Mishmash

"Mishmash"-a mixture of unrelated things.

That's what this post is going to be today...which is fitting because that's kind of how my head's been working lately :0)

First off...I am loving all this time I'm getting to spend with my girls due to the "inclement weather".  As long as it clears out in time for us to have a nice weekend in Terre Haute I'm fine with all the snow.  Yesterday morning, we made scones.  I forgot how much I despise baking.  Give me a hunk of meat and veggies over flour and sugar any day!!!  But, I think they would have turned out better if I wasn't insistent on trying to make them "healthy".  Whole wheat flour and splenda just don't taste nearly as good as all purpose flour and real sugar.  But Alexis liked our lemon/blueberry scones with lemon glaze, so that's good enough for me.  Baking just makes too much of a mess for something that's really not that good for you.

Staying on the subject of food, I've been trying out a lot of new (new to me) recipes lately.  The latest was Orange Chicken last night.  I put the marinade together on Monday so our orange flavor was pretty strong.  I think next time I may add a little splenda to the mix to make the sauce a little sweeter...it was more salty than sweet.  This next recipe is one I've had before but never made.  My fondest memory of this soup was from when I was expecting Alexis and Cathy came over and cooked this for me one day.  White Chicken Chili...though I have no idea if this recipe is even close to the one Cathy made for me...we really like this one.  With the added creaminess from the sour cream...it's just yummy!  And finally, a copycat of the black bean soup from Panera Bread.  Though Ryan assures me that mine is much better than what you can get at Panera.  I like to mix this one up quite a bit because it's pretty high in carbs...so most of the time I add some sort of meat to the mix.  The first time I added some ground beef and the second time I added some canned chicken.  It was good with both.  I'm making this soup for dinner tonight.  At first I was going to make is sans meat, but now I think I may go ahead and add a mesquite chicken breast to it...see what that does to the flavor.  One of the best quotes from Ryan when he was home was, "I'm going to miss having you cook for me while I'm in Spain."  Yes, partly because he has to cook for himself, but he also said I make good food.  One Housewife goal accomplished!!!  Hubby likes my cooking!

On to the next subject:  About a month ago, we sent the girls' school applications to the British School of Barcelona.  Since then, Ryan has talked to the admissions coordinator on the phone.  She said that Alexis should have no trouble getting into the school, but that in Kaylee's age group there is a pretty long wait list.  We should know more after Easter, but chances are that Alexis will get in the school and since they give preference to families with kids already in the school....it looks like Kaylee's chances of getting in as well will be good too.  Keep this on your prayer list as this is the closest international school to our home in Castelldefels.  The other two schools are north of downtown Barcelona.  While they are great schools too, they are just really far from our home. 

These girls are so much fun!  Alexis said to me yesterday (of course I was being really silly and goofy at the time), "Mommy, most people at my school would think you're weird."  She then went on to say that she thought I was fun and funny but that she also thought most parents don't act the way that I do.  I hope that this is a good thing...I can actually be serious at times, I just choose to be silly the majority of the time.  I just hope when these girls are teenagers they continue to see my humor as fun/funny and not embarassing.  I'll have to keep an eye out for that. 

Another wonderful thing that I like about my girls I'll tell with a little story:
The snow was so heavy on Saturday that whenever I tried shoveling big hunks would break off.  So I decided to offer the girls some money to help me by picking up the big chunks and tossing them in the yard.  They both did a great job helping.  When we were shopping that evening Ryan and I told them that they could each pick out a toy or something for their payment.  Alexis got to spend around $10 and Kaylee around $5 (according to the amount of work they did).  So, what I loved was that these girls didn't go straight for the girly princess stuff; the first place they looked was the "boy toy" aisle.  Kaylee picked out a pack of Mighty Beanz and Alexis picked out a Light Saber from Star Wars the Clone Wars.  For some reason I just love that!

We are doing pretty well considering all the big changes we're going through.  I think this separation period is the hardest on Ryan.  But I think he's keeping himself busy enough with work and shopping for things for the house in Spain that he's coping pretty well too.  I'm really looking forward to our vacation in Barcelona over Spring Break.  I think it will be really good for the girls to spend a short period of time in our new home before we make the big move.  We're also planning on making a trip to the school so they can get to know the building and meet some of the teachers. 


Well, that's all for now.  Time to see if I can get some girls to be silly with me!