26. Bee Rice Cripsie Treats

More preschool - and this is still all from last week. What is preschool with out a snack and even though there were cuter edible bees out there, this one seemed to me to have less sugar (and less items to buy) (pinned 11 days ago) 
Now, I didn't scour the baked goods section of different stores looking for those cute colored items that were used as eyes. I just thought the same effect could be achieved with the melted chocolate. And with a steady hand, it can.

  But for Little Miss Thunder, this was a glorious exercise in squeezing as hard as you can to watch the chocolate ooze out. (Process -- Not Product!)

I didn't have almond slices or the forethought to save marshmallows to serve as wings (as this pin used - again I felt that the one I picked was at least a little bit less sugary) So I used corn flakes as wings

25. Bee themed unit from Squidoo

This preschool week we worked on the letter B. I didn't have a pre existing unit on Bees so I had to go digging. Found this great link that actually linked me to two teaching mommies - whom I LOVE and they (unbeknownst to me at the time) have a bee unit!(pinned 9 days ago)


One of the things I gleaned from this was a bee picture puzzle. I printed it in color, copied it in black and white, cut up the color version and had the girls match the color pieces to the black and white template

24. Environmental Print for every letter of the alphabet - P

Well, I knew this would happen. I was almost counting on it when I started. But the title of my blog is 365 days of unpinning pinterest, not 365 consecutive days of unpinning pinterest ----------------- so I am just going to keep on keeping on.

And to not sugar coat it any whatsoever, I decided to go ahead and not try to disguise cleverly that a week since my last post hasn't passed and just skip over my letter of the week page.

I am much too desperate for that.

And since the link is right below in the preceding post, I am going to be super lazy and not even put in the widget. But here is my pic:

I replaced pier 1 imports and Paper Jams (maybe some kids would recognize it, but I had no idea what it was, so I just found something I felt was more recognizable) with Pringles and Planters Peanuts

23. Environmental Print for every letter of the alphabet - letter N

One day, I will not need to rely on this, but not this week

I added Netflix and Nature Valley

I should have used Nutella instead of Nature Valley because that was the snack I sent for N week

22. Grilled Romaine Salad

Another titular FAIL as I wasn't willing to grill the romaine, fake grilling on my broiler did NOT work and I was in too much of a hurry to make the homemade ranch they were talking about.

I also forgot to put in boiled egg - but I didn't have time for that anyway. however I did add parsley and baby Portobello mushrooms and black olives and thought it was a rock awesome salad - but really nothing like what I actually pinned (pinned three days ago)

21. Make 8 meals in 1 hour: Cilantro lime Chicken w/ corn and black beans

Yes, yes - another freezer meal that I whipped up today and just dumped in the crockpot. I am not sure I will ever find time to put several meals in bags and freeze all at once. I have only done that one time - all the others have been like tonight where it is prepared the day of.
Well, I guess I need to make goals

Anyway - fabulous pin, fabulous post and I have nearly made every recipe on this post now (except for the ribs one - I may never make that one - I don't mind eating ribs, but buying them scares me) and this one certainly didn't disappoint (pinned 27 weeks ago)



And here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
Juice from 2 limes
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin 

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

Place all ingredients in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Mix together and zip bag closed.

When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours). 

Serve with tortillas and toppings such as with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and cheese.

Recipe adapted from Over the Big Moon. 

We ate it so quickly that I had to take a pic of the leftovers. Hey, it's Monday - and every Monday night is hectic.

Major Changes: I used bottled lemon juice instead of lime (I know, I know - I changed a TITULAR INGREDIENT!!!!! -but I still can't see going to the store just for limes. I also wish I had a Hispanic grocery store near me. Hispanics will NOT overpay for limes---- but they are just so expensive everywhere else.) I KNOW FOR SURE that true lime would have made it better, but I'll just have to be more prepared next time

I did not use a whole bunch of cilantro - I just used about half of my bunch. I thought that a whole bunch of  cilantro would overdo it (not for me, because I could just munch on the stuff raw I love it so much, for the rest of the fam) But after cooking for so long I guess it loses its punch because I could barely taste it. I will use an entire bunch next time

And I shaved about 4 frozen corn cobs - again (A wonderful neighbor gave me about 34 ears of corn earlier and it is one of those gifts that just keeps on giving)

20. A is for Alligator printable

I don't know if I would term this a pinterest fail, but between the time that I pinned and the day of preschool, I realized this particular printable was at a slightly higher level than I wanted for little Miss Thunder. So I went back to the ever fail proof first-school which in my humble opinion is the best preschool site EVER and it always has been (and hopefully always will be) free
Here is the pinterest version with an actual word




But I went for simpler; just the letter and LMT did several a's on her own

19. Sweater Hanging 101

That is not the actual title of the pin, but I thought it was cute.

And yes, when I saw this on pinterest, I thought: what an easy project to complete if I have one of those day that nothing gets unpinned and nothing is waiting in my cache (I have another A is for Alligator post, but it's going to take much longer to write, so I pulled this ace out of my sleeve)(pinned 2 days ago)


So I got out my sweaters and hung them this way. Great for not having notches on your sweaters, but I did notice that it is MUCH more bulky. Personally, I have 5 closets in my bedroom. 1 is the man's, 3 are mine and 1 is for stuff (non clothing items). More bulk is not necessarily a problem for me.

18. A is for Alligator Preschool craft

Friday! Preschool day!!!! And how I love to unpin the preschool stuff. I do have three different pins for one project ----- No, I'm not trying to cheat (this time)

So let me explain:

Here is the first pin that I pinned. I think I picked it because it was a little bit different than what I had done before. (pinned two days ago)


However, at the last minute (i.e. this morning right before Little Miss Thunder arrived) I decided I did not have time to cut out individual squares and went with this project I had done before with the A template I already had [done before?!!!! that is CHEATING ----- wait, wait - hold on there is more]


This worked out pretty well but I did use something I had found on pinterest - just take a white strip, draw touching diagonal lines (so that it looks like triangles) and have THE CHILD cut it out! And, with lots of help, but also some on her own, Little Miss Thunder cut out several "teeth". Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #5 just made cuts on the white strip for the most part, BUT! it's the process not the product!

So we also read books. I have found in the past that I have a hard time working in the books - but this week and last week, I did a pretty good job. And since I didn't find a pin for these books, I'll just put them in this post. Because it's preschool. And I love it.

At the library I found a book called Alligator's Toothache by Diane DeGroat.

It is a pure picture book, with no words. I sometimes really like that in a book so we can go as fast or slow as we need to go.

We also "read" An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni. Leo Lionni is an impeccable illustrator. His stories are also quite excellent - and can be very deep. Sometimes almost too deep for very young children. So I almost treated it the same as the pure picture book - just talking about each picture. Because, really, you just can't say you've read children's picture books until you've picked up a Leo Lionni book.

17. Baked Barley with Mushrooms

Okay, this is almost a cheat: because I just pinned the recipe, but in light of last night's blog post turning into #4's worst day at kindergarten to date, I'm not worried about this cheat.

 But, it isn't something I have done months ago: it was tonight's dinner.

However, because I wasn't planning on posting, I don't have a personal pic.

Now, when I pinned this (just a few minutes ago), pinterest made it clear that yes, this is in fact a pin others have pinned, but I had not had the opportunity to find this pin on pinterest. My neighbor introduced me to this site a few weeks ago.

After deciding to make a menu, I started searching. And I found this beauty. It just might still be the most recent post.

Major changes: Canned mushrooms instead of fresh ----- yeah, I know, but I am trying to avoid needless buying. Even though the pig is just a short walk away, I am really trying to cut down on my instantaneous gratification trips (which happen often - probably because it is so close - and yes, they know me by my first name there) --------
I also forgot add the parsley AND I HAD SOME! FRESH EVEN! And I used a prepacked bullion sauce (yes, sauce --- it is some relatively new product for which I had a coupon)
Wasn't to roll over and die for, but decent and filling -- I probably let it cook too long as well

16. 9 Time Management tips for everyday life

Who says a pin has to be a physical project? While I am producing physical items for this pin (things like a calendar, daily list, and a menu) sometimes a pin can almost be a state of mind.

My state of mind - chaos - so I am trying to remedy that (pinned 1 day ago)


So I found several different very useful tips:
Plan your month - I do have a calendar and I do write things down, but I don't write EVERYTHING down, so I think writing every little thing (each Tuesday and Thursday # 3 and # 1 have band practice, each time we go to swim practice, each football game, each parade, every time I want to take #5 to library time) it fills up fast; but I think that visual reminder might actually help

Make a to do list.
I do this often, but not everyday (kind of a waste of paper) however, every day I do this I am more productive, so maybe it isn't a waste after all

Start a Menu
I am AWFUL at this. Not very often have I ever kept a menu, but it sure does help when I do. And I found a fantastic site today! SayMmmm! AND.
IT'S.
FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You still have to do a lot of the work, but I feel so much better about being so overwhelmed with menus. Not totally positive, but I think you can write in your own recipes in your menu planner

And the very last for tonight (because my timer has already gone off) Set a timer. As the blog says "When I work on the computer I need to set a timer. The internet can suck me into a big black hole if I'm not careful.  It is definitely my #1 thing that wastes my time or wastes me!  I also use a timer when I clean.  I set it and see how much I can get done before the timer goes off.  It's amazing what you can accomplish in just 15 minutes."

My fav timer so far:http://www.timeanddate.com/timer/

15. Environmental Print for every letter of the Alpahbet - T

Yep, I am shamelessly using this same post again.(Pinned 50 weeks ago)



BUT I feel justified in the fact that I am not getting enough sleep and I did have to expend some effort again for today's letter.

And the letter of the Week is T

Our fabulous author included Taco Bueno, which I haven't heard of, so I replaced it with Totino's (pizza products)

Maybe I should have replaced TJ Maxx as well (I'm not sure there is one anywhere near us - but I just ran out of time)

You'll probably see this 23 more times (because I missed the first two weeks - M and S)

14. A is for apple free printable

Today's is kind of lame, but I do really need to get to bed. On preschool day, we used this printable:(pinned 1 year ago)


My thoughts: Very appropriate for the 3 1/2 year old set. Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #5 is almost exactly a year younger than our Visiting Little Miss Thunder (hope her mom doesn't mind that nickname, but I honestly can't see it bothering her).

Little Miss Thunder had a reasonable time coloring it (although she would have rather scooped cotton balls all morning)but MBfH#5 didn't even bother. So final result - 3: yes, 2: not so much

And because today's post is so lame and I can't really put this in a different post because I have never seen it on pinterest:

 If you ever homeschool or host a preschool in your home: Don't forget about the Library of Congress! Read.gov has plenty of books to wander through and I found this very theme appropriate gem!

Read.gov has tons of older books (i.e. ones without copyright restrictions) that you can just read online. While it might take longer for something like A Princess of Mars to download, there are some shorter children's books that work just fine.

13. Pie Counting Activity

So on our preschool day - besides the cooking - we actually did some learning. I saw this awesome post WEEKS ago and couldn't wait to try it (pinned 49 weeks ago)


However, this was a little bit more labor intensive than I thought it was going to be. There was a blog post - and a link to the file - YAY! I just love those links to the file!

But this one was a black and white file. --------- but wait - that picture very obviously had color. Isn't there some clip art (you know, so I can be lazy and not do any work). No, as the dear author explained - she hand drew the pie, copied it onto brown paper and then hand colored red with a magic marker in the pie spaces.
Now ----- I have perused this blog extensively and have to defend her --- she is awesome! And the fact that she provided this template is amazing for I could have never free-handed something like that. (Why she couldn't have scanned the finished project is a question that may never be answered) BUT! I am still super grateful.

I however didn't have brown construction paper on hand (I have used it all) so in effort to not waste money - I colored my own (And WHY I didn't realize that I could have colored ONE and color-copied the rest is another burning question that may never be answered - but not wanting to waste paper after I copied 5 black and white versions - I colored the ones that I printed then made a color copy - one of the colored ones will be my template to copy from if I decide to make the rest)

I did do 0-5 in case you are wondering. 5 is the color copy. However, I realized too late that I had not colored darkly enough to scan and will have to do some touch up.

Coloring hints: When use the brown pencil, I worried about the area right at the pie plate about being within the lines, but since it was being cut out, I didn't worry about the line areas that I knew would be cut off. I also didn't worry about making sure that the red areas remained white. Since I was using pencil (and NOT crayon) I knew the marker would obscure most pencil marks and just colored over the brown pencil (besides, it gives it a more baked look).

This was a hit! They loved playing with the cotton balls. We also got some counting in (which is always great). And since I didn't have a whipped topping container lying around, I made a copy of a cool whip lid (thanks google images) and taped it on the top of a plastic round container

12. Apple Pie in the Apple

So, yesterday was my weekly preschool and I was still doing apples. I saw this and HAD to try it. And it WORKED! I was actually surprised. It wasn't that hard to scoop out the insides with a melon baller, either.

But in Reality:

Would I do this again with small children?
Yes! if you make the filling, make the pie crust and scoop out the apples ahead of time (which I did), they get to scoop in the filling and can cut and put on pie crust (did it look like that adorable lattice in the picture? Absolutely not - but PROCESS NOT PRODUCT and she had so much fun doing it).
Definitely more fun for them to make than eat, but still awesome.

Would I do it with a large group of children?
No ----- it took about 3-5 minutes to scoop out each apple. So scooping out much more than the 4 that I did could get very old very quickly.

Was it worth it?
YES! Just to see the look on her face while she cut the pie crust was more than enough to justify doing it again (and seeing if I can incorporate using a pizza cutter into every activity)

11. Perfect Pie Crust

Today, I needed a pie crust (and you will see exactly why in tomorrow's post).

I don't even know why I pinned this (pinned 19 weeks ago, by the way), because I typically don't have a problem making pie crust. And the directions for this crust are just about how I normally do it. Today's only variation was that I just used butter (and halved the recipe)
Yes, I do typically mash the dough with my hands until I reach a pebble like consistency. At that point, I switch to a fork when incorporating the water. And so did this recipe.

Here is the recipe. The blog post has excellent photo-illustrated directions

Perfect Pie Crust

Yield: 2 9\\\" pie crusts

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 C butter
• 1/2 C shortening
• pinch of salt
• ice cold water, add teaspoon by teaspoon until right consistency has formed

Instructions

• Place flour, salt, butter and shortening in bowl.
• Use your hands to combine ingredients until small pebbles form
• Add cold water a teaspoon at a time until the dough begins to hold together and form a ball.
• Do not over handle the dough. Dough should be soft, moist but not wet.
• Divide dough in half.
• Place ball of dough onto wax paper and flatten. Place another piece of wax paper over the top and roll out the pastry into a circle. If your pie pan is 9 inch make sure your circle is bigger than 9 inches so you have enough for the edging..
• Remove the top layer of wax paper and place pastry into pie tin. Remove other piece of wax paper and press pastry into pan. Use your fingers to crimp the edge of the crust.
• Freeze for 30 minutes to firm up the pastry. This helps prevent pastry from shrinking during baking.
• Prick the bottom of crust to prevent bubbling during baking.
• If pie calls for a baked crust bake at 400 degrees. For the first 10-12 minutes keep the edges of pie covered with foil and then remove for the last 15 minutes. Bake until golden brown.

Hopefully I will get my phone back from Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #4 and will be able to post a pic

10. Broccoli and bacon salad

I loved this salad! It was fabulous. However, slightly more tangy than I expected.

9. Meatloaf (with crackers)

So, last time I made meatloaf, I could barely choke it down. It was made tolerable with copious amounts of ketchup (Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #4's favorite part and why he calls it "ketchup meat" - whatever works to make them eat). So this time I thought I might actually follow a recipe - again, if you recall I'm a "shake it 'til it feels right and don't bother measuring" kind of cook. I never follow a recipe for meatloaf.

So, what better place to go to than pinterest to find meatloaf recipes. I pinned 4 recipes and will try the others soon and compare. This time the recipe called for crackers. And this also called for copious amounts of ketchup. 8 ounces per batch, in fact. (Pinned 16 hours ago)

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1-8 ounce can tomato sauce or ketchup
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 to 3/4 sleeve of saltines
• 1/4 cup of diced onions
• 1/4 cup of diced green pepper
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp. Seasoning salt
• 1 tsp. pepper

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix thoroughly. Make sure to crush saltines in small pieces. Place mixture in small loaf pan or shape into a loaf form and put into a baking dish. If you put in a baking dish, place a small amount of water to keep from sticking. If you use a loaf pan, spray with non stick cooking spray before putting meatloaf into pan.
2. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven covered for approx. 45 minutes. Remove from oven and add a small amount of tomato sauce or ketchup to top of meatloaf. Return to the oven uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let set a few minutes before serving. (if you cut and serve it to soon, it will break apart). Enjoy!
   

So the consensus from the fam: It is too mushy. Well, I figured, with that much ketchup.

 Major Changes: I did double the recipe. I just didn't have two cups of ketchup. I did discover while making this that I have no ketchup in my pantry. I coupon and ketchup happens to be one of those items that I often have loads of because deals and coupons abound for ketchup. However, not recently apparently and I had to improvise. So I used one cup of ketchup, 1/2 cup of barbeque sauce and (don't you dare tell my family) a 4 ounce (1/2 cup) jar of sweet potato baby food. Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #5 is TWO and I STILL have a few jars of baby food floating around. I try to sneak them into recipes whenever I remember.
The recipe was a bit vague on how many crackers to add. I did use an entire sleeve. But then found it was too mushy to even put in the pan. So I added (again mum's the word!) 1/4 cup of baby rice cereal (I use this often to replace bread crumbs).

My husband asked what was in it - because of the mushiness and I went over exactly (with measurements) what I added. But I intentionally made no mention of sweet potatoes or rice cereal (with Captain Picard booming in my head "A lie of omission is still a lie" ---- but I don't care - I am NOT TELLING!)

Despite being mushy, I adored it and thought it tasted wonderful. Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #4 did not like it as well as he normally does. I am convinced it was the added onions and peppers I typically don't add. I am also convinced that is what made it so delicious for me.

Next time (and I do believe there will be a next time) I will reduce (maybe even halve) the ketchup (or whatever it may be that I add - shhhhhhh)

8. Environmental Print pictures for every letter of the alphabet

So VERY early this morning I was looking for today's pin to unpin.

Over the weekend, Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #4 came home and in his weekly folder, the teacher talked about environmental print and learning to "read"(yes, they put it in quotation marks - I however am of the opinion that even reading print that you see every day {as in coke - some people may say a child can read it because of the wave/symbol, but as a very wise woman pointed out to me - what do you think reading is? [SYMBOLS!!!]} so they would just be reading to me).

So over the past view days, I have packed empty bottles and boxes to facilitate this environmental print reading process.

This morning I found THIS pin and I was SOOOOO EXCITED!(Pinned 49 weeks ago)

However, it was quite apparent that the author is from Northwest Arkansas. So for the R page (this week's letter) I revised her page slightly.

Above is hers and mine


And below is the finished product

7. Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

{source} 

1 can black beans
1 can corn, undrained
1 can Rotel, undrained
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 8 oz package light cream cheese
2 chicken breasts

Drain and rinse black beans. Place chicken at bottom of pot, then pour out whole can of corn (undrained), rotel, and black beans. Top with seasonings and ranch mix. Stir together. Place cream cheese on top. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir cream cheese into chili. Use 2 forks to shred chicken. Stir together and serve. (Pinned 6 days ago)

Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #1 doubted and when she put one spoon in her mouth she said "I'm sorry I doubted"

Major changes: Regular can of tomatoes rather than rotel and I didn't have a can of corn, so I shaved 4 ears of frozen corn and added about 3/4 cup water. I was doubting the addition of water until I shredded up the chicken. It was so soft I used a wooden spoon to do so.

  

6. Weather Calendar

For the weekly preschool, I found this SUPER CUTE weather chart on pinterest. Apparently, on the original pin, the link was broken and this wonderful genius woman took it upon herself to make her own (so that I and the many pinners after her don't have to!!!!!!)

{source}

I noticed in the comments that one pinner questioned: what would I glue it all to? Well, seeing as how canning season is wrapping up for me:   This.........

Plus this.........

 

Equals this!: 

I did cover the edges of the backer board (the bottom of my quart sized jar box bottom) with scrapbook paper (but just the edges: there is no need to use all that paper just to be covered) and then I covered the entire thing in contact paper. but I just used one sheet of contact paper slightly bigger than the weather chart itself and just folded the edges over (kind of like a book cover). I contact papered the arrows then glued them to clothes pins (clothes pins: the ultimate for fine motor control!!! you can almost see the synapses forming when they look at that clothes pin and try to figure out how to make it work) (pinned 7 days ago)

Even Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #4 thinks it is cool. He wanted to know why there wasn't a foggy picture though.

Motherhood is so worth it.

5. Homemade Febreeze

Well, I thought I had some febreeze, but I didn't. So hey! Perfect opportunity to unpin!!!! I knew I had this sitting around but I have never tried it.
I didn't even check the site - when I pinned it, all the directions were in the description (pinned 48 weeks ago)

4. No Flour, No salt playdough

Because I am preschool crazy, I invite people I know with young children over to my house once a week for a preschool lesson. I am SO preschool crazy that in the past I have driven to other people's houses to hold preschool (dragging all my stuff with me - more than once I forgot at least one thing). I did this two years ago when Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #4 was the perfect pre-pre-K age and now that Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #5 is getting closer to that point (even though she's actually pre-pre-pre-K i. e. 2 and 1/2) I have started again.

Many, many of my posts will probably be posted with this in mind. Several upcoming posts will be derived from today's pre-pre-K session alone)

Today was our first lesson and we focused on Apples. I found this cool play dough recipe and decided I would apple-fy it with cinnamon and red food coloring. (Pinned 45 weeks ago)
from Messy Kids . This is the softest, squishiest playdough I have ever encountered. I do think that either you need to be exact with measurements or definitely put in more corn starch. I am one of those "let's pour it over it the bowl and if more falls in, it will be okay" and "well, it's not quite a cup, but it will do just fine" kind of cooks. Consequently, more baking soda than corn starch got mixed in and the ratio was not quite right. More corn starch was needed
Another note: mixing took longer than I thought it would. Which is normally not a problem, but when you have four 2-4 year olds looking over your pot waiting for playdough and it taking longer (by about 5 minutes) than salt dough, you kind of wish you would have known to give fair warning to the small tykes "We stir and stir for a long time, but will be able to play soon" would have been good to say. But I think I kept on commenting about how much longer it seemed to be taking. 
Sorry, don't have any personal pics yet, but maybe I will update after dinner

3. I Can Do It Chart

Now, I am trying not to post pins that I have done in the past. But I do hope that no one thinks I am cheating by posting pins that I have just pinned. (oh wait, this is my blog - I make the rules - this counts!!!!).

Often we create new boards because we find things that might need a new category - like my crock pot recipes needed their own board (I still have to transfer over a few crock pot recipes from deliciousness).

But sometimes we create the board and then start searching for pins to fill it - like my personal progress board when Magnificent Blessing from Heaven # 1 decided to start working on her chart and found that Magnificent Blessing from Heaven # 5 had used the chart in the back of the book as a coloring page.

Well, today - I got the email. Yeah, you know the one.
Where your kindergartener is not quite doing things in the way they should be done.
Like refusing to do tasks and raising a hand in a way that signifies that he wants to hit you.
Yep, that would be my boy.
Thus my "behavior management" board was born.
Maybe I should start a "parenting skills" board as well

Found so many cute charts and other ideas, but here is the one we started with (pinned today)

{source}

Now, this is a jpg. I just put it into a word doc and started adding text boxes. I had to print up one real quick before I picked him up at his friend's house.
Email me at 365daysofunpinningpinterest@gmail.com if you would like a copy of mine with the text boxes.
And here it is in action

2. Chicken Cacciatore

I'm not completely sure how this will pan out since Magnificent Blessing from Heaven (not numbered this time to retain anonymity) cracked my crock!
But hopefully it will go well.
it is Wednesday, so a crock pot recipe is necessary

From 8 meals in hour pin from Six Sisters' Stuff I am cooking (for the first time even) Chicken Cacciatore.

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breasts

1 (26 oz) jar of chunky vegetable-style spaghetti sauce

1 zucchini, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 sweet onion, chopped

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag and mix together.

Garnish: chopped black olives, shredded Parm cheese

When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours. 

Serve with cooked spaghetti noodles and garnish with olives and cheese. (Pinned 25 weeks ago)


Well, I know the point of the pin was to make all these meals and then freeze and then use, but I rarely actually do that - I often just make the day of. perhaps I will get better one day
Perhaps
But here it is (in my new crockpot from Target - $20)

And no use in sugar coating it now - yes, that IS how I set the table --- food in the same pot that it was cooked in on the stove.

One major change to the recipe: I didn't have a zucchini lying around but I DID have an eggplant cut up into slices in the freezer so I used that. I thought it tasted great.

Magnificent Blessing from Heaven # 2 wasn't thrilled and I had to MAKE him eat it *didn't tell him what it was until after he ate it, either* (he had all the "vegetables" as I called them, pushed to the side of his plate) but other than the two littles, he was the only one that had an issue with the eggplant.

Magnificent Blessing from Heaven # 5 didn't eat at all (as always) and Magnificent Blessing from Heaven # 4 ate what I spoon fed him (as always) But Magnificent Blessing from Heaven # 3 (my pickiest of the olders) didn't have a problem at all {and kind of made fun of #2 for not eating it all ha!!}

1. Child Scripture reminders

Well wouldn't you know, the first one I decide to do has a link that "looks fishy" to pinterest, but you can get the gist from the pic and description which is:

The mom picked a scripture for each child that she prayed over them for an entire year. She traced their hand, wrote the scripture on it, laminated it, and placed it in her Bible.
(pinned 45 weeks ago - about time, don't you think - but probably most of these will be that old) And here are mine (not laminated yet, of course!)

Here is Magnificent blessing from Heaven # 1 demonstrating the process

And all five mostly finished (you know, still have to do that whole laminating thing) - I probably picked one a bit too long for Magnificent blessing from Heaven #5's cute smallness, but I thought that the "quiver full" scripture was most apt for the last one.

Are you curious - do you want to know which ones I picked? Well, gonna tell you anyway

Magnificent blessing from Heaven #  1: Psalms 144:12 ... that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace (I did look up "daughters" specifically for her) - I especially liked the "polished" reference

Magnificent blessing from Heaven # 2: Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall ^ahumble himself as this little ^bchild, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. - Because he is so very humble

Magnificent blessing from Heaven # 3: 3 Nephi 17:24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and ^aencircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them. - This one has specific significance relating to him: this scripture (the whole chapter really) has always made me cry and years ago when we were reading this - he was 6 - and as I choked up the other two were wondering why I was starting to cry and he in his youthful knowledge said "She was touched" - I'll never forget it.

Magnificent blessing from Heaven # 4: Proverbs 22:6 ^aTrain up a ^bchild in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. - Who can leave this one out when talking about scriptures and children in the same sentence and it has the word "train" in it. Can't get more applicable than that.

Magnificent blessing from Heaven # 5:

 3 Lo, ^achildren are an ^bheritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his ^creward.

 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

 5 ^aHappy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, ... - See above explanation (and I really like "they shall not be ashamed", but sometimes I wonder if I am reading it in the correct context)

Let's see if I can keep this going without too many cheats (i.e. posting things that I have already done that I have found on pinterest)