here comes another, kinda like the other.

I was just looking through some of our old pictures and noticed a random picture of some sort of casserole. Upon closer inspection I realized it was my 3 cheese manicotti, that I must have taken a picture of so that I could post the recipe on here. So this one has been a long time coming... It's easy, delicious and if you make it I guarantee your family will love you even more then they already do. If you've made those enchiladas from a couple posts back I'm sure you already know about that love-y family thing by now.

Anyways here it is...and here's the recipe...

3 CHEESE MANICOTTI

1 8oz package of manicotti shells
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese ( I always buy the kraft pre-shredded super stretchy mozzarella), divided
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 egg
2 tbsp dried basil
2 (26 oz.) jars pasta sauce

* I always trick my kids and cut up a red and yellow pepper REALLY really really small and mix it into the cheese mixture.

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add manicotti and cook for about 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
2. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In a bowl mix 3 cups mozzarella cheese, ricotta, 1/2 cup parmesan, garlic, egg and basil. * remember to be tricky and put in those peppers* Stuff cooked manicotti with the mixture.
4. Spread about 2 cups pasta sauce over the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange stuffed manicotti in the dish, and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining cup of mozza cheese.
5. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and continue baking for about 10 minutes, until the mozzarella the melted and bubbly.

rice rice baby

Penny isn't a baby anymore. She's been acting fussy for a few days now and was ALWAYS hungry. I thought she might not be getting enough from me, so we tried some cereal tonight. It was a hit! I am excited to see how fat she's going to get from eating solids this early! Will and Aubrey both weren't interested in food at all until they were about 6 months. When we'd feed Pen a bite she'd close her eyes and smack her tiny little mouth like crazy. She's so cute, I can't hardly stand it!

I belong to the church of.... SHHHHHHHHHHH!

Yesterday we went to Walmart. (I know the greeter on a first name basis, I even know the name of her cat. So we go to Walmart a lot.) Anywho. As we were perusing the aisles, Will started to sing REALLY LOUD. He was singing, I BELONG TO THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAAAAAAAAAINTS!! I KNOW WHO I AM, I KNOW GOD'S PLAN.......ETC....... I told him to be quiet. He sang even louder. I kept telling him to SHUUUUSH and he just wouldn't stop. I was starting to get flustered, embarassed, a little red-faced even. Then I thought about it, why was I getting all in a huff? I thought, if Will was singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star really loud would I be embarrassed then? Probably not, I would think it was cute. Just because it was a church song I was literally DYING! It brought to mind another time when we were at the library for the reading program and the librarian asked if the group wanted to sing a song, Will raised his hand up in a flash and announced that everyone should sing I am a Child of God. I was embarrassed then too!
I am not a missionary type, if you asked me to give a person a Book of Mormon, I'd probably barf. I am just shy about sharing the gospel. I decided that needs to change. I'm going to try to seek out opportunities to share the good news! I am going to try to pray for missionary experiences, which before I would purposefully leave that request out of my prayers. HA! none of that missionary stuff for me, no thanks!
Jesus said... except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
I never really believed people when they said , I learn so much from my children. That was before I had kids. So sing away little Will boy, sing away and next time I'll join you. Even if it is in the middle of Walmart.

our new favorite.

This is what we're having for dinner tonight...
I've made it twice in the last week, Andy LOVES 'em, the kids LOVE them, heck I even LOVE them!
Here's the link to the recipe, do not delay. make them tomorrow.your family will love you.

Canada Day-ish

So I forgot my camera for Canada Day. We did alot of things but no documentation of any of them! oh well. This is on June 30, every year Andy and I have made a tradition to shoot off a couple mentos/diet coke rockets on Canada Day, we did it a little early this year and without Andy, but we did get to blast 'em off with our cousins the "Eddies"!!!(Olivia and Lauren) It was fun, although our blaster didn't work this year, we need to fabricate a new one. Instead of shooting straight up into the air the pop kind of went all ways, it was fun to watch the kids run through the pop rain!!!

Jumping on the trampoline with Grandma Ann, seriously what grandma's do you know of that can still get up there on the trampoline and jump around like they were 10 years old? I only know of one, and that's mom.

So for the the day after this day, which was Canada Day, I'll just have to describe it so vividly that you'll get pictures of it in your mind, okay close your eyes.... oh wait that won't work... just read this list of what was done on July 1...

• Raymond Parade
• Visited at Uncle Craig's for a couple minutes
• Went to Stirling to Auntie Moj's house for lunch (thanks by the way :))
  
• after lunch went swimming at the outdoor pool (which I am so jealous of, Taber why do you suck?) with THESE GUYS, thanks for borrowing your water wings to Will, AJ, he LOVED them , right Lacey?!?!
  
• Alex, Shayla and I drove into Lethbridge to see ECLIPSE (I will always be on Team Jacob, I don't care how the books end).

• Got home and took Will to the Taber Firework. yes that's not plural. Again Taber why do you suck?

...and that is that, it was a FUN day.

So now here are some other things that have happened since Canada Day...

Somebody is getting HUNKA!!!!!!!!!!!!

...and we think Will broke his toe. I wish my camera was better (HINT ANDREW) so that I could get some real close ups of the nastiness of the toe. Gee, I love how I want a better camera so that I can take close-ups of my children's wounds. Will was getting off a chair in the kitchen and that darn thing fell over and landed directly on the 3rd piggy, and it did not have roast beef, it just got smashed and made the little boy scream bloody murder for 10 minutes straight. Also the health unit just called and Will gets to get his needles tomorrow for Pre-K. What a great week he's about to have!

July 1st fashion preview.

I hate it.
Oh wait....

I LOVE IT!!!

I have this thing about buying "national holiday" clothes from stores. Most shirts are either horribly overpriced or horridly hideous. So this year I decided to make Aubrey her own Canada Day outfit. This skirt cost a whole 2 bucks to make, wait $2.50 since the "dollar" store is now the $1.25 Store. It was cheap, you get the point. The maple leaf fabric is actually 2 bandannas sewn together and the lining is a old junky white shirt that I found jammed in the back of my closet! The headband is another $1.25 Store find, and the tank is from Walmart, I think I got it for $1 a couple weeks ago. So in total a whopping $4.75, man, I love a good deal.
I followed this tutorial then kind of tweaked it a little to suit Aubba. All in all I think Aubrey will be the Cutest Canadian tomorrow :)

time for an update

There's nothing more comfortable then curling up with a box of soda crackers.

We've been sticking around the house alot lately. Playing in the outdoors, NOT watching t.v. It's been so nice. Soaking up the sunshine. Here's Penny doing what she does best, sucky fingers.

Talking with Pops.

The Dad and all of his kids on Father's Day. I love these guys :)

A sweet little oatmeal eater. The paper beside Will has a bunch of numbers written on it. His new thing that he likes to do is stand in front of our alarm clock and every time the numbers change, he writes out the new sequence. It's great, keeps him entertained for at least 20 minutes or more.