Our Attempt

This is my life: Our Attempt 

 

 As many who know me well, know I'm quite in love (cough:obsessed) with the show Friends.  I can remember watching it every week when it was on the air.  When Anthony and I were engaged, for our first Christmas, he bought me the Anniversary edition of the 10 seasons.  He knew the way to my heart ;)   I've watched them so many times, and continue to just go through all the seasons.  It's actually on in the background right now! And after as many times as I've seen every episode, I still laugh! 

But, it's gotten to the point where I can pick up on places where the writers made a mistake.  For example : (lol I could list a ton but I'll just list one that comes to mind)  If you can remember the episode where Phoebe walks into Monica's apartment and starts complaining about how she hasn't had many massages and the massages she had given were bad tippers (as Ross and Monica are sitting at the table), they then said it was them she gave the massages too.  Now, flash forward to after Chandler and Monica get married, and she has the private masseuse come to their apartment and Phoebe freaks out saying she should let her massage Monica.  Flash back again, she's already given Monica a massage before.  LOL.  See, it's stuff like this!

So, move past my insanity, haha, for their 20th anniversary, a replica Central Perk was set up in NYC and opened this past week.  It's only open for a month.  They are giving out a free cup of coffee, have a bunch of memorabilia and the orange couch.  The whole ride there, I was picturing having a cute picture of my family and I sitting on the orange couch.  Was so excited!!!  

 Now my boys even love Friends, can name the characters, it's so cute.  They were also excited to see this place.  Anthony also loves Friends, he's a great competition when we play Friends Scene it. :)

We left Saturday after Connor's soccer game, we figured we drive through naps, so we'd get there good and rested.  Well Jamison is hit or miss now with naps, mostly miss, so Nathan was the only one who fell asleep.  We stopped at Market Basket somewhere and got some lunch and snacks for the ride.  The drive in NYC was great.  No traffic, and even once we got to the outside of Manhattan, it was great.  Well we set our GPS to put us right at Central Perk.  HUGE mistake! 

We have been to NYC about a few times now.  We took the boys when they were 3 and 1, went away for a weekend just Anthony and I one year around Christmas...we are pretty comfortable driving into the city.  But, this time, we went too far in and did not know there was also a food festival going on just a block over from the Central Perk.  We drove by Central Perk, I got all excited, we head to park, que traffic.   We sat in standstill traffic for 2 hours, no joke.  It was bad.  The poor boys had to go to the bathroom so bad, and let me just tell you, I'm so grateful I have boys and had an empty Snapple bottle ;)  The boys were so good.  So good.  I was also thinking that the whole ride how awesome our boys are in the car and on long distances.  Blessed!  

The boys in Time Square in 2011.

So, needless to say, Anthony got us out of the traffic eventually, but we couldn't find parking near Central Perk.  We pulled into one place and for two hours they were charging 61 dollars and apparently our van is an SUV.  ahh. So, we left and drove towards Central Park and visited there so the boys could stretch and run free for awhile.  We talked about all the fun movies that we love that are filmed in NYC, ELF, Smurfs, The Bee Movie, Home Alone 2.  It was cute and they enjoyed it.  We got NY bagels for dinner, left NYC around 8, boys slept the ride home.  It was for sure exhausting!  Was just disappointed we didn't get to go see what we were going for, especially when my husband was so great about knowing how excited I was and drove me there. 

But, it was another memory in the book and honestly, my favorite memory from the trip, I was telling Anthony this morning..When the boys hear Oceans come on the radio by Hillsong, they say "Mama your song is on", and I hear this song all the time, but sometimes, it hits me just right and can bring tears, this time it was tears of laughter.  Anthony says while I'm singing "Do you think if I pray" and I stopped him because I knew exactly what he was going to say and we start laughing.  He was going to pray for my pitch, bahahaha.  So, then my singing became hilarious and everyone is laughing, even Nathan although I'm not sure he even knew what he was laughing at.  It was just a wonderful time for our family and I loved that moment.

Anthony also stated we will never be going to NYC again! lol.  and sadly I still do want to attempt to see this. ;)

Dinner Resolution

This is my life: Simplifying a stressful time of day

Well, my oldest is in school ALL day now and my middle starting tomorrow.  You would think that would make my life easier, nope!  Between the pick up and drop offs and the watching the other children, the preparing dinner for my family was getting slim if lucky to none.  

Picking up fast food is not how I envisioned my family gathering around the dinner table to eat.  Not that it's horrible, there are moments where you just have to get it!  But, when 5 o'clock rolled around each day, my husband would call asking if he needed to pick anything up, and sure enough, Yes, everything!!  There is a great importance to gathering around the dinner to a healthy meal and I needed to grasp this back.

I was definitely in over my head with preparing dinner for my family.  So, the other day I was preparing dinner for a friend that just had a baby and for my family...and I thought, wow, making more than one dinner at once isn't hard and would be so much easier!!! 

So, what shall a Mama too do?

 Take one day over the weekend and prepare dinners for the upcoming week!!! 

This took me an hour to prepare five meals and I had one mess to clean up.  Rather than a bunch of pot and pans every night to clean, we have one crock pot!  You freeze the meals and thaw when you want to eat.  It's perfect.  

Last night we had....Pot Roast over potatoes and carrots.

Tonight we are having:BBQ Cranberry chicken already cooking in the pot with green beans!

I'm very excited about this new revelation, both for my stress level and for my family.  

A little side note, after the death of Robin Williams,  when I told the boys that Jumanji had passed away, I used his death as a shining light in our home. :)  I told the boys it was because he didn't eat that healthy.  They more than agreeingly helped me throw out any unhealthy food in our pantry, no colored cereals, no boxed mac n cheese, etc.   They were even grocery shopping with my husband this weekend, and Connor told me that Dad almost put Easy Mac in the cart and Connor told him we were not allowed to buy that and it was unhealthy.  Love it!  We are in a nice transition, not to say we don't eat junk food here or enjoy a good ol' hot dog but definitely changing our ways together !  

So, now I have my meals frozen for the week and a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders!  I have vegetables for the sides. If you are a Mom who stresses about getting a meal on the table for her family, I encourage you to try this task this weekend!  Also, saves money!!! 

Here are the recipes I used for this week a long with a few others I will be using!! Be sure to label the front of the freezer bags with cooking times.

Cranberry Chicken

Another easy chicken recipe, you'll love the sweet and sour tang of this dish.
You'll need:

• 3 lbs chicken thighs or legs, skinned (chicken breasts can also be used)
• 1 can whole cranberry sauce
• 1 envelope onion soup mix

In a bowl mix together the cranberry sauce and the onion soup mix. Place chicken in the freezer bag and pour cranberry mixture on top. When ready to use, thaw and place contents of freezer bag into crock pot and cook on low heat for 5 - 6 hours.


Teriyaki Chicken (I did two bags of this one)

• Bag of Baby Carrots
• 1/2 Red Onion in Large Chunks
• (1) 20oz can pineapple (undrained)
• 1/2 or 1 Garlic Cloves Chopped
• 2- 3 Chicken Breasts
• 1/2 cup Teriyaki Sauce

Chicken and Dumplings

• 4 Chicken Breasts Halved
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 Onion Diced Finely
• 2 Packages of Refrigerated Biscuit Dough torn into pieces (this is added after cooking- place in a separate baggie.)

Place everything in slow cooker (except the biscuit dough) and fill with enough water to cover. Cook HIGH 5-6 Hours.  30 Minutes before serving, place torn biscuit dough in slow cooker.  Cook until dough is no longer raw in center.


Salsa Chicken

• 4 Chicken Breasts
• 1 Cup Salsa
• 1 Package Taco Seasoning
• 1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1/2 Cup Reduced Fat Sour Cream

Add everything to Crock Pot (except Sour Cream).  Cook on LOW for 6-8 Hours.  Stir in Sour Cream at the end and serve over rice.


Pot Roast

• 1 Eye of Round Roast
• 1 Packet Pot Roast Seasoning
• 1 Bag Mini Carrots or Sliced Carrots
• 6-7 Chopped Potatoes
• 1 Onion in Big Chunks for Flavor
• 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbs of dijon musturd

Add water just before cooking- 1/4 to 1/2 way full. Cook on HIGH 4-6 Hours.

 

Meatball Stroganoff
16 oz meatballs
1 cup onions (diced)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mushrooms (sliced)
1/2 pack cream cheese*
4 oz sour cream*
Garlic

*You can add these ingredients in the last hour or two, but I see no harm in freezing them

Cook time: 5-6 hours. I like to serve this over egg noodles.

 

 

Hawaiian Chicken

2-3 Lbs. Chicken Drumsticks (legs)

1 (15 Oz. Can Crushed Pineapple

1/4 Cup Low-Sodium Soy Sauce

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch (optional)