Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Little hands

My friend Lindsay does clay imprints of little hands and feet and they turn out ADORABLE. Her and her husband Pat were visiting from California over Christmas and she started prints for Cole. Started, meaning she took prints of his hands and feet so that when she got home, she could finish them off. She warned us before we started that no baby went through this process without crying. Boy was she right...


It might not look like Cole is crying in this picture

...but he is! It is so worth it though.


Cole only cried for a few minutes and quickly got over it when Lindsay picked him up.

He's maybe a little bit in love with her.

The finished product! Aren't they the sweetest things you've ever seen?

I'm in love with these little mini ones. Thanks for doing these for us Linds, we absolutely love them! Lindsay and Pat are expecting a little GIRL in a few weeks and we are so excited for them!

We got so many cute things to celebrate Cole's birth, I had to show this one we got from my sister...thanks JEN!How sweet is that?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Blessing

Cole was blessed on Sunday, February 13th. He screamed through the ENTIRE blessing! That is so Cole. It would have been out of character for him to be quiet when we needed him to! Ryan did such a great job though. He was calm and gave Cole the sweetest blessing. Luckily we could still hear him over Cole! We were lucky to have some very special friends and family be a part of the circle. We love this little boy and are so thankful for him.

All ready for his big day! So cute.

Soooo cute!



Ryan's family...We're missing Bob and Sandy who are in Africa! And Jason and Heidi weren't able to make it up

Julie, Liz and I

Our handsome husbands...Brandon (Liz), Ryan, and Nate (Julie)


The weather was amazing that day! The kids played outside the whole time. Now we are back to snow and freezing temps! Thank you to everyone who came, it was such a sweet day!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day


Our two love bugs. Allie could not contain her excitement all day, especially when she got her pillow pet. Cole really didn't care that it was Valentine's day at all...
Allie had a fabulous day at school. They had a Valentine's day party and today I started being a mom helper again in her class. I stopped being a helper a couple weeks before Cole was born and have missed it!
Allie wanted to go to Tepanyaki for dinner. She's not a cheap date! She loved her shrimp and noodles. Cole slept through the whole thing which was an extra special treat for us ;) Ryan and his new golf hat
Ready for bed
Happy Valentine's Day :)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Recipes

I love to cook. Love love it. My mom is an amazing cook. I'm thinking that's where I got my love of cooking and food. I've grown up watching her and almost everything I know about cooking I know because of her. She is also an amazing baker, but I am not a baker. I can bake a few things, but I'd rather stick to cooking. I love food, my whole family does! When we are all together, the first thing we decide is what we are going to eat. So I thought I'd share some recipes every once in a while here on my blog. One of my most favorite things to do is organize! It seriously makes me happy. When my house is a mess, I'm annoyed. So my latest organization project has been my recipe book....

I have finally come up with a great way to keep all of my recipes organized. A recipe binder.

I type them all out so I have a copy in a folder on my computer. Then I print them and put them in sheet protectors so they don't get gross while I'm cooking.

Here is a recipe for Chicken Enchiladas that we really like:

6 flour tortillas (soft taco size)
3 cooked boneless skinless chicken breast halves, shredded
2 C shredded Monterey Jack cheese
¼ C butter
¼ C flour
2 C chicken broth
1 C sour cream
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained
½ C chopped green onions

Divide chicken and 1 ½ C of cheese among the 6 tortillas. Roll up each tortilla and place seam side down in a greased 9x13 baking dish.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until mixture begins to boil. Slowly add the broth, stirring with a whisk until thickened. Mix in the sour cream and chiles. Heat thoroughly but do not boil, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture over the enchiladas.

Bake at 375ยบ for 20 minutes or until heated through. Top with remaining cheese and bake for 5 more minutes until golden (I turn on the broiler). Garnish with chopped green onions.

I tried a new recipe also:

Mexican Bean Salad

1 (15oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15oz) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 (10oz) pkg frozen corn kernels
1 red onion, chopped
½ C olive oil
½ C red wine vinegar
2 T fresh lime juice
1 T lemon juice
2 T white sugar
½ T salt
1 clove crushed garlic
¼ C chopped fresh cilantro
½ T ground cumin
½ T ground black pepper
1 dash hot pepper sauce
½ t chili powder

In a large bowl, combine beans, bell peppers, frozen corn, and red onion. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice, sugar, salt, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and black pepper. Season to taste with hot sauce and chili powder.
Pour olive oil dressing over vegetables. Mix well. Chill thoroughly and serve cold.
(I don't use all the dressing, it would be too much. I use about 3/4 of it and save the rest)

We ate this with chips, and Ryan put some on top of his enchilada. I think next time I'll put it on top of lettuce and make it a yummy salad.

Hope you enjoy!