I fixed my hair!

Tonight my husband and I got a date night. My wonderful sister lovingly agreed to watch the kids while we went to dinner and had adult time. I desperately needed this night. I don't get out much due to my daughter's lack of schedule. Thus my need to escape from my children, whom I love, has been high.

This shirt was made for me.

Because most of my outings usually are to the grocery store, I don't get dressed up much (by dressed up I mean jeans and a shirt that's not a t-shirt...I'm not a fancy gal). My hair is in a perma-ponytail everyday. In fact after I shower and my hair is down, my son will come up to me and say, "Mama, you put your hair up. I don't like your hair down." He will keep saying this until my hair is in the familiar bundle atop my head. I don't mind because, hey, at least I got to take a shower! 

Tonight, though, I went all out. I fixed my hair. I blow dried it AND straightened it. No pictures to prove it, but I did take some pics of our awesome food! 

Tomorrow my hair will be back in my ponytail but it was nice while it lasted. I felt pretty. 

I've Got It Good

There are times I'm tired, frustrated, and want to run away from my life.  Thank goodness these moments are few and far between.  Overall, I know have a great life filled with wonderful friends and family.  I definitely wouldn't want to trade my woes for anyone else's.

When God brought my husband Garrett into my life, everything became a thousand times more fantastic.  He's basically the best husband ever (I hope you all feel that way about your significant other).  We have our moments, but our good always outweighs our bad.  

Several weeks ago I was having a seriously rough day, Olivia decided she only needed to nap a total of 30 minutes (Not cool, Olivia, not cool).  When Garrett got home he presented me with a poem he had written for me.  He was glad to read it for me after seeing how tough of a day I was having.  The real sweet part is that he had written said poem early that morning, long before my rocky road began. Garrett does things like this little act of sweetness all the time; he keeps my love jar full.

I know it's a little fuzzy, but I LOVE this picture of us.
This was a week before our wedding.  Ah the old days....

One of my favorite pictures of us (have I mentioned I hate having my picture taken).
This was one of our pre-baby Colorado trips.

Though all the things he does for me are loved and sincerely appreciated, the love that Garrett has for our children and their love for him gives me more joy than any sweet gesture thrown my way.  When I was pregnant with Ben, Garrett started writing in a journal for him.  He has filled Ben's journal with sweet stories, fatherly thoughts, frustrating moments, and loving poems.  When we found out we were pregnant with our little girl, Garrett started a journal for her as well.  I love reading Garrett's journal entries (I'm pretty sure I cry through 90% of them).  I can't wait for the day he gives them to Ben and Olivia.  I hope they're able to appreciate them with as much love as Garrett has in filling them.

Garrett's first time to hold Ben.  I love this picture;
I see it as the beginning of their love story.
They've always had a strong connection.

One of the many sweet moments Garrett and Olivia have shared.
I think she's definitely becoming a daddy's girl.

Our babies love their daddy.
They light up when he comes in a room.
My favorite thing in the whole world is getting to witness the love between them.

I Need to Read More...

Growing up I loved to read.  My sister and I participated in the Book It program (I know I'm totally dating myself right now; I feel old.).  Nothing sparks wanting to read like free personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut!  I also enjoyed curling up in the evening with my collection of Baby-sitters Club Super Special editions and anything by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume.  

Gold stars and everything

What young girl didn't love these books?!

Then something happened.  I believe my love of reading began to diminish in late junior high.  Junior high was when it was book report time (yes, we had to write book reports in elementary school, but a one-page paper with the accompanying shadow box doesn't count); I hated book reports.  I also hated being told to read books that didn't interest me.  So you can imagine why I dropped extracurricular reading all together when I got to high school and took AP Language.  I know some of you may be gasping right now, but I had other things that gave me much more joy than reading Grapes of Wrath (I'm pretty sure I just heard gasps over the ether after that statement).  I will admit right now to the world that I never read Hamlet.  There! I said it!  Believe me, I tried; I just couldn't get through the play without nodding off.  I also admit to watching Mel Gibson, so that I might pass the exam that was the next day (I don't think I failed, but it wasn't my best grade).  Now, all this negative talk doesn't mean I hated every book I was made to read.  I loved books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Fahrenheit 451.  

After high school (1999) I may have read a total of five books before I met my husband (2005).  For those that know Garrett know that he's a ravenous reader.  He wrote book reports for fun in school, people!  Anyway, after hearing about my lack of reading, Garrett made a must read list of books for me.  Because I love him, and because I want to be a well rounded person, I agreed to read said books.  Before you start praising me for being so awesome, I must tell you this list was made in maybe 2008 and I've read probably two books on the list.  I know!  I'm a reading slacker!  HOWEVER, one of the books that I did read, Ender's Game (so good! you must read it),  spurred me on to read so many other books.  Yes, these books weren't on my Garrett list, but I was enjoying reading again.

The book that got me reading again. I was skeptical about Ender's Game
since it's science fiction, but I'm glad I pressed on.  It's fantastic. I've now read the entire series.

All was right with me and books until I had children.  For some reason when you have your first child, whether you choose to stay at home or go back to work, you feel like you have absolutely no time to do anything.  I was lucky if I remembered to take a shower (don't judge me).  Because of the perceived lack of free time, reading for enjoyment took a backseat for me, and I'm talking deep in darkest corner of the trunk back seat.  SO, when I had my second baby, I realized that I had actually had a glorious amount of free time with Ben.  Now I truly understand what it means to not have any time to myself.  It's all about perspective, and because I didn't make reading a priority before (excluding my quiet times, but even those were often scattered), why would it be a priority now.

Now that Olivia is getting older (she'll be one in May, I can't believe it!), I'm starting to ask myself questions like, "what would I like to change about myself or grown in," "want kind of person do I want to be for myself and my family," and "what kind of things am I interested in that don't involve my children?"  I knew the answers to several of these questions before I had kids, but as many of you moms have experienced, a little piece of who you are fades or goes away when you have kids and then you have to rediscover yourself once they start getting older.

This brings me to one thing that I'd like to grown in, reading.  I would like to dedicate some of my time to putting my nose in a book, any book would do! (The Ladybug Girl doesn't count, but I think you know what I mean).  This will take some serious discipline for me, and I'm talking going on a diet kind of serious discipline.  I love to zone out on Hulu, Pinterest, or YouTube clips of the Ellen Show, but instead I must make a choice to put down my proverbial candy bar that is my iPad and pick up Pride and Prejudice.  I CAN DO IT! I WILL TRIUMPH! (see what I did there... my French Kiss moment, linked clip included for your viewing pleasure).

I will let you all know how I'm doing on this journey, failure and successes.  I'm also up for any book suggestions!  Maybe I'll dig up my Garrett list and share it for anyone else that's in a no reading funk.    

Good luck to all of us!

Let's Eat! Part 2

Since my last food entry, I've cooked up quite a few great new recipes and revisited some throw backs.

Let's start with an easy oldie: Shepherds Pie.  I got my shepherds pie recipe from a friend back in Arkansas.  It's not fancy; it's easy comfort food.  Here's the recipe I use:
-2 lb hamburger meat
-diced medium onion
-1 pkg dry ranch seasoning
-1 can cream of mushroom soup
-5 lb bag potatoes
-1 bag of frozen peas and carrots
-1 c shredded cheese (I use whatever I have on hand)
-salt and pepper to taste
Brown hamburger meat with onions and ranch seasoning.  Drain any fat.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Make your favorite mashed potato recipe (I like to add in some sour cream and/or cream cheese in my potatoes to make them nice and rich).  
Spray a little nonstick spray on the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish.
(Optional Step) Spread a layer over the mashed potatoes on the bottom of the dish.
Layer on your meat mixture.
Top the meat with frozen peas and carrots.
Spread on the rest of the mashed potatoes and top with shredded cheese.
Bake for about 20-25 min until cheese has melted and the dish is bubbly.
You may want to broil the pie for the last 5 min or so to get the cheese slightly brown, then let it set for a little to cool and set up.
**I will sometimes top my shepherds pie with mashed cauliflower for a low carb option.  It's just as tasty.  

These are the best pictures I could get of my shepherd's pie
with my phone; not the best, but you get the idea.

To go along with your shepherds pie (or whatever you're having for dinner), you MUST make this broccoli salad.  It's super good and very easy; the hardest part is chopping up all that dang broccoli.  Worth it though!

Mmmmmmm...

Now for dessert; we deserve it after eating all that broccoli!  I made these Nutella Stuffed Browned Butter Blondies.  They were very, very good and extremely rich, so be careful.  The one complaint I have is that I had to cook them for like 15 hours (ok, so maybe more like 45 min but it felt like forever), so you may want to keep that in mind when you make these.  

Is your mouth watering??  It should be.

That's all for now.  Again, feel free to look up my "Pin Accomplished" board on Pinterest to find these and other yummy things I've tried.

Sharing?

Ben is definitely struggling with sharing his toys with his sister (or sharing her toys for that matter).  He says things like, "No, that's mys (his word for mine)!"  

Today he deposited several cars and a truck in my and Olivia's lap saying, "Here you go."  Neither of us asked for said toys, but Olivia was delighted none the less.  I, on the other hand, was suspect.  

So happy to play with Ben's cars.

Concentrating, taking it all in.

 Well, I had a right to be suspect because soon after giving the cars to Olivia, Ben rushed over to try to take back all the vehicles.  Either he regretted his decision to share, or he was playing some crazy mind games.  Oh well.

Ben "changing his mind" about sharing.