Sleepy Sunday

We did not make it to church today. Will seemed to have a bit of what I had yesterday and I didn't feel 100% so we stayed home this morning. We have not done much today. I found a new knitting pattern I wanted to try, but have not had much success trying to knit with all the kids needing something--I think I have started it over 3 times now:-)

We don't have much going on this week, thankfully. Will has his 6 month review for First Steps, which is his therapy program. He is still receiving speech and physical therapy, and I think we might be adding occupational therapy:-) He has learned a few new words this week--"no no no" and "dat". He has also finally learned the sign for thank you:-)

I also have my hair appointment. It was cancelled last week because my hair stylist was sick. Emma has ballet as usual and is also now selling Girl Scout cookies, which should be an adventure. Jake's birthday is this Friday, so I am going to take cupcakes to his school and also eat lunch with him. He has requested a Cars 2 cake in chocolate and would like Legos and a Ridemakerz car--so pretty easy to make happen:-)

I hope everyone has a great week!

Cotton Bowl and sickness

We watched the Cotton Bowl last night and our beloved Razorbacks won--no thanks to the horrible commentators from Fox Sports. I will admit I started getting super sleepy at half time and went to bed, but I heard the comments became much more blatantly pro-Kansas State after I went to bed--which I had already thought was the case. As I said, I went to bed before half time and was awakened by a tummy bug about 1 am--no fun at all. I think I managed to get back to sleep about 2:30am. Thankfully no one else in the house seems to have caught it, and I have been eating very little today to stave off any relapse. I was able to take a really long nap today thanks to Shon--I slept from 1:30 until 5pm:-) Apparently Will slept about as long as I did--so I hope he is not catching this as well. Short and sweet today--did any of you get to go to the Cotton Bowl?

Learning a new skill

Just a cute picture of Will:-)

The knit stitch

The elusive (for me until today) purl stitch:-)

For the past month I have been teaching myself to crochet, and it has worked pretty well. My grandmother taught me the basics when I was 8, but I could never get past the slip stitch and making chains. I watched a few YouTube videos and that really helped, as well as buying a learn to crochet book. I made scarves and hats and gave them as Christmas gifts. Emma came home from church a few weeks ago and was learning how to knit. I admit, this is something I have always wanted to do but never succeeded when I tried to learn the first time, even with the YouTube videos. I bought a book which was more confusing than not and watched a few more videos and finally learned casting on and the knit stitch, but could not for the life of me learn the purl stitch. ( For those of you who do not understand a word of what I am saying, just stay with me a little bit longer:-) Today I was finally able to conquer the purl stitch:-) Up above is the proof:-) And yay for me--I have blogged everyday this week and everyday of the new year:-)

Baked Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Here is the recipe for the fish I made last night if anyone is interested. Once again, a post without pictures, but I will try and get better at taking them:-)

tilapia fish fillets ( I used 8, because for our family I had to open 2 packages, but you can use the amount you need for your family).

panko bread crumbs ( I used about 1/2 cup since I had so much fish to cover)

grated parmesan cheese ( I used about 1/3 cup of this--probably a little less)

italian seasoning (1 Tbsp)

1 Tbsp butter

lemon juice

1. Thaw and pat dry tilapia.
2. Mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and italian seasoning together in bowl.
3. For the next part, I got out a paper plate and put some of the bread crumb mixture on it. Then I squirted lemon juice on 1 side of the fish and place that side down in the bread crumbs. I then squirted more juice on the uncoated side and flipped it over. I used my hand to get more crumbs on the fish.
4. Place fish in greased baking dish. ( I ended up using 2 dishes--a 9x13 and an 8x8 for the amount of fish I had).
5. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. I covered the fish with foil for the first 20 minutes, and then cooked it uncovered for 5-10 minutes more.

The verdict--very yummy! All the kids each ate a whole piece of fish and Emma ate another 1/2 piece. You could also add paprika to your mix and I have dipped the fish in egg instead of lemon juice and it has turned out good as well.

1st day back to school!

The kids survived their first day and I enjoyed doing absolutely nothing:-) They are off playing with friends and on the computer, while Will is drinking a cup of milk and hanging out in the living room with me while I fold laundry:-) Will had an explosion of vocabulary while we were at the in-laws, and has added "choo-choo", "cheese", "turkey" and "mynee" to his list of words. I believe the last word is a combo of mine and I need--because it is only said when he is trying to get something to eat from the table:-)
I am glad to get back into the routine of school--I am really trying to come up with a master schedule for myself that will let me pick what to do on each day so that everything in the house will get cleaned once a week and I will not feel so overwhelmed. I bought a 3 ring binder and some page protectors and I am googling different calendar/organizing sites. Wish me luck!
I feel like my word for this year is simplify! I want to simplify our lives and get rid of all of the clutter--whether it is physical like toys (or weight gain:-) or emotional or spiritual.
I feel like this is a really random post, but I received an iPhone for Christmas from Shon and have had such a good time finding different apps to use. A friend of mine told me about an app called Grocery IQ that is very cool--you can keep your grocery list on the phone and the neatest part is that you can scan bar codes of the foods you run out of at home, and it will put it on your list for you:-) I also found an app called My Fitness Pal where you can track your calories and exercise for each day--it is really similar to Weight Watchers online. My sister told me about urbanspoon. We don't eat out much, but it is fun to shake it and see what restaurant it lands on:-) Of course instagram and Pinterest are 2 others I have downloaded--the best thing is that all the ones I have mentioned are free apps:-)
Well, supper duty calls. We are having parmesan crusted tilapia tonight--trying to eat healthier!

Last day of the break

We have been on break since December 21st, and can I say that, while I love my kids, I am very ready for all 4 of the them to go back to school tomorrow. I have broken up more fights than a WWE referee:-)
I think the kids are ready to go back as well--Emma had ballet tonight and was excited to start learning her recital dance. They are going to dance to music from Titanic:-) She asked if she could watch the movie and I had to tell her no--not quite ready for her to see all that movie involves.
Jake is still asking to take karate, so we will probably sign him up as a birthday present (which is in 10 days--how does that go by so quickly?). I will let him try it for a few weeks and see how he likes it.
Caleb is enjoying his new Kindle Fire and also playing on our computer. He received a Lego Harry Potter game from Shon's mom and he and Jake have played that as well.
Shon went back to work today after over 2 weeks off--poor guy had to go and sit through hospital orientation even though he has been working here well over 2 years. It somehow slipped through the cracks and they made him go today:-)
I am very ready to get back to my routine and hopefully incorporate exercise and better eating as part of that routine. Tomorrow I have a hair appointment scheduled, so at least that will be something enjoyable:-)
I need to import some pictures from Christmas onto this computer and will post them whenever I can.
Hoping everyone enjoys their first day back to school tomorrow!

Recipe post

I know, blogging 2 days in a row--don't fall over!:-) I am going to post a link to the roll recipe I use, because I pretty much follow it exactly and I don't ever remember to take pictures when I am cooking. I will say that you need to bake these the same day you make them, because they don't really work as well rising if you try and put them in the fridge and then bake them the next morning (I have tried it). They are also a bit labor-intensive, but very worth it. If you don't have time to follow this recipe, I just discovered Pillsbury's hot roll mix, and you can make cinnamon rolls with it as well, and they are just about as good. Here is the link for the rolls ( I divide the dough in half and make half rolls/half cinnamon rolls).
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/10/worlds-best-dinner-rolls/ I use dental floss to cut the cinnamon rolls--works very well. I make up my own glaze for the cinnamon rolls--melted butter, powdered sugar, and milk. I don't really measure--I just mix until it looks right. Hopefully next time I make these, I will take some pictures of the process. Let me know if anything is not clear!