Cardinals game

This is our day at the park. We were at the entrance. Go Cardinals!!! Baby Lala's first game and Nani's second.

This news i'm going to poo poop!

This is us playing with our new phone. Nani is so fascinated with it and Lala wants the phone. By the way they sound like kitty cats.

Mexican Fish

• 1 pound catfish or other fish fillets
• 1 scant teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 onion, peeled and sliced thin
• Juice of 3 limes1 bunch fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce, or to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Sprinkle fish on both sides with salt and pepper. Put half the onion in a baking dish just big enough to hold the fish in a single layer. Lay fillets on top and sprinkle remaining onion over them. Set aside for 10 or 20 minutes, or refrigerate for an hour if you have time.Heat oven to 350 degrees. Pour lime juice over fish, cover the dish with foil and bake for 10 minutes.

Coarsely chop cilantro and sprinkle over fish. Season with hot sauce, then drizzle with olive oil. Bake 20 minutes, or until fish is opaque.For an entree, serve with rice, black beans and mango or tomato salsa. Pass hot sauce.For taco filling, serve the fish with tortillas and condiments such as pickled jalapeÒo peppers, salsa, sour cream, shredded vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, radishes), etc.Makes 4 entree servings, more as a taco filling.For mango salsa: Cut the flesh of two mangoes into small cubes. Add 1/4 cup minced onion, a minced, seeded jalapeÒo pepper and a chopped red bell pepper. Add a little lime juice if you like. Season with a dash of salt.

Caldo de Camaron

2 lbs of shrimp
Red pepper
Lemons
Cup of minute rice
Bottle of V-8
Celery
Onion
Consommé seasoning

Sauté red pepper, celery, onion in pan while boiling hot water seasoned with consommé. Once softened put veggies in broth and cook for 5 minutes. Put shrimp to cooked and cup of minute rice. Serve with lemons.

Guatemalan Enchiladas

2 cans of sliced beets, diced
2 lbs of Ground beef browned and seasoned with salt and pepper
1 bag of Shredded Carrots (or you can buy and shred yourself), browned in a little oil to soften
1 Red onion, sliced
1 Queso casero circle, crumbled
1 bunch of Parsley, chopped
3 big Tomatoes, boiled
3 boiled Eggs, sliced
Small tortillas fried tostada style in oil

Cream Cheese/Cauliflower Smashed potatoes

• 2 1/2 pounds small red potatoes
• 1/2 cup half-and-half or whole milk
• Bag of cauliflower florets (or get a cauliflower and cut it up and wash)
• 8 ounces plain cream cheese or veggie cream cheese, cut into pieces
• 10 chives chopped or snipped with kitchen scissors
• Salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes and cauliflower until tender, 15 minutes. While the water boils and when the potatoes are cooking, you can be working on the meatloaf recipe.
When the potatoes are tender, drain them and return them to the hot pot to let them dry out a bit. Mash potatoes with half-and-half or milk using a potato masher. Add in the cream cheese and smash until the cheese melts into the potatoes. Then add chives and scallions and season with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Apple Cider Chicken

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), divided
• 2 whole chicken breasts,
• 4 halves, bone-in and skin on
• Salt and pepper
• 3 large yellow onions,
• thinly sliced2 tablespoons thyme leaves,
• 7-8 sprigs, leaves stripped and chopped
• 3 tablespoons honey (eyeball it)
• 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup plus apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups chicken stock

Preheat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper, and add to the hot oil, skin side down. Brown chicken, about 5 minutes per side. Remove and reserve.
Add another 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, the onions, thyme, honey and the garlic. Season the onions with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently for about 20-30 minutes or until the onions are really brown.
Add cider vinegar, scraping up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken stock and bring up to a bubble. Once at a simmer, return the chicken to the pot with the liquid and onions. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat down to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes, flipping the chicken over in the sauce about halfway through. Remove lid, check to make sure the chicken is cooked through by cutting a small slit in the thickest part of the breast with a paring knife to have a look inside. If it is cooked through -- no pink meat -- remove to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Turn the heat up to high and simmer until the sauce thickens up slightly, about 4-5 minutes.You can serve the chicken right away topped with a big spoon full of sauce and the onions or you can return the chicken to the pot, turn the heat off and cover with the lid until you're ready to serve it. Once you are ready, add 1/2-3/4 cup additional chicken stock and turn the heat back on to heat everything back up.

Jambalaya over Rice

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
• r1/2 pound andouille sausage,
• diced 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 pound frozen peeled and cooked shrimp, thawed
• 2 cups cooked rice (or use minute rice)

In a slow cooker, combine chicken, sausage, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, and chicken broth. Stir in oregano, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, bay leaves, and thyme. Cover, and cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours. Stir in the thawed shrimp, cover and cook until the shrimp is heated through, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaves and spoon mixture over cooked rice.

Just Reading....

Here is la boricua reading his letter books... I know, i know, he needs a hair cut. Things have just been a little crazy lately!

My back hurts...

For the past 3 days, i have been suffering with the worst backache ever! However, school must go on and we did lots of stuff this past week! Here are some pictures of my littlest one doing his work!

Bad day :(

Let's see this is how today went. I began this morning waking up softly in hopes Ira would not wake up. As soon as i moved, he was crying and whining. This has been the case every morning for as long as i can remember. Some days... when I am really lucky, he sleeps until after daddy leaves. But that hasn't happened in ages. thus every morning i have been frustrated, tired, and grumpy. i had to iron daddy's clothes, find boxers, and a white shirt. inside i am so mad i didn't get laundry put away entirely (see my last post).

made coffee and couldn't drink it. ira was clinging on to me and wouldnt let go so there was no chance of straightening up. baby geo woke up about 9am... then the fighting began... over ninja turtles, the waffle and drinks. "mom, ira took my drink, mom, ira dropped my waffle..." my plans to go to the library changed when i thought we wouldd have so much more fun reading books at home here. so i cleaned up the classroom (it doesn't look like that anymore) and began reading "fish" book as ira calls it. In the middle of reading it, ira practically ripped the book and wanted a new book... wait, no, he wants me to finish it... nope he wants a new one... ok... so he wouldn't decide. then he found baby geo's secret stash of toys. i begged baby geo to hide it somewhere else so we can distract ira as he is screaming... sigh.

i decided to show ira some computer games and logged into teletubbies, starfall, etc. Baby geo got upset (i still am not sure why) and he stormed away and threw a tantrum. i was so angry i couldn't control it anymore. i put him in the garage. he was crying. i hated myself for not being able to be more patient with him. he apologized and so did i. I came back to the classroom to find that ira pushed had the comptuer on some other screen. I tried to set geovanni up on the computer to find out that there is no sound. oh dear. what happened? i spent the next 90 minutes installing drivers and the operating system back in the computer. Ira had really messed it up.

At the end of it though, i whispered, "thank u Jesus!" never forgetting to praise Him even in the touhgest times and baby geo said, see mama? God heard me! baby geo proceeded to say that he had asked God to fix the computer cuz mama is frustrated and mad. i gave him a BIG hug and thanked him for praying for me... what an angel!

i got geovanni started on online school work and began trying to put ira to sleep. it took another 45 minutes to get him to calm down enough to fall asleep.... alas, it's 1:30 and now its time to start baby geo's school....

he wasn't that into it today. it was pulling teeth to get him to do any of it. let's just say school wasn't all that productive except the fact that he completed all the assignments...

then at 3:30 ira woke up. of course it was the same thing... he was mad and moody again and it lasted another hour before he finally was "up and at 'em". i spent the next hour crying to my papi chulo about how frustrating the day was. there is nothing i despise more than feeling so horrible and not understanding truly why. but daddy helped me figure out that it was because i need to understand that there is a such thing as a bad day. i guess i have a hard time with that because i feel like i cant have bad days. the boys (including daddy) depend on me. I also think its because there is almost no time to reflect or even have a moment to my self. as any mom would know, one can't even go to the bathroom without being interuppted...

nights are not an option because we plop down all exhausted and the boys won't even sleep until we fall asleep. also, mornings... well you know how that goes already. So when can we even have some time to just breathe? i know it is a phase and right now i am so thankful my papi chulo is supportive and undertandning. i really feel truly blessed that even though i think i am insane myself, daddy won't say that to me :)

Special Note for mama

Wow mama! Your day is really jammed pack. I know there are times when it feels that i dont appreciate you for all you do and i am sorry. I do feel that i scored with such a wonderful girl who keeps me in her thoughts and prayers even when things are hectic and dont make sense. I must admit today was one of my hardest days as an assistant principal. However, after seeing your face when you first saw me at the church i felt that it was all worth it. Also watching my 5 year old do a book report for the first time made me feel so blessed. I know that i sometime ask you questions regarding answers i should know. However i just wanted to let you know that day by day i am growing, and falling in love more and more with the wonderful girl by my side. I do believe we are meant to be even when we are upset. It is funny because we saw LaLa and cakohtoh arguing and yet miss each other so much when they are separated, it was so reminiscent of what we do. We get mad at each other and yet cant stand being away from one another. I pray that tomorrow as you are preparing our boys and setting their foundation that God blesses you and protects the 3 of you in our home. Remember, you are meant for me and i am meant for you.

Your papi chulo.

Boys will be Boys

Ira is driving me crazy all morning today! Baby geo fell asleep on the couch when he came downstairs and Ira kept jumping on him trying to wake him up. Of course that made baby geo sooo moody and now Ira is moody because his brother won't play with him...

I have to admit though... it is kinda cute :)

I miss my Papi Chulo a lot today. I felt happy when he called. .. To hear his voice makes me melt. I can't believe after all these years he still has the power to give me butterflies and makes my heart skip a beat. It reminds me of when I was floating on air when he took me home that day from school. He is soooo gorgeous and boy did I SCORE on the CUTEST guy on EARTH!

I have been busy doing loads of laundry. Let's just pray I can get them put away today. There is nothing more annoying for me than to get them in the washer, dryer and then have loads of CLEAN Laundry all over the place! I can't wait to finally to get into a routine. It's just hard when there is SOOO much to do!

I think I will start school with Ira in about 20 more minutes. Today we will do a review on shapes. He's gonna make me read him 10 books again. He LOVES books! Yet another genious in our household...

With baby Geo I gotta do quite a few things...

1. Horizons Math workbook 1 page
2. Art Project - Ten-Frame Creature. Using an egg carton with two sections cut off, along with the top, create a creature. Use markers to decorate it, along with pipe cleaners for legs, and a styrofoam ball to make a head. Then using the 10 sections of the carton, let your student practice combinations that add up to 10. For example, put a lima bean in 3 sections, and a pinto bean in 7 sections, and then add together. Practice writing the math problems on paper; 3 + 7 = 10. Discuss what the symbols + and = mean.
3. Language Arts Basal Reader book and worksheet
4. Draw a picture of something he likes to do for fun and then write try to write a sentence about the pictures. Assist, if needed. Then cut the picture to create a puzzle
5. Review Bible Study and Memorize verse for Palm Valley breakout today
6. Review powerpoint presentation so that he can present to group on Friday.

Sounds like a busy day today...as Jimmy Neutron would say... GOTTA BLAST!

Home's Kool!

To my beautiful Asian Girl

Te quiero chinita. You are my girl and my beautiful wife. I want you to know that when you read this i am thinking about and cant help but think that i am blessed. i know that you feel down sometimes, but you must realize that you are my strength and my heart. Don't forget porvida y mas "primero Dios" I love you!!!!!

First Blog!

Ok, so I finally figured out how to make this work so that it is a private account. I am really excited because I want to try to do this so Daddy can read all my thoughts through the day! I love you Papi Chulo!