Spring Fever

Living is southeastern NC means mild winters are to be expected, but this year we have barely had any winter at all. Oh sure we have had a few cold days and nights peppered in, but not so many as one would expect. The high reached today at my home was 84F. It just seems hard to believe when the weather forecast says it will be in the thirties again next week. Days like today give me (and my kids) spring fever. I like flowers, but i absolutely love the beginning of our vegetable garden season. My hubby and I plant tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, several types of beans, squash, and MORE!  I get so excited when we have these warm days and I begin to hear the songs of some of the local migratory birds as they return to our familiar backyard feeders. Today while I was outside with the kids looking at the patch of land that will soon again bear our garden, I caught the fever. It was so hard to maintain my resolve and not plant my garden early, but even in the mild NC climate a late frost can reek havoc on tender young shoots. I guess it was my grandparents who taught me to always wait until Good Friday to plant my garden, and past experiences have affirmed it is better to wait. So where did that leave me today? Impatiently waiting, like a kid at Christmas, for the day when I can once again play in the dirt.  :-)

Sweet and Spicy Cheesy Barbeque Chicken

What you need:
4-6 boneless cuts of chicken. (I prefer thigh cutlets, hubs likes breast meat, you can mix both in if you like)
1 bottle Sweet and Spicy barbeque sauce ( I prefer Kraft)
1 cup shredded medium cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup diced tomatoes (optional)
1/2 cup bacon bits (also optional)

What you do:
Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking dish with tin foil, (not necessary but makes clean up much easier) Add chicken and barbeque sauce to pan and cook for one hour.  Remove and add cheese and other toppings if you desire and place back in oven for an additional 10-15 minutes. Then enjoy! (but depending on the sauce keep the fire extinguisher handy) :-)

WHATS FOR SUPPER?

The first thing Keith asks when i go to pick him up from school is "whats for supper mommy?". It never fails to amaze me that with the entire days worth of tales just bubbling up inside waiting to spill over he has to first find out whats cooking. On the rare occasion that we plan to eat out for supper, he always expresses disappointment and reminds me that he thinks I am the best "cooker" in the world. With comments like that it makes cooking at home so enjoyable that I actually look forward to planning meals, and preparing them, for our little family, but lately I have been bored with the same meals repeating over and over so I  am trying to experiment with different meals or at least different versions of old favorites.  Last night I made barbeque chicken, but instead of the same old original sauce I spiced it up by using sweet and spicy sauce and melting cheese over the chicken.  It was a hit, but next time I will have to remember the bread. Our mouths were not used to the "heat" that the meal provided. In the end we enjoyed the change and my little man expressed his pleasure with the variation.  I will try to post this recipe a little later today. It is simple and can easily be jazzed up with bacon bits and diced tomatoes.

Easy Southern Fried Apple Recipe

What You Need
5 large apples peeled, cored and cut into wedges
1cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp cinnamon

What You Do
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add apples, let apples cook for about 2 minutes on medium heat stirring frequently. Add brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook 3 more minutes or to desired tenderness.

You Can Also
You can use these apples as an easy apple pie filling. Just prepare (or purchase) your favorite pie crust and add apples as soon as brown sugar and cinnamon melts good. Then bake till crust is golden brown. Takes less than thirty minutes to have a delicious homemade apple pie!

My Valentine Suprise

I Love my husband, but as men go he almost always waits to the last minute to pick out a Valentines Day Card. He is one of those guys who swings in at Walgreen's on his way home from work to try to find any leftover Valentines Day cards and maybe a box of chocolate, so imagine my surprise when I received a card, box of my favorite chocolates and a date invitation a whole week before Valentine's day this year.  He had made reservations to one of our favorite restaurants a week early so we could get in on the Saturday before the big lover's holiday, and he also arranged for my mom to keep the kids. Wow was I shocked to find out that this was just the beginning. The day before our big date he left home on some secret errand and on the day of our date he insisted that I go shopping for a new outfit and said I could get my hair cut while he watched the kids.   At this point I was feeling super pampered, but I still had not uncovered the reason for the mystery errands. After I got dressed my sweetie insisted that he thought my new outfit was only missing one thing, then he handed me a tiny beautifully wrapped box. Inside was the diamond wedding set we had not been able to afford at the time of our wedding. He had been saving every penny he could scrape from our single income budget for years and was as happy to place it on my finger as I  was to have it there. He is always giving me a reason to feel special but boy o boy did he outdo himself this year.

Beginning blogger

I have to admit that it has taken me a while to understand the whole idea of blogging. It seems strange to me that others might really want to read what I have to say, but I am a mom of three and wife to the best husband in the world and if it is silly, unbelievable, outrageous or otherwise labeled it has happened to our "little" family. Some of our experiences are painful and some will make you laugh till you are in pain,but it seems only fitting that I share the insanity with other moms who can sit back and empathize. so first I will introduce our little ones.
Keith, our son, is 5 and all boy. He loves sports, power rangers, wheels, video games and torturing his younger sisters, when he can get away with is. he has brilliant deep blue eyes and knows how to use them!  His first day of school he came home excited about what he learned that day and when I asked what was so exciting he replied, I learned that I could stand on my friends shoulders to climb trees faster!
Morgan is our little doll and drama queen. She is 3, going on 13.With her strong willed disposition she is the perfect middle child. Her daddy calls her his kryptonite, with her big brown eyes and long spiraled curls she melts his heart with one glance. Morgan fancies herself a princess and loves all things pink and sparkly, but can also catch a frog with the best of them. She is my little animal lover. She enjoy all her animals, horses, dogs, cat, fish, and hamsters. She may be smaller than Keith but she has no problem turning his t ball bat against him and playing mommy to her baby sister is a daily hobby.
Finally we come to our little angel. Lauren was born after two miscarriages and a very difficult pregnancy, but God has used her as the glue that put our hearts back together. Always happy and easy to please she is a wonderful baby. She started sleeping thru the night early at only 2 weeks, and is willing to entertain herself for hours while mommy cooks and cleans. Her favorite activity, eating! She is nine months old and just this past week she eat three whole slices of cheese pizza from Pizza Hut! She may be lighter than other kids her age, but this baby loves her food. She will eat anything she can put into her mouth, but her favorite treat is mommy's home cooked butter beans. 
Well that covers the kids but now to my husband. A hard working Christian man he is a gift from God. We dated for over seven years and have been married almost eight. (July 10) I am so blessed to be married to my best friend. He is a gentleman, which is an endangered species, and a scholar. He is one of the smartest people I know, and i have often said if he read a book of space flight the next day he could build a space shuttle and fly to Mars. However his aspirations in life are much more simple than that. He has devoted his life to helping others. Helping them find God thru our Savior Jesus Christ and helping kids find an education and a future where they can be happy. He loves teaching and coaching and I am so proud of him. However he is not perfect and i still find the toothpaste cap on the sink from time to time. Maybe it is these small imperfections that remind me he is still human.His antics will probably fill many posts on this blog with much laughter, for he is a kidder.
 Well finally that leaves me.  A proud stay at home wife and mom of three. I love God, my church and family. I enjoy reading a good book and gardening. I love the outdoors and cooking what we grow. I guess this mayall sound boring, but as the next few post will detail for you our life is anything but.