Sweet little Anna

Jason took some great pictures of Anna Catherine this evening. I had to stop by & share my favorite!

Job duties

I've really enjoyed being a stay at home mom these last few months. I thought I was doing a pretty good job, too...until this morning. Joey asked me before school why I do so much housework. I thought he was impressed with how great I was doing. When I asked what he meant, he said I was always so busy doing chores that I don't play with them. He thought I was not working so I could spend more time with them. Ouch. I guess I was so busy trying to be Suzy Homemaker that I forgot my real purpose & job duties. I remember being a little kid & wanting my mom to color with me, so Joey's request really hit home. I've heard that you'll never regret playing with your kids. Looks like I need to realign my priorities to play with the boys after school. I guess whatever housework isn't done by then can just wait. Pretty soon those sweet boys will be too old to want to play with me, so I better enjoy them now!

I have lost my marbles...

Catchy title huh? In this case me losing my marbles is a good thing. I saw a super cute idea on Pinterest of having 2 jars (or in my case bowls) - one contains a marble for each pound I want to lose & the other contains a marble for each pound I have lost. I started with 35 marbles in 1 bowl & none in the other. The "pounds to lose" bowl is now down to 32 marbles! I'm hoping the visual picture of what I've done helps me stick with it. Right next to my bowls are my wedding rings, which I currently can't wear. If they don't fit by June I will have them resized. Fingers don't always react as expected to weight loss, but I'd rather wait just in case.

PS-the boys have offered to loan me some marbles for when I gain weight...

Santa Fe chicken

Tonight I made a new recipe I found on Pinterest. I was pretty nervous but it turned out GREAT! I modified the recipe a bit, so I'm gonna post the recipe I used, not the original. Below I've got a picture of it still in the crockpot.

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 can original Rotels
1 can chicken broth
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 t garlic
1 T butter
1/2 T Cayenne pepper
Tony's seasoning to taste
1 t Garlic powder
1 t Onion powder

Melt the butter in a small skillet. Sauté the onion & garlic. Mix all ingredients except chicken in the crockpot. Season the raw chicken heavily on both sides with Tony's & place on top. Cook for several hours. Shred chicken & return to crockpot before serving over rice.

It was pretty spicy to me but Jason loves spicy. We both really enjoyed our new meal!

Happy Love Day!

Happy early Valentine's Day! I just wanted to stop in really fast to share the valentine I made for my sweetheart this year. I made it using a free svg from Jin at Under the Cherry Tree. Enjoy tomorrow with that special someone & I hope you get lots of chocolate!

My new notebook

I've had an idea I've been thinking about for quite a while now. I wanted to use my bind-it-all to make a notebook. You can buy notebooks from snapfish with a picture on them, but I'm way too cheap for that. I managed to make my notebook with supplies I had on hand! I started with a bible background, added a picture & bible verse, then printed it. Here are some pictures of my new notebook :)

Beef stew

My Thursday night stew with potatoes & carrots was so delicious! Jason & the boys had homemade pepperoni pizzas, which I helped the boys make. They loved making their own pizzas. Here's a picture of my yummy stew.

First you make a roux...

I'm working on tonight's yummy dinner, but it's kinda hard to make gravy when Anna Catherine won't stay where I leave her anymore!

Dinner was a success!

Earlier today I worked on one of Jason's special meals for dinner tonight--sauce picante. It's a tomato based stew served over rice. You can see a picture below before putting it on the rice. I also took a picture of Jason's plate. He scraped it clean! I'm glad he enjoyed it & hope to keep surprising him with my kitchen skills :)

I am NOT the worst cook in America!

The other day my boys saw a commercial for a cooking reality show called Worst Cook in America (or America's Worst Cook, I can't remember). They thought I should definitely try out for that show. It has been years since I have cooked on a regular basis. Jason loves to cook & he's good at it. Here lately my kitchen creations have been not so great. I have decided to redeem myself one meal at a time. Last night I made chicken tortilla rollups with chips & rotel dip. Today for lunch I made BBQ chicken (homemade sauce!), potato salad (I'm good at this), & baked beans (from a can). It is all so delicious! I'm adding a picture of my plate at the bottom. The boys also thought I should be on Biggest Loser--aren't they so sweet?! I'm hoping eating a bigger lunch will keep me from snacking as much in the evening. My friend & I are walking 2-3 miles each morning so by the afternoon I am starving. Yesterday I ate 2 small oranges & a banana but was still hungry. Anyway, enough rambling for now. I'm cooking up a special supper for Jason & it needs a little attention. Be sure to check back soon to see what it is!