Hippity Hoppity

Happy Day After Easter!  Thought I'd recap our Easter weekend...

{Lots of pictures, sorry!}

• Friday kicked off Spring Break for the boys, but I had to work so Lee was home with the kiddos.  We were having my family over for Easter lunch and my "to do" list was a mile long!  You can imagine my sheer delight when I got home from work and Lee had pretty much cleaned the whole house.  All I had left to do was dust and run around with the glass cleaner.  He is soooo great like that...most of the time I think he would be the better parent to be at home!!  That night he took the big boys to the Carolina baseball game while Hampton and I went to the grocery store. 

• Saturday was the first day in 2 months that we have been HOME all day!  It was wonderful...when the boys woke up we made Resurrection rolls {or "Jesus cinnamon rolls" according to Jackson}.  If you've never heard of these, you can read about them here.  We read part of the Easter story before we started and the rest while our rolls baked.  I love that our boys are at the age that they truly understand when we try these special projects!  During the scripture reading at church on Sunday, Tradd leaned over to me and said, "Mama!  That's our story!"  Love that boy.  Please excuse my appearance in the picture below...Lee had the camera and it was early!  

• The boys spent the rest of the day hiding eggs for each other and playing outside.  I got my food prepped for Sunday, put my flower arrangements together, ironed our Easter clothes, and finished up inside.  Then we all were outside cleaning the porches, picking weeds and playing!  We grilled out steaks and sweet potatoes and went to bed early!  PERFECT DAY.

• Sunday morning we woke up to baskets from the Easter Bunny!  The boys got a movie, a new book, and candy.  Somehow, the EB always brings my favorite candy {Snickers eggs and Reeses Pieces} and leaves them in the boys baskets.  Amazing.   Hampton got new spoons, diaper cream, baby food, and a book.    

• Before we headed to church, we tried to get a few pictures of the boys.  WOW.  I am shocked that we got a good one! It's hard to get all three looking at the camera and smiling, but we did it!  The boys wore a tie for the first time...Lee's mom {Nana} had purchased matching outfits for the boys, including Hampton, but I didn't try H's on in time and the shirt was too big.  I had this sweet hand-me-down outfit from Strausburg that matched perfectly so that's what he wore for his first Easter!   

• After church, my family came over and we ate a delicious lunch.  The boys helped me set the table, they even wrote the placecards themselves!  We had ham, mac and cheese, brown rice, squash casserole, collards, fresh tomatoes, and deviled eggs.   I made Paula Deen's Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.  Google it.  It will change your life.  
• We wrapped up the day by riding over to my Aunt's house to hunt eggs with cousins!  I realized there that we had not taken a family picture so my mom took one for us....not in our Easter best, but that's ok.

• Sunday was also my friend Cindy's birthday.  I am missing her like crazy, but so thankful for the promise that we will be together again one day.  Can you even imagine what Easter is like in heaven?      

a puppy, pox and provisions

1.  I have no idea why the letter P is working it's way into all of my posts (see there it goes again)

2.  Last Monday Lee came home with a puppy.  This was not something we had planned or prepared for...in fact we haven't even so much as discussed getting another dog since our Max died.  Losing him was more painful than we expected and I remember saying that I didn't care that we ever had another dog because it was just setting us up for loss.  We still have our other schnauzer, Molly, who is one of Max's puppies.  Lee and I got Molly as soon as she could leave her mama...I guess you could say she was our only "little girl!"  Until now.... 

Introducing 'Mae' 

       3.  Last Wednesday, Lee noticed a few bumps on Jackson's back....which led to a thorough inspection that only led to more bumps...we called the nurse, we "Web M.D.'ed" and decided that Jackson either had chicken pox or had gotten into poison ivy or oak.  The chicken pox seemed unlikely due to the fact that he has been vaccinated  and the "poisons" seemed unlikely because it's January.  A quick trip to the doc the next day revealed that it was CHICKEN POX!  Come to find out you can still get the pox after being vaccinated, but should have a much milder case, which he did.  He was out of school Thursday and Friday.

4.  During our lunch together Thursday, right out of the blue Jackson says to me,
          "Mom, when I go to heaven I want to help God with the babies."  
          "What do you mean, buddy?" I questioned.
          "I want to bring them from up there {points to sky} into peoples bellies."  

    I was speechless.  Not only does this precious child already know that he's going to heaven, he already knows what job he wants to ask for.

5.  Last week our new recipe to try came from the website Annie's Eats...It was delicious Chicken Gyros!  I did not go to the trouble of making the tzatziki sauce because it looked pretty involved and we don't love it.  Please TRY THIS and let me know when you do!!!  I could not believe this chicken came from my kitchen it tasted that good!

pictures and a project

Micah and her camera came to the rescue {again} when I found myself out of days to have picture made for Christmas!  It also helps that she's my best friend and loves me....these pictures captured Christmas 2011 for me just perfectly.

While out Christmas shopping with my mom this year, I came across the neatest treat for winter...Hot Chocolate on a Stick!  I immediately purchased the two boxes I found and when I brought them home, the boys loved them! However, at $5 for 3 sticks, that hot cocoa was a little high to become a staple around here!  I started poking around and found several recipes online for making Hot Chocolate on a Stick at home.  As with most crafty/baking ideas that I have, I immediately called Ashley, my future sis-in-law, and we made a date to create!  We used this recipe... Hot Chocolate on a Stick...ENJOY!

 

Prehistoric Pinterest

Before the days of Pinterest, I had to have a way to keep up with all the "inspiration" that I came across in magazines.  I found this cute notebook at Target, loaded it up with some sheet protectors {or "paper condoms" as one of my girlfriends in Junior League called them after seeing my Holiday Market notebook.  I may or may not have a slight obsession with sheet protectors} and started ripping!  I am not a hoarder, so where some people keep volume upon volume of their Southern Living, I just can't do it.  Plus the magazine is just not useful to me if I don't take our the parts that appeal to me.  I look through each magazine a few times, leave it out for a month or so and then comb through it for recipes and house ideas.  

One of my goals for 2012 is to try one new recipe that I have in my notebook each week!  I started this week with Stacked Burrito Pie that I ripped from a magazine called Family Fun at a doctor's office.  I don't typically rip things from other people's magazines because I find it annoying when I try to read an article and half of it's gone!  However, this magazine was completely beat up and after lamenting over to tear or not to tear, I just did it.  And boy, am I glad I did!!  It was amazing and the boys ate it up!  Jackson kept saying, "Mama! I love this stuff!"  

Stacked Burrito Pie

 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup water
• 1 (15 1/2-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 4 (10-inch) flour tortillas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup salsa
• 8 ounces Cheddar or Monterey Jack, grated

Instructions

1. In a large skillet over medium-low heat, warm the oil. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and sauté another minute.
2. Increase the heat to medium, then add the ground beef, chili powder, and cumin. Cook the mixture until the beef is browned and no longer pink, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add the salt, water, black beans, and corn, and bring the mixture to a boil. Allow it to continue boiling, stirring occasionally, until the liquid evaporates, about 20 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool for 10 minutes.
3.  Heat the oven to 350º. Using the rim of a 9-inch springform pan (see "Tools of the Trade" above) as a template, trim 3 of the tortillas to the size of the pan. Leave the fourth tortilla untrimmed. Note: You can also bake this dish in a 9-inch round cake pan and serve it like a lasagna.
4. Butter the bottom and the sides of the pan. Press the untrimmed tortilla evenly into the pan's bottom. Spread 2 tablespoons of the sour cream over the tortilla, followed by 1/4 cup of the salsa. Spoon and spread a quarter of the beef mixture over the salsa, then sprinkle a quarter of the grated cheese evenly over the top.
5.  Place one of the trimmed tortillas on top of the cheese, then repeat the layering of the sour cream, salsa, beef, and cheese. Continue this way until the ingredients and tortillas are used up. You should end up with four layers, topped with the final sprinkling of cheese.
6. Bake the pie until heated through, about 30 minutes. Allow it to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the rim from the springform pan, if you used one. Slice the pie into wedges using a sharp knife. Serves 10.

Nutritional Information:

Per serving (10 servings per pie):
Calories 363
Total Fat 18 g (28% DV)
Saturated Fat 8 g (40% DV)
Cholesterol 48 mg (16% DV)
Sodium 766 mg (32% DV)
Total Carbohydrate 31 g (10% DV)
Fiber 4 g (17% DV)
Sugars 4 g
Protein 19 g (37% DV)
Calcium (21% DV) 

**Just a note- I changed this recipe to use what I had on hand...I used Jennie O ground turkey instead of ground beef, olive oil, and fat free sour cream.  I also mixed the sour cream and salsa together.  Next time I will also use whole wheat tortillas, but used flour this time because it's what I already had in the fridge!

                          ENJOY!