My First Blog Award

My great new blog friend Samantha from Our Family Journal gave me this.... my first blog award! I know, AWESOME!!




"This award means you're really going places, Baby. You'll still be blogging about your great adventures 10 years from now, and I'll still be reading them."

Before I can accept this award I have to express where I think I will be in 10 years!

In 10 years my son will be 19 and ready for college. My daughter will be 18 and just months away from graduating High School. My oldest step-son will be 26. My step-daughter will be 23. My youngest step-son will be 21! All of our children will be at a great place in their lives, be it a job they love or attending college.

In 10 years I hope my husband and I have actually had a romantic honeymoon. I hope our marriage is stronger than ever. And that we are adjusting to having grown kids and actually having time for the two of us. (Something we don't have much of now since when we met we brought 5 kids to the relationship)

Second, in addition to tell you where I think I will be in 10 years, I also must select 10 wonderful fellow-bloggy-friends to share in this award. So, in no particular order, here are the people I hope know I will be reading their blogs about their amazing adventures in 10 years.

Samantha @ Our Family Journal

Courtney and Randy @ EBing a Mommy

Patrice @ The Williams Family Blog

Elizabeth @ Polka Dots & Paisley

Melissa @ The Marsh Family Blog

Melissa@ The Cork Board

Since I am new at blogging I am a little embarrassed to admit that I do not have 10 bloggy friends to share this award with...Unless you count people whose blogs I read who have no clue who I am. Like Pioneer Woman, Bakerella, etc. So I didn't pass it along to them. It would be great if in a couple of weeks I could come back and edit this post and share the award with more friends. Samantha, I hope this is acceptable. Thanks for the award!!

Valentine's Day Getting to Know You!

I decided to join in on the Valentine's Getting to Know You over at Samantha's Blog

1. Favorite Valentine's candy?
Reese's PB Cup Hearts These are my favorite for any holiday!

2. Pink or red?
Pink...my favorite color

3. Will you be doing anything to celebrate today?
I went to dinner with my hubby last night so that was our celebration together. Today we went to IKEA and had lunch with the kids at the mall.

4. Do you put up Valentine's decorations?
Not this year

5. What does Valentine's Day mean to you?
While intended to be a day to express your love to your special person, it is now turning into an over marketed day for stores to sell more merchandise!

6. Would you rather get..flowers, candy, or a night out?

I love to get flowers! But I also love a night out since we don't get too many of those! This year I got both.

7. Sexy lingerie or nothing.at.all?
Do t-shirts and undies count as sexy lingerie?

8. Do you say Valentine's Day or Valentime's Day?

ValentiNe's Day!

Round 2 Blizzard 2010

We are getting ready for round two here in Maryland. According to our local news they are predicting 14-20 inches of snow. Weatherbug is saying 18-24. I will take the lower amount please! If you look out my window you will see that I really have no need for any more snow! I have plenty already and would be more than happy to share!

Since I started writing Round 2 of Blizzard 2010 it has more than made its debut! Wow it was insane. I kept wanting to get back and finish this post yesterday in the midst of it all but just never found the time. This morning we are very snowed in, but the sun is shining. Which I think is great for my mental status. The blizzard warning and white out conditions are definately a bit depressing. So I will take the sunshine, even if all that white stuff is still out there.

Just starting to snow on Tuesday.


Shoveling some Tuesday afternoon.



Tuesday



Wednesday white out!


My daughter on a snow mountain!


Our driveway!



The kids on each side of the "Snow Mountain"




Can you see the car in the middle of the picture? That car has been there since the beginning of Friday's snow storm.



It was so windy and cold. The snow was stinging as it blew into my face! A horrible day yesterday!!



We will have a lot of work to do today with digging out. Not looking forward to it in the least. We shoveled a lot yesterday in the middle of the storm to try and make it easier for us. But the snow drifts are so huge that all the shoveling we did yesterday didn't really help much. It is pretty bad up here and snow plows are working non stop to get roads clear but it is going to be a lot of work. The kids are obviously home the rest of the week.
The news is saying another storm is coming Sunday-Monday but we shouldn't see much accumulation.

Simple Pleasures

After being snowed in with my fabulous family for two days I have been thinking about some on the things I enjoy the most. All too often I focus on the business and seriousness of daily life and forget to stop and think about the simple things . It is so easy to get caught up in the things that bother you and bring you down. I am guilty of that as well. So here is my "list" of simple pleasures in no particular order.

My Simple Pleasures.

1. It's no secret that I get up early even when I don't have to so that I can have a few quiet moments before the house wakes. A hot cup of coffee and a quiet house in the early morning.

2. The sweet sound of "Mama" from either of my children.

3. That this boy thinks his Mama is the greatest!


4. Warm laundry from the dryer.

5. A clean house!

6. Watching my baby girl sleep. Squeezing in beside her and trying to breathe it all in and hoping that this moment will last forever.



7. Great friends and family. And I am blessed enough to have great friends that are very much my family!

8. Sitting in the warm summer sun with sweet tea and a good book.

9. That these 5 kiddos are such a wonderful part of my life!

10. The laughter of my kiddos.

11. Thrift store shopping.

12. The love of a good man. We may stumble and get off track but I love how we always end up right back where we need to be.

The Morning After

I got up early , long before anyone else, to enjoy my oh so simple pleasure of a cup of coffee and a quiet house. I opened up the curtains enough to catch a glimpse of the huge blanket of white stuff that covered us in nearly 30 inches yesterday! I really enjoy my morning hour of relaxing and reflecting. Putting together my thoughts for the day ahead.

I made pancakes and bacon for our crew for breakfast. I knew we would need some fuel to get us through the huge job of "digging out" that awaited us. At some point in the night our neighbor had someone come and plow out a space large enough for him, which was great for him, but left everyone else in out court buried behind a huge wall of snow!! Commence digging!!









So about 2 hours later we were fully dug out as well as helping some other neighbors dig out!
The kids were so cute to watch as they played in the Frozen Antarctic as my son called, it with their friends.





Since we were all dug out we headed to Target. Cos a girl has to have her Target fix. That is my favorite place to go. Plus I needed coffee. Man oh man I expected that the main roads would have been plowed somewhat but they were not. Had I known they were so slushy and icy, I would have stayed home in my nice and dug out spot! The roads are definitely in very bad condition. This storm rocked us. And we are expecting up to 8 more inches on Tuesday!!

We were supposed to have my best friend and her family over to watch the Superbowl. But she woke up with what apparently the flu. I was so bummed they couldn't make it. So it was just the four of us here. Big Daddy made a big pot of chili. We have pizza, chips and homemade salsa and mini chocolate chip muffins for the kiddos! And we are all set! Are you ready for some football!!! We are snuggled tight and hanging together. Maybe this snow wasn't so bad after all. The together time has been wonderful!

Snowy Saturday in Maryland

Mother Nature isn't messing around! This brings new meaning to the phrase "Snowed In". We are at 26 inches of the wonderful white stuff and counting!! I am going to get that little Groundhog.

My two little munchkins had a wonderful time out in the snow. It was up to Little Miss' waist.

My Little Snow Princess!

My little guy just layed right back and took the plunge!!

It is pretty rare but I did manage to sneak into a picture with my munchkins! We had a lot of fun playing out and trying to "walk". And we only had 23 inches when we were on our great adventure through the Snowpocalyse!!

We came inside. Everyone warmed up with a nice mug of hot chocolate.(With extra marshmallows of course) While the kids had lunch I made snow cream! Talk about taking me back to fabulous memories of my childhood. This was always such a treat for us as kids growing up!! And I was ever so happy to know that my kids loved it too.

Happy Snowy Saturday!! Nothing better than being snowed in with your family!

Cheesy Chicken Italiano from Kraft

I got this recipe from Kraft.com and my family loved it. Picky children included! It is so simple to make so I thought I would share it here.

You will need about 5 boneless chicken breasts. A box of Rotini pasta. Velveeta or comparable type cheese. A jar of spaghetti sauce. Since I typically shop store brand products that is what you see here. But the brand of the product is simply your preference.





Go ahead and fill a pot to get your rotini cooking. Once the water comes to a boil I add a bit of salt and about a tsp. of Olive Oil. Then add your pasta.



Take about 5 boneless chicken breasts. I split them to make cooking time faster. Season them the way you prefer.




Cook until nice and brown in a pan with olive oil. They will cook much faster since they are now split.



When chicken is nearly completely cooked. Pour spaghetti sauce over the chicken and turn down heat. Let sit and simmer while you cube up your cheese.






Drop in your cubed up cheese randomly over the dish. Cover and let cheese begin to melt. As you notice it melting start to gently stir the cheese into the sauce. Cover and let simmer while you drain your pasta.






Serve Chicken over pasta! We had sweet corn and homemade garlic bread for sides! A very quick and easy dinner. Hope you enjoy!




The recipe can be found at Kraft.com.....


http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/cheesy-chicken-italiano-57271.aspx