The Dodson Tales

Today started out dark, dreary, and rainy. But now that the sun has come out to shine, I'm hoping that will be a good omen for the rest of the day. I've been dealing with sick cranky kids around here and it's good to see those golden rays shining through my window. Cooper started being really fussy and tired last night during dinner and just wanted to get down out of his high chair and be rocked and held. That right there is always a dead giveaway that something is wrong because he is not a cuddler and does not ever sit still. After a few minutes of rocking he was passed out. He and Kale both have some big teeth coming through on both sides of their mouth right now and it's been quite the miserable week or so for them and me, as I have not been feeling too great myself. I think we are all restless and ready for some warm spring weather. We had a good stretch going there for a while though of nobody getting sick, so that was pleasant while it lasted.

Riley stopped at the Nike outlet on his way to Seattle last weekend and got me some new workout gear. He picked out some great stuff that is super comfortable. Good job on that Riley. He also discovered they now have an Under Armour outlet there as well. Now we are REALLY in big trouble. I don't think our family will ever have a shortage of athletic clothing if Riley has anything to say about it. Good thing a lot of Kendle's stuff can be passed down to Morgan and then to the twins. At least that's how we justify it. Sorry Kendle, no pink soccer cleats for you, have to get the black ones so your brothers can wear them too. HA! Riley was pretty bummed out that his club team had their first league loss in two years. Hopefully they can redeem themselves at their game this weekend. Southridge also has their first two games of the season on Friday and Saturday. Busy weekend for sure.

I think I am going to make some Local Boyz crock pot chicken for dinner with rice.

It always makes the house smell good like you are walking into a restaurant. I've been trying to think of lighter and healthier dinners to make that my family will still all enjoy. To be honest, they are not big veggie eaters so it can be a challenge. I've been trying to just lighten up a lot of our family favorites and make them lower-fat and lower-sugar. So far, not too many complaints but there are definitely some recipes that are better left how they are. I know I've mentioned this website before, but I love Gina's Skinny Recipes at http://www.skinnytaste.com/. Every recipe I've tried is really good and I like that there's lots of flavor and also yummy desserts. Got to have some sweets!

Well, I think that's enough rambling for the morning.

**Here is the recipe for Local Boyz chicken:

Recipe #1 - The easy version
3 or 4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
4 tsp. ground ginger or 1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

Place chicken in crockpot. Mix remaining ingredients all together and pour over the top of chicken. Cook in crockpot for 8 hours on low. To eat, shred or chunk up and serve with hot white sticky rice.

(I also found this other knock off recipe that is really good)
Recipe #2 - Slow Cooker Shoyu Chicken