How to Make a Casserole

I have 8 siblings, therefore we grew up eating an awful lot of casseroles.  To this day, I count casseroles as comfort food.  The great thing about casseroles is that you can make and serve a meal that includes several food groups, while only dirtying minimum pans, on the cheap. Also, it may be easier to get your kid to eat their vegetables this way, and it's a good way to use up leftovers that weren't otherwise being eaten.

I'm thankful that my mother taught me how to make these meals.  And I'm going to share our top-secret recipe...

Wait, there is none.  In our house, a casserole usually wasn't something you made from a recipe card with carefully measured ingredients.  Rather, it was something you threw together with what you had on hand.  

In their most basic form, all casseroles must include 4 ingredients:

1. Grain (cooked rice, cooked pasta, or cooked egg noodles)

2. Protein (drained canned tuna, cooked and crumbled hamburger, or cooked and shredded or cubed chicken or turkey)

3. Vegetable (fresh, frozen, or canned-depending on the vegetable, you may need to precook it a bit)

4. Sauce (cream of mushroom or chicken soup, tomato sauce or other undrained canned tomato product, or enchilada sauce)

Just stir all of it together or layer it in a cake pan and bake at 350 degrees until warmed all the way through.

For variety, you can put shredded cheese and/or something crunchy (chip crumbs, corn flakes, crunchy chow mein noodles, or french fried onions) on top before you bake it.

So there you have it.  Super fancy, right?  The one pictured above was made with leftover cooked rice, cream of chicken soup, leftover teriyaki chicken (that gave the meal an interesting flavor-I can't decide if I would purposely repeat that again), leftover seasoned and baked chicken, some frozen peas, a couple handfuls of thawed frozen broccoli, and shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese on top.

I know not all of my siblings have the same fondness for such meals as I do, but I love it!  And see that empty green plate to the top right of the photo?  That belongs to Tertius.  As I've mentioned before, this boy practically inhales food, especially casseroles!  So the love is being passed to the next generation.

Is Hubby a Traitor to His Profession?

Hubby teaches at a public high school.
And we homeschool our own children.

When we first started this journey I was a little worried, based on other people's experiences I read online, that Hubby would be seen as a traitor among his credential program professors and peers.

Shouldn't a public school teacher believe in and be invested in the success of public education?  And shouldn't that mean that he would want to trust his own kids in that system?  After all, one reason that some schools decline is because the families who care (volunteer in the class, help with and encourage homework, etc) often also have the means to pull their children out in favor of a school with a better reputation.  When they do that, you're left with a school full of only struggling students/families.

Thankfully, the few times that our homeschooling has come up among his colleagues, it hasn't become of point of contention.  We are making so much progress in this country in that other forms of education are becoming increasingly popular and seen as increasingly legitimate.

As Hubby went through the credential program and saw first-hand the inner workings and motivations of the public education system, it only cemented our convictions that homeschooling is the best option for our own children.

But that doesn't disqualify him from working in the public system.

In his own words, Hubby says:

"I'm in my profession in the hopes of making my profession obsolete.  The hope is that my students will get smarter and when they grow up and become parents, they will choose to homeschool because you can't rely on a state-run education system."

Of course, that is idealistic and unrealistic.  So he goes on to say:

"I believe in homeschool.  I think everyone should do it. But I recognize that not every parent will provide it and not every kid will receive it. Thus I do what I do to help those kids."

He teaches in public school because he believes in the importance of good education in America and thinks that he can do a lot of good for a lot of students while working within the current system.

He homeschools because he believes in the importance of good education in America and thinks that we can do a lot of good for our children by taking advantage of this wonderful alternative.

See That Grey Hair Right There?

The kids plus two cousins were playing in the front part of the house while Hubby and I were in the back. Suddenly we heard the unmistakable sound of a large glass bowl shattering! 

We ran into the room shouting, "nobody move!" (to prevent any additional injury by kids stepping on the mess.) The kids just stared at us and said that the box of music toys fell off the shelf. The noise we heard was a xylophone crashing to the floor!

I about had a heart attack!  I was so sure it sounded like glass breaking and was panicked because surely someone got cut.  I'm so glad it ended up being a big nothing!  For future reference, a big tub of Legos being dumped out makes approximately the same sound.

It's moments like this that turns parents grey prematurely.

Mom! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Mom!

You know what might be worse than hearing "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Mom!" 10 million times a day? Hearing "Aunt Shirley! Aunt Shirley" all day. 😂

As I said before, we had two cousins from out of state live with us for three weeks.  On one of their last days, my sister-in-law (the one who lives in the same state as us) and I took her 4 kids, my 4 kids, and these 2 extra cousins on a fun field trip.  We let the kids choose which van they wanted to ride in and I ended up with my two 10 year old nephews with me. 

It was an hour drive each way.  Both of these boys love to talk and they had so many interesting things to tell me. And apparently they have to start every sentence with, "Aunt Shirley!"   By the end of that trip, I hated my own name. 

I LOVE all my nieces and nephews to death!  But I would be ok with not hearing "Aunt Shirley!" for a while.  I guess it's time to change my name.  Or next field trip I might insist that we listen to music or an audio book in silence. 😉

Healthy Popsicles for Spoiling Cousins With

I always try to keep my freezer stocked with popsicles, but not just any popsicles...healthy ones.  All my nieces and nephews, real and honorary, know that they should be able to find some anytime they come over. And since I make them with mostly fruit, I don't feel bad for a second for spoiling them with them.

Basically our popsicles are just leftover smoothies or milkshakes. I'll often make a big batch for everyone to drink and then whatever little amount is left goes in the freezer. 

My smoothies are just fruit juice (usually apple or sometimes V8 Fusion), frozen bananas, and whatever other frozen fruit I have. Sometimes I have chia seeds to add and lately I've been including fresh spinach when I have it.

The "milkshakes" my kids love at breakfast time are milk, chunky peanut butter, frozen bananas, and chocolate Carnation Breakfast Essentials.

I have several different popsicle molds I've picked up along the way. But the ones below are hands- down my favorite! They're Tupperware brand. I love that the lids seal onto the mold so I don't have to make sure they get frozen upright. I just throw them in the freezer and don't worry about them spilling at all.

 The kids like that the stick part has a little handle. And they also like to scrape their popsicles against the edge of the mold and then lick up the pieces that flake off. I like that when the little stick part gets lost (we're currently missing 3), then I can just fit a regular popsicle stick in it's place and still use the mold.

What's your favorite healthy "treat" to have on hand?

Baby's Day Out

We like to have Family Movie Nights together sometimes during dinner. The kids eat picnic-style on the living room floor. Recently we watched Baby's Day Out.

I watched this movie so many times as a kid! Unlike some movies I remember loving as a kid and then find out as an adult that they're terrible, this one is still a good movie today. But I had mixed feelings the whole time.

 It was hilarious. (Perhaps my favorite part was when Norby tries to sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb.")

But I'm generally not a fan of physical comedy so it got tiring. (Hubby made the observation that the three kidnapping idiots are pretty solidly based on the Three Stooges. Norby is Curly, Eddie is Moe, and Veeko is Larry.)

 I also have problems when movies are so ridiculous and improbable. And the scene where the baby crawls across traffic gave me anxiety!

But the baby was SOOOOO cute! Makes me wish I had another baby so bad!

The kids loved it. I have a feeling it's going to be re-watched a million more times before the end of summer. I think next time we're going to watch Homeward Bound.

What movies from your childhood do you like to share with your kids?

A Teachable Moment from Talk Radio

I listen to talk radio all the time.  If I'm in the kitchen or driving in the car, I've usually got the radio on.  Recently a news report came on that I made sure my daughters heard.

According to this article: "Harvard University has reportedly rescinded at least 10 admission offers into its fall freshman class after learning prospective students traded sexually explicit and offensive messages in an online Facebook chat."

Hearing what happened as a consequence of these students' actions was a great opportunity for discussion with my girls.  

Always assume everything you post online is permanent and public.  Keep a close eye on your privacy settings and who you have on your "friends" list.  But even if it's in a "private" chat, don't post it if you would be uncomfortable with your Bishop, grandparent, professor, or future boss seeing it.  

I would hate it if my children were punished in the future for a dumb mistake they made on social media in their youth.  But that's the world we live in now.

An Unpleasant Encounter

I'm allergic to confrontation.  But I also have a Mama Bear inside me that will come out when needed.

Last month we hosted two of my brother's kids for 3 weeks.  That meant that for almost a month I was basically a mother of 6 children age 4 to 11.  As we went about our business, we had a couple encounters where kind strangers would say, "Wow!  What a big family!"  Or something equally innocuous.  I would smile warmly and simply say, "Two are cousins."  But we did have one incident that wasn't so innocent.

I had taken the kids to the dollar store on the way home from another activity so I could pick up a few items and a craft project for them.  They were pretty squirrely, but not really bad. I want to emphasize that they weren't being really rotten.  But they were taking up a lot of space in the aisles, touching things, doing a little bit of wrestling, and saying, "can I have this?  I want to buy this!" a lot.  They were each being typical kids.  Multiply that by six, and together it was starting to make me nervous.  I usually expect much better/quieter behavior from my kids when we're shopping so I was on edge and was anxious to get done and get out of there!

We got into the checkout line.  There were a couple people in front of us and so our cart was almost up to the belt.  An old man with a cane tried to walk up alongside us in line but couldn't get through so he walked all the way around to come through the other way.  Evidently, he was looking for something specific in the checkout line, right where me and the six kids were standing.  I tried to move the kids out of the way for him, but I couldn't move the cart very much due to the long line of people behind me.  Plus, the kids were too busy talking and playing with each other to really listen to my instructions.  I did the best I could and got us moved out of the way a teeny bit.

The old man never said, "Excuse me," or "Can I squeeze through?" or "I'm looking for a doohicky.  Do you see one there?" or anything like that before he moved on.  I figured that was the end of that.

But then a random lady who was standing two places behind me gets my attention and says, "I think that man was trying to get past you but all your kids were in the way!"

I was taken aback.  For a split second I thought that maybe I was in the wrong and that I hadn't done enough.  So I timidly said, "Oh.  I was trying to move us back a little.  I think it was ok."  Then I turned to start putting my items up on the belt.  But this Shrew wasn't done.

She loudly started criticizing the size of my family.  "How many kids are there with you?  1...2..."  I kid you not, she was counting out loud how many children I had with me!  Given her tone, attitude, and other comments, it was clear that she thought I had too many.  As I put items up on the belt I could feel the Mama Bear rising up.  No one messes with my kids (whether they're mine or nieces/nephews!)  So I cut her off and said clearly, "There's 6.  Yep, there's a lot of them."  Then I stopped, turned to face her, and said, "What was I supposed to do, leave half at home?!"

As I turned back to my cart she called me out for getting defensive.  I replied that yes, I was getting defensive because I didn't understand what her point was.  These were my kids and of course I'm going to have them with me.  At that point, I had started to cool and didn't want anymore of a conflict.  I was kind of shaking, was keenly aware of the kids' behavior, embarrassed that maybe they were being a problem, and just wanted to get out of there.

(At one point my nephew had chimed in, "two are cousins!" because he had gotten used to us saying that.  But I didn't think this Shrew needed to know that.  I was ready to claim all six of them!  So what if all six were my biological children!  It's no one else's business how big my family is.)

Shrew said that she was just so surprised to see so many children in one family and that it was really weird to see them all at the store in the middle of the afternoon.  I told her with kind of a "duh" attitude that it was summer vacation.  By this time we were second in line and the checkout lady heard everything that had gone on so she backed me up and assured the Shrew that it's not weird to see kids during the day because it was in fact still summer vacation.

Shrew just couldn't believe that this was relevant because she asked (again, still with her same aggressive, confrontational attitude), "But why aren't they all in summer school?  I was always in summer school all day."  By now I was really confused.  The checkout lady and I both tried to explain that summer school isn't really a "thing" anymore.  Only a few schools (especially at the elementary level) do summer school and it's only a few hours a day, and not for the whole summer.  The woman in front of me in line even chimed in to say that even at the high school level, it was only a 4 week program for her son.

Her next comment took the cake.  If I was confused before, now I was dumbfounded. She said, "But how are they going to get into college?!"  What?  What planet was this girl from?  The checkout lady and I looked at each other and then told her that summer school was irrelevant and not a factor at all when it came to college admission.  Especially when it comes to elementary school!  We tried to explain that some high schoolers take summer classes to make up credits or try and graduate early but that was it.

I didn't dare tell Shrew that we homeschooled.  Her head would have exploded.

Thankfully, at this point the conversation was finally over and it was my turn to get rung up.  Another checkout line had opened up so Shrew went over there and got through quickly.  After she left, the checkout lady and no less than three customers stopped to talk to me and show me support.  They all said they had kids, that the Shrew was being rude and wrong, that my kids were being well behaved (really!), that I shouldn't be embarrassed, and that I was doing a good job raising them.  I was still a little shaky (remember, I'm allergic to confrontation!) and hearing all these kind words brought tears to my eyes!

Seeing the worst and best of humanity at the same time in one day was a very interesting experience!
I'm so thankful to those kind strangers that were willing to take a few minutes to support a fellow parent.  We're all just trying to do our best here!  We need to show love and build one another up!  I hope that if I ever witness a fellow parent struggling like I was, that I will go out of my way to reassure them that they're doing a great job!  I know personally what a difference that can make!

Getting a Head Start on Halloween

I am so excited for Halloween this year! I always start thinking of and mentally planning the kids' costumes months in advance. But this year I'm already working on making them. It's so early! I'm sure this is a record for me. It helps that I already had almost all of the needed fabric and that these are easy costumes to put together.  Gotta love Greco-Roman clothes that are essentially wrapped bed sheets!


Primus (Amazon Warrior)

Done: tunic, shield (it's made from a plastic deli tray- that Hubby was smart enough to suggest I save- with brown paper mod podged on it), shoes

Still need to make: armor, helmet


Secundus (Aphrodite)

Done: peplos (the top draping layer is a pretty embroidered fabric scrap that I added to the sheet), fibulae (brooches- one has a picture of a dove and the other a rose, which are two symbols associated with the goddess of love and beauty)

Still need to make: gold belt


Tertius (Poseidon)

Done: toga (I need to wrap it better than shown in the picture!), sea weed skirt, fibula (his brooch has a picture of a great white shark)

Still need to make: shell crown (maybe- he says he doesn't want one)

In progress: trident (needs gold paint)


Quartus (Roman Emperor)

Done: tunic (I cut it shorter and made the sleeves shorter after taking this picture), fibula, cape, armor

Still need to make: crown of leaves (maybe- he says he doesn't want one)


Do you enjoy making Halloween costumes?  What are your kids going to be this year?