lemon dill chicken

I made a new chicken dish for our dinner last night. I must say that it was delicious, and so easy. We all loved it.

Here's the recipe.

Lemon Dill Chicken

Ingredients: 4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp salt

Mix lemon juice, oil, garlic, dill weed, and salt in a plastic bag. Add chicken and marinade for 30 minutes. Heat grill or broiler and cook 30 minutes or until done.


I actually cooked my chicken in the crock pot, the way I usually do in the summer (or all the time!) We had rice, sauteed squash and zucchini, and green beans with it. It was tasty and very filling, and the whole meal had around 350 calories!

an honest mistake

I have PMS this week... bad. Just ask my kids. Or my husband. Or my sister. Or anyone else who has had the misfortune of coming into contact with me this week. I'm more than a little on edge.

The only thing that's larger than my irritability level is my clean laundry pile. Almost every article of clothing in my house is clean... and piled up on the laundry room floor right in front of the dryer. No one can find anything... underwear, clothes, swimming trunks. Whenever someone needs something to wear, I trudge into the laundry room, plop down on the floor, and with a huge sigh, begin to dig through this mountainous pile. I'd take a picture to show you just how huge it really is, but my mom would faint.

I. Hate. Putting. Away. Laundry.

I really do. I don't mind washing it. I kind of enjoy folding it, in small quantities. But I hate putting it away. I always have. Probably always will. But yesterday, I decided that enough was enough. I vowed to tackle this chore once and for all. I was also smart enough to know that I'd never get it done during the day. So, I tapped the RedBox app on my phone and discovered that Clueless was in at the RedBox at Walgreen's. Right on Chris' way home. So I sent him this text:

Could you please stop at the Walgreen's RedBox on your way home? I'd like a movie to watch while I fold all of the laundry tonight. Clueless. Or Just Go With It. Thanks. Love you. Bye.

I began to get really excited about folding up all that laundry, because I'd be watching Clueless while I did it. Yes. I really do love that movie. It's been a favorite of mine since middle school. I always think of this movie whenever I watch anything with Paul Rudd in it, to this day.

You can imagine my disappointment and surprise when Chris came home with two DVDs. One was The Dilemma. The other was Grownups. I just looked at him and asked if he was serious. He wanted to know what the problem was. I told him that I had no desire to see The Dilemma. Or Grownups, since I'd already seen it several times and it wasn't my favorite, by a long shot. He told me that Walgreen's now has 2 machines and one of them, obviously the one that held Clueless, was out of order. Then he looked at me, all confused, and said:

"I just picked something else... since you told me to just go with it."

Wow. Just... wow. It really was kind of funny, I guess. I told him that Just Go with It is a movie... which was why I'd typed it in capitol letters. He told me that he doesn't really ever pay attention to capitol letters, especially in text messages.

So, I didn't get the laundry folded. I attempted to fold one basket while I watched The Dilemma, but lost interest in both.

P.S. I did apologize for acting like such a psycho about something as trivial as a movie. And he forgave me.

what's been making me laugh

The family and I went out to dinner Friday night. About halfway through the meal, our waiter noticed my key chain. It was sitting on the table next to Chris' plate. If you didn't know, the Hubs and I are sharing one car now. Which means we share one key chain. Even so, Chris allowed me to keep my Eclipse key ring with Robert Pattinson's picture on it. He's good-natured that way. As he filled up our glasses, the waiter looked Chris square in the eyes and asked, "Is that James Patterson?" To which Chris replied, with a straight face, "Naw. It's Robert Pattinson. You know, from Twilight". James Patterson, Robert Pattinson. Potato, pototo, right?

Shaun and I began a unit on fairy tales today. He was given the assignment to write his own fairy tale. This is what he's written so far:
Once upon a time, there lived an evil witch. She was mad at a prince because he had chopped her hand off. The witch could not ride on her broomstick with only one hand. So, the witch planned to chop the prince's hand off and use it as her own.

Jordan woke up in the middle of the night. So he woke me up to. Through sleep-blurred ears I could barely make out his words as he stood at the head of my bed:
"Mommy. I just saw a mouse in the bathroom. And I don't want Summer Xtreme to be over."

My church sisters. We spent the week together last week and laughed our heads off the whole time. I was trying to think of a single incident to write about, but I can't. There are just too many.

This video of my crazy husband. I'm glad he can make me laugh.

As you can see, I'm feeling pretty wonderful these days. I'm so thankful. Laughter really is the best medicine.

sometimes, we like to hang at the history center

It was Family Day at the History Center again today.

We went to church, met some of our homeschooling friends for lunch afterward, and then set out together to learn about the Civil War. Here's a shot of some of our kids. They were watching a shooting demonstration.




It was a little hot outside today. Or a lot. I imagine this is why this particular soldier looked a little droopy.





Jordan was so excited to see his friend Madeline. They became good buddies in the Tiger class during Summer Xtreme last week. Here they are together, watching the demonstration.





Of course, the kids also insisted on touring the Native American cabin again. Even though they've been in it a million times and it's not air conditioned and it was about 107 degrees outside today.

Here's Shaun, trying out the bed. And making a funny face.




Jordan and his friends were slightly obsessed with the old-fashioned well in the cabin's back yard. When asked, they reported that "a little bit of water and some McDonald's cups" were inside the well. Here they are, checking it out.




Thankfully, the heat was too intense for even the children to bear for long. We went back inside. Jordan showed Chris around all of the exhibits while Shaun and his friends learned some more about Civil War weapons from a museum volunteer.





The kids were also able to taste food from the Civil War era. Here's my niece Layna, showing off her... well... I'm not really sure what it was called. It was very hard and tasted similar to communion bread. Layna swore it was very tasty.




The kids were being supervised by their dads as they were doing these activities. What were we moms doing? I'm glad you asked. We were socializing, of course. I suppose you could say that the History Center is kind of like our "Central Perk". Ha ha!




We ran into this Civil War lady in the parking lot on the way back to our cars. She was kind enough to pose for a picture.


I'm trying my best to make Shaun refrain from smiling like this in all of his pictures. He gets the funny face thing from one of his parents. I bet you can guess which one!

our xtreme day... 1

Summer Xtreme began today.

We all had fun. Here's a shot of Jordan and his best friend, Mike. I was informed today, by Jordan, that Mike is his best friend. I've never met this Mike before. I do hope he's worthy to be my babe's best friend. Ha ha! Jordan and Mike were being entertained by a puppet show.


I love the expressions on their faces.

I also took this picture of Shaun and his friend John at Skate Country. They both decided that they were too hungry to wait for their (free) pizza lunch. Here they are, enjoying their nachos. And yes, they both ate their lunch about 20 minutes later.


I have the pleasure of being in charge of a wonderful group of sixth grade girls this week. The best girls in our church, in my opinion! No clique-like drama with these girls. And, sixth grade gets to sit up front during our worship services. I had a straight shot of Chris. I love watching him worship. There's nothing like it. Maybe I'll remember my camera tomorrow so I can snap a picture.

What else?

While the kids skated today I was able to visit with my "church sisters". I'm so thankful for them. It always amazes me how God can bring people together exactly when they need each other.

Shaun and I had a good talk about today's message on the way home. The scripture was from Psalm 139. One of my favorites! Here's the passage from The Message...

¹⁷ Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I'll never comprehend them!
I couldn't even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

The pastor spoke to our kids about how wonderful God truly thinks we are. Even the things that we may not like about ourselves, our God loves those things... and He has lots and lots of wonderful, awesome thoughts about us. Pastor also spoke of pearls. How a priceless item can be formed from an irritation or a problem. It was a great word. Exactly what my boy needed to hear.

Both kids have been sleeping soundly for about an hour. I can't remember the last time Jordan was sleeping before midnight. Maybe we should have Summer Xtreme every day!

Oh. And last but not least. A church staff member came up to me today... someone I've never talked to before. She grabbed me in the hallway and said, "Your son sure can run fast!". Turns out she was talking about Jordan. He made a break for it and escaped the activity room today. Needless to say we had a "talk" before bed tonight about staying with his group and following the rules.

deals and quotes

I had my eyes checked today. No more glasses for me. Thank God. Wearing glasses really stinks in the summertime. Nothing's worse than having your sweaty face fog up your lenses. The cute, sweet, English optometrist at Pearl Vision tried to talk me into getting the "eye scan" today instead of just having my eye dilated. Of course, the scan isn't covered by insurance and costs an extra 29 bucks. I told him that I promised I'd get the scan next year. And then he hit me with...

"How about this? If you promise to have it done next year, I'll give it to you free today. Deal?"

He didn't have to ask me twice. And I didn't have to have my eyes dilated. Major score.

After my appointment, I met my friend Kelli at Panara Bread. As always, it was fabulous. My favorite quote from dinner:

Music plays. We both look up.

Me: "Isn't that-"

Kelli: "That's Bella's song. Oh no. It's Claire DeLune."

Ha ha!

We window shopped after dinner. Until I found a dress/shirt on sale at Marshall's for only 10 dollars. So I bought it. And it fit. Kelli found the deal of the year at Dot's. Sweater for next winter for only 1 dollar. Needless to say, Dot's is her new favorite store.

When I returned home, the kids were still awake. I went to give them their good night kisses and Jordan asked me where my glasses are. I told him that I had gone to the doctor and bought new contacts, so I didn't need the glasses anymore. He replied:

"Oh, well that's so wonderful that you don't have to have glasses anymore."

I love him. :)

About an hour later, I heard footsteps in the hallway. Then I heard Shaun say to Chris, who was playing Call of Duty in the living room:

"Dad? I'm really sorry that I called you an egg head tonight".

I love him, too. :)

breaking dawn, part 1

Last night, Twilight Disorder posted a nice surprise on my Facebook wall.

Oh, yes.

A "sneak peek teaser" of the official trailer for Breaking Dawn Part 1.

How long is it until November, again? Only five short months!

Is it wrong that I'm so excited about a movie?

Even though there are so many things wrong in this glimpse...

1. An outdoor wedding? Really? Everyone knows that the Cullen wedding takes place inside the Cullen family's house.

2. Rosalie and Esme appear to be part of the wedding party, when Alice should be Bella's only attendant.

3. Edward's hair just looks plain wrong.

...I can't wait to see the whole thing. Breaking Dawn is my favorite book in The Twilight Saga. The book's so great that its gonna take two movies to do it justice. Sweet. My "Twilight Peeps" are already talking about going to the midnight release.

I. Can't. Wait.

P.S. For those of you who like to make fun of my little obsession, save your breath. Anything you say will simply roll off my back.