So we are in for it..

A pretty good storm is headed our way. We do happen to be under "hazardous weather outlook" but we aren't under flood warning or watches or under tornado warnings or anything from Hurricane Ike. If Hurricane Gustav had hit like expected I was supposed to see the "biggest storm of my life" but thank goodness for everybody it didn't hit as expected. Hurricane Ike on the other hand is scaring quite a few people and for good reason... It is HUGE! Thank goodness that it isn't as strong as it could be. Anyways.. my whole point is to say.. we are expecting rain.. out of all the things that could be getting us from Hurricane Ike... rain is something I think I can handle... (who knows this could be a whole different kind of rain from what I am used to) How are you doing Kelsey? I know Texas is holding their breathe to see where he will fall...

Anybody else, feeling the effects of Hurricane season?... I have really become a fan of weather.com.. and am learning quite alot about how our weather is effected by what is going on in the "upper atmosphere" Sometimes I wonder what else is going on "up there"...

He is three!

Today was Kevin's 3rd Birthday! Tyler very nicely reminded me where I was three years ago... Thank goodness we get amazing little kids out of all that hard work... As for his birthday... We celebrated it yesterday because Tyler works all day on Mondays, but they did get to talk to each other on the web cam.. We had a Lightening McQueen cake, a few dinosaurs and one very excited kid... A true party! (Pictures to come)


And...


Cameron took 2 steps and didn't fall... he walked from the futon to the pillow to get to.. his older brother! My baby is turning into one amazing toddler...

This is so cool!

So the Church recently came out with a Nursery manual. "Behold Your Little Ones" I love it! Kevin has come home and actually been able to tell me about what is going on a church... So I looked it up and everything is available online.. so now I can help him remember last weeks lesson and get him ready for this weeks lesson... how cool is that? I can even adapt it for FHE.. yeah! Check it out here or go and buy one online.. it is only $5.50 and I am sure I will use it!... If you have nursery age kids it is great.. I especially loved the letter to parents. (especially the" don't bring your kids to nursery when" part...) Check it all out and let me know what you think!

And I came across this today...

Let me know!

Ok so I posted a poll on my Blog.. I need you guys to answer a question for me... Let me know what you think...you have until next Friday to answer.. Thanks! and remember I research stuff all the time so send me your questions!

Why didn't anyone tell me...?

yeah that is right we are in the middle of potty training Kevin (seriously now) and lets just say it has been the biggest roller coaster of my life. Can I get off now? Yesterday he had an accident free day! but the day before that we had like 4 "accidents"! Up and then down up and then down! He loves to go "number 1" in the potty... but number 2 is a problem... guess what I don't want to clean that up!.. grrr! So yesterday.. lets focus on the positive... We went to institute, we went to Wal-Mart, we came home all in Underwear and had no accidents... woohoo! but now he is sick and doesn't want to tell Mommy.... he understands, he just is as stuborn as the rest of this family.. he doesn't want to!.... So how do we get over this "hump" of not wanting to go numer 2?... He is even staying dry during nap time.. Yeeah!... but really.. how do we get to "no accidents"???

And as a side note.. Cameron is trying to walk, falls alot but is trying, he is now crawling off of things by himslef without falling, the couch the bed...etc.. now the house is just a big jungle gym to him!

Grrr...

So we are all sick again... I can't believe it.. now we all have head colds, which means I feel like I am swimming in dirty Kleenex... I can't keep up with three running noses (Tyler usually takes care of his own) Every four seconds I hear "Mommy buggers..." which is my cue to come clean some up... Yuck... sorry to share.. was that to much information? I think I am gonna starting blaming the great state of Oklahoma for doing this to us.. ( I don't know how it is the states fault but I have to blame something!) just kiddin!

3 month supply -extras (5/5)

So on top of stuff you need in all your recipes it is a good idea to have this type of stuff lying around for good measure!

Drinking Water!!
Bleach

Baking powder
Baking soda
Cornstarch
Oil & shortening
Corn meal
Yeast
Spices
Bouillon
Things that your family always needs: ketchup, mustard, toilet paper..etc

As well as having a financial reserve..

So what else have you stocked up on for good measure? As always... fill me in on your secrets so others can partake!

Next series?... should it be on good household items to keep around?... any other ideas?

3 Month Supply- Snacks (4/5)

Now I know this is the one you all have been waiting for... because well, I love snacks!

So the easiest great recipe I have snack wise is:

Cake mix cookies
1 box cake mix- (any flavor our favorite is white)
2 eggs (powdered work just find)
1/2 C. oil

Mix all together drop by tsp on to baking sheet bake at 350 for 8 min (just a little brown around the edges)

I am always trying new cake flavors with different mix-ins- butter sctoch chips, heath chips, nuts, anything really (this recipe is one of 1000 reasons why I hope to have 52 cake mixes in my food storage one day)

Chex Muddy Buddies or puppy chow (whatever you wanna call it)
9 cups chex mix
melt: 1 cup choc chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 c margarine
1 tsp vanilla
pour over chex
once good and covered pour 1 1/2 c powdered sugar over and shake well.

Best Brownies
1/2 C butter/margarine
1 C. sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 C flour
1/3 C Cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 grease 8 or 9 inch square pan
Stir together butter sugar and Vanilla, Add eggs beat well with spoon, stir together cocoa, baking powder and salt, gradually add egg mixture, beat until well blended stir in flour, spread evenly into pan
Bake 20-25 minutes or until brownies start to pull away from sides.
They are so good... do not double the batch! it doesn't turn out the same! doesn't even need frosting!

I also gave one of my favorite snack recipes in an earlier post see here. I have plenty more including a wonderful sticky bun recipe but I figured that this would get us started... more emergency preparedness coming soon... do you have any questions or suggestions... let me know!

11 Months old...

I can't even believe it.... he is 11 months old... the little daredevil is reaking havoc everytime I turn around.. and then he just grins cause He know it makes me melt... With Cameron on the verge of walking and becoming more independent he still loves to cuddle (thank goodness!) I can't believe within in the next month I'll be a Mom a a three year old and a one Year old, man I feel old!... well, just a quick glance at the smile that makes me melt..

Yuck...

I hate being sick... I hate it when my kids are sick... its gross and I don't like it one bit, yep all of us had it, some worse than others, either way, it's no fun... and we still aren't 100%...yuck...

3 Month Supply - Lunch ( 3/5)

So for lunch it doesn't seem probable to have 3 month supply of bread around (although it does freeze well), so I have all the stuff to make 3 months of bread, including 3lbs of yeast that I store in the freezer... on top of the bread stuff it is really easy to store the following:

Tuna, canned chicken, canned ham- the stuff you buy in the store now has 2011 or 2012 exp dates
Miricle Whip/ Mayo
Peanut butter (or other nut butters)
Jelly
Cheese (can be frozen)(for those die hard grilled cheese sandwich eaters-Tyler)
Butter(can be frozen or canned)
Canned soup
Canned/dried Fruit

Basically I have sandwiches or soup planned for lunches, but I was thinking the other day that Tortiallas store pretty well in the freezer and we could could have wraps as well. I Always think to throw in a fruit on the side- dried or canned- it will help off set nutirents you aren't getting in the event of an emergency, or loss of job or whatever else comes our way! I have been thinking that maybe I could have the stuff to make pasta salad (simply salad in a box or just noodles and italian dressing) for side dishes or even crackers for the kids- What do you think? Have anyother ideas for me? ( and bags and bags of chicken nuggets not an options-(Kevin)

3 Month supply- Breakfast (installment 2 of the series of 5)

So for breakfast I have things like:

Add water only pancake/waffle mix
Syrup (sugar water flavoring)
Canned apples to put on top of the waffles
All the stuff for granola

Powdered milk
Frozen/ powdered juice
Canned/frozen fruit ( have to have fruit some where)

(and yes this is the same recipe I posted earlier)

Granola

Mix:

4 cups regular oats

4 cups quick oats

½ cup wheat germ

1T. Cinnamon

½ cup chopped almonds

½ cup brown sugar

½ flaked coconut

½ cup powdered milk

½ cup honey

½ cup light corn syrup

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla

2 T. Water

Melt wet ingredients in microwave 1 min; stir halfway through.

Pour over dry mixture

mix.

Pour into two shallow baking pans and bake until lightly toasted, for chewy granola 15 minutes, for crunchy 25-30 min.

(300 degrees) Add dried cranberries or raisins… eat plain or in milk!

Breakfast for us would be a little monotonous (although we all love granola and Tyler loves pancakes and waffles)... what do you think I could add? (adding bags and bags of malt-o-meal cereal... not an option(sorry Ty)

3 Month supply- Dinner

So lots of people haven't heard that the Church has changed their stance on the 1 year supply thing. They no longer wish us to have one year supply of the basics, they want us to have three months of the stuff we eat everyday and then 9 months of the basics on top of that. ( the good thing about this is everything rotates pretty quickly) So I am going to start posting some of the recipes that I have been stocking up on as part of my Three month supply. If you have any easy recipes that use shelf stable ingredients and use some the basics(rice, beans, wheat...etc.), leave them in a comment for me and everyone else can partake! The way I did it was to start with dinner and choose 7 meals that I can make 12 times. (7 days in a weeks, 12 weeks in 3 months) So I can easily grab an extra of something I need for these recipes every time I head to the store. (I try to choose things that can store on a shelf or in the freezer, I try not to use recipes with sour cream, eggs, and milk, unless I am willing to used the powdered kind.. cause who knows what kind of conditions we would need these things in.

Now for 4 of my dinner meals I chose my Sweet & sour Chicken with rice, my homemade chili and corn bread, spaghetti or other shaped pasta with bread sticks, and Taco chip dip. I always stock up on frozen vegetables when they go one sale (canned works too) so that in the event we had to live on this stuff we could get some vegetables in with dinner.

Let me know if you have any good ones! Down the road a little, I will post what I have done for breakfast, lunch and snack time...(even adults need snack time) So stay tuned!

1. Sweet & Sour Chicken
8 oz apricot preserves
1 C. Catalina dressing ( I heard the Russia dressing works well too)
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
mix together and pour over chicken breasts and bake at 400 degrees until cooked through,serve on top of rice and with vegetables (stir fry mix is always good with this one)

2. Homemade Chili
Brown 1/2 to 1 lb of ground beef (or buffalo if you have it) drain, add:
1 can (15-16oz) dark red kidney beans (rinsed)
1 Can tomato soup
1/2 can water
1 TBSP chilli powder
onion or onion powder to taste
(feel free to add stuff like frozen corn or anything else you like in your chili)
Warm through and serve with cornbread

Cornbread
Mix:
1/2 C. Whole wheat flour
1/2 C. White flour
1 C. Corn meal
4 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

then in seperate bowl mix:
2 eggs
1 C. milk
1/4 C. oil

Stir wet and dry ingredients together just til moistened, (the less you mix the better)
Bake in greased 8X8 pan at 425 for 20 min or until toothpick comes out clean

3. Spaghetti or other shaped pasta
boil noodles, serve with sauce of your choice, I serve with bread sticks.. see below

Bread sticks
preheat oven to 350
add 1 TBSP yeast to 1 1/2 C. warm water
inseperate bowl mix:
2 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 to 4 cups flour (use whole wheat white or a mixture of the two)

Blend together and let rise for 10 min (if you have time if not just keep going) spread in to shortcake pan and bake for11-15 minutes then use a pizza cutter to cut into "sticks"

if you want to make spread, mix:
1/4 C. butter (melted)
1/4 C mayonnaise
1/4 C. Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp parsley flakes
1/2 tsp garlic salt
spread on top of bread sticks after baking

4.Taco Dip:
Brown 1 lb of ground hamburger (if you want to add taco seasoning go ahead)
while your doing that, in 9x13 pan spread a large can of refried beans into the bottom of pan... once the meat is cooked through place that on top of the beans, then spread a layer of salsa on top of meat then throw on a layer of cheese (cheedar or Mexican blend) on top of the salsa, then spread a layer of sour cream on top of that, cook in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes until warmed through... serve in tortillas or on tortilla chips.. a great frozen meal or for leftovers...

So let me know if you guys try any of these out, if you have any great recipes you are stocking up on, or if you want more!

I got a new toy!

That's right I got an iPod touch... For FREE! Very cool... I use it for my grocery list, email, calendar, etc. I am using it right now...to post this! More layers -cat

Oopps...

So a while a back I promised a picture of my van.. this isn't a very good one but you get the idea

My little dare devil...

Oh wait, haven't I had a blog about this very same subject before?.. Oh wait... this is about my second dare devil...I am really in for it now.. This is how I found this little guy today.. he had crawled out of his high chair, which you see is at his feet he had one foot still on it and his belly laying on the table,(I even made Tyler take the picture) I think he was trying to get to the toast that was on Kevins plate on the table but I can't be sure, All I do know is that when I walked around to corner and found him like this, I about peed my pants.. we were so lucky he hadn't fallen yet. and I know you are thinking, lock that boy in that high chair, but there is no belt to lock him in with... I know between my two little daredevels, I better stay on my toes.

So at church I ended up in the foyer with both of my kids during Tylers talk, and although Cameron was being great in someone else's hands, Kevin was being Kevin and didn't want to be quiet or sit still, I actaully got a few comments about being the fastest mom ever!... I think I will take this title and run with it.. pardon the pun... so if you ever find your self with two little boys running in opposite directions that best advice I can give you is, have good runing shoes (even at church) make sure they will stay on at all costs and run after the fastest one first, unless the slowest one is right next to you and then you take him with you...:) (Nicole knows what I am talking about.)

Here is he is fully belted in, ready for a walk! (I just thought the pic was cute)(See Gig, here is my sit and stand!)

Candied pecans

So here is the recipe we will be trying out with the pecans.. I was at a former teachers house in high school (Hi Jones!) when she made these amazing pecans and well, this looks like the same recipe so we are gonna try it out... I let ya know when that time comes around..

Candied Pecans

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cold water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound shelled pecans

Combine all ingredients in a skillet except pecans. Simmer for 4 minutes or until mixture spins small thread from spoon.

Remove from heat and stir in pecans. Continue stirring until syrup forms a sugar coating over the pecans. Gently separate nuts while cooling. Yields 1 pound.

It's Over!

That is right, we talked in Sacrament meeting today and it is over! Whoo hoo! I think I actually made it 7 minutes! Tyler actually congratulated me during his talk for it...it's pretty horrible that neither one of us get's to here the other one's talk because both kids freak out and we end up in the foyer with screaming kids but... oh well. We did end the meeting a little short, so the Bishop had to get up and fill in some time.. I did warn him... he thanked us and said we did great! and that it was his fault, they should have had a youth speaker... oh well. I think I had a pretty good talk(for me) and I even cracked a joke....I don't know if it was funny but I will survive...and it looked like the audience did to!

So I am not sure I posted about this yet.. but we canned apples (it was a blast and they taste wonderful) Lori says she is up for anything in the kitchen and I totally believe here, she, unlike my weird husband, has no use for plain canned apples, so she made pie filling... I even brought a few home!.. they were wonderful! So our next venture in the kitchen will be pumpkin stuff...last year I made some and froze it... but I don't know if we will have the freezer space so maybe I will can it too.. who knows? Then, about the same time, we will be candying some pecans... we have a huge pecan tree in our yard and I have heard they are extra delicious.. so we are gonna try them out. Then I am guessing our next thing after that will have to be strawberries next spring? maybe?.. I don't know.... I do know that we are going to have to keep Lori's son John on retainer or something... he peeled apples for us like a crazy man.. he was so much faster then Lori or me... He said he might have to charge us $.10 and apple next year... but then he liked the apple pie so much.. that just might be his reward!

Anybody have any cool things to try out in the kitchen?.. Lori says she is up for anything.. .and I will try anything with a friend around?... let me know!

We went on a date!

Woohoo!.. that is right, this is our first date (without the kids) is over a year! Our friends.. John and Lori (thanks guys) watched Kevin and Cameron for us and we went out to dinner! and then came home and worked on our sacrement talks.. It was great not to have to worry about how far Kevin was going to run away or how to stop Cameron with his high pitch scream.. We went to Eskimo Joes, a very famous burger joint around here (former president Bush loves their cheese fries) I unfortunatly wasn't feeling well and didn't want more then a bite.. oh well. The Rootbeer float I had was wonderful! Oh, and when we go home to work on our talks I went to look up my last talk so I could reuse my little "meet our family introduction" and guess what... our talks are on the exact same topics that we spoke on last time... how hilarious is that... Aparently the Lord is trying to tell us we didn't learn what we should of last time.. lol. So we started to revamp them a little... but really how funny is that! Maybe I will even make it past 4 min 30 seconds this time...

Anyways the best part of the night was knowing my kids were having fun, and safe.. and when we went to pick them up... they we excited to see me! Kevin came running over saying "Mommy!" (by the way it lasted about 2 seconds until he went back to playing) and Cameron saw me and got a big grin on his face and started jumping up and down.. Lori even asked if he did this everytime he saw me... and the answer is no... he just hasn't been awayfrom me very much! (usually he thinks I am gonna take something from him or dig the dog food out of his mouth and he turns and tries to crawl away!)..lol

Questions...

So can colic leave and then come back? My 10 month old is so cranky.. all the time... I think he is tried or hungry or just wants to be held but no.. he doesn't want anything but to scream! I am gonna go crazy! And what exactly am I supposed to feed him other than crackers and bread. He has 6 teeth but isn't a year old so he can't have strawberries or peanut butter or honey or dairy or anything else yet! He is MR. Independent and doesn't want to be feed, he wants to feed himself! Well sorry bud but all the graduates food has cheese or other contraband items ( I secretly have been forgetting this point just to TRY to make him happy) He eats fruits and vegetables just fine but that last about a minute before he is hungry again! Help! What can I do to make him happy?

Well other than that, Tyler started work on Monday- he is preparing for the course he is going to be teaching starting this coming Monday. He also has his three courses he is taking himself and the research assistantship he is working on with John. Lets just say his plate is full and He is now is college mode....I'm just glad he is ready to get into it. The next four years are gonna be interesting (yes Tyler, I did say 4) I am really glad for these short work days this week (8 or so hours) so the boys could get used to him being gone longer periods of time from here on out. This summer is the most time we have ever seen him and I didn't want to shock the kids.. this way they get used to having Dad "at school" again.

I am excited about our date nights, Tyler has mentioned that he would like to go on a date twice a month and it looks like it might actually occur! We figured this week we should really grab a bite to eat and then sit down and work on our sacrement meeting talks.. yep that is right the Bishop caught us and we are speaking this Sunday on "Being insturments in the Lords hands"- anybody have any material for me?... I told the Bishop that I am lucky to make it 5 minutes up there so he should have a third speaker so Tyler doesn't have to fill the other 35 minutes (although he did do a great job last time) I wonder if he believes me?

Well I best get going... I doubt ignoring the kids is the best way to make them happy.