I recently participated in my first Freezer Meal exchange. This month consisted of 6 other woman. We each made 6 of the same freezer meal. Met on a specific date and time. Swapped meals and came home with 6 new meals. Simple as that.
I chose to make Chicken Pot Pie and thought I'd share the recipe here. I got it from Kari many years back, I think we were still teaching.
If you hate cutting up chicken as much as I do, a nice trick I learned is to buy a bag of boneless skinless chicken tenders. Dump the entire bag in the crock pot. Once the chicken is cooked it's easy to cut into pieces. I usually divide the chicken into 3 servings and either store in the fridge for recipes or the freezer and pull out when needed.
The Pot Pie Prep
We had a fun play date yesterday. Michelle and her new baby Lauren came over to visit! So fun to see her become a Mama! Thankful for good little ladies so the Mamas could get in lots of good conversation. Congratulations Michelle, she's beautiful and perfect and as sweet as can be! Thanks for coming over!
Libby's proud of the extra high fives she gets at school for being the first one ready with her outside gear on, all on her own! I knew her independent stubbornness would pay off ;) I had a sad realization that I only have a year and a half left with her before she's off to Kindergarten. Why does it have to go so quickly? :( Soaking it all up each and every day, even the stubbornness
3rd Child is a bit of a wildcard as of late. Sally is exactly like Reid and Libby is exactly like me. Emma, we haven't quite pinpointed yet and that's ok, because we don't like labels anyway. She is such a jokster lately. She thinks she so funny. This was a one nap day. Unfortunately on the way home from preschool she fell asleep for maybe 5 minutes, which you know any amount of napping minutes not meant for a nap before a nap will RUIN a nap. Did you catch that? So, here she was pretending her crib was a horse? [We haven't had a crib crawler outter, but she just might be the one to break that streak]
Eventually she caved...
The other day she realized she didn't need her walker anymore. She would shove it with her hand and belly laugh thinking she was sooooo funny. I tried to grab my camera to record it, but then she decided to carry the walker over to me. We're officially done with that baby toy...
Reid has had 3 late work nights in a row due to dinners with vendors. I can't complain because he doesn't have to travel much and he doesn't have school anymore.
I love how I can rely on LJ being a rule follower. I asked her to read or play in her room quietly so I could put her sisters down to bed. Always melts my heart when they actually do what they're told :)
Heatwave today, we made it up to 30!! Happy hump Day!
We had a fun week with 2 extra ladies in the house! Erin and Savannah came and stayed with us for a few days! We had lots of girl talk and fun having them see our every day :)
The two littles were a little camera shy, I promise we really did have fun [Emma was already in bed]
Matchy Match
Erin sent Thomas a snap letting him know that Jackie has the touch to feed Savannah and put her to sleep :)
Sally started her basketball season. So fun how much she enjoys it and how hard she tries! It's activities like these that really make me feel like a mom, Thursday night practices and Saturday morning scrimmages
This little big one has had a bit of spunk in her step as of late...
The snowfall that we woke up to Friday morning was beautiful!
We decided to get out and enjoy some fresh air before the really cold weather hit. Emma giggled the whole time!
Watching the neighbors slide down hills
Our MN Girls!
Daddy took the Bigs to run some errands and I got some alone time to just play with Emma. She was so silly and loved the one on one attention. I also can't get enough of her in her little track suit that have made the rounds through her big sisters!
We re-instituted Sunday Night Daddy Dinner!
It was fun having Poosch visit us for the afternoon and evening!
Back to an even year and a leap year! If you know me well, you know I love even numbers :)
We had a rockin' New Year's Eve with friends and kiddos! It was wild and crazy, but mostly fun and memorable!
Daddy worked for part of the day and we thought it a great opportunity to go and eat lunch with him at work!
Getting her sparklies on from Grandma and George
Lunch time with BP! Mommy's a big fan of coming to lunch at Best Buy Corp vs having to go downtown like we use to. We'll be back for sure!
We're proud of him! p.s. I still get caught off guard from time to time with a "holy crap, we have THREE girls!"
Sending some emails
Let the party begin! Kiddos eat first!
The whole gang! So much fun! Love Hudson in the series of these three pictures. Thank you Johnson and Martinson Families for celebrating with us!!
Matching Jammies! The babies were already in bed
Love this girl!
Love this guy too ;) What I really love is how similar we are as couples and moms and dads and how easy it is when we're together, we can be real!
Cheers to the memories shared and memories yet to be had!
Lots of good laughter and convo! Happy New Year!
The group shot matching jammies didn't go so well...stubborn 4 year old, a threenager and moving toddlers...Sally, always on point, though!
The best I could get of the babies :)
Nana and Grandpa and Aunt Jane came to celebrate Christmas and Cheer on a Gopher Bowl Game Win!! Sally and Libby showed some of their tricks :)
I was quite nervous about having 14 straight days of no school and set schedule. It went really really well and was really really fun. I was sad to see school start back up, makes me excited for summer. Christmas Break 2015 was really quite great! Of those 14 days, daddy was home for 8!
Remember when I was crazy and thought she was ready for one nap? yeah, not so much. We went back and I haven't regretted it for a second. Girlfriend loves her sleep and is much happier to have it! She's also much happier now that she's on the move and walking. Sometimes she'll just walk in circles and giggle. She likes her new found freedom.
We were crazy and went to IKEA, we just needed a few things and we're "in and out" as quickly as you can when going to IKEA :)
My MN girl, she loves the outdoors!
Open skate with Friends!
The babies and the moms get to walk the track and cheer from above
Pinkalicious Cuties
Saturday we got a sitter and went out just the two of us. We did dinner and a movie and it was fantastic!
Cheers to hosting Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's
Cheers to making many memorable Christmas memories with our 3 Littles
Cheers to making it through all 5 of us getting the flu
Cheers to the Vikings winning the conference and beating the Packers to do it!
Cheers to dating this guy for 14!!! years, it all started during a Viking/Packer Game!
Cheers to 2016, what a ride 2015--to which we are very grateful!
This girl got a pony and turned 100.
She's also full on toddler.
Hey look! I can climb the stool!
Walking in circles and giggling
Back to the routine and structure. It was fun watching for Sally's bus again!
