My Chili Recipe...

   Winter is the time for chili. My chili is one of Dylan, and Kellen's favorite meals. (I like it a lot as well) I thought I would document how to make it... INGREDIENTS...

1 lb of ground beef

1 diced onion

salt and pepper

3 cans diced tomatoes

3 cans chili beans

handful of brown sugar

sour cream, cheese, and tortilla chips to top it all off

Brown ground beef in a big pot, so that you don't have more than one cooking pan to clean. Add your diced onion as you brown your meat, I also like to go ahead and add salt and pepper at this point.

Drain the fat off of your ground beef. This is my method, I place a strainer on top of a bowl, and press my beef down to get all of that fat out. And then I put my beef back into the pot. 

This is why I finally decided to buy an electric can opener. Get to work opening all six cans and then dump them into the pot with the ground beef. 

This is what it will look like at this point, now grab the brown sugar!

I buy the big bag of brown sugar from Sam's. I am at the bottom of my bag, so my brown sugar is quite clumpy. Grab a handful, or a big ole' rock in my case, of the brown sugar and add it to the pot. 

It will look like this.

Stir up that pot a few times, and then put the lid back on for it to stew for about 30 minutes on low-med heat. You can use that thirty minutes to...

Clean out all those cans and recycle them like a good girl or boy. :)

After thirty minutes the chile will be reduced down a bit and be richer in color. 

I like to add some chili powder to mine (because I keep it out for my kid's sake of the big pot), add cheese, and sour cream, and crunched tortilla chips on top! Or you can use the tortilla chips as a spoon like my hubs does. :) Enjoy!

Lyric and the potty...

   When my children reach the age of two, I introduce them to a life long friend called the potty. My first two kids were glad to meet their new friend and became well acquainted with him by the time they were about 2 1/2 years old. ( I realize that this is pretty early, there was a lot of prayer involved...) But, my third child seemed very uninterested in our friend potty, almost resentful towards him, so I gave her some space, and started praying. She is now almost 2 and a half and Lyric asked, YES I said ASKED to poo poo on the potty this week.
   She was laying in bed for nap and called for me. She told me that she could feel her poo poo coming! I asked her if she would like to go and the potty and to my surprise she said: "Yes, like a big girl." So, I took her into the kid's bathroom and onto the big potty (apparently it was baby training potty that she had no desire to become acquainted with) and she sat down and started her business.

Yea, I am one of those moms. I took a picture. It was a proud moment!

   I was so proud of her and she even did it again two more times that day! Even some pee pee! So I have now reached the limit for excrement terms for one blog entry. Way to go Lyric! You are well on your way to saving us $20 a month in diapers!

First Snow...

The kids are so excited that is it snowing!

   Our weather this winter so far has been pretty warm and mild. So when we heard that the temp was going to be a high of 38 one day last week, that was pretty shocking. But, the forecast said that it would be back up to 60 like three days later, so no big deal. I was taking out the trash the night that the cold front was blowing in, and it was SNOWING! I was pretty surprised, I squealed maybe a little and freaked Dylan out. You don't want to walk out your front door at night and squeal, it will send your husband into defensive "I am gonna go beat someone on my front porch" mode really quickly.  But, nothing to punch, it was just snow.

The kids were VERY excited. I am pretty convinced though that at least

 half of the reason that they like snow so much is that they know that when they get in from playing in it, they get hot coco. So, half excited over the white stuff, and half over chocolate. That is probably reasonable. The next morning I did not expect anything to have stuck to the ground, the day of the snow it had gotten up to like 70! But, I looked out the window and there was the tiniest patch of white in the back yard. I figured it could be our only chance this winter, so I got out all the gear, bundled them up, and let them go at it in the 4x4 patch of ice crystals. It was windy, and like 29 degrees. Lyric lasted long enough outside for me to snap a few photos of her crying about having to be outside. And Abigail and Kellen were probably out there for all of 2.5 minutes.

 Oh but you know that they expected that hot coco no matter what! I had no chocolate, so I melted some chocolate leftover christmas candy in some warm milk and called it good. They were completely satisfied... first snow day... a complete success in their minds. (maybe not so much for Lyric...)

Asher and Abigail's Birthday...

   We got home from Kellen's first basketball game, ate lunch, Dylan and I did a 30 minute run, then we piled pack in the car and headed to Asher's basketball game. It was Asher's birthday, so even though we were going to be back in Piedmont that night for his birthday party, we wanted to make it to his game as well to cheer him on on his birthday. So, we went to Asher's game, and then headed back home to try to get some rest in before eating dinner and heading back out to Piedmont. During our rest, Abigail asked if we could talk about her getting baptized. Her good friend Jessi Geis had been baptized recently, and Abigail had been asking a few questions about it ever since.

Abigail waiting in line with me at Walgreens.
The night of her choosing to follow Jesus!

   Dylan, myself, and Abigail went into her room to have a talk. We talked to her about why we get baptized and what all that meant. And told her about how choosing to give Jesus your life is the biggest decision you can make in your life. Abigail decided that afternoon that she was ready to give her life to Jesus and follow after Him all the days of her life. Dylan led her in a prayer, and she came up beaming from ear to ear. She was so excited that SHE had made that decision on her own, and that she belonged to Jesus now! She was so excited to tell everyone that today was her special Jesus birthday! She was born into new life! 

   When we all arrived at Asher's party Abigail wanted to spread her news about it being HER birthday as well! To see the look and joy on her face was just priceless as a parent. For me, it was just so amazing to see how genuinely excited she was about her decision. Amazing because she chose that on her own, with no pressure from Dylan or I, just her. I love my sweet Abigail, and am so amazingly proud of you! May you walk with our Jesus all the days of your life and never ever doubt how much He cares for you and loves you. 

All three of my kids helping Asher blow out his candles. 

Kellen's Basketball Career Begins!

Kellen posing before his 1st game.

   On January 7, our Kellen had his first basketball game ever! He was so excited! Daddy volunteered to be his coach and he is on a team of boys that he does not know, but he doesn't care because he gets to play basketball! In his first practice it was very apparent that Kellen's shooting skills were a bit more advanced than the other boys on his team. He was launching them from almost the free throw line and making some, and the other boys were having a hard time even getting it near the rim while they were standing right under the goal. To further explain the basketball knowledge of Kellen's team... Dylan was trying to explain defense to the kids, and he said: "If you do not have the ball and the other team does, and you are standing in the box with your hands up, what are you playing?" One of the boys called out, "BASKETBALL!"

One of Kellen's 10 shots. 

   So, Kellen's first game is under way and he is already launching up some shots, quite a few, OK in all he took 10 shots in his first game. He did not make a single one. The other team was on him like crazy. I was pretty nervous that no points was going to equal breakdown after the game. But, he came running up to me after the game with a big smile on his face and said, "Even though I did not make any shots, I still had fun!" (kinda as if he was surprised at the fact himself, haha.) I was so proud of him. And so grateful for no breakdowns.

Kellen still smiling after his first game. 

   His second game, he started off with three missed shots, and followed those up with three made shots in a row! Another thing that he always does, is run as fast as he can to be the first one back on defense. I love that.

   This is Kellen on the way to his first game. He loved to listen to Switchfoot's album, "Vice Verses."

When Dylan and I were out of town in Kansas City, Papa took Kellen to his game. Papa called us after his game to let us know that Kellen had made 10 shots! I talked to Kellen about his game and he told me that when he was about to get his tenth shot, there was a girl trying to guard him, and he said, "Girl, don't you know that I am trying to get 10 shots?" I said, "You said that to her?" He said, "Well, I did. In my mind!" haha. Love that boy. 

Kellen after his last game... With his precious medal. 

One last "Reeeed ROCKETS!"

2012 begins...

   2012 has begun! I have a goal to try to keep this blog going all year long so that I can create a "blog book" at the end of the year that our family can have as a keepsake. I did this for 2011, "The Chronicles of the Hillhouse Family 2011." It is a treasured book that we will always be able to look back and see what all our 2011 was all about. So I am hoping that by writing my blog all year long it will be an even deeper detailed account of our year, and an even better record of what all the Lord will do with our lives in a year.
   So, how did we ring in 2012? With a Mario Kart Marathon of course! On New Year's Eve we went to Target and purchased two extra Wii remotes so that Daddy, Me, Abigail, and Kellen could all race together. Lyric cheered us on! We let the kids stay up past their bed time and we had homemade ice cream. Dylan and I stayed up, ( I think I only lasted until 11:30) and watched the OKC Thunder game.  The next day we were at Grandmommy and Papa's house after church for our Sunday lunch and Grandmommy asked Kellen: "Kellen, did you get to stay up until midnight last night?" Kellen replied, " No, we go to stay up until 9:30!" (as if he thought that "9:30" was WAY better than midnight) :) It was late to him!
   I actually have no photos to post with this blog because I did not take any New Year's Weekend, I know! I can hardly believe it myself! But, that photo of Lyric is the first photo that I took in 2012. I was testing some light for a shoot that I was having the first weekend of January (the shoot got canceled by the way). She is practicing one of her favorite activities in that photo. :)

2012...

Well, here we go. Another year has begun. I have to say that I am more excited about this year than any that I can remember, and I have no idea why. I think I am just anticipating the Lord doing something in us. That is my prayer anyways. I want our family to be used for His glory more than anything else, that is my greatest desire. It can be a lofty, and scary desire, but I have never felt that desire more strongly than I do right now in our lives.
   I have no idea what this year will hold for us, but I have made some resolutions that I hope will benefit me, and my family. The first one is the hardest commitment that I have set in quite a while, and now I am going public with it, so here it goes:
  1. I want to wake up at 6:30 on every work day ( meaning the days that Dylan works).
Yep, I would say that one will be more difficult than the "no Icy's" resolution of 2000. But, I am optimistic.   I know that giving myself time in God's word, and a little workout makes me in a much happier state than just waking up 5 minutes before Dylan walks out the door.
  2.  (You know what is coming don't you?) I want to stinking loose these last 15 pounds! So annoying! Oh, and I kinda (OK, not kinda), I REALLY want to run a half marathon as well. I would love to be a part of the Memorial in April. I usually run the 5k of the Redbud Classic in April, but I am thinking of skipping that one and just doing the Memorial. But, we will see. Lofty, again.

 So, here we go into 2012... What will it be like? Well... the words: CHALLENGING, EXCITING, OVERWHELMING, ENJOYABLE, FUN, SAD, HAPPY, STRESSFUL, RELAXING, and WONDERFUL are all probably a give in.