Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal and Life in General...

           This week has been a blur! Beau has worked a couple extra shifts so he has been gone more than normal. The kids and I have stayed pretty close to home this week. Wednesday, Beau was off so we went into town early and I worked on the church books before BTI service that evening. I took groceries along to fix lunch and made chicken and broccoli alfredo. I used a jar of alfredo sauce to make it fast and easy. It was good even if it wasn't as good as it is with homemade sauce. Both of the babies and Beau took nice long naps so I was able to finish pretty quickly. We had BTI that evening then grabbed some $0.49 hamburgers from McDonald's for dinner on the way home.
           Thursday I did a few things around the house and the kids played. They have recently developed a love for Barney and would watch it constantly if I would let them. Evidently, I "strongly disliked" the singing, jovial, purple, dinosaur as a child and complained whenever my siblings wanted to watch it, it seems my punishment is to have children who LOVE the show! Each morning after Breakfast Rachel runs to the television, turns it and the wii on, brings me the wii remote, and says, "Marney!" (Yes, I spelled that right, for some reason she calls the dino, "Marney" rather than "Barney.") So I turn on Netflix and put a Barney on. Though to be perfectly honest I don't know why I disliked it so much as a kid. It is pretty educational and has a lot of cute songs. Rachel is pretty smart and knows how to put a new one on when the old one finishes. I have to make sure she doesn't watch too much tv, though it is nice to keep her occupied with while I do some chores around the house.
          Friday afternoon we went grocery shopping. Walgreen's had milk on sale for $2.99 a gallon, a big deal since milk is around $4.00 a gallon in our area! We got milk there then went to Winn-Dixie to check out there sales and to use some store coupons I had before they expired. Just about everything I had a coupon for was also on sale so I racked up the savings purely by accident. I felt like super mom going through the store with both my babies, my sales ad, and my coupons, juice buy one get one and a $1 off coupon... I'll go for that! I ended up with some pretty good deals. I went home and put my cold stuff in the fridge then headed down to the Muses for Friday night prayer meeting. After prayer meeting we all sat around and visited for quite awhile.
         Saturday Beau was off and it was nice to be able to spend some time together. That night Dad and Josh came for dinner as mom and the younger kids are still gone on their big cross country adventure. I made chicken enchilada casserole for dinner and apple crisp for dessert. The guys played Mario kart and then Josh showed us a few funny youtube videos. We had a good time.
         While the guys were playing Mario kart, I threw this apple cinnamon oatmeal recipe into the crockpot and got it started. I found the recipe on Pinterest and decided to try it. We like oatmeal and the convenience of scooping it out of the crockpot is nice for Sunday mornings when we are in a rush to get out the door. it turned out great! We will definitely be doing this one again. Here is the recipe!
          2 apples peeled, cored, and sliced
          1/3 cup brown sugar
          1 teaspoon cinnamon
          2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
          4 cups water
         You simply put the ingredients into the crockpot in the order they are listed, pop the lid on, and turn it on low for 8-9 hours. When you wake up your kitchen smells yummy and breakfast is ready to be served.
        

                            my crockpot                               

                                              

 apples

 cinnamon

 oatmeal and water

cooking on low

 

            I had used the last of my brown sugar in the apple crisp so I omitted that but it was still good and no sugar meant Hunter could eat it. I have been writing little love notes to Beau this month for Valentines day so I left one on the counter next to the crockpot that said, "You are the apple of my eye, Valentine! Enjoy your apple cinnamon oatmeal." It was cheesy but cute and he liked it so mission accomplished!

             This Sunday was Beau's Sunday to work so just the kids and I went to church. My Sunday school class was small this Sunday with Mom and the kids not back yet and the Clarkson's visiting one of the other churches in the region but we still had a good time. After church that morning dad invited everyone for lunch. I guess he must have been lonely! So we just ended up staying in town until VLB service that night. The Clarkson's made it back in time for VLB service and the Roberts came too so we had a bigger crowd that evening. We had a good service and had a good time visiting with everyone afterwards. Then it was back home for a dinner of leftovers and bed!

          That brings us up to today! Oh, last night Hunter  learned how to clap his hands!!! He has been clapping them all day today! YAY! He is so cute!!!! As soon as mom gets back with our camcorder I will video him and put it on here! Today has been really easygoing, the kids and I are worn out from yesterday and Beau had a mandatory work day.

           So that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed this weeks update!

       ~ a Happy Homemaker