Ode to the Memories

Sophie was under a year here. Probably 6 to 9 months. She was such a doll. She was one of the happiest babies I have ever known. What a beauty. She always wanted to be part of Joe's therapy sessions (a habit that hasn't changed). The table was on borrow from the blind school. Wish we still had it. I love finding old pictures of the babies. Thank goodness Joey takes pictures.


This is Joe on his first Christmas. He fell asleep on the way to Mema Lisa's and when he woke up was so stinkin mad that we had to strip him down to the diaper to make him happy and you can see here he definitely got that way. What a cutie pa tootie.

Delicious Vegetable Beef Soup

So yesterday I wanted hamburger stew. I made a couple of alterations and came up with this crowd pleaser.

1/2 lg onion
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 huge potato or 3 regular potatoes
5 carrots (not baby carrots the other ones)
1 qt stewed tomatoes
1 qt tomato juice
salt and pepper to taste
a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce

Saute onion in some olive oil and salt (about 10 minutes on medium heat). Put in hamburger, pepper and fry until not pink. As all this is happening peel and cube carrots and potatoes. Put the carrots and potatoes in the pot and fry. Root veggies always taste better in a soup if they fry for 15 or so minutes before adding the liquids. Once the frying has occurred add the stewed tomatoes and tomato juice. Boil covered for about 15 more minutes until the potatoes are tender. Carrots are alright by my taste if not completely tender I would call it al dente. Turn off the heat because it will be super hot and add the Worcestershire sauce. I let it sit for about 15 minutes because my kids are little and I didn't want to have them burn their mouths. Enjoy. I served with biscuits.

This is a dairy and egg free meal (except biscuits, still working on my bread skills) if you don't add the Worcestershire sauce it would also be soy free. My oldest is allergic to soy so I watch for it also.

Meatloaf

I made this recipe up.

1 med/lg onion, quartered then sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
Saute these together in olive oil and some salt. Saute until just starting to go translucent

1.5 lb ground beef
1 cup oatmeal
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
pepper
Once these are all in the bowl add the saute mixture. Mix by hand so not abuse the meat.
Put in the oven for 40 min at 350 then while meatloaf is still in the oven turn temperature up to 375 for 20 to crisp and finish cooking the meat.

We loved this and it was so flavorful. And as always dairy and egg free.
If you try and like let me know. My sister-in-law made it and said it was very delicious. Her husband even liked it and had informed me that he hated meatloaf until now.

Rice Pudding

My boys are allergic to eggs and milk. So I will on occasion post recipes that I make up that are both allergen free and delicious that my two year old will even eat. Now I should mention, I never use white rice so when I put rice I mean brown. I believe kids eat whatever is available. So if you offer crap they eat crap. If you offer wholesome food then that is what will be their favorite foods. Now don't get me wrong. I love myself a brownie but I have been known to make them with whole wheat flour when making them from scatch, I usually use a box. I am not perfect with the selection I offer but I try as all of us woman do.

Rice Pudding Di Regolo style

1 cup of brown rice
2.5 cups of water
dash of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg (feel free to use as little or much as you want of the spices.)
.25 tsp salt
Boil the above ingredients on the stovetop for 35 minutes. At this point add a handful of raisins/craisins or both. Boil until water is gone about 10-15 minutes.
When the water is evaporated add some rice milk and either honey or sugar to taste. I add some nuts to give it some added protein, these are optional.

This is a great snack or an easy quick breakfast for the kids.

Breaking

So my dad is a "rock" star. He came over to help us more with the prep for the foundation, he had it all taken care of in no time. He is so strong I am so proud. I need to take pictures of all of this but need to pick up a new sd card or learn how to import all the photos and erase the ones I have.
Joey bought our family our first laptop for a belated Christmas present. We have been borrowing one for the last couple of years. I have been afraid of breaking it so I hardly used it. Now Joey encourages me to use it daily to help me catch up with the times when it comes to computers. I am so terrified I will break it but he says to just not download anything that I am worried about without checking with him so that he can help me not break it.
Growing up I broke the majority of our family computers. I would use them one day and the next it would be acting funny. The crazy thing is that I am not much of a web searcher nor am I a gamer, I use word processing the most. But still manage to break them. If I stop posting either I can't think of anything to write that I am not worried about anyone having access to, or I have broken yet another computer.

The Carport

La ta da daa. We officailly started our remodel/addition. I am so excited that means that come sometime in the future we will be having one more bedroom and one more bathroom in our home. I am also super stoked due to the fact that now I can decorate the kids rooms and paint them fun and do a theme for the kids. Now I just hope the room is done before the baby decides to come to our family from Heaven.
The baby has had me slightly worried because she hasn't been moving but as I am writing this she has kicked multiple times.
The carport is the place of the remodel/addition. So we won't be able to use the back door very much but oh well totally worth it to me. So once the foundation is poured next week please come to the front door when you come to visit. Thanks so much.

Making today the best day yet.

I am going to try to fill everyone up on the highlights of 2011.
Joey seems to just stay constant. He is enjoying his work at Doug Smith Autoplex where he sells vehicles. He has made some great progress in our yard and the shed now has one side usable for us. Thus for all the neighbors a much better beginning of the street with our uncluttered carport. He kept our grass looking AWESOME all summer long. I felt tremendously sinful for being so proud of him and his hard work. He built me a lovely little walkway in my front garden and is hoping to finish my backyard and back garden this spring. This should encourage me to go outside and garden again. This leading into me.
I have discovered the joy of gardening. My broccoli from last year was some of the tallest I have ever seen yet there was not one piece of broccoli to be enjoyed. I grew several things in my garden hopefully this year canning season will not be spent with illness or injure as it was this year. So our family can enjoy the fruits of our labors throughout the winter. As to this for those who have not heard Joey and I decided it was time to add another child to our family and will be blessed with another sweet princess in the coming spring.
Joe had a year of injure and mishaps. He started the year with the ambulance coming due to some milk/egg ingestion. He then got his tonsils, adenoids and some botox injections. Then a couple of head injures causing him to spend more than 10 days at the local children's hospital. Lucky for him and much to my nervousness he has hit a growth spurt growing over 6 cm and 5 lbs in 3 months. He is such a darling. He is still cancer free and loves to have his different therapist work with him on his emerging skills.
Sophie has grown up so much. She believes herself to be far more clever and smart than her mother. Just today she informed me she can't wait to grow up so she can do and go wherever she wants when she wants. Apparently we have a power struggle I was unaware of. She was quite nervous that we would make her have another brother and was much relieved to find out she will have a sister. We took the kids to Disneyland this last Thanksgiving and had a most lovely time. We plan to go again in the next few years. All of the children enjoyed the vacation. Joe and Sophie would ride the roller coaster type rides while Gus who was to short and I who was finishing my first trimester couldn't ride. I was so proud of Sophie showing no fear going on the tower of terror. She is the little head in the back row.



Gus has grown up way to much as well. He started speech therapy in May and in November was nearly kicked out for catching up so well. He was right on track the therapist decided to keep him, well because she is awesome and was Joe's SLP and we absolutely love her. Gus has grown so big he started the year in 18-24 month clothes and closed it out wear 4t pants and 3t and 4t shirts. He is crazy big. And super darling. He makes you shake your head from frustration one minute and then is charming you with his unbelievable sweetness. He says some of the "darnedest" things. I love to have the "Who's ____ best friend?" (filling in the blank with random people). He always says that Sophie is his best friend and that Daddy is mine.
Being a mother to such amazing children is a gift from our Heavenly Father. I would never trade any of them.
So here is to a fresh start with a new year. I have to accept that the skeletons don't go away but I can always "make today the best day yet". (I heard this in church a couple of weeks ago and thought what a great Motto.