Chad is Super Dad!

Today, I looked like this:

Yes, that is a dish towel wrapped around my eyes and ears.

Today, I have a migraine. I rarely get migraines, but when I do, they lay me flat. I spent the day in the dark, and therefore, so did the kids. Lucky for me, Chad is on a half day schedule, and was able to come home and be superdad so I could wallow in silence and darkness. He fed them, napped with them, changed them, fed them again, bathed them, and put them to bed. He brought the baby to me when it was time to feed her, and took her away again when she was done. Chad is definitely super dad. I'm the luckiest gal in the world, because he is all mine!

Now the migraine has eased into a bad headache, but at least i'm able to come out of my room. It's still dark in my house, only one light on in the kitchen, but even that is a bit much, so I'm chilling in my sun glasses. Isn't there a rock song about sun glasses in the dark? Oh ya, I'm just that cool tonight.

2013

Chad came home! He flew out of Afghanistan right after christmas, and then made it home late late on the 30th. It was the best present 2012 could have brought our family. We celebrated Christmas a week late so that he could be home to open present with us. Sariah thinks she is all that and a bag of chips. Ben tries to be the best big brother, giving Marilyn her binki any time she cries. He also has a habit of trying to sit on her in an effort to sit in her chair. We're working on it. Marilyn is growing faster than I can keep up with. She is 3 months old this week, has started to pack on the jelly rolls, and likes to giggle at her dad. 

Chad had a massive cyst removed from his head, and I'll admit, my sick sick self was very glad the doctor took pictures for me. And myself, well today I successfully put on size 8 jeans, zipped them up and still needed a belt. This hasn't happened for over 2 years- since before getting pregnant with Ben. I'm very happy I kept them. NOW, if only I can fit into those 6's, I'll be super happy. It's going to be my goal this year, along with a couple other things for the family that I'm still trying to define. Updates and specifics to come. And yes. I took a picture of my butt.

         

In case you missed our holiday card

        The Nunes family has once again spent the last twelve months in transition. It is a phase we seem to thrive in! This year has seen the Ohana increased in more ways than we can count. We started off this year, at the end of last year. Chad and I were able to take our little family to the Dallas Temple and be sealed together for eternity right before Christmas last year. January brought its own list of surprises, we were blessed with an early promotion in the military, and shortly thereafter found out we were expecting baby number three! February brought us official word on an upcoming deployment. March made me turn 26 and suddenly realize I truly am not 20 anymore (but it’s taken about 6 years for my brain to catch up!). April brought the deployment to our doorstep, and Chad left for Afghanistan two days before Ben turned 1. May was spent in the rare sunshine that Washington provides, as was June and July. In August, we packed everything up and after attending my brothers wedding in Oregon, we all moved back to Texas to spend some time with family, and so I could have some help when baby 3 finally decided to make her appearance. In September, we welcomed Cody into the family when he married Chad’s sister Alicia, and finally in October, Marilyn joined our family. In November, we packed everything up again and moved back to Washington after an eventful Thanksgiving with the Leonard family in Arizona. December has been spent in preparation for Chad’s homecoming, and holidays are being pushed back a couple days to accommodate. We celebrated our 4^th anniversary last week, and are looking forward to what year 5 holds in store for us! We are grateful for the support of our families and friends during Chad’s absences, and consider ourselves lucky beyond words for the blessings we’ve seen this year. 

        

        Sariah has grown up way too fast this year. She is a talker, and a singer, and a dancer! She walks around with her microphone singing songs from Elmo, Disney tunes, the ABC’s, and any other rhyme she can put to music. She turned 3 in August and loves pre-school.

        Benjamin (Benny-Pete) turned 1 in April, and loves to dance! He has his own special moves and dances to Sariah’s singing. He has picked up lots of words, and is our cuddle bug. He gives kisses and hugs on demand!

        Marilyn was born October 11, 2012. She came fast and furious, after making me wait a little longer than the other kids did! It’s been two months with her at home, and she is one happy baby, always smiling and giggling at her brother and sister.

        As we move forward into 2013, We are looking forward to a move to Germany! The military is sending us to Wiesbaden for a couple of years. We are also looking forward to some new adventures with the family as a whole unit again!

When they ask for seconds...

You know you have a hit.

Tonight, I was at a loss- what am I going to feed these kids??  I picked up my BB today, and there were all these wonderful fresh fruits and veggies, perfect for the season, and bright enough o make my mouth water just imagining what I could make with them! This weeks bounty: Yellow Squash, Yellow Corn, Zucchini, Butter Lettuce, Carrots, Broccoli, Raspberries, Plums, Cantaloupe, Strawberries, & Grapes.

Being the resourceful person I am, I called my mom to ask her what to make for dinner. I've lost all of my brain power to the move this week, so I'm glad she can still think clearly! I told her about my basket, and said I had rice too (I think I was craving the rice) and she told me about our friend Heather's yummy Broccoli and Chicken Curry over Rice. Sure, I've got a curry mix! So I cut up my veggies, and tossed them in the steam bowl and cooked the rice and veggies together in the rice cooker. On the stove, I made the chicken curry sauce, and when the rice and veggies were done, I mixed them with the sauce and put it in the oven for 20 minutes. Hot Dang! It's so good. Every one of us asked for seconds. Every one of us at every bit of the seconds. We will eat all the left overs and smile while doing it. You know you want some.

Broccoli and Chicken Curry Rice Casserole- my twist on Heathers' Genius!

1/2 head of cauliflower (= A Handful)
Handful of Broccoli
Four Carrots (peeled and sliced)
1 Yellow Squash (peeled and sliced)
1/2 cups rice
3 c water

Rice and water in the bottom of the rice maker- put steam basket on top full of all the veggies. Cook on white rice setting.

Chicken
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Cup Mayonaise
1 pk Curry mix

Cook up your chicken (or cheat like i did and use canned chicken). Mix your Soup, Mayo, and Curry with chicken until call the curry is blended in. When rice and veggies are done, mix it all together and bake.

Seriously. My kids asked for seconds.

Bountiful Baskets and the Best Meatloaf Ever

A tale of a happy and healthy kitchen.

Remaining offerings from this weeks' basket
Spaghetti Squash, Watermelon, Canary Melon,
Green Apples, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Plums,
Apricots, & Banana's (I've used most of the plums,
The lettuce, one of the Spaghetti squashes, the onions,
the green onions, celery, snap peas, carrots, and probably
some other little things that my preggo brain has no
recollection of!

About a year ago, my Mom told me about Bountiful Baskets and how they could benefit my family. At the time, I couldn't afford them, or told myself I couldn't afford them. If I could go back knowing what I know now, I would slap my old self silly and tell her that she can't NOT afford to get the baskets. It's been 3 weeks, but let me tell you, my budget, my tummy, my kids, and my scale are all happy. <<>> Anyways, this week, I had a couple things left over from last week's basket that needed to get used, and some things in the current basket. I also had a lb of beef in my fridge that needed to get used or frozen, and i'm trying to avoid the freezer right now (moving soon, trying not to store!). So I started googling and going to recipe blogs. I asked google What's for dinner tonight? and once I found something I could tolerate, it took me to meatloaf. Which sounded good to this pregnant momma (weird, not a huge meatloaf fan...). And then I remembered my mom making meatloaf once upon a time, and hiding things in it that my family would most likely protest at eating. And inspiration, and a couple of recipes that were tweakable finally fell into my lap/bowl. So here it is. The Best Meatloaf I've ever made:

6 1/2 months pregnant with #4. This is my tribute
to healthy eating during pregnancy... I should be
much larger than this, and have been with all the
previous children at this point.

1 lb ground beef (lean!!)
2 Tbs milk
1 Tbs water
1 small green apple (chopped)
1-2 carrots (chopped/shredded)
1/2 onion (chopped fine)
1/2 cup bread crumbs/seasoned stuffing mix
1 egg
1/2 unpacked brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
squirt of mustard

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

So, take your beef, milk, and water and mix them together- to moisten the beef. Toss in your apple, carrots, onion, and stuffing mix. Put on gloves or not (I totally wrapped my hand in saran wrap bc i hate hate hate touching meat and didn't have sandwich baggies...) and mush the ingredients together (mix well). Add the egg and smoosh some more. Form into a "loaf" and put in your pan (bread pan, metal or glass).  Mix up your brown sugar, ketchup, and mustard well, and pour on top of your meat loaf. Bake for an hour. Once done, and once it's cooled for 5-7 minutes, I pull it out of the pan to drain the not so lean part of beef juices. This is also an ideal time to slice it into portion sizes on the serving platter- or in my case, the tupperware dish any leftovers will get stored in.

About half way into the baking, I realized meatloaf wasn't going to fill us up.. what was I going to serve with it??! So I went back to my Bountiful Basket... and saw potatoes! Sweet! Classic! Meatloaf and potatoes for dinner at my house last night! And then I really got creative. See, I still had some green onions left over from the previous basket, and some carrot shreds too.. I'm a great mashed potato/ potato  soup maker. THIS IS MY THING- mom has me do it when I'm home for thanksgiving. So here's what I did:

4 small/medium potatoes (scrubbed, quartered and then sliced thin for faster cooking)

I wish I had taken a picture of the meatloaf itself, but I'm not
the best photographer... 

1/2 carrot- shredded (whatever I had left over)
1/4 c butter
2-4 tbs milk
1/2-1 cup chopped green onion
 (I also added the remaining stuffing crumbs (2/3 cups) for flavor and bc I originally added too much milk (I am bad about measuring and do a trial by pour method)

Bring some water and a tbsp of salt to a boil, add the potatoes and carrots together. Drain. Add butter and milk, mash with hand smasher thingymabobber. (Or cheat and toss in a blender.. I hand mash to keep the texture lumpy). Add green onion and stir in.

Serve.

I don't have any left overs. Last night it was my two kids (ages 1 and nearly 3), myself, and a portion for my good friend and neighbor V. I was seriously impressed with myself and glad that V encouraged me to write it down for further reference. So here it is. For your use, my use, and V's! And I have nothing but this to show for my efforts. Dirt and empty dishes.

One note I would like to make regarding this meal: There are no seasonings used/added (minus the salt to boil the potatoes). Yes, the stuffing came pre seasoned, but I didn't add anything beyond that... which is rare for me. But I am so glad that I didn't do it (Honestly, I totally forgot because the kids were whiny and clingy and hungry... crying and distracting the cook from her masterpiece!). The natural flavors of the fresh fruit and veggies were amazing. I will be repeating this experience!

In the words of Sariah. Peace Out Ya'll!

Confessions of a guilty mom

Today was supposed to be ridiculously crazy. I had a list of things THAT HAD TO GET DONE before 10:30 this morning when I had the housing inspector coming over for a pre-move out inspection. I got up,  got the kids dressed, and off to daycare we went. I came home and made myself some tea to help wake me up (because we all know I am not a morning person!). So, thinking I had about an hour and a half until the maintenance guy was going to be here, I sat down for two minutes to drink my tea- AND THE DOORBELL RINGS! Dang it. There is only one person who isn't afraid to ring my doorbell and that person is the person who doesn't know any better (everyone who normal comes over either just walks in or knocks for fear of waking me up). And there he is, the kind home inspector. I did not have my floors vacuumed, or mopped, or swept. I did not have my toilets scrubbed to a glistening sheen of perfection, and I'm pretty sure there was a diaper from this mornings dressing session that didn't quit make it to the trash can (it was next to the trash, just not in...). I mean, I did spend 3 days getting ready, so the house is clean, all I HAD to do this morning was the floors. I looked at the clock when the doorbell rang- it was 9:15. Hello?! 10:30?? Whats the point of making a specific appointment if they are going to ignore it? Dang housing. So in he comes, asks me five questions or so, looks at the tubs (which happened to be clean thank goodness!) and then told me we were done. WE'RE DONE???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I JUST SPENT MY ENTIRE WEEKEND TRYING TO GET THINGS IN ORDER SO YOU COULD SPEND TEN MINUTES NOT LOOKING AT ANYTHING???  Fine. Be that way. It's a good thing he was a sweetheart. I mean really. So then I decided the vacuuming could wait. The mopping could wait. The toilets most definitely could wait. My entire mornings worth of plans was shot. So I did something "scandalous"... I went to the movies by. my. self. AND IT WAS AWESOME! I put on one of Chad's hats, my biggest pair of hideous bug eye sunglasses, and drove my minivan to the theater. Oh yes, I went out by myself, and I WENT IN DISGUISE...

just in case someone recognized me and asked me where my kids were or what I was doing or where I was going... I even snuck some food/snacks. I'm so bad. I LAUGHED OUT LOUD at a preview. I'm totally going to go see that new Disney movie... I sat in the back row so no one would notice me, but it was so cool- the theater I went to, had automatic reclining lazy boy chairs... for each person. So I totally put my feet up, turned off my phone, and snacked on a fudge round. Heaven.

And then I was driving home. And I looked at my gas tank, and saw that it was just above 'E.' I thought about filling up, decided it could wait, and went on home. But having noticed the tank, I began to feel a little guilty... so to assuage my mommy guilt, I went and picked up the kids early (which I justified by saying that I was saving gas by not going home and then going back out to get the kids). Well, lucky for me, it was just after snack time, and just before nap time! So I brought them home, and Ben went right to bed. Sariah is waiting for me to go lay down. Oh yea, mommy guilt assuaged, and secret identity safe. I felt like a celebrity hiding from the paparazzi today. It was thrilling. I might do it again, someday. Like next week when that Disney movie comes out...