Turkey Casserole

The other night I made Turkey Casserole in the pressure cooker.  So far this has been the quickest meal I have made with the cooker.  But I do keep forgetting to add on ten to fifteen minutes for the pressure cooker to heat up. 

So you take egg noodles I put I guess just over 4 cups in.  Then two cans Tuna ( I used the bigger cans) then 3 to 4 cubes chicken base with about 4 and half cups water and one chopped red bell pepper.  Then close the lid and cook on high for 4 minutes. Do a quick release, add 4 oz cream cheese, 1 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, a small amount of Parmesan cheese, and about 1 1/2 to 2 cups frozen peas.  Mix this together until cheese is well melted then add crushed Ritz crackers on top.  For a crunchier top you could do saltine crackers.  I then steamed a mixed veggie bag in the microwave and there was dinner.  It was a good hit with the family, one that I fully intend on making again. Oh I added some Parmesan cheese to the top of mine.

Monday I hit the 16 week mark, haven't felt baby yet but she is about 4 1/2 inches now.  I am having trouble bending over as my belly is just a solid lump and doesn't work well with me.  I have also found that I get winded after two flights of stairs, and this is with only 11 lbs extra weight, I can't imagine what it will be like with 20 to 30 extra pounds.  We get to find out on Tuesday if we have an Elizabeth or a McLean cooking I am getting very excited.  It is better than Christmas and taking forever to come! I had to go buy new shoes yesterday so I don't have to continue to try to tie my shoes every morning, as I can imagine that chore will just get harder.

I am very worried about my 8 year step-son over the past few months I have been paying closer attention to his schoolwork and reading.  I knew he was behind in reading I just didn't realize how far behind he is.  He doesn't retain what he reads, he can't sound out words, instead of trying he guesses.  Apparently this is ok at his mom's house, but this leaves him very far behind.  I can have him read a page then ask what he read and he can't remember.  I can have him sit down to read a book and all he will do is thumb through it and look at the pictures and then try to tell me that is the story.  He won't play games with the family if it involves reading, he won't read the words or hints on video games and still thinks that "no signal" says "no single". We have started to have him do his homework on the weekday we have him.  He did it once and then when I went through it I realized that to him doing homework is filling out the answers right or wrong as quickly as possible so he can then go play video games.  I then had dad look at his homework, to give him the start to realize how behind son is. Dad finally caught on, we now do not allow any video games on the weekdays and only allow two hours a day on the weekends. Not that the weekdays matter he does his homework and it will take him the entire 3 1/2 hours he is with us to get his homework done.  

Last week he brought home work that had already been graded I was very sad to see where he is.  Spelling he is lucky if he gets half right, all that is, is repetition. His writing is atrocious, one he can't stay in the lines to write, spelling of simple words is not yet close to mastered, letters always backwards especially his N's. Sentence structure is almost non existent. And math he is struggling greatly with math, he doesn't like it because of the struggles, but when it is time for math homework all he does is guesses and hopes he gets it right or that we won't notice that it is wrong.  Homework is even 90% wrong when he brings it over on Tuesday and states that he worked on it with mom the night before.  It is very clear that she is not working with him or paying attention to his work.  It became very apparent that he is very far behind where he should be at 8.  This worries me greatly, one as a step mom I can't say anything.  Two his mom won't tell how he is actually doing in school, I wonder how many times teacher as talked to mom? Teacher has to be just as worried as we are.  But what can we do?  We are getting books so he can practice writing, spelling and etc. during the weekends. He has to read 30 minutes a day and explain what he is reading.  His grandpa has been a heaven sent on this one.  I don't know how he does it but he makes the reading and discussing it interesting and fun for him.  But we don't have him every day, what happens when he gets older? When kids start to tease more when he is doing harder work?  When he starts to actually fail, you know he is failing now but he is in second grade so he gets smiley faces or not. What happens when grades really start to matter? Not only will he have struggles with this but he has major social struggles that mom is not willing to get him help on.  All this is very frustrating and infuriating but what I can do.  Not really much more than what we are doing and it sucks. I am at a loss of how we can help him more, especially when everything is an uphill fight with his mom.