Tasty Tuesday!

So this is something I thought might be neat to start and that is a new slow cooker recipe every Tuesday! I know we are super busy in our lives and slow cooker recipes can be a life saver!! So today is my first Tasty Tuesday and we have Taco Soup in the slow cooker smelling oh so yummy making this momma oh so happy that dinner will be done when we walk in the door!! So feel free to try the recipe or send me some of your favorite slow cooker recipes!

Ingredients

2 lbs ground beef

1 cup chopped red onion

1 package of taco seasoning

1 envelope of Ranch-style dressing mix

2 cans of whole kernal corn, undrained

1 can of pinto beans, undrained

1 can of black beans, undrained

2 cans of diced tomatoes

2-3 cups of water

toppings: cheese, sour cream, chips, cilantro

makes 16 cups

1. Cook meat and onion in large skillet over med high heat – I threw some garlic, salt & pepper

2. Combine meat mixture and all other ingredients (except toppings) in a 5.2 quart slow cooker.

3. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours. Serve with toppings.

Kaden's Art Contest

So every once and a while my children will surprise the heck out of me with something they have done. Kaden did this tonight! I know we are raising him right when he began telling us about his art contest that he had with some students at school!

You see last night Kaden told us that he needed two twix candy bars to take to school..... hmmm I wondered why would he need to take two candy bars to school so I ask him.... He told me it was for the art contest that he had and they were for the winners.............. I was like what wait a minute you had an art contest and now you are providing candy bars for the winners??...hmmm

Well he kind of got a little upset with me because i did not follow what he was telling me and I had to ask several times for him to explain this art contest to me!!

It seems that Kaden had a piece of paper for kids to sign up on and they were to enter there drawing in the contest. They were to put there name on the back so it was fair and when he was judging he wouldn't know whose drawing was whose! (pretty good idea if I do say so myself) It seems that 13 kids signed up but then only 6 kids actually entered there drawing in the contest. Kaden judged the drawings and there was a first, second and third place winner. Each winner gets a candy bar.. Well the first place winner wanted starburst... I thought it was kind of odd that Kaden bought a starburst this weekend with his own money but oh well I just thought he wanted some startburst.. The other two kids want twix so now we need to get there candy bars for them!

When I ask kaden why he did this he said just for fun! I thought to myself wow just for fun... He got no personal gain from this he actually ended up buying 3 candy bars for the 3 winners! I guess we are teaching Kaden right from wrong and that it is better to give to others! All our hard work is paying off our children are watching us and paying attention to everything we do! One of my favorite things is helping others and giving back! I am a happy momma thinking of how kaden did this simple little contest and "gave back".. 

Now I am not so sure the school would approve of him holding a contest like this at school but then again it was just for fun and no one got hurt right! 

Five Question Friday

So I am really starting to like doing these 5QF I really look forward to it and it is my time!! yeah yeah I know its just 5 little questions but it allows me to escape for a few minutes!

1. Take your pick...date night, girls night out, or night out alone?





Take your pick huh..... hmmmm well I would not pick night out alone I am not a huge fan of that unless I am really having a bad day or stressing out! I am thinking right now date night and girls night out would probably be a tie! yes I know I can hear my husband now saying hey hey what about me!!




2. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?


I Can Not touch my nose with my tongue! I have never been able to do this.... Oh believe me I have tried and tried and tried.... I even tried again when I read this question... lol... the answer was still NO

3. What is your favorite flower and why?


Oh this is kind of a hard one.... I am a big fan of Orchid's simply because I think they are beautiful the meaning of an orchid is Rare beauty, love, and refinement. I am also a big fan of Lilys.... these beautiful flowers mean wealth, pride and  innocence.

Oh and I also would like to add that Carnations are Awful and my husband knows that he not dare bring me one home!! I would probably throw it in his face! They remind me of Dandelions or something of that nature! Yucky blucky yucky!!  ............... Ok glad I was able to get that out!!




4. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself?
I would probably tell myself to live a little more and maybe to have waited just a few years on having my kids! Don't get me wrong they mean the world to me but I would have definitely lived a little more! I would have also kicked my butt for dropping out of college!!

5. If you won the lottery, what is the very first thing you would do?
I would pay off all of my debt, my parents debt, my grandparents debt and my mother in laws debt! Yeah I'm nice like that!! I would make sure we were all debt free and then we would have some fun with the rest of the money!

Allright well I guess my Me Time is over and I now should get back to work!! Its Been Fun!! See you all the same place next Friday!!

Thankful Thursdays

I love love love Thankful Thursdays! They have become very special to me and give me a little bit of time to reflect on the things in my life that I am thankful for!

Thankful for all 3 of these wonderful women! My Mammaw, Momma and Sister!

Tonight I am thankful for my momma... I love her so much she is wonderful! She has taught me over the years how to grow into the woman that I am today and how to be a loving and caring mom! My mom means the world to me and I don't know where I'd be with out her!

I am also thankful for my beautiful flowers! Last year we planted some new flowers in the front of the house and they looked good but oh boy this year they are thriving! It brings a smile to my face everytime I walk by them! They are wonderful!

As I sit here and write this it is starting to rain... We have our windows open at home and that sweet smell of rain.... Oh I am so thankful for that I love that smell in the Spring time it is just wonderful!

To Be in 3rd Grade again!!

So today I helped in my son's 3rd grade class for teacher appreciation week. Today the teachers all got to go out to eat at Bell's Pizza Plus and we had volunteers come in and stay with there class. Well I got to go to Kaden's room and me and another mom watched.... no supervised all of the 3rd grade students.....Now I would say there is about 55 kids and for the most part they were pretty good. We really had it pretty easy they watched a movie and then we took them to lunch and then recess and then movie again until the teachers got back!

Well you see I forgot how being a 3rd grader felt like until being at the school today and seeing them interact with each other and the things they did... so funny... If only as an adult we could have the problems a 3rd grader has.....

There was a little girl who was very upset at Recess because her friends did not sit by her at lunch and she has only sat by this friend 2 times the WHOLE year!! She was crying and so so upset! Another little girl came over to me and the other mom and told us all about how her friend was so upset and she just didn't know what to do she really needed help! At first I thought maybe the little girl that was crying was hurt well not the case just hurt feelings! It was so cute how they cared for each other! I just told the little girl that I am sure her friend would be fine and I think her feelings were just hurt!! Well then a few minutes later another little girl comes and tells us all about it! Once again we told her that the little girl would be fine and her feelings were just hurt.....Then as I looked up here comes this little girl with hurt feelings and another friend rubbing her back telling her its allright..... oh so cute! I looked at her and ask Maddie are you ok.. she looked at me and said yeah i will be fine... She then got in line and we walked back to her class... walking back to the classroom she then started to tell me all about it! I told her that she would be allright and I understand that here feelings were hurt and it would be ok!

All in All the day went rather well and I was only there for about 90 minutes!! It was nice to let the teachers go out for lunch and be able to supervise there class while they were gone!

Five Question Friday

1. What is your worst memory of your siblings?


Fighting... I would have to say looking back on it now I always fought with my sister over the stupidest things!! I wish instead of fighting we would have been doing something more productive! Oh well that fighting is probably what helped make us who we are today!



2. What was YOUR naughtiest childhood memory? (Must be something YOU did, no pawning it off on someone else!)

Well I am not real sure here when you think childhood I think of small child like 10 and under! I have plenty of bad things I did in middle/high school.... hmmm I remember this one time I was probably in 4th grade and we had a music contest and the winner got a gift certificate to the pizza kind for some garlic bread.... Well this other girl had told me the answer and I just so happened to have music before her and I used her answer!! Well I won the little contest and was so happy but then felt oh so bad......... So being the nice girl that I was I ask her to come and eat the garlic bread with me!!

Then when we were in middle school I would always get the Captain Morgan down and fill up a mountain dew bottle with it and take that to my friends house... Well the Captain Morgan was slowly disappearing and I needed a reason for why... So I told my parents that when I opened the cabinet the bottle fell out and busted.... A whole bottle just gone... So sad..... They believed me!! So as you might imagine this started something even more I now knew I could get away with it!!



3. Where do you like to go to relax?

I like to go to the beach!! Panama City Beach is my favorite spot! If I need to relax during the other 51 weeks in a year I would have to say on a walk is always nice or laying in my tanning bed for 20 minutes usually will do the trick and recently I have started going back to Barnes and Noble that always works for me get a few books and some wonderful coffee and sit down and read!



4. What was the last thing you won?

I won some tickets to Indiana Beach!! Woo Hoo I am sure we will use those this summer!!



5. If you could be on a game show, which would you choose?

Deal or No Deal! I love that show.... However when I was little I loved Family Feud and Supermarket Sweep!! LOL this would really probably be a hard one I would just be thrilled to be on any game show!!

Thankful Thursdays

As I sit here and write my Thankful Thursday this week I am seeing things in a whole new light tonight and I know that I have one thing that I am very very very thankful for!

My Wonderful, Caring, Awesome, Loving Husband Zach!

You see tonight Zach was away at a class for work and he didn't get home till about 1am.. Well what is the problem with this or what was my light bulb moment in this! Well that was the whole night.. Usually we get the boys nightly things done together or Zach takes care of them while I am away doing one of my many things! I never realized how much work he does on his own while I am away working on stuff for PTO or working on things for Sorority or Leadership White County or the White County Youth Chamber... It just really made me sit back and think about all of that tonight and realize how lucky I am to have him and how Thankful I am to have him in my life!

I love you Zach with all my Heart!! I don't think you will ever know just how much I love you!!