Random Catch Up!

Well, school has begun! I now have 2 in middle school (this starts in 5th grade for South Bend Community Schools) and a Kindergartener! Time has flown this Summer! And here is the recap!

For 8 weeks I was part of a wonderfully fabulous camp called RECESS! It is a summer day camp that our church, Living Stones Church, puts on for the apartment complex that is up the street and them Elemantary school. It was a blast! I worked with children that are going into Kindergarten and First Grade- they were a great bunch of kids! I grew to love every single one of them! We did all kinds of crafts, science projects, played games (favorite of mine was Silent Ball), and played in the water. We even took field trips! Swimming at a local pool, bowling, WNDU Weather Center, and Coveleski Stadium! These were a lot of fun. At the weather station we got to play in front of the Green Screen! Those were a great 8 weeks, even though it was HOT!

Tate is still coaching football, but at a different school. He is movin' on up! He is coaching at Clay High School and working mostly with the Freshman team. However, the head coach also has him calling Special Teams for the Varsity! He is so excited and happy! I am still adjusting to the schedule as he is gone from 6:30 in the morning until 9 at night.

With all the kids in school I have gotten my self a part-time gig. I am still doing child care but out side the home. This should help me with getting the house cleaned up (yeah, right). I have also committed myself to helping out at Ellyn's school one day a week. I am hoping to find a day to help at the middle school too, but need to take it slow.

I am also keeping my self busy with yarn! I completed 2 vests in the last 5 months or so and am now working on a sweater for myself. The vests were the first things that I have ever been paid to make! I was honored and excited to finish them- they turned out really good! Here is a picture of one of the vests.

I am going to try to keep up with this more since every one is at school and I will have just a little time to my self!

Is it a Cookie or a Brownie?

I think that these might be the death of any diet if you are on one! One of the girls at our 4th grade youth group was talking about these and I figured, why not make them to celebrate Rebekah's birthday! All I can say is that they are AWESOME!


You start with chocolate chip cookie dough (I made mine from scratch, you can use refrigerator dough if you like) 

On top of the cookie you place either a peanut butter cup or an Oreo.

Top that with brownie batter and bake at 350 for about 18 minutes!

 

And this is what you get! 

I like them both, so I can't tell you which one I prefer! They are both creamy and rich. The Oreo even gets soft, so don't expect any crunch to it. 

I hope that you enjoy!

Asparagus!

Asparagus is one of those veggies that I only ever really steam. But, I found this really good recipe that I wanted to try so, I did! And every one loved it! It is called Baked Asparagus Fries.  You can find the recipe here Baked Asparagus Fries. 

I did have to tweak things just a bit as I did not have panko bread crumbs or almonds. Instead I used Sea Salt and Black Pepper croutons that I crushed in the blender. I did not make any of the sauces that are on the web site- we will save that for another day!

For the main dish I made pork loin chops with sage and apples. This is one that I jut threw together thanks to an idea from my friend Jessica! I sprinkled ground sage on the chops and then sliced apples to put on top, Tate thought that I was making a pie...they were good too!

 Enjoy the pics of the girls enjoying!

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole

"Oh, oh, oh- this is good!" - Tate
"Awesome." - Virginia
"Yummy." - Rebekah
Ellyn just agreed with everyone. 

So, I have found another good one! Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole. You can find the recipe here.

Thanks Pinterest! 

 I used a Basil & Garlic spaghetti sauce for mine, I like the way it makes it a little sweeter. I also used a full 16 ounces of spaghetti. Next time I would add a couple more ounces of cream cheese (I would also cube it, so that it melts a bit better) and a tad more sauce. I also used Parmesan cheese out of the jar- because that is what I had on hand, I am sure that it is even better with some fresh grated on top.

If you are a pasta lover like this family I suggest that you give this a try!

Challenge to Myself

I am going to give myself a little challenge. A Food Challenge to be exact. You see, there is this site called www.pinterest.com. It is filled with so many things ranging from recipes to home improvement! I love it! So, what I want to do is try at least one new recipe that I find on there at least once a week if not more.

Today I want to tell you about a dish that we have already enjoyed twice! We love Monkey Bread! With that said there is this really good variation out there called Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring. You can find the recipe here.

I have been bad about taking pictures of my food, and I promise to get better at it!

For Easter I decorated cupcakes- they were inspired by Pinterest too, and I DID take pictures of those!

 Yes, this is a bunny with no eyes, I forgot to make a color for them, so I only made one.

My Bunny Buns cupcakes!

Here We Go!

I have been gone awhile once again. Last night at a meeting we were talking about blogs, and I realized that I needed to get back in the game- so, here I am! I didn't want my first blog back to be about random thoughts, so we are going to talk about food! One of my favorite things!
Last summer I was on a burger kick and blogged about all the different ones we were making- some were really good and we will have them again this summer. But, for now we are still on comfort foods, seeing as the weather cannot make up its mind as to if it is Winter, Spring or Summer. I am hoping that we are heading the right direction now, 59 degrees ans sunny today.
I joined Pinterest.com a couple of months ago and have found some things that have been pretty good. One dish I made last night, Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken. You can get the Recipe here: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/01/slow-cooker-honey-sesame-chicken-recipe.html

It was pretty good, and very easy to make. The kids and Tate really enjoyed it. I on the other hand thought it could have been better. I think there was too much soy sauce, I will make it again and cut back on the soy sauce. Unfortunately I did not think about taking pictures. I am glad that everyone enjoyed it!

Growing up

My sweet girl Ellyn is growing up. She has been asking for the past couple of weeks to get her ears pierced. Well, today was the day, we did it. I told her that it was going to hurt. She said okay. I asked her if she really still wanted to get them done. The answer, yes. She cried. It took us a couple of minutes to get her to let us do the other ear, but she did it.

Just a Minute

I am taking just a minute to write a little. We have had a busy few weeks. Nothing much, just Girl Scouts, Youth Groups and Adult Group training. And that is just the beginning, as February starts back up all of our after school activities!

Well, if you look back at my last post I was talking about Virginia and how she has grown and how she was asked to dance by a boy at school. Well, he has been wooing her. And this week asked her to be his girl friend. Oh My! Well, she said yes. I guess that we will be having a talk about what it appropriate behavior....

I am going to try to post a bit more often. I was asked this week if I blog about my yarn projects. Well, really I don't. But, I think that I may start. It would be a great practice for me to start. So, we will see.

Well, tomorrow is a big day as I have a new baby that I will be watching! God continues to show me where I am needed, and it makes me happy!