finnegan patrick turns two

When we moved in to the house and all the books were unpacked, the kids were excited to see a stack of 4 baby albums.  They are the kind of memory books where you can put pictures of special moments and there are lots and lots of lines for writing down all those first words and making note of foods liked and disliked, etc.  But as the kids sat and flipped through their books together they noticed one thing.  Katie's is full of information, Evie's is decent, Liam's is ok and Finn's is practically empty.  My best intentions to religiously fill those suckers out crashed and burned.

I see other mom's who have perfect books and detail every-single-thing their kid does in blogs and I wonder how they do it.  It's not that I don't care or want to record these things, I just plain forget to write it down amongst the business of everyday life.

Since I am so lacking in the Finn memory department, I felt a blog was in order.  So for the last few weeks I've paid close attention to the words he can say, things he can do, foods he will or will not eat and today (on his 2nd birthday) I weighed and measured him for the record.  I know a short post can't begin to describe everything about him, but here is a little about Finn!

Finnegan Patrick

Age 2

25 lbs.

34 1/4" tall

Finn is our tiny guy!  Believe it or not, he can still fit into a pair of 6-12 month shorts I found in his drawer!  Though his current wardrobe is mostly sized 18 months.

Finn can count to 5 in order, then we usually skip to 11, 15, 8...

He can say over 60 words!  I have no idea if this is more or less than he should be saying at this age, but only Katie talked as much as Finn does at this time.

Some of his favorite "sentences" are:

Mommy, watch!

Daddy, look!

I love you!

OH! I'm coming!

Let go!  Mine!

He loves animals and will most often tell you what the animal is and make its sound as we drive by it or see it in a book.  His favorite stuffed animal is a monkey.  

Finn will try any kind of food.  He is always asking for bites of what Jason and I have on our plates, even when we show him he has the same thing on his plate.  His new favorite is "creamy" (ice cream) and if you get anything out of the freezer he WILL hear you and will run, screaming "creamy! creamy!" from where ever he is at.

Finn is obsessed with: Hair

He loves to watch me do my hair and is always pretending to straighten his already straight hair with Evie's toy plastic flat iron.  He carries it around with him and will attempt to "straighten" my, Katie, Evie's and even Jason's hair.  He will try to straighten the cabbage patch dolls hair.  The barbie's hair.  He loves hair.  (He also loves to hold my face in his hands and softly say, "pretty.")  

Finn is a crazy bundle of energy, always running and jumping.  He loves to explore and play and drive his trucks around.  He is a happy, loving little guy who MUST give kisses and "huggies" before anyone leaves the house and at bedtime.  

And we are blessed to have him!

granola

Granola: 
1. A tasty treat.
2. An adjective used to describe people who are environmentally aware (flower child, tree-hugger.) 
3. Someone who, despite never having held a full time job, still manages to purchase several thousand dollars worth of expensive outdoor equipment which they strap to their overburdened 1995 Subaru Legacy station wagons. When not actively outdoors, granolas can be found together in small to medium sized packs smoking marijuana, listening to Jack Johnson and watching Warren Miller videos. They usually reside in Oregon, Washington or Colorado.  (This definition is sometimes confused with hippie.)
4. A suburban middle class mom who does yoga, has a blog, values natural things (i.e. food), makes her own laundry soap and can usually be found at the park or GAP.

There are many forms of Granolaism, but one of the most severe is denial.  Once a Granola reaches a state of denial about his/her current condition, there is really no hope.


I often dream that one day my blog will be "discovered" and I will found to be funny and cute.  Then either A. be asked to write for SNL, B. get paid to sit and type my dribble, or C. (since I'm so cute) finally get my big break and be cast in the next Quentin Tarantino film. (Come on, I'm sure I've got as much talent at Jessica Alba or Lindsay Lohan... maybe even more.)

But because none of those things has happened yet and taking care of 4 kids leaves me with so much extra time... I spend my days doing yoga.  Writing on this blog for all 9 of my followers.  I bake my own bread and add things like shredded zucchini to my brownies.  I cook things I have a hard time pronouncing, like quinoa.  I asked Jason the other day if it was ok I try my hand at making my own laundry soap.  I enjoy being outdoors and you can usually find me playing with my children at the park or shopping at GAP.

The other day, I made my own homemade granola...

Christmas Letter 2012

It's been a while since I (Brynn) have sent a letter with our yearly Christmas card picture.  So much has happened in the last couple of years that has not been blogged about, other than a post or two on Facebook, and I know not everyone is on Facebook. :)

But even though my last name is Earley, I am usually late.  So to save time and a tree, I'm posting our Christmas "letter" online!  It won't cover everything that has gone on, but it will bring you up to speed to where we're at now.

The last letter to go out in 2010 mentioned we were still in Colorado after trying unsuccessfully to move a couple times and we had 3 kids.

Well, we moved on from Pagosa in August of 2011 and are now in my birthplace of Austin, Texas!  Not that you'd know it was Texas.  Jason says he hardly ever meets people here who speak with a twang.  Which means the other big change to our family, Finnegan, probably won't grow up with an accent.  I'm pretty sure there is a blog post someplace on here with fabulous pictures of Finn's arrival on April 19, 2011...

I think that covers the "major" changes in our lives.  Oh wait.  Buying a house is probably something major.  We were blessed to get into our first home this fall and are soooo happy to finally be in our own place.  We are not as far out in the sticks as Jason would like, but being in suburbia has it's perks.  Though at times even I wish for the total peace and quiet we had in the mountains.

There are no mountains, just hills here.  The biggest "inclines" around are probably the freeway ramps.... Jason spends a lot of time traversing those!  Austin is in the top 10 cities in America with the worst traffic, so Jason leaves around 6:30am every morning to get downtown for work.  What is normally a 30 minute drive turns into an hour+ if he leaves much later than that, but we are so grateful for Jason's job with the plumbing company he works for that both of us try not to complain too much about the time spent getting to and from said job.  Jason is enjoying the fact he no longer has to be up all night shoveling snow for work, but tells me all the time it's hot here.  Just a few days ago it was 85 and he came home, took a look at the Christmas tree in the living room and declared it was all too weird.  He doesn't complain about the extra time he gets to play outside with the kids and go for bike rides however.  And he is planning and looking forward to putting in a small raised-bed garden in the new backyard soon.

On to the little people, tasmanian devils, ninjas, infectious laughter carriers, tiny terrorists, kids.

Katie is 10 and in 5th grade at Blockhouse Creek Elementary.  Adjusting to a new place is not always easy, but in the last 16 months we have seen Katie grow tall, beautiful, smart, funny, outgoing and sweet.  Everyone is her friend!!!  Like her dad, she misses going to Wolf Creek and playing in the snow, but has found she loves the swimming pool!  Katie also loves to sing and is talking about being in choir in middle school next year.  She has hinted already at attending a volleyball camp this summer and was asking if she can learn to play the flute.  I'm still stuck on the fact that she'll be in middle school!  Katie is growing up way too fast!

Evie is 8 and in 2nd grade, also at Blockhouse Creek.  2 new schools, a new church and a very different place to live- it's been a harder adjustment for our sensitive "1st middle" child.  Evie is more inclined to the warm weather and would wear shorts or dresses every day of the year if I let her.  She is our girly-girl, has a lot of sass and loves her purses and lipgloss!  And we are overjoyed just this last week, as my dad said, "To tell her welcome to the new family of God, we are so glad she came."

Liam is 5 and attends a mothers-day-out program twice a week at a small private Christian school.  He is learning "lots" and is quite proud to be able to write his name and point out letters and numbers to me as we get groceries or read a book.  Liam is all boy!  He enjoys playing video games, working with his dad (and dad's tools) and is learning to ride a bike.  His current passion right now is Power Rangers.  I thought those guys disappeared back in the 90's, but was I ever wrong!  The list of Bandai Power Ranger Samurai BullZooka toys he requested for Christmas gave me a headache.  Liam is our monkey and the neighbors can probably hear me regularly asking him to stop climbing up the basketball hoop pole.

Finn is the baby.  I didn't think he would ever learn to crawl or even roll over as he had 3 devoted older siblings to bring him everything he could desire!  But at 20 months he now runs everywhere and we have recently discovered that he can talk too!  Only saying only 4 or 5 words up until the last few weeks, we've come to the conclusion that he was just biding his time.  Recently after Jason repeatedly tried to get Finn to sign and/or say "more, please" before the bites of pumpkin pie he was sharing with him, Finn decided he didn't want to wait, looked at Jason and yelled "NOW!"  Right now, seems to be how Finn rolls (I blame the 3 devoted older siblings who brought him everything he could desire, as fast as they could...) so we are working on understanding the words, be patient.  Finn is our smiley guy, dancing to every bit of music he hears.

As for me, well... except for the bugs, I'm pretty happy here.  I love the warm weather.  I don't think I'll ever be able to visit Pagosa when there is snow as I'd probably freeze to death.  I enjoy being closer than 2 hours away to places like Target, Sams and Hobby Lobby.  :)  There are lots of museums and places I'm looking forward to exploring.  And I hope to one day get in on the movie extras casting that goes on here for productions shot in the Austin area.  I greatly miss our church family and all our friends, but I love our new church here, the couples small group Jason and I are apart of and the weekly women's bible study I attend.  I still love to cook, watch movies and one of my (many) new year resolutions is to keep this blog up and running more than 5 times in a whole year.

So y'all check back in here and we'll be in touch!

Merry Christmas To All!

highlights from the last couple of years in photos:

We had Finn!

We moved to Austin!

The kids grew up.

We celebrated lots of holidays, birthdays and special occasions!

#9

#10

#4

#5

#7

#8

#1

#.......

......ditto....

Christmas 2011

Halloween 2012

Jason + Brynn = 10 years of marriage!

We went to awesome pools!

Barton Springs

(the complete opposite of Pagosa Springs)

Quarry Splash Pad

Veteran's Memorial Pool

(Liam)

(Katie)

(Evie)

The water does strange things to kids here....

We killed bugs.

We bought a house!

We happily went to look at the bluebonnets and happily ripped them from their tranquil spot.

We went to Six Flags!

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Mackensen in Dallas!

We went to the Dallas Aboretum and saw cool stuff!

We went to cool outdoor concerts where it was super windy!

We went to see 4th of July fireworks over the river downtown!

We had FUN!
Come see us and join in the good times!

Much Love,

Jason, Brynn, Katherine, Evora, Liam & Finnegan

Bulk Freezer Cooking, Tips & Recipes

OK, so once again it's been forever since I posted.  I really must get better at this.  I should probably get back to my blogging with a post about the house we bought... but instead I'm going to post a whole bunch of recipes.  Why?  Because I said I was thankful the other day on Facebook for a freezer full of meals and I had some friends ask how I go about accomplishing that.

I don't really like to "cook" I do however like to "bake."  (Sidenote: Jason asked me once how that is possible and I told him that a bout of baking lasts a whole lot longer than stuffed florentine shells at dinner time. Spending 2 hours making dinner to have it disappear in 20 minutes is depressing.  Loaves of pumpkin bread sitting in my freezer, ready to be defrosted and eaten is a much nicer thought.  Yes, I'm strange.)

Since I don't like to cook every night and eating out, every night, isn't an option I spend 2-3 days shopping and cooking once a month.


Tip-
Pull the recipes you want to use, make your grocery list using those recipes (double them if you wish, you'll get more meals and it really doesn't add much more cooking time) and then go shopping.  Do your cooking the next day.

Tip-
Try not to make super complicated recipes as they usually require lots of ingredients and you want to make the cooking as easy and as inexpensive as possible.


Here is a random selection of some of my favorite recipes!


Quick Tomato Sauce
Makes 8 c. (4 c. needed per lb. of pasta)
3 T olive oil
4 tsp. minced garlic
2- 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1- 28oz can diced tomatoes
6 T minced fresh basil (or 2 T dried basil)
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Heat the oil and the garlic in a deep pot, stirring frequently until fragrant, but not browned.  Only about 2 minutes!  Stir in the cans of tomatoes with their juice.  Bring to a simmer and cook till slightly thickened about 30-40 minutes.  Stir in the basil, sugar and salt.

You can then let the sauce cool and freeze as a "chunky" sauce, or you can cool it and use a blender or food processor to make a smooth sauce.  Store in 4 c. servings

Tip-

I like to double, triple and even quadruple certain things like spaghetti sauce, because it's great to have extras.

Meatballs

1/2 c. parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tsp. basil

1 1/2 tsp. parsley

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 c. bread crumbs

1 egg

1 lb. hamburger

Mix all ingredients together.  Shape into 1" balls and bake on tin foil lined cookie sheet for 20 min. @ 400.  Cool and freeze in ziplock bags if desired.  To reheat: thaw and cook over med-low heat in sauce pan for about 10 min.

Tip-

I get certain items at Sam's or Costco- like hamburger.  My last trip I bought 8 lbs of hamburger and got out of it 32 burgers, 2 lbs of plain hamburger to make into meatballs or use for tacos, and then 2 meatloaves.

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

10-12 pieces boneless/skinless chicken tenderloins OR 4-6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts 

(I throw them in frozen, makes this recipe even easier!)

1 bottle BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. white vinegar

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 - 1 tsp. garlic powder

Mix BBQ sauce and rest of ingredients in a bowl, place chicken in crock pot and pour sauce over top.  Cook on low 6 hrs.

I serve this chicken with the following biscuit recipe and a veggie side.

J. P.'s Big Daddy Biscuits

Makes 6 grand sized biscuits (I always double and can get 12-14 BIG biscuits)

2 c. all purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 T sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/3 c. shortening (I use Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening - can't tell any difference between it and Crisco taste wise.)

1 c. milk

Preheat oven to 425

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening and then stir in milk.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 10-15 times.  Pat or roll dough out to 1" thick.  Cut biscuits with a large cutter, repeat until all dough is used.  Place biscuits onto an un-greased baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Make sure you mix, knead, pat or roll and handle dough as little as possible - you'll get lighter, bigger biscuits this way!

Chicken Taco Chili

1 15oz can black beans (rinsed and drained)

1 15oz can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)

1 15oz can corn kernels w/ liquid

1 16oz can tomato sauce

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

1 packet taco seasoning

1 T chili powder

6-8 boneless/skinless chicken tenderloins

Put everything in the crock pot and give it a stir.  Cook on low 6-8 hrs.  

I serve it with the following!

Cornmeal Waffles

1 3/4 c. all purpose flour 

1 1/4 c. corn meal

1 T baking powder

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 c. milk

3 T vegetable oil

2 eggs

In a large bowl mix all ingredients together, pour and cook waffles according to your waffle iron instructions.  (These are pretty thick, I don't have to pour as much batter on the iron as I do for regular waffles.  These are also great for breakfast with honey on them!) 

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

1 6oz pkg. wild rice mix (I get any quick cook 10 min wild rice mix- I don't have 40 minutes to cook rice)

1/2 white onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 T butter

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 c. sour cream

1/3 c. chicken broth

2 T minced fresh basil or 1/2 tsp. dried basil

2 c. shredded chicken

1/3 c. parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350

Prepare rice mix according to directions

In a large skillet, saute onion and celery in butter until tender.  Stir in soup, sour cream, stock and basil. Stir in rice and chicken.

Transfer mixture to an un-greased 2-quart baking dish, sprinkle with cheese.  

Let cool and freeze OR

Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

(If frozen- to reheat: thaw and bake uncovered for about 30-35 minutes.)

Tip-

For awesome shredded chicken-

I buy fresh or frozen boneless/skinless chicken tenderloins, thaw them if need be and then boil them all.  After they have cooked, I toss them in my Kitchenaid mixer and using the paddle attachment turn it on high and watch that chicken shred itself up!  I will do an entire bag at once, cooking in batches, to use in multiple recipes.  I'll freeze what I don't use!

Balsamic-Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Ok- my grocery store sells tenderloins 2 per pack.  So what I do is divide the original ingredient measurements into 2 gallon ziplocks and then toss a tenderloin into each one.  Roll up to get the air out, seal and freeze!  

Into each gallon ziplock add the following:

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 T balsamic vinegar

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 T olive oil

1 pork tenderloin

Seal bag and sort of twist and turn tenderloin so that the garlic, oil, etc. is dispersed evenly, then either freeze or marinate overnight in fridge.

To cook:

(thaw if frozen)

Preheat oven to 400

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat.  Add pork and brown all over about 5 minutes.  Transfer pork to foil lined baking dish and roast, turning occasionally, about 30 minutes.  Transfer to a cutting and try to let it rest 10 min before slicing.

Tip-

I buy a big pack of tin foil pans at Sam's and use them to freeze casseroles, cinnamon rolls, meatloaves, etc. They are easy to stack once frozen, just cover your dish with tin foil and write the contents and date on top.  

Honey-Orange Marinade

1/4 c. honey

1/4 c. orange juice

2 T olive oil

2 T worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. soy sauce

2 tsp. minced garlic

Mix together and pour over chicken breasts in gallon ziplock.  Marinade overnight or freeze.  Cook however you wish!  We like to grill them!

Tip-

Buy a jar of minced garlic.  I love my garlic press, but it's way faster to just scoop a tsp. out when I need it.

Yeast Raised Waffles

Best thing about this recipe is you can make it at night and eat them in the morning, or if you want breakfast for dinner, make it in the morning and it's ready that night!  I used to make these with my grandma! :)

Mix 8 hrs. ahead of baking:

1/2 c. warm water + 2 tsp. yeast

Let stand 5 min.

2 c. lukewarm milk

1/2 c. melted butter

1 tsp. salt

2 c. all purpose flour

2 eggs

Pinch of baking soda

In a large bowl, mix milk, butter and salt, add yeast mix and then add flour.  Mix well.

Let stand covered loosely with plastic wrap in the fridge a minimum of 8 hrs.

When ready to bake, add eggs and pinch of baking soda.

Beat well, batter will be thin.

Cook according to waffle iron instructions.

Waffles will be thin and delicious!