What's Cooking Wednesday?

Spaghetti Casserole. An oldie but a goodie. We got this recipe at a wedding shower and it is one of the first meals I made for us as a married couple. It was and still is one of our favorites. It is great to feed a crowd too. And, if I'm not feeding a crowd, I stick one of the casseroles (it make 2) in the freezer for later.

Spaghetti Casserole

2-lbs. ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

16oz. spaghetti noodles

1 (28oz.) jar spaghetti sauce

1 can tomato soup

2c. shredded mozzarella cheese

2c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Brown ground beef and chopped onion; drain. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Combine meat with sauce and tomato soup. Divide noodles equally between 2-9x13 baking dishes. Top with meat/sauce mixture. Use 1c. cheddar cheese and 1c. mozzarella cheese on each casserole. Spread 1 can cream of mushroom soup on each casserole. (This part will look gross, but trust me, it's YUMMY!) Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Stir well before serving to combine cheeses. Each casserole serves 6-8 people (depending on portion size).

E-Mealz to the Rescue

With kids, work, etc., I really struggle with meal planning. But, I love to cook and I love sitting down with my family each night for dinner. It is a really good habit I want to form while my kids are young, so that when they are older, we eat dinner together each night and share our day (and the routine is already set).

Anyway, who has time to sit down before you go to the grocery store and pick out recipes, plan meals and make your shopping list? NOT ME! I try to keep a running list of things we need when we run out and then add our family meals to the list. That works just OKAY because I tend to just make the same things over and over again (those recipes being things I can remember all of the ingredients for at the store). Plus, I tend to overspend because I am buying things that aren't necessarily on sale. You know the drill.

What is girl to do? Hire a personal chef. Reality check: not going to happen in this lifetime. Instead, I ran across E-Mealz. I highly recommend that you CHECK-IT-OUT. Now. (this is starting to sound like an info-mercial.)

Each week, you get two sheets: (1) a 7-day meal plan with recipes and sides, and (2) a grocery list (categorized by meal number and listing all the staples you will need for each meal). EVEN BETTER. The meal plan is based on the particular store's sales for that week. So, it is cost effective too. You can choose from several different meal plans (for 2, low-fat, low-carb) and from several different stores (Wal-Mart, Publix, Kroger). Did I mention that it only costs $1.25 per week? That, my friends, is a steal when you think about how much time you would actually spend planning meals for the week. Plus, your family is getting a nutritious meal made by YOU!

I have been doing this plan about 4 weeks now and we have saved money on our grocery bill, gotten to try some new recipes and my whole grocery shopping experience is much less stressful.

I cannot say enough great things about this program. Sign up today! (and list me as a referral.)

Buy this girl some panties!

I am talking about Claire. Last Friday, while Claire was visiting her grandparents for the weekend, I purchased so new big girl panties for her. She has been potty-trained since June '08, but she needed some more panties that she liked (i.e., with characters). She got a 3-pack of Dora panties and a 3-pack of Disney princess panties. I showed her the new panties while I was unpacking and putting away her things on Sunday night right before bedtime. She was THRILLED!! She immediately took the still packaged panties and carried them around with her until bedtime. Then, when she finally got them open, she proceeded to unroll and stack them in a neat little pile. After that, she took off her pjs and did this:

Yep, that's right. She has all 6 pairs of panties on at the same time. She was very proud of herself.

We finally got her panties put away in her dresser and her in bed (we thought). A little later I heard her running around in her room. I went in her room and she had moved her dress-up clothes chest over to her dresser to stand on to get to her panty drawer. That girl is determined. I will give her that.

What is really funny about this story is that Will just got back from Anaheim, CA (with work) and had gone to Downtown Disney to get Claire a few "surprises" (including a Disney placemat and fork/spoon set, a princess brush and an princess wig to go with her Sleeping Beauty costume). She could have cared less about those things when she saw her new panties. I told him that next time he should just save some money and go to Wal-Mart and get her some panties.

Remembering my pregnancies

This was a fun little questionnaire I saw on Facebook that I thought I would post here to help me remember some things from my pregnancies. Since I didn't blog when I was pregnant with either of my children and I haven't finished either of their baby books yet (Claire is almost 3-YIKES!), I thought I better get some of this stuff down before I forget.

Oh yeah ... my (1) answer refers to my pregnancy with Claire and my (2) answer refers to my pregnancy with David.

1. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED? (1) yes (2) yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? (1) yes (2) yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? (1) shocked and excited (2) disbelief

4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? (1) 28 (2) 30

5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? (1) temperature charting, confirmed by a pregnancy test and blood test (2) same

6. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? (1) Will (my hubby) (2) same

7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? (1) Yes (2) Yes

8. DUE DATE? (1) April 10 (2) April 22nd

9. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? (1) yes. I missed work for 2 days when it first hit and slept about 12 hours every night. I also ate lots of starchy foods and napped a lot at work. It passed around week 16. (2) yes again. It was much worse this time, but my doctor gave me miracle medicine and it was tolerable. No napping or sleeping long nights this time, but still lots of eating starch foods and napping at work.

10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? (1) BBQ, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, Chinese food (2) BBQ, BLTs and salt & vinegar chips, Chinese food again, sonic tater tots (for breakfast) and peach tea, lots of CAKE

11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? (1) morning sickness (2) lack of energy and swollen ankles

12. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? (1) girl (2) boy

13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? nope

14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? (1) 29 (2) 35

15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? (1) yes. one here, one where I grew up and one at work (2) yes. one here and one where I grew up.

16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew

17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? (1) Something was abnormal on Claire's 20 week ultrasounds so I had 2 f/up ultrasounds. I had several UTIs and lots of lower back pain so I had to be put on the fetal monitor several times to make sure I was not in pre-mature labor. (2) Several UTIs again and a time on the fetal monitor. One week post-partum I had to have an emergency D&C and stay in the hospital overnight due to heavy bleeding.

18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? (1) Baptist Hospital with Dr. Anne Wise-she is AWESOME! (2) same

19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? (1) 7 hours labor. I pushed for about 30 minutes. (2) 5 hours labor. I pushed for about 10 minutes.

20. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? (1) Will (2) Same

21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? (1) Will, my mom and my sister (2) same

22. WAS IT Vaginal OR C-SECTION? (1) Vaginal (2)

23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? (1) Yes. With Claire I waited until I was dilated to 5-6cm (2) Yes. With David I had one strong contraction and paged for the anesthesiologist.

24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? (1) Claire-7 lbs., 3oz. (2) David-8 lbs., 4oz.

25. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? (1) April 12 (2) April 16

26. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? (1) Anna Claire (2) William David

27. HOW OLD ARE THEY TODAY? (1) almost 3 (2) 9 months

A photo from my pregnancy with Claire on her birthday!

A photo from my pregnancy with David headed to the hospital.

A Trip to the Mountains

We went to Gatlinburg over MLK weekend with Will's Dad's family. Gatlinburg always makes me think of Old Tyme Photos, airbrush t-shirts and fudge. Other than a quick walk up and down the strip one night after dinner, we didn't see or do any of these things. {I truly love a good old tyme photo.} It was fun to remember all those youth trips to Gatlinburg even if only for a moment. We also had fun spending time with the Taylor family.

Friday night dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The kids and I rode up with Will's parents because Will had to stay in town for a meeting at church on Saturday. He came up after that. On the ride up there, we heard a lot of "Mommy, I want to play in the snow" and "Mommy, I hungry" and "Mommy, I want to go up that big mountain." There was no sleeping, by the way. So by this time, we were napless, hungry and way past our bedtime. Say cheese!

Me, Joe and Brad snacking on some yummy onion rings.

Cousin Val and Aunt Sissy

We spent a lot of time in the chalet. Joe and Brandi played a mean game of Foosball while the rest of us tried our hand at Spinners (a domino game).

Aunt Sissy and I had a little too much fun playing spinners. {No, we are not drinking wine while we are still in our pjs.}

Claire trying on my boots.

David started crawling while we were there. I actually think it was easier since he could scoot on the hardwoods. We have carpet in most of our house. See all the toys in front of him to lure him in a forward direction.

Will (with his mama) finally made it up to the chalet.

Me with Will's cousins, Valerie and Vonda. I think we were watching "Mama Mia".

After dinner at Park Grille on Saturday night, we ventured down the strip to find some salt water taffy. It was COLD! Breanna and Davis in front of Herbie the Love Bug at Ripley's.

This girl was in HEAVEN. She loves her some CANDY!

Our little family all bundled up on the strip. The kids were toasty warm (and Claire has taffy on her gloves).

RiRi with all the grand kids while we waited on our table at Park Grille. Hold on David!

The aquarium in Gatlinburg in awesome! Claire loved it. Look at that big catfish behind her.

We got to the big tropical fish tank just in time to see a diver feeding the fish.

Davis and Breanna being silly.

My favorite ... the neon jellyfish!


Our view from our chalet behind us. What a beautiful sight!

We got snow the day we left for home. This was our chalet. We were rushing to get off the mountain before too much snow accumulated.

We drove home in this! {I was not driving.}

Claire's Instrument

When we picked Claire up from her class at church on Sunday, she had a shaker. (Claire LOVES making crafts-she is like her mommy in that respect-and it is about the only way we can lure her into her classroom each Sunday morning.)

By shaker, I mean a brown paper lunch sack with dry rice inside that sounds kind of like a maraca. Claire proudly marched out to the car playing her "instrument." {her words, not mine} It took me about 10 tries to finally figure out what she was saying. I had a good chuckle when it finally clicked.

I had intended to make this a spiritual post because the bag (at one time) had a bible verse about instruments and praising God on it, but now I can't find it. Anyway ... you get the point. I did not want to forget this sweet story.

On another spiritual note, I put Claire to bed tonight and after three rounds of "God our Father" she wanted to say her prayer, which consisted of "Dear God, thank you for all my friends. Amen." Sweet! Her Daddy (who usually puts her to bed) taught her well.

Our "Super" Busy Weekend

Despite the fact that we were home all weekend, we were busy, busy, busy.

Friday, we had dinner with two other couples from our Sunday School class at church as part of our rotating supper club groups. We ate a J. Alexander's and it was YUMMY. (Of course, after waiting an hour for a table, I probably would have eaten my shoe and called it yummy.) Two words about J. Alexander's: onion rings. You know what I am talking about.

Saturday, Will hit the golf course and the kids and I headed to Meme and Poppy's house so I could sew with Meme. (We are making a little Valentine's Day outfit for Claire and my niece Evie.) Poppy was kind enough to keep Claire entertained while we worked. He was very sweet to let Claire boss him around all afternoon. Saturday night, we meet another sweet couple from our Sunday School class for dinner at Bonefish Grille. Another fave. We had the best chocolate creme brulee, which was the dessert special. It did not disappoint.

Sunday was our regular routine of church, chores, etc., until time for the super-bowl. We did get to make a quick trip to the park with the kids thanks to some fabulous spring-like weather. This was David's second trip to the park here of late and he has really taken a liking to the swings (just like his sister). Below are some pics of our trip to the park. Will was there too, but apparently he didn't make it into any pics.

For the first time since Will and I have been together (since 1999), we did not attend or have a Super-Bowl party. We just weren't feeling it this year. Not sure why. We both actually sat and watched the game together (in between feeding and patrolling the kids and putting them to bed), which typically doesn't happen when we have a party. The kids were not so much into the game, which is what I meant by "patrolling". We were sort of glad that both of them missed afternoon naps and headed to bed a little early.

Claire: "Don't worry about me mommy. I being super-careful." Said as she leans on the furniture, hangs from the treadmill and climbs on her chair. I don't know where she heard anyone say "super-careful"?

This one, on the other hand, is not super-careful. He is learning lots of new tricks from big sister ... like, climbing on the treadmill and ...

climbing up stairs. Oh yes he can!