Sunday's Dinner

On Sunday I also made a new recipe that I had pinned on Pinterest.  It was a Chicken, Cream Cheese, Salsa Crock Pot creation!!

Before leaving for church on Sunday morning.  I got the crock pot out and put everything in it and by 3:00 p.m. it was ready to eat.  It worked out really good for a Sunday meal since the girls have Little Dribblers at 4:30 p.m.  We were able to eat a nice meal before they went to basketball and it required little effort on my part. 

What you need:
2.5 lb bag of Frozen Chicken Breast
1 can of Corn, drained
1 jar Salsa
8 oz. block of Cream Cheese
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Tortillas

All the Ingredients in the Crock Pot.

Combine all the ingredients in your crock pot and cook for about 6 hours or so depending on your crock pot.  I think mine cooks hot, so I had it on the low setting for 8 hours and it was ready in 6.  Stir every 2 hours.  About a half an hour before mine was done I shredded the chicken and then turned the crock pot off and let it sit for a half an hour to let it thicken up.  I served it in tortillas with shredded cheese on top.

This was really different and it makes a ton.  Greg wasn't crazy over it, but the kids really liked it.  After basketball we were all really hungry so I heated some up and mixed in Nacho Doritos.  That was really good!!  Alicia preferred it that way and Lauren liked it in the tortillas!!

New Recipes

On Saturday I made 2 new recipes that I had pinned on Pinterest.  My new favorite website!!  I love finding diy projects and recipes! 

For dinner I made Pizza Grilled Sandwiches.  These were super easy and great for my family since we all LOVE pizza.

What you need:
Bread
Butter
Mozzarella Cheese
Pepperoni
Pizza Sauce

Heat a frying pan or skillet.  While the pan is heating up, butter each piece of bread on one side.  Put your bread into the pan buttered side out, add your pizza topping and mozzarella cheese.  Cook until golden brown and flip over carefully.  Cut in half and dip in pizza sauce.

Greg likes mushrooms on his pizza so I added them to his sandwich and it turned out good.  Since his sandwich was a little fuller I just had to be careful when I flipped it so everything didn't fall out!

Saturday evening me and the kids whipped up some Strawberry Oreo Cookies.  These cookies would be perfect for a snack for a Valentines Day party.  I know if either of the girls get picked to bring a treat this is what we will be making.

What you need:
1 Strawberry Cake Mix
2 Eggs
3/4 cup of Shortening

Mix together the ingredients.  Roll the dough into small balls.  Put 2 balls together on the cookie sheet and pinch the bottoms together to make a heart shape.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  After the cookies are completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting and put 2 cookies together.  Here is the recipe I used for the frosting.

What you need:
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 stick Butter, softened
2 tsp. Vanilla
4 cups Powered Sugar

Mix all ingredients together.  The perfect frosting!!

I will admit I have never made homemade cream cheese frosting and never knew how easy it was to make, and so much better than the store bought.  I will be using this recipe from now on!!  Also, my cookies did not stay in the heart shape.  I'm not sure if it's because I flattened the tops a bit trying to get the perfect heart shape.  They actually turned into big circles.  So I put two together and then cut them in half, because they were way to big with all the frosting in the middle.

Make Your Own Fabric Softener

Last night I decided I would complete my first project from Pinterest.  I was out of dryer sheets and had found this very simple way to make fabric softener, so it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out.  It only cost me around $3.50 and it makes a big container!!!  So here is how you do it.

Ingredients:

6 cups HOT water
3 cups white vinegar
2 cups Suave Refreshing Waterfall Conditioner {or other favorite scent}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my ingredients plus the hot water.  I actually heated my water up on the stove until it was just about boiling.  I figured the hotter it was the better the conditioner would dissolve in it.  If you get the same size bottle as I did, you don't have to measure because the whole bottle is 2 cups.  Which is good to know because next time I won't have to put conditioner in my kitchen measuring cups!!

First mix the conditioner and hot water well, until the conditioner is dissolved completely.  I used an old bucket to mix it together.

Then add the vinegar and mix well.  That's all there is to it!!  Super easy and fast.  I stored mine in an old Juicy Juice container, because that's what I had but any type of plastic jug will work.

Here is the finished product.  Pour it into your Downy ball or put 2 tbsp in your fabric softener dispenser and wash!

A Normal Weekend with the King's

This past weekend we didn't have any plans other than lots of relaxing and reading and a little bit of cleaning.  I just started reading the Twilight books around Thanksgiving and started Breaking Dawn last week.  I hadn't had much time to read during the week so I was really looking forward to just sitting around and reading.  I ended up finishing it Saturday night.  We didn't eat dinner until 6:30 p.m., because I only had a few pages left and couldn't bare to put it down until I finished.  I would have to say it was definitely my favorite of the 4 books.  Other than lots of reading, here are a few highlights from our weekend!!

We scooped Goldie out of our pond in the backyard because the water was freezing, and brought her inside.  Russell was super excited and likes to talk to her and ask her how she's doing!!  It's really cute.  Unfortunately early Monday morning Goldie died.  Not sure if it was the shock of going from a totally different climate that caused her death or what happened.  I'm thinking we are going to get a new Goldie though.  The kids really enjoyed watching her.

I sent Russell upstairs to get some pajamas and he came down almost fully dressed.  I had to help him with his shirt.  It was super cute and really made me realize that he's not a baby anymore!!  His socks were quite hilarious though because they are a bit too small and he only had them pulled on halfway.

Grandma Cathy took Alicia and Lauren to Chamberlain's for a princess afternoon.  They each got their hair curled, a feather put in, nails painted, and hot chocolate and dessert.  They had a lot of fun, and they loved their curls!!  Alicia kept asking me how old did I think she looked.  That was a really tricky question because I know how old she is, but I knew she wanted me to say she looked way older than what she is.  I think my answer pleased her though.  I don't quite remember what I said, because I was almost to the end of Breaking Dawn around this time, but I know she wasn't offended by my answer!!  So I must have answered appropriately!!

Christmas Bazaar

Another Christmas Bazaar has come and gone!  This year the bazaar was great!!  We had a great team of 5 girls working together to make sure everything came together.  We had 41 vendors!!  This was an increase of 9 from last year, and I believe was the same amount as 2 years ago. 

62 children saw Santa and every child got a gift back with a few treats in it.  We were able to talk Mrs. Clause into coming at 12:30 to read some stories to the children while Santa was parking his sleigh.  It was really cute and she did a great job. 

This year we tried something new and asked all the local churches for donations of hats and gloves for a hat and mitten tree.  We weren't sure how this was going to turn out, and I was really worried we were going to end up with a couple things on our tree.  However, it was exactly the opposite!!  We had so many hats and mittens donated they didn't all fit on the tree.  We laid some around the bottom of the tree and then had some in a bag of reserves.  We took all that was left over and donated it to the school for kids who don't have hats and mittens for recess or for kids who forget theirs. 

I found a picture online of a present arch and thought that would make a perfect background for Santa.  I got my Dad to help me out and using some pvc pipe, a hole saw, and lots of boxes we were able to make an awesome arch.  I thought it turned out great.

The kids had a blast and I got some Christmas shopping done and got a really nice Christmas wreath.  We are already coming up with some new ideas for next year and hoping to make it even better!!  I always think that my Grandma Wagner would be so proud, because she loved crafts and this would have been right up her alley!!  I wonder if she enjoys it from where she is at!!

Tis the Season

Wow, I can't believe Thanksgiving is already over, and we are now racing towards Christmas.  I love Christmas, but I always feel like it is here in a flash and I haven't had enough time to properly prepare.  I don't think this year will be any different.  I have something going on every weekend from now until Christmas. 

I'm ready for this weekend to be over.  We have the Christmas Bazaar on Sunday and I still have quite a bit of work to do.  I found a picture of an arch made out of presents, and decided that this year that would make a perfect background for Santa.  I did a test run on Saturday and found out I don't have enough boxes so now I am on the hunt for about 3 more.  I really hope once it's all together it looks nice and not like "what the hell is that thing". 

I'm really looking forward to Christmas baking on the 17th.  It's a lot of work but we end up with some deliciously, fattening treats afterwards.  Ellen has promised me she will be here that afternoon to help with the baking.  She has missed the last 2 years, so I'm really looking forward to having her back in the kitchen.  Besides nobody makes the peanut butter balls as well as she does! 

Completely off topic, the other night I went to check on Russell when he was suppose to be sleeping and this is what I found.

Look Mom, I made a pen!  He took all the books in his room and lined them up.  For some reason, he called it a pen.

After it was arranged then you had to walk across the books.  Oh the things he finds to do when he is suppose to be sleeping.

Bunnies

My Mom has been dying to get the girls bunnies all summer.  I was against the idea because I was afraid they would lose interest in them quickly, and then I would be left to care for 2 rabbits that I didn't want in the first place.  I was reassured that everybody was going to take care of their rabbit, and in the winter they would go to Mom's and live in the barn where it was warm.  Also, if it got to the point where the girls weren't taking care of the bunnies they would also go to my Mom's.  So I gave in and said that they could get the bunnies.

So one Friday night in August, Mom, Alicia, and Lauren headed over to the Newberry Fair to pick out their Lionhead Rabbits.  They brought home 2 really cute rabbits!!  Russell loves the rabbits which is a good thing since Lauren is scared of her rabbit and doesn't play with it much.

I have been helping the kids get them out and play with them.  I am already having to remind them to feed the rabbits since school has started up and evenings are super busy!!  It hasn't been to big of an issue so far, because on the nights when Alicia has tons of homework Russell and Lauren will go outside and feed them and just check on them.  We try to get them out of the cage and play with them on the weekends, and so far they are still really friendly!

Lauren wears a "bunny suit" to hold her rabbit.  She insists that she needs to wear her long underwear so that the rabbit doesn't scratch her.  Her bunnies name is Midnight or Ninja, it just depends on the day!!

Alicia and Russell holding her bunny Fluffy.  Alicia has tried walking Fluffy on a leash, but it didn't work out to well.  I think it needs to get bigger before putting a collar on it and taking it for walks.