Big May Trip

Last week was a big week for us!  It started out with us going down to my Mom's to celebrate Mother's Day since we all couldn't be there last week.  It was a fun time, as always!  Here are some pictures...

Here's my niece... and she is going to be a big sister in December!

Fun times in the playroom at Gaga's house!

We stayed at Mom's house until Tuesday afternoon since James was out of town.  On Thursday we left on another trip to Nashville to see our niece graduate from high school.  I knew I needed to laundry and pack again and it's always easier for me to just fold the clothes and put them in a bag so I didn't do wash at Mom's house before we left.  Bad idea.  This is what my front room looked like Wednesday night.... and that's not all of it- there's another basket in my room!

So all that stuff actually made it into a couple bags and we made it to St. Louis to pick up James' mom and sister.  We spent the night there and headed out in the afternoon after Aunt Kim got out of work.  While we were waiting, we went to a park and found a little lake on the way.

 

Here's the park.  My kids are such climbers!!

On the walk back we found a big tree that had fallen over. Couldn't resist a picture!

We got to Nashville late so we headed to the hotel.  It was the second time the kids had been to a hotel but the first time wasn't a fun trip and we weren't there for long.  Anyway, O loved the bed!

The bear she decided to take with her on this trip was a bear I received when I was born.  She thought that was pretty neat.

S loved the mirror behind the bed.

Watching the "quacky show"(Word World) before bed.

Eating breakfast in bed! :)

Playing with cousins before the big ceremony!

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of cousin S graduating but here is a picture of all of the graduates.

And more playing afterwards...

We left that night about 9 and drove all night home(after dropping James' mom and sister back at their house).  My mom was able to come up so she watched the kids while we slept a bit.  Actually, everyone slept while I return the van we rented. :)  It was a fast, but great trip!

Happy Birthday O!

Today my little girl turned 3.  3!  Can you believe it!?!  There are too many things I love about my little girl to tell you but I'll list a few here:
I love her laugh
I love her love of anything "babies"(dolls).  She will make an absolutely wonderful mother some day!
I love her energy
I love her silly sayings("last morning I....")
I love her love for the outdoors
I love that she loves her little brother
I love her willingness to help me with any little thing I need help with

I will blog more about our crazy weekend but I'm rather tired so I'll close with a few pictures from today.  Let's just say we drove all night last night from TN and I'm a little dazed. :)  Anyway...

Here's O and Gaga making birthday cupcakes

opening the present....

a dollhouse... she was so excited!

Daddy putting it together(with help)

The finished product...

now it's cupcake time!!

S loves his frosting!!

While I was taking a little nap O was keeping busy with Gaga...

Here are some pictures I took of the kids a few weeks ago.  If you live by me you know these were taken a few weeks ago since they are wearing jackets!  90+ degree weather in May... crazy!  Anyway, aren't dandelions annoying until you get good pictures of your kids playing in them?!?!  I hope you enjoy!

May day baskets and Cinco de Mayo recipe

I'm covering the first week of May 'holidays' all in one post. :)

My friend Amy(of Taloola Kids) gave me a link to a website on how to make May Day baskets.  Now I have no idea why May Day is celebrated.  I probably could look it up on this wonderful invention of the internet but I don't.  I just remember as a kid making a construction paper basket with construction paper flowers and putting it on my neighbor Judy's door, ringing her doorbell, and running away as fast as I could.  I really don't know what I liked better, the making of the basket or the fact that I rang her doorbell and ran away before she answered it.  Yes, I was a rebel of a child. :)

Anyway, I decided to have O do some May Day baskets. S is really not into anything crafty at all.  At all.  So I'm going to have to try to come up with something exciting for him to do when O and I do crafty stuff.

First step... glue the stems on the construction paper flowers.

I kind-of forgot to take some pictures of this step for a couple reasons.  1. I was trying to cook supper at the same time(bad planning on my part). 2. It's kind of  messy step.  See what I'm talking about...

The basket is two paper plates, one cut in half and stapled to the bottom half of the second one.  We hadn't used glitter in a while so I thought it would be fun to use glitter to decorate the basket part.

Now there's glitter all over my house(and probably the houses of my 3 neighbors!)

Once the glitter dried(the next day), O added some more color and her name...

And the flowers went in!

I'm surprised but she took alot of time at this step.  She made sure each flower went into the right basket.

The finished products...

I didn't get any pictures of the handing out process but everyone was very grateful for the baskets.  No, we didn't ring the doorbell and run away(we won't have made it far before they answered the door).  But I noticed one neighbor still has hers hanging on her door. :)

Now for the Cinco de Mayo recipe.  This has to be our favorite Mexican type meal!(except for just plan tacos... can never go wrong with just plan tacos!)

Enchilada Casserole

1 pound hamburger

1 small onion(chopped)

1 can enchilada sauce

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 small can chopped green chilies

1 small container sour cream

1 bag cheddar or monterrey jack cheese

1 package fajita sized tortillas

Brown hamburger and onion until meat is done.  While browning, combine the enchilada sauce, soup, chilies, and sour cream in a large mixing bowl.  Drain hamburger and add to sauce mixture.  Mix well. 

There are two ways to make this

1. spray crock pot sides an bottom with cooking spray.

2. spray two round pans or deep dish pie plates(I make one for supper that night and freeze the other one since this freezes really well!)

Place a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the crock pot or pan.  Place a tortilla on top and then spread a big spoonful of the sauce mixture.  Top with cheese.  Repeat layers until all ingredients are used.

1. cook in crock pot on high until bubbly, about 1 hour

2. Bake, uncovered, at 350 until bubbly, about 30 minutes

*If you chose to freeze this, just take out of freezer the night before and bake as directed.

Enjoy!