A Random Week in Review

One of my favorite bloggers does a random posts of things that have been happening in her house lately - favorite toys of the kids, how the family schedule has been, favorite recipes. This was a week of Pinterest help in our home! I thought I'd share a few things.

I pulled out Pretty Pretty Princess this week (it had been in Aynsley's closet for years) and the kids had a blast with it. Carter didn't get to play, but the girls (and even Gavriel) had a blast! Does anyone remember having this game as a kid? It was my favorite at one point!

Thanks to this incredibly helpful tutorial, I was able to replace the elastic in three of our cloth diapers this week. Aside from getting the elastic, I had the other tools needed to make it happen. Thanks to this tutorial and my parents for buying me a sewing machine in high school (and for my Intro to Fashion teacher, who taught me most everything I know about sewing).

I've been spending some time with this book, but I think I've only found three names. I'm working with some limitations here, though! Matt and I have talked about looking for a name that starts in second half of the alphabet (since Aynsley, Gavriel, and Laurryn all start with letters in the first half of the alphabet) and a name that has seven letters in it (it turns out that, not by our planning, all four of our names have seven letters). I also like that we each have our own letter, so I'm looking for a seven-letter name (that I love) that starts with N-Z. Ah.

This little bundle of energy takes great naps, but he was up a little early one day this week. He got some snuggles and we took some pictures together before we got the other kids up for the afternoon. He is at such a fun age and we have been loving hearing him talk and talk and talk!

We tried some new slow cooker recipes this week. The slow cooker is one of my very favorite kitchen appliances, and I have definitely been putting it to work lately! I love putting the ingredients in it in the morning and eating whenever we are ready.

We tried out this Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup one night. Matt isn't a big mushroom fan, so I left those out and added carrots and celery instead. The kids didn't mind it, but Matt and I definitely enjoyed it. I'm planning to make it again this week!

I also made this Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chile when we had friends over this week. It's a variation of another recipe I frequently make, but the other recipe calls for sour cream, which I don't usually have, and this one calls for cream cheese, which I do usually have. It also called for a Ranch seasoning packet, but I've taken those powdered mixes off my shopping list in recent months (opting for making my own at times). This was a pretty tasty dish with pasta and soda bread. Everyone seemed to enjoy it; I know I did!

Finally, I made this Crockpot Lasagna Soup as well. This wasn't as big of a hit - maybe because I used straight tomato juice instead of V8? I would still consider tweaking it and keeping it on the menu.

Have you tried any good recipes lately? I find myself using many of our old recipes on a cycle that probably gets tiring for my family, so I'm always in the market for new recipes (especially if they involve the slow cooker!).