Master Baking Mix is yummy and frugal July 23, 2008

So today I made 8 pounds of a ‘Master Baking Mix’ that is useful with multiple everyday recipes that are in my all time favorite cookbook: More With Less.  The master mix is awesome.  I love being able to control the salt and sugar content in things like that as well as knowing that there aren’t any yucky preservatives in it.  So today I made blueberry muffins and cheese breadsticks to go with dinner.  Still lots of baking mix left!  I love that I can now quickly whip up homemade waffles, pancakes, coffee cake, muffins, biscuits…. all in like 10 -15 minutes.  Awesome stuff.  Now, if you do ever decide to make your own baking mix, I recommend not making 8 pounds of it at once.  I had the option of 4 or 8 pounds and in my over ambitious mind I thought, hey, why not?  sigh.  My mixing bowls are large but not that large.  The amount definitely complicated the process.  But, it’s done and I learned my lesson.  Anyway, if anyone would like the recipe for the baking mix and then the subsequent recipes that go with it let me know and I’ll email a word document of it all to you.  I think it really saves time and money in the long run to use it and in my book that is just awesome.

Getaway July 22, 2008

Rich and I were actually able to get away for 5 whole days by ourselves.  I know!  How rare is that?!  We had an absolute blast too. =)  We stayed at our favorite bed and breakfast at the Jersey shore and just relaxed and rested our butts off.  It was awesome.  If you and yours are looking for a great getaway… I reccomend the Sea Gypsy Inn in Wildwood as a good place to stay.  They’ve been there for at least 10 years and have a really nice old place.  It feels like stepping back in time and going to “gramma’s” house.  I did a lot of research a few years ago on b&b’s and this was the nicest and fairly priced place that I found that is also not far from the beach.  We walked there everyday and enjoyed the best beach weather ever!  We plan on taking a day trip to the shore with the girls later on in the summer.  It will most likely be our last family of 4 trip before Noah is born.  Wow.  Time is flying by.

In pregnancy news… all is good.  My belly seems to be getting larger by the minute - but I guess that’s a good thing.  It’s amazing how my shirts are starting to creep up more and more.  I have a few shirts that I wore at  the very end of my pregnancy with Becca that are now fitting perfectly.  It’s crazy to think that I can get bigger and will get bigger… watch out though.  When October rolls around and you see me, I may need help standing up because I think my belly will be that big.  Yikes!  But Noah has a great heartbeat and is a super active baby.  My blood pressure and weight all seem to be normal and healthy, which is good.  I’m getting really excited to meet him.  He is going to change our family dramatically and I know it will be for the best.  I just can’t imagine life with a son yet.  Soon.  Very soon.  Only 13 more weeks to go!  Yay! =)

5 years ago… July 12, 2008

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while.  I’ve been busy with family life and traveling recently.  I’ve also been a bit moody and just haven’t desired to share with the world my whines and complaints.  I figured that if anyone out theree actually reads this you would all appreciate that. 

Anyway, today is the anniversay of when Rich and I said “I do” 5 years ago.  I love being the wife of this amazing man.  He is my best friend and the one person who knows me best.  I’m still amazed by how God has blessed me with this man and with the life that we have together.  Thank you Jesus!

That’s all I’ve got enough energy for.  I hope you all have a blessed day!

ultrasound results! June 17, 2008

Today was the much anticipated ultrasound!  I always love seeing the baby move and do things that are so cute - like yawn. =)  Everything looked good according to the ultrasound, which means that we are having a nice and healthy (praying that God protects him and he remains that way) boy!  Rich and I have decided to call him Noah David.  In the Bible Noah was a man of extreme obedience.  He obeyed God despite the peer pressure around him not to.  And David was a man after God’s own heart.  These two qualities… obedience, and striving to be like God… are what we want for our precious son.  So we will begin now to pray that this little unborn baby boy that I’m carrying will one day grow into an obedient man who is after God’s own heart.  Thank you Jesus!

Good appt. June 13, 2008

My appointment at the birth center yesterday went well.  It was really short and to the point, which was nice.  The baby has a nice healthy heart beat and my body seems to be handling this 3rd pregnancy well.  I took Gracie with me because I thought she would enjoy hearing the heartbeat (she was more interested in the books there) and so we ventured out during Becca’s nap time.  There was a high school graduation going on at Villanova so we were stuck in gobs of traffic and I was a half hour late for my appt.  Thankfully they still took me!  I also got all the forms for an ultrasound and have an appointment all set for Tuesday.  I promise to let you all know what the sex is as soon as I can! =)  Tonight our church is having a prayer and empowerment night that Rich and I are heading too… I’m looking forward to how God will be moving…. awesome stuff.

Fun June 11, 2008

The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday it will begin streaming some full-length movies on www.Disney.com .

The films will first be shown on ABC’s Wonderful World of Disney on Saturday nights throughout the summer. The films will then be available online the next day and will stay on the site for a week.

Finally I’m writing June 11, 2008

So, yeah, I’ve been a total slacker with blogging.  I actually did write about how my oven caught on fire last week, but my internet decided to spontaneously disconnect at the moment that I was publishing the post… so frustrating.  Now that I’ve mentioned the fire again, I suppse I should explain what happened.  Well, I was just about to start putting the toppings on our pizza’s that we were going to have for dinner and I had turned the oven on to preheat.  I suddenly started to smell something that wasn’t quite right… I looked in the oven and sure enough there was a little fire in there.  I tried to think about what to do and quickly turned off the oven (which wasn’t even at 350 yet by the way) and in those few moments the fire grew and I got really nervous!  The girls were playing outside so I knew that they were safe and that helped me be able to take care of the fire big time.  I grabbed the fire extinguisher that was under the sink, and put the fire out that way.  It took a couple sprays to get it out which surprised me.  But, praise God the kitchen and house didn’t burn down!  Now, in all of the chaos I didn’t even think to turn off the ceiling fans that were on at the time and the fire extinguisher chemical was blown ALL OVER the house!  It was everywhere!  Rich was amazing and came home early from the church to be with me because I was in a bit of shock, and he also stayed home the next day to help me clean up the mess that we now had.  So, needless to say, my homemade pizza was trashed and we actually ended up walking to a pizza place for dinner that’s here in town.  I now thankfully have a squeaky clean oven, and I can pretty much guarantee that I always will from now.

In other news, the baby is growing and moving a lot more.  I’m 21 weeks and still haven’t found out if it’s a boy or a girl… but we will.  I have an appt. with the midwives on Thursday and I’m sure I’ll give an update then.  I thankfully have more energy these days too and have been going on lots of walks with the girls.  It’s great to be out and about again and just being active.  I really missed that!  Of course, the weather was soooo hot and every time we ventrued out we would all be all sweaty (eewww).  Thankfully it rained last night and the heat isn’t so bad today.  I think I’ll take the girls outside soon and take advantage of the coolness of the morning.

 

a little update June 3, 2008

Today marks the half way point until baby #3 makes his/her’s grand appearance.  It’s still hard to believe how quickly 20 weeks have gone by and at the same time I can’t even begin to say how loooong it seems like 20 more weeks will be!  I have an appointment next week with the midwife and I plan on getting all of the proper papers so that I can go for an ultrasound.  I will be sure to let everyone know if we be having a boy or girl =). 

Yesterday was a fun day with the girls.  We went to visit my Aunt and Gramma (they are about 40 minutes away from us) for the day.  I was originally planning on staying until after lunch so that I could get home in time to get dinner ready for when Rich came home… but Becca fell asleep and Rich ended up coming to us so that he and I could go on a date night!  We had such a nice time and I’m soooo thankful for my Aunt being able to keep the girls so that he and I could get out.  It’s so rare these days.  We went Texas Roadhouse for dinner and I had the yummiest shish kabobs with steak and a sweet potato.  Rich got the ribs which were very tasty and had a loaded baked potatoe…. sooooo good!  We then went to go see Indiana Jones.  It was a really fun movie and it now makes me want to go and see the old ones because I never have.  I know, I’m so uncool! haha.  We ended up getting home after 10:00 and I was blessed enough to not have to get up out of bed this morning until just about 8:00.  The girls were brilliantly exhausted from all of their fun that they slept super soundly!

Tonight for dinnerI am making bbq chicken pizza as well as a white pizza with tomatoes and black olives.  Should be tasty…. I’m off to make the dough now!

Date Night May 21, 2008

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day for me.  It was my turn to be the co-op mom at the preschool and it was the children’s last day in the classroom for the year.  Originally I wasn’t scheduled to co-op (and was thankful for that because Becca has a cold and I’ve been recovering from mine as well) but because Grace’s birthday is in June her teacher wanted to celebrate it in school with her friends.  So Grace helped me make cupcakes to bring in and the kids seemed to have fun eating them up.  Anyway, if you remember - yesterday was a rather rainy day and on the darkder side.  I woke up too late, had to take a shower, and get the girls fed and dressed.  My time with the Lord went out the window as well as me eating breakfast!  This is definitely NOT the way to start off a day.  When we got to the school I ate two grahm crackers (not the best thing to eat) which were my only option.  The morning went by faster than I had expected.  I was chasing after Becca a lot and making sure that all of the kids in the class were being safe, etc.  So after school I finally was able to eat something!  Praise God for food.  Seriously… I can’t imagine what it’s like to be pregnant and not have enough food to eat!  So after all 3 of us were fed Becca went up for a nap and Grace went to her room for her daily quiet time.  I crashed on the couch and had a fantastic nap.  But, I woke up from the nap around 4:30!  That’s a very very long nap.  I was so tired and realized as soon as I woke up that I didn’t take the meat out of the freezer for dinner - and I didn’t have anything else!  I called Rich and he was so sweet about my lack of planning and offered to pick something up on the way home.  What a guy. =)  When he came home we all ate and then he suggested that he and I go on a date before his 10:15 soccer game.  We took the kids to his parents’ house and then he and I went to go see the new Narnia movie.  We had a great time and enjoyed the movie.  I don’t remember the book at all so I have no idea if it was accurate or not but we did enjoy it very much.  I then went and watched him play soccer.  He is such a good player!  we didn’t get home until super late but it was overall a great time.  I’m so thankful to have a husband who is tuned into my needs and knows just when to take me out without the girlies.

Thank you Rich!  I love you so much and am looking forward to another evening together tonight =).

Blessings May 19, 2008

I am loving this weather.  I am loving the rain and the sunshine that is helping my garden grow and become beautiful.  I’m feeling blessed beyond belief at the beauty that I see each time I step out my back door.  I had to run out to the store quickly tonight and when I came home I couldn’t help myself - I just stopped and looked at all of my plants.  I can’t even believe the awesome plants I have going on out there!  There is a fruitful peach and pear tree, strawberry patch (with berries already), peonies, mint, tomatoes, daisies, a newly planted rose bush that is thriving, and iris’s…. plus I have a few colorful hanging baskets full of gorgeous flowers.  I’m just so thankful and so blessed.  I prayed when Rich and I first married for a garden.  God more than answered my prayers… he gave me a beautiful already there garden that is in full bloom.  Thank you Jenn and Joe for putting so much work, and love into the yard.  The garden is such a joy to me and my family!  I am one happy girl! =)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow… praise him o creatures here below…. praise him above ye, heavenly hosts…. praise him father, son, and holy ghost….