Buffalo Chicken Ring

We're enjoying our last morning of our family vacation in Chattanooga before heading home later this afternoon! I'll have all the pics and stories to share tomorrow. But today, I have a yummy new appetizer for you guys to try!

I made this when we had my family over for Easter and it was a big hit! Truth be told, I completely forgot about it being in the oven when we were outside, so it got darker than I would have liked, but if you follow the time I have listed below, you should have better luck with yours being a little crispy on the outside and having a yummy, soft crust on the inside.

Ingredients:

4oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 Sweet Baby Ray's Creamy Buffalo Wing Sauce (looks like this)

2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken*

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

2 cans Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

1/3 cup chopped green onion

*I cooked 3 pieces of thawed chicken in the crock pot (low setting) in equal parts chicken stock and water for about 5-6 hours. You could also you a rotisserie chicken.

Directions:

Heat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, mix cream cheese and hot sauce until smooth. Mix in chicken and shredded cheese until combined.

Unroll both cans of dough; separate into 16 triangles. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray. Arrange triangles in ring so short sides of triangles form a circle in center. Dough will overlap by about an inch. Dough ring should look like a sun when they are all laid out.

Spoon cream cheese mixture on the half of each triangle closest to center of ring.

Bring each dough triangle up over filling, tucking dough under bottom layer of dough to secure it. Repeat around ring until entire filling is enclosed (some filling might show a little).

Bake 18-20 minutes or until dough is golden brown and thoroughly baked. Cool 5 minutes before cutting into serving slices.

Serve with additional Buffalo Wing Sauce, Ranch, or Bleu Cheese dressing.

Lemonade Days & Life Lately

Last night, we went to a little fair in Dunwoody called Lemonade Days.

We took Ryan for the first time last year when he was big enough to only ride rides with us and Natalie was only 2 months old!

This year, our friends Steph and Dustin and their two kiddos met us there and we all had the best time watching the kids have so much fun!

I also got to see a number of my old students since I used to teach just a few miles away. They were all so sweet and BIG! I love when taller-than-me middle school boys still excitedly shout "MRS. NELSEN!" when they see me out and about. I sure miss those kids!

Doing a first ride dance apparently, hah! Matt snuck this one.

This was Natalie's first ride! And love sweet Ryan, he hopped right up to the stationary bench while Natalie was flapping away to get on a horse. Matt let Ryan know that the bench wouldn't move and brought him up to a horse too, but love his contented little personality to just hop right up and wait for the ride to start no matter whether he's on one of the fun animals or not. :)

Fun House fun!

This little lady can't wait for next year when she'll get to ride everything too!

"Can you two boys smile for a picture real quick?!" #toddlerposing #overhere

Natalie having a dramatic moment when she thought we weren't going on the ride- hah! That girl.

Peek!

I've been thinking so much lately about how LITTLE Ryan still is. Especially when I'm around other kids who have grown up so much and so fast (like my former students). I love this sweet, little age!

Give this girl all the adventure. Sitting on Daddy's shoulders totally counts as a ride. ;)

King of Pops (and milk) ;) for the WIN!

In other news, Ryan had his first dentist appointment this week and did GREAT! I was so proud of him and the ladies there were impressed with how well he did for his age! Sweet buddy.

The stickers were an accessory added in the car on the way. ;)

And a few more random pictures from our week:

Between setting up the baby's room and Ryan's big boy room, we have a package at our door every other day it seems. We're big fans of online shopping and bubble wrap in our house. :)

Post park hydration before we headed home for naps... And to be clear, they both wore pants at the park. 

Ryan got these little dinosaurs in his Easter basket and loves lining them all up and lets Natalie play with them too, even though her favorite thing to do with them is put them in her mouth. :)

This was so cute and hilarious but Ryan was sharing his popsicle with Natalie one night when she crawled around for another bite and stood up on her own and surprised the both of them!

The previous owner's of our home told us that a King snake lived in the rocks behind the pool, but we never saw it until last week. It was big! But apparently they're harmless and helpful so we watched it crawl across the patio and into the grass and left it alone.

And then Papa went to his truck and snuck in this pretend snake and dropped it right by us and mom and I screamed. hahah. That Papa.

Look closely and you'll see that the open-mouth smile is a hereditary trait passed down from my mom. ;)

Fickle Pickle dinner with our other favorite Papa!

:)

We took a trip to Homegoods last week to pick out some things for Ryan's big boy room and Ryan's "picks" were hilarious. He thought this helmet would be a great addition to his big boy room.

Have I mentioned I love TWO?!

We leave tomorrow morning for Chattanooga!! We cannot wait. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for us, but even if it doesn't, we'll make the most of a fun family vacation for the four of us! Next year's trip will include another little one- crazy!

Hope you all have a great weekend!