March 3

Dale Jr. fan

Jayten watched his first Nascar race last weekend. Josh had gotten him this little Dale Jr. outfit. Hopefully Jr. will have better luck these next races; the year isn't starting off so well. But Jayten still looked cute! 

Recipes

The other night I made a great potato soup and it was so simple. I made it up! Hopefully, your adventurous enough to follow along and attempt it yourself. I don't really think you can mess it up. 

Easy Potato Soup

1 bag of shredded hashbrown potatoes

1 can of chicken broth plus 1 cup of water with chicken boullion (or you could use 2 cans broth)

1/2 cup chopped onion

8 oz. fat free cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup milk

Velvetta cheese (this is the real scientific part, I just put in about a 1-inch slice from a large block. I didn't want it to be too cheesy.)

Diced ham (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

I put the frozen hashbrowns and onion in a large pot and added the chicken broth. Once it was heated through, I added the rest of the ingredients and continued to heat and mixed throughly. Added salt and pepper to taste. 

Peanut Butter Cake Bars (Can't take credit for this. It's from the Simple & Delicious magazine my mom got for me. And I followed the whole recipe! Quick, easy and yummy. They also made a lot. I had enough batter to put it in a 9X13 and a 8X8 pan, and the brownies were still at least an inch thick.)

2/3 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 pkg. chocolate chips

In large bowl, cream butter, PB and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine, flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Add gradually to sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread into 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Let cool on rack. Cut into bars. Makes 2 dozen. Depending on how thick you want them, you could also spread them in a jelly-roll (15X18 pan). Enjoy! 

This week

It's been a good week at our house. The girls and I have been reading a lot together. MJ and I played games and worked on some preschool stuff on Monday. She took Jayten to school on Tuesday a.m. for show-and-tell. That morning she kept saying, "Today, I get to take Jayten for show and tell. I can't wait!" Her classmates that he was quite cute. E, J and I went to Wal-mart while we were in town. Fortunately, J slept in his sleepywrap the whole time and E rode in the cart. It was an uneventful trip, thank goodness. 

Emma had another good speech session on Tuesday. We're working on more phrasing. It's so easy to just make her say, "Juice, please." Now were are working on saying, "I want more juice please." It's a test for me to remember myself to make her say it. But, she seems to be picking up on more and more all the time. MJ had a friend over that afternoon and both girls had fun playing. Emma kept following her around, saying "Hannah, Hannah!"

Jayten turned one month old on Tuesday. I can hardly believe it. Now I have to refer to him in months which makes the time go by even faster! Today, he weighed 9 lbs., 13 oz. without any clothes on. Our boy is definitely growing! He also tried and drank 3 oz. of breastmilk from a bottle today. I hope Josh and I can get some time together soon. This was the first step to going out without kids-getting Jayten to take a bottle. Now, I just need to find a sitter! And convince my hubby to take some time off of work. :)

Will post some photos soon.

I like to move it, move it

We watched Madagascar 2 Tuesday night. The girls love dancing.

More dress up

Emma still loves her Tigger costume and can be found in it almost weekly. I call these other photos "Tinkerbell in the Hood." I was working in the office and periodically she would run down the hall with a different outfit on. This one just cracked me up. I love the hat; totally completes the outfit.