Chicken with Rice

Here is an easy recipe that your family is sure to love.

Chicken with Rice.

What you'll need:

• 4 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup of uncooked rice
• 1 sliced white or yellow onion
• 6-7 sliced mushrooms
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, sliced not crushed
• 1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 can of Cream of Celery soup
• 1 can Chicken with Rice soup
• 1 packet of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

First, coat a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan well with butter.

Spread evenly in the following order:

• 1 cup of uncooked rice
• 1/2 cup of the unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• the chicken breasts
• 1 sliced onion
• the mushrooms
• the garlic

In a separate bowl mix 1 can of the following

• Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Cream of Celery Soup
• Chicken with Rice Soup

Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water to the soups and mix thoroughly. Pour evenly over the chicken to cover the entire dish. Add 1 packet of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix.

Cover with foil and cook at 325 degrees for 2 and 1/2 hours. (or 2 hours at 350)

Serve with Parmesan cheese

Potatos, Potatoes

This post has moved.Please click and vist: Homemade Fries.

Bedtime for Baby

OK, let's get down to business.

A friend of ours had their first child several years before we did. They believed in the "Family Bed" system. This is the system that has you sleep in the same bed as your children. Although this sounds good in theory, it is a recipe for disaster. When their child reached 6 years old, they moved her to her own room. I guess I should say they TRIED to move her to her own room; What followed was YEARS of tantrums.

When my wife had our first child, we lived in a 1 bedroom apartment. We had decided that we did not want our baby to sleep in the same room with us, so we set-up the crib and changing area in the dining room. We did not want to share our room, because we didn't want our child to develop a need to be with someone in order to fall asleep. If your child develops this dependency, then later down the road when you try to move them into a room of their own, you are going to have major problems. I can guarantee you will have a nightly visitor and nightly temper tantrums until you cave in, or they fall asleep from exhaustion. Unless you like to endure hours of screaming, as our friend did, then you need to give your infant their own space.

I know that this is hard, especially if this is your first child. You want to be with them all the time, but you need to give them their space AND you need to have your own space as well. You and your wife need to have time to yourselves, even if there is only a door or a wall separating you from your baby.

There will be times when your child will need to sleep with you, and that's OK. I'm not saying you should never let them sleep with you, I am saying that you should not make it a permanent thing. I remember that for the first month, I stayed-up at night and watched TV in the living room, so I could keep an eye on my daughter. This also allowed my wife to be able to get a few precious hours of sleep before having to feed her again. I didn't have to do this, since we had a baby moniter, but it gave me a sense that I was actually helping my wife.

Once we were both comfortable and our daughter fell into a type of routine, we both slept in our bedroom and our daughter slept in her crib in the dining room.

Next time: Singing those Nap Time Blues.

Ideas Wanted

This is what I look like after only 7 months of lifting weights. Although I think I may need to do something about my nose. Oh, and the ears; definitely need to do the old ear-bob.

I just wanted to add a place where you can bring-up any questions or topics you would like to discuss. Just go to the comments section and type your query. We can discuss most anything with regards to parenting, personal growth, fitness ( I started working-out 7 months ago, so this is a fun topic to discuss), etc.

Let's start having FUN here!!

Goodbye, Uncle Hilmer

Today I received a phone call from my mother telling me that my uncle had just died. It was a call that I had been expecting, but nevertheless, had been dreading. He died on March 25, 2008, exactly 37 years after his dad, my grandfather, died.
I have many fond memories of my uncle. When I was growing up, it became a special treat to be able to go over to his house and spend the night. My mom would drop me off and I would spend the day with my grandmother; going for walks and to the park. When my uncle got home from work, he would take us to Lyons for dinner. I would always have the grilled cheese sandwich and french fries. I would sleep on the couch, because I was too scared to sleep in the upstairs bedroom by myself. I can still hear the clock ticking in the quiet, early morning hours.
After my grandmother died, he was all alone in that big house. We had a Persian cat at home that was not getting along with our newest feline member, so my mom gave my Uncle, Elsa. He treated that cat like royalty. She had the run of the entire house and ate only the best food...Fancy Feast. He truly loved that cat.
When he would go out of town to a accounting convention, I would come over and spent the night taking care of Elsa. And, of course as all cats do, she would tear through the house in the middle of the night, scaring you.
As I grew older, I remember him coming over on my birthday to have coffee and cake. He was also at my college graduation.
Most Fridays during the summer, he would take me out for a steak dinner at the restaurant next to his office. I always had the steak with french fries and a salad with blue cheese dressing. He had the steak and the clam chowder. I remember just talking about all sorts of things, but mostly about how his work was going and how college was going for me.
He was one of the first to find out that I got accepted to graduate school in Idaho. It was with him that I had my final steak dinner the night before I left. We never had dinner together again. I miss him.
I am thankful that he got to meet my children and they got to met him. Although they will never know him like I had: when he was a teenager growing-up in the 1930's, that he and his friend would hitchhike 24 miles from Wilton to Bismark to see a movie; That he served in the Air Force during WWII, stationed on Guam, while some of the Japanese were still on the Island. That he was a two-footed driver; That that he used to work on taxes in the breakfast room during tax season; That he was the treasurer at his church; That he was a wonderful uncle.
I know that I will see him in Heaven again. He is there now surrounded by his mom and dad. He is in paradise taking long walks and having conversations with Jesus.
My prayer: Lord, please tell uncle Hilmer I said "hi and that I love him. That I am looking forward to another dinner together."
Goodbye, Uncle Hilmer, until we meet again, I Love you.

The Decision

You may be wondering how I got into this position as a stay-at-home dad. Well, let me take you back in time some 12 years and I'll tell you.

Even before we began to start a family, my wife and I decided that one of us should stay home and raise our children. We didn't want to have our kids raised by a daycare worker. We wanted to be able to see them take their first steps; hear them say their first words, etc.

When it was discovered that my wife was pregnant, we had a decision to make. We both had good jobs that paid well, so who should stay at home? Well, the decision came down not to salary, but to insurance coverage. My wife's insurance covered 100% of the doctor and hospital bills, while my insurance (even though I had been employed with the University for over 4 years ) considered it a pre-exisiting condition and would not cover the costs (insurance companies...go figure).

So, the decision was made and preparations were made for the birth of our first child and a drastic change in my lifestyle. My career, my life, and the way I saw myself would be forever changed.