Friday Family Faves...Lemon Chicken

Another recipe I acquired from my husband that we've altered slightly to fit our tastes.  It's actually my FAVORITE :)  My husband makes certain he makes it for me every Mother's day :)

Lemon Chicken with Rice

Ingredients

10 chicken tenderloins or 2 chicken breast cut in half lengthwise
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
6  Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp thyme
Grated Parmesan cheese (freshly grated or from a bottle...up to you)
Rice


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place chicken in 8x8 pan, set aside.  In small saucepan melt butter.  Add lemon juice & thyme, bring to low boil.  Pour sauce over chicken.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven, top lightly with Parmesan cheese.  Cover, return to oven to bake another 15 min.  Serve over your favorite rice.

Family Home Evening (FHE) Ideas for Kiddos

1.  Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 

Song: Saturday #196

First let me just say, I taught this lesson for sharing time this week, and none of these ideas are orginals to me.  They're a compilation of ideas from different resources I found on the internet over the topic :)

Lesson:  First start with a bowl of ice cream and tell your children that we're going to make ice cream sundaes.  Then begin to top the ice cream with ketchup, cheese, bbq sauce, etc and then explain all of these topping are delicious but they're just appropriate on sundaes.  This should lead into a discussion on how going to the pool and swimming, soccer, going to the playground with friends are all great and fun during the week but just not appropriate on Sundays...just like ketchup and mustard aren't good on ice cream sundaes.  The Lord has asked us to keep Sundays or the "Sabbath Day" Holy.  The Fourth Commandment tells us,  "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8).  How many days are there in a week (7)?  And the Lord has asked us to keep just 1 of those days for him.  On this day we should do things that remind us of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ like (let them try to answer)....
-Going to Church
-Reading our Scriptures
-Watching Church movies
-Writing the missionaries
-Serving Others
-Journalling
-Learning a new Primary Song, practicing songs for Primary Program
-Geneology/family history
-Visiting the sick and in-need
-Visiting/Home Teching
-Working on Personal Progress, Duty to God, FIG
ETC

We should refrain from things that distract of from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (let them try to answer),

Game:  Make "activity Cards" that have appropriate Sunday activities on them and inappropriate activities on them.  I followed this example from Pergler's Primary Place for my cards
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=976904c8bfc9a79e&sc=documents&id=976904C8BFC9A79E%21105)
  
 Each child draws an activity card then acts out the activity for others to guess (charades).  Once the activity is guessed, then everyone decides whether it is an appropriate Sabbath Day activity.

Dessert:  Yummy Ice Cream Sundaes...with appropriate toppings.

2.  Samson and Delilah

Again, not my own idea :)  When looking through a baby book of a friend with his mother, there was a picture of this FHE they had and I remember thinking how fun that would be....especially if you have boys.

Song: Family Night #195

Lesson:  Using Judges Chapter 16 as a guide, tell a child-friendly version of Samson and Delilah

Game:  Using 5 gallon paint buckets (or whatever you have around the house....#10 cans, old ice cream buckets, etc) build 2 pillars.  Let the children take turns knocking down the "pillars" with the strength of Samson.

Dessert:  Marshmallow Barbells- place a large marshmallow on each end of a wooden skewer (you may need to trim the skewers to an appropriate length).  You can even dip the Marshmallows in chocolate first for some chocolate marshmallow barbells.

3.  Service

Song: A Happy Helper #197

Lesson:  Ask, What does it mean to "Serve Others".  Discuss.  Read "We'll Carry You!"  http://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/magazines/liahona/2011/02/LI_2011_02_24___09682_000_042.pdf?lang=eng and discuss.

Game:  Instead of a game, make cookies together as a family and deliver to a family.  Here is one of our favorite cookie recipes that we originally got off of allrecipes.com by Michelle Laverdiere, but again, changed slightly to fit our needs :0 (we do that a lot)...

Butterscotch Chip Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
1c butter
1 1/2 c white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2c flour
2/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c. butterscotch chips

Directions:  Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Grease cookie sheets.  In a medium bowl, cream together butter & sugar.  Stir in eggs & vanilla.  In separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, & salt.  Add dry mixture to wet mixture.  Fold in chips.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes.

Dessert:  After delivering cookies, come home and eat what's left as a family.

Just Another Day at the Peterson's

Not too long ago, I told my husband that I could easily fill our house up with children, but lucky for him, I HATE being pregnant :) ha!  I guess one way around this is filling our house with other people's children :).  Some friends of ours asked if I could watch their 2 youngest kids a few days a week...if you know me, you know I said yes.  Today was day one with the kiddos.  One is a few months younger than Ethan and their youngest is only one month younger than Claire.  I guess I got a good idea of what it would be like to have 2 sets of twins today :)  Ethan had a blast.  I think he really enjoyed being the "oldest" of his friends for once and being able to lead the play and have someone following him around for once.  I think it's safe to say Braylen, the youngest, is terrified of Claire.  Claire just wants to play with him, which means crawling to wherever he is, getting right in his face and squealing as loud as she can...which instantly freaks him out and leads to whaling :)  She is also fascinated by having another baby around and wants to touch and pull and poke him....let's just say I tried to keep them separated by some sort of barrier all day :)  Looking forward to more kid-filled days!

Claire is blowing spit bubbles

Family Home Evening's (FHE) for Kiddos

Sometimes we need a quick idea for FHE, and that can be tough when you have little kiddos at home...it's not like you can just open the scriptures and read or have them read from scriptures, or play trivia games, and that sort of stuff.  So I thought I'd pass along some of our FHE's that we've had a blast doing with our toddler.



1.  Stories of Jesus (For children just old enough to begin participating in FHE (~18 mo-2.5yr) )

Song: Tell me the Stories of Jesus #57

When Ethan was really young and finally able to begin participating in FHE's.  We began by just showing him different pictures of Jesus and having him point out things that he knew.  For example, the picture "Jesus at the Door".  Ethan had just learned the word door and what it was, so we showed him the picture, pointed to the door and asked him what that was.  After he said "Door" and was very proud of himself, we pointed out that there was no door handle on the door and asked how was Jesus going to get in.  We then explained that we have to open the door for Jesus and let him in and we can do this by going to church, saying our prayers, and other things that Ethan would be able to understand that he was currently doing. We kept with this theme until Ethan was about 2.5 years and we could move into "deeper" lessons.  Kids this age really enjoy and thrive on consistency and knowing what to expect.  The consistency of same Song, Jesus-themed pics, and followed by dessert was a great way to introduce our child into the idea of having a regular FHE without overwhelming him or boring him.  We continued with this theme of several different pictures of Jesus, each time asking our son to point out things he knew, boats, storms, Jesus, etc and then following with simple versions of the gospel stories.

Desserts:  We just made whatever we liked during this time period, nothing too elaborate...chocolate chip cookies, brownies....just to getting Ethan into the idea that after FHE we all get to eat dessert together.



2.  Holy Ghost (For Children 2.5 years +)

Song: The Holy Ghost #105 or The Still Small Voice #106
Lesson:  We keep it very basic, age-appropriate, by just telling Ethan that the Holy Ghost is a Present (because Ethan definitely understand what "present" means :) From Heavenly Father.  It warns of us danger, tells us when we're doing the right thing, tells us to be cautious or "slow down", etc.
Game: Holy Ghost Red Light, Green Light.  We explain again that the Holy Ghost will tell us when to "green light, Go", "Yellow Light, slow down and take caution", and "red light, Stop", then we play a simple game of red light green light, because toddlers love to run around :)  Anytime our toddler tried to tell us what color the light was or wasn't doing the light we called, we simply reminded him that we need to listen to the Holy Ghost.
Dessert:  Anything red and green, have fun with food coloring or red and green sprinkles, or you could do red and green puddings or jellos (lime jello with strawberry junks maybe)

3.  Light of the World  (For Children 2.5 years +)

Song: Teach Me to Walk in the Light #304
Lesson:   After Reading Matthew 5:14-16, We talked about being light to others by our example.  If we do what Jesus and Heavenly Father ask us to do we can be a light to others.  We had a flashlight, which we let him hold, and turned off all the lights to make it dark in our house.  We then repeated to him that he could be a light, bright and shiny, just like that flashlight by following the example of Jesus Christ.
Game:  Leaving all the lights off, we would hide a nerf ball of Ethan's (but you could use any object you like), we then let Ethan use his flashlight to find the object.
Dessert: Lemon bars

4.  Sharing  (For Children 2.5 years +)

Song: I'm Trying to be Like Jesus #78
Lesson:  Our son LOVES cars so we read him this article from the FRIEND  http://www.lds.org/friend/2012/08/cool-cars?lang=eng&query=sharing
We talked about how sharing makes us feel happy.  We got out a couple of play cars and shared them with Ethan and asked everyone how they felt.  We then took them all away and only let Daddy play with them and then asked how everyone felt.  We explained again that sharing makes us feel happy and we can follow the example of Jesus by sharing our toys with our friends and with our sister (or siblings).
Game: We used a cardboard box and pulled it apart and turned it into a car ramp.  We all played cars together and raced down the ramp.  Anytime during play that we heard "that's mine" we reminded that we are sharing because sharing is nice and makes everyone feel happy, and that we're trying to be like Jesus.
Dessert:  Mini chocolate donuts as "tires" or chocolate covered pretzel rods at "dipsticks" or ginger-ale floats as "gasoline".

Friday Family Faves...Italian Bean Soup

Italian Bean Soup

Ingredients:
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can great northern beans (or any other white bean you prefer), undrained
1/4 medium onion, sliced
1/2 c. frozen, chopped spinach
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 c. water
Italian Seasoning, Salt, and Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in pot.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, simmer until onions are tender.

Frosty anyone?

This weekend we had a visit from Uncle Frosty, and cousins Ki and Chase.  Ethan adores them and couldn't wait for their visit.  They brought down Justin's childhood piano for us too which brought us instant joy!  For some reason it just brings a new atmosphere to our living room...it makes our home feel like...home.  We jam-packed our weekend with some swimming and basketball at the YMCA, of course a trip to the Indy Children's Museum, and they even headed to our state fair (while Justin and I went to help clean our church).  We even managed to cram in adults-only movie night.  Hope we have more visits soon!

Ki and Chase inside the Dinosphere exhibit

At the Dinosphere exhibit.  Ethan said his dinosaurs were going swimming

Future Paleontologists?  

Chase inside the train exhibit

More fun

Puzzle time

Claire in the baby play area

Playing in the babies only area

Life or Something Like it!

Claire is 7 months!  That's just INSANE!  We can't believe how fast this has all gone.  She is rolling around everywhere and actually getting up on her hands & knees and rocking...won't be long until she's crawling, then we're going to be in trouble :)  No teeth yet for Miss Claire, but we think some might make an appearance soon.  We finally got her crib up in Ethan's bedroom...well, I guess it's "their" bedroom now.  No more pack n play in our bedroom...that's been long overdue.  We're very excited about this transition and feel a bit of what I guess you could describe as "freedom" :)  Ethan is as chatty as ever!  He's little Mr Social and loves going to the Y just to play with his friends.  He's in his big boy undies all the time now with no accidents in a long time (I hope I didn't just jinx us).  He's still really into puzzles, loves his books, Thomas the Train and Buzz & Woody.  We finally got the "letter notes" back onto the keyboard so he can practice his piano and we've recently begun the adventure of teaching him Spanish...which is interesting since neither Justin nor I speak it...Thank goodness for ipad aps, flashcards, spanish tv shows, & spanish music...so maybe we should say, we're all learning Spanish with Ethan. ha!

   

Ethan and Claire playing after Claire rolled herself all the way under our entertainment center.

Claire's 7 month pic

playing on her piano/xylophone...we start em early around here

playtime

not sure why, but i seem to always take pics of Ethan eating :)  looking like daddy's clone

Ethan eating his first corn on the cob from our garden.

teething pain=frozen blueberries, she loves them!

Friday movie night.  Ethan insisted that I get out his "Cars" camping chair to sit in  since he picked out  Cars 2 to watch 

Still loves her paci

More playtime