Waiting

Sipping an iced caramel latte (iced because there's a serious heat wave going on. Love it!!!) , waiting in the Home Depot parking lot while Reese & Wade pick up a few thing inside. Beckett fell asleep on the way here since this would normally be his naptime. We were kicked out of our house for another open house this afternoon.

We have newly engaged friends coming over for our anual Valentines's Day supper tonight. We're having Cheese and Bacon Stuffed Shells & cheesecake. Hopefully I'll post about that later this week.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Sweet Friday

To do today:

Sleep in until 8:30. Check.

Chat with sweet friends. Check.

Sip a large cup of coffee. Check.

Pancakes with sprinkles for lunch. Check.

Paint something- a table,  a shelf, not sure yet.

Take a nap.

Play Go Fish with Reese.

Buy some fresh flowers.

Thaw out some potato soup for supper.

Cuddle with my love.

My weekend is shaping up to be pretty fabulous. I hope yours is too :)

More Text Messages

Today
From Wade to me:

275 lbs. Half hour ago

um, yeah. I'll explain this in a later post.

From me to my sister:

A belly shot that she'd been bugging me about for awhile. 24 weeks. I think.

Text Messages

Two txt/pic messages sent today at 2:45 pm, first from Wade, then my response.

Waiting for hogs. hope ur day is goin great love u .
Wade

Me and Becky downstairs :)

*Liz Monroe

Snow Days

I honestly try my hardest to be a positive person. I really do. But I also strive to be an honest person.

I reeeeally am not a big fan of snow and cold weather.

I try not to complain about it, but instead just deal with it. After all, I've lived in Iowa for the first 27 years of my life, so blowing snow, slick roads and everyone cancelling everything is something that is pretty normal during winter months. But I still don't really like it.

Anyway, we've been cooped up these past two days with school being cancelled. I go back and forth between "I love this! We're nice and cozy inside and I have all these fun activities to do with my children!" and "Argh! I can't stand this! I don't want to hear any more whining! GET ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE!"

It's too cold to go outside and play (it's currently 3°) so here are a few of the things we've done this week:

Made homemade Play-doh
Had a dance party
Baked up some yummy Zucchini Bars (from frozen zucchini from our garden)
Built a fort out of blankets
Painted pictures
Decorated the inside of our fort with our paintings
Had a picnic inside consisting of blueberries, crackers, carrots and string cheese
Watched movies (Beckett permanently scratched his current all time favorite-Toy Story 3 aka "Woody". Bummer.)
Went to Target for some shopping, coffee, and a rice krispie bar
Planted seeds in little flower pots
Played at the Y

It's been fun, but I'm running out of ideas! I really just want to go for a long walk. Or better yet, a short walk to go get ice cream. Oh, summer I am ready for ya!

Update on my Little Brother

Thank goodness for technology and for Facebook! And thank goodness for Mitchell's friends putting up pictures of him online so that I can see how he's doing. I thought maybe I'd share some on here for anyone else who's interested. He's currently stationed in Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan. Let me know if want his address if you'd like to send him a hello or something :)

My Day Off :)

Perfection.

{taken from this post, which is also lovely}

Dinner and a Movie

Anyone else remember that show? Ha! Actually, it's probably still on, I just wouldn't know since we don't have cable anymore.  :)

Just wanted to share 2 quick things from my week so far:

First, last time we were at Wade's parents' house, I snagged a recipe that was originally from Ms. Sarah Monroe, as I'm a sucker for anything with tomato sauce and mozzerella cheeze. I made it Sunday night and it was de-lish! So, thanks Sarah! :)

Don't Cook the Pasta Manicotti

1 (8 oz) pkg uncooked manicotti shells

1 lb ground beef

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 cups tomato juice, divided

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
4 cups shredded mozzerella cheese, divided
1 (15 oz) carton ricotta cheese
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach
2 eggs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese


In a large skillet, brown meat w/ garlic, pour off fat. Stir in 2 cups tomato juice, tomato paste, oregano, sugar, salt & pepper. Simmer while preparing filling. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups mozz cheese, ricotta, thawed & drained spinach, eggs & parm; mix well. Preheat oven to 350°. Stuff uncooked shells (I used my hands), arrange in 9x13 pan. Spoon mean sauce evenly over shells, pour remaining tomato juice evenly on top. Cover w/ aluminum foil; bake 1 hour. Remove from oven and remove foil; immediately top w/ remaining mozz cheese. Serves 6-8. (Perfect for leftovers!)

And second, you've got to watch this little clip. They were on Ellen today and could not get any cuter if they tried!



Have a great Wednesday!!!

{Manicotti picture found here}

New Year, New Blog. I love playing around with this thing! ;)

These are the words I would say

Little Guy,
I know you're only two years old right now and just learning your ABCs, but you won't always be so small. For some reason, every time I hear this song I think of you.

Be strong in the Lord and,

Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,

I already know,

God's got His hand on you so,

Don't live life in fear,

Forgive and forget,

But don't forget why you're here,

Take your time and pray,

Thank God for each day,

His love will find a way,
These are the words I would say

~The Words I Would Say by Sidewalk Prophets

I love you, Beckett Leo!

What we've been up to...

Lately, we've been busy...

 1) ...eating sushi with this cute little family. Ed's a rockstar who makes his own sushi and it was pretty darn good.

2) ...at the OB getting a little peak at our littlest one. Yes, we found out the gender and no, we're not telling. Wade really wanted to find out, but I kinda didn't. So I made a deal with him and told him we could find out, but had to keep it a surprise for the rest of you! I know it's kind of a bratty thing to do, but I'm 99.999% sure it'll slip by Reese or one of us, so you'll probably find out sooner rather than later!

 3) ...eating Snow Ice Cream! Mix together 5-6 cups of fresh, light, fluffy snow, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup of milk, and 1 tsp vanilla. Not too bad! We made another batch to show Daddy, but I put in only half the amount of sugar (1/2 a cup seemed like a lot and it was reeeally sweet) and mixed in some almond milk too.

4) ...playing with our new Christmas toys. Favorites include this marble tower, a Barbie, a basketball hoop, a train set and some sparkly dress up high heals. :)

5) ... relentlessly cleaning our house from top to bottom for an open house and various showings by appointment. We have another one tonight from 6:15-6:45. Wade's gone at a church thing, so do I take the kids and grab fast food somewhere or stick to our normal dinner plans and eat later? I think I already know what I'll end up doing. I'm so lazy.

6) ...helping out this mama and celebrating the birth of these two sweet girls' little baby brother, Zion Edward.

Congratulations again, Simmer family! :)