Tuesday, March 24, 2015

CRHP Breakfast

My CRHP (Christ Renews His Parish) Group has been getting together the first Saturday of the month for almost two years ago. We attended the weekend retreat together in April 2008 and continue to see each other to catch up and offer prayers to one another. 
March was my turn to host the breakfast after Mass. I perused Pinterest in hopes of finding a delicious, yet super easy recipe for a breakfast casserole. I used this one and will use it again. This was ridiculously easy and even I couldn't mess it up.

I started with biscuits on the bottom.
I added cooked breakfast sausage and cheddar and mozzarella cheese on top of the sausage.
I poured 8 beaten eggs with salt and pepper on top before putting it in the oven for thirty minutes.
The finished product. There was plenty of leftovers for the hungry boys in my house.
I got my pretty coffee mugs and sugar bowl, from my Meme's house, out for the breakfast.
I also made twisted cinnamon rolls (from a can) and displayed them on my pretty stand that I rarely use.
I forgot to take a few pictures of the ladies who came to my house. It was nice to chat with them and see how they are doing. They are such a caring and sweet group of women. We've been together through many trials and tribulations and always find a way to lift one another up. I look forward to many more first Saturdays with these ladies.


Sunday, March 15, 2015

Snow Days

We had three snow days this year. The first two were mainly ice, but the third day we got real snow.
He was mesmerized by the ice and was ready to go play in it.
The first snow day, I took Eli out with the dogs. He loved it, despite frequently falling down on the ice.
Giving me a frozen smile
Selfie with my little guy
He loved eating the ice
 Here's a video of Eli eating the ice.
  We bundled up and walked to my mom's house. We looked silly bundled up.
 
 Our house on snow day #1
The next snow day was a lot colder. We bundled him up like Randy from A Christmas Story. He lost his mittens so we put baby leggings on his hands/arms.
The Lytles picked us up and we headed to my parent's to slide down their hill.
Eli peering into the distance.
The kiddos loved being pulled on the boogie boards in anticipation for our beach vacation in Florida this summer.
They were ready to go!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Perot Museum

My sister and I wanted to take the kids somewhere for Spring Break. We thought about the zoo, but the weather didn't look too good for the day we wanted. We decided on the Perot Museum in downtown Dallas. They have a special children's museum on their lower level. The kids had a great time running around, touching/tasting the exhibits, and being a kid.
They sat around a "campfire" to roast their food.
Marley holding the fruits.
This little guy wouldn't stand still because he was too busy playing.
He was playing peek-a-boo with a little girl in the tent.
Love this sweet guy
He started to play peek-a-boo with me
And tasting the tongs that I'm sure every other child had a taste of that day.
Uncle Shelby helped Eli go down the slide.
He loved that slide
This face makes my heart melt.
They played in the farmer's market picking flowers and putting food in their basket.
Rearranging all of the flowers at the flower stand.
We took them to the space part of the museum. Eli was not too enthused about this part.
But, he liked spinning the bowling ball to see what it weighed on each planet.
I think they will enjoy the museum a little better when they're older. We didn't stay long as it was very crowded and we were running into lunch and nap time. Chris met us for lunch and Eli fell asleep before out food made it to the table. I take that as a sign of a good time for Eli.


Meal Prep Party #2

A few posts ago, I talked about going to a Pampered Chef Freezer Meal Party where we created 10 meals to go straight in the freezer for future use. You can read the post here. I'm almost out of all of my meals, which were amazingly good. I decided to host one during Spring Break to create 10 more meals. I had a great turnout of cousins, friends, aunts, and my mom. 
My mom and I went to Sam's the day before and bought all of the meat in bulk as well as the majority of the canned goods to split between us to save money. It was a pretty funny sight to see us trying to cut a huge pork tenderloin and 10lb log of ground beef!It was harder to cut the 5lb block of mozzarella. My wrists still hurt from that.
We got so busy with prepping meals that I only took a few pictures. I chose a kid friendly menu that included more pastas and chicken. In addition to the 10 meals, we also offered another menu that included 4 meals.

My sis prepping sweet potatoes to go into the Kid's Chicken Chili.
My aunt preparing one of the meals.
One of my meals waiting to be sealed for the freezer.
This was really fun and busy. I felt out of breath from prepping and talking so much. I made the Parmesan Garlic Pizza Casserole this week and it was delicious. Eli and Chris ate it up!
It was such a success that I'm thinking about hosting again in a few months with a different menu to try new foods. There are more dinner menus and there is also a dessert menu!!! I can't wait to try them all.

Valentine's Day 2015

Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday this year, so Eli celebrated with his friends at daycare on Friday. I managed to get one pic of us before heading out the door.
He loved wearing his Mickey Mouse shirt, but didn't want to stand long enough to get a good picture by himself.
I procrastinated too long and didn't get Eli new Valentine's cards. These were leftover from last year with puppies and kittens on them. I tossed in a few chocolates in a bag for his friends.
He wanted to show off his shirt before I left for work.
I came home that evening to a beautiful orchid(that I will probably kill with my black thumb) and a teddy bear that Eli claimed in the first few minutes. 
 
On Saturday, Valentine's Day, I had Marley over while her parents were at work. We drove around the farm and headed to Grandad's house to wish him a Happy Valentine's Day.
Grandad was happy to show the kids around, but they thought they were the tour guides.
That evening we went to see Alex Meixner play at the KJT. We had a great time dancing and hanging out. The kids wanted their Poppy to hold them so they could see the band playing.
We couldn't get them to stand still because they were dancing the whole time.
They loved to watch the band and shake their butts.
I love this picture of Eli and his Poppy. At the end of the night Eli didn't want Chris nor I. He only wanted his Poppy.
You can read last year's Valentine's Day here