What We've Been Up To...

How about a few high quality iPhone pictures to show you...

I made my little man a jar of hearts. 

 Its a cute little decoration for Valentines Day and a fun game of dump and fill for him.

I am obsessed with felt lately!

Valentines Cards for Daddy and to mail to our Grammie and Pops in Arkansas.

Valentines for our cousins went out in the mail last week.  We miss them all so much!

I could not resist including both of these.  I gave my guys their Valentines treats Saturday morning.  The 3 of us don't wake up at the same time during the week and I wanted gifts followed by breakfast.  They had both just woken up, but check out our little guys face in the first picture... melt my heart... and I like how it looks like they were both showing off their treats in the second.  Total fluke cause my little guy was probably trying to rip open his newest chugger.

(Notice the Hubby's new chalkboard heart coffee mug in the bottom.... I was gonna make, but Target sold them, so we both got one:)

My man working hard in the garage on a wedding present for some of our favorite folks.

A homemade dirty murder board.  My husbands family plays this game and all have homemade boards either from his Grandpa, or from his Dad. 

 We have our friends, Samantha & Tucker, play with us when they come over and they requested one of their own... They will be tying the knot on 3/3/12 (notice the adorable dice placement).  We are so excited and happy for them and hope they enjoy their board and always have fun together:)

Their present kicked off our Dirty Murder Dinner Party.  Four couples.  A couple kiddos running around and some amazing food... check out the birthday boys steaks.  Mr. Jefferson makes an ah-maz-zing steak.   

and my new favorite go to dessert for a group.... Rolo Brownie Bites with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting from Cook Lisa Cook.  Make them.  You will love them.

and a night cap with Lucas... he would be very unhappy with me calling him that and quickly tell me "I am not Lucas"... one of our best buddies and our neighborhood super hero!

A few highlights from our month thus far.  I have been cooking up a storm too... More to come!

Thursday Night=Date Night

 

We were slow to start this, but better late than never.
 The Hubby implemented date night a few months ago. 
Being parents is the biggest blessing of our lives, but being grown ups, adult conversation, dressing up, and a trustworthy amazing babysitter make for a nice few hours a few times a month. 
(We tried for every Thursday originally, but its unrealistic at this stage of work and one year old, so we try for any Thursday that works out... usually about twice a month)
We rarely do movies, because you cant talk, I like to talk, but I have had movie gift certificates since my birthday (last April) so probably time to use them, right??
{Cheese and Sprinkles will you count the commas in that sentence... Did I teach high school English?  I wonder if they are used correctly?  I don't care, but I will text MJB and get a grammar check... She likes stuff like this}

So I won a bet... The Hubby loves a wager... I usually win!  I don't know why he keeps betting me!  I recently beat him in our College Bowl Game Pick Em and got a weeks worth of foot rubs.  The most recent win got me this movie pick, and anyone who knows me knows the following
1.  I love numbered lists
2.  I am a sucker for a feel good/grown up Disney type movie/animal movie
3.  By feel good I know I will cry, several times, but I love creatures...


Happy Thursday Peeps
Love, The Mom

Chicken Gnocchi Soup (AKA Annie Oakley Soup)

Sunday Night Soup... Perfect!

I may never want a chicken noodle soup again.  We made this... We were licking the bowl.  We even brought our super cool neighbors some big bowls of it.  They didn't know what I was talking about when I offered some hot Chicken Gnocchi soup... The husband called it Annie Oakley soup:)  Why not... sounds a lot like it. 

A couple ingredients, a big pot, and voila... You have some serious comfort food.  Even enough to share with your neighbors if you like them as much as we like ours! 

Chicken Gnocchi Soup
originally from AllRecipes

Printable Version

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 (16 ounce) package mini potato gnocchi
• 1 (6 ounce) bag baby spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
• 2 tablespoons cold water (optional)
• 2 cups half-and-half cream
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook onion, celery, garlic, and carrots in the hot oil until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in shredded chicken and chicken broth; bring to a simmer.               

Stir gnocchi into the simmering soup and cook until they begin to float, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in spinach; cook until wilted, about 3 additional minutes.               

Whisk cornstarch into cold water until smooth. Stir cornstarch mixture and half-and-half into simmering soup. Cook until soup thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.        

       

Enjoy:)

The Mom

Baked Chicken Taquitos

I made taquitos last night for dinner.  It was a super quick and easy recipe I found on pinterest, of course, originally from Our Best Bites.  They have some really yummy stuff over there.  They came together in no time (especially since I had bought and shredded the rotisserie chicken the night before).  The Hubby has already requested them for a football game... I guess the Superbowl since its the last one... tears!  I served with Mahatma yellow rice because I serve that with anything I make that is remotely resembling Mexican food.  We love it... Its always in stock at our house.  Saffron... yum!  I agree with Gusteau.  (does anyone with a little person understand that reference?  its what is playing in the car these days)

So if you are in the mood:

Baked Chicken Taquitos
originally from Our Best Bites

Printable Version

Ingredients

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder (we used fresh minced garlic)
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (we used shredded rotisserie chicken)

1 C grated pepper jack cheese

small flour tortillas (we ended up with 11)

kosher salt
cooking spray

Directions
Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir.

Add salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.
Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown

Enjoy:)

The Mom

Little Library

I have been so excited about this project.  Sometimes its just random things to make you smile.  This past weekend the Hubby and I put our little brains together and made something for our Little Mans new playroom.  We have books everywhere.  We needed some more book storage and we wanted a good place for books that was easily accessible to little hands.  Isn't that spot perfect.  Its a very useless space in the former guestroom turned playroom.  A little chunk of wall between the door and the closet. 

I found tons of ideas on pinterest.  We don't have an ikea and my dear friend looked when she was close to one... no dice on the cheapo spice racks.  So along the same lines, but different, and then I saw this tutorial on Helping Little Hands.  Perfect.  We followed the tutorial, but improvised a little based on what we wanted and needed. 

We are so pleased with how they turned out, and our Little Man seems to be too...

So the short and sweet of what we did for our shelves.  We read the tutorial above.  We went to Lowes.  We bought the following:

two 1x4x8 boards (for back and bottom)

one 1x2x8 board (for front ledge)

wood glue

1 1/2 inch wood screws (we used 16 to screw boards together)

2 1/2 inch wood screws (we used 8 to put shelves into studs in wall)

white paint and primer in one

Materials we had on hand:

saw

stud finder

sand paper

putty

laser level

I decided I wanted four shelves that were each 18 inches long which worked perfectly to make four shelves our of just the three boards.

The hubby measured and cut the wood.  Then he put all his pieces together.  We decided to secure the back board and the front board to the bottom board so we had the maximum space for books.  (This differs from the tutorial we read). 

 The Hubby then applied wood glue to all pieces and used the 1 1/2 inch wood screws to attach the pieces together.  After doing this to each shelf he puttied over the screw holes and sanded the boards down just a bit so they wouldn't be too rough.  Then they got some paint.  He gave each shelf two good coats and let them dry out in between.  (If you want them very smooth, from what I read researching, sand them down very well before and in between coats)  When they were all dry we got to work figuring out exactly how we wanted them hung.

After laying them out on the floor with a tape measure and some test books (I used the tallest book we had when measuring) I decided I wanted them hung with 12 inch spaces in between (12 inches from top of one shelf to bottom of other). 

The Hubby used his stud finder so we could guarantee each shelf was screwed into studs in two different locations (no anchors needed for us).  We decided to start with the bottom shelf.  We used two 2 1/2 inch screws per shelf.  We didn't want it hung low enough that he could step on it for safety reasons and we had an outlet underneath so we hung the lowest shelf right above that outlet.  The Hubby used a laser level and measuring tape for this process.  After the shelves were hung The Hubby puttied over the screws that went into wall and touched up paint over putty. 

This is the finished product!  We Love Them! 

**I say we a lot in this post.  I had the idea and did some directing (General Lee), but The Hubby did all the manual labor and pretty much all the work.  How blessed are we to have a Husband and Daddy that is a very handy man:)  Thanks babe**

Sixteen Months

 

 

 

The best sixteen months of our lives. 

(thanks Haute Photography)

1/14/2012

Its Saturday.  I was thinking about all of my blessings big and small just now.  Here are a few of them.  Just little things that make my day.

Things that I love less than God, My Hubby, My Little Guy, Family and Friends, but a lot:

coffee w/ Italian Sweet Cream creamer

the beach

mint tea w/ honey

Jeremiah 29:11

Bones (the show)

pretty green grass

white lillies

California Baby Soap

new recipes

organizing

To Kill A Mockingbird

my Grandmother's cabbage rolls

holding hands with My Hubby

sorbet (especially Mango)

rocking my baby

downtown Little Rock, AR

my bed

Smith's minted rose lip balm

daily devotional

nap time

instagram

when every piece of laundry is done

pretzels and french onion dip