Daughter relationship" is.  And I will have to see it all in pictures!  

Well this should help my week be a little more organized!  Just pray no more headaches!

The Cabinet of No Return

About three years ago I bought a George Forman Grill! I grilled chicken and burgers. The newest wore off and it found itself in the cabinet of no return.
Then at Kroger's a few weeks ago at the Deli they had a guy there grill these yummy ham and cheese on a George Forman grill. I thought I have one! So I got what I needed and headed home.  I dug through that cabinet of no return and found what I was looking for all the way in the back.  I got it out, dusted it off and got cooking!   They where yummy!
Now we make Quesadillas in them. So easy! We have put left over turkey or ham in it. Tonight just cheese-two kinds! So rediscover a "put away" appliance and see what new stuff you can do!












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Pizza cutters are great to cut these! (also works great for waffles and pancakes!)




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A Light to My Path: My Prayer

Having a little bit of a tough morning with a certain little 4 year old, I found comfort in this prayer I read. Hope it helps you too!

A Light to My Path: My Prayer: My prayer for today as a mom: God, give me strength for my tasks. Give me patience with children who are still - always - learning. Give me...

Written by a fellow mommy and friend, Sarah Baughman.

Why do they lie?

I had noticed that syrup bottle was under the dinning room table, open with chocolate over the floor.  "Isaiah!" I yelled sounding like Dave from Alvan and the Chipmunks.
A few minutes later Isaiah walks in.  "What mommy?"
Me-pointing to the bottle on the floor "did you do this?"
"No." Isaiah replied so quickly.
Me-trying not to laugh and hold my ground as a stern mom "Isaiah, did you open one of the new bottles of chocolate  syrup?"
 "No, I don't know who did it."

Now I have to stop here and tell you that not only did he have chocolate syrup all over his face, it was on his shirt, arms and legs.  So I walked him into the bathroom and had him look in the mirror.
"Isaiah-a lie is when you don't tell me what really happened.  So I need you to tell me again, did you open up the chocolate syrup bottle?"  Isaiah just smiled and said "Yes"

We go through this all the time with him and his sister.  Sometimes I know the answer and I am looking for them to tell me the truth.  Other times I don't know what really is the truth, so I don't know what to think.  Most of the time they pull this "she did it" "no I didn't he did it."  So what to do.

Children lie.  Some more than others.  When the are young they are still learning the difference between their world and the imaginary world they create.  Also at four years old kids are learning what guilt is.  Guilt is something that as it develops kids learn the difference between right and wrong.  They start developing a conscience.

I remember when my 10 year was about 6 or 7.  He was going to a VBS and he stoled a little toy plane.  He came to me that night and confessed that he had done this and was tormented.  To this day he still brings this event up in his life.  He knew he had done something wrong.  He doesn't still always tell the truth, but it doesn't normally take long for the truth to come out.  But some of my other kids, telling the truth is not always as easy.

Some kids miss these steps in their development.  Many kids that come from broken homes, on the streets or foster care- they miss huge developmental stages early on and since these stages are like building blocks when one is missed it is hard for kids.  Sometimes this leads to serve cases of Attachment Disorders.  Other times it just takes years of consistency of filling in those missing building blocks.

We tell all our kids that lying is not ok.  When you lie to us we lose trust in them and it is not always easy to gain back.  But for a younger child it is not about trust, but more on our part about training.  We are training our kids to teach them right from wrong.

What are ways you teach your kids your kids not to lie?

A retake on the breakfast in the crockpot

I did this about a year ago, it was so so. So I decided to retry because the idea of having breakfast ready is very appealing!
Last time I thought there wasn't enough eggs and it was too dry. So instead of 12 eggs I used 18. And I used some sour cream.

First I put a liner in, then layered hash-browns, onion, sour cream (cup) bacon and cheese.









18 eggs, 1 cup of milk, a little salt and garlic powder.


-pour it over


Cook all night at low



Kids *****
adults***
I wish I could do this with scrambled. But my kids loved it so it goes on to next level of messing with it for the perfect breakfast crockpot recipe.

What has worked for you?

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Beef Broccoli Alfredo

We are working hard to stay on track for keeping to dinner plans. The nice thing about out monthly menu is I lamented it so I can change things as needed.

Since we eat out for birthdays I moved Mondays dinner to Tuesday. Cut out Tuesday plan and changed Wed shrimp to chicken. But we ate chicken last night so I found hiding in the freezer boneless beef round steaks I bought  BOGO free.
My noodles where free, Alfredo sauce bygo free $3.60. Broccoli $2 so this dinner about $8 for 8 servings! (ok the meat disappeared quickly.)






We pounded the meat to make it tender.







I put the frozen broccoli in the strainer-pour noodles over water thaws them.






- fried up steak with a little salt and garlic powder






Cut it into strips





Mix it all together-cook a  little bit longer to make sure all is hot.






And yum! The only thing the kids said was more meat!






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Facebook & Twitter

In a quest to gain more views to my blog, I have attempted to create a facebook page and Twitter for my blog - Hopping to it.  I don't really don't do much Twitter, but I read that it is important to use both to gain more traffic.  I am trying to get a link to facebook set up- still on a learning curve, but here is the link to the page....http://www.facebook.com/mommahopper.  You may notice it says Mommahopper and not Hopping to it....there will be a changing come to the blog so be on the look out!  Twitter I am Mommahopper also.

So check them out!

What I Did Today!

6:10 a.m. Alarm goes off
6:11 a.m. I hit the snooze
back and forth till 6:25 a.m.
6:30 a.m. Dan walks in to make sure I am awake
6:35 a.m. Go wake up AnQuenette
6:36 a.m. get her clothes, feed her breakfast, get her ready for bus, get her cupcakes for her birthday
7:00 a.m. get her on the bus
7:05 a.m. feed Isaiah
7:10 a.m. Check on the world and my kingdom
make my first cup of coffee
get Isaiah dressed
Walk Sophie
8:00 a.m. Dan and Isaiah leave
8:05 a.m. Jeremy walks out-there goes my mommy quiet time
head starts
clean a little
get Robby moving
take medicine
Laid down for about 15 minutes
Coffee
work with Robby on school stuff
Get Jeremy motivated
10-12 work of church related stuff for setting goals and such.  Find really cool things.  Found really cool bible study.  Is excited but head still hurts.
12:15, goes gets Isaiah
Runs to Krogers with Isaiah
Comes homes, checks on kingdom
Checks on facebook, starts laundry
2:15 goes gets AnnieQ
come home
starts dinner
browns pork
switches laundry around
slowly folds clothes
finishes dinner-yum pork chop stuffing....oh my house smell divine!
Checks kingdom, I freed George today!
Kids playing out side
Robby gets splinter
Robby wants splinter out but not letting me use a needle
Restocks pets food supply
Laundry
listens to Jeremy for a bit
Ignores Jeremy for a bit
Dinner cooking
Me blogging
it is now 4:30 p.m.

For those who say stay at home mom's don't work.... ....

Hey what did you do today?

AnnieQ

We have only had AnQuenette AKA AnnieQ in our house for three years now.  We already had two of her brothers, so the placement of her and her sister Mia seem like the right thing at the time.  It was a two week placement.  While I am not going into much of the story (for a later blog) Ms. AnnieQ AKA Sassy Pants by her little brother Isaiah, has brought a lot of joy and happiness.  The road is not always easy, but the rewards are great!  She just turned 6 two days ago and I wanted to share a bit with you.  While all my other children I had that moment when I first met them, AnnieQ I don't.  I never saw her at the visits early on.  She must have been almost two the first time I met her.  She was three when she moved into our home.  Four when we adopted her, and now she is six!  In some ways I feel like I didn't get enough of her, that she is growing up to fast.  But here is a little of how she is growing up....

A Year Ago

I find my self often thinking "a year ago."  Last year was filled with so many HUGE not normal events for us here in Huntsville, AL.  A snow blizzard, tornadoes, sickness, death, relationship issues, attitudes, teenagers, drugs, oh the list like went on.  A year ago one of my dear youth fell ill.  Charlie.  Dan and Jeremy were out in California  taking care of family issues, we were thawing out from a week long blizzard that stranded most families at home.  A year ago life went into a fuzzy stage, like one was in a dream watching events unfold in front of you and nothing you could do to stop it from happening.
I think that is how this year is going to play out, thinking of all that happened last year.  Remembering is good, it is healing.  As long as we don't let it paralyze us, we can continue to grow and comprehend why God handed us these events in our lives.  And while we still may not understand everything that happened, we still continue to understand and comprehend these things.
A year ago Charlie got sick.  A year ago Charlie changed our lives.  A year ago.....

I am not making the bed

It was one of those mornings.  You know when you wake up with a headache.  Oh wait maybe you don't know.  Consider yourself lucky!  My very sweet husband knows the routine, gets my medicine and lets me sleep.  But I didn't have kids clothes ready and I knew that I had to do AnnieQ's hair so I drug myself out of bed and got things together.  He did the rest. After a hot shower and a cup of coffee I feel wiped out and it is only 8am.
I have been following for the last two weeks the chore list from Motivated Mom.  I like the way the week is set up-daily chores, weekly chores.  I like the fact that she has on there things I don't think about until it is beyond grossness (like the microwave which my husband normally ends up cleaning).
Any way, today I decided I am not going to make my bed.  My head hurts and I just want to sleep.  But I got school to get started and the kids have swim lessons this afternoon which requires some planning because I hope to exercise too-but if my head hurts that will not happen!  Sigh.
I wonder what is on my list today? Oh look clean faucets-see I just don't think today I will clean all the faucets-all 7 of them!  But I know the trick to make them shine and get the grim out...who's toothbrush will I use!:)

Maybe I will get motivated and make my bed....

A Boxer?

Today we took Sophie to the vet.  She is 13 weeks old and weighs 20 lbs already!  She is going to be big.  All checked out great!  The vet thinks she is mix Lab and boxer.  We had guessed lab, but was being told maybe some German Shepherd in her.  But he doesn't see the German Shepherd.  So I came home and research Lab and Boxers....who some call Boxadors.  Cute and funny!  From what I have seen and read this is a amazing family dog and most people were very happy with theirs!  Since we also do foster care I wanted to make sure we have a good dog to handle kids that may come in and out.  And it seems we may be gotten her! She plays well with all of them!  For as much as I resisted getting a dog, glad we have Sophie!

Just one of the kids!

Mother may I?

When I was coming home from picking up my 4 year old I finally really understood the game "Mother may I."  After 10 plus years of being a parent, the concept became perfectly clear.  On the way home Isaiah kept asking, may I have a spicy sticks (aka slim jims).  "Yes" I would reply.  "May I have two?" Isaiah would ask.  "No" I would answer.  "Uggg I hate you", me " Love you" I would say.  "May I have chocolate coin?"  "No" The "May I's" continued for the whole way home.  Trying to see what he could do, and what he could get away with.

Mother may I take a nap....yes but for only 6 minutes!

Did I mention we got a puppy?

Did I mention we added a puppy named Sophie to our already busy household?  Well we did!  And better I working with my sister and brother-in-law I kept it a secret for about 5 weeks!  On Christmas each one of them opened a "puppy" gift and then we told them the puppy was staying!  And now I have a fifth child! Well kinda!:)
The kids do very well with her, and are learning about responsibility of caring for a puppy.  It is not always on their to do list, but we are working on this.  Robby is researching how to train a puppy.  She is create trained which we needed cause our house is too big to let her roam freely.  She is learning how to walk on a lease and how to stay by us when not on a lease.
Her favorite thing is to chew...and her favorite toy is this crunchy bottle giraffe.




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Learning new things

One of the things I have as a goal this year is to learn more about blogging.  I have been trying to learn from other bloggers and have been trying to work with in blogger where I blog.  There are still many things I am trying to learn, like how to make those top buttons work!  Or how to make a button for others to share my blog.  So keep checking back us I try to update my blogs!

Morning Experiment

I had seen a picture on Pinterest for an Egg Cup with Spinach in it.  It looked so yummy!   This morning I got the notion to try with the ingredients I had on hand.  So I made eight of these Egg Nest as the kids called them.  It needs tweaking.






I smushed the rolls and filled the cup cake pan (only 8 in the can).  Do they make bigger cup cake pans....made next in individual craft cups.




I didn't have shredded cheese nor did I feel like getting the shredder out so I just cut small strips and put them in the bottom, like a nest.






Then I cracked an egg in each on....here where I needed medium eggs, the large eggs made a huge mess, so I took out the egg white for the rest of them.  You need the egg white just as a note!





But in the end they were yummy and even though they looked weird, they were very good!  This little recipe I am going to play with more!




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