Spring Break

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Lisa

I can remember a time when Spring Break was all about going somewhere warm and sunny, staying up all night drinking and sleeping in until noon.  Not like I ever actually did that…..but it sure looks fun on television.

But seriously, when did Spring Break go from being some thing one looks forward to, to some thing that you DREAD!!!  Don’t get me wrong, I love my children.  I love spending time with them, I love them even more when it’s actually warm enough to go outside.  But the last three days have been absolutely MISERABLE!

I honestly don’t even remember much of what we did on Monday.  I do remember a short trip to the library in the morning, and the fact that all three of us were sleeping in my bed when Tim got home from work.  I think the rest of the day was spent breaking up fights and listening to Cooper tell Carter that he’s mean.

Yesterday I took the boys to McDonald’s since it was either raining, hailing, sleeting, or snowing ALL DAY!  And of course since it was 32 degrees and snowing at 3pm yesterday we had to drive to swimming lessons.  Luckily the roads were fine.  🙂

The highlight of our day today was a trip to Home Depot after lunch, timed perfectly so that Cooper fell asleep on the way home and actually took a nap today!!

And tomorrow I’m thinking about a trip to the zoo.  It’s only suppose to be 45 degrees out, but it will be the nicest day of the week.  I’m hoping everyone in Milwaukee doesn’t have the same idea.

Why oh why couldn’t we have had nice weather all week???  Oh, wait….I know, we live in WISCONSIN!  🙂  I’m just very grateful we didn’t get 10 inches of snow like they did in Green Bay.

 

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, Wisconsin | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Carter MEAN

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Lisa

Cooper has put up with an awful lot in the last two years.  Carter has put him in a headlock, sat on him, and stepped on him.  He has pushed Cooper down, kicked him, and hit him.  Carter will take Cooper’s toys and throw them at him when told to share.  Yes, Cooper has put up with a lot the past two years…..and he has come to a conclusion.  Carter is MEAN!

On Saturday morning the boys were playing and Carter pushed Cooper down.  Cooper got right back up and he looked mad.  He took one look at Carter, said “CARTER MEAN!” and threw the little plastic pumpkin that he was holding right at Carter’s head.  And the rest of the morning anytime Carter did something to him, he’d say “Carter MEAN!”

Cooper fell asleep on our way home from Target on Saturday afternoon, and we put him in his bed when we got home.   I heard him waking up about an hour later, and when I peeked in the room the first thing out of his mouth was, “Carter MEAN”.

You can just tell that Cooper has been waiting months and months to say “Carter Mean”.  And I can’t really tell him not to say it, because it’s true.  But I do tell Carter to be nice to his little brother, because some day (real soon) Cooper will be bigger than he is, and payback’s a bitch!  🙂

 

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, I Laughed Until I Peed And Then I Cried, Parenting challenges | Tagged | 1 Comment

Easter Treats and Egg Hunt

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Lisa

Yesterday we had a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt at our neighbor’s house.  She was nice enough to plan everything and stuff over 600 eggs (for 12 kids…they had a blast!).  I offered to bring cupcakes.

Easter Basket Cupcakes

Easter Chick Cupcakes

They were almost too pretty to eat.

I had a lot of fun making them, and couldn’t believe how easy they were to decorate.  I will be honest, I didn’t come up with the ideas by myself, I found them on the Betty Crocker website.  They have so many cute ideas!

Carter and Cooper had a blast at the Easter Egg Hunt.  Each child had to find a different color egg.  Carter had bright yellow, Cooper had green.  Carter thought that was pretty cool because they were John Deere colors.  🙂

The boys made quite the haul, lots of candy, stickers, toys, and rubber bugs (Carter traded most of his silly bands with a neighbor girl for all her rubber bugs).

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, Easter | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Best Thing I Ever Ate

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Lisa

I don’t really enjoy cooking.  Love to bake, hate to cook.  I’ve never really used my crock pot for anything except for Cheesy Potatoes and Grape Jelly Meatballs.  Last night I was going through my stash of magazines and tossing some old Real Simple Magazines when I saw the words “Amazing Slow-Cooker Dinners” on the front cover of March’s issue.  Now I am an EXTREMELY picker eater, which is probably why I don’t enjoy cooking more, but one of the recipes looked really good (and didn’t have a lot of veggies in it!), so I thought I’d give it a try.  It was so good that not only did I make some for lunch, I made another batch for dinner, and am so excited to have leftovers for tomorrow!

CREAMY CHICKEN WITH BISCUITS
Serves 6| Hands-On Time: 15m | Total Time: 6hr 30m

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, toss together the carrots, celery, onion, and flour. Place the chicken on top and season with the poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the wine and broth.
  2. Cover and cook until the chicken and vegetables are tender, on low for 5 to 6 hours or on high for 2 1⁄2 to 3 hours (this will shorten total cooking time).
  3. Thirty minutes before serving, prepare the Easy Drop Biscuits (if using).
  4. Ten minutes before serving, add the peas, cream, and ½ teaspoon salt to the chicken and stir to combine. Cover and cook until heated through, 5 to 10 minutes more.
  5. To serve, place the bottom halves of the biscuits in shallow bowls, then top with the chicken mixture and the remaining biscuit halves.

EASY DROP BISCUITS

Makes 6 biscuits| Hands-On Time: 10m | Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup whole milk

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 400° F. In a food processor, combine the flour, butter, baking powder, and salt; pulse until pea-size clumps form. Add the milk and pulse just until moistened.
  2. Drop 6 large mounds of the dough (about ½ cup each) onto a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 18 to 20 minutes.

(Both recipes are from Real Simple)

This recipe was SO easy to make.  I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs because I don’t care for dark meat.  The second time I made the recipe I did add a bit more broth, wine, and heavy cream (I liked a little more of the sauce over the biscuits).  The biscuits are really easy to make, and are DELICIOUS!  I’m glad I made them from scratch and didn’t use store bought.

Real Simple has some pictures on their website of the Creamy Chicken With Biscuits, but I thought I’d share some of my own.

A picture of the Easy Drop Biscuits

It tastes better than it looks, really it does!

Cooper waiting for dinner.

Creamy Chicken With Biscuits, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate"....according to Carter. 🙂

And according to Carter, this was “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”….but he does tend to say this on occasion.  But it was really good, even Cooper liked it, and he’s even picker than I am.

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, Recipes | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Cooper’s New Bed

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Lisa

We put Cooper in bed on Thursday night, and could hear him moving around for quite awhile.  He didn’t really cry, but he didn’t want to stay in bed either.  Then I could hear him playing by the gate and kicking it.  After awhile I didn’t hear anything, so I peeked in his room to check on him, and I found him fast asleep on the floor next to his door.   We put him back in bed, but when Tim woke up in the morning and went in to check on him, he found Cooper in the exact same spot.  I guess Cooper likes the floor better than his new Big Boy Bed.

Cooper fell asleep on the floor next to the gate in his room.

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