After Dark In The Park!

Last night we went to the After Dark in the Park fall festival.  It was cold, but the kids had lots of fun!  We pulled up in the parking lot just in time to see great friends!  I think they both were more excited about seeing each other than getting into the festival.  Here we are walking into the festival right after the hay ride.

 A little face painting!  This is her first face painting experience! 

 She of course picked an orange pumpkin!  Orange is her favorite color! 

 Ella and I all bundled up!

 "Mom look at my pumpkin!"

 Cute girls!

 Getting a balloon flower from the clown!  And it's orange!

 Hot Apple Cider!

 Bean Bag Toss

 Pumpkin Bowling

 Strike!!!

 Goofy Golf

 Shoot the Ball

 Score!  Good job Adda!

Pumpkin Roll

 Go Adda Go!

 She will be helping with the vacuuming starting next week.  She had great form!  Don't ya think?!

 Picking a prize after winning the Cake Walk!

 Picking a pumpkin to decorate!

 Attempting a family picture!  I was spilling apple cider and Ella got her hands out of the blanket to chew the balloon!  Oh Sheesh!  Not good!

 Decorating her pumpkin!

 Her first taste of cotton candy!

 She won the cake walk again!

 Picking another prize!

 Guess what's inside??!!  One was a turtle shell, another was an acorn, and the last one was snake skin!

 Adda was brave and stuck her hand in one of the holes!  Luckily it was the acorn!

 Thanks was great fun!  Fixing to head home because it was starting to mist outside!

 Gonzo with the kids!  What a good Daddy he is!  We decided the Dad's needed to be elected to take them all camping!  They might need to be put on meds for that trip!

 On the hay ride heading back to our cars!  Such good buddies!  We love you guys!

 On our way home she told us over and over about all her prizes from the games!

 Warming up in the bath!  Goodbye orange pumpkin!

 Sweet Ella!

It was fun!  What made it even better was meeting up with good friends!  We love the Clark's and Thompson's!  Glad we all decided to endure the cold and make it out there!

Burrrrr...Tortilla Soup!

On Friday we had a serious cold front blow in!  It was a much welcomed change in temperature for us!  I knew it was going to be cold at the game but I still managed to come unprepared!  Thank goodness Teresa (another coaches wife) was very prepared with jackets and blankets in her car.  I walked out of the house with no jacket for myself.  I thought for sure the girls wouldn't need their hats this early in the season.  I also had no blankets, at all!  Sheesh!  I'll need an extra hour to prepare to get out of the house now that it's cold outside.  Erin (another coaches wife who has two kids) and I were joking as we walked to our cars after the game that we would need to bring our rolling suitcase with all our gear to the next game!  Hopefully not!!!  I think people might look at us kinda weird if we did!

 Adda tackling her Daddy after the game!  

We did everything we possible could outside this weekend.  Even though it was very cold (I'm sure my friend Erin in Fargo, ND is thinking WHATEVER!) we soaked in all the coolness we could!  We meet up with some other coaches families at the After Dark In The Park, and the kids had a good time!  I'll post pictures from that later.

It's supposed to warm up this week so I decided we should have soup tonight while it's still cold outside.  Lee and Andrea are coming over to enjoy it with us.  Gonzo and I have tweaked our tortilla soup many times.  We have picked up different things from different restaurants and added it to our recipe.  I think we have a pretty good pot of soup cooking on the stove!  You'll have to let me know what you do for your tortilla soup!  Everybody has their OWN way to make it, and honestly tortilla soup can't really be messed up!  Here is ours!  I hope you like it as much as we do!

Tortilla Soup

1-2 lbs. of chicken cooked and diced

(I have used a rotissery chicken, I have used chicken breast - 4 or 5, I have used chicken tenderlions 9 or 10.  Really you can use whatever you have on hand.)

Yellow squash and zucchini diced (2 of each)

3 or 4 Carrots diced (about 1 cup)

2 or 3 ribs of Celery diced (1/2 cup)

1 large onion diced

1 can of Rotel

Green chiles diced (I had about 1 cup, if I didn't have some in the freezer I would use two big cans)

2 boxes of chicken stock

 fresh lime juice (I had almost 1/2 cup)

salt and pepper to taste

Garnish with:

Chips, grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and whatever else floats your boat!

If I am using chicken that hasn't been cooked I like to put it in a baking dish, season it liberally, and drizzle it with olive oil.  I bake it at 350 for about 15 minutes.  While it's baking I chop all of my vegetables and get them in a big stock pot.  I add the juice from the pan the chicken was cooked in and a little more olive oil and saute the onions, carrots, and celery until they are fork tender.

Then I add a box of chicken stock and add the squash, and zucchini and saute this for about 5 minutes.  

While this is cooking I chop my green chiles. 

 I add the Rotel, chicken, chiles, and another box of stock to the pot and stir.  I season this with salt and pepper to taste.  While it is coming back up to temperature I juice the limes.

 We like it to have a pretty good lime flavor.  You can add less if you like. 

After I add the lime juice I turn it to medium low and let it simmer for about an hour or so.

 I like to put chips on the bottom.  Gonzo like his chips on top! 

Adda and I also made cookies today.  Toffee Crunch Cookies!  I'll post that recipe tonight!  For now I'm going to eat dinner with my family!  Enjoy your night!

Giveaway Winner!

I am not going to lie, getting two kids and myself dressed, fed, and out the door to a football game is a beating.  I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  If you really want to know what I am doing while I am typing this blog post, I am nursing Ella while Adda is pretending her vacuum is her microphone and singing Go Warriors Go (then making a drumming noise), Go Warriors Go!  Nursing Ella is the last thing I do before we walk out the door.  Oh, and I just took a pause typing this because Adda just added into her song that she needed to go poo poo!  So let me make this quick while she is on the pot.  I had a really good response to this giveaway!  Thanks Jill for asking me.  I think everyone is really excited about these scarf/necklaces.  I'd be happy to do another giveaways for you again!  I drew (while I was nursing and typing) and the winner is Tracey Garcia!  She has been one of my most faithful followers so far!  She has a pretty fantastic blog herself!  Go check it out at http://garciamania.blogspot.com/!  Let me give you a little background on her.  She was one of my college professors.  I had her for two different classes.  They were both intense but awesome classes.  She commented on my last post that I was a great teacher.  Well, Mrs. Garcia I owe it to you, girl!  Thanks for following my blog!  Hope you enjoy your scarf.  I am sure Jill will get in contact with you in the very near future to get your order! 

Letter B, and Some Other Stuff

This week we are talking about the letter B.  We have read several books, colored butterflies, sorted big and little B's, finished butterfly patterns, sorted colored bears, and so on.  The other night Adda and I were going through all of our books looking for some with the letter B sound.  She brought me two books from the other room and they both we perfect for the week.  I was really proud of her!  She gets her smart from her Daddy!  Adda has a new passion for Buzz Lightyear thanks so Tate bring him two days in a row in honor of the letter B.  I only keep Tate and his little bro two days a week so we stretch each letter out for two weeks.  I am sure I will have some more pictures to post from our lessons next week.  Adda and Tate told me yesterday that they like B much more than A because it was "much more fun"!!!  When we did letter A I think they felt like all we talked about were apples!  Hooray for a "much more fun" letter B!

 Sorting upper and lower case letter B.

 Coloring a butterfly!

 Adda and I made up a little chant to remember this one.  Beee-Leee-V and you'll be saved, Hey!  Beee-Leee-V and you'll be saved, Hey!  Say it with me now!  Beee-Leee-V and you'll be saved, Hey!

 Ella was even participating in the "much more fun" letter B activities. 

 Until she realized that it felt reeeaaalllyyy good to chew on this.

 Come on teeth, come on!

 Today I let them paint.  I was having to talk to the OCD Jocelyn and tell her to freaking relax about the colors getting mixed up.  I think I must have said about 50 times for them to wash out their brush, tap off the extra water, and then choose a new color.  I know I said it at least 50 times because they both kept saying that exact phrase while they were painting.!  I have had those watercolors since high school and they still looked perfect!  Not now!  Whatever...that's what they are for! 

 Our letter B scavenger hunt!

Buzz, Bullseye, blocks, bears (counting bears), babydoll, beads, basketball, footBall, Praying Bear, Butterfly, we forgot to put Tate's bat in the picture.  It was in the other room where Jackson was sleeping.  I wasn't about to go wake him up to get the BAT!  Tate is obsessed with baseball and he was for sure concerned about the bat being left out!

The finished masterpiece!  Just Beee-Uuuu-Tiiiii-Fuuul!!!!

B is much more fun than A!!!!

Hey, don't forget to comment to me about reading the blog so I can enter you for the giveaway for the "Game Day Scarf/Necklace"!  I will choose a winner just before "Game Time" tomorrow night!  FYI - I saw one she made for a lady that was brown and black and it was sooo cute! 

Why do I continue to tilt my head!!!  I have seriously done this since I was a kid.  I used to think it was because of all my side ponytails, but that's not it!

Giveaway!

A few weeks ago I had a friend contact me about doing a giveaway for her on my blog!  I was super excited to say Y-E-S!  Her name is Jill and she has recently started an Etsy shop called My Recycled Boutique.  She makes and sells these super cute "Game Day Scarf/Necklaces" made from t-shirts!  You can have one made with any color combination of your choice.  You can even have one made in a single color.  The rose pin can also be taken off.  Check out her Etsy shop, or follow her on facebook.

Or better yet, you could win one in the giveaway!  All you have to do to be entered is let me know that you are reading my blog.  You can comment on the blog, comment on facebook, text me, call me, write me a letter, visit me at my house, or shout it from the mountains!  Just let me know you are reading the blog and if you enjoy it or not!  You will also be entered by being a follower of the blog.  If you already are a follower your name is in the hat.  Go ahead and comment to be entered again!  I will choose the winner on Friday just before Warrior "Game Time!"

  This is an awkward head tilt because I was trying to work on the double chin!  And the new-new do is curly!  What do you think?  I love it!  Super easy to fix! 

And...another awkward head tilt the other way.  Sheesh!  Go away double chin! 

Let me know you are reading the blog and you will be entered to win!

Outback...Yumm!

Tonight I made a mixture of some Pinterest recipes.  I have seen a few different versions of Outbacks Alice Springs Chicken and wanted to give them a try.  If you google it you will find many more on the world wide web.  Basically. you make a honey mustard sauce and marinate your chicken in some of it and using the rest for dipping.  You cook bacon, mushroom, and the chicken in the bacon grease.  Then you layer bacon, mushrooms, and cheese on the chicken.  I didn't follow any of the recipes exactly.  Here is our version of Alice Springs Chicken.  Well...at lease our version this time. 

Next time I will use dijon mustard instead of regular mustard for the sauce.  I will also marinate it over night in this sauce rather than a few hours.  Green chiles would be fantastic to layer on the chicken with the other toppings!  I will also use freshly grated cheese to melt on top.  I had packaged grated cheese on hand and sometimes I think it melts weird because it has stuff on it to keep the cheese from sticking together in the package.  I thought it was great!  So did Gonzo and Adda!  We will make it again for sure!

Along with my meal I had a Red Beer-aka Red Eye, or Ojo Rojo!  This is my very favorite drink!  It's like a Bloody Mary except with beer!  

It was a long day!  I walked three miles with both kids in my new stroller, did about 50 loads of laundry, and cleaned house!  My legs were hurting, and my feet were tired!  This beer tasted delightful with my version of Alice Spring Chicken!

  

Here is what I did for the chicken:

You were supposed to flatten your chicken breasts!  I forgot before I put them in the marinade.  I mixed about a 1/3 cup of mustard, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup of mayo, and onion powder (One recipe called for onion flakes but I didn't have any).  I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and about 1/4 cup of the honey mustard sauce.  In the meantime I cooked the bacon in a pan.  took it out and drained it.  I added the mushrooms and cooked them in the bacon drippings.  Then I added the chicken and cooked it about 5 minutes per side.  The chicken wasn't quite done because I forgot to flatten it in the beginning, so I finished it in the oven with more of the sauce on it.  About 10 minutes at 350.  I took it out and layered the mushrooms, bacon, and cheese on top and put it back in the oven to melt the cheese.  It was very good!  I don't think it was as good as Outback, but it will do!  I need to find a really good honey mustard recipe.  That will make all the difference!