4 cups white rice

4 broccoli heads

SAUCE INGREDIENTS
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
5 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 tsp Ginger powder
1 TBSP minced garlic
2 TBSP Corn Starch

CHICKEN COATING
6 Chicken Breasts
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black pepper
7 TBSP corn starch

6 TBSP canola oil
4 tsp toasted sesame seeds

FOR GARNISH
2 green onions, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

1) Cook rice according to instructions on package, put to the side.

2) Cut brocolli florets off and cook until cooked through and bright green, put to the side.

3) While cooking the above items start whisking together in a small bowl the chicken broth, orange juice, soy sauce, orange marmalade, rice wine vinegar, ginger, garlic, and 2 tablespoon cornstarch.

4) Put chicken into large ziploc bag. Add salt & pepper and shake to season chicken. Then add 7 TBSP cornstarch to coat chicken completely.

5) Place 1 tbsp canola oil in pan and place chicken in it, add in remaining canola oil and place in 1/2 the chicken, cook about 7 minutes or until cooked and golden brown. Remove from pan and cook the other 1/2 of the chicken. Place all cooked chicken together and stir in the sauce ingredients from #3 above, then add the sesame seeds.

Serve the dishes by placing a portion of rice on the plate topped with the chicken & sauce, then broccoli and sprinkle some green onion on top.

I created a daily schedule(not posted here), a daily calendar of activities that we can follow, as well as a stay at home fun guide to make their time off more “summer camp” like.  Unlike holidays where time off is a great time to head to the movies or have people over, we’re coming up with ways that we can have fun at home.  Feel free to print/use these or use them as inspiration to create your own personal calendar.  Having you/your family keep a journal is a great idea to document this time of your lives too.

We both have the want to tackle the clutter and projects, but the list is never ending and when you have 4 kids and run a business there really is no such thing as “free time”.  I’m sure you can relate.  As we’re doing our shopping I came across this Apple Peeler that my Mom had bought me many years ago.

I. LOVE. IT.

Have you ever received a gift that you didn’t even know that you wanted?
This is that gift.  I rarely baked apple pies, and the reason was that I shuddered every time I thought about having to peel a ton of apples.  No thanks.  Then came along this gem and it changed the game!  It literally peels an apple in seconds.

I’ve used it to make pies (which isn’t that often but definitely more often), but mostly we use it frequently to peel apples for our kids.  Simply put the apple in, spin it a few times and it’s done.  To make it really easy for the kids I slice the finished apple in half so they have half circles to eat.

If you’re looking for a last minute gift for someone, this is a perfect affordable gift that they will love!

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I found a simple template online and then printed it on watercolor paper which I had to trim the edges off to be able to fit it into the printer.  The advantages of using watercolor paper is that it is thick enough to easily stay standing, and it also has a sophisticated texture to it.  I printed a few per paper, then wrote the names on each card and I think it turned out pretty well!  Are you a fan of place cards?  Let us know in the comments below!

This posts contains an affiliate link, so if you click and purchase we do get a commission at no additional cost to you. Please do your own research before purchasing, but we ONLY recommend products that we LOVE!

So what do we tell our children?

You tell them this:
“Please know that we are here for you. ALWAYS. There’s never a time of night too late or a conversation too awkward or horrible that we can’t work through. We love you all without boundaries. Without limitations. That means no matter the choices you make in life, good or bad, we are here for you. We will do our best to give you the tools you need in life, but ultimately the decisions you choose to make will be your own.

We hope, and pray, that you will make the right choices because we want your life to be as easy and pain free as possible. But whatever path you choose, whatever decisions you make, we will be here for you unconditionally.”

I said next time we’re out I’ll have to try one of these myself.  So next time we went on a hike I saw one. I looked at Andrea and she knew exactly what I was thinking, on demand she said “go right ahead.”  Let me tell you, I was in a trance.  It was very soothing and calming.  For someone like me, high energy ADD it was very calming.  It was also challenging like a puzzle and balancing act all at the same time!  I got mine about 8 (good sized) rocks high.  Again I say it’s tougher then it looks.  When you look at these rocks you may think, that’s simple, how hard can it be.  Well being humans we all know the simplest things are sometimes the hardest that require the most patience.  Case in point here.

When I was done I really felt an inner sense of pride and accomplishment.  I felt relief.  And I wanted my mini rock tower (compared to others) to stand the test of time!  Who really knows if it would. Since then I have forgot where exactly mine was to even know if it was still up or if some kids / adults came by and kicked it over.  Which got me wondering, how long will it stay up?  So I was on mission 2.

Andrea and I found a nice stream to stop at one day while getting our youngest into a nap.  As she was sleeping Andrea took our oldest (2nd youngest out of 4) girl out on the stream.  Dad (me) stayed in the car while the youngest napped.  I saw in the creek ahead where we parked, in a remote location, so remote it had no cell phone service at all, but there I saw a few of these “rock towers”. I took it upon myself to say when the youngest wakes up, I’m doing it.  And I’m going to take a photo it and even go back again!  Well I have a trip planned in August with just the “boys”, I recommend all dads to do. A trip in which just dad and his two sons are going away. We happen to be going to that same spot again!  You bet your behind I’ll check in.

Here’s my Rock Balancing moment.  I got 15 rocks high!  I was proud.

I found out that there’s actually different kinds of “rock balancing”. Right from old reliable Wikipedia

Rock Stacking – rocks laid flat upon each other to great height.

Classic balance – each rock balanced inline.

Counterbalance – lower rocks depend on the weight of upper rocks to maintain balance.

Arch – rocks form a structure that spans a space. Similar to the architecture of ancient stone bridges.

Free style – a combination of two or more of the above.

And here’s a photo of our girls taking full advantage of the “craft room” that day too.

Back to the point of this post. On our way up we stopped by Wegmans as we were staying a few days and needed to get some snacks. My dad phoned and asked me to pick up Wegmans “Greek turkey burgers”. He said – “Eric, these are the BEST.”  So for approx $5.00 you get 2 premade Greek turkey burgers. These burgers are quite healthy and contain:

94% Turkey, Feta Cheese, Spinach, Seasoned bread crumbs – it does contain spices like garlic powder, onion powder, soybean, oregano, red pepper, sunflower oil and oil butter.

I was skeptical on anything premade but these burgers are FABULOUS. You really need 0 condiments with these, just a bun. Since that day Andrea and I have bought these 2 times. Our oldest loves them too. Here’s some photos of them uncooked then cooked.

I hope you have a Wegmans nearby and do try out these tasty burgers!

This is still in the packaging sorry if it looks blurry:

What the package looks like:

Here’s a photo of it cooked:

All cooked up, get in my belly!

I’ve found that we can take the kids food shopping, or anywhere that requires walking, and magically their legs stop working. They’re more tired and hungry and bored then they’ve ever been, despite feeding them moments before we arrived. What I’ve found though is that same amount of time walking is nothing when we’re outdoors.  Our kids are 4, 6, 8 and 13 but we were able to walk 3 miles on a walk without complaining on a few months ago! Not even a peep!  That was the first of many walks we’ve taken this year where they’re so busy being outdoors that they ‘forget’ to be tired.  I know the same goes for me as well though – put me on a walk in our neighborhood for the gazillionth time and I get tired and bored pretty quickly as well.  The best way for me to exercise is to get the whole family out to somewhere new outdoors whether that’s a park or even just a walking path and we all enjoy it so much and don’t even realize we’re getting exercise in as well.

So if you’re like us and your kids kick and scream (literally sometimes) when you take them shopping, take them for a walk to somewhere interesting and try it out.  You may just find that if you take the same kid and put them in different surroundings they behave completely differently.   And that’s important because in most cases that’s true.  And being able to see and understand that gives you insight that your kids choose to behave according to their surroundings. Not because they’re bad kids, or you’re a bad parent. Knowing that hopefully you can get a smidgen of comfort the next time they throw a fit in the store, you can be reminded that yes my kids can behave well if we were somewhere else. Let’s face it, wouldn’t we all be a little cranky being brought to a store where we see tons of things we’d love to buy but every time we ask we’re told no?  It’s OK to cut yourself and them some slack, so grab that ice cream and let them get those fruit snacks with all the dyes and sugars. You can always take a walk later to get those jitters out.   The photos shown here are from a walk we took through a park this week.

INGREDIENTS

4 zucchini cut into 8 or 16 pieces

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

A dash of salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoon parsley

Spaghetti Sauce (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cover baking sheet in tin foil. Place cooling rack on top and grease with butter. 

Wash and cut zucchini and cut to preference – 8 slices per zucchini will be juicier 16 will be crisper. 

Place zucchini in gallon size ziploc bag. Add olive oil, seal bag and shake to coat.  

Add remaining ingredients into ziploc bag. Seal and shake to coat. 

Place slices on cooling rack and cook for 15 minutes then broil for 3 minutes. 

Remove from oven, serve immediately.  

Serve with a side of spaghetti sauce for dipping. (Wegmans organic roasted garlic is delicious). 

Sooooo good! Bon appetit!