Happy Birthday to my baby sis!

My little sister, Serena, turned 11 today. My gift to her was a handmedown Coach handbag (a scribble hobo bag) and an awesome birthday cake from Cakes by Combs. Take a look!

Adios Pluggie

The pluggie is NO LONGER IN OUR HOUSE! Thank goodness!

Pluggie is what we call the pacifier. Evan was hooked. Earl and I said we would take it away when he turned 2 and that didn't happen. On Thursday, I hid it and Evan asked for it a few times before his nap. I told him we gave it to the babies at the garage sale (we went to garage sales that morning). After his nap, he came into the kitchen, where I was washing dishes. He goes "MOMMY, I found it!!!" and started pointing to the counter. It was his pacifier. At first I thought "Oh shit! I didn't hide it good enough." It was time to leave to my mom's house, so I side tracked him and we left, sans pluggie. He has NOT asked for it since then. I'm SO happy about it. I didn't want him to use it for so long. But it's gone and I'm so happy he didn't have really bad withdraws (I watched some videos on You Tube of babies having huge fits over it.)

Next up-- potty training!!! Wish us luck!

Adios pluggie!

(This was from last summer. I couldn't find a recent pic w/the pluggie).

From tonight...

Nanny's Soup

Earl's grandma (Nanny) has been making this soup, probably since before Earl was born. :) I've made it once or twice. I made it again tonight. I had a small bowl and it was delish! It always tastes better the next day. Not sure why. :)

Nanny's Soup

1 lb. ground beef (leanest available)
4 celery sticks, diced
3 small potatoes, diced
1 small white onion, diced
1 can corn
1 can peas
1 can sliced carrots
salt/pepper
1 large can tomato juice

Brown the beef, add rest of ingredients and boil. Then simmer on low for 45 minutes to an hour.

Chicken & Black Bean Enchilada Bake

This is one of our favorite's, so I thought I'd share. I got the recipe from a friend and later found it on allrecipes.com. :) I modified it this time, by adding a can of corn. I think I like it better this way. It's a more filling. I also add more cilantro, only because I loooovvvvveeeee it! The recipe calls for coriander, which I've never used, only because I don't have it and I've never seen it the store (or it was just too darn expensive!). Last time I made it, I grilled the chicken on our gas grill, with cumin and salt/pepper. I wanted to do it again (because the chicken tastes extra good), but we need propane, so I just used a skillet this time.


Chicken & Black Bean Enchilada Bake

2 cups diced chicken breast
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground coriander
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1 (15 oz.) can black beans (rinsed and drain)
1 (4.5 oz.) can diced green chile peppers, drained (I just realized I never drain them....)
1 (10 oz.) can red enchilada sauce
8 (6") corn tortillas
2 c. shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 (8 oz) container of sour cream (I never add this, we just add a dolop of Daisy (light) prior to digging in)

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and spray with vegetable cooking spray. Saute chicken with cumin and coriander until chicken is cooked through. Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in cilantro, black beans, and green chile peppers.

Spread half of the enchilada sauce over the bottom of a 11x7 baking dish. Place 4 tortillas over the sauce, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half of the chicken mixture over the tortillas and sprinkle with half of the cheese and half of the sour cream (I don't add sour cream). Spoon the remaining enchilada sauce over the cheese and make another layer of tortillas. Layer the remaining chicken mixture over the tortillas. Cover with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and sprinkle remaining cheese on top and dot with sour cream. Continue cooking, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes or until cheese melts. Let stand for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

64-0!!!

For our 4 year anniversary, I gave Earl 2 tickets to the OU home opener. Of course he had to bring me. J I’ve never been to a home game before, so I was super excited, as was he. We brought my little sister and little brother along. Evan stayed with my mom. Jason (brother) has a Marriott employee card (doesn’t work for Marriott…lol...don’t ask), so we were able to stay at the Residence Inn Bricktown for $45 a night (others had to pay $179 a night…gotta love good deals!) Anyway, we left KC Friday morning, super early, so we could explore town on Friday, before going to the Big Red Rally. We walked around Campus Corner (restaurants and shops) and I loved being able to see everything OU. OU bikes, OU socks, OU mugs, OU clothes, OU flags, etc. Loved it! So we loaded up on OU gear. Evan got a new jersey and other cool stuff. I got clothes, a throw and this cool sign for our yard (please don’t steal it neighborhood people) and Earl got shirts. We walked around the OU campus and then went to the Big Red Rally. It was fun! We got there early and sat in the front row! We were able to get an awesome video of Bob Stoops. J That night we went to Tapwerks at Bricktown. Lots of beer options. I even had one and I hate beer haha

Saturday we went to the mall and got more OU stuff. We even saw Quinten Griffin at an OU store. Earl was going to snap a picture with him, but when we got back, he was gone. Boo! (Sorry hun, my fault for trying to find that shirt on sale lol). We went back to the hotel and got ready for the game. The weather was kind of gross. There were light sprinkles, which we figured would stop. Nope, not the case. We stopped at Walmart on our way to Norman, to get ponchos. Sold out! I was getting frustrated with the weather and wasn’t happy that we would get poured on w/o ponchos. We parked and took a shuttle to the stadium. Then we walked to the Sooner Club Tailgate. We purchased the tailgate wristbands for $15 each. Best deal ever! We got all you care to eat food and beer/wine/tea, whatever…so cheap! Afterwards, we entered the stadium and I spotted people at a souvenir stand, buying PONCHO’s! So of course I had to drag Earl over there. We put our ponchos on and went to find our seats. What an awesome view. We always sit in the end zone, which is fine by us. The rain never stopped, so we didn’t get many pics (camera actually got some water damage…oops!). But the game was good. We won. J

We’re now on our way home to KC. Can’t wait to see Evan and watch the 49ers! J Earl and I had SO much fun at the game, that we plan to go back for another home game. Hopefully against Baylor or A&M.

Tickets and wristbands for the tailgate (food and beer included!)
Walking around campus

Big Red Rally

The tailgate & game

Choo-Choo!

On Sunday, Earl and I took Evan, my little sister (Serena), and my little brother (Caleb), to ride a train. We went to the Belton, Grandview and Kansas City Railroad, located in downtown Belton. (Thank you Entertainment book for the BOGO coupon!) They charge $8.50 per person (2 and under are free). Which is kind of high, if you ask me, especially since it was only 45 minutes (round trip). (You can go to the zoo for a few dollars more and stay all day!)

Anyway, when we first got there, Evan was seemed a little intimidated. We were shocked. Evan loves, loves, LOVES trains, but this was the first time he had been close to one (the one at the zoo doesn't count...). We bought our tickets and went to board the train. Evan was throwing a FIT. He kept saying "No Daddy, NO!" I told Earl to just carry him aboard. After fighting him for a few minutes, we finally got seated. Evan was looking out the window and finally realized that it was OK! We got there kind of early (okay, 30 minutes early), which was a bad idea. Evan and Caleb couldn't keep still.

The train went south of Belton, almost to Peculiar, and then back. It was pretty slow. The kids seemed to love it (but not as much as Earl...jk!).

Here are some pics!

I'm back!

If you read my last blog, then you know that one of my new years resolutions was to keep up this blog. Obviously, since that was my last entry, I didn't keep that resolution. In my defense, life was just SUPER busy. School consumed most of my time and the other time was spent with my family.

So it is now September and a LOT has happened since January. Let's see.....

Evan is now TWO (well, 2 1/2 next month). His birthday was in April and we had a Diego themed party at home. I wish his birthday was in May, or a warmer month, where we could actually plan an outdoor/park, kind of party. We'll have to remember to time it right for our next one. :) He has grown a lot. He is just under 30 pounds now and about 36" tall.

School is now OVER! I graduated in August. I am still looking for a job, but hopefully I will know something in the next few weeks. I am also studying for NCLEX, which I take at the first of next month. Super nervous about it......

Earl was promoted back in the spring. He is still at Farmer's and is now in the special investigators unit. So proud of him. :)

We're still living in Grandview. It's nice to be a block from my family, but it's time to go. This house, this neighborhood-- all driving us nuts. We're hoping to be in south Lee's Summit by February.

Ok, that's all for now. I will have more posts. I promise. :)