What's For Dinner, Wednesday's?

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things now...but I'm not doing very good! Oh, well....it's been a good while since I posted a new "What's For Dinner, Wednesday", so here you go!

Banana Blueberry Pancakes

2 cups -pancake mix (I used about 1 1/2 cups of the Hungry Jack "complete" kind that you only add water to, and 1/2 cup of whole wheat/oatmeal pancake mix)

1- 6oz cup of plain yogurt

3 -egg whites

1/4 cup-flax seed meal

1- mashed banana

1 cup -fresh blueberries

1 heaping Tablespoon -applesauce

1 1/2 cups water (or milk....I was out of milk & the water worked fine with the kind of mix I had)

drizzle of flax seed oil, and a dash of cinnamon....just for kicks!

*Top with fresh blueberries and bananas and real maple syrup! Or if you like pb on your pancakes that tastes yummy too!

Enjoy!

The music of my life.

These 30 things I know...

In honor of my 30th Birthday today, I will share with you my "30 things I know for sure" list :-)

30 Things I Know For Sure.

1) 20 is not too young to get married...it may even be the BEST time to get married.

2) If you want to be happy, never compare your home, your waist, or your husband to anyone else.

3) Some things really are not worth the fight. There is some wisdom to be found in learning to graciously "give up" sometimes. For instance: Let your 3 year old leave the house in his superman costume. I know it looks kinda funny to go to Target with a superhero sidekick & it's even a huge pain to strap him into his car seat with the bulky cardboard 6-pack abs and all....but really...is it worth the fight??

4) Self-pity never solves your problems...but it WILL make them seem worse than they are!

5) It's never a good idea to ask another person what YOU are capable of...only you can answer that for yourself.

6) Love hurts.

7) Giving birth without drugs also HURTS...but it's very empowering & so worth it!

8) People who only tell you what they think you want to hear are not your friends.

9) Popular people rarely change the world. It's usually those weirdos that don't care what people think that shake things up.

10) Hope has to be grounded in something deeper than just positive thinking for it to take root in our lives. The kind of "hope" that changes the world is based on truth.

11) Your children will break your heart.

12) The 80's was not a decade that taught home decorators what the word "neutral color palette" really meant. For instance: Green is not a neutral carpet color... likewise, "smurf blue" is not a neutral wall color. Contrary to popular belief, those are not colors that match much of anything. This I know FOR SURE!

13) Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

14) You savor & appreciate that which you have to WORK for.

15) Bad haircuts don't last forever.

16) There are many times in life when the solution to a problem is really found when you "fight it out"(This would be a situation when #3 does NOT apply!). There is such a thing as "productive arguments", so don't be afraid to have a good fight every so often. ;-)

17) You learn more by saying "tell me what you think", than by saying "let me tell you what I think".

18) All children look like angels when they are sleeping :-).

19) A 22 oz margarita with an extra shot really does makes the world seem like a much happier place.

20) Never ever sniff your child's finger when they say "ewww...smell this"...NEVER!

21) DO come very quickly when a child says "Mom, I just need some carpet cleaner and the whole roll of paper towels...but I don't need your help".

22) Purple permanent sharpie marker DOES in fact come out of tan couch cushions with a little effort and a LOT of rubbing alcohol. Hot pink nail polish DOES NOT come out of light tan carpet...no matter what!

23) Children are very forgiving....so you should be too!

24) A man that will hold your hair back for you while you vomit is a keeper!

25) Just because you can...does not mean you should!

26) It's very easy to gain 50 lbs when you are pregnant. However, it's not so easy to lose 50 pounds!

27) Optimism is not a natural inclination, but rather a discipline.

28) If you only have two minutes to throw on some makeup choose a dash of bronzer, mascara, and lip gloss.

29) Honesty will get you more respect than flattery will.

30) Always eat cake on your birthday!

Somebody had a birthday...

My Channy-Man turned 6 a few weeks ago, but I never got around to posting pictures because my camera battery has been dying all the time & I kept forgetting to re-charge it. So....better late than never, eh?
Birthday breakfast. He asked for homemade berry sauce on yop of french toast. He gets his good taste in food from his mother ;-).

Everything about this birthday was all about TRANSFORMERS! Gotta love 6 year old boys!

The cake :-)

The family singing to him.

He loved his autobot cake. (Cake making is one of my very few talents as a mother that qualifies me for "cool mom" status in my children's eyes. I love how something so simple brings them so much joy! We could all learn a big lesson from the little things our kids teach us.)

The ultra cool walkie-talkie set from auntie Tricia...and Zion!

If you want to read about the day Channy was born, then you can check out this post. So as not to drive my homones into overdrive, I'm keeping this years birthday post a little more lighthearted. But...I DO love this little boy more than I could ever put into words. He is so precious to me & I feel honored to have such an amazing little boy in my life!

Judah's next gig!

If Judah's current activity level is any indicator of things to come, then I'm pretty sure he could have a future with these babies!

Not Me! Monday.

Oh, boy......do I have the list this week! I'm sure there are many more things I could add to this weeks "Not Me" list, but I've got to pace myself-haha! I'll just share with you a few things that come to mind right off the bat, but I don't even want to dig to deep this week because I know I committed way too many mommy offenses last week while we were on vacation ;-).

-I promise you I have not had lab orders from Judah's 9 month appointment sitting on my computer desk for almost 3 weeks. I HAVE NOT put that on my "to-do" list every week & then ended up scratching those plans because I dread taking 4 kids to a teeny tiny Quest lab where I get to wrestle an angry, screaming baby, and try to hold him still while some incompetent phlebotomist tries in vain 5 or 6 times to draw his blood. No.....I'm a good mommy that cares deeply about getting his CBC and lead levels back.

-I did not go almost a month in between sheet washing days, only to FINALLY strip all the beds this morning after I was tired of looking at all the stains on my kids bed sheets from their dirty little "flip flop feet". Who makes their kids beds every single day for weeks on end knowing the sheets are dirty? Really...that's just gross!

-I did not perfect using the bathroom with Judah still strapped in the sling because it was just too much trouble to take him in and out all the time while we were visiting the zoo. Nope....not me!

-I did not vow to clear the house of junk food only to buy a package of double stuff mint Oreo's, a huge box of kettle corn, and a gallon bucket of jelly beans for our Drive-In movie night. Those calories don't count if your on vacation...right?

-I did not forget to pack a pair of underwear for myself the last time we went to the pool & decide to just change into my clothes anyway and leave "commando style" and spend the rest of the evening that way because I thought to myself : "why dirty a pair of underwear if you don't have to".

-I have not left my child's puked-filled car seat out on the back porch since Saturday because I just can't face the music and go out there and power wash the puke out of all the crevasses. I did not let the car seat get rained on overnight & secretly hope that the rain may have washed away the majority of the puke chunks. I realize this means I may need to purchase a new car seat, but honestly I'm having a hard time caring about that!

-I did not SCREAM at my child to "STOP SCREAMING!!". I lead by example all the time ;-).

-I have not skipped going to the gym for 6 weeks "just because". I also have not tried to analyze my lack of motivation for going to the gym & come to the conclusion that it's just too much work with all 4 kids most days. I mean....that's really no excuse, so I need to think of something better don't you think?

-I did not do 6 loads of laundry yesterday and STILL wake up to 4 more loads staring me in the face today.....(sigh).

On vacation this week...

Sorry I have not been updating my blog this week. My hubby took a week of vacation time this week and we have been enjoying little day trips together as a family. So far we have gone to Warsaw (Truman Lake), and Omaha (zoo), and yesterday we had a pool day. Today we are off to the movies & then the drive-in tonight (as long as the rain holds off!). I'll have pictures, recipes, and fun stories to share next week!

Mandarin Orange Muffins.

Seriously...did I forget to do a "What's For Dinner?" post AGAIN! Well, to make up for it I'm going to post one of our favorite new muffin recipes. Hope you love em as much as my little crew does!

Mandarin Orange Muffins

- 1 Cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 egg whites
- 1/3 cup reduced fat milk (1% or skim if you as so inclined!)
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 1 Tablespoon Canola oil
- 2 Tablespoons softened light butter
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
- 1 11-oz can mandarin orange slices in light syrup, drained.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and orange zest in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. In another mixing bowl mix egg whites, milk, OJ, oil, and butter. Add wet mixture to dry mixture all at once. Stir just until moistened. Set aside 12 orange slices (or 24 if you are doing mini muffins) & add the rest of the oranges to the batter. Stir the batter to blend in the oranges. Coat muffin tins with cooking spray. Fill each cup evenly with batter and top with one orange slice. Bake for 20 minutes (or 12-14 minutes for mini muffins).

**These are a great treat & low in fat. Each regular muffin only has 131 calories, 2.6 grams or protein, 23.3 grams of carbs, and 2.3 grams of fat. Enjoy!

The Bathroom Makeover.

We were pretty busy around our house a few weeks ago & one of the rooms that got a "makeover" was our ugly little back bathroom. I've always hated that bathroom because of it's country blue counter top & powder blue linoleum. It seemed there was nothing I could do to make peace with those blue disasters! But, about a month ago as I was wondering through my favorite store (Target), I stumbled upon a cute little shower curtain & my wheels started turning. What if I married those tragic blue disasters with a more modern twist!! Maybe...just maybe I could make it work.

I bought that shower curtain & several other matching pieces & took them home to do some planning. I hung up the new shower curtain & started trying out some new colors. At first I thought I had struck gold with a $5 "oops" bucket of paint from Home Depot, but when I got the paint home it was all wrong (bummer!). I guess I need to leave those sorts of divine decorating interventions to my friend Karen. Karen always seems to happen upon those kinds of steals every time she re-decorates! The day after the "oops!" paint disappointment my sister happened to stop by our house. She saw my new shower curtain & said "Hey, I bet the leftover paint from Zion's room would match that shower curtain perfectly!". Then she told me it was a Disney color called "pool blue". That sounded just about perfect to me!

Hmmmm....... Looks like I got an even better deal than a $5 bucket of paint after all! I guess if you can't find what you want on the clearance aisle at Home Depot then trolling around in your sisters basement for leftover paint is the next best thing!

What do you think??

View from the door.


















Don't you love the two different colors? I was so excited when I found the lighter color of aqua blue at the bottom of a stack of paint cans. My sister said she has NO IDEA where that paint color came from. It was probably from the previous owners of her home!!














The new rug....so cute!

(FYI-I have rotated this picture about a dozen times and it just won't "stick".....I give up!)















You know you wanted to see the new hand towel too ;-)

I took this picture because I had to let you know about this yummy new soap I discovered! The bar of goats milk soap in this picture is the BEST soap ever! It smells so wonderful!! It's lavender and mint scented & it makes the whole bathroom smell good. It's from a local company, but you can order it on-line if you want. It's from the "ZUM" soap company. Check it out and order yourself a bar or two! It's great stuff!