Recipe

I made this a couple nights ago, and kept meaning to post the recipe on here, then life just got hectic as usual, and never got around to it. Jer and I really liked this. This is the second time I've made it. I actually got the recipe from a Pampered Chef party that I hosted a few years ago. It's pretty yummy. And I don't typically eat broccoli, but I eat it when I fix this. On the chicken and broccoli, I cut those up real fine using pampered chef's food chopper. That works really well, so there's no really big "chunks" in it. The recipe calls for bell pepper, and I don't put that in, due to my own picky tastes. :) Oh, and this last time, I did keep off the slivered almonds, due to the kids' high nut allergy.

The kids were "helping" me make this, this last time, and Isaiah saw me take it out of the oven, and looked at it, and said "it looks like a Christmas tree!!!" (I think he meant, Christmas wreath, but got his words mixed up). :)

Enjoy!

Chicken and Broccoli Ring

2 (8oz) pkgs refrigerated crescent rolls
2 cups coarsely chopped cooked chicken
1-1/2 cups coarsely chopped broccoli
1 cup (4oz) shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup diced red bell pepper
½ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Pantry All-Purpose Dill Mix or dried dill weed
¼ teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 egg white, lightly beaten
¼ cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 375F. In bowl, combine chicken, broccoli, cheese, bell pepper, mayonnaise, seasoning mix, salt and garlic; Mix well.

Unroll 2 (8oz) packages of refrigerated crescent rolls; separate into 16 triangles. Arrange triangles, slightly overlapping, in a circle on cookie sheet or a large round stone with wide ends 4 inches from edge- (points will extend off the edge of the cookie sheet or baking stone) Roll wide ends of dough towards center to create a 5-inch opening.

Using a large scoop, scoop filling evenly over dough in a continuous circle.

Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under dough at center to form a ring. (filling will show)

Brush with egg white, sprinkle with almonds and bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 8 servings

Got the Monday Blues...

It's Monday again. Oh the joys of Mondays. Isaiah and I are stuck inside the house this morning, as I do not really feel like getting out in the 15-19 degree weather. Brrrr! Sooo....I've allready done my workout video, played on the computer, checked out my friends' blogs, watched Barney with Isaiah, folded and put away 2 loads of laundry, and it's now 11:30 something in the morning, and we have one hour until Lilly gets off the bus. Hence, my clip art for today. I'm bored. Yea, there's so much I could be doing, but nothing that I want to do, or that is inticing enough to motivate me.

Let's see......what's going on over here?

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Isaiah is doing much better. We think, he did indeed, have chicken pox. Because he was vaccinated, it was a mild form of it, so it was pretty painless. Not much itching or complaining. Pretty much all gone now. It was pretty much gone by Fri night. So he got to play with his cousins Sat night, and we all got to go to church yesterday.

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Saturday night, Jer took me out on a date. :) Been way too long. We went and saw the movie, "Marley and Me". Have you seen it? I wouldn't recommend it, unless you love really really sad movies. I hate sad movies. I cried. I left the theatre feeling bummed and sad. What a great date! lol. After about an hour though, I pulled myself out of my bummed state, and we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. That was good! Nothing like a big-fat-loaded with calories-rich-cheesecake to make you happy again!!!! All in all- it was a good, much needed, been-way-too-long-since-our-last date.

But now, we're back to reality. Back to Monday. Jer's back to work. Lil Lil's back to school. Zayers and I are just chillin at home. Any suggestions of things to do?

What do you think??

Well, here he is.........any doctors or nurses out there? What do you think???

Isaiah...

I was so excited yesterday for all my plans I had today, tomorrow and Friday. Stuff planned.....appts, church, lunch date with a friend, babysitter for the kids....yadda yadda yadda. And what would happen? Why, Isaiah wakes up with, Chicken Pox, of all things!!! I'm trying to hold in my frustration. Look at the bright side of things-- it's better he gets it now than when he's older. And we might as well get it done and over with. But still! C'mon! Soooo.....off I went this morning, sending emails and texts to cancel my plans for the next several days. (yea, I'm not so much of a phone person - I'd much rather email. I know I know-- it's so impersonal)

Anyways, got a little off track.........back to Isaiah.......At first when I saw him, my initial thought was- he's got chicken pox! But then, I started second guessing myself, and wondering if it's an allergy of some kind, or a rash or hives. I looked up chicken pox on google. Have you ever done that? There are some pretty nasty pictures on there. Thankfully Isaiah doesn't look that bad- yet. He's been itching off and on all day, but he really doesn't act like it bothers him a whole lot. And he's been playing and acting fine otherwise.

I talked to the nurse on the phone, and she wasn't a whole lot of help. I just wanted to clarify that it is, indeed, chicken pox. The way she described, and what he looks like, sounds the same. And a friend of mine came over and looked at it. Her son has had hives a few times, so we wanted to rule that out. She doesn't think it looks like hives. Her guess is, it's chicken pox.

So.......with Jer gone this week, looks like the kids and I will be holed up in the house for a few days. :( I hate that. I get stir crazy if I'm stuck in the house. Sometimes I just put the kids in the car and drive around a bit- just to get out.

Well.......better go. Just wanted to give you all an update on what's going on over here in our neck of the woods!

Random Ramblings

I'm baaaaaaack! Are you excited?? ;)

Is is just me, or is this week going by extreeeeemely slow? Must be just me. Seems like it should be Friday allready. Or at least Thursday!

But then again, the week always seems to go by extra slow when the love of my life is away. He left Monday morning for a work trip to Mexico City. ya-hoo. Will be home Friday evening. Thank the Lord for family. Have I said that lately? What on earth would we do without family?! My parents, my sister and my sister-in-law is helping me out this week. They must feel sorry for me ;)

Mom met me and the kids for lunch today, then took the kids back home with her for the afternoon, so I could make a run to Target and get some stuff done at home. If you've been reading this for any amount of time, you now know that taking my 2 kids shopping is probably one of my top 5 LEAST favorite things to do.

My newest obsession is Facebook. I'm seriously addicted! If your not on FB, you should join me. Talk about a big fat waste of time! lol. good stuff.

Speaking of which, my hubby is now on FB and chatting with me - so gotta go. Talk more later.

Please pray.....

I am asking all of my reader friends to please pray for Grandma H again. She is not doing well at all. You can read about what's going on with her in my previous blogs.

Anyways, I talked to my father-in-law tonight, and I guess she is getting disoriented and forgettful, and saying off the wall stuff sometimes. She is extremely weak and tired, and just needs a touch from the Lord.

She is going in tomorrow for an MRI. The doctors don't think there's a whole lot else they can do for her though.

Please pray! This is very difficult for the family, as Jer's family is so close.

Isaiahs Adventure

It's been a busy, crazy weekend, as usual.

We took an unexpected trip to urgent care for Isaiah on Friday night. My sis-in-law had my kids all day (YAY!) and after he woke up from his nap, was just coughing constantly. She texted me, and was a little concerned, but I didn't think a whole lot of it. Until then he started wheezing and acting like he was having a hard time breathing. So Fri night, about 6, Jer and I went to go pick the kids up, and see what was wrong with Isaiah. (of course, having "been there done that" with him, my first initial thought was - his peanut allergy -- he's gotten in to some peanuts or peanut butter. But, of course, my sis in law knows all about his allergy, and told me everything he had to eat that day. He seemed pretty safe, as to have not consumed anything with peanuts.)

So when we got there, we checked him out. He was coughing a lot, and wheezing when he was breathing. But it threw us off, because he was also playing around, and not just lying arond on the couch. So Jer and I made the decision, that because he was wheezing, and we weren't 100% sure what was wrong, and it had a lot of the same signs as his peanut allergy-reaction, that we decided to go ahead and give him a shot of his Epi-Pen. Which, of course, meant an automatic trip to Childrens Mercy hospital urgent care.

When we got there, they checked his oxygen levels. They were pretty low, but not dangerously low. So they took us back to a room, and gave him some steroids and a breathing treatment, to bring his oxygen levels back up. He seemed to be doing better after the breathing treatment, so they just kept us for a couple hours to keep an eye on him, then released us at 10 PM.

The doctor told us that we did the right thing though. If ever in doubt.......Epi-Pen first.....ask questions later.

So I will be calling Isaiah's allergist tomorrow, to try to make an appt. I'm still unsure of what exactly happened. I don't think he got in to any peanuts or peanut butter. His peanut reaction is a LOT more severe than this. So I'm not sure if it's another allergy, or if this was asthma related or what. I'm hoping to find this out soon. Isaiah has seen the inside of Childrens Mercy urgent care too many times in his short life!!

Off and on this weekend, he has still been slightly wheezing or, as Jeremy calls it, "whistling" when he breathes. So we have continued his breathing treatments here at home. Please say a prayer for my baby if you think about it. :)

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Went to a wedding on Saturday, some friends from church. Oh! And Saturday night, I made Jeremy (well, not made him, but you know what I mean..... :) ) take me to the christian bookstore, to pick up Karen Kingsbury's latest book. I'm so excited! I just LOVE her books. So now I'm allready halfway through her book, "This Side Heaven". Sooooooo good so far!

On that note.........I'm off to go read some more. The kids are in bed.....Jer is gone helping some friends put in hardwood floors........and I have a book waiting for me. :)

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year friends and family!!!

The holidays have once again came and went in a whirlwind it seems like. We got our tree taken down earlier this week, and all the Christmas decor is back in storage for another year. :( Except of course a few 'snowmen' and winter decor I will leave up for another month or so.

We are slowly trying to get our house back "in order". If that is ever possible.

Before the year goes any further though.......I wanted to reminence about 2008.....

In 2008, these events took place in our family......

-We started off the year, on a not-so-good note, with taking Isaiah to the allergist. After a Christmas Eve incident in 07, and an ER visit, we discovered, like his big sister, that he too, has peanut allergies. :(

-In the beginning of the year, Jan/Feb timeframe, Lilly had a speech screening with a speech pathologist. This is the beginning of monthly visits for Lilly, working with her on her speech, and in turn, getting her accepted in to a special preschool for her speech.

-Isaiah turned the big TWO in March, and we have seen some "terrible two syndrome" come out in him like thunder. On the upside, we have also witnessed some incredibly sweet, adorable moments with him.

-In April I attended a National Girls Ministries conference in Springfield with a group of ladies from our church. Tons of fun!

-In May, Jeremy and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. :) Our awesome family watched the kids for the weekend, while Jer and I had dinner here in town and went to the theatre and had some quiet time, without the kids. :)

-Around this time, our family hit a few bumps in the road. It actually felt more like mountains. After some problems with Jeremy's grandma's health, we discover that she has cancer in her liver. She begins a looooooong process of chemo and all the junk that goes along with it. :( It has upset our whole family, and rocked our world upside down. How precious our time with loved ones are!!! Grandma is the glue and foundation to the Haines family. seriously. She is no longer taking chemo. It has made her too weak. She has not been out much, except to visit the drs. She is weak and tires easily. Please continue to pray for Grandma H! We would all appreciate it!

-The summetime included lots of activities, such as MOPS spa night, ABF class dinner and mini golf, visiting the dairy farm, going to the KC Zoo, hosting scrapbook gathering at my house, BBQ's, swimming at my parents house, and attending many birthday and anniversary celebrations.

-The end of August, (Aug 19th to be exact) marks a big day for this mommy and her little girl. Lilly started preschool and rode the school bus to school for the first time! It was a success!

-Labor day weekend, we attended Jer's side of the family's annual labor day reunion at Pomme de Terre lake. Lots of fun. Bittersweet though, because that meant summer was officially 'over'.

-September, brought in fall, which meant ladies bible studies kicked up again at church, harvest tea parties, birthday celebrations and much more.

-In October, was Jer's birthday, and he also took another quick trip to Mexico City, right before our family vacation to St Louis to visit some friends. That was lots of fun - but it was over much too quickly.

- November was Lilly's birthday - she turned 4! We had a fun, outdoor, hayride/bonfire type party for her this year at my parents house. Lots of fun - and perfect weather!

- After that, it quickly became Thanksgiving, then Christmas........then New year, and here we are. January 1, 2009. The Lord has been good, and blessed us this year. We have seen his hand at work upon our family, time and time again throughout the year. We give Him all the glory and praise. We serve an amazing God. And look forward to serving Him in the year to come. Only the Lord knows what is in store for our family for 2009.

I pray the Lord richly blesses you and your family in the coming year. It is easy to remember Jesus during the Christmas and holiday season. Let's not forget Him the other 11 months as well.

God is good......all the time!!!! And all the time......God is good!!!!!