Sunday, January 11, 2009

Overall we had a nice week. Normal life is settling in and I still wish I could sleep a little later every morning! Oh well. I am officially 20 weeks today with our little boy. Lee and I talked about names today, so if any of you have suggestions, please pass them on! We won't be using "C" names though for this boy.

The girls and Cal are having fun with the little strollers. Cal likes to push the girls in them. This isn't a good picture I know, but I thought it was kind of a fun "vanishing" picture.


Haley doesn't have anything on her mouth. If there is too much red or pink on the face, other than the eye area, the red-eye remover will darken spots on the face other than the eyes.


The weather on Friday was very nice, almost 60 degrees. I walked to school with the kids to pick up Clark and on our way home we stopped at two parks. At the second park Clark and I did his homework really quick. I know, we have a gazillion park pictures, so these are mainly for the grandma's. But take a peek if you wish!

The gang on the train.


At least Shanna is somewhat smiling. It looks like she's closing her eyes on purpose.


Cal trying to construct a silly face.






Haley still enjoys the camera!




Friday night our friends came over, Susie and John and family, and we had a fun time. The kids got to play together and the adults play Settlers of Catan. We have been bad about having people over and this is the first official friend-get-together we've done at our house since we've lived here!

Saturday Lee took the boys to Bolt, though they only stayed about an hour as Clark didn't like it. But we didn't mind, it was one of the free movies playing this weekend on base. I dropped them off at the theater and headed to Walmart with the girls to get a few things. While I was there I looked at the Christmas dresses. They had a couple of cute ones and they were half off. I found some I liked but only one style had two 24 month dresses. That happens quite a bit. There were other sizes of this style, but only two 24 month sizes! I was pretty happy about the style and contemplated buying them as they were half off. At $8 each, that wasn't a shabby deal.

As I looked at the dresses I noticed immediately that one of them had two small stains/marks on it. I asked to talk with a manager. I was able to talk to one almost immediately and asked her if I could get a dollar or two off of the dress with the stains. She was very obliging and said that wouldn't be a problem. She then looked at the reduced price of $8 and then on her walkie-talkie-radio thing, called up front to the people over the cashiers. (They're apparently called CSMs at Walmart.)

She said that a lady with twin girls would be coming up front to purchase Christmas dresses and to sell them to me for $5 each! I couldn't believe it! When she was done talking I told her that the other dress was fine and didn't have any stains on it. She didn't care and seemed happy to give them to me for $5 each. It probably helped that Shanna and Haley were with me looking like super-cute-matching snow babies! I am very happy about the dresses and the PRICE! It was a nice blessing. The material is like taffeta or would resemble stiff satin if satin were stiff, because I don't think "stiff satin" is actually manufactured. I am sure it's polyester (I haven't checked the label). Anyway, they're cute!



Saturday night Lee and I watched Miracle at Midnight. It was very good. Mom B and Mom R, you both would enjoy this movie. Though Mom B, I think you have seen it already.

Image from Amazon.com

And if people were wondering, which I am sure they weren't, we don't have a Wii. My brothers brought their Wii's to play over Christmas. Clark really enjoyed it. It was fun seeing the kids play one of the Wii games where the controller was an instrument or part of an instrument--for example drumsticks or a maraca. It was cute seeing them play in a "band" together. Maybe it is called Wii Music?

I have been staying up enjoying shows on Food Network and HGTV. One of my brothers bought cable for a month for us so the guys could watch football games. I am calling tomorrow to cancel. I'm glad I squeezed a few shows in!

This recipe is mainly for Stephanie, but all of you should try it out. It is soooooo good! We don't make it very often and it isn't very healthy. :)

Chicken Chili Lasagna
From L. Durrant
2 packages (3oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups shredded Mexican-cheese blend, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp ground cumin, divided
1/2 tsp parsley
3 cups cubed cooked chicken
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup flour
1-1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies, drained
1/8 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
12 flour tortillas (6 inch) cut in half
In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, onion, 1-1/2 cup Mexican cheese blend, garlic, 1/4 tsp cumin and parsley. Stir in chicken; set aside.
In a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir in Monterrey Jack cheese, sour cream, chilies, thyme, salt, pepper and remaining cumin.
Spread 1/2 cup of the cheese sauce in a greased 13x9x2 inch pan. Top with 6 tortilla halves, a third of the chicken mixture and a fourth of the cheese sauce. Repeat tortilla, chicken and cheese sauce layers twice. Top with remaining tortillas, cheese sauce and Mexican cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

7 comments:

Roger said...

Fun Fun! I like how the red eye remover made haley's face all dark. So id the dart board still up???

sheldon bartholomew said...

you should call the new baby carlisle

MissouriMormonMama said...

Thanks again for a very fun evening ( : I love your new blog background. Oh- and fun pictures.

Shannon @ Lifelong Impressions said...

We just got Madison the same dress! lol ours was $8 though. Target is starting to mark what's left of the winter stuff down to 75% off. I got 17 pieces (some were actually sets) of items for $43 including the tax! There were some super cute sweaters and stuff you can get the girls for next year. I'm sure the older kids clothes were on sale too, but my chickens are still little.

I like the ghost picture too!

Sandra said...

I wish I could get clothes for my kids for the next year, but Spencer is now in 3T and who knows where he will be next winter and Madeline is complicated, at least Anthony is growing slower so I usually can use pants and shirts for two years. I liked the Christmas dresses you made for your girls. I wanted to be able to make one for Madeline but there were no funds to fix my machine. Thank goodness it is fixed. I am contemplating making an Easter dress with matching ties for the boys, we will see if I actually can pull that off.

Mari said...

COngrats on the baby boy #5. Babies are so fun! I hope you come and visit Lena after we get back. It is so fun to see what your family is up to. Are you sure you don't want to move to Vicksburg?? Anyways, looks like you had a lot of fun over the holidays.

Photo Crazy! said...

I love the dress and I always love a good deal. Post a pic of them in the dresses. The recipe looks yummy...I will try it out.