Menu Monday!!

IT'S BACK AGAIN!! Yay, I am finally taking the time to do a Menu Monday!! This week I thought I would do one of my favorite types of food, Mexican!! Can you tell from the previous post!! haha. This dish is like not other of its kind and makes for a great summer dinner. It is pretty simple and not too many ingredients, but just enought to make it burst with taste! I love how it takes a traditional taco salad and turns it into a curious adventure for your taste buds :)

Crowd Pleasing Taco Salad

1lb ground Turkey (or your choice of meat)
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tspn dried oregano
1 tspn chili powder
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 small bag lettuce (shredded)
2 md tomatoes, diced
1 can shredded taco (mexican blend) cheese
1 can (2 1/4oz) olives *optional
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup taco sauce
1 pkg (10 1/2 oz) corn chips

Tips:
*As always, choose the meat that you like best, turkey, pork, chicken, or beef
*For a little less spice, try using taco seasoning instead of chilli powder
*For a cheaper way out on lettude, get a head of lettuce and shred
*If you keep diced tomt's on hand, you can substitute one can for the 2 fresh tomt
*As always with my recipes, I like to encourage you to make it your own.. so add other ingredients, such as onions or bell peppers, that you think would compliment this dish :)

Glad to be helping you out at the dinner table again!!

~**~ENJOY!!~**~

Nicole

4th fireworks

Fireworks

I was anxious to see how HB was going to react to the fireworks... and we would see as the day went on. First we headed over to mom and dad's for some fun in the sun and swimming. It was a HOT day, so we pretty much stayed in the pool the whole time. We had fun with family and friends at dinner... the good ole tradition 4th of july staple food... HAMBURGERS!! They were delicious :) we got Hailey to get in an extra nap so she could make the late night and enjoy the fireworks :)

We went and sat on the lawn at my parents church to watch the big fireworks display from the church a quater mile down the road... we had the PERFECT view!! Hailey had SO MUCH fun running around on the lawn and playing with the kids. She is such a social butterfly. She would get mad and cry if I tried to make her sit down or pick her up! haha. Finally it was dark and time for the action! Soon as the first one popped off, she started looking around like "what was that"??? Once they started going back to back, she caught on and started clapping her hands. I must say it was SO PRECIOUS!! After about a minute and half of sitting still, she started talking to them and then wanted out of my lap. So I put her on the ground and she starts walking towards them and trying to touch them, haha, it was hilarious!! They were a little longer than could keep her attention span, and she was getting a bit tired since it was close to 10o'clock... WAY past her bed time!!

We had such a fun weekend and glad we got to relax a little and enjoy each other :)

(ps... sorry for the delay in posting) :)

"Sweet, Little, Beautiful, Perfect, All American Girl" :)

4th of July

A Sunday afternoon

Hailey seems to be turning into a little girl who is so independent. I know it is just me being that first time parent who now has a toddler, but I feel like she is changing and learning new things everyday! Each day she changes her mind as to what she needs help with; She now thinks that she can feed herself, get in the bathtub by herself, brush her on teeth, brush her own hair, take off her clothes AND her diaper, and even likes to put on bracelets and carry her own purse ;) It is all still so surreal and hard to grasp. She is doing great with learning new words and understanding commands. And sometimes just because she understands them doesn’t me that she is going to listen to them! Haha She has been teething really bad the last few days and we had to stay home from church because of a temp. She just isn’t feeling great and you can tell she isn’t herself. She has had a terrible diaper rash and is is a lot of pain. She just screams when she has to get her diaper changed and it breaks my heart :( I am hoping that the devil tooth is going to pop thru soon so we can move past it :) Here are a few pics that I have taken of her. I love the one in her rocker watching tv. She is doing better and better with sitting in it to watch her shows (instead of the usual, climb in, climb out, climb in, climb out… etc etc repeat!!). Once you can get her to relax in it, she will just sit there for 15 minutes or so and sometimes 30 for a good movie!!:)

A Sunday afternoon :)

Father's Day

This year was Dustin's second fathers day. He happened to squeeze it in by a few weeks last year ;) It was still a very special time! Boys are always so hard to buy for so I decided to go straight the the heart of each man.... food! I decided to get him an Edible Arrangement!! I did a box of strawberry and bananas covered in chocolate!! He loved it and I even got a couple of bites ;) Hailey gave him a gift card to his favorite fish store so that they could go out and pick out the perfect fish together!! "She" also wrote him a poem that he can always keep :) He also got to take a little over a 2 hour afternoon nap, which he LOVED!

We celebrated the day with my dad first for lunch with his family and then headed to Dustin's dads to celebrate with him. But it is funny no matter what the holiday is, there is always one cute little girl that steals the show!! :) haha. She is always such a ham and LOVES to be the center of attention! I dont know WHERE she got that from?!?!?! She loves to entertain and then laugh at herself with you. She is so proud of any activity that she does and makes you laugh at her. She is always checking to make sure that you are watching!

Fathers day 2010

The whole day was special right down to the 45 min daddy and daughter time watching a movie on TV!

Labels

I have now created labels for every post on the blog. YES it was a BIG TASK!!! But I took sometime and went all the way back to the beg :) So now you can navigate a little better and view older post. I have placed it on the right hand side bar and they are in alphabetical order. So, for example, if you want to look at all my recipes I have put up on the blog, simply click on the label "recipe" and it will bring all of them up! Hopefully this will make navigating the blog a bit easier :)

Hailey's First Birthday

Instead of writing about how FABULOUS ;) the party was, I have decided to put up the poem that I wrote for her. It somehow didnt make it out at the party, so it should be new to everyone. Hope you enjoy :)

SWEET BABY GIRL

June 8, 2009
I held you in my arms for the very first time

10 Perfect fingers and 10 Perfect toes
I love to watch you crinkle that cute little nose

We brought you home so anxious and stressed

the next few nights you would put us to the test

Restless nights while watching you sleeping
Waking up for 3AM feedings

How I ever made it, I'm not realy sure
To tell you the truth, the first few weeks were a blur

You learned so quickly to hold up you head
And it seemed all too fast wehn we moved you to your own bed

You flashed your first smile and I felt my heart melt
This kind of love, I have never felt

Wow! you are crawling all over the house
As quick as a cat chasing a mouse

It's high fives and patty cakes all in a row
It's hugs and kisses, your love you can now show

Waving "bye, bye" to friends and to strangers
In your little eyese, there are no fears and no dangers

We blinked our eyes and you took your first steps
Mommy closed her eyes and simply wept

You are a big girl now who is turning one!
We will celebrate with a party and have lots of fun

But on this day there is one thing you should know
I have had so much fun so far watching you grow

God has blessed us with a miracle from up above
A sweet little Angel who is full of pure love

So here's to the party, the guest, and ballons
Out little Cupcake turns ONE on the 8th day of June

Love Mommy :)

First Birthday Party :)