girls just wanna have fun

There is nothing more fun after a wild week than meeting up with fun friends. 

 The five of us met at Joe T Garcia's on Friday night for Mexican food and margaritas. 

I'm pretty sure we sat at our table for around 5 hours.  Our waitress may or may not have made us leave.  If she hadn't we might still be chatting right now...ha!  Not really, but they are that easy to talk to :) 

 I think we all had a fun time...and just in case you want to check up on who I was hanging out with...

Sarah, Britni, Ashley and Jenn. 

These four ladies are super awesome and I am glad to call them my friends. 

I wonder if there are cheek exercises I can do next time we get together? So the laughing doesn't hurt my face so bad the next day ;) Ha!

About my sweet 5 year old

I haven't really done an update on the kids lately specific to them. 

I think they each deserve a post and since this is our scrapbook it is in order!! So expect an update on Hayden Cole this week also!

Layla Kate, my sassy girl is doing wonderful in kindergarten.  I can't believe how much Layla has learned since starting school.  She is writing and spelling like crazy.  She loves to learn.  She is a joy to be around.  She brings home the most colorful coloring pages ever!  She also loves making cards for her friends at school and is forever asking Gary and I how do you spell this?...how do you spell that?  HA!  I am (try to be) a walking dictionary!

I have to say we are having a bit of trouble with getting enough rest.  But not because she doesn't sleep well.  I am blessed with two AMAZING sleepers.  Layla goes to bed between 7:00-7:15pm.  And sometimes we even put her down as early as 6:45.  She wakes up at 6:30am!!  We leave for school at 7:30am.  She is in school from 7:50-2:50.  And when she comes home from school at 3:00pm she is whipped! She gets plenty of sleep for her age, but school just does her in.  Afternoons around here are so hard sometimes.  We just grin and bear it...

Layla loves to eat.  She asks for candy all the time.  It makes me crazy. Candy is enemy!!  She eats pretty healthy otherwise.  She loves macaroni and cheese and shrimp.  Carrots are her favorite veggie, and she still likes broccoli. She loves fresh fruit, strawberries are her favorite.  If I made bacon every day she would eat it.  We are huge breakfast eaters in this household!  I am also lucky that my kids pretty much eat what we serve.  Layla ate part of a tortilla filled with chili!!  I don't know many kids that would even try chili.  But whatever daddy grills she eats, steaks, chicken, pork and loves ribs.

Layla loves technology.  She loves playing around on the computer.  She loves our iPhones and our iPods.  She has a Leapster and she really likes playing the Wii.  She loves learning and exploring all the technology she can.  But she also loves to be outside.  She loves to swing and run.  She really loves to jump on the trampoline!  It is so funny to watch her and Hayden jumping together!  I feel very lucky to have a balanced daughter.  I like that she goes outdoors and gets some energy out!

Layla loves music.  She loves singing and making up songs.  I play piano and she is such an eager learner as I have started to teach her.  She has learned to play five songs!!  She really wants her very own iPod for Christmas...we will see :)  She loves Miranda Cosgrove, Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. I am so happy she is my little music lover.  She loves to put music on and color or do a craft.  She love to create, paint and decorate!

Layla will hopefully start gymnastics class in January.  She really hasn't wanted to do sports just yet.  I am hoping she will try soccer.  She is really good at dribbling around in the backyard.  Hopefully she will give it a whirl....she seems very nervous about doing some activities.  And wish washy.  One day she wants do sports and the next she doesn't.  I'm sure she will out grow the wishy washy and shyness.  Sometimes she clams up and is very shy.  That doesn't happen very often, but when it does she just gets so quiet.  It really is sweet.

My little tooter is VERY witty!  She makes us laugh every day.  She is always saying something silly or bossing someone around.  She is going to be a great mother. Oh my bossy~ness!!

  Layla is my girly girl.  She has her own style and I enjoy letting her express herself in the clothes she wears.  Sometimes her clothing choices crack me up.  Thankfully, we pick her clothes out every Sunday for the school week.  Each Sunday I am surprised by her choices, but if they are too wild I can tame them.  heehee!!

I am so thankful for my little girl!!

Lone Star Chili

One of my favorite things about winter time is eating a hot steaming bowl of homemade chili! 

I hope you are ready for a fun and warm recipe this Monday morning!

Gary is the chili cook in our house; we have been married for over 10 years...every year his chili recipe just gets better and better!

I think the pot we cook it in has a huge influence on how the chili turns out.  We use this old pot.  It was Gary's moms.  She made many a roast in this fun ole pot, but we are using it for chili!

 I am sharing our chili recipe with you today!!!

What you need:

2 1/2 lb ground beef 

4 (8oz) cans of tomato sauce
1 can rotel
1 medium yellow onion
2 Tbs minced garlic
2 1/2 Tbs chili powder
1 1/2 Tbs cumin
1 Tbs black pepper
1 Tbs salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers (crushed into almost a powder)

What to do:

Brown the meat, but do not overcook and break up the meat as finely as possible.
Take off heat and place in chili pot DO NOT DRAIN the grease.
In the same skillet saute finely chopped yellow onion until soft.
Add minced garlic to the pan and saute with onion for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and add to chili pot.
Pour in 4 cans of tomato sauce and one can of rotel.
Add all spices and bring to a boil while stirring constantly.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cover.
After one hour the grease will rise to the top of the pot.
Do not panic...add the crackers to the pot.  Stir every 20 minutes.
Let simmer for 2 1/2 hours.

The key to really good chili is letting it sit. Let it simmer and let the flavors mingle together!!

I love my chili with Frito's and cheese. Gary adds jalapenos to his.  He likes it hot!

What do you put in your chili?  Crackers on top? Cornbread? Sour cream?

thank you...

for the being so supportive this past week!  We have had a rough week, but knowing you were all thinking of us and praying for us made this hard time much better :) 

I have been so overwhelmed by all the kindness...Thanks!

Sadly our sweet 12 year old dog Callaway had a large mass (the size of two medium bananas) on his left lung that wasn't allowing him to breathe at normal capacity.  He lost over 10 pounds the last few weeks.  He was a very healthy dog always weighing in at 63 pounds and he was down to 51 pounds.  Sadly, the vet said he had less than 30 days to live.  We knew he was suffering and didn't want it to go on.  He was too good a pet and family member to let him suffer.  While we will never forget him we are moving on and trying to find a normal without our very spunky buddy.  He truly was a joy to have around the house!

People that don't have pets may not understand all the sadness, but I am a dog lover!!!  I had one dog when I was a little girl and it was hard when she died,

but I was Callaway's mommy.  IT is different when you are a young couple and you get your first "baby."  He and Harley were our first kids.  We had them for MANY years before we even thought of having human babies.

We are showering our Harley girl with lots of love and treats.  She is a very quiet dog anyway...so hopefully she will be ok. The kids are ok...they are young.  They both ask about him daily.  It really is sweet, they miss him too. 

***

I guess you don't really own a dog, you rent them, and you have to be thankful that you had a long lease.  Joe Garagiola

For the soul of every living thing is in the hand of God.  Job 12:10

I feel about my dogs now, and all the dogs I had prior to this, the way I feel about children — they are that important to me. When I have lost a dog I have gone into a mourning period that lasted for months.   Mary Tyler Moore

Our Bathrooms

Do you know how hard it is to photograph bathrooms?  Just sayin'!

This is our guest bathroom, which is also our kids bathroom.

It is little.  If we could change one thing about our house we have agreed we would add another bathroom.  As the kids get older they will need the space. 

I am very proud of the shower curtain.  I made the purple valance that hangs over the shower curtain.  I even added the beads...yay me!  I am not the craftiest person, but I am trying and love to learn!

I am standing in the bath tub for this picture!

The door to the left leads to the hallway, and the door straight ahead is the towel closet.

*****

This is the master bathroom.

A glance from Gary's side of the bed looking into the bathroom.

I love having our closet in the bathroom.

These pictures were taken before my sweet Callaway passed away.  :(

He loved sleeping on our closet floor.

I love having the potty room with a door.

There is the big tub I have used maybe 5 times in 5 years.  I am not a bath girl.

Thanks for stopping by to peek in on our bathrooms.  Jump on over to Kelly's Korner to see other bloggers bathrooms :)

hurting heart

I am so glad today is wordless wednesday.  I have no words for how I am feeling.

I will post again when I can see through my tears.

April 30, 1998 -- November 10, 2010