He's Two! He's Two!

On March 22, Lucas Patrick Dell turned two years old! While we were in California (see previous post) we celebrated with Craig's family and then celebrated on his birthday with my family. We HAD planned a Star Wars themed birthday party, but SOMEONE decided to get sick during the nap they were taking RIGHT BEFORE the party, so that DID NOT happen. We love him and I'm sure he would have loved the party if we had been able to have it. :)

That's right, that's ELMO on those cupcakes!

The adult cake...because Elmo was just too cool to eat...

Yay for Lucas still being a dainty eater!

Lucas is REALLY partied out, if you can't tell...

I love his hesitation...These are obviously dinosaurs, guys...I think...

And, yes, he loves Corduroy

I DON'T HAVE ANYMORE PRESENTS TO OPEN?!?!

The Lightsaber bubble wands that went un-played-with

The gift bags that were passed out at a later date with apologies

The Padawan braids that went un-worn

And finally, the Rebel Alliance cake that went uneaten by the other little padawans that were anticipated at the party.

We love Lucas, he's such an intelligent and happy boy and we're so grateful he's in our lives.

Cheesy Red Enchiladas

I've been meaning to blog more about recipes that i'm developing. These I sort of put together after asking a number of people for Cheese Enchilada recipes. So thank you all for your contribution!

Cheesy Red Enchiladas

Oil
Corn tortillas
1/2 lb. of Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1-10 oz. can of La Victoria's Mild Red Enchilada Sauce (It MUST be this kind)
Kraft's mexican blend of cheese
Olives, halved or thirded (optional)
Green onions, finely chopped (optional)

Start by having the enchildada sauce warming on the stove (not boiling...you'll burn your fingers...trust me). Then fry up however many corn tortillas you want in the oil for about ten seconds per side. Just enough that they are a little crispy but not too much that it's hard to roll them. They'll also have a HEAVENLY corny smell to them which is why this step is necessary in order to bring out the flavor. Usually about 12 corn tortillas fills a 9x9 in. pan and feeds us with leftovers to spare.

When all the corn tortillas are fried, gently dip them one at a time in the enchilada sauce so that both sides are covered. You don't have to get every inch of it covered, but try to get most of it covered.

What I'll do is dip one, set it in the pan i'm using to bake the enchiladas in, fill it with however much cheese I want, roll it, and place it. That's what I do, but you can figure out your own method if you want.

Now once you've got them all in there (you can squish them together, no worries) I spread the mexican blend cheese on top, then the olives and onions. Put in a preheated oven of 350 degrees for fifteen minutes and voila! Cheesy Red Enchiladas!

Super easy and they're seriously Lucas' favorite!

Seriously...

Spring Break 2011

So WAY back in March during our spring break we took a trip out to Manteca, CA to visit Craig's parents. We caravaned over with our good friends Donnie, Jenni and their little boy Asher who were also visiting family in Sacramento!

At about midnight while we were driving we were informed it was snowing in Donner's Pass and chains were required, so we felt it necessary to stop in Reno and grab a hotel that night. Coincidentally Circus Circus was a surprisingly cheap option so we got ourselves a room.

Definitely a Circus Circus room...

Lucas' favorite part was pushing the stroller into the bathroom...go figure...

Craig's parents took us to Vivolo's Chowder House for some good ol' fashioned Clam Chowder in a Sourdough bread bowl...mmmm....

...then we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Lucas had lots of stories about fishies after that.

Of COUSE we had to take a picture with us and the Pacific...it's been too long...

Can anyone guess what we're making?

So we realized that in all the times Craig's parents have visited us and all the times we've visited them neither party got a picture of the Grandparents and Lucas. It's a couple years late but we made it happen! He loves being tickled by his Grandma!

I Know...

So there is a new blog coming. We are alive, Craig and I finally finished a semester and have taken care of most of our to-do list. One of those things to do would be blog. S0 we're working on a new post. We promise.