January Weather | Part 2

Here is the sequel to my previous post.

The day after the snow... we got ice. It doesn't sound that bad, but when you add freezing rain on top of 6 inches of snow, its bad! First thing that morning, I was getting cereal for the kids and realized how "pretty" everything looked outside. Wow! Look at all the ice on everything! So I headed outside with my photo gear in hand. Snap snap snapping pictures... gee, this is great! Moments later I hear crashing sounds. Then I hear more crashing. Then I look over in my neighbors back yard at the very moment a huge branch from their tree comes crashing down. Thats when it all changed in my mind. I headed back inside to discover the power was out. Out out out... for 3 days! *that is the longest I've ever been without power.

The first day without power was fun. The kids and I grabbed the guest room mattress and Timmy's twin mattress and we made some beds in our living room where our gas fireplace was. Thankfully we had a gas fireplace or we would have been freezing! We played games, puzzles, built a tent, read stories, played with flashlights, watched movies on Daddies laptop after charging it in the car, ate lots of fruit and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, lit candles, cleaned up messes, made more messes... and on and on.

Day two... we were getting a little stir crazy. For some reason, when your power goes out, time slows way down. Go figure. Tim decided it was time to fire up our generator. Thank goodness I have a smart husband who thought it was important to own a generator. We were able to run our microwave and oven and have some important lights on in the house at night. Tim and I played a few rounds of Sequence. Its our favorite game to play together.

Day three. I'm done. I had to get out of the house. I ran to Costco with the kids. Costco didn't even have power. They were running their lights and registers on generators but it was freezing in Costco that day. Grabbed some important essentials... Doritos, muffins, fruit... ya know... the healthy stuff. ;)

Day four. We finally got power back on at 3 pm! Yippee!!! Life is back to normal!

Our family learned a valuable lesson. Food storage and 72 hour kits are very important! Anything can happen at any time and we need to be prepared. So important! Here's the pics I took during our crazy weather:

I don't know if you can tell by the picture below, but the snow on our bench is complete ice. Imagine that sitting on top of tree branches.

The thick layer of ice I peeled off of one of the Rhododendron leaves.

My cute boy trying to read a story and Aubri was being a bit crazy! Can you tell by the expression on her face?

Getting a bit bored!

A little hide and seek anyone? Even our dog was getting in on the action.

Our wintery view. The branches on the trees are usually horizontal. The tree on the left is missing all of the branches in the middle now. Poor tree.

Hubby getting the laptop ready for us to watch a movie. :)

Watching our movie... I think it was Winnie the Pooh?

The view of the power lines and the trees with all the ice.

Tim took us for a drive to see some of the roads closed due to fallen trees and power lines.


I'm sad our city lost lots of beautiful trees. Even the park where I took these pictures. So sad but I'm glad its over and just a memory now.

January Weather | Jones Style

I'm slacking on my blog and needing to catch up. January was an interesting month. Seemed to have gone by pretty quick. But not without a little snow and ice.

The Day of the Snow...

Poor Timmy fell and didn't know what to think about the cold snow on his hands.

Making a snow ball to throw at her brother. 

Snow Angel time!

Those eyes!

Timmy's favorite... the spider boots. Thanks Lur! ;)

She's busy concentrating on building a snow castle!

His mischievous look. I love this boy!

**My next post... the day after the pretty snow, ice rain. 

Chicken Enchiladas on the menu!

I'm feeling in the sharing mood today since I have attracted a few new readers to my blog via a post I did here. People are pinning it on pinterest like crazy and I feel honored! I've also received tons of really nice emails about my style of photography. It's all definitely giving me a boost in my self esteem, so thank you all! I really appreciate it!

I was reminiscing with my hubby the other day about my ability to cook in the past, or lack thereof. There were only 2 meals I made good: spaghetti (out of a jar, lol) and chicken enchiladas. My excuse, I worked all day and had a lack of energy to really care about cooking that well. That has all changed since I had my first baby and became a stay at home mom. I now had time to devote to trying new things. I love finding new recipes and sort of making them my own by omitting something or adding something. Cooking is now fun for me. I absolutely love pinterest and all the recipes I find on there that I have to make at least once. So now I want to share a recipe of mine that you have to try at least once. You won't regret it! 

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas!

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast - cooked and shredded

1 package of mexican style shredded cheese

1 can whole chilis (dice them)

2 small cans sliced olives

5-6 green onions diced up

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

10-12 mission flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 375

Combine cream of chicken soup with sour cream in a bowl. In a 9X13 inch pan (preferrably glass), put a thin layer of soup mixture on the bottom. With your spatula, swipe a thin layer of the soup/sour cream mixture across the middle of the tortilla and then you can start layering on the following ingredients: shredded chicken, olives, green chile, green onions and cheese to top it off. Roll up and put in pan (seam side down). Continue until pan is full. Pour the left over soup and sour cream mixture over enchiladas and spread evenly with a spatula. Layer with cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 375 for 15-20 mins. Check it at 15 mins... if its bubbling, its good to go!

I love to serve them up with some spanish rice and a salad. YUM!

Tips & Tricks:

**To make your chicken more flavorful, if you don't already do this... cook it in your saute pan with some chicken broth. Make sure to salt and pepper your chicken to your liking.

-Something I learned from Pinterest that helps make this recipe go faster is shredding the cooked chicken in your Kitchen Aid. Great tip! 

-Also, I've learned over the years to buy the can of whole chili's and just dice them myself. I found I would get pieces of skin in the already chopped ones and I hate that! Cutting the whole chili's makes it so I can prevent anyone from getting the skin in their enchilada. Blah!

-My last and final tip to make these enchiladas the bomb is to buy the Tillamook mexican shredded cheese. I actually haven't been able to find it in the store ever since I lived on Orcas Island. Their mexican shredded cheese was so good because they had some pepper jack shredded up with the other cheese. Yum! I just buy the regular blend of mexican style shredded cheese because its more mild for my kiddos to eat. Still delicious! 

P.S. This recipe is meant to be made with cream of chicken soup. Don't substitute with cream of mushroom. blah!

Enjoy!

Trimming the tree...

over & over & OVER again!

*side note* ...this is all new to me. It's the first time I've ever had this sort of trouble. Didn't know there was such a thing as only decorating the top half of the tree. I'll have to remember for next year... though it really really bugs me and I keep putting the ornaments back.

This is how it all goes down first thing in the morning at my house in the month of December:

Victim:

Culprit #1:

 

Culprit #2:



Culprit #3:



Finding my something pretty and sparkly... to pieces. The shame!

 

At least Aubri is trying to put them to good use and is collecting ornaments (which she refers to as apples) for grandmother. She is little red riding hood.

This cute boy is just being plain naughty! He first stole my colander from the kitchen, collects the ornaments, and proceeds to throw them one by one down the stairs. Good thing I got rid of my glass ornaments and bought the shatter proof ones instead.


Lets look at the evidence again...

NAUGHTY:


NICE:


*I guess we know who's getting a lump of coal for Christmas. ;)

a little reflection fun:


& I just like this picture mainly because the sun was shining that day. Thats always nice, even if your kids are destroying your tree. :)

Aubri's 4!

This past Sunday Aubriana turned 4!!! She was so excited about it! When she woke up I started singing Happy Birthday to her and she then responded, while touching her face... "AH! My mouth got big, my nose got big, my eyes got big and my hair is LONG like you mom! I'm big!" Funny how that happened overnight. You can't help but laugh at a 4 year old imagination.

Its so fun to see the changes they go thru each year. Especially since it seems like yesterday when they were just born and you were holding them as a tiny baby (Tim and I did some reminiscing on her birthday, can you tell?).

Anyway, we had a big family party the weekend before Thanksgiving and celebrated her cousin Sophi's (turned 2) and Soren (turned 1) and Aubri's together! It was awesome! We took the kids to the Bullwinkle Fun Center and let them play in the over crowded Kiddopolaus. Then we headed back to our house for pizza, cake and presents. Man, did those kids get presents! Their Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Dana and Uncle Jim were too generous! The kids had a blast and I only really have a couple of decent pictures from the whole thing. I wasn't in the photopp zone... between knocking my brother-in-law over with my hinny trying to get some pictures and almost burning a pizza... well, I tried.

I did get some memorable pics of Aubri on her actual birthday. I bought her a cardigan to go over a really pretty dress her Grandma Jones bought her. So she was so excited to be dressed up on her birthday for church. We have church at 1, so I didn't get started on decorating her cake until after 7 pm! I know... I'm horrible! The day just got away from me. Aubri had a good birthday though, so thats what matters, right?!

First... here is a little interview I had with her. I got the idea off of pinterest.  You can get the page to print HERE. I think I'll be doing this with her every year from now on... if I can remember. One of the things that was exciting was she wrote her own name, by herself, on her birthday! I was so impressed! She's been able to do it ever since. Her name on the paper is all her, without any help from the peanut gallery! Go Aubs!

*Keep in mind that I just wrote her answers the way she said them. Some are pretty darn funny.

Right before she blew out her candles, she made a wish out loud. It was pretty funny but I can't remember what it was.


The presents. We got her little people to go with the big doll house that her Aunt Lurlyn bought her. The two girls she is holding below she named:  Karshia and Kaboosa. LOL!


This is Timmy, jealous that he's not getting any presents to open. :(


Playing her new fishing game with dadda.


The next day, Aubri asked her dadda to play dolls with her. He got to be the Grandma and I think Aubri's playing with Kaboosa. :) I couldn't help snap a photo. Tim's man enough. No shame in being a good daddy.