Round 2 Dinners

I love it when I can take a meal or some ingredients and stretch it into 2 or even 3 different meals. Tonight's meal was such a collaboration of leftovers that I just had to share. A couple years ago, I learned how to take a whole chicken and use it for several meals. When whole chickens were on sale a couple of weeks ago I was really excited, because at .57 cents a pound - using it for more than one meal really stretches your dollar.

So, a few days ago, I roasted a whole chicken. It is so easy and there are lots of different ways to change the flavor. This time I put some quartered lemons in the center and the last 20 minutes, I basted with BBQ sauce. Slice it up, cut off the drumsticks, add some potatoes and veggies, and you've got a great meal. So, don't be afraid of those whole chickens that are way cheaper than buying boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Tonight I made chicken broth with the leftover bones. The chicken still had lots of meat on it (sometimes I will take off the meat and use it for another meal), so the broth was really flavorful. After the broth was done (and I removed the bones :)), I added carrots, celery, onions, and all the chicken meat. I was looking in the fridge and found some leftover green beans and rice (from a different meal - this probably would have gone to waste if I hadn't used it tonight). I threw that in, along with some egg noodles. It made for a really hearty soup. Then I took some hamburger buns (left over from yet another meal - those would have just gone stale or moldy), spread them with softened butter and sprinkled them with Parmesan cheese. I put them under the broiler for a few minutes and we had some yummy "Parmesan bread".


I pulled things from 3 separate meals to make a different meal that didn't feel like leftovers. I love it when that happens - especially when we can top it off with some free ice cream...

First Day of School

I am so behind in blogging I thought I better just jump in on what is going on right now. The kids had their first day of school at the beginning of August. Rachel started on August 4th (6th graders started one day early) and David and Josh started on August 5th. They were all very excited to go back to school. Rachel was especially looking forward to lockers, changing classes, and more lunch choices. She also gets to ride the bus - which I enjoy more than she does! I am so glad that all of my kids enjoy school so much and that they are such good students.

Here is Rachel on her first day of 6th grade.



Holding her all important schedule:


The next day David and Josh got to go to school.
David is in 4th grade:


Here is Josh all ready for 1st grade:


David and Josh in front of their school:


Emma starts her preschool co-op in September. Some days she is excited about it and other days she says she just wants to stay home with me. I'm pretty sure that she will enjoy it.

I hope all the kids have a happy, productive healthy school year!

Helen Hunt Falls

For the fourth of July this year we wanted to go somewhere fun and do something together as a family. We found out about a waterfall hike nearby and decided to check it out. We packed a lunch and some snacks and headed to the mountains.

Here are the kids at the bottom of the hike.


Some pictures of the falls.




Finishing up the hike.


The beautiful view.


Rachel by the falls.



We had a great time on the hike and hope to explore more of beautiful Colorado!

Bees vs Sky Sox game

Thanks to my sister Sarah and her husband Spencer, we were able to go to a Bees minor league baseball game. They were playing none other than the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. The Sky Sox stadium is minutes from our house in Colorado Springs.










We had fun watching the game and just being together. Thanks Sarah & Spencer!

Cute cousins and Lagoon

While we were at my parents house, my sister Mollie and her family was able to be there as well. Here are all the cute cousins lined up all ready to go to Lagoon.




Emma liked to ride in the wagon as opposed to going on rides. We were able to talk her into going on a few.



Here are the boy cousins riding the airplanes.



We bribed Emma to go on the carousel with aunt Sarah. I think she ended up enjoying herself.



Here's Rachel having fun riding her horse!



I didn't end up taking a lot of pictures there - it's kind of hard to get a picture of someone on a ride. Everyone had a lot of fun! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa

Slip 'n Slide

The kids had fun getting wet at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Emma never really got the hang of sliding but still had fun running through the water.









Thank goodness for wet summer fun!

Rachel is 11!

We had a fun time celebrating Rachel's birthday. Her birthday was on June 9th and we celebrated a couple of days early. She wanted to go out to dinner as a family to Red Robin. I didn't bring the camera - but she was way excited when they sang to her and brought her a dish of ice cream. Later at home she opened her present - the much requested camera.



You can check out Rachel's blog for more fun pictures. Please let me know if you would like an invitation to her blog.

Here is her cake - these were the only 2 requirements she gave me - it had to be chocolate and she wanted to decorate it herself. Sounded good to me!



While we were in Utah, we also had a celebration for her birthday. We made a fun "rainbow" cake. It was Rachel's idea to decorate it with roses from my parent's yard. It turned out beautiful!










Here is the inside of the cake - a rainbow cake!



I can't believe my oldest is 11! She will be going to middle school in a few short weeks. Can anyone help me figure out how to stop my kids from growing?

Summer Haircuts

With the busyness of moving and getting settled and unpacked, I had neglected to give the boys a haircut for a while. You can tell from the pictures that they were both pretty shaggy. I think boys look so sharp with a nice short haircut. Here are the before and after pics:

David Before:


David After:


Josh Before:



Josh After:



Much better!

Good Old Fashioned Water Fight

The other day, the kids were riding bikes and getting pretty hot. I was telling David that when I'm running and I get really hot, I like to pour some water on top of my head and it cools me down. Well, one thing let to another and soon everyone was pouring water on everyone else. I told the kids if they all got in their swimming suits, they could go out back and have a water fight. I filled up a camping water dispenser (you know, with the spout at the bottom) and armed them each with a water bottle. They had so much fun filling up their bottles and getting each other wet. It was a nice way to cool down on a hot summer day. The weather here changes so frequently that they actually had to come in when it started raining. They had a lot of fun while it lasted!

Swimming Lessons

The first thing that we did to start out the summer was swimming lessons. Last summer we didn't do any because we had just moved to Las Cruces and I was still trying to figure out what was what. We joined the YMCA a couple months ago - one reason was for the great swimming lessons. I really liked the program. All the kids got 8 45 minute lessons and they all learned a lot.

Here's David


Josh always likes to make a fun pose


This was Emma's first time ever having swimming lessons and she did great!


Josh getting some one on one with his teacher.


Here's Rachel doing her favorite stroke (I think it was the back stroke)


The kids all did very well and learned a lot!