Thursday, August 12, 2010

Phew

Okay, so obviously summer is not going to be a good time for me to keep up on this blog. The insanity of having both kids running around without a break... well, it just didn't happen.

The good news for you all is that I DO have an activity planned for this week (it was supposed to be today, but life kind of happened, and while that's a long story, it will be happening tomorrow instead) that hails back to when I was a kid myself - so I will be bringing you that one tomorrow.

Just wanted to let you know, I have not forgotten about you all, and I will return, hopefully with many more fun posts now that routine is about to start (since Monster Boy heads off to Kindergarten next week!) and I should have more *ahem* time on my hands!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Apologies... Again.

Well, I had the best of intentions - let me assure you.

I fully intended to do, or at least lay out, several projects with Monster Boy (and a few even with Little Miss Sunshine) this past week.

However, we lost a beloved member of our family - our cat of 14 years, Samantha - on Monday. And, well, without going into gory details, let's just say that I found her dead, and it has proven to be a bit traumatic to me. So my week pretty much went downhill from there, and I have not had much success getting things back on track :(.

However, in an attempt to make amends, I bring you my "Mom Emergency Casserole". I *think* I made this up myself years and years ago - I'm sure it's nothing really original, but it's a staple in our household on those nights where you are running behind, or you have tons to do and can't really mess with cooking dinner, or you don't feel like cooking, or, hey, you just want to throw something in the oven and then sit on the couch and read a book for half an hour or something.

Mom Emergency Casserole

Ingredients:
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (or Cream of Mushroom - either works!)
1 package flavored rice (We like to do either chicken or mushroom flavor on this as well - I typically alternate the soup and the rice - i.e. chicken soup and mushroom rice or vice versa)
1 package of chicken (we prefer boneless, skinless breasts or tenderloins - tenderloins will obviously cook up faster)

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 450
2. In casserole dish, mix cream of chicken soup with can of water as instructed on label
3. Pour in contents of rice mix and stir together
4. Place your chicken in mixture, covering chicken fully
5. Cover dish and place in oven

Cook until chicken and rice are thoroughly cooked - the rice should be soft. With the tenderloins, it takes about 30 minutes. Chicken breast takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 50 minutes, depending on thickness. Always check both your chicken and your rice to be certain it is fully cooked.

Serve up and enjoy!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

I'm a slacker...

I know it!


BUT - in other exciting news... once we finish up this nightmare of a garage sale we are dealing with right now.... I will be BACK!

I have LOTS of fun activities planned for Monster Boy, and maybe even will get Miss Sunshine involved in a few... And I will be sure to take lots of pictures so I can make some great blog entries for you all...

I know, I know. You can barely control your excitement. And why should you???

Stay tuned!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Check it out!

I am slowly but surely become a "green" mama. And in honor of that, I bring you a contest!

The Green Quiz Quest - head on over and check it out - lots of great "green" sponsers and lots of great "green" prizes!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Where does the time go - AND a little project!

Wow - I'm so sorry you guys! Life caught up with us and I just did not get around to getting pictures of any of the projects Monster Boy and I have done lately....

But to assuage you all - I have a NEW project for you!

Last month, we redid Monster Boy's bedroom. We (finally) got paint up on the walls - he had been living with Builder's White since we moved in to this house three years ago! Well, our paint turned out a bit brighter than intended (think highlighter green!) but looks AWESOME with all his new bedding that we got on clearance at T.arget!


Well, as you can imagine, all that bright green is a little overwhelming with nothing on his walls!
We discussed long and hard our options for decorating his walls - we looked at stores and nothing just stuck out to us. Then came time to go through his school folder this last week - and lo and behold - the answer to our needs!

Monster Boy's preschool teacher, Mrs. R, is a fantastic woman who is SO wonderfully inventive. Well, she'd have to be with a class full of boys (seriously, Monster Boy has only ONE girl in his Pre-K class this year!). She has done several art projects with the kids (and has graciously agreed to let me "steal" them for you all here!) and, since Monster Boy's favorite colors to paint with are, conveniently enough, blue and green, some of their art projects made PERFECT artwork for his room! So off to the local craft store for some plain white mats and plain white frames (which I found on sale 2/$7 - doesn't get any better than that!) to make REAL art pieces out of them!

His FIRST project was "Painting with Cars". What a GREAT idea! Mrs. R let the kids take tempera paints and some matchbox cars and "paint" with the cars. Basically, the kids put splotches of paint on their paper and then ran the cars through them to create patterns. Here is Monster Boy's results - all nicely framed and ready to hang!




The other project they did was painting paper towels! Again, inspired! Mrs. R gave the kids some individual paper towels and water color paints. The paper towels really absorbed the paints in VERY cool patterns and look FABULOUS (well, at least in my opinion) all nicely framed up to hang on his walls. Monster Boy made two paper towel paintings on different days out of the same colors (have I mentioned he likes Blue and Green?) that really look like they belong together. So they are our other "works of art" for his room.



I think these projects are GREAT and are SO easy to do. And what better way to decorate your kids' rooms than with their OWN works of art? Monster Boy was so excited about framing these projects to hang up in his room.
 
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