A day in the life.....

Just a regular day for us :)  Watch and see what it's like!

Park with Friends

Veteran's Day was a beautiful day here in Phoenix.  We ventured out to a near by park to have fun with our friends Olivia and Jackson.

Fun with Second Cousins in WI

While spending time in Wisconsin, we were able to get some much needed play time in with cousins Dana and Rachel.  The girls had a blast at the gym!

(don't get me wrong, the video is a little long...sorry!)

 The foam pit was both the best and worst .......

A little Ring Around the Rosy anyone?

Christmas Fun

We got together with our friends to make annual cut out cookies.  The kids especially enjoyed the frosting but did a really nice job all around!

From the Mouths of Babes.....

Aren't kids just the best? 

He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Mark 10:14-16

Halloween with Friends

Tess was an adorable dragon...thanks Aunt Beth!

Abby was a stunning hula girl...again thanks Aunt Beth!

                                              The girls at a local free Halloween Fest

                                             The gang we went trick or treating with :)

Ooooohhhhh.....aren't we scary?

Zoo with Friends

As the weather has cooled, we've been able to enjoy the outdoors more.  Recently, we headed out to the zoo and the kids really enjoyed petting the goats!

Desert Botanical Garden and a trip to the ER

This past weekend a couple of my husbands aunts came to town for a visit.  I searched out something fun to do and we headed down to the Monarch Butterfly Exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden.  It was pretty neat for the kids to see so many butterflies up close.  Tess really loved it and we took lots of pictures. 

The Gardens also had an exhibit of these large wood carvings of animals.  They were pretty awesome to look at. 

After a long and eventful morning we headed up to North Scottsdale for lunch.  We had a huge delicious meal and we were devouring some amazing ice cream cake when disaster struck.  Abby had been playing in a glass cup of water when she knocked it over and it shattered on the table.  I looked over and see the glass and immediately grab her.  In the meantime my husband relays to me that she's bleeding.  I grab a napkin and wrap it around her wrist and hold it tight.  She's screaming her head off so I rush out to the car.  Hubby and aunts scramble to clean up the table, pay the bill, and grab the leftovers.  We immediately head to the Children's ER near our house.  Turns out, she needs 5 stitiches!  Poor baby!  The worst part was holding her still long enough for the doc to get all the sewing done.  After about 20 minutes and 5 icky looking stitches we're all done.  The whole visit lasted just about an hour and as soon as we got in the car, the poor little girl passed out from sheer exhaustion.  She seems to be handling it pretty well!

At the hospital immediately after the stitches

Later that same night...she doesn't seem to be any worse for wear

Using her arm quite well I think

how it looks today


 I pray we don't have another trip to the ER anytime soon - it's way too stressful on mama!

Pinetop: Labor Day Weekend

We traveled north to Pinetop AZ for Labor Day weekend.  We rented a 7 bedroom house for 6 adults and 7 kids.  We had a blast hanging out, fishing, and feeding the ducks.  Enjoy our video!

Tried and true...

I love this meal!  I have made it many many times and each time I fall in love with it all over again.  I have recently begun making it as a dinner to take over to friends who have recently given birth.  Each time I have made it, the mom has requested the recipe.  So here it is for all you new moms out there!

Enjoy!

Leftovers Pasta

1 lb pasta
1 cup ham
1 cup Andouille sausage
1 cup corn
1 cup peas
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 cup parmesan
1/4 cup asiago
2 tablespoons garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons salted butter
1 teaspoon oregano flakes
1 teaspoon basil flakes
salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste

Heat large pot with salted water for pasta, but don't add the pasta yet. 

In a large frying pan over medium heat, add olive oil and saute ham and sausage for 2-3 minutes. 

Add 2 tablespoons butter and melt.  Add peas, corn, garlic, basil, oregano, and a few heavy pinches of salt and pepper.  Saute for another 2-3 minutes.

Add cream and remaining 2 tablespoons butter, stir well and let simmer for 2-3 minutes. 

Finally add cheeses and simmer for a few more minutes.  Add garlic salt and pepper to taste.  Reduce heat to low and cover while you cook the pasta. 

Cook's Notes:

I usually make it without the peas and corn because my husband can't stand them.  It is delicious either way.  Also, sometimes I omit the butter and double the cream.  I love the extra sauce and in my head it equals out (well not really but it's a start).  Lastly, I have never used Andouille sausage.  I usually use mild italian sausage instead or just double the ham. 

A Great New Dinner

I'm always looking for a new dinner idea.  I cook a lot of the same things over and over.  This is for two reasons; 1 - my husband is really picky and 2 - I like things that are easy and relatively plain.  I get really excited when I find a new recipe that we both like.  It is a Pampered Chef recipe called "Creamy One Pot Pasta".  With a name like that, how can it not be good?

Ingredients

4 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 jar (7 oz) sun dried tomatoes in oil, undrained
3 cans chicken broth (5 1/4 cups)
1 lb uncooked Penne pasta
1 head of broccoli
2 medium carrots
4 oz reduced fat cream cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Grated fresh Parmesan cheese and snipped fresh basil (optional)

Place sliced garlic and 1 tbsp oil from the sundried tomatoes into a large stock pot.  Cook garlic over medium heat until garlic is golden brown.  Remove from heat; add broth.  Return to burner; increase heat to high.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Stir in pasta; cover adn simmer vigorously 8-10 minutes or until pasta is almost cooked but still firm, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cut broccoli into small florets; place in a bowl.  Cut carrots into small coins.  Drian sun dried tomatoes; pat dry with a paper towel.  Slice tomatoes into thin strips.  Add carrots and tomatoes to bowl.

Cut cream cheese into cubes.  Add vegetables, cream cheese, salt and pepper into stock pot.  Stir until cream cheese is melted and fully incorporated.   Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook an additional 2-4 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Serve immediately.  If desired, top with Parmesan cheese and basil. 

Servings = 6

Nutrients per serving; Calories 410, Total Fat 11 g, Sat Fat 4 g, Cholesterol 15 mg, Carbs 65 g, Protein 15 g, Sodium 1,000 mg, Fiber 5g

I omitted the broccoli (my husband can't stand the stuff) and I added pre-cooked chicken breast strips.  Next time, I would also cut the pepper down to 1/4 tsp.  I have a pretty delicate palette. 

Enjoy!

No, no, no.....don't check your calendars....

So, to put it bluntly, my husband is crazy about holiday decorations.  Specifically, he loves Christmas and Halloween.  We were at the mall on Saturday and to my great dismay, they already had Halloween AND Christmas decorations on display at Hallmark.  Ugh.  I never should have let him go in.  As soon as he did, I knew that I would regret it.  He spent more time in Hallmark ogling the decorations than I did in the neighboring store perusing the racks and trying on 3 shirts and 2 dresses (and ladies, we know how long that takes)!  I convinced him to only purchase one thing (well technically 2 but you can't really tell) for Halloween.  I told him it was way too early to be purchasing Christmas things.  (What  I really wanted to say was, "Honey, we are supposed to buy these things after the holiday so that they are on clearance!"  But, I held my tongue knowing how much he hates it when I insist on buying things on clearance (my favorite way to purchase things - especially at Target when I get shorts for $1.25 for next summer :)  So this is what we he decided on......

I think the coolest part of it is actually the shelf it sitting on.  You put water in it, turn it on, and tada!, it makes fog.  Ooohh, scary, creepy, fog!  Actually, it totally freaked me out today.  I spotted a huge puff of it out of the corner of my eye, and for some reason, I thought it was a giant rat.  My heart rate jumped sky high! 

So, now to finish my husband's craziness.  We got home from the mall and he immediately had to unpack it.  I mean immediately.  Within 10 minutes of us walking in the door, he had the boxes open and packing material all over the carpet.  Then to my ultimate displeasure, he set it up on the end table and intends to leave it there until Halloween.  It's 2 months away!  He is crazy.  But, I love him. 

Abby's Walking!

Way to go Abby!  We are so proud of you!

Wednesday Morning Moms' Group

I love Wednesday mornings.  I have this awesome, wonderful, fun, chaotic, noisy, talkative, intelligent and spiritual group of moms that I meet with every Wednesday morning.  It's for moms and kids and we get together to just talk and let our kids hang out.  Sometimes we head to a park, the zoo, the museum, or someone's house.  Today we went to my friend Mary's house, and we let the kids run like crazy.  They played in the wading pools, ran through the sprinkler and played on the swingset.  All of us moms sat around catching up.  We haven't all been together in a while since everyone was traveling over the summer.  It was so nice to see everyone again!

My Two Favorite Golfers......(and they aren't Tiger and Phil :)





practice swings

looking to the hole

Who's ready for some football? (Monday Night Football theme playing :)

NFL preseason football has officially begun.  My beloved Green Bay Packers are once again back in action.  I love football season.  I love rushing home from Mass on Sunday mornings to catch the kick off of the big game.  I love trash talking with my husband during the yearly match ups between his horrible beloved Chicago Bears and the WORLD CHAMPION Green Bay Packers.  We have such fun watching the games together and trying not to be too mean to each other during them (all in good fun of course).  Aaron Rodgers had a good showing this past Saturday night even though the final score resulted in a loss.  It was great to see some new recruits playing as well as some second stringers hoping to make the leap to the starting squad this year.  I really enjoy football season!

The beloved Lambeau Field

            

The amazing and talented Aaron Rodgers!

Go Pack Go!  Go Pack Go!  Go Pack Go! Go Pack Go!  Go Pack Go!  Go Pack Go!

What a way to start the day...

This morning as we were getting ready for our day, Tess comes running over to me and says, "Mommy, Abby has something in her hand."  I don't think to much of it and ask her, "Well, what does she have?"  Tess replies, "A bug Mommy." So I get up and go over to where they are playing all the while thinking, what kind of bug could she possibly have?  an ant, a little roly poly, what?  I'm kind of hesitant to look because I'm not a big fan of bugs.  I pick Abby up and just kind of quickly swipe at her hands trying not to think about what I might be touching.  Finally, she completely opens her hand and I glance down at the floor.  She had picked up and squished a gigantic cricket!  It was so gross.  I still feel all wiggly when I think about it.  I still can't figure out how she caught it, those things are fast!

Little People....

My day is filled with lots of Little People....

And little people playing with lots of "Little People"

little people playing peek a boo....

and smiling for the camera...

can't forget this little person....

she's the cutest little person I know!

golf...

So my husband comes home from work the other day and says,

"Honey, did you know the price of golf simulators has gone down a lot in the recent years?" 

To which I reply, "Why no, honey, I didn't realize that." 

He responds with, "I was thinking about rearranging our office/front room so we could get one." 

I say,  "But honey, we live in a climate where you can golf year round outside. Why do you need a golf simulator?"

His response, silence. 

I think, EXACTLY!

1 year old already.....

She's a genius...what can I say?

Look what I can do mom!

Did you see me?

                                                She is just too big already.....and all smiles!

blogging...

I'm addicted to reading others...now I just have to write my own!

Addicting....

I knew this would be addicting.  I have gotten up from my computer numerous times in order to get things done around the house and to my dismay, I continue to come back here in order to make my blog amazing.  How confusing this all is!  I think this is why I didn't want to do it in the first place...I didn't want to have to learn something new, but EVERYONE is doing it.    Wish me luck!

Can I do this?

So everyone I know has a blog and I really enjoy reading them. I decided that I should give it a try. I don't have any great expectations for myself so I guess that means there's no way to go but up. I'm also slightly afraid of becoming addicted. Let's give it a go and see what happens!