Summer Week 2

Here is a look at week 2 of our summer....It has been busy and I am looking forward to that mythical part of the summer where I get to actually slow down and rest and refresh....I am hoping it exists!!

All of our record rainfall made our lawn a little too happy...the grass went from a normal length to taller than our dogs in a very short timespan!  It took a while to hack through this...

...and luckily for me the Houston heat has kicked in in full force!  I had to take a couple breaks to get the whole front and back yards done and consumed quite a bit of water and gatorade!

A while back I got my nephew Jeremiah a set of KEVA planks.   It was the contraption set and has directions for building contraptions that you drop a ball through.  They are pretty cool!  The other night, Shonda fed us after a long day of VBS prep and my girls built this contraption.  IT was pretty awesome...you let the ball roll down the ramp on the right and it bounces off the platform in the middle and into the cone on the left and out the slide.   I tried to get a video after first time but stuff got knocked over and that was that!

On Thursday evening we watched the Virgadamo crew and while they were over I pulled out Olivia's tooth!  To get even with me, Amanda pulled out MK's tooth!  

We started with a chore and reward app this week.  The girls have the app on their tablets and I can add chores and they get points for the chores they do and lose points if they don't get them done when they are supposed to, and they can cash in their points for rewards like sleep overs and other fun things!  So far the dogs have been more well fed than ever in their lives!

Ben made a friend with Uncle Mike when we were watching him Thursday!  

As I said before we have been prepping for VBS all last week.  It starts tonight and it should be awesome!  Here are some pics from mid decorating.  We are using Orange's curriculum and love it!

Last Saturday was Bria's dance recital.  She does ballet and jazz.  Her cousins also do dance there so Saturday morning was busy with hair and makeup for all!

I love me some Haylie...she is growing up so fast!  I think she looks so much like her late Nana here in this picture!  She told me "Auntie Erin, I have never had sparkly eyes before!!"

And my Prima Ballerina!  So beautiful!

Shonda and her girls joined us for girly dancy recital fun!  This was Abigail's last day of being 3years old!

Auntie Erin gets a little silly

Gotta get some Essie in there too!  

After the recital we had a quick dinner at Chick-fil-A per the ballerina's request and then went over to the Virgadamo's house for some adult game night/kid movie night.  We had a lot of fun playing Trouble, Spades, and Go Fish...yep!  Apparently kittens were buy one get one free at the pound and so Ben and Olivia have new kittens....they are so cute.  This is Ben with his kitten Rocky!

For Father's Day it is becoming a tradition to take Mike to Hibachi for lunch.  Our favorite is Wild Ginger in Conroe.  

The Hibachi chef said..."small fire or big fire....of course we said BIG!"

The girls let Mike take a nap then made him cards and a crown to wear!  He is such a good daddy and they are lucky to have him!

Around 8:30 pm we were finally hungry from dinner and so we made some Brats (supposed to grill but we had MORE rain!) and I made a yummy warm southwest corn salad to go with it.  We started getting veggies from a co-op and there was fresh sweet corn which I cut off the cob and sauteed with garlic and onions and a poblano pepper and then tossed with diced cherry tomatoes and cilantro...it was so so good!

I am trying to snap out of my case of the Mondays and be productive since tonight is the first night of VBS.   It helped when I got the email from our Adoption agency this morning that we are all set with all of our trainings and paperwork and are ready to schedule our HOME STUDY!!!  Now to get our house ready....eeeek!  Hope your week was good!  

Summer Week 1

Last week was the first official week of summer for me and the girls and that meant the end of Facebook for me.  Here is a bit if what we have been up to (Fair warning: there are ALOT of pictures):

Little bit had her dance pictures for her recital next weekend.  She looks way too grown up!!

You would never know it because she is so shy, but she is the silliest!

My sister and buddy came back for the summer from Asia as she does every summer.  And she is continuing the pattern- every 2 years she comes back and has a baby!  That is #5 in there and I am trying really hard to convince her that Erin or Aaron is the way to go...she isn't listening though!  

MK chillin with Shonda's youngest (for now), the almost 2 year old NateNate

School is out and I am in full on VBS mode.  The other night we were all exhausted and I had been at church all day working on details and details and plans and details so we went out to Torchy's Tacos.  We LOVE Torchys!  

I got the Baja Shrimp Taco and the Taco of the month: the Tipsy Chick.  I highly recommend them both!  

This past weekend Mike and I left the girls with Kim and drove out to Snyder (near Rotan where we used to live) for Mike to perform the wedding of a dear couple we love!  On the way we stopped by the Seminary in Ft worth.  So many memories here!  

Mike wanted to make sure his graduation brick was still there...not like it was going anywhere, but he is particularly proud of it and I think sometimes he is still a little in disbelief! 

Still there!

And it just so happened to be lunch time so we stopped at our FAVORITE Chinese restaurant for our favorite dish: Asian Pecan Chicken

(and yes I realize I am only halfway through the post and have already mentioned food twice!)

Next we stopped in Abilene so Mike could say goodbye to his old friend...our Expedition is finally going to be posted for sale!  

Since we had some time on Saturday morning before the wedding, we went and renewed our zoo membership at the Abilene Zoo...yes I know we do not live there anymore, but the cost of a membership for 6 people at the Abilene Zoo is the same as one visit for a family of 4 at the Houston Zoo and the Abilene Zoo membership is good for free admission to the Houston Zoo as well..WIN WIN!  While waiting for them to get our card we decided to go see the new giraffe exhibit they had started when we were still living there.  It was pretty awesome!

They have a new feeding deck that is covered and you actually get much closer to the giraffes!  This is the new male they acquired and rumor has it he already got 2 of the females there pregnant!  

After the zoo we went back to our hotel and got ready and drove out to Snyder to celebrate Brandi and Justin!  Yall she is one of my dearest friends and I am so glad I got to be there with her and for her.  She asked me to pray over her and all of the female wedding party after getting ready and before the wedding...it was one of the biggest honors for me!  And of course she was stunning!!!

Me and My man all dressed up!

The ceremony took place under a gorgeous willow tree and the rain held off just for her!

Bonus:  I ran into one of my former students from when I used to teach 4th grade out in Snyder...she was at the wedding too!  I feel old...she is going into 7th grade next year...and do you see how she is taller than me!  Not ok!

Post Ceremony Selfie with the Bride!

Their awesome cake!  Not only was it delicious, but this really sums up their relationship!  Justin loves to work on his truck and go mudding and participate in mud bogs.  He actually proposed at a mud bog!  

We got home around 4 am Sunday morning and got a little sleep before getting to church for the day.  The girls were so excited to see us and we were super excited too!  But most excited I think were the puppies!  

Well That is week 1 for you...Week 2 is starting out unusually stressful for us as we are having to switch over all of our banking due to fraudulent activity we noticed on our account.  Hopefully it will end less stressfully than it began!  

Summer Fun

I don't know if you know this, but I am busy (like crazy what did you sign up for busy) during the school year.  It is a product of this phase of our life.  Mike and I both work full time, high stress, busy jobs that we absolutely LOVE.  Our kids are at the age that we are running around playing taxi for them...ballet on Mondays, soccer Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, Destination Imagination, AWANAS, etc.  We are both heavily involved at church (and would be even if Mike wasn't the pastor).  And we are in the process of getting certified by the state as a foster home so we can proceed with our plans to adopt.  We are busy!

I have been feeling a burden on my heart lately that I am confident is from God that I need to slow down this summer and just enjoy my kids.  I need to be intentional with each of them and both of them together.  This may be the last summer before we add more kids through adoption, and while we are excited about that, I am under no delusions that it will be easy.  It will be tough and will bring us together in ways otherwise not possible.  However I feel like I want to go into it refreshed and with a renewed foundation in my relationship with my girls.  More than anything, I just want them to look back on this summer and have memories that will last a lifetime...not of big trips or expensive indulgences, but of quality time spent with their family!

So why does this matter.....

I have felt for a long time that the only reason I was still on Facebook was because I wanted to keep grandparents and family updated on us.  And while that is true, it still often becomes a time warp of lost time and lost opportunities.  I don't want that temptation and I don't want to waste a moment of my summer that way.  So I am going off facebook for the summer...maybe longer...I may not miss it!  Who knows!  Anyways, if you want to find out what we are up to this summer, you can check in here on my blog and I will be more diligent to update it with our happenings!  Or you can call or come over...we will just be hanging out having the time of our life!
( and yes,I totally now have the song from Dirty Dancing in my head after typing that!)

Look at these faces....aren't they worth it!!!

Breakfast revisited

So a new school year has started.  We are as busy as ever.  I have found myself settled into a pattern of eating a banana and coffee in the morning in the car.  Usually I will also have whatever warm dish they have for the students at school for breakfast.  Problem is: 1) Sometimes they have cereal which I am not a fan of (blech...lucky charms) and 2) It is not the heathiest food and is hard for me to count calories when I don't know what is in it or brands and there is such variance (sometimes 100 calories or more difference between brands).  

So I finally made more breakfast food to put in the freezer so I can grab something on the go.  Lets face it...I am not a morning person and no matter how much I convince myself that I can get up, get myself and 2 girls ready, 3 lunches packed and get out the door by 6:55 am AND make and eat hot breakfast in the morning, I cant.  And breakfast is the first thing to go!

I contemplated making the breakfast sandwiches again from my last breakfast post and they were tasty, but I like to change it up.  I decided I wanted to find an option that was low calorie, but also low carb.  Enter chorizo egg and cheese breakfast burritos!  I will admit, I ate one while assembling since I hadn't had lunch yet, and oh was it good.  I love chorizo and egg!  I am excited to start eating these on Monday.  

How To:

1.  Cook 1-12.5 oz package of your favorite chorizo in a pan large enough to cook 18 eggs in as well

2.  Take 18 eggs and beat them in a bowl.  Once the chorizo is cooked through, pour the eggs in and scramble them all together.  I didn't get a picture of this step but it is pretty basic.  You could drain the grease as chorizo is pretty fatty, but fat is flavor and these are pretty low in both calories and carbs, so a few extra grams of fat will be ok here I think.  (here are the eggs and cheese I used-cheese is not needed til next step)

 

3.  Shred the cheese.  I chose to shred by hand so that I could shred it finer than my food processor would.  Also it was only 8 oz and I certainly can handle that.  Had I been making multiple batches of these, the food processor would have come out.  Once it is shredded, set up your assembly station.

4.  I weighed my egg and chorizo mixture to make sure I divided it up evenly.  This step is crucial to making sure you are portioning out your calories correctly.  I used 2 oz of the egg and chorizo mixture, about .33 oz of shredded cheese and a tortilla.   I used these low carb tortillas from La Banderita.  Most of why I used these is because they are a tasty, soft large tortilla for only 81 calories.  Most other tortillas of any size are at least 100 calories and most are small.  The low carb is a bonus.  11 total carbs per tortilla and 6 fiber, so 5 net carbs. 

These are the finished product rolled and wrapped in press and seal.  They are a good size.  

I placed them all in a gallon freezer bag.  This should ensure that they freeze well and are not ruined by my freezer.   The recipe made 18 of them which should last me 3 1/2 weeks barring my husband getting into them (which will probably happen and is totally fine)

 
To heat these up in the morning I will probably unwrap, wrap in a paper towel and heat on a level 4 or 5 for about 45 seconds, then hi power for 30 seconds.  I will update if I see that it needs more or less time.

Here is the breakdown from MyFitnessPal on the breakfast burritos.  They are 253 calories and 5 net carbs.  Also, 16 grams of protein...thats what I am talking about right there!  I need protein in my breakfast!  Again, the fat  is a little high, but you could drain the chorizo to lower that or also find a low fat chorizo, or even use ground turkey and add taco seasoning (not the same, but similar flavors and less fat).   I don't mind the fat especially since everything else is lower and I can control the fat content of the rest of my meals.  

 

Finally, the important part here...the money.  Here's a breakdown on cost:

Tortillas:  $2.50  per package  8 tortillas per package so about 31 cents per tortilla $5.58 total

Eggs: $3.50 for an 18 pack

Chorizo: $2.99

Cheese: $3.50 

Total: $15.57 for 18 Breakfast burritos

$0.87 Per Burrito   

You can't beat that!!! Compare to what you would pay for prepackaged frozen breakfast sandwiches at $1.50 or more each, or $2.00 per fresh burrito at my local breakfast burrito place, or even $1.00 per kolache.  This is cheaper, healthier and I can control the portion!  If you wanted to go cheaper, you could use cheaper non organic cheese.  Honestly the reason I buy this is because it is reasonably priced at HEB and I like that there is no artificial coloring in the cheddar cheese!  Also, In fort worth I could get eggs for much cheaper (39 cents a dozen) so depending on your cost for eggs that could lower the cost too!  No matter what these are a great option.  The eggs and chorizo only took about 10-15 minutes to cook and I think even with weighing and measuring it only took about 30 minutes to put all 18 together.  For me it is totally worth it and a working mom win!

Mourning the Cross

Its just like any other summer afternoon around here today.  The World Cup is on (and Germany is destroying Brazil), the girls are cleaning their rooms (and playing), I am enjoying my second cup of coffee and the dog is asleep on the couch (the old couch that we almost got rid of but now Sassy has claimed).  My sweet and very emotional 5 year old comes out of her room in tears. This is not like every other afternoon.  She is holding a James Avery box.  It is the box that her cross came in for Christmas this past year.

To understand the importance of this cross you must first know that I have a cross just like it.  It was given to me 10 years ago this past May 16th at a graduation lunch celebrating my graduation from college.  The lunch was the day after my wedding and I got to celebrate with a lot of my family that I normally wouldn't have seen.  The cross was a gift from my Uncle John and Aunt Jane.  It was my first piece of James Avery jewelry and I wear it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  This has become more special to me in recent years as my sweet Aunt Jane unexpectedly passed away 2 years ago this Fall.  There is hardly a day that goes by that I don't look down at my necklace, or adjust the clasp, or reach up and touch it, and think of the Amazing woman of love, kindness and Faith that Jane was.   Both girls through the years always loved my cross.  They would touch it and play with it and Bria in particular would always tell me if my clasp was in the front...usually she would say "uh Momma...something is wrong with your necklace!  Let me fix it!"  So this past Christmas, Mike and I decided to get the girls their own cross necklace.

Well, this June both necklaces ended up breaking.  Mary Kate was taking off her shirt and the necklace got caught on her shirt and pulled and it snapped; and Brianna asked me to wear her necklace so that she wouldn't lose it or break it at ballet camp and a friend's baby grabbed it an snapped the chain!  Sadness ensued!  Luckily James Avery warranties their chains since they don't fix these particular chains.  So we got two new ones for the girls.  They have been wearing them and loving them.

Now we are back to Brianna in tears with her James Avery box.  The "OLD" box...to her old necklace.  She remembered what had happened to her old one and she was sad.  Saddened to tears.  It took her a little while to calm down.  In all of this I reminded her that she had a new one that she was wearing and had been wearing, but it didn't seem to matter.  in that moment all that mattered was what had been lost.

As I sat there trying to help her through her emotional turmoil I realized something.  Are you  ready for it...because I surely wasn't.   ITS OK TO MOURN OUR LOSS/BROKENNESS.   Now I am not talking about losing a loved one, although that applies, but generally it is accepted to mourn someone who passes away.  I am talking about mourning the intangibles....the relationships fallen apart, the dreams lost, the hope shattered, the desire for more babies that may never be a reality, our sinfulness and what it did to our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Yeah...it hit me.  Because if I am truly honest, If I let myself mourn the loss, the brokenness of these intangibles: I might not stop.  It might be real.  I might have to move on in a real way...not some fake "I'm ok, you're ok, we're all ok" way.  To be completely honest I have tricked myself into thinking that if I am just happy and full of hope every month and ignore the pain and sorrow inside that maybe...just maybe...my reward will be one last pregnancy. 

But alas....thats not really how it works.  In fact I was reminded this week by a friend through her blog post that I need to be content in the waiting.  That does not mean that I should not mourn what is lost.  It does not mean that I have to understand God's perfect plan to use what I view as suffering for His glory.  It does not mean that to cry  is to doubt His goodness.  It means that this world is broken just like my daughter's cross necklace.  And sometimes we need to stop and mourn the brokenness.  Cry over what was lost...and then Praise the Lord that He sent his perfect Son to die for my sins in my brokenness when I didnt deserve His grace.  Praise the Lord that He has made a way for us to be reunited with Him in Heaven one day.  Praise the Lord that on that day it is written in His word :

Revelation 21:4 ESV

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Money saving breakfast

So like most moms in America, breakfast is the craziest meal of the day.  We are trying to get the kids up and out the door and if you work outside the home as well it can be even crazier.  Used to be we threw some cereal in a cup and they ate on the way.  But for me...I dont do cereal.  If I dont have some protein I am cranky!  I LOVE EGGS!  If you know me you can attest to this.  I would eat them every meal of every day.  I LOVE THEM!   So lately we have been buying those Jimmy Dean Delites.  Win win right?  Protein for me...low calorie for me...kids love them too.  Here's the catch: they are like $6 for 4 sandwiches.  A good alternative to eating out, but not a cost effective breakfast.  When you multiply that by three people for the week it is $24 for breakfast.   I didn't think I had a good option. 

Yesterday I was watching The Kitchen on food network and they were making breakfast sandwiches.  Score!  When I went grocery shopping yesterday I got what I needed and today I made up 20 breakfast sandwiches which should last almost 2 weeks. I did not follow the recipe exactly, infact I only used it as inspiration.  It was pretty simple.  I mixed up the eggs in a bowl and baked them in the oven for 12 minutes on 425*.  Halfway through I sprinkled a cup of cheese over the top.  Then I took it out, let it cool and cut it into 20 squares. 

Then I cooked the bacon.  I used half a slice of jalapeno bacon for each sandwich but you could use more if desired.  

Then I assembled the sandwiches.  I placed a square of Egg and cheese mixture on the mini bagel topped with the bacon the the top of the bagel.  Wrap it up tight in Saran wrap and put them in a zip lock. 

I used quart bags and put 4 sandwiches per bag.  Put them in the freezer.  When I take them out I will unwrap them, wrap them in a paper towel, microwave on low for 1 1/2 minutes and high for 45 seconds. update: I heated them up this morning...they were delicious!!! but here are updated warming times based on my microwave-1 min 15 sec on low (about level 3 power) and then 30 sec on high.  

Here is the cost break down:
20 eggs @ $0.13/egg= $2.60
2 bags of whole wheat mini bagels @ $2.98/bag= $5.96
1 lb bacon (depends on brand) =$3.99
1/2 bag shredded cheese @ $2/bag= $1.00

TOTAL= $12.55  for 20 sandwiches (it actually was less since the bacon was from my parents when they moved but for cost comparison I will go with this) 

To compare it would be $30 for 20 breakfast sandwiches.  It works out to $2.51/box instead of $6/box.  

I also should mention that the delites version of this is 220 calories and this version is 212 calories according to myfitnesspal recipe calculator.  Pretty comparable. 

And it really didnt take that long to put together.  In my opinion...TOTALLY WORTH IT!  I am excited to try this with other varieties, maybe some salsa in the eggs, sausage or ham instead of bacon, the possibilities are endless.  You could also do egg whites only to cut some calories and cholesterol.  This has literally rocked my world!  

This little guy was watching my every move with the bacon and eggs...I would be lying if I didn't say his cuteness got him a few scraps!  

So...Its been a while...

It was brought to my attention by a certain sister of mine who has issues updating her blog and lives out of the country (therefore the blog being my only way of keeping up with her) that I have not updated my blog in a while.

Really wasn't a surprise to me...Life has been one big carnival ride since August.  Let me catch you up a little bit (although I know a lot of you already know most of this):

August:  We started August with a Richardson Family vacation.  My parents, grandparents, both sisters and their husbands, and all 8 grandkids descended upon a lake house on Lake Brownwood. We had no cell service and is probably one of my favorite vacations ever.  We played games, talked, cooked, did crafts with the kids, fished, bonded, loved, and even snuck in a little daddy daughter lunch date with us 3 girls and my dad.  We were sad that it had to end.  

September:  The end of August and beginning of September started our school year for the girls.  Mary Kate started in 3rd grade and Brianna started full day Pre-k.  They both loved it and loved their teachers!   September also brought Mike's last (hopefully) year of his Master's Degree.  In order to help pay tuition and gas expenses commuting from Rotan, I started working as a substitute teacher in a nearby town.  I was fortunate enough to be assigned quickly to a one week long term sub position in 5th grade and then to a one month long term sub position in 4th grade.

October:  The end of the month brought the resignation of the teacher that I was subbing for for the one month position.  It was not entirely unexpected.  I was told that if I could get certified before the next board meeting then they would vote on my contract...oh and the next board meeting was mid November.  I frantically registered for the EC-6 Generalist Teachers test and an Alternative Certification Program.

November:  On Saturday Nov. 2nd I took the teachers test on about a weeks notice.  On Tuesday the 5th I found out I passed the test and on Friday Nov 15th I signed my first teaching contract.  It was definitely not what we had planned for the year but it has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling opportunities I have had the pleasure of having.  I never imagined myself as a working mom, and yet now I can't imagine myself not teaching.  I try not to think about how dumb I was when I decided to change my major a semester before graduating college and didn't do my student teaching.  Never make major life decisions when you are 20!! I wish someone had told me how stupid I was being and made me finish my degree in teaching then when I was literally student teaching away from being certified.  Not that I would have listened.  But anyways, I digress.   The week before Thanksgiving brought the Nutcracker and my two little ballerinas were in it.  MK was a mouse and Bria was an angel.  They did an amazing job and we enjoyed ever second of it.  We were also glad when it was over as we had a lot of rehersals!!!

December:  December brought snow and ice early.  We had an unseasonably cold winter this year as did the rest of the country.  We celebrated Christmas at our house this year and enjoyed having our own traditions.  It was a relaxing day.  My parents came out and celebrated with us and helped us eat a fabulous dinner.

January:  January brought big changes to our household.  After much prayer and consideration, we decided to move the girls to the school I am working at.  It is a bigger school with more opportunities for GT instruction for MK and also it is a lot more convenient for me especially with Mike out at school every monday.  This also meant that the girls changed ballet schools and now go to one in the same city I work in.  We absolutely love Ballet Abilene and miss it dearly but I am thankful that we can have the girls in a ballet program.    As a BONUS!!! at the beginning of January we found out that Mike passed his fall semester of Hebrew and was only one semester of Hebrew away from graduating!!

February:  The end of January MK finished as the runner up in the 3rd grade spelling bee (2nd out of 36 in the spelling bee, but out of 230 3rd graders in the school), so in February, on Valentine's Day, we went and watched her compete in the Regional Spelling Bee against 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.  She did quite well and finished 6th ahead of many of the Junior High kids!  We were so proud and she is already planning her trip to the National Spelling Bee next year!!  February also brought the move of my parents.  They were called as the Pastor of Northwest Hills Baptist Church in San Antonio Texas.  It was very sad to see them go after living near them for the past 4 years.  We have cherished that time to be so close and can't express how much we miss them!! However, we know God has big plans for them in San Antonio and they are so excited for a fresh start and a new house and a new church and the "Big City"!!

March:  This month has been so busy already even though we are only 10 days in.  It started with my Principal calling me into the office and asking me to take a position next year teaching 5th grade Math.  This is a great opportunity and I am so excited.  The move was based on my out of the box teaching strategies and how well she has seen me do.  This was a major boost of confidence for me as I sometimes still doubt myself and my effectiveness as a teacher.  This week is Spring Break and I haven't been so happy for it since college!  That is also why I have time to type up this lovely post.  We are relaxing in San Antonio with my mom and doing all the touristy stuff like visiting the local Emergency ROom...what?  Wait....you don't normally do that as a tourist...well let me tell you, the Emergency Department at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital Westover Hills is phenomenal.  Trust me...we saw them all as they all came in to try to figure out what the rash that was consuming my daughters body was.  They didn't figure it out but they ruled out all the bad stuff and we still thought they did a great job.  We will head to Austin tomorrow or Wednesday and visit Kim before heading back to Rotan and Mike who is missing us!!

Well...I would love to say that I will update this again in a couple days or regularly for the rest of the year, but I can't.  Truth is I don't know when I will update it.  I have about a million blog post running around in my head, but no time to blog it.   I hope that I will have time this summer to catch everyone up again, and who knows, maybe I will surprise us all and post something before summer...stranger things have happened!!! And Shonda....You now owe me a blog post!