I'm kind of obsessed with the Pioneer Woman (aka- Ree Drummond). I heard about her blog a LONG time ago and started poking around her website because there is SO much to explore. I love her photography, her food, her show on the food network, and basically, I enjoy living vicariously through her. In a different life, I think I would love to be a rancher's wife. (Minus the being in the middle of nowhere factor). The horses on her ranch are stunning, and I can only imagine how peaceful it is to look outside your window and see miles and miles of wide open land. I also wouldn't mind looking out at her cowboy hunk of a husband from time to time. Seriously, he is yummy. Recently I read her book, From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. It was an easy read, and who doesn't love a good love story every now and then?!
Anyway, the reason for my post is my lunch which is sitting in front of me. A couple weeks ago I decided to try her chicken spaghetti recipe in her first cookbook. It was amazing. I don't usually like my pasta 'baked' after being cooked, but this was so good I didn't even mind. It's pretty simple with just pasta, chicken, cream of mushroom, pimentos, green peppers, and cheese and more tasty ingredients all thrown together. I added mushrooms, because if it was up to me, sauteed mushrooms would be included in EVERY meal. :) As I was making the dish however, I realized that her big family eats much more than my little family does. So, I was left with half the dish to freezse, which worked out great to unthaw and warm up in the oven for a quick lunch on this dreary cloudy day. You can find the recipe here
Enjoy :)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
miss me??
yep, it's been a while. Wish I had a better excuse, but the fact of the matter is, I've just been lazy and work has been somewhat exhausting lately, which means the last thing I care to do when I get home and have a free minute is to sit on the computer and type.... Today is an exception, because the hubby is sick so he hit the sack early, and me...I'm still trucking along, so here I go-
Gosh, so much I've missed--where to begin?! This past weekend was St.Patty's day. I did all the right things for a successful st.patty's day-- I wore green, I finished my very first 7K run in Minneapolis, and then I partied the DAY away in the cities. At one point in time, I was even watching Rugby while drinking an irish beer. (Is rugby an irish thing?? Now that I typed that, I'm not sure....oh well) Anyway, the day was a success and we had so. much. fun. I think I smell a new tradition starting ;)
My little boy had kindergarten roundup tonight, so he is just pumped. He got to meet his two potential teachers and check out the school. He is getting so old... Next month he turns 5! He is currently still very much into baseball. He loves the move "sandlot" and he and his cousins reenact the movie quite often from what I'm told. When his mind is not on baseball or movies, he is outside. He has grown to love the art of 'putsing' around like his stepfather, and most of the time, I really have no idea what he is doing outside. I do know, however, it usually involves wheels. He is constantly asking to ride either his bike (no training wheels!), his dirtbike, or his four-wheeler. If there is mud outside, you can bet he is whipping shittys in our driveway (with the proper safety equiptment, of course!) and trying his hardest to get CAKED in mud. ......boys!
Little P is not so little anymore either.... She will be 6months old soon, yikes! She is so stinkin' cute. There is just no denying it. She's a little ham, and for the most part, she is a smiley little girl who loves to giggle and talk when she feels she has something valuable to add to the conversation. However, she has her moments. Actually, she has her hours! Everyday from about 5:30-7:30, she is super fussy/needy. Its the point in time where she actually could use a little nap, but she refuses one, and so it's just not a very pleasant time. With this new beautiful weather we've had lately, it's been super nice because I plunk her in her stroller and she just gets strolled along in our yard as I help daddy do yard work and it seems to calm her. That, and the moby wrap, have been my saving grace! Without them, I would probably never get anything done...
Max is sick, at the moment with a bad head cold, so he's pretty much miserable. Other than that, he's been busy with yardwork and house projects, and getting things finalized for our deck, which will hopefully be started soon :) He's running alot lately since he and some friends signed up for the Grandma's 1/2 Marathon in Duluth this summer! So proud of my man!
As for me, I'm just giddy. Giddy about the fact that we have some nice springy weather (minus this week, not that nice), giddy about the fact that Hunger Games comes out this weekend (if you haven't read the series, do yourself a favor, and please do) and giddy about the fact that....Oh yeah, I will be seeing my best friend in less than a month!! I'm flying to Key West in mid-april and I'm so excited I can't even wrap my head around it.. It'll just be for a long weekend, because I would go crazy for any longer without my babies, but I really am looking forward to taking in Key West, running an earth day 5k with kris, and just enjoying my bestie once again.. :) Seriously friends, life is good :)
Enjoy your day!
Gosh, so much I've missed--where to begin?! This past weekend was St.Patty's day. I did all the right things for a successful st.patty's day-- I wore green, I finished my very first 7K run in Minneapolis, and then I partied the DAY away in the cities. At one point in time, I was even watching Rugby while drinking an irish beer. (Is rugby an irish thing?? Now that I typed that, I'm not sure....oh well) Anyway, the day was a success and we had so. much. fun. I think I smell a new tradition starting ;)
My little boy had kindergarten roundup tonight, so he is just pumped. He got to meet his two potential teachers and check out the school. He is getting so old... Next month he turns 5! He is currently still very much into baseball. He loves the move "sandlot" and he and his cousins reenact the movie quite often from what I'm told. When his mind is not on baseball or movies, he is outside. He has grown to love the art of 'putsing' around like his stepfather, and most of the time, I really have no idea what he is doing outside. I do know, however, it usually involves wheels. He is constantly asking to ride either his bike (no training wheels!), his dirtbike, or his four-wheeler. If there is mud outside, you can bet he is whipping shittys in our driveway (with the proper safety equiptment, of course!) and trying his hardest to get CAKED in mud. ......boys!
Little P is not so little anymore either.... She will be 6months old soon, yikes! She is so stinkin' cute. There is just no denying it. She's a little ham, and for the most part, she is a smiley little girl who loves to giggle and talk when she feels she has something valuable to add to the conversation. However, she has her moments. Actually, she has her hours! Everyday from about 5:30-7:30, she is super fussy/needy. Its the point in time where she actually could use a little nap, but she refuses one, and so it's just not a very pleasant time. With this new beautiful weather we've had lately, it's been super nice because I plunk her in her stroller and she just gets strolled along in our yard as I help daddy do yard work and it seems to calm her. That, and the moby wrap, have been my saving grace! Without them, I would probably never get anything done...
Max is sick, at the moment with a bad head cold, so he's pretty much miserable. Other than that, he's been busy with yardwork and house projects, and getting things finalized for our deck, which will hopefully be started soon :) He's running alot lately since he and some friends signed up for the Grandma's 1/2 Marathon in Duluth this summer! So proud of my man!
As for me, I'm just giddy. Giddy about the fact that we have some nice springy weather (minus this week, not that nice), giddy about the fact that Hunger Games comes out this weekend (if you haven't read the series, do yourself a favor, and please do) and giddy about the fact that....Oh yeah, I will be seeing my best friend in less than a month!! I'm flying to Key West in mid-april and I'm so excited I can't even wrap my head around it.. It'll just be for a long weekend, because I would go crazy for any longer without my babies, but I really am looking forward to taking in Key West, running an earth day 5k with kris, and just enjoying my bestie once again.. :) Seriously friends, life is good :)
Enjoy your day!
Friday, February 24, 2012
decisions, decisions...
A few minutes ago I was sitting at the counter filling out Kindergarten-Roundup packets... Seriously, Ryder will be a kindergartner next year??? Time flies...
Anyway, where to send Ryder to school has been such a tough decision. Since I work for all meeker county schools, I can honestly say that I think they are all great! Living in Darwin, we are actually in Litchfield's district, but after much thought, we've decided to send our little man to Dassel Elementary. It just made more sense for many reasons including transportation. With Max working in Dassel, and with my job taking me all over sometimes, it's just more practical. I've had the opportunity to get to know the elementary principal and social worker at Dassel through my job, and I must say that I feel we've made the right decision! It's such a welcoming and happy environment (hopefully all elementary schools are!) and I know Ryder is going to LOVE kindergarten. I'm probably more excited than he is though :)
Now that we've made one tough decisions, it's freed up some time for us to start focusing on the rest of the decisions we've been pondering.... For one, we've decided to (hopefully) finally put on the deck that we've been waiting for! We had our friend Andy come out and do measurements, we've been trying to figure out exactly what our 'wish list' consists of, and filling out lots and lots of paperwork to make it all happen! We are all so excited for this and I know we will use it a TON. I'm sooooo ready for outside projects: the deck, more landscaping, gardening, adding a sandbox to Ryder's swingset, etc. Love it...
Other decisions we are playing around with are just trying to figure out what is best for our family structure. Right now, I work. Generally, I enjoy working outside of home, and I'm fortunate enough to work with some pretty awesome people, but my job is not always enjoyable. Actually, it adds a lot of stress to my life sometimes, and that stress affects our family in many ways. Next year is very up in the air for us. For financial reasons, I would love to continue to work, maybe even just 3 days a week, but at the same time, I feel like I am missing out on alot and Piper is already growing up so fast! She very well could be our last baby (at least for a long time!) so I want to enjoy every. single. moment. with her :) On the flip side, I also have this image in my mind of my husband barely walking in the door from work before I hand him the kids because I simply can not deal with them anymore after being 'stuck at home' with them all day. Don't get me wrong. I like being home, but the problem with me being home all day is that I feel like my house needs to be spotless every second that I'm in it. I love a clean house, and I feel crazy when it's messy. It's crazy how much i enjoy the hour at night after the kids are sleeping that I have a clean house and a candle burning. Even though I know it will be messy by 7am the next morning and will be a disaster by the time I leave for work, it still makes me happy. My other issue with staying home is that I went to college for a reason. Stressful or not, I have a passion for the kind of work that I do, and even if I took some time off now, I can't really imagine never wanting to work again -- and who knows when I will find work again? Ahhhhh can you sense my dilema with this topic?? We honestly can't come up with an answer... Luckily, we have a while to figure it out and I know that the answer will come to us... Enough for tonight! Busy weekend ahead including birthday parties and basketball games with family- love it :)
Anyway, where to send Ryder to school has been such a tough decision. Since I work for all meeker county schools, I can honestly say that I think they are all great! Living in Darwin, we are actually in Litchfield's district, but after much thought, we've decided to send our little man to Dassel Elementary. It just made more sense for many reasons including transportation. With Max working in Dassel, and with my job taking me all over sometimes, it's just more practical. I've had the opportunity to get to know the elementary principal and social worker at Dassel through my job, and I must say that I feel we've made the right decision! It's such a welcoming and happy environment (hopefully all elementary schools are!) and I know Ryder is going to LOVE kindergarten. I'm probably more excited than he is though :)
Now that we've made one tough decisions, it's freed up some time for us to start focusing on the rest of the decisions we've been pondering.... For one, we've decided to (hopefully) finally put on the deck that we've been waiting for! We had our friend Andy come out and do measurements, we've been trying to figure out exactly what our 'wish list' consists of, and filling out lots and lots of paperwork to make it all happen! We are all so excited for this and I know we will use it a TON. I'm sooooo ready for outside projects: the deck, more landscaping, gardening, adding a sandbox to Ryder's swingset, etc. Love it...
Other decisions we are playing around with are just trying to figure out what is best for our family structure. Right now, I work. Generally, I enjoy working outside of home, and I'm fortunate enough to work with some pretty awesome people, but my job is not always enjoyable. Actually, it adds a lot of stress to my life sometimes, and that stress affects our family in many ways. Next year is very up in the air for us. For financial reasons, I would love to continue to work, maybe even just 3 days a week, but at the same time, I feel like I am missing out on alot and Piper is already growing up so fast! She very well could be our last baby (at least for a long time!) so I want to enjoy every. single. moment. with her :) On the flip side, I also have this image in my mind of my husband barely walking in the door from work before I hand him the kids because I simply can not deal with them anymore after being 'stuck at home' with them all day. Don't get me wrong. I like being home, but the problem with me being home all day is that I feel like my house needs to be spotless every second that I'm in it. I love a clean house, and I feel crazy when it's messy. It's crazy how much i enjoy the hour at night after the kids are sleeping that I have a clean house and a candle burning. Even though I know it will be messy by 7am the next morning and will be a disaster by the time I leave for work, it still makes me happy. My other issue with staying home is that I went to college for a reason. Stressful or not, I have a passion for the kind of work that I do, and even if I took some time off now, I can't really imagine never wanting to work again -- and who knows when I will find work again? Ahhhhh can you sense my dilema with this topic?? We honestly can't come up with an answer... Luckily, we have a while to figure it out and I know that the answer will come to us... Enough for tonight! Busy weekend ahead including birthday parties and basketball games with family- love it :)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
...it's the little things
By 7:30 this morning, my Valentine’s day was complete. A recap of my morning:
7am- I am getting ready in my bathroom when Ryder walks in, says “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mommy” and gives me a big sleepy hug. I then took him into the kitchen and let him open his Valentine’s card and his little treats/book, etc… He was happy with his goodies and then went on his merry way to brush his teeth and get dressed for the day. By 7:20, Ryder was still downstairs and hadn’t had breakfast yet. Frustrated at the fact that he was taking so long downstairs, I yelled down to him telling him to hurry up and that we were going to be late. (This is nothing new, our mornings are typically a little hectic trying to get everyone out the door, and we usually are late, no matter what). A minute later, Ryder comes upstairs and says, “Sorry it took so long mom, I just wanted to make you a special Valentine’s day card” and presented me with a blue sheet of construction paper that he had found downstairs. As he brought it to me, I realized he drew (in pencil) a picture of our family. He then “read” us the card- “Dear Mommy and Max, I love you soooooo much. And I love doing stuff with you. Happy Valentine’s day. Love, Ryder”
Honestly, it doesn’t get any better than that. And yes, I cried at work this morning just thinking about it. :)
As for P, she expressed her love by screeching and squealing in delight (her new favorite thing) all morning and giving me and daddy lots of smiles.
7am- I am getting ready in my bathroom when Ryder walks in, says “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mommy” and gives me a big sleepy hug. I then took him into the kitchen and let him open his Valentine’s card and his little treats/book, etc… He was happy with his goodies and then went on his merry way to brush his teeth and get dressed for the day. By 7:20, Ryder was still downstairs and hadn’t had breakfast yet. Frustrated at the fact that he was taking so long downstairs, I yelled down to him telling him to hurry up and that we were going to be late. (This is nothing new, our mornings are typically a little hectic trying to get everyone out the door, and we usually are late, no matter what). A minute later, Ryder comes upstairs and says, “Sorry it took so long mom, I just wanted to make you a special Valentine’s day card” and presented me with a blue sheet of construction paper that he had found downstairs. As he brought it to me, I realized he drew (in pencil) a picture of our family. He then “read” us the card- “Dear Mommy and Max, I love you soooooo much. And I love doing stuff with you. Happy Valentine’s day. Love, Ryder”
Honestly, it doesn’t get any better than that. And yes, I cried at work this morning just thinking about it. :)
As for P, she expressed her love by screeching and squealing in delight (her new favorite thing) all morning and giving me and daddy lots of smiles.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
...."here, fishy-fishy!"
Yesterday Max had the afternoon off and he took Mr. Ryder Scott ice fishing... They had a blast. I was at work (boo) but when I got home and talked to him he was ecstatic for the following reasons:
1) He caught a fish all by himself! --Not to mention, he caught the ONLY fish ;)
2) He got to eat "reese's" (which is his and max's "thing" together) --and also "doritos" (Ryder can't really figure out how to correctly pronouce this word and it is hilarious to hear him try!) ---Very healthy, Max. (Men....honestly)
3) It was "boys day" and there were 'no girls allowed'
4) He got to ride in the front seat of the truck on the ice, which he was obviously pumped about.
5) Jo-Jo joined the boys later in the afternoon too.
Seriously, Ryder was just beaming when he got home and didn't stop smiling all night. He had to call his dad, his auntie Lissa, his Papa Steve, and just about everyone else he could think of... Such a proud little boy! Someday I will find motivation to post a picture....
1) He caught a fish all by himself! --Not to mention, he caught the ONLY fish ;)
2) He got to eat "reese's" (which is his and max's "thing" together) --and also "doritos" (Ryder can't really figure out how to correctly pronouce this word and it is hilarious to hear him try!) ---Very healthy, Max. (Men....honestly)
3) It was "boys day" and there were 'no girls allowed'
4) He got to ride in the front seat of the truck on the ice, which he was obviously pumped about.
5) Jo-Jo joined the boys later in the afternoon too.
Seriously, Ryder was just beaming when he got home and didn't stop smiling all night. He had to call his dad, his auntie Lissa, his Papa Steve, and just about everyone else he could think of... Such a proud little boy! Someday I will find motivation to post a picture....
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Crazy?? Maybe.... Desperate?? ....Absolutely.
Definition of Crazy: Registering and paying a $50 entry fee for a 7K race (4.35 miles) when it has been AT LEAST one full year (give or take) since I last ran……… And by run, I mean jog- because I am by no means, a fast “runner”….These short stubby legs of mine really don’t get me far. Literally.
Um, yeah. Probably not the smartest thing I’ve done recently, but my sister provided me with an opportunity to run the “Get Lucky” 7k race along with our aunt Karen, and for some reason, I felt compelled to do so. So I signed up. And now I am already stressing over it because I really have not been running at all lately. Not to mention that even when I was running fairly regularly with my friend Becky before I got pregnant with Piper, the most I ever really ran at one time was about 3 1/2-miles… Not 4.35 miles. The race takes place on St. Patrick’s day, and the bright side is that after you finish, you get a free beer from your choice of 3 Irish pubs downtown :) I’m not Irish, but I like the color green, and I like free beer, so how bad can it be, right??
Anyway, I don’t expect to do well, whatsoever, but my ultimate and only goal is just to finish the damn thing. I am not going to stress over having to walk for part of the time (because I know I will probably have to) but I know the overall feeling of accomplishment will be so worth it, not to mention the statement I will be making to this stubborn baby fat that does not want to go away!! To be honest, if I didn’t think I could run the entire thing, I normally wouldn’t sign up for the race at all, because that’s just how I am-- but thanks to a refreshing convo this morning with my bestie, Kristin, I’m willing to try it. She just completed her first 5K down in Key West… She made me realize that it doesn’t have to be pretty, you just have to do it. :) Needless to say, I will be running tonight ….
Um, yeah. Probably not the smartest thing I’ve done recently, but my sister provided me with an opportunity to run the “Get Lucky” 7k race along with our aunt Karen, and for some reason, I felt compelled to do so. So I signed up. And now I am already stressing over it because I really have not been running at all lately. Not to mention that even when I was running fairly regularly with my friend Becky before I got pregnant with Piper, the most I ever really ran at one time was about 3 1/2-miles… Not 4.35 miles. The race takes place on St. Patrick’s day, and the bright side is that after you finish, you get a free beer from your choice of 3 Irish pubs downtown :) I’m not Irish, but I like the color green, and I like free beer, so how bad can it be, right??
Anyway, I don’t expect to do well, whatsoever, but my ultimate and only goal is just to finish the damn thing. I am not going to stress over having to walk for part of the time (because I know I will probably have to) but I know the overall feeling of accomplishment will be so worth it, not to mention the statement I will be making to this stubborn baby fat that does not want to go away!! To be honest, if I didn’t think I could run the entire thing, I normally wouldn’t sign up for the race at all, because that’s just how I am-- but thanks to a refreshing convo this morning with my bestie, Kristin, I’m willing to try it. She just completed her first 5K down in Key West… She made me realize that it doesn’t have to be pretty, you just have to do it. :) Needless to say, I will be running tonight ….
Monday, January 9, 2012
...a sneak peak at peeps :)
Piper just loves when her mommy whips out her camera......not! However, it was time to start snapping for Piper's 3month pictures. This was just a few from 'round one' -- I'm sure there will be a couple more mini sessions here and there in the next week or so, but so far, I'm liking what we got!
love.love.love!!
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| ...love my sweet little girl! |
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| isn't this little buggy adorable?? -compliments of cindy :) |
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| one of my favorites.. |
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| she had the cutest purple boots on, but was not having it this day - so off they came! |
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