Heidi’s Sweet and Sour Chicken

First start your rice….just make as much as your family wants.

Getting the Chicken Ready:

In a plastic baggie, put 1 cup flour, dash of salt and pepper, and 1 teaspoon of paprika.
Once you dice your chicken into cubes place in baggie, shake to coat each piece of chicken. Again dice up as much chicken as your family will eat. We usually use 3 large chicken breasts cut up into small cubes.

Once your chicken is done, heat up 3 Tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Place chicken in hot oil and fry until it is all cooked.
Remove chicken from pan once done and place on a plate.

Cooking the Veggies:
Then in the remaining oil fry 1 onion finely chopped, 1/2 green bell pepper, 4 carrots finely chopped, 1/2 red bell pepper finely chopped. Fry until tender, and then place on top of your chicken, that is on the plate. If you need to add more oil for the frying, just add as much as you think you need.

Cooking the Sauce:
In the same pan, add 1- 10 ounce can of pineapple tidbits (including the juice), 3/4 cup brown sugar, 4 tablespoons of corn starch, 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar. Once you see that it is beginning to thicken add the plate of chicken and fried veggies. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Now it is all done.
Serve over cooked rice.

NOTE: if it is to sour due to the vinegar, add more brown sugar. I usually end up adding about 1 tablespoon extra. My kids like it more sweet then sour! This is a very easy recipe to make and the kids love it.

SECOND NOTE: If you don’t like chicken, you can just add meatballs to the sauce and veggies. My kids love that too. We go to Sam’s Club and get a bag of the precooked meatballs, and I just add as many as I want frozen. The rest of the recipe remains the same.

So on the way to the movie last night with the boys we found a baby blue jay in our drive way…the boys wanted to keep it and raise it.

As far as Wall-E goes….that was the dumbest movie ever. My little kids laughed a few times, but me and my oldest were so bored. And actually the little kids had a hard time focusing. It was not as good as I thought it would be. So it is not one that I am going to recommend to friends. There was no talking in the movie. This is just my opinion. I am sure someone else will say it is the best ever!

Be sure to stay on the look out for my oldest. He will be cooking dinner tonight with me and we are going to film it and put it up on my website! He is so excited. He says this is his break through to being famous!

Okay, we are off to the pool.

WOWZERS!!!

Is the word of choice for me lately. It has been a whirlwind weekend. My head is still spinning a bit! I got up to MO about 1 AM on Friday night…or I guess that would be Saturday morning. Had a nice breakfast at the most AWESOME cinnamon roll place. OH.MY.GOSH. It was so good. I could write a whole post about this lady getting up to make them fresh everyday, and they were incredible. ANYways, later that day I went to my friend Ruth’s house, and we cleaned up her babies room. WE went to ANDY’s FROZEN CUSTARD, and I thought I was in heaven! That place is soooo good. She lives a block away. It is a good thing I dont live a block away or I would weigh 500 pounds! That night my mom cooked an incredible dinner, and we had a whole bunch of folks over. Hhmmm, everything seems to be revolving around food for me! I slept with my little sister that night…did not sleep, because she TOOK UP THE WHOLE BED! Sunday morning, I had breakfast with just Hopey’s boyfriend. We needed to have a heart to heart about my sister. I was needing to see what he was up to with my sister! The oh so overprotective sister came out. He is a nice guy and we had fun. And then we were going to go pick up Kim in Branson. Well we got all loaded and oops…Heidi locks her keys in the minivan. So my mom drove with my oldest to pick her up and I hung out till I could get someone to come break in for me. Got that done, and then thought I should run to walmart to get some things for the trip for the baby…got a bit sidetracked at Gordmans…that place…let’s just say an hour and half later I still had not been to walmart, because I was roaming the store. Looking at all the stuff that I really dont need for my house. Got back home and we got Kim loaded. And the poor baby cried almost the whole way home. It was great birth control for my sister Holly and Kyle. We had some nice talks getting to know each other, in the midst of all the screaming. Today has been good. we set some goals, and we have a list of “to-do’s”. She talked about what she wants to go to school for, and I kept encouraging her to follow her dreams. She SMILED so big. It almost made me cry. I think she feels really loved by us. The kids have been loving on her all day long. This is going to be one BIG adventure. Again, I am so humbled that God is using us the way he is. I am excited by the generosity that we have seen in others for Kim. I am just amazed. She has already been a blessing to me in many ways. She is organized, and quite disciplined. So I am hoping that some of that rubs off on me! Iron sharpens iron. I know she has a lot to offer this world. And I am SOOOO excited to see how God is going to work in her life. Be praying for her. When she saw her room. The look of appreciation was worth more than money could buy. I know we are on the first day still. But so far, so good.

the Starbucks lady

So I was at Starbucks with my kids getting hot chocolate the other day. Another lady was in there with her baby…probably just a few months old. She drinks some coffee, and then LEAVES the baby by a chair and then goes out to smoke a cigarette and starts talking to some guy. SHE never ONCE looked back to see if her baby was okay. I was so upset. I could not believe that she did that. I rrreeaallly wanted to say something to her. But because my kids were with me I did not.

So then we get in the car and I start talking to my oldest about some toy for Christmas. And he says, “That is so last year mom”…I was like it is what…where did you learn that from….who are you little Martian….why are you talking to me like you are Napoleon Dynamite. Where do kids come up with these things. Seriously.

Later on that night in Penney’s..the guy on the speaker says…” Attention it is 9 pm and the store is closed. Please take your final purchases to a counter..blah ,blah” Chandler starts crying…”oh no we are locked in here all night, where are we going to eat, where are we going to sleep. I say, “Chandler we are okay, stop the crying” Then my eldest wanted to help the situation by saying, “Chandler we are going to have to sleep on the floor and the bugs could get you, and we are going to be so hungry tonight, and cold.” Well thank- you son…now he is really crying. I got down on his level and reassured him the nice people in penny’s would let us out! Such brotherly love!!!! Will the teasing ever end. Probably not cause me and my sisters still tease each other.

Some favorite Songs…

So I am getting very excited about going to Mexico…I am very excited about seeing the latin people…It is such a different culture. I know it is not South America. But I know they will be warm. I cant wait to sit with the people and just listen to “there story”. To hear there hurts, pains, joys, and then offer them Jesus. I am really praying that it is going to be a powerful time. I am very very excited for my eldest to experience this. When he gets a little older I want to go on another missions trip. Like where we are flying to South America or something. I remember growing up overseas and offering the latins a new gift of some sort. And the poor were always so grateful. And there faces would light up. I am looking forward to that. I know this will be a good experience for me as well. I miss doing missions. I always found such satisfaction in that.

Day Light Savings Time

I love that day!!!! Means we get one more hour of blessed sleep. Dont forget to turn your clocks back and hour!

Our Trick or Trunk went really good at church. Lots of peopel showed up. My kids had a blast. Got way too much candy. When they finish a meal I let them eat one piece. Ben today after lunch was like ” I cant decide there are too many mom!!” They have enough to last them till New Years. And being the good mom that I am…I didn’t get any pictures!!! Yep you read that right. If you know me…I love pictures….I take lots of them….I love having those memories. I did not take any. And they were all so cute. I am kicking myself in the rear for not getting any. I think it was just that the kids had been sick all week long, and I just did not think about it.

I had boot camp last night. It was fun. I am surprising myself how much I like it. I cant wait to sign up again. I love being pushed like that. And I love pushing myself like that. I have some friends that keep telling me they are going to come and then something comes up. Excuses….Excuses.

Okay so awhile ago I put this little feature on my website that shows me where my visitors were coming from. We have some from Canada, Europe, South America (I know who you are!), all across the US….but no one comments. Maybe it is because you dont know me, and you just read my site. I want to know who reads. Come out of the woods….purrttttyyy please…….It is really simple. You click on the little button that says “comment” and then leave one. Maybe I should have a giveaway. Do I need to be more interesting. More photos. More recipes. More stories of my wonderful kids.

Speaking of funny stories. Today Kaitlyn was looking at her book with pictures of her brothers in it. She was calling Chandler…are you ready…”DO-DO” I was like no, ” CHANDLER” and then she would say “Um, Do Do” So his new name around here is Do-Do. I am sure she will eventually get it. When she went to the Dr like a week ago, he said she needed to be saying more things, and she did not know enough words. I am serious, as soon as we left that day…she was repeating everything I say. I guess I can’t say crap anymore. Last thing I want is her going to church walking around saying “crap” Then I would get the looks….what kind of mom are you teaching your daughter how to say crap.

So if you like county music. It is easy listening music. My cousin Erica has a band called EzraJane. They are making it big in Nashville. You should hop on over and visit them. Take a listen to there music. You can also go to www.ezrajane.com My cousin is the blonde singer. There are only 2 singers…cant miss her!!!

M.E.

So what does M.E. stand for…well it stands of Mommy’s Exhausted. Chandler is sick. Kaitlyn is sick. My laundry is there, dishes are there, and everything else that I am doing! Thankfully God new I was going to have a long day today…and I must say that he has given me extra patience. But I am just physically tired. Me and Tony are getting away on November 9th and 10th with some friends…and I am so looking forward to that. Just to be without my precious darlings for 2 days. I love them to pieces but it is time to recharge!!!

At the doctors office today, I had my water sitting on the chair, and I told Chandler quite moving around or the drink is going to fall. So the drink falls and goes everywhere. I got get paper towels and bend over to pick it all up and Chandler and Benjamin start singing “I see mommies underwear” I said, “boys shhhhh everyone can here you” They just got louder and louder and were laughing and thought it was so funny. I did not think it was so funny since everyone at that point was looking at my rear end to see if they could see my underwear. Or that is how it felt anyways.

Tonight is boot camp. I am so addicted to this. It hurts like crazy, but I always feel so good when I am done. If anyone is interested in seeing what I do you can go to: www.jaysbootcamp.com or just watch the show “I wanna Look Like a High School Cheerleader Again”. We do a lot of the same workouts!

Just call me G.I Jane

That is what I felt like at boot camp last night. We did our mile. Well I did half a mile cause it felt like someone was stabbing my chins with knives. I just could not do it. Then we warmed up and then he said to go get in groups of three with your log. LOG??? Did I hear you right??? Oh yes indeed I did. I am guessing it weighed 20 pounds. We ran around all over the place with this on our shoulders. We would stop every so often and do an exercise with our log. Exhausted would be a great word for how I felt when I was done. And boy did I sleep so good last night. Since starting boot camp I sleep like a baby. Now if I could only get more water down me. I really hate water. Dont know why, I just do. I have a pretty cup that I do like to put water in. It kind of helps me to drink it. I know, I know…so ridiculous, but you have to do whatever it takes right!?

Tonight I am having a Mary Kay party. That should be fun. I need to run to the store in a bit and get some appetizer stuff. We are home today…just cleaning and hanging out. It feels so good to just be home and relax. And I get to lay Kaitlyn and Ben down for there nap. Which I miss doing, since I am working.

Okay my little monkey is singing at the top of his lungs for me to come and watch Blues Clues with him.

Another boot camp done…

Well I got another boot camp day done, and it was so painful. At one point I thought my heart was going to pop right out. And my legs just hurt from all the running. But I know it is so good for me. So I continue doing it. One of my friends from work will be coming with me on Saturday. So that will be fun. You really have to keep your eyes on the goal of what you want when you do this because it is easy to loose that. It is a good discipline for me though.

Tony is taking my eldest out for a surprise night of fun tonight. They are going to go to the studio movie grill and watch a movie. I know he will be so excited when he finds out he is going out with dad. As for me I plan on putting the other kids to bed early so that I can have some mommie time. Which means silence. I know one day I will look back and miss that (maybe I will), but for now every so often I have to recharge my batteries with silence.

For Thanksgiving we are going to take the family to Mexico on mini missions outreach. We were going to be visiting and orphanage but it has just shut down. And the other one does not need help right now. So we found a family that we will be ministering to. We will be bringing them each a new outfit and new shoes, jacket and a toy if it is a child. There are 5 children and 8 adults that live in this home. They lost what they had due to the river over flooding. We will be buying them groceries when we get across the border and having dinner with there whole family. I am really excited about it all. My school where I work is getting behind this and the classrooms will be helping with donations. So if you pray, pray cause I want this to be a very special thing for this family. The city we are going to is not one of the safest ones. So it is still up in the air if all our kids will go with us. I am still thinking about it with Tony. And you might be wondering what is there to think about, well I still really have the mentality of an MK…which means even though it is not the safest I think they will be fine. But I dont want to risk anything either. See I just don’t know. I think I will leave the final decision to Tony.

Life is just good right now. When I think about the problems that some people have…I have it made in the shade. I am thankful for blessed days. I am thankful for each of my kids. I am thankful for my most amazing husband, who I absolutely adore. I have some wonderful friends…you know who you are. God has been so good to me. And I dont deserve any of it. Yet I am so thankful that he has entrusted me with what I have. He is good!

Enjoy the pictures!

I hurt everywhere

Oh my gosh, I have never hurt so badly. It hurts to cough, walk up stairs! It is so bad. But I know that I will get better the more I do this. So that is what I keep telling myself. I am really having to self motivate. I mean really self motivate:) And I find myself a bit more cautious as to what I want to put in my mouth, cause if I eat too much or gain any more weight I will have to haul that around too!!! You know what I mean. I have one more day off before I go back for another gut wrenching workout!

Funny Story:

Tonight at the mall, Chandler and Ben were talking to this lady who had her dog in a stroller, special blankie, special stuffed animal, all dressed in clothes, special water bottle for the dog. And Chandler asked her why her dog was dressed, and the lady told him that the weather is getting cold and the doggie needs extra warmth. At this point I started to think to myself I wonder what funny thing he is going to say to this poor lady who has way too much time on her hands to be treating a dog like a human. Dont get me wrong I love dogs, I love spoiling my dog, but there is a limit. So he says to her, “My mommy says it is stupid for dogs to wear clothes” I was so embarrassed, I had to turn and walk a bit away because I am sure that I was all shades of red!

Tomorrow the kids have a pumpkin patch at school. Ben is going to dress up as Dash. I am sure he will be so cute. I will post some pictures once I get them.

The other night Tony had to work late, I did not want to cook, and was just tired. So we went to Macaroni Grill. We sat outside to eat…you know just in case they decided to be loud. They all did great. And the couple next to us (probably 50’s), said “Wow your kids are so well behaved, we have not seen that in a long time. How do you do it?” I said, “lots of prayer” The couple laughed and we all went our separate ways and got in the car. And the fighting began as to where each one would sit. It was nice while it lasted! I think God does that to encourage me that I am doing good, and then humbles me to my knees to remind me to keep praying!!!

Well another day is done. And a new once begins way to soon. I was sitting today watching my kids play. Just trying to cherish the moments that I have. They are growing up before my eyes. They are so full of life and laughter, and joy. I love each one so much. They are each so unique, and I can see how God could use each one of them. Of course I know they will begin to develop there own dreams for what they want to become, and I hope that I will have instilled in them a sense to listen for God’s still soft voice. To hear what He would want as well. Today is one of those days where I feel like, wow I am doing a pretty good job raising these kids with my husband. And then there are the days, like any other real mom out there, where I am pulling my hair out wondering where they learned that behavior from. Seriously, where do these kids learn some of this stuff from?? Like the whine that Kaitlyn has developed. Where in the world did that come from. Do all girls do this? How do you break it? And if I ignore it, she will squint through her eyes to see if I am looking at her. It is the funniest thing ever.

Boot Camp

Okay so when I signed up for this, I thought, Piece of cake. A mile run…no problem. Sit- ups…I pick up kids all day that should be easy. OH MY WORD!!!! I am so sore. I hurt. And it is only day one. It was intense. A good intense, but oh my word. I can not imagine what I will feel like in the morning. But this is going to get me to my goals, so i am excited about that. My goal, beside loosing weight. Is to wear a nice cute dress on a hot date with my husband. Yep, you heard me right. Get all dressed up, and go to a really nice restaurant. Okay, I am so beat. So if anyone else out there is trying to loose weight. DONT give up, keep going.