Thank you to everyone who has subscribed to our channel. To celebrate I will be having a fun giveaway sometime this month. Stay tuned for more details here on my blog as well as our YouTube channel.
Say a little prayer for my grandma who is hopefully getting out of the hospital this week as well as my father in law who will be having surgery this week. Been crazy around here lately!!
It’s that time again for my monthly photo dump of Facebook/Instagram photos. Haven’t been blogging much in case you haven’t noticed. I really really want to make some more videos, but time has been getting away from me. There have been some serious conversations going on around here in regards to Andrew and college and Karli and her dance/gymnastics future and all my brain cells are getting used up. Plus everyone is just enjoying the nice weather we are finally having. We have had a few baseball games already and we only have about 40 more to go before the end of June. I’m just going with the flow day to day trying to keep up with it all. However, Sunday I literally did nothing but read an entire book all day while listening to the rain. Sometimes you just gotta relax and take a time out.
We went on a little road trip over Spring Break to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. See the video here.
Dan Marino
Lots of me
Chase…the only Redskin fan in the house…probably because my dad is a Redskins fan.
Cute shoes at Target that Karli wanted me to buy for her, but I didn’t. Ken would have died!
First time I ate at Max & Erma’s. I LOVE Tortilla soup.
College visit to Central Michigan University. Andrew loved the school, but it’s at the bottom of my list. Too far away! 3 hours.
Cute way Andrew asked a girl to Prom :) It’s about 200 tea-light candles.
My adorable furbabies
Tori trying out for the Big Bad Wolf.
I could seriously take a photo every day of the crazy ways Daisy lays around the kitchen.
New highlights!
Happy Spring to everyone! It’s finally here :)
These Chicken Quesadillas are probably the best thrown together at the last minute recipes I’ve made in a long time. I have always loved Taco Bell’s chicken quesadillas, but they are expensive in my opinion. Plus when you make them at home you are control of the ingredients and can make them as healthy as you’d like. You could use wheat tortilla shells and less cheese for a lower calorie version. If you follow my recipe below you will have enough to make 5 large quesadillas and the kids and I could only eat half of one.
You will need: large burritos, chicken breasts, quesadilla cheese, fajita seasoning packet, chili powder, garlic salt, paprika and sour cream if desired.
Mix all of the dry ingredients in a Tupperware container and add your chicken pieces. Put the lid on the container and shake well.
Thoroughly cook all of the chicken in a large skillet.
Lightly spray a large skillet or griddle and lay out two of the burritos. Spread out chicken pieces on the burrito and top with shredded cheese.
Cover with another burrito and don’t worry, it will be bigger because the burritos do shrink as they cook. Burrito is ready to be flipped once it starts to brown. Very carefully lift the burrito, spray the skillet, and flip the burrito and brown the other side.
Place the cooked burrito on a large plate and slice with a pizza cutter. ENJOY!
And now for the recipe…
Ingredients:
2 pounds chicken breast – cut into bit size pieces
10 large burrito soft shells
4 cups queso quesadilla cheese
1 packet of fajita seasoning
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
2 Teaspoons paprika
Directions:
1. Mix fajita seasoning, chili powder, garlic salt and paprika in a large Tupperware container.
2. Add cut up chicken breast pieces, close container and shake until chicken is well coated.
3. Cook chicken pieces in a large skillet until cooked thoroughly, about 8 – 10 minutes.
4. Lightly spray a large skillet or griddle if you have one with non-stick spray.
5. Place burrito shell in skillet on medium heat, or two burritos side by side if you have a griddle.
6. Evenly spread chicken on each burrito and top with cheese.
7. Cook until burrito is partially browned, about 6 – 8 minutes.
8. Top chicken and cheese with a second burrito shell.
9. Carefully lift the burrito onto a plate and spray the skillet/griddle lightly before flipping.
10. Cook other side of burrito until brown.
11. Slice into 4 quarters with a pizza cutter and serve with sour cream if desired.
Did we want more kids after having 3 boys? Were we going to keep trying until we got a girl?
The other day I received an email asking my thoughts on finally having a girl after having 3 boys. The reader also wanted to know if I was afraid that my husband could only produce boys and my experience with trying for a girl.
Let me start by saying that I absolutely 100% admit that I wanted to have a girl very badly. At one point I actually had a private blog that I only shared with internet friends called “Pink Dreams” where I wrote about all things related to wanting a baby girl someday. I’m sure Ken was nervous that we would end up having a dozen kids while we were trying for a girl. But I have to say I am so very very blessed because things couldn’t have worked out more perfectly.
We always talked about having 4 children, but never really what we wanted the sex of all the children to be. I mean it wasn’t like we said – we want 2 boys and 2 girls or any such thing. For those who do not know, Andrew, my 17 year old is Ken’s step-son.
Andrew was 4 years old when Ken and I got married. When we found out we were pregnant with our first child, exactly 4 weeks after our wedding, we talked a little bit about how we wanted a boy. Since we already had Andrew we thought it would be nice for him to have a little brother and Ken wanted to have a son to carry on his last name. So when we found out he was a boy we were excited and it felt meant to be. Enter Blake – son #2.
For whatever reason getting pregnant the next time took 10 months. We had just moved into our home we built the day after Blake turned 1 year old. We wanted to start trying after his first birthday so we could have two kids close together in age. It took month after month of trying and worrying about whether I was ever going to be able to get pregnant again. I don’t know if it was the stress of trying and all that we had going on with the new house or what. Finally it happened and we were thrilled. At that point we were grateful for just being able to get pregnant, let alone hoping for a boy or girl. By the time I was halfway through the pregnancy and was going in for the ultrasound where we would find out the sex of the baby – it was no secret I really wanted to have a girl. I remember even telling the ultrasound technician that we hoped to find out it was a girl. I recall her saying something like, “Well you don’t need to go buy any new clothes because it’s a boy” or maybe it was something like “You don’t have to redecorate the nursery…because it’s a boy”. Something like that. I can’t recall exactly all that was said between Ken and I after that appointment, but I know they were comments like, “It’s just meant to be” and “We just want a healthy baby”. While I was very disappointed I knew in the back of my mind we still had discussed many times that we wanted to have at least one more child so I still had hope for my baby girl. Welcome Chase – son #3. Read Chase’s Birth Story.
I also have to mention here that Andrew was spoiled rotten being my first baby. And then Blake was the easiest, happiest baby ever. Chase, who took 10 long months to be created by God (I like to joke), was such a stinker- cried so much and was rarely happy the first few months. So crazy!
Since it took so long to get pregnant with Chase, Ken and I both agreed that we would start trying to get pregnant right when Chase turned a year old. It was quite the surprise when we found out we were pregnant the first month we tried. I had found out a few days prior to the surprise 30th birthday party that I threw for Ken and we ended up telling everyone at the party that we were pregnant again. I think people were beginning to think that we didn’t know how to use birth control or something but every one of our children were planned. At this point I was driving myself crazy hoping that the baby was a girl. I had already had 3 C-sections and not without complications. When Chase was born I had a lot of scar tissue and surgery took a little bit longer than usual. We had not said for sure that this would be my last pregnancy, but if we stuck with the original plan, it would be. Especially after Chase was such a difficult baby, we were like – this is it. No more!
The day I went in for the big gender reveal ultrasound I was so nervous. Nervous that if it was a boy that Ken would not want to try again. And nervous that maybe I wouldn’t even want to try again. I never really thought to myself – what if Ken CAN’T produce boys. I mean out of all those sperm there had to be some girl ones in there, right? And it only takes one. I didn’t do any research to read the statistics on the chances of having another boy verses girl. I never stopped thinking that it was a 50/50 shot, period. When the ultrasound tech told us it was a girl, it was like one of the best moments of my life. I remember hugging the tech and saying THANK YOU! She said – “Don’t thank me, thank him”, as she pointed to Ken. Which yes, is so true. Ken did finally give me my baby girl. And he is soooo lucky because after her birth via C-section delivery my physician told me that I couldn’t have any more babies. I was in surgery several hours longer than I should have been and she had to call in another surgeon to help her because she couldn’t get my uterus to stop bleeding. I recall during surgery thinking, oh my goodness – I finally got my baby girl and I am not going to make it through the birth.
Welcome Karli – the birth of our baby girl did feel like it completed our family. Read Karli’s Birth Story here. At this point we had Andrew who was almost 9 years old and so mature for his age. Blake had just turned 4 and was the happy, go lucky boy of the bunch – always joking and laughing about something. Chase was 20 months old, jumping around off and on the furniture and what we thought at the time – the perfect age gap for the two youngest siblings. They would be so close, best buddies, inseparable. 8 years later and we are still waiting for those things to happen. :) They have been the same height and weight for the past several years so many times people ask if they are twins. Like most siblings like fight like crazy and on the rare occasion that they get along everything feels perfect.
Since we had 3 children in 4 years, I don’t think I really had much time to think about – What if I never got my girl? I mean I wished and prayed as much as possible, but in the end I knew that whatever was meant to be – would be. If there was some reason that I was meant to be the mother of all boys instead then that is what I would accept. I don’t think families who have all the same sex children should be disappointed. I mean there have to be advantages to having all boys or all girls. All the handing down of clothes and sports gear. The sharing of bedrooms if needed. Having the kids enjoying the same activities and things like that have to be so much easier. Karli gets bored more often than the boys and that wouldn’t happen as often with all boys or all girls. Girls are so different than boys I don’t know if I could have handled more than 1. I think if Chase would have been a girl, we may have stopped at 3. We always said we wanted 4 kids, so in a way, we got exactly what we wanted. One little princess to complete the trio of princes.
Our Family is Complete!
I just had to share this old video of Karli learning to count. It is too cute and the ending is adorable :)
Sorry about the quality…it’s an old video/old camera.
I wanted to do something different when sharing my Easter photos this year so I thought I would give Picture Collage Maker for Mac a try. For the past decade I have been using Paint Shop Pro and I have never updated the software or tried a different version. Every new PC I have bought I just keep reinstalling the same old program. There are so many neat apps and programs out there that allow you to easily add background patterns, create photo frames, add text and more. So it’s about time I get with the program and start using a program from this decade, don’t you think?
I chose Picture Collage Maker for Mac primarily because I love using our iMac for non-work related things. The app which is actually available on both Mac and PC was extremely easy to use. The steps to create a photo collage are so easy! First you select a project: blank project, calendar, greeting card, layout or photo album. You are then able to use the predetermined background with some of the layouts or you can easily choose your own from the various backgrounds that are offered. There are over a hundred different templates you can choose from. Adding photos is simple – just drag and drop. My favorite feature is being able to resize and move the photos even when you choose a predesigned template. You are still able to make changes and make it your own. There is also the option of adding text to anywhere on the project that you choose. You can move the layers up and down so your photos and text are appropriately overlapping one another as well. The best part is printing your creations to give them to family! You can print greeting cards, calendars and photo collages which could also be used as scrapbooking pages.
I also made a desktop calendar for April for my laptop. Again these can be customized however you choose. For example this particular template had two horizontal photo slots and I was able to delete one of them and change the photo to be vertical instead. I just love the flexibility of this app. I’m always looking for new ways to share my photos on my blog and this app offers that and so much more. The app is currently available for Mac for $19.99 which is almost $10 off the regular price.
Click on the eggs to view all of our Easter photos :)
Our last vlog from Spring Break. Sorry I missed a few days. As I explain in the video one of my best friend’s mom passed away and I was helping her with some things for the funeral. I also made this shadow box for her with some photos that she had suggested were her favorites. I also included a poem that she had selected for someone to read at the services. I am not one that can speak in front of people like that and helping her make a DVD of photos is more where I feel most comfortable. Behind the scenes…that’s me. I wasn’t really sure how exactly I wanted it to look so I just went to the craft store and picked out some scrapbook supplies. I starting and cutting and sticking things here and there until it looked right. Karli helped me decide where to put things as well. I thought it turned it pretty good considering it was the first time I’ve ever made such a thing. Hopefully it’s something she can cherish forever. Her mom was such an amazing woman…one so many people will never forget.
This is one of my favorite cold pasta salad recipes. Perfect for a party or a great addition to a grilled piece of steak or chicken. The best tip I can give you is not to buy a cheap Italian dressing. Stick with Wishbone or a brand that you truly like the taste. I also like it best when it has a chance to chill for several hours.
Italian Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
12oz. multicolored pasta
8oz. artichoke hearts
8oz. pitted black olives
8oz. canned mushrooms
1 pound block mozzarella cheese
1 pound block cheddar cheese
16oz. Wishbone Italian dressing
Directions:
1. Cook pasta as directed on package
2. Rinse pasta in cold water for several minutes
3. Cut cheese into 1 inch cubes
4. Drain mushrooms
5. Drain black olives and chop into small pieces
6. Drain artichoke hearts and chop into pieces or you can keep whole
7. Add all ingredients to a large bowl.
8. Add about 2/3 of salad dressing to the bowl and mix well.
9. Chill for several hours.
10. Add more Italian dressing as needed.
I also like to save some in case there are leftovers- it tends to get dry and you can freshen it up with some dressing before serving.
