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Sunday, September 30, 2012

We forgot how much stress our kids cause us when eating out

We tend to space dinners out so infrequently that we forget the pain and when one of us announces we've got a gift card from Cracker Barrel the other happily says, why yes I'd love to eat out tonight!  So we bustle about for 2 hours, finishing the dishes, cleaning the floors, even pre-making dinner for Monday night so the other parent can attend an evening event!  We pull frozen cookie balls from the deep freezer and make a quick tray of hot piping cookies for snack time.  Everyone seems to be having a blast, even Violette in her crib with a new (to her) toy, Little Einstein's ipod music box with fresh batteries!

Our downfall was pushing it to 6:30 to leave, just a hair too long.  Had we left at 6 I'm convinced the evening would have been perfect.  As it was, we had all 3 children crying at various stages in the evening.

Violette cried on the way there and back home which was not uncommon or unexpected, but at least she was calm in the restaurant because she was being held.

Sam cried when we took away the table toy as his meal arrived.  He didn't eat, so we gave the toy back thinking he was done for the night.  Then he wanted to eat and play with the toy so we took it away.  He cried that deep bellowing cry that only a two year old can manage so we gave the toy back and took away his food, to which he didn't care!

Charlotte finished her meal with the promise of dessert but cried when her toy was taken away because she purposely dropped pegs on the floor after we refused to pick up the ones she had accidentally dropped.  She did that whole fake cry with no tears and then got bored of crying when we didn't react and just started coloring.  I guess it's hard to fake cry and color at the same time.

The waitress forgot the dessert that comes with the kids meals and we didn't remind her because we didn't want to deal with the consequences.

But before the crying started, the waitress and table behind us assured us we had the most beautiful children they had ever seen.  So there's that!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Six Word Saturday

Found this by way of "Still the Sea" on Facebook.  I love how they put such effort into posting inspiring messages.  


The fruit of silence is PRAYER
The fruit of prayer is FAITH
The fruit of faith is LOVE
The fruit of love is SERVICE
The fruit of service is PEACE
--Mother Teresa

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Random Tuesday


Thank you Hilton Checkers of LA, I'm glad to note this AFTER I've spent the night in your lovely hotel. Might I also add, when a guest complains that the granola in her breakfast yogurt parfait was extremely sweet and tasted really really bad, you should consider removing this item from the bill. Yes really! You should NOT respond with "oh, your favorite granola is probably a different brand".

Saturday, September 15, 2012

How to create multiple meals on 2 cups of dried beans!

We've challenged ourselves to live on $500 this month for all consumables - inspiration from The Poorganic Life blog!  Here is my best food tip for making that possible.

Buy one bag of dried black beans, $3.99 for 4lbs.

Use for multiple meals in that month and still have some left over!

Our black bean meals for this week are highlighted below.

Soak 2 cups of dried beans overnight after carefully inspecting them for bad beans and/or stones - husband did this part because he's from Texas and takes beans seriously.

The next day, cook the beans for 1.5 hours in a dutch oven OR in a crock pot on high while you attend church for 3-4 hours.  Drain all liquid and you should be left with approximately 45 ounces or the equivalent of 3 store bought cans.

Black Bean Burgers - I fell in love with this recipe a few weeks ago and have made 2 batches so far (side note, this recipe is by far the best I've found on the internet, most recipes taste like eating black beans out of a can, yuck, but this blogger is an extremely talented chef!).  These burgers work out awesomely for lunches when I haven't made enough left overs the night before.  I just grab an apple, burger, slice of cheese, bun and run!

Out of the cooked beans, I scooped 30 ounces and made 8 burgers!  My kids won't eat them but that just leaves more for me!!!

From the remaining 15 ounces I made 2 burritos for Sunday lunch.  Since the burrito's is my creation I'll list the recipe here:

Black Bean Burritos with chicken/cheese/corn/carrots

  • 15 ounces of black beans mixed with the following two spices:
    • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup of corn - fresh or frozen (mine was leftover from the burgers)
  • 1 Tablespoon of cooked carrots - chopped up in small pieces (mine were left over from carrot muffins)
  • Cheddar cheese - as much as you prefer
  • 6 ounces of chicken - seasoned to your preference (ours was bought from Aldi for $2.00 - pre-cooked)
Split everything evenly into 4 plates, adults get theirs on a burrito, kids get theirs on a 4 divider plate with tortilla chips.  Add sour cream and/or salsa until you are content.

You might be thinking it's so weird to add carrots to a burrito, but you won't even taste it and we only did because we had already mixed them with the corn and they needed to be eaten up!  Feel free to omit the carrot if it's too much trouble to add this extra step.  

Six Word Saturday


 Love suffers long, and is kind.
(I Corinthians 13:4) 

I will not nag my husband.

Godliness with contentment is great gain.
(I Timothy 6:6)

Life is about the choices we make,
choose contentment and satisfaction every day.

Today I choose to be happy!

Agape, a Greek word for love.

I love this beautiful word, Agape.  





Saturday, September 08, 2012

Six Word Saturday

Today I will drink my water.

I will love hyper loud children.

I will not fret over brokenness.  
(computer virus, car window, clogged dryer)

I will give my kids stickers!

I will rejoice in the Lord
(Habakkuk 3:18a)

I will not get frustrated today.

Be glad in the Lord, rejoice!
(Psalm 32:11)


Monday, September 03, 2012

Labor Day

Labor Day, our first day back to the beach since Violette was born, thus making it her first day at the beach and she also turns 5mo today.  What joy!