Cute Story

While Luke was sitting calmly on the couch.

Luke: Owwie (holding head)

Me: Oh did you hurt your head? (knowing he didn't)

Luke: Boo boo ball?

Me: You need your boo boo ball?

Luke hopped off the couch and ran to the freezer.

Luke holding his boo boo ball to his "owwie".

Boo boo ball from Grandma Olson

Reading with daddy

Wearing his first pair of boxers from Grandma Vicki and holding the bear the lady working at Kay Jewelry in the mall gave him when we were walking by. The boy has some serious cutness power going on.

This is what I got when I asked for a cheesy grin.

Meal Plan

Time for a meal plan! I needed another one much sooner than I did last time. I made pizza once and we never had a night of leftovers. Our leftovers rarely make it for another evening meal since we tend to eat them during the day for lunch. I've included 2 more recipes at the end of this post.

I made my sweet and sour chicken recipe list last session. I guess Traver had never had it before (he only eats with us 2 nights a week now) and he gave it a 9.93175 or something like that. Which is pretty impressive since my chocolate bundt cake and strawberry shortcakes are the only things that have ever got perfect 10's.

My next 10 meals are:

Mexican Chicken Skillet
Porcupine Meatballs (beef and turkey)
Rotel Chicken
Taco Salad (beef)
Feta stuffed chicken breasts
Lemon Chicken on Pasta
Calzones (beef)
Minimeat loaves (ground turkey)
Stuffed Enchilada Shells (ground turkey)
Chicken Italiano

And of course pizza is always on the menu as well as chicken strips and pancakes as needed. I am also making key lime dip for two different occassions this session as well.

Note only beef 3 times over the course of 10 meals. It's cheaper and healthier to do it this way. I used to try to go everyother meal, but now I'm trying for less frequently than that.

Here is my recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken

1lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite size chunks
1 egg white
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cornstarch
1 10oz can pineapple tidbits (reserve juice)
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/4 c white vinegar
1/4 c ketchup
1 tsp salt
2 T brown sugar
1 T + 1 tsp vegetable oil
2 red bell peppers cut into bite size chunks (I'm not a big pepper fan, but I like them in this recipe. So don't omit them the first time if you're not sure about them...try it with them. It's good. Promise.)
1 onion cut into bite size chunks (optional)
1/4 tsp ginger

1. In a bowl, combine the chicken with the egg white, salt and cornstarch. Let rest at room temperature 15 minutes or up to overnight in the fridge.
2. Whisk together juice, vinegar, ketcup, salt and brown sugar for the sweet and sour sauce.
3. Cut up peppers and onion
4. Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat until a bead of water evaorates. Pour in 1 T vegetable oil (too hot for olive oil). Add chicken in one layer. Fry 1 min. untouched. Flip. Fry two more minutes. Chicken should still be slightly pinkish in the middle. Dish chicken out onto a plate leaveing as much oil in the pan as possible.
5. Turn head to medium and add remaining 1 tsp oil. Add peppers, onion, and ginger. Fry 1 minute. Add pineapple and sweet and sour sauce. Turn heat to heigh and when sauce is simmering add chicken back in. Simmer until chicken is done about 1-3 minutes.

Serve with brown rice.

I like to get everything ready during Luke's first nap and then I begin cooking about 15 minutes before we're ready to eat. Great for nights when that time of day is more rushed. It makes quite a lot of food.

Indian Corn
1 can corn, drained
1 lb browned ground beef
1 bottle taco sauce
1 tsp dried onion
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed.

Combine all in skillet and heat through. Serve with cheddar cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, jalepenos...whatever you like. Another favorite at our house...and quick and easy!

Pants

Luke's pants fell down twice today in church. Bought him a belt online.

Playing

Here is Luke playing in the cupboards. He's been doing this quite a bit lately. It's his new "thing".

Here is one of Luke Easter Egg hunting in the house because it was too wet outside for the Easter bunny.

Finger Painting!

Luke finger painted for the first time today. He only ate a little. And a little shampoo this afternoon, but that had nothing to do with the finger painting.

Shopping and Easter

For my birthday Kyle volunteered to watch Luke for an entire day on a Saturday, so I could have a break and do whatever I wanted. So, I of course asked if he'd watch Luke Friday night as well =). So this was the weekend. My friends Cindy Sandoval and Shanna Hayes (32 weeks pregnant today!) came with me and we left for Dallas right after Shanna got off work. After a breakfast of the most WONDERFUL Kolaches (sorry mom, these were even better than yours!!!) I'd ever had, we went to IKEA ( a HUGE everything home store). I was in search of baskets for the place at the lake, but didn't find anything. I did get Luke some plastic dishes for at the other house and 2 big puppets (lion and a chicken) and a 10 pack of finger puppets. He LOVES them. We spent a big portion of today putting finger puppets on his little fingers. Then we went to the Allen Outlet mall (nearby suburb) and spent the rest of the day wandering around. We got back late last night. We were all beat, but man I had a good time. I did miss Luke. This was my first time to be away from him overnight. I'm pretty sure I missed him more than he missed me. After all, he was home with daddy.

On our way home when I was dropping Cindy off, I picked up a TON of clothes from her that Isaac has recently outgrown. All that are pictured below are 2T. There were about 4 things that were 18 months, not pictured. Look at all those clothes! That is amazing. I think Isaac had A LOT of clothes. Of course his were mostly all handme downs from his big brother Damian. I'm pretty sure I won't be needing to buy Luke any 2T clothes thanks to them. The only thing he'll need when he gets there are shoes and swim trunks. We owe the Sandovals BIG TIME. THANK YOU JOHNNY, CINDY, DAMIAN AND ISAAC!!!!

Of course, today is Easter and Kyle and I were really excited for this holiday. We felt like Luke would really have a lot of fun with it. And he did! The chocolate and cars were his favoites . It rained all day so the Easter Bunny had to leave his eggs inside the house, but we still had fun.

Luke holding his Easter basket (in a tie from the Sandovals and a hat I bought him in Allen that's too big).

Finding an egg!

Luke's filled Easter basket. He has to share that chocolate bunny with me.

Kyle showing him how to open the eggs.

Luke playing underneath my desk the other day.

Last week. I have a great video of him on the top shelf playing with his train which was put away in a basket. Hopefully I'll get it downloaded and posted soon.

Happy Easter all! I hope Solomon found many eggs!

Well Baby Check Up

Luke and I just got back from Dr. Stephen's office. It was time for his 18 mo well baby check up. He got three shots. He screamed very loudly. But soon felt better when I pointed out his Snoopy bandaids. He's doing fine, no concerns. He has one bottom tooth yet to make an appearance and then all he'll have left are his 4 two year molars and we're DONE WITH TEETHING! This past week with teething has not been a good one for Luke and he has been hearing lots about being sold to the gypsies.

The nurse also took his measurements. His head circumference is in the 30th percentile. He is 31" tall, which puts him in the 20th percentile. And he weighs 20lbs and 0 oz. putting him in the bottom 1%. He's tiny, but at least he's still on the charts. We'll see if that holds true for his 2 year well baby check up. Until then, I guess he'll be going to his swimming lessons in his 6-12 mo. swim trunks.

New Recipe Plan

I'm actually not done with my last recipe plan. We ate out a few nights, unexpectedly, I made chicken strips and pancakes (twice) to replenish my freezer supply and I made pizza for Kyle's birthday. I still have macaroni and cheese and Rosemary Chicken left to make. I'll do Mac n cheese tonight for supper and then Rosemary chicken tomorrow.

But. I desperately need to get to the grocery store. I've been out of cereal for about a week. Meaning, all we have left is cream of wheat and Kyle's fuax Honey Bunches of Oats. I can't do a big shop without a complete list, otherwise I'll just be making several quick trips getting "just one thing so I can make...you fill in the blank.

I did have a few new recipes that I tried last time that were a hit and will definately make it into regular rotation that I'll share.

Chili Cornbread
1lb ground beef
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c water
1-2 T chili powder
And one batch of cornbread (I did from scratch, but a mix would work well here too. The original recipe actually called for Jiff Cornbread Mix)

Brown beef with onion, pepper and seasonings. And remaining ingredients and simmer while you make the cornbread. The chili misture should be thick. Place chili in a greased 3qt. baking dish. Spread cornbread batter over all and bake according to the cornbread directions (400 for 20 min. for mine)

Luke at a ton of this...for many meals.

Mini Meat Loaves
1 lb ground chicken
2 slices bread, crumbed
1 egg
2 T ketchup
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 onion FINELY chopped
salt and pepper
BBQ sauce.

In a large bowl, combine all (except BBQ sauce). Mix well. Scoop into mini loaf pans or muffin tins. Brush tops with BBQ sauce. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Serve with more BBQ sauce. YUMMY!!!! And quick and easy and I like that it called for ground chicken. I had ground turkey on hand and used that...and it's 97%lean and it turned out great. Luke didn't really agree, but whatever. It could've been a random night for him.

And now for the meal plan:

Easy Chicken and Pasta
Indian Corn
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Shepherd's Pie
Chicken and Broccoli--new!
Microwave lasagna (if I remember to pick up a new 9X13 pyrex...I broke my other one)
Tomato Basil Chicken Pasta
Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Spaghetti with meat sauce
7 layer dinner

And as alwasy...pizza, (and chicken strips and pancakes as needed to replenish my freezer supply for Luke)
Also, making a batch of cookies for Bunco.)

I also made Herman bread this week with cranberries to restock the freezer. Luke will often have this for a bedtime snack.

Also scored some great deals at Target....got 10 boxes of fruit snacks for 50 cents each and 11 bags of cheetos (the small ones...not individual sized...bigger than that...they're 4 servings each) for 29 cents each. I won't be needing to buy chips for a LONG time.

Video!

Here is a video of Luke playing fetch with Jake. Later today we had to walk down to the pond to see if there were any Quack Quacks (ducks) in it...there weren't...but on the way I was throwing a stick for Jake and he would bring it back to me with it in his mouth of course...so then Luke kept picking up sticks and holding them in his mouth like Jake. It took many attempts to convince him that it wasn't something HE should be doing.

DADDY!!!

Luke and Jimmy! Luke worships him, you know (according to Jimmy anyway =))

Playing in Kyle's sock drawer.

Luke likes to lay like this and rock the ottoman.

Kyle's 31st birthday. 3-1 candles...pretty clever, huh?

Doug, JoAnne and Jimmy! came for a visit on their way back to TX.

Kyle: Has been working hard in the yard. He has lined several of our flower beds with rock and they look very nice and he's been coding alot of different things that have to do with different partnerships he has with other websites. He's also DYING to take the boat out for the first time.

Rachel: I have been busy with Body and Soul. We start our new session Monday which means every spare minute (expect these, while I'm blogging =) ) have been spent memorizing all our new routines. I'm having to learn them all sooner than normal this time so I've really been cramming.

Luke: He is trying really hard to be a daddy's boy. He asks about Kyle about 50 times a day. "Daddy?" "Daddy's at the gym, Daddy's working" I say. It's very important to know Kyle's whereabouts at all times. And I mean ALL times. He also has taken to crying "Daddy" very pitifully when I put him in timeout, like he's going to come save him or something. I'll let you know if that ever works for him *wink* Luke is also teething. He has 4 bottom teeth very close to coming in. This results in crankiness, stinky naps, not sleeping through the night...the usual. I'm ready for this to be over. I'm sure he is, too. He had his first swimming lesson this past Tuesday. LOVED it. He goes under water well, although he hasn't figured out what holding his breath is all about yet.

I went to a consignment sale last week and got some stuff for Luke for the summer and I got him a T-shirt from the OKC zoo that says "Cheeky Monkey" on it...just for you Vicki! Happy Birthday on the 5th and you, too, Georgeanne on the 10th!!