A Cookie Cutter Diva's Life

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.

Tonights dinner! Mmmmm



Cheddar tuna Noodles


2 tbs butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 tbs flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups milk
8oz egg noodles, cooked and drained
2 cans white tuna, drained
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Preaheat oven at 375. Lightly coat 9 inch square baking dish with non stick cooking spray.

melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 3minutes. Add celery; cook and stir 3 minutes.

Sprinkle flour, salt and red pepper falkes over onion mixture; cook and stir 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat.

Combine noodles, white sauce, tuna, and peas in prepared baking dish; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 20-25 minutes.

Wow I can not believe summertime has already come and gone! Where did this summer go? It sure did go by fast! The kids start school tomorrow morning and I'm so not ready for them to go back! They are super excited and ready to start school again but I will miss them being at home like crazy. I loved every minute of having them home this summer and since we home schooled the end of the year they were home a little longer and I really enjoyed sharing that time with them and teaching them myself but they really want to go back to school so it's best they do. It was fun to try out at least!

We had meet the teacher night last Thursday night and it went really well. Their school is kind of off in the country. There is a farm right across the street. It's a two story school and very big! Aidan's teacher seemed very nice and sweet but she is newer and seemed a little nervous so I hope she can handle my motor mouth lol

Keagan's teacher was really awesome and he loved her and she really put all my worries at ease! She told me there was such a large turn out for kinder that they are making a 3rd class and some moving and I asked if I could request he stayed because it would throw him off with his autism to mess with his routine like that. She reassured me he wasn't moving since her class was an inclusion class and she was educated to work with his special needs. That made me happy. We discussed maybe needing a sensory box again in the classroom this year and what to look for and how to go about it. She brought in some aids to talk about it with me as well and familiarize with how he is so they would be prepared!

Brooklyn is sad she's not going to school this year. If her birthday had been 2 months earlier she would've gone this year but she's going to be a late starter like my oldest Aidan and Peyton will wind up being that way too. I thought about sending her to a private prek but I'm not sure I'm ready to part with her just yet!

Every year it's tradition we either take the kids out somewhere special for breakfast or I make something really special. Last year I did pig shaped pancakes. This year I'm going to do Teddy Bear Biscuits. I've done them before but it's been a long time! They are super yummy!





Teddy Bear Biscuits


Ingredients
1 (7.5 ounce) package refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
9 miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
1.For each bear, shape one biscuit into an oval for the body and place on a greased baking sheet. Cut one biscuit into four pieces; shape into balls for arms and legs. Place next to body. Cut one biscuit into two small pieces and one large pieces; shape into head and ears and place above body. Brush with egg. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over bears. Bake at 425 degrees F for 8-10 minutes (the one remaining biscuit can be baked with the bears). Place chocolate chips on head for eyes and nose while the biscuits are still warm.



Things have been kind of crazy around here the last week and a half. I wound up in the hospital again last weekend from another attack where my heart was racing. They labeled it cardiac arrhythmia which we already knew as well as the tachycardia that the Dr brought up a few days before that we already knew. We just still don't have an absolutely clear firm diagnoses and treatment plan. I started seeing the Dr I had been trying to get in with the Thursday before and he placed me back on the heart medication and sent off a referral to the cardiologist finally and said we will get to the bottom of this!

My husband was supposed to have deployed a week ago but got pulled off the flight due to me being in the hospital and how my health has been. It's up in the air if he's still going and going on one of the last flights going out or if he's going to get to stay till after my appointments like being requested by my Dr, who is a retired officer thankfully so hopefully they don't blow off his suggestion as "oh he's a civilian Dr" the Dr recommended he stay with me because my health condition was to bad off to be alone with the 4 children and we have a referral in to see the cardiologist and it would be best if he stays till we get a firm diagnoses as well as a treatment plan then deploy as a late deployer. Also because as far as we know we may find out that I need to have another surgery so it would be better if he could stay around and be one of the last deployers that go out as a replacement a few months from now. So hopefully we find out for sure tomorrow what is going on with that. I'm just really praying it all works out. We were prepared for him to go and he wants to go but I'm also terrified to be alone till we get to the bottom of this. We had to do a medication adjustment about a week ago from my blood pressure getting severely low (which is usually severely high) so that was scary too.

I'm just ready to know what is going on. I'm such a control freak that it drives me crazy not having a clue what is about to happen or when!

Well I better get these kids rounded up and ready for baths and bed and get back on our school routine!!