To all my favorite mothers..

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

I wish you all a beautiful and joyous day, with all the pampering and love you deserve! Take some time out for yourself, and hug your wonderful child/ren and just bask in the joy of motherhood!

Store stocking!

I added a couple of cute undie/jammies sets to my store- 4t/5
Hopefully next week I can branch out in sizes.
I'm also thinking of starting my own etsy store since my congo appears to be insanely huge. Who wants to scroll through all that?!?!?

Check out these gems though!





http://hyenacart.com/onestore.php?vid=526&category=166

Easter!

Ok, Easter weekend was hectic. I tried to play supermom I think.. it was crazy, but fun. Matt decided to take on the downstairs bathroom and paint it (which didn't go as smoothly as we hoped!), we dyed Easter Eggs, I made a fantabulous cake for dessert at my dad's Easter dinner, and Faith had her first hand sewing lesson! So.. our weekend in pictures!

ps: In the Easter day pics, I made Faiths dress, and Chris and Lukes bunny shirts. Strangely enough, James didn't want a bunny shirt. Guess 8 years old is just too old for bunnies!














and this about sums up my fathers Easter... (taken from the vantage point of 8 year old James!)

Shrimp! It's what's for dinner!

My sister asked that I post more recipes.. well here is dinner from Saturday night. I somehow am subscribed to Gourmet magazine.. so I decided to actually TRY something from said magazine, and this looked easy enough and didn't require trips to specialty stores to find ingredients I've never heard of before!!!

Capellini with shrimp and creamy tomato sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb peeled large shrimp (I used bagged/cooked/peeled frozen shrimp from Trader joes!)
3 large garlic gloves, forced through a garlic press
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup sweet (red) vermouth (a whole $3 for a small bottle at the liquor store!)
1 (14-15oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2lb capellini (angel hair pasta)

Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat until it simmers, then cook shrimp and garlic with oregano, 1/2tsp of salt, and 1/4tsp of pepper, turning once, until golden, about 2 minutes total.




Stir in vermouth and tomatoes, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of skillet.


Add cream and briskly simmer until sauce has thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice.



Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente, and serve immediately!

Voila!

Easter funnies!

Just stuff..

So Matt hasn't been updating our family website, so I'll just post a few pics of the kiddos for your enjoyment. I don't really have much to say this week. We went to the Discovery Museum today (like a "please touch" place) and all 4 kiddos had GREAT fun. What a awesome place for kids! Unfortunately I don't have any pics of that. A few weeks ago we went to Franklin Institute and saw the new Star Wars exhibit. THAT was a blast. It isn't all that often that you get to see the original models, costumes and puppets from the Star Wars movies! What else.. the weather has S L O W L Y been getting nicer and we're getting outisde more often. Sadly though, it seems the nicest days temperature wise, are also the rainiest.. Anyhow.. for your viewing pleasure.. pictures of 4 rambunctious, high spirited, whimsical, beautiful children!


Hunting for Easter Eggs on a friends farm



Star Wars


Face paintings after the Easter Egg hunt!

Faith and her new friend!

Easter Science Project!

So our homeschooling science project this week is growing grass in our Easter baskets! Yes that's right.. it's real grass for us! None of that fake weird plastic stuff in OUR Easter baskets! ;)

The kiddos had a BLAST playing with dirt and seeds... so now we wait and see how it looks next week! The seeds have sprouted, and there is some grass growing.. so we'll see!

We started off by soaking some wheat grass seeds that we bought at Whole Foods. I soaked them overnight. The following day, we rinsed off the seeds, put some potting soil in our plastic basket inserts, and covered the top with the seeds. We mixed them into the dirt a bit, then we placed a damp paper towel over them and put saran wrap on top- to keep the seeds moist and warm while they sprouted!

I hope to be able to share a finished picture of the 4 (yes Luke was napping and didn't get to play with the dirt- darn!) baskets next week for Easter!!

New items in my store spam!

Put up some cute "springy" things! Check out these cute outfits! I LOVE the dress.. the pictures really don't do it justice!!







Check out those and other stuff at http://hyenacart.com/onestore.php?vid=526&category=166



Thanks for everyones support!!

Snow Day!

Ok so I'm a few days late with these, I'm a slow "get the pictures off the camera" kind of person. :)
We had our second snow of the winter last week. Got a whole maybe 2 inches! w00t! Didn't matter to my little guys.. they see snow and they get super excited! (what child wouldn't?) So here are some ever so lovely photos showing you all the action!! Oh and please note- this was Lukes FIRST real experience playing in the snow. Last year he was loo little, and the 1st snow this year he was sick. He loved it! Oh and yes.. I am a bad mommy- I couldnt find his mittens anywhere. He is wearing 2 pairs of socks on his hands! *rofl*






One of each of them. :) Then of course we all came inside and had hot chocolate and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! (yes mommy is THAT good!) And topped it all off to a nice warm fire going! (yes I can start a fire!!)




I'll leave you all with a video of Lukes 1st experience in the snow. He kept trying and trying to walk up the ramp to the playhouse.. alas.. he never got very far. That sucker was slippery!

Send Cheryl to Broadway fundraisor!

Ok, brainstorm with me... how can I raise a few thousand dollars so that I can go star on Broadway??

Let's take a look at this..

Cheryl.. total drama freak... total "Renthead"... who never stops singing.. who would give her right arm AND leg to be in a Broadway show...

You know you all want to just throw money at me now right????

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140208622053

Please send all your paypal to cmintel @ Comcast.net (please take out spaces!) *lol*

Our family is growing...

.................
I know you're all saying.. oh my gosh.. is she crazy???




Announcing...






Santa and Latte! Santa is a Netherland Dwarf in a sable color. She has a white beard, hence the name Santa! (Matt named her!) and Latte is a Holland lop/lionhead mix. Isn't she beautiful!! Latte is sooooo calm and mellow. She will let you sit and just pet her on your lap for hours!! The kiddos are all in love too.. it's so nice having pets in the house!

Anyhow, just a quick post to annouce our new arrivals. Have to go get crabby patty into bed! (Luke! lol)

Anyone want some free money?

Ok I checked and checked and checked some more. Did whois, and googled the names of the ceo's. I even found this article on USA Today . Everything is legit. Everything. It's hard to believe.. but it has happened before (I made a quick $125 from ING Direct when they first opened!)

So.. if you can believe things like I can.. then sign up here.. I HAVE the $25 IN MY ACCOUNT. It's there. It's mine. I can use it to buy things.

Anyhow, if you are interested, please send me your email addy. If I can send you a referral, I will get an additional $10 into account. You can email me at cmintel @ comcast.net (please take out the spaces! I write it like this so spam bots can't link my email!)

Seriously.. it seems like a great oppurtunity.. a good $25 is a good $25 right??? Like I said, I made out like a BANDIT with ING and they are still around! (and have one of the best savings rates around!)

Just my little spammy for the night. I'm pleading- help me make some money to pay off my new serger! :D

FINALLY stocked my store..

It's a congo.. I'm in a "store" with a bunch of other people.. it's not just my own. I'm doing it as a side thing.. seeing how it will work. Hopefully now that I just bought a new serger (my old one kicked the bucket last week! wahhhh!) I'll get more done for next week. We stock every Thursday at 2pm est.


http://hyenacart.com/onestore.php?vid=526&category=166


Please be kind! Please notice that the baby snoopy outfit includes THE most adorable newborn baby in it. (thank you Danielle and Kayden!)


Mom, I also listed one of the bunnys and sheep that I have of yours.. I'm hoping they sell! I tried to get nice photos.. but I am NO photographer!!!


Anyhow, just wanted to be spammy and show off. ;) Enjoy!
~C

I'm willing to bet..

I'll be able to find Giants stuff in Eagles country tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yahooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Undefeated my a@@!!!

Best. game. evah!

I'm a Giants fan in Eagles Country.

It's amazing how South Jersey feels like a different state than North Jersey. For the most part, I've had no problems living here... met some fantastic friends, gas is cheaper down here, the pace is "slower" than up North.

However, yesterday, I discovered one HUGE difference.

No one likes the Giants.

The Giants are a NEW JERSEY TEAM!!! (ok well technically they are the NY Giants.. but where are the located huh? huh??) I'm still in NEW JERSEY right????

I went to 4. F O U R sports stores yesterday in the South Jersey area. The first two when asked basically scoffed at me. "heh, NO" Meanwhile I see racks and racks of Eagles stuff sitting in clearance two feet from me. This is Dicks sporting goods and The Sports Authority.

The other two, were in the mall. One was some random sports/shoe store that had other jerseys. No Giants, sorry. Then on to Modells. They had little kids Giants shirts, and tons of Pats stuff. No adults Giants stuff. I was told they DID have it, but it sold out really quickly. That gave me SOME hope for South Jersey.. met another mom in there searching for an Giants jersey for her teen daughter. That was nice.

So today I'm off to travel in the pouring rain, further North into the state in order to find something to support my guys. I live in a house with 1 adult sized Eagles fan and 3 pint sized ones (the jurys still out on Luke which way he will sway!) and I need something blue and red! Plus the fact that the GIANTS are in the superbowl and the eagles... where are they? Oh yeah. vacationing.

Nothing better than fresh grown lettuce in the winter!

In honor of my absent sister (who left me for Australia! Sheesh!) I made a nice salad. See, she bought me this nifty contraption for Christmas called an Aerogarden
I had wanted one for a while, but never wanted to pony up $150 for something that MAY work..

So anyhow.. got the present- yippee!! So excited! Opened it up and started my "garden" the next day! (12/26) Here I am today, already reaping the rewards! I've had fresh lettuce all this week on my turkeyburgers! Yum-o! It's not as hardy as regular lettuce, kind of thin for a lettuce leaf... but it tastes the same (when you close your eyes- sorry- song stuck in my head now)

Nice green salad... lettuce, tomato and cukes! Nice healthy lunch. :D


Here is my "garden". Its kind of wimpy compared to the aerogarden pics on amazon. It works though. The back 4 pods are salad greens, the front three pods are supposed to be cilantro (which never grew), basil on crack, and italian parsley. The basil as you see is doing very well. lol

Chicken pot pie and I don't care!

Enjoy my meal with me! Free cooking lesson for all to enjoy! This recipe is a great way to use up leftover chicken you may have from a previous meal, or even a thanksgiving turkey! (and a HAH to my sister, who decided to go off and live in Australia for 4 months- this is her fave meal! *lol*) Lots of pics! Be forewarned!

Your ingredients- missing from this pic is the chicken (or turkey as I have used), butter and salt and pepper!) I swear I usually have real carrots to peal and everything- but the supermarket was out of regular organic carrots. So I bought baby organic carrots instead. Hey, a carrots a carrot right??


First, chop up some sweet potato, celery, and carrots! I have subbed the yam for a regular potato when I didn't have the yams. Aren't these pictures pretty? Vegetables are so beautiful!




Add veggies to a pot and cover with water and lid. Cook until soft


In a seperate pot, melt 3Tbsp butter


Turn off heat. Add 3.5Tbsp of flour and stir well.


Add 1 cup of half and half (I have subbed for regular milk as well, just doesn't come out as creamy)


Then add 1 cup of chicken broth


Add spices- a couple pinches of thyme, a few shakes of poultry seasonings, salt and pepper.


Turn heat back on. Heat to a boil and let thicken. Turn off and let cool.


Chop up leftover turkey or chicken.


Add some frozen peas to the veggies that are still cooking, cook for a few more minutes until frozen peas are softer.


Put pie crust onto pie plate. Yes I'm a cheater and used a ready made crust. Hey I have 4 kiddos, and it's a chore just trying to get THIS much done!


Drain veggies, add veggies and turkey (or chicken) to your sauce mix. Mix well. Pour into piecrust. Yum!


Put the second pie crust on top. Make a few vent slices. I usually cut a small circle (about the diameter of a shot glass) on top as well, and put a little pat of butter in the middle.)


Bake for approx 30 minutes at 425. Until the top is nicely browned. Voila!! Dinner is done!


What does my toughest critic think?? I think he likes it! Please ignore the paint spots on the wall.. we're trying to decide what color to paint our dining room!


You can alter this recipe to not be so artery clogging. Replace the half and half with fat free half and half. Use earth balance for the butter, a low sodium/fat free chicken broth. Make your own pie crust if you have the time. Add more veggies, subtract the meat for a veggie pie. It's SUPER yummy though!!

Thanks for sitting with me through this edition of "What's for dinner!"