Good Recipes

I made the following two recipes today - I feel bad always making Steve and Bret eat pizza when he comes up here so I promised to actually make a meal today. It turned out really good and was enjoyed by all! 

Mexican Style Lasagna 

1-1/2 lb. ground beef

1/4 lb.  (4 oz.) VELVEETA Mexican Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut up

3/4 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Medium Salsa

6   TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Flour Tortillas

1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheese

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Brown meat in large skillet; drain. Add 1/4 cup water and Mexican VELVEETA; stir until VELVEETA is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in salsa.

SPRAY 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/4 of the meat mixture into dish; top with 2 tortillas. Repeat layers 2 times. Top with remaining meat mixture; sprinkle with shredded cheese. Cover tightly with foil.

BAKE 30 minutes. Remove foil. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

I also added a package of frozen sweet corn. I think that I may try it with refried beans or black beans sometime as well. That's why I love recipes like this - you can add as much stuff as you like!

Peanut Blossoms

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2/3 cup  peanut butter

2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided

1/3 cup  firmly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp.  milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1-1/2 cups  flour

1 tsp.  baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

48   Hershey kisses, unwrapped

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Beat butter, peanut butter, 1/3 cup of the granulated sugar and the brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat until well blended. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended after each addition.

SHAPE dough into 48 balls, each about 1 inch in diameter; roll in remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Place, 2 inches apart, on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE 9 to 10 min. or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate piece into center of each cookie. (Cookie will crack slightly around edge.) Cool on baking sheets 1 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Grace loved to help by unwrapping the kisses. :) 

Hurrah for Snow Days!

I'm not sure how much snow we got but it was enough to cancel school today! Steve had a 2 hour delay but didn't end up canceling. Grace loved the snow and didn't mind being bundled up. We attempted to make a mini snowman but the snow was pretty fluffy and didn't pack well. You can see our feeble attempt above. :) 

Random Thoughts

We put the Christmas tree up last week. It was fun having Grace help with the decorations. She kept grabbing the ornaments and saying "ball." We bought her a Smores baby's first Christmas ornament last year and have decided to get her a new ornament every year. This is a tradition that my mom started and I am excited to keep it going with my kids as well. 

David and Sara got this cute little card table and chairs for Grace (they also got a set for their girls and Benjamin). Steve and I pulled it out this week and we are glad we did! Grace loves to sit at it and color. It's also nice because the little chairs lock so they don't fold in on the kids if they sit back too far. I couldn't find this exact set online (I'm fairly sure Sara said she got it at Big Lots) but I found a similar one at Amazon. 

Here is Grace sporting her new shoes that Eben and Jill got her for her birthday! I love them as does she! :)

I was told about a website called Free Rice from a friend at work today. You can go there and answer trivia questions (choosing from categories such as Art, Chemistry, English, Geography, Language and Math). For each question you answer correctly they donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help feed the hungry. It adds up quickly! If you are a nerd like me and like trivia you should give it a try. :)

Steve and I are on day 10 of the Love Dare. Jill and Eben got a copy of the book for Mom and Dad, David and Sara, Steve and I, and themselves. We are really enjoying reading it together and completing the dares each day.

Lucky Lady

I just had to brag for a little bit - Steve got cancelled today because of icy roads so he got to stay home with Grace all day (I have to admit I was a bit jealous). When I walked in the door tonight he had supper on the stove ready to go, the kitchen had been swept and the living room was vacuumed. He also does the majority of the laundry...should I keep going or are you already nauseous? :) I just wanted to acknowledge all that Steve does - I probably don't vocalize my appreciation as often as I should. I am lucky to have such a hands-on husband!  

Benjamin's Birthday!

We went to Jill and Eben's over Thanksgiving break. It was fun to all be together - the cousins enjoyed playing with each other. Of course the highlight was celebrating Benjamin's first birthday! I think it's safe to say he likes chocolate cake. :) Thank you Jill and Eben for hosting us all week!

Tagged from A to Z

I was tagged by my cousin Kristi:

A. Attached or single? Attached to Steve

B. Best friend? Steve & Jill

C. Cake or pie? Cake

D. Day of choice? Saturday

E. Essential item? Skim milk - I probably drink way too much

F. Favorite color? Blue

G. Gummy bears or worms? Bears

H. Home town? West Unity

I. Favorite Indulgence? Oreos

J. January or July? July 

K. Kids? 1 daughter, Grace

L. Leisure activity? Taking a walk or reading a book 

M. Marriage date? May 27, 2006

N. Number of brothers and sisters? 1 brother, David and 1 sister, Jill

O. Oranges or Apples? Apples

P. Phobias? Spiders, and clutter 

Q. Quotes? I can't decide...I like several

R. Reasons to smile? Wonderful family, great friends, snow days (looking forward to snow days more at 24 than I did at 10) :)

S. Season of choice? Fall

T. Tag 5 people: Steph and Jen; Everyone else I know has already been tagged! :)

U. Unknown fact about me? I would love to own a bakery some day

V. Vegetable? Peas and sweet corn

W. Worst habit? Hitting the snooze button

X. Xray or ultrasound? Ultrasound

Y. Your favorite food? Pancakes

Z. Zodiac sign? Capricorn

Uncle Bret Visits

Bret decided to test out Grace's chair...I think it passed inspection. She was also able to rope him into reading to her several times. She was not happy when he left - maybe we can talk him into being our manny (male nanny)?! :)

I bought some triangular crayons (Melissa & Doug) and they are really cool. There's no paper to mess with and it doesn't flake off or anything. She's been busy doodling since we've got them but still is testing the boundaries by putting them in her mouth. I told her that crayons do not go in her mouth and within seconds she looked right at me and stuck one in her mouth - ornery! I took them away which of course went over well (she screamed and cried). I gave her another chance last night and she did much better - I didn't have to take them away. 

Grace's New Chair

Steve and I ordered this chair from LTD for Grace a couple of months ago and have been patiently waiting for it to arrive. It finally came today! It's actually Grace's Christmas present but we figure she doesn't know it's really early. :) She seems to like it and sat in it reading books for quite a while tonight. Steve says I've already created a nerd but I love that she enjoys books so much. :)

Friday Night Fun

This first picture on the left speaks for itself. Grace loves to kiss, feed, pat and sing to her baby. Grace and I had fun with the refrigerator magnets while Steve was taking a nap. :)

Walking Machine

Grace is walking all over the house. She walks most of the time now although she still likes to bear crawl once in a while. She is still in love with her "library" and brings us books to read all the time. She also likes us to chase her into the kitchen and then we run back into the living room and hide and she comes and finds us. She thinks it's hysterical. :) A few new words for the week: popcorn, Stella (our cat), whoa, ow and boom.

I made it through the week of craziness and it went as smoothly as possible. I am officially done with all of my annual IEPs and only have initials (students that are tested and qualify for special education for the first time) for the rest of the year! I also have my homework done and got a huge jump start on my next assignment since I was stuck at school a lot last week. I have a couple more papers to write and then I'll be done until January - yay! 

I also wanted to mention that I found a really neat website called Pandora Radio. You can create your own radio stations based on artists that you like or varieties of music that you like. It's strictly music (no commercials) and best of all...it's free! I listen to it from my computer when I'm doing homework and I use it at school when my kids are journaling or silent reading as background music. Check it out! :)

Commercials

One of our cats, Tess, was hit on the road this weekend. Steve saw it before I did and warned me not to look. He buried her in the field. After he came in I wondered aloud how many cats my Dad has buried in his lifetime (out of love for his daughters, not love for the cats). :) Steve remarked that it's the dads job to take care of those kinds of things and wondered what all he's going to do in the future for his kids. It made me think of these commercials (I hope you enjoy them as much as I do): 

Just Some Random Thoughts

Grace is saying new words daily now. A few days ago she started saying "shoes". I'm surprised that shoes wasn't her first word! :) Also new to the list are Abbey (she saw David and Sara's dog this weekend), Michael (Tad & Glenda Funnell's little guy is at the same babysitter), open, bear and butt. I've suddenly realized I need to revamp how I talk sometimes. Not that I'm walking around swearing or anything, but I also don't want my 15 month old going up to people and saying words like: crap, jerk, skank, moron, etcetera. 

This week is going to be a long week. I have all of my IEPs on Tuesday and then homework due on Wednesday. Amidst this is parent-teacher conferences as well. Needless to say I'm ready for it to be over. The IEP meetings shouldn't be too bad although I'm a little concerned about 2 of them. I need to think of how I'm going to word some of the things I need to tell the parents. Anyway, pray for this week to go well and go FAST! :)

Mouse Droppings

I almost threw up yesterday morning when I opened a drawer in the bathroom and noticed mouse turds dangerously close to our toothbrushes. I then opened all of the drawers and found mouse droppings in a couple other places. Ew ew ew!!! Steve set a few traps in the basement and one in the bathroom. So far we've caught 1. By the way, I immediately threw away all of our toothbrushes and bought new ones which are now kept in their own sealed container. 

Watch Out...She Stings

 

Help Out Steve

Steve got into this business last week and asked me to post a blurb about it in hopes that you will humor him and help him out. He's created a site that you can go to that has numerous stores to shop from online. It's the same stores you usually shop at however you get to them through Steve's site. If you do this then Steve gets commission on the sale and you get a small percentage discount on your purchase. Once you're at the site click on the FHTM Rewards Mall (which is down with all of the small icons). Then click on "click here to sign up." Then click on Join Now. It's completely free and there's no strings attached to join - it just creates a screen name and password for you. Once you've logged in you can browse the stores. There's a ton of the usuals such as: Diapers.com, Kodak Gallery, Old Navy, Target, Kohls, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Bass Pro Shops, Dicks, Dunhams, numerous restaurant gift cards and tons more. You can also book hotel rooms and flights on this sight as well! If you are interested in starting new phone plans or dish network it can be done here too. Again, it would be normal phone plans and dish plans however Steve would get commission and you will get a discount. If you're into the internet and would like to create a site like this to have as your own let Steve know. Thanks for listening to me ramble and feel free to check it out!

This Weekend...

One of the big kids...

Loving Grandpa Chupp!

There's nothing like the smell of fresh, clean babies!

Librarian Grace - She loves her books!

Motor Mouth

Grace will be 15 months old on Sunday, November 2. Here's an update on G. Marie:

New words and phrases Grace is saying:

don't

no-no (one of my least favorites)

all done

boo

baby

night-night

juice

Heidi

apple

nose

more

hat

hot

poop

book

uncle

bottle

up

woof-woof

New things Grace is doing:

blowing kisses

holding, patting, feeding and singing bye-oh-bye-oh to a baby doll

standing up in the middle of a room and walking long distances

sleeping 9-10 hours at a time :) 

stacking things

playing with spoons and dishes

fish face

every animal says "woof woof"

clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth

Latest Hobby

Whenever I am cooking or cleaning in the kitchen Grace takes all of the cans out of the hutch and stacks them as high as she is. Notice the outfit - as soon as I got home from work she had a poop explosion and I didn't think it was worth changing her whole outfit for 3 hours before bath time. Don't worry, I didn't take her out in public looking like this. :) 

Nurse or Bathroom?!

Steve had a great story when he got home from school today!

Student runs up to Steve at the front of the room.

Student (to Steve): I gotta puke!

Steve (to student): Go, go, go!

Student runs to the door, stops, and turns to Steve.

Student (to Steve): NURSE OR BATHROOM?!

Steve (to student): BATHROOM!

Student makes it to bathroom doorway and pukes all over the floor.

Gotta love second grade. 

Beautiful Fall Day

This afternoon Steve and Dad had advocates at church so Mom, Grace, and I decided to take a walk in the woods to the east of our house. We drove the 4-wheeler out (very slowly of course). It was really pretty and the weather was perfect! Our neighbor that owns the woods has made a lot of trails and has even put "faces" on a dozen or so trees for you to find. 

Grandma Chupp and Grace by one of the faces.

Good Recipe

I made this pie a few days ago and it was a nice change from normal pumpkin pie. It's really creamy and tastes more like pudding. It's one of the fastest and easiest recipes ever. :)

Creamy Pumpkin Pie

1/2 cup cold milk

1 package (6 serving size) vanilla instant pudding

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 cup pumpkin

2 1/2 cups whip cream

1 graham cracker crust

In large bowl beat milk, pudding mix and spice for 1 minute. Whisk in pumpkin. Stir in whip cream. Spread in crust. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. Garnish as desired.

Poooop

This morning Grace woke up at 7! She's been sleeping really well lately - usually 8 to 6. She picked a great day to sleep in an extra hour. :) Steve plopped her up on our bed. She was jabbering away and then got really quiet for a little bit. Steve asked her "Grace, do you have to poop?" She looked at him and said "poooop." It was the first time she's ever said that before. I figured she was just mimicking Steve but she actually did poop. Funny how people never give little kids enough credit - they know a lot more than we think!

Grace uses the case of Pepsi for her own personal stool in the kitchen. She stands on it to see out the window (until we catch her) and then sits on it to watch what's going on while I make supper. It must be more fun (or more comfortable) than her actual stool. 

I guess all I can hope for is that Grace and I will wear the same size so that we can share shoes. 

In-Service

I had a teacher in-service all day and during the morning session we had a speaker that did a presentation on autism and Asperger's Syndrome. I've always thought these were really interesting topics. I'm sure most of you have either seen it on the news before or heard about it from someone but I wanted to share this video anyway because I love the story. It makes me cry (tears of joy) every time I watch it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! :)

Busy Weekend

Steve put the swing that Jill and Eben got for Grace up tonight. She loves it! We had fun outside until the yellow-jackets and ladybugs started annoying us. They are my least favorite thing about fall.  

On Saturday Steve went with his Dad, Mom and Bret to the Michigan/Toledo game. I'm glad he got to witness history - the first time in Michigan history that they've lost to a MAC team. :) Grace was happy to see her Uncle Bret, and Grandma & Grandpa Hastings! 

While Steve and his family were at the game, I went with Mom, Dad, David, Sara, and the girls to a pumpkin patch in Napoleon. They had a lot of fun stuff for kids to do. Grace and I and Sara and Morgan rode the train. They also had hayrides, slides, bouncy castles, corn mazes, straw tunnels and lots of other games. It was unbelievably hot for a mid-October day! 

What's That?

I had to write this down before I forget - Steve, Grace, and I were all in the bedroom this morning. Steve was in the process of getting dressed when Grace pointed and said "what's that?" We both lost it when we realized she was pointing at his penis. I wasn't exactly sure what to say so I just told her that it was a penis and only boys have them. Luckily she hasn't figured out how to ask more questions about that kind of stuff yet. I'm definitely not prepared to answer them! :)

I Love Mail

Funny how getting something in the mail can make your day so much brighter. Every day I pick Grace up and when we get home we always walk out and get the mail together. I was already excited because Grace's winter coat and snowsuit we ordered were waiting by the front door. When I opened the mailbox it was overflowing (and none of it was bills)! :) We had a movie from netflix waiting for us and 2 packages...one of the packages was the cards you see below. Jill ordered them for me as an early birthday present. I think they are so cute! The second package was a pair of adorable shoes for Grace (a surprise from Jill). Grace immediately took them out and started trying to put them on. There is a picture of her holding them below. New words that Grace is saying: Jill (first time tonight!), Grandma, Grandpa, yes, no, balloon (getting closer). New things Grace is doing: Her favorite pastime for the last week or so is to sit in her chair and look at her lift-the-flap books. It has provided hours of entertainment lately!

Crazy Hair

Grace's hair is getting a little bit out of control. It's getting longer on the sides and the back but the front is still too short to put up. It doesn't look like a mullet yet because her hair is really curly in the back (thank goodness). The sides always stick out no matter what I do. I've debated cutting it, but I guess in my mind her hair matches her personality...a little nuts (in a good way) and a bit unruly. :) I wouldn't change it for a minute!

Craving Pumpkin Pie

One of my favorite things about this time of year (along with the weather) is pumpkin pie. I was craving it lately so I made one tonight. It turned out so good! Here's the recipe for anyone who is interested.

Pumpkin Pie (Quick and Simple)

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 c. pumpkin

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. white sugar

1/2 t. salt

3/4 c. evaporated milk

1/4 t. ginger

1/2 t. cinnamon

Mix well. Bake for 10 minutes at 450˚ then turn down to 325˚ and bake until done (roughly 40-50 minutes). It also helps if you can cover the crust after the first 10 minutes so it doesn't burn. 

Uncle Bret Visits

Yesterday I took a personal day so Grace and I went to the outlet malls in Angola. We had a lot of fun and got a few things for the colder weather that has shown up so quickly! Bret came up to visit  for the weekend. Steve and Bret are going golfing this morning - probably for the last time this year. It's great that they get to spend some time together! Bret has informed me that he wanted to "make the blog" so here you go Bret. :) We all love it when he comes up to visit! 

On the Move

Steve does this thing where he raises his lips up and plugs his nose with them. It's really gross and it drives me nuts. Guess who else has started doing the exact same thing this week? Grace is also really getting into looking at pictures. She'll point to the pictures on the fridge and say "who's that?" This weekend she said a word that sounded a lot like Benjamin and she also said "Ben-Ben" very clearly a couple of times. Mom was excited because she said "Morgan" when she watched her on Monday (we're still working on the other nieces and nephew!). She's also getting a lot closer to correctly pronouncing Grandma and Grandpa. It sounds more like "Gammah" and "Gampa" for the time being but we are really working on it! She's stubborn as she can be but when she feels like it she will point out her mouth, belly button and nose (usually shoving her finger up her nose instead of just pointing to it).  

Grace has started to take off around here. She's been pulling herself up, walking a few steps, and climbing all over everything forever but she's beginning to walk more. She walks mostly between the couches and chooses to crawl for the longer distances. :) She's really starting to motor.

Something New Every Day

Grace can climb up on the couch without using any toys or pillows now. She's so excited about this new trick! :)

Weekend with the Kio's

What a fun weekend at Jill and Eben's! It was funny to watch Benjamin and Grace play together. Benjamin is all boy and likes to grab and tackle. Grace is all girl and has a definite bubble and needs her personal space. Despite this they played well together and seemed to have a good time. We went for 2 walks on Saturday because it was so beautiful out; we had to take advantage of the wonderful fall weather. We are already looking forward to going back down for Benjamin's birthday over Thanksgiving break!

Can I Help?

Steve was trying to grade papers on the floor before Grace went to bed. I'm not sure if he'll try that again.

On a separate note, I was on my way to pick up Grace after work today and all of a sudden I noticed a huge, black, hairy spider looking at me from the dashboard. After almost putting the car in the ditch I pulled myself together and tried to smash it with a water bottle. It sprinted into a crack and hid. I didn't see it for about a mile and then it peeked at me from a different crack - even closer to me than before! Again, I gathered myself and tried to throw the water bottle at it. Again I failed miserably. It disappeared and I haven't seen it since. If you can't tell, it's still bothering me. I know that tomorrow morning when I get back into the car I will still think about this massive spider and wonder in which crack it's now hiding. Yuck.

Easy Recipe

I made Crock Pot Pizza for lunch today. It's one of Steve's favorite meals and it's really easy to make!

Crock Pot Pizza

1 16 oz. box Rigatoni noodles

2 15 oz. cans pizza sauce

4 c. mozzarella cheese

3 oz. pepperoni slices

8 oz. mushrooms

Cook rigatoni noodles until done. Drain. Layer pizza sauce, rigatoni, pepperoni, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese in crock pot. Layer 3 times. Cook on low for 2-3 hours. 

Of course you can add other toppings and omit some of the above. I love fix-it and forget-it meals. Enjoy!

Stuck

Grace decided to scoot underneath her table and then was ticked off when she couldn't get back out. It was pretty entertaining. She then decided it was safer to crawl on top instead.