One of those Saturdays

Spring has sprung in the Crane household - 4 baseball games, Tiger Cubs, Bday party, Eagle Court of Honor and Softball practice....oh and a trip to the grocery store. It's fun having all these little kiddies but sometimes on Saturdays it might be nice to just hang out at home and chill out!

Tristy likes to pick out her own clothes lately... here's a cute sample of what she likes to wear...

Menu de la semaine

I think I know why I don't blog as often as I used to - 1) Blogger doesn't let me with my Mac upload pictures easily - I have to do them one at a time and it is time consuming. 2) There is something wrong with my 'new blogger' as I can't change the design any longer.... I need to try it on the kids computer and see if it is just mine. But in reality those are my biggest hurdles... well not really - just getting on sometimes isn't fast enough... I kept hoping to catch up but I think my iweb is so much easier just dragging and dropping....

Anyway - I have still been keeping up with the new meal each night theme but have decided I needed to start keeping track - some nights we have left overs, so those don't count, and some nights we go out without the kiddies and throw pasta at them or pizza - so those don't count either!

But still, I am going to start writing them down because I'll forget otherwise!

So tonight's menu: Chicken soup with stars...
30th Wednesday: Salmon & Lentils - with teriyaki sauce
29th Tuesday: Chicken Teriyaki & cucumber sushi

(and yes, the teriyaki & sushi - as everything else lately are all from scratch)

28th Monday - Brisket & roasted veggies
27th Sunday - I can't remember but I cooked!
26th Saturday - we went to a surprise party
25th Friday - Pizza for the kids -we went to The Temple

I'm not Martha Stewart

About a week I go I was figuring something out - I'm not trying to brag at all, it was just an observation that I noticed it, but now I'm going to try to keep it up... what is it you ask?! Well let me tell you.

I noticed whilst picking out what to make for dinner - that since Christmas - I haven't really repeated any meals, let me repeat - I have not cooked repeat meals since Christmas - now keep in mind, I'm not counting if there is a date night and I throw pasta or chicken nuggets at the kids, or the 3 times we've had tacos this year so far because the kids adore them and we had a gaggle of kids over and they are easy - and of course leftover night and maybe ordered pizza once - but of the dinners I've been making for our family in general have not been the same since sometime before Christmas. This doesn't count sides like salad or rice but I mean mains for dinner.

So now it's like a contest to keep coming up with different ideas every single day. I'm not going fancy or anything - sometimes it's down right, well - boring... But while I do have picky kids just like anyone else - they eat what I serve and get on with it.

So for example - last night we had steamed fish I - Asian Style like my grandma used to make...
one of my absolute favs.... I even called to tell my mom to make her jealous!



So what have I been cookin' in the kitchen? Let me think....

Fish - Asian, Couscous
Fried Rice & asian hot dogs (lop cheung) sp?
Breaded parmesan chicken
Home made pizza, cinnamon rolls
Thai Green Curry
Chinese Stir-fry
Lamb chops
Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Beef Thai Salad
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Homemade Mac & Cheese
Chopped Salad
Pancakes
Beef Bourguingnon (yes, from scratch)


That's all I can remember at the moment but obviously I'll be keeping track now! I'm just curious how long I can keep it up before I slip back to boring-ville! But even if I slip a little - I want to see if I can keep it up at least 5 days out of 7 if I'm cooking them all... stay tuned and I'll keep you posted! If you have any ideas or yummy recipes, send them over please!!

What's on for tonight you ask? Homemade beef pot pies......

Budapest, Hungary

This Mid-term break in February we were supposed to go to Sharm El Shiek & Cairo Egypt with new friends the Fikes. We had set up hotels at The Ritz Carlton and Mena House Oberoi at the base of the Pyramids - but as fate would have it, there was to be a historic revolution instead. Riots and chaos were abound and it wasn't safe for foreigners to travel. The US and the UK put warnings to citizens not to travel there. So we had to scramble and come up with a new game plan. At first everyone was worried about refunds - luckily I got back either all my money or got credit on the airline. No small feat I can say.

We wanted sun but the Canary Islands seemed iffy - our friends all ended up going to Dubai (about 6 families that were to go to Egypt) but since we had been there last year it didn't make sense (nor could we spare the cost to our pocketbook) to go again. I polled a bunch of friends and our good friends the Folan's were going to Budapest - I always wanted to go there anyway so we took our credit from our flights.

It was not disappointing in that it was so beautiful, even in the freezing cold. However you could really get a sense of the Eastern Block and what it might have looked like back in the day. Although it was very gray you could make out the pretty colors and amazing architecture of the city. Another place to tick off my very long list of places to see in this beautiful world.

Pinewood Derby 2011

Another Pinewood Derby has come and gone.... Lucas got 2nd in his Den... Ian's car didn't place but it was a darn cute car, and they had a parents race, but Mike helped so many others with their cars this year we didn't have time to do our own - so we recycled and used one of Chandler's old ones!! All the wheels stayed on so it works.... good times

Margie's 40th

We had a very fun Surprise 40th Birthday Party for Margie at our house - it was really great fun and she was super surprised!! Pictures are worth 1000% words....

Me & Jen

Margie & The Selkirks

The Boys

Me, Jen, Margie, Kathy

The Girls (channeling Charlie's Angels)

Dancing Queen & Her Main Man

ABBA

Farrah (Sharee) & Me

Welcome Back Kotter (Andy) or Greg Brady & Mike

One Groovy Couple

First Snow Day 2010

Well I had received the text from the school at 6:30AM saying School is Cancelled! Not surprised as before we had gone to bed we must have gotten at least 4 inches of snow! It's so weird not growing up in a snow area to be living in one. However I don't think it is typical as with just 3 inches of snow the whole county shuts down!

But it was a great day - I love being able to stay at home, I cooked all day - all the kids had friends over - I think I counted 14 kids total in my house. We had homemade cinnamon rolls, and made the kids pasta for lunch and a couple stayed on for dinner. The girls even came back for a sleep over!

We also were given notification early at 5:30 tonight that school is cancelled for tomorrow as well - nice to know early - as I don't actually sleep much when I know I have to keep my phone beside my bed and wait to see if I need to kick the kids out the door for school.

I'm actually happy - I feel like I needed a break - even though the kiddies are all home, the regular hustle and bustle of piano, dance, practice, pick ups, drop offs, cub scouts, boy scouts, seminary, chores, babysitters, grocery shopping, meetings, meetings, meetings was wearing me out.

I'm thankful my internet is just fine - perhaps I'll get some Christmas shopping done!!



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Snow Days in Surrey

One thing my kids love about living here - is SNOW DAYS! We had a horrible snow storm yesterday - they cancelled school at noon - the buses were a mess, cars are sliding all over the place - the kids love it and came right home and got out snow clothes!

Tristan really liked it too - she caught snowflakes in her hands! Today they went to school but it got super cold and ice everywhere! Their bus didn't even make it up the street to bring them home.

We are expecting 3 inches of snow overnight - or so the kids hope - they are sleeping with their pj's inside out! One of them is still roaming around I keep telling them to go to bed! They may still have school!



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I think Tristy looks just like my mom in this picture!

Duncans Farewell

Just catching up so it will be all out of date - we celebrated for Susan & Brad Duncan as they are returning back to the States in a couple weeks. When people move here it goes fast! It is such a bummer - they are such a great family. The theme was Naughty or Nice - I told Tyler "I don't think I can dress Naughty" so she said... "So you're just going as yourself?" hmmm, I'm hoping that implies 'nice'!!!!

Happy Birthday Tristan!

I am so so so so far behind - I can't believe I've almost abandoned my blog! But here is my attempt to start back slowly - Last week Tristan turned 2 years old! I can't believe it - it seems like she's always been in our lives. She is so special and sweet - and a doll. She loves Minnie Mouse and her MM Wellies (rain boots). She is happy and lights up a room when she walks into it. We are so lucky to have her in our house - Happy Birthday Tristan!

I have a lot of catching up to do!