Who knew

Who knew my kids would like Roasted Chicken so much! Meijers had bone in skin on chicken on sale last week so I bought some it. I just roasted it with some salt and pepper and a little garlic salt. Sean ate both the legs and Katherine ate it up too. I will have to add that to my menus! Justin doesn't like the skin on but he can pull it off. We had roasted chicken, some white rice, and 1/2 a bag of frozen California mix veggies for 2 nights because Sean requested it again and we had leftovers. Because Justin was out of town last weekend I still had some chicken left that I pulled off the bone and put in the frezzer for soup later in the month. Not very fancy but easy and cheap!

Learning our sounds

Sean has been working really hard learning his sounds. In Montessori we learn the sounds a letter makes before the name of it. The idea is that we teach them to read before spell....make sense? And they learn the sounds out of order so they are not just memorizing the order. I wanted to add some fun to it and give him an incentive to master them. So we make these sound lollipops once he has mastered a sound. It is fun for both of us!

I print out letters on the computer in outline. Put that under waxed paper then all he has to do is fill in the outline with melted chocolate (in a baggie) and let it harden in the fridge for 10 minutes, and we have a yummy treat. While we are eating we talk about all the things that start with that sound.

Sean's First Snow Day!!

Today is a chilly 6 degrees here in Northern Indiana. But it is Sean first snow day, we have to play in the snow! So last night (anticipating a snow day) I decided I would bring the snow inside. Yes I know a little crazy, but they are loving it. Except for the occasional slip on the floor, and Sean's obsession with snow on the floor...we are enjoying it.










Last year I did this on a smaller scale for Katherine since she was not walking yet.




While I was sitting here enjoying my coffee and writing this post I see that Amy over at MotherLoad has this in her notebook today (Great minds I guess!!) So since the post is already written why not enter her notebook experiments! The kids have been playing for over an hour with only one arguement! Not to bad


Another of the simple moments in my life I cherish. I hope you find something simple to make you smile today.

Italian Pork Chops

My first meal of the new year was Italian pork chops with Italian Biscuits. YUMMY! I loved it, and Sean ate it so I will call it a success. Justin, well he doesn't like pork, but he ate it. Super easy and yummy. This is defiantly going into my recipe box. I don't have the cost break down, because that is too much math for me! But everything, with the exception of the fresh parsley was bought at Adli, so it was cheep. More on Aldi later! For now here are the recipes. Hope you enjoy and find something you might want to try.

Italian Pork Chops:
Serves Four

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 pork chops - bone in
1 can petite diced tomatoes - in juice
2 teaspoons Italian Seasonings Blend spices
¼ cup white wine (anything you would drink)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 pound angel hair pasta

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle the pork chops with salt and pepper. Add the pork chops to the skillet and cook until they are brown approximately 3 minutes per side. Transfer the pork chops to a plate and tent with foil to keep them warm. Add white wine to the pan and deglaze the pan with a whisk (getting up all of the drippings from the pan). Add the tomatoes with their juices, and spices.. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend and the juices thicken slightly, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt.. Return the pork chops and any accumulated juices from the plate to the skillet and turn the pork chops to coat with the sauce. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente and then drain. Place 1 pork chop on top of the angel hair pasta onto each plate and spoon the sauce over the pork chops and pasta. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

Amy Clark

Cheesy Parmesan Italian Biscuits
Makes about 10 biscuits

1 c. grated Parmesan (the kind in the green bottle)
2/3 c. mayo
a few tbsp. of fresh chopped green onion
Garlic powder to taste
Italian seasoning to taste
1 can Hungry Jack flaky biscuits (I used Aldi brand)

1. Mix all ingredients except biscuits. Flatten biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet.

2. Spread an equal amount of filling over all biscuits.

3. Bake 13-15 minutes, eat hot!

Divine Domesticity

Eating, Living, Being Heathy on a Budget

I started this blog with a post about not making new years resolutions. And now here I am one year later making a life change at the new year! I have been feeling in a tug of war the last year of cooking healthy foods and living on a budget. Now with the inspiration of my fellow Mothers and More member Amy Clark I have decided I can do both. And to help keep me motivated I will be blogging my experiences. Now I am not saying by any means that I am "going green". However if it fits into my budget than I will.

I hope you enjoy my journey!

Big Day!

Lots going on today! For a few weeks we (I) have been trying to decide the best time to transition Katherine into a big girl bed. She is starting to potty train and it seems she should be able to get out of bed to use the bathroom if she needs to. But I am also not sure I am ready for her to do that! Well today when I was taking her up for her nap she was very insistent on sleeping in Sean's bed. So, what better time than now right! I took off one railing to her crib, so it is now a toddler bed. And she did great. Looked over the edge a few time but then settled right down with her blankies (all 3!) and drifted off to sleepy town.





And not to be out done, it is a beautiful sunny December afternoon and Sean got a bike for Christmas. He did great, although we still need to work on the the foot motions. But he will get there.

Finally!

We moved into this house one year ago and yesterday I finally found furniture for the front family room. I am so excited! I love it and even better it was a great deal. I found it at a garage sale and it really looks brand new. the chairs I already had and was happy that they matched the sofas. So now I am enjoying my new sofas and for now, it is clean and free of toys : ) The same women is selling a canopy bed that I am going to go look at for Kat. If it is in the same condition as the sofas/tables I will be buying it. Even though she is not ready for a bed yet her room is big enough for the crib and the bed.


It has been a while so I guess I should update you on the family.

Sean has finished his speech therapy for the summer. I still don't know how much it helped but it didn't hurt. He has made improvements, but not sure if I can credit therapy or just his own progression. Starting in the fall he is enrolled in Countryside Montessori 5 afternoons a week and will be going to speech therapy 2 mornings a week. We will have to wait and see how this goes. I think two full days will be hard for him so we may cut back later.

Katherine is getting more and more independent and also has a bit of an attitude. She know exactly to get what she wants from Daddy, and if I tell her no she will run crying to him. She is cutting all her molars at once and has been miserable all week. Poor girl. Sean and I have been working on teaching her signs, but she has not been interested. Until I showed her the sign for shoes! She started doing that immediately. And yesterday at Meijers she saw me put milk in the cart and made the sign for milk. I love it!! Now if I could just talk Justin into letting me take the instructors course so I could teach baby signs.

Justin has been working really hard still. He is taking one class this semester and since it is a summer course it is very condensed. He has done a few "hotel buys" and no he is not buying hotels. He rents a conference room at a hotel and puts an ad in the paper that he is buying; gold, silver, coins, antiques, anything collectible. Usually for 3 days and people bring him what they have. He buys it and then sends most of it to the smelters and sells the rest on ebay or in the store. He would like to do one a month, but we will see.

I am doing fine. I went to a scrapbook class and made a mini book to display the family beach pictures that we took in Hawaii when Sean was 6 months old! I am really happy with the way it turned out. I will post pictures soon. I will be doing more of these mini books.

Well I think I am going to do some laundry.

Enjoy your day.