Merging the Blogs

I've decided to merge my blogs... this one is going away...

To all my MILLIONS of followers (ha), update your bookmarks to Filling The House.

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada’s

I’m slowly figuring out a routine that allows for working, time with Cason and cooking every night.  I’ve tried a few new things the past few weeks and this was definitely one of my favorites. 

I always thought I didn’t like Enchilada’s because I don’t like the traditional ranchero sauce that most restaurants serve. After Cason was born, a few different people brought us enchilada’s.  Some were more traditional with beef and red sauce and some were chicken with cheese or sour cream sauce.  I liked all the different versions so I knew it was time to make them myself.

The Foodie Bride has a Green Chile-Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas Recipe that is highly recommended and freezes well so I decided to give it a try.  It was a huge success and not TOO hard to make. 

I left out the cilantro (because I don’t like it) but didn’t change anything else.  We’ve had this several times in the last month since I made it the first time.  It makes enough for two full meals (I put one in the freezer) and some lunches of leftovers.  Perfect!

There is something wrong with this picture…

Admiral’s bed

 

Cason’s blanket and play mats

"Beverly Hills! What a Thrill!"

This title has absolutely nothing to do with what this blog is about but yet it does. This is the song from Troop Beverly Hills. I love this movie and have vivid memories of watching it with my friend Ashley when we were in 4th grade. Little did we know then how our friendship would grow and last. Ashley and I didn't go to the same school but we were in APAC (Academic and Performing Arts Complex -- our little nerdy magnet program). We both left our home school early each day and were bussed to the APAC campus for more advanced classes... we took two classes (Math, Science or English) at a grade level ahead. Nerds. I think Ashley was also in APAC Art as well. I had no performing arts and still don't! So Ashley and I met there at APAC and she invited me to her house to play one afternoon. We watched Troop Beverly Hills and I guess you could say the rest was history.

Both our elementary schools fed into the same Middle School and High School (though Ash had a brief stint at a different High School and quickly found her way back home!) so the friendship kept going. When college rolled around we both ended up picking Millsaps and decided to request to be on the same floor/wing of our dorm so that we could meet new people but still have someone we knew close by. The admissions/housing office complied and we were assigned two doors down from each other. By midterm, both of us were looking to switch roommates and ultimately we moved in together. I'll just say we had a blast that year... lots of late nights, lots of double stuff Oreo's and milk... We should have roomed together from day 1!

Ashley decided to change schools after the first year and off to Charleston she went. I stayed in Jackson.  Today she's in Colorado and I'm in Texas. Through it all, we are still great friends. She's one of the few people that still calls me "SAD" and I love it!

All of this backstory finally brings me to the project I just finished. Ashley has a shop on Etsy where she sells fun designer ("Beverly Hills" = Designer/High Fashion right???) fabrics. After my first burp cloth, I decided I wanted to make some more and thought I could make some bibs too (after reading this blog on Prudent Baby). I ordered some fabric from Ashley and got to work.

I made the bib first following Prudent Baby's instructions (minus pocket). I don't think I used the best bib as a guide and ended up with a too small neck. I made some adjustments and was able to salvage and learned a few lessons for the next one.

For the burp cloth I just sewed a rectangle of fabric on the center of the cloth diaper and added some grosgrain ribbon on the ends to hide the fact that my rectangle was about 1/4 inch too small!

Neither are quite sellable or giftable but with a little more practice I might be there. I wonder if I could get a "Wilderness Girl Patch" for my sewing! ;)  I have lots of fun fabrics to work with.

Zesty Italian Crescent Casserole

HOLD THE PHONE!  SARAH COOKED SOMETHING NEW!!!!  It’s been a LONG time since I’ve really cooked anything and longer since I’ve tried a new recipe.  I guess that’s what having a baby does.  Really, we have just been blessed to have wonderful friends and family bring us food in the first weeks after Cason arrived so I haven’t HAD to cook much.

Ryan’s Mom brought it to us right after Cason was born and we both really liked it.  I was in the mood to try it again so I did a quick search on Pillsbury.com since I knew it had Pillsbury Crescent rolls on it and found the recipe.  This recipe is the epitome of “easy” which is all I can handle these days.  I didn’t get very good pictures (the one on Pillsbury’s site is WAY better) but I don’t like to post without a picture.

Zesty Italian Crescent Casserole
by Pillsbury

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup tomato pasta sauce
6 oz. (1 1/2 cups) shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (8-oz.) can Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 375°F. In large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until beef is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain. Stir in pasta sauce; cook until thoroughly heated.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream; mix well.

Pour hot beef mixture into ungreased 9 1/2 or 10-inch glass deep-dish pie pan or 11x7-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish. Spoon cheese mixture over beef mixture.

Unroll dough over cheese mixture. (If using pie pan, separate dough into 8 triangles; arrange points toward center over cheese mixture, crimping outside edges if necessary.) In small bowl, mix Parmesan cheese and butter. Spread evenly over dough.

Bake at 375°F. for 18 to 25 minutes or until deep golden brown.

Camera phone picture = horrible quality. But I wanted to get a shot of the pretty, rounded top before it fell when I took it out of the oven!

To prepare ahead, go through the steps up to adding the crescent rolls on top.  Add the crescent rolls, butter and parmesan cheese right before baking to ensure that the crescent roll top “puffs” appropriately! 

Being Domestic: Burp Cloth

In about 20 minutes, I went from this (cloth diaper and some grosgrain ribbon)

To this cute little burp cloth for the future basketball star.

 

I’m going to take it to have his name embroidered on as a final touch. 

This was one of the projects on my “to do before the baby comes” list… most of which did not get done before his early arrival!

Old Family Pictures

I’m cleaning out boxes of “stuff” my mom brought me after we moved in the house… all my “stuff” (there might be a better word to use here that starts with “cr” and ends with “ap”) that was filling up the closet in my old bedroom.
Tonight I found these pictures and they made me happy.  Oh how I wish Cason (and Admiral) would have known my Pop and my Nana!
These are from 1995.
Four Generations (Me, Mom, Grammy and Nana)

Gathered around the breakfast table

Grammy in the Kitchen… go figure…

My dad in his usual chair at Pop and Grammy’s… though it was James’s chair on Christmas Morning.  I’m not sure why my Dad and Uncle Deaun are dressed for a blizzard and my Cousin Will is dressed for a summer day… haha.  This appears to be after the gifts were open so I assume that means Aunt Rose, Uncle Ed and Cousin Jean sent Will that Jersey from Seattle and he had to wear it.

Pop in his recliner in his bedroom.  This is where he was sure to be found after a long Christmas Day.

I don’t remember him sitting in this chair much… especially not at Christmas time!

Though Pop appears to be in the same sweater, this picture is at my parents house and is just too good not to post! Two of my favorite men!

I think this was the year that Mom had her Vertigo spell.  I have pictures from the same stack of her laid up on the couch.  I’m using restraint and not posting them… at least not for now! 

Mother’s Day

I didn’t expect to be really celebrating Mother’s Day as an actual “Mother” this year.  Mother’s Day fell 2 days after my birthday.  We joked a lot about how we thought my birthday would be pretty miserable… pregnant, fat, tired, uncomfortable and so ready to meet little Cason.   Mother’s Day would probably have been more of the same complaining.  :)

Instead, I celebrated my 29th birthday and my very first Mother’s day with my adorable little man, my wonderful husband and my oldest son (of the canine variety). 

Mother’s day has a new meaning now.  Though I’ve only been a Mom for a little over 3 weeks, I know already what it means to be a mother.  As my body was not just my body for 9 make that 8 months… my life is not just my life anymore.  Especially in these early weeks and months I hold the responsibility of this life in my hands and its an awesome responsibility and amazing gift.  From the morning I jumped out of bed and rushed to check on Cason after he slept for 6 hours to the way he melts my heart when he grips my finger as if he will never let go to all the crazy funny faces he makes as he stretches, wakes up, eats, etc…. I am just so truly blessed to have this happy, healthy baby that arrived 5 weeks early.

Finally being a “Mother” myself, it makes me appreciate my mom and my grandmothers and all the mom’s in my life that much more.  I hope to look back in 29 years and see that I’ve been as wonderful a mother as my Mom.  And with that, I thank my Mom for always being there for me and James, for loving us unconditionally, for letting us make mistakes (and being there to help us pick up the pieces when we did), for encouraging us to follow our dreams, for offering advice (even when we didn’t want to hear it), for being our friend as we have grown older and for a million more reasons… Thank You and Happy Mother’s Day.

 

Newborn Pictures

I had Maternity pictures scheduled for April 26th.  Since Cason decided to come early, we changed them to newborn pictures. 

Link to the album - Password is “Sarah”

Photos by Rebecca Todd Photography.

New Chair (and a half)

When we bought our couches, we also got a big, comfy chair and a half. We originally had it in the bedroom, then pulled it out to the living room over Christmas.
We always intended to get another chair for the living room and put the leather one back in the bedroom. With Cason's arrival looming, we wanted to get that new chair sooner rather than later so we could have a chair for nursing, etc in the bedroom. We really became accustomed to the big chair in the living room so we went in search of basically the fabric version of the one we had. We found an almost identical chair with tons of fabric choices and after a few days of fabric-choice-decision-making (I am SOOO not good at this stuff) we ordered the chair with an April 30 delivery date. Little did we know how early Cason would arrive. :)
Here is the before with all the leather.
 
And the new chair that was delivered this week!


Ryan and Cason give it the seal of approval!!!

Bitten by a Snake

My fear since moving into the new house has been that we’d see a snake on the porch or that worse, Admiral would get bitten.  I really mostly feared it when we let him swim in the pond out front.  
We brought Cason home from the hospital on a Monday afternoon.  On Tuesday night, I was feeding him around 9:00pm and Ryan came in the room and said “something’s wrong with Admiral”.  Ryan looked really upset and that of course freaked me out.  Admirals snout was huge and you could see two small punctures so we knew it had to be a snake.  He was drooling really bad (worse than normal) and you could tell he was in pain.  I called the emergency vet and they told us to call a different one as they had a 2+ hour wait.  Ryan and my dad loaded him into the car and off they went. 
While they were gone, I of course was “Googling” snakebites to see what to expect.  Most of the websites made me feel better but confirmed that Admiral was likely in a lot of pain.
The vet gave him several different medicines and sent him home with anti-biotics.  He said it was the 4th snake bite that night and that he was fairly sure it was a copperhead.  He also said that April is bad for copperheads… we assume this is mating season or something?  Who knows. 
Here are pictures I took trying to show the swelling (these were when he got home from the vet).

And this one is two days later.

He was pretty groggy and whiney for a couple of days.  Add that to having the new baby at home and he was a sad sight to see.  But, he’s back to his normal self, hopping up every time he hears paper/plastic rustling.  It was a scary night for the new mom and dad… not exactly what we wanted to be dealing with a day two home with baby.  It sure makes you realize how much a part of the family our four legged friends are when they are sick. 
We all survived the ordeal and Admiral is definitely warming up to his baby brother.

Cason’s Here

Cason Philip arrived 5 weeks early! 

April 16th, 2010

2:17am

6lbs 12oz

19.5 inches

Our First Family Picture

More about our whirlwind birth story and more pictures coming on Filling The House!

Doggie Videos

I’ve joked that Ryan is most excited about the toys Cason will accumulate.  We got a few things recently… I think this video proves my point.  And, I’m pretty sure we are going to have to pay close attention to Admiral and Ryan when it comes to the toys…

And today is the start of the Woodforest Showcase of Homes and Grand Opening.  Ryan is off hosting their Showcase Home along with his parents who were dog sitting Kevin and Steph’s dog Clive.  He was only here for 10 minutes before I started hearing the playful growls and collars jingling.  I caught this little video before they noticed me watching!.

They’ve been going at this off and on for the better part of 3 hours now.  Gonna be some tired (and slobbery) puppies!

Puppy Love

Too Cute

A friend of mine posted this on her Facebook today. She has a little girl and another on the way.  I hope I have a little girl one day so I can make cute things like this.

Prudent Baby's "10 Minute Onesie Dress - Easiest Dress Ever"

I'm really just posting this so that I can find it later because I want to make these one day -- for my own daughter, niece, friend's daughter...

Cookie Mix in a Jar

As gifts for my Baby Shower Hostesses, I made these and thought they turned out great!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix In A Jar
by:Nestle Meals.com

Ingredients In the Jar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Quart Canning Jar


Filling the Jar
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Place flour mixture in jar. Layer remaining ingredients in order listed above, pressing firmly after each layer. Seal with lid and decorate with fabric and ribbon.


Recipe to Attach 
Preheat oven to 375° F. Beat 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter or margarine, 1 large egg and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until blended. Add cookie mix and 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional); mix well, breaking up any clumps. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.


Tips:

• After a test run, I measured out all my ingredients into separate bowls so that I could setup an assembly line… Mom was helping. 
• I found that it was best to slightly pack the flour after placing in the jar. 
• When layering in the chocolate chips, spoon them in gently (as opposed to pouring them in fast) so that they don’t sink into the flour. 
• You can play with the layering… I did two jars as flour, chips, brown sugar, flour, chips, brown sugar and two jars as flour, chips, brown sugar.  The second approach filled the jar better, probably because I packed the flour too much in the first approach (pictured). 
• The key is to always pack brown sugar on top of the chips if you are going to put flour on top.  Otherwise, the flour seeps down into the cracks between chips. 
• And always pack brown sugar as the last layer to seal everything together.

I did a test run of the full recipe before starting the project to make sure the cookies were actually good… they were.  To finish off the jars, I tied a cute spatula around with cute ribbon.  They turned out pretty cute!


Thanks to Suz, Jenn, Whit and Steph for a great shower!

New Phones!!

Two years ago we went to get new phones when our two year renewal discount was available. We left the Verizon store with a Blackberry for Ryan and a little flip phone for me. I was jealous. Lots of our friends were getting Blackberry and iPhones. It just wasn't in the cards for me back then.

Yesterday we went in for our new two year upgrade and I had already told Ryan that I WOULD be getting a smartphone whether he liked it or not! I need to be able to email him pictures of Cason while I was home on leave. And I need to be able to post them straight to Facebook... I NEED to be able to do this!!!!!

So here I am, posting to the blog from my new Droid Eris. Ryan got the Motorola Droid. I love mine and I think Ryan is starting to like his... gotta adjust from the Blackberry.  We've both already spent WAAAY too much time playing with theses phones in the past, oh, 18 hours!

Happy Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras!

I had white, yellow and green leftover icing from my Super Bowl Cookie Cake so I decided to make some purple to celebrate Mardi Gras and some pink for Valentine’s.  I think the two events go together perfect… I know that there is a lot of LOVE going on down in the Big Easy with more than just Mardi Gras to celebrate.  With the Saints Super Bowl win so close to Mardi Gras, no doubt the past week and the coming weeks will be some of the craziest ever in New Orleans!
These are nothing fancy… Slice and Bake cookies, Wilton Butter Cream.  But oh so good!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday

We are having a few friends over to watch the game.  A sporting event is always a reason for me to bake and practice my cake decorating skills.   This is my standard sugar cookie cake with Wilton buttercream icing.  I’m pretty darn proud of myself!

The fleur-de-lis was the most intimidating part.  But I think I did okay!

I’ve drawn a million horseshoes in my life, thanks to 4 years of being a Murrah Mustang Cheerleader! These didn’t scare me at all!

Of course, I’m rooting for the Saints!  Growing up in Mississippi, the Saints were our team too.  And they always were terrible but we’d watch them on Sunday’s anyway.  Between Archie Manning and Deuce McAllister, the love for the Saints has only grown in Mississippi over the years.  It’s amazing to finally see them have good seasons in a row and to finally be on the big stage at the BIG GAME!  Go Saints!

Life and Times of Admiral: Playdate with Clive

Ryan’s parent’s were keeping Clive while Kevin and Steph were in New Orleans for Steph’s Birthday (Happy Very Belated Birthday!!!) so they brought him over to play. When these two get together, you don’t have to really play with them, they tend to wrestle for hours straight. It’s great.

Jeff did give them a few rounds of fetch.

Clive isn’t interested in being the first one to get to the ball. He’s fine to let Admiral get there first.

Then, he fights him for the ball the whole way back.

And repeat…

I just thought this was a good picture of Admiral in his stride. He’s a pretty goofy dog but can, at times, be graceful when he runs!