Rylan's Blessing Day

Family and friends gathered to celebrate the birth and blessing of Rylan Conner Egbert. Here is the gang at the meal after church. It was wonderful. So many talented cooks that I get to rub shoulders with.

The man of the hour. Sleeping... well it was a hard day to stay so cute for so long.

I had to put this picture up. Apparently Rylan wants his mom. Or maybe he is asking Kadie why she woke him up.

Egbert Christmas Party

I don't have many or any great pictures of the Egbert Party. The kids were going so fast that it was hard to catch them but here are a few.

Some brilliant and kind soul brought little bikes for the kids to share and play with. It did take some intervening to keep the peace but I think that the kids had a lot of fun. Oh, and of course there was lots of yummy food to eat.

Whats For Dinner?

How dinner can evolve. I usually try to plan my meals and have a grocery list that compliments the items in my pantry. But tonight was proof that sometimes that doesn't go very well. I was going to make a Alfredo Chicken Pasta bake but when I went to get chicken out of my freezer, there wasn't any. (Add chicken to grocery list) So I pulled out some hamburger and thought I could make a Not Your Momma's Goulash bake. I went into my pantry to grab some spaghetti sauce. Again there wasn't any. (I always have spaghetti sauce, its such a staple in my meal planning. Add spaghetti sauce to grocery list). Then I got inspired. I could make the sauce out of tomato sauce from a can and spices. Well, I dug through my pantry and found the LAST 15oz can and one 8oz can of tomato sauce. (Yikes, I need to go shopping). Any way....now that I understand the plight that my pantry is in... I can finally make dinner.

1 Box Penne noodles, cooked and drained. 1 lb. hamburger cooked through and drained of fat. Add the following ingredients to hamburger. Tomato sauce with onion powder, oregano, pepper, salt, garlic, and other Italian seasonings, and small amount of sugar to taste. Add 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese to mixture if desired. Then mix in with noodles and put into a 13x9 baking dish. Cover with whatever kind of cheese you like. We had mozzarella but whatever you like will work. Or you could omit the cheese. We always have cheese because of Aaron's work so we use it....a lot. Cover 13x9 pan with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes; just to heat through. Serve with green beans or steamed veggies. Or you could put in a bag of mixed frozen veggies right into the casserole and then bake a few minutes longer.

So that is just proof that dinner can be flexible without having to always run to the grocery store for just one or two things. This is also proof that actually knowing what is in your pantry helps a lot too.

An Invisible Friend?

I am behind on my blogging but I have to add a little insert here.

I woke up from a nap and found Adon watching a show on the computer. He started to say something and I couldn't' understand him. He said, "mom I was talking to Steve." I asked who Steve was and he said "he's a monkey". I then asked him where Steve was and Adon pointed next to him. I tried to get him to tell me more about Steve and where he came from but he wasn't very talkative. So our evening has gone as follows.

Steve sat on top of our clock on the computer during dinner. I told Adon that that was okay as long as he behaved himself.

Adon: Mom, stop teasing me. Come on Steve. Lets go!

Adon was standing by the window and he said that Steve had jumped onto the blinds. Adon: Be careful Steve. Mom Steve is on the window. Mom: That's okay but tell him to be careful. Invisible monkeys aren't covered by our insurance. Adon: Mom said be careful Steve.

Adon will jump onto the couch and say "come on Steve" Then he will make swooshing noises as Steve does some acrobatic jumps to Adon and land gracefully into his hand.

Mom: What do monkeys...I mean what does Steve like to eat. Adon: Um...Bananas. Monkeys like to eat bananas. And they he will grow up really tall.

I will bring you updates on Steve later, especially if he decides to stick around.

Visiting Vernal

For the new year, we traveled to Vernal for the weekend. We stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Wilson. It was still really cold but sometimes young boys just need to get outside. Well, I bundled them up as best I could and Grandpa consented to give them rides on the four-wheeler. Well, they didn't last long. 15 minutes later, three frozen figures with bright red noses and cheeks made it back into the house. They had had enough of the cold.

Gingerbread Project

With a gingerbread kit in tow, the cousins sat around a table to help make.....
This beautiful little eatable cottage. Here is Adon putting on the last details. He didn't want to stop. I guess he didn't think it was quite finished.

After dinner, baths, and pj's. The kids posed with their little creation; right before....

They ate it! Okay I didn't let them eat all of it. It was A LOT of sugar. So I set the timer and let them go until the timer stopped. This is about as much damage as was done. Pretty fun though.

Winning Over A Buddy

The whole week Conner was here for the holidays, his goal was to become buddies with Collin. A tough nut to crack, but I think Conner made great strides. Here he is helping Collin take a nap; not an easy process I should say.

Christmas Pinata

With Conner being so tall, he held the pinata for the kids. Here is Adon taking a swing.
Nana helped Ethan with his aim. She also was the referee to keep little excited kids out of the way of whoever was swinging the bat.

Lexi is going to be on a T-ball team this spring. I think she is going to be great at it.

The little grin on his face is priceless.

Enjoying the spoils of victory! Thanks Conner and Marcy for the fun!

Whats For Dinner?

Sorry no picture included, it got gobbled up that fast.

Another version of Pizza.

I love trying new pizzas. This one doesn't' have sauce! I usually make my pizza crust but if you want you can use frozen or refrigerated pizza crust. Mix 1 T. olive oil and one clove of garlic (minced or powdered) together in a bowl and brush on pizza crust. Then add torn up spinach (I used frozen) and thinly sliced tomatoes. 4 oz. garlic and herb feta cheese ( you can use plain feta) then 1 T. ground fresh rosemary. ( I used dried and just a little less than 1 T.) Sprinkle over pizza, then add as much shredded mozzarella cheese as you want. This is the basic recipe. For my variation, I added grilled and seasoned chicken bits, mushrooms and no tomatoes because there weren't any at the store (don't get me started). I can usually get away with making only one pizza to feed my crew as long as I add whole wheat flour to the pizza crust and protein to make it more filling. Yet, there are never left overs. You can also add red peppers or purple onions for more veggies and pop in flavor. If you try this recipe and find that it is dry, you can put regular pizza sauce or Alfredo sauce on it. Bake according to directions (my pizza cooks at 425 degrees for 15 minutes)

For dessert we had my Mom's favorite. Gobbledy-Goop! Yum. Its stove top chocolate pudding over vanilla ice cream. Make chocolate pudding according to directions on box. While it is still hot, pour a couple of spoon fulls over vanilla ice cream. The great thing about this is that you never use up all of the pudding. Place the left over pudding in a few small cups and cool in the fridge overnight and you have dessert for tomorrow! No sweat! Yahoo!

And Now For The Main Attraction!

Rylan Conner Egbert and Auntie Kadie.
Cute picture. I know of another like this with Adon so little. They grow so fast.

So sweet. Rylan is so alert with those beautiful eyes. Any may I also add that that is my cute 4 year-old holding him.

No, Ryan is not about to sneeze. He is making faces at Rylan, trying to make him smile. I just captures this awkward in-between moment.

Papa Egbert and Rylan

Rylan and Auntie Carly.

I didn't get a chance to get pictures with Rylan and every one. I have a few more that I didn't post. I know someone out there during the holiday got a picture of Collin holding Rylan. If you are that person; when you get a minute would you email me that picture. THANKS!

Picture Overload of Christamas @ the Wilsons

Not done on purpose but everyone got new church clothes for Christmas. Collin wasn't having the greatest morning. (Day after Christmas)
Aaron trying out the boys' cool new toy. Darn those huge muscles.

Adon and Daddy helping Collin with their new video game. (Yes I bought my boys a stationary bike)

I'm so glad I caught this priceless reaction. This little boy wrote his first letter to Santa and this is what he asked for. "I'm so proud" was his reaction.

Aaron is TOTALLY NOT ALLOWED to pinch, shake, sniff, or in any other way come into contact with his presents. He has x-ray vision/touch and can always tell what he is getting for Christmas if he is not constantly monitored. As soon as I handed him this present his eyes lit up. No, he didn't even open it before he was profusely saying "thank you, I love it!" Collectors edition of Lord of the Rings with illustrations by Alan Lee. Those who are Lord of the Rings fans know that it was his artwork that the live action movies were based from. Yes, he loved it!

Um....what is it?

We got LOADS of books. And we LOVE them!

Did Santa Visit You?

Milk and cookies for Santa. Oranges for the reindeer.
He found us for sure.

Practicing Writing

Adon was having a writing moment. All Mom did was tell him what letter to write. If he got stuck I drew it in the air.
So proud. I know that he will have to soon learn lower case letters but for now, just so proud.

And he didn't stop there.

Can you see all he wrote. Collin, Dad, Adon, Mom and Nana. He was so proud of himself.

Whats For Dinner?

These are a derivative of the "bundles" you can get at any local Maverick Gas Station. The great thing about these is that they are easy, supper yummy, and you can put in them what ever you heart desires. This round I put in precooked and seasoned chicken, Alfredo sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Note: if you put in a sauce or cheese make sure you close the bundles good to prevent leaking and hard-to-clean-baked-on-lost-yummy-ness.
Start with a ball of roll dough (I used rhodes rolls because that's what I had) Roll them out to a flat circle. The bigger the better. Fill with whatever you want. Go vegetarian and put in lots of mushrooms and eggplant with your cheese and sauce and spices. Go Mexi and put in beans or precooked ground beef with taco seasoning and enchilada sauce or just lots of gooey cheese. Very similar to Auntie Heather's calzones. Whatever you have in your pantry you can put in. Make sure you precook any meat before stuffing these little bundles of joy. Then close ends of dough together and place on baking sheet and bake according to directions (Rhodes is 400 degrees for 15 minutes). Then serve. I put two per adult and one for kiddos. Then we had green beans and baby carrots as a side.

Score for the boys was an 8. They never eat what I think growing boys should. But hey one day they will eat me out of house and home. Hubby also liked this version. So over all was a 9 out of 10.

For dessert we had spiced peaches (or any regular or canned peaches) with a big ole dollop of vanilla yogurt with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. Super yummy! The only problem with this dinner was I didn't make enough. No left overs....so sad. Next time. :P