Always Smiling

I had a very interesting conversation this week with a teacher at St. Rose who administered Catherine's pre-K assessment. She noted how Catherine's personality appears to be a bit more assertive than Logans and I was like um yeah clearly!  She also noted that Catherine had leadership skills.  I laughed and asked if that was the politically correct word for bossy.  I mean leadership skills at age 3, seriously, how are you going to measure that? As our conversation ended she commented how Logan and Catherine are always smiling from ear to ear.

I have been ruminating about this comment since she said it and the truth is my kids do smile all the time. They laugh so hard sometimes it makes Brian and I laugh because laughter is indeed contagious.  Since I am in the details and the every day sometimes I fail to see these giant grins.  Sometimes the grins are covered up by the mental pictures of screaming hysterics when they are fighting over bath toys.  And obviously I don't stop to take iPhone pics of the screaming scenes.

So this week I am learning a lesson from my kids: smile, get excited, stay excited, and seize the day.

Birthday Party Fun

Logan and Catherine are all about some birthdays these days.  We went to three this month and they were completely adorable.  The first was at the Houston Fire Museum.  The kids got to play with real and pretend equipment. They even had full firefighter gear that fit little bodies.

The second party was for a boy in Logan's class who turned 5. It was Star Wars themed and the invite told them to report to the Jedi Training Facility.  From the day he got the invite, Logan was counting down the days on his calendar for Connor's party.  They had a bounce house with light sabers made from pool noodles and the boys had a blast.  I should probably make some light sabers like that as the "real" ones we have are always on the time out shelf as Logan and Catherine are a bit too wild for them.

And the third was a friend of Catherine's who was fortunate enough to have Elsa and Anna come all the way from Arendelle.  Logan was even excited to hang out with the girls!

On the Road to Shambala...

We met with our favorite (and only) family photographer back in October and had a blast. Kimberlee is gifted when it comes to capturing the energy and expressions of our children.  These first photo's capture Logan and Catherine's energy.

I can tell my sister by the flowers in her eyes
On the road to Shambala
I can tell my brother by the flowers in his eyes
On the road to Shambala

Ah, ooh, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Ah, ooh, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Some black and whites...

And these are my other favorites.

 

Creamy Italian Chicken

This month I am sharing some of my favorite recipes and will give, in my humble opinion, the pros and cons to each dish.  Cooking is an interesting art.  It is essential and there are a lot of factors to consider: number of ingredients, prep time, healthy or terrible for you but tastes oh so good, cost, freezable, and I guess at the end of the day....will my family actually eat it.

I have to give Brian credit because he is very open and easy going with meals.  I know he has some favorites of which I am certain does not include my quinoa enchilada casserole. And I am ok with that. In fact, Catherine and I are the only ones that do enjoy it.

So we will begin with a new family fave, Creamy Italian Chicken.  This one is a hit because everyone enjoys, it is incredibly easy to assemble, and there are healthy options for substitution.  This recipe is a crock pot recipe that includes pasta and cheese. It's ironic because I am not a huge pasta or cheese fan as I tend to opt more for creole rice dishes and avoid cheese if possible.  I do use a crock pot but not often as I find the texture is off on so many dishes.

However, this one is a keeper.

Creamy Italian chicken
**this recipe makes two meals
1 16oz bottle Italian dressing
1 pack Italian salad dressing mix
2 8oz cream cheese (softened)
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
3-4 lbs skinless boneless chicken breasts
Shredded Parmesan (optional)
- whisk Italian dressing, Italian dressing mix, cream cheese, and cream of chicken soup until smooth
- divide into two gallon size bags
- divide chicken into bags, press out air, freeze one bag and marinate the other bag over night (in fridge)
- place contents into slow cooker on low for 4 hours until chicken is cooked through
- once chicken is cooked you can shred it to smaller bite size pieces
- serve over pasta with parm cheese on top


And our silly photos...

Baby Laura

Christmas 2014

Donald and Clare welcomed a baby girl onto this earth in October.  She is a cutie pie and her name is Laura. I am blessed as I get to be both aunt and godmother.

Catherine and I first met Laura in November when we flew down to New Orleans for a quick weekend.  Catherine was all about baby Laura in conversation but to my surprise was not that interested in her the first few times they met. It was not until the last night we were there when my mom was feeding her a bottle that Catherine  became interested.  She was like “LOOK MOM, baby Laura eats bottles.”  And then she was smitten.  Her little cousin was for real because she drank bottles.  I don’t think she realized that when Laura was breast feeding she was actually eating.  She now had (and has) a real life baby doll who is also her little cousin.  Too cute!

Logan was so sweet with her

We had to make sure Catherine did not push the bottle to hard into Laura's face!

Laura is 5th generation to wear this family gown

Love this picture

Logan's Baptism July 2010

And, truth be told, I don't have a picture of Catherine in her gown. I have before and after but not during.

Landscaping

I have no excuses for why I have not posted any blog updates in weeks.  So many things to write about from December and January, I am not sure where to start!

Landscaping seems like as good as a topic as any so I will begin.  In 2014 we had our back yard filled in, leveled, and re-soded.  Having grass is very exciting.

2011

2014

Santa Clause brought me a beautiful Magnolia tree for an early Christmas gift.   It is about 6 feet tall and we had it professionally planted in November.  I have always loved Magnolia trees and I am excited to continue the tradition of having one planted everywhere I have lived.  Back in the fall of 2008, Brian and I bought a Magnolia tree for $19.99 at Houston Garden Center and the little guy looked sickly for the first 4 years we had him.   I drove by our old house the other day and was very impressed with his growth.

2010- 2 years after we planted the tree

2015

So once I pulled up old pictures of my magnolia on West 10th st I could not help but go down memory lane.  We loved that house and did all of the landscaping and even got a fleur de lis fence to make sure it had a Brian and Joan legacy tied to it.

We took this picture the day we closed.  Who would paint a house mustard yellow?

Many man hours went into this garden bed!

Porch redo and paint in 2010

We finished the fence project about 4 months before we moved.  The same garden bed still thrives 6 years later.