Strawberry Layered Dessert.

Made this the other night at the request of my husband! It is soooo yummy!

2/3 C. boiling water

2 C. Oreo Cookies, finely crushed (about 20 cookies)

1/4 C. butter melted

1 pkg, (3oz.) Jell-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

1 pkg. (80z) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened

1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip Whipped Topping, Thawed

1 lb. Strawberries, sliced

In a small bowl, stir boiling water in to dry gelatin and mix at least 2 Min. or until completely dissolved. Cool 5 min. stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, mix cookie crumbs and butter; press into 9-in. spring form pan. Set aside

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add prepared gelatin mixture, beating well after each addition. Gently stir in 2 cups whipped topping. Divide mixture in half.

Top cookie mixture with half of gelatin mixture. Layer with 2 cups sliced strawberries over gelatin mixture and top with remaining gelatin mixture. Top with remaining Cool Whip.

Garnish with remaining strawberries or blueberries, if desired. It helps set up if you put it in the fridge for a while before serving! ENJOY!

New Pantry!

I have wanted a pantry for so long! My cupboards kept getting more and more stuffed full of food and it was driving me nuts! I felt so unorganized and would even go buy more of something I already had, because it got stuffed in the back of the cupboard. Thankfully my handy man husband came to the rescue! We converted the cupboard that we put our trashcan and broom in and made it the pantry! I feel so much more organized!!!

The before picture!

The after picture!!

Scrapbooking Weekend

Last weekend I got the chance to go to Scrapbooking Weekend in Lansing, IA at Village Creek Bible Camp. Scraping. Adult Conversation. Wonderful meals provided with no clean up. Naps (optional...which I took full advantage of :). Need I say more? It was a wonderful weekend! The devotionals were wonderful and encouraging! I thought I would share a few of my favorite pages I got done.

I got caught up on the boys albums.

Who knows what happened with this picture. I couldn't fix the way it came up so guess you will have to do a sideways number to check it out!

One from the family album. I am pretty far behind on this one.( I believe 2005, 2006 was what I was working on)

My scraping space.

Mom, getting lots done! She got my wedding album done...um, just a few year late. ;)

My grandma and Aunt Diane. Aunt Diane looks like she is getting a lot done huh?

Tami and Joy and Aunt Julie scraping away!

Chicken Ranch Tacos

This recipe is so simple and so yummy! This is pretty much the only way we eat tacos anymore. Thanks to Stephanie Wright for introducing to us!
All you need is chicken chunks ( I used 3 chicken breasts for my family)
Ranch dressing
Taco Seasoning
Cook the chicken chunks in a skillet. When they are all cooked through add the Taco seasoning and Ranch ( to your taste). Serve with hard or soft shell tacos and put your topping such as cheese, lettuce, salsa, or extra ranch.

Fun Art 2

We had a few fun projects we did this week. The boys had never finger painted and so I decided to buy some finger paint to try out. We didn't make anything specific this time but my wheels are turning on what I can have them create!

We also had fun with shaving cream. When I worked as a teachers aid, a teacher let the kids "clean" the tops of their desks with shaving cream. She let them write their letters and draw picutres for a while. I let the boys use the shaving cream on the table! They had fun making the whole table white. :)

When we were pretty much done Aunt Holly told him to put his hands on his face. Of course he does what she says. lol!

Seth writing his letters. Andrew wrote his name but smeared it right before I was going to take a picture.

Fun with Shaving cream!

Buttery Bubble Bread.

My Mother-in-law and my husband (because he likes it so much) has gotten me into making homemade bread. I have never tried much than just a loaf of bread. This is also a Shepherd recipe. It is so good! I was a little nervous about making it for the first time but it seemed to turn out pretty good! Try it! You'll like it! :)

1 pkg. Active dry yeast
1 C. warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. shortening
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
4 to 4 1/2 C. all purpose flour
6 Tsp. of melted butter

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast into warm water. Add sugar, shortening, egg, salt, and 1 C. flour.
Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured surface ; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 min. Place in greased bowl, turn once to grease the top of the dough. Cover and let rise until doubled. (around an hour) Punch dough down. Turn onto lightly floured surface; shape into 1in. balls and dip balls into melted butter and place evenly into a bunt pan. Drizzle with remaining butter. Cover and let rise for around 45 min. or until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees or until golden brown. Let cool of 5 min. and turn over on a serving platter. Best when served warm!

Valentines Weekend

We had a funfilled weekend this weekend! My parents came and spend Saturday and Sunday with us. Grandma had big plans for things to do with the boys. We loved having them come and spend time with us when they get a chance!

Andrew and papa Watching Toy Story 3. Andrew loves getting his back rubbed!

5 months already!

I was going to go simple with Valentines this year but Grandma had other ideas! They turned out really nice. Seth even helped quite a bit...Andrew did just a bit.

Seth loves to help bake! Grandma and Seth working hard at baking sugar cookies.

Frosting time!

Yep. That finger is going straight to his mouth!

They were sooooo good! Thanks Grandma and Papa for a fun weekend!