Six and More

I am so far behind on blogging lately. I can't seem to stay caught up! The days and weeks go by so fast and between the kids and working and the normal day-to-day stuff, there is no time! There has been a lot going on, most importantly, Allie turned 6 years old on April 7th! This is the first year that we've let her have a "friend" birthday party. Usually we just do a family get together but now that she's getting older she wants parties. She wanted a Build-A-Bear party! We took her and 6 of her closest friends and headed to Gateway. We left Cole home with Grandma and Grandpa so poor Ryan was the only guy. He was a trooper. Especially on the drive down and back. He was driving a car full of screaming girls that were blasting the "Tangled" soundtrack over and over. The things we do for our kids ;)

Here is the birthday girl taking her cupcakes into class

Allie has wanted a Barbie Jeep for about 3 years now. We finally broke down and got her one. But not a Barbie one. She'll grow out of it in another couple of years and Cole will want one for sure so we've killed two birds with one stone here. We told her she could decorate it with girly stickers and she was just fine with that. She loves this thing. If there's no snow or rain, she's out on her Jeep! The girls at Build-A-Bear! I highly recommend having a birthday party here. You have a host the whole time and they do everything for you! Ryan, Katie (my friend who came as well) and I just sat back and relaxed the entire time. It was worth every penny. Allie and Merin, bathing their bears. Afterwards we came back to the house for cake, ice cream, and presents. That was the exhausting part because we were suddenly in charge again! Allie wanted a picture taken of her, Cole and her birthday bear that she named Rosie. It's been a big year for Allie. She moved, started kindergarten, had a baby brother and turned six all in one year. She has been so great during all of these big changes. We couldn't ask for a sweeter little daughter. She makes us so happy. She's so sweet to her brother, he is so lucky to have her. We love our 6-year-old munchkin. Some other things going on lately...

Allie LOVES gymnastics. She is a hand standing, cartwheeling whiz who is constantly practicing her moves at home. She has her first recital coming up at the end of April and we can't wait!

Betsy, Steve, and Charlie came out for a visit this month! We went down to Provo to eat at Communal one day. Their rental car was a minivan! So the guys were sweet enough to sit in the back with the babies.

Out to lunch

Charlie is getting so big! He's eight months now and just learned to crawl. He also has two teeth! Cole is still working on sitting up on his own so he's a few months behind Char ;) The boys had a lot of fun smacking each other in the face and staring each other down. It's going to be madness once they are both crawling/walking around! We've also come up with a name for them, since we are always talking about them together. From now on, they will be known as Charcole!

Bets and Steve went to see a movie one day so we took Charcole to Target with us. They were each in their matching Bjorn's and we're pretty sure people thought we were carrying around twins. We got many looks as we walked through the isles!

Aunt Betsy with Allie and Cole

Cole had a Dr. appointment that Ryan couldn't get off of work for so we kept him updated with pictures while waiting for the Dr. :)

Lately Cole does not like to sit in his car seat if it's not in the car so the only way I can get my grocery shopping done is if I carry him around in his Bjorn. So high maintenance!

Here are the boys at Costco. Total twinners, I love it. Girls day at the movies! Allie, Abbie, and Annie. These girls are so crazy together, it's too fun. Our cheese ball And last but certainly not least...Allie learned to ride a bike with no training wheels!! This is from a few weeks ago, she can go for miles now. I'm a proud mama.





Was this post random enought for you? Hopefully now that I'm a little caught up I can keep it going!!

Coley Cole

We are in love with this kid. We seriously can't get enough of him. He had his 4-month checkup yesterday and weighs 14 lbs, 6 oz and is 25 1/2 inches long! He also had his round of shots :( He's not feeling so hot today but hopefully by tomorrow he'll be back to normal. He's growing too fast. I'm not a fan of how quickly they change. I love each new step but am sad that he's leaving the newborn stage behind. His big sister is obsessed with him and might just be the best big sister there ever was. He took his first trip to the park a couple of weeks ago and loved being outside! We cannot wait for the warm weather to come so we can spend all our days playing in the yard.

Here's a video I took a few days ago. He's just started to do that really hilarious belly laugh. I tried to get him to do it in this video but he wouldn't. It's still a dang cute video of him though so I had to share.

Here are the kiddos on St. Patrick's Day!

Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Stir Fry

We LOVE this recipe. Ever since I started making it, Ryan asks for it every week. Its great because you can change it up and add whatever veggies you love. Its a little spicy and a little sweet. And so good!

• 1 T brown sugar
• 2 T honey
• ¼ C soy sauce
• 2 t chopped fresh ginger root
• 2 t chopped fresh garlic
• ½ to 1 T Sriracha hot sauce (Spicy! Adding a T makes it pretty hot so if you don't like spicy, cut it to 1/2 T)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Approx 3 T flour
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut in bite-sized pieces
• Broccoli
• Snow peas
• Red pepper, cut in bite-sized pieces
• Cashews
• 1-2 T vegetable oil

You have to use Sriracha hot sauce! It has the best flavor. But it's hot so be careful.

Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and Sriracha sauce in a small bowl. Salt and pepper the chicken. In a Ziploc bag, lightly coat chicken with flour. (not too much or it will make the sauce too thick). Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Pour the sauce over the chicken and add the red pepper. Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens, about 8-10 minutes. While that simmers, steam broccoli in separate pan. Add peas during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Stir in the broccoli right before serving, otherwise the sauce will make it soggy. Serve on rice and top with cashews.

*I always 1 1/2 the sauce because we love sauce at this house.
*Substitute with any veggies you want.

This is definitely a regular at our house. I hope you like it too!

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?

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!

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 :)

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 375º 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!