Meals and more

This week Tom has been working nights so we have been coming up with all kinds of stuff to keep us busy...everything from flu shots (ugh!), to running errands, shopping and playing at Lil' Biggs!  So we made it and tonight's the last night...

After much frustration I got this week's meals planned and it's turned out pretty great! 

It started with Sunday and I made Beef Macaroni Casserole AND Beef Stew.

Then on Monday I got stuff ready to make Chicken Enchiladas (took it all out of the freezer and mixed it up to put together on Tuesday).  And then I made something else yummy which I already forgot!

So on Tuesday I put together the Enchiladas and that's what we had for dinner.

On Wednesday I made Knephla Soup...YUM!  Tom loved it when my mom made it when they were down here last, so I figured it would be a good option to do again :-)

So here we are on Thursday and it's leftover night!  And there is soup and enchiladas to choose from :-)  Yummy the second time around too :-)

And for Friday night...not sure...I might get a babysitter and go out with some girls while Tom goes out with some guys...or I might just stay home and have pizza, but we'll see.

Looking forward to planning next week earlier than Sunday / Monday night when I get extremely frustrated.  So hopefully it will work again!

Tom's 34th Birth DAY

Yesterday we celebrated Tom's birthday...it was the "normal" birthday happenings at our house...gifts, balloons, birthday lunch and a party!  The highlights of the day were Tom being surprised with his gifts...it doesn't always work out to surprise him when we give each other wish lists for our birthdays and other holidays.  Happy  Birthday Sweetheart!  We love you!

He said he felt like it was his 10th birthday all over again :-)  Joshua and Gregory gave their dad a replica of the A-Team van (from the movie this year) and a Wii game with a Nerf gun included!  I got Tom some other things he wanted...the movie "Chicken Run", a nice dress shirt, a CD--Group1Crew's latest CD, Toby Mac's new book "City on Our Knees".

Then for lunch we went out to Red Robin so Tom could have his birthday burger :-)

After naps (for the boys), we finished cleaning up and decorating the downstairs bathroom (the seasonal one as I like to call it) :-)


Then we had a few families over from church to share cake and ice cream...it was as always fun hanging out with friends and getting to know each other more.  Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures!!!!!!  The only picture I have of the cake is from the morning after :-)  There was the "normal" birthday singing and a candle :-)  So just imagine it for yourself (make sure the song is off key in your imagining) :-)

Awesome Concert!

The other night (Thursday) we had the opportunity to go to the Make A Difference concert here in town.  I had made arrangements for one of our favorite babysitters(Thanks so much Kerrie!)  to watch the boys so we could go on a date :-)  This is the second one we've had in one month!  Woohoo!  The boys did great and love being with Kerrie and her kids.  And we had an awesome time at the concert.  There was so much to be thankful for especially that night...the tickets were FREE!  The seats were INCREDIBLE!  The music was FUN!  It was just a great time worshiping God and having good fun and making new memories with the artists who performed.  It was Toby Mac, Third Day and Michael W. Smith all whom I've seen before with very different memories...Toby when he was with DC Talk (whom I had seen twice when I was in high school); Third Day (whom we saw when we were in Germany) and Michael W. Smith (whom I had seen with DC Talk once when I was in high school).  This time we were with fellow youth leaders from our church and great friends!  It was so fun to be with Jake & Kathryn, especially since we sat next to them!  What a wonderful way to start Tom's birthday weekend.  More photos here...

One more beautiful day

Today we got to enjoy one more beautiful day...the weather here in Colorado has been exceptionally nice...so today after work Tom went out to enjoy a little baseball with Gregory before dinner.  I think we might have one more nice day and then it goes down hill from there...with our first snow probably coming next week.

Here are a couple of pics to enjoy...and then there's more at shutterfly as always.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend (Friday) I took the boys to the Colorado Pumpkin Patch.  We had a great time in the crazy 80 degree weather!  More pics at Shutterfly.

A little humor to end the blogging for today

I've been wanting to catch this on video for quite some time and I FINALLY got it.  So here's Gregory's performance debut!

http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z273/rmcook75/?action=view&current=041_NEW.mp4

Thinking back to Missouri

Yes, I am having to go way back with these posts since life has been so crazy!  We had a great time in Missouri.  I feel like I didn't devote much time sharing about this trip.  So I am re-visiting it :-)  Like I had said before we wished Betty (my mother-in-law) had been feeling better when we were there, but she didn't start feeling better when we were there.  Also, as I had said before Gregory loved being with his cousins and the cousins loved being with him and Joshua, too.

Ok, so I can't think of anything else to add to this...sorry!  Here's where the pics are at...http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/3777

Baking and Cooking

Let me work backwards for a little bit about my recent recipes I've tried...today I made applesauce.  I love homemade applesauce!  It is so delicious and fresh.  I am using the same recipe that I used last year (in my crockpot) but this year I am going to make LOTS more and can it.  This first batch won't make it into the jars :-)

Here are a few pics of the process...since it's not done yet there is no finished picture yet.

The second thing I made today was chicken stock...this is a first for me.  I got some rotisserie chickens for really cheap, so I got all the meat off the bones I could (and froze that) and then I froze the carcasses for when I had the rest of the ingredients and the time to make the stock.  So today was the day!  I got out my NEW LARGE stockpot that I got from my mother-in-law (THANKS AGAIN!) and put the bones, the water, the veggies and a little pepper in the pot and followed the rest of the directions while looking at two recipes and kind of combining them.


A couple of weeks back I made some carrot zucchini bread which has been wonderful!  Gregory loves it and I love the fact that there are veggies in the yummy bread!  (even though it hasn't been a problem to get Gregory to eat his veggies)

I also made some chocolate chocolate chip zucchini muffins...a few of them are making their way into the freezer.



 These last two recipes it's been so fun to use our veggies we've "harvested" from our garden.

Our gardening season is coming to an end even though the temps are still pretty warm here...there are only a few items still producing...tomatoes and zucchinis (hopefully).  Oh and there are a few carrots still in the garden.

Joshua is 9 months!

As you all know the time flies by with our babies...life with Joshua is no exception.

He now has 5 almost 6 teeth.
He is pulling himself up and taking steps, trying to walk around things.
He is still loving food (as you can see from the pics) :-)
He has been for the most part healthy (had his first ear infection this past month).

Here are the comparison pics and then there are many other adorable pics at our shutterfly page.  Joshua's pic is first and then Gregory's.

Catching up

Wow, it's so hard to catch up when you've been gone for what seems like so long...over the past two weeks we've gone through strep throat, an ear infection, the flu, more teeth coming in, potty training and even more if you can believe it!

So today it feels great to have energy (which is coming to a quick end) and the motivation to get stuff done!

I've made chicken stock, applesauce, taken picture of the boys and working on blogging (catching up).

So this is the beginning of a few updates...enjoy!