WHAT'S FOR DINNER TONIGHT?

CHICKEN RICE DISH makes 4 servings

1 cup cooked rice
10 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1 cup chicken broth
4 chicken breast or thighs

1. Combine rice, soup, chicken broth and chicken. Place mixture in slow cooker.

2. Cover. Cook on Low 4 to 5 hours.

3. OPTIONAL: During last hour of cooking time, stir in frozen broccoli or mixed veggies.

MENDENHALL NOTE: I have to double or triple this recipe in my house. If you don't have a slow cooker (Crock Pot), please invest in one. It is well worth the money. Dinner cooks all by itself. YEA!!

TASHA

T oo Cute
A ll Girl
S pecial
H appy
A mazing

Kid Tested Recipe

PEANUT BUTTER BALLS

Recipe shared by Lexia Rahmn (My mother-in-law)

1 cup sugar
1 cup Light Karo Syrup
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 cups corn flakes

In a large pot, bring the sugar and Karo syrup to a boil. Remove from heat just as it starts a full boil. Add the peanut butter, vanilla. Stir. Add corn flakes. Shape into balls and place on waxed paper until cool. Store at room temperature in ziploc bag.

MENDENHALL FAMILY NOTE: These peanut butter balls only last a couple of days in our house!!! :) Please take the time to make these. They are fast, easy and YUMMO!

Bible Verse

Hebrews 11:1
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.

from "The Living Bible"

Mark

I love the quote "to the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world". I love it because it describes my husband Mark. He is my best friend, my lover, my confidant, my umbrella, my world. He is my best friend because he is someone I can always count on to be there for me or to listen to me. He is someone who I feel completely comfortable with. He is my lover because is someone I can share my dreams, hopes, desires, wants and sorrows. he is someone that cares for me as no other person does. He is my confidant because I know that when I share intimate details of my life with him he really wants to know everything and will keep them tucked away in his heart. He is my umbrella because he has so much strength to get us through life's tribulations. My favorite saying to Mark is "You hold the umbrella and I'll hold you!". For all the reasons above, Mark is my world and how lucky am I to know that he is all mine!

Happy 11th Birthday Tasha!

Briggor & Kids video link

Here is a quick video of Lil' B and one from the other kids from Thanksgiving Day. :) Experimenting a little with some of the video features of our camera.


.... Briggor 'Thanksgiving' click here....


.... Little kids 'Thanksgiving' click here....

My Short Order Cook Apron

Breakfast for 10, anyone? Let me put my short order cook apron on! 2 or 3 days out of the week, I make pancakes for the family. Now consider this....10 people to feed! I make on the average about 48 pancakes for one breakfast. So, let's do the math....48 pancakes for one breakfast. 96 pancakes for two breakfasts and possibly 144 pancakes for 3 breakfasts. That is 144 pancakes A WEEK for my family! That is a whole lot of pancakes! Usually, one day on the weekend I make a HUGE breakfast for everyone. That would include: eggs, sausauge, bacon, and country potatoes. I am not going to give you all the details of how many of each, but I'm sure you can imagine! :) I run my own IHOP in my own kitchen. LOL It's important to me to make sure that my family is fed something hearty in the morning. Think about this....every dinner that is cooked in my house is a small dinner party for some people! Breakfast is no different. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would someday cook on a daily basis for so many people.

Blessings!

Today I have a blessing! My dad came home from the hospital and was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom. He would rather recover at home then in the hospital. My parents are both tired from the last few days. I am very thankful for my parents! They are wonderful people!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am thankful for my friends and family - near and far away! I wish we could be together but know that you are in my heart and thoughts as we celebrate this Thanksgiving day! Love to all - Enjoy your day everyone!

Dad Hospitalized!

Did you ever get a phone call early in the morning and you knew something was wrong? That happened to me the Tuesday Morning before 8am. I was busy getting my husband and kids out the door on what was to be a "normal" day. I heard the phone ringing but put it off to make sure everyone was out of the house for the day. When I went back in to listen to the message, my mom was on the machine telling me that she took my dad to the Emergency Room around 4am with what they thought was a heart attack. My mind was racing. I started crying! My mom kept telling me that I didn't need to come. It's my dad, my mind kept saying. My dad and I are VERY close. Something inside me said I had to get there. I had to make sure for myself that my dad was ok. Mark had just left the house and was on his way to work. I called him first. I told him what had happened and he said let me get things started at the shop. I will be home quickly so you can go to your mom and dad. Mark got home within the hour and shoo'ed me out the door.Mark reminded me to pack a bag just in case I decide to spend the night. Mark comforted me with - I will take care of things here. Mark's mom just happened to be near the coast and was able to come help Mark with the kids while I was gone. Tears were running down my face. I was sacred not knowing what I was about to encounter. I called my mom and told her to stay at home, I was coming! I think I heard a sigh of relief in her voice. I had to drive to the San Fernando Valley, which from our house takes about 1 1/2 hours. I took a deep breath, said a little prayer, turned the radio up and just drove! I arrived at my parent's house to the arms of my mom and just hugged her. Her nerves were frazzled. I knew I made the right decision to be there. After arriving at the St. Joe's Hospital ER in Burbank, I took one look at my dad and knew that he was hurting. On a scale of 1-10 and 10 being the worst, my dad told the nurse he was at a 7! My dad has gone through so much over the last 10 years. You just don't know if this is going to be it for my dad! He laid there on the gurney but I have seen him at his worst and this was NOT his worst. I knew he was going to be ok. After many tests from the ER, they admitted him. He was joking and absolutely annoyed that he had to stay at the hospital. The final diagnosis was Congested Heart Failure. It was confirmed that he did not have a heart attack. That I was thankful for. Congested Heart Failure can be taken care of with medication. After a long and exhausting day, I stayed with my mom through the night just in case we had to return to the hospital. My mom and I had dinner together, enjoyed some mother/daughter time. We woke up Wednesday morning and headed back to the hospital. My dad was a bit groggy after a night of sleeping pills and morphine. But, he looked better than the day before. He was off for more tests! I decided it was a good time for me to leave. I kissed my dad and told him that I loved him. After saying good bye to my mom I started for home to prepare for Thanksgiving. My mom is doing better. The worst was over! My dad is still in the hospital but we are hoping he comes home soon. My sister and her husband are arriving on Friday to help my mom! Thank God, I made the right decision to go!

Girls Night Out with Dad

Tonight Mark took the girls and I out for dinner and Christmas shopping at the mall. Mark and I try to encourage the kids to buy for others and not just make this holiday an "all about me" affair. The kids earn money doing chores so that they can spend it on their siblings. Mark and I made another dent in our shopping for the kids. It takes us several trips to finish our shopping. Can you imagine shopping for 8 children? We did do some major damage tonight. The girls took off in another direction searching for the perfect present for their brothers and sisters. We had a great evening out together. Waiting for the next shopping adventure.....

My Favorite Tangible Treasure

My Favorite Tangible Treasure is my hope chest. My father made my hope chest with his two hands. He is incredible when it comes to woodwooking. He made it in our garage at our house. He has made several things over the years. But I treasure my hope chest the most. He lined it with cedar so nothing would get ruined. I remember having to wait for my 16th birthday to receive it. It took my dad a long time to make it. Many of my childhood friends will probably remember it sitting in my bedroom. So, here I am 39 years old and I still fill it with things. It holds memories of years past both good times and bad. Treasures that I hope will be passed on to future generations. It holds yearbooks, awards, pictures, scrapbooks, letters, etc. I guess by it's contents it's all about me. Thank you, Dad, for an amazing heirloom.

SNEAKY SANTA

By being the parents of 8 children, my husband and I are out numbered. When it comes to buying Christmas presents and wrapping, we have to get creative every year. Everybody at one time or another, while growing up, has peeked to see what they are getting for Christmas. We have even gone as far as finding where the hiding place is BEFORE they get wrapped. We have even sllllooowwwly taken the wrapping paper off to reveal the label of some sort to give us a clue to what we are getting under the tree. Well, our children are NO EXCEPTION! We have to be one step ahead of them. Each year we come up with different ideas as to how we can trick the kids and to try and keep them from finding out what they are getting. One year, we just put letters ("A", "D", "F", etc. not corrresponding to their name), another year we mixed up their names, so for example, Andrew got Buds or Nettie got Tasha's presents, another year we color coded them and we were the only ones that new the colors until Christmas morning. But this year, I think we came up with the best of all. Mark and I have been thinking about this for the past few days. How to trick our children? We get a kick out of this. This morning, we came up with something new. We have decided to put different character names on the presents. The names we picked are these: Hanna Montana (Disney TV Show) , Capt. Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Carribean) , Tinkerbell (Peter Pan) , Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) , Legolas (Lord of the Rings), Princess Fiona (Shrek) and Gabriella (High School Musical). We announced this morning, for the moment, who has the most presents so far, with the character name. The kids were totally confused. They all started guessing who was who and they were all wrong. Looks like we have fooled them again! For those of you wondering, Briggor is not included in the deception. LOL So, I wonder if any of you reading this can guess which name belongs to who? Please take the time to guess and answer in the comments.

Mountain Dew Cake

This is by far one of my kids favorite cakes. When I make this, it doesn't stay in the house very long. It's moist and delicious! Please try it. I keep the ingredients on hand at all times.


MOUNTAIN DEW CAKE
Makes 1 Bundt cake.
1 (18.25-ounce) box lemon cake mix
1 (3.4-ounce) box lemon flavored instant pudding mix
1 (12-ounce) can Mountain Dew soda
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Add soda, oil and eggs. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a wooden pick comes out clean.

Simply delicious!

Being a mother of 8

Many people ask me what it is like to be a mom of 8 children. It's many things really, rewarding, frustrating, challenging, amazing, crazy, etc. You never know what the day is going to unfold for you. It's a balancing act of so many different personalities. At times, I want to scream. Other times, I just look around me and smile. These 8 children are looking at Mark and I to guide them into the future that to them is so scary and so unknown. I guess that is why I wanted to start this web blog. It will hopefully keep me centered. Let me express my joys, sorrows, frustrations, laughs, loves which all involve my family. I'm so proud of each and every one of them. They each bring to our family so many different views, opinions, creativity, so much love, understanding and it all makes up the Mendenhall family. Being a mom of 8 really pushes you to the limit. There are time constraints, menus to plan, tons of laundry to do, boo boo's to heal, hearts to fix, lunches to make, homework to do, a husband to love and spend time with, dr's appts, family events, visitors and many more things to juggle. To me the reward is at the end of the day, when the kids go off to bed and you take one last look at each one of them. They are safe, loved, and warm in their beds. I love my family very much and I wouldn't trade any of them for anything!

MEGAN MADE HONOR ROLL!

High School Muscial on Ice

Here are the hottest tickets in town, if you have a pre-teen girl in your house of family. You know what I am talking about, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. Disney has made two movies and everywhere you go there is merchandise, merchandise, merchandise. Last year, I took the girls to see the High School Musical Concert. This year, I purchased the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL ON ICE. On Saturday, November 10, 2007, Tasha, Megan, Jade and I went to the Rabobank Arena here in Bakersfield to see the ice show.

First we did a little shopping. The girls couldn't decide what they wanted. Or should I say, they wanted EVERYTHING! So, Tasha and Megan decided on a BLING-BLING necklace. They necklace was huge and it had flashing lights. Jade got a pink hat which she is wearing everyday.

We found our seats. We were 5 rows up from the ice. We sat on the side of the arena but you could see everything. After I placed the girls in their seats, I went for food. We all had pepsi's, popcorn, pretzels and cotton candy. YUCK, I know. But, it was a girl's day out! SPLURGE a little!

The ice show was great! The cast sang most of the songs from both High School Musicals. They danced, played basketball and did tricks on ice skates. The girls sang along to all the songs. It was two hours of ice skating fun, screaming, singing and just enjoying an afternoon out.