Weekly Happenings

October 19-25

1.  I finished the kids Halloween costumes this week!  It took two days of sewing every free moment I had, but they came together rather quickly and I think the kids will look cute and be warm!  I was questioning whether or not to post a picture, but I'm going to wait till I have a picture of everyone wearing their costumes. :)

2.  I made a batch of sugar cookies this week!  I haven't made any in months, so it was a nice treat to snack on!  I met my friend Amy for lunch this week and shared this plate with her and her family!

3.  I had not one, but two, snickers blizzards this week.  It was a baby craving, and baby gets what baby wants! 

4.  I hosted a little family get-together for my mom's birthday.  Kevin grilled pork chops while inside I made twice baked potatoes, green beans, rolls, german chocolate cake, and brownies (for the rest of us that don't love german chocolate cake) :)  It's always fun getting together with the family.  And we even got to facetime with my sis, so it was nice she could be a part of the festivities too!

5.  I reached the 30th week of my pregnancy.  All that means for me is I'm getting up nightly to pee and my back and hip pain is getting way worse.  However, I do love feeling his kicks that are getting stronger, and feeling his frequent hiccups.  I'm looking forward to starting and finishing some baby projects over the next month! (Top of my list is find a used crib/diaper changer combo for less than $150 preferably in a dark stained wood!)

Krissy's 1 year pictures

We got Krissy's 1 year pictures back yesterday!  She was a little monster to photograph (not wanting to sit still or pose any where we put here, and she really wanted nothing to do with her smash cake...), so I had very low expectations that my cousin Lacey got any decent shots of her.  Who was I kidding?  These are some of my favorite pictures of her!  They capture her personality 100%!  Here are my favorites.

One of my favorites.

Her saying "uh-oh"

I think this was the only bite she ever put in her mouth.  She kept sticking her hands in the icing then wiping it on her.

My other favorite.

Weekly Happenings

October 12-18

1.  I slightly panicked at the realization that Baby Boy will be here in 10 weeks or less.  I have literally done nothing to prepare for his arrival.  While I was trying to find a used crib on craigslist, I ran across the cutest baby boy bedding from Pottery Barn.  It was a steal!  The lady selling it lives almost 3 hours away and has agreed to ship it, so I should be getting it sometime next week! 

2.  I got all my winter maternity clothes washed and hung up to wear for the next couple months.  I've been putting it off for awhile so it was nice to get that done.  I think the cooler weather may be here to stay!

3.  I tried 4 new recipes this past week.  I already blogged the chicken noodle soup recipe, which is an all time favorite of mine.  I also made an easy casserole that was similar to a lasagna, pepperoni calzones, and soft pretzels.  All were good, but the last 3 need some tweaking. 

Needed more sauce...

We didn't love the ricotta cheese mixture...

Pretzels needed to be thinner to be more Auntie Ann like...

4.  We all had colds this week, but Allie and Kevin had it the worst.  You may be asking why this is a highlight.  Kevin took a sick day yesterday because he had a fever, and we just enjoyed having him home for the evening!  He got to watch the kids play, I baked him chocolate chip cookies after dinner, and we were able to go to bed relatively early.  It was a good sick day!

The girls were playing in the cozy coupe.

5.  Hayden got his nasal version of the flu shot yesterday.  We made the most of our time in Boonville by having lunch with my Dad.  When we got home, we were thrilled to see Hayden's new boots had arrived with our mail!  He wears boots 90% of the year so I'm sure they won't stay looking this good for long!

October's Mid Month Update

Outside my window . . . It's mostly cloudy and cool.  I think it's supposed to be in the mid 60s today but it doesn't feel that warm yet.

I am thinking . . . I have less than 10 weeks to get ready for Baby Boy and I'm not even close to being ready! 

I am thankful for . . . hooded sweatshirts.  They are perfect for this kind of weather and oh so comfortable!

In the kitchen . . . Krissy is sitting next to me eating her lunch.

I am wearing . . . I am slighly embarrassed to say I haven't even gotten out of my pajamas yet today!

I am creating . . . a doggy shirt for CeCe to wear to the parade on Saturday!

I am going . . . to be switching the kids closets over to fall/winter clothes.  I'm sure as soon as I'm done, we'll have record high temps... seems like that always happens.

I am wondering . . . what the doctor will tell me is wrong with Krissy.  Her labs came back normal (except her sed rate was higher than normal so we'll repeat that lab in a couple weeks) and the next step is taking them stool samples.  Hoping it's something minor she outgrows - whatever "it" is.  

I am reading . . . articles on everything baby.  Even though I've done this three times, I still feel like I could do things better!

I am hoping . . . To start Christmas shopping soon and be done by early November.

I am looking forward to . . . carving pumpkins with the kids.  We are making a school lesson out of it, and I'm so excited!

I am hearing . . .  Allie & Hayden chatting and Krissy smacking her musical toy while she dances to it.

One of my favorite things . . .is a new quilt I just won from my nieces' school.  Some lady spent hours and hours making it, and it's beautiful!  It's added a lot of color in our family room and I think it's really cool that I actually won it!  I never win anything! 

A few plans for the rest of the week . . .cleaning up after the kids, trying to make progress in preparing the house for #4, parade this weekend, and trying to decide what the kids are going to be for Halloween! 

My Chicken Noodle Soup

If you were waiting on this recipe, I apologize!  Allie pushed a ton of buttons on my computer and forced it in some lock down mode and I couldn't figure out how to get the screen back on!  Back to the recipe.  This is going to be my go to soup recipe maybe for the rest of my life!  It's thick and creamy (reminds me of Panera minus the onion and celery) and perfect for any cold day - or any day you have a cold - which half of us at our house have a cold now!  This recipe is great because you can cook it as fast or as slow as you want.  Kevin tried the soup first and said he couldn't imagine a more perfect chicken noodle soup.  I agreed.  If you like thinner soup, this probably won't be your favorite. 

Let's get to it. 
Haley's Chicken Noodle Soup
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
3 large chicken breast, thawed (just over 1lb)
4 packets dry chicken gravy mix
1 pack dry buttermilk ranch
2 cans cream of chicken
4 C water
1/8 tsp pepper
-----------------
10 C water + 10 chicken bullion cubes (or 10 C of store bought chicken broth)
12 oz egg noodles
12 baby carrots, chopped

In your crockpot, add gravy mix, ranch mix, cream of chicken, 4 C water, and pepper.  Stir together well, then add thawed chicken breasts (just a sidenote, I trimmed all the fat off before I put them in the crockpot because all the crockpot contents end up in your soup!).  Cook on high 3-4 hours.  (You can also cook on low 8-10 hours).  Once the chicken has cooked, take out and shred or cut into bites.  I did a combination of big and small pieces :) 
Next, mix the 10 C water and chicken bullion in a large soup pot on low to medium heat.  Once bullion cubes have dissolved, add the cut up chicken and all the gravy mix from the crockpot.  Next throw in your uncooked egg noodles and carrots.  Let cook on low 20-30 mins (or until your noodles are soft), stirring every 5 minutes or so, then it's ready to eat!
It really is that easy, and I can't stress HOW GOOD it is!!!!  This is the best recipe I've ever created, so please try it and let me know how much you loved it! ;)

We aren't celery or onion fans here, but feel free to add that in if you'd like.  I also prefer those thick frozen noodles, and they would be extra tasty in this recipe, but a certain husband of mine prefers the egg noodles - and they are great too!  It's wonderful leftover and would be easy to cut in half if you don't need to feed a lot of people. 

Hope you all enjoy!!!

Weekly Happenings

Since I am horrible at keeping up with my blog lately, I decided I'd try to keep up with a "weekly happenings" (much like my sister's hi-five for friday blog posts on Fridays!).  I love going back and looking at old pictures and recipes on my own blog, so this is really more for me more than anyone else, but feel free to check in weekly as I hope to keep up with it!

October 5-11
1.  Hello Fall Festival!  We were all so excited to go and eat this week!  We didn't do rides - Hayden doesn't love any rides, and Allie doesn't really know they are even at the fall fest, so we just stuck to the food this year!  I had been craving a monster ear for months and I ate every last bite of mine (and even thought about licking the extra goo off of the paper)!  I resisted ;)  I also enjoyed caramel apples.  The kids had hot dogs and cotton candy and Kevin had jalapeno poppers, fried rice, and a monster ear too.

The best picture I could get with the sun shining in their eyes!

My monster ear

2.  Krissy had her 1 year check up on Tuesday.  We just switched pediatricians and we love our new one.  She is very detailed and isn't as laid back as our previous one.  I was telling her about concerns I had about Krissy's eating (she has had issues with diarrhea and vomiting and I'm not sure what foods cause it) and she ordered blood work to be done, which we are doing today, then we will go from there.  We still aren't sure which food group(s) upset her belly but she hasn't been able to drink milk.  So, this seems like it will be a long process, but we are glad to be getting it started.  Krissy was 77% in height and 21% in weight.  She is normally in the 30th percentile, so that's why we are concerned with her lack of eating.  She had a very mild ear infection and she ended the visit with 4 shots, but was a trooper!

She's growing like a weed!

3.  This actually happened last week, but I had a check up with my OB and all my genetic tests came back normal.  If you remember, I have a single artery in the umbilical cord which can be a marker for a few genetic disorders, so it was definitely a weight off our shoulders to know all is well with baby boy.  They told us previously that the biggest issue with this single artery is slow growth, which means a small baby, but at our 27 week ultrasound, baby boy was in the 81% for weight - he's a chunker!  I don't forsee him being another 10 1/2 lb baby like Hayden was, because my OB has decided to induce me December 23rd (39 weeks), unless I have him before (which hasn't happened the first 3 times, so I don't expect it to happen this time)!

Newest ultrasound pic.  Can't tell who he looks like.

4.  Kevin and I started a new book on marriage called Beyond Ordinary by Justin & Trish Davis.  We checked it out from our church resource center after hearing the authors speak during a Focus on the Family broadcast.  I finished the book this week and Kevin is hoping to finish it next week!  There are SO many good take away points!  I'd highly highly recommend it!!!!  We've also been listening to the "Romance Uncensored" series, which was a marriage retreat, from Brand New Church (they have a free app, so get it).  They had guest speakers Keith and Sheila Craft along with our favorite Shannon O'Dell and it's been a won-der-ful series of messages!

5.  The weather was story-book perfection this week.  We spent every free second of our mornings and afternoons outside enjoying the sunshine!  The AC has been off, and I'm really going to enjoy that low Vectren bill when it comes!

Other recent happenings:

• CeCe got spayed the last week of September.  She was down and out for the day, but was back to being herself the next day. 
  
• Hayden is losing almost all of his fingernails and toenails as a result of having Hand Foot Mouth Disease.  He had the newer stronger virus and losing your nails is common with it.  He doesn't seem to be having any pain from it, it's just not pretty!  As of right now, Krissy looks like she may lose a toenail as well. 
• Krissy got her one year pics taken with my cousin Lacey and she was NOT interested in sitting for any pictures!  Since she started walking, she's always on the go.

  

  Her smash cake that she wasn't at all interested in. 

• We are trying to reorganize and clean up the house to make room for Baby Boy.  We have decided to set up his nursery in our room, then when he is 4-6 months old, we will set up our "boys room" and "girls room."  I'm praying that's a smooth transition.  Krissy going to a twin size bed, and separating Hayden and Allie seem like they may be little hurdles.  
• I'm getting the kids flu shots this year.  I haven't ever done that before, but with the baby coming during flu season, I thought it may be good.  Hayden is the last one that needs it.