Monday's Menu Presents...

What You Need!

3/4 cup pizza sauce, divided 1 pkg. (225 g)
Kraft Dinner Macaroni and Cheese, prepared as directed on package
1 lb. (500 g) lean ground beef, cooked, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano Shredded Cheese
Make It!

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Remove and set aside 1/4 cup of the pizza sauce for later use. Combine prepared Dinner, two-thirds of the meat, the remaining pizza sauce, egg and seasonings.

SPOON evenly into 9-inch pie plate. Top with the remaining meat and reserved 1/4 cup pizza sauce; sprinkle with cheese.

BAKE 15 min. Let stand 5 min. before serving.

This recipe was an easy one, and so delicious! It was a total hit with my family and I loved it! I would strongly recommened it to any family especially a busy one!

New York, New York..

We have booked, we are off, its going to be awesome! Look out New York here we come!

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids
Thursday May 27, 2010 at 9 pm on CBC-TV

Related Video
Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids
Watch the full program online.

43:09 minutes


. hyperparents
Watch the trailer online.

3:05 minutes


. Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids
Watch a preview on YouTube.

2:45 minutes


..Are today's well-meaning parents giving their children a leg up in life, or creating problems that will last their child's lifetime? The new CBC documentary Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids explores the cultural pressures on parents to be hyper-parents and the impact it has on their children.

The current trend of over-parenting began in the early 1980's when baby boomers - who ended up having fewer children, later in life - started having kids, and it has continued down the line.


Ron Alsop, author of The Trophy Kids At first, Baby on Board signs in car windows proudly announced "precious cargo" inside. Today, however, it is not enough to wait until the baby is born. While pregnant, parents start their single-minded search for ways to create an über child - and there is no shortage of products to help them, including 'prenatal education systems' that claim to give Junior an intellectual, social, creative and emotional advantage. Once the baby is born, the race to keep him or her ahead of the pack intensifies - with baby videos, baby ballet, gymnastics before they can walk, and parents' near-fanatic devotion to finding the right pre-school.

Parents are willing to overextend their budgets so they can maintain a program that will lead to their child's success. And they will do everything in their power to protect their investment - coming to the rescue whenever their child encounters adversity.


Sanaz Esfahani tried unsuccessfully for two years to get her five-year-old daughter Leili into a private school. Nowhere is this more obvious than in today's classrooms. Ask any teacher and they will tell you that the toughest aspect of their job is dealing with overbearing parents who fiercely intervene at the first sign of trouble. Failure is not an option, and parents will do everything they can to make sure their child graduates top of the class so they attend a good university, which in theory leads to a good job which leads to a good life.

And you can say goodbye to saying goodbye. Reluctant to let go, moms and dads continue to hover even when their kids head to university. Many parents take it upon themselves to fill out application forms and write the admissions essay on their child's behalf. Some even follow their pampered progeny right into the workplace - attending job interviews and even trying to negotiate salary and contracts.

Hyper-parents have the best of intentions. They believe that the world is more dangerous and competitive than the carefree times of their own youth. Obsessing about our kids' safety and success has become the norm, and the pressure to hyper-parent is almost impossible to resist.


After graduating from university, Adrienne Cousins landed a good job with a good salary, but she couldn't quite fit into the corporate culture. She borrowed money to start her own business. But there are indications that all of the attention parents bestow on their children may not have the outcome they had hoped for. In fact, it appears to be having the opposite effect. As the first batch of hyper-parented kids (Generation Y) emerges into adulthood, they do not seem to be quite ready for the real world. University psychologists report today's students experience higher levels of anxiety than any generation before them. And employers are pulling their hair out as Gen Y employees show up at work with an unprecedented sense of entitlement - 'Paying your dues' is not part of their vernacular. They require a lot of supervision and they challenge everything from dress code to office hierarchy.

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids presents a snapshot of a great social experiment in parenting whose full results will not be known for years. Will the pendulum swing back? - resulting in the next generation of parents slowing down and letting children be children? Or will they up the ante and escalate hyper-parenting to a point not yet imagined?

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids is co-directed by Sharon Bartlett and Maria LeRose for by Dreamfilm in association with CBC-TV.

Ok so, my blog is a rip off...and i am sorry! it is going to be alot more difficult to blog in the nice weather. I really will struggle and hope that I can keep up my year blogging. I chose this topic because on THursday I watched this program on hyper parenting. It was very interesting and yet...very true! I do think our generation of parents hyper parent and micro-manage our children. I know that I certainly do, not that I think I am right to do so, it just happens. I feel so bad that right know it is 11pm, my daughter is outside with a bunch of friends, and I am sitting downstairs in the rec room watching "Old dogs" on the big screen and I have no desire to explain my feelings about this topic. I am being brutally honest and no I am not drinking! I had so much to say too..I did alot of thinking and planning and was going to make this a great blog. But then it just got late and I borrowed this information from a website. So, I guess I will leave you with all the information and you can form your own opinion. I know everyone has one!

Extrodinary Measures..

Tonight we watched this movie, it was an easy watch. Great story line, one that we could relate too. It was a movie to watch when you think you have it tough...puts life into perspective.
I know Fridays are suppose to be Family matters blogs...I promise tomorrow I will post something relating to family. I have been working on something and have a great idea!

Islands in the stream..

Well my friends..the island has arrived! I am so excited and cannot wait to have my kitchen finished. Today Paul and I started sanding and painting the kitchen cupboards. I picked a very soft off white color for the cabinets that will match and emphasize the dark cupboards and island. I have had a style in mind for my kitchen and I see it taking shape. Not much longer know and it will all be complete and I will be entertaining in my new favorite spot. I mean the kitchen is certainly not my dream kitchen, i would never be able to afford that. However the design and color of my kitchen is exactly what I want, so that makes me happy. I didn`t want to have a perfectly matching kitchen, not that I don`t like all the cabinets to be the same color or design, its just that right know I am into different and unique...not matching!
We discussed ripping out our kitchen and replacing everything, but inorder to do that we would also have to redo our floors, which would include the front hallway, living room and dining room and with the square footage of my house it would cost at least..10,000 dollars and that is just an estimate. Besides, its not a secret that we may not be here in the next possibly 5-6 yrs, so with that I would rather replace the flooring when we get closer to that time mostly due to Braden`s wheelchair and our 2 beautiful yellow labs.
I know that I have some skeptics out there about whether or not this decorating idea is going to turn out...its a good thing I don`t care what people think!
To be honest, the kitchen`s that they entertain from are nothing to be desired!
Here is a picture of a kitchen idea that I found and fell in love with, kinda got my idea from this...
I just love the look of this kitchen, the white cupboards and dark wooden island...I will have pictures soon my friends of my master piece...hang tight I will share!

Wednesdays Reflection..

Todays photo was a moment snapped in time that I will never forget! There was so much going on in our lives at the time. Braden was 5 years old and getting ready for kindergarten and Kailey was one year old when this picture was taken.
During this moment, Paul was finishing our basement, you know drywalling, painting and framing. He had taken a year off of work to help rehabilitate Braden and get him physically strong enough to handle being in school. I wanted him to be as strong as possible before I set him out into the big bad world of kindergarten. I have never really admitted this before, but I am sure many of you probably realized at the time that my hopes and dreams were pretty far fetched. I mean, there is always hope and a person should never really "say never" because you just never know the will power of any one person. So with that said, when this picture was snapped the only important thing in my life was to get my son walking again. Nothing else was of importance to me, I was not enjoying life, I hated that Braden was not walking, I was having difficulty accepting that he would not be the same as the other children...deep down I knew it wasn't fair to him! I hated feeling the guilt of that!
In my mind I so desperatly wanted to believe that Braden was going to recover remarkably and eventually have the ability to walk just like the other little boys. I wanted him to play sports, rough house, dance, and "just be" like the others.
Boy was I in for a learning curve. Let me tell you when my plan wasn't working like I thought it should, my life went to hell.
It hasn't always been easy, the mind can be cruel...especially when you feel so much guilt and pain over a situation that you feel responsible for. This year was probably the toughest of them all. It wasn't that I couldn't function or be a good mother at this time, because nothing stopped me from putting those emotions on a shelf and leave them there when spending time with the kids. However, each feeling and each emotion was like reading through a long long novel. Ok, so this is how I can best describe the feelings that I felt during this year of my life. It was challenging at the time to go through all the emotions that a person feels when hit with a catastrophe. The best way for me to explain it, will be to refer to each emotion whether being guilt, anger or sadness as a book, or a chapter in a book. Each emotion is so different, and should be treated as so. Emotions have stages and chapters that you have to work through, putting time and effort into each chapter, at times re-reading certain feelings and going back to that book of anger on the shelf, opening it up and accepting it for what it was. I kinda feel that this explanation suits it, because its not like I went around everyday feeling guilty or sad, as a mother I still had to function and get out of bed each day and take care of my children. They came first, this was not an option..I still had a responsibility to those kids. So, everytime I started to feel upset or sad with a situation I would close it up and put it away (on a shelf) until I could put the time and effort into it...sort of like a book. This year in particular was the one that changed my life forever, it was a choice at this time...am I going to read these books and work through them or am I going to leave them on the shelf and always know in the back of my mind that they are there and will always be.
I am not sure if this is a good analogy or not, sometimes it so challenging putting words on paper and hoping the one reading it can understand what the writer is trying to say.
I often tell people when struck by tradegy that the pain of the event won't hit you untill later...sometimes years later. It worked that way for me. During the intial times after my accident, we were to busy to even think of the events of the day. Who has time to cry? Who has time to eat or sleep? You just survive...its all time allows!
Today sometimes, one of those emotions on the shelf will creep up on me. There are still some bad days...more commonly bad moments and when this happens I remember the things that I've learned through the healing process and remind myself that today is a blessing. It has taken me 14 years to accept the things I cannot change, I will never say that he will never walk...but I have accepted that if he doesn't..it's ok! There is so much more to him than whether or not he can walk, he is a huge success and much of my guilt has been replaced with pride...and that book, the book of pride... is never closed!!

Pictures

I am literally sitting at my computer with a blank expression! Nothing to say whatso ever! Enjoy the pictures, when I have nothing to say...I post pictures!
These are all very old pictures that I picked randomly...

Meatballs...and Mondays Menu

Welcome to Mondays Menu! Once again I have tried something new on a Monday for a meal. This was not a dinner menu, however with everyone here for lunch we decided to try the Panini maker that I bought and made some chicken quesadilla', so good!
What an amazing day today was, we totally lounged by the pool..again. Got lots of sunshine, read some of my book, had mom and dad for dinner and then ended this beautiful day with one of the all time best summer movies "Meatballs".

Honestly, my family loves this movie. I am so fortunate that my kids love old 80's movies and they love the humour, simplicity and characters that come with those kinds of old movies. I introduced them to the older ones, like Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, footloose when they were a bit younger and thankfully they really enjoy them. I mean, they of course love todays teen's movies but once in awhile its nice to sit back as a family and watch some old fashion humour with a cleaner, semi-respectable, less foul language story line. We also love to watch the old National Lampoon's movies, Chevy Chase is a favorite! God, I love summer time, just can't wait for the kids to be home, late night movies, morning swims and lunchtime quesadilla's.
What you need:
4 flour tortilla's
2 teaspoons of unsalted butter,melted
1 cup of shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of black olives

1/4 cup of sliced green onion
1/4 cup of salsa

Lightly brush one side of each tortilla with melted butter.

Place on work surface, buttered side down. Preheat Griddle on Low- Medium
Place chicken, olives, green onion and salsa in a medium bowl and stir to blend. Divide mixture equally amoung the 4 tortilla's, placing to one side of the tortilla.
Fold each tortilla in half.

Place 2 tortillas on the bottom griddle and close. Bake quesadilla's for 5 to 6 minutes-or untill chicken is heated and cheese is melted and tortilla's are lightly browned.
This lunch was so easy and is pretty healthy, served with a nice salad would be great!
Well my friends, here's to summer time fun!!

Swimming, Sun, BBQ, and famiy...

Today was a day by the pool...nothing more nothing less! It was wonderful, I have a great start to my summer tan and as I sit here and write I smell of summer sun and cocoa bronze after sun shimmer lotion! It is fantastic and I sparkle like Edward from Twilight!
LOL,
The pool is beautiful, but I enjoyed the hot tub today. I think we need to go buy some lounge chairs for the pool area, then there is more room for others! I tried the new Miller CHill beer with Lime, quite liked it! Very refreshing....
Well, short blog today my apologizes, we have some supper to prepare and some kids to feed. Off to the drive in tonight to see Iron Man 2
and Shrek 2,

looking forward to that! I love the drive in!
I hope everyone is enjoying their days as much as I am!

Cottage Life....Oh how I dream!!

Well my friends, anyone who knows me will know that I struggle every summer with whether or not to get a cottage. We have come so close...oh, I mean realtors and everything, spending afternoon's with us, countless emails...so close!
Something is just holding us back...could be finances? or maybe just the fact that we have a wonderful home and great set up here in our own backyard. As the years go by, I will say that Paul is less and less interested in making this dream come true for me...*sad face*

He entertains the idea, and he does sit for bits of time to listen to my ideas and well i'll just admit it..my begging!
I do know that right know is not a great time, we should have done it years ago...with Braden starting college in the next few years..well we really don't know where we will end up? Maybe eventually we will be living in a condo in Toronto...maybe a rented house in NYC, you never know?? Hopefully we will just stay here and enjoy this wonderful oasis we call home! Ok, seriously...I don't know what the future holds, and there will be some changes in the next few years...so I will just have to wait and for know keep dreaming and looking at all the beautiful options that are available in cottage country life

Friday Family Matters...

What are you doing this fine long weekend with your family? I hope the weather stays nice, otherwise its going to be a movie marathon weekend! Kailey swam today, the pool was heated to 81 degrees, it was beautiful.
Well technically, Fridays are to discuss something going on in everyday life relating to family, friends, kids or marriage. To be honest I have nothing prepared, but alot on my mind. I will say though that the number one topic in this house related to our children is underage drinking.
Unfortuantely we are hitting the dreaded age of teenagers and parties. It started this week, when we heard that some kids were discussing drinking at a grade 8 graduation party. I mean, its gonna happen...really if they want to drink, they will find a way to do it! Things are just to accessible these days. Thankfully the family hosting this grad party is well aware of the discussions, and are taking charge and preparing with precautions just to be sure no little minors end up with fuzzy tongues!
I have a hard time with this topic, I still feel that they are too young to even be thinking about drinking...but realistically they are heading into grade 9 in September. So, with that said I cannot be naive to believe Kailey will not be introduced to this! I would love to just protect her, keep her home and stop her from any under age behaviour...but I am a big believer in the fact that she needs to learn to handle herself in these situations, not hide from them.
I suppose its our job as parents to put boundries, rules and regulations on our children but still provide them the space to learn, make mistakes and have fun.
Paul and I both feel that we are capable of providing both our children with the tools they need to seek out young adult hood with strength, smarts and responsibility. I mean..really, its all we can do right? Give them all the information that they need, obviously set the boundaries for safety reasons and hope for the best. I don't suspect that I will need to worry to much right now, we have pretty good communication and she is very level headed and has a great group of friends. I stay very active with her friends, I know all of them and even all their parents, plus I have awesome communication with the parents!
I must say, I think i am pretty lucky..I love all her friends and the parents are pretty awesome too!
I guess grade nine will be something new and exciting, I hope that Kailey can balance all the things that are important but still have fun doing so.
I will say one thing, I sure like having the kids at my house...I guess its because I feel that I have a bit more control with whats happening. I suppose that goes with being an "Over Motherer?" LOL..
Well regardless of what happens, Paul and I will do our very best with being fair and reasonable but yet...in control! Paul is having a harder time with this growing up stuff, he struggles actually more than I do, especially with Kailey. As long as I approach him with caution and knowledge, he usually see's things objectively.

Technically this is a topic that I wouldn't even touch on my blog without some sort of research and statistics however it is late, so I am just writing about my feelings with the topic.

Grey's Anatomy Season Finale..

Tonight I watched the season finale of Greys Anatomy. You know the thing I love about that show is the realistic views they share in thier dialogue. I mean, the story line is a bit far fetched..seriously who walks into a hospital to kill a surgeon and his staff? So with that aside, I do love the topics they tend to put into perspective. Take for example tonights episode...it was about choices in life, whether to fight or give up and at times realizing the choice may not even be in your hands.
The program started tonight with Meredith Grey talking about starting her day and loving her life...how lucky she was, just found out she is pregnant, career is going great and she is happily married. When she started out on this beautiful day, she had no idea everything in her world was going to change and that everything she loved, everything that made her happy and content was all going to be destroyed. She would no longer feel safe in her world, its a scary reality...but it can happen.
I know, trust me more than most people that many of us start out on our days with hopes and dreams, trusting that we will return home to our loved ones unharmed or damaged. We wake up, feed our children breakfast, clean the kitchen, prepare dinner plans and then get ready for work. You never think, two minutes when you walk out your front door to start your day...that your day would never start. It would be halted abruptly without any warning, and changed without your consent...forever.
Those of you reading probably know people like this, maybe a friend diagnosed with cancer, a parent diagnosed with Alzehimers, a husband injured severly on the job or even a car accident that unfortunately shatters the world you once loved.
I do understand that this is just a tv program, and it is not real...but, being a nurse (for a short time) even more importantly being a mother who has lived in a hospital for months at a time, I have met these people. I have witnessed many of those tragedies, I have prayed, encouraged, cried with so many who set out to live their lives only to have it broken. Everything they knew, their comfort, safety and security all shaken by tragedy.
I think anyone who has lived through some sort of life changing event can relate to tonights episode, the words spoken were very close to the truth. We do have a choice in these moments, we can choose to live or choose to die. Most of us choose to live, its just an instinct...its those who die, really never do live again...and that's sad.

I choose life!!

NOva Scotia...I love you!

Tonights picture is one that was taken a while ago back when me and my family including my parents rented a cottage in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. The reasons for going there of course had everything to do with visiting family. This picture is myself, my aunt Mary,Aunt Jolene, Aunt Shianne and Kailey. We had just finished a lovely dinner and visited with lots of my dad's family. I wish we could see them more, I didn't get the chance to visit alot when I was young. With life being so busy as my children were growing up it made it difficult to return alot, the wonderful thing is when you go back to visit its like you never left. Even though I don't see them much, they are always on my mind and I love them dearly...I have been blessed with a wonderful family! They have always been supportive, caring and always there for one another. I miss them!
Tonight is a short blog...sorry! But we were out late due to another provincial tryout...
I hope things go well...I am doing alot of praying for Kailey and all the girls!
I am tired my lovely readers, so good night, and God bless...Michelle!!!

Funny thing...

Do you want to hear the funniest thing EVER??
Guess where Braden's second placement is this term??
Scroll down to see.......






The Community Care Access Centre!!! LMAO!
Are you friggin kidding me?? Did I just not blog all about that place?
HA.
Charma...it's a bitch!!

Monday's Menu...

RASPBERRY LAYERED DESSERT

What You Need!

2 cups Honey Maid Graham Crumbs 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, melted 1/2 tsp
ground cinnamon
1 pkg. (250 g) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup icing sugar
3 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping, divided
1 cup boiling water
2 pkg. (85 g each) Jell-O Raspberry Jelly Powder
3 cups frozen raspberries
Make It!
MIX crumbs, margarine and cinnamon. Reserve 2 Tbsp.; press remaining into 13x9-inch pan. Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until blended. Stir in 1 cup Cool Whip; spread onto crust. Refrigerate.

ADD boiling water to jelly mixes; stir 2 min. Add berries; stir until thickened. Pour over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 30 min. or until set but not firm.





COVER with remaining Cool Whip and reserved crumb mixture. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.


Again I made a jello type dessert, I have been trying some no cook desserts because I know how busy everyone is these days, and who wants to spend time in the kitchen cooking on beautiful summer days? I will say...this one was amazing! We all loved it!

I also have made it said that any recipe that I put on my blog will be very easy, quick good meals...like I said, who has the time? Tonights dinner was really really easy,I am sure most of you have all ready made something similar to this one. It is called...



Easy Italian Pasta Bake Recipe at kraftcanada.com: "Easy Italian Pasta Bake
What You Need!
1 lb. (450 g) extra-lean ground beef
3 cups whole wheat penne pasta, cooked, drained
1 jar (700 mL) pasta sauce
2 Tbsp. Kraft 100% Parmesan Light Grated Cheese
1/2 cup Kraft Part Skim Mozzarella Shredded Cheese
Make It!

HEAT oven to 375°F.
BROWN meat in large skillet; drain. Add pasta, sauce and Parmesan; mix well.
SPOON into 13x9-inch baking dish; top with mozzarella.
BAKE 20 min. or until heated through."

So.. how was your weekend?

Well, mine was wonderful! Today especially was great, we had my family over for dinner and Ethan spent the day with us. We enjoyed our day around the pool, hanging in the hot tub, listening to music and watching Ethan play. The weather was so nice, I love days like today. The kids had lots of laughs, we took so many pictures..here a few of the funny ones!








We have so many goof balls in our family! They really do have alot of fun together..I am so lucky to have 3 great kids in my life!
Here are a few nice ones that I begged them to keep straight faces for...



I thought maybe this year I would make Ethans birthday cake, I didn't do to bad of a job! I decorated it with a spiderman candle and came up with a web design...not to bad!! LOL



Blowing out his spiderman candle..

Oh yea I almost forgot to include this crazy picture..every year we have contest to see who makes it in the pool first, most years its Kailey. Finley beat her by a week, but for human legs...Kailey was the first! I swear the pool was about 8 degrees celcius...so friggin cold, but she wanted to do and here is a picture...

Next weekend we heat the pool and summer officially begins...can't wait!!