Henry Ford Overload

A couple weeks ago, I met my mom in Michigan and we went to the Henry Ford/Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI. I love this place- I have a lot of childhood memories from when I was younger, so it's really awesome to take my kids there now. Here are some photos from the trip. Enjoy :)

There was a "Wizard of Oz" exhibit in the museum- this was a part of the Kansas part of it.

I'm sad Ben hasn't been here yet, because there is SO MUCH about planes!

"My bologna has a first name..." This particular wiener mobile is from 1952- my mom says that's a good year... :)

More at the OZ exhibit.

A REAL LIFE turn table. Grant loved the train yard... weird... I know. 

Waiting in line for the wicked old carousel.

Old glass... cool.

I love two things about this picture- 1: the spinning wheel and 2: the way the window is propped open. Pretty awesome.

This is the OLDEST windmill in the United States.

The boys.

And what a great way to end the day - going back to the Oz Exhibit and watching a little bit of the movie in this awesome red arm chair.

We LOVE this place and you should check it out too!!!

Ben the Magician!

This is keeping the boys busy lately- trying to figure out Ben's magical ways.


PLEASE excuse the night time mess that happens in our house. I'm sure everyone else's homes are spotless after a day full of playing, right?!

Picnik Love

If you haven't noticed by now, I like picnik.com. You can edit photos or combine them and make collages. It's pretty awesome. And the premium package is only $2/month! Woohoo! Today I learned how to use picnik to make prints. I'm really excited about the one I just sent into Sam's Club to be printed (only an hour to wait!!). Our home is pretty old. And it's a rental, so there isn't much we can do to fix it up. I've had a hard time trying to make it OUR HOME because of this. In the boy's bathroom (the one we let people use), there is an odd piece of wood with three hooks on it. It does not match anything, but it's mounted to the wall. We use all the time so it's not like it's useless. We also have Ben's teacher (now colleague) stay with us when he's in town and uses said bathroom. So this is what is being printed right now- soon to be put on a canvas and mod podged. 

YEAH! I'm so excited. I'll post pictures when it's hanging. (so maybe tonight??) Is this lame? If so- I'll not hang it and only have wasted $3. I'm basically giggling right now as I look at it. Enjoy your weekend!

*****UPDATE***** 

Here it is all done. A little darker than I'd like- but I love it! 

I still need to fix the edges and I'm thinking of how to do that. 

Dinner

Making dinner in this house seems to be something I'm not very good at. You can add that to my list! I found this pretty simple dinner that I'd share and tell you what I did to make it better! 

The recipe is called Chicken Enchilada Puffs and I found it on a blog called TidyMom. 

The recipe calls for 6 ingredients:

1 package jumbo crescent rolls 

3 oz cream cheese 

1/2 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese 

3/4 cup cooked chicken (diced or shredded) 

1/3 cup enchilada or taco sauce 

2 teaspoons enchilada or taco seasoning mix 

1/4 cup Mexican shredded cheese for sprinkling 

What I did to make it better (or a tad bit healthier) and CHEAPER 

(meaning- STORE BRANDS BABY!) was this: 

-Less/reduced fat rolls 

-3 oz Neufchatel 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese 

-2 chicken breast cutlets- so hardly any chicken 

-I forgot to add the cheese till the end, so YEAH! No cheese fat in ours and it worked out just fine! 

-AND I added an entire package of Kroger (store brand) Mexican Style Frozen Vegetables. 

**These frozen veggie mixes are now my favorite thing to cook with. I know that there is nothing like FRESH veggies- but the fact that these are the kind of veggies one would put in a Mexican dish is AWESOME! They also have Italian Style, Asian Style, Stir Fry, and MORE! I'm so excited. 

This dinner was awesome and because I added the veggies, it made it so I now have left over mix in my fridge for a taco or something tomorrow. So simple. So yummy. Grant LOVED it and Henry- well- he picked at the bread. 

I don't know what to feed him............................ 

MAKE IT!

Good and Bad

I've been struggling lately with feeling like a good person/mom. Sometimes I feel like I'm a bad mom. My kids probably watch more movies than they need to. While we have a quasi schedule, it's not like everyone's I see. I loathe giving baths, so I don't do it everyday (and I make Ben give them baths). We eat meat- and more than maybe some would like, but it's not the only thing we eat. My boys are CRAZY! They run away when ever they get the chance (why did Henry have to follow in his brothers footsteps!?). Grant's not in a pre-school and I've been slacking on my plan to do home school pre-school (we do things every now and then). I started working about 1-2 days a week.  I probably sit in front of the computer more than I should- and I'm trying to make sure I am only on it when the boys are napping/sleeping.  I hate doing the dishes, and I'm not the greatest at cleaning things up right away. My personal scripture study and prayers have been at a low I'd rather not think about.

With all that said, it's not a pity party. I've been able to sit and think about things that I think I and our family do well. I LOVE doing laundry. I love the smell of clean laundry and I'm fairly good about getting it folded right away (I say this with two loads on my couch right now... hahaha). My home is not a disaster, but it most certainly looks like we live in it. And to be honest- I don't know how well I'd enjoy the "sterile" look of cleanliness- I don't know how mom's are able to keep such nice looking homes. Part of me thinks that something/one gets neglected. And while I have very crazy children, they have some of the best manners I've seen. And that IS a result of my trying to teach them something. In the morning, Grant says, "Good Morning, Mom! How are you?" Then I'll answer and he then says, "I'm doing well, thanks, how are you?" That makes me so happy. They always say please and thank you. They are great kids- crazy- but great. My husband is awesome. He loves me and he loves our kids, and all of us know it.

So the deal is this: no one is perfect. I'm the farthest thing from it- but I'm trying.  I think it is important to be concerned about what YOU (me) are doing to be better, and about your own standing with the Lord. I feel guilty enough from my own conscience- I don't need other people judging me. And really- at the end of the day- I think what's also important is if you are worthy to go to the temple- AND if you are- are you going??? How many people spew what others should and shouldn't be doing- but then aren't attending the temple? Isn't' that what's most important? Isn't that we're all trying to be worthy to be a part of? Let's stop the judging (me included!!!!!!!!) and start making sure we are ALL at the temple as OFTEN as we can. 

Anyway, I'm off to go buy things for a Pinterest craft! hahaha

-Rochelle