Little toothless grins!

Don't you love toothless grins?  I do and Grace has had one since the end of October.  In fact, when she wrote her letter to Santa, she did ask for her two front teeth!  It was a struggle to get the little teeth out, but she was brave and let me do it.  The teeth were so loose, you could almost twist them all the way around.  

Here's the difference in kid's though that I find interesting.  And I say interesting because I am an only child and the whole sibling dynamic thing amazes me.  With Katey, my oldest, she pulled almost all of her own teeth out by herself.  She wouldn't let me or Jerry do it at all.  It had to be all her.  I guess she could handle the pain better.  Sam on the other hand has never had loose teeth.  Serious as a heart attack!  His teeth will not lose the roots and they stay in, making the permanent teeth come in over, behind and in front of the baby teeth.  We have always said he has "shark teeth".  But thank heavens Grace has been keeping the Tooth Fairy busy.  Until now!  But that's okay.  If she doesn't lose any more that means she is still my little girl for a little while longer.  

What a Month!

After Christmas I thought we had seen the worst of the weather here in Southwestern Minnesota.  We all started back to school and everyone was glad to be back into the swing of things.  But over the last two weeks, we have had two snow days, and 4 delays of school.  It has been crazy!  This past Sunday however, it was sunny for a few hours and I was really homesick.  It reminded me of early spring in Utah.  Right when the snow starts to melt and and you can see the glimmering of little grass leaves through the snow and muck.  I miss seeing daffodils in March instead of May.  But, bloom where you are planted right?  And enjoy what you have today.

We have all had our winter colds too and feeling better.  I don't know about anyone else, but this cold and flu season wasn't as bad as I had thought.  I am not a fan of flu shots, and we didn't get any and so far so good! Knock on wood. 

My highlight for this month has been that I found one of my best friends from "Once Upon a Time" when I was young, thin, and wrinkle free!  I found her on Facebook and I am ecstatic!  We lost contact after I was married and she served a mission for our church to England.  I moved and have been moving ever since, but low and behold, she is on Facebook now.  It is a funny thing about friends who have known you a long time.  You can go for months and sometimes years, but when you pick up the phone and chat for a while, it all comes back like it was yesterday.  She is the reason I met my husband, so it has been really fun to reconnect.  

Well, the gardening and bulb catalogs will be coming out soon and I just get a little to excited to start planning a garden.  I have one small one that I am trying to get into shape and like to say I have control over.  It is however my husbands domain...all of the gardening.  I guess I should consider myself lucky though.  We have a freezer full of corn and a cellar full of potatoes.  I better start posting a recipe for mashed potatoes or something don't you think?  

Have a great and warm rest of the week...from my home to yours.

How cold is too cold to go out...-29 I would say!

So what does your average family do when it is too cold to go out and even make it to the grocery store? Board games, Wii, read and scrapbook. Those are all things that we usually do when it is -29 outside. Oh, really, that isn't a typo. It was -29 on our outside thermometer this morning at 6 am. Jerry being the farm boy that he is has to know everything about the conditions outside when he wakes up, so we have a digital thermometer for that. I'm not sure where the rain gauge is? Anyway, as I have said before, the heartland was pounded with snow and with the snow storms you can always expect cold. Not just any cold, bitter cold. I grew up in Utah so I love the snow and winter. I lived a half hour from 3 resorts, I know snow. But my friends, there is no cold like it is here. It would be one thing to have all this snow in the winter and be able to go out and play in it, right now, you are 10 minutes to frostbite for any uncovered skin. That is freaking cold!!!

So I have taken this day to do some cooking. I start back to preschool on Monday and want to have a few things in the freezer that I can just pull out and throw in the oven. Today I have browned 6 pounds of hamburger, roasted a chicken in my new cast iron roasting pan that I got for Christmas, cooked some more chicken breasts, made Mexican cheese dip and my Grandma's Enchilada Lasagna. For anyone who knows me, I am a mexican food-aholic! I love any and all mexican food. So when it has been about a month since my last mexican food cooking spree and my family can handle it again, I go for it full boar. Really, I love it!

This recipe from my Grandma is one that she used to make and bring to our house on a Sunday afternoon when she needed an excuse to come see us, (she really never needed an excuse, she just thought she did) and spend the afternoon visiting. This recipe can also be done in the crock-pot. I have cooked it in the morning and put it on low for the day. I serve it with Mexican corn and sour cream.

Enchilada Lasagna
with love from Grandma

1 pkg. of white CORN tortillas (white work better for some reason)
2 pounds hamburger, browned
2 12 oz. cans of Red Sauce/Enchilada Sauce (any brand)
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 cups mozzarella cheese

Brown hamburger and drain the grease. Pour 1 can of Red Sauce into the hamburger and taste. If it is spicy enough then don't add the other can. Save it for the top. Spray a 9x 13 pan with non-stick spray and layer a single layer of tortillas. Then layer the browned hamburger, then cheeses in a somewhat thin layer. Continue layering in the pattern until you have 3 layers. When you get to the top, just sprinkle cheese on the top tortillas and drizzle the remaining sauce if any. It will be fine if you just have cheese on the top.

Cover with foil and bake @ 375* for 25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and melted.

From my home to yours....Enjoy!