Cinco de Mayo!

Here are two of my new favorite food finds...

So, you could imagine my delight when I found a recipe in which I could use them both! Well, I did improvise a little, but here goes...

Campbell's Easy Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup salsa

2 tsp. chili powder

2 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1/2 cup shredded cheese

6 flour tortillas

Stir the soup, sour cream, chili powder and salsa in a medium bowl.

Stir 1 cup salsa mixture, chicken and cheese in large bowl.

Divide chicken mixture among the tortillas. Roll up the tortillas and place seam side down in a greased baking dish.

Pour the remaining salsa mixture over tortillas. Cover the baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Or Lauren's version...

Instead of the salsa, I used 1/2 cup Salsa Verde and 1/2 Black Bean & Corn Salsa (from WalMart). I also omitted the chili powder (because I didn't have any!!), and sprinkled a little cumin, garlic salt and pepper on the chopped chicken before adding it to the mixture.

And instead of the tortillas, I used the light flatout bread. After baking for 40 minutes, I took the foil off the dish and added approximately another 1/2 cup of cheese to the top and let it bake an additional 10 minutes.

I thought they were delicious. Granted, I will eat just about anything that resembles Mexican food! But I was pleasantly surprised!

If I hadn't gobbled them all up, I would have taken picture. You'll just have to try them for yourselves!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Twinkle, Twinkle My Little Stars

Here's Walker before the big performance, just chillin' out!

Some more chillin' right before going on stage...


And, guess what? Walker and Kathryn were fabulous! Here's Sissy singing "Mr. Sun, Mr. Sun."

Walker was "shining" too!

And look at the wheels on that bus! Boy, are they going around and around!!

Once the two year olds finished, the parents were allowed to walk up to the stage for some pictures. So, Kathryn decided to pose for everyone. Gotta love it:)

Here's Walker making sure his sister doesn't get all the attention!

As we were putting the kiddos in their car after their fabulous performance, I asked Kathryn what she wanted to eat. She replied, "A quesadilla!"

She didn't have to twist her mother's arm! Off to the Mexican restaurant we went. Ask and ye shall receive!




And just to let them know how proud we were of all of their hard work, a quick stop by Sonic on the way home! Vanilla cups for the kids and a Snickers blast for Mommy. If you haven't had a Snickers blast yet, go get it! They are worth it!

The Wheels on the Bus

Today, Walker and Kathryn had practice for their play tomorrow night. I really hadn't given much thought to how they would respond to being on stage, but boy did we get a show!

Kathryn sat on stage the entire time with her finger in her mouth, while Walker Buzz went to town singing "Mr. Sun, Mr. Sun", "I'm a Little Teapot", and "Wheels on the Bus." (The pictures aren't that great b/c I had to take them at a distance. Looks like we are going to have to get there early to get some good seats as this was taken from about the fifth row back!). They are located bottom center of the photos. See Walker's "wheels" in the second picture;)


Kathryn and schoolmate Spice decided to tip toe through the azaleas afterwards. Can you believe they actually "posed" for a picture?

Then it was off to the park to play and to picnic! Kathryn's favorite past time--playing in the sand. Thankfully, Mommy remembered the sand toys for this trip!

And the picnic part!

I can't wait to see how well they "perform" tomorrow night. I know we are in for a treat!

Yummy Hummus

Don't kids just love to "dip" things. I know mine do--chicken nuggets in ketchup, for example, or Walker even likes to dip them in honey! Well, here is another favorite at our house--hummus! We normally make a Mediterranean style dip from this cook book, but this week, we opted for the real deal.

This recipe comes from another favorite cook book, Katie Lee Joel's The Comfort Table. I have loved this cookbook, especially her pimento cheese recipe. Walker and I love it, so I make it quite often. It's a nice alternative for a sandwich filler, especially since the kiddos are in a peanut free classroom. But, we'll save the pimento cheese for another post.

Alas, the hummus! Here are the ingredients...

2 cans of chick peas (drained, but reserve juice)
2 garlic cloves (I used about 2 t. of the pre-minced kind!)
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 t. cumin
1 t. salt

Process all but the olive oil and salt. Once blended, stream in olive oil. Add salt at the end to taste. Add chick pea juice 2 T. at the time until desired consistency is reached. Here is the final result...

We love to eat hummus with carrot sticks, apple slices, and just about any kind of chip. We had a coupon for these healthy options, so we tried the sea salt flavor. It was the perfect combination with the hummus! Here's a coupon to print, if you would like to try them too!

Happy snacking!

Open House

Yesterday, our realtor hosted an Open House at our home which meant we had to find a way to entertain ourselves for 3 hours. Right in the middle of the kiddos naptime, I might add!

So, although it was close to 90 degrees out, we headed to our old standby--the zoo! We haven't been in several months, so it was nice to see all of the familiar animal faces again! We even spotted some eggs amongst the flamingos, ducks and ostriches, which I guess is an added perk this time of year!

It didn't take us long before we stopped for snack time!

And play time!
Don't let the smile fool you! She was actually "acting" at this point. I think the lack of a nap was catching up with her!
And poor Walker was just plain tuckered out!


We were all feeling it by the time we got home last night. Needless to say, we ended the day with nothing but lounging around watching tv. I think the lack of a Sunday nap and the heat had us all exhausted. Let's just hope the Open House (or at least the yummy cookies and brownies we had on hand for any "lookers") will send us a buyer!

Wheel Day

Today was "Wheel Day" at the kiddo's school. So Mommy was on hand to watch all of the fun. Here come the little drivers...

And they are off!

Sissy on her pink bike!

Walker peddling away (or should I say scooting-he hasn't quite gotten the peddling part yet)!

He gave up on the bike and decided to pick berries...

And put them in his bike!

Kathryn "borrowed" one of her classmate's pink and purple bike and princess helmet. Can't imagine why she wanted to borrow those two things!!!

Popsicles!

The Grumpy Lizard

Walker was the proud recipient of a very large gummy gecko tucked nicely in his Easter basket amongst all the jellybeans and other Easter goodies. I normally buy the kids the exact same things just to keep down on the fussing, but I decided to buy one gender specific item for each.

Walker received the gecko, and Kathryn enjoyed a plastic purse filled with candy beads perfect for making an edible necklace (or just eating all the candy and forgetting about the necklace like Kathryn opted to do!).

Monday after Easter, Kathryn asked me if she could eat Walker's "grumpy" lizard. I guess she confused "gummy" with "grumpy"! She was pretty insistent about the grumpy lizard. So after dinner, we all took turns biting a leg and snipping at his tail. And then Kathryn, who rarely even cares for candy, polished off the remains of the grumpy lizard.

I really think the thrill for her was getting to eat her brother's candy! She can be quite tricky that way! Yummy....Lizard!