From Janessa

A few pics from Janessa's camera!

Janessa & Grey - footprints

He loved the ladybug bouncer!

Love this one!

White Chicken Lasagna - Recipe

This recipe isn't the quickest, the cheapest, or the most healthy...but it IS one of the tastiest!! It's what we're having for dinner tonight, and my stomach is growling right now just smelling it in the oven!

9 lasagna noodles
1/2 C butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 t salt
2 C chicken broth
1 1/2 C milk
4 C shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 C grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t ground black pepper
2 C ricotta cheese
2 C cubed, cooked chicken meat
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 T chopped fresh parsley
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese for topping
  
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse with cold water.   

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the butter until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour and salt, and simmer until bubbly. Mix in the broth and milk, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with the basil, oregano, and ground black pepper. Remove from heat, and set aside. 

Spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer with 1/3 of the noodles, the ricotta, and the chicken. Arrange 1/3 of the noodles over the chicken, and layer with 1/3 of the sauce mixture, spinach, and the remaining 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Arrange remaining noodles over cheese, and spread remaining sauce evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with parsley and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. 

Bake 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.

Red, White & Grey

...grey skies that is! We got "rained out", how sad!

But we still had  a Happy 4th of July!

Tree climbing

Getting ready to sew...This will be a room divider very soon!

We finished painting everything! The room divider will be going up across here. To hide the piano and craft/school supplies behind it!

So pretty!

Party time!

Swimming and hanging out before the food!

Us girls all played cornhole for the first time! We are pretty terrible!

We had a great dinner, with wonderful friends and amazing food...and right as we were eating, a massive thunder and lightening storm came rolling in. It POURED rain! This forced us to cancel the later part of the evening...fireworks. The kids were super disappointed not to see any this year! We got in the spirit and had some indoor fun instead.

Red, White, and Grey!!

We still cracked open all the glow sticks. But we had to go into the bathroom and turn out the lights to really make 'em shine:-)

Grandma and her little look alike, Grey

He loved the rocking horse!

Long Weekends!

Brian's Mom and sister Meghan are in town...and we are ready to paint Kenna's room! So instead of helping me, Janessa takes off to Busch Gardens with Meghan and Lauren:-) Mom B and I made good headway just the same.

The door is painted, but not the trim. Wow! Look at the difference!

Loving the colour!

Janessa & Meghan at Busch Gardens. They got to meet all the Irish dancers in Ireland! That one guy beside Janessa is WAY tall!! They had a good (long, hot) day!

The rest of the time we spent at parties and get togethers with friends. Janessa managed to also squeeze in a Tides (minor league baseball) game on Sunday too!

Heart Songs

Well, I have to make this month's song one that has been completely stuck in my head for a few days. Literally, I cannot stop humming it. Bruno Mars, Marry You. You'll just have to hum along too. Just say no no no no no:-)



And another one that has been stuck in Kenna's head for about 2 weeks. Literally, we cha-ching cha-ching and ba-bling ba-bling all day long! Xenia, Price Tag.

A few little up beat tunes to put a spring in your step!

Random Pics

It was a pretend birthday party. Complete with party hats, games, and imaginary cake! There are imaginary "guest-is" on the two empty stools:-)

Big Boy! Sitting on a stool at the table!

He always feels the need to point at the camera:-)

Kenna rushes in the house: Look Ma, we have a black man!
Mommy: whaaaaa? Oh.
Kenna: yah, he fell in the dirt

Getting all cleaned up!

Naked bath escapee, playing with the Barbie computer:-)

Disney Princess Cakes

I'm using my barbie doll cake pan once again! Making some cakes for our dear friends little girl, Sarah.

Bake cakes. In this case, 1 chocolate, 1 vanilla, and 1 strawberry...each colour matches the hair of the corresponding Disney princess. Can you guess which ones?

"dirty icing" as Cake Boss would say. It's the crumb coat.

A few pics of the princesses in process...

Tangled's Rapunzel is coming along nicely.

Belle is looking very pretty in her ballgown

Ariel is still swimming under the sea

Now for some finished product pics!

Princess Ariel is all done!

side view

This doll topper started out blonde (identical to Rapunzel's)...I had to actually dye her hair red to make my mermaid. It worked out! I used edible food colour spray in a stunning combo of red and orange. Quite perfect, I think!

My Belle. She has always been my favourite Disney princess!

Side view

Rapunzel is the simplest of the three. But still cute.

They look adorable in these pics, and really, are quite stunning in person. I made my own marshmallow fondant this time, and have gotten much better with sculpting it over the bodice etc. Everyone is nice and smooth, no hidden lumps, yay!

Perhaps the hardest part of the day was doing Ariel's "shells". Lol. It took quite a few tries to get her semi-appropriately covered...and it just felt a little weird, haha. All in all, I had tons of fun! I can't wait to see Sarah's face when she sees them!