I Love My Kids, Ikea, and Soup.

So it begins. The redecoration. I had all of these grand plans for this room. I have now modified and adjusted those plans to realistic expectations. After spending at least five hours in there this weekend I have decided that I am going to keep a lot of the stuff the way it is but move my treadmill in and purchase a desk/expedit bookcase from Ikea to organize all of the stuff I have all over the house. A huge job. HUGE. Mostly, because I have a giant metal cabinet that has to go into the garage and no men in sight to help me do that...and then move the treadmill up into the loft. ARGH.  After a long day of coercing my children into helping me clean, throw out, and organize in there. I decided it was time to get out of the house. SO we headed to IKEA.

 Aydan was about a half an inch too tall to go into Smalland. (DARN.) I was secretly looking forward to having a hour by myself to wander through the store. In the end it turned out to be really fun hanging out with him. He was a big help and enjoyed all of the stuff to look at in Ikea.

 We then did something I have never done before. We ate dinner at the Ikea cafeteria. It was late almost 6:00 pm and my kids were hungry. I thought why not. We waited in line, it was a long line. Apparently, a lot of people like to eat at IKEA.

 I told Ellie to stand for the picture, the attitude...it begins already........sassafras.

 Ellie was SURE that the kids meal meatball plate would not be enough food for her. So I ordered them each a large plate. It ended up being WAY too much food. We had a fun time eating there, and I was happy to not have to cook. Plus, the food wasn't bad and I just munched off of their plates.

We headed home, bellies full. I have a good idea of what I need for my "office." When we arrived home the kids really wanted to try out this site that teaches you how to draw animals. So, we sat down together and followed the tutorial. They picked a hedgehog for their first lesson. Here is what we came up with.

Not too bad, huh! We watercolor painted them today. It was a lot of fun just sitting and drawing together. The kids decided we need a hedgehog for a pet, since our beloved little guinea pig died this week. I told them I would think about it.

We woke up early this morning for 8am church. I thought I would hate early church but today, I liked it. I came home overwhelmed by my house and all of the projects that need to be done. It doesn't even look like I have done one thing but I have been working really HARD. It is challenging to balance things that have to get done and summer fun. My summer break isn't anywhere near long enough, usually I get 10 weeks in the summer, but at the teaching gig I have now I get 6 weeks. So, panic sort of set in today after church.

I made lunch for the kids and then took a nap, a glorious two hour nap! The kids didn't even come in ONCE to ask me for something. It was just what I needed. I woke up energized and worked in the preschool room for about an hour. I had both of the kids in there helping me, with their moans and groans. I finally felt like I had begun to make a dent. A small dent, but I'll take it. I then decided to make homemade chicken soup for dinner, I had about half a rotisserie chicken left over from Costco. I texted my two friends in the neighborhood for celery, one of which had two bunches to share with me.

Here is how to make a yummer homemade Garden Chicken Noodle Soup:

Boil what is left of a Rotisserie chicken for 25 minutes. ( I love this, truly two meals out of one four dollar Costco Chicken...you CAN NOT go wrong) You do not need to boil more than that as the chicken has already been cooked. You will have a rich chicken broth by this time.

Remove chicken. Let cool while adding these ingredients:

1 russet potato cubed
1 medium onion diced
4 celery stalks cut up
-I bought the crinkle cut carrots so I didn't have to do any cutting I added about two generous handfuls of those

Boil for about five minutes and then simmer

Pull chicken off of the bones of the rotisserie chicken and cut into bite sized cubes.
Add to pot.
By this time your house will smell glorious, and your children will be salivating and asking when dinner is done.

Salt and Pepper to taste..I don't use much salt and usually I don't add any at all but I did today.

I had two zucchini's from my school garden that I sliced up and threw in there..you see this is what I love so much about soup you can sneak all of these yummy veggies in and your kids don't even notice.

I brought back to a boil and added about half a bag of egg noodles. I boiled for about five minutes or so until the zucchini and noodles were cooked.

I usually make homemade rolls (OK. Rhodes.) I taught a lesson about HONESTY today, I guess I should tell the truth. I just didn't have time today, actually I will be honest again. I didn't have the DESIRE to make, I mean, defrost the rolls. So I whipped up a pan of cornbread, which I hardly ever make but was a huge hit. Probably because we drenched the cornbread in butter and then honey, which is truly the way cornbread should be eaten.

The kids licked their bowls and plates clean.

I would say it was a successful weekend.

You know, I was thinking as I was cooking that I used to make these really fancy dinners. It was really stressful. Our dinner wasn't fancy but it was yummy, and maybe it wasn't exactly what a Sunday dinner should be but it made all of us pretty happy. So, I decided that was the important thing and I let myself off the guilt hook.

Ellie and I then made pie crust together and put it into the fridge to chill...more on that next time.

Here is to enjoying summer!

XOXO The Sunny D