Comfort Food

This is a really easy and tasty comfort food…coming to you courtesy of my sister in law. She made it as a side for our Christmas dinner. I added chicken to it and served it as the main meal for our company tonight and I think it was enjoyed by all.  Here’s how you make it it:  

Zucchini/Squash Casserole

v  Thinly slice 3 zucchini and 3 squash (skin on is okay)

v  Add 1/2 C. grated carrots and boil all in a pot for about 6 minutes. Adding onions is yummy too. I leave them out for Rodd’s sake–but they add extra flavor.

v  Drain the water.

v  Mix together 1 C. Sour Cream + 1 can of Cream of chicken soup; Add to the vegetable mixture and gently mix.

v  While veges are cooking, prepare 1 box of chicken stuffing according to the directions on the box, except instead of ¼ C of butter, use ½ C.

v  Layer the stuffing on the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 pan.

v  Top with cooked chicken (I used 3 breasts)

v  Top with squash/sour cream mixture

v  Finally, sprinkle about 1 C of mozzarella cheese on top and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

I served it with rice and a salad.

Christmas quilts

Karrie wanted a bright quilt to go with her blue couch and lime green rug.  And that’s exactly what she got, my friends. It hurt my eyes looking at it for too long, but I hope she likes it. It’s extra lightweight for the tropics. She still has not gotten it, but I’m praying it eventually makes it there safely.

 My grandparents are in Thailand now, and kindly hand delivered my mom her Christmas present this year.  (Sorry, dad– you totally got gypped this year—all the love & time went into mom’s gift.)

Almost put an ultrasound picture in this square, but decided to put S & L’s handprints instead.

Sorry this is SO fuzzy. Can you even see it? I quickly took a picture before I sent it off.

Sydney and Logan are at the top, followed by Landon, Kade & Luke. (We sure miss those little boys.)

Epcot

This is a little outdated, but I wanted to write about it anyway. We had some friends visiting from WA a few weeks ago and they have a relative who used to work at Disney World who was able to get us all in for free! It was awesome. I’ve always wanted to go to Epcot-so I was thrilled when we were invited to join them.

Highlights of the day? Let’s see…

• As Rodd mentioned in a previous post — the Soarin’ ride was our ultimate favorite.
• The beautiful Christmas lights everywhere
• Visiting all the unique countries
• Not losing my kids once the entire time
• The French bakery where we stopped for pastries & croissants
• My favorite kind of sushi that Rieko brought for me and we enjoyed it throughout the day
• Enjoying a Christmas Cantata that didn’t alter the true Christmas story

 Nemo– S & L’s favorite

See the Beast in the background? We didn’t  want to wait in line for pictures…

Our friends the Katos

Germany was my favorite

Logan recoiling in fear of Mickey Mouse at first

By the end of the night he was happy with Dale

Wrapping up the season

I’ll take down my tree tomorrow, so we enjoyed one last special dinner–and ate in the living room by the Christmas tree tonight.  It’s crazy how there’s so much hype over Christmas, and then it’s over just like that.   After a special Christmas day, we have had 2 really relaxing days and have enjoyed just being at home as a family.   I had 2 major organizing/sorting projects I’ve been wanting to get done, and I decided to tackle them while Rodd is home to help out with the kids. Mission accomplished!

I actually even sat still with Rodd the last 2 nights too–(no magazine in my hand, no list making, no email checking, no falling asleep) and watched 2 different movies.

Christmas play

Madison, Sydney and Logan put on a Christmas play for the grandparents on Christmas day & they did a great job. 

Presenting: The Christmas Story

Logan was a donkey and a shepherd

Madison was Joseph and an angel & Sydney was Mary and an angel

Singing “Away in a Manger”

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Harrises!

Christmas Eve

  Psalm 24:9-10

 ”Lift up your heads, O you gates;
 lift them up, you ancient doors,
 that the King of glory may come in. 

    

 Who is he, this King of glory?
  The LORD Almighty—

 he is the King of glory.” 

    

 

 

 We went to our Christmas Eve Service at church tonight & then came home to enjoy a nice night together as a family.   (I calculated it out and next Christmas we’ll have an 8-month old to join in the Christmas fun!)  Wherever you will be…enjoy celebrating the King of Glory tomorrow!

The smallest Harris

 Here’s our babe @ 22 weeks & and growing strong…

 ”At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, he is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he’s even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside the womb, you’d be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he’ll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.”

I’d say God is completely amazing to design all this?  Agree?

Proud of my girl

Sydney was in her first Christmas play/musical on Thursday and I could NOT have been more proud of her for bravin’ it and getting on stage.  She did a great job singing Little Drummer Boy and Come on Ring those Bells with her classmates.  Aaaah…made my heart melt. ♥ The kids were all adorable.  I didn’t get the greatest pictures–but I’ll share a few anyway.

In the classroom before “show time”

“Come on Ring those Bells”

Sydney & Austin

 

Downtown Disney

Phewsh! We have been busy lately!  The beginning of the week we were pretty much going nonstop but the second half I have tried to spend some time relaxing a bit with the kids & getting caught up on sleep. It’s all been fun stuff–but still events that required planning of some sort,  thinking ahead, and packing appropriate clothes for the day etc. I still have some running around to get done this weekend–but nothing major.  Monday night we went to Downtown Disney with our friends, the Johnsons.   It was fun seeing all the Christmas  lights, and we had a great time…visiting all the free spots with Rodd as our tour guide.   For anyone interested in dinosaurs they have a new restaurant down there and it looked like a lot of fun. It reminded us of Rainforest Cafe with the atmosphere, gift shop, animals that come to life, restaurant etc–only with a cool dinosaur theme.  Logan and David went in with their dads while Maya & I stayed out with the girls who weren’t too sure of it all.  It would definitely be worth checking out and looks like a fun family outing.

And here we  are (minus Rodd & Hannah) on the boat from Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom to watch fireworks.