Introducing Rebecca Gayley, friend extraordinaire.

This week  I would like to introduce to you my wonderful friend Rebecca Gayley.  Rebecca is a graduate of the University of Oregon class of 1994!  She has worked for The Statesman Journal and landed her husband while covering his high school basketball game.  Rebecca boasts a yahtzee score of 490 and has the cutest little poochy poo name Coco Puff. (oh yeah, and two pretty great boys and husband too) We go way back, and will go way forward.  I know I will always have the best time when we are together and I can't forget to mention that she has texted me EVERY single day since I moved!!! What a friend.

This was us last year watching the civil war together!  Probably one of the funnest days we have had together.  And I am pretty sure it was one of the best days for the guy in the background of the second picture too! 

So without further adieu, I give you the first guest blog post from my dear friend RG

A couple of months ago, I try to forget the exact date, my friend Nicole (you all know Nicole) announced she, Matt, Madels & Jude were MOVING....! Who's this Matt person, I wondered? I had spent many months hanging out with Nicole at her house, eating tuna sandwiches & drinking iced tea. Jude & Bret took a few playdates to actually enjoy each other's company, but our patience and lack of meddling (rare) paid off and they became great friends. Madels named her Teddy Bear hamster after my toy poodle, CocoPuff. Life was BEAUTIFUL!! But Matt? Hmmm... Never heard of him.

Matt is like my husband: he works -- a lot! I did, one rare occasion, catch a glimpse of this elusive husband. Nice guy.

BUT WHY O WHY WOULD HE TAKE MY NICOLE AWAY??

Denial turned to reality and the Kings were on the road to Pullman, WA. Packed up, shipped out. LAME.

Equally lame is moving to WASHINGTON, of all places! Yes, it's fairly close when you check out a map. Vancouver is just a bridge ride from Portland. But Pullman, home to the Washington State Cougars, a Pac 12 team, is home to well, just that. Not much else. Not even a Target?!? Good luck with that, Nicole. Pullman is a whopping 8-hour drive along some random highway in an easterly direction. (I think, anyway.) It's closer to Idaho than Oregon. Ugh.

Little did I know that I would be driving to Washington nearly every week... but nowhere near Nicole.

I drive to Seattle, the Emerald City from Salem, the Cherry one (What is Pullman's moniker, Nicole? Please share) nearly ever week. I am pretty sure every state thinks its neighboring state has the WORST drivers; Rest Assured: OREGON AND IDAHO ARE CORRECT THAT WASHINGTON HAS THE WORST DRIVERS EVER. I am super hoping Nicole moves back to Oregon before they get her & turn her to the dark side.

Oregon drivers, let's play a little game, shall we?

FACT: The speed limit on I 5 from Vancouver to Seattle is either 60 or 70. Question: When the speed limit is 60, how fast do you drive? The correct answer is 65. Thank you. When the speed limit is 70, how fast do you drive? If you said 72-75, you are correct! You are a good driver. But if you are a typical Washington driver, you would have answered 55 and 68, respectively. Please go back to Driver's Ed. You FAIL!

FACT: Road construction is inevitable in Washington. Question: When there are orange cones and barrels and people working in the rain, and the speed limit drops to 50, how fast do you drive? The correct answer is 50! Set your cruise control! People's lives are on the line!! If you are a typical Washington driver, you accelerate to 60 or more. FAIL!

FACT: The left lane is the PASSING LANE. You use it to pass slower drivers. Question: If the speed limit is 70, and you are in the passing lane, are you passing a slower driver? If you said, NO, I simply like this lane the best, it's my favorite. CONGRATULATIONS: YOU ARE A TYPICAL WASHINGTON DRIVER. PICK UP YOUR NEW PLATES!

FACT: A parking lot is for parking your car. Question: When you are parking your vehicle in a parking lot, do you drive through the main corridors looking for a prime parking spot? The correct answer is YES. If you are a typical Washington driver, however, you drive willy nilly through the parking lines and almost crash into drivers simply trying to park. Remember this is a parking lot, not a freeway. I know it is confusing. Parking lot: park. Freeway: Drive. Maybe make yourself some flash cards to practice these points.

FACT: Seattle has a lot of people (including students, tech-savvy Microsoft employees, tourists, commuters and even, Canadians, eh?!) who very often use the freeway to get from once place to another. In this way, Seattle is a lot like other big cities. To help drivers along, there are signs along the freeway, for example: EXIT ONLY. Question: When you are in a lane and there is a sign that reads EXIT ONLY, do you A, stay in that lane because you need to exit, or B, signal and get out out that lane because you do not need to exit? The correct answer is A Or B. If you answered, I DON'T KNOW BUT I WILL WAIT TO THE VERY LAST MILLISECOND TO DECIDE THEN EITHER CUT YOU OFF GETTING OUT OF THE LANE OR CUT YOU OFF TO GET INTO THE LANE, you, my dear, are a full-fledged, card-carrying Washington driver. Your car has lots of dents, your signal is broken, but your cappuccino is near perfect!

One of these days, I will meander off Interstate Five, and take the road less traveled and visit the Kings. Yes, I am afraid! But I am bold and I know the ways of the Washingtonian... and I will succeed.

PS: I don't cook often enough to blog about cooking.

Watch out Garber....

There's a new coloring champ in town!  Tonight we mixed family fun night up a bit.  The kids said they were getting bored of rummikub (not sure how that is possible) so we thought we would try a new game.  Swap it is!  Swap is basically a version of Uno.  The kids both picked it up quickly and we had lots of fun swapping and slapping cards.  Matt gave it a thumbs down, since there is no strategy.  hahaha

We also ventured out a bit with our snack.  Ice cream and a orange creamsicle for Jude.                  

The game was quick and Matt had some work he had to get done at the office, so the kids and I continued the fun by doing a little coloring.  When my sister was here she colored with the kids and Madeline was so impressed by Lindsey's skills.  Madels picked a coloring page with similar characters as Linds had done and did a great job of mimicking what she had done.  But like I said there is a new Champ in town!  That's right, this mom has slid into first place!  Take that sister.  Two and half hours, several paper towels, and a pile of q-tips later  I forced Madeline to say mine was the best Madeline told me she thought my technique was better than Nunu's.  

Would it be weird if I framed my own coloring page?

Last night we had our first sticking snow here!!!  It left about as quickly as it came.  Madels spent about 2 minutes dancing in the snow and Jude enjoyed it from the window.  :) When we woke up this morning it was all gone but we are expecting more by the end of the week.  The kids are getting excited about sledding and playing once it is here to stay.  

I'm still loving the muffin tin lunch snack idea.  The kids love them too.  I'm not sure what it is about them but the kids just eat them up! 

I can't remember where I saw this idea, but it is a simple thing.  I remember my grandma used to always peel and core apples as a snack when we would go to her house.  I always think of how easily she cored the apples with that little silver paring knife.  That skill was not passed down to me.  But this, this little trick makes me look pretty good!  Now if I could just master just taking the peel off of the apple rather than half of the fruit!  Oh and would need that little yellow pie pan that she always put them in. :)

The countdown is on! 3 days and we are headed home! It will be a fun packed week.  

Our Favorite Veteran and our favorite breakfast!

The kids had an assembly yesterday at school in honor of Veteran's Day.  Each class contributed in a special way.  Madeline's class sang a song, some recited poems, and one class made a tribute video.  It was really neat to see all of the work that the teachers and kids put into making it a special day.  

Many of the kids decorated stars to honor Vets.  Our kids each decorated on for our dear friend Enoch!

Enoch we are so proud to call you our friend and so very thankful for your service.  And Kathrin too!  Being a military wife can't be easy. We love you both!!!

On a much less important note, here we have theMOTD (meal of the day) 

Egg in a Hole

Before I met Matt I called these bad boys Bullseyes.  They are delicious and easy and for some reason I can not ever get my kids to eat eggs unless it is cooked this way.  

Please note the beautiful eggs.  These beauties came from the generous chickens at Mark and Carly's house! 

If my Grandpa Bob had been here for breakfast I just know he would have gone crazy for these eggs!!!  

The bottom picture is of pink milk.  My kids go nuts for it.  I don't know why???  

Our day at home has great plans for laziness.  We are still rocking the pj's and have already watched one Christmas special on TV.  

Tonight we will head to Bohler Gym to watch the Cougs take on the Cal Bears!  We will also have our own little spiker on the court for recognition.  Believe it, there will be plenty of photos!!!

The family that cooks together........

Well, bummer I don't have a clever ending to that statement.  :)

Golden Cream Soup!  Oh yummy.  This is a recipe I received from my mother in law.  When I heard the name I wasn't sure what to think about it.  But after that first taste I was sold.
This is a wonderful potato soup, with carrots, celery, onion

and the money ingredient...........

Velveeta!!! 

I love velveeta.  It is one of those foods that I try to keep on the dl that I like.  

Look at my family aren't they cute? 

Peeling, chopping, and dicing together.  

Unfortunately this is the last picture of the evening.  I left before dinner was done and Matt and the kids finished making dinner and ate before I returned home.  But just imagine a big pot of goodness, and on the side of that a pile of crusty french bread.  And with the addition of those veggies you don't feel quite so bad about the pound of velveeta that is mixed in! (the recipe calls for 1/2 lb.  but who are they kidding)

Dad I thought you might like to know what madels said the other day.

I was telling her why we needed to trim her hair.  I said if we never cut it the it will just keep breaking off and  won 't grow.  To which she replied "Is that what happened to Papa?"  HAhahah makes sense to me.  :)

Today the kids are celebrating Veterans day at school and Madeline has put on every red, white,  or blue article of clothing that she owns.  I am looking forward to the program they are putting on this afternoon and it will also be fun to see all the stars they have decorated for our veterans!

There's a first time for everything.....

....but I don't know that it is always a good thing.  About 6 years ago I had my dear friend/cousin Jody over for a play date with our sweet little one year olds.  The day passing quickly when I realized I hadn't planned dinner.  I asked Jody "what should I make for dinner?" And  do you know what she did?  She showed me a recipe that changed my life.  Not only did she introduce me to this delicious meal she actually put it all together for me!!!  She said, "do you have chicken?" Yes, I said. "Do you have soy sauce?" me, yes.  "Well here  you go" she said.  And off she went. Since that day I can not tell you how many times I have called her asking, how do I make that chicken?  It is always a great excuse to chat on the phone and catch up.  But for the very first time last night I didn't have to call. :( I had actually written the recipe down and put it in my recipe box.  As I pulled that recipe out I felt a little sad that I didn't have to call.  So I guess from now on I will just have to call for a different reason.  Now please don't laugh at the fact that I had to call every time when you see the actual recipe. It is very simple and has very few ingredients.  

So here it is.     

Step by step instructions to the easiest, most delicious meal you can make.

Step one:

Frozen chicken breasts

put them straight into the crock pot.  

As you can see I used the chicken tenderloins.  

Step two:

Add 

3/4 cup soy sauce

3/4 water

3/4 sugar (this time I used brown sugar)

garlic and ginger (i don't like ginger so I do not add any)

Once it is all mixed together that's it!!! Amazing.  

Set your slow cooker for how ever long it is until dinner (haha) and your done.

(I would suggest at least 4 hours but the longer the better)

About 20 minutes before dinner time I start a batch of rice and get out a package of frozen stir fry veggies.

And there you have it.  A wonderful meal the whole family will love!

Please note the very small mess created during the prep of this meal.  

Not bad considering I didn't "clean up" as I went. 

 And here we have the kid portion

Followed by the Dad portion!

What's on the menu for tonight? You ask.

Well I will give you a clue

it is a perfect dish for a freezing cold evening.  

I would say comfort food at its finest.  

Yum Yum! Stay tuned for the details.

Lazy, cold weekend

I don't have much to blog about this weekend.  We had a nice relaxing weekend and spent lots of time staying cozy in the house, watching football, and just hanging out together.  Friday night the kids' school put on a family fun night and so we spent the evening there.  The kids had a blast.  They had lots of fun stuff for them to do.  We started out with some fun carnival type games and face painting and then went to the book fair.  Wow!! Let's just say, book fair= not my favorite part.  Not sure why but the kids could not decide on a book.  Once they made their choices we headed down the hall to the gym where they had a giant twister bounce thingy, rock wall, cake walk and of course Butch!  Both kids said that the bounce thing was the best part.  They spent a long time on it.  Matt and I were convinced that the longer we let them bounce the more energy they would burn and BOOM early bed time!  WRONG!!!  When we got home we put the kids to bed and said they could read their new books for a bit.  After about an hour of silence I thought for sure they were asleep when I heard, "mom should we turn the lights of yet" Oh my.  Still awake.  I said, in the very nicest way yes turn off the lights and go to sleep.   Again a period of silence passed and I thought about how lovely and obedient my children are.  Let's just say the story could go on for a while.  In the end the kids were awake until at least 10:30.  Sheesh, this momma was tired and ready for some quiet.  I guess the bounce twister did the opposite of what we had hoped for.  :)
Saturday somehow seems like 4 years ago and I don't really remember what we did!  Matt is working tons these days so he spent the majority of the day working and when he wasn't working we watched football.  And when we weren't watching football I watched some quality Christmas specials. :)  The kids are doing a wonderful job of playing well together and did that most of the day.
Sunday, was church and family time.  We are really enjoying our church.  I joined a ladies bible study this week and am really looking forward to getting into a regular routine of meeting and studying the word.
This afternoon I decided it was time to get organized in the meal planning area.  Most days I am doing the last minute scramble of deciding what is for dinner and it just makes for unhealthy choices and chaos in general.  First I asked Matt and the kids what their two favorite dinner meals are and got the regular answers.  Spaghetti, lasagna, potato soup and a family favorite runzas.  Those were great ideas but I am always wanting to add new options to the list so I went online to look for some crock pot meals.  I quickly found a recipe for meatballs with country gravy.  Now, if you have ever read this blog you know how Matt loves his gravy.  Side note: we once spent the better part of a 40 minute drive discussing the hierarchy of gravy!  He is passionate about it folks, so when the recipe called for a packet of gravy mix I knew I was going to have to do some tweaking.    So what did I do?  Called Mom! We came up with a plan.  I had some meatballs in the freezer and got them out and put them on warm in the slow cooker.  I just thought it would be an easy way to get them thawed.  From there I made a roux,
Now, looking back at the roux, I think next time I would bring it too a little bit of a darker color simply for looks.  But since this was my first time rouxing (would you like me to say roux again?) I was being careful not to burn it and stopped possibly a little too early.  Once the ROUX was ready I added some beef stock and brought it to a nice gravy consistency.  I tasted it and thought it was just a little too bland.  ENTER............the newly discovered Golden Mushroom Soup!

I added the soup and warmed it back up.  

Meanwhile, on the burner to the right these bad boys were getting their tan on! 

It seems like I would have perfected the browning of these thinly sliced beauties before now, but I actually think this was the first time we had no burnt ones! YUM

I didn't get a picture of the total finished product but just imagine some nicely browned meat balls atop this pile of goodness.

The final consensus from the family was "not gross, but probably won't make it again"  In looking back at this recipe I see it is a variation of one of Matt's favs.  Good ol' hamburger gravy and potatoes.  I would say it is just as easy as this and I know the family will always be pleased.  

After the success of our lunch in a muffin tin I started to wonder what else could I do to encourage my kids to EAT!!!! Why is it so hard?  Madels actually asked me the other day "why do we HAVE to eat food?"  Oh child what I wouldn't do to have such a problem. :)  Anyhow, I know that my kids love lunchables I don't know why, but I do know that I too loved them as a child.  I think it is the appeal of a nice little portion all set out and ready for your enjoyment.  Who knows, but what I do know is that for some reason when my kids don't finish them I get mad.  It drives me nuts.  It is such a small portion, but I think it is that stinking little candy bar waiting on the side and they just can't handle it.  Soooooo, all that to say, tonight I decided to make Madels her own lunchable.  I have tried in the past and she enjoyed it, but tonight I decided to try just a bit harder.  Step one: I had the deli guy cut the ham super thick to resemble the ham in the lunchable.  Step two: sliced cheese nice and thin, just the way I know she likes it, and three: cut the meat into cute little shapes.   I put them in a little container and am hoping she will be so thrilled that she eats it all!  If so I may go as far a purchasing a bento box for her lunch.  I have seen these before and didn't quite get it but now I do, and if it works then we are SOLD!!! I am pretty sure I won't go as far as these people do but I think there is a lot of fun stuff to be done! Bento Boxes 

Please note that I included a candy bar just to see if she will eat the food with the candy bar sitting there just begging to be eaten.

We are quite excited for Jude to start his bowling team this week!  I am happy for him to get involved in some sort of a group activity.  I didn't think he would pick bowling over basketball but he did and we hope to have lots of fun with it. 

Madels is doing spanish twice a week and has so far learned that 745am comes a lot quicker than she first thought and also lots of numbers.  

Fun times at the King house!  We are getting excited for our trip to Oregon in 10 days!!!!!!!  Yippeeee

See you soon.  

 

Halloween with the Kings!

My kids LOVE holidays.  They would love to totally deck the house out for all holidays.  I too love them but don't get into the decorating as much.  This year for Halloween we didn't decorate the house really but we did do a few fun activities.  On Thursday we had their friends Maysen and Even over to decorate the haunted house!  I had seen some fun lunch ideas on pinterest and decided to give them a whirl.  So the idea is to serve lunches in muffin tins.  I was able to pick them up at the dollar tree.  I was glad to find tins that only had six sections.  I'm not sure I could have come up with 12 items.  :)

 In our muffin tins we had, 

Apple mouths (apples slices, peanut butter and marshmallows)

Mummy dogs (hot dogs wrapped with pop out bread sticks)

Ghost cheese (string cheese )

Pirate booty and eye balls

Blood (ketchup)

and grapes.  I didn't have anything clever for these but I think the kids were calling them eyeballs too.(Holli do you think our kids have a thing for eyeballs?) haha

After lunch I sent the kids off to play while I got the stuff ready for the haunted house.  The girls were in charge of the spider webs on the roof and the boys as you can see were in charge of making sure that I didn't want to eat any thing off of the house.  They enjoyed eating the frosting right out of the bag !  They also did the windows on the sides and put most of the candy on the roof.  I was surprised that the boys stuck around to decorate much longer than the girls.  I think the girls were much too busy listening to youtube videos and dancing!

Monday we had halloween parties at school and trick or treating at night.  I am so sad I never actually got a picture of the kids together in their costumes.  Madels was a cat during the day and for trick or treating she was Taylor Swift.  And Jude was Optimus Prime!  The kids loved dressing up all weekend, we have definitely gotten our money's worth out of those costumes.  

My sister was here over the weekend too and it was wonderful!  We did lots of relaxing and I wouldn't have had it any other way.  It was so nice to spend time together without having to run here and there the whole time.  Funny thing is we both had thought we would do all kind of crafty things and baking but instead we spent our time, visiting, and shopping.  We had a marathon session at Old Navy, I think we were there for almost 3 hours!

 She also helped me out a lot with snacks for the school party and also at the party!  What a trooper to go to a Halloween party for someone elses child!  Thanks so much sissy for spending the weekend away from your family and coming here.  I know it was no small feat getting everything lined up.  

Now, let the Christmas festivities begin!!!! I definitely turned on the Kenny and Dolly music while we were making treats for school.  We are also super excited to be heading back to Oregon the weekend before thanksgiving.  The kids and I will be there for about a week and Matt will head home on Sunday.  I'm so looking forward to seeing friends and of course..............Breaking Dawn!!!! 

PS you can click on the photo collages to see a larger version.