The JMB Family

So I went to Walmart tonight to print pictures so I could start Kaylee's school album! The book itself is done but needs pictures.. So I took 174 pictures and got them printed! Eeeekk! Thankfully I have been saving change for a few months and it ended up being $36.61.. my pictures only came to $24.90 so I had $12 extra in which Joe decided I needed to stop to get him some beer with it! Anyways... She is only in the second grade and I have 174 pictures!!! Thats CRAZY!!!!! Tomorrow I will be heading to Theis'! I have not actually sat to scrapbook in years! So I am WAY behind!!! But it doesnt help that I had two babies in two years! I have been a busy lady. No doubt! Today was the coldest day so far this year!! When I took Kaylee to the bus this is what the van read... Can we say COLD!!!! Then you have to tack on the windchills which were as cold as -35!!! Oh and incase you are looking for an update on my pains, well.. I went to see a doctor on Thursday morning. He wants t...

This is a Campbells Soup recipe! It doesnt sound all that complicated and it looks so yummy!!! At a Glance Source: Campbell's Kitchen Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 20 minutes Makes: 4 servings 1 tablespoon butter 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound) 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free) 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons Chablis or other dry white wine 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese 1/2 cup chopped cooked ham 4 cups medium egg noodles, cooked and drained Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until well browned on both sides. Stir the soup, water, wine, cheese and ham in the skillet and heat to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Serve the chicken and sauce with the noodles

Okay so I complain a lot! SO SHOOT ME! but the pains I have been having give me reason to complain, so I think. *WARNING: Girl issues about to be discussed - not for the sensitive stomach* I am not sure where to begin, so how about the birth of Nathan.. It was a longer labor with slow progress... at 3:56pm on July 5, 2010 we welcomed Nathan into the world! Nothing was unusual to me as he is baby #4 for us. Things seemed to be going perfect while at the hospital! (as perfect as can be expected for just delivering baby #4) So we went home when he was two days old. Typical for healthy moms and healthy babies.. Week one goes by... still healing and bleeding.. week two goes by... still healing and bleeding.. week three comes and goes and its the same thing!! Finally I hit week 4 and I become panicked! I contact my doctors office and they prescribed me Methergine (it causes the unterus to contract and stop bleeding). Three pills. One each day for three days and that is supposed to heal...

So I have been working on Kaylee's 8th birthday party invitations.. I made four of them thinking I would give her some variety to choose from and as soon as I showed them to her, the first one I did became her favorite, must have invitation. Go figure! Lol! Here are the ones that I made for her.. (this is the one she is using ^ )

Ok so I havent written a 'family fun' post lately and I am slacking.. :-/ Saturday (1/15) was Lynn's birthday, so everyone went to BD Mongolian Grill. I didnt eat. I didnt feel good. But Joe said he didnt care for it. So we wont ever have to go back. phew! The food smell made me woozy! Joes grandma and aunt watched the kids for us while we went out and when we got them home, Nathan had a rash all over his tummy and chest.. (not sure if it was from the bath and lotion that I gave him that morning or if it was from the bath Joes aunt gave him that night). Sunday we spent the morning and afternoon doing some laundry.. Then for dinner we headed over to Joe's brother and sisters house to celebrate his mothers birthday AGAIN.. At this point I am still not feeling the best.. We ended up coming home and I started cleaning.. Cleaning?! Cleaning! Not feeling good and I started cleaning.. :-/ Goes to show my thinking was off.. Monday Joe headed back to work.. Kaylee didn...

I know, I know... another Zit recipe?! But this one has fewer ingredients and takes no time at all to prepare! :o) 1 jar (24 ounces) Prego® Traditional Italian Sauce or Prego® Roasted Garlic & Herb Italian Sauce 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 5 cups tube-shaped pasta (ziti), cooked and drained 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese Stir the sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and ziti in a large bowl. Spoon the mixture into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350°F. for 30 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbling. RECIPE TIPS Tip :   To freeze , prepare the ziti but do not bake. Cover it tightly with foil and freeze. Bake frozen ziti uncovered at 350°F. for 1 hour or until hot and bubbling.  Or refrigerate frozen ziti for 24 hours to thaw. Bake thawed ziti uncovered at 350°F. for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Tip :   For 8 servings, double the recipe. Spoon into a 3...

This is another recipe I had to steal from Kraft! Its so light and cool and goes perfectly with a warm night and bbq dinner! Prep Time: 20 min. Total Time: 4 hr 40 min. Makes: 24 servings Ingredients: 35 OREO Cookies 6 Tbsp butter, melted 1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup sugar 2 Tbsp. cold milk 1 tub (12 oz.) Cool Whip Whipped Topping thawed, divided 3 -1/4 cups cold milk 2 packages (3.9oz each) jell-o chocolate instant pudding Directions: Process cookies in food processor until fine crumbs form. Transfer to medium bowl; mix in butter. Press onto bottom of 13x9-inch dish. Refrigerate until ready to use. Whisk cream cheese, sugar and 2 Tbsp. milk in medium bowl until well blended. Stir in 1-1/4 cups cool whip; spread over crust. Beat pudding mixes and 3-1/4 cups milk with whisk 2 min.; pour over cream cheese layer. Let stand 5 min. or until thickened. Cover with remaining cool whip. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Here's an easy recipe that looks and tastes much more complicated.: Cheese-It Chicken Ingredients: -Boneless skinless chicken breasts, rinsed and dried -Sour Cream -Crushed cheese crackers like goldfish, cheese it's, stc. Directions: Coat chicken in sour cream, dredge in crushed crackers, bake in preheated 325 oven for 45 minutes to an hour until chicken is cooked through and crackers are toasty.  The sour cream and cheese crackers meld to make an amazing tasting crust.  Serve with Uncle Ben's  wild rice and a green salad.  This meal is super easy and will impress.

Mmmm mmmmm mmmm!!!!!! So I found this blog, Carrie's Sweet Life through my girlfriend, Amy with Amy's Kitchen Creations . Carrie had this recipe front and center on her page when I came accross it and so I have to share but the credit is all hers! I LOVE LOVE LOVE tator tot hotdish as long as it doesnt have frozen green beans and peas.. So this recipe looks like a perfect match for ME!!!! I can't wait to try it! I am going to have to go to the grocery store soon! :o) Tator Tot Hotdish 1 bag tater tots 2 cups frozen corn 1 can cream of corn soup 1 lb hamburger 1/4 c. onion, diced 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 c. shredded cheese Preheat oven to 350. Fry hamburger and onion until cooked through. Drain off fat. Add both corns, soup and 1/2 of tatertots. Stir until well mixed. Pour into 9 x 13 pan top with remaining tatertots. Bake for 1 hour. Top with cheese bake until cheese is melted.

Two of my favorite things in one…. Oreos and cheescake!  What a yummy dessert! Oreo Cheesecake Bars Ingredients: For the crust: 23 Oreo cookies 2 tbsp. butter, melted For the cheesecake: 12 oz. cream cheese , softened 6 tbsp. sugar 6 tbsp. sour cream , at room temperature ½ tsp. vanilla extract ¼ tsp. salt 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk 12 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped Directions: Preheat the oven to 325˚ F.  Line an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with foil.  To make the crust, place the Oreos in the bowl of a food processor.  Process, pulsing, until the cookies are finely ground.  Add in the melted butter and pulse until the cookie crumbs are moistened.  Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan.  Press the crumbs into an even layer over the bottom of the pan.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside and prepare the filling while maintaining the oven temperature. To make the filling, add the cream cheese to the bo...

I just think this sounds SO easy and looks SO yummy! I will be going to pick up the ravioli noodles tonight so we can try it Thursday or Friday! I found this on the Kraft website. Just click the title of the recipe and it will take you to the page I got this from! :o)     prep time: 10 min total time: 55 min makes      8 servings     What You Need 1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce 1 can  (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained 1/2 cup water 2 pkg.  (1 lb. each) frozen cheese frozen cheese ravioli 1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Italian* Five Cheese with a Touch of PHILADELPHIA 2 Tbsp.  KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese Make It HEAT oven to 400ºF. MIX spaghetti sauce, tomatoes and water; spoon 1 cup onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish. LAYER half the ravioli and 1 cup shredded cheese over sauce. Top with remaining ravioli and sauce mixture. Sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese; cover. BAKE 30 min.; uncover. Bake 15 min. ...

Okay so I am all about reading other people's blogs! I found one that I absolutely LOVE in particular! Why, you might ask. Well, just her title alone brings me to follow her, but she is seriously commical! I absolutely love it! Here is one of the posts that I just read from her. And if you can honestly not laugh at this, then you must be a cold stone with no sense of hummor at all. (not seriously, but I think its to die for hularious!) The blog is called: Attack of the Redneck Mommy TELEVISION AND TAMPONS: A BAD MIX **Warning: Post likely not suitable for anyone. My apologies.** There I was, sitting on my enormous, too-big-for-the-space, oversized, overstuffed, brand new, baby sh!t brown, monstrosity of a sectional couch (can you tell I just absolutely loathe , er love it) (and no, I’m not showing you pictures of it. Yet.) minding my own business, knitting, while the kids were all sprawled out beside me zoning out on inappropriate television programming. A commercial star...

Easy Baked Ziti 1 lb. Italian sausage (cooked) 1 lb. ziti noodles (cooked) 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese 1 (16 oz.) sour cream 1 (16 oz.) cottage cheese, small curd 1 c. shredded Mozzarella 1 lg. jar spaghetti sauce Parmesan cheese, grated In a bowl mix cream cheese , sour cream and cottage cheese. Set aside. In another bowl combine noodles, sauce and sausage. In a large baking dish put 1/2 of the mixture of noodles, sauce and sausage. Then make a layer of all of the cream mixture. Then put the rest of the noodle mixture. Top with shredded Mozzarella and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Thursday we got Nathan a big boy crib!! We picked it up for free from freecycle! Its like new and was a very expensive crib when it was bought in 2002! Its a white sleigh crib. Yes it is one that was recalled because of the dropside, but it can very easily be bolted so it doesnt move which makes it A-OK! Friday began as usual as any other except for that my girls were all anticipating their weekend sleepover with Grandma Candi, Papa John and Benji!! To be honest, so was I!!!!! Natalie, Lily, Nathan and I picked Kaylee up from school and then off to Jordan it was to meet Grandma Candi so she could take the girls. When I and Nathan got back from dropping the girls off we headed to the bank and then picked Joe up from home and then we went to Chilli's for dinner! It was AWESOME! It was quiet! It was relaxing! The food was AMAZING! and the service was GREAT too!!! I felt kind of funny being 'outnumbered' so to speak. I have never been outnumbered before haha! When we go...

1 package of oreos- put in food processor and process until it looks like dirt add one 8oz package of softened cream cheese - process until it forms a dough. scoop out in to 1 inch balls on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. put in freezer for 10 min. during that 10 minutes, get bakers chocolate or chocolate melts and melt them down. roll the oreo balls in the melted chocolate and sprinkle with crushed candycanes/sprinkles/nuts/crushed oreos/etc. oh, keep your truffles refrigerated. Ps. (I haven't made these yet, but a friend gave me the recipe and they are super easy to make I hear! oh and they sound yummy too!)

Another 'Grandma' recipe! I can smell this anytime I think about Grandma and Grandpa Rand coming to visit us in MN or when we went to visit them in Washington (or maybe it was California) (or both) haha! I request this each time I see them! It is the BEST spaghetti I have EVER had!!! Spaghetti A Note from my Grandpa Rand:      "As it cooks, it will begin to smell delicious.....what you do is wrtie this down and save it..each time you want to make it, grab the card the recipe is on and follow it exactly until you memorize it..." 1 pound of ground beef 1 cup of chopped onion (I use a large white onion because I like white onions) 3/4 jar of minced garlic 1 large can of diced tomatos 1 small can of diced tomatos 1 small can of tomato paste? 6 oz size 1/4 cup snipped parsley 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons dried oregano, crushed 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed 1 bay leaf Now, grandma has a large electric frying pan with ...

This recipe is more than just banana bread to me.. It is Grandma's recipe! I miss her SO much! I need to go to grocery store to get some bananas so they can get brown and mushy hahaha! Banana Bread (it is soooo very easy and yummy!) 1/2 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup sugar - my mom and grandma always use(d) 1 Cup 3 ripe bananas, mashed (should be about 1 Cup) 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup walnuts 2 cups flour *mix dry ingredients together .. set aside *mix wet ingredients together .. add dry ingredients slowly Bake at 350 degrees for 45min-1 hour ** I always use the "tooth-pick" check!***

If you are on Facebook and like to receive FREE stuff I recommend you 'Like' All You Magazine. They have a free sample every day and today's free sample happens to be six awesome songs! Here is the link for today's special offer! All You Daily Free Sample Be Sure to check out this calendar every day as they give away free things from vitamins, to feminine products, to post-it notes, etc! I also get the monthy issue of the magazine mailed to me! It is LOADED with coupons! If you dont want to sign up for a subscription, the only other way to get this magazine is by picking it up at Walmart. Which typically, that issue in the store has MORE coupons then the ones mailed to subscribers. So if you already shop at Walmart, stop by the books and magazine section and pick up a copy!

INGREDIENTS 1/2 lb ground beef 1/2 lb bulk Italian sausage 1 (15 oz) container refrigerated marinara sauce 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms 1 (9 oz) pky refrigerated cheese tortellini 1 cup shredded mozarella cheese 1 (14-1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes w/ Italian herbs (undrained) DIRECTIONS   1.) cook beef and sausage over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown, drain 2.) spray inside of slow cooker w/ cooking spray. Mix beef mixture, marinara sauce, mushrooms and tomatoes in slow cooker 3.) cover and cook on low 7 to 8 hours 4.) stir in tortellini; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and cook on low about 15 minutes longer or until tortellini is tender Hope this helps!! :) it's my favorite!! Also, I double the receipe as it gets my family of six through dinner and leave left overs for lunch the next day! :o) It tastes just as good reheated!

I am going to start sharing recipes! Not my own sometimes, not ones that I have tried sometimes, just recipes!! Personally I LOVE my CrockPot! So you might see a lot of recipes for that, but so be it! I hope that this is something you will find helpful! :o)    Enjoy! Recipe created by Jessica Seinfeld While slow cookers are often thought of as 1970s throwbacks and only good for making heavy stews, Jessica Seinfeld uses hers to make everything from whole small chickens to oatmeal and even this worry-free lasagna. Servings: Serves 6 Ingredients Crock-Pot Lasagna Recipe 3 cans (14.4 ounces) crushed tomatoes 3 cloves garlic , finely chopped 2 Tbsp. dried oregano 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 2 containers (15 ounces each) fresh ricotta 2 cups (8 ounces) grated mozzarella 1/4 cup grated Parmesan 12 lasagna noodles (about three-quarters of a 1-pound box) 5 ounces (about 6 cups) baby spinach Dire...

My goal in changing up the look of the blog is to make it simple for you to find what you are looking for and to make it easier to share if you would like to. You will notice at the bottom of each post now that there are squares.. These are here for you, my blog readers, to share my posts on you facebook, twitter, or anywhere else you would like to share. I will try to get back into my blogging each night routine.. Things have just been a little crazy with my grandpa passing and the holidays and Joe landing his new job and everything else that goes on around here! :o) I am sure if you have kids you can understand just how crazy it can get :o) Enjoy the blog and please leave comments to let me know your thoughts and opinions. I am always open to constructive critisism :o)

Lets see, new news... Kaylee will have her cookies and can start selling them on Febraury 5th!!!!! That's right! Just one month away and as soon as you order, you will have cookies in your hand!! So plan ahead and save your money! Her goal is 300 boxes this year! Once she sees the American Girl Doll as the prize on the 1,500 boxes, that will be her goal just because she really wants an American Girl Doll! If you are interested in helping Kaylee reach her goal but dont want to eat the cookies, you can still help! Girl Scouts now has a program called 'Care & Share'. So you buy the cookies and then donate them to the troop who will then donate them to the food shelf, or a nursing home, or send some to the troops, etc. I am not exactly sure where the Care & Share cookies went last year as I have a TERRIBLE memory! So far Joe likes his new job!! There are a few things even that he says are better then at Caterpillar! One for example, he gets paid OT any day that he works...