Chili Mac Supreme (complete with Steak N Shake's "special sauce!")

Do you ever make homemade chili mac supreme?  It is such a great way to use up leftover chili and with the special sauce, it tastes just like Steak N Shake ;)  I made some tonight with our chili from last night.  Delish!

Just cook up some spaghetti noodles, top with chili (either leftover or canned.)  Add shredded cheddar cheese, onions and the 'special sauce.'  To make the sauce, it is simply ketchup and worcestershire sauce (about 1 cup ketchup & 4tbs worcestershire.)  I like to warm the sauce in the microwave.  Oh, so yummy!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

A yummy Valentine dessert!

It's been a while since I shared a recipe, so I thought I'd share this easy one for anyone looking for a great V-day dessert!  Personally, I like cooking a special dinner at home on Valentines instead of fighting the crowds and being in a noisy restaurant.  It's more private and romantic at home :)  Anyhoo, that's neither here nor there...back to the recipe!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
2 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 10 oz container of frozen sweetened strawberries (completely thawed and drained.  save 1/4 cup of liquid)
2 cups Cool Whip
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 graham cracker crust (I use chocolate)

Leave cream cheese out to soften (or if you are impatient like me you can soften in the microwave for a few seconds.)  Combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, strawberries and the strawberry liquid with mixer until well blended.  Gently fold in Cool Whip until blended.  Pour into pie crust.  Mixture will be thick.  Garnish with fresh strawberries if desired (which I did not do this time because they were $4...yikes!)  Chill for at least an hour before serving. 

I think this was originally a Cool Whip recipe but my mom always made it & that is where I got the recipe.  :)  Such a yummy pie and SUPER easy to make!  Enjoy!




P.S. I'm linking up to Young and Crafty's Free For All party :)
And...here






All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

My little 'angel.'

Why do children seem so angelic when they are sleeping?  Oh...it's because they are sleeping!  ;)

On a different note...As precious as Hayden looks in these images, he has been testing my patience lately.  He is in that independent toddler stage and is also getting a bit rebelious.  I'm planning to bury myself in this book until I finish it.

My parents read this book when my brother and I were kids.  They gave this copy to me when I was still pregnant if I am not mistaken!  I am hoping that it helps me become a better parent.  And I hope it gives me techniques that will help in properly disciplining Hayden.  I refuse to raise a brat and want to teach him as early as possible to behave properly so that it's easier on all of us! 

I tend to lose my patience and react to Haydens behavior instead of staying calm.  I definitely need to work on that.  I have been praying for patience for as long as I can remember because it's not something that comes naturally for me.  I hope that, in time, I can learn patience because it is definitely something you need as a parent! 

In spite of the 'bad' days or tense moments, being Hayden's mom brings me more joy than I ever thought possible.  Being a parent is a wonderful gift and I can't imagine my life without our little boy. Thank you Lord for choosing us to be Hayden's parents!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Gettin' Featured (again!)

Hey, all!  I just wanted to let you know that Cassity at Polly Want a Crafter is featuring my PB inspired book bundles this Wednesday (1/26!)  The post will go live at 7 am, be sure to check it out!  :)

Happy Monday :)

The Cardboard House

We got Hayden a cardboard playhouse and he just loves it.  He wants mommy & daddy to play in it with him all the time.  He says "house" and grabs our fingers and pulls us in.  He likes to make us stay in the house and he goes out and brings in one thing after another (mostly toys.)  It's hilarious.

He would open the window and say "hello!"  It was too cute

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Reason 196372539 why I LOVE my life :)

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Fresh out of the bath :)

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

The many faces of Hayden

In order to pass the time when Hayden was on the potty, we were making faces.  He was cracking me up!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

On a rainy day...

It's a dreary, rainy day so we have been cooped up in the house today.  I took a break from my laundry-fest today to blog a little  :)
Don't you just love fresh, clean sheets on your bed?  I washed ours today and can't wait to snuggle into them tonight!

I wish this photo was a scratch and sniff.  My whole room smelled wonderful thanks to my "Apple Mago Tango" liquid fabric softener. ;)  I can't believe I actually hated the smell of fresh laundry when I was pregnant.  I had to use that free and clear detergent so that our laundry would have no smell to it.  Thankfully, that strange aversion passed after I had Hayden!
Speaking of my little man...I decided to let him bask in the fluffy goodness of my freshly laundered bedding before his nap today. 

He loved it, of course :)

Peek-a-boo  :)

(Since it was gloomy out, I didn't have a lot of light coming in my room so I had to really bump up my ISO's on the camera, hence the grainy pics...one of the reasons I'm dreaming of an upgrade ;)   Just dreaming, though! :)

Naked Days...

...for Hayden of course!  In order to encourage peeing in the potty, a certain little man has been running around the house with no pants.  ;)  He has the #2 thing down pretty good, but we are having to work a little harder on #1...   I'm planning to stay home the next few days and pump him full of liquids so we can get lots of practice! 
For convenience, we had a potty set up in the living room where he was playing...

And he just went about his business and played...

Thankfully, the wood floors make for easy clean-ups when we have an accident!

I'm sure he will just love me later in life for these photos ;)

The cutest little booty I have ever seen!

PB inspired 'trash to treasure.'

I love getting my Pottery Barn catalog in the mail.  It makes me happy to thumb through the pages and see all the beautiful home decor.  I don't usually purchase things from them since their prices are not really in my SAHM budget ;)  But, I love getting ideas from them!  There are lots of things in there that you can easily re-create/make yourself.  Like, for example, these book bundles they are selling...

A mere $39 for a bundle of four old books with the covers ripped off and tied together with string.  I wonder how many of these they are actually selling since it seems pretty easy to find some old books and make these yourself! 
Anyway, I thought these would look great on my ladder shelf but obviously I wasn't going to purchase these from PB  ;)   I found 4 old hardcover books at a thrift store.

 I paid $1 each and if it were 'yard sale season' I'm sure I could have found some old paperbacks for a quarter.  Anyway, I didn't have any hemp string either so I had to buy that too.  I spent about $6 total on supplies but if you already have old books, you could make this for practically free!
Here is my little version.  I decided to use darker string to go better with my living room decor. 

I think it makes a nice addition to my shelves ;)

Decorchick! also did a version of a book bundle she saw in the Ballard Designs catalog.  I think Ballard is charging around $25 for their bundles.  Either way, I did mine for a very small percentage of what they are selling these things for!  I don't think my hubby would be too happy if I told him I spent $40 on some old books with the covers ripped off  ;)
p.s. I am not trying to imply that books are 'trash' by the title of this post.  I love books and think that they are important!  I just think this is a great way to re-purpose unwanted old books from a thrift store.  :)
Happy Decorating!

P.S. I'm linking up!

"Mom" tat...

I wanted to make some V-day cards of my little man, but it's tricky to do boy-ish Valentine stuff!  Everyting is pink and hearts, etc...  Well, I decided to get him a temporary tattoo that says "mom" and just go with a heartbreaker look.  Today we had a little photo shoot with his new 'tattoo' and he was looking pretty handsome if I do say so  :)
Here are a few...

I love this one of him looking at it...

He kept saying "pretty."  It was too cute.

Christmas in Indiana

I know this post is a little late...but better late that never, right?  ;)
Since a picture is worth a thousand words (and I have a ton of pics!) I will mostly let them speak for themselves and due to the sheer number of photos, I made collages so that this post isn't ridiculously long! (Since there were SO many pics, I did little to no editing except converting some to b&w so most of these are straight out of the ol' camera.) 

We'll start with cookie-making on Christmas Eve...

Hayden was supposed to 'decorate' one and ate all the icing (and most of the cookie) and was pretty wired for the rest of the night!  :p
Next is presents on Christmas morning...

I took a million more pics that morning, but I'll spare you  ;)

Got out for some fun in the snow...

Played a rousing game of "Bezzerwizzer" (me & Jeff lost.)

One night we went to "Incredible Pizza Co." for dinner...it's kinda like Chuck E Cheese on steroids ;)

They had all kinds of stuff for kids young and old (and adults too) but we were mostly there for little man.  Although, I had hoped to ride the go-carts with Jeff but wasn't able to...I was not too happy about that  :-( 
We also went to the Children's Museum.  Hayden had a blast!

Hayden even had his own 'big boy room' at my parents house!  They made such a cute room for him and he loved it!

He did really well sleeping in the toddler bed even though he is still in a crib at home.  We just had to teach him that he was not allowed to get out of bed when it was time to go to sleep.  He was such a big boy!
I'm so glad that he got to spend some time with my parents.  It was nice having some extra time there and not having to rush back home right after Christmas.  We have been back home for a week and are getting back into our routines.  (And I am still working on un-packing and getting everything put away!) 
I'm thankful for a safe trip and a wonderful Christmas with family.  We are so blessed :)

Snow

We got some more snow last night, so today me and Hayden got out for just a bit to 'play' in it (although Hayden didn't seem overly interested, this could have been due to the fact that he could barely move in all the layers I had him in!) 

And yes, my Christmas wreath is still up.  I just don't have the heart to take it down yet...I love that wreath!  :)

Someone had some boogies...

He decided to try some snow  ;)

He points to Buzz & says "Bo!" haha