Cream Cheese Spaghetti Bake

I made this recipe for dinner last night. We love spaghetti so I pinned a couple of different recipes on Pinterest that put a little twist on plain 'ol spaghetti. This was pretty quick and easy to make. The only extra ingredient was cream cheese, so it was very inexpensive to make. Greg and I both liked it and having things that cook in the oven for 30+ minutes are perfect because I can whip it up and throw it in the oven, we can bathe the boys, read them their stories, and put them to bed, and then dinner is ready. It works out perfect for the way we do things right now.

Cream Cheese Spaghetti Bake

12 oz spaghetti
1 (28 ounce) jars prepared spaghetti sauce
1 lb lean ground beef (I used venison)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350* F degrees

In a skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through; drain fat and stir in spaghetti sauce. Set aside.

Cook spaghetti according to directions on packet. Drain and place cooked spaghetti in bowl. Add cream cheese, Italian Seasoning and minced garlic. Stir until cream cheese is melted and the spaghetti is thoroughly coated.

Lightly grease a 9x13" pan. Spread a small amount of meat sauce in the bottom of the dish. Put spaghetti on top of sauce and top with remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

 

Project 365-Week 1

One of my 30 Before 30 goals was to complete project 365. I've been wanting to do this for a couple of years, and I actually started it one year, but didn't do it for more than a few days. I'm very committed this time and it's much easier since I take pictures most days anyways. I'm hoping to get a chance to read my "Nikon D60 For Dummies" book and take some time and read up on some photography tips on the internet. I think once I can use my camera and photo editing software, this project will be a lot of fun. I wanted a way to save all my picures and decided to do a 365 post every Saturday with the pictures I took throughout the week. I've seen lots of weekly topics to take pictures of as well as monthly challenges with a topic each day to take a picture of and I may participate in some of those as the project goes one to keep it interesting for me.

I'd like the pictures to be reflective of our life this year and I'll try not to have each week be just pictures of Evan and Carter.

Warm Front

Earlier this week, the highs were in the low 30's. It was freezing. The wind was blowing and it made any trip outside miserable. Well, yesterday and today the high's are in the low 60's and we are taking advantage of it. The boys and I made a trip up to Yoder's yesterday morning to see the animals and eat some lunch. It's been a couple of months since we've been there and I couldn't believe how much the boys changed since the last time we were there. This time the boys knew exactly where we were when we pulled up, they went from animal to animal pointing and laughing. They would try and repeat what I was saying like "goat" and "chicken". They played on the slide for the longest time. Carter went up to another couple there and showed them the goats. I don't know if it's a phase or if if he outgrew his shyness, but he is no longer shy at all! After we hung out for a little while, we went up to the store and got some lunch. I sat them at a picnic table and let them eat. They did really good.

The boys and one of their favorite foods, hotdogs.

Carter didn't like the cookie, so he threw his in the floor.

I gave Carter some puffs for dessert since he didn't like the cookie and he was happy.

I'm glad the weather has warmed up for a couple of days. Tomorrow it'll back to normal, high's in the low 40's, so we're going to take advantage of the weather today and do some stuff outside.

MOPS-Just What I Needed

Tonight, we had our monthly MOPs meeting. We meet on the first Thursday of every month at a local church. I've missed the past two meetings because of being out of town during one and being sick during the other. I was looking forward to going to this one all month, and then during the day, I start dreading having that committment. I started thinking of having to get the boys to bed a little earlier so I could leave on time, I thought about not getting my "down" time in the evening after the boys went to bed, I thought about not getting to spend time with Greg after the boys went to sleep, etc. I started thinking of a million reasons why it would just be easier to stay in. I always have a great time and really enjoy going, so I'm not sure why I get in that mindset. The meetings always either start off or end with a devotional and today's devotional was about getting rid of those things in your life that bring you down. Some examples brought up were smart phones, email, Facebook, internet. Things that you feel that you "need" and end up taking up more time or becoming a higher priority than they should be. It was a nice thing to discuss before the meeting and really hit home with me. Here, I had been not wanting to go to my meeting all day because I wanted my evening to do what? Check Facebook? Watch TV? These things are not priorities and are not important, getting out of the house and taking a break for myself is important. It's important to talk to other moms and not just during playdates while chasing after kids. It's important to sit down, eat, talk, laugh with other adults without having to worry about watching two active boys the whole time. The boys are asleep when I leave and Greg gets a night to himself, it's a win win for both of us. I remembered while I was driving home from the meeting that I felt this same way last time I went. I remember being exhausted and just wanting to lay on the couch instead of getting out and when I got there, I felt so much better and had a great time. Being a mom can be so exhausting, and sometimes it's easy to be lazy and lay on the couch after the kids go to bed instead of doing something that's good for you whether it's getting dressed and going to meet a friend, go to the gym, getting your hair done, etc. I need to remember this when I start getting into this mindset again and start looking forward to things even when they require a little more work and effort on my part to make happen. I guess I'm still trying to find a balance between my life at home and the other parts of my life.

Tonight's MOPs meeting was so informative. It was all about couponing and saving money. I've never been big on clipping coupons or searching through sales ads. I've wanted to start (it's on my 30 before 30 list) but it just seems so overwhelming and like it'd take up more time than it's worth. I left with a handout that broke down everything you need to know, every great website on couponing, saving money, the low down on our local stores and which ones that have the best deals. It could not be easier. There's so many different things like swagbucks, Extra Care bucks, e-coupons, etc. You can decide to do it all or just do one or two of the programs she talked about and at least save a little money. Everybody shared a tip they had on how they save money. It was such a great meeting and I'm really excited about getting more into couponing. Now that I know I don't have to spend 30 hours a week like they do on those crazy shows and I can spend 15-20 minutes a week and save a lot of money, I'm definitely on board with that. We played a Price is Right game where three people guessed how much an item was, after coupons. It was so much fun. All the prizes were items that were free or really cheap due to sales and coupons. Here's all the fun things I came home with.

I can't wait to sit down and review the handouts and get started. I'm really looking forward to our next meeting and wanted to write down all my feelings from today so when I have something scheduled and I'm exhausted, the boys decide napping is for the birds, the house is a mess, and I start feeling overwhelmed. I wanted to have something to look back on and see that doing something is a much better mood booster than laying around on the couch watching tv (or whatever other mindless activites I do after the boys go to bed)

Preschool & Gym

After the holidays and the stomach flu, we're finally getting back into our routine and getting things done. We spend the long weekend working on a few little projects around the house. Since Greg had Monday off, we went and toured a preschool that we were interested in putting the boys in this fall. They were so nice and we spent almost two hours there. The director took so much time telling us about the program and taking us around to see the classrooms and meet the teachers. The teachers were so nice and took a lot of time to explain what a typical day is like and what to expect. The boys got to play in the 2 year old classroom while we were there and they really seemed to enjoy it. So, today, I took over the application and secured their spots for the 2012-2013 school year. They'll start the week after Labor Day and end the week before Memorial day and the preschool goes by the same calendar as the public schools in the county go by, so they get Christmas break, Spring break, etc. They'll be going two half days a week from 9-12. The preschool offers a discount on tuition if the parent volunteers in the classroom once a month, which I will be doing. We are so excited about this school and we think it'll be great for the boys. They'll learn how to follow instructions from other adults, interact with other kids, they do lots of crafts, play time, reading time, etc. I think it'll be really good for them to get a break from me a few hours a week. Since the preschool is only about 2-3 miles from our house, I'll have plenty of time to come back after dropping them off and get some stuff done around the house while they're gone.

It's been cold here the past couple of days. This was the temperature when we went by the preschool this morning at 10:00am. 24 degrees!!!

Evan fell asleep on the way home. He's big into taking his shoes off and sometimes his socks. Of course he decides to go through this phase in the winter.

With the holidays and stomach flu, we went almost two weeks without making it to the gym. Yesterday was our first day back and it felt good. I cannot believe how good the boys are doing in the gym childcare. I set Carter down to take his hat and sweater off and as soon as I do, he takes off to the entrance to the childcare. I pick him up and hand him to the girl working there and he didn't even look back. She had to sit him down to pick up Evan, who was crying, and Carter decided not to wait on her and just went back by himself and started playing. The girls told us Evan stopped crying as soon as we left and he started playing with toys. When we went to pick them up, they both looked up from their toys and went back to playing. The girls had to pick them up and bring them to us. So, today we're going to work out for 5-10 extra minutes. I'm so glad that they are fine in the childcare, it's great practice for preschool in the fall.

These are really bad pictures because I used my iphone and zoomed in really close, but here they are playing at the gym childcare center. We were there to pick them up, they had turned and saw us and had no interest in leaving.

This has been a great week to get back into the swing of things. We haven't been too busy, so it's been nice to get caught up on things that we let slide over the holidays. I have a MOPs meeting tomorrow night and some contractors are coming out on Friday to give us estimates on getting some concrete laid under our deck. Other than those two things, we don't have anything going on that requires us to be somewhere at a certain time. As the month goes on, our committments will pick up, like playdates, appointments, etc. so it's nice to have a low key week to ease us back into everything.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

My sister told me about this recipe awhile ago and I've been meaning to try it. It's one of the easiest recipes I've tried and it was pretty good.
Ingredients
4-6 frozen chicken breasts
1 jar of archer farms (target brand) Hawaiian style BBQ sauce
1 20oz can pineapple chunks, drained

Put the frozen chicken in the crock pot, top with BBQ sauce and pineapple. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Shred chicken in crockpot then serve over rice.

It was that easy! Such a quick, easy, and inexpensive meal.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year's Everybody.

 Just for fun, here's what the boys looked like last New Years.

And here's a picture of the boys today. I thought it was hard when they were 4 months old to get a picture. If only I knew how hard it is to get two active toddlers to look at the camera at the same time.

And they're off.....