Come on in - I'll introduce you to the herd!

Hey! It's a party! A great big blog party!

Had this party been In Real Life I would have spent days poring through my cookbooks and magazines to come up with just the right menu.

I love cooking and all, but now that I think about it, I'm glad this was a virtual party, lol.

Not that I wouldn't have served you some nice party food. Because I seriously would have.

And really enjoyed doing it.

It's just all those dishes to wash, ya know?

Anyway... welcome to Buffaloes & Butterfly Wings!

Named that because of the 3 males that live here with me. You can read more specifically about that name here. Or you may have some males at your house that do rough, tough buffaloish things and then you know exactly what I mean by that.

Here's our herd, starting from the bottom up:
Alan - 16 months. Loves to eat cheese, dance to any kind of music, really loves his bathtime with his big brother, knows how to use a cell-phone and a remote control.

10 weeks ago Alan had a liver transplant.

8 weeks ago we almost had to say goodbye.

God was with us that day, carrying us just like He always has. We never have to worry what the future holds, because no matter how unbearable or uncertain it may seem, He walks ahead of us. He holds us and all our circumstances in the palm of His hand. And most importantly, we have trusted Him with our eternity. He has taught us so much through Alan, and we are so blessed, and so thankful for each day with have with him AND WITH....

Dale - 4 1/2. Dale began pushing toy cars and making motor noises at 6 months and hasn't stopped since! He loves everything with wheels, some of his favorites being Thomas the Train and the characters from Cars. And all the NASCAR folks too. :)

Not only is he a fan of wheels, he is also:
clever
funny
smart

Dale also:
talks all the time
loves chatting w/family on instant messenger

We are easing into homeschooling with a little preschool stuff here and there and will begin kindergarten in the fall.

Daddy Buffalo - Who I normally refer to as "Greg" but "Daddy Buffalo" is so fun to see in writing that I may just have to start calling him that all the time. At least here at the blog. :)

I won't embarrass him by going on and on about his good qualities. But he's mine, and I love 'im. :)

And he is very musical and a great daddy and cracks.me.up.

And I'll quit there. Because I said I would. :)

And then there's me. The dainty (ha!) butterfly cleaning up the mess of it all.

Feeding the buffaloes, washing their clothes, scrubbing their tub...

and loving (almost) every minute of it.

I really really really intended for my party post to be short. Oops.

So if you are still reading, I thank you. Can I squeeze in just a coupla more things about me?

I like to:
cook
read
blog

I'm learning to:
scrapbook
homeschool
do stuff in Photoshop

Someday I want to:
knit and/or crochet and/or make a quilt
sew
learn html-ish type stuff so I can design my own blogs, etc

So if you are STILL reading (and I really, really thank you) I'm giving something away!

A butterfly would have been really cool, but I have dragonflies. So you get a choice! Of the sparkly blue-green one or the also sparkly rosy one.

Please leave a comment and tell everyone:
- Does your house have more buffaloes or butterflies?
- What are you currently learning or what is on your wish-list of things you want to do?
- Which dragonfly is your favorite?

On Saturday, March 14 the Baby Buffaloes will help me randomly choose a commenter. Please be sure and leave an email or a blog address.... any way for me to get in touch with you if you are the big winner. :)

Thanks again for stopping by... and for sticking with me all the way to the end of this very loooooong post. I hope you will come again!

And now I'm going to spend the next week Blog Partying with everyone at 5 Minutes for Mom! :)

*S*P*R* :)

This Wednesday marked Week 3 of a 6 week challenge hosted by my mom, a.k.a. Simple Journeys, and I thought, hey, better late than never! And sat down tonight and made these:

So much fun!

The challenge is to make 6 pennants, S-P-R-I-N-G that will be put together to form a banner that spells, well, you know.
The extra challenge for each week so far has been to incorporate:
S - some sparkle
P - Pattern (plaid, argyle, etc)
R - Round things

Be sure and go see the rest of this week's "R pennants!"

I'm sitting eating cheerios with the boys and blogging, but I should really be cooking supper.

It's pouring rain outside.
It's been raining all day.
There is more SNOW on the way - in March!

I'm sitting down to a blank blogger page, not sure of what I'm going to post, and there is a very small, very wet bird hopping on our windowsill. (On the outside, of course). :)

Our days at home are beginning to have a little bit of predictability. (Except for all this SNOW business... but I am far from complaining about that. I love weather of all kinds.) :)

Anyway... days at home. This week we have gotten an early start every day. I would prefer to get up 30 minutes to an hour before the boys, but than can be tricky. Dale has been an early riser all week, and Alan, well.... you just never know about Alan.

Most mornings I make TWO scrambled eggs for Alan, and Dale and I have cereal or whatever sounds good that morning. This morning we all had pancakes. Later on in the morning I came back into the kitchen and the lingering smell of coffee and syrup was so comforting & homey! But I still don't think I'll be making pancakes every day. It takes too long, lol.

The mornings are pretty busy. Laundry, housekeeping, a little bit of school for Dale. Not necesarily in that order. Or in any order. Just kind of all mixed up. I'm just glad to be getting those things done. Order and routine will come in time.

....right?

One day this week Dale was practicing writing the letter 'C' and I asked him what were some words that start with C. I ws thinking he'd say something simple, like maybe CAT and we'd write it at the bottom of the page.

But noooo....

Without even thinking about it, Dale says
"construction!"
"Compaq!"

Quite the creative one isn't he?

Do you ever read BooMama?

She has a post category called "Rambling all the way to nowhere" which, if it wasn't, you know, copying, is exatly what I would label this post o' mine.

Happy upcoming weekend friends. Stay warm, okay?

Polish Reuben Casserole

Aww... you guys make me feel good, all asking for my recipes & stuff. More to follow from our Big Ten menu, but since we started with this casserole on Saturday, I thought I would start with it here, too. It has such a distinctive taste, it isn't something we have very often - probably just 3 or 4 times a year, if that often. I think it would be easy to burn out on. So don't do that, ok?! :)

Polish Reuben Casserole

2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Tb mustard
2 16 oz cans sauerkraut, rinsed & drained
8 oz. uncooked egg noodles
1 1/2 lbs Polish sausage, cut in slices
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
3/4 cup bread crumbs
2 Tbs butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Combine soup, milk, onion, & mustard. Spread sauerkraut in pan. Top with uncooked noodles. Pour soup mixture evenly over noodles. Cover with sausage. Top with cheese. Combine bread crumbs & butter, sprinkle over cheese. Cover with foil; bake 1 hour or until noodles are tender. (8-10 servings)

Now let me tell you, they weren't kidding when they said 8-10 servings. I halfed (halved?) this recipe for us the other night, and we didn't even eat half of it! We reheated the leftovers and ate them on whole-wheat rolls sandwich style - something we will definitely do again!

Three days ago I was wearing capris.

And Dale was showing me how he could do this: And then last night, this happened:

We told Dale it was probably going to happen.

And he woke me up at 6:30.

We didn't get up that early on Christmas morning!

Dale is not an early riser.

Not usually anyway.

But by 7:00 this morning he was outside doing this:

But then I called him in for breakfast.

And put all his clothes in the dryer to get ready for round 2.

Because we aren't really equipped for snow around here, as far as clothing goes.

Anyway... Dale asked if I was going to make him a snowflake muffin for breakfast.

I did this instead:
Snowflake toast, with marshmallow flurries! :)

And hot chocolate.

And oatmeal.

Which doesn't seem to photograph well. Ick.

And then I had to take another picture, just for fun:

Alan didn't seem to care too much about the snow.

The eggs? Bring 'em on.

But the snow? Unimpressed.
But I bundled him up and took him out anyway.

Because there were pictures to be taken.

Doesn't he look like he's having fun?
I think he was. Really.
No really. He smiled right after the above picture was taken.

And I captured it!

But I was so off-center I cut half of Dale out.

I am a wicked photographer.

And I was cold.

But before I went in, I told Dale YES, he could throw a snowball at me.

He made a good one.

And chunked it at me.

And missed:
I don't think his feelings were hurt, do you?

And how 'bout those "Snow Club" jammies?

I love it when something works out right.

Did YOU get any snow last night?

Well whaddya know.....

One of Dale's jobs is to empty the clean silverware from the basket in the dishwasher.

This morning he opened it up, looked at the siverware, and with up-turned palms said:

"Huh! The same ones as when it when it was dirty!"

Oh what fun! It is to buy! Food for the fam-i-ly!

When we got called away in the wee hours of the morning on December 30th, we had just been grocery shopping 2 days before. Which means we left behind 2 full gallons of milk, a new loaf of bread and a full pantry. Not to mention the leftover and yet-to-be-made holiday goodies.

So when we got home on February 14, there was a lot that had to be thrown out. (I am happy to report, though, that my sister rescued the milk the first week in January and she, & Nana & PawPaw & Dale drank what they could before it went bad.)
Of what didn't have to be thrown out, there were lots of meal-making treasures to be found in the pantry and freezer. For 2 weeks now, I have pulled some pretty good suppers out of the hat with just what I had. Well, and the fresh milk, eggs & cheese Greg has brought home. We seem to go through a lot of milk, eggs& cheese at our house. Is that just us?

But today... today, I planned out 10 (TEN!) meals, made a grocery list, loaded up Dale and drove 30 miles to the nearest Supercenter.

And my friends? I've still got it.

I bought what I needed for those 10 meals. I bought breakfast cereal. A few fresh fruits & veggies. Milk, eggs & cheese. And quite a few treats & impulse buys (ice cream cones anyone? specialty coffee?)

And for all that I paid.....

....

$120!

Oh yes, I am good.

Well, ok. I've been taught well and God has blessed. But still... it sure was fun to get all that and only spend $120! Plus it was just fun to be out! Without Alan! In a store! :)


Here's how I do it:
- I almost never ever ever buy name-brand. I usually buy the store-brand, and always check the price per ounce to make sure it is the best deal.
- This time was an exceptionally good trip because this menu is fairly simple. When I search my magazines or watch too much Food Network I end up needing more specialty ingredients and spend a little more.
- I tend to go light on meat. I like to stretch it and make it go further both for the sake of being frugal and for the nutritional benefits of going heavier on veggies instead.

Those are the main things. It also helps that we drink mostly water, and not a lot of juice, soda, etc. I buy frozen vegetables more often than canned or fresh. Mainly green beans, peas, broccoli & Brussels sprouts.

Interested in the Big Ten menu? In no particular order, here's what we have coming up:

Cheesy Crock Pot Chicken, with noodles & broccoli on the side
Crock Pot Pork Chops, with noodles & Brussels sprouts
Stir Fry
Polish Reuben Casserole
Black beans, rice & sausage
Sweet Potato/Black Bean burritos
Pintos & Cornbread
Salmon Chowder
Crock Pot Thai Chicken
Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings (made with carrots & onions), with green peas