How Life Changes in 994 Days...

That's how many days it has been since I last posted in this blog. In fact, I had forgotten it even existed, until I logged in today in search of another start-and-fail blog I created. Although I didn't post a whole lot, I loved reading about Makayla's big eyes and loud screech. The eyes I remember, but the screech, she passed that on to her brother and I had forgotten she was the screech-originator. Of course, when I say she passed it on to her brother, I mean the newest addition to our family. In May of 2010, Jared and I welcomed a second son into our family. Weston is an absolute doll. He's a spunky thirteen-month-old now, and he makes me smile every single day with his goofball personality. We also moved 3 more times since I last posted we were moving. Two of those moves were local moves in Milwaukee, but the third move was a big one. At the end of last year we decided to pick our family up and move down south. Jared is from the south, and has wanted to return to his roots for years. So we finally did it, and we are now settled in sunny Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ashton just finished kindergarten, and through a lottery system was selected for an awesome charter school next year. We were so happy to learn he'd gotten in, because the odds were not in our favor. At the time of the lottery, they didn't have any open spots for first grade, but they had 110 applicants. We ended up as number three on the waitlist, and about a month after the lottery we got the call that they had a first grade spot for him. My friend Shannon has a daughter that got in as well, for kindergarten, so both Ashton and I are excited to have a friend to start the new school year with.

I'm certain I'm leaving many things out, but I'll have to come back another time. These kids need to eat!

Getting Ready to Move... and it Just Can't be Easy...

We are moving tomorrow, and of course we've encountered a few setbacks. I'm sick with a cold, which would be fine if I didn't ache everywhere. I'm trying to suck down cold medicine as often as I can so I can function. My mom, who took two days off to help us, is also sick. She has a stomach flu, so I'm not sure what's going to happen with her tomorrow. On the up side, my friend Jess is going to help me during the day tomorrow for sure. We'll have a lot of fun. We'll both be all hopped up on caffeine, a little wired, a little crazy. But that's us anyway.

Jared and I are so excited to get out of this crappy apartment and into one we actually will enjoy.

Quick and Easy Dinners

I am constantly searching for recipes than can be made in about twenty minutes or less, and are affordable for a family of four. With the current economy, this goal has become a necessity. I will be posting my recipes here when I find something that works. I usually begin with a regular recipe, and then modify it to make it faster and easier. I also create weekly meal plans, and I'm always striving to ensure that ingredients that must be purchased in larger amounts than needed can be used later on in the week so I throw a minimal amount of food away. Here are a couple recipes I have made successfully lately.

Cheese Enchiladas

1 small yellow onion, diced
Corn tortillas
Red mild enchilada sauce
Large bag of shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place enchilada sauce in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat.
3. Wrap about 8 tortillas in a paper towel and heat in the microwave for about 30 seconds, to make the tortillas more pliable.
4. To make enchiladas: Hold tortilla in your hand, sprinkle desired amount of cheese and onion in the center, then roll. Place enchilada seam side down in greased baking pan. Continue until all enchiladas have been rolled.
5. Ladle heated sauce over enchiladas, covering enchiladas, but not drowning them. I don't usually use the whole can of sauce, but if you like a lot, go for the whole can.
6. Sprinkle a small amount of cheese on top.
7. Place the pan in a preheated oven for ten minutes, just until the cheese melts and the enchiladas are heated through.
8. Serve with a steam-in-the-bag veggie side, and enjoy!

I love these enchiladas because the onion, cheese, corn tortilla, sauce flavor combo is amazing. It's so simple, requires very little prep, and only cooks for 10 minutes. Amazing! Also, if you wanted to make chicken enchiladas, I would recommend using a store-bought rotisserie chicken, and eliminating the onions. The onion flavor can be overpowering, and would not really compliment the chicken very well.

If you go with the rotisserie chicken, use about half, and save the remaining chicken for the next recipe.

Corn and Chicken Chowder

About 2 c. shredded rotisserie chicken
3 c. Corn
1/2 c. Frozen onion
1/2 c. Frozen green pepper
1 medium russet potato, diced
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
1 TB Butter
3 c. Chicken Broth
2 c. Milk

1. Melt butter in a large pot, add corn, pepper, onion, potato, salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat for about 6-7 minutes.
2. Add thyme, chicken broth, and milk, bring to a low boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove 1/2 of the soup mixture, and puree in blender. Add puree back to the soup and stir. Add chicken, and simmer another 5 minutes.
4. Enjoy!

Those are two recipes I found and modified, to make them a little faster, and a little cheaper. Go ahead and give them a try, and let me know what you think! I will continue to add new recipes now and then.

Staying home with a sick boy today....

Ashton is sick today, so we're staying home from school. I missed my math class, and I'm disappointed only because we got test results today and I wanted to know how I did. I actually really enjoy school, and still feel that I'm lucky to be able to go. How many people have children young and are able to attend college, and especially full time? I have both the government (thanks for the grants :)) and my husband, whose support I'd be lost without, to thank for this ability. If you ask me in two years, when I'm trying to get everything done and school becomes more challenging, I may think differently. But for now, I love every damn minute of it.

Makayla is becoming increasingly challenging. She's a full-blown toddler, and she's stubborn as hell. She' developing this terrible screech that she lets loose when she doesn't get what she wants. She also alternates between clingy and outgoing. She couldn't understand this morning that we had to leave her brother alone, because he was sick. I told her to leave him alone, and she looked at me with those beautiful eyes, and said, "WHHYYY?" Of course, an explanation was a waste of time, but her little voice is so cute and cracks me up every time.

Hopefully Ashton will feel better tomorrow. I knew he wasn't feeling good because he woke up and just wanted to lay around. He usually wakes up running, so I immediately took his temp. He didn't have one, so I struggled with the decision to keep him home. I'd like to instill a strong sick policy in my kids, one that allows sick days for real illnesses only. So, eventually I decided he really appeared to be ill, so I called his preschool. Ten minutes later, he threw up, restoring my confidence in my own decision-making abilities.

My folks got a new puppy this weekend, and he's absolutely adorable. His name is Max, and he's a chocolate lab. The kids absolutely love him.

We have a busy week ahead of us, since we are finally moving out of this terribly small apartment into one that will actually suit us. We're all very excited, and I'm starting to feel a little bit of stress. Moving is a bitch.

Let' get the background stuff out of the way...

So my name is Brittney, and I am a mother of two. I'm not sure where I will find time to write this blog, but I'll probably pack it in while I'm avoiding real responsibilities. My husband and I (I'm married, by the way) are both attending school, working, and struggling to raise the two most amazing kids in the world. We are ambitious, but grounded, although sometimes I feel like I might tear my own hair right out of my head.

Jared and I met while he was stationed in New Jersey with the US Navy. I was 19 and he was 20 at the time. We met late one night at the diner I was working at, and the rest is history. Well, sort of. We got off to a rough start, beginning with me accidentally giving him the wrong phone number (twice). However, once we were able to contact each other, we fell in love fast and hard. Within four months we were pregnant with our son, and although there were certainly challenges associated with having children young, the day our son was born forever cemented our relationship.

Four months later, Jared was deployed, and Ashton and I spent many lonely months waiting for him to return. When he did, we settled in California, and soon got the good news that we were expecting our daughter. 3 months after her birth, Jared finished up his tour of duty, and we headed to the Midwest.

It's now a year later, and we are the proud parents of an amazing three year old, Ashton, whose intelligence amazes me daily, and a very active, stubborn little girl, Makayla, whose smile melts my heart every time. I attend school full time, to obtain a teaching degree and teach high school math. I also work part time, on Friday and Saturday nights. My husband is attending school to become an electrical engineer, and works full-time. We rarely see each other, but we try to remember the benefit of our sacrifice. It's difficult sometimes. We struggle every day to maintain a relationship that has meaning, not just function.

My difficulties and struggles will be here, this place I've created to leave the daily stresses behind, in order to begin fresh each day. You'll see my good days and bad, my mistakes and accomplishments. It's all here, left for the world to see.