Summer activities

Haha, it's been a while! Our youngest is now two and I'm pregnant for the fourth (and last!) time. We just found out that our youngest (to be born in October) is a girl as well, so among other things I'm currently working on wrangling together all the boy clothes too small for Thomas and getting rid of them. I've also been working on a list of ideas to do this summer so the kids won't be able to complain of boredom; I figured here is as good a place to keep the list as anywhere, especially since my notebook with my draft keeps getting lost. I plan to make fun little cards for them to pick ideas out, but a typed list is a good first step, right? Here goes:

water balloons
camping
stargazing
pajama/movie day
make ice cream
take a hike
swimming
bug hunt
cardboard box fort
picnic at park
campfire dinner
library trip
play in sprinkler/hose
take a nature walk, take pics; on a rainy day use those pics to make a nature book
scavenger hunt
attend an outdoor concert
build sandcastles
build a wood craft
fly kites
sewing project - make picnic blanket
make sock puppets
make and blow bubbles
excavate ice/plaster block
bike ride
hotwheels races on driveway
dress up party
tie dye ice cube shirts
make pinecone bird feeders
make silhouettes
pet rocks
toy swap
fingerpainting
zoo
make lemonade
treasure hunt
splash pad
visit animal park in Sandusky
make cookies for friends
visit a farm
feed ducks
handprint art
play post office
make pizza
lego contest/building
toothpick/marshmallow building
popsicle stick puzzles
color
play freeze tag
make an obstacle course
paint with water on driveway
play hide and seek
play red light, green light
play Simon says
play Mother May I
decorate superhero capes
visit museum of art
corn maze (September or October)

Edited to add a few more ideas another local mom posted on her blog:

1. draw self portraits
2. have hopscotch fun
3. go bowling
4. make beaded necklaces
5. go to a parade
6. visit youngs dairy
7. visit ice cream factory – ye olde mill in utica ?
8. build boats from juice containers and find a place to test their floatability
9. visit anthony thomas for a factory tour
10. build an obstacle course
11. draw a play city on butcher paper, tape to floor – add directionals, cars, etc
12. go to a fair – ross county, ohio state, etc
13. visit santa maria downtown pirate ship
14. go to a columbus commons friday funday
15. have a mini-olympics session

Hopefully this will get us started!

Recipe of the Day

Italian Chicken

A great go-to recipe for giving chicken some extra zing!

Ingredients:
Packet of dry Italian dressing mix
White wine (remember, never use in cooking something you wouldn't willingly drink - don't buy "cooking wine", it's just bad wine with extra salt!)
2 T. water
1 T. oil (I use olive oil)
Chicken of whatever quantity you want - you can use this on chicken breasts, a whole chicken, or anything in between!

1. Put chicken in glass casserole dish (I usually use a 9x13 dish)
2. Pour wine over chicken, enough to give a good cover to the bottom of dish (add more for more flavor, less for a more subtle taste).
3. Mix water, oil, and Italian seasoning in a bowl, baste chicken.
4. Bake at 350 till chicken is done (this will vary based on what pieces you used for your chicken).

Alternatives:
1. Easily adaptable to the crockpot, just put everything in there instead and cook on Low till chicken is done!
2. You can use pre-made Italian dressing instead of mixing on your own, but you'll want to add more dressing because the flavor won't be as strong.
3. Especially if using pre-made Italian dressing, I like to marinade overnight before cooking.
4. This is great cooked on the grill if marinated ahead of time!
5. You can serve with mashed potatoes and a green veggie, some sort of bread, and fruit for a good well-rounded meal, or chunk up and put in salad, or whatever you want - it's very adaptable!

We're snowed in for yet another day (maybe we'll finally get to have preschool again tomorrow? I hope!) and it's supposed to be super-windy. Doesn't look too bad yet, more like "breeze" rather than wind. All the trees still have their snow piled on the branches, so it can't be too much on the windy side, can it? I'm wondering what excuse I can make that we *have* to go out, but we've already missed storytime (we were already planning on going tomorrow anyway) and the library books aren't due till tomorrow either. The grocery shopping is already done, and while I need to get new sheets, that's no more urgent now than it has been since we got the new bed almost a year ago. I'm thinking that the best course of action is to put Beth down for her nap, set Thomas up with a movie, and try to nap. Being up in the middle of the night for an hour with a kid wakened up by a bad dream can really set my mood in the wrong direction for the next day!

Recipe of the Day

So, I know I haven't posted in forever and am not for sure this will last, but since I'm posting these on our playgroup's message board I figured I might as well publish them here, too. One of these days I'll get around to writing actual posts again!

One-Dish Chicken Supper

My notes: The "standard" recipe comes from the back of the Stove Top Stuffing boxes ... you can also add broccoli or frozen mixed veggies. The crockpot version is from the "Fix It and Forget It" cookbook. I wonder if this would be good with cream cheese instead of the sour cream or milk?

Standard edition:
1 box chicken stuffing (or turkey, your choice)
1/4 c. stick margarine, cut up
1 1/2 c. hot water
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (or equivalent; I often cook a whole chicken or turkey and freeze the leftovers, then just pull out a package of the larger chunks for this dish) - you can do this with cooked or uncooked chicken, I just use the cooked for convenience and time-saving
1 can cream of mushroom/chicken/celery (your choice)
1/3 c. sour cream or milk

1. Mix stuffing, margarine, and water, just till moistened.
2. Mix soup and sour cream (or milk).
3. Put chicken in baking dish, top with soup mix then stuffing.
4. Bake at 375 deg. about 35 minutes or till chicken is done (if using precooked chicken, cook till stuffing is nicely browned on top).

If using a crockpot, everything is the same except steps 3 and 4:
3. Put chicken in crockpot, top with soup mix then stuffing.
4. Cook on Low 6-8 hours.

And the quick list of updates since I haven't written in about a year:
We're expecting another daughter in May.
Thomas is in preschool and is looking forward to Kindergarten in the fall (actually, "looking forward to" doesn't quite cover it - he's been asking about just when he gets to start for the last year and a half!)
Beth is finally growing some hair and hates the fact that she isn't in preschool yet; she'll start a one day/week program this coming fall.
Clay is still at OSU and still loves his job.
Rob is still at OSU and living with us, and still can't wait to graduate.
Pregnancy is still a mix of enjoyment and discomfort, and I'm totally worn out by it!

Science Experiment gone very wrong ...

You thought your kid(s) gave you a rough time today? Here's my afternoon ...
So, during "rest time" today while the kids were supposedly sleeping, I took the monitors outside so I could get some garden work done. I started to come inside to get some flour to mark an area to dig when I saw Thomas. I knew he had been playing (at first) but he does that frequently, then falls asleep. I opened the door to walk in and I heard water running - *lots* of water. I ran into the bathroom thinking the toilet was overflowing - and saw water dripping from the ceiling. Uh-oh! I ran upstairs, slipping in the hallway where there was also water dripped through, and found the bathtub completely overflowing(!) I couldn't get ahold of ANY of my peeps - not Clay, not Rob, not my dad, not Clay's dad, and *finally* talked to my mom but she had no idea what to recommend for cleanup! Gah! I sent Thomas to his room, started mopping up what I could with towels, and the phone rang. It was Rob, who went searching for Clay for me - apparently I was doing just what I should, thankfully. Their first reaction was "Is Thomas ok?" Which, OMG, I hadn't even thought of (since I had seen him before ever hearing the water). But seriously - what if, what if, what if?!
Apparently this was all a science experiment - Thomas wanted to know what happens when the bathtub fills all the way up (!), and then decided he wanted *me* to turn off the water (he couldn't figure it out) but got distracted and started playing rather than coming to *tell* me I was needed ...
It was a long day.

My little perfectionist

I just had to share the latest adventure in the house ... apparently Beth is quite the little perfectionist, not willing to let on that she can do something until she can do it just right. After setting her up at the table with some Cheerios (just a few at a time, otherwise she throws them all over) and taking Dandy out, I was leaving the kitchen to go get my computer. Beth turns and looks at me and holds out her hand, "Nnno!" She had run out of Cheerios and didn't want me to leave till she had more! Gah!

Sleep!

Beth is FINALLY starting to get back to sleeping through the night again - last night she slept from 7:30 PM - 9:00 AM *straight*! Yea! A good thing too, I was so sleepy. Thomas woke up at 8 and came to snuggle, then went downstairs, then came back upstairs and was playing so I convinced him to go watch a movie, and dozed off again. He was happy to comply and is finishing up his Thomas the train movie right now. Hey, it was an emergency - I needed sleep!
I got to go out with friends for a couple hours last night, it was a lot of fun hanging out, and the hot fudge sundae I got was fabulous. There were 10 of us at a long table so I only got to talk to a few other people, but it was still fun - I love my mama's group, it's nice having friends close by going through the same stuff.
I'm working at getting the house organized again, I got almost all the Christmas stuff back downstairs yesterday, I think there are a couple towels out still though that I'll have to track down. I'm trying to get into routines so that I can *keep* everything nice once I get it there. So far I've got this:

1. Kids get up, so I do too.
2. Feed kids breakfast, try to remember to feed myself - lol.
3. Check email/message board/other random internet stuff.
4. Make bed and get dressed.
5. Laundry.
6. Dishes, spend a few minutes clearing off counters.

By the time I'm on #6, I usually get sidetracked and do random stuff, sometimes cleaning and sometimes not, till around 5:00. Then, I've got this:

1. Start tidying up a bunch of stuff as quickly as possible before Clay and Rob get home.
2. Help kids clean up toys.
3. More dishes, start dinner.
4. Dinner.
5. Give the kids their bath and put them to bed.
6. Get absolutely nothing constructive done the rest of the evening and play games or mess around on the computer.

It's not perfect, but it's a start!

A long 3 weeks!

We left home 3 weeks ago, and it was a VERY long 3 weeks. We got to spend a day in Indianapolis with our best friends who now live in a different state, then headed the rest of the way out to St. Louis to be with my mom's family for Christmas. Then, the day after Christmas my aunt died suddenly, so we of course stayed for the calling hours and funeral. We got home late last Tuesday night (was it really only a little more than a week ago?) then Wednesday morning went to Bucyrus to celebrate Christmas with our immediate families and New Year's Eve with my family (Clay's parents had plans). We got home Saturday night, slept and worked on Sunday, then Monday started trying to get back into the swing of things, going through the mail, etc. Well, one of the pieces of mail is the renewal for Dandy's dog license, which requires a rabies tag ... I wasn't sure when she needed her next so called the vet (old family friend who lives in Bucyrus) and found out that both she and Annie are due for shots. Ugh. So, packed the kids and the animals up on Tuesday to head for Bucyrus, promising Thomas that he got to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's (my parents), and Grandma would bring him home in time for preschool the next day. We got halfway to Bucyrus when I got the call that they were having to cancel the appointment, the vet's mom (who, at 87, had been in the hospital in Cleveland for a few weeks after they discovered an aggresive cancer) had taken a turn for the worse - they were hoping to make it up there in time to say goodbye. I guess when it rains, it pours. We had a great Christmas, but it's kind of sucked since then.
In happier news, Thomas had Spanish class at preschool for the first time Wednesday and loved it, hasn't quit talking about it. He still won't tell us what he learned (colors) but at least he had fun. Beth is getting SO close to walking, but gets quite upset when it comes time to sit down - she doesn't want to let go! She's also started using more words - we've got "Mama" (me) "Um-ma" (my mom) "Dada" (Clay) "baw" (bottle) and "ba" (bye). It seems like there might be a couple more, but I can't think of them right now. Oh, and she got another tooth and is working on several more - yea (ugh!) :-P