{the big four-oh}

Wow I'm 40! It feels so weird to say that.  I had the best birthday too.  Lots of family, friends, Costa Vida, food, capture the flag, corn hole, and fun!  I big thank you to everyone that helped me celebrate becoming an old woman and to my parents for allowing us to have it at their new house.  It really was the perfect day. A huge shout out to Darian for planning and pulling off the perfect day for me, love you.

{eleven}

Happy Birthday Kaidee!  Today she is eleven finally.  She has been waiting for her birthday ever since we moved to Texas in June.  Kaidee is at least a year younger than the kids in her grade so she was excited to finally be closer in age to them, see most of them are 12 or their turning 12 soon.

After school Nan, Lynda, I picked her and Livee up from school and took them to Bahama Bucks.  It a new shaved ice/smoothie place.  It was nans first time and she loved it too. They also have several games that you can play while your eating your treats.  This is a great date place.

Livee and Kaidee played battleship.

The three little's played fibber.  The glasses they had to wear were pretty funny.

After we took Kaidee to Genghis Grill for dinner.  Its a mongolian bbq place where you pick all the ingredients and then they cook it for you.  It wasn't very good so I won't be going their again.  I have been before and it was good but the last two times it was bad.  After dinner it was activity day girls at the church.  I will do her birthday interview tomorrow.

{Christmas Eve}

Christmas Eve Day is a little different at our house.  Its not only Christmas but Garrett's birthday as well.  We actually celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago with friends and family because its too hard to celebrate it on his actual birthday.

He is now 16 years old and will be getting his license in the next few weeks.  I made him a cake for his birthday and we all sang him happy birthday.  We got him a radio for his car.

That night Santa came to our house and left lots of goodies.  One of my kids favorite things to get from Santa is banana baby food.  You might think eww gross but its actually very good.  Everyone likes it except Garrett and Darian.

The stocking are all filled with goodies for the kids.

All ready for Christmas morning.

Santa left some stuff for Garrett...

and for Chase.

{Happy Birthday to Me!}

37!

When did that happen?

I still feel like I am 22.

I miss my siblings.

I want to have a big family bbq with them.

When we all lived here in California

we always got together for birthdays.

I miss those days!

I am lucky that I still have my parents here.

We went to Cafe Rio today

with my parents, Garrett, Cole and Paisley.

Guess what happened?

I ordered my favorite pork barbacoa burrito.

I have been looking forward to this burrito for the past few days.
I took my first bite and something tasted SALTY!

I took another bite to make sure and yep it was still salty.

I had my mom try it

she said it was even too salty for her.

I took it back to the counter and told the worker.

She had the manager eat it and he spit it out in the trash.

They asked if I wanted something else.

I got something else,

but it wasn't the same.

They ended up using salt instead of sugar.

It was gross!

Oh well now I have another excuse to go to Cafe Rio again :)

{21 can't be}

Today Syd is 21.

It seems crazy to me.

I sure do love that girl.

I just wish she was closer,

so that I could spend the day with her.

Happy Birthday Sydney!

{Happy Birthday and some recipes}

Happy Birthday Bobby! This is the most recent picture that I have of my brother. I wish I could tell him Happy Birthday in person but I can't so this blog post will have to do. I love you and I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Because today is Cinco De Mayo I thought I would post some really good recipes that you could make for dinner to celebrate. All of these recipes and many more are on my recipe blog Mom I'm Hungry.

Crock Pot Mexican

I found this recipe on Becoming Betty and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to try it. It was delicious and so easy!

4-5 chicken breasts

1 jar salsa

1 can black beans

1 can corn, drained

8 oz. cream cheese

*Put first four ingredients in crock pot on low for 4-6 hours and then add cream cheese about an hour before serving. Mix well, shred up chicken and serve over rice.

Spanish Rice

2 T oil
2 C rice
1 tsp garlic chopped
1 medium onion chopped
4 C chicken broth
1 (6 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 medium tomato chopped

Saute rice, garlic, and onion in oil over medium heat until brown. Add chicken broth and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. Do not remove lid while cooking.

Taco Bubble Casserole

1-½ pound Lean Ground Beef
1 package Taco Seasoning Mix (1 Ounce Package)
¾ cups Water
1 can (10 3/4-oz.) Condensed Tomato Soup
1 can (17.3-oz.) Grands Refrigerated Golden Corn Biscuits Or 1 (16.3-oz.) Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Brown ground beef in large skillet over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain grease. Add taco seasoning mix, water and soup; mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Cut each biscuit into 8 little pieces. Add dough pieces to ground beef mixture; stir gently. Spoon mixture into ungreased 13×9-inch pan.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 23 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and biscuits are golden brown. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven; bake an additional 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.
4. To serve, cut into 8 squares. Top each serving with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, olives, sour cream and onions.

Enchiritos

2 pounds Lean Ground Beef
Taco Seasoning (I did not use this because I am not a big fan of taco seasoning flavor)
1 can (28 Oz. Can) Enchilada Sauce
2 cans (10 Oz. Can) Cream Of Chicken Soup
30 whole White Corn Tortillas
2 cups Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend
1 can (6 Oz. Can) Pitted Black Olives

Instructions:
Brown ground beef and add spices as you would if you were making taco meat. Drain fat and set aside.

Cut the tortillas into cubes; set aside. Drain olives and cut in half; set aside.

In a large stockpot on medium heat, add the enchilada sauce and cream of chicken soup. Mix well until thoroughly blended. Bring up the heat to just below a boil. By handfuls, add in the tortilla cubes and mix thoroughly. Add the ground beef, cheese, and olives and mix thoroughly.

Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes and until the cheese is melted and all ingredients are heated through.

Chicken Enchiladas

2-3 large chicken breasts
1 medium onion chopped
1 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese
1 1/2 C grated mozzarella or jack cheese
1 can olives chopped
2 dozen corn tortillas
1 (28 oz) can Las Palmas enchilada sauce

Cook chicken breasts and shred. Chop onion. Chop olives. Mix cheddar and mozzarella cheese together. Warm up tortillas in microwave (warm up tortillas enough to roll without breaking). Dip one tortilla in enchilada sauce. Place in 9x13 pan and fill tortilla with chicken, cheese, and onion. Roll. Continue until pan is full. Pour excess enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas. Top with remaining cheese and spread olives over the top of the cheese. Cook in preheated 350* oven for 20-30 minutes (until hot and bubbly).