1/2 Way Done!

This past week was the magical **20 week** mark! We are now 1/2 way done cooking baby #3. I know I promised weekly updates on the pregnancy, but there hasn't been anything interesting to post about. So, here's the update... No weight gain, but starting to get a belly. Baby kicks AAALLLL the time! Nathaniel felt that baby kick for the first time on Saturday, October 30. No weird cravings, and nothing really out of the ordinary day-to-day routine. I think that by having Grunt and this babe so close together, it's hard to focus on the pregnancy, or, honestly, to even remember that I'm pregnant half the time. Days go by that I don't think about the baby I'm carrying, but only for my two sweet babes that I already have in my arms. Pea seems to be much more interested in this baby than she was in Grunt, and Grunt is very interested in babies, so I think it'll be great :)  Super fun news... this Tuesday, Nathaniel and I will be able to see the wee one again... it's time for an ultrasound! YAY! So, we will have another preggo update later on this week. But, to tide you over until then, here are a couple mid-way pics of the belly.

and the winner is....

So, every year we pick "a winner" of the trick or treat candy. This year, Pea picked......

It was definitely the coolest candy in the bucket. Kudos to the people who passed those out. You rock.

 This is how Grunt spent his Trick-or-Treat evening... It's also his new favorite thing to do...

Yea, I'm not gonna complain :) He can vacuum as much as he wants, lol :)

Mealtime Mondays!

Monday- Breakfast- French Toast with Pumpkin Yogurt Dip
Lunch- Shredded beef and cheese quesadillas with homemade salsa and sour cream (using leftover roast beef from yesterday)

Dinner- Cheddar Chicken and Rice Soup with sourdough bread

Tuesday- Breakfast- Berry Whole Grain Muffins
Lunch- Grilled apple and cheese sandwiches on sourdough bread with leftover soup
Dinner- Slow cooker buffalo chicken with celery and blue cheese dip

Wednesday- Breakfast- Hefekranz
Lunch- Leftovers
Dinner- Honey Garlic Glazed Meatballs with stir fry veggies

Thursday- Breakfast-Banana, PB, and Flax Seed Smoothies
Lunch- Meatball Subs
Dinner- Neighborhood outreach for Trick or Treat... free hotdogs at our house!

Friday- Breakfast- Sweet Potato Pancakes
Lunch-Beanies and Weanies with leftover hotdogs from last night (maybe... we'll see how gross everything is as leftovers, lol)
Dinner- Kung Pao Chicken with Fried Rice

Saturday- Breakfast- Carrot Cake Pancakes
Lunch- Pizza Muffins
Dinner- Steak Tips with peppered mushroom gravy

Sunday- Breakfast at church
Lunch- Leftovers or out with church friends if the kiddos are holding up okay
Dinner- Chicken Scampi with Whole Wheat Noodles

My How They've Grown!

Here's Pea last year at Circle S Farms....

And, here she is this year :)  

My little princess is getting so big! (Too quickly if you ask me!)

 Here's Grunt last year.... see him??? In the Mei Tai... The little 2 week old blob :)

And here he is this year... all big! I think he definitely enjoyed this year more than last year :)

Pumpkin Patch!

Thanks to the wonderful weather, (and the hubby sneaking out of work for a bit) we enjoyed a morning out at Circle S Farms with the kiddos and our friends, the Mishne's. It was a nice and sunny, but crisp morning out at the farm, and we all had a great time! Here are some pics of our adventure...

Pea says, "PEEK!"

Grunt loves watching the "dukkkkkk" (really geese)

Cheese!

AH! My sister is hugging me!!!

"I want this one! It makes a good drum!"

Daddy and his kiddos on top of the straw pyramid.

 Grunt LOVED the tractor, and threw the biggest fit ever when we took him off.

 In the straw barn

 Last year, it was Pea in his lap, this year it's Grunt, next year it'll be Nipper.

 Pea sliding down the "FAST ONE!"

 The world looks so much different from up here!

 MUST GET THE STRAW OUT NOW!

 Sweet, sleepy baby

 Grunt's pick... lol...

 In the straw maze.

Mealtime Mondays!

Well, I've finally got my computer back up and running, so here's to blogging something other than menus this week :). I'm going to add breakfasts to our menu, and hopefully soon I'll add lunches, but, for now, breakfasts and dinners are all I have :) Here it is!

Monday- Breakfast- Yogurt and Sweet Potato Pancakes'
Dinner- White wine marinated steak with smashed potatoes and green beans (Didn't use it yesterday like planned... we went to the park :) )

Tuesday- Breakfast- Homemade Pumpkin Spice Granola with raisins
Dinner- Daddy's on his own... I'll be out with the girls! Enchiladas and black beans, unless he changes the menu.

Wednesday- Breakfast- Omlets and Toast
Dinner- Pizza with our C-Life group

Thursday- Breakfast-Yogurt with Homemade Pumpkin Spice Granola
Dinner- Chicken and noodles

Friday- Breakfast- Banana, peanut butter, and flax seed smoothies
Dinner- Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Butternut Squash

Saturday- Breakfast- Carrot Cake Pancakes
Lunch- Leftovers
Dinner- Steak Tips with peppered mushroom gravy

Sunday- Breakfast at church
Lunch- Leftovers or out with church friends if the kiddos are holding up okay
Dinner- Crew Game! So, quick grilled cheese, soup, or breakfast is the plan.

Recipe of the Week:
Carrot Cake Pancakes
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped nuts (only Nathaniel eats these in his pancakes... gross... so I just add them at the end for his amount)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 teaspon nutmeg
dash of cloves
dash of ginger
1/4 cup brown sugar (we use turbinado in place of brown sugar)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tbs coconut oil (Can use any kind of oil, but we prefer coconut)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups grated carrot

1. Combine first 8 ingredients
2. Add in brown sugar and the next 4 ingredients- mix well.
3. Fold in the grated carrot
4. Drop spoonfuls onto greased skillet, and continue cooking like normal pancakes :).

Mealtime Mondays!

Monday- Tuscan Baked Chicken and Beans

Tuesday- Italian Meatloaf and Salad

Wednesday- Chili Bar with C-life

Thursday- Leftovers, if no leftovers, then eggs and toast.

Friday- Chicken Stuffed with Broccoli and Cheese

Saturday- out

Sunday- White wine-marinated steak with chive smashed potatoes and lemon green beans (trying a new recipe... will post it if it's good!)

Recipe of the Week:

Tuscan Baked Chicken and Beans
(from cooking light, with a few of my own modifications)

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, skinned/trimmed
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 half package bacon (about 6-7 slices)
1 cup chopped onion (i actually use green onion, and only about 1/4 cup)
1/8 tsp sea salt
2 cups torn spinach
1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 (16 oz) cans cannellini beans
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

Directions:
1. Cook bacon, remove from pan, but reserve drippings.
2. Season chicken with 1/4 tsp salt and pepper and place in pan with bacon drippings.
3. Allow chicken to cook for 2-3 minutes each side, then set chicken aside.
4. While chicken is cooking, chop up bacon.
5. Add onion, 1/8 tsp salt to pan with drippings, reduce heat to medium and cook until onion begins to brown.
6. Stir in bacon, spinach, rosemary, beans, and tomatoes. Remove from heat once mixed.
7. Place tomato mixture in oven safe bakeware, place chicken on top.
8. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until chicken is done and mixture is bubbly.

Vitamin D

For the past couple of months, I've been researching the benefits of Vitamin D for my family. I was working on a post to combine it all, but a friend of mine did a great job, and said basically what I was going to say. So, if you would like to read about all the good things about increasing your Vitamin D intake, and the reasons that we are all going to be taking Vitamin D supplements this winter, go HERE. Thanks Stephanie, for letting me borrow your post :).

Updates on the Kiddos

Pea has her first field trip this afternoon! She is so excited! Nathaniel is taking off work early to be able to take her and to have special time with her. They are going to a local pumpkin patch to do all sorts of fun fall things with her preschool class. She is loving preschool, and wishes she could go every day! She can write most of her letters, knows most of the sounds, and can point all of them out and say whether they're capital or little. She loves school, and is growing into such a little lady.

Grunt is all boy- just big, loud, and messy! He makes every strange noise known to man, and is just the happiest kid around. He is officially eating us out of house and home--- he's eats his own portion of food, the rest of Pea's, then some of mine! He has started singing along to certain songs that he knows, and dances to the rest.

Baby #3- Thanks to my mom, we were able to get a sneak peak at baby #3. This past Sunday, Mom, Pea, and I got to see a healthy, long, moving-all-over-the-place baby. Baby was sucking their thumb and fingers, and was just flipping and wiggling all over the place. We aren't finding out the gender, and we aren't telling names... but we sure are excited to be able to see the baby that will officially put outnumber us.

That's all we have for now... more updates to follow :)

Mealtime Mondays

Sunday- Steak, baked potato, and salad

Monday- Spicy Orange Chicken with rice and egg rolls

Tuesday- Hubby's at a banquet (once again, OhioHealth sucks... spouses not invited) so we're on our own.

Wedesday- Roast and veggies with salad and biscuits with our C-Life group

Thursday- Broccoli Cheese Soup in bread bowls

Friday- Bar-b-que beef sandwiches using leftover roast meat with sweet potato fries- if no leftovers, then out!

Saturday- Stuffed Peppers with mashed potatoes

Recipe of the week:
Roast
We have expirimented with roast over the years, but this is how we like it best.
Ingredients:
2 lb roast
1 can diced tomatoes (can use with italian spices, as well)
carrots
diced potatoes

Directions:
1. Place roast un bottom of crock pot, and dump tomatoes over it.
2. Cook on low for about 4 hours.
3. Add potatoes and carrots for the last few hours until everything is cooked through. Then, Enjoy!

Appreciation Fridays

I totally stole this idea from a friend.... But, every day, I am going to write down something that I appreciate, and share it with you on Fridays. So, here's week 1!

Saturday 9/25/10- family games-  Today we all packed up and went to a corn hole tournament with friends from church... so fun. and it was so special to watch my babies and their cousins work and learn together playing a new game. I could see their little brains just moving and working... so special. So, thanks to cornhole, I have a great memory with my family.

Sunday 9/26/10- Covenant!!! When we first moved back to Ohio, we church hopped and then stayed at a church, even though we knew it wasn't going to be our church home. We liked the church and the people, and we had ties to it, but it wasn't for us. We didn't know why God didn't just place us in a church, why he didn't make it known to us where we were supposed to go. We just both felt like we were supposed to be content where we were, and to be patient. Well, God was getting us ready for Covenant Church and getting Covenant Church ready for us. It is amazing what God is doing in our community through Covenant, but even more so, it is amazing what he is doing in my family. Covenant has saved our marriage... strengthened it to a place it's never been before. God speaking through our pastor has grown our faith and our knowledge to a new level. I appreciate Covenant, and all that God is doing in them. The passion is contagious!

Monday 9/27/10- rainy days. It seems like God gives us a rainy day when we need it. The day to stay in your pjs and watch movies and play games with the kids. Today, I let the kitchen stay messy and focused on my kiddos and myself. It was so nice. Rainy days may not be the greatest to run around in (well, at least not toting 2 kids) but, they sure are good for staying inside and ignoring everything else.

Tuesday 9/28/10- Today is an easy one- I appreciate Grunt. Today's his birthday... one year old already. I can't believe it. I appreciate his smile, his laugh, all his sweet noises. I love that he tries to really connect with everyone he sees. I know, sounds weird... but it's true. He is one of those babies that looks you straight in the eye and listens to you when you talk, and responds with some sound at all the appropriate times. He snuggles and loves on you when you're sad, and he laughs and is silly when you're happy. He is one little in-tune kid. He changed my life... I don't even want to think about where I would be if I didn't have him. I love my Grunt more than I ever knew was possible.

Wednesday 9/29/10- my crockpot- put in dinner, forget about dinner for about 6-8 hours, come back to perfectly cooked dinner, everytime... enough said.

Thursday 9/30/10- Lydia. I appreciate that you have stuck with me through the good, bad, and the ugly... you have been there, seen it all, and come out with me on the other side. You have helped me grow into the person I am today. You have seen my short comings and haven't judged me or held it against me. You have been there, listening, caring, sharing, and putting me in my place when I needed it. I appreciate you, and love you. Here's to many more years.... with less drama!

Friday 10/1/10-radio contests- A friend of ours recently won tickets to "A Weekend to Remember"... and then realized that she and her hubby had prior plans. So, she offered up the tickets, and Nathaniel and I get to go! We are very, very excited! So, because of free radio contests, we get to go to a conference, to strengthen our bond, friendship, and our marriage. We can't wait!