Weekend in St Louis

We left early Friday morning to drive to St Louis.  Cousin Emily was getting baptized and we were so glad we could go to be with her and all the family.

The girls were great in the car.  They watched shows.

And played with Caitlin's new furby, Tornado.

And slept.

And then we played with Caitlin's new furby, Tornado.

While we were there, we went to play at some parks.  This one had two cool rocks you could climb. 

We stayed in a house on Scott Air Force Base.  We had three bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen all to ourself.  It was awesome!!  Saturday morning, I got up to run before the baptism and saw this amazing view! 

Can you see the rainbow?

Later that day we went to another awesome park.  This one had LOTS of slides, which is all Alaina cares about.  She had a BLAST!

Look at this face!  Pure joy!

I don't remember why I took these.  I think she was throwing a fit on the floor because she didn't want to go to bed.

We had a great visit! 

We loved getting to see everyone.  

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of actual family.  I was just enjoying the time. 

But we are glad to be back home because we are pooped! 

Don't Forget to Vote!

Love this girl

Tonight, Alaina and I were snuggling on the bed together. She was playing with my iPad and singing. She sings all the time and most of the time you can't tell what song she's singing because she likes to slur the words together or use funny voices. But this time, I finally caught what she was singing.

God our Father
God our Father
Once again
Once again
Thank You for our blessings
Thank You for our blessings
Amen
Amen

It made me tear up. I just love that girl!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Uncle Larry's Chili

Rusty was in the mood for chili this weekend.  He wasn't a huge fan of my chicken chili that I normally cook so I started looking for a new recipe.  Then it hit us, who is one of the best cooks we know?  Rusty's Cajun uncle Larry!  He has a cooking segment on his local news show in New Orleans and luckily they have all his recipes online.  So we pulled his up and cooked it.  YUMMY, I'm glad we did!

Ingredients (I added some frozen corn)

2 pounds of ground beef

1 large onion (diced)

½ cup of McCormick chili powder

1 level tablespoon of salt

1 level teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 level teaspoon of cumin

2 cups of water

one 8 ounce can of tomato sauce

one 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes or 1 can of Rotel tomatoes (original) or milder, (your choice)

1 level tablespoon masa

Directions

1. Add ground beef and diced onions to a pot or sauce pan. On medium high heat, brown the beef, then drain the oil/liquid that accumulates in pot.

2. Return the pot to medium high heat and add the chili powder, salt, cayenne pepper, cumin, water, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

3. Now, simmer chili for about 15 minutes.

4. Add the masa and stir well to blend with the other ingredients. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Top with shredded cheese and if desired, “Do a dollop of Daisy” sour cream.

Side with saltine crackers or your favorite crackers

Yields about ½ gallon

Your welcome!

Lately

We've been so busy lately with everything but we have tried to take some time to do some fun family things.

Alaina loves to "help" me cook.  Actually, she really does like helping.  I let her stir and pour in ingredients and she loves pushing the buttons on the microwave.

Caitlin loves the Wii so I rented Just Dance one Monday night and we danced and danced.  I'm sad to say that she stomped me.  I think that game cheated. 

10K

I don't know why I don't learn and take a before picture.  I think I'm too nervous still about the races.

My 10K was Saturday morning - EARLY!  And man, it was cold. 

I wasn't too nervous about finishing this race.  I had run over 6 miles several times so I knew I could do it.  My goal was to run it in under 65 minutes, though.  I had never done that before.

But no one warned me about the hills!  I don't train on hills.  My part of town is pretty flat.  And I'll be honest, running on hills just never sounded fun so I never did it.

Well this course was hill after hill after massive hill.  I will say I only walked once so I count that as a victory in my book.  My time was 1:09:04 and I had a pace of 11:09.

I just found the pictures from the race.  I obviously need to work on my posing during running.

But it proves I did it.  :)

And I can't wait for the next one!

They Did It!!!

Caitlin's last game was Friday night.  They had one loss and since it was double elimination, to win first place, they would have to win three games in a row, beating the best team twice.  They played three back to back games and won all three.  I am so hoarse from screaming, but it was awesome.  All the girls played so well!

Caitlin was so excited to get her trophy.  All season long that was all she wanted!

New Clothes

Both girls were really in need of some winter clothes.  They have really outgrown everything from last year.  All of Caitlin's shirts still fit but they are too short and show her belly when she moves around.

So a much needed online order from Kohl's came in Wednesday.  Caitlin LOVED all her new stuff and it all fit perfectly.  Hallelujah!!

What is she doing?  LOL

Trunk or Treat

Every year, we go to a Trunk or Treat at the church.  It's a fun time for the girls to wear their costumes again and see friends.  This year, Caitlin has a game the same night so I knew we couldn't go.  I heard that the YMCA was doing on last night so I decided to take the girls.  We used it as an incentive for Alaina to act better at school (she had a rough day on Tuesday) and she could earn it.  She did much better yesterday and earned her reward.  As I was getting ready to leave work, though, I had another round of vertigo.  Driving home was a struggle.  I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed.  But I HAD to take them.  I couldn't back out (and Rusty couldn't because he was mowing the grass).  So we all got ready. 

Look how cute they were!

My little monkey! 

And the adorable Hermione Granger from Harry Potter! 

We didn't stay long but got lots of candy.  And the girls rode the slide a few times.  They had fun!

Softball Tournament - game 1

Caitlin is doing so much better at hitting.  Rusty has been working on it with her a lot.  The past two games, she has been hitting consistently and hitting it much harder.  Here's her first hit from Wednesday night:

And her second:

They won the game 13-0.  It ended 30 minutes early because they were ahead by so much.

I LOVE RUNNING!!

That still seems so weird to me.  But I do.  I am kind of obsessed with it.  I love getting up early and watching the stars as I jog and push myself.  It's quiet and relaxing and I have learned a lot about myself.  I have learned that I am strong and determined.  And I have learned that I can set goals and meet them.  I am looking forward to my 10K in 2 weeks.  I ran 6 miles this morning so I know I can do it now.

Blocks

Alaina loves her blocks!  She loves to build towers and the higher the better.  When it gets too high for her to reach, she holds my hand and stands on her tippy toes to reach higher.