Weekend Fun

This weekend Ryan's parents came up to watch Ainsley while we had a leadership retreat at church. We were excited to see them! Ryan and I went out to dinner and shopping Saturday night and Ainsley had fun with G & P!

Ryan has been working many late nights this week, so little miss was excited to spend some time with him this weekend!

Friday night Ainsley went to the church nursery while we were in the leadership class--she had a lot of fun.

It would not be the weekend without a trip to Target!

Grammie Linda had the idea to get Ains a piggy bank.  I found this cute pink piggy bank (tutu and all) at Target!  She had the best time putting money in it.  Hopefully she is more like her daddy with money!  It always burns a hole in my pocket!

Linda helped me with Ainsley's valentine's presents for her teachers and classmates this weekend.  For Ainsley's classmates I did a A's favorite things theme (like a mini Oprah give-a-way, minus the car).  Ainsley's favorite things included fruit snacks, a tootsie roll pop and a slinky.

Saving money!

Last year after Christmas I got A's this cute kitchen from Target (feels like I am mentioning that a lot in this post)!  Ryan's parents got her a kitchen last year, so I never opened this one...but we were iced in today, so it was the perfect project for PaPa & Grammie to help Ainsley with!

These are a bit out of order :).  Grammie, Ainsley & PaPa Larry.  Ainsley like to touch the cold Diet Coke with her feet! Oh my!

Back to building!

I am in a freezer meal group and last month we made a manicotti recipe that I just loved!  It is SO simple!    You roll string cheese in oregano, garlic powder and basil.  I  didn't measure it, I just put it on some tin foil and rolled the cheese stick until it was lightly coated.  

Next step, put a thin coat of spagatti sauce on the bottom of a 8 x 8 pan and then lay your manicotti noodles with the string cheese (already coated in spices) in the dish.  The great thing about this is you don't have to cook the noodles before hand!

Oh, boy---this is the second to last step!  Jump to the next picture :) (I am no Pioneer Woman she would never have pictures out of order in a menu post--love her blog)! 

Next step--cover noodles with spagatti sauce.  Tonight I quartered some Italian meat balls and added it to the sauce.  I normally just brown up 1 lb of hamburger with some onion and spices and add it to the sauce, but I didn't have any on hand.  After you have added the sauce you sprinkle with cheddar cheese and parm cheese.

Final step--cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Take out of oven and let it sit for 10 minutes (with tin foil on) before serving.  This receipe freezes really well and I normally make a double batch to freeze or give away.  Our next freezer bake party is this Thursday night.  I'll have to do a post on that soon.  There are 9 of us that get together and cook and after 3-4 hours we all go home with 18 meals!!  This is the perfect solution for the Cohenour family who eats out almost every other night!  p.s this meal heats up really well!  Let me know if you try it and what you think!