Easy Chicken

Our friends Doug and Amy just had a baby. I signed up to take them a meal yesterday and i chose to take "Easy Chicken." This is a tasty, easy and frugal meal that will feed a number of people at once. And best of all, you probably already have all of the ingredients you'll need for it in your kitchen!

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup of margarine
- 1 cup of diced onion (more or less, depending on how much or how little you like onions)
- 1/4 cup of flour
- 2 cups of chicken broth
- 1 cup of milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups of diced cooked chicken (i use one whole small chicken)
- Rice or pasta to serve over.

Procedure:
Saute onion in margarine. Stir in flour and cook until thick. Add chicken broth, milk, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until fairly thick. Add chicken. Serve over rice or pasta.

A middle school moment

I am wearing a (slightly tight) green maternity, long sleeved, blouse at school today.

In the middle of my lesson, a student politely raises his had.

Me: "Yes, student?"

Student: "Mrs. Morris, i don't mean to be rude, but that shirt makes you look like Kermit the Frog."

Me: *sigh*

Meal Plan

Thursday:
Lunch: Homemade cream of potato soup with crackers and a muffin.
Dinner: Parmesan pizza over garlic bread

Friday:
Lunch: Teacher appreciation week lunch provided by our PTO
Dinner: Mc's bday!!!

Saturday:
Lunch: PBJ for Byron and veggie quesadillas for myself
Dinner: I am going to leave this option open... something usually comes up Saturdays.

Sunday:
Lunch: Out with family after church
Dinner: Sloppy joes with baked french fries and coleslaw

Monday:
Lunch: Veggie quesadillas
Dinner: Sloppy joes with baked french fries and coleslaw

Tuesday:
Lunch: Cream of broccoli soup with crackers and muffin.
Dinner: Homemade wheat and apple pancakes with fruit (courtesy of the J&J Gieser)

Wednesday:
Repeat Tuesday.

23 weeks

Our little girl is 23 weeks old. To celebrate each week, Memma (my mother-in-law) always leaves a little gift for our little girl at our doorstep each Wednesday. I love driving back from school each Wednesday wondering what will be awaiting me when i get home.

A few things she has left in the past:
- A dinner meal
- Pink wash cloth
- Ice cream gift card
- A pink PJ
- Sample size baby wipes

Today, this is what greeted me at my door:

Mrs. Morris

A student of mine felt compelled to draw a picture of myself and give it to me today. He has in the past given me drawings of a turkey for thanksgiving day, or a "Merry Christmas" sign for Christmas, etc. But today he drew me. Hmmm... what do you think of it?


I must say that this was his second drawing. The first time around he only made my top go half way through my body, which meant that my stomach and belly button literally were sticking out. I told him he had to redo it and this is what he came up with.

Please notice my long earrings, my prego belly and my Spanish :)

Yard Sales

I love yard sales. I love everything about them. I love a good deal, I love the friendly faces that greet me when i arrive, I love running into people i know, I love noticing what people try to get rid of, and I love to see how things are priced.

But something strange may happen when you yard sale -- you end up with things that you did not need in the first place. Yes, they were a great deal, but... did you really need them?

So i have a few guidelines that i follow when i yard-sale:

1. I set an amount of money each Saturday and i am not allowed to go over it (usually $5, but most times i barely even go over $2).
2. I try to incorporate my yard sale route with other errands, this way i make the best use out of my gas money and get other things done at the same time (this also prevents me from feeling guilty if i don't buy anything).
3. I say "no" to an item if i know that the only reason why i picked it up was because it was a good deal.
4. And lastly, i keep a mental list of the things i am looking out for and stick to it. This last one has become particularly difficult since every other yard sale i've been to recently has had cute little girl clothes. I can proudly say that i am yet to purchase anything for my little girl at a yard sale :)

A few items that are on my mental list are:

- Maternity clothes
- A crock pot
- A small lamp shade that matches our living room
- Clothes pins
- Thank you cards
- Decoration related items for the house.

Here are a few pics of great buys i've found at yard sales / estate sales:

Three veggie (already framed) pics.

More framed pics, a lamp and one picture frame.

By far, one of my best finds - a GREAT bookshelf! Only $5 :)

Sunflower decorative plate.


Another lovely picture frame.

Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:
- 1 cup of elbow macaroni noodles (measured dry), then cooked according to the package directions
- 1/2 stick of margarine
- 3 eggs, slightly beaten
- 3/4 lb cheddar cheese
- 1 1/2 cups of milk
- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Pour cooked macaroni into a casserole dish and add margarine, then allow a few minutes for the hot noodles to melt the margarine. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Cook at 350 for one hour.

I love my Sunday afternoons!

Unlike most people, instead of spending Sunday afternoons taking a nap, i enjoy my afternoons in the kitchen. I think that cooking and trying new recipes is most definitely my favorite hobby, and Sundays are a time when i can do it without having other things on my to-do list and time restricting me. So i turn Pandora radio station on and get going in the kitchen.

Today was especially fun. In about a 2 hour period, i accomplished the following:

- Grill, peel and chop the peppers for my veggie quesadillas.
- Pre-prepare the mac and cheese casserole.
- Cut my chicken breasts into strips for my chicken fingers.
- Bake one dozen pear-oatmeal muffins
- Prepare cream of potato soup from scratch.
- And most importantly, clean up afterward.

These were all things i would have had to do throughout the week anyway, so being able to get them all done ahead of time allows me to enjoy my weekday afternoons a lot better. And as an extra bonus, doing them all at the same time is a HUGE time saver.

These are my pear-oatmeal muffins. This is my first time baking them, and they taste wonderful!

This is Nana Morris's famous mac & cheese casserole. I like to get it all ready ahead of time so that when it's time for dinner, all i have to do is stick them into the oven. No clean up and no messy counter.

Finally, this is my cream of potato soup. This was not on our weekly menu, but i realized i had 6 potatoes that were about to go bad if i didn't use them. So i tried this new recipe as well. It made exactly 3 servings. Two will go to school with me for lunch, and one of them will be for B's dinner tonight.

Gift registry

Today i began our baby gift registry. I must admit it wasn't as fun as registering for our wedding, but it was fun selecting little items that i know will soon become very important and much needed in the next few months.

Memma came with me to help me decide what things we would need: car seat, towels, wash cloths, blankets, crib-related-things, etc.

When we opened the registry, i received a little bag with a few freebies. One of the freebies was a diaper:


I am sorry, but i have a hard time seeing my little girl ever being small enough to use this diaper. If she is anything like her mommy and daddy, she will come out a long, skinny little thing :)

She moves!

Our little girl moves! At 22 weeks and 3 days, i can now clearly feel her move.

The first time i thought i felt her move was last Tuesday, April 19 during my class at ASU. It was very light and i am not entirely sure if it was even her or my stomach just growling.

Then after that day, when i would remember, i would press my hand against my belly to see if i could feel her. Again, i would feel something, but not entirely sure what it was that i felt.

But then this morning, Friday, April 29 @ 6:05 am, while Kate Middleton was being walked down the aisle by her father (yes, i watched the royal wedding), our little girl made herself clearly present.

This is the best way i can describe her movement: it feels like a very strong heart beat after running or doing intense cardio, only this time it's in your stomach. It took me a while to figure out what it was, so i put my hand on my belly, and she continued doing it. I eventually got out of my seat and woke B up to have him feel her for the first time.

What a fun day! She continued to move all morning long while at school, and then a little again during my last period.

22 weeks

Our little girl at 22 weeks!

Our little girl definitely had a growth spurt this week. This pic shows my belly sticking out more than any of my previous pics.

Date Night

One of the best things B and i have done to invest in our marriage is to have our weekly date nights. Our date nights usually consist of dinner at home and then out for coffee or ice cream. It's a time where we can be away from the dishes, the computer, the tv, the laundry, or anything else that may distract us, and where we can just sit and focus on ourselves. You'd be surprised of how different our conversations are during that 1+ hr we spend together away from home.

Amazingly enough, date nights were something that started "by accident." Byron had purchased the book "Starting your marriage right" by Dennis and Barbara Rainey while we were engaged. So once a week we would go out for coffee and read the 2-3 page chapters together and discuss it.

We found ourselves looking forward to this so much, that even after we finished the book, we continued this tradition.

So for the past (almost) 5 years, B and i have gone out for coffee every Thursday, rain or shine. With the help of Memma and Papa, we plan to continue this tradition even after our little girl comes.

Meal Plan

I am known for being very organized (or as my mom likes to call it, too rigid), but being overly organized is something that, in my opinion, has far more advantages than disadvantages:

- I never have to say no to something b/c i am having to do something last minute.
- I find myself enjoying life a lot more -- much more relaxed, time to do other things, etc.
- I never had to pull an "all nighter" in my 4 years of college.

This is one aspect of motherhood that makes me nervous. How much of this control-freak nature of mine is going to be put to test once our little girl comes? I'm sure that a lot...

All that to say that being overly organized leads me to always have a weekly meal plan. And since many of my recipes/cooking ideas come from other blogs, thought i would share mine as well. And yes, my meal plan begins halfway through the week, not on a Monday.

Thursday:
Lunch - Egg salad sandwich (hard boiled eggs, leftover chicken, celery and mayo)
Dinner - Spaghetti, salad and garlic bread

Friday:
Repeat Thursday (yes, i cook for two days)

Saturday:
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches, carrots and chips
Dinner: Out?? It's going to be a busy afternoon, so i may request a date :)

Sunday:
Lunch: Out with family
Dinner: Baked chicken fingers, salad and mac and cheese

Monday:
Lunch: Veggie quesadillas
Dinner: Repeat Sunday

Tuesday:
Lunch: School's PTO's chick-fil-a sandwich
Dinner: Parmesan pizza

Wednesday:
Lunch: Veggie quesadillas
Dinner: Repeat Tuesday

Disney 2011 part 2

Trying different flavors of soda around the world. Of course, we all agreed that Manzanita LIFT from Mexico was the best. My dear friend Lisa Plagge would agree with me as well :)

At Magic Kingdom.

Hands down the best pic of the trip. And yes, i am 19 weeks pregnant, and yes B is taking pics.

A fun pic from one of our rides.

Disney 2011

The Lord has blessed our relationship and marriage with many friends, mentors and family who love us and are just plain fun to be with. One of those special "couple" friends are the Kelleys.

Sean and Byron were "hall-mates" and later roommates throughout their college years at Wheaton College.

When we first began to hang out the four of us, Alison and i would just laugh and laugh the entire time as B & S told over and over the same stories we had already heard a million times before ... I don't care how many times i hear the "slurpy slide", 7-11, White Castle and double date stories, i still think they are the funniest things i've ever heard.

And though the stories are still there, we have managed to get past them and talk about other things. The Kelleys have unintentionally become our "travel buddies" throughout the years and love them dearly:

- Spring break 2009 - Riviera Maya
- Spring break 2010 - Visit them at Chicago
- Spring break 2011 - Disney World!

One of the many rides i did not go on, not only b/c i am pregnant, but b/c i don't like them.

At Animal Kingdom about to get soaked wet. Out of all 10 ppl who were on this ride, B and I were really the only ones who got wet :s

Out at Italy in Epcot.

The famous lasagna that B says cannot be beaten, even by Italy itself.

21 weeks

Belly at 21 weeks.

Gender party

A few pics of our little party at which we announced the sex of our pretty little girl.

Memma using both blue and pink colors.

Including both pink and blue shoes.

Joseph also cheated and used both colors.

My sister Alison drove in from Atlanta to join the little party. She wore pink, but she also thought it would be a boy.

The blue team.

The pink team.

It's a girl!

Byron wanted to use two baseball caps to tell our family whether we were having a boy or a girl. You can see the blue cap still on the table.


Only two people thought we were going to have a girl -- Nana (Morris) and Gram (Frey). Everyone else, including ourselves, were convinced we were having a boy.

We are very thankful for our little girl and can't wait to see her in four months and give her too many kisses.

It's official!

Soon after my dad passed away in November 2007, and only 5 months after we got married, a strong desire to become a mom took over me. We had decided to wait 4 years before we had any children and Byron was committed to that timing.

The desire was still there, sometimes stronger than other times. Byron would not even talk about tentative dates of when we would "begin" to try to have children.

Then on September 13, 2010 on my 26th birthday, when i was in bed ready to go to sleep, he said: "i do have one last gift for you -- let's start a family!" I remember crying a little, a little nervous, a little excited. The time had come!

Then on December 21, 2010, while in Mexico, i kept thinking about whether i was pregnant or not. Byron was in the States at the time, and told me to just go ahead and take the test to get it out of my mind. So at 11:30 pm i took a pregnancy test that came out positive. I immediately called Byron and told him the news.

Though sad Byron was not with me at the time, i was grateful to have been able to tell my mom and aunt in person.

This is a picture of me entering the kitchen ready to tell my mom she was going to be a grandmother.

Then on January 11 we had our first doctor's appointment and we had our first baby pic.

Reporte

Aparentemente mas de unas cuantas personas estaban leyendo nuestro blog. Mucha gente me ha preguntado: "sigues con el blog?" Y realmente habia yo dejado escribir por cuestiones de mi trabajo. Me daba miedo decir algo que pudiera ser usado en mi contra, pero en realidad, puedo ser mas discreta y seguir escribiendo en mi blog exclusivamente de nuestra nueva vida en los EEUU y no de la escuela. En fin, eso tratare de hacer.

Byron y yo llevamos dos meses y medio en nuestra nueva casa. Por 2 meses no teniamos donde sentarnos mas que en nuestra cocina, pero esta semana llegaron los muebles para nuestra sala (por fin!) y ayer compramos los muebles para nuestro "cuarto de entretenimiento". Nos ha costado un ojo de la cara, pero nuestro plan maestro es que estos muebles nos duren la eternidad. Gracias a Dios los dos tenemos trabajo y ahorros suficientes para amueblar la casa poco a poco. Pero todavia hay mucho por hacer y lo haremos poco a poco.

No tenemos fotos suficientes todavia. Siento que no hay nada para mostrar aun, pero eso no es cierto. Un dia de estos veran nuestro nuevo hogar :)

Algo que he estado disfrutando mucho desde que nos mudamos a los EEUU son nuevas recetas. Por alguna razon (y perdonenme por esto) no soy muy de comer comida mexicana, asi que cuando en mexico cuando queria cocinar comida americana, no podia por falta de ingredientes como queso cheddar, bisquick, y tipos de especies y carnes que no habian en mexico. Pero ahora cada semana hago algo distino. Uno de mis favoritos fue anoche cuando prepare "dedos de pollo".... mmmmmmmmm. Muy rico y muy facil de hacer. Otro que disfruto mucho es hacer pan con nuestra maquina. Solo poner los ingredientes y VUALA, el pan esta listo y fresco. :)

La navidad se hacerca, al igual que nuestros planes para regresar a mexico. No hemos comprado los boletos, pero parece que estaremos en "el sur" finales de diciempre y principios de enero. Realmente queriamos estar en mexico en enero para la boda de Luis y Cris :p pero mi trabajo no me lo permitia, asi que ni modos. Estaba tan emocionada de tal vez poder ir a la Blas por unos dias y meter mi nariz en salones donde no me incumbia estar :p jaja. Pero ni modos. Tendre que ver a todos mis antiguos colegas durante las vacaciones.

Esta semana es semana de dia de gracias (thanksgiving). Al parecer Alison y Don Roberto (su novio) vendran por un dia, pero nada es seguro todavia. Al parecer ha tenido una semana de horrores con su coche que fue llevado por la grua y con multas y todo. Asi que todavia no estamos seguros de sus planes. Mientras tanto, yo tendre 3 dias libres (!!!!) los cuales pasare comiendo, descansando, comiendo, de compras, comiendo, viendo tele, comiendo, y tal vez leyendo un libro... ya veremos :p La pasaremos con los Morrises y primos y tios y toda la familia. Por los que no lo saben, la familia de Byron es mas grande que la de los Charruf (que nos de verguenza :p). Los Charrufs somos 20 nietos. En la familia de Byron son 22!!! Pero creo que si contamos todos los bisnietos, creo que los Charrufs ganamos por uno o dos :p

En fin, besos a todos. Mi chamba me tiene de puntas todos los dias :) Cada dia una aventura y una historia que contar, pero muchos me dan una razon para sonreir y quererlos mucho :)

L