Fourth of July...a smidge late

We spent some time with family over the holiday weekend. It's been a few weeks, but I just had to share these pics of Gramm. That boy LOVES the fourth of July and was totally in his element shooting fireworks with his daddy, uncle, great-uncle and cousins.

Below: Gramm is all suited up in camo head to toe with safety goggles on and bag of fireworks nearby. This pic was taken in the morning. He was ready to go!

Below: the little guy in action.

Vivian and Brooklyn were not crazy about all the noise. They ended up sitting in my lap together by the end of the night.

Our fam. I'm holding Vivian and Justin is holding Brooklyn.

Menu

It's time for a menu baby! Here goes:

Monday: pizza at Everett's birthday partay. No cooking for me!

Tuesday: broccoli cheddar quiche (basic quiche lorraine recipe with broccoli thrown in in place of the ham), salad or fruit

Wednesday: beef stir fry with brown rice (freezer meal)

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: roasted chicken, taters, veggies

Saturday: chicken salad (leftover from roasted chicken, made with homemade mayo, sour cream, grapes, celery, pecans, dill relish and tiny bit of mustard), fruit, banana bread

Sunday: leftovers/clean out the fridge day

Anyone else got a menu plan they'd like to share? I'd love to see it!

I have pared down my time in the kitchen considerably. I have done this by batch cooking and freezing our meals and by cooking very simple, basic recipes. I can see a huge difference in my energy level and patience with my kids. I absolutely love to be in the kitchen and prepare yummy, large meals for my fam and friends. But, I've seen that time spent in the kitchen unnecessarily is not fruitful emotionally, spiritually or physically for our family during this stage of life. If you see anything above that you would like a recipe for, comment and I'll get it together. Love to all.

The Three C's

For those of you who may not know, I have three year old twin girls. I also have a precious almost six year old son. Our life is often loud, chaotic and stressful. Overall, we have a wonderful and fun life, but sometimes I let parenting become an annoying burden and not a faith-stretching, patience-bringing, joy-filling opportunity.

In these not-so-fun moments when I'm trying to get something done whether it be fix dinner, fold clothes, have a phone conversation and one or all of my children misbehave, my tendency is towards anger and impatience. Instead of getting mad at my precious babes, I have started to preach to myself these three words, "Calm, contact, cease." Okay, so this is what that means:

Cease: stop what I'm doing. My job is to parent these children and train them in the way they should go. My primary goal is not to get dinner on the table or fold laundry. I have to stop the secondary things to focus on the primary. This is so hard for me because I just love to get 'er done! Discipline takes time. But, it's worth it.

Contact: Go to the offending child or children, get on their level and make physical contact with them in a kind, gentle way while instructing them. This often is just me squatting in front of one of the kids, placing my hand on her/his shoulder and asking them why they are upset or helping resolve conflict. With a fit throwing miss or mister, this often means that I must physically remove the child from the room. Each one of my kids weighs over 30 pounds now. I'm as strong as an ox these days.

Calm: I just gotta keep it together! I cannot get mad or the kids will learn from my bad example and they will be stressed out by my lack of self-control. Sometimes I have to whisper to keep from raising my voice. Sometimes I close my eyes and pray. You get the picture.

I hope these three C's help you as they have helped me. I truly feel that the Spirit comes to our aid when we need Him and that He is "near to those who have young". Oh, and look at these cute kids. Seriously. They kill me with their cuteness.

Below: The Viv-ster with a sour cream stache. Hilariously serious face here.

Brooklyn baby:

My big boy is about to lose both of his top front teeth. I made him pose for these pics so I could capture his sweet smile before we transition to a snaggle tooth grin. :) Love this big boy!

Sisters

For those of you who may not know, I have three sisters. I am #3 in the line up. I lurve my sisters. In April I was invited my by my sister, Andrea, to ride along on a work trip to Destin. Oh, did I mention my hubby let me go sans kiddos? That's right, 5 heavenly days of sister time. It was a great trip to say the least and we laughed and laughed and laughed. See pics of our adventures below:

My younger sister, Sharla, moved to Boston shortly after she got married to my precious bro-in-law about 9 years ago give or take. For the last few months, Sharla and her sweet little fam of five have relocated to Arkansas and will be here till October. Holla!!! I have enjoyed more time with Shar in the past few months than I have since we were in college. To have her here is one of the greatest gifts God could hand to me at any time. I just love that girl!

Sisters really are built in BFFs. Each one of my sisters is precious to me and can make me laugh till I cry. I love that we can all four be together on occasion during this brief season. We even had a little girl night last Thursday and it was won.der.ful. See below. Love them. (left to right, Rachel #1, me #3, Andrea #2, Sharla, #4)

Menu Plan

--In the pic above, my sweet sister and her kiddos joined us for an impromptu dinner in February. Thankfully, I had a menu planned and could feed these precious ones a yummy meal that did not involve cussing or running to McD's (neither of which I am above doing, sadly enough. Just keeping it real).--

Monday:
Squash/Zucchini/Mushroom/Chicken Quesadillas with sour cream, homemade salsa and chips

Tuesday:
Roast (Julia Child style, see below), mashed taters, salad made with spinach from our garden!! our first fruits this year!! I LOVE gardening! (make granola)

Wednesday:
Date night with the hot hubster

Thursday:
Butter Roasted Chicken (another Julia style), leftover taters, green beans or peas (soak dough for pizza)

Friday:
Homemade Pizza

Saturday:
If it doesn't rain, we're hoping to spend the day at the pool. I'll probably take leftover pizza or make cheese quesadillas, will definitely take popcorn, apples, raisins, whatev.
Dinner that night will probably be marlboro man sandwiches with a little less salt than the recipe calls for.

Sunday: clean out the fridge day. We eat all the leftovers and often eat out for lunch or dinner on Sunday.

Recipes:

So, what I mean by a roast being made Julia style is that I cook a good sized roast (large enough to serve 6 adults) with nothing but red wine and beef broth (about 1 cup wine, 2-3 cups broth or vice versa). Now, Julia does a LOT more to her roasts than I do to mine, but this still gets a very rich flavor and makes an out-of-this-world gravy.

Butter Roast Chicken is another Julia recipe. I bake a whole chicken (bones and all, people) for this recipe. When the chicken is raw, I rub the entire surface with 1 stick of softened butter, then I sprinkle salt all over the chicky. Then, I stuff the cavity with a whole bunch of fresh herbs from my garden. Bake at 350 for about 2 hours, I check mine for doneness with a thermometer. Divine, I tell ya! Divine!

Julie's Granola (easy and delirsh)

10 cups whole oats

16 oz hot water

3 oz Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar

1 cup coconut oil

soak the above for 8-24 hours

then add:

1/2 c. honey

1/2 c. maple syrup

1.5 teaspoon salt

1-2 tablespoons vanilla

Stir well, bake at 240, 3ish hours, maybe more, stir every 30 minutes. Watch this well after the first two hours. It burns quickly and you will cry if it does. Trust me. If I do this at night, I'll turn the oven off for the last thirty minutes or so and give it all night to dry out in the oven. If it's not crispy in the AM, I turn on the oven again for a bit.

Okay, party's over. Laundry and granola are calling my name. Enjoy!

Making it work, part 2--Giving your babydad the night off

I've started a little series on things that work for our fam. Part 1 was all about how we revamped our breakfast routine to include a devotional and a little peace.

Here's Part 2:

When we just had one child, I tried to give my man the night off once every couple weeks. The babe and I would go to my ma's or my grandparent's house and give Justin some much needed free time. Now that we have three little ones and two of them are toddlers, I've had a much harder time giving my man an entire evening for himself. By God's grace, I have been able to give Justin several nights off in the past year. They are not every other week as they once were, but I think it's enough to give him some freedom and let him know I appreciate his efforts to work hard and lead our family well. A few tips on giving your man a break:

• email him or text him during the day and let him know you are giving him the night to himself.
• plan something fun for you and the kiddos (the park, a friend's house, a visit to the grandparent's, any place with a play land and food for you and the babes)
• If your man is a home-body, get out of the house so that he can enjoy some peace and quiet.
• If he enjoys a certain restaurant, give him a giftcard or coupon to said restaurant.
• Be sure that he knows you want him to enjoy himself and that you will not resent him for taking a break or make him "pay you back".
• Don't resent him. Give freely.
• Don't let the fact that he doesn't give you nights off keep you from serving him. He just might learn from your example. ;)
• If he's at home, let him know how long you will be gone. If he's out, let him know when you will have kiddos in bed, so he can come home. :)
• Don't plan to clean out a closet or cook a nine course meal while your man is maxin' and relaxin'. If Justin has the night off, we eat leftovers, pb&j or I take the kiddos out. I try to keep my time with the kids low-key and simple so that I'm not super exhausted by the end of the night.

The main thing is to be in tune with your man. If you can sense that he needs a break, give him a break. Love him selflessly, give to him freely and thank him for working hard for your family. I have never regretted giving my man the night off. We both give each other time off regularly and we see it as an investment in our marriage and our family. I am not the poster child for loving Justin selflessly, but I have seen firsthand how his selfless love for me ministers to me and really does make me a better mom and wife.

Happy Mother's Day! :)

Mostly Whole Wheat Rolls

Connie's Rolls
(This recipe makes about 8 big sandwich rolls.)

1 cup warm water or leftover potato water (i.e. water used to boil potatoes in--makes tender rolls, but not totally necessary)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup brown or raw sugar
3 T. butter
1 egg
1 T. yeast
Whole wheat (I usually use freshly ground wheat, but I've made them with bagged wheat from Kroger and they still turned out very well)
unbleached white flour

Put the water in the mixing bowl. Add salt, sugar, butter. Let the butter melt. (If butter is cold the water will need to be pretty warm, almost hot).

Add enough whole wheat flour to make a thick paste. Stir well. Add egg and yeast. Stir vigorously.

Add unbleached flour slowly and stir in. When too thick to stir, turn out on floured board and knead.

Knead for 5-10 min, keeping the dough soft, but not too sticky.

Let rise in covered bowl until about double. Punch down.

Let rise again until double. Punch down. Let rest 5-10 min.

Shape into desired shapes. For hamburger buns, pat dough on floured surface and cut with upside down drinking glass. (I usually just roll these into the shape I would like. I find that I make them too thick or too thin when I roll them and use a cutter) Transfer to greased cookie sheet. Cover with tea towel. Let rise until light. Put in preheated 375 degree oven. Bake for 10 min. Butter tops when out of oven.

I would love to say that these freeze well, but they are really best fresh and keep well for a few days at room temp in a sealed container. These are great with burgers, chicken salad, and even good ole pb&j. I made these a lot before I got my heavy duty mixer. They are a great alternative to store bought breads and are very easy.

When you plan to make these, it is best to allow plenty of time. If I'm going to make them for dinner at 6, I usually start making them around noon so that they will be out of the oven and out of my way.

If you have any questions, shoot me a comment or email and I'm happy to help!

In the pic below, the rolls are toward the bottom of the table. I am no perfectionist, so you can see what the rolls look like when a non-chef prepares them. :)