Fix it and forget it

My family seems to be surviving on crock pot meals these days. We've been eating chicken from the crock pot for weeks now. Twice we've had sloppy joe and even spaghetti meat sauce. I just can't seem to get enough time to stand at the stove for too long. Oh well, it could be worse. We could be eating fast food and pizza. I love chicken in the crock pot. It shreds easily and the kids love chicken tacos. They love them because everyone can have them the way they like. Six likes cheese, spinach, taco sauce and ranch. Four like cheese. Eight likes chicken and cheese with jalapeno hot sauce. My kids will eat almost anything put on a tortilla. Today I made chicken, but into a soup. I used two cream of chicken soups and some chicken spices from Frankenmuth. For the last 30 minutes, I added refrigerator biscuits. I cut them into pieces and they served as dumplings. It turned out pretty good. Not sure what the kids will think. They had other things since it wasn't done on time. It will be lunch for tomorrow. We will be going to a BBQ tomorrow. The kids spent the afternoon making beaded necklaces and bracelets for each kid who will be at the party. They personalized each one to their friends. It was sweet to hear their conversation and reason for making the bracelet or necklace. Now we have a small bag full of gifts for our friends and they were entertained quietly all afternoon. Thank you to G and G for introducing them to beads and providing the proper storage container. We purchased some more today to have more colors. We're still working on our movie certificates. We headed to the movie store tonight for another set of new releases. Today they chose Lego Star Wars. It is quite comical for Star Wars fans. I loved listening to Eight giggle. "Their driving a school bus through a seperatice battle!" The ships fall apart when hit. The people fall apart when hit and the pants continue to walk around. Yoda can put anything and anyone back together. Darth Vader pops up in random scenes when he isn't supposed to. It's a great parody of Star Wars. The Lego factor makes what would normally be violence, tame. You hear "some assembly required" frequently. It was short and entertaining before bed. Happy to say we're still on the reading kick. More books were read today and more boxes crossed off on their sheets. Gotta keep this reading momentum going. Eight came down the stairs and announced he pulled his tooth out. That's what happens after losing 8 of them, you just pull out number 9 and on. He was so pleased with himself. Six has his tooth coming in already. It's just a matter of time and all his will begin to fall out. We're almost done with our birthday presents for our two friends. I am thrilled with the things we put together. They are fun and useful at the same time. I'll post pictures after we give them away. Overall, a relaxing Friday at home. Baby Girl had a hard time settling down for her nap in the afternoon. She doesn't really like the pacifier. I had to trick her into it. It worked and she finally slept for more than 15 minutes. She woke up a happy girl. We whisked her off to the movie store in an effort to keep the rest of the crew on schedule. I'm trying to stick to the 8 o'clock bedtime as best we can. There are nights we don't make it and that's ok, but as many as we can get in the better. Four especially needs more sleep. She went to bed late last night and slept until almost 9am this morning. The boys continue to get up around 6 or 6:30. Hard habit to break. I try to get them in bed at 8, but they read and chat for awhile. They are asleep by 9. I hope they look back on these nights together with fondness. They have that down time alone in their room to discuss whatever is on their mind. Sometimes they have a strategic plan for the next day. Four is hilarious when talking to Baby Girl. She has this baby voice she uses. It's not completely baby, but sweet. She tells Baby Girl how big she is and keeps both of them entertained. Four always picks out her clothing for the day. She really wants to hold Baby Girl like I do with her head up on her shoulder. She's eager for the day Baby Girl moves into her room too. N did not catch any fish on his journey this morning. Well, let me rephrase that, he caught fish, but none he could keep. His friend went with him in the boat. I didn't notice until after they had left, there was a nice new truck in our driveway. The kids were curious. I am glad he was able to spend some time with a friend and do an activity he enjoys. Just wish it was a little more profitable in the end. Last week, we enjoyed our walleye meal. Times up. Four wants to move Baby Girl and hold her. Lego Star Wars is done and so am I. Bedtime!