January Update

COOKING-CROCK POT STYLE

Okay, so if you know me, you know that I DO NOT like the kitchen-cooking and cleaning. We have made do with eating out, mac N cheese, burritos, top ramen, and other simple stuff. Since having Savannah, Jason has stepped up to the plate on cooking more (and cleaning). Well I don't know what got into me, but I started looking up recipes that I could do in the crock pot, for a couple of reasons. I wanted to see if there were simple -meaning 2-4 ingredients - meals, and also to warm up the house with it. Well I found quite a few and have been making meals using my crock pot. To name a few.....

-Spaghetti sauce (this actually has lots of ingredients, needless to say I've only made it once, but plan to make it again, because it makes LOTS of sauce)

-Meat Lasagna (THis is our FAVORITE one, I've already made it 3x's I think and will most definitely make it more) Plus, if you have a specific tupperware set, you can 'brown' the meat in the microwave. Plus, the noodles are UNCOOKED when you layer the lasagna in crock pot-sweet!

-Split Pea Soup (this is another FAVORITE) Savannah even LOVES this too!

-Potato soup (Savannah and I like this, Jason thinks it's okay, not his fave)

-Veggie Lasagna (I just made this last night, it's pretty good, but not as good as the meat one)

-chili

-hamburger soup

There are a few more, but I can't seem to remember them all right now.

I just need to find a way to them started in the morning now, so that they can be ready for when Jason takes his lunch (around 2 pm).

Needless to say Jason is enjoying this new me!!! A friend of ours (a guy) told me that Jason told him -one night while they were playing Halo 3 online- that he's loving the fact that I've found a way to enjoy cooking.

I'm hoping that this will help us to save on our food bill-since we're down to one income. Making food at home helps us to not eat out near as much anymore.

SAVANNAH'S BIRTHDAY

So Savannah's birthday fell on a Monday, and normally, my family would've done a get together on the Sunday before, and that's what I was gonna do, and I was going to have it at my parent's house - since I have no family that live out in the East Valley. When I called my mom though to ask her, she said they were gonna be out of town that weekend. So we ended up having her party on Wednesday, after her birthday, because that was when Jason had his next day off.

Savannah loves to be around other kids and enjoyed playing with her cousins. Below is a picture of her with Bobbie Jo and Brooklyn playing with this dollhouse. Jason said she really liked that dollhouse. (Hopefully she'll grow out of that stage before long, we can't afford one!!)

Here she is in her Feeding Table, wondering what is going on... while we get a candle for her cupcake.

I wish I could share something funny or cute that she did while we were singing "Happy Birthday"to her, but there isn 't anything to share, all she did was look around at us as we were singing as well as looked at the glowing candle on the cupcake.

She didn't know what the cupcake was-since this was her first one ever- and so at first she just looked at it and when she touched it, she looked like she didn't like that! This is funny because that's like me. I can't stand to have my fingers feel dirty. (One of the reasons cooking is not my favorite thing to do-I have to rinse or wipe my hands off after handling messy foods)

Anyway, so at first it seemed Savannah was gonna need some coaxing to eat her cupcake, but I think she got a lick of her finger and shortly after that, she dug in!!! She found out that she REALLY liked that cupcake!

A picture of her after opening her presents, as you can see she got her first Cabbage Patch Kid-Newborn. She really wanted to play with it right away! Only thing is, the CPK diaper (which is actually a cloth with velcro and elastic on the backside) doesn't stay on her at all. Means I need to make some doll clothes for her, so she's not naked all the time!

It's so cute to see her play with her CPK, whose name is, Britney Nancy, because she'll hold her up to her chest (sometimes upside down, but she doesn't know this yet) and she'll rock side to side while holding her! It's so darn adorable!!!!

Since she's turned one, she all of a sudden decided she didn't want baby food anymore and wants to eat whatever Jason and I happen to be eating! I don't know what brought on this sudden change, but I am finding it harder and harder to get her to finish the food that we have for her. Plus, since I'm not that good on making fruits or veggies, I still buy some of those to feed her a little bit of the green beans, peas, bananas, pears, and sweet potatoes.

JASON'S NEW WORK SCHEDULE

Yay, Jason's new work schedule let's him have Saturdays off now!!!! (as well as Sun and Mon too) AND.....he's home before I go to bed! (Before, he was getting off at 1 am and not getting home until 1:20 or sometimes later.)

PRIMARY CALLING IN WARD

(This actually happened back in late October, but didn't mention it yet) I got called to be in the Primary, as the Secretary. I'm still working on getting things updated and put together. I'm almost there. Jason and I have been in the Primary, as Sunbeams teachers, but it's sure different when you're a Primary leader. I never realized all the stuff that goes on "behind-the-scenes"!!! It's a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know the kids in our ward and hope that I can be a support to my fellow leaders and example to the kids. I feel overwhelmed sometimes at this, but I know that I have an opportunity to learn and grow.

Anyway, that is a little update on us in the Prince household.