Haiden turns ONE!

Last year, January went by excruciatingly slow, waiting for Haiden to get here...then the 29th, finally came and we welcomed our son into the world. So this year, was our first year with Haiden, and January went by before I knew what was happening. 

January is typically when all the holiday decorations come down, everyone recovers from the previous year, and end of year festivities...we just have to do that aaaand plan a birthday party. It doesn't seem like a lot, and maybe it isn't, but this is the month where everything had to be planned out to the letter, to make sure everything that needed to get done, got done. 

So after Haiden and I got back from Texas, I started on 2013, cleaning year! I organized our storage unit: broke down boxes, got rid of about half the clutter, organized all the holiday decorations, and voila, the storage unit looks amazing!! 

Then onto Haiden's room: he has been playing with the blinds, we we had to move the bed, and that ended up turning into rearranging the whole room, and I put his book shelf in his closet, since he wants to take off all his books to read them any chance he gets. By moving his book self into the closet, I had to clean up all our documents, we keep in there, which took longer than I thought it would. In the end, everything turned out great! 

There always seems to be so much work to do on the house, but this is the year we try to get it in super awesome order. 

Throughout the weekdays, I had been going to one or two places to check out goodies for Haiden's Duck Themed party. 

Before I knew it the 29th was here, and we were celebrating Haiden's first birthday with just mommy, daddy and Haiden, plus all the birthday present's from the family. 

After having practiced opening presents for Christmas, twice, he was a pro this time. He helped open all his presents and he even guessed what two of them were before opening them! Some thing that I found to be adorable and awesome, was that Haiden could say ever present he got, except clock, but he tried and it was priceless! 

Of course, after presents is CAKE time! This is what Zach had been waiting for...Haiden demolishing the cake. 

Haiden, did not demolish his cake, nor did he know what to do with it. Zach helped him try to get into it by running his hand through the cake. This had zero effect on Haiden's reaction to the cake. We finally settled on just giving him a piece of the cake...which he thoroughly enjoyed. In one picture, you can see that he is looking over the edge of his tray for more cake :). Zach also gave him a little bit of his ice cream, which Haiden played with for a second before devouring it. Though this didn't turn out exactly how we had envisioned it, it was still priceless! And whether Haiden remembers this in the future is of no concern to me, because I know that on this day, in these moments, he was loved, and he had a blast! 

Happy First Birthday Haiden Eli!! 

<3 Mommy and Daddy!!!

RECIPES!

Rustic Potato Soup with Cheddar and Green Onions

Prep time: 35 min 

Start to Finish: 35 min

2 servings

1-1/2 cups water

1 lb unpeeled russet potatoes

1 cup fat-free milk

1 tsp butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

4 medium green onions, chopped

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar

1. In 2 qt sauce pan, heat water to boiling. Meanwhile cut potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes; add to boiling water. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Cover; simmer 5-7 minutes.

2. Drain potatoes well; reserve 1 cup potatoes. Place remaining potatoes (about 1-1/2 cup) in blender. Add 1/2 cup milk. Cover; blend until smooth, adding additional milk if needed. Return blended mixture to saucepan.

3. Add reserved 1 cup potatoes, remaining 1/2 cup milk, the butter, salt, pepper, 1/3 cup onions and 1/3 cup cheese to sauce pan. Cook over medium heat 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soup is hot and cheddar is melted.

4. Serve in two bowls, topping with remaining onions and cheese.

Shrimp, Pepper and Rice Soup

Prep time: 35 minutes

Start to Finish: 50 minutes

2 servings

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

1 Tbs butter (do not use margarine)

1 cup water

1/4 tsp seafood seasoning

2 Tbs apple juice

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1-1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp thyme

3/4 lb cooked deveined peeled large shrimp, thaw if frozen, tail shells removed

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips

1. In 10 inch skillet, cook rice in butter over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until rice is golden. Stir in water and seafood seasoning. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover; simmer 30-35 minutes or until rice is almost tender and mixture is creamy.

2. Meanwhile, in 2 qt sauce pan, cook apple juice, onion and garlic over medium-high head 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until hot. 

3. Stir cooked rice into seafood mixture. Cook about 5 minutes stirring occasionally, until rice is tender.

Southwest Herb Flank Steak

Prep time: 10 minutes

Start to Finish: 40 minutes

2 servings

1/2 lb beef flank steak

1/2 cup chopped Roma tomatoes

2 Tbs lime juice

1 Tbs cilantro

2 tsp fresh oregano

1/8 tsp salt

1. Make cuts abut 1/2 inch apart ad 1/4 inch deep into diamond pattern in both sides of beef; place in large resealable bag. 

2. In small bowl, mix remaining ingredients; spoon over beef. Seal bag. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. 

3. Set oven to broil. Spray broiler pan rack with cooking spray. Place beef on rack in broiler pan; brush with liquid from bag. Reserve tomatoes. Broil with top of beef 4-6 inches from heat for 8-12 minutes, turning once. 

4. With slotted spoon, spoon tomatoes onto beef; discard remaining liquid. Broil 3-5 minutes longer until tomatoes are lightly browned. Cut beef diagonally across grain into thin slices.

*This recipe goes great with a side of fresh green beans and red bell pepper strips sauteed in oil. 

No-Bake Cheesecake Pie

**By the time we did our Christmas Eve shopping, some of the ingredients for this recipe were no longer available...so I improvised. I will put my improvisation in parenthesis. 

1 cup vanilla or white chips (1 - 4 oz - toll-house white chocolate baking bar)

2 packages - 8 oz each - cream cheese, cubed

1 carton - 8 oz - whipped topping, thawed

1 graham cracker crust

1/3 cup English toffee bits or almond brickle chips (1 package of caramel chips)

In a heavy saucepan, melt chips over medium-low heat; stir until smooth (mix white chocolate bar with 1/2 cup caramel chips, it will not become smooth, but melt down the caramel until as smooth as you can). Remove from heat; stir in cream cheese until smooth (this will cause caramel to harden, so break it up into small pieces as you mix in the cream cheese). Fold in whipped topping. Pour into crust. Cover and refrigerate over night or until set. Just before serving, sprinkle with toffee bits (caramel chips).

Four-cheese Baked Ziti

Yields: 12 servings, but will be gone in two sittings!!

1 package (16 oz) ziti or small tube pasta

2 cartons (10 oz each) refrigerated Alfredo sauce (we found it with the cheeses)

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 carton (15 oz) ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

1/4 cup parsley

1-3/4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package; drain and return to the pan. Stir in Alfredo sauce and sour cream. Spoon half into a lightly greased 3 qt baking dish.

2. Combine the eggs, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan, Romano and parsley; spread over pasta. Top with remaining pasta mixture; sprinkle with mozzarella and remaining Parmesan.

3. Cover and back at 350 for 25 minutes. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly.

Hashbrown Casserole

1 bag Southern Homestyle hashbrowns, thawed 2-3 hours

2 can cream of chicken soup

16 oz sour cream

2 cups cheddar cheese

2 cups saltine cracker crumbs (one bag)

1 stick butter

salt/pepper

Mix cream of chicken, sour cream, cheddar cheese and salt/pepper, in a large mixing bowl. Add hashbrowns, mix and stir. Put in 9X13 baking dish, and cover with cracker crumbs. Melt butter and pour over cracker crumbs. Bake 350 for 45 minutes. 

Bingo Bars

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup corn syrup

4 cup special K cereal

1 Tbs vanilla extract

1-1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

12 oz butterscotch bits

6 oz chocolate chips

Combine sugar, corn syrup in sauce pan, bring to boil and remove from heat. Add cereal, vanilla, and peanut butter. Stirring well, put mix into 10X15 in jelly roll pan. Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch. Spread over bars. Cut when cool. 

Peanut Butter Pie9 

9 inch frozen pie crust

1 package vanilla pudding

8 ounces whipped topping (thawed)

4 Tbs peanut butter

4 Tbs powdered sugar (more if needed)

- Bake pie crust, fork sides and bottom first, then bake as directed. Let cool.

- Mix pudding, follow directions on package. 

- Mix peanut butter and powdered sugar with a fork until little balls form and all peanut butter is covered.

- Put peanut butter mix in the bottom of pie crust, cover with vanilla pudding. Add whipped topping to the top and sprinkle with a little peanut butter mix. 

- Refrigerate for 4 hours or over night. 

January, how art thou...

January brought fun times, even if Haiden and I were in Texas for New Years and didn't see Zach for a few days...

We celebrated my dad's birthday, played with Tiny and May, got to see Shibby, wore tons of cute and new outfits from Christmas, took a family friend out to dinner, I hung out with Volvo, celebrated New Years, and learned tons of new things.

After the two weeks we spent in Texas, Zach was amazed at how much Haiden learned...

- Haiden can now say 'blue' and 'yellow' and most of the time distinguish between the two

- He is now standing up and sitting down when asked to

- He grapples around from one piece of furniture to another

- He blinks when asked

- He can make legit kisses, if not that frequently

- He says 'fish'

- He knows the sounds of numerous animals

- He plays peek-a-boo on his own, you just have to know that's what he's doing in order to play along

- He plays an 'up-down' game, where you say 'up' 'down' and he will stand up and sit down as many times as you say

- He helps you get himself dressed, by pushing his arms and legs into clothes, as well as sitting very still with his arms up for you to remove his shirts 

- He will eat pretty much anything set in front of him, as well as beg by standing next to you while you eat saying 'ma-ma-ma' meaning 'more more more'

- He will sign a few things here and there, but knows the meaning of most signs we sign to him

- He finally crawls on his hands and knees

That was seriously everything he just picked up in those two short weeks. He mimics people so easily, I've never seen a baby do that. Once you show him something maybe three times, he will do his best to imitate it. 

Haiden has also FINALLY sprouted a tooth!! One glorious tooth, that by the looks of it, is very crooked...but it is there and we couldn't be happier! He loved finger foods now, and will put anything small enough in his mouth to eat. 

I can't believe that he will be ONE by the end of the month...we have so much to do to get ready for it, I hardly know where to begin. 

So here's to 2013!!!! May it all be glorious to you, as it is already proving to be glorious for us! <3