Merry Christmas!

Sick Birthday Boy

The 18th was Cooper's 2nd Birthday and he was a sick boy. We have had colds and got over those with little trouble. Then it was the throw-up and diarrhea virus and got over that within a week. Then it was an ear infection and he's taking medicine for that. And now it's back to a cold and breathing treatments. Welcome to Winter!

So, Cooper had a leftover cupcake from Shelby's party with candles in it on his Happy Day. He blew the candles out but wanted nothing to do with the cupcake!

Handprint Reindeer

For my students' gifts to their parents for Christmas, I wanted to do a hand print ornament. I'm such a sucker for any artwork done in hand prints! So, we did a trial run tonight on the reindeer hand print. My niece is spending the night and so we had a craft night!

We used the big plastic ornaments from WalMart, brown acrylic paint, black sharpie, brown paint pen, hot glue, red glitter, ribbon and wire. First we painted their hand with the brown acrylic paint and pressed it upside down onto the ball. After it dried we used the brown paint pen to draw antlers. Then used the black sharpie to draw eyes, mouth and hooves. Then a dot of hot glue and red glitter, pressed onto the got glue, for a nose. Lastly, we wrote their name and year on the back and added ribbon and wire for hanging.

What do you think? It looks kind of plain to me, does it need more embellishments? Also, when going back to the tree to take pics, Austin had already picked all the glitter from his reindeer's nose! Any suggestions on a better glue? I really would have liked to use good ol' Elmer's liquid glue...but couldn't find any in the house (plenty of glue sticks!).

Here's a cute poem I found to type and add to the wire, to hang on the ornament.
This isn't just a reindeer
As you can plainly see.
I made it with my hands
Which are a part of me.
It comes with lots of love
Especially to say
I hope you have a very,
Merry Christmas Day!

Happy Anniversary...and Thanksgiving!

It's been a while since my last post so here's an update!

Charlie and I celebrated our 9th anniversary! We had a nice dinner & shopping without kiddos. Here are some pics from our honeymoon to Disney. If ever someone says Disney's not the place for a honeymoon...they are WRONG! We had a blast! Flew to Orlando, rented a little silver convertible, ate great places, went on rides, relaxed, shopped, ate great places, went on rides, relaxed, shopped, ... Anyways you get the point!
We look so young and thin! Good Times! Charlie felt silly having his pic taken with characters so, he picked up the bacon! Snow White's thinkin' this guy is crazy!

Here' a pic of our entire wedding party and the preacher. Yes, Charlie had a LOT of guys. In fact there were two guys per girl attendant. It made for a full stage. But, what a wonderful day; being surrounded by friends and family.

We had a Happy Thanksgiving in Prattville with Charlie's parents and his sister and family. Austin loves when his cousins come down. He practically lived there for a couple days while they were in town. We ate very well and already packing on a few extra holiday pounds! Time to charge up the ipod and get back on the treadmill!

A Visit with Santa

Here are some pics from our visit with Santa. We weren't sure what Cooper would do this year. Last year he cried, Cried, CRIED! This year we were happy to find out that he would sit on Santa's lap, but he would not look at the Big Man. The only time he did look at Santa was when he was holding a piece of candy up towards his beard/face. Enjoy!

Halloween '08

Sorry for the absence in blogging! We've been busy with life and football games. Here are Halloween pics! The boys were cowboys, but really they were more like the Apple dumpling Gang! They really enjoyed themselves and were cuties! We went to Trunk or Treat at the Church building.

And on Friday we surprised Mimi & Pappy by showing up at their house. We sent the boys up to the door all dressed up as regular Trick or Treaters. When they opened the door and saw their two little cowboys...they were very excited. Austin enjoyed the rest of the night answering the door and handing out candy.

What are we teaching Cooper!!! The second child does get away with more much earlier! This year is the first time Austin's had play guns and he's four. Coop gets to play with them too and he's almost two! Doesn't seem fair, but what do you do? Any suggestions!?

Breakfast Yummies!

These two recipes were perfect to take to class for our breakfast snacks on Sunday. If you weren't there, try them they're YUMMY!

Just like in the education field, if you see an activity, art project, routine, etc. that you like you OWN IT! Meaning take it and make it your own. Because in education you want everyone, students and teachers, to succeed. So, OWN these recipes, make them your own and pass on to someone else who may benefit from them! I'm sure these treats would brighten any teachers, co-workers, or bosses morning!

Breakfast Casserole Muffins
1 lb. hot sausage, browned and drained
6 eggs
1 cup biscuit mix
2 cups of Half and Half
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Spray 24 muffin cups with cooking spray. Place drained sausage evenly in the cups. Mix eggs, biscuit mix, half & half, salt and pepper together. Pour evenly over the sausage. Top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve immediately.

Variation---To make mini muffins, divide sausage evenly in 3 mini muffin tins (24 mini muffins in one tin=72 muffins total). Decrease baking time to 15 minutes.

Donna's Cinnamon Things
2 pkg. crescent rolls
2 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Cover bottom of 9x13 pan with one package crescent rolls. Whip together cream cheese, vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar. Spread on rolls. Cover with other package of crescent rolls. Melt butter and pour over top. Spread around to cover evenly. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Let cool and cut into about one inch square pieces.

**They make crescent roll dough now in sheets! (Still in the can.) Which was wonderful to use for this recipe so you didn't have to pinch the seams together to make a flat sheet of dough.

Corn Salad

For a Mexican fellowship meal I brought Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and Corn Salad. Several have asked for the recipe. It may not be Mexican, but we really like it with our enchiladas!

Corn Salad

2 (15 oz.) cans whole kernel corn, drained

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

1 (10.5 oz.) bag coarsely crushed chili-cheese corn chips


Mix the first 5 ingredients and chill. Stir in corn chips just before serving.

Yield: 8 servings

Hope you try and enjoy!!

Coach Daddy

All of our Saturdays have and will continue to be spent at the football field. We go to support our team, our alma mater, our friends, and our Daddy. Just wanted to let you know Coach Knapp/Daddy that we love you and the job you are doing! You're great at it!

Ladybug, Ladybug

This summer I was asked to do a girl baby shower cake for one of my moms from school. She's not up for the girly, girly baby stuff and she did the baby nursery in ladybugs. So this is what I came up with for the cake. The ladybug was a smaller cake on top, perfect to take home to big brother and dad. And for all you Delta bugs out there, thought you might appreciate too!

School Starts

Get Up Sleepy Head! We started school this past week and, other than being tired, everything went great. It is nice to get back into a routine. And the boys were sooo excited to see their friends again! Austin is in my class this year and it's been interesting so far. I'm trying my best to be firm, fair, and consistent, and not hold him to a higher standard. He's done very well, it's me I'm worried about!

Coop's lovin' every minute and passes out in the car everyday before we get out of Montgomery. It's nice having Fridays and Mondays off. We are able to run errands and relax and then enjoy Daddy's football games on Saturday. I don't know how you girls do it working 5 days/8 to 5 and have a family to care for. I'm not sure how I did it just a couple years ago. Guess you do what you have to do!

The first day of school 2008!

Salvating Saturday

I've been doing some cleaning out of my cooking magazines. They were taking up almost an entire shelf and it wasn't going to shrink any time soon, so I came up with a plan. Go through every magazine mark the recipes that I like and tear them out and put it in page protectors. Then take all of the recipes and organize in a notebook under desserts, appetizers, main course, salads, etc.

It has really opened up some shelf space and now I can find those recipes that WERE SO GOOD and only made once because I couldn't remember which magazine it was in. Needless to say, I've enjoyed imaging these dishes in my head as I've read through the mountain of magazines. And we've enjoyed many new and old savory suppers. I wanted to share a new recipe that we really enjoyed this past Saturday. After making this dinner, I realized it would be a perfect dinner to make in smaller 8x8 dishes and share half with someone and still have supper for your family! Or invite company over for a visit!

Baked Beef Stroganoff Casserole
2 pounds ground chuck
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 (14.5 oz.) can beef broth
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (16 oz.) container sour cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces wide egg noodles, cooked and kept warm
2 tablespoons butter
1 (3 oz.) can French fried onion rings

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9x2 inch baking dish.

In a large skillet, cook ground chuck, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is browned and crumbles. Drain.

Return meat to skillet and stir in Worcestershire, mushrooms, and beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in soup, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat.

Combine hot cooked noodles and butter, stirring until butter melts. Combine noodles and meat sauce. Spoon into prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes Top evenly with fried onions and bake for 10 more minutes.


**Note: I left out the extra mushrooms because the hubby doesn't care much for them and I only used about 1 1/2 ground chuck not 2 and it was still VERY yummy.

The perfect pairing to this main dish was Peggy's Corn Casserole! I know, I know...my husband said I was a casserole freak! But he followed up with "I Love It!":)

Peggy's Corn Casserole
1 stick butter, melted
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
8 0z. sour cream

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into a 9x13 greased baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.


These were soooo yummy together! A green pea salad would have really topped the meal off, but I would have been the only one eating it!

Hope you try these and enjoy them as much as we did (and are still are, the leftovers are yummy too)!

Swim Lessons

I just now downloaded pics from my camera of events from last month! So, here are Austin's swim lesson pictures. He really enjoyed himself and made new friends. It's such a small world the people you bump into and they know others you know and you've got a connection!

Looks like he's ready for Olympic diving! Legs are together and nice arm extension!

Austin and his new friend that he made!

Coop wants to know when it's his turn for the "wa-wa"! He was such a good boy to play in the hot sun for two weeks while Bubba got to swim.

Am I Crazy when...

we go to a store and they have all the school supplies out and I get really excited? Walking through the store today I had to stop by the school supply aisles and look around. The boys don't need school supplies yet but, their momma does! Or I think I do. I had to really contemplate and have self control on whether I needed a new notebook, folders, dividers, pens or not. I just get so giddy this time of year to get NEW fine point Sharpies in all different colors! Is it the teacher in me or are there others who like school supplies as much as I do? And the idea of New crayons that are sharp and in 72 colors just makes me want to buy a coloring book and color with the kiddos. Crazy as it may be but sometimes the simplest pleasures are the best! And while the boys napped today I put those new supplies to good use and organized all my lesson plans for the year in page protectors and a cute notebook!

Neat Picture!

Here is a neat pic from mission trip, I "stole" it from someone else's pictures online. But, it's all the kiddos on the mission trip from smallest to tallest. Cooper is at the front, then Trace and then Austin. Just thought it was a cool picture of all the kids!