A Little Holiday

Warning! There are a lot of pictures!

Well! Its been quite the few weeks!
We have had some out of town visitors and the holidays and Bella's birthday to keep us MORE than busy!

I dont think I'm going to go into too much detail about every single thing that we did but I'll give a run down and share pictures!

On Christmas Eve my mother in law and myself cooked a HUGE ham with all the fixin's and had a big dinner with my mom, brothers, sister in laws, and my MIL & FIL. It was a lot of fun with a lot of clean up. (haha!) 

On Christmas Day we got up bright and early with the kids to watch them open all of their presents. Then we headed over to my moms to open presents, and after a few hours over there we went to visit with some more of Ryan's family. We had another big dinner that night at my moms too! We probably ate way too much this week!

The day after Christmas we drove to L.A. to pick up my grandparents who had flown in from Texas a few days before. They spent part of their trip with the family that I have in L.A. and then spent the rest here in Barstow with us for Bella's birthday and what not.

The next few days were filled with a lot of food, fun, laughter, toys (and their trash), and celebration! Bella's party ended up being a major success. I had so much help from my MIL and my Grandma that there was no way it wasn't going to come out great! I mean of course Ryan, his dad, and my Grandpa did their part too with the running back and forth to different stores picking up this or that haha!

Overall this holiday break has been amazing. I am so so so so very BLESSED. I have an amazing support system, an amazing family, and the most wonderful man at my side taking every step with me. I couldn't have asked for any more than what I have.

Enjoy looking at some pictures from our break! Of course there are a ton more but I thought twenty something was enough! hahaha!

Christmas Eve with the Hill family

I'm surprised we even got this picture, he was making faces in all the pictures!

Me and my three "little" brothers haha!

Me-The hubs-Melissa (MIL)-Scott (FIL)

Our annual pajama picture =)

The kids were READY for Christmas!

Our tree with all of the gifts under it.

The kids on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas from the Hill family!

Wela and Bella

The oldest Hill men

My door bow =)

Tutus for all the little girls

The favor table

Owl lanterns!

Tulle pompoms!

Personalized favor bags!

Food table!

I hope you all had a good holiday break too!

Talk to you soon,
J

Tasty Tasty

Lasagna Edition

I know this is a little late since I cooked this last Wednesday, but better late than never!

Once again while pinning a few weeks ago I came across this recipe for Crock Pot lasagna. It looked so easy and delicious that I knew I had to try it.

I'm not the biggest fan of lasagna but my sister (who was here visiting) and my husband both love it so I knew it would be a hit with them. As for my kids they're the pickiest eaters ever sooooo I didn't know quite how it would go over with them.

The Ingredients:

NOTE: I tend to buy generic when it comes to things that are going to be flavored/flavoring other things. Save money when you can!

These are the measurements from the recipe I used but of course things should be done according to your taste, so adjust as you see fit.

1lb of ground meat (I used turkey)
29oz can of tomato sauce (I ended up needing more)
8oz package of lasagna noodles uncooked
4 cups shredded mozzarella (I used all of it! We're cheese lovers!)
1.5 cups cottage cheese

Optional:
parmesan
minced garlin
diced onion
any other veggies that you like in your lasagna

The Instructions:

FIRST OFF...Spray the crock pot with cooking spray! I forgot this step and the bottom of the lasagna ended up a little crispy in some spots.

Brown the meat and drain any grease left over, add in the tomato sauce and minced garlic. After that mixture is heated all the way through spoon part of it into the bottom of the pot, then add a layer of the noodles. It will probably help to break up some of the pieces to make them fit better.

Next add a layer of cottage cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan. It says to do certain measurements of each item but honestly I just did what I thought would be good. I then just added another layer of noodles and then meat/sauce and cheeses on top. I just hit repeat on that step until everything was gone...about 4 layers. ending with meat/sauce.

I turned the crock pot on low and let it cook for 4 hours.

(Add a last layer of the mozzarella five minutes before the cooking is done if you like the cheesiness!)

Take the lid off when its done and let it sit for at least 10 minutes to thicken and make it easier to serve.

The Final Product and Verdict:

The husband said, "Sooooo bomb babe!! Can I take all of the leftovers for lunch tomorrow?!"
Sister said, "This is on point!"

The kids weren't into it really. Bella ate the most but Max just had a few bites and ate his salad.

I will probably make this again but I will end up making something else for the kids.

I hope you are able to try this recipe and let me know how it goes over with your family!
Talk to you soon,
J

To Do To Do To Do

I have a list of things I want to get done that is starting to feel like its a mile long.

With the end of the year coming up on us super fast I want to be able to start 2012 with a clear mind. I have plans for some changes that I want to make within myself and I am going to need as much serenity as possible to be successful.

So here are some of the things I need to get done, I thought I would share with you what my next few weeks are looking like.

Get the laundry/storage room organized...again. I am always having to do this because there is always some reason for me to get into the bins that I have in there with our decorations, party supplies, and other various things. And most recently it was the Christmas stuff...

Go through Bella's clothes and shoes....again. Obviously she is always growing and I dont like the have clothes/shoes that are too small for her in her closet. It makes it hard for other people (Ryan) to get her dressed if they dont have the knowledge in their head of what is too small or whatever the case may be.

Organize Bella's toys and arrange her room to make it big girl bed ready! We decided to skip the toddler bed step when it comes to changing her from crib to bed. Either way, because we have a convertible crib, its going to be the same distance off the ground and she would enjoy having a bed like Max's so we are just going straight to a twin size bed after her second (eek!) birthday later this month.

Organize Max's toys...again. Christmas brings tons of new toys into the kids' rooms, so I have to make room, in his room especially, for the new things. See why I am going to make sure I have an entire play room for the kids when we buy a house?!

Organize my clothes and Ryan's by color. I love to see an organized closet...and actually let me amend this. Organize all of our clothes by color. I crave the calmness that comes from something that is organized. Who wouldn't love to open their closet and see a system? Sighhhh, I may have to move this to the top of my list!

There is a whole bunch of other things that I want done but right now I can't remember them all. But I'm sure as soon as I finish one thing on my list I'll be able to add two more things to it! There are some things that have to be done pretty soon because they are for Christmas and Bella's birthday party. But those things will get done no matter what, I can say that for sure.

Do you have any things you plan on getting done before the new year starts?
Talk to you soon,
J

I Pinned it, Then I Did it!

This year is the first year that I've had an amazing Christmas tree. I bought it last year after Christmas for an excellent price. Needless to say, I was so excited to finally put it up along with all of the ornaments I have collected over the last few years. Well rewind a few weeks before I put the tree up, I was browsing pinterest.com...again, and I came across this DIY-no sew-tree skirt...

from this blog and I new I needed to have one for myself.

Problem is, this calls for a lot of work with a hot glue gun...and I don't typically use hot glue guns on things I intend to keep until they fall apart...and in this case, I wouldn't expect the tree skirt put together with hot glue to last very long.

SO I made things a little more difficult on myself (shame on me) and i decided to make it with my sewing machine. It just seemed more efficient in this case.

I was going to write out how to do everything I did so I could share it with everyone, but it was A LOT of work...like at least 8 hours worth...I split it up over two days off and on but I'll probably never do it again haha!

Doing it with a glue gun would have been way faster and much less frustrating and complicated...but I took the long road.

The results...were WORTH it! It came out better than expected and I think it'll hold up for the next 10 years at least. I hemmed every single ruffle strip individually before pinning and sewing them onto the canvas to ensure they wouldn't fray for a long long time. And lastly I sewed ribbon along the inside smallest circle to give it that polished (;)) look and sewed a few strips of ribbon along the ends to tie it all together.

So here is MY version of the DIY tree skirt!

And here is our beautiful Christmas tree!!

Talk to you soon,
J