Out with the Old

Since we moved back in the Spring, I have been on a mission to get rid of things we don't need to hang onto anymore.  This process has been longer than I thought...mainly because I couldn't even think of doing it back when it was the end of school and now that it's summer, I'm doing while trying to entertain a 4 year old at the same time.  And my goodness she is a lot more fun than going through boxes.  :)

When I was younger I used to want to keep everything.  I couldn't even go outside when my parents had garage sales because I would get too emotional.  But with my own house, keeping things means clutter and I hate clutter, so it's much easier for me to get rid of things. 

Tonight though, got kind of tough again.  When K was itty bitty I apparently kept every single thing she had.  As she got bigger, I was wiser and got rid of a lot of things and only kept the really special pieces.

So as Cody and I were clearing out the garage some more tonight (I WILL be able to park my car in it again before school starts - I just have to keep telling myself that) we came across three tubs of baby clothes.  These were the baby clothes from when she was first born and from the first few months after. 

K was five and half weeks early, so she was tiny.  Something about going through those clothes tonight and seeing how small they were hurt my heart.  How is it that she is turning 5 this year?  It just doesn't seem possible that amount of time has already passed.

But I was very proud of myself.  I quickly went from 3 tubs full of baby clothes, to one tub not even halfway full and 5 trash bags of clothes for Mission Arlington.  I kept her first Christmas dress, baby dedication dress, her first Halloween costume, and a few other special outfits.  I also kept her first Rangers hat of course!  :) 

Cody knows me well enough to get things done when I say or else I might change my mind.  So that sweet husband of mine took all of those bags to Mission Arlington tonight.

At 9:30 at night. 

He was not taking any chances y'all.  ;)

Blast from the Past

Y'all.

Last night was awesome.  Seriously.  I had so much fun!  I woke up this morning and had to remind myself that it actually happened.

Now, I've been to concerts plenty of times, but last night was a concert I have been looking forward to for...oh about 20 years.  No lie.

Last night I got to see Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees, and...wait for it...New Kids on the Block.

For real.

When I found out they were coming, it was too late to get floor seats, but goodness knows I would have shelled out the money for them.  20 years people.  20 years I've wanted to see them.  They were the first band that I totally loved.  I even wrote them a letter when I was in second grade begging them to come perform at my school - complete with the set list I wanted in the order I wanted it in.

Apparently I've been a list girl from a very early age.  :)

I just knew back then that if Joey met me, it would have been over.  He would instantly fall in love and the rest would be history.

So, yes the floor seats were gone, but I bought two tickets from the seats that were left.  When I printed the tickets I was devastated to see the words, "Behind Stage" on them, but they were still in the platinum level of the American Airlines Center, so they were not nosebleed seats.  Turns out  that behind stage was actually awesome because we could see each band before they came on stage.  We saw them pray, jump, high five each other, etc.  Y'all - it was so great.  The concert also had two stages and the main one was a circle and each member of each band moved around quite a lot, so it's not like we missed anything.  So I pouted for nothing, because the seats were great.

Cody and I took the TRE into Dallas so we didn't have to worry about parking and what not.  I was happy of course on the ride over there, but as soon as we walked in I got giddy.  It was like all of a sudden I was transported back to my elementary and junior high self and finally getting to do what I didn't get to do then.

First up was Boyz II Men.  Now, honestly I wasn't expecting a lot out of them.  They were of course, down a member, but my goodness it didn't make a difference.  They were hands down amazing.  The first song they sang was "On Bended Knee."

Whoa.  Wow.  Hello.

I don't even know what else to say.  But it got better y'all.  Crazy better.  They even sang "Yesterday", "Motown Philly" (I thought my husband was going to cry), and "End of the Road."

Now, "End of the Road" is a song that played in my life soundtrack.  You see, my husband has this theory that I've always treated my life as if I was living in a romantic comedy...and I think there is some truth (okay, a lot) to that.  So, when I wanted to break up with the guy I was "dating" in 7th grade, I waited until they played this song at the school dance and broke up with him during the talking part of the song.

I'm not kidding.  If you didn't think I was a huge dork yet, now you know the ugly truth.  ;)

To sum it up: Boyz II Men = Amazing

Then it was 98 Degrees.  Two words friends - Nick Lachey.

That's all you need to know.  Yes, they sang some weird new songs that nobody really knew.  Yes, some of them didn't dance as well as they used to.  But they did sing, "The Hardest Thing" and "I Do" so everything was right in the world.

Nick Lachey y'all.  Nick Lachey.

Moving on....

They had a break between 98 Degrees and NKOTB.  The anticipation was paired with a great selection of awesome 90s music being played where the whole crowd was singing along.  Hardly anyone was leaving because nobody wanted to chance missing the start of NKOTB.  Cody was singing along to pretty much every song quietly, but then Marky Marky came on and he couldn't contain himself and busted out with every single word.

I married a keeper my friends.  ;)

That's when 3 rather intoxicated girls turned around and "woooed" him and then proceeded to ask him when he was going on tour.

I married a keeper and a stud my friends.  :)  A stud that can croon like nobody's business.

Then it happened.  The lights went down and before I knew it my crush from 2nd grade was on stage with the rest of the New Kids and I was 110% silly giddy.   Cody remarked he had never seen me like that.  Y'all - I didn't know that part of me even existed.  Cody took a video of me and I was bouncing.  Bouncing and screaming.

Who does that??

It was incredible.  Every song they sang was awesome - even some of the new ones I didn't know as well.  But they didn't let me down and sang all my favorites:

-Step By Step
-Hanging Tough
-I'll Be Loving You
-Tonight
-Cover Girl
-You've Got It (AKA - The Right Stuff)

(Apparently I lost all my senses including my ability to hit the right notes.  I swear I had years of formal vocal training and can actually sing...nobody would know it from this video though.)

But there were two songs that made my life.  Not year - life I tell you.

One I honestly hadn't thought about it years, but man, as soon as it started I teared up.

Yep.  Didn't think I would, but I did.  Not even sure why.

Like I said, I had pretty much forgot about this song, but when Jordan started singing, "Baby, I Believe in You" I almost died.  Every word came back instantly and I got goosebumps.

Who knew a song could do that to you?  I for sure didn't.

But the highlight of my night was one song.  It was my favorite song that NKOTB ever did.  I told myself, "Joey is older now.  He might not be able to sing it.  He might not WANT to sing it."

Y'all, he sang it.

And it was greatness.  Pure greatness.  I can now die a happy girl.

They'll totally sang, "Please Don't Go Girl."  I was putty.  Putty I tell you.

It wasn't even the last one, but I could have gone home 100% satisfied with the concert after that moment.

My husband was such a good sport too.  I can't imagine too many husbands that would have actually gone last night and not made a huge deal about not wanting to be there.  I will say, Cody loved Boyz II Men and had they not been there it might have been a different story for him.  I love that man and everything he does for me.  I truly am a lucky girl to have a guy that will stick around even when I act like a crazed teeny bopper.  ;)

So, I got to relive my youth last night and it was so fun.  And in one week and one day I'll be in Disney World with my family.

Pinch me y'all.  Pinch me.  :)

Watch out blog world!

Look out blog world!  I'm posting more than one recipe in a week!  I almost feel like one of those "real" bloggers...but don't hold your breath for too many more.  We all know how this blogging thing usually goes for me.

Maybe, just maybe I'll keep up with it this time, but it seems like I always go through phases of my blogging.  I'll keep up with it for about a week and half and then it will be several months until my next posts.

This could be the time to change.  Maybe.

Anywho....back to the recipe.

Because it's summer I have more time to try new recipes instead of using my "go to" recipes during the school year.  I found one online that sounded good  - and by good I mean that Cody, K, and I will all actually eat it.

So last night I made sweet and sour chicken.  It was actually really easy, but it took longer than most dinners because after it was all prepped it had to bake for an hour.  You also had to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.

But it was worth it because normally Cody will just say "Thanks" or "This is good," but last night he said several times, "This is really good babe.  I mean really good."

Score!

Here's the picture of what was left over - which wasn't much!

 

And here's the recipe: I found it here (Have to give credit when credit is due!)

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

The chicken coating:

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

The sweet and sour sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

       Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.   

There you have it.  :)

In other news....today my awesome husband is turning 30!!!  He was 17 when we started dating...weird huh?  Gosh, he's old now.  ;)

We are headed to Texas de Brazil tonight to celebrate with just the two of us.  I was going to throw a party that was 20s themed to "Say goodbye to his roaring 20s", but I just didn't get the house "party ready" in time.  :(  We still have our his game room man cave serving as a catch all for garage sale things and we still haven't moved out the big ugly shelves.  And guess where the guest bathroom is?  Yep - right off the man cave.  Cody isn't too disappointed that we're not having the party....surprisingly my normally center of attention hubby doesn't like being the center of attention on his birthday...at least he says he doesn't.  

I'm still thinking of another little something to celebrate later after our Disney trip.  (11 DAYS MY FRIENDS - 11 MORE DAYS!!!)  It can be a combo 30th birthday/our 7th wedding anniversary celebration.  I have a few ideas, but any that y'all have are welcomed too.  :)  

Down to One

I've been all about organizing since we moved - you might not believe it if you looked in my garage right now...that's a whole other story.  I did mention we moved right?  ;)

I'm also reading The Happiness Project Right Now and the main theme is basically do little things in your life to make it better.  You know, simplify, change your attitude, etc. etc.  The chapter I read last night talked about the author creating a blog.

Naturally, I started thinking back to this blog...and my blog about Kaitlyn...and my sad little excuse for a teaching blog.  About a year ago I decided to create "pages" on this blog to link my other two blogs here.  In my mind it just made more since to have 3 so that I could keep the topics separate.

What????

That seriously makes no sense to me now.  I barely keep up with this blog, so what made me think having 3 different ones would help the situation?

And guess what?  I'm not a mom one day, myself the other day, and a teacher the next.  I'm all of those things each and every day, so who cares if it's all in one blog?

So this morning I spent hours (yes, hours) copying and pasting all my old posts onto this blog.  Then I deleted my other two blogs.  The teaching one wasn't hard to delete - I barely had anything on there.

I still have no idea how those "super teachers" can teach all day and then go home and blog about every little thing in their classroom while also making some cute unit on TPT.  Not me friends - sorry.  This chick has to rest and get in some quality family time when I get home from work!

But the blog about K was really hard for some reason.

As I said, I copied the post.  I couldn't figure out how to copy the comments with it, so if you are every looking back at some of my older posts you might see a comment from me that says, "*Because I moved this from my old blog*" and then the comments from other people.  I didn't want to lose them when I deleted the post and that's how I solved the problem.

If there was a way to export the entries with the comments please don't tell me.  I'd like to think I did it the best way that there was.  Thanks.  ;)

It was still sad in a way for me to click delete on that blog...I'm not sure why.  But I did it anyway.

So now I'm down to one blog and that's the way I'm keeping it.  So who knows what you'll read on this - it might be about my daughter, my classroom, or something random about me.  :)

Welcome to my crazy life that I try so hard to keep balanced!  :)

Oven Chili Dogs

Goodness know I'm not the type of blogger that is going to make a picture perfect meal and post step by step how to make them - you know, along with all my amazing crafts, cleaning tips, blah, blah, blah.  Yeah. Stinking. Right.

But I will share a good recipe every now and then if I think someone else should make it.

You should make this one.  Trust me.

I was on a quest after eating a really yummy chili dog at one of Cody's favorite local places - Chop House Burgers.  I'm not the biggest fan of their burgers.  It's nothing against them.  I'm just not a huge fan of burgers in the first place.  Now their fries on the other hand - to die for!  They also make an awesome chili dog with this amazing crispy bun, so I decided to try to make one at home.

So, after some online "research" I found enough info to set out on my own creation based on what my family likes.

This is what I did - change to suit your family!  :)

First, I spread mustard on the inside of the buns.  Then, I chopped up some onion and sprinkled it on the bottom of the buns.  Next, I put the hot dogs in the bun (I'm kind of picky with my hot dogs and have to buy the Hebrew National beef ones).  On top of that I put chili and then grated some (okay, lots) of cheese on top.  I put them in the oven at 375 degrees until the cheese melted.

I got exactly what I was looking for.  :)  The bun was exactly the way I wanted it - crispy, but not hard.  It was super easy and very yummy!

I know it looks like we ate a lot, but I wrapped two and sent them with Cody for my brother-in-law who had two softball games back to back tonight.  ;)

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

I think someone in the preschool department of our church goofed up because we somehow have a letter on our fridge that says Kaitlyn's class will start going to what we call "big church" this Fall.  Ummm....I'm sorry, but I think it was just last Sunday that I was dropping her off in the baby room.  How did this happen??

One of the suggestions in the letter was to bring her to watch the worship part of the service before taking her to Sunday school.  Her Uncle Caleb and Mackenzie (one of our family's favorite people ever) were leading worship today, so today seemed like a perfect day to start the transition into "big church."

Here she is before the service started.  :)

So we went and it was great.  K thinks her Uncle Caleb hung the moon - and you know what?  She should.  I kind of do too.

You see, Caleb actually interviewed for the job of contemporary worship leader at our church almost a year ago.  It came down to two people - Caleb and the guy who ended up with the job.  As a family we were devastated for him.  It was exactly the job he wanted to do and it seemed like everything was falling into place at just the right time, but in the end he didn't get the job.

I'll never forget the exact moment I found out too.  It was when I knew the decision was down to two people.  I was currently on a search team for an assistant youth minister position at our church and during one of the last rounds of interviews our youth pastor said something along the lines of, "There's another young man coming on staff and he and his wife will be moving here..." About that time I'm pretty sure his voice sounded a bit like the teacher from The Peanuts cartoon because I knew it couldn't be Caleb because he didn't have a wife.  I had to fight back tears and tried to act like nothing was wrong, but all I could think about was Caleb's dream job going to someone else.  His heart was going to be broken.

And it was.  I hated hearing my husband trying to encourage him on the phone the day Caleb called to tell him he didn't get the job.  I hated knowing he was hurt and I hated seeing my husband hurt because his brother was hurting and there was nothing he could do to fix it.

But here's where the story gets amazing - at least to me anyway.

Not too many Sundays later, Caleb was up on stage at our church - not as the worship leader, but as another guitar player.  I think I need to add that Caleb had recently graduated college, so he wasn't a member of our church yet, and for sure had not been there as a musician before.  But he's been up there several Sundays since then.  He helps sing harmonies, he leads every now and then, and he helps out with the college worship on Wednesdays nights as well.  He also spent a week helping lead Children's Camp.  Caleb doesn't get paid for any of it.  He volunteers his time.  He goes to practices after he's worked a full day at his current job.  I would also add that the guy that did get the job is super talented too and does a wonderful job.  

Today I had to stop singing one of the songs because I was seriously in awe of my brother-in-law.  He was singing, "Cornerstone" which happened to be one of the songs he played for his last round of the job interview.  I watched him up there on the stage and didn't see him perform it - I saw him worship - truly worship.

To him it didn't matter that he doesn't have the job title.  He was worshiping and helping others worship.  It's an amazing gift that he was given.  Most people that got turned down for a job wouldn't go back and volunteer their time.  I'm not even sure that I would.  But Caleb put aside his pride and his hurt for a higher purpose.

I cannot count the number of people that came up to me today and told me how much they loved seeing Caleb up there.  He truly does have a wonderful talent and he uses it to honor God.  The words Caleb sang today aren't just words to a song that he sings on Sundays or Wednesdays every now and then - he truly lives out the words each day, and I couldn't be prouder to be his sister-in-law.

"Cornerstone"
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus name

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

When Darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
My anchor holds within the veil

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all
He is Lord
Lord of all

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless stand before the throne.   
 
Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all
He is Lord
Lord of all

One and Only - Part One

My sister-in-law texted me the other day telling me the name of a book that she had just seen on the Today Show.  It was called One and Only - The Freedom of Having an Only Child and the Joy of Being One. 

My SIL is an only child and we're 99% sure K is going to be one as well.  So we were both interested in reading it and I'm thankful she saw it or I might not know of the book. 

Right away I went to the library to check it out.

I cried pretty much two pages into the book.  I'm not even close to being finished...honestly I keep putting it down.  It's not because it's bad, it's just bringing up so many emotions that I wasn't even aware I had.  I want to post more later, but I also want to go ahead and get two parts down on the blog so I can refer to them again. 

The first one was at the beginning and was one of the passages that helped the tears along. 

     As parents who chose to stop at one, we have to get used to the nagging feeling that we are choosing for our own children something they can never undo.  We're deciding not to know two kids splashing in the bubble bath, playing in the pile of raked leaves, whispering under the cover of darkness, teasing each other at the dinner table, holding hands at our funerals.

See how that might bring on some tears?  More on that point later....

The other thing that hit me hard tonight was this:
(Trust me, this happens to me ALL.  THE.  TIME.  Seeing it in print though was weird to me.)

     It happens on the subway, at restaurants, on busy street corners.  If you have just one kid, it's happened to you.  It's not just relatives who have internalized the myth, it's complete strangers.  This time it happens when Dahlia and I are buying milk at the supermarket.  The cashiers fawn over her pink cheeks and applaud when she twirls for them, and then I endure the typical dialogue:
     "Your first?"
     "Yup."
     "Another one coming soon?"
     "It might just be this one."
     "You'll have more.  You'll see."
     "At the moment, I'm not planning on it."
     "You wouldn't do that to your child.  You'll see."

That really happens?  Really you say?  As I said, ALL.  THE.  TIME. 

So here's your PSA for the night - if you ever even think of saying something like that to someone - Don't.  It's not your business.  And quite frankly, it's just down right rude. 

I'm off to read some more of this book.  I'm interested and terrified at what it's going to reveal to me.  I'll be posting more about it later....stay tuned.