Waiting to Move

 This post was written in March 2015, it took me a while to decide to post it. Included are some pictures from when we were waiting to move.

It was October, I think. I was sitting on the ottoman in our family room putting my boots on (or maybe taking them off, because I don’t remember going anywhere after this conversation). Nick and I were having our usual casual conversation. How was your day? How did that meeting go? Are you going to make dinner? When he said the words that I had been hoping for and dreading for the past year.

Nick: “Well, it looks like Columbus might become a reality”

Me: “Okay”

Nick: “Is it okay?”

Me: “Yeah, whatever we need to do, we will make it work”

Just like that. Such an important conversation began and ended. After all, we knew this day might come. Nick had been working towards this training program for years and after making it into this year’s class we knew that becoming a branch manager was only a matter of time. And, we knew that this promotion could move us out of Cincinnati. Away from the job that I love. Away from the beautiful house we had just built. Away from our friends and most importantly our families.

But, nothing was for certain. This was just an opportunity that might become a reality. He still hadn’t completed his training program and the job wasn’t offered to him. Still, it was plain to see, this was happening.

October went on as if that huge conversation had never happened. Oh, we talked about it all of the time. There were a lot of “ifs” but no “whens”. We spoke in half sentences trying to keep the boys from figuring out what might be on the horizon but at the same time we started to feel them out on what they would think about a move and some changes.

I must have known that this move would become a reality because I soon began to mourn the inevitable loss of my current life. The hardest part was kind of knowing that this stage of our lives would soon (but not sure how soon) be gone and not knowing what the next stage would be.

 

I called my aunt who I look to as not only a spiritual guide but also Catholic role model.  I spilled it all out to her. Everything that was supposed to be a secret, I told her.  How this promotion would allow me to stay home with my boys – something I always thought I wanted but I was terrified that I would lose my identity. How I knew this would break my mom’s heart and I didn’t know how I could possibly tell her that I’m taking her baby boys away, when we had just got here.  How this was just in the talking phase and I didn’t even know how or when or even if it was actually going to happen.

She listened. She was encouraging. And she gave me the best advice she possibly could. She said “Remember the changing of the leaves. Sometimes we just want to know the outcome, get past the waiting, and the working and hurting and get to the good stuff. But we have to remember the changing of the leaves. Remember how the leaves change.”

 

Wow, I can’t tell you how many times over the past 6 months this image has played over in my head. How many times in a moment of weakness did I ask God to tell me what the outcome would be? How many times have I said “If I can just make it past Christmas” or “I can’t wait for this baby to come.”  How many times I had wished for time to move faster.

Instead of giving me the answers, or fast forwarding me to the day of my choice. He gave me the leaves. The soccer tournaments. The snow days. My uncle’s death and funeral Mass. Our last Christmas in our beautiful house. The lazy Saturday mornings. Feeling this baby moving inside me. Cuddles and kisses and even the dog has grown on me…

So, I’ll take the changing leaves. The times in between. Our new life as a family will soon begin in another city, but the most important thing is we will be together, as a family.

Easter week dinners

Sometimes I think making dinners the week after a holiday is the hardest.  There are so many leftovers but not always the things you want to eat for dinner and after a day or two you can really get tired of the same things, and you want to eat them before they go bad. So, here are our last two nights of dinners after Easter. 

For Easter I made Chicken Cordon Bleu and I didn't take any pictures so I will have to come back to that one and make it another time with pictures. We also had a Honey Baked Ham and our families all brought sides and desserts. 

For Monday night's dinner we did a spin on the breakfast for dinner idea. We had Strawberry and Chocolate Crepes. I went off of this recipe. I didn't include powdered sugar and added Hershey's chocolate syrup.  Our strawberries were left over from Easter and our Nana makes them special with "secret sauce" which from what I can gather is sugar and vanilla.

I heated up some of the left over ham from Easter and everyone enjoyed it.

Tonight we had soccer and track practice and by the time I got home to think about making dinner it was 6:45. So I unthawed some organic chicken breasts I had stowed away in the freezer and made asparagus risotto with chicken. I don't know exactly how to describe the chicken but Jack ate all of it and asked for more so it had to be good. Really good.

For the chicken I thawed the chicken and cut it in half and seasoned with salt, pepper, basil and garlic salt with parsley.  I browned them in olive oil in pan, cooking on both sides for 4-5 minutes.  Then I poured in half a cup of left over white wine  from Easter and one cup of chicken broth. I then covered it and let I simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.

For the Asparagus Risotta I used this recipe but for the first half cup of chicken broth I substituted half a cup of white wine.

 

As a side note, the blog that I found the crepe recipe on I totally fell in love with and decided to favorite. Everyone should check out her blog, it is super cute and well put together. http://www.thekurtzcorner.com/



 

 

I blame my crazy on my mom.

I will start this post with HAPPY EASTER! I hope you and your family had a very blessed Easter. My family and I certainly did.

I am sure I'm not the only mom who does this. (I hope I am not the only mom that does this). I constantly think of all of the things that can go wrong. As my baby climbs the ladder on the wooden play set out back I imagine him falling. I picture exactly how he would fall and look at each and every place he will hit his head on the way down.  In a split second I look around to see how fast I can get to him and scoop him up, where I will run to take him and who I can yell to for help. I do this all of the time.  And it drives me crazy. And I blame this crazy behavior for other crazy behavior...like my constant yelling.

All of this "imagining" makes me crazy and makes me yell, constantly. Usually I'm yelling things like "are you freaking kidding me?", "Stop" and "do you think that is a good idea?". Mostly "Stop" followed by "I'm finished with you", "go to your room" or "you will be grounded". 

The ONLY way to stop these irrational thoughts is to be accompanied by my mom. Sometimes I think she is like a cure to the sickness, she has the irrational thoughts for me. I can take a step back and realize how crazy it is, even role my eyes and make fun of her (like I'm sure my husband and bystanders do of me). But then after she is gone, I have time to think about her concerns and my crazy grows worse.

I'm sharing this on this Easter Monday because while I worry, constantly (and my mom worries constantly) I have also been quietly reflecting on Mary our Mother, Jesus' Mother and been thinking of all of the worry and emotions she must have felt as the mother of our Savior. As I worry that my boys are going to fall on recess when I am not there she was walking with her Son as he fell three times on the way to Calvary.  As I think through every precaution and reaction I will perform to protect my babies from any harm Mary watched as her only Son was beaten, mocked, stripped, nailed and hung from a cross like a criminal. Mary watched as her Son died and was buried, she then suffered worrying and waiting for the outcome He had promised. Mary's Son, suffered, died, was buried, descended into hell and opened the gates of heaven. Mary knew this would happen, she new that as He promised, it would be but I can't help but imagine the worry and sadness in the process.

As my boys become young men of Christ I know that their road won't always be easy. They will fall and get-up, be pushed back and move forward. However, I have to have faith that our Lord will keep them safe (and "free me from all anxiety"?).  While God "gave His only begotten Son" to save man from himself, I think he gave Mary to us mommies as an example for raising our sons.

So, go tell John, Jesus has Risen! what was all of that worrying about?

Why Catholic Schools?

This past Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr Day.  A couple of years ago our president asked us to use this day as a day of service to continue Dr. King's legacy of serving our neighbors.

We spent the day on Fountain Square doing the Power Packathon with the Freestore Foodbank.  You can see more on the boys blog Dare for a Difference.

I think the coolest part of the day came three days later when Nicholas got this in the mail.



This probably summarizes how happy we are with our decision to send our boys to Catholic schools.  What a blessing to know that our boys are led each day by dedicated Catholic adults who are genuinely proud of their accomplishments. My boys are not only surrounded by words and images of the Church but truly submerged in Christ's love.

It's Catholic School's Week next week. We are very pleased with our decision to make Catholic schools a priority for our family and would encourage all families to consider making the sacrifices to invest in their child's future in the same way. 

If you are trying to decide on what open houses to go to you can visit the Catholic schools website. And here is the Catholic education difference here in Cincinnati.

Enchiladas your kids could make (with your help)

Day 18 of the Christmas break that will never end and I took my kids to work with me to check in on some odds and ends before we HOPEFULLY return tomorrow.  I was so frustrated at one point I demanded they run laps in the basement hallway (10 each) to burn some energy. It didn't work. I think they need recess, or PE. Something.

I found the Enchilada recipe that we can do together care of my new favorite blogger Tidy Mom. You can find the original recipe here. I made a number of changes to fit my pantry and our taste.

Here is the best part, the pictures.

Ready to get cooking.

 

Seasoning the chicken
(you can use pre-cooked chick if you like)

Filling the Enchiladas

Ready for the oven

Toasting the tortilla!

 

Joshua approves.

 

 

 

Ingredients

·         1 can (10.75 ounces) Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

·         1/2 cup organic sour cream or  Greek yogurt

·         1/2 cup organic milk

·         1 (10 ounce) can Mexican Lime & Cilantro Rotel

·         2 teaspoons organic chili powder

·         2 cups cooked chicken breast skinless (I cooked mine very quickly in Olive oil by cutting the breasts in half, I just seasoned with salt, pepper and ¼ taco packet)

·         1-1/2 cup shredded Mexican Blend cheese

·         1 cup all natural taco sauce

·         8 flour tortillas (6-inch), warmed (save two to make crispy chips)

·         1tbsp Olive Oil

·         ¼ tsp salt

·         ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

·         chopped organic tomato (optional for garnish)

·         fresh organic cilantro (optional for garnish)

Instructions

 

1.       Heat the oven to 350°F. Spray 11 x 8 x 2-inch baking dish with cooking spray

2.       Stir the soup, milk, rotel and chili powder in a medium bowl.

3.       In a large bowl, combine 1 cup soup mixture with chicken and 3/4 cup cheese.

4.       Fill enchiladas with the chicken mixture. Drizzle with a little taco sauce then roll up the tortillas and place seam-side down in baking dish.

5.       Pour the remaining soup mixture and taco sauce over the filled tortillas, then sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.

6.       Bake for 15 minutes, remove foil and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes or until the enchiladas are hot and bubbling. Top with the tomato and cilantro if desired. Serve with Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt on the side.

7.       While enchiladas are baking drizzle olive oil in large pan.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper and place remaining tortilla’s flat in pan.

8.       Toast tortillas on each side for 2-3 minutes.

9.       Remove tortillas from heat and cut with pizza slicer in desired shapes.  Add salt to taste and serve with salsa or enchiladas for crunch.

 

2013 - New House, Kids and Food

2013 was an exciting year for our family.  We were FINALLY able to make our move back official by moving into our new house.  Jack graduated pre-K and Nicholas and Jack started a new school together.  Below is a picture summary of the year.

Note: We bought a Fresh20 subscription for last year and followed it each and every week for 52 weeks.  Almost all of the food you see below came from the Fresh20 Classic Meal plans. 

January 2013:

Daddy turned 30!

 February:

Joshua turned 1!

 ...and we moved into our new house.

March:

Easter

 April:

Baseball

Fresh20 Turkey Sausage Ragu over Creamy Polenta

May:

I cut 11.5" of my hair for Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Goat cheese stuffed chicken over brown rice
with balsamic asparagus

Jack Graduated Pre-K

Mother's Day Tea Party

Nicholas and Jack turn 5 and 6
...and celebrate with friends.

Poached Salmon over Garlic Spinach
and Brown Rice

June:

Apricot Braised Chicken over Couscous
and Summer Veggies

July:

 

Grilled bay scallops over linguini. (Fresh20)

 

August:

We went to see the Crew play.

Started a new school.

Ginger Crusted Salmon over Soy Lentals
covered with Sautéed Spinach (Fresh20)

Hern Crusted London Broil
over Summertash (Fresh20)

My biggest eater!

September:

Tilapia with Capers Spinach and Beans

 

November:

Jack making homemade applesauce.

Homemade Eggs Benedict with
faux hollandaise sauce

Chicken and Broccoli Stirfry
 over brown rice.

December:

Christmas

 

Freestore Foodbank Holiday Ops.

 

 

...go tell John we are ready for 2014, just as soon as we can go back to school!