Super Easy Meatballs

I am always up for a super easy meal now that we have 2 kids. I am usually the only adult around when it comes time to fix dinner each night as Dax usually isn't home until around 7 or so. Here is a recipe I hope you will all enjoy. 

Meatballs:

2 lbs ground beef

2 cups minute rice

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

Milk

Heat oven to 375*

Mix 2 your ground beef and rice until it is well combined. I usually add my seasoning in at this time as well. I always change it up. My mom actually puts in small diced onion in her meatballs, I usually just put minced onion. 

Then you make into balls and place in a 9x13 pan. I always make different sizes. Sometimes I use all the meat sometimes I have a little left over. 

Once I have made all the meatballs I mix 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup with one can of milk and pour mixture over the entire dish making sure to cover each meatball.

I place a piece of tin foil over the top and place in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove tin foil and place back in oven for 10-15 more minutes and your done!

I forgot to take a photo when I was done! oops!

Hope you enjoy!

I'm not sure I live in Texas anymore

What a crazy 2 weeks we have had here in North Texas! We got tons of ice and a little snow last week and it actually caused Dax to only be able to get to work one day last week! Even all the schools were canceled Tuesday through Friday!

 After a few days of being locked up in the house we had to venture to the grocery store to get a few necessities and take Zoey to the doctor. She had a terrible cough, I knew it was croup and tired to treat it at home as best I could but it just wasn't working so we made our way to Grapevine to make sure it hadn't settled into her chest. Poor girl still has a runny nose! 

On Friday it actually snowed quite a bit and we were able to go out and play for a bit. The snow was such a dry powder it was hard to really do anything but walk around but we had fun anway, well until Dax threw snow down my pants! (Momma wasn't thrilled about this at all!!)

We are now inside again today with the next round of snow/ice! I am so happy its not suppose to be a week long thing again, I am ready for some sunshine!!

ONE YEAR!!!

I can't believe its been a whole year since we welcomed our sweet baby girl into our family. Its been quite an amazing year and has gone by far to quickly.

Zoey, you have been such a blessing to our family and I can't even remember what life was like before you, nor do I want to. You have such a cute, sweet, sassy personality. You aren't afraid of much and you LOVE to laugh. You were just what we needed to complete our family. 

 At one year you:

• You weigh 19lbs even.
• You are 28in long.
• You wear a size 3 diaper
• You are wearing most 6-9 month and 6-12 month and occasionally you wear 12month depending on the brand.
• You LOVE to eat table food, you will not eat anything that closely resembles baby food anymore.  You still take a bottle about 4 times a day. One when you get up and the one before each nap and one at bed time.
• You are still drinking formula and will not drink anything with whole or soy milk in it. Could you please start, baby formula is breaking the bank! :)
• Sleep time has gotten better again, thank goodness! You are usually in bed by 8:30 and wake around 7am and take a bottle. Most of the time you go back to sleep for another hour, sometimes you don't! 
• You absolutely LOVE Barney. Daddy never let Rilan watch it but he lets you and even watches it with you. Its very sweet to see you sitting in his lap watching TV in the mornings.
• You LOVE holding your baby, Barney, or a stuffed animal and "loving" on it. You hold it up to your head and lay it on it while you hug it. It melts my heart.
• You learned to wave and nod your head yes.
• You have also started waving and saying "Hi Dad" when you see Daddy. Its precious and melts my heart, I can't imagine what it does to him! 
• You are walking everywhere and even starting to try and RUN. There is NO slowing you down. 
• You wear me out far more than your brother ever did but I love how active you are. You keep us on our toes! 
 

 I can't wait to see what the next year brings. You are precious baby girl. Mommy loves you.

Sick Sick Baby

We took Zoey to the doctor yesterday and she tested positive for the Flu type B! She has been so sick the last 2 days, and it kills me seeing her this sick.

It all started on Sunday when she started refusing bottles and food. She finally decided to try some mac & cheese for dinner and about 30 minutes later started throwing up. She continued to do so all night. I called the Dr. office yesterday morning and they couldn't work her in until 1:50. By the time we had gotten there it had been 25 hours since she last ate or drank something. They gave her a shot of Phenergan while we were there. We waited for 15 minutes after the shot and they sent us home with a prescription for Zofran. 

The Phenergan knocked her out so we would wake her up every little bit and let her try and drink some Pedialyte through a syringe and she would be back asleep before it was even all gone. I woke her up around 6 to see if she could stay awake for a bit and as soon as I took her down stairs she was throwing up again, so off we went to the ER. 

We got there around 8 and they quickly got us back to a room and a doctor came in not long after we were in a room. He decided to do an IV and get her hydrated again and give her a dose of the Zofran. 

I stepped out of the room with Rilan, he said he didn't want to hear Zoey cry, although we still could hear her. I had tears in my eyes the entire time. I knew she needed the IV but I didn't like hearing her screaming like that.

They got the IV in really quick and when we stepped back in the room she was already sleeping. I sat beside her the entire time wanting to just cry. Knowing you baby is so sick and there is nothing you can physically do for them is a terrible feeling. She started to perk up a little once the IV was done and she drank a little water.

By this time is was about 11 and we got discharged to come home. I am so relieved they didn't want to keep her so she could be comfortable at home but I am so ready for my baby girl to get well.

Thank you all for the prayers, we truly appreciate them!

(sorry for terrible iPhone photos.)

I'm a terrible Blogger

I can't believe its been over 2 months since I posted a blog. I have Zoey's monthy updates, Thanksgiving, and Christmas I really need to get on and finish so I can publish them. I guess I need to just start where we are at now rather than going back and trying to update right now!

We have been pretty busy around here the last few months. I am ready for a break! Zoey will be ONE in EIGHT yes EIGHT days! I am loving watching her grow and see her personality blossom. She is such a joy. Rilan has taken on the big brother role so well. I was a little worried but I think he has grown so much in the last year, and has become a VERY protective big brother.

Zoey's birthday party has become such a big thing, I wish I would have just hired a party planner so I wouldn't have had to deal with some of the stuff! jk! It took me forever to find someone to do cookies like I wanted and finally found someone local to do them only to find out that she had been turned into the health department for running a bakery out of her home.(It's illegal to have a bakery out of your house in Texas.) So I found someone else very quickly after and she was going to charge an arm and leg to ship to Texas, so I just decided to do them myself! Its been a frustrating experience but I am loving learning how to do new things, and I think that cookie decorating will be fun to do with the kids for different occasions and holidays.

I had finally settled on a cake lady that is very talented and very reasonably priced, we had agreed on a cake and smash cake for Zoey and a week later I got a call that she too had been turned into the health department for running a bakery out of her home. I was so upset, but there was nothing I could do.

My sweet MIL went to several local bakeries for me to see what they would charge for the cake, not one was less than $400! So now I think I have resorted to having cupcakes made and then putting cute cupcake toppers on them! Its probably better that way, I just hate it when you have your heart set on something and then it doesn't turn out that way.

Her party is on the 29th and I have been in full make sure everything is getting done mode. Dax and I did her invites and they looked soo cute, only to print out HORRIBLE, we had planned on using a press printer and waited to long to get them done and so that was only our fault. I just hope everything else works out or I may cancel the party! ha! 

In other news, I joined Weight Watchers again yesterday. I did it back in 2007 and lost about 25lbs in 4 months. So I know that I can be successful if I just put my mind to do and do it! I WILL to stick to it and loose all the weight I have gained since having Rilan and Zoey. This time I am starting out about 10lbs less than I started last time so that is a good thing! I want to loose about 40-45lbs. I want so badly to be a good example for my children, so I am determined to loose this weight. I plan doing weekly updates to help hold myself accountable. Please follow me in my weight loss journey. 

I think that's all for now. Have a great Sunday!

Happy Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween! We started off the day going to the Alliance Air show with some friends, Ashley and her family, and Angie and her family. I am so thankful our kids get along and play well together! Even though Rilan was a toot most of the time and it was SO hot we still had lots of fun. 

 

Layla, Ava, Rilan and Hayden playing with a propeller.

 I still have no clue how you fly a airplane upside down!!

We came home and rested for a bit and then it was time to get ready to go Trick-or-Treating. I ended up taking Rilan and Zoey up and down our street while Dax handed out candy, and then Rilan wanted to come back and hand out candy with us. I had no problem with that, less candy in our house to deal with! ha

Rilan is so into Wall-E right now. So he wanted to be the captain that is on the space ship. He saw this costume at Target and came up with it himself! 

Zoey was a sweet little candy corn. I didn't really want to get a traditional Halloween costume for her for some reason, so I got the tutu and she will be able to wear it for a long time! And we borrowed the baby legs from Ava! Isn't she the cutest candy corn you have ever seen!? ha

Daddy, Captain, and Candy Corn! Dax looks thrilled doesn't he?! ha