A Cookie Cutter Diva's Life

And another busy month it has been! I was doing so well with the blog for the longest time but I just can't ever find the time anymore or remember to keep up with it when I do!

My husband was placed on Rear D and not returning on deployment after he was sent home for me being placed in the hospital so he can help get things stable around here and us take care of things. They doubled my meds and put me on some new ones and they really seem to be helping. I haven't felt this normal in over a year. I still of course don't feel completely "me" but more me then I have and can at least function a lot better now and be more social and enjoy things I couldn't for so long! My pains are controlled a lot more and my arrithymia has gotten a lot better on the new meds. But still have some occassionally and swelling. But at least I have managed to stay out of the hospital and away from many trips to the ER like I used to have to do routinely! I don't know if it's the new meds, my husband being home or all of it but I am not changing a thing!

Peyton started getting tests run on her today. She has been diagnosed as having Failure to Thrive which sadly makes everyone do a double take when I say since typically it comes from neglect or abuse but a small percent comes from medical such as thyroid, heart problems, etc which is our case. We think it may have to do with how complicated my pregnancy was and the thyroid issues. But she is getting tested on her thyroid, how she absorbs fats and calories, etc. Hopefully we get some answers as she's gone from 5% to 1% and the child eats all day long!

Today alone she ate 1c fruit loops, 1/2c teddy grahams, 1c cubed cheese, 1 jar sweet potatoes, 1 jar bananas, 3 wafer cookies, a poptart, 1/2 cup ramen, and lasagna all on top of breastmilk. In other words obviously her weight is NOT from her eating habits lol

So hopefully we get some answers to know if we need to start growth hormones or if it is something that will just straighten out.

I can't believe she's about to be 1yrs old!

My daughter Brooklyn just had her 4th birthday and is about to be 4yrs old. Has been super busy with dance and cheerleading and loving it. She's been having her best friend over about once or twice a week now that we live close by her again so she's loving that!

Keagan is doing great as the school year has gone on. I think dad coming home has helped a lot. All the concerns with him regressing have gone away and he's starting to do a lot better. He's been doing great on his accelerated reading test and scoring all 100's! All perfect scores on the TPRI! He's doing great in wrestling!

Aidan is doing wonderful in wrestling and got a great report card. Coming back up on math where I was concerned with his slacking. But he isn't doing to bad I guess because he made the honor roll again! I'm very proud of him! He is also doing great in wrestling!

Over all everything is going good for the most part and just getting busy with the holiday season!

We took the boys back home to a town an hour from our home town for a wrestling tournament! First tournament for this season and they did great!

Keagan took 2nd and Aidan took 3rd! Very proud of my boys! They were really happy that my mom and Bryans parents were able to be there! Hopefully we can do another one and get all of the grandparents there!

Tongight I made Hot Dog Mummies and Mac and Cheese for dinner for the kids. We have a busy weekend coming up so wasn't sure I could fit it in for Halloween!

Of course I thought I was done with that but it turned into Keagan wanted a nose adn a mouth, Brooklyn wanted a dress and arms and legs and then Aidan wanted me to write TAPOUT on his lol

Of course I forgot to get pictures of my wonderful food art but they really enjoyed them!




Feast your eyes, if you dare, on these Hot Dog Mummies. They're the perfect energy food before an evening of collecting candy.

Ingredients
1 11-ounce can of refrigerator breadsticks
1 12-pack of hot dogs
Yellow mustard


Instructions
For each mummy, separate one breadstick from the roll and use kitchen shears or a knife to slice it in half lengthwise to create two thinner strips.

Wrap one strip at a time snugly around the hot dog. Depending on the size of the hot dog, you may not need all of both strips. Leave about 1/2 inch of hot dog exposed for the face area and continue wrapping the top of the hot dog.

Bake the mummies on a cookie sheet at 350º for 15 to 18 minutes or until the breadstick wrapping is golden brown.

Remove the mummies from the oven and cool them for 5 minutes. Add yellow mustard eyes just before serving. Makes 12 mummies.

I did a new bow holder for both of my girls! I didn't like the red lady bug Peyton had in the bathroom and thought it clashed so the new one will go great with our normal monkey theme! I did it in monkeys since we call her our little monkey!

I also made a new one for my other daughter since she's so into ballet now!

Today we had a playdate with the older kids while they were out of school so they could participate in the fun since they are always asking when we are going to do the holiday parties or playdates and still look forward to them!

I had 18 kids at my house today! It was a house full and a blast!

We painted pumpkins, decorated Halloween Cookies and made Pumpkin Masks!

my daughter just recently had her 4th Birthday party! Seems like I just had her! She wanted Yo Gabba Gabba at first but then we had problems finding stuff for the party so I asked her to pick another theme and what did she come up with? Hannah Montana.. all I could think was Lord help me lol

So we had a great party planned with a bounce house, hanna montana piniata and I was going to make a cake but it was predicted to rain so we moved to Chucky Cheese and go figure my cake image didn't arrive in time!

So I was left to come up with a last minute plan and I just couldn't justify $20 at walmart on a cake that had a small toy guitar on it! So I decided to attempt making cupcakes and putting them in a shape of a guitar similar to what they had done! I think they came out pretty decent seeing as I'm not very good at stuff like that lol

She absolutely LOVED it and thanked me over and over for it!



we also did goody bags and put necklaces in them for the girls and glow sticks for the boys. Hannah montana stickers for the girls and hot wheels for the boys and fun shaped sunglasses for all the kids and candy!

on the dinner menu tonight! Had this before and super yummy!!


Mexican Black Bean Casserole


1 can 16oz black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
4 large green onions, sliced
1 cup salsa
3/4 cup diced tomato
2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 cup shredded mexican cheese blend
2 flour tortillas, diided
1/4 cup chopped celantro (I left this off)



Heat oven to 375. Place beans in large bowl; partially mash with potato masher (I left mine unmashed).
Add chicken, green onions, salsa, tomato, and cumin, mix well. Spoon 1 1/3 cups mixture into 9 inche round glass baking dish; top with 1/2 cup cheese. Arrange 1 tortilla over mixture tearing to fit size of dish. Repeat layering with 1 1/3 cups bean mixture, remaining tortilla and remaining bean mixture. Cover dish with foil and bake 30 minutes or until heated through.

Remove from oven, uncover and top with remaingin 1/4 cup cheese. Return to ovena nd continue to bake 5 minutes.

Tried this recipe out last night and it was really good! Everyone loved it and the best thing is it's super cheap and makes 3 meals! Now we will see how I like it when I use the freezer meals because I'm not big on reheating items but I'm looking for more time savers with out eating out so much so trying some new things!

1 package spaggetti (1lb)
4 eggs, lightly beaen
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 cups (16oz) sour cream
2 tsp italian seasoning
2 pounds bulk pork sausage
2 cups water
1 can (12oz) tomato paste
1 cup (4oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Cook spaghetti according to package diretions; drain and place in a large bowl. Add eggs and parmesan cheese. Transfer to three greased 9in pie plates; press mixture onto the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and italian seasoning Spoon into the crusts.

In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in water and tomatoe paste. Simmer, uncovered, for 5-10min or until thickened. Spoon over sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

Freeze two pies for up to 1 month in ziploc brand freezer gallon bags. Cover and bake third pie at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until heated through.

To use frozen pies; completely thaw in the refrigerator. Remove from refrigerato 30 minutes before baking. Bake as directed.

Wow where has the time gone? I really haven't had time to blog since school started! The last month has been so crazy busy! A few days after school started my husband deployed and we started our journey to the being alone the next year. So we thought anyways. Things were going pretty well like every other deployment and I was managing fine and even managing with my health okay. I was praying I'd just get through this year but really worried that at any moment things could turn around for the worste. I had one of my normal attacks that I have about a week after he left but managed to get it under controle and I had the heart monitor on and was hoping to catch things on it but go figure that the day I have my big attack that the monitor stops working and I had to go swap it out! Really? Of all the luck! I wound up feeling up to going home to visit for Labor Day weekend. I hadn't been home to visit in 3 months so I needed to get home and let everyone see these babies! Especially with Peyton being so young, you know the first two years of life they just change so much every month. Last time I was home she was just starting to crawl and now she's walking around furniture and trying to take steps! I was afraid if I waited we'd go from barely crawling to walking and it be a drastic change!
So we had a nice visit home and saw almost all of the family! Definatly needed the trip! Things went well the next week and my appointment with Cardiology and my Dr went well on the Friday after and Sunday morning things turned out for the worste. I had another attack just like normal. Only it felt a little different. I wound up going by ambulance with occasionally I have to, especially being alone. This time was so bad they gave me 3 shots of nitro to open my heart chambers, meds through my IV twice, hooked me up to oxygen for 2 days and addmitted me to the hospital. They ran a few test and wanted to run more but since I started to feel better I asked to do the rest out patient because I needed to be home with the kids and we weren't sure at the moment what was going to go on with the red cross. My husband was sent home by the end of the week on emergency leave and is home now and will be home for at least another month or so. I've been placed back on the heart monitor, had my meds doubled and are going from there. I wound up making another trip to the ER a few days after he got home but since things seem more stable on the new dose of meds. My blood pressure had been spiking very high and it's been stable since. I'm just so tired of not knowing anything. We did finally get a diagnoses of Tachycardia and cardiac arrithymia we just don't know what type of arrithymia is causing the attacks and trying to get a hold on it. So that's the not so fun stuff going on around here.. nothing really new. Same stuff, different day. Only worse at one point and better at another.

The boys are having a blast back in school. Keagan goes back and forth and really wants to stay homeshooled but I think he should go with the older one going too. He's been doing really well though and doing accelerated reading program and making 100 on every test! I'm super proud of him! She said he's one of the brightest kids in the class!
Aidan loves being back in school and wouldn't have it any other way. He can't wait to go every day lol They both just started back up their wrestling season this week so they are excited about that. They will be doing their tournaments here soon.

Brookklyn is still doing dance but dropped gymnastics since she is old enough now to do cheerleading and was dying to do cheerleading instead. She's been in it a few weeks with her best friend Lizzy and absolutely loves it so far! I'm officially a cheer mom haha

Peyton is an absolute mess! That girl is so obnoxious lol she loves to pull out everything and laugh and say "no no", is trying to walk, says about 5 words now and eats soooo much!! She is always eating! She still has no teeth but eating so many finger foods. However she is still underweight and dropped from 5% to 2% so we are now having to go every 2 weeks for checks rather than every 2 months and may be getting referred to a specialist. I know some are like oh she'll be fine, oh the drs make to much of a fuss but since I had the complications I did in my pregnancy we had to check her growth montly in the womb and knew this could be a potential problem and had to watch it closely so we have to stay on top of it. She could've been effected by solely just the few weeks the hospital didn't get my treatment right here! Thank heavens I got switched drs! And it's not the fact she's tiny but that she's loosing as well. The dr isn't to concerned since all my kids are tiny, she's doing great developementally, on the move so much and eats so much but still gotta watch it. She of course is still breastfeeding strong. I'm so proud that we made it through all we have with me and surgery! I can't believe she is almost 10 months old. It makes me sad my last baby is so big!

I've also been really busy with my business and getting some outfits made up for a few models that I have doing a local photo shoot for me here in town with a photographer I partnered up with. I'm very excited and can't wait to see how it all turns out!!

Well I guess that's about all of the fun updates right now.. I need to go get this room cleared out for the boys new bed that's being delivered here in a few! They are getting a loft bed and we got rid of the cool racecar bed. Time for big boy furniture!

1 lb ground beef
1 can refriend beans
1 jar thick n chunky salasa
1 pack taco season
2 1/2 cups corsley broken tortilla chips
1/2 md green bell pepper
4 md green onions
2 md tomatoes
1 cup shredded motz cheese (I used montery jack)
1/4 cup sliced olives
1 cup lettuce


Heat oven to 350.

In 12in skillet cook beef over medium heat 5-7min. Cook till brown; drain. Stir in beans, salsa, taco season and reduce heat, bring to a boil.
In ungreased casserole dish, place 2 cups broken chips. Top evenly with meat mixture Sprinkle with peppers, onions, 1 cup tomato, cheese and olives.
Bake uncovered 20-30 min. Top with lettuce, remaining tomato and chips.