Steph and Stace's March and April Book Club Book Review

We decided to do a joint book review every month and since we had that AMAZING trip last month we didn’t do March’s book club review so this month we are doing March and April’s together. Yay!

In March we read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, best selling author of Rules of Civility. A member of my book club is very interested in Russian history and literature so this was her pick. I’m not going to lie and tell you we were all ecstatic to read it because well quite honestly we are uncultured and it looked boring. I did have the fear! But I was also excited about it because I knew it was going to be different from my regular reading which can be a good thing.   

We all jumped in and within 3 days I had received texts from 3 different people, one of them decided after the first chapter that it wasn’t worth it and decided to be done. The other two moaned via text. It made me nervous.

I started it and was immediately intrigued with it but then as I went on I found it to be quite odd. Beautiful writing style though but just very odd. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was reading.

Count Alexander Rostov- recipient of the Order of St Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt- is a “Former Person.” Russia’s new Soviet masters have sentenced him to house arrest in Moscow’s luxurious Metropol hotel, where he lives out his days pairing wine with his meals and dashing around like Eloise, if Eloise were set in a version of Stalinist Russia. Anyway, confined to his hotel the Count passes whole decades making a world out of a hotel and the people in it. A precocious 9 year old, a moody chef, the maitre d’ and others that drift in and out of his sphere.

The book itself was superbly well written. The author eases you along in the story with phrases so poignant you almost don’t realize how emotionally invested you are until the end when you set it down and sigh. I have nine members in my book club, 3 of us didn’t finish it. It was too slow moving and didn’t capture their attention. One of us finished it but thought it just horribly boring. 5 of us loved it and we had an amazing discussion.

It wasn’t exactly an action packed book and I honestly have a hard time knowing for sure how much I liked it. It was slow and very different but it was also moving and beautiful. I don’t think it's one that I would have on hand to recommend to everyone and I honestly don’t see myself reading it again. If the right person came a long it is something I would recommend but carefully just because it is a slower paced book and I like more quick flowing books. I gave it a solid 3 stars which is commendable for how I rate my books.

In April we ventured out of Russia and into Victorian England. The New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries, Deanna Raybourn, has introduced another intrepid adventuress in Veronica Speedwell. The first book in the new series is A Curious Beginning and takes place in London 1887. Veronica has buried her spinster aunt and is now free to resume her world travels in pursuit of natural science and most especially butterflies. She prepares to embark on the journey of a lifetime but fate has other plans when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German Baron who has ties to her mysterious past.

I loved the Lady Julia Grey series and was very excited to dash off on new adventures with Veronica Speedwell. The book begins very well and launches you into the plot very quickly. However, I was disappointed in the writing. It read flat, and I found Veronica off putting. The story took odd twists and turns, the characters were poorly developed and the author spent so much time telling me how independent and adventurous the heroine was I found myself irritated by her.

I had never read anything by Deanna Raybourn and this was the first book club book that I was super excited about because I love this type of genre. It was written in first person which was a little surprising to me. Most of the books I read are third person and when I do come across a first person perspective it's usually Young Adult. I didn’t dislike Veronica as much as Steph did it actually surprised me how irritated she was with Veronica because normally I’m the one really put off by a lot of female characters. What bothered me the most, like Steph mentioned, was the lack of character development in particular Veronica’s love interest. Raybourn just didn’t give me enough to feel like I really knew the characters.

Here’s how the book club members received it. Two people loved it and started on the second book right away. Three of us found it an easy and enjoyable enough read but found it generally silly. And four of us hated it and spent an hour of book club picking it apart.

I did however read the second one mainly because it counted towards my 100 new books. The third one isn’t out yet. Will I read it? Probably but again only because it's another book I can count towards my hundred. On that topic I'm on book 41 of 100 new books. Yeah baby!

Next months book is The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. I'm excited to dive in to yet another new author.

Steph's Beefy Cheesy Mac (Gluten Free option)

This recipe was given to me by a friend who got it from another friend. I think those are the best kind, the ones that go through a few people and get perfected before they come to you. My children love love love this meal and you can use gluten free elbow macaroni!  We actually had the neighbor kids over for dinner and they went home and told their mom she needed to get the recipe for their new favorite dinner.

It takes about an hour because it has to simmer for awhile before you can bake it but I almost always have all of the ingredients on hand which is my favorite. We call it Beefy Cheesy Mac and Cheese because really, that's what it is.

Ingredients
1 large onion diced ( I don't use this much onion and I use frozen onion)
1 large canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 TBS minced garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp basil
1 1/2 TBS Worchester Sauce

28 oz can whole tomatoes pureed in the can with a hand blender
16 oz box macaroni (don't forget you can use your favorite GF brand)
1 1/2 cup grated cheddar and mozzarella cheeses

Directions
Cook the onion in the oil with a three-fingered pinch of salt until translucent. Add the beef and cook it, breaking it up as you do.

Add another three-fingered pinch of salt or two, paprika and basil. Add the tomatoes, garlic & worchester, bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to low and cook for an hour.

Cook the macaroni in boiling water till its half done. Drain it and stir it into the sauce. Taste it. Add more salt and other seasonings as needed, stir in half the cheese. Transfer to 9x13 dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Top with remaining cheese and cook at 350 until cheese is melty and delicious and macaroni is completely cooked, about 15 or 20 minutes.

Sick Mom - Stace

When mom is sick it just throws everything off. The normal routines, housework, just everything. Well I'm sick and my husband is a great father but he doesn't know the children's routines like I do because why would he? I'm there to take care of it. He doesn't know what time to leave in order to have BuddyBoy on time for breakfast at school, he doesn't know which days he has after school activities and which days he doesn't. Normally my husband is also not great about house cleaning. Don't get me wrong, he does do some housework but it usually requires quite a bit of asking to get it done. He actually is the best at bedtime. Bath's, food before bed, bedtime stories, he does it all awesome. But the regular day to day stuff not so much.

Being sick it makes me realize that I do quite a bit. Now I'm not saying I'm super mom or that my house always looks perfect cause to be honest most of the time my house it cluttered with toys but I do pride myself with the fact that my house if never filthy. There is a difference between cluttered and filthy, trust me, I know the difference. This morning I went into the living room and my heart sank a little. I'm sick and my living room is messy and dishes need to be done. Do I ask my husband to do it? He was able to bring his work laptop home so he is trying to work while taking care of CurlyGirl. Do I ask him to clean up later after he's had a chance to work a bit? Do I just leave him alone because he's sacrificing his normal routine and work to help me so that I can rest and take care of myself?

Jared's a very nurturing man. When I'm sick or hurt he wants me to go and close myself in the bedroom so I can feel better. He doesn't feel put out or bugged but just wants me to get better. He also normally gets me a little treat I like to show his love. Today my house is dangerously close to crossing the line from cluttered to filthy. In situations like this it is so hard for me to know what do to. Apart of me feels like, yeah, he's my husband we are partners and I shouldn't feel like I'm putting him out by asking him to help around the house so its not just left for me. The other part of me does feel bad asking him to do all this extra stuff. Basically I just wish he would take it out of my hands and clean without my having to ask him to, that's my perfect world.

Even when a mom is sick and has a wonderful husband or helper a mom still is a mom. I still worry about people being picked up on time or taken to where they need to go. I still worry about them having a good dinner and whether or not they get a bath when they need it. I can't seem to help myself. Once a mom always a mom no matter how old children are, no matter if mom is sick or well moms worry.

Steph and being a mean mom

     Let me just start out by saying, I don't mean to offend anyone. I'll just put that right out there. Remember that for later. I went with my oldest child to a 2 night 3 day school camp recently. It was a science based camp and we fished, inspected the organisms in the nearby lake, studied animal habitats and did various and sundry other activities. I was put in a cabin with a total of 9 ten year old girls and one other adult woman who was also there with her daughter. I did know the other chaperone I was with which was really nice.

    Upon arrival at the camp we were given instructions to have the girls make up their beds, to eat our sack lunch, get to know one another and then meet up with the group in the Education Building. We unloaded our belongings from the bus and headed in to the cabin which was comprised of about 6 bunk beds and two twin beds for the chaperones. I asked the girls to please choose a bunk, to make their beds and stow their bags underneath. Within 5 minutes I had at least 4 of the 9 girls come to tell me that they didn't know how to make their bed. They needed me to do it for them or at least help them. Let me remind you I was at camp with 10 and 11 year old girls. I told them kindly that I expected given a bit of thought and effort they could probably figure it out themselves or just sleep on the bare mattress and left it at that. My fellow chaperone and I decided to have the girls make up some cabin rules. One of the rules we laid out first thing was short showers. There were 2 showers and 11 people that needed to use them. So we asked the girls to be quick so that everyone could get clean and not be held up for 2 hours. Immediately one of the girls let me know that while that rule would work for everyone else, she would need more time. I was informed that she would need to take all of the time she wanted.

   These are  two instances that occurred within 10 minutes of arriving at camp with girls of whom the majority were complete strangers to me. This same attitude of helplessness, selfishness and inability continued for the 3 days we were there together. Now I am not saying these children were horrible spoiled brats (except 2 of them, I am saying that about 2 of them) and I'm not saying that we had a terrible time. I am saying that I was completely shocked by the way these girls responded to a situation in which they were required to show some independence and consideration. I understand this was a very small group I was interacting with and I do not believe that this is an accurate sampling of all 10 and 11 year old girls. I know better than that. However I do wonder how wide spread this issue is.

   When I give my children a task and they complain that it's too hard or that they can't, which is inevitable, how do I know when to give in and help them and when to say dude figure it out? How do you know when you go from being a helpful instructive parent to a coddling enabling parent? Where is that line? How do we know at what age are certain tasks appropriate? How often do we just take care of things because it is easier to just do it ourselves? I fall victim to that one big time.

   I had a conversation with my book club a couple of months ago about what chores all of our children are responsible for. It was extremely interesting to listen to the wide spectrum of parenting tactics and ideas just with 5 different women. Some of us work full time, some of us work part time, some of us are "stay at home moms". We all have to find a way to raise our children, to make our homes function in a manner that is acceptable to us. But I do wonder if we, as a generation of women raising children, are taking more on ourselves because our kids are too busy. Is that what it is? Are we over scheduling our children? They have advanced academics, sports, music lessons and boy scouts so they don't have time to make their beds and do the dishes? Maybe. Is it because of the way we were raised? I was raised to make my bed everyday and to vacuum twice a week and clean the rest of the house on Saturday. My children are held to similar but not quite the same standards. Is it habit? When the kids are little they are physically unable to do these things so mom does it and then as they get older we just continue to do it for them?

   Teaching kids how to work is frustrating. The whining, moaning and yelling just to get a half shot job accomplished just makes me want to lose my mind. I'm not asking you to cut off your arm! I'm asking you to clean the mirror that has your toothpaste spit all over it! And half of the time when they load the dishes I have to go behind them and reload so I can fit more than 3 plates in there. It's not fun, it's not easy and it is certainly much easier and quieter if I just go put their clothes away instead of having to ask them 7 times before it finally gets done. However I do not believe it is better. When we as parents do jobs for our children that they should be doing themselves we are actually hurting them more than we're helping them. It's ok to do something you don't like, it's ok not to be good at something, it's ok to have to redo a job you didn't do well the first time around. It's ok when it takes 30 minutes to get the bathroom clean instead of 10 minutes.

   Camp was an eye opener for me. My poor children wish I had never gone. I came home with a renewed sense of purpose and our chore chart has gotten longer. It's the worst when mom has an epiphany. I want my children to be competent, contributing adults who are independent and can manage their lives well. When they grow up and move out of my house they can tell their therapist how much their mother ruined their lives but by heck they'll know how to load a dishwasher.

Stace And Yummy Chicken Roll Ups

For my Bridal Shower my mom, knowing my hatred and fear of cooking, decided to throw a cooking/kitchen type shower. The invitations specified bringing some type of cookware and a recipe. One of my favorite (and easiest of course) is Chicken Roll Ups. A dear friend of the family gave it to me and I think of her every time I make them. Not only is it simple and quick everyone in my house eats them and that is a huge win for me.

Ingredients 

Need For Chicken

- 1/2 cup of cooked diced chicken (I use canned)
- 1 can crescent rolls
- 2 oz. cream cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- Tsp of onion ( I don't care for onion so I've never done that)

Need For Gravy

- 1 can cream of chicken Soup
- 1 cup sour cream

Instructions For Chicken

Cream cheese needs to be room temperature or warmed for easy mixing. Mix cream cheese with chicken and salt and pepper. Put small spoonful on each roll. Roll up and bake according to crescent roll directions.

Instructions For Gravy

Combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and a little milk. Heat and pour over roll ups.

Sometimes I make the gravy but a lot of the time I just make the roll ups. BuddyBoy doesn't care for sauces and I'm hit and miss with them as well. The gravy is actually really yummy but the rolls don't need it to be delicious.

Steph and Stac in London and Paris!

    The two comments I have heard the most from people since coming back from our trip are did you have fun and I would love to be able to travel. The responses I give are of course we had fun and you can travel!

    Travelling is my most favorite thing. I would rather spend money going on a vacation than buying a new couch. Now in a perfect world I would enjoy my vacation and a new couch but sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Going places and seeing things is something I love and so I'm willing to make sacrifices to do it. My husband hadn't ever done much travelling, so when we got married and I started talking about all of the places I wanted to go he panicked a little bit. Travel can be stressful, time consuming and money consuming. Throw kids in to the mix and the whole thing seems nearly impossible. But if it's something that is important to you there are ways to make it work.

    Stace and I are really lucky in that we have parents who are willing to watch our kids. Our parents live close to me (like 3 miles away close) and were great about taking my kids for the full week we were gone. Stace's in-laws drove for 12 hours to stay at her house with her two kids and we both bow down to the awesome willingness of the Grandma's.

    Last year Stace and I went to Italy with our husbands. Our trip was booked through Gate 1 Travel company. They offer travel packages that often include air and hotel at various destinations. Our trip to Tuscany was so lovely and we had such a good experience that we were thrilled to give them another go with London and Paris. Our dad is the master vacation booker. I should capitalize that. Master Vacation Booker. He and our mom travel quite extensively. In the last few years they've been to Russia, France, Italy, Nepal (to hike to Everest Base Camp, they totally made it), Tanzania to hike Kilimanjaro ( I know I don't understand it either) plus numerous cruises. I come by my wanderlust naturally. Dad found the trip to London and Paris for us. It included airfare from Newark to Heathrow and then to Charles de Gaul in Paris and back home. We just had to get ourselves to Newark. Hotels in both London and Paris with breakfast included. The original deal was $799 per person. We chose to upgrade our hotel from a 3 star to a 4 star just to ensure we were in a good part of town and as we weren't renting a car we wanted to be within walking distance of most tourist sites. So our price went up a bit. It was totally worth it.

    The flight to London lasts about 6 hours so it's really not too bad. We did not rent a car. I would not ever rent a car in London if I didn't have to. Not only do they drive on the opposite side of the road but they seem to have no lanes! I can't tell you how many times I was looking out the window and saw a car come barreling down the street and my stomach jumped up in to my throat. We used our Uber app to request an Uber cab to take us from the airport to The Grosvenor Hotel. Uber worked just fine and was much much cheaper than a cab. The trickiest part was getting them to pick us up in the right spot. They would lose us or we would lose them. It happened in both London and Paris that we were standing in the designated pick up area and our driver couldn't find us. But it was cheap and effective so I would recommend it as useful transportation.

    The Grosvenor was a wonderful hotel. It's located in London just down the footpath (British for sidewalk) from Victoria Station. This was a very useful spot to center ourselves. Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and Westminster Abbey were within a 15 minute walk. I would highly recommend The Grosvenor to anyone staying in London. It was a clean lovely hotel with a wonderful breakfast. The rooms were very small but they suited our purposes as we really spent very little time in our rooms.

    We only had 3 days so we got started with the tourist stuff right away. There are a million ways to see London. Bus tours, walking tours, guided tours we just decided to head out and see what we saw. Also almost everything there costs money to enter. Take entrance fees in to account when you are budgeting out your trip. We made a list of the things that were most important to us so that we were sure not to miss anything. Stace and I loved roaming around Hyde Park but my husbands most favorite thing was the Tower of London. He's a big medieval buff.

   We did do a bus tour on our second day. We wanted to get out of the city so we booked a tour of Windsor, Stonehenge, Bath and Lacock through Premium Tours. It was lovely. For 82 pounds a piece we were taken to all of those places with a guide, the entrance fees were all included as was lunch in a pub in Lacock. It was a fantastic deal and it turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. The biggest down side of a bus tour is that you're on kind of a time crunch. My husband would have loved more time at Windsor Castle and I needed more time in Bath. But we wouldn't have been able to see both of those places if we hadn't scheduled the tour especially as our trip was a quick one. If you want to stop for a Sally Lunn bun in Bath make sure it's your first stop. The line gets really long. Also if you'd like to have tea in The Pump Room make sure you book in advance. The Jane Austen Bookshop was sooooo lovely and I bought everything they had.

    The flight from London to Paris is only about an hour, you're really just jumping over the Channel and into Paris. We also used Uber in Paris, most of our drivers spoke English but some of them did not. It really was ok because the app took care of destination so we were just along for the ride. We stayed at the Novotel les Halles in Paris. It was in a really crummy part of town despite our upgrade in hotel package. The lobby and breakfast were great but the room was kind of drab and the beds were very uncomfortable. We came to understand pretty quickly that Paris is just a dirty city. We honestly felt kind of disillusioned. I loved the Eiffel Tower, my husband loved seeing the Mona Lisa, my sister loved the Catacombs and my brother in law loved Pokemon Go. Seriously my husband and brother in law played Pokemon Go through the whole trip. They used the Pokestops and the GPS to get us around and read us interesting tidbits about some of the lesser known sites. I know, It's ridiculous and oddly genius. Getting out to Versailles was really easy, the staff at our hotel were super helpful in pointing us in the right direction of the appropriate train. The line to get through security is ridiculous. Versailles was the most crowded place we visited by far. Also if you're a book lover head over to the Shakespeare and Company Bookshop by Notre Dame and buy a tote bag or a book with the Shakespeare and Co stamp! It was such a great shop!

   Here's the deal with food. London had some of the best curry we've ever eaten and we learned that if you want to eat something besides crepes and kabobs in Paris you need to be willing to spend upwards of 30 euros per plate. Paul's Bakery over by the Catacombs was by far our favorite patisserie and we had some delicious creme brulee in Montmartre up by the Sacre Coeur. We ate a lot of crepes and croque monsieur sandwiches. We used an article from the Huffington Post called 12 Not Terrible Places to Eat by the Eiffel Tower which gave us a list of restaurants to try. We walked over to Cafe Constant and loved the duck and carrot puree.

    This is a very breezy nonspecific account of our trip. Mostly I just wanted to provide you with a few tips. I am always willing to talk about vacationing so if you want to know more please don't hesitate to ask! We loved our trip and felt so fortunate to be able to have such a lovely experience. Really we wouldn't have changed a thing.

Stace And Spring Break

Spring break. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Spring break can truly go either way. This may sound terrible but I am a parent who dreads school breaks. Not because I don't love my children but because it throws everything off. I am a creature of habit and spring break just ruins it all. I feel like most parents, when it comes to school breaks, are frantically trying to fill the time with stuff. Trips, playgroups, hikes, movies, art, ect. Steph and I just got back from an amazing trip to London and Paris so I was only home for a few days and then we had spring break. In a lot of ways it worked out perfectly. I got the space from my people and missed them so it made it easier to be with them 24/7. Something I've found out as my children get older is that they either play awesome together or they're doing everything in their might to bug the other. BuddyBoy doesn't like when CurlyGirl gets in the middle of his lego building? Well then clearly she needs to go on ahead and get right in the middle of all that. CurlyGirl doesn't like when BuddyBoy is pretending to shoot her with arrows constantly? Obviously he needs to keep shooting at her.

A huge thing that I have learned with this spring break is know your people. Know your kids and try to find a good balance that will make each of them happy. Easy! No it is not! Understanding this though as helped me to plan accordingly. My children have complete opposite personalities. While BuddyBoy and I would be happy as clams to just lounge at home with our games and coloring CurlyGirl needs to go out, she needs to be busy. I've tried to have at least one thing planned a day.

Monday we had lunch with daddy and went to his work. Jared started a new job a couple of months ago and I like to take the kids to see his office at least once so they know where daddy goes everyday and I also like to have lunch with him at least once a month so we took spring break as the perfect opportunity to do that because BuddyBoy doesn't get to have lunch with daddy anymore because of school.

Tuesday was a rough time. Oh Tuesdays how I loath you. It was only Tuesday which means only the second day of spring break and we were all losing it. I had decided to take them to the movies (Beauty and the Beast!) we almost didn't go because people were being wretched and did not deserve to be taken anywhere especially somewhere that cost money but I decided it would be better all around to just get out of the house and do something and it really did help.

Wednesday we had nothing and I really worried about it. It totally worked out though! It was a lounge day. BuddyBoy and I were totally fine with it and the kids actually played fairly well with minimal incidences which I take as a win.

Thursday we had a play date with our favorite friends which is always so nice. Not only do we get out of the house for a bit but friends wear people out real nice.

Friday we have some shopping that I've been putting off for BuddyBoy. The poor boy has been wearing floods to school for awhile so I'm taking advantage of him being around  and going to the mall in the morning hopefully avoiding horrendous crowds.

And then its the weekend! Which means daddy is home and I have some backup. I felt like we found a decent balance of being busy but not overdoing this spring break which is extremely pleasant. If anyone reminds me that summer is just around the corner I may weep.

Stace And Baked Chicken Chimichangas

For me cooking should consist of picking up the phone and getting some food delivered. Since that can't always be the case I look up quick and easy recipes on Pinterest and one of my favorites so far is Baked Chicken Chimichangas found on www.thegirlwhoateeverything.com. Not only is it a fast and easy dish it does not require odd ingredients that I wouldn't normally get therefore have to buy just for this one dish. Everything for it is cheap and stuff that I already buy and that is what the people want. The Chimichangas are something I can just throw together at the last minute, its always nice to have a meal like that and another added bonus is that every single person in my house eats them. It did take some talking into for my kids to try them but once they did they were sold.

Ingredients 

- 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded (I use canned chicken or a Rotisserie chicken)
- 1 cup of favorite salsa
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I usually use a little more then that but we are cheese lovers)
- 2 green onions (I don't care for onion for I leave them out)
- 6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- Any other fixings like tomatoes or guacamole, sour cream ext

Directions

- Preheat oven 400F
- Mix chicken, salsa, cumin, oregano and cheese in large bowl
- Lay out tortillas and scoop about 1/3 cup into each and then fold with seams on the bottom of baking sheet
- Brush melted butter on top of tortillas. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy

I love just throwing stuff in a bowl and stirring and then basically being done its my favorite. They aren't awesome for reheating because even if you put them in the toaster oven they aren't really crispy anymore and I love crispy. They still taste good they just lose the crunchy factor.

Steph's Spring Break in Broken Bow OK

So here's the deal on Spring Break. It's either your best friend or your worst enemy. You're either yay  a mini summer look how much fun we're having! Or you're all oh my gosh, we aren't going to make it. There's also the Spring Break pressure to consider. Are we going out of town? Do I have the energy for that? If we stay home am I a bad mom? Everyone else is going out of town. If I stay home does that make me lazy? Say you chose to stay home. Well now you have to fill the time. Seven days full of time. That's something to think about. 

Now don't get me wrong. I really do enjoy school breaks. I love summer, Christmas break, Thanksgiving, long weekends. I generally enjoy them all. I like it when my kids are home. There's an inherent feeling of vacation when we don't have to be up. dressed and out the door by 7 a.m. Plus the lunch situation. Oh my gosh not having to make lunches at 6:30 in the morning is the best! The kids buy cheese pizza at school on Friday's and every Friday I love it because I kind of feel like I'm getting away with something a little bit. Buh bye I didn't make your lunch! Anyway I digress. We just finished up our Spring Break and this year we did in fact go out of town. We usually don't, we stay home and do fun local stuff. The kids enjoy museums and indoor obstacle courses. I try to make Spring Break feel a little bit special when we stay home, just for fun and also so that we don't kill each other. 

We decided to take the advice of some friends and head up to Broken Bow Oklahoma. None of us had ever been and I had heard lots of good things about the Beavers Bend National Park, the cabins that are available to rent and just the general experience of "getting away". So we rented a cabin with some friends and headed north. If you've never vacationed with friends here is my advice. Choose wisely. We have vacationed with this family before and have a great time. Between the two families we have 8 children with my 11 year old as the oldest and my friend's 21 month old twins ending the party train. We rented a very large cabin. There were a lot of bodies. We love this other family and we know each other very well. That's super helpful. If you don't know each other before you go, you'll certainly know each other after you've spent the vacay in close quarters.

We stayed in the Turning Leaf cabin that we rented through Beavers Bend Getaways. It was a lovely and very spacious. The yard was awesome, everybody had a bed to sleep in, the cabin was clean with a fully equipped kitchen and game room. Our biggest complaint about the cabin itself was that it was right off the main road. There was a surprising amount of traffic so the noise from the cars took away from the "mountain getaway" feel. Entrance to the state park was free and we found some awesome hiking trails, fishing spots, and lake wading areas. Now doing all of those things with 8 children 2 of which are twins is not easy. Plus it was chilly and rainy our first day there. The town of Broken Bow does not have much to offer and also don't go grocery shopping at the Walmart. They don't have groceries. Go to Pruitt's, they have everything you need. 

If you love to fish the trout fishing was great. If you own a boat you'll have a blast. There's a 16 mile loop hike that was wonderfully marked and while we only enjoyed 2 of the 16 miles (hello, 8 children) the hike was fun with great views. You can rent, canoe's, kayaks, paddle boards, mountain bikes and go horse back riding. We didn't do any of those things. We collected a lot of rocks and sticks. built a campfire every night, ate a lot of smore's, cooked a lot of food, and played outside from sun up to sun down. I don't know that I'll go back to Broken Bow but I'm definitely glad we went. It was a different, accessible vacation that got us outside doing new things. 

I think people love it because it really does allow for time just to be together. The cell phone service was spotty so we were hardly on our phones at all and we didn't really interact with anyone other than each other. My kids are still pretty young and we spend A LOT of time together as a family. A. Lot. We play outside, we play board games, we talk about everything. People in my house talk all of the time. Seriously they  never stop talking. So we didn't really need that kind of "get away" to spend quality time together but maybe as they get older and the teen years start to pull them away from home we'll need it more. Plus I am not a laid back person. Going up to a cabin and hanging out is not really my idea of a good time. I don't like to sit around unless I have a book and when there are 8 children in there house there is little to no reading. When I go out of town I like planned activities, I like to see stuff and try things. Which is why I think the hiking and lake exploring was my favorite part. Also the smore's, I'm a huge fan of smore's. 

I Think I've Found Something Awesome - Stace

I've been kind of struggling with life and I wanted to find something just for me, other than reading, that I could do. This was hard because I have a two and a half year old basically glued to my hip. I'm also not miss athletic so putting her in the stroller and like going for a run isn't an enjoyable time for me. My favorite is to just be at home on my couch. One could call me a couch potato and I don't know that I would be offended. My husband suggested that maybe I need to change up my routine a bit and thought maybe walks by myself that could either be for exercise or just a nice stroll might help. Get out of the house, and off the couch; The idea wasn't horrible. Alone with my thoughts and music. The problem is the only way I could walk alone was when Jared was home and I wanted something that I could do whenever and not have it based around other peoples schedule.

And then a very strange thought popped in my head. Coloring! Its a fairly cheap hobby, especially for a novice like me and adult coloring books have become pretty popular. When I was a kid, I used to love those velvet color posters. They were the coolest! I got online and started looking at adult coloring books and found that there were a ton and I got pretty excited but the more I looked the more overwhelmed I got. The covers of some of the coloring books said things like "stress relieving" or "relaxing". I was not relaxing; I was stressing out! The adult coloring books are hardcore and I'm not hardcore about anything. I already felt weird about wanting to color so I didn't want to just use my children's coloring books or a coloring book that they would want. And this is when it gets embarrassing. I looked up adult coloring books by number. Yep. It happened and oh they exist my friends! I went to Walmart the next day bought me some colored pencils and ordered my adult coloring book by number.

I wanted the color by number to obviously tell me what to do and to help my imagination expand and to start thinking like an "artist". I want to get comfortable trying new colors and schemes before going to more hardcore things. I haven't been coloring for even a week but already I'm enjoying it so much. It gives me a sense of satisfaction, like I'm accomplishing something. Maybe its silly (ok it is) but I don't care. Its exactly what I was looking for. I can work on it while my kids eat or play. It can be a little frustrating to have to stop sometimes but I don't let it become an issue. I like that I have something just for me and that I can do it basically whenever I want to and not have it depend on other people. I like that I'm "creating" something beautiful. Eventually I will move beyond adult color by number but I'm in no rush. Its my thing I can go at any pace I want and right now I'm just taking it easy. I don't want it to turn into something stressful or frustrating that would defeat the purpose. Ultimately my goal is to get to the Harry Potter coloring books, you know that's right, but until then I'm just taking my sweet time and enjoying myself.

Steph's Sweet and Sour Chicken

So some of the people in my house are notoriously picky eaters. They like what they like and are not willing to branch out. I do not support that attitude and am constantly trying new recipes. Much to my children's disappointment. The other tricky thing is that they all want to eat different kinds of foods. My oldest is a steak and potatoes girl. My son only wants pizza and pb&j, and my youngest would eat breakfast food all day everyday. I do my best to incorporate things they each enjoy as often as possible, mostly because I get sick of listening to them complain about what I cook. But sometimes I get lucky and stumble across a recipe that everyone loves! Sweet and Sour Chicken is just such a recipe. I feel good about it because it is one of the only ways my very skinny and nearly vegetarian son will eat chicken, plus we get some rice in them and they will also eat broccoli or peas with it. It's easy to follow but does take a little bit of forethought as it has to cook in the oven for 45 min. Give it a try, we highly recommend it. The original recipe came from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, thanks Mel.

YIELD: SERVES 4-6

Note: if you like extra sauce, double the sauce ingredients – pour half over the chicken and follow the recipe instructions; pour the other half in a small saucepan and cook the sauce on the stovetop at a simmer for 8-10 minutes until it reduces and thickens. Serve it on the side of the chicken.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken:
• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup canola, vegetable or coconut oil
Sauce:
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (depending on how sweet you want the sauce)
• 4 tablespoons ketchup
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt

DIRECTIONS

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1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Place the cornstarch in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Put the chicken into the bag with the cornstarch and seal, tossing to coat the chicken.
3. Whisk the eggs together in a shallow pie plate. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until very hot and rippling. Dip the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces in the egg and place them carefully in a single layer in the hot skillet.
4. Cook for 20-30 seconds on each side until the crust is golden but the chicken is not all the way cooked through (this is where it's really important to have a hot skillet/oil). Place the chicken pieces in a single layer in a 9X13-inch baking dish and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
5. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and pour over the chicken. Bake for one hour, turning the chicken once or twice while cooking to coat evenly with sauce. Serve over hot, steamed rice

Why Does Life Gotta Be So Hard - Stace

I have not been happy the last few weeks, well months really, and I couldn't figure out why. I'm not awesome at self evaluation or reflection and just kind of go through my day to day life being like yeah that annoys me...so does that....oh that's real annoying...I'm annoyed...I'm annoyed...I'm...ANNOYED! I let things build and truthfully I don't know how to not do that because I'm not even aware of it. I'm going a long mildly bothered with people (people being my children and spouse) to completely losing it and not wanting to be around any of them because I'm so done with them. So pleasant.

Last week I went on a trip ALONE to visit an old college roommate. It was the first time since having a child that I've traveled by myself and let me tell you it was just glorious. My husband asked me what my favorite part of my trip was. I had a lot of things to choose from. I was in Pennsylvania so obviously we went to Hershey's Chocolate World, we ate out which is always a favorite, she has adorable little cats and you all know how I feel about cats! Not to mention I was finally with a friend that I had not seen in about 6 years. I told him that obviously other then being with my dear friend my favorite part was the freedom. We came and went as we pleased. Yes we had tentative schedules everyday to be sure and get all the things done we wanted to do in the few short days I was there. But we could just leave. There was no making sure anyone ate or went to the bathroom no making sure I had diapers and wipes in my purse just in case or extra snacks. No worrying about the time so CurlyGirl could get her nap or so that I wouldn't be late getting BuddyBoy from school. We just walked right out the door.

Every night I was there we stayed up talking most of the time it was just laughing and being ridiculous, but sometimes we had some pretty deep self reflecting conversations. And because I finally had the chance to just step away from my life for a bit I could step back and see what some of my troubles were. Ever since I was a teenager I've dreamed of having a family of my own. A husband and children and being a stay at home mom. That may sound old fashioned and feminists might be cringing but that is what I wanted. I've never been a particularly ambitious person. I've never had a drive to do something amazing or had a dream career that I wanted to work toward. I've simply just wanted a family. At 22 I got married and started my family. Now I'm 29 and unhappy with my life.

I think things changed for me when we decided not to have anymore children. It was a prayerful and thought out choice and we both felt like it was the right thing for us. And by decided not to have more children I mean my husband got a vasectomy decided to not have more children. Like I said we were both very happy with that decision but when it happened it became very real. I'm not going to be pregnant ever again. There is going to be no other addition to my family. I've been married for 7 years have a kindergartner and a two and a half year old and that's all. I've realized that my life has suddenly become about everyone else. I've heard women say that after they got married or had their kids they lost themselves and I did not understand that because for me that was the dream! And I didn't think that I really had anything to lose. I'm an introvert, a home body. My favorite is to be alone and read or watch my shows. Going on a random play date to try and meet people is my nightmare. But I understand now. I've realized my books aren't enough I need more in my life I just don't know what.

Going on that trip changed a lot of things for me. It made me realize that I need to do more for myself. That I'll be a happier person if I do more things that make me happy but truly I need the time to figure out exactly what that is. I'm selfish. Part of me wants to go back to Pennsylvania and be roommates with my friend again. But then of course I'm home and think 'oh I'm so grateful I'm here for the Literary Festival' or just the fun one on one time me and CurlyGirl have because I know that time is coming to a close.

My husband is important. We are not just spouses but best friends and working to stay that way can be both really hard and incredibly easy. My children are important I don't think love is a strong enough word to express my feelings for them, it goes so much deeper then that. But you know what? I'm important and I need to find things that will make me happy. Its going to be hard to find the balance of doing things for me and being a good wife and mother but that's something I need to do right now. I need to feel okay about myself and my life. I hate knowing that it's my problem the child in me wants to point the finger and say "No, this is your fault you fix it!" But no. This is my deal and while I have no idea what I'm going to do exactly I've already started to feel better knowing that I'm the one who needs the change I'm the one who can control it.

Steph's Time as a "Runner"

     

 I was born with a bunion. For those of you who don't know a bunion is a bump that forms on the joint of the big toe. It causes all kinds of problems. Your big toe points inward toward your other toes, arthritis forms in the joint and it becomes painful to walk. And yes it is extremely rare for someone to be born with one of these. Usually they develop as you age and can be hereditary. Both of my grandmothers had them. Thanks Grandmas. Because I was born with mine you can imagine how large it was by the time I was a teenager. Gigantic you guys. I had the ugliest foot ever. Plus because of my rapid growth the arthritis was really bad. By the time I was 15 I had almost no cartilage left in my joint. I had a bunionectomy when I was 15 but because my growth plates hadn't closed when I hit my next growth spurt my fused bones did all kinds of weird things. I'll spare you the gory details but from the time I was 15 to the time I was 22 I had 5 foot surgeries. 

    Despite all of this nonsense I ran track in middle school and my freshman year of high school. I was a sprinter and a long jumper. I really liked to be fast (yes my son comes by it honestly). Unfortunately my surgeries put an end to all of that. It's really ok, I wasn't a prodigy or anything.

   Running has become a huge deal in our culture. Couch to 5k, half marathons, Disney marathons, ultra marathons. We run to raise money for cancer, animal rights, we run to rebuild communities. Even our wardrobes are being affected by this trend toward exercise, athleisure, yoga pants, and leggings are worn by people that, far be it for me to judge, don't seem to be running anywhere. Books are written about running and despite clear medical evidence that its actually not good for your body people continue to do it.  I jumped on the exercise bandwagon a couple of years ago in the form of group fitness classes. Let me be clear. I hate working out. Hate. It doesn't feel good, I always hurt when I'm done and usually want to throw up either during or after class. But it's supposed to be good for you and stuff so I go. Group fitness is the only way I'm going to get it done. I go in to a class at a designated time, the instructor tells me what to do and for how long to do it and then I go home. It works. 

Here's the deal on a thin person going to the gym. Now everybody keep it together. Don't get up in arms. Yes I am a thin person. Thank you genetics. Thin people work out too. And also just because I am thin does not mean I am in shape. So I set goals to lift a certain amount of weight. To be able to make it through a whole step class with out sitting on my step gasping for air. I wanted to be able to touch my toes in yoga with out bending my knees. I felt really good about myself as I started to slowly reach my goals. New Year 2016 a friend of mine mentioned that her New Years Resolution would be to run one race every month. I hadn't run a race since I was 14. It sounded like a good goal. Lots of people I know are runners. They post pictures of themselves on social media with their medals and their race numbers pinned to their shirts. I thought I wanted that to be me. It seemed like a good, accomplishable, quantifiable goal. So I signed up for my first 5k. 

   The first one actually wasn't too bad. Yeah my foot hurt, but really it hurts all of the time anyway so it wasn't that big of a deal. I ran the whole thing with out stopping and because I had been doing other forms of regular exercise for 2 years I didn't need to train much. The actual run itself wasn't my favorite. I thought it was boring but I had a friend who paced me well and we were able to chat our way through it. The thing that hooked me was crossing that finish line. Man I felt gooooood. I felt strong and accomplished. I had done it. I set a goal and finished it and at the end somebody handed me a medal! I mean who doesn't want a medal?! Plus I got a tshirt. I'll do a lot of things for a cool tshirt. 

   My first race was in February. March's race was sad as I was jet lagged from a  trip to Italy plus recovering from a bout with the flu. But even sweating and staggering my way through that race was made worth it by the finish line. I owned that race. Even though my time sucked and I wanted to lay on the pavement and die I finished it. April's race was my fastest time yet. I realized that old competitive spirit was still alive and well. The term "race" is a bit misleading as well. The run itself is not a true race for most people. And I wasn't actively competing against my fellow runners I was competing against myself. Doing the actual running was just the worst. I hate it. I hate running. I hate hitting the ground over and over again. I hate the monotony and drudgery of it. I have never achieved runners high. I think people are lying about it. And because of my foot problems I run funny so no matter how much I trained and tried to correct my form I got shin splints. After my run in May I'm pretty sure I had a stress fracture which I never told anyone about because my husband would have put his foot down and told me to stop. But it was only May! I couldn't stop! Yeah I'm an idiot. Don't think I don't know that. 

  In June I signed up for my first 10k. My friend and I got up at 5 am and drove an hour to run 6.5 miles. That was the last race I have run. I made it half a year. Here's what happened with the 10k. Number one, it's too dadgum far. Running for that long was shear torture. My body hated every single second of it. I kept thinking to myself "you are an idiot why are you doing this to yourself?" "this isn't worth it, there are other ways to meet goals". This is not an awesome conversation to be having with yourself around mile 5. Now I truly believe that some people are built to run. Some people's bodies just do it. And more power to you my friends, You run, run like the wind. I'll wave at you as you go by. Reason number two, have you or have you not heard of the runners trots? Yep. It is a real thing my friends. It didn't hit me until after the race thank goodness, in the safety of my own bathroom. I had no idea that this was a potential outcome of deciding to run farther than 4 miles. Once this became apparent to me I took a vow, never ever ever again. 

   To those of you who love to run I say good on you. Meet those goals, cross those finish lines, earn those medals. To those of you who would like to give it a try I encourage you to do so. Don't take my word that it sucks, you make that discovery on your own. To those of you who have run and joined the ranks of us who have hung up our running shoes I say welcome. We're happy to have you.