Sisters and Margaritas Just Go Together...

My sister made my whole month when she told me to block off a weekend in November (yes, I am that behind!) because the whole Courville family was coming to town. I don't think I could have a better Friday knowing  my sister and her precious crew were on their way. The wine was ready and beer "fridge" was stocked. Time to celebrate the weekend and solve all of the worlds problems while managing to keep the babies, kids and hubbies happy and alive;)

Jen and I have been simpatico forever, not just sisters but best friends. God has blessed me with beautiful sisters and a special relationship with each. Jen and I have always been so close...well, after those young years where we fought all the time but definitely once we got to high school together. She was a senior and I was a freshman. She drove me around all around that year, bless her heart. We went out together and then we had the best time living together in college. Now we are both teachers (kinder for me and 1st for her) and then it was only fitting that we had babies(my first and her third) just a few days apart.

 Jen rushed to the hospital (3 hours away!!) just a few days before her own due date to be there when Collins was born and was also there for CC's first birthday party. I know I am blessed and I cannot imagine a world without my sisters.

So our weekend was a fabulous time, as always! The men drank their beer (and scotch) and helped us with the babies and kept us mommas happy. We had fun dinners out, photo shoots and we brought the kids to the Houston zoo.

The weather was gorgeous and apparently everyone else in Houston had the same idea for the zoo but we made it in! The kids loved it and it was Collins first time to go. She kept pointing at everything...it was so fun seeing it through her eyes. I never knew how easy it was to because a fool of parent making the biggest deal out of everything we saw to our baby who barely knew what was going on. But we did and she seemed to enjoy her little self, as much as we did!

That night called for a "night in" where we cooked and laughed for hours. The men drank more scotch and I made a mexican fiesta with Cranberry Lime Margaritas for us girls. We had Spicy Queso Dip to munch on while we made Southwestern Chicken and Rice Soup (so easy!). The dip was so good and so bad for us so we had to behave with a delicious but relatively healthy main course. We ate ourselves silly while we kept the margaritas flowing. You know nothing goes better together than margaritas and sisters...

Cranberry Lime Margaritas

1 cup sugar

1 cup fresh lime juice

2 cups tequila
1/2 cup orange triple sec
1 (64 oz) bottle cranberry juice
Lime wedges
Kosher salt
1. Stir together sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Pour into a large pitcher, cover and chill 20 minutes.
2. Add lime juice and next 3 ingredients to sugar syrup in pitcher. Chill until ready to serve. Rub rims with lime wedges, and di rims in salt. Serve margaritas over crushed ice.

Spicy Queso Dip 
(SLOW COOKER RECIPE! YAY!)
1 cup milk
8 oz. queso cheese, cut into small chunks
8 oz. white cheddar cheese, diced
2 Tbsp. butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can finely chopped tomatoes
1 4 oz. can diced jalapeno peppers, drained

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a glass bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes or until creamy stirring often.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, saute 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomato, and saute 2 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in peppers.
3. Stir vegetable mixture into cheese mixture until blended. Transfer dip to a slow cooker. Heat on low or warm setting for up to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
(Adapted  from Southern Living Christmas Cookbook)

Southwestern Chicken and Rice Soup
1 bag seasoning blend
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cans chopped fire roasted tomatoes
7 cups chicken broth
1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 avocado, chipped
Tortilla Chips
1. Saute first 3 ingredients in hot oil in a large pot over medium heat until vegetables are tender. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.
2. Stir in chicken and next 5 ingredients. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in cilantro and lime juice. Garnish with avocado and tortilla chips.
(Adapted from 2006 Southern Living Annual Recipes Cookbook)

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Two Ladybugs, One Dalmation and Cruella Deville

My handsome hubby loves to dress up. Give him any occasion, especially Halloween and the man is all on board. There was a time in our lives that we owned two huge afro wigs (from a 70s Halloween costume quite a few years ago) and the man loved to wear these things on random occasions.

He even wore them in a golf tournament...for church...and convinced our church administrative assistant to do the same. I heard the rumors that they were cruising on their golf carts in these wigs and the rumors were true. I should have known. Those wigs bit the dust when he wore one in the Warrior Dash one year and he convinced another friend to do the same.

So Halloween? It would be considered taboo to not dress up. You will never find the Welchs not participating in Halloween. So this year there was more of a reason to celebrate...we had a baby to dress up! Since she is our baby bug, she of course was a ladybug. And then "sissy" dressed up too, as a matching ladybug, of course.

We spent too much money on costumes that were worn for about 3 hours (maybe 10 minutes for Garcia:) but it was worth it. As far as daddy is concerned, you can never spend too much on dressing up.

We dressed up our babies and took pictures in the front yard and jumped around like fools to get the two of them to look and smile. We succeeded a few times.And what do you do on Halloween night with a baby? Well, you join forces with best friends and their baby since we can't exactly have a night on the town.

We took about a thousand pictures of Matthew (the precious little lion) and the Ladybug and I am pretty sure they were babbling about how crazy we were with the camera.

Sot what else do you do when they are too little to go trick or treating? Well we rolled them around in the wagon and then stripped them down to diapers for dinner. Our wild Halloween with babies babies included peas and chicken all over floor and messy babies to bathe! But that is why you join forces and do it together...and with delicious food and spirited beverages. Mary Rachel cooked the most amazing chili that apparently is her dad's secret award winning chili so there is no recipe to share there:) But I did  make Peanut Butter and Cocoa Crispy Rice Krispies because chocolate and peanut butter are my husband's love language language and  pumpkin pie martinis to wash it down with:)

I feel like babies are the hardest job and the best joy. I feel like nothing can prepare you for how things change when they come along but special events and weekends REALLYYYY change. In the sweetest way, but also not in the most exciting way if you can understand. I mean, whining and messy babies doesn't equal a thrilling time but I still wouldn't change it. It is our new season of life so we are rolling with it and we are so blessed by our baby girl. So you just  pack the wine, good food and do it with good friends!

But then there are times that you get a babysitter, dress up and get to be your pre-baby selves...all while never forgetting the precious lady bug that you left at home.

Our sweet friends and wonderful hostesses, Jacob and Maria hosted our Sunday School Halloween Party and there wasn't a detail spared. Maria is one of the most creative people I know and another dear friend of ours, Jenn, is always right there with her. The two of them could rival Martha Stewart and her party planning any day. We had a mexican buffet contributed by everyone and I brought dessert of course, another version of rice crispy treats and this time with Reese's Pieces (another love language of Jason's) Jason and I dressed up as Cruella and the Dalmatian and while we were pretty darn cute (at least we were told;), we didn't quite take home the costume contest prize. There was lots of stiff competition! Especially when you compete against Duck Dynasty!

Halloween Crispy Treats

1/4 cup butter

1 (10 oz) package marshmallows

6 cups rice cereal

1 (1 lb) package Reece's Pieces

Lightly grease a 13x9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add cereal stirring until well coated. Stir in Reece's. Using buttered hands, evenly press mixture into prepared pan. Cool completely. Cut into squares. 

Peanut Butter and Cocoa Crispy Treats

Halloween sprinkles

1/4 cup butter

1 (10 oz) package marshmallows

2/3 cup peanut butter

6 cups cocoa-flavored rice cereal

Lightly grease a 13x9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle Halloween sprinkles to cover bottom of prepared pan. In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows, and stir until completely melted. Add peanut butter, stirring well to combine. Remove from heat. Add cereal, stirring until well coated. Using butter hands, evenly press mixture into prepared pan. Cool completely. Cut into squares. Flip over when preparing on serving plate.

Pumpkin Pie Martini

Ice

3/4 cup spiced rum

1/4 cup pumpkin spice creamer

2 tablespoons canned pumpkin

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes. Add rum, pumpkin spice cream and pumpkin. Shake with ice until well blended and strain into 2 martini glasses. Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice.

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Lunch for the Mommas

I recently had my two sweet friends (Gabe and Mary Rachel) and their boys over for a play date with Collins (as much as our little ones can play) and I wanted to cook lunch for us mommas. I had visions of me whipping up a stress free lunch while our babies napped and then us mommas would talk and eat. Well, what really happened was that Collins woke up with a fever that morning and was so not herself. She was up and down all day. I had a thousand things going on in the kitchen and our conversations were so sporadic and all over the place. Did I mention that I actually had plans to set out china for lunch just to put a cherry on top of my adorable ladies lunch? Let's just say that never happened. It was the thought that counts, right? I came clean with my friends and told them my intentions of fine china and they laughed and said they wouldn't hold it against me. You can't blame me for trying to live with rose colored glasses on!

Here are Gabe and Mary Rachel's sweet boys but no Collins:( She was sleeping.

So I already talked about my sweet friend, Mary Rachel in a previous post who was one of my mommas present and my other momma was life long friend, Gabe. Gabe and I have known each other since high school and have been dear friends since. We have 5 other best friends and we call ourselves the 6-pak. The 7 of us (yes, there is really more than 6 of us) were inseparable in high school and to this day we still have our special friendship. So how blessed was I to move to Houston where a 6-paker already lived!! Gabe and her precious family were there for us from the minute we moved down to the night we moved in, bringing us dinner and helping us put beds together so we would have somewhere to sleep! Having Gabe here is like having family close by. She is honestly my "in case of emergency" person besides my husband on Collin's paperwork. It is a sweet, sweet blessing to have her here.

Here is my dear friend, Gabe, and me getting mani and pedis for my birthday...little did I know she had stolen me away to help my hubby surprise me with a party for my 30th birthday. She is very sneaky!

So when we can, it is fun to get these two great friends involved in my bright ideas hence our little play date lunch. I think next time we should opt for a Mommas Night Out without the precious angels so we can really solve the worlds problems. But we managed to have good girl talk while chasing our little ones, calming their cries or trying to get them to stay in one place. The menu was pretty stinking good (Poppyseed Chicken Casserole over rice, spinach salad, french bread, mint chocolate pudding and almond tea) and we enjoyed ourselves! So in the end my mission was accomplished. Yay!

 Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1 10-oz can cream of chicken soup

1 8-oz container of sour cream

2 tbsp. poppy seeds

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

6 tbsp. butter, melted

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

cooked rice

Boil chicken in salted water until tender. Cool and cut up into pieces. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine chicken, chicken soup, sour cream, poppy seeds, cracker crumbs and butter. Pour into 9 inch baking dish. Top with cheese.  Bake until golden brown and bubbly, approximately 45 minutes. Serve with rice. 

Almond Tea

2 cups boiling water

3 tea bags

1 cup sugar

6 tbp. lemon juice concentrate

1 1/2 tsp almond extract 

1 tsp. vanilla extract

6 cups cold water

Pour boiling water over the tea bags in a large drink container. Steep to the desired strength. Remove the tea bags. Add the sugar, lemon juice concentrate, almond extract and vanilla. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add cold water. Refrigerate until chilled. Serve over ice and with fresh lemon. 

Peppermint Chocolate Pudding

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups half and half

4 oz. chopped semi-sweet morsels

1 tbsp. peppermint extract

mini peppermint patties

Whisk  together first 5 ingredients in a 2 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over moderately high heat, whisking constantly, then boil, whisking 2 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and peppermint extract until smooth. Transfer to small bowls and chill pudding, its surface covered with wax paper to prevent a skin (how gross does that sound!!) until cold, at least 2 hours. Top with peppermint patty. 

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