Delicious Chicken Enchiladas

Another hit in our home! My chicken enchiladas!

Ingredients

1 can chicken broth
1 can chili no beans
1 can green enchilada sauce (mild for us)
3-4 good size chicken breasts (cooked and chopped)
5-6 large tortillas
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mont. jack cheese
6 oz cream cheese
Chopped onion


Preheat oven 375

In a sauce pan, warm on medium the chili and enchilada sauce (stir occasionally)

In another saucepan, warm on low chicken broth

Cook chicken in frying pan ( I season with garlic salt)

Once chicken is cooked, chop it up and mix it with 6 oz of cream cheese. once that is mixed well, add 1/2-3/4 cup of mont jack and 1 cup of cheddar. Add in chopped onion. mix well.

Take a tortilla and dip it fully in the chicken broth, lay in the 9x13 dish, fill with the chicken mixture and roll up...do this for all tortillas. After all the tortillas are filled, pour the remaining chicken broth into the chili/enchilada mix, stir and then pour over the enchiladas. Add the remaining cheese on top.
Bake for 45 min  (uncovered).

Serve with salsa and sour cream!

Easy Italian Meatballs

Tonight I made Italian meatballs for dinner and they were a hit...the kids loved them and I know sometimes it's hard to find an easy meal like that so I thought I'd share :) It took me about 5 minutes to prep and 20 to cook!

Italian Meatballs

1 Small onion chopped
1 egg
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/3 cup of parmesan
1 TBSP of Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 lb ground beef
1/3 cup Italian dried bread crumbs

In a medium bowl combine onion, egg, worchestershire sauce,parmesan, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic powder...mix well.

Mix in beef...once combined, mix in the bread crumbs.

(Made about 24 meatballs)

Greased baking sheet (I put foil down, easier clean up). 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Homeschool organization

Homeschool organization! For me that's everything from our weekly lesson planning to meal planning, to cleaning schedules! Last year was my first year and I feel a bit more on top of things this year because for the most part, I know what to expect :) I thought I'd share what I'm doing because I have learned from some inspiring veteran mom blogs out there and if for some random reason someone reads my blog, I hope this inspires them in some way too, just like I have been inspired and encouraged by those other ladies. First of all, keeping a clean and tidy home is important to me, but managing my time in order to do it is the hard part! So last year I came up with a cleaning schedule and it made such a difference for me! So here it is! Also, having meals planned out ahead of time saves me time and money...I go grocery shopping on Fridays and do food prep for the week so if I have all my meals planned out, my list is super easy to make and follow :) I got some of this from my favorite blogger "confessionsofahomeschooler.com" so be sure to check her out, she has AMAZING ideas for life! So now that I have those basic wife/mother duties figured out...I am left with homeschool organization and planning! I decided to use a "workbox" system this year but I am limited on space so I used wall file holders instead...Basically, each pouch has a file folder for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (those are the days I homeschool-the kids go to school Thursdays and Fridays)...I have also made a calendar that coincides with the pouches so I can just look at my calendar to see what we are doing and then put each paper/book/assignment in the files. I will have Thursdays be my "teacher planner" days where I put the following weeks stuff in the folders...Come Monday, everything will be ready to go! I chose to teach the kids the same for History and Science and then Math and Language Arts will be their grade level. We will also be doing Spanish this year! The school had a rosetta stone homeschool program so I am super excited to use it with the kids! Well here are some pics of our homeschool area! I also have examples of my workbox calendar...I have it planned out til Christmas break! Yay me :) Here is our area...we also have a wall for morning activities like calendar, weather, time, question of the day (which will either be from science or history)...And our white board will have their sight words...I will also use it when teaching Kamryn reading lessons (from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons-DISTAR reading program-Which I HIGHLY recommend!!) IF anyone is curious what curriculum we are using this year here it is: Math: Saxon Language Arts: Explode the Code and other workbooks Science: Apologia: Human Body History: Mystery of History-Volume 1- Creation to Resurrection Spanish- Rosetta Stone and Speedy Spanish Primer 1 Well that's about it! I am so thankful that I get to do this!

Organization, decluterring and getting ready for 2014 School year!

Wow, I can't believe it's almost time for another school year to begin! 2 in school this year is pretty exciting for me and if I am honest, a little intimidating...So knowing myself, I prepared EARLY this year, and started major organization...the more organized I am in the beginning, the easier and more smooth things will go throughout the year, right?! :) I can hope! I absolutely loved homeschooling last year, the time spent with my kids and the opportunities I have had to teach Kolby not only "school" stuff but also life lessons...and most importantly God was in every subject and lesson. School was out in June but the lessons haven't stopped! I think the biggest lesson we are working on right now is greed/discontentment with what we have, our circumstances, and our choices or lack there of...the only thing we ever always have a choice of is our attitude and unfortunately too often I see my kids choosing a negative attitude with TOO much complaining. I have been studying Ecclesiastes this summer and one point Solomon makes is that we need to watch out for our love of money (and "Stuff") because it won't make us happy, it will only encourage us to want more and more (GREED/COVETING)...nothing ever satisfies, it's all vanity. While self examining my own desires and attachments to things, I realized that we breed greed in America. We have SO much stuff, excess in pretty much every area of our lives, and we continue to want more! I am guilty of this at times and my children are definitely guilty as well. So how do we teach our kids and raise them to NOT be this way in a society and culture that breed this greed? I have no idea, but Im going to try and battle it because it only creates unthankful hearts which is the exact opposite of what we are supposed to have...we are supposed to be filled with thanksgiving and praise to God in EVERY circumstance. So here is what I have done, and I am praying fervently that it will help! 1.) Had a chat with my kids, told them my concerns and shared with them how fortunate we are, I showed them a touching video of kids in Africa, who have nothing, not even clean water, yet they wore the most beautiful smiles on their faces- this actually worked how I had hoped it would...it gave the kids a visual and a better understanding of who these "kids" are when I tell them there are kids in the world who have nothing...and now they want us to adopt one of the kids ;) So as a compromise, we will be "adopting" a child and sending money each month...They are very excited! 2.) we went through ALL their toys and they were allowed to keep 10 items/types of toy. We got rid of everything else. Kamryn has barbies and was allowed to keep 5 (as "one" toy) and got rid of 8 just like Kolby was allowed to keep all his millions of legos :) You know, they honestly haven't missed anything... 3.) We went through ALL of their clothes...They were allowed to keep a certain number of each type of clothing (ie. Kam loves dresses so she got to keep 7...mind you we got rid of about 10) I let them pick out what they wanted to keep and they did SO good with it...if they had me their number but came across a few more items, they just traded what they would rather have. I was seriously SO proud of them. We donated 3/4 of their clothes and they were very happy to do so... 4.) Thankful wall- They can add daily to it with things they are thankful for...I haven't got this up yet but we will be starting this Monday when we start school! 5.) Once a week, we write a thoughtful note or thank you note to someone of their choice. 6.)We will be doing a character study this year in homeschool! Now before you start to judge me for being "mean" to my kids, know that I TOO went through ALL of my stuff and got rid of 3/4 of my clothes as well...It was very easy for me to do theirs and to expect them to do it with a good attitude which they did, but when I came to my room, I had such a sinful heart and did not want to do it...but about halfway through, God changed my heart and I was SO happy to get rid of my excessive clothes and God really opened my eyes to see how I am my children's example...I can do all those things that I wrote about above but what will make the biggest difference in their lives is how I live my life not just in words but in deeds. God is so good and I seem to always learn such amazing lessons myself, when I am trying to teach my children... Here's ALL our bags of clothes!

Now beyond those HUGE lessons for me and the kids, as I said before, I started getting organized for homeschool in July and I am so glad I did because I am READY for school to start next week :) Woohoo! I am so excited about our curriculum this next year! We are studying the human body in Science, the Mystery of History-Creation to the Crucifixion, Spanish, Language arts and of course good old Math! I am using a workbox system this year and I have my calendar organized for school up through December! Yay me! (Ill post some pics of our school area another time) And I decided to go back to monthly meal planning! I literally have it planned out for every meal/snack...I know that seems like a lot and for some people that would be absurd, but I work SO much better being organized, the less organized, the more stressed I get and so I am being proactive...but I am also very ok with NOT following all my calendars and schedules to the T...life happens and I am ok with that...I think that's another huge lesson I am currently learning and I can say with God's help, I am learning to let things go, and let the Spirit lead me...Praise God for that...I am also learning to say no to doing things...this all may seem like a lot to some of you reading this but to me, it's not...I often do WAY too much and lose my peace...in bible study, I read this quote that John Wesley said and it is something that I try to remember daily... " Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry, because I never undertake more work than I can go through with calmness of spirit." It might seem like a "duh" kinda statement but I had never realized that...now I have been really trying to examine and consider all I put on my plate, if I feel like it will take away my calmness, I say no or I let go of something else so I can do it. Again, I want to be an example to my kids and this world is all about keeping busy and I really dislike being busy, when it comes to running around and such...so keeping a balanced plate is good for me and my family and being wise about what activities we do is also very important. We haven't done sports yet and I am thinking this year will be our first...and I am ok with that but will not let it become an idol in our lives (when I was a kid, sports was my idol-I played sports every weekend on traveling teams) With God's help, we will put sports and any other extra curricular activity in its proper place: after God, church and family...Well I want to leave you with some mom encouragement from one of my favorite blogs (confessionsofahomeschooler.com) , this chart on Super mom vs Abiding mom...it blesses me everytime I read it..and I hope it does you too!

Kids & Learning...Focus on the Family message

Driving home the another night, I was listening to Focus on the Family on Praise and was immediately captured by the discussion topic...how our children learn...within minutes I was laughing because as they described the different learning styles, I could think of specific examples of my kids, and could see which learning style they had...I don't know about you but I fail as a parent daily...and this message reminded me of a few things and opened my eyes to some core issues that will hopefully help me as a mom with all the day to day stuff and if you listen to it, I pray that it encourages you and helps you too! http://www.focusonthefamily.com/popups/media_player.aspx?&FAMILYTYPE=null&Tab=Shows&subcategory=FamilyNewsInFocus

Can't believe she is almost 1!

I can't believe my sweet girl is almost 1! We have so much fun with her! I can't imagine life without her :)

Back to Blogging! Update....

Well, it's been a long time! I can't believe the last post was about my decision to homeschool! We are half way through Kindergarten and I LOVE IT! God has been faithful to me through this journey and He has provided me with the strength, patience, discipline and wisdom I need to homeschool. Kolby is doing great in school...his best, most favorite subject is math...but I think it's because he is good at it :) One thing I have learned is that he doesn't like making mistakes, or getting things wrong. Hmmm, sounds a bit like myself. For me, the hardest part about homeschooling isn't teaching him to read, write or do math...it's teaching him how to deal with success and failure in a healthy, godly way. The most rewarding and exciting part has been those little moments where I see something "click"...like when I was teaching him how to count by 2s and 5s and through that, he did multiplication, by no means is he doing that yet but it was incredible to see him do it. Teaching him to read has been very challenging (in part because of the way he handles getting things wrong) but I began using the DISTAR reading program and it is working SO good and it's "clicking"! Outside of homeschooling, Kolby is doing great, he is growing into a nice, respectful, kind boy. He has a great group of friends from school and church and I am SO thankful that the Lord has provided him with such good friends, from godly families. For fun he loves swimming, riding his bike, playing football (he is a huge fan of the 49ers-brainwashed by my brother and stepdad!)playing the wii with his big sister Randi, having play dates with friends (he is VERY social) going to AWANA and of course, his favorite hobby is deer hunting-he is Deven's "mini-me". Now onto Kamryn, my sweet and sassy girl. She is still full of personality and is a little love bug half the time and a sassy pants the other half (we are working on changing that! but she is my daughter so who knows if we can help her ;)lol ) She is doing great in preschool. At the beginning of the year she had separation anxiety when she went to AWANA and preschool but now she feels at home and does great. She is always a little hesitant with new places and people so we are working on learning how to deal with that and move past those anxious feelings. Once she is over those feelings, she is a very loud, social girl. She is the most girly girl ever! She loves: pink, jewelry, swimming, sparkles, dolls, Tinker Bell, playing dress up, wearing ballet dresses and dancing around, playing with stuffed animals (she sleeps with about 30 of them, I AM NOT JOKING!), books and movies. She is such a lovey girl, she cries if she doesn't get a hug or kiss from one of us if we leave...She loves her brother and sisters and giggles all the time at Kolyn, I just love watching them all play together. Kolyn gets SO excited when she sees the kids. She is turning into quite the "opinionated", determined girl. She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to tell you (sounds familiar!) Her soy allergy is calming down, I still try not to give her soy, but occasionally if I do eat it (I'm still nursing), it doesn't seem to affect her like it used to. Her 2 bottom teeth popped through last week and she is a fast army crawler, and started standing and walking along things (just a little bit). The poor kid hasn't been able to have a regular schedule because of the older kids' activities. She handles it well though, so I can't complain. Speaking of can't complain...Randi, she is almost 14 and she is such a pleasant, sweet teen. We have so much fun with her...This summer we sent her to horse camp and she found a new love, HORSES...this summer my grandma and grandpa got a horse named Piper for us to take care of and ride. We go every week to work with her, clean stalls, feed the horses (they have 7) and just to be around them. She is always so happy there, no matter what the chore is and she is always happy when we leave. I am SO thankful she has this opportunity. Well I think that's about it for the kiddos. Deven and I are doing great, he still works in Seattle all week but we are just so thankful for his job and with it, I am able to stay home with the kids, so even though it may be a struggle in some ways, it is a struggle that brings about a blessing. Deven works hard for us and when he isn't working, he is being a great dad and husband around here. Now onto me...Just busy being mommy and wife! This past month I got rid of my facebook! I can honestly say I am SO happy I did...for me it was such a distraction and the verse in 1 Thessalonians 4 that tells us: "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life,to mind your own business and to work with your hands" convicted me to the core, and for ME (not saying anyone else needs to feel this way) facebook was the complete opposite of what that verse commands of me. I am so thankful to be free of it so I can serve God, my family and anyone else who comes into my life better without such a distraction. Well...I hope to be blogging more often...my hope is to share homeschooling stories/experiences, yummy recipes and my personal thoughts on certain topics. Blessings to you!