Chicken Pot Pie

The best picture I took.... We all dug in and ate, and I realized as I was packaging up leftovers I forgot to take pictures!

I remember having those little frozen chicken pot pies when I was a kid.  I usually picked out the veggies, like most kids do.  They fell off my radar because it wasn't ever one of my favorite meals.  A couple months ago, Kevin said pot pies sounded good.  I knew I could go buy the frozen ones, but what fun is that?  I found several recipes, all with great reviews, and combined a couple to come up with my own recipe.  It's by far one of my favorite things I make, and the family loves it too (although there's still some kids that pick out some veggies!)  I should mention, this is the only time I eat peas :-P

I like to pre-cut and pre-measure all my ingredients before I start. 

I know this looks like a lot of steps and ingredients, but I promise it comes together pretty easily and the end result is SO worth the little bit of work!  You'll also have leftover ingredients and can make my favorite chicken noodle soup! 

Pot Pie Ingredients:
2 chicken breast
6 Tbsp butter
3/4 of a sweet onion, chopped very small
2 small stalks of celery, chopped very small
1/2 tsp salt
sprinkle of pepper
6 Tbsp flour
2 C chicken broth
2/3 C 2% milk
2 medium potatoes (I used red potatoes), pealed and chopped into bite sized pieces (soak in water until ready to use so they don't turn brown!)
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into bites
1 C frozen peas, defrosted
1 C frozen corn, defrosted
Pie Crust  (I use my homemade one because I prefer the taste, recipe below!)
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425*
Place chicken breast in pan, cover with water, and bring to a boil.  It will take about 15 minutes to cook them.  While the chicken cooks, prepare your pot pie filling.
In a large sauce pan, melt the butter.  Once melted, add the celery and onion.  Cook for about 2 minutes.  Next add the salt, pepper, and flour.  Cook 4 minutes.  Next add the chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Simmer 8-10 minutes and allow mixture to thicken.  (The chicken should be done by this point.  Remove and cut into bite sized pieces.)  Add the milk to the sauce pan and cook another 4 minutes.
Remove sauce pan from heat.  Drain the water off the potatoes, and add to the sauce pan.  Also add the carrots, peas, corn and chicken breast. 
Pour the filling into a 9x13 pan and set aside while you prepare the pie crust.

Pie crust ingredients:
1/4 C crisco
1/4 C soft butter
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
approx 1/2 cold water (I use a 1 C measure cup, fill it half full of water and add ice cubes to get the water really cold!)
Mix crisco, butter, flour and salt together with a fork or pastry blender until very crumbly.  Add water a little at a time until it holds together but the dough is not sticky.  Feel free to mix with your hands.  Sometimes it's just easier!  Roll gently on a floured pastry cloth (or your counter top, I just think the pastry cloth is easier) until slightly larger than the 9x13 pan.   Gently lift the pie crust and place on top of the pot pie filling.  Tuck extra pie crust into the sides of the pan.  Use a pastry brush, brush beaten egg on top of the pie crust.  This prevents the crust from burning while baking.  Lastly, with a sharp knife, cut X's or slits into the top of the pie crust to allow the pie to vent.

Bake for approx 40-45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow the pie to cool 10 minutes before serving.  This is the best meal for when it's cold outside!  It's also a great meal to take to someone!  Hope you love it as much as we do! :) 

Cherry Almond Muffins

While trying to figure out my menu for our big Valentine's dinner, I came across this recipe for cherry almond bread.  I instantly fell in love with the pink and red colors, and the more I thought about the flavor combo, the more I couldn't wait to try it!  I actually had Kevin run to Walmart for me (He was already out) so he could get the ingredients and I could make it that night!

Hayden is the big cherry fan at our house.  He loved how it turned out, but I knew it needed some tweaking to make it something more of us liked!

Round two, I made mini muffins instead of small loaves of bread.  I also put the cherries through the food processer instead of using my little chopper from pampered chef!  Some of the kids didn't like the bigger pieces of cherry, so that's why I did that.  You can chop them however you desire!

My little sampler

My iPhone doesn't capture the pretty pink like my regular camera does (like the loaf in the top pic!)

Ingredients:

• 1 c. sugar
• ½ c.canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cherry extract
• 1½ tsp. almond extract
• 2¼ c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 (8 oz.) jar maraschino cherries, chopped, juice reserved
• powdered sugar, for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Grease mini muffin pans; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and oil; add eggs, vanilla, cherry, and almond extract and beat well. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Measure out ½ cup of the reserved maraschino cherry juice. If juice does not equal ½ cup, add enough water to make up the rest. Alternately add the flour mixture and cherry juice to the sugar mixture until it is just combined. Stir in the chopped cherries.
2. Fill the mini muffin cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 12-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove muffins to cool completely on a wire rack. Dust tops of bread with powdered sugar, if desired, slice and serve. Makes: 30 mini muffins

These are the perfect little Valentines snacks/treats!  Hope you all enjoy them!

School Update

(Allie's not wearing glasses because they keep breaking!  We have an appointment the first week of February to get new ones!)

The kids are over half way through this school year, so I thought I'd post a little bit about how Hayden & Allie are doing.

Allie is loving kindergarten.  She is constantly making friends, but she says her best friend is Olivia.  Just to happens, Olivia's grandparents live on our street, and the girls had never met prior to school!  Allie is excited to be learning how to read, and usually is pumped and ready to do homework each night.  Homework consists of writing in her agenda book and reading a couple short stories each week.  She's mastered all the skills she's learned up to this point and is really just thriving.  We love her teacher so much, and I'm certain she gets a lot of credit for Allie's success!

Hayden hasn't had the best year in 2nd grade.  His teacher is very laid back, and that's very different from any teacher we've had previously.  This is also his first year to have a male teacher, which I started the year excited about, but felt disappointed over and over by this teacher's lack of communication, and lack of planning educational materials for the students.  I did talk to the principal about it, but felt like it was a hopeless cause.  At our school, the teachers are known for going above and beyond.  This teacher ... not so much.  Ok, so you probably get I don't like the teacher.  Case made, moving on.  Hayden has struggled this year, mostly with spelling and language arts.  He has no motivation to do homework, seems easily upset when he comes home (which I've found out usually is a result of the teacher yelling at the kids that day), and his quarterly test scores don't show much improvement.

All this being said, we felt it was appropriate to find Hayden a tutor.  We have heard from so many people that 3rd grade is a whole new ball game.  We want Hayden to finish this year strong, and we knew that would require intervention.  We contacted his beloved 1st grade teacher and asked for tutor recommendations.  She gave us the name of a 3rd grade teacher (at Castle) that she highly recommended.  Where this gets interesting is I've heard about this 3rd grade teacher and how difficult her class is.  So, the wheels in my head started spinning, and I decided a hard 3rd grade teacher would be perfect at preparing Hayden for 3rd grade next year!

I emailed this teacher, and waited a bit for a reply.  When she did reply, she started out by saying her tutoring days (Monday-Thursday) are already full.  She went on to say that Hayden's 1st grade teacher had nothing but positive things to say about him, and she offered to open up her Friday to tutoring him.  I can't tell you how thrilled I was!  Hayden was apprehensive about tutoring.  He didn't know this lady, he didn't understand why we wanted to get a tutor, and he had several questions about it.  We talked about it a lot, I told him about my own experience (where I had a laid back teacher one year and it really set me back the next year), and told him he should give it a chance - but I knew he was still nervous.

Friday I picked up him outside of school and he was smiling ear to ear.  The tutor talked about how great Hayden did.  She showed me results of some tests she had done, which helped her figure out the best way for her to help him.  She has about 5 minutes of homework for him to do every night, and she said I will notice results quickly.  Hayden said on the way home how much he loved going and it made my momma heart feel so much better.  Monday morning I asked the kids what they were most looking forward to this week.  Allie said going to the dentist, and Hayden said tutoring.  :)

As I was reflecting this morning over the school year, I just felt that Hayden has been shown so much favor.  This bleak school year has seemed to turn around for him in the last few days and I feel like we are really going to finish strong!  I made cookies and wrote thank you's to this special 1st grade teacher and the new tutor this week so they know how much we appreciate them! 

Baking Bug

I have caught the baking bug.  Big Time!  I find myself using all my free time looking for recipes to try.  I go through seasons where I focus my attention on different things.  Some months it's baking, some months it's sewing, some months it's taking pictures. 

You know how it goes when trying new recipes.... they aren't all keepers.  I have tried several lately that I liked, but none of these fell into the category of keepers.  I figured I'd share them with you in case they may be something that looks good to you!

Pina Colada Cookie Cups
I altered this recipe and used mini cupcake pans instead of regular cupcake pans.  The recipe made 24 mini cookie cups.  The other change I made, I topped them with strawberries instead of cherries and pineapple.  I liked them.  The cookie was good and chewy, but none of my kids or husband liked them.  There's a subtle coconut flavor that turned my kids off.  I took them to dinner this weekend and a couple other adults liked them.  I haven't completely written off this recipe, but I'll have to experiment with it more if I want it to become a family favorite!

Southwest Chicken Barley Chili
I made one change to this recipe - the can of diced tomatores, I pureed them.  Other than that, I made this exactly like it was written (for the crockpot).  I made jiffy cornbread to go with the chili, and crumbled it in the soup and thought it was good.  Allie ate it, but none of the other kids did, and Kevin didn't like it. 

(FYI, this was not my picture... I took it from the site because I didn't take any pictures when I made it!)

Sweet Pineapple Casserole
I guess I'm easy to please, because I liked this recipe too, but no one else seemed to care for it.  I had a friend tell me about "pineapple casserole" and how great it was, and I had never heard of it before!  I was so anxious to try it and quickly found a recipe on Pinterest that looked great!  The casserole is sweet (hints the name) and the bread turns out caramelized and chewy.  The pineapple flavor isn't overpowering.  Maybe I didn't pair it with the right meat?   Anyways, I don't know that I'll be remaking it because it went over so poorly at my house, but I'd eat it again if someone else made it!

Chicken Pesto Pasta

I didn't realize how much I loved pesto until I tried Azzip's zip sticks.  They are my favorite!  It got me thinking that I was missing out.  I'd never searched pinterest for "pesto" and when I did, I found so many recipes I wanted to try!

My first recipe to try was an instant family favorite.  Allie had seconds and thirds, Hayden had seconds, Kevin raved about the dinner and even posted about his love for it on instagram! Haha!  I also love finding new recipes I can make in my electic skillet and this one worked perfect!  (Definitely easy to make in a pan on the stove too, so don't let that last sentence make you think you can't make it!)  If you've never bought pesto from the store, it's by the pasta sauces (thanks sis for that tip!)

Original recipe can be found here.  I did a few things different (like increased the noodles a tad, increased the cream and cheese, and nixed the cherry tomatoes {which I'm sure my kids would have loved, but Kevin and I gag at the thought of them}).

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts, sliced into ½-inch strips
• 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
• ½ tablespoon kosher salt
• ½ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¾ grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup pesto
• 3 cups (uncooked) mini penne pasta
• Parmesan cheese to garnish

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pan over high heat. Combine the chicken, garlic, salt, and pepper, cooking until chicken is browned.  Start cooking your noodles while you're chicken is cooking.

Then, mix in the heavy cream, parmesan, and pesto, stirring until evenly combined.

Next, bring to a boil and cook until the sauce has reduced, about five to seven minutes.

Toss in the drained pasta, stirring until evenly coated. Remove from heat. To serve, sprinkle parmesan cheese on top!

Weekly Recap

I had such a great week that I thought it was appropriate to do a weekly recap!  

1.  Inauguration
I'm obsessed with all things inauguration!  I love seeing the news clips of the new first family.  I can't wait to watch the swearing in, and I am excited to see what Melania and Ivanka will be wearing during all these festivities!  I also love Mike Pence (and family) and loved seeing him move to DC with his pets in hand. 

I mean seriously, Ivanka is breath takingly beautiful.  Welcome to DC!

2.  Surprise Gifts
This last week I received 2 surprise gifts that just stopped me in my tracks and made me feel so thankful!  I think it's so sweet that both of these girls thought of me. 

The cutest itty bitty pocket knife (I've been wanting) given to me by my one and only sister in law!

Adorable LOVE decoration to add to my Valentine's decor from my sis.

3.  Valentines decorations
I waited long enough and broke out the Valentines decorations!  I had every intention of doing it last weekend, but got busy doing other things, so I did it the middle of this week.  Krissy and Austin were loving helping me decorate.  One of my favorite things was Allie wrote a paper at school that was started "My house" and she finished it "has a playroom.  It is pretty" and when she drew her illustration, she drew our house with hearts all over it.  I hope these kids love Valentines day as much as their momma!

Kids Portrait Innovations picture from last year.

If I remember correctly, Hayden made the hanging hearts when Allie was just months old.  Krissy and Austin want to make some decorations too, so I'm trying to decide on a cute craft they can put out every year!

4.  Wooden signs
Last week I made a front door Valentine's decoration that left me feeling a little underwhelmed  It's cute, but doesn't scream Valentines.... well somehow it came about that one of our favorite family friends had several cute wooden door signs (heart//candy corn//snowman//bunny, etc) that she let me trace!  Kevin happily cut them out for me and now I have cute decorations for the whole year!  I just need to start painting!

I think the bunny is my favorite.  P.S. the curly tail belongs to the heart, not the bunny! :)

5.  Friend Dates 
Yesterday I had one of my friends over for a play date.  She's expecting her 2nd baby and craving all things sweet, so I made her some Valentines cupcakes.  (Can't say they sounded bad to me either, and I maybe ate 3, but whose counting?!)  We had a good time chatting while the kids played.  This morning I'm meeting another friend of mine for breakfast.  She's a few years older than me and her kiddo is in high school.  My mom's bible study started back up this week too, so my friendship cup runneth over.  Some weeks I get so busy with stuff that needs done in and around the house that I don't make it a priority to see my friends, but I'm always so glad when I do!

(Pillsbury) Valentine's cupcakes

6.  Basted Quilt
That quilt I started last July... well I didn't quite forget about it, but I just haven't taken the time to finish it.  I think not knowing what exactly I am doing has halted my progress.  This week I decided to get the quilt top back out and baste it (which means add a back and middle cotton layer and get it ready to quilt).  Oh, want to hear a funny story?  When I was buying the material for the quilt back, I had decided I needed 70 inches of material.  When the JoAnns worker called my number at the cutting counter, I told them I needed 70 yards.  Their eyes got big and said, "Well there certainly isn't 70 yards here."  My face turned all the shades of red and I corrected myself.  But anyways, Krissy was so excited to "help" me baste it and kept handing me safety pins.  She also took my phone and look several picture of me hard at work lol.

Thanks Krissy for taking a picture for me!  Next time try to crop out my unmade bed ;)  Eek!

Probably  our happiest news of the week:  Kevin officially got moved to days.  We knew it was coming, but didn't know when.  It still seems surreal. He will be home everyday when the kids get off the bus, and home all evening with us!  Being on the off shift most of our relationship has meant we've had to say no to lots of things, so I'm excited to see what we get to say yes to!

His celebratory cookie cake said "Congratulations on Day Shift" but the rotten cats stepped on the box before we could get a picture!

Hope you all have a great weekend!  Check back in with me next week - I'll be posting a couple recipes we tried this week and loved!

Homemade Wax

Not only did I made the DIY Exfoliater this weekend, I made some homemade wax.  It's kind of an embarrassing and funny story why I made it.... so here goes!  I ordered a new teeth whitener system for Christmas.  I wanted to take a "before" picture, and when I flipped my camera around to see how the picture turned out, I couldn't believe how much hair was on my upper lip!  I was seriously mortified!  It wasn't dark hair, but it definitely looked horrible in pictures.. so I wanted to wax my lip.  It seemed painful, but shaving my lip seemed weird, so I decided on waxing...

If you have any interest in making some yourself, here's the link to the video and recipe.

I was happy with the results and it didn't hurt as bad as I expected.  Or maybe it did, but it happened so fast that it wasn't too bad. :)

New Resolutions for the New Year

Can you believe we are over half way through January?!  Over the last few years, I've gotten on board with making New Year's Resolutions.  Most of the resolutions I make are smaller things I want to accomplish that year - like making a quilt for example.  (I can't say I've completed that quite yet, but I think this year will be the year.)  I have been feeling for awhile like I need to get my priorities in order, so I'm working really hard to keep the resolutions I've made. 

I found an app called "Bible Study" and it's a 365 day plan to read the entire bible in chronological order.  I'm currently reading in Genesis (just finished Job), and I have to say, I don't want to stop at the end of my daily reading.  I'm learning so much.  I have a study bible and that makes a huge difference.  The little commentary at the bottom just makes what you've read more applicable to your life.  I try to get my reading done once I get Hayden and Allie to school, and Krissy & Austin have been fed.  I usually set out about 30 minutes to read and journal afterwards.  It's been a great thing to add to the start of my day, and really sets my mind/attitude for the rest of the day.  I've heard that said a thousand times, but didn't really realize how true it was until I saw for myself!

I also started a workout program at the beginning of January.  It's from BeachBody (21 day fix), and it's 30 minutes a day at home.  You focus on a different area of the body every 7 days, but then it repeats itself each week.  I'm really enjoying it, and already feeling better.  That first week, I was incredibly sore, and complained like a baby almost everyday - just ask Kevin.  I didn't weigh myself to begin, and I haven't weighed myself any other day.  I'm mentally at a point where I don't care what the number on the scale says, I just want to feel healthy and less jiggly.  My knees and hips pop like an 80 year old woman now, and I'm sure that will only get worse as I get older - also, we have a Florida trip planned for May and who wants to put on a swimsuit when you feel bleh?! So I'm prioritizing my health every day.

Lastly, Kevin and I are both working on keeping a budget.  Every month, for the last 4-5 years, I've made a monthly budget.  Just because I've made the budget, doesn't mean we've stuck to the budget.  Know what I mean? We set some financial goals, and are both working towards making them this year!

I don't know what your goals are for the year, but something I keep telling myself to hold me accountable is, "You don't get December results in January".  It takes a full year of reading/learning, a full year of making the choice to work out, a full year of watching how you spend your money to see real results.  Are you still going with your resolutions or have you already given up?

Patti's Restaurant

Yesterday Kevin had the day off work, while the two oldest kids had to make up their snow day from a couple weeks ago.  We wanted to do something fun, so we headed to Kentucky to eat at Patti's.  It's always been one of my favorite restaurants for so many reasons;  I love the shopping in and around the restaurant, I love the strawberry butter, I love the food, I love the restaurant decor, and if I have room for dessert (which I usually don't), it's amazing too.   If you ever get to Grand Rivers, you have to go eat there!

Before we ate, we made a pit stop at Kevin's parents property by Barkley Lake so he could see if there were any signs of deer.  He's wanting to hunt down there this fall with Hayden.  I promise to cheer them on (because I know it's something he likes and wants to do), but let's be honest.... I want nothin to do with a dead deer.... I take that back.  I wouldn't mind one deer head mount for me to decorate with seasonal things, but that's it.  We spent about an hour walking through the woods looking for hoof prints, bedding areas, and deer rubs.  I know you're jealous.

Here are some pictures from our lunch out :)

Most of the Christmas decor was still up, and it was fun to see!

Me & Krissy waiting on that bread!

Flower pot bread with 2x strawberry butter and regular butter

Kevin & Austin

Krissy & Austin both loved the bread (Austin was licking strawberry butter off his plate), and they both got corn dogs and homemade chips for lunch that they loved too!

I got my usual - aloha chicken salad.  It was fantastic!  The kids helped me eat my fruit :)  Kevin got a fried chicken salad that I didn't get pictures of.

Before we left, I looked around their store and found their 75% off Christmas clearance.  I saw this little mistletoe ornament and decided I needed it!  (It looked like all the stores were having huge sales, so it's a good thing we ran out of time and had to get home!)

We couldn't leave without a picture of Krissy on that big pink tractor!

These two crashed on the way home and Kevin and I enjoyed the silent ride back home!

DIY Exfoliater

I kept meaning to buy an exfoliater when I was out and about, and never could remember.  This past weekend I decided I'd just make one at home.  I had all the ingredients already, and I really am enjoying it!

What you'll need to make it:

1/4 C sugar

1/4 sea salt

1/4 coconut oil

20 drops lavender oil

20 drops peppermint oil

Mix first three ingredients in a small bowl with a fork.  Add in the oils and mix again.  And that's it.  I had this cute little glass jar to store mine in.  I keep it in the shower, and exfoliate my face every time I take a shower. 
The coconut oil leaves your skin feeling super smooth and the peppermint make it feel really refreshing! The sugar and salt are obviously rough, but that's what gets the dead skin off! :) Hope you enjoy!

Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe

The table cloth, oven mitt, and pot holder all came from Walmart!

I promise I don't just eat cookies all day, but I do frequently search for new food recipes to try.  That usually leads me to finding a new dessert recipe I want to try.  That's how I found this cookie recipe (on Pinterest) and have been thinking about it for a week!  I decided yesterday it was time to see if these cookies were as good as they claimed to be.  And they were, so that's why I'm sharing the recipe with you!
Original recipe can be found here.
I should also mention, if you love snickerdoodles but aren't into baking, Walmart carries a box mix called Krusteaz (I think you just add a stick of butter), and their snickerdoodle cookies are pretty amazing!  They have a flatter/chewy consistency and are so so good.

Ingredients:
1 C unsalted butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
3 1/4 C all purpose flour
(Topping)
1/3 C sugar
1 heaped tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*
In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon and mix well.  Add in the cream of tartar, baking soda, and half of the flour mixture and mix on low until combined.  Add in remaining flour and mix again just until combined.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.

Scoop the dough with a cookie scoop, and coat the balls in the cinnamon sugar topping.  Place cookies on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 8-10 mins.  {At 8 minutes, the cookies were still a bit gooey in the middle, but once they cooled, they were a great consistency.  I like mine a bit more done (so we can eat them out of the oven), and I opted to bake mine for 10 minutes.}  Let cool on the cookie sheet a few minutes then transfer to counter to cool completely.

What I like about them:
They are super thick, and soft.  They are good out of the oven and equally as good the next day.  This is a good recipe to make with the kids - they can roll the cookies in the cinnamon and sugar mixture!  The dough doesn't require any refrigerating, so they are pretty quick to make!

The cookie is very thick and soft.  The original recipe calls them chewy, but mine weren't chewy.

Allie's been pretty upset we've eaten or shared all the cookies before she's gotten home from school, so I made sure to pack her (and Hayden) some in their lunches today!

Some New Purchases

I have bought a few things lately (other than my dresser) that I've been really happy with, and wanted to share them!

1.  Wire baskets - $1.98 each
These little metal baskets (they come in 5 colors) were right inside the doors of the home living side at Walmart.  I thought they were cute, and when I saw they were only $1.98, I knew I needed some!  I bought 4 my first trip, I went back for 2 more, and I'm probably going to get a few more the next time I go back!  I keep finding great places to use them! 
I replaced some old fabric baskets in my medicine cabinet with two of these.  One for adult meds and one for kids meds.
I reorganized my food cabinets, and used the baskets to hold:  sprinkles, opened packages of baking supplies, and snacks.  (Btw, did you know sprinkles expire?  I was shocked to see I had some that expired in 2012! Eeek!)

This is kiwi green and rose gold.  They also carry them in  blue, white, and gold, but several colors have already sold out at my store!

2.  Hello (kids toothpaste)
My kids are weird about toothpaste.  They only use Kids Crest - and on the off chance we had to use regular toothpaste, they'd all scream and cry and tell me it was too hot.  Totally ridiculous, but totally true.  I don't know if I didn't brush their teeth well enough, or if the Crest toothpaste just doesn't dissolve very well, but I always had blue globs of toothpaste in my sink.  When we ran out of toothpaste a few weeks ago, a new kind caught my eye.  Trying a new toothpaste sounded a bit risky for these picky kids, but it was watermelon flavored and I thought that was pretty safe! It's called Hello.  It smells so good, and the kids LOVE it.  They have several other flavors, and some that have fluoride in them.  I need to ask the kids' dentist this month if they need the extra fluoride.  I read an article recently about how the average person is getting too much fluoride... so that's why I opted for the fluoride free one!
Also, the toothpaste is white, and dissolves really well and I've never had globs of it leftover in the sink.  That's reason enough for me to keep buying it!  It's a tad more expensive than the Crest, but totally worth it in my book!

3.  Valentines Haul from Target
I'm already in full Valentines prep mode at my house.  (It is my favorite holiday!)  Target usually has the best selection of Valentines things, so I went last week to check it out before it was all picked over!  I left with the biggest smile on my face and two bags full of Valentines things!  The cupcake/frosting mix and the pack of blue Valentines (to the right with the mailbox) were the only things not up front in the $1-$3 section.  I got Hayden and Allie the cutest Valentines to pass out to their classmates, adorable plastic plates (which happen to be the kids favorite colors:  Hayden = red, Allie = orange, Krissy = pink, Austin = blue!) a darling mini cake stand (I wanted ALL the colors, but settled on white), some mini chalkboard placecards for our 2nd annual Valentines dinner, a new weekly planner (for menu planning), bandaids (because my kids go through them so quickly), and a small pack of pink doilies

I'm still on the hunt for something for my front door.  I haven't seen any cute Valentine options at any stores.  I've browsed Pinterest, and may make something if I can't find anything I like!

My New Dresser

Guys, let me first start by saying... prayer works!

You know that dresser I talked about in my last post?  I found it on Craigslist, fell in love instantly (with the look of it AND the price), and was crushed to hear it was already sold.  The buyer was supposed to pick it up this weekend, and the seller said she'd let me know if they didn't end up getting it.  I tried to go about my day Friday as usual, but I was seriously so upset!  I prayed about it every time I thought about it - which, lets be honest, was a lot.

We've sold things on Craigslist before and people that said they were going to come didn't really come, so I prayed these buyers would be like that.... so I'd get the opportunity to buy it.  And that's exactly what happened.  Right before noon on Saturday, Melanie (the seller) texted me "Dresser is yours if you want it".  IF I WANT IT?!  OhMyGosh YES!  I started jumping up and down screaming - the kids thought I was nuts.  Kevin had just left to run an errand, and I called him and could barely contain my excitement.  Then I called my mom.... and then I texted my sister... and then me and the kids danced around the kitchen (we did the Chuck E Cheese Happy Dance, with music and all) because I was so excited. By the end of our little dance party they were all screaming "We are getting the dresser!"

Kevin and a friend went to pick it up about an hour later, while I stayed home to get our room ready.  I was texting Melanie back and forth, and she was the sweetest.  She said she actually had other people interested in it, but offered it to me next because she could tell I wanted it so bad. 

We knew it had a drawer that needed work when we bought it, and Kevin got right to work on it.  It's so nice having a handy husband! :)  So, if you're wondering why in the pictures below it's missing two drawers, he had to remove the bottom drawer to get to the one above it.  I was so excited to move our clothes out of the kids dresser and into our very own, very grown-up, dresser!

Every time I walk down the hallway, or glance in our room, I just look at it and just smile!
I. LOVE. IT!

...Before & After....