A Winner

I am late in posting this entry because Christopher had an appointment this morning with the orthodontist to have his lower braces put on. He had the upper braces put on in October and today was the Phase II of the process. Cailtynne will have her braces off in April (fingers crossed) and Christopher should get his off in September (fingers crossed). 

Last night, Caitlynne (my picky eater) proclaimed the Mustard Balsamic Baked Chicken that I made for dinner as being a "quality dinner" so it will definitely be added to our rotation! 

Before baking.

 Ready for the table.

There were 6 skinless & boneless chicken thighs in each of the two packages that I had and, since I wanted leftovers for Kevin's lunches this week, I doubled the recipe for the marinade. It was not necessary though as you can see that there was more than enough marinade to go around. The next time I make this dish, I will decrease the amount of oil called for in the recipe (1/2 cup but since I doubled the recipe, it worked out to 1 cup). After I took the photo above and before I served, I skimmed TEN tablespoons of oil from the top of the dish. Yuck. Other than the overabundance of oil, this was a good recipe - simple ingredients, easy to make and the one hour baking time allowed me to get the table set and the side dishes made and ready to serve. And, most importantly, everyone liked it!

I made glazed carrots, redskin smashed potatoes and a green salad to serve on the side. I forgot about making bread until it was too late to start - it needed at least 4 hours in the bread machine - so I pulled out some honey wheat rolls I had in the freezer from Christmas and warmed those in the oven. 

I had an interesting life lesson/teaching moment with Christopher yesterday evening while we were watching the post-NFL playoff game interviews. We are always stressing to the kids how important it is to make a good first impression and how quickly assumptions and perceptions are made (and how difficult they are to change) based on an initial meeting or appearance. The very different images these two quarterbacks presented while giving post-game interviews yesterday spoke volumes and illustrated my point to Christopher much better than I could ever hope to. 

Peyton Manning, always classy and humble. The first sentence in his statement was a compliment toward San Diego's quarterback, Philip Rivers. 

There are no words to describe Colin Kaepernick. Really?!? His appearance before the media included responding to questions about his silly antics in the end zone after scoring a touchdown.  

This photo doesn't even do justice to the image he projected as his elaborately tattooed arms are not visible. We watched three or four San Francisco players giving statements after the game and each one was worse than the one before. Doesn't someone look these guys over before they appear before the media? 

Have a great Monday!