We were having company for dinner, so Ella & I got down and dirty with this cookbook. My favorite recipe from the book is the Three-Cheese Pasta Bake. Here's what you do: Ingredients 1 16 oz. package of ziti {or any small pasta} two 10 oz. containers refrigerated Alfredo sauce 8 oz. container sour cream 15 oz. container ricotta cheese 2 large eggs, beaten 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese a really great helper {seen below} Directions Preheat oven to 350* Cook pasta according to package & drain Stir together ricotta, parmesan, parsley & eggs Stir together sauce & sour cream Add pasta to sauce, stirring until blended Spoon half the pasta in baking dish Spread ricotta mix over ...
holidays
Heart Week, Day 1
Cute Ella in her new red & white dress, posing as usual. Then I showed her this.And she did this. Then this. Happy Valentine's Day! ...
Preparations
Ella was VERY excited when I explained that we would be making Valentine's surprises for her friends at school. Even though she had no idea what that meant, once she knew paint and candy were involved, she was all in! Since I was scheduled to be out of town for work this week {it turns out I'm in town after all}, we started working on them several weeks ago. She has been very upset everyday that she's been to school since then because I wouldn't let her take them. All it took was 10 plastic cups, pink basket grass, cellophane bags, pink tulle, Reese's hearts and Hershey's kisses. Then we cut cardstock into 2 inch by 3 inch pieces and sponge painted red hearts onto them. I went back and wrote "Be mine" and "love, ella" and we tied them to the tops of our cups. How sweet. ...
Christmas is over?
This is what it looks like when you buy a dead Christmas tree {without knowing it, of course}, then leave it up for six weeks and attempt to take it down and out without the assistance of your able husband. Since Josh has been to the emergency room once, stayed overnight at the hospital, had surgery and been to the doctor twice since we got home on Tuesday and I've worked exactly fourteen hours this week and spent the remainder caring for him, our house still looks like Christmas was yesterday. The trees are the only thing I've managed to take down, the wreath is dead and getting worse by the minute, there are boxes everywhere, about 90 loads of laundry to fold and a trail of junk from the front door to the back door. Josh is sleeping {the Demerol and Percocet helped, I'm sure}, Ella ...
Hello 2009
This is how Ella rang in the New Year. We just woke up and it's after ten o'clock! Well, it's a new year and I'm ready. And since I've never formally declared any New Year's resolutions, I'm going to join in the fun today. Only I'm thinking more like accomplishments. This I want to achieve and change. The word accomplishment is defined as the act of completion. That says it all doesn't it? This year I want to: be a more prayerful person; read the bible through, with the help of a new devotion guide; spend more time doing what Ella wants to do instead of what I want her to; spend less and save more - eliminate debt Dave Ramsey style; lose twenty pounds and get back to my pre-pregnancy weight {elliptical here I come!}; get organized, pay bills early and eliminate ...
Belly-ache a Comin’
We don't eat a lot of candy in our house. It's not that we don't love it, but none of us like to share it (!) and we really try to get Ella to be a good eater. When there is junk in the house, it's the only thing she wants. If we only have veggies and whole-grain bread, she eats it just a heartily. We don't let her have soft drinks, ever. She only eats "junk" and sugary snacks on special occasions. Well, yesterday was a special occasion... it was two days after Halloween! For our afternoon snack, we threw on an old t-shirt, rounded up all the leftover Halloween candy and had a feast. When we asked if she wanted it, she told us that it wasn't "yours (mom) and yours (dad)" it was for Ella and she was going to "eat it all done!" We had a chat about sharing. Then she said, "but you don't ...
Two Minnie Mouses!
Happy Halloween! Last night was a weird sort of holiday for our family... for once, we weren't all in the same place. If you know anything about my family, you'll understand why this is such a strange thing. Josh, K and I worked at our church's annual Trunk or Treat, Cory worked at the drive-in, while Gran, Poppy, Molly & Ella went to Birmingham to see Disney on Ice. I know she's only two, but how fun is that? Now she doesn't really know anything about Disney characters except: Minnie & Mickey Mouse are on her diapers, K & Cory brought Minnie ears from DisneyWorld this summer, the Disney Princesses are on her pull-ups and of course, the Jungle Book. Thank goodness, this production included Baloo, Mowgli and the monkeys -- my child was in heaven. She & Molly were both ...
Ella-boo at the Zoo
Ella has been so excited all week because she knew on Saturday we were going to the zoo! Nana & Cookie bought tickets for us and we loaded up for Boo at the Zoo. Despite the price, it was well worth the fun. We rode the Haunted Carousel, decorated with scary lights and moving backwards. The only animals we saw were at the barn, but we said hello to geese, mice, snakes, sheep, goats, pigs and llamas. We got to sit on a tractor and pretend to drive. We trick-or-treated and got LOTS of candy (most of which didn't make it home... Ella really likes chocolate). We took a hayride through the woods and she was confused about why she wasn't riding shotgun on the tractor... she even called the man driving "Farmer Joe" (her name for the farmer in her play set, lol). Finally, we took a scary train ...