Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Big Cook

Today I spent the day at my sister's house making freezer meals. There were 6 of us there (plus one that couldn't make it because of bad roads), and we made 2x14 different meals for each of us to take home. I haven't ever done one of these before, but my sister had and she was very organized and it all went off really well. We had a small glitch with adding too much of one ingredient, but we made it work and it was all fine in the end. We bought everything in bulk and my sister was able to get a really good deal on all the meat at a specialized butcher shop. The piles of food were quite overwhelming, but with all those hands it went quite quickly. It really was quite the experience chopping 20lbs of onions -- I got that fun job! My awesome brother-in-law opened all the cans for us which was no small task. There was a dozen cans of tomato soup, kidney beans, and mushrooms each, more than a dozen cans of pineapple, multiple cans of ketchup, and other odds and ends. He also went for all the meat which was a big job too. We had about 85lbs of hamburger, 16 cases of chicken breasts, about 50lbs of pork chops and ribs, and some stewing meat too. Some of the ladies there had made these recipes before and they knew how tasty they were, so I am excited to try them too. It took us about 7 hours to complete all these meals - - almost 200 meals all together! A very productive day, that is for sure!! Guess what we are having for dinner tomorrow????

Sunday, January 23, 2011

One of those days.....

Do you ever have one of "those" days when everything that could go wrong really really does? It's not that it was that bad of a day, but there were a whole bunch of little things that just added up to a really long, tiring day. My sister and her husband were out of town for the weekend and my brother was watching their kids for them. He had to leave at 8am this morning for a meeting, so I went over and brought their boys over here. All the kids had a blast this morning, playing, making crafts, and generally making a huge mess. I actually really didn't mind because they all play so well together and I am really happy for the close friendships they are creating with each other. They are all pretty good at helping to clean up too, so it really was no big deal. I was busy getting supper prepared so that we would be ready to eat as soon as we got home from church, since my sister and her family, plus another friend, would be joining us.
About 10:30am, Matt got a call for work and had to leave. I knew he was on call, but was really hoping that he would be at least be able to come to church, but no such luck. He left by 11am and didn't make it home until almost 8pm. In the meantime.......

*I peeled all the potatoes for supper and thought it was a good idea to use my garberator for the peels, but since I had about 10lbs of potatoes worth of peels, I plugged the sink
*I had all six kids at church by myself (thank goodness for family that helped out!)
*I had three visitors in my primary class and Gideon too. He had fallen asleep, but of course woke up just as I was starting to teach. I begged the nursery workers to take him the last hour and mercifully they did! (7 weeks to go!!)
*I realized just as I was about to head home from church that I had forgotten to turn on the oven and I frantically came up with an alternate menu idea
*Managed to get through dinner with 11 kids and 4 adults
*Put all the kids in bed
*Worked with Matt to try and unplug the sink and ended up with a flood on the kitchen floor
and.......
*I can't find the reusable juice containers I usually send in the kids' lunches, so I don't know what to send them for a drink tomorrow - - looks like they will be using the water fountain!

Here's to tomorrow - - hope it's a great one!!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Back on the running wagon!

Finally!!! It seems like it has been FOREVER since I have had the chance to go for a run. Well, I guess I have had the "chance" for it, but have neglected to snatch up those fleeting moments! I used many an excuse - valid as they were - to choose not to run. Moving, settling in, Christmas, bad weather, etc, etc, etc. Well, no more excuses! I dusted off the old treadmill tonight and ran a great 4km run, and it felt GREAT!! I really, really missed having my awesome running partner, and it was pretty boring staring at a blank wall, but I got it done! I really do prefer to run outside if I had the choice, but I have to admit to being somewhat of a wimp when it comes to the cold. So I am extremely grateful that we live where we live now as we are having a much milder winter than where we were. My amazing sil has completely blown me away by how dedicated she is, even in crazy, crazy weather!!! I signed up for a 6km run in March, and I even got my husband to sign up with me -- it should be lots of fun to train together. Feels so great to get the ball rolling again!!!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas, New Years and Funny Kids

We had a great Christmas this year. We enjoyed a nice meal together as a family on Christmas Eve and then went to a live nativity. It was really well done and we all enjoyed it - the weather was great too! We came home and read the Christmas story together and sang some songs and then it was time to set out the cookies and chocolate eggnog (I know - Santa has some strange tastes around our house!), and the kids were off to bed. I was expecting some resistance, but everybody drifted peacefully off to sleep by 9pm. Matt ended up feeling pretty rotten by the morning and wasn't able to really enjoy the morning, but he relaxed in his new armchair while the kids went wild. All the kids were spoiled and they all loved the new things they got. We went out to my mom and dad's in the afternoon and had a great time visiting with all my family - except Rachel and Cub - we really missed them! We spent the night there and went to church with mom and dad on Sunday morning and then we all headed out to Mary Lou and Lennard's for Christmas dinner. There was so much food and it was all amazing - especially the yummy turkey! We have spent the rest of our holidays enjoying our holiday from everything. Matt had to work all week, but the kids and I really relaxed and did basically nothing. We all slept in, ate whenever, stayed in pj's and watched movies. It has been a great week.
Matt and I were up in the air on what to do for New Year's Eve, but in the end we ended up going to Mindy and Dan's and played games with them. It was a hoot and we all had a blast laughing and playing games until midnight. It had been a long time since we all had stayed up that late, but it really was a lot of fun.
This morning Anna came into our room and told Matt that she was going to make breakfast for him. I had already been up and made breakfast for the kids and was just back in bed chilling out. I wasn't sure why Matt was the lucky one to get breakfast in bed and I wasn't, but such is life I guess. Anna told Matt she was going to make him toast and water, and a few minutes later she brought in his breakfast. She sliced the bread, toasted and spread it with butter and jam and brought it all in to Matt. I was pretty impressed/annoyed since 2 days ago she had a major tantrum because I said I was done making breakfast and if she wanted more toast she would have to make it herself, but at least she is trying now. Matt and I laughed a bit at the cutting job she did, but it really was pretty cute. Of course being Anna, she just had to put a little spin on the whole situation when she came back in the room a few minutes later and asked for a dollar. We wondered why she wanted one, and then she came back with: "Because I brought you breakfast!" I have laughed at more things that Anna has said and done and I am never sure what her cute little brain with come up with next!
One more funny quip --- Brendan wanted to play a game with Matt on their iPod's and so Matt asked Brendan to go and get his iPod for him. So, as Brendan was huffing away, as typical teenagers do, we heard him say, "Yes, your man-ly-ness!" Love it!!!
We hope your Christmas and New Years was awesome too. Hopefully pictures will be up soon. We are borrowing a camera right now until we can decide which one we want to purchase and then we will go crazy with some pictures!