Guest Post

I posted on our freezer meal swaps on Once A Month Mom. This blog has QUICKLY become one of my favorite blogs! Peek around and I think you'll agree!

More pictures...

Here is a picture from Group 1's swap

A common sight in our home, usually heard with, "Keaton, you're going to get hurt..." And then Keaton screaming bloody murder...

Hmmm....(Thanks, Bebe!)

It takes a lot of milk to be a strong heart breaker like Keaton!

Yes, it's super blurry, but, they love each other so much!!!

The face of innocence...(riiiight)

Zach's parents were in town and the weather was amazing, combine that with Uncle Mark's tennis match next to a playground - time to "Sliiiiiii" (slide)

Zach's dad with Keaton and Karis (Keaton's younger cousin)

We introduced carrots on Saturday - do I need to say it? He loves them! I really posted this to show off his chunky thighs ;-)

Keaton, where are your teeth??

Carrots!

Zach's parents brought Keaton some plastic Easter eggs. I finished off the eggs this morning making some banana bread...I handed K the carton - this is what I caught him doing....

Pork chop & Apple Casserole

As promised... here it is.

Freezer Meal Swap #2 & more updating

Was great!!!!

So much yummy food!!! I took a picture, but I'm too tired to upload it (yes it's that much work, haha!)

I got some recipes -

For Group1 -
Lasagna
BBQ Chicken
Beef & Bean Enchiladas
Beef Taco Skillet
3 Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake
Calzones (made-to-order)

For Group2 -
Pork Chop & Apple Casserole
Beef Noodle Casserole
Marvelous Mini Meatloaves
Enchilada Casserole
Lasagna
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We had the Beef Taco Skillet tonight - yummmy :-D
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Keaton is doing better. Fever is still hanging around but MUCH lower. He dumped all his toys today - he's doing better ;-) Still praying Benjamin doesn't get it. I'm feeling crummy, but most likely from the lack of sleep lately...
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We're 'supposed' to get 2-4inches of snow...sure ;-)
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I'm tired...this is the end of this post! ;)

crummy feeling Keaton

Wednesday night, K started running a fever around 102. He woke with it still above 102 on Thursday morning. He camped out on the couch all day - he didn't touch a single toy all day (normally our apartment looks like a tornado came through...every. single. day.) Around 4pm, I took his temp because I couldn't even touch him and it was 104. I got him in a warm bath and called the nurses line at our pedi's office. Apparently, they take you seriously when you call with a fever (Their policy is they have an hour to call you back. I normally get the call at 58 minutes...they called back within 5 minutes this time!) Basically, she said they wanted to see him if the fever remained that high. We were able to keep it around 102 overnight and this morning it was down to 101.7.

He's been running around dumping out his toys all morning...

I think he's doing better ;)
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My friend, Whitney, had her baby at 8:41pm Wednesday night!!!! She was letting this pregnancy be a surprise and she had a GIRL!!! She named her Sophia Grace (Sophie) :) She was 8lbs3oz and 20in long! According to Whitney, she has dark, wavy hair - just like her mama's beautiful hair! There were a couple of complications and Sophie is in the NICU but continually doing better :) They would appreciate your prayers, greatly!
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Tomorrow, we have our 2nd freezer meal swap! I'm so excited for it!

The meals being swapped this time are:
For Group1 -
Lasagna
BBQ Chicken
Beef & Bean Enchiladas
Beef Taco Skillet
3 Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake
Calzones (made-to-order)

For Group2 -
Pork Chop & Apple Casserole
Beef Noodle Casserole
Marvelous Mini Meatloaves
Enchiladas
Lasagna

YUM YUM!!!!
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I think that's all the updates from this end!

Freezer Meal Swap

We had our swap today and it was so much fun! I hope to have all the recipes up soon on my recipe blog but for now, here's a listing of what all was swapped.

Group 1:

White Chicken Chili
Greek Spaghetti
Manicotti
Talapia

Group 2:

Tex-Mex Chicken Strips
Baked Ziti
Chicken Pot Pie
Layered Enchilada Bake
Bow Tie Pasta

I've already had a ton of interest for swap #2! I can't wait to dive into these meals!!!!

Lori, me, Carolina, Leah, Kathryn & Lisha

A Fun Surprise!

Zach got off work early! This never happens and it was great that it happened on a snow day (OK, it was because of the snow that he got off early, but still!)

He was able to come home and we got the boys outside and even got our first family picture....yes, B is 5 months old and this is the ONLY picture of the 4 of us! How sad is that?

My sweet B :)

SUCH a sweet picture :)

He even got to eat dinner with Keaton & me, which only happens on the weekends, so that was great too (good thing I planned to make a meal and not just re-heat leftovers!) :)

Also, I'm coordinating a freezer meal swap with some friends from church (and a couple others outside of our church!) and I'm so excited! Basically, we eat make a meal in bulk, freeze it, then swap it. There's 6 families in my group, so I made 6 (and then some extras!) batches of manicotti and stuck it in the freezer. On Saturday, I'll leave one for us, pull out 5, hand them out at the swap and then, put 5 other meals back in the freezer. It'll be great to just pull a meal out and throw it in the oven - and that's all I have to do for dinner. I'm not sure what the other ladies are cooking, except for one. She's made talapia. I'm excited. We don't eat fish (well, I like flounder and orange ruffy, and the appetizer shrimp at Japanese steakhouses!) but I've heard that talapia is very yummy! So, I had intended on showing the step-by-step of my 6+ batches of manicotti, but it was VERY messy. So here is before....
And after....

Normally, our freezer is SO packed that you have to stand back when you open it, but we've been eating leftovers like they're going out of style to make room for the swap!