And the Oscar Goes To...

I have actually seen 5 of the nine nominated Best Pictures.    I've seen The Help, War Horse, The Descendants, The Artist and Hugo. I have not seen Moneyball, Midnight in Paris, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Tree of Life.

Not seeing all of them does limit my ability to pick a winner but, I do feel better equipped than most years.

So for what's worth, I think the Oscar should to:

The Artist

I just loved it.

100 Days of School Project

This is something new from my days as a school mom, but they now do projects and events to mark 100 days at school.  Ryan's celebration was yesterday and he needed to do a project with 100 of something on it or in it.  Kristen thought of buttons (of which, I have a ton) and I came up with the hat idea.

Here is Ryan's project:

And here is Ryan wearing said project.

I used the sticky dots to adhere the buttons to the hat, so it was very easy peasy project.

Congrats on your 100 days.  (He also head to dress up like he was 100 years old.  I sure hope they took a picture.)

Everything Chili

I recently got inspired to make this chili after watching a cooking segment on the Nate Berkus show.   They were making a vegetarian chili in a crock pot.  

I had some leftovers from burrito night and thought I could add a few other ingredients and make my own version.  Although...not vegetarian, since I had about 1/2 cup of leftover taco seasoned ground beef.  It was so hearty, it really didn't even need the meat, but I didn't want it to go to waste.

Since it included so many things I had about the kitchen, I opted to call it "Everything Chili".  You can add or leave out things as you like.

 Ingredients

• 1/2 - 1 Lb ground round, browned and seasoned with taco or burrito seasoning packet (optional)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can cream corn
• 1 small can green chilies (I only used 1/2 of the little can cause BW doesn't take to "hot" food
• 1 small diced onion
• 1 stalk diced celery
• 1/2 cup diced green pepper
• 1/2 cup diced red pepper
• 2 to 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 Tbl barbecue sauce
• 2 Tbl salsa
• 1 small can V8 juice
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp course salt
• Pepper to taste
• 1 cup pasta of choice (cooked per package instructions)

Add all the ingredients into the crock pot, except the pasta. (Feel free to add more chili powder or some hot sauce, should you like your chili spicy.)  Cook on low 4 hours or high 2 hours (approximate).   About 10 minutes before dinner, stir in the cooked pasta and let it heat through.  Serve with some shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.  Some diced green onion would have been good too, I just didn't have any.

It was delicious and I think the secret was the cream corn.  It added a sweetness that complemented the spice flavors nicely.

Enjoy.

Guess What I Can Do?

With a little help from the towels in the laundry basket, Luke managed to figure out how to turn on the ceiling fan...all by himself. (Since he's obsessed with the fans, this is a great accomplishment.)

SUCCESS!!

Soccer Action

The boys are both playing soccer.  This time, it's indoors.  Managed to get a couple decent shots, but I'm am certainly not the best action photographer.

Love this one of Austin and Daddy.  Neither knew I was there yet.  Always best when I can them in their natural environment.

Aus' coach just rolled the ball out in front of him, hence the "easy" kick.

This is Ryan's first season, but I'm impressed how much difference a few years make.  This is an interesting action shot as it makes him look far more aggressive than he actually is. (Ryan is in the yellow tank thing.  He was helping out the other team, cause he is normally ON the blue team.)

Card of the Week

Well...we are well into what I like to call "Birthday Month".  We have 4 birthdays in the short month of February and I need to get making cards.  Got one done this morning that was based off this CPS design:

And here is my version:

And here is the wonderful gift that Caity made for BW.  Please note...this was full last night.  They are delicious sugar cookies and they are disappearing quickly.