Beef Enchiladas

A couple of months ago I was searching the internet for recipes that used ingredients that I had on hand so I could make something delicious for supper.  I came a across this enchilada recipe and I had everything it called for, plus we love Mexican food so it was a win win!  We love these enchiladas and the recipe makes enough that we can usually have about three meals from it, especially if I make a salad and rice to go with it.

I am going to be lazy and just post the link to the recipe.  This page has a recipe for homemade enchilada sauce.  I am sure it is tasty, but I have only used the store bought version. 

If you try it let me know what you think!

Generic Brands

WARNING! Pointless post to follow.

I am one of those people that really doesn't take the time to coupon.  If I find a coupon for something that I always get, usually baby stuff, I will keep it, or if it is a percentage off of a total, I might hold on to those too.  The problem I have with coupons is that I always forget them and they end up expiring before I ever get to use them.  My money saving strategy is usually to just buy generic for a big majority of my items.  Most of the time we can't tell the difference.  There are a few things, however, that I have found that generic is just not always equal.

1.  Ranch.  We love us some Ranch Dressing and I I don't care which generic I get, nothing compares to Hidden Valley.
2. Contact Solution.  This literally pains me to buy.  It is like $8-$10 a bottle. Hate it.  The Wal-Mart brand is about $3-$4.  Quite a difference!  This past month I decided to save myself the money and try the generic.  Big mistake.   I have dry eyes, so by the end of the day my eyeballs feel like they are filled with sand on a good day.  With the generic, I felt like this all day long.  I guess I am going to have to stick with my expensive stuff.  
3. Rocky Road Ice Cream.  Now nothing beats Blue Bell Ice Cream.  I know this, but when You have a craving and you try to save money you give it a shot.  My favorite part of Rocky Road is The frozen marshmallows.  Wal-Mart version has a "marshmallow swirl." Not the same. At all. The generic did have chocolate covered almonds inside which could have redeemed it a little.  Unfortunately there were only about 10 in the whole half gallon.  Bummer.  Guess I should stick with Blue Bell, at least when it comes to rocky road.   

Just to be fair and give credit where credit is due, The Walgreens version of Zyrtec, Wal-Zyr, is the best allergy medicine I have found.  I have terrible seasonal allergies and as long as I take it on a daily basis, I have very few symptoms.

So, that is just my 2 cents on generic, and these are only my opinions and no one is paying me to say anything good or bad about any brand.   I don't know who actually cares what my opinion is on this subject I just felt the need to share.  End of pointless post.  You are welcome! :)  

Amarillo Trip

We finally made a trip to Amarillo the beginning of September.  Up until then the only members of my family that had met Chloe were my parents and she is 10 months old!  It made me very sad.  It had been almost a year since I had been back to my sister and grandparents as well so we were really over due to visit. 

We had a good trip.  Chloe did great in the car.  Towards the end of the trip both ways she started to get fussy, but I usually do too!  We decided to drive part way and stay the night both ways which helped so much.  11 hours is a long time in the car for me not to mention a little girl strapped down in her baby seat.  We brought toys and snacks and worked the trip around nap times and we all survived with only one screaming episode and one episode of car sickness. 

Our little girl is a super light sleeper when she isn't in bed, so when we stopped for the night at the hotels she woke up every time and wanted to party in the middle of the night which was a little rough on mama and daddy.  She also had a hard time sleeping those nights, but we all survived and had a great time in the mean time. 

It felt so good to get out of town and leave all the worries behind for a few days.  Chloe got to meet her Aunt Becky and her great grandparents and a great aunt.  She loved playing in Mimi and Pawpaw's big house and big yard and she made friends with Aunt Becky's kitty. 

We are hoping to get to go back for Christmas.  I haven't been with my family for Christmas for the past two years so it would be really nice if we are able to make it work.  We will have to see if the finances cooperate. 

All smiles ready for the new adventure

 

 Silly

 4 generations on the Pflug side

 Crawling in Mimi and Pawpaw's big yard

 This is a little pokey!

 Chloe and her Great Grandpa

 Trying to get the kitty

 The kitty wasn't too sure about her.

 The kitty keeping his eye on her.

 Exploring with Mamaw

 4 generations on Formway side

 Playing with the kitty's toys

 Sharing

 Exploring together

 Love the kitty

 Trying to taste the kitty

 Taking a wagon ride

We enjoyed our time with family that we don't get to see near often enough.

10 Months

You went to the beach to play in the water this month.  You absolutely loved it.  You wanted to drink the water so bad and had so much fun when daddy took you way out in the water.  You were not a fan of the sand though.  As soon as you felt it on your feet or got it on your hands you freaked out.  I guess we will have to work on getting you used to that.

You continue to crawl all over the place and explore every nook and cranny of our house.  You love emptying my cabinets and desk drawers.  You find any crumb that the broom misses and try to eat it.  You are getting very good at standing alone and think really hard about taking a step, but have a hard time getting your feet to cooperate just yet. 

You took your first major road trip this month too.  We went to Amarillo to visit Mama's family.  Most of them hadn't even met you yet.  You did very well on the trip.  You only fussed a lot towards the end.  The nights we stopped in the hotel were kind of rough for you because we woke you up and then you had to go to sleep in a strange place.  You slept very good at Mimi and Pawpaw's house.  You had a blast playing in their house with all the wide open spaces and big yard.  You got to play in the sprinkler and with Aunt Becky's kitty.  You loved it!

You started saying mama, although I haven't heard you use it to actually talk to me yet so I am not sure that I can count that as actually a word.  You only talk on occasion.  You jabber quite a bit, but sometimes it takes a lot of coxing to get you to say uh-oh or mama.  I think you are a stubborn little girl! 

You are very curious about everything you find and will study it very intently.  If you can't figure out what something is you lick it to see what it tastes like.  You take your sense of taste very seriously!  It is so cute and cracks me up, but it also keeps me on my toes to make sure that you don't lick anything that will make you sick.

You are growing up so fast.  Sometimes I look at you and you look and act so big and independent.  Some days you look more like a little girl than my little baby.  I love watching you learn and explore!

Playing in the ocean with Mimi and Pawpaw

 Chilling with Daddy

 Get this stuff off me!!!

 Waiting for the wave

 Loving it!

 Can I have some Mimi?

 What does this do?

 Tearing up the magazine

 Tasting the baby monitor

 Emptying the cabinets

 Helping with the dishes

 Toilet paper fun!

 Emptying the desk drawer

 The look she gives me when I tell her no

Reading with Daddy

Sleepy Time with Chloe

Chloe loves stuffed animals.  I have slowly added a few to her bed as she has gotten older and I have gotten over my fear of her suffocating on them.  As I was teaching her to fall asleep on her own I knew she needed a "comfort" object and I wasn't sure what she would pick so I gave her a blanket and some stuffed friends.  She uses her blanket as her comfort object, but loves to talk and play with her stuffed friends as she gets ready to sleep and as she is waking up in the mornings.  She will often times cuddle with them as well as she drifts off to sleep.  I think that it is pretty cute and I can't resist taking some pictures of my sleeping babe. 

She also loved to be swaddled when she was younger as long as her arms were free to move around.  I finally transitioned her out of that because she was getting too big to fit in her blankets any more and she moves around a lot before she actually goes to sleep so it just didn't work any more.  I think she misses being swaddled at times though because after I cover her up she wiggles and squirms until the blankets are all tucked around her. 

 Using a sheep for a pillow

 Surrounded and wrapped up

 Holding hands with the puppy and sucking on the sheep

 Sucking on the little sheep again

They make great pillows and snuggle buddies

9 Months

9 months was a big month for you! You finally cut the teeth you were working on!  Two of them.  They are the cutest little teeth and super sharp too!  Mama was so happy because you became my happy little girl again.

You want to stand all the time.  You have fallen so many times.  You have gotten several bruises all over your face.  You think standing is awesome especially in the bathtub.  You have fallen quite a few times in there too, but still you are determined to continue doing it.  You have even started practicing standing without holding on to anything for a few seconds.

You started wearing your 6-9 month clothes this month too.  You are a petite little girl.  The doctor says you are fine just small.  Not a big surprise considering both of your parents are on the small side.

You love all the stuffed animals that you have in your bed.   Every night is a big party before you fall asleep.  You also love going to the pool with your Daddy.  You discovered how to open and close doors if they aren't closed all the way.  You love playing on the beds when they are all made nice and neat and peek-a-boo is pretty fun especially when daddy plays with you.

Your first Olympics happened this month.  You weren't super impressed, but that is ok, you will be when you get a little older.

Your Mimi and Pawpaw came to visit this month too.  This was the first time that you have really gotten to spend much time with them for an extended period of time.  You thought they were pretty fun!  You even said your first word while they were here.  Your first word was Uh-oh.  We were surprised that you chose that one to be your first, but it is so cute hearing your little voice.  Most of the time you just shorten it to "uh"  but it is still super cute!

You discovered Mama's cabinet of plastic dishes and you think that they make the most fun toys ever!  It makes quite a mess sometimes, but it does help keep you entertained while Mama cooks dinner or washes bottles.

You still aren't sleeping through the night, but you usually sleep for several hours at a time and most nights you limit your wakings to just one time.

You are finally starting to get enough hair that it gets messed up when you sleep.  Your little bed head is adorable.

You are growing up and changing so fast.  We love watching you learn and explore.  Now that you are moving around so well there is no stopping you!  You are all over the place!

Don't take my picture help me! (I can't get this picture to post right side up so it helps if you turn your head sideways:))

 I'm not sleepy :)

 Peek-a-boo

 I found these fun toys!

 Look! No hands!

 Whoa! These are awesome!

 Milk splatters all over her face

 Crazy nap hair

 Helping Pawpaw build her toy

 A little ornery

Adoring your Daddy

You are growing up and changing so fast.  We love love watching you learn and explore.  Now that you are moving around so well there is no stopping you!  You are all over the place!