Great Weekend

It has been a busy but wonderful weekend. It is the first weekend in a while where we have not been trying to catch up on school work, so we were able to actually relax and enjoy each other.

Friday, the kids and I went out shopping for their gifts for the baby. It was great watching them each, even my youngest, looking at everything trying to figure out what they felt would be special. That afternoon I allowed the girls to have a friend over for a sleep over.

Yesterday morning included a softball evaluation, running to the post office and library, and some bird watching. The girls played with friends all afternoon. I got to read my library book, "Quiet". The boys just played.

 Last night was our second Saturday Family Chopped Night. My husband vs. Blessing #2. The ingredient for dinner was rice. For dessert was tortillas. My husband made a garlicky rice with peas and mushrooms. A bit strong on the garlic. He topped it with a simple pan cooked chicken breast. Blessing #2 made white rice topped with soy sauce. It was a bit crunchy, though. I helped her make some bbq chicken as well. It was tender, juicy, and I liked it a lot. Due to plating, creativity, and the fact that Blessing #2's rice was crunchy, we decided that my husband won the dinner round. Dessert was a little harder. Both of them chose cinnamon chips. Although my husband also made whipped cream and actually toasted his chips, Blessing #2 won the dessert round. Her chips actually had the cinnamon sugar flavor to it. I had to admit I was a little disappointed that their wasn't a Mexican rice dish made and there wasn't more creativity with the tortillas, at least from my husband, but it was still a good time that got us cooking as a family and that's why I love doing it. Next week is supposed to be my brother in law vs. Blessing #1. Ingredients are supposed to be, dinner: ground beef and dessert: fruit of any kind. I hope with the advanced notice on ingredients they can come up with some really yummy stuff. We'll see!

Another great thing about last night, was that we all worked together to clean up. Sure there was more we could've done, but we went to bed with clean counters, tables, playroom, den, and fireplace room and I didn't have to do it all by myself, like I usually do. I hope we can make that more of a habit as well. To me, a family is like a team. We all need to work together to be able to have the time together that we want. When one person is left to do it all, there is no time for them to enjoy the gift of being with the others.