Jack- Week Four

Night 21

In a stocking


Night 22

In the tree

Night 23

Again, I fell asleep without moving him, but when I woke in the morning he wasn't in the tree where I left him. Mike luckily moved him before he left for work. It was fun searching the house for him with Marley. Found him on the kitchen fan.

Night 24

Night 25

Enjoying the cat food

Night 26

 In the Christmas wreath

Night 27

He brought Marley and Mason each a christmas book.


Check out all of our Elf on the Shelf posts here.

Taco Bake

I'm back for another recipe. This time it's Taco Bake.

1 lb ground beef

1 packet taco seasoning

Water (as called for on seasoning packet)

tortilla shells

1/2 cup salsa con queso

1 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

Brown and crumble ground beef. Drain out fat.  Mix in taco seasoning and water according to directions on package.

Once meat is ready turn off heat and add the 1/2 cup salsa con queso and mix well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place tortilla shell on cookie sheet or in a round cake pan.  Next add 1/3 of the meat and then 1/3 of the cheese then tortilla, continue layering until you end with cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes then enjoy!

Layered Italian Bake

I think I've cooked dinner every night this week. That's probably a first for me. We usually at least have one night of frozen pizza or chicken nuggets.

This time it's Layered Italian Bake.

1- 8oz refrigerated crescent rolls

8 slices turkey

8 slices ham

12 slices salami (I didn't use salami, but I guess the meat is what gives it the Italian name?)

8 slices swiss cheese

4 eggs, beaten

1 can roasted red peppers (I didn't use these either because I don't like peppers)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Unroll crescent rolls without separating triangles. Separate into 2 squares.
Place one square on the bottom of an 8x8 square baking dish.

Layer half the meat on top of dough, then cheese and peppers. Pour half of the eggs on top of the cheese.

Continue layering meat, cheese, peppers.  Place other square of crescent rolls on top.  Pour remaining eggs on top of dough.

Cover lightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and cook for an additional 20 minutes. (I cooked mine for a total of 50 minutes because I noticed the eggs were still really runny and that grosses me out)

Let cool for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

I will admit this recipe scared me a little. First, was the fact that I was putting eggs on what was essentially a sandwich and I don't really like eggs. Second, was the way it looked. I'm a picky eater so if something looks weird I won't even try it, but this smelled amazing so I gave it a try.  It was actually pretty good. I couldn't taste the eggs at all. Mike said it was alright and again Marley only ate hers because she wanted candy afterwards.  I did some searching online to see if I could find some other reviews of it, just to see what others thought of it, and I stumbled across someone saying they would make it using cheddar cheese and add bacon so it's more of a breakfast dish. I am totally doing that next time- who doesn't love bacon?!

Countdown to Christmas begins

December 1st started the holiday season here in our house. We put up the tree and other decorations. We also started the 'chocolate calendar' as Marley calls it. 

That night we went to Taltree Arboretum for Glow in the Garden. Santa was there (the one mentioned here) and they had some lights and trains. We've never been there before so we weren't sure what to expect, but we heard you need to go in the summer to really enjoy everything they have because they put most of the stuff away in the winter months. 

Marley liked the trains. They even had a Thomas one.

My dad waiting for a good couple minutes for the train to come onto the bridge so he could get the perfect picture. 

Outside of the train depot was there was this puzzle. I think we spent at least 15 minutes trying to figure it out, but couldn't. I couldn't just go home without figuring it out so I took a picture of the puzzle and directions to figure out later. The next morning, I got on the computer, opened the pictures up in paint (so I could draw lines on it) and I had it figured out on my second try. Give it a try! 

Start at the yellow hand print square, proceed for as many squares as you choose in the given direction. once you have stopped, change direction and move according to your new arrow. continue this way until you reach the middle square.

GOOD LUCK!!

How many tries did it take you? Are you still trying to figure it out?? I think the reason we couldn't figure it out in person was the two top left arrows pointing at each other really threw us off, but they're very important!

We're going to see Santa again so we can get a picture with Marley and Mason so I'll be back in another post to share that.