Saturday, December 15, 2007

A Birthday Party

Daughter had a birthday party last night. She will be 7 on December 19th. I think she's been talking about her Birthday party since March. Who will come? What will we do? How many people can she invite? Finally, in June, I told her we would have to wait until November 1st to talk anymore about her Birthday. Frankly, I can't think that many months in advance!

About the middle of November, I told her I thought that we would have a smaller birthday party this year. I told her that she could have a few friends for a slumber party. When I said smaller, I was thinking maybe 3 friends. Or 6. Whatever works. :)

So yesterday evening about 6:00pm, her friends began arriving. I put the pizza in the oven and let them make foam door hangers with foam stickers on them. The girls sat on a large picnic blanket and devoured their pizza and pop. There was definitely a buzz of excitement in the air! We had birthday cookie and Daughter opened her gifts. They ran, laughed, screamed, and played. My husband chased them around the house and then let them put makeup and even kiddie fingernail polish all over his face. My best friend came over with her two children to help keep me and Hubby sane and she painted all the girls fingernails. Then, we had a limousine take us around to look at Christmas lights. Honestly, I'm not really sure how many Christmas lights the kids saw, but they had fun being silly in the limo! After the limo ride, the girls played some more and watched High School Musical 2. A little before midnight, the girls all got settled in their sleeping bags on the living room floor, said their prayers, and giggled a lot. I turned down all the lights and opened my laptop to read my daily blogs. By the time I finished my reading, the girls were all sleeping soundly. I took my tired body to bed.

About 8:00 this morning, I began to hear little girl voices. I got up and made a breakfast of chocolate chip muffin cake, bananas, and milk. The girls got dressed, gathered their things, and then watched more High School Musical while dancing and singing along. Moms began showing up around 10 to claim their little girls.

I was pretty nervous about how well a slumber party with 7 girls who were mostly 6 & 7-year-olds would go. Really, once I got past the loudness, it was great! The girls had such a great time, everyone got along very well, and they were very polite and respectful. I was very thankful for my husband who entertained the girls so well, and for my friend, D, who came to keep my sanity in place. All-in-all, it was a great party, and I'll do it again sometime.

Daughter, I hope you had a really, really wonderful time! You have some really precious friends.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Works For Me: Toddler Panties


Little boy underwear are pretty self explanatory. The part where the "little door" is, goes in front. When my daughter started wearing panties and trying to put them on herself, she had trouble. She would have them on backwards, creating a "wedgie", or she'd have her waist through a leg hole. To help her get them on right (and therefore comfortably), I took my sharpie and drew a smiley face on the inside of the front of her panties, right along the waistband. Most of her panty problems were solved!! I feel a little strange blogging about underpants, but it worked for me!

Head on over to Shannon's for more great ideas!!

Friday, December 07, 2007

For Boomama's Soup-tacular



Boomama is hosting a Soup-tacular. After today, I'm sure I'll have several awesome new soup recipes to get me through the cold winter days!

The soup that I'm going to share with you today is ridiculously easy, but I really think it's wonderfully delicious. And, at my house, simple is good.... really good! So with out further ado, here is the recipe for Easy (but delicious) ChickenTortilla Soup!
  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
  • 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
  • 1 cup frozen corn kernels (I usually add more)
  • 1 cup chopped onion (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup chunky salsa
  • corn tortilla chips
  • shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • you could also add black beans if you want
In a large pot, saute the chicken in the oil for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, onion, chili powder, lemon juice and salsa. Reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Pour soup into bowls and add chips, cheese and some sour cream. Enjoy!!


Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Works For Me: Chicken and Pasta











I haven't written a post in forever, but I had something worth sharing for Shannon's WFMWTWDIFE, so I decided to go for it.

This is a super simple meal that gets rave reviews at my house!! Everyone eats it, no one complains, and we very seldom have any leftovers.

I cook up some bow tie pasta, drain it and rinse it in cold water. Then I toss it with either Kraft Zesty Italian dressing or Kraft Raspberry Vinaigrette. I serve it with grilled chicken breasts (outdoor, George Foreman, or even just in the skillet). My kids and I love Kraft Catalina dressing on our Chicken. I usually warm up some corn or green beans too. Easy and delicious!

And, here's another one my kids love that is pretty easy.

fettuccine
breaded chicken patties or nuggets
jar of spaghetti sauce
mozzarella & parmesan cheeses

Cook the pasta, heat up the chicken and the sauce, layer it all up on a plate, and there you have easy (but quite yummy) Chicken Parmesan.

Enjoy!!