Meatball Stroganoff

My mother in law Karen is a WONDERFUL cook, seriously she is awesome. Her potato salad, escarole soup, meatball stroganoff; to die for! From the beginning of our marriage Tom has asked his mother for her recipes. She would always give her response of  "it's all in my head, I don't have anything written down." This is not wanted we wanted to hear. A couple of years into our marriage I decided to take things into my own hands, if Mama Karen won't write down her recipes for me then I'll just have to try to re-create them.

I think I have the Meatball Stroganoff pretty darn close to hers but I will admit that I may have an ingredient missing to the sauce.

Meatball Stroganoff:

1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 c. chopped onion
1 egg
1/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch of pepper

olive oil (for frying)
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1/2 c. milk
16 oz. sour cream

½ tbsp garlic salt

salt & pepper to taste

1 bag of egg noodles

Boil entire bag of egg noodles and set a side.

Combine ground meat, egg, parsley, onion, salt & pepper and bread crumbs. Shape into balls sized and brown in skillet. If you have extra onions remaining, add to oil to flavor it (can also add whole cloves of garlic, then crush into the oil with a fork as they cook).

Drain meatballs on plate with a paper towel

Stir in soup, sour cream, milk and spices. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat when it begins to boil.

Combine meatballs, egg noodles and sauce in one pan. Serves 8-10.

  

Full-Time Fabulous

A terrific opportunity has arisen for my bestess of friends, Laura.  She found out about a contest that Sunglass Hut was running in which they are looking for a fashion blogger. If you know this girl you know that this is the PERFECT job for her! So please, please vote for her, I'm begging you! Here is the link so click on over and vote, using every email account you have ;) Thank you kindly!

P is for Potty

We finally have Hannah Banana using the potty! <Insert cheering and clapping here>

 It was a rough start, she wanted nothing, NOTHING to do with the potty or big girl panties. When we told her that only babies wore diapers she declared that she was a baby. It was hilarious and frustrating all rolled into one. She even began climbing on her changing table and yelling for Tom or I to come change her, the audacity! I finally had enough and after the orchard on Saturday we hit the road running. Just like that, she did really well, I was so elated! She has been really good about going on the potty and will only have one, maybe two accidents a day.

We told her for a few months now that when she learned the potty we would buy her a bicycle. Just as promised Sunday afternoon we went out and bought Hannie her very first bicycle! Sometimes they just need a little motivation ;-)

"The End"

When I was a kid I had on occasion spent the night in my Grandma's bed with her, while she briefly lived with us. She would always pray with me on those nights and I have never forgotten this memory. Probably because it was so terrifying.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Parents, do not pray this prayer with your children. Every time Granny would pray this with me I would lie in bed terrified that if I fell asleep I wasn't waking back up!

Now that I am older and have kids of my own, I need to take hold and steer them to the Lord. Hannah and I have recently begun bedtime prayers. We hold each other's hand and they go something like this:

Dear Lord, Thank you for Daddy, Mommy, Hannie and Buddy. Thank you for Molly and Ham & Cheese. Thank you for Grandma, Mammie and Gampie. Thank you for Uncle Chase, Aunt Angela, Makayla and Jordie. Thank you for dying on the cross. We love you, In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Then after this Hannah says, "I want to hold her's fingers." She holds my hand and begins her prayer:

Mommy, Daddy, Buddy, Ham and Cheese, Aunt Angela, mumble, mumble, mumble, Mammie, Gampie, Jordie, more mumbling, Uncle Chase, mumble, mumble, mumble. The End!

In which I try to stifle any laughter because it really is just the cutest thing. I again say "Amen" when she's done and she'll say again; "The End." Cracks me up every time. It fills my heart with joy that she wants to say her own prayer.

Hopefully I'm going about this the right way as I have no experience in Toddler Theology.

Splendiforous!

My mother and I have made a commitment to one another to work out four days a week on my lunch break. Today was Day One of this journey together and went very well. I had a marvelous time sweating it out with my Mama.

She picked me up from work and brought my birthday present along for the ride. I opened up my present and before I could say anything she says, "That's why I was trying to steer you away from that one the other day, I had already bought it!" Folks, that's what makes my mom the grand poohba of awesomeness!

 Pan to two weeks prior, we were at Heart and Home looking at purses.  Just to see the new colors and styles they recently released. She asked me which one I liked and I looked at a few. I always love the patchwork purses so I of course told her I like that one to which she replied: "I don't care for that one as much, it's kind of ugly." I could hardly believe my ears! My mom and I are both honest people but I couldn't believe that she was so harsh towards that one purse. I should have known that purse would have turned into my birthday present. Touche mother, touche.

Here is my "ugly" purse:

It's A Long Trip Alone

My husband is what you would call a "non-believer" and while he was raised Catholic he no longer believes that God is real or that Jesus was anything more than a man. While it breaks my heart that he feels this way I continue to pray for him. I know there are some friends out there who pray for him as well. It adds to the loneliness in life I must say. I work first shift and he works second shift so unless I stay up until almost midnight every night I don't see him. I typically only have weekends with him before he then goes to work and for me Sundays are typically spent at church.

This past Sunday was the final membership class, for the past three weeks I have not brought Hannah to church. She doesn't like nursery so I figured we would have an issue if I tried to put her in there while I attended membership class. ;-) After the class this morning I took a seat and fully expected my friends to pile in next to me like they normally would. But as the service drew nearer and was starting to begin, I looked around and saw they were behind me and must not have seen me sitting there. So I sat in the row by myself, with all of my worries swirling around in my head. No Hannie by my side and I felt alone. This morning more than ever I couldn't get Tom out of my head, I pray all the time for him. I just don't know what more I can do to make him believe. Lately at church I've started to cry a little bit, I'm like a rubber band on the verge of snapping. This Sunday was pretty much the same as the last few, except just after I had taken communion I sat down and began to pray a little bit more. Talking to God about all the things I always talk to him about. Next thing I know my friend Bobbi pops up behind me and she hugs me and begins praying. Just in that moment my pot boiled over. It truly felt like God was pushing her to reach out to me with the very things that were bothering me this morning. I felt lonely and I feel scared for my husband that he may never know God. As Bobbi began to pray she said everything I had been feeling and I knew God had sent her to pray over me. I couldn't help but cry and for once I didn't care if anyone saw it. A little bit later another woman in the church came up to me and offered me some tissues. She told me that a woman she knew had been in the same situation as me and that woman's husband did not know the Lord until she had passed on. Maybe that's what will happen to us. I couldn't be more grateful for Bobbi, she jumped the row of chairs and came and sat with me during the rest of the service. (Thank you Bobbi for doing that, it really means a lot to me!)

But just for one Sunday I wish my husband would come and hold my hand in the church pew. Hopefully that might be the day he comes to know Christ.

Picture Time

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity for my kids to have their pictures taken by the extremely talented Kaila Regina. I was a little scared at first that my kids would traumatize her from ever taking children pictures again. Thankfully, the kids weren't too bad,  she managed to get a ton of awesome shots! Here are a few:







I can not thank her enough for these goregeous pictures. Thank you so much Kaila, you rock!

Seriously people, if you need pictures taken, she's your girl!

(As mentioned, all photo credits are Kaila Regina Wedding Photography)