Our home

Here it is!

Some wanted to see what the finished product looks like, so here it is:)

Picture of the day

Aww, look at these two cutie patooties! Aren't they just the cutest little girls EVER???!!!!! Yes, they are, however they would be even cuter if they would sleep past 5:15 IN THE MORNING!!!!!! Seriously, 5:15 they woke me up. It isn't the worst thing in the world, of course. But I am missing my quiet time I would get in the morning. I get up at 5:30, just so I can have some quiet before the rest of the day starts. Oh well, at least I don't have to drag them out of bed every morning! But, 6:00 would be prime........

365 Project and a Recipe:)

Ok I heard about this from another friend of mine and it's called the "365 project". Basically it's sort of a scrap booking thing, but not really (did that make ANY sense??!!). The goal is to take one picture everyday, and journal about it. So, my *goal* (asterisk being, that goal does not necessarily mean I will do this everyday. Just hoping!!) is to journal one picture everyday on here. So, I start today.

This is a lovely picture of our poor snowman:( His fate caught up with him this morning, at about 8:15. Yesterday the kids still played with him, and even got their picture taken sitting on his head. Unfortunately his torso and head fell off this morning. The kids were pretty bummed about it. Brad and the girls made him during Christmas vacation. However, Alayna was very excited to find one of his eyes on the ground. She thought we should save it....

Ok, here is the recipe for today. It came out of the St.Cloud Times Delish section of Wednesdays paper. I made it last Thursday, and it is extremely fantastic! Very, very moist.

Pumpkin Apple Bread

3 C flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 C sugar (I know, holy carp that's a lot of sugar, but remember it's two loaves)

1 (15 oz. can) pumpkin

4 eggs

1 C oil

1/2 C water

2 apples, chopped- Next time I think I'll put even more in

Combine flour, cinnamon, soda and salt, set aside. Mix together sugar and pumpkin. Add eggs, oil and water. Add dry ingredients. Fold in apples. Bake in greased bread pans (grease them REALLY well, one of my loaves got stuck) at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

A great weekend!

Back to Monday, *sigh*. Why do weekends have to go so darn fast? I had a fabulous weekend! Saturday morning I took the girls to Barnes and Noble for a Valentines Day party. They had story time, crafts and cookies for the kids. We there for about 2 hours. Nothing better than spending the morning with my kids in a bookstore sipping a mocha! After B&N, we went home, ate some lunch and got out all the scrap booking stuff. The girls worked on valentines for Grandparents and their class, and I worked on a scrapbook for my Grandma and Grandpa. I used a chipboard book and created the pages, it really turned out great, and I can't wait for them to get it! This weekend I am going to work on one for my Grandma Trellis:) I thought it would be nice for them to have a mini scrapbook of my kids.

In the afternoon we made a run to Crafts Direct (my other favorite place to be, sorry checking account). Brad got home about 6:00 from Orlando (he flew out there for work on Wed.) and we ordered pizza. It was great to have him home! That night we played games with the girls until it was bedtime, I am *this* close to finishing Perfection, lol. Sunday morning the girls and I had Sunday School, it was my turn to teach. Brad made his usual Sunday brunch, and then he took the girls to the farm so I could have some "mom" time in the afternoon. I did some more scrap booking, and watched the documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth". Fascinating!

It was just a super nice relaxing weekend, something I was in desperate need of. It is definitely getting easier when Brad is gone, either its just that I am so used to it, or its that the girls are at easier ages now. Out of the three girls, Alayna was the one asking when daddy was coming home!

Delish chicken tetrazzini

This is another recipe from my Family Fun magazine. I made it two nights ago and the kids loved it! Plus it was super easy to make

Chicken Tetrazzini

2 Tbl butter
1 Tbl olive oil
1/4 c minced shallots
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into strips (I just used cooked cubed chicken that I had in the freezer)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1 c frozen peas thawed and drained
3 Tbl flour
1 1/2 c half and half
1tsp fresh lemon juice
3/4 c grated Parmesan
4 ounces med. egg noodles (I used fettuccine noodles instead)


Melt 2 Tbl butter and 1 Tbl olive oil in pan, add shallots, mushrooms, chicken, salt, pepper and paprika. Cook until strips are cooked through, about 6 minutes. Add the defrosted peas and cook for one more minute, stirring frequently.

Sprinkle flour over the mixture and cook for about 1 minute stirring continuously. Add the half and half and lemon juice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cook for one minute more, stirring frequently.

Remove from skillet from heat, add Parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly. Add cooked noodles to the mixture, and serve!

Easy Lasagna

This recipe is also from my Family Fun magazine. It was really good, and very easy! I also was excited to get back into baking bread again. I had not done it too much, as my original recipe called for kneading the bread for 10 minutes. This kills my hands to do. So, I realized that I have a dough hook on my Kitchen Aid mixer and tried that. Honestly, this was the best bread I've ever made! And my hand's didn't want to fall off from kneading, woohoo!!!

One Skillet Lasagna

1 1/4 C ricotta (I used cottage cheese, and it worked just as good)

1/4 water (I might decrease that a bit, as the lasagna was watery)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 C grated parmesan

1 1/2 c shredded mozzarella

1 lb. ground beef

1 medium zucchini diced (about 1 cup)

1 (26 oz) jar pasta sauce

6 oven ready lasagna noodles

In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, water, salt, parm, and 1/2 c of the mozz.

Brown beef with onions in a skillet, drain if needed. Add zucchini and 2 cups of the pasta sauce.

Top mixture with 2 lasagna noodles, set in the center. Break 2 more noodles into medium- size pieces and fill in the edges. Spread cheese mixture over the noodles. Lay on the two remaining noodles. Pour the rest of the sauce into skillet and spread evenly. Then sprinkle on remaining cup of mozzarella.

Cover the skillet and simmer over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

Make 6 servings

This week's project

I get the magazine, Family Fun and I looove the ideas they have in there! We have done so many of the projects, and made the recipes. This month they had a fire station and fire truck made out of recyclables. We decided to give it a try, and the kids had a blast making it! Our next thing is to make some of the Valentines from the magazine. If I could, I would sit all day long and do projects like this with the kids. I love this kind of stuff. But don't ask me to play babies, and Barbies man. My imagination just isn't what it used to be!!