Thursday Thoughts

This week has been whirling by rather quickly. Buddy is feeling much better after his bout with strep throat last weekend. And by nothing short of a miracle, no one else in our house caught the step bug. 

And trust me, that is a miracle because these kids share sippy cups & toothbrushes like nobody's business. What is it about someone else's toothbrush or drink cup being way better than your own, anyway? 

Either way, I am very grateful all of the kiddos are feeling fine and up to their usual mischief. Here are several thoughts dancing around in my busy head this week. :)

1. Do you want to know how a busy mom of 4 small kids gets dinner prepped, cooked, and on the table every night amidst the crying, whining, "when's dinner gonna be ready?" questions, arguing, fighting, and boo-boos? 

Just sit a couple of kids on the counter and throw them a tortilla. It buys you at least ten minutes of peace! :) 

 

2. I wonder how it is that husbands can sleep through crying, teething babies all night? I mean, how is it even humanly possible to tune out the fussiness when it is merely 2 feet away from your ears? That is some amazing talent, I tell ya! This is what my honey was doing last night at 1am, 2am, 4am, and 5am when our little teether was wide awake & voicing his discomfort. 

My sleeping beauty! He is just going to LOVE me for posting this one!

 

And this is what I am drinking a lot of this morning. Pure survival mode here, folks. That was a rough, sleepless night last night! Hopefully my little teething man will feel better soon.

The drink of champions....and of moms who didn't sleep at all last night!

3. Am I the only one who hates temporary tattoos? I seriously can't stand them. My kids love them! Of course they do. We are currently on day 5 of these ninja turtle tattoos and every time I glance down at the kids throughout the day I think it's dirt or food smeared on their arms, only to remember, oh wait, it's just those stupid tattoos they refuse to let me wash off! 

He's pretty proud of that turtle

This was Boo's first tattoo! She was amazed she had a permanent sticker on her arm.

Yep, day 5 of the tattoos and still going strong. Her Minnie Mouse t-shirt is still going strong, too. I think I need to buy 6 more of these so she can just have one clean for every day of the week.  

4. Hey, if you're feeling down and out about your life, just remember that it could be worse. You could be Paula Deen. :-/

 

Bless.Her.Heart!

 

(You could also be named North West....equally as devastating! What the heck, Kimye?) 

 

 

5. There's a debate in our home as to whether or not it's normal to mix grits with your scrambled eggs. 

I absolutely love eating my grits & eggs mixed together like this. Mr. Fix-it cringes every time I do. Now to be fair, he doesn't like grits at all (he's not normal) so mixing them with eggs just thoroughly grosses him out. But this is how I grew up eating my grits and I think they are delicious! Surely I'm not the only one??

 

(I also put salt on my watermelon which also creeps him out. And to think he was actually raised in the south....)

 

6. Should I be offended when I run into old friends at the grocery store and they comment on "how adorable" all of my kids are only to follow it to with a, "and they all look just like your husband!" I can't tell you how many times this exact scenario has taken place. 

Hmmm. Well thank goodness for Mr. Fix-it or my kids would be U-G-L-Y, I guess! Haha! 

I think they're all pretty cute myself!

Happy Thursday! I cannot believe we're on our last week of JUNE already!

Wordless Wednesdays

Weekend Recap: Strep Throat Woes

We started off our weekend with a strep throat & scarlet fever diagnosis from Buddy's pediatrician. 

This child is never sick. In fact, this was the first time I've ever had to take him to the doctor for a "sick visit." Bless his heart, he was so pitiful. I knew something was up as soon as he stayed on the couch for more than 5 minutes straight. 

The next morning, this little girl started complaining of a headache. Sure enough, she was running a fever too. Thankfully though, I didn't have to make any trips to the urgent care because she perked up quickly and has been fine every since. 

Sickness is very rare in our house (praise The Lord!) so we are certainly not use to doctors, medicine, and fevers. I prayed extra hard that none of the rest of us would come down with strep throat, too. 

So far, so good. Everyone is feeling and acting energetic this morning. So much so that while playing a little indoor basketball, Buddy knocked off a decorative plate from the kitchen wall and it shattered into a million tiny shards of glass all over the place. 

Just another manic Monday! :) 

In other weekend news, Mr. Fix-it decided Baby CJ needed his first taste of chocolate milkshake. And while he was definitely smitten with the sugary treat, his Mommy wasn't so happy with having a hyped up baby during what was suppose to be his nap time a couple of hours later.

You know it's the 4th born child when you grab your camera for pictures instead of being freaked out that your husband is feeding your 5 month old chocolate! 

But don't worry, I just finished pureeing a healthy batch of bananas, avocado, and sweet potatoes for his meals this week.

Happy Monday! 

Foodie Fridays: Ain't No Tuna Helper Casserole

Growing up as a child, I ate my share of Tuna Helper & Hamburger Helper meals. This was before my parents realized that all of this processed food was going to make us grow 3 heads and kill us in our sleep. :)

In our family, we don't eat boxed food. But I understand the convenience of having those type meals when you're a busy mom of children. I am always looking for quick dinners that will please my picky husband and our kids while not containing too many unhealthy ingredients or coming straight from a box.

Mr. Fix-it has absolutely fallen in love with this tuna casserole recipe. So much so that he actually requests this meal for special occasions like his birthday or Father's Day. This is a dish that all of the kiddos also devour. Win-win for Mommy!

 

 

Ain't No Tuna Helper Casserole

4 cups of egg noodles, cooked

6 ounces of shredded Swiss cheese

1 cup of Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil

2 cans of tuna, drained & flaked

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

In a large bowl, combine egg noodles, Swiss cheese, mayo and tuna. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the Italian bread crumbs on the bottom of a 9 inch dish. Spread the noodle mixture over the crumbs. Sprinkle with the remaining bread crumbs.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated through.

 

 

(I usually double this recipe for a 9x13 inch dish. Use more or less mayo depending on how creamy you like your casseroles. We tend to like it less-creamy so we use a little less mayo. Make it your own!)

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted & modified from Taste of Home: 5-Ingredient Cookbook

 

 

Thursday Thoughts

1. So it's been a rather rainy summer so far. When there is a lot of rain, there tends to be a lot of mud in our backyard. My kids are attracted to mud. It's almost like some sort of magnetic force. In fact, even when it hasn't rained, Buddy likes to make his own mud by pouring Tupperware containers filled with water into the dirt. Wala - homemade mud! His sisters probably wouldn't come up with such a messy project on their own; however, they certainly like to tag along and enjoy his ingenious ideas. So while I was making dinner one evening I sent the kids out back for a little playtime

This is what I discovered a mere 5 minutes later. Yes, these kids could break world records in the time it takes them to go from clean & bathed to dirty & disgusting!

Boo was the worst of them all. I think her older siblings helped "paint" her with the mud. And she ate some, too. A little soil minerals never hurt anybody, right? :)



2. I just want to confess that I am the worst reverse driver ever! I have never been good at backing up. Never. My step-father tried to teach me. My Papa offered his advice & instruction. My husband has also been trying to work on this weakness of mine for years. But it just remains a fact - I suck at backing up. It's so bad that I swear the new neighbors across the street watch from their windows with popcorn every time they see my garage door open.

I can just hear it now, "Oh look, it's that crazy lady with all those kids trying to back her van out of the garage again. Yep, there goes another bush!"

Mr. Fix-it thought that the back-up camera on my van would do the trick. He was at least hoping to save the puppies and the mailboxes of the neighborhood, I am sure. And for the most part, the back-up camera does the trick.

But not the other day.

I was in a rush to get out the door since Mr. Fix-it was giving me an evening free of kids! I opened the garage door as normal, put the van into reverse, checked the back-up camera to make sure all was clear (it was!), and proceeded to back out of the garage.

Crunch!!

For some reason, the garage door had stopped half way up and while my back-up camera was showing a clear picture of no obstructions, the garage door was clearly still in the way. OOPS!

Good news is, the van was fine! Bad news, the garage door needed some work.

Mr. Fix-it to the rescue! :) He was super excited to stay up well past his bedtime that night fixing the door for me.

Lesson learned: don't trust those back-up cameras!!

3. I was eating my morning bowl of oatmeal this morning and nearly choked on this:

Buddy confessed that he had hidden some of his change in the container of old-fashioned rolled oats.

Never a dull moment in this house!

He's learning how to take a "selfie." :)

Happy Thursday!!

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Recap: Father's Day!

We had Mr. Fix-it all to ourselves again this weekend since his work week was rather calm & uneventful. So we were able to plan a fun weekend of family time togetherness! 

First trip: the zoo! Now, Mr. Fix-it can be a tad bit more pessimistic than I am and he was convinced the zoo would be packed since it was Father's Day weekend. So we headed out early in hopes of beating the crowd. 

Well, early for our family means rolling out of here around 9:30am. It's often quite a task feeding & dressing everyone in a timely manner. 9:30 was the time we were hoping to arrive at the zoo. No biggie. We've been to the zoo several times before and the crowds were fine.

The place was slammed. Like parking only available a mile away slammed. Mr. Fix-it just loves when he's right. ;-) I wasn't looking forward to carting 2 strollers, 4 kids, and 2 big bags filled with diapers & a picnic lunch all over God's green earth just to get to the zoo entrance. 

So I prayed for a close parking spot. Yes, I pray for menial things just as much as big things. Prayer is powerful, people! And what do you know, but a car just happened to pull out as we were riding around the parking lot for the 5th time. And the parking spot just happened to be directly in front of the zoo entrance, right by the handicap spots. 

Thank ya, Jesus! :) 

This is how we roll with 4 kids ages 4 & under at the zoo.

The zoo was fun! Of course, the kids were more interested in riding the way overpriced train ride & playing on the playground more than they cared for seeing all of the exotic animals. Because playgrounds aren't a dime a dozen or anything. Kids these days! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

He resembles his Daddy! Just a tad. :)

Our family!

On the train ride with Boo!

After returning home, the kids & Mr. Fix-it were ready for naps! And I decided to get a jump start on Mr. Fix-it's Father's Day desserts. Apparently, he really likes banana pudding which is something I never knew about him. Almost 5 years of marriage and he just recently mentioned his adoration for homemade banana pudding.  I guess it keeps the spark alive in our marriage learning all of these new things along the way. ;) 

Since this Mama had never before made a homemade banana pudding (I think there is something infinitely wrong in a dessert that does not contain chocolate!) I set out to make a banana pudding that would measure up to Mr. Fix-it's grandmother's. (His standard of good cooking is always based on whether it's as good as his grandmother's! Tough shoes to fill!) 

I made a back-up peanut butter chocolate mousse pie just in case the banana pudding flopped. You can never go wrong having something peanut butter and chocolate around, after all. 

Banana pudding

Peanut butter & chocolate mousse pie

Thank goodness, both desserts turned out delicious and got Mr. Fix-it's stamp of approval so he should be fat & happy all week. Ha! Though I should mention that all 3 of my table food eating kids agreed with me that desserts should always contain chocolate. They didn't care for the banana pudding as much as the chocolate & peanut butter pie. :) 

After dinner, we headed to the pool for Baby CJ's first ever swim! He loves the bathtub so I knew he would enjoy the pool, too! 

 

My water baby!

My goal is to teach this kid to swim this summer.

The girls aren't as brave in the water as my boys are! Look at Boo's terrified face! HA!

 

After swimming & baths, I think all of the kiddos were in bed no earlier than 10pm that night. I know they were worn out! (So were Mommy & Daddy!!)

Sunday, of course, was Father's Day and the kids gave their special gifts & homemade cards to their Daddy. This was my attempt at getting a special photo for his office of the kiddos. I don't know why I was expecting them to cooperate. 

Yet another Pinterest fail! :)

We did get a somewhat decent shot for his special gift, though. I will never be a photographer! :)

And here is a sweet picture of Mr. Fix-it with our babies right before we headed out the door for church. 

Side note: don't bother taking a picture before heading out the door to church. Because 2 of the kids will discover a bucket filled with rain water on the patio that just needs to be splashed in and 3 kids will wind up getting dew-covered, freshly cut grass all over their church shoes & on Mommy's kitchen floor. Fun times. 

After a day of church, grilling out steak & shrimp, overindulging on high-calorie desserts, and plenty of playtime, it's safe to say that Mr. Fix-it had a wonderful Father's Day! 

I may be bias here, but I'm pretty sure my kids have the best Daddy ever! 

Snuggling with his princess during a "rain & funder" storm. She doesn't like "rain & funder." :)

Wordless Wednesdays

Weekend Recap: A Whole Lotta Nothin'

Mr. Fix-it didn't have to work at all this weekend, ya'll! First time in what seems like forever. The kids kept asking when he was going to have to leave. Haha! They're so not use to having Daddy all to themselves for a whole weekend. Hoping this is the beginning of what will become our new normal for a while. 

To say we didn't do much this weekend would be an understatement. Mr. Fix-it has been exhausted lately and was hoping for a laid back weekend. I think he slept every time the kids would nap. (and sometimes when they were awake!) Poor guy. 

We did enjoy a family get-together with Mr. Fix-it's family and ran a few errands, as well. But for the most part, this was a much needed weekend of R & R! Here's some pictures from our uneventful couple of days!

Corky wanted to feed Baby CJ a bottle. I like how she keeps her hand firmly planted to his forehead. Not sure he was diggin' that. :)

For every sweet picture of a sister feeding her baby brother a bottle, there is another sister nearby pitching a FIT that she can't feed him. HA!

Boo likes to climb. I think I've mentioned this before. She climbed out of her crib this weekend and fell to the floor. But that didn't scare her. She climbs everything she can find.

Buddy loves his baby bro. And surprisingly, there weren't any other siblings nearby pitching a fit when this pic was made. Ahh! A sweet moment of peace!

Also this weekend, Boo turned 18 months old! Halfway to 2 years old....where has my baby girl gone? *sniffle*

Mr. Fix-it enjoyed some ice cream with the kiddos. So did Mommy...shhhh.... :)

Just enjoying family time with some good ole' Bruster's Ice Cream!

Alert the media! Baby CJ is back to napping better throughout the day. Hallelujah!

Hope you had a great weekend, too!

Foodie Fridays: Chicken & Spinach Burgers

This week's recipe is a creation of my own. I tend to tweak every recipe I make and this one is a compilation of several different chicken burgers I've made over the years. The fresh spinach is so much tastier in the burgers than other recipes I've seen which calls for thawed, frozen spinach. That stuff is disgusting.

My kids don't necessarily love the spinach in the burgers but they've sort of gotten use to Mommy's weird food creations and they tend to roll with the punches. :)

Chicken & Spinach Burgers

Serves: 4

1 pack of ground chicken

2 cups of fresh spinach leaves, chopped

1/4 cup of Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp + 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 

2 Tbsp of Montreal Chicken seasoning

4 slices of baby Swiss cheese

1 pack of baby Bella mushrooms 

1/2 cup of sweet onion slices

A pack of your favorite hamburger buns

First, chop the spinach and use your hands to mix the first 3 ingredients in a bowl. (Your hands are your best utensils as Paula Deen always says!) 

Add approximately 2 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce to the chicken mixture and mix well. Add more if you need to, it's all about preference. In my ingredient picture, I forgot to grab the Worcestershire bottle out if the fridge. Oops.

Divide the chicken mixture into 4 equal hamburger size patties (I often make larger burgers for me & Mr. Fix-it while making smaller burgers for the kiddos; therefore, I end up with more than 4 burgers)

You can either grill or pan fry your burgers. Mr. Fix-it is typically always at work when I'm making dinner so I just choose to use the good 'ole stove top method. He has this rule against me using a grill without his supervision...something about burning the house down. Whatever. ;)

While the burgers are cooking, saute the mushrooms, sliced sweet onions, and 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce in another pan. This mixture will adorn the tops of your burgers. 

Here are the steps in photos: 

When the burgers are done,  melt a slice of Swiss cheese on top of each burger and place them on a toasted hamburger bun. (This really is key here, buns are so much better toasted!) Then divide the sauteed mushroom & onion mixture on top of the melted cheese. 

This is what the finished product should look like.

These things are delish! And it's perfect as-is, it doesn't even need condiments. But feel free to add mustard, ketchup, or lettuce if you wish. Make it your own!

(note: if you're doing the low-carb, low-fat eating plan like I am right now, just omit the cheese & hamburger bun and add a nice big salad on the side.)

Let me know if you like 'em! 

Thursday Thoughts

Here are some of the thoughts swirling through this busy Mama brain today.

1. I wonder if drug companies started making kid medicine a lot tastier than it was decades ago? Because I vividly remember my mother having to hide chewable Tylenol in a happy meal hamburger when I was sick because I'd pitch such a fit over taking it. These days, my kids fight over who gets the liquid pain reliever like it's candy. They will cry if they aren't sick and can't take the medicine their sibling is getting. How unfair of Mommy to not give medicine when you don't need it! HA! I honestly have to hide this stuff from my kids.

2. You want to know why I named my blog "Crayons & Cookie Crumbs?" Because I discover a new drawing on my wall almost once a week like this: 

It doesn't matter that I've hid the crayons from them a thousand times already. In locked cabinets. On top of the refrigerator. I swear these kids have a crayon dealer who smuggles in crayons for them when I'm sleeping. Mr. Fix-it keeps a jar of paint handy so he can slap another coat over their latest artwork. Hey, maybe I'm raising little Picassos!

Also, the cookie crumbs reference comes from this:

This mess is just from one child. After one meal. I don't even put the broom away anymore. What's the use? I practically just walk around with it all day long anyway.

3. Am I the only one NOT obsessed with this Chevron craze going on right now? I see this stuff all over Facebook, blogs, clothing stores, and on Pinterest.  

It's a bunch of zig zag lines, people. This is not a novel idea. I use to doodle the same pattern on the back of my notebooks in elementary school. Why must we put this all over our clothes, rugs, phone covers, bags, walls, etc? Enough already! Stop the Chevron madness, please!! 

4. I know I mentioned before that we call our third born daughter "Boo" because she looks like the little girl from Monsters Inc. (which by the way, my family is super excited about the sequel coming out later this month!) So I thought this was cute. 

My Boo! Haha, cracks me up!

5. And finally, I know I complain sometimes about Mr. Fix-it's terrible work hours but I should mention that I am truly grateful for his employment. You see, this time last year, we were at a place where we didn't know exactly how we were going to pay the bills or if he'd find steady employment. We learned a whole lot about the Lord's provision through some very uncertain financial times. And truthfully, things aren't exactly care-free or secure now either. Our security rests in this promise from our Lord: 

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

(Matthew 6:26 NIV) 

This was the verse The Lord used to guide us in our decision for me to quit teaching two years ago & become a stay-at-home mommy to our kids even though we knew things would be tight. This was also the verse The Lord used when Mr. Fix-it was without a job this time last year. This is the verse The Lord continues to press on my heart even now when things seem unsure or impossible. 

We have a few sweet friends who are walking the road of uncertainty right now with unemployment. We've been there. I know it's so scary. But He does provide. And He will provide! 

So yes, we miss having Mr. Fix-it home most weekends. We miss having him at the dinner table most nights. His work is definitely demanding. But he loves what he does and this is what we prayed so hard for! So we are grateful!

Besides, now all of you can benefit from the lack of adult conversation I have now by reading all of my gibberish on this blog. HA! 

Have a terrific Thursday!