Mexican Chicken

Being a full time Mommy, wife, and student is a tough job. I like to make sure that I do all of my "household duties" before I tackle my school stuff. I chose to be a Mom and a wife before I became a student (again), so I like to make sure my family is taken care of first. Having twins is wild on its own, so I don't have a lot of "free time." I am a HUGE and I mean HUGE fan of Crock Pots because I feel like I am able to produce a hearty and sometimes pretty healthy meal for my hubby & kiddos. I use mine all the time. I decided to start menu planning for a week at a time to make sure I could save time and don't have to worry about "what's for dinner" for the fam while I am away at school. I have been gathering a ton of Crock Pot recipes from different websites and have been putting them to the test! Tonight's Menu was called "Mexican Chicken" which I turned into chicken tostadas. It was such a simple recipe and I didn't need to go to the store for anything. I had all of the ingredients on hand which was the best part! I fried my own corn tortillas for the shells and I made rice and beans on the side. (I make real beans, not canned beans, but whatever you prefer is fine!) I dabbed some guacamole on top but you can tweak it to meet your needs!) Aaron and I gave this a score of 8 on a scale from 1 to 10 and 7 year old Christian said it was the best thing he ever ate! The twins devoured the burrito I made them so it had to be delicious to them as well! Tons of flavor and super easy! Hope you enjoy!

Here is the recipe:

5-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen is fine) place in the crock pot..
dump 1 can cream of mushroom soup on top of chicken (I use low sodium)
1 cup salsa
1pkg, taco seasoning
Cook on low all day or on high for 4-6 hours
the chicken will fall apart and it is great on rice with a dab of sour cream or on corn or flour tortillas

Just call me Brittany Crocker!

My little brother James Dylan whom I named my son, Dylan James after, was hired as a Kern County Sheriff! I was really excited for him because he has wanted to be a cop/officer/deputy forever! Him and his gf decided they were going to come up to the Bay from Fresno for a little celebratory visit, so I decided to bake him a cake! Although I would love to identify myself as a baker, everything I usually attempt to bake usually turns out, well...not so good. But I wanted to give it a shot and decided to bake a yellow cake with strawberry frosting! Let's just say I was SUPER proud with how it turned out! Not only did it look pretty, but it tasted pretty darn good too! Good Job Jamers! Your big sis is super proud of you, and you should be super proud of your sisters baking skills! =)

Oh Shit...literally!

People who have singletons (1 baby instead of 2) don't often realize what us parents of twins go through. Take for instance my experience today during bath time. My kids love bath time and were in the tub splashing and laughing! I usually sing them a song I made up when I wash their body so that they will learn all of their body parts. It usually makes the bath time experience more fun! So anyhoo, I was just about done when they both kept saying "butt" "butt" and laughing...I brushed it off and got each kid out, (one at a time) dried them off and told them to go straight to their room so I could get them dressed. Once we made it to their room, I had Dylan on the ground lotioning him up, putting diaper on, cleaning ears etc. All the while, Brayden is running around in his birthday suit having a gay old time! Not paying much attention to Brayden while I put the finishing touches on Dylan, I look over to see Brayden squatting in the corner taking a poop on my beautiful $300 rug I have in their room! I frantically yell "No no Brayden!" and he just casually walks over hands me his diaper and says "butt yuckkk!" Oy vey...if only I could put two diapers on at the same time, we wouldn't have poop in the corner!

Budget crisis 2011

So I am at the end of my Junior year at San Francisco State University. I am majoring in Child & Adolescent Development with a concentration in Youth & Family Services. One day (after my kids start elementary school) I would like to be a Youth Probation Officer or work at juvenile hall or something along those lines. But this past November, the state agreed on raising tuition at California State Universities by 11% and planned for it to take effect this upcoming Fall 2011 semester. WELL, last month the budget crisis still seemed to be an issue so whoever is on the "budget committee" voted to raise tuition ANOTHER 11%. So that is a 22% tuition increase starting THIS fall, August 22! With the classic slogan "You get what you pay for," you would think us students are getting top notch service! However, it is quite the opposite. Every single class that I need for me to stay on track for a timely graduation is full. Class numbers and class titles are being switched and we are not being notified of the changes. Teachers as well as directors of the CAD department are not being helpful and aren't returning emails or phone calls. Some classes that I need (prerequisites) are not being offered until next semester, but I can't enroll in certain classes until I take the prereqs! I am just putting in a lot of work and spending a lot of time on something that should be so easy. The cost for an education is increasing and the level of service is decreasing. Not fair to those who are really trying to better their lives! If only I could have a talk (debate) with Mr. Obama...