Mario Day

Conni is very excited for the upcoming opportunity to go camping with my sister and her family.  She keeps saying that she is going with them for "Mario Day".  We have all been a little confused about this, but roll with it as you do when there's a four-year-old involved. 

Well, today, my mom figured it all out.  "Mario Day" is Memorial Day! (Which is when she is going camping with them.)  Conni doesn't know the word "memorial" but she totally knows who Mario is (as in Super Mario Bros - we are a Nintendo family!)  So she used the word that made the most sense to her.  I love it!

So, do you have any fun plans coming up for Mario Day?  

Baked Chicken Flautas

Baked Chicken Flautas (Taquitos) 

Ingredients:

1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2)

16 ounces chicken broth

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon cayenne peppers

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

4-6 burrito-size flour tortillas (9 inches)

6 ounces shredded cheese

1 teaspoon olive oil or cooking spray

Salsa and sour cream for serving

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2.  Put the chicken in a deep sided saute pan and cover with broth and water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the liquid and shred. 

3.  Mix together chicken and seasonings.

4.  Cut the tortillas in half.  Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the chicken along the long edge of a tortilla.  Repeat with cheese.  Roll the tortilla up, starting with the straight edge. Place seam-side down on an oiled baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.

5.  Brush the flautas with olive oil or spray with cooking spray.  Bake for 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake for another 10 minutes, or until crispy.  Serve with salsa and sour cream. 

I made this recipe for the family last week and we loved it!!!  Its an adaptation of this receipe from healthy-delicious.com.  Dave went back for seconds.  The leftovers reheated really well too.  This may be a recipe to try freezing too.  Try it out!

Straight Hair

Conni has already decided that she wants straight hair like her cousin.  And her cousin wants curly hair like Conni.  I didn't think this would start til she was older!

But anyway.  When we got our hair cut last week, Conni asked if she could have her hair straight.  Our stylist is awesome and loves Conni and so she straightened it.  I thought it changed how Conni looked a lot!  I see a little more me in her, but Dave thinks she looks even more like his sisters.  

Conni loved having her hair straight!  She was so upset the next night when we washed her hair and it went curly again.  She thought it was going to be permanent!  We may be straightening her hair more frequently now.  Either way, she's a cute girl!

Recent Crochet Projects

Here are a couple of things I recently made up.  I also sold my first pair of slippers from my Etsy store (Pattis Projects), but unfortunately didn't have a chance to take pics before I had to mail them.  I have some more fun things in the works, but since they are gifts for a dear friend who reads my blog I will have to wait to post those pics.  (Are you curious Renee?)

These are all from patterns created by other individuals.  I am starting to get brave, however, and my start doing my own things soon - if time allows!

Conni's purse for Easter.  

It is her "fancy" purse she tells me for church and parties.

Yoda for Dave's desk at work.  

This was such a fun piece to make!

 

Cup of Hot Cocoa pin cushion I made for a swap.

(Watch for a post about this later when I can show pics)

I love that I can keep my hands busy and make things for family and friends.  I am so grateful for this talent and I hope I can keep developing it!!  

I Found My Motivation!!

I know - I missed a few weeks on my "weekly blog challenge" I gave myself.  My main excuse is that I wanted to post pictures but I never had my SD card with me when I had time to post.  My other excuse is that I was feeling pretty blah.  If you remember, my last post (before the picture explosion) talked about my lack of motivation to do anything about my weight. I attended a great Relief Society night where my friend Evelyn talked about her weight loss journey.  It did inspire me - but it also made me feel overwhelmed.  I tried to exercise for a couple days after, but I would only do about 10 minutes on the elliptical and be done. I started feeling pretty depressed and started to let things slide - like my weekly posts.  

Well, then Evelyn posted that she would be hosting a weight loss challenge.  I knew this was what I needed!  I am fiercely competitive, and I will admit that money motivates me.    There was a $25 commitment fee.  This fee will be split between the person who loses the most percentage of weight and the person who has the highest point total at the end of the challenge for completing various tasks relating to diet and exercise and life.  

The challenge started this last Monday, April 1st.  It runs for eight weeks.  I took a before picture - but I am not ready to share it yet!  I have set some goals that I think are pretty realistic.  I will keep you posted on how it goes - but so far, I've gotten up early three days in a row just to exercise!  If you know how much I love sleep and hate to exercise - you know what an accomplishment that is alone!  So check back - I'll let you know how I do!

Easter Morning

Easter morning Conni woke up as Dave and I were surveying the mess the Easter bunny left on the lawn.  Tired eyes bright with excitement, Conni scurried to get a jacket and shoes on over her jammies.  Then she made sure we all had buckets and we headed out to "clean it all up".

Mom found her basket first...

Then Dad found his basket...

Conni's face as she found her basket

(hidden in the upper "clubhouse" part of the swing set)

I love the excitement of a child!

All our stuff

Ready for rain!

After we got inside we went thru eggs.  We found six eggs with numbers on them.  Here we told the story, very simply, of Jesus's death and resurrection.  I was so pleased that Conni remembered parts of the story and that she is learning.  She loved finding the surprises inside each egg and would guess what each part meant.  I am looking forward to this part of our Easter tradition developing and giving us an opportunity to share our testimonies of the Resurrection.  I'm so grateful that we can all live together forever!

Conni in her beautiful Easter dress.  Don't her curls look gorgeous!

These were her two favorite things from her basket - her lady bug umbrella and a purple owl purse that Mom crocheted for her.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Can you tell I'm enjoying my new camera that I got for Christmas?  :)

Here is all of us having fun decorating and coloring Easter Eggs.  The pictures tell the story pretty well.  We decided to try the Kool-Aid method that has been circling Pinterest.  They turned out pretty well, but we had too many reds and the purple was pretty dark - more like gray.  But it was cheap and fun, and we will probably try this method again next year!  Notice the exhausted look on Conni's face?  Dave's sister was sweet enough to just drop by unannounced and whisk Conni off to her house to play - for like five hours!!!  Dave and I had a dinner date and did some clothes shopping and just wandered around.  Conni played hard and enjoyed herself - but eggs were still on our to do list when we got home.  She really had fun though :)

Enjoy our creations...

Anyone else see a family resemblance in their concentration?  :)

Giving instructions

Isn't he handsome!! 

Every time we ask Conni to smile lately, we get these crazy wide eyes!  They are gorgeous, but don't have the desired effect for a nice picture.  But its kinda funny too :)

Finished products

They don't look as bright and colorful as years past, but it was still fun and a good learning experience as far as Kool-Aid color mixes.  And we made some fun memories so that's what counts!

St. Patrick's Day (mostly in pictures)

For St. Patrick's Day this year, we set a trap for the Leprechaun (who is apparently named Goldie, according to Conni).  We worked together on Saturday to make a trap.  Here's the story in pictures.  (We had fun with the camera - there were over 150 pictures of the trap and the following morning!)

 

waiting so patiently while Dad starts to cover the box

 Such concentration - do you see the resemblance?

Not so concentrated - but again, what a resemblance :)

 

Isn't she just the cutest!!!

 You know she's concentrating hard when the tongue comes out!

 Being shy when Dad takes a picture

 The finished product!

The trap is sprung...

I know it's blurry, but Conni insisted that she take pictures on her camera too since we had the family camera going all day.

 

The note reads:

Hee, Hee, Hee

You tried to catch me

But I was too fast for you.

Follow my tracks

With the magnifying glass

To see if I left gold for you. 

 That mischievous leprechaun made a mess in the front room! 

When Conni woke up, she ran into our room saying, "Mom! Mom! You have to come see!  Something is wrong!!!"  We barely had time to throw robes on before Conni was out to investigate.  Here is what we found:

Goldie had left a trail of pretty much ALL of Conni's stuffed animals from the hall, 

around the entire kitchen,

and thru the front room!

At the end of the trail there was a prize bag with little green toys and a pot of gold (chocolate coins).  Conni was one happy leprechaun hunter!