Taco Tuesday

Tuesdays usually means tacos in our house.  Some weeks Beca will change her mind and say "no".  But then it only gets moved to Wednesdays.  I've tried Thursdays but I usually get yelled at.

I've had a couple people ask for the seasoning we use because I'm always saying how good it is.  Steve found a recipe and after several weeks of experimenting, came up with the following recipe.
Combine the following in a bowl, mixing well:
1 Tablespoon chilli powdere
3/4 teaspon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1-1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (which I go a little less on but Beca usually tells us that it isn't good)
Brown ground meat - we use the lean ground beef.  Drain the meat and rinse with warm water - this step makes the meat so good!  Return meat to the pan and sprinkle on the seasoning mix.  Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water and stir well.  Cook on Medium-Low until water is absorbed.  Enjoy with whatever taco necessities - ours are hard-shell, soft tortillas, cheese, lettuce, and salsa.  I'm guessing it would be good on shredded chicken but we have yet to try it because arguing with the little princess over one more meal in a week.  I'd rather just eat in peace.

200th post: a picture-palooza

I just realized this is post #200.  A TV show gets weeks of commercials and some special guest cameos.  I've got photos that are pretty darn amazing from December but that's all I can offer up.  though some are extremely special.  Like all my father's mother's grandchildren.  Or my 5 generations with my mother, my mother's mother and my mother's mother's mother plus two sweet girls.  Or this adorable happy face in this cute outfit just as she was outgrowing it:

Rebecca loves to hold Meredith - it actually gets to be the source of arguments because her request is often denied in lieu of the fact that she almost always asks when there is something else going on.

Happy on Christmas Eve - Meredith loves to "fly" and Pop-pop is great for helping that.  One of the best ways to get her laughing is to fly her and "drop" then fly again fast.  Early on, she did not like it but now it fascinates her.

Another grin from Happy - I think its because she had learned to complete the back to front roll over.  She was soooo proud of herself all day.

posing for pictures in front of Grandma's beautiful Christmas tree! (Grandma is my mother's mother).

It's like Home Alone but joyful...

with Santa's delivery all unwrapped - the princesses and princes had started arriving.

Sisters, sisters - there were never such devoted sisters (at least until Meredith figures out this crawling thing)!

LOVE IT WHEN THEY GIGGLE!

Beca's present from Meredith was a Rapunzel Barbie with 17 inches of hair (that quickly got braided by Oma) and her "prince" Flynn Rider

Wagner family at Lynn's for lunch on Christmas day

5 generations on Christmas Day - Mammy Anna Weller is 98, Grandma Sara Wagner is 76, Oma Dawn Leister is 52, Mommy Angela Cottle is 33, Rebecca Cottle is 5.5 years and Meredith Cottle is 5 months

After lunch, we packed up and drove the less than a mile from Lynn's house to Troy and Denise's house (my dad's youngest brother).

My cousins on my dad's mom's side.  I'm the oldest, then Kristi (behind me), Kyle (Animal shirt), Ryan (next to Kyle), Brett (other side of Kristi), Sara (next to me), Jordan (back row red shirt), Blake (back row burgundy shirt), Dayna (opposite end of couch from me), Andrew (sitting on my lap), and Rachel (in the red shirt - she's 25 years younger than I am) - the last time we were able to have a picture like this, Andrew and Rachel weren't even born because it was at their parents' wedding.

I think my Dad's mother (Mammy/Marie Hartman) would have loved this.  It's all her kids, grand kids and great grand daughters (just my girls have that distinction), plus all the spouses, Denise's parents, and Marie's brother Carl (Maus) and his wife Arlene.

Meredith and Utley were fascinated with each other - she couldn't grab fast enough because little dogs can MOVE!

There are plenty more pictures for me to sort through.  But there's also baskets of laundry, thank you cards, curtains, and other events for me to get ready for.  I'll be back though.

she's a reader

Back in December, I wrote this and never posted it:

The other night, Beca was working on homework and was getting a little silly.  Instead of reading "put", she says "butt" and then giggled and says "I said butt - huhuhuh".  It was a complete 5 year old Beavis and Butthead moment and Steve kept going "Uh-huh, uh-huh" off and on so I kept giggling about it, which made Beca laugh more.  At least she was laughing reading Biscuit's Day at the Farm.  Off and on, she'll point out more and more words in places other than her books and she keeps excitedly saying "I can read now!"  That means I have to stop leaving my lists laying around.