Typical??

Do most 12 year old boys wake up in the morning and make their own breakfast? Probably, I'm guessing. But do they make hashbrowns, turkey ham and 2 scrambled eggs???

Levi is not afraid of the kitchen. I will never worry when he grows up and leaves home that he's not getting enough to eat. He will throw spices together and ingredients and create the most amazing recipe. Sometimes he is the only one brave enough to try it, but that's all that matters.

What's In The Toaster???

This morning as the kiddos were getting ready for school, I walked into the kitchen as one of them was making their lunch. They were pretty excited about their great idea for a sandwich. To be honest I couldn't imagine what they could have possibly come up with.

As they stood by the toaster, waiting for whatever was in there, my curiosity got the better of me.

"What is your great idea?" I asked. "Well, I'm making a toasted salmon sandwich with some of the leftover salmon from last night's dinner!"

"Wait a minute, what's in the toaster???" I asked.

"My salmon!", they replied.

"Holy Mackerel, Batman!! You can't put salmon in the toaster!!!!!!! Unplug that thing and get it out!!!"

Now I'm just wondering how long the toaster will smell like salmon.......

Hmmmm, Really??

So many things get said in our home that just crack me up and I try not to post too many of them because I know your kids say funny things too.

But today after school, Tanner was showing me part of his project he's working on for school. As he was putting it away, he left a couple of tiny pieces of Styrofoam on the table. Thomas, who is always watching out for his baby sister immediately yelled, "Oh great Tanner, you left some Styrofoam here. If Jasmine eats it and dies, you will have to pay for a new baby!!"

Ha ha, only in our home would that be funny!!

Waiting To See!!!!

We know you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting to see Tommy's finger after the surgery.....we were excited as well! On Tuesday, we headed in to see the doctor and he took of the soft cast.

When Thomas saw his finger for the first time, I think he was a little shocked. Usually when you have a band-aid on your finger, what ever was underneath looks better when the band-aid comes off. He was quite shocked to see a blue drainage tube poking out of his finger and it didn't look anything like it used to. I don't think he really knew what to expect, but what he saw wasn't it. He kept looking at me like, "What is this???" The doctor said it appeared to be healing nicely. To be honest, I kept my eyes on Thomas to see what his reaction would be. It was still a little hard for me to look too closely at his finger. I still have that mental image of the "before" picture in my head.

The next day when Scott came home from a trip, he changed the dressing and took these great shots!!

We will go back in 4 weeks for the doctor to check it again. Now he just has to start moving it. He is still very protective of his finger and hasn't wanted to really try doing anything with it. And I don't blame him one bit. I would be the same way!!!

Homemade Granola!

I have been wanting to make granola for awhile now and today turned out to be the day. I went on line to find an easy recipe and got to work....ok, it only took about 2 seconds to throw it together and toss it in the oven.

If anyone out there cares or loves granola, here is what I did:

4 Cups of rolled oats
1 Cup unsweetened coconut
1 Cup Slivered almonds
1/2 Cup olive oil
1/3 Cup Agave

I combined the dry ingredients and then in a separate bowl, mixed the oil and agave. I poured that mixture over the dry ingredients, stirred it well and tossed it on a baking sheet (the kind with edges!).

I put it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, I took it out and stirred through it and then put it back in for another 15 minutes. When the time was up, I took it out and spooned it on to a paper towel to cool. When it was done, I tossed it in a gallon zip lock bag.

Super easy and so yummy!! Now the funny part. When it came out of the oven, Isaiah and Jasmine stood there the entire time, like seagulls crying, "More, more!"

Finally Talisha came over to see what all the fuss was about. She tried it and then called to Savannah to come try it. "Hey Savannah, come over here and try this chunka lunka!!"

What on earth??? She had no idea what it was called but picked some words she thought best described it!

Give it a try. Let me know what you think! It would be delicious with sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, walnuts or anything else you love!!

The Fire Station

I was driving past the fire station the other day and noticed how similar my life is. Confused? Well, let me explain. The next time you drive past, slow down and take a good look.

There were 3 trucks. Each one had the doors open wide, ready to go. Boots sat ready, just waiting for feet to jump in them. Their jackets and helmets were on ready alert as they hung on the hooks.

How does that have anything to do with my life???? Let me show you an inside look at how my evenings go after all the kiddos are in bed:

Let's just assume the child whose turn it was to wipe the counters and table has done their job and that the other child whose turn it was to rinse and stack the dishes has done their job. Whew, that gives me a few less chores on my list. The sauce pan goes on the stove and the specified amount of basmati rice is added to it for the next day's breakfast. The measuring cup sits next to the pan, waiting until morning when I will add the right amount of water to it. My Vita-Mix blender comes out from the cupboard where it's stored, to sit on the counter next to the veggies that will be blasted together to make our "green shake" for breakfast. Lunch bags get lined up on the counter in a line and chips, granola bars, etc. get added to them. In the morning, sandwiches will be added. Water bottles get washed out and lined up ready to be filled. The bagel knife gets pulled out of the drawer, to lie on the counter until it will be put to use in the morning. The cheerios and rice krispies (the only two cold cereals we eat) get pulled from the cupboard to sit and wait on the counter for anyone who doesn't want rice.

Whew. I'm sure I am forgetting something (and if so, Scott will add it in the comments section! ha ha). When we're done in the kitchen and head to our bedroom, there is much of the same organization that takes place in there. Clothes are laid out, make up is pulled from the drawer and set on the counter, towel is placed on the hook next to the shower and finally, when there is nothing left to do, we go to bed.

Basically, anything I can do the night before to help my morning run more smoothly, I do. I have always done this. But I have noticed my list of things that I do at night has gotten longer and longer with the addition of each child.

My days begin at 5:15 and I go non-stop until just after lunch when the two youngest lay down for a nap. I usually have just a few minutes when I can blog or check my email. And then it's time to get busy again.

So there you have it! Extreme type A personality? Maybe OCD? Or maybe just a mom of a large family that knows it's better to stay ahead of the pack or the pack will run you over!!!!

Does anyone else do this? What kind of routines do you have?

Life Without Facebook!!!!

Is that even possible??? How did we survive before Facebook came into our lives???

As a project for a class at school, Samantha and Sabrina were asked to choose something in their lives to give up for the month of March, that takes up their time/money/etc. Many students chose to give up texting or junk food and yes, even facebook!

Sabrina came home and told me about the project and that she had decided to go without facebook for the month. I thought, "Good for you. Glad it's you and not me!" Then she said, "You should try it too Mom!" Uh Oh! Peer pressure!!!!

Samantha came in later and said that she had decided to do that as well! That got me really thinking, I could live without fb. Think of all the time I would reclaim!!!!

So as of this morning, I logged off facebook for the rest of the month of March!! Goodbye friends, have a great month and I will see you in April......maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I will have so much fun without fb, I won't go back. Maybe. Maybe not......