Creamy Crock Pot Italian Chicken

Okay, so clearly I am no food photographer, but I had to share this very tasty recipe for Creamy Crock Pot Italian Chicken I found on Pinterest.  I almost didn't try it, because I'm a little bored with recipes that call for cream of chicken/mushroom soup.  I'm so glad I gave this recipe a try, because it has quickly become a family favorite.

So, here's what you need:

4 large chicken breasts

1 package of Italian seasoning

1 large can of cream of chicken soup

1 package of cream cheese

1 package of your favorite kind of pasta, noodles, or rice (I made it with spaghetti in the above picture.)

In the bottom of your crock pot, mix the cream of chicken soup and Italian seasoning.  Place the chicken breast on top of the mixture.  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.  Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked, shred it.  Then, return it to the crock pot and mix well.  At about the time that I start cooking my pasta or rice, I cube the cream cheese and add to the crock pot.  Stir frequently until melted.  Then, serve the mixture over pasta or rice.

This recipe makes quite a bit, so we always count on having left overs.  Karsyn and I love to come home from school and eat this for lunch too!  If you give it a try, make sure that you let me know. =)

   

And All That Brass

It has always been my hope that at least one of our kiddos would learn to play a musical instrument.  It thrills me to no end that Evan and Payton are both learning how to play the Trumpet/Cornet.  And just in case you are wondering the difference, Jason says they have the same pitch and the same fingerings.  The trumpet is louder and more commanding.  The cornet is a little smaller and is more mellow.  Evan plays the trumpet and Payton plays the cornet.  I think it's a little funny, because that also seems to fit their personalities.  ha!  More than likely, Payton will have to switch to the trumpet when she's old enough to be in band.   For now, the smaller instrument seems to fit in her hands a little better.  After the last set of chair tests and challenges, Evan is sitting in first chair. He is really, really, REALLY happy about that.  He has a chair test tomorrow and he's really hoping to keep his spot.  Here he is practicing.

Jason is teaching Payton out of Evan's book.  She is picking it up so quickly.  It really impresses me that she already knows many of the fingerings.  She has a really good tone.

My most favorite part of every evening is listening to and watching them practice.  I'm thankful that Daddy can teach them.  Maybe someday if Addi and Karsyn learn to play, we'll have a full brass band. =)

Band Bingo

This evening, Evan, Payton and I played Bingo.  The high school marching band was hosting a Bingo night fundraiser that also included a silent auction and bake sale.  Evan and Payton could not wait to go play.  We had to wait for Daddy to get off of work before we could go, so we were a little late.  We made it just in time for the second game.  Daddy was going to take the little ladies to the park.  Addi and Karsyn decided that they really just wanted to go play in the back yard.  They made an evening out of playing on the swing set and then going out for ice cream.

The prizes for most of the games were $25 gift cards.  There were 3 games that were played on different game cards that had extra special prizes.  Evan and Payton played every round.  I played on the special rounds to try to win the big prizes.  Payton was one space away from winning a Kindle Fire. Ah!

Evan and Payton both loved that the elementary school Vice Principal was the Bingo Caller.  He ended up having the winning bid on a bake sale basket.  He gave each of the kiddos a honey bun and they loved that!

Evan and Payton got really close, but never won a game.  Once, Evan called out Bingo.  He didn't have one and got really embarrassed.  He has a good sense of humor, so we just laughed it off.

We had a whole lot of fun playing.  There was a great turnout and I'm glad that the band had so much support.  I hope that we'll be able to have another big kid bingo night soon.  =)

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Fall Questions

Today is the first day of fall!  My goodness, this year is going by fast! Another blog that I follow did this fun link-up of Fall Questions.  I was a little late to the party, but I still thought it would be fun to give my answers.

1. What fall traditions do you have?

We always take a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Over the years, we've visited several different patches and have got to do fun things like a cane maze, go to a petting zoo, and ride ponies. 

Our kiddos with Grandma and Papa Floyd on our 2011 Pumpkin Patch Visit.  It was Karsyn's first time!

We also have the tradition of going trick-or-treating every Halloween with Uncle Billy,  Aunt Kary, Natalie, Emily and Stephen.

Our little family 2013.

Uncle Billy, Aunt Kary, Natalie, Emily, and Stephen 2013

2. What's your favorite fall recipe?

My friend Megan once gave me a recipe for delicious pumpkin cookies.  I'll have to find it again and post it. I also love a good Frito Chili Pie in the fall, especially if it's made with my mom's chili.  

3. What is your favorite fall photo (or photos) you've taken?

Addi - Fall 2010

Payton - Fall 2010

Evan Fall 2010

Karsyn Fall 2012 (Wearing Addi's spider shirt from the above picture.)

4. Football - Love it or Hate it?

All of the guys in my life are huge football fans.  We watch a lot of college football and try to take the kiddos to at least one high school game each season.  

Papa, Jason, and Evan at the 2014 Backyard Bowl

5. What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

When I was in the 3rd grade, my mom made me a clown costume.  I loved it!   

6. Pumpkins, Ghosts, or Both?

Okay, so I have called Jason "Punkin" or "Punkie" since we started dating.  So, we are all about pumpkins in the fall.  We love them big and small. =)

But then again, I think this little ghost is pretty cute too!

Addi - 2009

7. What is your favorite fall fashion item (boots? scarves? sweaters?)

I think scarves are pretty cute!  I love the way boots look, but they just don't look right on me. =(

8. Is leaf pile jumping your thing or not?

I don't think we've ever done that before...GASP!

9. Is "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" a must watch at your house?

It seems like we watch it every year, but it kind of just happens that way.

10. What are you going to be for Halloween this year? (or your kids?)

When it comes to Halloween costumes, I am cheap, cheap, cheap!  I always try to buy costumes when they are 50-75% off.  Last year, I got Addi and Payton witch costumes.  Karsyn is going to wear Addi's hand-me-down witch costume (if I can find tights to match) from a couple of years ago.  Evan and Jason will most likely be vampires.  I usually wear a fun headband or a festive shirt.  I feel dorky dressed up. =)

2010

2011

2012

2013

These questions were so much fun and have me so excited for this fall!  If you are blog friend and answer these questions too, make you post a link in your comment so other friends can see your answers. =)

A New Season

Last year, my sister Ashley, her husband Chad, and my niece Jessi moved to SW MO to start a new church.  Chad is an ordained pastor and really felt like this is where the Lord was calling their family.  If you can imagine, this was as hard as it was exciting.  My kiddos, especially Evan and Payton, are extremely close to Jessi.  They were so upset when they found out she was moving.  However, during the past year, we've seen the Lord working His plan together and we know that they are just where He wants them to be.  After a lot of hard work and prayer, their church held it's inaugural services yesterday morning.  Papa, Nana, Grandpa James, Grandma Shirley, and our little family all drove from Oklahoma to be a part of this special day.  

I counted around 40 people in service, which is super exciting!  They are currently renting a building that will fit all of their needs until they have the need to expand.  I love that we got to be there for their first services. We plan to be there as often as we can.  I'm praying that God will use this church to reach people and to serve their community.

When The Game Stands Tall

Evan doesn't normally ask me to take him to see movies.  Unlike most boys his age, he's not really into the very popular action/super hero movies. (If he were to watch them, I'm sure that he would enjoy them.) When he asked me if we could go see When the Game Stands Tall, I wasn't even sure what it was about.  I did a little research and thought it looked like a good movie.  It's a movie based on a true story about a high school football team. We decided to have a double mother and son date with Aunt Kary and Stephen tonight.

The boys were super excited.  Our small local theater was having a 2 for the price of one special on the movie and Aunt Kary found us coupons for free popcorn.  You know, a good deal makes the night that much more fun. =)

With our buttery popcorn and Diet Pepsi in hand, it was time for the movie to start.

When the Game Stands Tall is an excellent movie. We all really enjoyed it.  It has such a good message for boys who love to play sports.  It's about the brotherhood of a team.  I also loved that the movie referenced scripture on more than one occasion.   There was no foul language or anything inappropriate for the boys to see. If you are looking for a good movie to watch, check this one out. The boys are all excited now about seeing more movies together.  I think we'll have to do it a little more often.  But first, Payton and Jason have a movie date tomorrow night.  Check back soon to read all about that. =)

Midweek Randoms

There has been a lot, and I mean a lot of trumpet playing at our house lately.  Actually, Payton is playing the cornet.  It has the same sound. =)  This is our house every night.  It's so much better than TV. (So, I realized after I published this post, that this picture is in another post.  I like it so much, it can be in 2.)

Payton finished up her first work in Art Lessons.  She painted an Elsa painting for Addi for Christmas.  Her teacher told me that she has natural skills.  She said it more than once and seemed really impressed with her.  I love that Payton has a creative outlet.

Tuesday night is dance night and my girls are all loving it.  It makes me so happy to watch Addi tap dance.  She is even more focused this year than last. (BTW, we've had no tears before school this week.  She's a little grumpy after, but mornings are so much easier.)

I don't think Karsyn could love dance class any more.  She smiles the entire time.  I think dance is just her thing.  She seems to be picking it up so quickly.  Here's a picture I borrowed from a friend on Facebook.  Can you spot my smiling little lady? (Payton loves her classes too!  It's a little harder to sneak a picture of her classes, but I will try to soon.)

Evan got his name on the marquee at school this week and was so excited!  I'm so proud of my student of the month!

Evan had his first chair test in band last Friday and got 7th chair out of 15.  He had another chair test today and got 2nd chair.  Yay!  Third Chair can challenge him next Monday, so he's practicing even harder than before.  Here's a little bit from tonight.  Ummm....you might keep in mind that he's only been playing for 2 weeks. =)

 

It's been a busy week and we are really looking forward to an extra long weekend.  Hope your week is going well too!

The Weekend What

This has been a whirl wind of a weekend!  Oh boy has it ever been fun and busy!!!  As I've mentioned before, Evan is a super sports fan.  Last week, he asked Papa Gene to take him to our local high school's football game.  Papa was preparing to go to Orlando for work that weekend, so he told him they could go to this week's game.  Friday, Papa called me and told me that he was on his way to get tickets to The Backyard Bowl.  There are two local high schools that have such a big rivalry, that they have to play their game at The University of Tulsa just for seating.  This game is so big, there has even been a movie made about it and it's always televised.  To make the night even more awesome, Jason was off work!  So, my 3 favorite guys were off to have a lot of fun and freeze at the game.  I made Jason promise to take a few pictures. =)

Saturday was a big, busy day!  We started our day off at our second home, the soccer fields.  It was another loss for our team. Boo!  Evan played goalie for the entire game and was never subbed, so he was happy.  He's so funny to watch!  He's just so animated!  I was also really proud of my nephew Stephen once again.  He is doing so good!

After the game, the boys parted ways with us girls.  We had a princess party to get to quickly.  Karsyn was invited to her first party of the school year.  (The mommy of the birthday girl invited our whole family to come as well, but just us girls went.  We love our girl time!) My word! This party was fun!  The girls got to blow bubbles and bounce, in between eating pizza and every single princess snack you can imagine.  Seriously, there were two tables of princess themed snacks alone!  My girls eyes got so big as they saw all the goodies.  They also got to decorate princess crowns.  They loved that too!

We knew so many people at the party. Karsyn loved playing with my hairdresser's son.  I loved getting to meet him.  I've heard so much about him!

That wasn't our last party.  If you can believe it, we had two more left to attend.  Evan was invited to his friend Levi's party.  Payton, Evan, and I headed that way after we dropped the girls off to daddy for a nap.  His party was at the park.  Levi is a very sweet boy and I'm glad that I got to meet him.

Then, it was time for party numbero tres!  The whole family headed to our best friend family's house to celebrate Levi's birthday.  Yep, two Levi's had their party in one day. =)  It was such a beautiful day that we spent a little while playing outside.  All of the big boys played a game of basketball, while all the rest of us had fun in the backyard.

After we played for a while, we ate pizza, opened presents, and had cake.  And yes, Kim made the Ninja Turtle cake and it was yummy!

The rest of the night, we played cards, the kids played the Wii, they watched movies, and played really well together.  As always, we had way too much fun and stayed later than we should have.  It led us to sleeping a little too late to go to church this morning.  So, we had a lazy Sunday morning.  Then, Evan, Payton, and I went shopping for jeans.  Daddy and Evan did some lawn work that was well over due this afternoon.  After dinner, we met up with Aunt Kary, Emily, and Stephen to practice soccer at the track.  As of right now, all 4 kiddos plan to play soccer in the spring.

 When we got home, it was time for our evening routine of baths, packing lunches, reading, practicing sight words and of course a little trumpet practice.  Jason is teaching Payton how to play too.  Oh boy, one day all this practice is going to pay off....right?

It was such a busy and fun weekend!  I am glad that the kiddos have a short school week this week.  I'm looking forward to a 3 day weekend.

This Week...

This week has been a big one for Evan.  On Monday, he found out that he was selected to be the boy student of the month for the 6th grade.  On Tuesday, Evan and Stephen got to go on a field trip with the Indian Education students.  It's the field trip that they were nominated to go on a couple of weeks ago.  They went to a local STEM school and learned more about it's programs.  That evening at soccer practice, Evan got the news he had been waiting to hear.  His coach told him that he earned his spot in the goalie box.  Today at school, Evan had his first chair test.  He made 7th chair out of 15.  He's very competitive and wasn't too happy with that placement.  He said that he's going to practice all weekend and then challenge 6th chair. LOL!  He also got to go to a high school football game, but I'll talk more about that later. =)

This week, Payton started art lessons.  She is working on a Frozen painting.  She and I have also been reading Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory together.  We each take turns reading a chapter out loud.  She's been such a busy reading bee here lately.  She is really enjoying school and I couldn't be more happy.  I really think this is going to be one of her best years yet!

This week, Addi still does not want to go to school in the morning.  It's been hard!  She loves it when she is there, but does not want to go with all that is in her.  It's a huge adjustment and I know she is just going to need time.  As usual, she is really loving gymnastics.  She had class on Wednesday and asked me for the last two days if she can go again.

This week, Karsyn decided that dance class is the best thing in the world.  Tuesday when her class was over, she walked out and said, "This is so much fun!"  It was cute!  She's also decided that she really wants to play soccer.  She told me that she's going to try her best and asked if I would be her coach. ha!  I think she can play this Spring.  

This week, Jason had to go to court house.  He was summons with a jury duty notice a couple of weeks ago.  He doesn't have to serve this time, but he hopes that at some point and time that he'll have the opportunity to.  Aunt Kary was summons too and it looks like she will be serving.  This would be me on jury duty.  Gotta love King of Queens. lol!

This week, it's starting to feel like Fall and I love it!  It was so cool this morning that Karsyn told me that she was shivering.  It couldn't help but smile.

This week, Karsyn, Addi, Payton, and I went on our 3rd Girl Donut Date.  Evan goes to school quite a bit earlier than the girls.  After we drop him off, we head to the donut shop to have some girl time together.  My little ladies just love this time each week!

This week at my school, I feel like things are going good! I wasn't fully aware until I worked at a preschool, that not one three year-old is exactly alike another.  Well, except for the identical twin girls at our school.  I still can't tell those two apart.   We have some who are still much more like toddlers and some who seem like seasoned preschoolers.  Most are somewhere in between.  It can be so challenging at times, but it can also be very rewarding.  Sometimes that changes minute by minute. lol.

That just about sums up this week.  I am going to try my best to do a little better blogging.  We are working hard getting this new routine down and I hope to feel like I have more spare time soon.

              

The Kick Off of Fall Soccer {2014}

Even though it still very much feels like summer, Evan and Stephen started practicing for Fall Soccer about two weeks ago.  Since Evan aged up to U-12, he's now on the same team as Stephen.  I love that my kiddos have had so many opportunities to play on the same team as their cousins. Saturday, the boys played their first game.  We were a little afraid that it was going to be cancelled, because it had rained all day.  We got really lucky and the rain stopped shortly before the boys started playing.  We even saw the sun peaking through the clouds a few times.  The boys' season started off with an away game.  Fortunately, we didn't have to travel too far.  Evan and Stephen were picked to be team captains.  Here they are at the coin toss.

 Our team is a new team to the league.  A lot of the boys just aged up to U-12.  Coach is still trying to figure out what boy fits best in what spot.  He started Stephen as Defender and Evan as Left Wing.

Less than 2 minutes into the game, the opposing team was up 3 points!  Coached yelled out for Evan to get in the goalie box.  He stayed in the goalie box for the remainder of the first half and all of the second half. That made his day!  Evan is really hoping to play goalie all season. 

With the switch, Stephen got put on Left Wing.  He typically has always played Defender.  He really did a great job.  I think Coach will start working with Stephen more as an offensive player.  He did that good!  In fact, Stephen played the best I've ever seen him play today.

Though Stephen did a great job on offensive, Coach really needed him to play Defender again.  I love watching our boys play together.

The boys worked really hard!  Evan made some awesome saves!

This wasn't Evan's most exciting save of the day, but it's the one that I got recorded. =)

Like I mentioned before, the boys are a first time team and they played a seasoned, undefeated team.  I heard someone from the other team say that they always beat other teams by at least 10 goals!!!!  But as anyone who has played sports knows, you learn so much from the first game.  Our coach now knows who's capable of what and what needs worked on.   He was very pleased with Evan and named him Player of the Game.  I'm excited to watch the the boys' team develop this season.