School Concert

Last week the girls school had their winter concert; they do grades 1st through 6th and as this was our first experience with this school we were not exactly sure what to expect. The performance was amazing… each grade did a great job and they all sat together and were very well behaved and patient (that is a long time for a 1st grader to sit still). The choir and hand bell choir also preformed which was very fun and with each grade performance there was some kind of performance from that grade level choreographed by upper grades. It was pretty amazing and I am looking forward to next year when both girls will be performing.

This is certainly not the greatest video and I am sad to say I started the video late into the song; the kids did a beautiful job and I have been signing this song ever sense!

Happy Birthday Billy!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Happy Birthday Billy – you have touched my heart in bigger ways then I even thought someone could. I thank God for the gift he has given me in you! I appreciate the love and effort you give for our family each day, for taking each step on this path with us and for us. We love you!!!

Tonights meal

Tonight we had Simple Lasagna.

Simple Lasagna

1lb extra lean ground beef
2-1/2c mozzarella cheese, divided
1 container skim ricotta cheese
1/2c grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/3c fresh parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1c water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Preheat oven to 350
Brown meat
meanwhile, mix 1-1/4c of mozzarella cheese, all the ricotta cheese, 1/4c Parmesan cheese, the parsley and egg until well blended; set aside.
Drain meat, return to skillet, stir in sauce and water.
Spread 1cup of meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9 baking dish; top with layer of 3 uncooked noodles (noodles will expand during cooking).
Spread 1/3 of ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup of meat sauce over noodles.
Repeat 2 times.
Top with 3 remaining noodles and remaining meat sauce.
Sprinkle with remaining 1-1/4cup mozzarella cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
Cover tightly with greased foil.
Bake 45 minutes
Remove foil bake additional 15 minutes.
Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving.

I have to admit, I have never made lasagna, so I have nothing to base “simple” from, but it seemed fairly easy (pre-made this yesterday).

My mom was over so she was able to be a part of our rating which was fun. As the guest, we let her rate first:
Mom - 5 (I made sure she wasn't just "being nice")
Bill - 3
Theresa -4
Sadie - 3.5
Syrah - 3
(rating 1 worst meal, would rather not have it again to 5 being the best meal ever and now on the all time favorite list. A three would be, lets add it to the regular menu).

Both Billy and thought some things could change... I would add some onion and garlic, it also needed more sauce, but overall it was very good and provided us leftovers for lunch!!

A milestone

I just have to share this as I think it is a big deal. Years ago my mom bought this growth chart for the girls. It has been in Syrah’s room and we have been measuring them from time to time (usually with big gaps in between).

The other day I was looking at it while Syrah was getting ready for bed and I thought “so many people have commented on how tall Sadie has gotten – I wonder how much she has grown”. I think when you see your child every day it is hard to see the growth in the same way others see it, however, we have noticed that Sadie’s hugs are different and that she is standing very tall these days. We measure the girls and found that Sadie had hit the FIVE FOOT mark!!!

That is 4.5 inches since February of this year. From 2006 -2008 she grew 4.5 inches - so it’s pretty amazing that she grew that much in 10 months! It sure is fun to watch these girls grow up both physically, emotionally and spiritually!!

two more recipes

This last weekend I was down and out in bed sick. I started to go a little crazy on Sunday night, so I decided I would attempt to make dinner. I made: Meatloaf mini's.

Meatloaf Mini's
1lb extra lean ground beef
1pack stove top stuffing
1c water
3/4c Cheddar Cheese
add options below!

Preheat oven to 375
Mix meat, stuffing mix, water and add-in options
Press into 12 muffin cups (sprayed)
Make an indention in center of each meatloaf with spoon, fill with sauce option
Bake at 375 - 30 minutes or until cooked.
Top with cheese; continue baking 5 minutes or until cheese is melted

Options:
1) add-in: 1tsp garlic power - sauce: 3/4c BBQ sauce
2) add-in: 1tsp Italian seasoning - sauce: 3/4c Spaghetti sauce
3) add-in: 2tsp chili powder - sauce: 3/4c salsa

We made ours with the Italian option (#2) and I do look forward to trying this again with one of the other variations. I have to say that I was glad it turned out as the last time I made meatloaf it ended up in the garbage and the idea of portion control and options within this dish were exciting.

Declaimer on the rating… none of us girls eat much red meat, so this is out of the norm for us to eat. Also, Billy never really enjoyed meatloaf, so again, we are out on a limb. Please keep those things in mind when reading our ratings and know that Billy said the meal was super good as leftovers the following day!

Bill – 3
Theresa – 3
Sadie – 1
Syrah - 2
(rating 1 worst meal, would rather not have it again to 5 being the best meal ever and now on the all time favorite list. A three would be, lets add it to the regular menu).

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Last night we had: Foil pack Taco chicken

4 small boneless chicken breasts
4tsp taco seasoning
1/2lb red potatoes - peeled, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1/2c salsa
3/4c Mexican cheese
1/4c sour cream

Preheat oven to 400
Sprinkle chicken with seasoning
Place 1/2 cup of potatoes on center of 4 large foil sheets (sprayed), top with chicken, salsa & cheese
Wrap foil - leaving room for heat to circulate
Bake 30-35 minutes until chicken is cooked through - remove from oven
Allow to sit 5 minutes after opening foil carefully to allow steam to release.
Serve with sour cream.

This was super easy to prepare and pop in the oven and clean up was a breeze!!! I made two variations to this meal – the recipe as stated above and I made plain chicken (added some garlic) and cheese for the girls.

Bill – 3.5
Theresa – 4
Sadie – 3 (she would have liked it more, but I added too much garlic – she LOVED the potatoes)
Syrah – 3 (she too found it to have too much garlic on it!)
(rating 1 worst meal, would rather not have it again to 5 being the best meal ever and now on the all time favorite list. A three would be, lets add it to the regular menu).

Our Christmas Tree

This week we decorated our Christmas tree. I love this time as our tree is a family tree and we each have ornaments from the years previous. Growing up I was always given an ornament from that year and Billy's family had the same tradition. We give our girls an ornament each year as does a few of their grandparents. We all look forward to pulling out the box and going through the ornaments and reflecting on memories.

This is me passing out ornaments to the girls; we each make piles and then decorate the tree with our own ornaments.

Syrah made this hand print her first year; she was only two months old at the time; it is amazing to see how tiny her little hand was!

Here is Sadie's baby hand print; she was probably only about 6weeks old when she made this. Now her entire baby hand fits in her palm!

Billy and the kids decorating.

Sadie peeking out!

Syrah peeking out. She did great this year with decorating and only needed help on the ones high up!

At the end Dad always puts up the star. This is a new star this year (which I am very excited about), but it has a little heavy!

Before we light the tree up we make hot chocolate and turn off all the lights. I could have sat their for hours!!

Yesterday the girls and I talked about the reason for the Christmas tree. Although we talk about this each year it is a good reminder as to the truth behind all the traditions and can serve as a great history lesson as it still surprises me that the first public tree in American was not seen until around 1912! The greatest truth still remains that this season can easily become about what is under the tree, when really the tree itself and the symbol that it is, is the ultimate gift.

Our girls can DANCE!!!

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