Thankful Thursday!

I am soooo thankful that the first round of TAKS is OVER!  My 5th graders took the reading and math test this week, both of which they have to pass to move on to 6th grade.  They will have another opportunity to retake it, but I pray they are all successful the first time around.  Now, aside from any retakes, we only have one more test, science, at the end of April.

I cannot tell you how grueling it is to sit and stare at children all day long.  I am more exhausted at the end of the day doing that than I am if I were actively teaching all day.  It is truly a beating…all I think about all day is a nice cold one of these:

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday!

I have gotten so many compliments on this recipe.  It is yummo and you can make it as spicy as you’d like.  Serve it with your favorite cracker or tortilla chips!  PS…it’s not my recipe.  I got it from Denise Millar Ramsey via allrecipes.com with a little change or two of my own.

Jalapeno Popper Dip/Spread (and yes, it tastes just like a popper!)

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained

2-4 ounces canned diced jalapeno peppers, drained

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup of bread crumbs (mix with parmesan cheese)

Directions:

1. Stir together cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in green chiles and jalapeno peppers. Pour mixture into an oven-safe serving dish, and sprinkle Parmesan cheese/bread crumb mixture on top.
2. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until topping is a nice golden brown.  This is also a great dip served cold if you have any left over.

Easter Wrap up

Wow, what a weekend!  The fam and I traveled down to Houston to visit my family.  My Grandma was in the hospital and supposed to be out on Friday, but she ended up spending the entire weekend there.  Bummer, she hasn’t seen my kiddos in a while so we were sad to miss her.  We did go up to the hospital and got to visit for a bit.  She is fine, just had some breathing/asthma-like issues. 

Mostly we just spent our time, relaxing, talking, and visiting.  My grandmother lives in a beautiful neighborhood with a beautiful backyard and patio, so the kids were in heaven!

We attempted to take some family photos, but as you know, Emerson either doesn’t smile or she wants nothing to do with the photo!  Not to mention, my dad took our family pic so it is blurry, I had NO makeup on because it was so muggy, and my dad is NEVER NOT in a tee shirt! 

   

The Easter bunny came, we dyed some eggs…and then it was time for the best egg hunt ever!!!  We had about 100 eggs for the 4 kids and two special eggs with money. 

  We thought Emerson might have a hard time with the hunt, so we created a little stash for her!  Little did we know, she would have NO problem finding eggs…even ones that were not in plain sight!   

She even had time to pose with some candy in her mouth!

Gunner found the silver egg….

Allyson found the gold egg….

and we rehid the silver egg for Campbell to find!

They finally settled down for this cute pic….

and I just LOVE this pic because of Emerson’s fake smile and she just loves her Uncle Josh!

Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm, Monday!

So I think I am going to try to do this as frequently as I can.  I LOVE to cook and find new recipes for all occasions.  Any recipes that I find have to be fairly easy and not have crazy ingredients/spices that you wouldn’t normally have.  I know I have like 2 readers, but if you like to cook or think you can’t cook (Beth)…give these a try!  They are tried and true by me personally and we all know how much I LOVE to eat.  So to start this new tradition, I think I will  go with….drum roll please….                   CHICKEN SALAD 

It is spring and the perfect time for refreshing foods.  Once I tried this recipe by emmaxwell, I was in heaven. 

Ingredients:

4 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat

1 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

1 cup chopped celery

2 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup minced green bell pepper

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise with paprika and seasoned salt. Blend in dried cranberries, celery, bell pepper, onion, and nuts. Add chopped chicken, and mix well. Season with black pepper to taste. Chill 1 hour.

Serve with your favorite cracker and enjoy!!

March Wrap Up!

Seriously been too busy to blog.  Lots of things have been going on around here in Moncrief Land.  Most importantly, I went back home for spring break to visit family.  We started out in Austin, then on down to Aransas Pass, then back to Austin, and finally back to Dallas!  Very busy trip!

Austin Part 1:  We went to visit Aunt Sharon and Uncle Rusty in Buda.  They have a beautiful piece of land out in the middle of the country, so the kids enjoyed roaming around.  We also ventured out to Salt Lick for some tasty BBQ!

Aransas Pass/Ingleside:  We pretty much just laid around and visited family for about 3 days…great food and lots of rest!  Pretty obvious being that I didn’t even take my camera out that much…we were that lazy!  The pics below are at my BFF Jennifer’s house.  Clearly, Emerson knew she could not go on the stairs, so she hung out the only place she could! (Jocelyn, in the pic with Campbell, is Jenn’s daughter.  Her and Campbell are the same age)

Austin Part 2:  We went and visited our friends Lisa, Caden, and Connor.  Campbell and Caden had a lot of fun while Lisa and I caught up on lots of gossip and drama!  Again, being very lazy, the camera didn’t come out.  I did get a pic of the boys on my iphone, though!

Finally, back home to Dallas!  I had enough time to walk in the door and shower before I was off to the Black-Eyed Peas concert with the best group of Tech girls EVER!!! (PS…no, Megan was not drinking!)

Finally a little relaxation with the hunkiest man in the world and the two best gifts I have ever received!!

Is It Really March?

I cant believe that March is already here.  I am so excited to FINALLY have a week of freedom, fun, and family.  A lot has been going on around here as you will see.  I hate that I haven’t fulfilled my resolution of blogging 3 times a week, but I am happy with what I have done so far.  First off, Wes and Campbell went to the Monster Truck Jam at Cowboy Stadium and had a wonderful time.  Great bonding…ha!

Emerson Mae is just talking up a storm…She has been babbling since she was born and we just knew she was going to be a talker like her mother.  She has been saying simple words like mama, dada, ball, etc. since late last summer.  I can’t believe I am just now blogging about her talking…never too late.  I had two videos from bath time, but I wasn’t paying attention to camera placement, so I will have to send those out through email, but will work hard to get more videos of her talking.  She doesn’t cooperate very often…she is happy all the time, but has a definite mind of her own.  Her way or the highway kinda thing!

She says things like: thippycup (sippy cup), boop (book), bow, all dee (all done) dog, cat, pees (please), thank you, yuv you, hi everybody, eat, nack (snack), up, no way, doe away(go away), stop, thock, thoos (sock, shoes), nose, ees (ears), head, dance, and the list goes on!  She also signs for more, please, thank you.  She sings row, row, row, your boat and twinkle, twinkle!

We ALSO went to our Family Skate Night our PTA puts on and I am WAITING VERY PATIENTLY for Kaci to email me the pics.  My classroom kids always love seeing my personal kids.  It’s so fun to mingle with them outside of school (in moderation).  It was a fun event and yes, Wes even got on skates and he swore he was going to attempt a triple axel.  Anyhow, pictures will be coming soon.

Campbell and I were playing soccer outside and he was trying to get the ball away from me (you know my mad soccer skills).  Anyhow, the ball went under the trees and the tree attacked him.  He blamed it on me of course because I kicked the ball under the tree.  PS…He has gotten a haircut since then.  It was a little out of control, now it is almost a buzz cut thanks to Wesley.

FINALLY, I am so excited about heading south to visit the family over spring break.  Best of all I am coming back home just in time for the Black Eyed Peas concert with my favorite girls!  I doubt it will top the NKOTB concert back in ‘08, but it will be a great time nonetheless!  

Blog Explosion!

Okay, so seriously I posted 4 blogs today, 5 if you count thins one.  I have had so many things I have wanted to blog about and absolutely no time.  As you can see we have had a very busy February and I definitely wanted to share these events.  Thankfully, the snow day gave me the opportunity to do this.  So, with that being said, please keep scrolling down for the latest Moncrief happenings!

“Do we have to go to bed?  Look how nicely we are playing together!” said the well-behaved children.

 

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Even though Emerson Mae is a little under the weather, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play in the snow with the kids.  Too bad Wesley went to work.  A family snowball fight would have been fun and I could have used the help. 

Emerson was in a tiff with the gloves.  She would take them off because she didn’t like them, but then whine because she wanted them back on because her hands got cold…duh!  Eventually I brought her inside and Campbell continued to play outside by himself for another 15 minutes or so!

I truly wish I could have taken some pics of my school’s neighborhood.  It is an older community with a ton of trees.  I have already seen some pics and it is absolutely gorgeous.  Unfortunately, living in a new subdivision,  you don’t get all the old trees, so I really do not have any scenic pics to share, just fun ones!

UHM…Seriously?

This is sooooo cool!

UHM…Seriously?

Watch out, MOM!

   UHM…Did someone throw snow at me?

Look MOM!  I can make a snow angel!

UHM…I don’t think my legs can move!

  This is soooo much fun!

 Oh wait!  I can eat this stuff?  Now, were talking!

  Too busy eating, mom!

  Okay sister, since you aren’t moving, I will come to you!

HAPPY SNOW DAY!!!