Psycho Sunday

Any of you who know me well know that I HATE being late for the movies, work, appointments, and most of all church. It sends me into a weird anxiety where I feel like the world is ending because I am late (and by late I mean I am not 10 minutes early). This is a genetic disease I inherited from my mother that I hope to pass onto my children, as punctuality is a good thing. But, it does make me psycho when we are late for church. Let me give you a run down of our Sunday morning.

I didn't set the alarm and woke up an hour late, but still had time for a quick shower and got ready. Kids got up, and we started the breakfast routine. Mike left for his meeting and I got my youngest two dressed with no problem. It was down hill from there. I got the "good job getting ready on time" treat (Yes, there is always a reason for a treat) - my personal favorite the mint flavored M&Ms that you can only get at Christmas. I put them into little bowls for everyone. Well, David (5) refused to brush his teeth, so I started to eat his treat (after I had already eaten 1/3 or, well let's be honest, 1/2 of the bag). I started the van so that the snow on the windshield would melt. (I had no idea where my ice scraper had gone. I know it had been used as a weapon a few times in a ninja fight, but couldn't remember where it was banished to.) 3 minutes before I wanted to leave Joe (11) said, I don't feel well and I just filled the toilet (we have had a stomach bug). So, I told him to go lay down upstairs, but we are all still going to church. Dani (13) helped load kids into the car. David said, "Where's my treat?" I told him he didn't brush his teeth, so he doesn't get one. He ran and brushed his teeth and asked for his treat, so I gave him his bowl with some M&M's in it. He yelled, "I HAVE LESS!!!!!!!!!!!!" and threw it on the ground and started crying really loudly. ( I have to confess that I ate a few of them off the ground, gross, but 5 second rule applies in our house, right?) At that point I prayed in my heart not to hurt him and just kept saying "Jesus loves you" in my mind. I still had not cleaned off the van and went in search of the ice scraper in the garage. It was no where to be found, so I used a sand ho, yes that stupid plastic toy for the sand box. Hey, whatever works. I lovingly carried the screaming 5 year old to the van and told him to get in his seat and get buckled or he was going to sit in the baby car seat. He didn't want that, so finally listened. We were late for church, UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! While I am speeding through Lebanon, Sam (7) reads every street sign and then says, "Mom, the speed limit is 35, and you are WAY over that." (She has been playing cops and robbers lately and loves being the police and giving tickets to "bad cars".) So, I slowed down, realizing that no matter how fast I went, unless our van turned into the bat mobile, we were going to be late. We got there at the same time as a few other families, so I didn't feel too badly. Then during church I called Joe to make sure he was okay. The phone picked up, but no one was there. I called several other times and it went straight to voice mail. I have watched too many episodes of Law and Order and CSI, imagining several crimes that could occur while I was gone. After I went back inside the church, Abby (3) was dancing around and had to go potty. Well, we didn't get there in time, she leaked a little bit, and of course, I didn't bring a change of clothes today. Because of my paranoia and this accident we headed home. Joe was fine, our phone just wasn't working. Okay, sigh of relief, my son was okay, I can get Abby dry clothes. Hopefully the rest of our Sunday will got well. It snowed yesterday, so I am sending them all outside to make a snow man. On a good note, ALL of the talks were awesome at church and what I needed to hear that day. Thank you to those who wrote those talks, very thoughtful of you. Thankfully dinner is in the crock pot - Cafe Rio pork, I will post the recipe soon.
Hope you all had a good Sunday!!! (and a good laugh.)

REALLY good chili

So, I have kind of fallen off the planet when it comes to this blog. I trained for and ran the 15 K hot chocolate run in DC, and then Christmas came, and I get tunnel vision when that happens. But, I wanted to share this recipe with you. It is something you can double or triple and freeze. I found a recipe called "The BEST Chili You Will Ever Taste" at Food.com. I tweaked it a bit because I don't have coffee, or beer, and I didn't have any cubed sirloin. My changes worked and it turned out really well, and it was EASY. I have veggies that I have already cut up and roasted in the freezer, so that I can just add them to the recipes. Having a prep day is key to sneaking all kinds of veggies into my kids food. This recipe is FULL of food that is SOOOOOOOO good for you and your kids, just try it - they will NEVER guess that there are 4 different veggies, plus beans in it. I LOVE making stuff in the crock pot, and this was an easy one. I served it with baked potatoes. Enjoy!!!

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 onions, cut in chunks
1 red pepper cut in chunks
3 pounds lean ground beef, turkey, or chicken (I used chicken because that is what was in the freezer.)
1 cup pureed butternut squash (Optional, but it is really good, it has a mild, sweet taste and is VERY good for you. To prep squash, peel, scoop out seeds, cut in chunks, drizzle with EVOO, roast with other veggies.)
You could also roast some carrots and add them if you want.
4 garlic cloves (or 2 teaspoons chopped garlic in a jar.)
1 28 oz. diced tomatoes (I puree these because my kids are not chunky veggie fans.)
2 6 oz. cans of tomato paste
1 can of coke
1 Tablespoon chili powder (the recipe called for 3 1/2 T of chili sauce, I didn't have that.)
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (Had I not been making this for my kids I would have used more.)
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 can refried beans (you can use kidney beans, but my kids don't like beans, if they know they are in there.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle 1 Tablespoon EVOO over onion and red peppers. Toss and put in 9 by 13 pan and roast in the oven for 40 min, stirring at least once. Remove from oven, cool for a few minutes and puree, adding a little water so it has enough liquid to puree. Heat large pan on stove, add the rest of EVOO, saute garlic for a few minutes. Add meat. Cook until no longer pink. Drain meat and rinse. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer to let flavors mix. Or, cook in crock pot. Add water or beef broth if it gets too thick.