Grandpop and Grandmom's Visit

My parents arrived the night before Spiderman's birthday for a three-week visit in Idaho! They drove across the country this time... so they were able to bring their own car and lots of stuff with them! We are enjoying some of the books and things from my childhood that have been at their house all this time... My dad built a garden gate/fence for our vegetables... we double the size of our garden this year. My mom is sewing quilted pillow shams for the boys, curtains, hemming pants for me and put Hubby's certified arborist patch on his jacket! We organized the pantry... installed a window A/C (so it's ready when this weather gets better!)... went to some yard sales... touched up paint all over the house... and more! They are staying at my sister's house at the moment, but they'll be back. Tomorrow we'll go to a Tball game together. It's nice to have them around. And very helpful when I have to teach a lesson!!!

Love you, Mom and Dad! Thanks for being here with us!
Here are some pictures from our time so far: (Heritage Day celebration at school--cattle roping cowboy!, Walter's Ferry with Hoseleys, building the fence and playing with Grandpop)

Winter in Idaho No. 3

Some St. Patty's day treats for Kindergarten!
A new sidewalk for the studio!
Thanks, Hubby!!!!!

Winter in Idaho No. 2

Our little cutie-pie.

Getting ready to eat some dirt.

Going for the catch! (Gearing up for Tball!)

We make him endure mohawks quite frequently!

A drive in the Boise mountains...

Winter in Idaho No. 1

Here's how our boy likes to fall asleep.

Our last night with Lili, our "niece" for a few months.
We miss her!

Visiting the ZOO with Jamie!!!

We loved the penguin house a lot!

Thank goodness for the glass!!!

Recent Culinary Adventures

As you can see from a few recent posts, I have been spending more time in the kitchen. This is for many reasons:

1) Baby needs to put on a little bit of weight... nothing alarming, just at his last doctor's visit, we discovered that he isn't growing as well as he was previously... so we are going to see if we can get him to eat more. He's just NOT interested in food. Never really was! So, I have been experimenting with different home-made foods to give him more of a nutritional diet. Hubby laughs at me because I have started hiding beans (ground to a powder) in all kinds of baked goods, like the muffins I made today! :-)

2) Spiderman needs to be put on a more restrictive diet. He is having serious allergy issues as well as some behavioral stuff we're hoping that a more natural diet with less additives/preservatives and sugar will help to correct.

3) My life is just too crazy and hectic to try and cook dinner every night. It's just not happening! I teach piano/voice lessons four days a week now and I am teaching four Kindermusik classes a week also... not to mention all the other things we have going on. When to cook?

So... that's why I have turned into a crazy cooker person; who got three cookbooks in the mail today about slow cookers, $5 meals, and super baby foods.... I am sure I will be blogging about my findings!

Update! My Day of Cooking... and of course, therefore, Cleaning!

Today marks the first of what I hope to be my Monthly Freezer Cooking Days!
Today's Menu
Brown Bag Burritos
Meatloaf
Meatloaf Cups
Meatballs
Homemade Refried Beans
Black Bean Salsa Chicken
Homemade Rolls
Sausage/Egg/Cheese Cups
Freezer Waffles
Granola

Status @ 1:00pm: I have made 40 burritos, 1 meatloaf, 36 meatloaf cups, 24 meatballs, a pot of beans is cooking, 4 bags of BBSChicken, the roll dough is rising and the S/E/C Cups... are unfortunately causing me much trouble... more on that later.

Update... so I didn't tackle everything on my list, I got too tired... but I got a lot done! This morning I was able to finish making up the refried beans. That was messy, but I am glad that my blender is self-cleaning! The S/E/C Cups were hard to make! Unfortunately, I wasn't sure about the amount of cups, and so I put way too much biscuit dough inside each cup. Let's just say that the windows had to be opened and the fans going because I got egg all over the oven and, even though I tried to take preemptive measures to keep it all from burning... alas, it was too late and I blew out an eardrum trying to stop the smoke detector.... if I make these again, there will be foil lining the bottom of the oven and I will make them much smaller and fill them with a lot less eggy goodness. Oh well. We ate the meatloaf for dinner. It tasted good, so hopefully the other items made with the same mixture of meat will be good as well!

Got any good recipes for me to try Next Month?! ;-)

This needs no introduction....

Recipes

Here are two recipes that I have recently discussed with friends/family on Facebook. I wanted to share them with you all! And for some reason, every time I tried to put them on FB, it crashed my Mozilla... strangeness.

Hopefully this will work!

Chilaquilles con Pollo
(Barb Tyson)
Serves 8
4 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup+ sour cream MIXED WITH 1/2 cup+ whipping cream
12 corn tortillas cut into strips
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan
Salsa
1 lg ripe pitted avocado

Add ingredients to a casserole dish, in layers: chicken-salsa-tortillas-cheddar cheese-cream(s). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Then sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top and cook for 5-10 more minutes. Serve with avocado.
(I usually do less cheeses and it still tastes good!)

Banana Bread
(Me plus "The Joy of Cooking" cookbook)
Makes 1 Loaf
Sift together:
1 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
2 1/4 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Blend until creamy:
1/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup unrefined cane sugar
1/3 cup honey
Dash of Lemon
Beat in:
1 egg
3-4 ripe bananas (mushed)

Add the sifted ingredients in about 3 parts to the sweet mixture. Beat the batter after each addition until smooth. Fold in 1/4 cup finely chopped dried apricots, 1/4 cup-ish wheat germ, and nuts if you want to. I also sprinkled some flax-seeds in there for fun! Place the batter in a greased bread pan. Bake the bread at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until done. Cool before slicing.

Shake a LEGO in a Cup

Kindermusik and Me

I feel very blessed to have started off my Winter term this morning with 5 kids in attendance to my ABC Music & Me class! One of them was my son, but he won't normally be there because of school. Today they had the day off, so he joined the group even though the class was for 2-4 year olds. Man is he a big kid with crazy legs that go every which way!!! We won't be putting him in that class again... ;-)

Next week we will be having two other boys join us... one of them is registered but forgot the class began today. The other one is from a brand new family, who I spoke with just today! I am excited for these new enrollments!

On Tuesday I will start a class for Babies 0-18mos. I have 4 children attending that class, plus my little Baby boy. Next month I will be doing a demo class at the Birthing Center where Baby was born for new moms and their babies. That should be a good experience also.

I love my new room, it's perfect for these classes!

Shaw Update

New Year's Resolution: to do a better job of WRITING on my blog in addition to posting PICTURES.

Shaw #1
My hubby has been snow plowing since the earlier parts of December. We have had several pretty good-sized snowstorms that have kept him out all hours of the day/night. The few days of snowplowing are always interesting for our family because Daddy is home during the day, yet he is asleep or falling asleep on the couch. The boys learn to be quiet.
Hubby has also had a break from his class to become a certified arborist. The College of Western Idaho has been on Christmas break, and so has he! He starts back up again at the end of the month, but he only has a handful of classes left before he has to take his exam in March.
Hubby has been enjoying the work of setting up his new shop. I'll post pictures when he is done. He got lots of new "toys" to play with for Christmas from my fabulous door buster finds on Black Friday.

Shaw #2
I have been REALLY BUSY (no surprise there!) with all of my different home businesses. I got a little bit of transcription work in early December. I worked on getting set up for my new semester of private music instruction. I currently have 13 students and I hope to still add a few more to my numbers before we get to much further into the semester. I am also teaching two Kindermusik courses this winter: Village (baby class) and ABC Music & Me (month-to-month class for 2-6 year olds). I have a handful of families enrolled, but I can't WAIT until I can add to my numbers in this as well!!! Pray for contacts and enrollments!!! I want to use my new room!!! ;-) Creative Memories is going strong. I am hoping for some new business this month. I have more capability to hold events here at the house, which should really boost sales and attendance! In other news, I have had some struggles with my health recently, but am doing okay now... just pray for strength and for me to relax. My mom told me recently that I am a worry-wort! This I know, and this I am striving to "cut it out!"

Shaw #3
Mr. Spiderman is doing MUCH BETTER in school. At the beginning of the year he had a hard time following instruction, keeping quiet during class, and often stayed in from recess. Recently the reports at pick-up have been "he had an AWESOME day, today!" and just this week he was moved up in his reading groups. He is starting to read, I can't believe it!!! Where has the time gone?! He's a smart boy and we are super proud of his accomplishments. He did awesome in his Christmas concert (you maybe saw the posts) and will be starting piano lessons with me this month. He got lots of great presents at Christmas that are keeping him busy, including a Tag Reading System, VTech video game system, Star Wars figures, and a almost Spiderman-sized dinosaur from his Uncle. That was a fun box to receive in the mail!

Shaw #4
This little guy is a H-A-N-D-F-U-L! He is walking, almost running, everywhere he goes. He gets into everything possible. We have moved books off of shelves. Locked cabinet doors. Next project is to figure out how to baby-proof the broiler drawer on the oven, the desk drawers and the kitchen trashcan. Any ideas?! He still doesn't say mama, but we're working on waving and he is starting to point to things he wants, definitely wanting to communicate with us! He is very funny to watch and we enjoy him every minute of every day. What a blessing! I am so grateful to the Lord that LOVE MULTIPLIES! I never knew I could love my boys this much. :)

I would tell you about our canine Shaw #5, but he's just the same-old-crazy-dog he's always been. Not much to say there... :)

Hopes for 2010
~Improve our Financial Situation... implementing the "envelope method" of spending, getting rid of our debt, paying off the truck so we can buy another family vehicle, etc.
~Read more. Currently "The Search for Significance" but wanting to read other devotionals, books to read as a couple, reading TO and WITH Spiderman, sharing the love of books with Baby, and hopefully finding some just plain FUN books to read before bed each night for me. I think I may start the Jane Austen books this year...
~Certified Arborist status for Hubby so that he can get a raise, more responsibilities at work, and maybe some stuff on the side. He would like to up his clientele for spring rototilling to 20 customers this year.
~Family Vacation(s) including some really exciting places and maybe some visits with other extended family members.
~Bike riding. Fishing. Hunting. Exploring. Hiking. Camping. Just being OUTDOORS and with our BOYS!
~Lots and lots of scrapbooking. I haven't seriously scrapbooked since Baby's birth... I am in serious withdrawal.
~And I am sure there is more, but I will just have to share that as the year goes on.

I would love to hear YOUR hopes for 2010...

Giveaway

One of the blogs that I read to find all of my deals is offering an amazing giveaway this week. So in an effort to win, I am leaving this blog entry with a link to her awesome site!!!

www.moneysavingmom.com

Because I am a money-saving-mom!!!

Whered I Go?

I have been spending up all my blogging time here: Kindermusik with Natalie Shaw so I just haven't had time to blog on my own site. Sorry. Hopefully that will change soon... I have a funny video of Spiderman's review of school. Maybe I can get that loaded tonight...

Quick Round-Up of July

July was a VERY busy month for our family. Here's what we did!

• First July 4th at our House. Loved watching our crazy neighbors set off fireworks. Enjoyed our family being with us in our backyard!
• Mama flew with the boys to Philadelphia. Visited Grandma and Grandpa. Went to a working dairy and fed some animals. Ate some ice cream (yummers!). Visited with extended family.
  
• Mama went to Hazleton, PA to visit with some friends from youth group/FCBC and took Baby. Spiderman stayed with G+G for a fun weekend alone! They went to Ocean City, NJ and a small zoo.
  
• Visited with Grandmom and Grandpop in Carlisle for a week. Enjoyed their pool and a church picnic. Went to Lake Tobias (wildlife park) and enjoyed the petting zoo. Spiderman found a peacock feather and we brought it home... it's around here somewhere...
• Took G+G to the doctor several times for some medical problems, hopefully that is all better now! Went for walks and enjoyed their property. Drove Gpop's really awesome new lawn mower!
• Came home at the same time as Uncle C and even flew on the second flight next to him! That was great fun for Spiderman who pretended to be the pilot the whole way from SLC to home. We were his co-pilots and assistants.
• Hung out with Uncle C for several days. Lost my voice. Tried to do a gig with T2 but failed miserably. Started getting my voice back in time for our camping trip to Grandjean.
  
• Camped in Grandjean at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains. GORGEOUS! Hiked my butt off. It nearly killed me. It wasn't really hiking; more like blazing a trail! Went to Redfish Lake in Stanley. Also really beautiful! Wilderness experiences out west are so much better than PA!!!
• Went to a Hawks game to celebrate Hubby's 31st birthday! Caught some balls at the end... that was fun!
• Enjoyed the fact that Baby can now say "Bababa" and "Dadada" and can scoot around the floor, including pivoting which is hysterical, sit himself up, stand holding onto something, and eat solid foods. He's growing up so fast and is learning so much! I can tell already that he is going to be a HAND-FULL!!!
• Started purchasing school supplies! Spiderman starts Kindergarten on August 25! Can't believe it. Wow.
  

My Awesome Deals Today!

Here are some highlights from today's shopping trip:

8 Airfreshener Sprays for $3 (.37 cents each) and... BTW... since I live in a house of all Shaw Boys... I totally need this!!!

Airfresh i-Motion (originally $11.99) for $2.49 ... this is for the baby's room because it will "see" us when we come in to change a diaper and freshen the room!

(2) Airfreshmatics (also $11.99 each) for $1.49 ... these can be set to spray when we want...

(6) Hamburger Helper boxes (originally $2.50 each) for $4.20 (.70 a box) ... for nights when I need a QUICK dinner that my five-year-old will actually eat!

(6) Easy Mac Cups for $1.35 (.22 ea) ... again fast lunches for a 5yo.

(2) Miracle Whip jars for $1.49 ea ... Hubby's favorite!

I also got a FREE DiGiorno Flatbread Melt and a Butternut Squash for 2 cents!!!

My total savings for the shopping trip was $83.50 and now I have .50 cents off a gallon next time I fill up on gas!!!

I'm a Hip and Krazy Money Saving Mom!

So my sister recently opened my eyes to the world of coupon-shopping. I thought that because I often use coupons when going to the store that I knew what I was doing... way wrong!!!

This new found way of shopping involves lots of planning, but it's well worth it. I saved over $300 in groceries just in six days of shopping. Here are some of the websites that I visit to help me accomplish this:

www.krazycouponlady.blogspot.com
www.hip2save.com
www.moneysavingmom.com

You can do it, too! Just get a subscription to a newspaper (or three!) and start clipping and printing coupons!!!
What you see above doesn't include the items we've started using, toiletry items and what's in the fridge and freezer. But the majority of what I did happened when a store was having a sale or promo on a brand/product - stacked with a manufacturer coupon(s) and/or store coupon(s). The key is buying things when you can stack the coupons, double the coupons, and maximize when you can get more than one. Some of the items in the picture were even free!!! Yes, you can shop and come home with LOTS of free items if you do it just right!

Video Bar

I have added a new video bar on the right so that I don't have to keep uploading videos on here separately. So check my Youtube channel to view our little family in action! You can select the title of each video (underneath video viewer screen) and it will take you to our YouTube page to watch some of the other ones we have on there!

My Saturday

This week my hubby had to go to work on Saturday. He didn't work Wednesday due to weather conditions. Most of the employees weren't too thrilled with the idea... but thankfully it did enable Mr. Oz to stay home on the day that he was feeling pretty sick (cold/fever)... so it worked out for us! So, since we didn't have Daddy on the day we normally do, I tried to copy some of the things that Spiderman is used to doing on Saturday!

We went outside and worked in the flower gardens. He helped me pull weeds and toss them over the back fence (not into the neighbors yard, into the space between yards!). Then he helped me rake the dirt and he attempted to hoe, but almost hoed my head, so I put a stop to that. We played baseball for awhile and I have to say that he is GOOD! He can hit them really far and hits almost every pitch (except for some of the "balls" I was throwing... guess I am not as good of a pitcher as Daddy). I also did Mr. Oz's usual Saturday job of cleaning up after Cooper in the back yard. Ick.

Then we moved to the front yard and cleaned up the two raised beds. Unfortunately they need some more dirt because of some of it washing away over the year... so I cleaned out the mulch so that we can get the dirt where we want it, plant flowers, and then remulch them.

I also cleaned out the car, which really needed to happen!

Meanwhile, little Baby played with his toys in the play pen that I purchased at a yard sale last summer for $2! It was great! He was happy for quite awhile in there!!!

Today Baby and I are home from church... a week of interrupted sleeping (including last night at 4:40) and fevers and coughing and blowing noses has done me in! Today I am going to attempt to put Baby back on his schedule and make sure he gets his naps, which is really hard to do on Sundays.

Have a great day!

Family Update

Mr. Oz:
Working steadily at his job at Senske. He is currently a foreman for their maintenance department. Not his first choice, but he's making it work. Thankfully he has been getting some overtime the past few weeks... to balance out the few weeks where he struggled to get even 30 hours. He has advertised on Craigslist for tilling gardens and he has his first job this Saturday. He recently mentioned to me something to the effect of "maybe I should just be doing this job on my own ["you mean like owning your own business?"], yeah, I could make more money that way..." Etc... so maybe he's starting to decide what career path to take.

Spiderman:
Loving the warmer weather! We have taken some walks, gone to the park, played with Cooper in the backyard... and it's been good! Last night his Daddy finished reading "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" to him. We are celebrating by watching the *new* movie version of it tonight as a family. He has been registered/enrolled in Kindergarten for the fall. He will be attending Nampa Classical Academy (a new school that is just opening Fall 09). The school will be in portables for the first year as they begin building the three buildings: Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. There will be grassy areas and playgrounds this fall. They are starting with the Gymnasium building so that hopefully by winter they can begin using it. We are trying to work out the whole uniforms situation at this point... caught a 30% coupon for Kohls and started purchasing some of the required pieces with it! The school is 4.5 miles away (10 mins) and so I will be driving him to school in the AM and then he will take the bus home, door-to-door drop offs. Currently he is showing off his black-eye... trampoline accident... but he hardly cried! He's such a big boy!

Baby:
Going on 3 1/2 months now... coos and laughs and giggles, which everyone loves! Every Sunday we don't see much of him because his extended family likes to have him sit with them during the service. :) He's into his 3-6 month clothes which include some really cute outfits that I loved putting on his big brother when he was a baby. He's completely chunky, but looks just like Spiderman did. It's really cool to see the same eyes, same nose, same pudgy cheeks (that I unfortunately share as well!)... Not quite ready to sit up, but he really wants to!

Da'Mama:
Getting ready for an upcoming transcribing job... preparing for my students' Spring Recital (piano and voice)... researching and planning to take a course to get licensed to teach Kindermusik starting this fall... bringing out our summer clothes and putting away the sweaters... cleaning the house... trying some new recipes... enjoying some movies and books... and making some new friends at church (including a weekly trip to Storytime with a friend and her son)... A pretty great life!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

The above video was taken about a week ago when Baby started laughing.

You can also see how fat he's getting. What a healthy little chunker!

I also wanted to include a picture of me ... this was done by my sweet nephew.