Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life. I am so thankful to have you in my life. This past year we had our ups and downs, but through it all we grew stronger together. 4 years down forever left to go. Love ya!!

Recipe Monday

Today's recipe is Weeknight Lasagna Toss. I found this recipe a few years ago in a kraft Food & Family magazine I use to get. Curbris loves lasagna so I knew I had to give this recipe a try because it is quicker than making a whole lasagna. This recipe is now a family favorite and I make it often. I added 1 onion chopped to the recipe and only use 1 green pepper instead of 2. I also use regular lasagna noddles and below the recipe you will find what to do if using regular noddles.

Weeknight Lasagna Toss

1 lb. lean ground beef
2 green peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1-2/3 cups water
1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles, broken into quarters
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

BROWN meat in large saucepan; drain.
ADD peppers, garlic, spaghetti sauce, water and dressing; bring to boil. Stir in noodles; cover.
COOK on medium-low heat 10 to 15 min. or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with cheese; cover. Let stand 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

Special Extra
Stir 1/2 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Ricotta Cheese into noodle mixture before sprinkling with shredded cheese.

Substitute
Substitute 12 regular lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces, for the oven-ready noodles. Increase water to 2 cups and cook 30 min., stirring occasionally.

2 months

Xanyae is 2 months today. He has changed so much in such a short amount of time. He just recently started smiling and talking to us. Karma and Sadie like to take turns in trying to see who can make him smile or talk. He also seems to be able to focus on things more and follows things with his eyes. He is also an excellent sleeper at night and I am truly thankful for that. I took a lot of pictures of him today to show how much he has grown and here are my favorites.
I love this picture!!!
He is getting so big.

Tummy time.

Trying to talk to me.

My Sunshine's!!!!

What Would You Do?

Today I was busy do some cleaning around the house and really wasn't pay much attention to what my kids were doing. I walked in the front room to find my 2 year old with a pen in her hand and this all over the couch:

All I could do was walk away and try to clam down. I love Sadie to death, but she really knows how to drive me crazy. I called my mom to see if she had any suggestions on what I should do. All she told me was to relax and maybe it was time for a new couch. Luckily Curbris was able to remove it and the couch looks almost new. Sadie hopefully has learned that we only write on paper, but I am sure we will have to explain it to her a few more times.

Green Chili Chicken Soup

Last week we were all sick, so I wanted to make soup to help us feel better. I was looking for a good chicken soup recipe. I am kind of tried of regular chicken soup so I was looking for something a little different. For Christmas my aunt gave me a cookbook her ward had put together called, "A Taste of Heaven". In the book I found a recipe called Green Chili Chicken Soup and thought I should try it.

Green Chili Chicken Soup

2 cans chicken broth
1 carrot finely chopped
3 scallions- chopped(I used a yellow onion)
1 can chopped green chili's
2 cups diced cooked chicken
3 potatoes finely diced
1 tsp. butter/margarine(I used extra-virgin olive oil)


Saute scallions, potatoes, & carrots with butter in a sauce pan until lightly browned. Add 2 cans of chicken broth, 2 cans of water, green chilies, and chicken. Simmer for at least half an hour. Serve with shredded cheese & sour cream.

This soup was pretty good I added chili powder and cumin to give the soup more flavor.

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day this year was ok. Everybody has been really sick around here so that is where our main focus has been. Curbris did give me a 2lb box of See's Chocolates and made me a cute card.
I made him a love box and in it was different tokens to represent my love. I found the idea here it is the last idea on the list.

Valentine's Day fell on Sunday and we were asked to speak in sacrament meeting. It had been a tough week trying to prepare my talk because I had sick kids all week and was sick myself. It was also my turn to teach my CTR 5 & 6 class. I am happy to say that our talks went great and my lesson was good too.
For my primary class I made them white chocolate dipped oreos. They were really easy to make and my class enjoyed them. I got the idea for them here.

What A Day!!!

There are times when being a mother just isn't fun and today was one of those days for me. On Tuesday Karma woke up not feeling good and I tried my best to keep her away from everybody else in the house. By Wednesday I was starting to not feel well and Sadie started to cough. By Thursday morning everybody was pretty sick expect for Curbris. I really think that there is nothing worse than having a newborn sick. You know that they are just miserable and the only way the can express themselves is by crying.
So this is how my Thursday went:

I changed Sadie's diaper to realize that she had pooped during the night and it had caused a really bad diaper rash. It bothered her all day and she cried a lot anytime she went to the bathroom.

I gave Xanyae his morning feeding and he feel asleep. 20 mins. later I went to check on him and he threw up everything I feed him.

I got him in the bath and than gave the girls their bath.

Karma threw up her lunch all over the carpet and herself.

Cleaned up the throw-up and tried my best to not throw-up from the smell.

Got Karma back in the bath.

Sadie than threw up on my bed and once she saw her threw up she threw up more.

Again cleaned up the throw-up and tried not to throw-up myself.

Got Sadie back in the bath.

Was holding Xanyae after I had feed him and next thing I know he threw-up all over me.

Gave Xanyae another quick bath and than took a quick shower.

Wow what a day it was filled with lots of crying, coughing, sneezing, runny noses, headaches, baths, and of course throw-up.

Everybody is finally in bed and I feel worse than I felt earlier today. I really don't have time to get sick. I have a sacrament talk and primary lesson the prepare, v-day treats to bake, grocery shopping to do, housework to catch up on, diapers to change, and kids and husband to keep satisfied. It is going to be a long weekend!!!!

Ginger-Soy Chicken on Shredded Lettuce

A couple years ago Curbris got me, Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats cookbook for Christmas. There are a lot of good recipes in the book and that is where todays recipe comes from. I have made this recipe a few times and it always comes out really good. Sometimes instead of lettuce I serve it over rice.

Ginger-Soy Chicken on Shredded Lettuce

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/4 pounds chicken breast, cut into thin strips
Salt and pepper
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
6 scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths, then cut lengthwise into thin matchsticks
1/4 cup tamari (dark aged soy sauce) I use regular soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
1 head of iceberg lettuce, shredded

Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add the vegetable oil. It should smoke up a bit. Add the chicken and season with a little salt and lots of black pepper. Stir-fry for a minute to sear the meat at the edges, then add the ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the scallions and stir-fry for another minute, then add the tamari and honey to form a sauce and glaze the chicken. Remove the pan from the heat. Cover a platter with shredded lettuce top with chicken, and serve.
Makes 4 servings

Umbilical Hernia

What is an umbilical hernia? I had never even heard of an umbilical hernia until I had 2 kids born with them. An umbilical hernia occurs when part of the intestine protrudes through a weak spot in the abdominal muscles. During pregnancy, the umbilical cord passes through a small opening in the baby's abdominal muscles. The opening normally closes before birth. If the muscles don't meet together in the midline completely, this weakness in the abdominal wall may cause an umbilical hernia at birth or later in life.
Here are some facts about umbilical hernias:

• An umbilical hernia creates a soft swelling or bulge near the navel. The bulge may range from less than one-half inch to about 2 inches in diameter.
• Usually, no treatment is needed unless the hernia continues past age 3 or 4.
  
• Umbilical hernias are more common in females, those of African heritage, and low birth weight babies.
• One out of every six babies will develop an umbilical hernia.

I remember when Sadie had her hernia it was huge and she did cry a lot. The doctors kept telling me it isn't painful, but I really do believe it bothered her a lot. When I found out that Xanyae had the same hernia I was less than thrilled, but thankful that I had already gone through it with Sadie. I know exactly what to expect and I don't worry as much as I did with Sadie. Here is Xanyae's hernia. I know it looks bad, but Sadie's was bigger.

Look how big he has gotten.
Here is Sadie's belly button it is all healed up
The doctor told me she probably wont like her belly button when she gets older, but that is ok she doesn't need to be showing off her belly button anyways.

Family Pictures

The day after Christmas we took family pictures. These will be our last family pictures for awhile. My brother Lance is now in Chicago doing his basic training for the Navy and my other brother Jack reports to the MTC next month.
Our family picture. I don't like my hair in this picture, but other than that it is a cute picture.

All of us.

All of us again.

My parents, this is a really good picture of them.

Grandpa and grandma with their grandkids.

These three girls are trouble whenever they are together.

All the girls.

All the boys.

Frugal Baked Ziti

I am always looking for recipes that are fast, take little time to prep, and have few ingredients. One day I came across this recipe on Easy Frugal Living and could not believe how easy it looked. I knew I had to try it and see if it tasted good. Since than it has been one of my go to meals when I don't have much time to prep. This recipe is very versatile and you can add any meat of your choice and extra vegetables.


Baked Ziti

1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 jar water
1 lb pasta (rotini, penne, ziti, elbows, shells)
8 oz shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, mexican, mont. jack)

Mix sauce, water, and uncooked pasta in 9x13 pan. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes (depends upon type of pasta used). Remove cover, stir, top with cheese, and bake until cheese is melted.

Serve with garlic toast and a salad.

Variations: add mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, or any other vegetable you need to sneak in on your kids. It doesn't take much. Meat can also be added. 1 lb of ground beef, Italian sweet pork sausage, ground turkey or 2 cups cooked chicken.