Girls Day Out

As the only girl in a houseful of boys, you can imagine that I don't get much girl time. But believe it or not, I come from a family of mostly girls. Our Moms have dubbed us "The Flamingos" and we love getting together for some girl fun...and what better excuse could we have than one of our Flamingos having not one, but two sweet babies!

Mandy (who is a twin herself)...doesn't she look fantastic!???

Connie (Mandy's twin sister), and her petite flamingo

My Mama and her sister...two of the original birds!

Aren't these outfits just too precious???

Hayden...our other petite flamingo

The Flamingos (minus Mandy)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

I am way behind on my blogging. I have so many pictures and stories to post, but just haven't been in the mood lately. You see, almost two weeks ago someone robbed our house. Now let me tell you...that messes with your mojo in a bad kind of way. It is very unsettling to know that someone was in your house, going through your things. It has left me feeling very * ʇno ǝpısuı puɐ uʍop ǝpısdn *!!! I know times are tough...believe me I know! I've been looking for a job for over a year and a half now and we've been experiencing the financial crunch like a lot of other people. But it makes me very angry that someone(s) thought that the answer to their problems was to break into our house and steal stuff that didn't belong to them. It makes me even angrier that most of what they got was simply sentimental in value and not worth much dough. I mean what are they going to do with my hubby's football region championship ring that was made out of aluminum or selenium. And it totally confuses and bewilders me that the robbery actually answered a prayer of ours and this is the part of the situation that I have been struggling with the most. You see we had some very specific financial needs this month. And we prayed about them, and prayed about them. And those needs were met when we received the check from insurance. God's hand at work in this situation...I believe so. It shows me that God does indeed answer prayers, but that those answers may come in a form that you never would have dreamed of. It shows me that God works in very mysterious ways and HE can make ANY SITUATION good. It shows me that God's plans are certainly bigger than my plans. And it totally astounds me that God would choose this way to answer my prayer. But He did, and I have no doubt that He knows what he's doing. So that's my testimony. I hope that it helps someone to see God in even the worst of situations.

Our back door...the first attempt at entry

Bedroom window, outer pane...this was broken and then the window was pushed up.

This is what was left of the inside pane on the back window. How in world did they not cut themselves???

My Recipe File: Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

Believe it or not, I love to cook...I just don't love to clean up after cooking so I don't do it very often. However I have been attempting to cook a good, nutritious meal at least once or twice a week to supplement the usual mac and cheese, hot dogs, O's (Jesse's way of asking for spaghetti O's), and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I've found some really good recipes, so I thought that I would start sharing them. Tonight's recipe came from Cooking Light online and earned very high praise from Trey~he ate four helpings and told me that I should be cooking in a famous restaurant!!!

Here is the online version:

Yield
2 casseroles, 4 servings each (serving size: about 1 cup)

Ingredients
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
2 cups uncooked spaghetti noodles, broken into 2-inch pieces (about 7 ounces)
1 cup (1/4-inch-thick) slices celery
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 (10.75-ounce) cans condensed 30% reduced-sodium 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine broth, salt, pepper, and soup in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add soup mixture to chicken mixture; toss. Divide mixture evenly between 2 (8-inch) square or (2-quart) baking dishes coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over each casserole. Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Now here are the modifications that I made:
~The recipe says to cook two casseroles and freeze one~I just cooked one big casserole.

~I didn't have any celery or bell pepper on hand so that was left out.

~I used about 2 - 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth instead of the 1 cup that the recipe calls for. I boiled my chicken breasts first and used the broth that it made.

~How in the world do you measure out 2 cups of uncooked spaghetti noodles??? I used about a 1/3 of a small box.

~I added about 1 1/2 tablespoons of sour cream.

~I used Colby and Monterrey Jack cheese instead of Cheddar.

I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today was hubby's ?? birthday! He kicked the day off by taking our little stinker fishing. This was Jesse's third fishing trip with Daddy. Jesse's first fishing trip was when he was about 8 months or so??? Mommy wanted to go along with Daddy and Trey and try to capture them on film catching a shark. I did. Jesse, however, was not a happy camper during this boat ride. And when we got back to land...Mommy fell out of the boat, flat on her back on the asphalt. Luckily Daddy was holding Jesse at the time. Mommy has NOT been fishing since. Jesse's second adventure in fishing was about a year ago. Daddy took both boys to Banks lake...the one with all the alligators. He assured me that it was too cold for the alligators to be moving. I was very unsure about Jesse making the trip. But...I was taking online classes to renew my teaching certificate and I needed everyone out of the house, sooooo I gave in. And...Jesse fell out of the boat and into the water. Although I have been assured that this was a very brief dip into the water, Jesse has shown ABSOLUTELY NO interest in going fishing again. Until this past weekend when Daddy and Trey were going. So Daddy promised that he would take Jesse today. And...Jesse loved it. They fished on the bank. They fished out of the boat. Jesse paddled the water with his hand. Jesse paddled with a paddle. AND...Jesse caught both of the keeper fish!Once we got home from picking Trey up at school it was time to make Daddy's birthday pie. Daddy is diabetic and it's a lot easier to whip up a low sugar chocolate pie than cake and as long as the boys get to have a hand in making it (and eating it) they don't care what we make so we made a chocolate cream pie and it was YUMMY!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Look at those rosy cheeks...can you tell Daddy forgot the sunscreen earlier!My silly monkey...always full of laughter.

Annual Auction 2009

A few weeks ago, February 21, 2009 to be exact, Trey's school held their second annual auction. The little ones worked for months to perfect their dinner time performance and they all did a WONDERFUL job.

Here is the hand print picture that the first grade class donated to the auction. They did the hand prints and then a local artist completed the painting.

Trey during the performance.

Trey's on the far left end, Cora Jane's on the far right. They're both in red.

Cora Jane with the quilt that kindergarten donated to the auction. Each child painted their very own self portrait. Cora Jane's picture is the one that is even with the top of her head.

The kindergarten ~ second grade performed several songs. Here for your listening pleasure is Yankee Doodle Dandy.



A funny tidbit...while practicing at home on Friday, Trey couldn't remember the beginning words to the song so he started singing, Pinky Dinky Doo Dandy went to town...