1 can black beans, drained
1 can mixed veggies (do NOT drain)
1 can diced tomatoes & green chilies

Place all in pan, heat over medium-high until warm.  You may eat now – using tortilla chips & use as a dip or tortilla shells & wrap it up.  You can also form the tortilla shell into a bowl shape & cook til crisp for a mex bowl.  TIP: The longer you cook this, the better it ends up.  The beans & veggies soak up the tomato/chili juices greatly.  This could be a “throw all items into crock pot in the AM & serve in the PM” meal.

These photos were taken on the evening of New Year’s Day.

My Monster-Baby is 4 years, 3months old. Over the last 4 or 5 months, he’s calmed down A LOT. He may still be a bit hyper-active for most people. But for me, he’s pretty calm now compared to a year ago. He’s very into his Leap Frog game systems (the ClickStart that he got for his 3rd birthday and the Leapster 2 that he just got for Christmas this year) as well as his own PC. He plays games on Cartoon Network and PBS Kids mostly at this time. If he’s not on some ‘tech-toy’, then he’s playing with dinosaurs and robots and the occasional monster truck. He’s very bright, slightly emotional and always loud.

Then my Chick-Pea is 1 year, 10 months now. Almost 2; going on 12! Seriously, with that tween-ish attitude of hers that she has began showing. I am learning that ‘terrible two’s’ are a whole new ballgame when it comes to a girl! But her sweet darling actions make me forget the ‘slam-a-door-in-your-face, toss-a-toy-across-the-room, throw-herself-on-the-floor’ ways…at least just for a little bit until the next episode begins ;c) She loves her ‘bay-bay dolls’, dancing (and I do mean DANCING, hip-swaying, booty-shaking, head-bobbing, arm-moving DANCING) and lip-syncing to music. She likes to follow the grown-ups and try to do grown-up things. Like sweeping and mopping, cleaning the tables and counters. She watches when I wash the dishes (I’ve tried to see if she’d wash them, but she’s just interested in the water…maybe next year!) and still runs away when I vacuum. She’s a go-getter, very adventurous and independent (when she’s not on my hip).

With the ups & downs of single Mama-hood, I’m proud of each one of my babies. I’m proud of how close we are as a family, how much we’ve gone through and accomplished together. And I look forward to see where we are in a year from now.