Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

Today, another snowday, was a good day. After a busy, exciting, and exhausting weekend at our MS winter retreat, I needed a day off to recover.
It was a great day to catch up on cleaning and laundry, as well as on much needed sleep. I asked Bobby what he wanted to eat for dinner and he said, "I like crock pot chicken stuff!"
I looked on AllRecipes(dot)com and quickly found a slow cooker BBQ Chicken recipe. (http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/213668/recipeslow-cooker-bbq-chicken)
I found lots of recipes with store bought BBQ sauce so this one intrigued me not having bottled BBQ sauce. Here are the ingredients:
-3 Lrg Chicken Breasts
-1 Cup ketchup
-2 T. Mustard
-2 tsp lemon juice
-1/4 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 cup maple syrup
-2 T Worcestershire sauce
-1/2 tsp chili powder
-1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, stirring until well mixed. Pour sauce over chicken and cook on low for 6 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Return to slow cooker and cook for 30 min. Serve on buns with potato chips. :-)

I was skeptical- but so impressed! I loved it! It was more sweet than I expected, yet it had the perfect amount of tang! I will definitely be doing this recipe again!!

Martin Luther King Jr.

Today was a very interesting day. Besides it being Martin Luther King Day, it was also a very snowy and cold day in West Michigan. Our class of normally 28 Kindergarteners, was reduced to 18! Snow, the holiday and sickness combined, we were feeling eerily empty today.

My teacher did a lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. And what today was celebrating. She explained what Mr. King's dream was, then gave the students a chance to "dream" too. :-). It was quite amazing the things our Kinders dreamed of for the world.

Here are just a few photos of students' work:

Everything New

It's a new year. And while many are fighting to keep their New Year's resolutions going, I sometimes feel like I am fighting just to keep my sanity!

With a small one bedroom apartment (and lots of junk) our home can get pretty messy very quickly. Many times I feel as though I am struggling just to keep my head above water with laundry, dishes and dust piling up. And I am not even a classroom teacher who has to take her work home with her yet.

I really do love taking care of my own home. I like when my home is clean, and laundry is put away, and dinner is on the table. I enjoy caring for myself and my husband in that way. But often times I wonder- (1) Is it ever enough? (2) Will it ever be completed? Seems like the second I finish one basket, a new pile of dirty clothes is ready to be washed.
But every so often I stay ahead of the game (for a few days). Today was one of those days. Just a great gift from God.

Bobby and I started the day with devotions and coffee, as we often do. I threw dinner in the cock pot and went off to school- our first day back since Christmas break- and it was a great day. I came home and actually got to spend time with my husband. We first went to the store for groceries (much easier when we go together). Then we came home to a yummy pot roast in the crock pot and watched a movie together. All in all, a very good day indeed.

Rev. 21:5 "Look, I am making everything new."

"Take Ten" Card Challenge

Often times I get to have "play dates" with my aunt Inez in which we have fun rubber stamping together. She's pretty impressive. Her (whole) downstairs is a craft/stamp room. And she can stay up with the best of them! Last night I had to turn in before her.
Last night was extra fun, though, because of what we were working on. She decided she would have her stamping groups try a challenge from a rubber stamping magazine. The magazine is called "Take Ten". Supposedly all the cards in the mag take ten minutes or less to make. I can tell you right now. It's not true. Haha. But it's a great little magazine, with lots of cute, simple, card ideas.
The magazine gave us a template of a large rectangle that frames the card, and one that crosses over the opposite way. Other than that- you could do whatever you want with colors, themes, and embellishments. It took a little time for me to get my brain started. But once I did, it was a really fun challenge! It's interesting to see how many different cards can be created with that simple idea.
Now we have to wait. My aunt is sending our pile of cards in this weekend. But the next issue of the magazine doesn't come out until the summer time. We are sending in over 20 cards I think. I made 7 different cards. I predict none of them will get published. But it was still really fun!!!

Here are some of the cards I made. :-)