Face Morphs

I finally got our face morph pictures from the Christmas Carol train tour! I think you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Computers!

I am writing this from the basement computer since my laptop is broken!! It has been overheating a lot lately, and I think it has finally pooped out. I can't even get it to turn on right now. Not a good sign. So I came down to the basement computer TWELVE minutes ago. It took TWELVE minutes to start up (and it wasn't even shut down, just sleeping) and open up a web page. Geesh! My weekly menu has gotten a bit off because we ate out last night and I made Kraft Mac & cheese on Thursday. So, tonight I finally made my enchilada casserole. It was delish!! Here's the recipe:

Enchilada Casserole

3 T butter
1/4 C flour
1 C milk
1/2 C reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 C chopped red bell pepper
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilis
2 T dry taco seasoning
8 oz colby jack cheese, shredded
6 (6 inch) corn tortillas, halved
1/3 C chopped cilantro

sour cream, if desired
salsa, if desired
sliced black olives, if desired

Heat oven to 375. Spray 2-quart round casserole with no-stick cooking spray.

Melt butter in 2 qt saucepan until sizzling. Add flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add milk and chicken broth. Continue cooking, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil (4 to 6 min). Add chicken, bell pepper, and taco seasoning; continue cooking until heated through. Remove from heat.

To assemble, spread 3/4 c. chicken mixture in bottom of casserole. Arrange 4 tortilla halves over chicken mixture. Top with 3/4 c. cheese. Repeat layering twice, beginning with tortilla halves and ending with cheese.

Bake for 20-25 min or till bubbly. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with sour cream, salsa and black olives.

Kindergarten field trip

Yesterday, I went with Sydney's kindergarten class to Ditmar's Apple Orchard for her field trip. A fun time was had!

Here are the kids just after we arrived, getting ready for their snack.

Sydney in the corn maze.

Sydney, Kennedy and Sloane after the corn maze.

Sydney and I on the tractor ride.

Getting ready to pick her apples off of the apple tree.

Sloane and Sydney with their apples.

Girls on the tractor ride back.

Sydney's class outside the corn maze.

Sydney and Mila after lunch.

Ana, Sydney, Gracie and Aubrey

Recipes

I made my shredded beef tacos last night! They were delish! And very easy to make. Here's the recipe:

Tacos:

1 (5-6 lb) boneless chuck beef roast, cut into 8 pieces (I used a 2-3 pound roast)

1 cup salsa

1 large onion, chopped

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilis (I didn't add this b/c I got the wrong kind at the store)

1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh garlic (I used one clove, pressed)

1/2 cup water

1 package taco seasoning mix

16 flour tortillas, warmed

Toppings:

chopped lettuce

shredded cheese

sour cream

chopped tomato

anything else you like on your tacos

Place roast pieces, salsa, onion and garlic in crock pot. Combine water and taco seasoning in small bowl. Pour over beef. Cover, cook on high 5 to 6 hours or on low for 6-8 hours, or till beef is tender.

Remove meat from crock pot, reserving juices. Shred using two forks (this took me about 15 seconds because the meat was so tender it was falling apart) and return to juices in slow cooker. Spoon meat mixture onto each tortilla and top as desired. So, so yummy! But, it makes a ton! We have eaten it for two nights now and we still have a ton of meat left over. I will definitely save this recipe for a night when we are having company.

Dance!

Today, the girls had their very first dance classes! They anxiously awaiting this day for several weeks. We rushed after school, and were almost late to the first class, but we zoomed in right in the nick of time. Briana's class started first, and we got to watch her a little bit through the window. So great! She plie-ed and shuffle ball changed for an hour and she had a smile on her face the entire time. Sydney's class started after Briana's, and she also did great! There was a little more bouncing and hopping in Sydney's class, and that is right up her alley. Every time I peeked at her through the window, she had a smile on her face. I hope we have found something that will be really fun for them and they will look forward to doing every Thursday. Here are the pics I got before we left the house. I couldn't be too picky, they had just gotten home from school and had to quick change! And quick eat their snacks! And quick smile for this picture!

Labor Day Camping Trip

We took our first camping trip with the new camper this weekend. I will say that generally, I am an indoor girl. Unless I am going to the beach or the pool, I don't really want to be outside experiencing nature. At all. But, Mike and the girls LOVE camping. It is the highlight of their summers. And who am I to rain on their parade? So, I go. Because I love them. Overall, I would say the trip was a success. Kids had fun. Husband had fun. Dog had fun. Wife survived. I was expecting a repeat of Ellie the Dirty Dog, but she managed to stay relatively clean (mostly because she was confined to the camper most of the time). Briana got completely banged up. As soon as we got there, she got on her bike, sped down a hill and crashed into a tree. She forgot how to use her brakes. She had a skinned up knee, a skinned up leg and maybe a bruise. She fell off her bike at least two more times over the course of the weekend, landing herself more cuts and bruises. Sydney didn't get hurt at all, I don't think. But, she did have two dead flies land on her after Mike fly swattered them, and that was just as bad. And a centepede crawled over her foot. Also equally bad.

The second day we were there, the Hagemeisters came to camp (in a tent, those poor people) for one night. The girls were very excited to play with Makenzie, and I think they all had a fun time (I think Ellie put up with a lot while they were there).

On Saturday, Mike said he had a migrane and spent most of the day like this:

I think he just wanted an excuse to lay in the camper all day and relax. Lucky for him, his headache mysteriously dissappeared in time for dinner. I forgot our dinner that we were going to make that night in the freezer at home, so we had to go into Dennison, IA to eat at a restaurant. I grabbed my camera before we left and got these funny pictures:

Briana is pretending to crash into Sydney's bike in this shot. In case you couldn't tell by looking at her face.

My little camping hippie.

Since I had my camera out, I told Mike and the girls to stand together and I would get a picture of them in front of our new camper. I took three different pictures, and this is the one that turned out the best. Sigh.

Mike generally likes to stare off into space when I photograph him, and when he does glance torward the camera, I tend to get this type of expression on his face. I also think this picture has a bit of a seventies feel to it, don't you?

Once we got in the car to go to dinner, Sydney asked if she could look at the pictures on my camera. I said sure, and handed her the camera, and she left me a wonderful surprise when I next looked through the pictures.

It is one of my favorite things when the girls do this!

That night, we had smores (ok, we had smores every night).

After Mike and I sat around the campfire by ourselves for a little bit, we went into the camper to see what the girls had been up to, and this is what we found:

A picture Briana made of Mike's cousin, whose wedding we recently attended. They are kissing. Notice the person on the side giving them the thumbs up and exclaiming "Wow!" And the time on the clock is midnight, or possibly sizzlenight. So funny! And Sydney made a similar picture of Mike and I on our wedding night:

Ha ha ha! So funny.

Here are the girls in their sleeping quarters in the camper:

Briana in her bunk bed.

The table transforms into a bed for Sydney.

Oh! I almost forgot! I put a top knot in Ellie while we were there so she could see.

Is she the cutest dog ever? I think so.

On Monday, before we left, Mike found this toad for the girls:

They named him Toadie and we all had a hard time leaving him behind. But, Mike was quick to point out that we all know what happens when Mommy gets a toad at home (I kill it.) (Accidentally).

Briana with Toadie in her hands

Sydney with Toadie in her hands (she was a tad excited about it, and Toadie was tickling her hands)

Then while Mike was getting the camper ready to leave, I took the girls down to the lake and I think I got some pretty good pictures of them.

This one is my very favorite shot of Briana. May have to frame it at home.

I was kind of dreading coming home because I knew I had 22 loads of laundry, plus all the unpacking and dishes I was going to have to do. And Ellie needed a bath. We all did, really. But, I was greeted by this, which made it a little bit better.

My mums! They are blooming!! And they are a really pretty fall orange color. Yay!