Super Easy Taco Soup

I got this recipe from my step mom a few years ago and it's still one of my favorites.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound cooked ground beef (I've substituted ground turkey before and it was delish)
• 1 can red kidney beans (undrained)
• 1 can black beans (drained)
• 1 can corn (drained)
• 1 can rotel
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 package ranch seasoning
• 4 cups of water

Directions:

• Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain off excess fat.

• Put the ground beef into a slow cooker (you can also use a large pot and cook your soup on the stove).
• Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Most recipes I've seen tell you not to drain any of the beans, but I prefer to drain my black beans and just leave the kidney beans undrained. Also, you can switch out the beans, pintos are great.

• Cover your slow cooker and set on low. Cook for 3-4 hours, or just whenever you are ready to eat (don't you just love slow cookers?)

And that's it. Easy right? You can top your soup with sour cream or cheese if you like, but I just eat mine plain.

Enjoy!

XOXO

A Few of My Favorite Things: Etsy Love

Vintage Ceramic Owl Bank

Black High Tops Crochet Baby Shoes

Oilcloth Lunch Bag



Yarn Wreath



Hand Embroidered Moleskine Notebook



Yo Gabba Gabba Felt Hand Puppets (with Boom-Box Bag)





Doily Clock

  XOXO

This video makes me laugh until my front teeth are dry

I think we are becoming delirious from being sick for so long.

The best part? I had total permission to post this video.

XOXO

more sickies (and something new!)

We have had a pretty eventful Friday over here! Hannah woke up this morning with a yucky cough and a fever. I just knew she had my flu so we gave her some Motrin and made an appointment with her pediatrician. She tested negative for influenza but they think it's just too early for the test to work.

We stopped by HEB on the way home to pick up some more sicky supplies (Lipton chicken noodle soup, puffs tissues with the Vick's inside, juice, cough drops). Wytmer was starting to feel sick as well so I wanted to get extra stocked up just in case I had to quarantine our little family.

Hannah took a big long afternoon nap and her fever has been staying down since. She's a little extra clingy, but overall doing very well. She was playing with her toys for most of the afternoon.

And just when I thought the day was gone entirely to influenza, the UPS guy came knocking. It was my Flip Video!!! Yippee!

Isn't it pretty? I ordered it online so I could get the custom design on the front. Love it! I took lots of silly little videos of the fam today. This one was my favorite:

We realized later that she was making those growling sounds because she was pooping! Haha.

And don't worry, there will be plenty more cute and random videos to come. My flip and I are just getting started!

XOXO

I've got the sickies

This week has been nothing but crap. Okay, Monday was great. But after all the valentine's fun I got in bed only to wake up a few hours later with a fever, chills, a sore throat, and muscles aches. I stayed home from school Tuesday and tried to go Wednesday...bad idea. I had to leave early because my fever was spiking up at 103 and I just couldn't make it.

So this morning Wytmer took me to see a doctor and guess what! I have the flu. I can't tell you how many times I've cursed myself today for not getting a freaking flu shot. Why??? The worst part of all is that I haven't been able to love on Hannah since Monday. No kisses, no hugs. I haven't even picked her up. This flu thing has got to hit the road 'cause I am so over it right now.

Okay, I think I'm done with my pity party for now. I thought I might share some of my favorite sick day things. In pictures, of course!

sugar free banana popsicles

lots of fluids

chap stick

drugs, of course!



a good book




TV (food network mostly)

 What keeps you guys going when you are feeling under the weather? Leave a comment and let me know! I'd love some suggestions.

XOXO

wordless{ish} wednesday: playing in the sun

Hannah has discovered the glass door and blinds in our living room. She loves kissing the glass and hiding behind the blinds.

Happy Wednesday!

XOXO

[linking to the paper mama]

How We Spent Valentine's Day

When I got home from work Wytmer had my presents waiting for me on the kitchen table.

I've wanted this collection of poems for years, but never got it for myself because it's pretty expensive. I can't believe that he remembered! Oh and the other picture? Yeah, it's a bouquet of chocolate bars. He knows me so well.

And this is what I got him:

Wytmer is going to school for sports writing, and he loves loves loves basketball. He asked me for this book a couple years ago but I couldn't find it then. When I saw it at Border's I knew he would love it.

After exchanging gifts we went to pick up our little love muffin from her sitter's house. Wytmer's mom came over later on to watch Hannah while we went to dinner. Hannah had fun chewing on her grandma's purse when she wasn't looking. Sneaky girl.

We had a lovely dinner at a small Italian restaurant in town. We ate delicious toasted ravioli and warm bread with olive oil and herbs before our main courses came. I ordered my favorite, chicken parmigiana, and Wytmer got tomato basil chicken. It was great to get out, just the two of us, and share a a quiet and relaxing meal.

After dinner we came home, got Hannah ready for bed, and spent the rest of the evening just hanging out on the couch. It was a perfect day, simple and full of love.

XOXO

Steppin' Out: shopping with my loves

Mama

Cardigan: Target

Tee: Express

Jeans: Target

Hannah

Tee: Target

Navy pants: Target

Shoes: Koala Baby

This Saturday we did a little shopping at the mall. Hannah loved seeing all the people and smiling at them. She really knows how to work her baby charm. I kept finding her waving and smiling at people wherever we went.

Later on we stopped for some dinner in the food court. There's nothing better than a big, greasy slice of mall pizza.

XOXO

 

Weekday Recap {2.12.11}

Monday we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Wytmer thought it would be funny to try to sell Hannah. She thought it was funny, too. I, however, did not.

Oh, and those Pirate Booty Veggie things? They suck. They taste like dirt. Cool name, not so cool snack.

Tuesday was just one of those days. Busy, busy busy. This was my favorite part of the day, soaking in the tub after I put Hannah to bed.

Wednesday Wytmer took Hannah to the pediatrician for her 9 month check up. 28.5 inches long (75-90%), 19 lb 15 oz (75%), and her head is 46.5 cm (90-95%). He sent me this picture from the waiting room. I can't believe how much she has grown.

Thursday Hannah tried some mac n' cheese with her dinner. It was a big hit. She's holding up a noodle to show you, and saying "yum" (well, trying to say yum, we are still working on it).

Friday Wytmer kept Hannah at home with him for the day. He sent me this lovely picture with the caption "so many books! which one should nenny eat?" See that blur of pages in her hand? Once again, they thought it was funny, and I did not.

This next picture came later in the day when he took Hannah to Target to get some formula.

This week just flew by. I'm so glad that it is Saturday again so I can stay home with my loves. And figure out Valentine's Day. I am so unprepared!

XOXO

Her Other Name

I have a confession to make.

You know my daughter, the one I keep referring to as Hannah on here? Well, I really don't call her Hannah. It's her name, of course. It's written on her birth certificate and her social security card. It's what our friends, family and almost everyone calls her. Except me and her daddy.

My child's name is Hannah. But my sweet like monster baby? Her name is Nenny.

A name is something special. We chose Hannah because we thought it would carry her well throughout her life. We thought it could be cute and pretty, but also serious and mature. We used our heads when we named her Hannah. But my heart heard something different. Nenny.

So why am I making such a big deal about this? Most kids have nicknames, right? Well, I suppose it is because nobody knows her nickname. Not her grandparents, her sitter, or my closest friends. And its not because I think it will embarrass her, or that she will hate me for it one day. I just don't want anyone else to call her that. It's kind of like the way we have secret names for our husbands. Wouldn't it be weird if your dad called him that too? Well I guess that's how I feel about Nenny.

Today at school my kids were reading House on Mango Street. I have read the story so many times but never realized there was a Nenny in the story until I read it out loud to my class. Just saying the word to my students made me feel like I was naked in front of the room.

The world will call her Hannah. Doctors, teachers, her friend's parents; they will all know her as Hannah.

But Nenny belongs to just us.

XOXO

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: in a box

Hannah learned how to climb into her toy box today. She spent a good 30 minutes there just reading her dragon book and looking adorable.

Happy Wednesday!

XOXO

[linking to the paper mama]

Flashback Friday: Our First Home

I mentioned awhile back that we were moving to a new apartment. I really didn't want to go through with all the hassle of moving, but we needed something bigger and closer to Hannah's sitter. Our lease on the old apartment wasn't up until today, so we had put off completely emptying and cleaning out everything.  And so this weekend was spent painting, packing, and cleaning every inch of that tiny place. I wasn't expecting to become emotional, but when the pink walls of my daughter's nursery were covered in the standard neutral, and the itty bitty fingerprints were wiped off the glass door, I started to see that the home we made there was being erased.

This was our first home together. The first place that Wytmer and I shared and our first adventure living without our parents. This is where my belly grew round and full with our first baby. Where we spent entire Saturdays huddled together on our over-sized couch watching old TV shows on Netflix. Where we walked out one day as two, and came back that night as three. Where, somewhere between the sleepless nights and first smiles, we became parents. Where we watched our daughter learn to smile, roll over, sit up, crawl, and stand. This home was our beginning. And today we said goodbye.

So while Wytmer finished up in the other room, I took a few pictures with my phone. I walked from room to room, remembering.

This was where Hannah's crib was. Where I watched the rise and fall of her chest in the dark and where I found her awake and smiling in the morning.

This is where I chased Hannah around when she learned to crawl. This is the fireplace that she was dead-set on getting in until we barricaded it off.

This is where I baked birthday cakes and made bottles of formula in the night. This is where we burned a few dinners, poured a few glasses of wine, and scooped out countless bowls of cookie dough ice cream.



This was our home. We have a new home now, and I know that we will have just as many wonderful memories there. Our home is our family, and we will always have our memories wherever we go.

XOXO