Lemon-Chicken Rigatoni with Broccoli

I think subscribing to Betty Crocker and Pillsbury was a great idea! Another wonderful recipe was delivered to my inbox last week and I tried it tonight... Y. U. M. (And only 11 points for a cup and a half which doesn't sound huge, but believe me... It was plenty!) To top it off, it was super simple to make! (Sorry, I forgot to take any pictures!) Allow me to share my secret with you...

Lemon-Chicken Rigatoni with Broccoli

- 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 cups uncooked rigatoni pasta (6 oz)
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ frozen broccoli
- 2 cups chopped deli rotisserie chicken (from 2- to 2 1/2-lb chicken)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese


1) In 12-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic; cook about 1 minute, stirring occasionally, until softened.

2) Stir in uncooked pasta and broth. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; simmer 11 minutes. Stir well.

3) Spread broccoli and chicken over pasta. Cover; cook 12 to 14 minutes longer or until pasta is tender.

4) Stir in lemon peel. Top with cheese.

Makes 4 Servings (1 1/2 cups each)

I steamed a couple of artichokes and made some strawberry shortcake with angel food cake (2 points for 1/8 of the cake) and fat free Cool Whip (1 point for 1/4 cup)... Great meal! Dad, you picked a BAD night not to come for dinner! You don't know what you missed out on!

Happy Birthday (Again), B!

Last night we celebrated B's birthday with my in-laws. With our crazy schedules, it's difficult to get everyone together for a celebration. Sometimes we end up celebrating weeks after the person's birthday.

It was a simple celebration, nothing fancy... Just the way it should be on a Friday night after a L O N G week at work! We had dinner, ate cake, opened gifts and just enjoyed each other's company.

Make a wish...

BLOW!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! Love, The King and Queen

Day Trippin'

Happy President's Day!

We said goodbye to our friends today... Again... Macys, we miss you! We're so glad we got to spend a little bit of time with you when you were here (even if it did all revolve around food)!

After breakfast with Molly and the Macy ladies, we decided to head to San Francisco for the day. B's birthday is tomorrow, and San Francisco is one of his favorite places to what better way to spend the day before his birthday than with his favorite people in his favorite place?

The day was about showing the kids different forms of transportation and just having fun! We drove to the ferry building in Larkspur and took the ferry to San Francisco. We'd never been to the 'new' ferry terminal, so it was neat to see what they've done there.

After a quick bite to eat at Noah's Bagels, we headed down to the subway and rode up a couple of stops to Union Square where we caught the cable car. I'm not sure the kids were too impressed with the subway... Part of it could be that as a mom I'm mortified by all of the germs that are lurking in the dingy subway stations and was a little manic about them not touching things, etc.

We waited in line about 20 minutes for the Cable Car and rode it all the way to Ghirardelli Square.

From there we walked to Pier 39 with a stop along the way for some healthy fruits and vegetables a sugary treat. I mean come on... Who can go to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 and not indulge just a little?

After watching the sea lions and checking out the sights around the bay on a clear, crisp San Francisco day, we boarded the street car and rode back to the ferry terminal.

Not only was it the kids' first ride on a street car, but it was the first time they've gotten to stand up while on any type of moving vehicle. YIKES!

A good time was had by all, but after LOTS of walking, five modes of transportation, one fight on the street car (don't ask) and dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, we were ALL ready for bed!

Happy Birthday, B! We love you!

Where In The World???

I have to share this just because it's too darn cute!

Every Sunday before church I take the kids to my Sunday School room with me and they help me get ready for the day. I try to give them jobs to do to help me because otherwise I spend more time refereeing and less time getting ready for my lesson.

Today I asked Little A to put paper at each spot at the table. I looked up to find...

Yes, she IS licking her fingers! She would lick her fingers, loosen the pages, and put one at the seat then move on to the next one. SOOO FUNNY!

WHERE do they get these things???

What The Hail???

I think the subject says it all! We NEVER get snow/hail here... I mean NEVER! So imagine the kids' delight when they came home from school yesterday to this...


Yes, a dusting of hail/snow was lining our walkways. When you're used to having nothing, you can even manage to find enough in this little pile to eat and throw a few hail/snowballs.

Even with all the rain we had last night, there was still some there this morning!

Anagrams

Wikipedia defines an anagram as "a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once." Someone out there is QUITE clever but has WAY too much time on their hands... I'm just sayin'...

PRESBYTERIAN - BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER - MOON STARER

DESPERATION - A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES - THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH - HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE - HERE COME DOTS

DORMITORY - DIRTY ROOM

SLOT MACHINES - CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY - IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS - LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS - ALAS ! NO MORE Z'S

A DECIMAL POINT - I'M A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES - THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO - TWELVE PLUS ONE

AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE... MOTHER-IN-LAW - WOMAN HITLER

So there ya have it... Anagrams!

Happy Valentine's Day

Ah, Valentine's Day... A day to celebrate LOVE. Or maybe it's a day to collect little paper cards and lots of candy from your friends. Whatever Valentine's Day means to you, this is how it went in our house...

"MOMMY! MOMMY! HE CAME! H E C A M E!!!"

I LOVE the sound of an excited little girl in the morning when she realizes that Cupid did indeed leave a pink and red heart and Hershey Kiss trail from the front door to her bedroom floor.

She was even MORE excited when she realized that he'd also left gifts hanging on the bedroom door!

I'm surprised all of her screaming didn't wake up Big A, but once she finally managed to wake him, he sat up with a smile and shared in her enthusiasm.

The rest of the day was spent with Valentine exchanges at school, a birthday lunch with a special friend (Happy 5th Birthday, Kendall!), sorting through said Valentine's at home, and an early pizza dinner which daddy was able to share with us before heading to work.

We hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day! We sure did!

Day Off, Play Date And Girls' Night

Today Little A and I were off school and work... Some president's birthday or something... Anyway, the bottom line is that we got to spend the morning together playing games and working out with the Wii Fit followed by lunch and a sunny afternoon at the park with good friends! It was SO nice to be outside before next week's storm!

After the park Little A and I went home and got Big A and B and headed out to run errands. The kids have two birthday parties to go to tomorrow and I have a Children's Youth Group Valentine's Party all before B and I head out for date night in the evening. Tomorrow will be busy so we were trying to get as much done today as we could. We kind of failed at that, but oh well! We did manage to get a couple of things done and we grabbed a not-so-quick bite to eat (I'm not sure WHY it took an hour and a half at El Torito tonight...) before B and the kids dropped me off at my friend's house for a Mary Kay party.

It's been quite awhile since we've had a girls' night, so it was nice to have a kid-free visit, relax and enjoy an adult beverage. Oh... And of course we all washed our faces. After all, that WAS the point of the party, right?

I'd say that overall today was a great day! Happy Whatever-President's-Birthday it is!

When You're Bored At Work...

Bored at work? In the mood for an experiment? Here are some simple steps that will entertain you for days!

1) Find an empty box lid and some correction tape...

2) Place the "HELP ME" box top in a high traffic area of your desk...

3) Wait patiently...

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

(Notice somebody ate the almonds, but the dollar has not been touched! Someone also created some interesting art work inside the box...)

And the fun goes on!

As Told By Four Year Olds...

Do you ever wonder how stories get misconstrued? I'll tell you how... Tell it to a four year old then have them repeat it to another four year old! I promise you it will be like an old fashioned game of 'Telephone'.

Today Little A and I were on our way to pick up Big A and she started talking about a little girl in her class.

Little A - "Reese doesn't have any toys."

Me - "Really?"

Little A - "No. She just has lots and lots of rooms in her house but no toys."

Me - "Wow! No toys?"

Little A - "No. She just has to stay in her room all the time."

Me - "Are you SURE she doesn't have any toys?"

Little A - "She can't even watch TV."

Me - "How do you know all this?"

Little A - "She told me!"

Well DUH, of course she did! A four year old told you so it MUST be truth!

Kind of makes me wonder what people have heard about OUR family.... YIKES!

A Weekend Away Spent RIGHT HERE

What does the word "PROMISE" mean to you? Go ahead, take a few minutes to think about it. Care to name a few promises you've heard? Do you have have items around your house that represent a promise to you? I've just spent the last two days talking about, sharing thoughts on, and discussing this very topic.

This weekend my mom and I attended our church's annual women's retreat. The retreats are held at Walker Creek Ranch but due to an outbreak of some sort at Walker Creek, the retreat committee was forced to make a last minute decision (when I say last minute I mean the day before the retreat) as to whether to cancel the retreat or find an alternative location. Luckily the church was available that weekend and 55 women took it over from Friday afternoon until late Saturday evening. Although there is something wonderful to be said for being in nature fellowshipping with a group of women and making new friends, I'm glad they decided not to cancel the retreat. It was much different, but it was still great!

Because I was already planning on being gone Friday night and Saturday night, I decided to stay at my parents house so I could still relax a bit. I'd like to say that I stayed up and visited with my mom while sipping a nice glass of Riesling, but that'd be a lie. I actually went straight to bed! I was SO tired (Another drawback to having the retreat at church... Extra travel time home and back...)!

Oh well... It may not have been what we were planning, but I'm glad I attended and I really enjoyed having my mom there! Thanks, Mom!

100th Day of School

Today was Big A's 100th day of school, and what a production it was! It was a day of celebration complete with a 100th day hat parade, 100th day necklaces, 100th day trail mix and all sorts of other 100th day festivities. Call me crazy, but I don't remember the 100th day of school being celebrated when I was in school... Do you?

One of the assignments that Big A had to do in preparation for the 100th day was to make a 100th day hat. They could use any thing they wanted to make the hat and then they had to attach 100 items to it. Big A decided that he wanted to put Cheerios on his hat... That was fine, but then we had to decide what to make the hat itself out of. As luck would have it, the same day we planned on making the hat, there happened to be an empty Cheerios box in our kitchen...

VIOLA! 1 empty Cheerio box + 100 Cheerios = 1 happy boy in his 100th day hat!

Happy 100th day of school, Big A! Here's to 16 more 100th day celebrations!

Kidisms... Gran Hoppers Day

Today Puxsutatawney Phil failed to see his shadow which apparently means that spring is near. You'd never know it based on the awful weather the rest of the country is having... Kind of makes you feel a little guilty that it's been so warm here!

Anyhow... On the way home tonight the kids were telling me about their days and listing three things they'd done. Big A talked about math, language arts and Chinese New Year. Little A talked about playing outside, snack, and of course... GRAN HOPPERS DAY! They even made the cutest little cups with 'gran hoppers' on sticks so they could poke them out of their 'hole'.

So... To all of you, from all of us... "HAPPY GRAN HOPPERS DAY!"