Proud

of myself!

My father in law came into town tonight to stay with us for the weekend. He lives in Indiana, Jason always likes to make sure that his dad has some of his favorite things around (meaning certain foods) around when he is here and wants real meals... I really don't mind it gives me a reason to really cook and try different things. Jason left 80 bucks on the counter for groceries just for the weekend so I headed out this afternoon.

So tonight I made 2 things from the Tilden Family Cookbook that I told you about back in December. They were both GREAT. However, Kenedey really didn't care for the King Ranch Chicken. Oh well! It was a little bit mexican which I wasn't really expecting but I love mexican... Kenedey on the other hand... doesnt! I wouldn't do cheezy potatoes with this as a side dish again, just doesn't really go together... but it was good anyway.

King Ranch Chicken

•INGREDIENTS

•1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

•1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

•2 cups chicken broth

•1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green Chile peppers

•1 (12 ounce) package corn tortillas

•3 cups cooked, diced chicken breast meat

•1 onion, chopped

•1 green bell pepper, chopped

•8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

•1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

•1 teaspoon garlic salt

•
DIRECTIONS

•Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

•Combine the chicken soup, mushroom soup, broth and tomatoes with chills. Set aside.

•Lightly grease a shallow 3 quart casserole dish. Layer 1/2 the tortillas, 1/2 the chicken, 1/2 the onion, 1/2 the bell pepper and 1/2 the cheese in the casserole dish. Pour 1/2 of the soup mixture over the layers. Repeat the layers of tortillas, chicken, onion and bell pepper; pour the remaining soup mixture over the top, then top with the remaining cheese. Sprinkle with chili powder and garlic salt and bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

•

Potatoes Deluxe

•2 lbs frozen hash browns (thaw for 30 min.)

•1 cup diced onions

•1 can cream of chicken soup

•1 lb Sour Cream

•1 stick melted butter

•8 oz. Sharp Cheese

•

•Bake in a 9x13 pan at 375 degrees for 1-1 ½ hours

And right now this is in the fridge ready to go first thing in the morning! I'll let you know later how it was!
French Toast Casserole

2 loaves white bread (or any old bread, rolls, ect. will do)

French Toast Mixture:

3 Cups Heavy Cream

3 ½ cups milk

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

½ oz. vanilla

12 eggs

Tear bread into pieces and put into a buttered casserole. Pour French Toast mixture over bread. Refrigerate overnight.

Then mix together (if this part is done the night before, do not refrigerate because it gets hard)

2 oz. Dark Karo syrup

2 ½ cups brown sugar

½ cup chopped nuts

6 oz. Melted butter

Dallop this mixture over the bread mixture. Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 35 minutes.

Fun-ne

Hair Removal....

This is funny. (I don't have a clue as to who wrote this, but....WHAT A HOOT!)

All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal -

The Epilady, scissors, razors, Nair and now...the wax.

Read on......

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, play with the kids.

I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours:

'Maybe should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet.'

So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom. It was one of those 'cold wax' kits.

No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off.

No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be?

I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together.

Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ('Cold wax,' yeah...right!) I lay the strip across my thigh.

Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works!

OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this!

Hair removal no longer eludes me!

I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north.

After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship.

I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet.

Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (it was a long strip)

I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRRRIIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind!!!

Blinded from pain!!!!....

OH MY GAUD!!!!!!!!!

Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP!

Another deep breath and RIPP! Everything is spinning and spotted.

I think I may pass out...must stay conscious...must stay conscious.

Do I hear crashing drums???

Breathe, breathe............

OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy -

a wax-covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it.

I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair.

I hold up the strip!

There's NO hair on it.


Where is the hair???

WHERE IS THE WAX???

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet.

I see the hair.
The hair that should be on the strip...it's not!

I touch.

I am touching wax.

I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered

in cold wax and matted hair.

Then I make the next BIG mistake...remember my foot is still propped upon the toilet?

I know I need to do something.

So I put my foot down.

Sealed shut!

My butt is sealed shut.

Sealed shut!

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself

'Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!'

What can I do to melt the wax?

Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!!

I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should

melt and I can gently wipe it off, right???

*WRONG!!!!!!!*

I get in the tub -

The water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together,

is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub...in scalding hot water.

Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented myself to the porcelain!!
God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone.

It's a very good conversation starter 'So, my butt and hoo-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!'

There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me.

She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, 'Are we talking cheeks or hole or hoo-ha?'

She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her.

I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box.

YEAH!!!!! Right!!

I should be the joke of someone else's night.

While we go through various solutions. I resort to trying to scrape the wax off with a razor ..

Nothing feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!!

By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax.

What do I really have to lose at this point?

I rub some on and OH MY STARS!!!!!!!

The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend.

It's sooo painful, but I really don't care.

'IT WORKS!!

It works !!' I get a hearty congratulations from my friend and she hangs up.

I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair....

THE HAIR IS STILL THERE........ALL OF IT!

So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts.

I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color......

Birthday girls! 2/26/08

Taylor trying SO hard to keep her eyes open! Hey Tay, it's amazing that you can keep your eyes open when you look like this! LOL

On Tues night we took Taylor and Kenedey out for their birthday dinner together! We went to Garfields in Adrian! They had a great time!

Just a sign that I am officially crazy!

Doesn't she have the most incredible eyelashes and big brown eyes!

5 kids in one day! Tues the weather was bad so I had 5 kids due to 2 regularly here and school closed and another daycare closed! WOW!

I have so much to catch up on

Ok, so warning... this is either going to be the longest post ever or it will turn into at least two different posts!

I hate it when I don't blog because I feel like I have to remember everything. Let's start with the biggest news that I haven't even discussed on my blog. I honestly just haven't felt like talking about it on my blog because I have talked it to death in life outside of blogland.

Well the news.... no I'm not even remotely pregnant! I don't even think thats funny! I left my job of 3 years. I honestly was just so so so tired of all the crap within the office and so much back stabbing and I was having a terrible time getting to work on time. I won't even try to make excuses other than I did the best I could. On Monday Feb. 11th I came into work. The Dr. I worked for was off for the day for personal reasons. Our office manager and soon to be office manager took me aside and suspended me for 3 days for being late. I was of course upset. I left and went and talked to my husband at his work and then called my mom. To make a really long story short, both of them encouraged me to NOT go back at all. They have been there through everything and this was just one more thing.... icing on the cake... sealed the deal, that this job just wasn't working for me anymore. So after lots of thought, I made the phone call that I would not be returning and so a new chapter in my life has turned.

Now I have had almost a full 3 weeks that I haven't been there and I am acutally very happy with my choice. I am taking care of my friend Jen's kiddos and working on some other personal endeavors. I'm busy to say the least. The first week I was like... hmm am I really capable of keeping myself busy and motivated. Well, I can answer that with a big fat... YEP. I can.

I REALLY miss Dr. Robertson. We had a fantastic working relationship that in my opinion became even a great friendship. I felt very comfortable with him and he taught me so much. I'm so thankful for his kindness and everything over the past 3 years. I won't ever forget it.

So onto the WAY more important things. Kenedey celebrated her 11th birthday this past weekend. I CANNOT believe she is 11~ my sweet baby girl is growing into a tween without a doubt. She is into so many grown up things yet still has the little girl left in her that I want to hold on to. I am so proud of her though. Everything about her is great and she is so fun! She came home today with these notes from everyone in her class and one of them cracked me up!!! I tried to scan it... but for some reason I guess I have forgotten how to scan... anyway it says: Happy b-day... get ready for April Fool's Day and watch your back... from Isaac. What the heck?! Kids these days!

My mom came up this past weekend. It was so fun. We took Kenedey and her friends to Splash Universe for her party. Friday night she and Taylor (who by the way share the same bday) had their own little party. That was a lot of fun. Then the kids all came on Sat. around 4. It was great because I didn't have to plan anything as far as games and activites etc. They had so much to do. The kids were terribly exhausted the next day!
Carson was a riot... he LOVED the slide in the little kids area. He must have gone down it 300+ times. Not scared a bit!

Talan's 1st bday

I'm sure most of you know who Taylor and Talan are by now... just in case you don't they are friends of ours who live across the street. Our lives parallel in a lot of ways both families have girls who are older than the little guys, but also Jen's mom and my grandma are really good friends and have been for probably 100 years! LOL (don't tell your mom or grammy that I said that Jen). So I guess I can honestly say I have known Jen's family for my entire life.

So last night we stopped by The Hutchinson's to celebrate for a few minutes with Talan and his fam for his 1st birthday. He was of course so stinkin' cute and since his mom is a major blogging slacker I figured I would document it for her! LOL (I'm just pickin on ya Jen!)

Happy 1st Birthday Talan! I cannot believe you are ALREADY 1. It seems like just last week I was up at the hospital visiting your cuteness and so excited that you were a boy. I was thrilled because I had a feeling you and Carson would probably end up buddies like your sisters! The cool thing is, you already play so well together! Can't wait for the years and memories to come! We love you!!!He is just about ready to really walk. I have been laughing at him all week watching him because his hands are in the air when he does walk! So cute!

My kid is going to be...

One of those kids who teaches his friends to get in trouble... I can just hear it now

Phone rings... Hello, Mrs. Carpenter... This is Carson's teacher calling again and well um he told his friend to go into the bathroom and throw wet wads of toilet paper at the ceiling again. Last week it was a frog in the teachers desk....

Ei, yei, yei... lord help me!


And look at him thinking he is all cute sitting up there on the table. If I say cheese for mom she might not make me get down, since I AM so cute!

He met his match!!!

Seriously lady, why are you interrupting our "all-boy" playtime here... we are so annoyed that you had to stop us for a picture... are you done yet?

I have been a total blogger slacker lately. I have a goal this week to do some serious catching up. A few weeks ago, the kids and I traveled over to The Tousa's for a little get together. We don't get to see each other all that often, but now that Carson is getting bigger and really wants to PLAY this "playdate" was SO much fun!

Cade is 2 1/2 and has a little brother who is 4 months old. Carson and Cade couldn't have been a better match. Both are very persistent, rough, fun, adventurous and all around adorable guys! They were totally buddies and had such a great time amusing each other weather it was being naughty and using spoons in the milk when they ate one of Mandy & Scott's famous choc chip cookies! Or weather it was jumping on the couch onto the pillows on the floor and just plain roughing each other up
Cade: Mmm cookie dough don't you think it would be fun to dip it in our Lemonade?! LOL
Carson: Yeah, let's use my sisters cup because ours both have those lids on them! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cade's face here... he's like dude, you are a trouble maker just like me... Isn't it the greatest!

I love this guy!

I am gonna have to purchase this one....

Train your husband!! Ha ha!

I got this from somewhere I can't even give credit because I picked it up just a few day's ago and can't remember who's blog. (sorry whomever you are/were... thank you!) Anyway, I thought it seemed fun! I like little thoughtful questionairre's! Enjoy!

Fascinate me

1. A child's innocence

2. True love.

3. A mother's love for her children even when they are grown.

4. people watching :-)

5. People who sing really well!

Inspire me

1. Someone's clean and perfectly organized house, I try but seriously how do the do it?!

2. My daughter's kind heart.

3. Older couples who are so in love even after all those years.

4. Pictures

5. Watching some of my friends who are so good with their kids, I love picking up tricks of the motherhood trade! Example: You need to have a happy heart honey. from Donna Duckhorn has always stuck with me! :-)

Anger me

1. child abuse/neglect

2. Drunk Drivers

3. People who do drugs/smoke/drink when they are pregnant.

4. Parents who could care less.

5. Unsympathetic people

Confuse me

1. My son! :-) (sorry it was the first thing that came to my head!

2. Unforgiving people who preach the gospel yet seem to live a life that doesn't mirror what they are trying to teach. I realize we are not all perfect, and I will be the FIRST to say im not by far... but certain situations just make me feel so confused.

3. Chemistry

4. People who do drugs... seriously does that make you feel better. I don't get it.

5. Controlling people

Delight me

1. Carson's belly laugh

2. Seeing Kenedey's face full of excitement or happiness.

3. Feeling loved

4. Scrapbooking!

5. Doing thoughtful things for other people and watching them find joy in whatever it might be.

Amaze me

1. People who can "DO IT ALL"

2. People with musical talent that comes naturally

3. People with unusual talent who use it for good!

4. How much children grow in the first year and then how quickly they grow up and are suddenly adults.

5. The miracle of childbirth/pregnancy

Sadden me

1. Sad or unhappy depressed people who aren't capable of or don't know how to help themselves

2. Parents who don't care about what their kids are into or anything about them

3. Selfish people

4. Hurting people unintentionally because of my own stupidity

5. Hurt.

Fullfill me

1. My entire family

2. accomplishing whatever I set out to do that day.

3. Completing a list that I generated full of stuff that I really would rather not do!

4. A clean house and laundry done!

5. A nap! :-)

Frighten me

1. Snakes

2. Something happening to one of my children or my husband or any family for that matter.

3. Loosing my mom. (my rock)... best mom ever... this has been a fear for me since I was a little girl... I was always afraid she would die before me... Isn't that weird. Now I realize how selfish that really is since I would never want my mom to have to loose her only child (learned that after I found out how much I could love my own children.)

4. Cancer (not so much it causing death as the pain and agony I have seen some people/patients go through)

5. Roll over car accidents... If I see one my belly feels all upset.

5.

Relax me

1. A nap

2. a great movie with the fam

3. reading

4. A day to myself

5. A massage and pedicure... oh what the heck dream big... a whole weekend at a salon! LOL

Now it's your turn!

Kenedey & Taylor

So here are these two Peas in a Pod AGAIN! They have so much fun playing together and are always coming up with new ways to entertain themselves. They worked on their valentines together earlier this week and here they are putting on a fashion show for Jen and I.

Funniest thing I have EVER heard them say!!!

Today:
They were trying to get their stuff around to go outside and Taylor (in full snow gear) was patiently... err not so patiently waiting for Kenedey to find her snowpants...

T: (very serious tone) Seriously Kenedey... could you hurry up already, Im sweating my BALLS off here.

(me cracking up laughing so hard from the living room, they were in Ken's room)

K: umm.. Taylor, you don't have any balls.

Oh gosh sometimes the things they say!!!

So I picked this up from Kasey's blog thought it looked like a fun way to get me back into blogging. The rules are go to photobucket then type your answer in and then choose one that comes up on the first page! Enjoy and give it a try if your a blogger!

My name:


Fav Show:


Fav sport:


Fav drink:


Job:


Husband's name:


Middle Name:


Hobby:


Worst Habit:


Worst Fear: