Super Sunday And The Superbowl

We had a great time at church yesterday. After an amazing time of worship, our pastor spoke on loving God with ALL our hearts, All our soul, All our minds, and ALL our strength from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. I learned so much from him as he broke down each verse for us! It was a great message and was very convicting! So many times we say we love God with all that we are, but what does that really mean and do we really do it? Ouch!

I just had to take a quick picture of my boys before the football gear came out. I thought they both looked so handsome! And I love Jake's SMILE:)!

Much of our afternoon was spent lounging around and napping. I love a good Sunday afternoon nap. I try to get a little extra rest before another busy school week begins!

After we woke up we took Jake outside to play a little. It was a little chilly, but he never seems to mind. Jake and Daddy played a little football and then got ready for the big game.

I haven't been feeling 100% lately, so the three of us decided to have our own Superbowl party. We grilled out hot dogs and watched the commercials (and the game) in our p.j's!

Matt and I had a little competition going on between the two of us...

Matt won, so unfortunately I owe him a 5 minute foot rub...ugh.

It was back to school today. Mondays are always crazy! All the kids were talking about the game and the commercials too. Yeah!!! for a great weekend and Yeah!!! that I survived another football season!

6 More Weeks Y'all...

Today is Groundhog Day, and just in case we haven't had enough, we can expect winter to be around for 6 more weeks. Ugh. I am such a warm weather girl and can't wait until at least spring.

Good ol' Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning.

Since we have been staying indoors for the past several days I have been busy in the kitchen making some goodies. Here is a great recipe for a quick weeknight dessert. It is a no bake recipe and most of the ingredients are things you probably have around already!

Recipe for Kit Kat Bars

These kit kat bars are supposed to taste like the candy bar Kit Kat bars. They do have the nice chocolatey crunch of a Kit Kat bar, but these kit kat bars have more of a salty-sweet flavor than the candy bar Kit Kat bars. Either way, these kit kat bars are yummy!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
60 buttery crackers, such as Keebler Club Crackers
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1-1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter

Preparation:
Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish. Line with a layer of crackers.

In a small saucepan, bring butter, sugars and milk together to a boil over medium heat. Stir in crushed graham crackers. Let boil 5 minutes.

Pour half of the sugar mixture over the crackers. Cover with another layer of crackers, pressing down lightly. Pour remaining syrup mixture over crackers, smoothing to coat.

Top with a third layer of crackers, pressing lightly.

Place chocolate chips and peanut butter in a microwave-safe dish. Heat on high 30 seconds. Stir and repeat until chips are melted. (Alternatively, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a saucepan over low heat.)

Pour evenly over the top layer of crackers, making sure the crackers are completely covered.

Refrigerate until kit kat bars are firm. Makes 36 kit kat bars.

(recipe from kidscooking.about.com)

Since We've No Place To Go...

Let it snow...Let it snow...Let it snow...

This weekend we have been snowed/iced in. The weather started to get bad Friday night and by the time we woke up on Saturday morning, everything was covered! We got about 3 inches, which was just enough for a little fun!

It was really cold and windy, so we waited until yesterday afternoon to take Jake out.

Matt and Jake trying out the sled. The sidewalk leading up to our house was just the right slope!

I even got in on the action!

We were only out for about 3 minutes before Jake decided that enough was enough. He is like his momma...we are ready for summertime:)!

We came back in and snuggled the rest of the day!

Matt put some chili in the crock pot which was the perfect dinner for a snowy day! He makes great chili and even better cornbread!

Jake ate a whole bowl by himself!
This morning our church was cancelled, so we all slept in! When we finally got up Matt once again hit the kitchen and made pancakes! I love pancakes and his are sooooo good! He even made Jake a special pancake with M&M's in it.

After another snowy day of playing and cleaning inside, we wanted to get some fresh air. Things had warmed up a bit and the snow was beginning to melt. Jake wanted nothing to do with the snow that was left, but as long as he was on the dry sidewalk he was fine...

We loved the snowy, slow paced weekend, but we are ready for July and the beach!

So long snow...see ya next year!

Frosty Friday!

Today was Frosty Friday in my class! We worked really hard all morning to get our work done so that we could have a fun afternoon filled with snowman activities, hot chocolate (with extra marshmallows), and ice cream sandwiches. We completed our afternoon with this sweet movie...

I couldn't have picked a better day for Frosty Friday! We are expecting quite a snowstorm here beginning tonight! The weather here is always so crazy. Just the other day it was almost springlike!

I got my classroom packed up pretty quick today and ran as fast as I could to pick up Jake. I thought it would be fun to celebrate Frosty Friday with him too. On our way home we made a stop at McDonald's for some fries and a chocolate sundae!

A great afternoon snack...and we made it home safe and sound before the snow! Now we are just waiting until Matt gets home. My sister is spending the night (maybe the weekend, depending on the weather) too. We will all be home for the night and in our p.j's early for sure!

I Heart Wednesdays!

I love Wednesdays! Not only does it mean that I am half way through my work week, but Matt doesn't have practice with the basketball team, so we get to hang out as a family! Most of the time we like to just stay around the house, but tonight we went to get a quick bite to eat. We like to try to find some place where the food comes quick (Jake doesn't like to wait), somewhere pretty cheap, and some place that's definitely kid friendly. One of our favorite places is Bear Rock Cafe.

They have all sorts of yummy things to eat, but Matt and I both LOVE their french dip sandwich on flat bread! And you know what made our dinner even better??? We found out that kids eat FREE on Wednesday nights! Jake got a grilled cheese sandwich, fruit cup, bag of chips, a cookie and a drink...all for FREE!!!

Jake and daddy waiting for dinner.

Jake thought he was such a BIG boy drinking orange soda!

And our fun night out would not have been complete without a little stop at the ice cream shop.

The fun thing about Cold Stone Creamery is that you start with the ice cream flavor of your choice and then you pick any (and as many) toppings as you would like and they mix it in right in front of you. We don't go here often, but I love to get cheesecake ice cream with chocolate chips mixed in. Tonight Matt and I split a cup of chocolate ice cream with Kit Kat's mixed in!

What a fun night to spend with my boys! I think I can make it through the rest of the week now!

That's A Wrap

Well, it is Sunday night. I can't believe how fast this weekend flew by. It was filled with lots of rest (we all took naps this afternoon after church), lots of family, and of course lots of fun!

Friday night was elementary night up at school. I haven't made it to one game all season because by the time we get home and get settled either I am way to tired to go back or the games start to late (for Jake and me:)! I really wanted to see Matt coach at least once this season so Jake and I made sure we were there. Jake loved watching daddy coach and loved just being able to run around with all the kids that were there! He even figured out the water fountain and thought it was the best thing ever! We spent most of our night there. Ha!

GO LIONS!

Both the girls and the guys won! It was a fun night and we were proud of daddy! Jake was so worn out from all that running around! Whew!

Saturday we pretty much stayed around the house. I did some cleaning and tried to get everything back in order for the week. I like having everything ready to go because that seems to always help our busy week go a little smoother.

Saturday night we got together with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday. We decided a pizza party would be easy and for dessert we were going to try chocolate fondue! I think it was a big hit!

Kelly enjoying the pizza party!

Here is Matt and I setting up the Chocolate fountain. We had milk chocolate going in the fountain and peanut butter chocolate and white chocolate in fondue pots! Yummy, I know!

Doesn't that look tempting?

Here are the boys digging in. We had strawberries, bananas, pound cake, brownies, pretzels, and marshmallows!

Jenny and Hudson taking a dip!

My mom, the birthday girl, with all of her girls:)!

Hope your day was extra "sweet"! We love you and were so happy that we could help you celebrate!

Oh yeah...and look at these two...

They LOVED the chocolate and they LOVE each other!

XOXOXOX!

It's A Winner Of A Dinner!

Whenever I make a dinner that Matt likes, I am pretty proud. Tonight was one of those nights!He is soooo picky and usually likes everything as plain as possible. I made several dinners a while back and froze them and we are still eating on them. It is so nice and makes weeknight dinners so much easier. Tonight we pulled out Italian Crescent Casserole. This was a recipe that I got from my friend Michele. She had a cookbook that was filled with quick and easy casserole recipes. I actually cut the casserole in half, so I got two dinners out of it!

I know everyone is always looking for quick, easy, and new recipes, so I thought I would share!

Italian Crescent Casserole

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Bake: 20 minutes

Oven 375 degrees

Ingredients:

2 pounds of lean ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cups bottled spaghetti sauce or tomato-base pasta sauce

3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese or Monterey Jack cheese (12oz)

1 8-ounce carton dairy sour cream

1 8-ounce package (8) refrigerated crescent rolls

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a 12 inch skillet cook ground beef and onion until meat is cooked through, using a wooden spoon to break up meat as it cooks; drain off fat. Stir spaghetti sauce into meat mixture, heat through. Spread meat mixture in an ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream mixture; spoon over meat mixture in baking dish.

3. Unroll crescent rolls, but do not separate into triangles. On a lightly floured surface, press dough edges together and roll out slightly to fit baking dish. Place dough over the cheese-sour cream layer. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered, for 20-25 minutes or until top is deep golden brown.

Makes 12 servings