Mexican Shells {a recipe}

Woo Hoo gang! I'm back into my cooking groove! If you've been reading for a while, you know I love trying out new recipes and cooking! Well, I've made it a goal to cook at least 2 good meals a week and still fix dinner a 3rd or 4th time.  Anyways, I looked around in my pantry and made this super tasty meal! I'm already planning it to fix next week! There may be a recipe like this somewhere, but to me, I think I made it up! HAHA

What you need:
Pasta Shells (Barilla Jumbo Shells)
hamburger meat (Laura's Lean Beef - 1 lb)
chili-o packet
nacho cheese soup
banana peppers
jalapenos
shredded cheddar cheese
Franks Red Hot sauce

How to make:
Prepare shells, place to the side.
Brown hamburger meat and drain.  Then add chili-o packet over simmer once the meat is back in the skillet. Next, add 1/4 of the can of nacho cheese soup.  Mix well.
Add as many jalapenos and banana peppers as you want, as well as about 1/4 cup of shredded cheese.  I added enough to make it look colorful! :) 
On the baking pan, line with 1/2 of nacho cheese soup and Franks Red Hot (along with Pam, first).
Next, shake some red hot sauce over the meat mixture. 
Using a small spoon, scoop the meat mixture into each shell separately.  Place with opening of shell up or on side.  Place each shell closely together without on top of one another.
Pour the rest of the nacho cheese soup over the shells. Add the shredded cheese and more hot sauce to your liking and banana peppers/jalapenos. 
Cover with foil and bake on 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

YUM YUM YUM! If you try it, let me know! :)

Steps as they look: {that always helps me!}

Life Group Game Night!

The other weekend we had our Life Group friends over for pizza and game night!  We seriously missed Amanda and Philip! :(

We had a super fun time playing a new game called Wits and Wagers. It was kind of like a poker game betting over dumb stuff you'd never know the real answers to! :)

Thanks friends for coming to our home and hanging out with us, and of course loving on Harper! :)

the girls :)

Nick & Alison

the Nick's

Harper just chillin' through the game

me & Jordie {she was my 'big sis' in our sorority}

My Memories WINNER!

Thanks so much to my sweet friends who played in my first "real" Give-Away - My Memories

I used Random.org and the winner was.... #1!!

Chelsea LJan 16, 2012 01:12 PM
: ) I follow your blog and this sounds awesome!!


Yay!! Email me @ megek4@yahoo.com and I will get you the code to get your free download!!

And guess what?! You all kind of win something! My Memories is offering my blog readers this deal:
As a special for all of your readers, we give you your very own Share the Memories code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!)

Please go to this link for your Share the Memories code: http://www.mymemories.com/share_the_memories?stm_ref=2

Awesome!! :)

Thanks again everyone who played!

What to Take...FROM the hospital

I've got lots of preggos reading my blog, so I thought it would be completely necessary to remind you all of what to steal  happen to stick in your extra bag you bring from your hospital stay...

Yes, that's right. Your bill will be through the roof, so you might as well get your money's worth! :)

1. Make sure to bring a larger bag or an extra bag for when you go to deliver your precious one
2. Stick the nasal aspirator that's in your baby's "bed" in your bag and ask for another one. Then take that one before you leave, too. Those are way better than the ones you can buy.
3. Open the drawers under the little bed they wheel your baby around and take it all!!! Hopefully you'll have 2 hospital swaddling blankets, a box of diapers, and a box of wipes.  Stick the diapers in your bag and tell the nurses you ran out... and then take the new ones before you leave!
4. Each time the nurse comes in, ask for another big 'ol green paci.  Chances are your little one will LOVE this paci and this paci alone, and you can get a few for the times when you can't find one!
5. Take the 'pee pads' home.  I have no idea the correct wording for these, but they look like the puppy pads you use to train your dog with. You have to lay on them in the hospital. Take as many as you can, because you can use them in your bed to not get your sheets dirty and you can fold them in 4ths and cut them to take as changing pads when you go out and have to use those dirty Koala Changing stations {you don't want to get your nice pad dirty from the diaper bag}.
6. Booty pillow - if you ask, they will let you take it home. If you don't, just take it anyways! Also, ask for the pillow case for it, it makes it look a little less awkward when you're sitting on the waffle pillow while company is over!
7. Ice Packs - I had one super long, large-and-in-charge ice pack to put, um, well you know where, take it. They do not sell those anywhere! Ask for extra and stick them in your bag! :)
8. Ask for creams to use for diaper rashes and take those too!
9. This is a little TMI, but ask for extra numbing spray and creams you use after giving birth. You will need those so much in the days/weeks to come and it's just easier to have a stash without trying to send your hubby out to find those things!

**10** Eek! I forgot one of the most important things! Thanks friends!!! MESH PANTIES! I told the hubs I forgot this and he laughed saying I'd still be wearing those if I could get them to fit under my pants. Sad, but true. They are remarkable. Ask for many -a - pair.

{Harper's Bag had NOTHING in it to start....}

That's all I can think of right now! Hope this helps!

Dad and Colby's Birthdays!

Shoo Wee! I'm getting worse and worse on having time to post lately!

Here's a recap of the past few weekends in Jan.  We celebrated my Dad's birthday...

 And also Colby's 3rd Birthday! He had a train theme with lots of fun details all made by his Momma! She made all kinds of fun foods, had trains to paint for an activity, and the party favors were personalized train whistles and personalized crayon boxes to color a train page! I had lots more photos to upload...but blogger is being slow! :)

painting trains

"Happy Birthday Jesus" Pie

Ok, a WHILE ago, I mentioned we had a Happy Birthday Jesus party on Christmas night, that was the first on an annual tradition.

I made Butterfinger Pie from Cookin' Mama's and it was absolutely amazing!! And...SO EASY!

So, here's the recipe! Enjoy!


Ingredients
6 (2 1/8 ounce) Butterfinger candy bars, crushed
1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese {fat free}
1 (12 ounce) cartons Cool Whip {fat free}
1 graham cracker crust

Directions
Mix first three ingredients together.
Put it in pie crust.
Chill.

Yup, that easy :)

My Memories Give-Away!! {now closed}

Alright ya'll!!! Come one! This is a FREE package with My Memories to do all kinds of fun stuff to your pictures!!! Who doesn't want to win something for free that's a $39 value?!?!?!

Additional entries can be if you tell your blog friends about the give-away! You'll get 2 more entries!!

MAKE SURE TO COMMENT ON THE LINK BELOW!

Happy Playing!! I'll post the winner on Monday!

My Memories GIVE-AWAY!!! {now closed}

Ok, I am SO SO excited!! I was contacted a bit ago by Liz from My Memories about trying out her product and hosting a give-away on my blog!! Wahoo! So of course I jumped at the chance to review a product that was all about digital scrapbooking and movie making!

My Memories is a digital scrapbooking software that helps you make beautiful pages so quickly and easily!  On the site, they have tons of gallery photos where you can get ideas and lots of free pages and kits!

The kits the scrapbook software have available are amazing! They are already set in themes for you to easily find what you're looking for.  There are tons of free kits and pages available, but if you're wanting something just a bit more custom, you can purchase kits and pages for a very low price.

For all you new Moms out there, this is just what I've been looking for! I want to make Harper a scrapbook, but we all know how much time and money that takes! Now, I can make and print these custom pages and place them in her baby book for a custom and unique look!  This site also offers lots of other things like books and calendars, cards and videos, recipe books...so much more!  They also have an option of auto-fill or custom fill.  So if you're really on crunch time, you just upload your photos and the software places the photos!

SOOOO, Here's how to enter!!

1. Become a Follower of my blog, Blissfully Burton
2. Visit My Memories - http://www.mymemories.com/ and look through the free kits and new kits
3. Leave a comment below telling me which kit you like or how you will use this software if you win!
4. You can enter AS MANY TIMES as you'd like!
5. Next Monday, January 23, I will use the Random Generator to choose a Winner!!

*The Value of this give-away is $39.97 and is rated #1 on Amazon!

Yes, it's that easy!  I hope we get lots of players!!
{don't forget to leave your name in your comment if you don't have a blog so I know who you are!}

Good Luck and I hope you play!

Positive Penny ova' here

Ok, I'm about to make myself turn my nose up and roll my own eyes....

But ladies {and my secret gent. readers}, I've got to share the pretty positives that have happened to me lately and Praise God for them!

I don't usually blog during the week anymore {i schedule the posts to show up from weekend writing}, but this trumps it.

#1: Harper hasn't slept through the night since I began work. Blah. BUT, when she wakes up 3-4 times a night, we know because she's cooing, giggling, or grunting.  We look into the monitor and it's like she knows we can see her. She smiles huge.  Do you KNOW how much nicer that is to wake up to in the middle of the night than screams? It's awesome.  She breaks my heart in a good way when I drag my big 'ol booty in her room in the middle of the night and she kicks her legs and gives me that gummy grin. So, while she's reverted back to her 2-week old self, at least it's sans crying.
{PS- any tips?!?!}

#2: The end of the work week got better. I was determined to start this week off positively and with about an eighth of the tears. With a little hiccup with my sub note on Monday morning, my awesome team-teach was there to rear me back in to thinking positively. We had a great day, I had some great heart-to-heart conversations with said kids from the note, and all was well with my classroom world.

#3: I've obviously been anxious about going back to work. So much so that I got a rash all over my face. But it wasn't all because of leaving Harper. We'll leave it at that. Well, this week I heard some news that made me feel like a huge weight was lifted off of me, and that night I made the decision that I would most definitely end this school year teaching {yes, I wasn't sure if I would} and most likely continue working. Of course, I still miss Harper. Terribly. But I do enjoy being with the kids. I forgot what it was like to be in a positive and supportive environment. Once in one, I've realized there are many things I love about my career.

#4: I've been able to work really well on my Mommy Guilt this weekend and week. ;)

#5: I've been able to cook dinner lots. That makes me happy, my hubby very happy, and our wallet happy.

#6: Hubs and I went to the Christian bookstore looking for a new-parent devotional to do together. We didn't find what we were wanting, but each found our own study. Mine has already done some great things for me and my relationship as has his. Don't you love when you can find a study that is relatively quick in time but exactly what you need in the moment?

#7: God knew I couldn't continue nursing because I needed my cokes every morning to survive. Can I get an Amen?!

#8: Everytime I've picked H up from the sitter, she smiles HUGE at me. Big ol' gums everywhere and squinty little eyes. Makes me so happy.
So, I know I must be earning "The Most Boring Blog Ever" Award over here, I'll leave you with a pic of my cutie and try-to-promise my readers I'll have a recipe or craft up soon. {but ya'll know that's probably a lie.}

New Years 2012

I've had some pretty wild and fantastic NYE's, but none compare to this year! ha!

We decided we wanted to stay home because 1) my parents party so we did not have a sitter, 2) I was about to go to work and didn't feel like leaving H anyways, and 3) we wanted to keep H on her schedule because we were too afraid to get her off even for one night before I went back to work.

So, we had a great time hanging out at our place with Allison, Yancey, Nola, and the baby-in-the-belly! It was great fun! But so so different than many years either of us have had! ha!

Nola and her parents left before the ball dropped to get Nola in bed, so we ran upstairs and got in our bed to watch the new year! HAHAHA I know. We are losers. But, it was so fun!! :)

Mommy has too much fun with her camera.

I'm no professional by any means, but I shoot enough pictures of Harper to think I am! ha!

Here's too many some pretty precious pictures of my little love that I've taken over the past 2 weeks with my Christmas present from B {Nikon D3000}.  Love, Love, Love her!!!

I survived. Barely.

Monday was rough. But I made it. 
********************************************
It's Thursday now, and I sat down to write this post through the week, starting with Monday. I had to quit though, because I couldn't see through my tears once Harper was asleep.

I've been mentally jotting down things this week about how pretty much horrible it's been. How I've cried more than I thought I could. How I've seen Brian and I both hurting.

But, today, I feel peace.

Today I feel such a peace. My heart is peaceful.  My swollen face is going down. I only cried a bit this morning.

So, instead of telling you the obvious, the part where pretty much every mother goes through when her maternity leave is up, I'm going to focus on the positive things from this week.

I am so overwhelmed with gratitude today. I feel like God has been holding me up each day this week.  I saw the sun today and felt good inside. My baby is so precious to me, and I think I've found a sitter who understands that. You can tell she loves her few kids she keeps.  And I can tell she just loves Harper already.  God has overly blessed me.  Harper is SUCH a good baby.  She's been amazing at the transition this week.  She's been happy and sweet.  When I'm at work, I've felt each day get better, and honestly, I've enjoyed being back in the classroom.  I NEVER thought I'd say that after 3 whole months home with Harper. But I have enjoyed teaching, planning, and being with the kids. I praise God for that. I praise Him for reminding me that I'm good at my job and that my j-o-b is my career and I'm there for a reason.  I also praise Him for putting the friends at work in my life.  The warmth and support I've felt this week at work is amazing. I cannot even begin to tell you how much it has meant to me to have emails and visits from teachers that I don't even get to work with stop in and check on me. One teacher has come in my room each day and offered to grade papers so that I can leave right at 3.  My close friends at work have brought me cokes and breakfast this week.  And my teammate. Oh, my. I am beyond blessed to have her with me right now. I'm truly honest when I say that without her I probably would not have gotten through day 1.  She's been there. She knows.  She's hugged me, checked on me, and given me so very much support. I know, I am lucky.  I'm lucky that my "secret pal" at work has been giving me the exact strength through Bible verses that I've needed. He has no idea how many times I've read and re-read those lines.  I'm thankful my friends have texted and called to check on me.  The ones who've been through it and the ones that haven't; they've still supported me.  I'm thankful for my husband.  I'm thankful he understands that Harper and I have a different bond, and as crazy as I've felt this week, he's told me it's ok.

I've been praying for many months now; before Harper even arrived, that God would let me feel it was okay to not stay at home. It's been very difficult. I've always wanted to be a SAHM. And although my husband and I haven't made the final decision of what is right for our family in terms of me working, I'm thankful I feel a much better peace about being away right now and that in my career I get more time off than a lot of jobs do.

A few specific things I'd like to pray on are:
*to not feel like I'm an inadequate mother if I need to continue working
*to have strength and be content even when other women make me feel badly about not staying home
*to be able to give my students 100% of me while I'm at work
*to keep Faith that I am still a good Mom and giving Harper the love and attention she deserves

So while I know each day will be so hard, and I know it will never be easy, I'm hoping to just make it each day and do the best I can while I'm at work and remember what really matters in life.

I took off Friday to go to an appointment.  I think I really needed this day after 3 straight months with Harper, and being away from her more than I've ever been in her little life.  The thing I've missed the most is our morning time when she's quite possibly the sweetest ever. So I'm relishing in today... and remembering how lucky I am to get the time off I will have with Harper.  I may not be financially rich with this job, but the time I'm able to have makes me feel rich inside.

Resolutions 2012

So, if you've been following for a few years, you know I don't do resolutions, I do goals. :)

Here's a list of my goals from last year and in red is whether I met them or not. Check HERE. 
I LOVED my Goals list last year because I wrote them from different Bible verses which sort of helped me keep them a little better.

Well, as most of you guessed, my :) one was to hopefully get pregnant in 2011. Brian and I toasted on New Years night and kissed - we both whispered to one another we hope we can get pregnant this year. Little did we know it had already happened! I'm not going to do a year in review because, well, the birth of Harper trumped everything this year! haha!

2011 was a wonderful, wonderful year for my family.  We stayed healthy and had the birth of our daughter.  But for a few of my friends, 2011 was a really, really hard year.

So, in 2012 here's my prayers....
I pray a certain friend of mine is given her desire to become pregnant and have a baby.
I pray my family can stay healthy.
I pray for my small group and we will continue to do life together.
I pray I continue to be thankful for my life and show that to Harper.
I pray I make time and make sure Brian knows how much I value him and our marriage.
I pray for a content and peaceful heart as I transition into a working Momma.

Of course I want to make a resolution to lose more of the baby weight, but being realistic, I am just not going to be away from Harper even more by going to the gym.  I just got to buy a size smaller in jeans than what I was wearing, and I'm pretty happy with that! If I can stay in this size, I will be satisfied! I'm aware that I will probably never be the size I was, and it's ok! :)  I'm going to do what I can in my home to keep working on the weight!

I also wanted to say how thankful I am for this blog! Sounds so silly, right? I started it years ago to follow our engagement and building our first home and letting family read about it.  This blog has turned into so much more for me! I love looking back at my journaling and seeing where I've been or what I've learned.  I've also loved the 'friends' I've met through blogging. Your comments mean so very much to me - probably more than you know! I appreciate you taking the time to read about our life! 

Happy and Healthy New Years to YOU!