Baked Chicken in the Crock Pot

I have finally found a way to cook chicken in the crock pot that my husband will eat! Until now, I was forbidden to cook chicken in the crock pot because he despises the texture of it--he says it's like boiled chicken.

The directions are simple:

• If your crock pot came with a rack to place in the bottom, use it! Otherwise, loosely wad up a couple of pieces of  aluminim foil to cover the bottom.
• Season the chicken however you like. I usually cook extra to use the chicken in multiple recipes, so I may only use lemon juice and pepper then.
• Place the chicken on top of the rack or the foil.
• Cook on high for 4 hours (for boneless) or until the chicken is done. Especially if you are using boneless breasts, watch carefully towards the end to make sure the chicken doesn't dry out.

Easy and versatile! And not the texture of boiled chicken! ;)
I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. If you go to this link, you can do an ingredient search. Be sure to read some of the reviews listed for each recipe before you try them--you will probably get a good idea of whether or not the recipe will be something your family likes, and there are usually some interesting ways others have changed the recipe for the better.

Skateboard Hockey? Really??

The latest game this week is skateboard hockey. The tools? Skateboards for Robert and Josiah, a broom, a rake, and smashed, empty Diet Coke cans that serve as the hockey pucks. Add a sloped driveway, and you have skateboard hockey.

Oh, yeah--and a mother wincing at every yell, making sure it is just from excitement and not from an injury.

Somehow one of those Diet Coke cans ended up on the roof. I think I see a pattern here...

Oh, and Josiah's lofty goal of behaving? He didn't make it. He was missing this afternoon for a few heartstopping minutes, only to be found three houses down the street. At a yard sale. Shopping.

After getting in trouble and then being told to pick up all of the Diet Coke can hockey pucks out of the front yard, he went right back to the yard sale again. Perhaps I should have reminded him of his vow to behave...

He had his eye on a fancy car track that was $8, but instead bought a Mickey Mouse umbrella for 50 cents after he remembered that he doesn't have $8.

Lofty Goals

Josiah just told me a few minutes ago that he was only going to be raking leaves or riding on his bike in the front yard...he was not going to be doing anything that would get him in trouble. In fact, he stated that he was going to try his best to behave until we go on vacation.


Tomorrow morning.


I don't know how the child can keep a straight face while he says such things.

Pint-sized Determination

At our recent Pastor Appreciation cookout, the kids had a "Space Walk" playset to climb and jump on. I was letting Grace jump in the netted area while the bigger kids zipped past her to climb up to the top of the slide...then I saw the look in her eyes. She looked at me as if to say, "I'm gonna do it" (and also to see if I would stop her). Grace, at 2 1/2 years old, is just now reaching the height where she can stand on the tips of her toes to turn on the lights...and she's still not tall enough to flip the lightswitches OFF. But she was determined to climb up, and she did!

Completely on her own, she reached the top again and again, sliding down each time with the help of the older boys.


A common phrase around here is, "She is Josiah's sister." And if you know Josiah, you know exactly what that means!

More Clouds

And these are but the outer fringe of His works;

how faint the whisper we hear of Him!

Who then can understand the thunder of His power?

Job 26:14 NIV

God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;

He does great things beyond our understanding.

Job 37:5 NIV

Three Things I'd Never Done Until Today

To the best of my knowledge, I have never

1. Cleaned shaving cream foam off of the boys' toilet.

2. Said, "If you don't start behaving, you are going to supper without any bed!" (Not surprisingly, this was shortly after, yet completely unrelated to, the shaving cream incident. Both boys collapsed in giggles with my mistaken wording, especially the guilty one.)

3. Explained to a six year old boy why he cannot poke his little sister's bellybutton to see exactly how far it will go in.

Clouds

Sing to God, sing praise to his name,

extol him who rides on the clouds —

his name is the LORD—

and rejoice before him.

Psalm 68:4 (NIV)