Painting Breakfast for Dinner

Breakfast for dinner happens often in our house.  It used to be once a week…Martini Wednesday with omelets.  Now it is usually every other week.  On Pinterest I found an activity to paint bread.  It uses milk and food coloring.  I though this would be a fun idea for Derek.  A friend of mine had also done this idea and said “I should have dipped it in egg and made French toast.”  So that’s what we did!

I laid out the bread on a cookie sheet and he painted it with the milk and food coloring mixture.  In the meantime, Daddy cooked the bacon.  When the bread was finished being painted, Daddy cooked the French toast while Derek helped me to melon ball the watermelon.  (This was less successful because all he did was make a mess and eat the watermelon!)

painting the bread

all finished!

helping with the watermelon

Yum!

Then voila! Breakfast for dinner was served!  Fun activity to get the kid involved plus we made dinner as a family.

A Day In the Life and Colored Rice

As a teacher, I got to experience the best of both worlds: working mom and SAHM. I was a SAHM for 9 weeks in the summer with my son, Derek.  After having our second child, Brooke, in April, I am now officially a SAHM.  Derek still went to daycare part-time until mid-June and is now home with me ALL.THE.TIME.  Love him!  But he is three. And a boy. An active boy. Who doesn’t nap.  So I like to come up with fun activities to keep him entertained. 

In a previous post, I talked about the calendar I made for him that keeps his activities straight.  We don’t have an activity everyday, but it is nice for him to count down to soccer or to a beach trip.  On the days that we don’t have something planned outside of the home, I try to plan fun things to do at home.  Especially on days that are 100 degrees with a heat index of 105! (Like the past two days).

Today.  A day in the life of a SAHM with a 3 year old and a 2 month old.

My day began at 6:15am.  Today I managed to shower, take Brooke to the doctor (Bryan met us there) do 3 loads of laundry, fold 6 loads of laundry (I had 3 sitting there from about a week ago), play with Derek, cook with Derek, consol a screaming baby after getting shots, make dinner, and begin reorganizing my craft room (furniture moved and floors cleaned).  Now I just want some ice cream and we are out!

Colord Rice Sensory Box

I found this on Pinterest after my friend posted about it on Facebook (what would we do without social media?)  I made the rice yesterday but did not follow the exact directions on the website.  Fun for indoor play on a super hot day like today!

 http://shareandremember.blogspot.com/2011/06/rainbow-rice-garden-sensory-play.html

Here is what I did…

1. I got a 10 lb bag of white rice (store brand was about $7)

2. I put 4 cups in a gallon sized Ziploc bag and added 3 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and one small bottle of food coloring (you know the kind you buy in a 4 pack at the grocery store?)

3. I sealed the bag (well, I thought I did, the yellow and the blue not so much, there was some spillage on the kitchen floor) and mixed it all together. 

4. I lined baking sheets with foil and spread the rice on the sheets. I put them outside in the sun to dry (it was 100 degrees out so this didn’t take long).

5. After they were dry, I put the colored rice into piles in a large plastic tote.  This way Derek would see all of the colors and he would get to mix them up.

I was able to make 5 different colors with just a little rice leftover.  I added dinosaurs and cups to the rice and he played with it for over an hour!

S’mores Croissants

http://homemade.tipjunkie.com/smore-croissants-edible-gifts/

use crescent rolls and add chocolate chips and mini marshmallows then bake!

Next time I will add more chocolate!

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas

http://realmomkitchen.com/9318/oven-baked-chicken-fajitas/

I managed to get Brooke to sit in the bouncer and fall asleep long enough to prepare dinner.  I put it in the refrigerator so that if I was occupied when it was time to cook it, Bryan could put it in the oven or I could manage to do it quickly.  It was very good and very easy to prepare.  Even Derek ate it! (He’s pretty picky but he ate it wrapped up in a tortilla!)

If only I could be this productive everyday! 

Doctor Notes

As I prepare to go to Brooke's 2 month appointment, I think about the questions I have for the doctor and write them down in my "Doctor Notebook"...

I wanted to keep track of my kids weight/height and percentile rankings through the years.  At first, when I had only Derek, I had developed a table to keep track of questions and answers I had when visiting the doctor for well baby or sick appointments.  This also helps me keep track of his illnesses.  Every well baby appointment comes with a packet information that explains the shots he is getting at that time and developmental milestones that he should have reached and should be working on. 

After three years, Derek’s folder was very thick and I now had Brooke’s appointments to keep track of as well.  So I decided to make a Doctor Notebook.  I made a section for Derek, one for Brooke, and miscellaneous information.  At the beginning of each section a inserted a table that keeps track of age, weight, height, and percentile rankings.  Now I was able to toss all of Derek’s information sheets. (I’d be getting new ones for Brooke anyway!)  Behind this table I placed the sheets that I use to keep track of questions and answers.  This way I still have information from sick appointments.  Now I am only keeping the most current information sheet on each child.

Cover to my doctor notebook 

Derek's sheet that keeps track of his height/weight/percentile rankings from the past 3 years.

Brooke's note page, yes at 2 months she has been that many times. She had jaundice.

Miscellaneous...this is a dosage chart that I received at a clinic and I keep it in here to help me know how much Tylenol and Motrin to give based on age/weight.

***Before I had kids I had made a notebook like this for my cats.  It helps to keep track of each of their weights and of Bay’s surgery and recovery.

Eating Dinner As A Family

Growing up we always ate dinner at the table, without T.V., and as a family.  However, there was a period of time that my father worked two jobs so that my mom could continue to stay home with my sister and me.  I disliked those nights.  My mom would serve us and then she would watch us eat.  She would eat later with my dad.

When having one of many “how to raise our child” discussions, we both agreed that we want to eat dinner as a family.  In my house, my mom would always be the one to cook.  This was because she was a stay-at-home-mom.  In Bryan’s house, his parents would share the cooking.  Even though we both work full-time outside of the home, I do the majority of the cooking.  This is because I get home first.  Yet there are many times that we share the cooking responsibilities.  I may do the prep work so that Bryan can grill. While he does this, I set the table and prepare any other side dishes that aren’t being grilled that evening.

I know what you’re thinking…he’s only 2!  How does he sit that long?  Of course I don’t expect my 2 year old to sit at the table the entire time that dinner is happening, but he does sit down with us and eat until he is finished.  Then he is allowed to get up and play while we finish our dinner.  It is unrealistic to think that a 2 year old has that kind of attention span, but it is important to us that he begin the habit of sitting at the table as a member of the family.  Does he always eat?  No.  Sometimes he eats a little bit, sometimes second and third helpings, other times, he just doesn’t eat at all.

Tonight’s meal:

Mommy: prepared salad, shucked the corn, set the table

Daddy: grilled the chicken, cooked the corn on the grill burner

Derek: played trucks

We worked together and we all sat down to eat together.  What did Derek eat? Feta cheese, green olives, and milk.  We are still working on actually eating dinner every night.

More information on the importance of eating as a family:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=439

http://www.mealsmatter.org/Articles-And-Resources/Healthy-Living-Articles/Family-Meals.aspx

Celebrating Derek's Heritage Part 2: Maternal Side

Tonight we celebrated Derek’s maternal side with some German food.  Recently, I have learned more about my father’s side of the family.  I knew that my great grandparents (my grandad’s parents) were originally from Germany.  A copy of their marriage certificate, in German (translated into English), has surfaced and a scanned copy has been e-mailed around the family.  I can’t wait to find out any other information my second cousins discover!

On to dinner…

I have had a slow cooker recipe for sauerbraten in my file for years.  I like slow cooker recipes that have few ingredients and are cooked for 8 or more hours (so I can safely leave them while I am at work without risk of burning).

While this requires few ingredients, there is some prep work.  First, the beef has to be marinated for 24-48 hours.  So finding room in the refrigerator was a challenge.  With two full size refrigerators you’d think it’d be an easy task…but I had to move around quite a few things to fit the large bowl in there.

After about 36 hours, my roast was ready for the slow cooker.  Bryan was wonderful and turned on the slow cooker when he left for work.  When I arrived home, 9 ½ hours later, it smelled wonderful and the meat was ready!

The next step was to prepare the gravy.  After removing the roast from the slow cooker and placing it onto a cutting board, I added crushed ginger snaps to the slow cooker and turned it up to high.  Fifteen minutes later, the gravy was ready!

Sauerbraten was served with egg noodles and red cabbage. (and some veggies, of course)

For dessert, we had apple crisp over ice cream.

My next adventure in celebrating my heritage will be to attempt to make a yummy breakfast that my mom mom used to make whenever she would stay at our house.  I can’t tell you the name, not because it’s a secret, but because I think it was made up and I can’t spell it!  Here…I will try, I will spell it phonetically:  woofinpoofins.

Celebrating Derek's Heritage Part 1: Paternal Side

Yesterday, January 26, was Australia Day.  This is an important day that we celebrate every year because Bryan is half Australian.  His father (Derek’s Grandpa) was born and raised in Australia and Bryan still has family there.  Below is a link to more information on Australia Day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day

Our original plan for dinner was to call Outback and order dinner.  Bryan would pick it up on the way home.  But, I was surprised with a snow day and schools were closed so I was able to stay home and plan a homemade dinner menu.  This meal was prepared together.  It was a fun experience to prepare our pieces of the meal in the kitchen while Derek played with his pots and pans.  It has been a long time since we have been able to do that.

Earlier in the day, I made Anzac Biscuits.  However, we decided to use chocolate chips and it made them very chocolatey.  I guess it’s a tradition with a twist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZAC_biscuit

I also made cheese scones.  They were so easy to make!

We began with a Bloomin Onion  (Outback recipe) that Bryan made.

Next, we had our meal.  Bryan grilled steak and Shrimp on the Barbie (Outback recipe).  I made pureed carrots with ginger.

Since dinner was prepared later than our normal dinnertime, Derek had already eaten.  However, he wanted to sit with us so we gave him a plate with a shrimp, a spoonful of carrots, and a piece of scone.  He did not eat any of it.  I was not surprised because these are not things he generally prefers to eat.  He also did not like the Anzac Biscuit. 

Unfortunately, we did not get to celebrate with Derek’s Grandpa this year, but he was in our thoughts as we ate our meal.  We sent some Anzac Biscuits over to their house today.  It was great to celebrate Derek’s heritage on his paternal side of the family.  Within the next few weeks we plan to explore his maternal side of the family with a German meal.