Thursday, April 18, 2013

The baby is 5

Our sweet baby, Carsyn Joy turns 5 years old today.  "One whole hand," she says.  She continues to be our most independent child at 5.  Being that 3rd child and seeing her brother and sister do things contributes to her independent nature.  She is incredibly caring, compassionate and determined child.  We love her toothless grin and her giggles when she laughs.  She has an athletic gift and drive like her brother.  Her first gymnastics meet is in a couple weeks after working hard this year on her routines and performing.  She is also swimming every week with an instructor (who by the way is currently her favorite person, Ms Anne) to be ready to swim on swim team with brother and sister starting in 3 weeks.  To pull her aside for her yearly interview was nearly impossible, like the other years, but with the help of her brother and sister, we were able to get her to sit for some questions.  She was interested to see what her last years answers were and how her brother and sister answered at the age of 5.  
Mommy (M)-What is your favorite color?
Carsyn (C)-Green!
M-What is your favorite food?
C-Pizza!
M-What do you want to be when you grow up?
C-A family doctor.  (This news to me...although after we talked about it for a while, I now know why.  We have been having to go to the doctors lately to have allergy tests done on Aidan and somewhere in all this she has connected to those doctors.)
M-What is your favorite thing to do in school?
C-Play outside!  (She was recently evaluated for kindergarten and came out of the testing and said, "That was so easy mommy.  They asked me to count to 20 and I said that was to easy and I counted to 200."  This is totally her personality.) 
M-What is your favorite thing to do at church?
C-Sing MY songs.  (MY is emphasized)
M-What do you learn about at church?
C-God loves ME!
M-What makes you happy?
C-Mommy and Daddy.  (Same answer as last year and still so sweet)
M-What do you love to do with your brother?
C-Give him kisses and play with legos.
M-What do you love to do with your sister?
C-Give her hugs and play barbies.
M-Who is your best friend?
C-Mary Gail and Savannah 
M-What do you like to do with Daddy?
C-Ride my bike.  (She asked the day after Easter to have her training wheels off.  This is Carsyn after 2 trips down the street.  At only 4 at the time, when this girls sets her mind to something, there is nothing stopping her!)

M-What do you like to do with Mommy?
C-Play dollhouse.
M-What do you not like to do?
C-Walk outside in the rain.  (Interesting thought)

M-If you could be a dog or cat, which would you be?
C-A dog, because I like dogs.
M-What are you looking forward to most about being 5?
C-Going to brother and sisters school.  (She is currently at a different elementary for a teachers pre-k and will be in Aidan and Brenna's school in the fall for kindergarten....finally all 3 kiddos in the same school...well only for 2 years and then Aidan is off to middle school.)

Carsyn has grown so much in this last year.  We are looking forward to see what God has in store for her this next year.  Nothing can stop her!

Monday, April 1, 2013

April's Meals

Here is April's meals. If you have questions about veggies I add to certain meals, feel free to drop me an email.  Have a great month!  I don't know about your family, but my family is trying to stay clean from all the pollen.  Remember that if the links are not below then the recipe will be listed at the bottom of the post.
Mon 1st  SC spring break
Tues 2nd  SC spring break
Wed 3rd  Camp fire dinner (Brad was clearing out a bunch of our woods and made a huge fire, so we roasted hotdogs and had smores for dinner.)
Thur 4th    subway
Fri 5th        pizza
Sat 6th        chicken wings
Sun 7th       Grilled Hamburgers
Mon 8th     Grilled cheese
Tues 9th   Chicken salad
Wed 10th  Spaghetti and meat sauce
Thurs 11th  slow cooker beef and mushrooms
Fri 12th  Pizza
Sat 13th  b-ball tourn-away
Sun 14th      chicken chili
Mon 15th    savory chicken tacos
Tues 16th     baked slow cooker chicken
Wed 17th     slow cooker chicken tetriazzini
Thurs 18th   Carsyn's 5th Birthday (she has requested my homemade mac and cheese)
Fri 19th      pizza
Sat 20th      Out to eat for Carsyn's birthday
Sun 21st      Ranch chicken kabobs
Mon 22nd    BLT's 
Tues 23rd      sloppy joes (Brad in CA)
Wed 24th    Beef strongenoff  (Brad in CA)
Thurs 25th    jambalaya  (Brad in CA)
Fri 26th      Pizza  (Brad in CA)
Sat 27th    out to eat  (Brad in CA)
Sun 28th   
Mon 29th  chicken and dumplings
Tues 30th  sloppy joes

Savory chicken tacos

1 Rotisserie chicken deboned and shredded
12 oz steamable white or brown rice uncooked
1 cup shredded quesadilla cheese
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 cup sweet corn
1 jar enchilada sauce
taco shells
sour cream optional

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and spray a 13X9 baking dish. Mix all ingredients together except for taco shells into a large bowl and spread into baking dish. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until bubbling. Spoon into taco shells and serve with sour cream

Chicken chili

1 Rotisserie chicken
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 pkg chili seasoning
A little bit of water if it is too thick
(whatever beans you like, for example...
1 can pinto beans
1 can navy beans
1 can chili beans
1 can black beans

Beef Strogenoff by Joy Belt

1lbs ground beef
1 medium onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1 can beef broth
1/2 cup water
3 cups uncooked noodles (I use egg noodles)
In skillet brown beef and cook onion until tender. Drain and blend all ingredients into pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10 min or until noodles are done. Stir often

Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs


1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup ranch dressing
3 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1 tbls minced fresh rosemary
2 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp white vinegar
1/ tsp black pepper
1 Tbls white sugar optional
5 boneless skinless chicken cubed into 1 inch pieces

Combine all into a bowl and place chicken into marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 30 min to 1 hour. Preheat grill. Put chicken on skewers and discard marinade. Lightly oil grate and grill skewers for 8-12 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.