Um yea totally just about had a breakdown!

OMG I just was starting to type and had the realization that Benjamin is going to be 1 year old in 10 weeks! OH MY CRAP!!!!  I have been so busy planning for Chloee and being pregnant and counting down weeks until she comes, even counting how old Benjamin is but I hadn't realized he is almost a year old till just now! OMG


I love this cute lil Monkey!!! He is such a camera cheese! He is growing so much! Crawling all over the entire house, feeding himself finger foods, waiving, clapping... so much he can do now! Love watching my lil man grow! Can't believe he will have a baby sister in just 11 weeks!  UGH Time Slow Down!!!!

Egg, Spinach & Mushroom Quesadillas

S

So I guess I haven't had anything creative to blog about so I will just blog about food creations!

This is my favorite breakfast and I love putting my quesadilla maker to use!!!!!

First I saute some mushrooms in butter till soft then sit aside

Then I thaw spinach and mix with a lil bit of cream cheese

Then I make scrambled eggs and mix all together and put in tortillas with cheese and pop in the quesadilla maker! SOOOO Good!!!!!

UGH!!!!! Blog Design Failure

I've been working on my blog page for prob 3 hours.. only to have deleted all my widgets, hate the design and come to realize I need to be a professional to make it look like I want it to! GRRRR!  Time to shower and move on with my day and leave my blog in a sad little mess  :( 

If you know any fun and easy tricks please share!!!!

Made a decision... Finally!!!!

I am so blessed and excited to have such a talented mom! She so graciously volunteered to make all of Chloees room decor!  I never realized picking out patterns would prove to be soooo difficult!  I have changed my mind half a dozen (or more) times! Changed colors, changed patters... I would find one thing I adored and then nothing I like to go with it!  Today my mom and I went to make our final choices, I was nervous and unsure and even uneasy.. I thought I had my mind close to made up I was pretty sure I had decided on Pink, Brown & Turquoise! Then I saw it! The Pink and Black Floral patter I saw in the very beginning!  We decided to do this as the main pattern with green accents and also are adding Zebra Print!  Sooo excited! Cant wait to decorate Chloees Room, I have so many ideas and have found sooo much cute cute cute decor to go with at Hobby Lobby!! It is going to be awesome and she is going to be here in like 12 weeks! OMG!  Will keep updating the process! It's going to be fun!!! 

MMM Chicken Potpie!!!

If you haven't figured this out yet, I love to cook 'easy' meals! The easier the better!   This is my creation of homemade Chicken Potpie! Super easy and better than the pre-made frozen ones!!!

Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts
1 Can Cream of Mushroom
1 Can Cream of Chicken
1 Large Can of Veg-all
2 Pre-made Pie Crusts (like I said, the easier the better  :)

Preheat the Oven to 400* 
Cook Chicken, season to your liking
Once chicken is fully cooked, chop in little chunks
Add Veg-all, cream mush, cream ckn and stir all together!
Put entire mixture in one pie shell
Carefully remove the other pie shell from the foil and put face down on top of mixture, then press the edges of the 2 pie shells together with fingers.
Cook for 15-20 Minuites
Enjoy the yummy goodness!!!!

Chicken, Spinach & Feta Cassarole!

Chicken cassarole is one of my favorite easy to make dishes and I have been wanting spinach non stop so I had this idea and it was fantastic!!!!!!

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breast
Egg Noodles
15 oz pkg of frozen spinach (fresh if you prefer frozen is just quick and easy for me)
2 cans of cream of mushroom
1 can of cream of chicken
Feta cheese

I cook chicken in a pan in a little bit of butter with seasonings

While chicken cooking, steam spinach and cook egg noodles.

Once complete mix chicken, 1 can of cream ckn and 1 can of cream of mushroom together with some feta cheese and add noodles.  In a seperate bowl mix drained spinach and can of cream of mushroom then add to the rest of mixture and place in oven for 5 minutes to melt cheese.  (I add a few slices of cheese to the top for my husbands enjoyment)

Chicken, Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Manicotti! MMM

Ffirst

Ingredents:
4 Chicken Breasts
2 8oz bags of Mozzarella Cheese
15 oz Ricotta Cheese
14 oz pkg of Frozen Spinach
2 boxes of Manicotti Shells
Scoop of Butter, several splashes of liquid smoke, Italian dressing, garlic powder, parsley, lemon pepper
Spaghetti Sauce
 
I start by marinating the chicken breast in Italian dressing and liquid smoke (the longer the better)

In a pan I put a scoop of butter and some liquid smoke  and some of the marinade and cook the chicken till done. 
After Chicken is done cooking remove, drain and cut into small chunks then lightly brown in a little bit of butter, garlic and parsley.

While Chicken is cooking I cook the Manicotti noodles then drain and place in cold water to cool. 


Also while chicken is cooking I steam some frozen spinach and drain as well.


Once chicken and spinach are complete mix together in pan add 1 8oz pkg of Mozzarella and a 15 oz container of Ricotta Cheese mix all together over low heat until all cheese is melted.


You can use a Jarred Spaghetti Sauce (I make mine by just using tomato sauce, garlic, parsley and Italian seasoning)


Spread a little Sauce on bottom of baking dish and then fill Manicotti shells with mixture top with sauce and then top with Mozzarella Cheese and bake for 10 minutes.


Then I use the remaining sauce for the individual to top with as much as they would like!


MMM Good!

Cheesy, Corney and a little overboard but thats okay!

Ben comes home tomorrow! I am so excited I can hardly think straight!  Though its only been a short week in the grand scheme of what is to come, I truly miss him sooo much!  He is absolutely my best friend and I am so blessed to know that God gave me such a great husband and such a wonderful daddy for our kids!!! Benjamin & soon to come Chloee are truly blessed to have a father who takes time for them and wants to be a part and loves them as much as Ben does.  Watching Ben play with Benjamin makes me love him all the more! 


I can hardly believe that at the beginning of next year he will be leaving us for an entire year in Afghanistan, but beyond all the emotions and fears I am simply a proud Army Wife.  Ben truly loves his country and is willing to make such huge sacrifices to fight to protect our freedom.  I never imagined I could love someone so much!  I for sure never imagined that I would be an Army Wife! Actually I'm pretty sure I said 'never' on several occasions!  I love that Gods plans are higher and his timing is perfect.  Though I can never fully understand the depths of what God does for us I am humbled to know that he loved me so much he brought me an amazing man to share my life with and gave us such a beautiful baby (and soon to be another one!!!!)  I have sooo many plans for the next several months we have together and I cant wait to cherish and love every minute we get to spend together!  I tear up at the simple thought of him leaving for year, not bc im scared or worried but just simply bc I will miss him!  Of course I have the occasional breakdown of  wondering how I'm gonna lug 2 lil babies around alone, I know that Bens love gives me strength.  I guess we are considered odd bc we spend all our time together and rarely apart and we've become the butt of several jokes bc of having Benjamin and Chloee so close together, but thats okay!  I love Ben with all I've got and if that makes us odd, or not the conventional married couple then great!  I don't ever want to fall into the drudge of every day life where we just walk through the day taking each other for granted!  I dont mind being corny or cheesey if it means we are happy and full of love!  


I am so proud of my husband! Every day he takes steps toward growth and progress and being a better husband and father and I couldn't ask for more! Is he perfect? No, hes not Jesus! But he is perfect for me! And I truly thank God every day for bringing us together, for giving me such an amazing best friend and a love that is more than I ever knew possible!  Yea were cheesy and yes I do call him 'Baby' ALL the time and yea we are probably a little overboard (never go bowling with us, we will embarrass you and make you think we are sick lil teenagers in love) but we have fun and were married so ya know ;) we can do whatever we want! Haha!  Sooooooo excited! Cant wait to see my sexy soldier and have the best next few months together ever!!!!  I love you Ben Sanders, with all my heart!

Healthy or Hefty?

Most of my adult life I have struggled with weight! Looking back over the past decade I can see why there are not many pictures of me around! In July of 2008 after being diagnosed with Cronhs Disease I got serious about becoming healthy! I went on the strictest of diets eating no sugar, no dairy...well its easier to say what i could eat.. I pretty much only ate Meat, Veggies, Fruits & Eggs! With in a few weeks I started shedding weight like crazy! I was running every day and amazed at the progress! By November 2008 I had dropped 80 pounds! Was down to a size 10 for the first time since I was a teenager and felt like a new person! Allergies gone, super healthy! Then I started dating Ben and slowly began cheating on my new healthy lifestyle... A little here, a little there and by February gained 20 lbs back! Thought no big deal I can do this... Then got pregnant and since Ben was gone I was depressed and alone and forgot all my eating and exercise habits and during the pregnancy gained 50 lbs! Almost back to where I started! Eesh! Well I thought its okay I will loose it all after the baby comes... Well.... I lost about 15 of those awful 50 lbs, it was starting to come off slowly but surely when we found out we were expecting baby # 2! OMG!!!! Well I set out to watch what I ate and exercise... but pasta is so much more convenient (and good) and ice cream and fried pickles are just what a prego needs and its ridiculously tooo hot to get outside and walk!!!
I did do great for the first 6 months.. Didnt gain 1 pound! Yay!
Then last month I decided that I really wanted Dr. Pepper (last pregnancy I had NO caffeine whatsoever) but I just had to and the occasional once in a while turned into 1 day which turned into 2 or 3 a day! Then I go to the dr and step on the scale and OMG! 10 lbs in 1 month! Not good! Though my Dr said she was okay with it bc i hadn't gained any weight up until that point...
So again a new journey must begin... NO more soda, fried pickles or ice cream (okay maybe a fried pickle on rare occasion haha) but I have 13-14 weeks left and in that time do not want to keep adding and adding!!!! Time to roll back out the Wii Fit, time to lay off the large amounts of pasta and cookies and be healthy! Though Im not going on a crash diet or anything like that while pregnant, don't worry, I'm just going to have to start making some healthy decisions one at at time!
Ben is set to leave in March for Afghanistan, I'd love for him to come home to a healthy wife and not a big ole fatty! I will keep posting updates and in a year from now hope to look back at this blog and have an incredible, inspiring story to tell!