A miracle was born 13 years ago today

Today I want to say Happy Birthday to my 13 *gasp* year old step son B! He is such a wonderful kid and I feel lucky to get to share him with his biological parents. I still have the hospital picture that his Daddy emailed me on the day he was born.

B is a euphonium player in the Honor Band at his school. He loves to read, help out around the house, play on the computer, and even hang out watching crazy TV with me on the couch. He gave me a diamond ring 9 years ago and asked me to marry his Daddy. He is a fantastic son, step son, and big brother.

His Daddy and I are SO proud of the young man that he has grown into, as I am sure the entire family is also.

Stupid Chicken Pasta

I'm a bad blogger today as I forgot to take a picture of the recipe that I am going to post. It was stupid because it is friggin' easy!

3-4 chicken breasts cubed (Depending on the cooking time you could use cooked all the way to frozen)
2 14.5 oz cans Italian style diced tomatoes
1 packet Lipton Savory Herb & Garlic soup mix (Supposedly found near the powdered Lipton onion soup mix. I couldn't find it at either store I went to today.)
Farfalle (Bowtie Pasta)
Parmesan Cheese to top it

Mix tomatoes and soup together in crock pot. Add chicken and stir. Cook 6-8 hours on low. Serve over pasta and top with cheese.

Now it wouldn't be me if I didn't modify it in some way or another.

First off, if your crock pot is on crack like mine is (even on low) then I would adjust cooking times. You could shorten to 5-6 hours or use frozen chicken breast. My chicken came out a bit dry at the 7-8 hour mark.

Second, I went to Kroger and HEB and couldn't find that damn soup. I used Onion Mushroom instead. You could use Beefy Onion or just plain Onion as well.

Third, the recipe called for Parmesan cheese. Kroger had a deal and I got Kraft 5 cheese Italian for a deal and it was perfect. Parmesan, Provolone, asiago, mozzerella, and romano. YUMMY

Since I couldn't find the savory herb and garlic soup I added herbs and garlic to the mix along with some seasoned salt. I tried it before adding any salt though.

I added the pasta to the crock pot after boiling and mixed it right in.

Family complaints:

1- Not enough sauce

Note- double sauce next time using 2 cans Italian style diced tomatoes and 2 diced with garlic.

2- Not thick enough sauce.
Note- try adding tomato paste to thicken the sauce

3- Chicken a bit dry
Note- Adjust cooking time

Family Suggestions-

Try spiral pasta for better sauce holding.

Add garlic bread.

Other than that it was yummy. Even N, who is my picky eater liked it a lot. I will add this to the successful recipes. I hope you enjoy it. I adapted this recipe from one posted on The Crockin' Girls website. Stop by and check them out!!

http://crockingirls.com/recipes/stupid-easy-chicken-pasta/

My links never seem to work so copy and paste this into your search bar. I LOVE their site and go there regularly!

Tomorrow night is Sausage and Lentils from their website. YUMMY!!

Endeavor- Per ardua ad astra

In about six hours the space shuttle Endeavor will leave Houston and make the trek to California. It is completely unfair that Mission Control/JSC/Houston got screwed out of a shuttle. However, I am so glad that my sons were able to gaze upon the shuttle from 100 feet away. I don't think that they understood the historical value of seeing the shuttle but then I doubt I did when I last gazed upon her when I was 6 or 7. I have high hopes that the kids will one day remember our evening hike across Ellington Field to see Endeavor one last time.

S and I walked away arm in arm reflecting on the emotions that we felt. Both of us grew up in the area and though I was an USAF brat I was a NASA groupie. He was the NASA brat as his parents both retired from NASA a few years ago. Neither of us wanted to leave her there on that runway, and I swear we left a small piece of our hearts with Endeavor. It might seem sappy to you that we feel that way but you didn't walk in our shoes. Challenger was lost as my 3rd grade class watched the launch on TV. Columbia was lost when S and I were just dating. Apollo 1 took the lives of 3 wonderful men including Gus Grissom, who was one of my favorites. The first thing that I ever wanted to you was be was an astronaut. So I mourn the loss of our shuttle and the program that brought it alive. I am glad that it lasted long enough for my kids to know the wonder that was our space program. I hope to god that there is a future program for them to marvel at and learn from.

Goodbye Endeavor! You saw our Shuttle Program to the very end and we will never forget your service. Thank you to all the wonderful people who made the program a success! Your hard work and dedication will never be forgotten.

School, School, School, Sleep, Kids, School

So this is what I feel like this semester:

I dropped my Philosophy class because I have to do 40 hours of Volunteer work for one of my important classes. That is a load off my shoulders.

I was sick a lot of last week. Apparently I am rather anemic and it is bad enough to keep me down during certain times of the month, TMI, I know but it s something I need to get taken care of. I cannot be that fatigued and dizzy 4 days a month, I simply do not have the time to do that. I ordered some chewable Iron. I need to go pick up some B-12 to go with it.

We went to UHCL to see the movie 'Brave' on Saturday night. I wasn't feeling well some of Saturday but I promised the kids so I got my crap together and we went. It was a cute movie. I really liked it. N thought it was boring. S thought it wasn't up to par for Pixar. C thought it was OK and Nana really liked it. It was a free movie with a UHCL ID so I will not bitch.

The boys and I are excited that The Avengers comes out on September 25th! We really enjoyed that movie. S doesn't care. He isn't into super heroes. N hasn't seen it though and he is excited. I saw it in the theater twice. Once in 3D with friends and C and then with Nana, Mimi, and Ella for Nana's birthday. I wanted to go again too. After that the 4 boys and I spent the summer watching the movies that came before it. Iron Man 1 & 2, The Hulk, Captain America, and Thor. We are working on obtaining all of those for our collection. I am so glad that the boys liked them though because we got to spend quality time this summer hanging out together and watching movies. I LOVED my movie nights with my sons.

OK, so update on the kiddos!

Everyone is well.

B got into Honor Band at school. He plays the euphonium.

J got moved out of Band and into Theater Arts. I seriously think he is going to blossom in this class. It fits him well!

C is joining Green Team at school to help with the garden again this year and he got an invite to join the Robotics team at school. They only take a few people so he hopes that he gets picked. He is still rocking the Gifted and Talented program too. I hope this keeps up as the year gets harder.

N is doing really good in school. He is reading on a second grade level and has been since Kindergarten. He wrote a poem one day out of the blue. Right now he is reading a book about the human body.

I am SO PROUD of my boys! I love them all very much! Anyway, I think since the rain finally started that I might be able to get some sleep so I guess I should go and do that! :-)

Chicken Paprikash

Slow-Cooker Chicken Paprikash
Nutrition Info

Calories: 298.7
Fat: 8.7g
Carbohydrates: 15.5g
Protein: 39.5g

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=71448#

Ingredients
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
4 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1 1/4 cups reduced-fat sour cream
Directions
Combine flour and chicken in a large ziploc bag; toss well, making sure chicken is coated. Add chicken mixture and remaining ingredients (except sour cream) to an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Stir in sour cream just before serving.

Makes 6 1-cup servings.

This was yummy. It was only missing some warm, crusty bread. We served it with Red Cabbage. Only J didn't seem to like the cabbage. It is a bit different.

9/6/2003

9 years ago today S and I got married. J was not quite 3 and B was not quite 4. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Houston and the ceremony was lovely and small. We had a great time. Now B is almost 13, J is almost 12, C is almost 9, and N is 6. And yes, I was 6 months pregnant in this picture. Two of my best friends in the world stood up with us in our small wedding party and my Brother-in-Law Michael gave me away. My sister was on pass from Kuwait and she would be back just in time to see meet her newest nephew (C).

Happy Anniversary to us! We have a beautiful family and a good life.

Welcome Back Bash!

Tonight we went to UHCL's Welcome Back Bash on campus. My husband did not want to go so he and the older kids stayed home. THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN.

There was so much fun things to do there for the kids and families that we were doing things until the least second before we left. I am SO sorry the older kids were not with us. J, who is my monkey, would have LOVED the climbing wall!

Here are C and N climbing up it. I have a terrible fear of falling so when they got to the top I think my heart was in my throat but they LOVED IT!

We got there and hung out with the Social Worker Booth making sand bracelets. N got his face painted. They had free snow cones, Freebird's brought in food, NASA brought cool stuff out, Monster brought yummy energy drinks, the Army came and the Coast Guard brought a boat. The CG guys were incredibly cool. Shout out to them in the Port of Houston and best of luck to the gentleman training to be a rescue swimmer!

NASA brought out gloves to try on, Astronaut food, and even a helmet from the Apollo program that was used for training. They were fantastic and very knowledgeable and we enjoyed talking to them.

It was HOT but they had free drinks and lots of water. There was an awesome band to play for us but it wasn't overly loud and annoying. Seriously, I am pissed that B & J missed out. From now on, I will just take the van and take them myself because they would have loved it.

There were pictures done by some great photographers. Remember that it was HOT so I look horrid, but the kids are adorable.

I want to thank the University for putting on one hell of a party and doing fun stuff for our families to come out and enjoy the campus. University of Houston- Clear Lake is an awesome University and I LOVE attending there. The Student Veteran's Association for the great shirt and inviting me to the meetings. I will definitely do my best to get there. The Social Work Department because y'all are awesome and my soul mates. And everyone who came out and were so nice to my crazy kids. Oh and a HUGE thanks to my Mom for hanging out with us and helping me with the kiddos!

If you are looking for a great University in the Houston area, check them out!

http://www.uhcl.edu