End of Year Testing. . . .

I absolutely detest all the testing that is pushed on our kids in the public school system today.   I realize we must assure they are learning but there must be another alternative.  I have one child that has no problem testing and I have one that twists himself into a knot days before all of this testing.   He makes himself sick worrying over this mess.  There are many children that are just like my Big T and worry themselves until they are physically ill over end of year testing.   Our school system puts so much pressure on these children to perform, I wonder if during the year they are really learning anything.  Our we really educating our children or are we teaching them how to take a test?
In our family we try to make the days of the EOG's, EOC's and final exams special and fun.   This year my dear sweet hubby is making a special breakfast each morning for the boys.  Normally it is yogurt and a bar for Big T and Sprat usually has hash browns and milk.  This week of exams they have had bacon and pancakes with biscuits.   Sprat will most likely have sausage biscuits and hash browns and maybe some bacon during his finals.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially on exam days.   Prayer is also very important on days like this.  I said a special prayer with Big T before he left for school today and I said another one after they left for both Sprat and Big T.   I also slipped Big T a little peppermint patty to eat before the test.   I read somewhere that peppermint helps wake up the brain and keeps you focused.  In our house, we pull out all the tricks we can to get us through exams.
To everyone suffering from exam anxiety, parents and kids alike, prayers and hugs to you all.

New Recipe. . .

I have a new favorite recipe for my broccoli.  I found this one on Pinterest, but I did not save it and now I cannot locate it.  I did tweak it just a bit anyway so it is not the exact recipe from Pinterest.   We have a bumper crop of broccoli right now so I am trying to find other ways to eat it than just raw and in salads.  I do love it that way though.  I have done this recipe two different ways and obviously I encourage you to tweak it and make it your own.

1-2 cups chopped broccoli (depending on how many you are going to feed)
2-3 tbsp of olive oil ( I am never exact on this, I do not measure)
2 cloves of garlic pressed ( highly recommend fresh)
1-2 tbsp of water

I whisk the last three ingredients then add the broccoli and toss.  Spread over a baking dish and broil till tender or to the way you like it.  My hubby likes his really done.

This is the one I tried today and it was FABULOUS!!
1-2 cups chopped broccoli
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 lemon zested and then juiced

I whisk the last three ingredients then add the broccoli and toss.  Zest your lemon before you juice it and I only juiced half of my lemon.  This had the best flavor, I could not believe how good it was.  I broiled on 500 till it was very fragrant and a little crisp for my hubby.   When I bring it out of the oven I also sprinkle a little salt.

I think my kids might even like this, I may have to try it again tonight and see.  

Anniversaries. . .

My wonderful parents celebrated their sixty first wedding anniversary this month and my dear hubby and I celebrated twenty-three years earlier this year.   Someone at Church asked my Dad about their anniversary and he said, "I have been married all of my life."  My Dad is such a comedian.   My parents are both very funny and you can tell when you are around them that they really do love each other very much.   They have both been through their share of trials and tribulations.   I hope that the hubbs and I will last as long.   We argue and fight but I think that is just part of sharing a life with someone else.   Our biggest fights came when we bought our first house and then again when we bought the house we are in now.   These were very big decisions in our married life, I felt like if there was ever something to argue over these were two legitimate ones.   A few years after we bought our first house the hubbs sister ran into our real estate agent and he asked if we were still married.  I had to laugh we had only been married eight months before we bought our first house.   We had definitive ideas on what we wanted in a home and they did  differ just a little.  We were in our first house for twelve years before we bought the house we are in now.   The same agent helped us buy our second house too.  We will probably be in this one till we die, we have a big backyard.  Just kidding.  I think we will be here till we move to the beach.  Big T has already said he is going to live at the beach when he gets out of college.  I told Big T that he had to have an extra room for me.  The only thing Sprat has said is that he does not want to live where it is cold.   He may have dreams of the beach too.

The Things We Do for Our Kids. . .

We went out to eat the other day and I looked across the table at my kids and they are not my little boys any more.  They are young men and very handsome, if I do say so myself.  Sitting there I could not believe how much they have grown up they are practically men.  It made me think back when they were little and all the funny things they did and I did to get them to this  point.  
From the time Sprat was born the hubbs and I would read to him and say prayers for him before bed. When Sprat was almost three he said something about monsters being in his room and that he was afraid to go to sleep.   The hubbs and I read to him and said prayers but Sprat was still concerned about monsters, I got creative and decided to do the banish the monsters dance.  Yes, I am that mom.  The banish the monsters dance went like this; I clapped really loud and shouted in each corner of the room for all of the monsters to get out and stay out of this room.  I would then jump around and clap in a circle and yell "out, out, out."   This always made Sprat laugh, which was the point, so that his last feelings before going to bed were happy.   You have to be silly sometimes, you cannot be a serious parent all of the time.   This worked for the next several years.   The hubbs and I have always made it a point to say prayers with the boys before bed and we still do.  They are in separate rooms now so we do prayers in the living room before they go up for bed.   I am so thankful that they still want to say prayers together.
When Sprat was in elementary school I started knitting.  He saw me knitting one day and asked what I was doing.  I told him I was knitting a prayer shawl and he wanted to know what that was.  I explained that I was praying while I was knitting and that who ever received the shawl would receive my prayers.  Sprat had been struggling with some things in school and asked if he could have one for school.  I giggled just a little but I knew what he really meant.  He wanted something to give him comfort during school.  I crocheted him a bookmark and we tied it in one of his notebooks.  I prayed over that bookmark for him and I told him that when ever he felt bad he could look at that bookmark and know that he was not alone and that I would see him soon.  Big T went through something similar while in elementary school and he also took a crocheted bookmark that we had prayed over with him to school.  I think elementary school is one of the hardest times in the lives of our kids.   I would have done almost anything to give my kids some type of comfort during this time of their little lives.
We are getting ready for final exams and EOG's and EOC's.   I hate all of the  testing and rating of students and teachers.  The hubbs and I do our best to make these days fun and a little less stressful.  I know I have posted about this before but it does need to be shared again.  On days of exams or EOG's  we take the boys out for a good breakfast.  We try to make the day special and not so stressful.  I got this idea from my sister she started this tradition with her girls when they were in school and I thought it was a fabulous idea so when Sprat was in middle school we started the exam day breakfast.  Not sure where we will take the boys to eat this year but we usually let them pick the place.
Living and loving in the little moments of my kids lives.  I am so lucky to have these crazy boys and my crazy husband too.  They get it honest.  

Throwback Thursday. . .

A little stroll down memory lane.

My three favorite fellas on Father's Day 2011

The Hubbs and Sprat at the Fair 2011

The Beach with Sprat and Big T 2013

My fellas 2013

Just Grill It !

I love grilling season and yes at our house it is a season.   We love to grill, my hubby will grill almost anything.   We love steak and chicken on the grill, but anybody can do that, my hubby grills stuffed peppers, zucchini, and potatoes too.   The hubbs picked up a little gadget at Bass Pro Shop so that he can grill stuffed peppers and the stuffing does not fall out.  It is a pretty neat trick.  You can use either ground beef or shredded chicken with cream cheese and taco seasoning and stuff your peppers then stand them in the grill gadget for peppers and load them on your grill.  These are awesome, I hope we have enough peppers this year to make these.   I posted last year about grilling whole onions with butter and a little garlic powder and fresh sage wrapped in tinfoil.  We will be doing those too.
Here is the garlic and wine marinade recipe, you must promise that you will not laugh when I tell you where it came from.  I always give credit when I use a recipe or anything else that is not my own.   Remember no laughing.  The Brazilian Bikini Body Program by Regina Joseph.   I have no intention of ever wearing a bikini again and that is not why I bought this book.   I have always been fascinated by the diets in other areas of the world, I have read quite a bit on the Mediterranean diet and the Brazilian diet is very similar.  They eat fresh fruits and vegetables and they do not deny themselves things like bread, they do not have negative thoughts about eating the occasional sweet.  They are active and outdoors a lot and I think we would all be better off if we were outdoors more and away from the idiot box (what my dad used to call the TV).  
Here is one of my favorite marinade recipes I found in the BBBP book.

Garlic and Wine Marinade
This is for a large batch that you can keep in a glass jar in the fridge for about a week.  I cut mine in half for 5 chicken breast.

4 cloves of garlic pressed
1 large onion chopped finely
2 cups dry white wine
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp cracked black pepper
2 dashes of Tobasco or Texas Pete
3 bay leaves
1 tsp salt

Marinate red meat for 3 hours in fridge, chicken and pork for 2 hours, and fish no more than half an hour.  I have not used this for red meat or fish, it is awesome on chicken.  My kids loved it.

A Planting I Will Go. . .

I love playing in the dirt and in the yard.  I have a beautiful trellis that my hubby gave me one Mother's day and each year we plant sweet potato vine to run on it.  I went yesterday and picked up my sweet potato vine and a Gerber Daisy.  I love the garden shop.  I potted my daisy in a new pot for my front porch to go with my huge Geranium.  
Last night we had grilled chicken and I was fixing a marinade for it, this is a garlic and wine marinade.  I noticed my garlic was sprouting,  well I decided I would try and grow some garlic.   It already had a little green shoot so I filled a pot with some potting soil and stuck my little toe of garlic in the dirt.   I left a little bit of the green shoot sticking out of the soil.  Below are my pictures.  I used a good size pot so there would be room to grow some delicious garlic. I have never done this so I will keep you posted on how it grows.  We tried a few years ago to grow garlic in the garden but it did not do anything.   I hope this works.

This is my sweet potato vine from a year ago.