Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful

Well, Folks. It's not pretty. The downed power lines, the tree branches littering our yard, the MESS everywhere. But we are home. After 30 hours or so camped out at my parent's house with the Coach's brother and his family, we have ELECTRICITY and we are home.

Whew.

I knew the ice storm was coming, though. So we were prepared.

With popcorn and hot chocolate, you can survive anything. And electricity. That's important.

You can't see this, but the hot chocolate says, "GREAT FOR: Offices, Restaurants, Schools, Daycare."

Yep, that's us.

What IS that smell?

Our house is full of excitement.
Excitement, I'm telling you.
Of the greatest kind.

Sometimes, it's billows of smoke coming out of the oven.
I'm SO generous with my advice to you all, I hope you appreciate it.
Here it comes: Lego's will catch fire.

But other times, there are good smells.
Not over on the boy's side of the house, of course, but that's just the way it is.
Tonight, in our kitchen, it is smelling lovely.

Believe it or not, I have three 6th grade boys making candles in my kitchen.
With the help of the Coach, of course.

There are certainly days when the school projects wear me out. Seriously. A poster on games played in ancient Egypt? Please!
Or a map of little Christian's journey? With 3-D images? Oh Boy.
On on those days, I contemplate the possibility of homeschooling. Surely we could get by with math, grammar, the basics. Forget the projects. Forget posters and dioramas (don't get me started!), costumes, authentic pioneer lunches and bake sales. I have eight children, for heaven's sake. I don't have time for this!

However, we have good moments.
And tonight, with the green apple scent permeating the kitchen and candles being cranked out by the dozens (or at least ones), all is right with the world.

Just don't ask me later when I'm trying to get these boys to be quiet and go to sleep.

Soup - tacular

REVISED POST - ADDED RECIPE FOR CREAMY CHICKEN AND RICE

Happy Friday, All!


Boomama is hosting a soup-tacular today, so I'm jumping right in. We LOVE soup around here. Lots of it. Beans and sausage, taco soup, tortilla soup, potato soup, as well as the two listed below. Our very favorite thing of all is chili, but I'm not sure if chili is really "soup", so here's a chicken recipe, as well.

Happy Cooking!

And be sure to check out all of the other recipes at BooMama's Soup-tacular.

Quick Chicken and Noodles

3 or 4 chicken breasts
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
2 cans of milk

Cook in slow cooker all day, then take chicken out, shred, and return to sauce.
30 minutes before serving, add one package of frozen egg noodles.

Turkey Chili

No one will ever guess this chili is made with ground turkey. And guess what? It's not only lower in fat - it's CHEAP! So give it a try.

4 lbs. ground turkey
1 onion, chopped (I use my Cuisinart - no one likes "pieces" of onion at my house)
2 bell peppers (again, Cuisinart)
4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 large cans of tomato puree
3 cans of chili beans (not drained)
1 can of corn (drained), or a couple of handfuls of frozen corn

1 pkg William's chili seasoning
1 T cumin
2 T chili powder
3 T parsley
2 T butter
2 t salt
3 T honey

Brown turkey in large stock pot while chopping the onion, pepper and mincing the garlic. Add vegetables to browned turkey. Mix in tomato puree, beans and corn. Add seasonings.
Simmer for an hour (or more) on low.

At our "house of many children" I serve this with Fritos, grated cheese, and sour cream on top.

Enjoy the warmth!

Here's a bonus recipe, for those who have asked. It's one of our favorites.

Creamy Chicken and Rice

4 C cooked rice
1/2 C butter, divided
1/4 C flour
2 C milk
2 t chicken bouillon granules
1/2-1t seasoned salt
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t pepper
4-5 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
12 oz. Velveeta
2 C sour cream
1/4 C cracker crumbs

Spread rice in a 9x13 pan. Melt 1/4 C butter, stir in flour. Add milk, bouillon, seasoned salt, garlic powder and pepper. Bring to a boil, cook and stir 2 minutes until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat and add chicken, cheese and sour cream. Stir until melted. Pour over rice. Melt remaining butter, toss with cracker crumbs and sprinkle over casserole.
Bake uncovered at 425 for 10-15 minutes (I usually bake for longer - maybe 30-45) until heated through.

Thankful Thursday

It's already Thursday, again!
In spite of the fact that some moments drag - like last night when the baby wouldn't go to sleep - time seems to fly around here.
And don't forget to leave me a comment and tell me what YOU are thankful for this Thursday!

1. A Warm Home
2. Cabinets full of food
3. Plenty of clothes to wear (never mind the washing)
4. Gas in the Van
5. Short hair (does 5 minutes to get ready mean anything to you?)
6. Colored Pencils (my kids' very favorite thing)
7. Christmas Music
8. Diet Dr. Pepper
9. My Vacuum (yes, I don't get it out as often as I used to, but I love it, still)
10. Three full bathrooms (last night was bath night - still not sure how we did that with one bathroom)
11. Hot Water (usually we can get everyone clean before we run out - on a good night!)
12. Trees (a listing for our house would say "Wooded Acreage") - Love that.
13. A baby pulling up on my chair, as I write
14. Big 12 Championships
15. That tomorrow is Friday!

And most of all, I'm grateful for the hope we have in Christ. Because without it, I wouldn't be able to get up and do it all again every day. Because the truth is, sometimes the work of life gets to me.

But I can keep going when I remember that motherhood is a privilege and a blessing. That I have the opportunity to teach my children the character of Christ. Through serving, responding in love, and giving of myself. I can only do that because God gives me the strength.

I'm over thinking I can do this by myself.

But I still find myself trying, sometimes.

"Lord, give me the grace today to show You to my children."

And just to help you out with a little advice - because that's just how generous I am, People - a bottle of formula left upside down on the couch WILL drip it's entire contents down in between the cushions and cover the underside of the cushions, the frame of the couch and all of the cracks in between with stinky formula.

And a little bonus advice - generous, that's me - while you are cleaning the couch, make sure that your child doesn't move her (or his, you know, either way) cereal bowl full of sugary milk to the living room floor to watch (because it's the excitement of the day, No, week! when we clean out the couch, let me tell you). Because (and here's more advice - it's just oooozing out of me today!) when you get the baby out of his (or hers, you know, doesn't matter) highchair the very first thing he will go for is that bowl of milk.

I'm just sayin'.

WFMW - Mexican Casserole

It's Works for Me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer!
Today is "What Do I Fix?" Edition, so here goes:
One of our favorites - for those "What Do I Fix?" evenings - is Mexican Casserole. Here's how I do it, but the possibilities are endless.

Layer in a 9x13 baking dish:

2 cups of cooked rice (usually left over from another meal)
1 lb. cooked ground beef or chicken
1 can of chili beans (or black beans or any beans)
1 cup of frozen corn
1 can of enchilada sauce (it's good without it, too)
1 cup of shredded cheese (I use Colby/Jack)

~As you can see, this has too many substitutions to mention. But I most often have these ingredients on hand.

Bake until it's heated through and serve with warm tortillas and salsa. Sometimes when I only have a few minutes, I mix all but the cheese in a large skillet until heated through, top with cheese and serve it from the pan.

My troop loves it - and it's cheap, quick and simple.

Enjoy!

And be sure to check back at WFMW for more ideas!

The Evolution of "Clean"

I'm working on our love story, Folks. But it's not ready, yet. It's hard to write in any kind of continuity when I only have five minutes at a time! I don't know how Pioneer Woman does it!

Have you ever thought about how your standards of housekeeping change as you have children? I washed our sheets (just ours - one bed out of 9) yesterday and couldn't remember the last time I did it. Was it two weeks ago? Or two months? Yuck.
There has been a gradual change in my definition of "clean" over the last 12 years as our family has grown from 2 to 10. There was a big decline when #4 came along, for sure. And maybe another decline when I was expecting #8 and felt horrible.
I grew up in a home where cleanliness was really next to Godliness. Really. And it was clean, my friends. My mother trained me well. And for awhile I managed to keep up. Then life happened.
Overall, my conclusion is, we live like pigs.
No more vacuuming each and ever day.
No more washing all sheets once a week.
No more mopping all of the hard floors twice each week.
Washing windows? Only if there are fingerprints where I'm trying to look out.
And baseboards? When DID I have the time have to clean them so often?
The bathrooms, well, that's necessary. At least when they reach "disgusting".
I don't iron anymore.
Ever.
Seriously.
And the oven only gets cleaned when someone leaves Legos in it and I preheat it for dinner and it catches on fire.
I can't remember the last time I dusted. O, yeah, when the Coach's family came over two weeks ago. But before that. . . eewwww.
Scrubbing tile grout - well, isn't that what bathroom cleaner is for?
My cleaning toothbrush and I are distant friends rather than close companions.
And I'm sure the light fixtures are full of bugs. Not that I've looked.

And yet, days go by. The children are happy. And I'm learning.
Learning that it doesn't really matter.
That "clean" is relative.
That compared to the rest of the world, we live in amazingly sanitary environments.
Except for my boy's bathroom.
But that's another story.

I'm Buried!

Truth is, I'd rather be writing.

I'd rather be telling you my love story.

I'd rather be doing anything else.

But I'm not.

I'm folding laundry.

Lot's of it.

Yes, it's true. We have so much clean laundry to fold that it's now the fun thing to play with.
Maybe I can get through it this weekend and get back to writing on Monday!