Puppy Love

Never in a million years did I imagine that I would love a puppy so much.

I also never imagined making homemade doggy treats either.  I made Mason and his friends some bow-wow bagels with carrot cream cheese.  I am sure my friend Ann S. is laughing at me now.

Mason loved the cream cheese!

Then the bagel!

Alright so I did make my family a bacon and brie quiche, creamy chicken stew today and I made my work friends a southern pecan praline cake with butter sauce.  Mason is not the only one I cooked for.

Lovely Day Off

I absolutely loved my day off today. I accomplished nothing!!! 

I surprised Dylan at school by bringing him Mr. Goodcents for lunch so I guess I accomplished one thing.

Since Daddy-O is gone we ordered pizza from Sarpino's and it was delicious.  Just a few minutes ago Cass made homemade brownies.  YUMMY

What a relaxing day!

Surprise Movie Night

I surprised the kids and picked them up from school and took them to see "Parental Guidance".  What a fun Thursday night!

Homemade Vanilla

A friend at work made me homemade vanilla for Christmas and today was the day that I could finally use it. It needed to sit for at least six weeks before I could make something with it.  I made sugar cookie cupcakes with very vanilla frosting and they were yummy.  Thanks Alexandria for my wonderful gift.

Here are some delicious recipes I tried this week: cool ranch crockpot chicken, pork chili verde, cajun pulled pork with cajun coleslaw, cinnamon roll pancakes, churro waffles and jalapeno popper pizza.  

Warm January Day

What a beautiful warm day for January! We started our Saturday by going to a basketball game. 

I love this picture!  Dylan's teammate was yawning while Dylan was shooting a free throw.

I just love his stance while waiting for the other team to line up for a free throw.

I forgot to blog about Dylan fouling out last week.  It was his first time and it probably didn't help that he got three charges.

After the basketball game we went to the RV show then out to lunch at Firehouse Subs.

Then we took Mason to the Shawnee Mission Dog Park.  Here he is already to go!

There is a lake at the end of the walk!

The water was freezing so he stayed in for 5 seconds.

Mason got to walk and play with his buddies Leo and Sam.  Thanks Sheila for bringing them to the park.

I made taco egg rolls for dinner with homemade salsa and cupcake puppy chow for dessert.

Lazy Sunday

This has been a wonderful lazy day! This is my new tea thermos that I got for Christmas.  My friend Ann had one and I thought it was so cool so I asked for one for Christmas and I even bought my friend Mary one.  This is the filter to put the tea leaves in.

After Christmas I bought 11 flavors of tea leaves to try and I have been having fun trying some of them today.

This is my new yummy discovery.  It is German Rock Sugar to put in my tea.

This is what it looks like!

I made rock salt roasted chicken tonight and it was delicious and easy.  I also made peanut butter and caramel cookies.

Cass and Mason

They are so adorable!!

Here are some new recipes I tried this week:  spicy buffalo cauliflower, tex mex pot roast, crockpot cube steak and gravy, jalapeno cheeseburger meatballs, and grilled pork tenderloin with tomatillo salsa.

Nuclear Cowboyz

We went to the Sprint Center tonight and saw Nuclear Cowboyz (freestyle motocross).  It was really cool and it was something we have never seen before.

Cass and Dylan excited for the show to start.

They did all sorts of tricks and flips.

There were also fireworks and fire.

This was a fun experience even though we probably will never see them again.  It is always fun to see something different.

The Weekend is Almost Over!

The weekend flew by! Friday night Michael and I went to the movies with Sheila, Pete, Alysha, Mitchell and Nick. We saw "Django Unchained" and I loved it.

Saturday the boys worked really hard taking down all of the Christmas lights so Cass and I decided to take them to the Fox and Hound for dinner.  It was very good.

Cass was so excited about her new cookie dough hand sanitizer until it exploded in her hand.

Mason got a new treat called frosty paws (ice cream for dogs) and he loved it.

The kids singing and dancing!

Mason was not amused with the singing and dancing.

My friend Kelly bought buttermilk instead of milk the other day so I told her I could bake something with it.  Today I made Buttermilk Streusel Swirl Cinnamon Cupcakes with a Brown Sugar Cinnamon Frosting.  YUMMY!  I also made two more new recipes sausage tortellini soup and Lemony Cream Butter Cake.

La Bodega

Betty and I wanted to celebrate surviving our first day back to work so we took our husbands to La Bodega. Michael and I had never been so Betty suggested we try something new!  We had lots of fun and the food and Sangria were delicious.

Thanks Betty and Tony for a fun evening!

Last Day of Winter Break

I have been dreading this day! It is our last day of winter break. It is back to reality tomorrow.  I had a nice quiet morning and then I took the kids to Oak Park Mall so they could go shopping with their gift cards.  Their gift cards were gone after 1 1/2 hours of shopping.  

We just finished our lasagna soup that I had in the crockpot all day and now I am going to relax and get mentally prepared for work.  YAY for only two days of work and then the weekend!

New Year's Day

We actually had a nice relaxing day. I stayed in my pajamas until noon drinking a Starbucks and watching the Rose Bowl Parade.   Then we played a game of monopoly and Dylan won.

Mason slept most of the day!

Tonight we made homemade pizza.  Cass made pepperoni and I made chicken hummus pizza.

Michael made this shelf for the soda stream, snow cone machine and popcorn machine.  It only took a few hours to build and paint it.

Last night I made two new recipes:  strawberry champagne mojitos (new favorite drink) and sausage/cream cheese crescents.  It has been a great start to a new year so far!