A Wonderful Lazy Weekend!

This past weekend a very rare thing occurred for us...we had nothing to do!! How wonderful it was. Our weekends usually consist of doing projects around the house, or carting the kids with us out to see family, or errands or about a thousand other things. But this past weekend we had nothing to do, and it was SO very needed. We kicked off our lazy weekend with one of my kiddos favorite things...pancakes for breakfast. I like to make my own mix, and Brody usually likes to help me make them. Here is the kiddo's enjoying their pancakes.
We cleaned house (some but not much) and watched movies. We played cars, built stuff out of Lego's and chased the kids around the house. It was so nice, I love playing with the boys like that. This month is usally pretty busy for us, my oldest son's Birthday is on the 31st, and I love to go all out for parties, so I usually do a lot of planning. I made his invitations, and bought all of the stuff for the party. We are having a Toy Story party, it is his favorite thing right now. I am making his cake (I will post pics after it is made) so I have been busy planning everything. This weekend we are supposed to have weather as bad as the Oklahoma Blizzard of 09, so we may have to reschedule it for next weekend :( I really hope we don't or we will have a very sad little boy at our house.

My Non-New Years Resolution

To save my self from another year of not sticking to my New Year's resolution, this year I decided to instead of making my usual "to lose weight". I would just simply try to start adding more fruits and veggies into our meals, and to eat less refined sugars. My mom's healthy living and self healing plan has inspired me to start taking better care of my family's diet. So this year I will be cooking meals with more wholesome ingredients, so to start the year off I decided to make a vegetable lasagna. So here is what I made..
This is what it looked like as I was assembling the layers.. This recipe came out of one of my favorite cook books, the bridal edition of the Better homes and Gardens cookbook. Here is the recipe if you are interested.
8 oz. lasagna noodles
2 beaten eggs
2 c. cream style cottage cheese
1 15 oz. ricotta cheese
2 t. dried Italian seasoning
2 c. sliced fresh mushrooms
1 c. chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. olive oil
2 T. all-purpose flour
1 t. pepper
1 1/4 c. milk
1 10 oz. frozen pkg. chopped spinach, thawed & drained
1 10 oz. frozen pkg. chopped broccoli, thawed & drained
1 c. shredded carrot
3/4 c. shredded parmesan cheese (I used about 2 c. more cheese the better)
1 8 oz. pkg. mozzarella cheese.

cook noodles according to package.
stir together the next 3 ingredients
cook the mushrooms,onion, and garlic in hot oil until tender. Stir in flour & pepper; add milk all at once. cook and stir until thick & bubbly. remove from heat stir in broccoli, carrot, & 1/2 c. Parm. Assemble layers of noodles, cottage cheese mixture, veggie mixture, and then mozzarella. repeat layers twice. Bake uncovered 350 deg. for 35 min.

To make this really good I suggest buying actual real cheese, not the usual kraft or crystal farms, but the kind from the deli area of special cheese, there is nothing better than fresh cheese. Hope you enjoy...we did!

Welcoming a smoother ride for 2010!

If I would have know this time last year what 2009 was going to be like I would have said "fasten your seat belts it's gonna be a bumpy ride" The year started off great my first dr. appt. at the OBGYN for my second pregnancy (I was already 7 mo. pregnant & found out about the baby when I was already 5 mo. almost 6 mo. along into it). The birth of our surprise baby. Having the beginning of skin caner and getting a huge chunk of skin removed. Then we found out about mom's cancer returning, anal carcinoma, then to find out that it was already stage 4 and had spread to her lymph nodes. Then came the ups and downs of if any dr. could do anything to save her. She even went to specialist in Houston, but we were left with no hope. None of the doctors had seen her type spread to the lymph nodes. So mom very brave mother decided that if they could not heal herself that it was up to God and her to get the job done. My mother started a new treatment plan that consisted of a radical change in diet, body, and mind. With the help of her faith in God,and lots and lots of nutrients, I am very happy to say that after Christmas we found out that her cancer is smaller in some places and nonexistent in others. We weren't sure if this would work, but it was our only hope we had. I am sure we will never know exactly how many people were praying for her but I do know that there were too many to count. I can't think of a better ending for the roller coaster ride we were on. What a perfect ending.
With all that had happened I decided to make 2010 a better year for myself and for my family. To not let the everything get to me so much, and that when horrible things happen that I will be more like my mother and try to have the faith that she does. This year started off with a bang! My oldest son Brody who is almost 2, came very close to breaking my nose New Years day! As I was bending down to reach him, he jumped up to grab me and his little head hit smack dab on my nose. It is still bruised but I will survive. Then last night to make me even more injured I was making dinner and sliced my thumb on the pampered chef veggie slicer (that is now in the trash). And with the wonderful luck I have, I managed to slice it just so that I can't get stitches, but just so deep that it nicked 3 small blood vessels :( I ended up in the ER because we couldn't get it to stop bleeding. After our 3 hour wait and another ace bandage we left the ER tired and still in pain. Tomorrow I will be at the hand specialist to see if they can do anything with the huge chunk of skin that missing. I think only I can be this clumsy. However I for see a wonderful 2010!!