About Me

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NC girl who loves Jesus, Robbie, William, family, friends, Walt Disney World, all things pink, and monogrammed!

Sara & Robbie

Sara & Robbie
Met in a small town. Moved to a big city. Married 6 years. Owe it all to God's grace.

William Carter

William Carter
Born on 9/22/11. Loves his Mama fiercely, babies, Disney, playing his heart out, his friends and family.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Taco Mac and Cheese!!

Robbie and I are trying to eat at home more. I am always on the search for a new recipe! Thanks to Pinterest, I can always find a ton! I stumbled upon this easy one for taco macaroni and cheese. I made it last night and we LOVED it! I wanted to share. It has a slight kick, and was super easy and quick. I think it took about 30 minutes to make start to finish. And it makes a TON! The three of us ate it, and then took some to a neighbor, and still had a lot left over for lunches.

Here's the recipe:
Taco Macaroni and Cheese (source: http://cassiecraves.blogspot.com/2011/07/taco-macaroni-and-cheese.html)
 
1 pound macaroni or shell pasta  
1 pound ground beef  
1 onion, chopped 
2 cloves garlic, minced  
1 packet of taco seasoning 

1 cup salsa  
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, cut into chunks 
2 cups milk   
1/2 cup sour cream 
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
   
1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
2. Meanwhile, brown ground beef and sweat the onion together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the beef is completely cooked through, drain off excess fat, return to skillet, and add garlic. Cook and stir 30 seconds. Add taco seasoning and salsa and stir to combine; reduce heat to low.
3. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add cream cheese, milk, and sour cream and stir to combine. Cook until cream cheese is melted and mixture is thick and bubbling. Stir in shredded cheese.
4. Add cheese sauce and ground beef mixture to pasta and stir to combine. Top each serving with salsa and sour cream, if desired.

We served it with peas, because they are actually a green veggie that William will eat!

We finished dinner so early, so we headed outside! All of our neighbors and their kids were outside, so William got some serious playtime in with Ella, Lucy, and Asher. We were just missing Maxx! ;) After everyone went inside, we took William around the loop for a bike ride. He loves his bike and especially loves to ring the bell on it. Tonight's dinner will be Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli - recipe to come!! ;)


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

To Aldi Or Not To Aldi?


I have heard sooo much lately about Aldi, from other bloggers and friends. Everyone just bragged about how great the prices were! I am not the kind to scour the ads and go to 5 stores just to get a deal, so I was intrigued by the fact that you could head to Aldi and stock up for cheaper! Robbie and I haven't done a complete grocery trip in probably a year (LOL). So, we had to stock up on sauces, vinegar, all kinds of things that you don't have to buy too often. And it sounded like Aldi was the perfect place for it.

Last night, we ate an early dinner and headed over to the new Aldi behind Southpoint. I had planned a few meals for dinners, and had a list for breakfast and lunch too! The first thing that we had to do was pay a quarter for a cart. You get it back when you return it, but it helps cut down on costs to have people chasing the carts in the parking lot, etc. So, not too bad of a tradeoff. We actually got inside and filled up our cart so fast and realized we needed another one. Robbie reminded me you have to have another quarter, ha! Of course I didn't have one, but had the change for one. I stopped a couple and we exchanged currencies haha! We ended up filling two carts! We got a ton of things that we usually don't get. For example, we usually try to get ONE cereal that we all like. Well, the cereal was so cheap (like $1.69), that we got 3 kinds! And chips were cheap too! We NEVER buy chips! But everything was around the $1.50 range. So we're trying out some new flavors. William ate a pack of fruit snacks from there while we shopped. He had no complaints!

For those of you who don't know, Aldi has a very limited number of name brands. Everything is pretty much Aldi brand. They did have Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (my fave!) and I noticed a few other brands (Pampers, Bounty, Cheerios). We mainly bought Aldi brand stuff though. I had a few friends give me some tips. Laura told me that their pork is pretty good, so we got a tenderloin for fairly cheap, and they have a pack of 2 filets that she swears are awesome also! The chicken didn't look so great, and the butcher counter at HT has them for cheaper anyway. Canned veggies were really cheap! Less than fifty cents for green beans and corn! Now, as for how all of this tastes, stay tuned! We haven't tried anything yet. If you are a name brand snob (I totally used to be), then this isn't the place for you. I have ONE requirement for name brand - ketchup. It has to be Heinz. I cannot stand anything else. But that's not too expensive of an item at another store anyway. We didn't get deli meat there, because we were told it wasn't that great. So I will be visiting an actual deli for that. We ended up filling up two carts to the brim, and spent $121.00. Robbie and I figured it would have been closer to $200 in another store. We actually had to head to Wal Mart after to get a few things Aldi didn't have, and we did notice that the items at Aldi were cheaper than even at Wal Mart!

So, I give it two thumbs up! It's small enough that I don't feel overwhelmed, and had a ton of crackers, chips, cereals, etc. William loves things like that, and definitely doesn't care what brand it is, so it is a win-win!



Monday, July 29, 2013

Surprise!!

Saturday was busy, busy!! William, Mama, and I went to lunch at a restaurant we had never tried, Spring Cafe. We had heard it was good, and it was!! It was very old timey and had comfort food. I have never even noticed it before, so it was neat to try something new. It happened to be on the same street as the Patsy Aiken outlet, which is open now for a couple weeks. I couldn't resist running in there! I did get a couple outfits for next summer, but I saw a TON more!!! I just love their clothes. The retail price is high, but the outlet prices aren't bad.

After that, we headed to Tanya's for a Pampered Chef party. I was exhausted when we left, from chasing William everywhere, haha! He is into everything, everywhere. I ordered some new spices, and a couple other small things. We don't do TOO much cooking around our house, so I tried to get things we would actually use! The consultant made some yummy summertime chicken spaghetti. It was so fresh and light!

That evening, we had a surprise birthday party to go to! Our Life Class leader's wife was turning 60, and he wanted to surprise her by having our class at their house! He took her to the mall, and we all arrived; then he drove her back - blindfolded. She was definitely surprised! He even arranged to have some of their family here! It was so fun! I got a chance to talk to more people than I do on a Sunday morning, and William had a ball playing with balloons and whatever else he could find. We had a yummy dinner of hot dogs and a ton of sides that everyone brought, and finished it up with cake! We left after that to go meet Robbie and sit with him while he ate a quick dinner. When we got home, William was exhausted! After a bath, he passed OUT! We just love our Life class (aka Sunday school lol) and have met so many new friends through it! We are so glad to be part of such a fun group!!!


Nathalie, William, and Adelaide playing!
William and Grace. As soon as they saw each other, they ran to each other! William hopped out of my lap (he was eating) and was gone!
Come on, Grace!!
William with his new friend, Will.
He wanted to push him around!
Exhausted baby!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Chick-Fil-A Play!

On Friday, we met Carolyn and Grace at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and playtime! Mama and Hannah joined us also. We all had such a great time, just chatting and laughing. I have been SO blessed by Carolyn's friendship. She is so sweet and I just love her and her sweet little girl, Grace. Grace and William are close in age, and love to play together! (Have y'all noticed that he ONLY has girl friends?!) Ha! He loves it. The kids enjoyed their nuggets (and of course the adults did too ;) ) and then had some ice cream!

Loves nuggets!!
His favorite - with sprinkles!!
MMMMM!
After lunch, we let them get some wiggles out. I know I am world's worst mother, but William had never played in the playground at CFA until that day! I was so terrified he would get up on the top and I couldn't get to him! But, buoyed by the encouragement of my friend, we headed in. He had a BALL. He just kept running in place and clapping and laughing and looking at me like, "WHY did you hide this for me for almost 2 years!!" We stayed there FORever! William and Grace had the place to themselves for the majority of the time, and that was so nice. They played and played. We will have to watch these two! We need to tell their nursery teacher at church! ;) They went behind the play area, and were hugging in private!!! 

We died when they walked to the play area holding hands!!
Climbing!


Coming down the slide with Hannah!
Love their faces!


Grace is upstairs waiting for William!
Taking a break!

In the middle of playing, I had to change William's diaper. After I finished, I looked up and Grace had laid down right beside me and said she needed her diaper changed too haha!! William started pointing to her ears, eyes, mouth, nose, etc., and then leaned down and kissed her!!! We joked that they were reenacting Sleeping Beauty.
Little rebels!!
We had such a great time!!! We have to do it again soon, Carolyn and Grace!!! William thanks you for introducing this to him. Now every time we pass a Chick-Fil-A, he starts shouting and jumping in his seat for us to stop and play!!

That night, Carolyn had a Premier jewelry party!! Mama, Hannah and I went and Robbie and William went and had a little ice cream fun and then came back to Carolyn's and played on the swing set. We had a great time at the party and got some new fun jewelry!!

Ice cream with Dada!
Enjoying Grace's swing set!
<3

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Sliding Into Fun!

Thursday night, we ate tacos at home (shocker!!!) and were done eating by 6:30. I just couldn't sit still until W's bedtime, so I took his slide and pool outside, and he got sooo excited. He ran out just in his shorts and flew down the slide. He must have gone down about 100 times. He loved that little pool, and the water was cold! He had such a ball splashing around and running around the yard.

I spent the majority of the time cleaning up the water table. From where we had all this rain lately, the table is dirrrrty!!! I had two REALLY cute videos of him, but I can't figure out how to put them on here yet ha. I will probably add them later, because I was spraying him with a water hose in one of them and his infectious little giggle is just too much!!!

Here's to more summer nights of fun, before they're almost over!!! I can't believe we are almost into August!

Wheeee!

Even Riley enjoyed! ;)
Ready!

Riley decided she'd take a drink!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Lately

Lately, we have had some CUTE pictures, but they don't warrant their own post. Since I really don't have anything to blog about, enjoy some sweet pics! ;)


The usual bedtime drama
Sweet, sleepy smile after church!
Angel face sleeping.
LOVE my Mother's Day gift from Robbie's parents!!!
The first 3 are after a taste of watermelon. I think he prefers the ice cream! ;)
He LOVES pretending to drive.
At lunch with Mama!
He is now obsessed with dipping into sauces!
Getting a haircut the other day.
Nana got him his own cone!
At the movies with Nana!
He LOVES sharing popcorn with Dada!
<3
Shopping!
New Sulley! He is ob.sessed!
Entertaining ourselves in a toy store while waiting for Dada to get off work.
Leaving church!
Watching Monsters Inc and flipping through an EW. Just like Dada!
Dinnertime fun!
I put a diaper on Sulley and William DIED!!!
Sweet face at lunch!
This is how he tells me what the blowfish does!
LOVE him!
First time having his own cup and picking his own toppings at YoLo!
He went in the pantry and came out carrying these! I was so weak!
Playing in the bubbles with Asher!
At the pool with Nana and Hannah!
Riley making sure brother is coming upstairs!
Happy in the bath!