BBQ Chicken and Butterfly Lifecycles

Today was one of those days where I had no inspiration for dinner. I stared at my pantry and looked through Pinterest before finally deciding to come up with my own BBQ chicken.  I had just bought chicken at Publix last night for $1.49/lb.  So we have plenty of chicken in the freezer now.

Here is what I added.

I started with Sweet Vidalia Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.  I added about a 1/4 cup of brown sugar, a tsp or two of garlic powder, and about a 1/4 cup of white vinegar.  I must say it tasted pretty good.  I always try to taste to make sure that the seasoning is right.


I added a liner to the crockpot.  If you have not used one of these things they are awesome.  Really save trying to clean up a very messy crockpot.

I put two large pieces of chicken in the crockpot and poured the sauce over the chicken.  I put the lid on the crockpot and hopefully we will have a tasty dinner by the time Tim gets home from work.


Today, Alex and I learned about the life cycle of a butterfly.  We began by reading the book From Caterpillar to Butterfly.  As we read, I love that he likes to ask me questions and point out things that he notices.  He has been a counting kick lately.  So today, with every page turn he had to find something to count.  I love it!  After we finished reading the book we worked on a butterfly life cycle craft.

Today our supplies were: construction paper folded into fourths, pencil, three pieces of dyed pasta (I had it left over from when I taught school), and a cotton ball.

We started with the egg. I helped him write the word egg and he then glued on the cotton pieces to represent the eggs.

Next, he wrote the word caterpillar and glued a piece of spiral pasta dyed green to represent the caterpillar to the paper.


Then, he wrote the word chrysalis.  We used a piece of dyed shell pasta to represent the chrysalis and glued it to the paper.

Finally, he wrote the word butterfly and glued a piece of dyed bowtie pasta to the paper to represent the butterfly.

He was excited by what he learned today.  He was ready to show his daddy his artwork and tell him about the life cycle of the butterfly.

This has been a great week learning about the letter B.  Next week, we will be learning about the letter C and caterpillars.

I love seeing him learn more each day.  And I am so excited that he will be ready to start kindergarten in August!

Life with Technology, Babies, and a Precocious Preschooler

In January, I attended a workshop through Southern Savers to learn how to become a better couponer.  Since then I have been using my our inkjet printer to print out the coupons that I do not have a paper copy of.  Well, if you have an inkjet you know that they eat ink.  Recently, we found a laser printer on Amazon for a great price so we decided that it would be a great investment to buy it. It will pay for itself since it was just over $55 with tax on Amazon.  It shipped quickly and I received it yesterday.  My husband is the tech guru of the house. (After all, IT is what he does for a living.) He is always the one that installs anything tech that enters our house.  After he got home for work, we ate dinner, took care of two kids, and both took turns going to the gym, the installation of my new printer did not happen.  I decided, well I have two college degrees, surely I can install a laser printer.  I followed the steps precisely, with my husband just a text away, and succeeded in my goal.  Woohoo!  I was so excited for myself!

My daughter, Amelia, decided that the box that the printer arrived in is the best toy in the world. Who needs fancy toys when your mommy can just sit you in a box and you can entertain yourself? She has played with that box all day long!  Amelia is not quite to the point of crawling but she has scooted herself across the floor all day making sure to always have the box in her reach.  It has been a drum and a place for her brother to play peek a boo with her.  That and the jumperoo are her favorite toys in the entire world!

As for my precocious four year old, he is always amazing us and making us look like the dumbest people in the world.  In 2012, we decided to move back home to Chattanooga from Nashville.  Due to a quick move we decided to rent a townhouse.  For some reason, whomever built these units put lots of useless light switches throughout the house.  We don't even notice them anymore. Yesterday, I texted Tim at work and said that we would need to call maintenance as soon as he gets home because our heat is not working.  The panel just kept flashing the word filter so we thought it just needs a filter change to start working again.  We know nothing about things like this.  Tim went to make sure the pilot light was still lit since the heat is run by gas.  Just before we call maintenance, Tim decides to look at the heating unit one more time in the closet.  Alex walks over to his dad, and tells him if you flip the switch it will work dad.  Alex flips the light switch in the closet and like magic our heat is back on.  Once again, he has saved us from looking stupid to the maintenance guy.  We are both college educated and it took a four year old to show us how to turn the heat on.  We are positive he will be going to MIT one day!

Banana Bread

Today I decided to make some banana bread because I had some bananas that were starting to get very ripe.  I went to the internet to find a great recipe.  I came upon a recipe that claimed to be the best banana bread.  It has a lot of great reviews so I thought that I would give it a shot.


The first thing that I needed to do would be to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  I have an older oven and it seems to take forever to heat up.

If I were a more organized baker I would gather all my ingredients first but that would be too easy. As I go through the steps, I get the ingredients that I need for that step.

First, I start by creaming the sugar and butter in my stand mixer.  This is a wonderful machine.  It was a gift from my husband for Christmas several years ago.  I was so excited to get it.

Next, I beat the eggs and crushed four very ripe bananas.  I do this all the time to make Amelia's baby food. I just use the back of a fork but I think that a potato masher would also do a great job.  I then mixed it with the creamed butter and sugar.

Then, I mixed all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  I then added it slowly to the wet ingredients.  After it was all mixed I added the vanilla and mixed until incorporated.

I pour the concoction into a loaf pan and baked it for 60 minutes.

I have to say that this is a great banana bread recipe.  I think the only thing that could have made it better was incorporating walnuts into the batter.  I think that I will do that next time.

This was a very easy recipe and I hope that you will try it and enjoy a great loaf of banana bread.


Here is the link to the recipe that I used.

http://www.food.com/recipe/best-banana-bread-2886

Library Day!

Tuesday is one of our favorite days of the week.  Tuesday is library day.  Every Tuesday, we go to the library for preschool story time.  During this time, we are able to check out new books for us to read each day of the week.  While I check out books for Alexander, he is able to interact with other kids his age.  Our library has a children's corner that has computers, a Lego's table, puzzles, and a big rug for the kids to sit and play.  We always go about 20 to 30 minutes before story time starts so that he has plenty of time to play and talk with other kids.  

Each week, story time has a different theme.  This week's theme was construction.  The librarian read several books about construction trucks and sites.  She interacts with the kids as she reads, asking questions and for them to predict what is going to happen next.  As a former teacher, I think this is awesome because they will be asked to do this early on in kindergarten.  She does a little felt board story with the kids and lets them help with the story.  One of Alexander's favorite parts of story time is when they watch a short book on video.  He loves watching the books he reads come to life on a big screen.  Finally, after all the reading, the kids all do a craft based on the theme of the week.  This week, the kids made construction hats from construction paper.  Alex loves his new hat. As we get ready to leave, the kids that want go to the small stage to sing the goodbye song.  

If you are looking for a great activity to do with your child, the local library is a great resource.  We have a small library and it has several story times based on different ages from birth to preteen.  They have lots of different programs for kids to participate in throughout the week.  Check out your local library to see what they have available to you.  This has been one of the best things that I have discovered while being a stay at home mom.


Here are all the books we checked out this week.  Some are to go with our butterfly theme and others are just for fun.

Get out there are enjoy your local library!!!

B is for Butterfly and Running a 5K

Alexander and I work on a new letter of the week every week.
(We bought the curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  She has a great preschool letter of the week curriculum.)
This week we are working on the letter B.  We are both so excited because we love butterflies.

Today we started our week of learning by coloring a picture of a butterfly and learning what the letter Bb looks like.

He loved coloring his picture.


We work on our prewriting skills by tracing different types of lines each week.  He is doing a great job and can write Alex.  We will continue to work on writing all of Alexander by the time he starts kindergarten in August.


We played a butterfly size sorting game.  Alex had to sort the butterflies into small, medium, or large.  He did a great job!

We finished our day by working on a butterfly craft.
The supplies that you will need complete this project are:

• toilet paper roll (we love recycling in our art!)
• construction paper for the wings and to cover the toilet paper roll
• glue
• scissors (for this project I did all of the cutting)
• pipe cleaners for the antenna (you could use scrap paper if you do not have these)
• stickers ( you could also just color the wings or use stamps - we love stickers at our house)
• googly eyes (or you could just draw on the eyes)

First, cover the toilet paper roll with construction paper.

Next, glue the wings to the body.

Then, decorate the wings.

Then, glue on the eyes.

Then, curl the pipe cleaners around your finger to make them curly.

Finally, glue the antenna inside the toilet paper roll.

The finished project!! Alexander did a fantastic job making his butterfly!

I am on Week 7 of my Couch2 5K training.  I will be running my first 5K on March 29.  It is a Color Me Rad happening here in Chattanooga.  I figure if you are going to run, you have to make it fun.   Tonight I will be running for 23 minutes continuously.  No walking.  I can do it!  I can do it!  

This is all on top of taking care of a teething 7 month old.  Her first tooth has finally decided to start making its appearance.  She is having a rough day!  Amelia did enjoy our little walk to get the mail, but even cuddles with mommy are not as much fun today.  Hears to hoping that little tooth makes a complete appearance very soon!

Everyday Adventures - Getting to Know Me

I am quite new to the world of being a stay at home mom.  I have only been in this new gig for 7 months although I have been a mom for 4 1/2 years.  Before I became a stay at home mom I taught elementary school grades K-3.  Here are a few ( I think) interesting things about me.

Favorite Color  - Orange, although blue is a close second

Favorite Football Team - Tennessee Volunteers (Maybe that is where the love of orange comes from! )  GO VOLS!!!!!!!!!!!

Favorite TV shows - The Big Bang Theory, The Blacklist, and just about anything on the Food Network (I really enjoying cooking!)

I am definitely a sucker for chocolate and Mexican food.

I am addicted to Pinterest!  I love seeing all the cool and creative things that other people are able to come up with.  I even try some of them myself for better or worse.

I graduated from college in 2003 with a B.S. in Biology and again in 2006 with a M.Ed. in Elementary Education.

My husband, Timothy, and I got married on December 28, 2006.  It was on a Thursday night.  Exactly 11 days after I graduated from graduate school.  And yes, I did walk at my graduation.

Our son, Alexander, was born on July 24, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. via c-section in Nashville, TN.
Our daughter, Amelia, was born on July 12, 2013 at 9:59 a.m. via c-section in Chattanooga, TN.

I am also the mom to a Miniature Pinscher named Stretchy and three neon Tetra fish whose names change daily as Alex comes up with new names.

My newest adventure at the moment is running my first 5K at the end of March.  I am working hard towards this goal and hope to be able to run most of the ran without walking.  We shall see how that goes!

I am very excited to start writing about my adventures being a stay at home mom, wife, runner, cook, and crafter.  There is always a new adventure in the Kreider household! 

Feel free to comment or ask my questions below!