Three Cheese Pasta Bake...yummers!

Yet another amazing Pinterest inspired recipe! Once I found this I knew it was a perfect fall recipe! I made one change to the recipe and I have included it below. Long story short it was a hit with the whole family...kids included! Anytime all 4 kids like a recipe I put it in my "make often" category! Brian's mom is visiting too and loved it as well. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (16-ounce) package penne pasta
• 10 oz. alfredo sauce (we used Ragu classic alfredo)
• 10 oz.marinara sauce
  
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

Preparation

• Prepare pasta according to package directions; drain and return to pot.
• Stir together Alfredo sauce and sour cream; toss with pasta until evenly coated. Spoon half of mixture into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish.
• Stir together ricotta cheese and next 3 ingredients; spread evenly over pasta mixture in baking dish. Spoon remaining pasta mixture evenly over ricotta cheese layer; sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese.
• Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Enjoy!
  

Time to start blogging again...

It had been 2 1/2 years since I have blogged and I am thinking I need to start again. Not sure if anyone will read it but it will give me a place to share bits of life, ideas, bargains and all the other stuff in between. Hopefully along the way it will bring a smile to someone's face...most likely grandmas and grandpas!

Happy 9th Birthday Jordan!

Happy Birthday to my baby boy Jordan....well not such a baby anymore! Where does time go? I can't hardly believe today he is 9. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital....less than 12 hours old....that was my husband's idea...not mine :o) Along with Riley who was only 19 months old. What were we thinking? And here we are 9 years and 2 more children later :o) What a blessing Jordan is to our family! He is such a passionate and kind little boy. Last night I was putting him to bed and gave him his birth story recap. I told him how we knew we were going in to have him and we were so excited. And then I told him how excited we were when he finally arrived. He asked if I cried "tears of happiness" and I told him I did! Then we had a great conversation about God...prompted by him of course. He wanted to talk about how cool and weird it is that God is the same yesterday, today and and forever. How cool is that! We are just so proud of the boy he has become and the man he will become. We are truly blessed! We are celebrating today with our usual birthday breakfast, cookie dough, as picked out by Jordan. I will also take lunch to his school and eat with him in the cafeteria. We went out to dinner last night with the Beeson's because Jordan has baseball practice tonight. And then we will have a friend "paintball" birthday next week at the City Life Community Center. So the celebration will go on! Jordan must take after me because he thinks he should get to celebrate his birthday the whole month of May! Too funny :o)

Brock catching his 1st fish!

We went fishing at a local pond the other day and Brock caught his first fish! The kids all got to catch one so all in all it was a good fishing day! I also took lots of pictures so I will post those soon!

Kid's say the darndest things...

So it is obvious I am sure that I am addicted to Facebook and neglect my blog. Not enough time in the day I guess. I did this questionnaire on Facebook and thought I would share it on my blog. It was so much fun to do with the kids and insighful too. If anyone still reads this blog anymore....copy and paste the following and then ask your kids to answer the questions. It is so much fun!

(I decide to try to involve Brock who is only 2...he only lasted a couple questions but he sure was funny!)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"I Love You" Jordan - 8
"I love You" Riley - 10
"Um Please go downstairs because you are too loud" Abby - 6
"Um later and be quiet at the mall" Brock - 2

2. What makes mom happy?
"When I hug you" Jordan - 8
"When we come home and give you a hug and when we surprise you" Riley - 10
"When we do what you say" Abby - 6
"Soap makes mommy happy" Brock - 2

3. What makes mom sad?
"When I yell at you" Jordan - 8
"When we argue with you" Riley - 10
" When Smokey died" Abby - 6
"Bananas make you sad" Brock - 2

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"When you dance" Jordan - 8
"When you try dancing" Riley - 10
"You tickle us" Abby - 6

5. What was your mom like as a child?
"I don't know" Jordan - 8
"You had short hair, freckles and you smiled all the time" Riley - 10
"You had red hair and you were so pretty" Abby - 6

6. How old is your mom?
"37" Jordan - 8
"37" Riley - 10
"53 no 35" Abby - 6


7. How tall is your mom?
"Like 5 - something" Jordan - 8
"You're 5'11"" Riley - 10
"5 feet maybe" Abby - 6

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"be with your family" Jordan - 8
"be on facebook" Riley - 10
"have alone time" Abby - 6

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"clean" Jordan - 8
"be on facebook" Riley - 10
"you work" Abby - 6

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"singing" Jordan - 8
"being a dancing comedian" Riley - 10
"being a model" Abby - 6

11. What is your mom really good at?
"cartwheels" Jordan - 8
"well you are good at trying to dance" Riley - 10
"you are really good at working" Abby - 6

12. What is your mom not good at?
"finding gold" Jordan - 8
"but you are not really a good dancer" Riley - 10
"Nothing - you are good at everything" Abby - 6

13. What does your mom do for a job?
"stay home and watch kids" Jordan - 8
"stay at home mom" Riley - 10
"You stay home and watch kids" Abby - 6

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
"I'm guessing ice cream" Jordan - 8
"I would have to say diet food" Riley - 10
"Salad" Abby - 6

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
"when you clean up the house" Jordan - 8
"That you try to dance and you never give up" Riley - 10
"when you do stuff so nice" Abby - 6

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"Wanda from Fairly Odd Parents" Jordan - 8
"You would be like Timmy's mom on Fairly Odd Parents" Riley - 10
"Fancy Nancy" Abby - 6

17. What do you and your mom do together?
"go get ice cream" Jordan - 8
"go out to eat and shop" Riley - 10
"go out and eat lunch" Abby - 6

18. How are you and your mom the same?
"we both have hair" Jordan - 8
"we both have good jokes" Riley - 10
"We both have red short hair and blue eyes" Abby - 6

19. How are you and your mom different?
"your a girl and I'm a boy" Jordan - 8
"we have different genders" Riley - 10
"I have baby teeth and you have grown up teeth" Abby - 6

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
"because your my mom" Jordan - 8
"'cause you make snacks for us and you give us hugs when we get home from school" Riley - 10
"You smile at me a lot" Abby - 6

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
"he makes money" Jordan - 8
"he is hysterical" Riley - 10
"he's a really good hunter" Abby - 6

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
"the mall" Jordan - 8
"any clothes store" Riley - 10
"the mall" Abby - 6

My Bargain Barstools!

I finally found some barstools for our new house. I had been looking but hadn't found anything I liked in our price range. When my MIL was here this last week we did manage to escape the house for a few hours one day and found these at Shopko. I love them! The best part is they were 50% off and the cushions match our furniture perfectly....same color and same fabric. Anyway, I thought I would share a pic. Hopefully the kids will use the bar more now to eat and do projects and not the dining room table. Because of the price, we were able to buy 4 so there will be no fighting over who gets to sit at the bar....yea!

Brock is back!

We had a welcome visitor, my mother in law and an unwelcome visitor at our house this week, influenza! Yuck! Brian's mom got here on Friday and I was looking forward to spending the week hanging out, maybe shopping and getting a pedi, and definitely getting some decorating tips for our new house. But no....Brock and Abby ended up with the flu. On Saturday, Brock was running a low grade fever but bounced back in the evening and was fine on Sunday. Then Sunday evening, he got the fever again and started coughing. We laid low on Monday and then Tuesday I decided to take him to the doctor. His fever had gone up to 104°....yuck! They tested him for influenza and sure enough he was positive. They said his lungs were crackly and his O2 stats were low so they wanted me to watch him closely and use the nebulizer to help loosen stuff up. Unfortunately by Wednesday after running a high fever combined with throwing up, he got very dehydrated and had labored breathing. The doctor suggested we head to the ER. After 5 hours there, 2 bags of iv fluids, steroids, chest x-rays and a battery of other tests they were advising we stay the night if he didn't perk up. Within 15 monutes of the deadline, Brock sat up in bed and started talking and laughing! Praise God! We were not looking forward to a night in the hospital! We brought him home and the next day the fever finally broke. By Friday, he was finally looking like himself. And today he really had his bright eyes back! We finally got out of the house today....went to McD's and the mall...not too exciting but out none the less. In all of this, Abby got sick as well but not nearly as sick as Brock. She did miss the whole week of school however because we didn't want to share this bug with anyone else! Needless to say, it was a blessing to have Betty, my mother-in-law here this week. She was a great help with the kids....especially when we had to go to the ER. We managed to avoid getting sick as did Riley and Jordan. Jordan had a little fever one day but is was short lived. I will definitely be getting flu shots for the family from here on out. I have always gotten them in years past and didn't this year. After this experience it is just not worth it.

Brock getting his breathing treatments.

What is this thing on my face?

Brock with his bright eyes again.