Spring Inspired Meal Day!

I haven't been excited to cook the last couple weeks...I think because of all the weather changes.  I like eating according to the season and sometimes around here it is summer by day and winter by night!  But I have been craving Kim's MIL's country spaghetti!  Kim made it for us when I had Paige so it always reminds me of warm, happy days! 

Ma-Ma's Spaghetti!

1 pound noodles (spaghetti or fettuccine)
1 pound chicken breast cut into thin strips
1 beef smoked sausage
1/2 an onion
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
olive oil
spaghetti seasoning (I don't have this in the house so I just used a blend of spices from the pantry)

on deck:
1 squash
1 zucchini

First off put a good pat of butter in a skillet and throw in your onion and chicken.  Now start chopping your bell peppers--I hate overcooked veggies so I always make myself do it this way so my A-D-D doesn't just throw them in at the beginning.  Once the chicken is just about done, throw in the peppers.
Slice your smoked sausage and add it to the pot and cover for a few minutes.  Be sure and cook your noodles as well.  I start my water when I start cooking the meal and drop the pasta as I add the peppers into the pot. 
Be sure and season your chicken/sausage/veggie dish with spighetti seasoning or your own random seasonings.  Once the noodles are done, drain and put back into your large pot.  Drizzle noodles with olive oil, toss and then add your meat/veggie mixture. 
As a side dish, I sliced a large zucchini and a large yellow squash and sauteed them in a tiny bit of butter, sea salt and pepper.  YUMMO!  Also have some leftover rolls from the German bakery down the street--DIVINE!!! 
Here is Kim's recipe!

Forgot to take a photo before me and mini started devouring our lunch!!!

For snack??  Homemade Granola and vanilla yogurt!!  Tyler's FAVORITE snack! and it makes the house smell better than anything I have ever cooked!

Do you see how Heaven is shining down on my granola?!?!?!  Ok, that might be my oven light but this granola is HEAVENLY, Healthy and Delicious!!! Here's the recipe!

While cruising Kim's blog for the above recipe I found this one and will be making it next week when we are back to winter-ish again!  Whoop Whoop! 

And this is how happy your family will be after you make this (ok, I just wanted to add a cute picture I took this morning, sue me!):

Prayers, Thoughts and Thankfulness

I will apologize now if this looks like mush after I publish it! This is my first post via blackberry so bare with me!

My prayer list has gotten rather long the past week and a half or so. There have been tragedies in my family, with close friends, close friends with BIG life decisions, precious new life, children facing tough health issues, a dear friends husband (in military) called to an overseas assignment in the middle if the night, world disasters, wars, thankfullness and so on. My heart aches for so many yet is so thankful for others and I know we can never understand why things happen, we have to have faith that the Lord is with us going into "it" and getting out of "it" and everywhere in between. HE is in Japan. HE is with our military. HE is with the sick. HE is with the thankful. HE is with all of us and HE is listening.



As I pray for all of these people and their families even in the most grim circumstances I SEE and FEEL him at work with them. After reading a friends blog earlier and reading her "recommended readings of Ephesians 1, I continued on and feel this string of verses could not be more powerful for EVERYONE on my prayer list.

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and deep is the LOVE of Christ, and to know THIS LOVE SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE that you may be FILLED to the MEASURE of all the FULLNESS of GOD. Now to him who is able to do IMMESURABLY MORE than we ASK or IMAGINE, according to HIS power that is at work WITHIN us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and EVER! Amen

I am thankful HE listens, I am thankful for answered prayers, I am blessed beyond measure to know HE is with me in the good times and bad and even if I don't understand, I will have faith in HIM.

Girls Gone Wild!

Today is one of those days I have 800 things I want to blog about!  I am going to try and stick with our spring break since there is a lot to post about but bare with me if I go astray!!! 

Tyler's parents (J & J) own a home South of  *us* and we were planning on joining them for the day this past Saturday to celebrate Tyler's grandpa's birthday!  Paige and I decided we were up for a vacation so we loaded down the FJ, rolled down the windows letting the wind blow our hair and arrived a couple of hours later! 

As most of you know my best buddy Kim lives in these parts so we went straight to her house to have some brunch (donuts) and play!  The kiddos had so much fun!  We explored their lovely home and walked up by the lake, played in the sand box and swings.  It is such a beautiful place to live and raise a family!  I am so jealous she lives walking distance from the lake!!  Sadly, we were too busy chasing around our hooligans that I don't have any photographic memories to commemorate this part of the trip! 

Once we were played out and ready for a nap, we hopped back in our carriage and were off to "grandmother's house"!!  J & J's place is so serene! Its up on a hill and the backyard is filled with big, beautiful rocks and a beautiful creek!  Blue bonnets fill the place each spring!  Paige was so excited to see her nonny and pappy and of course to play outside!  Nonny had a new car for P ready for the weekends adventures! 

On Thursday morning we got up and invited Kim and her munchkins over to play and have a picnic and we all had a blast!  Towards the end of our playdate Paige started acting a little weird and saying her eyes were bothering her.  Apparently she is allergic to something!  Once I got her inside and cooled down everything was fine but twice she almost seemed like she would pass out!  We got some antihistamine in her system and everything was better but I must say it was the weirdest/scariest thing I have dealt with since she's been alive!

After nap time we headed to Paige's great grandma's house! We visited with nana for several hours catching up with her and Paige explored all of her house too!  Nana travels the US quite a bit so we try to catch up her every chance we get! 

Kim's MIL owns an amazing nursery about 20 minutes from J & J's place so we cruised over there to check out all of the new spring plants!!!  Janet hadn't ever been out there and I knew she would love it!  Not only does she have a HUGE selection of delicious plants but also some of the best outdoor decorations EVER!  I remember one time I was out there several years ago and she had a bench made out of surf boards!!!  It was really neat!  Paige was in Heaven because she has a few dogs, lots of toys and tons of "flowas"! I have been on a mission for a flower box to go under my kitchen window for awhile now.  I just can't do the ones without character...Tyler won't let me have flamingos or anything so I have to be sure each thing I add to the yard has CHARACTER!  She had a very old white, wrought iron one that has been aged drastically over time and it appeared to be the EXACT size I need for my double window!  Score!  I snatched that up, a smaller one to hang on the fence and a very small one for Paige so that each spring, she can pick out flowers for her basket and take care of them!  I can't wait to see what she chooses!!  She already loves our flowers and has learned we "smell" not "touch"!  The last items I left with were two hydrangeas and a magnolia tree/shrub.  Janet found an awesome wrought iron stand with a terra cotta pot that is to die for...

Our last big adventure was to a mini pony ranch!!!  One of Janet's best friends growing up raises mini ponies.  Tyler and his brother grew up with her kids (Leah and Jacob) and Leah and I have become quite good friends over the past few years!  To put it mildly, I am obsessed with mini ponies! If I were an animal, I would be a mini pony--quirky, weird, out of the ordinary, always makes people smile and confident.  There were also chickens, an amazing yellow rooster named Obama, a gorgeous milk cow and several precious pooches!  I CANNOT wait to go back!  Paige was most obsessed with the Gator she got to ride and drive. 

Here is Obama!!!

 He was dancing like crazy right when we got there...showing off for his "bride to be"!

 Doesn't this beauty look just like Tina Turner?!?!?!  I loved him!!!!!

 

We loved every minute of our long weekend and spending special time with family and friends!

"Think about the things that are good and worthy of praise.  Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected." Phillippians 4:8

 And a few more fun pics form the weekend...as if I didnt have enough already...

This a a wig we found in a hat box!!!  Lots of giggles throughout the weekend!!!

 Paige and her nonny!! 

Hopes-Paul Harvey

Tyler sent this email to me this morning and I really liked it so I thought I would share:

We try so hard to make things better for our kids that we make them worse.


I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.....

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.. And if a friend offers you drugs, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life....

Written with a pen. Sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you. -Paul Harvey

The Bet

What a beautiful weekend~!  We spent a lot of time outside at the park, at the lake, in our yard, on the patio eating...pure bliss!  So just to recap in photos before I get to the main meat of this post...here are a few snapshots of Paige throughout the weekend...notice what she never leaves home without at least one pair of...

(Friday)

(Saturday)

(Sunday)

 So lets pick up with Sunday late afternoon.  Our family decides to head on over to Outback for dinner.  It was a little chilly so Paige grabbed a jacket, picked out her own bow(s) and shoes and had me help her get it ALL on.  By the time she got into the car she had on two different leopard prints, stripes, lace, bright flowers and a pair of sunnies.  Since I promote individuality and dress a little eccentric myself, I was perfectly fine with her choices.  Once we get into the restaurant, P sits in her high chair and she keeps all of her accessories on!  After our cheese fries came Tyler decides to make a bet with his daughter.  I knew he was horrible at gambling but what came out of his mouth was ridiculous, even for him!  If Vegas had odds for this bet I assure you they would not be in Tyler's favor.  Here is what came out of his mouth:

"Paige, if you leave those sunnies on the rest of the time we are at the restaurant, I will buy you a Mercedes Benz when you turn 16." 

Hmmm, with most kids this would be a fairly easy bet to win.  Most kids aren't obsessed with sunnies...but, HIS kid is!!!!  Paige won the bet and is anxiously awaiting her sweet 16 birthday bash when her dad unveils her prize!  She printed out this photo below to hang on her bulletin board in her room and wrote a caption on top that says:  "This ride is miiiiiiiiiine!! Jokes on you DAD"

Unfortunately this is probably what will be under the big, red bow in 14.5 years:

or a smart car that doesn't go over 45 mph...

I told Tyler on the drive home that I would commemorate his first bet with his daughter on the blog as to provide a permanent reminder of this bet. 

Recipe of the Day

About a month ago my friend Leah posted a link to a soup she was making and it looked and sounded divine.  She is one of those people in my recipe circle that nothing she has ever turned me to has been anything short of deliciousness.  As I looked at the ingredients, I was so jealous she was having it for dinner and vowed to myself to make it soon...I love soup and I love blue cheese!  This met both!  Thank you Leah, after a small crisis I did indeed finally have this soup and it lived up to all I dreamed it to be:)

Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup (this is my slightly altered recipe due to my pantry-exact recipe to follow in a linkie)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 28-oz can Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes w/Basil, with their juice

1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock

3/4 cups heavy cream whole milk--my heavy cream was unfortunately expired but I obviously would promote you using the heavy cream, duh. 

2 tablespoons sriracha sauce I used adobo sauce, hotter than siracha and I live for the burn.  Go with the siracha unless you are half asian like me. 

1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves dried basil

1/2 cup Roth Kase Buttermilk Blue cheese blue cheese crumbles

Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and continue to sweat for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, their juice and the stock and bring to a simmer. (I added a little more salt here too). Add the cream, sriracha sauce, and oregano and simmer for 45 minutes. Add in the blue cheese stirring until melted and combined.  Find some stale bread and enjoy!!!  There is a local place that has the best tomato basil soup I have EVER had...until this soup!  This is my new favorite!  I love the smokiness from the adobo sauce, the creaminess from the cheese and the delicious smell of basil!  I had a bagel leftover from a local german bakery and it was on its way out the door because it was stale...nope, perfection in this soup! 

Here is the link to the original recipe with pictures! 

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2009/11/michael_symons.html

Being Tested

A few days ago I posted about being a light...in your family, community, world and I have gone back and forth about posting this and since I can't come up with anything else for today...here goes:

Literally less than one minute after hitting "publish" on that post, my doorbell rang.  Irritated since my little baby was sleeping but went to look to see who it was.  A woman who i don't know was standing there with the look of solicitation in her face.  I never open the door when people come by because I am a protective mother bear but not quite as strong as a bear so I like the steal door's separation.  Anyway, the woman asks me several questions and tells me she is in a 12 step program to get on her feet.  She and her son (one month younger than Paige) had just moved out of a half way house.  She begins to tell me she is selling magazines that can be donated to shelters and to be quite honest, we get this stuff all the time where we live and we always say no thanks and move on. 

I don't know if I was "called" to help her or not but definitely called to listen.  When I started getting confused with the magazine stuff I asked if I could just make a donation, she showed me in her paperwork that it was against the law for her to take donations.  So I pick a magazine and give her some cash.  All the while I keep thinking, don't be a hypocrit--do what you say--be a light, am I being scammed?, she has a baby and is going door to door-this is terrible, and so much more.  She asked me to write her a small message on her sheet.  I wrote, "the Lord is with you, let him in your heart and never give up.  God bless you!"  Then I asked her if I could give her a hug.  We hugged and I told her to take care of her baby boy.  Then she left. 

When I came inside, my eyes were filled with tears and I started analyzing again.  Had I just been scammed??  I have a small stash of cash from my Craig's list sales that I have been carefully saving every dollar so that I can purchase bedding for our extreme master bedroom makeover.  Since bedding is not in the budget right now, these $$ are very important!!  The money I gave her came out of this stash so I started thinking about that.  This is my hard earned money from items I have had in my home that I bought with our money and then took the time to sell and have given part of it to a woman I don't know and certainly don't know what will happen to this money.  Then I felt convicted for thinking about comforters as more important than a mother working door to door.  I also reminded myself, it isn't my job to worry if she is doing the right thing with our money but to be a light.  My main goal was to let this woman know someone believed in her.  She told me her mother was forced to give her up at 2 years old and she never knew her father.  She didn't blame them for her problems, she said she has made a lot of bad decisions along the way but is really trying. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't.  But I pray she is.  I pray if she is doing the right thing, she keeps it up for her and her sons sake.  If she isn't, I hope she feels convicted for lying and guilty by her actions.  She asked me to keep her in my prayers and I will.  Her face will stay in my mind so will her sons--she showed me a picture of him. 

I'm telling this story not to brag or show you how I help the less fortunate.  In the past year, I am sure 50 people have knocked on our door and we have turned away at least 47 of them.  And I will turn others away too I'm sure.  But I know I was being tested and learned a very valuable lesson.  I pray each and every day that God will help me to be a good mom, wife, neighbor, daughter, sister, friend and so on.  That he will bless my family and keep us healthy, watching over each and every one of us.  What if He wouldn't listen to my prayers on the days I make bad choices, gossip, skip church and so on....?  I would be in a huge mess.  "Anyone who shows kindness and compassion to others will receive the same kindness and compassion from God.  Do things His way.  Give others a break when they make a mistake."

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."  Matthew 5:7

Healthy recipe-with Potential!

The other night I was trying to come up with something to make for dinner.  I had thought about making bean soup-one of our favorites but I didn't soak my beans the night before (story of my life) and had the beef sausage thawed in the fridge.  So I started pulling things out and laying them on the counter until it made sense and looked appealing...

So while the WW rotini was taking a bath in boiling water, I minced 5 cloves of garlic to simmer in olive oil over med low heat.

 Then sliced the beef smoked sausage (for some reason Paige and I love this sausage and it is very cheap and fits nicely in the freezer til we have a craving-I can't say if it has any health benefits or negatives but it is a delicious treat to us).  Our frozen spinach is also boiling away per the directions on the carton!  After our garlic was smelling delicious we threw in our sausage.
I ended up not using the sun dried tomatoes--I always forget I hate this brand.  Has a weird waxy taste or something, so after I chopped them, the smell brought back all of the bad memories and I threw them out!  Then, I squeezed the juice of one lemon into the pot.
After the spinach was done, I cut open the pouch and added it to the garlic/meat mixture and drained my noodles and incorporated everything together. 

This was a very pretty dish!  We all liked it.  BUT as I was eating it, I had so many ideas on different directions the dish should go!  The main change was turning it into a SIDE dish-leave out the meat, add water chestnuts or pine nuts, obviously white noodles would be better and then a light shaving of fresh parmesan served with grilled shrimp as the main dish. 

Spinach is a super food and I am always trying to incorporate it into our diet.  Everyone needs more iron, especially toddlers, nursing mommas, pregnant mommas, daddy's...I'm not sure that Oscar needs iron but he also had a helping courtesy of Paige. 

I am REALLY trying to serve whole wheat noodles all the time but they just taste grainy and no where near as delicious and wonderful as their luscious white counterparts.  Anyone know of a brand that is tastier than the others?? 

She doesn't look super excited, but I promise she liked it and got a good dose of spinach in her belly!  I WIN!   

For Paige

It’s like a storm

That cuts a path

It’s breaks your will

It feels like that

You think your lost

But your not lost on your own

Your not alone

I will stand by you

I will help you through

When you’ve done all you can do

If you can’t cope

I will dry your eyes

I will fight your fight

I will hold you tight

And I wont let go

It hurts my heart

To see you cry

I know it’s dark

This part of life

Oh it finds us all

And we’re too small

To stop the rain

Oh but when it rains

I will stand by you

I will help you through

When you’ve done all you can do

And you can’t cope

I will dry your eyes

I will fight your fight

I will hold you tight

And I wont let you fall

Don’t be afraid to fall

I’m right here to catch you

I wont let you down

It wont get you down

Your gonna make it

Yea I know you can make it

Cause I will stand by you

I will help you through

When you’ve done all you can do

And you can’t cope

And I will dry your eyes

I will fight your fight

I will hold you tight

And I wont let go

Oh I’m gonna hold you

And I wont let go

Wont let you go

No I wont

Rascal Flatts – I Won’t Let Go Lyrics

Miss Personality-19 months!

It amazes me how grown up Paige seems.  The other day she was running around the house naked after her bath and she peed in the floor and she looked at me sooo upset and said, "Sowwy Mommy!!" Her apology was filled with so much sincere emotion and I was taken off guard.  For one, she has never been in trouble for peeing in the floor since it is actually MY fault and two, I haven't worked with her that much on "sorry".

With that said, it is more and more clear to me each and every day what a positive environment I have to foster for my young pup!  She is the most absorbent sponge and I want to fill her up with so much good stuff!  I let her explore everything in the house-she can play in the cabinets, pantry, my closet, the yard...everywhere.  This is her school and I want her to learn! 

She likes to pick out outfits and shoes and bows and...accessories.  As you will see from the photographs, she is quite creative!

She talks all of the time and literally repeats everything I say.  She asks about all of her relatives almost every day.  We talk about them--mostly nice things:)  and we look at pictures of them!  We read a ton of books but the colors, shapes, letters books are definitely her favorite.  She likes to read them to me by telling me all of the items in the books.

I love her passion for learning and spend so much time lately making sure I come up with lots of creative activities and lessons in the house and out and about to keep her going! 
She is such a good eater!  Almost every morning she begs for green peas.  At first I would look at her confused and get out fruit then it hit me...if P wants veggies, give her veggies!!!  I hope she continues to eat her fruits and veggies so well!!  She feeds her pears to Oscar-apparently they are not that appealing to her but I guess he needs to set a good example and get his 3 a day as well:).

I love watching her play with her "babies" and animals.  It shows me a glimpse of what kind of mommy I am because she acts out like I do.  She loves on them, speaks softly, feeds them snacks and drinks of her milk and it is the most precious thing ever.  Now, I have also realized I am not all sugar and cocoa puffs...when Oscar is doing something wrong, she gets a very gruff loud voice!  I am working on that...it is definitely not very becoming!!  HAHAHA 

Our 24 pound catfish is so full of life, spunk, individuality, love, passion and so much more.  We have no idea what we did to deserve her but are so very thankful.  She lights up our world.