Independence Day

Our family had a pretty laid back holiday weekend. We are still catching up on our to-do list upon returning home from our 5-week stay in Nebraska. 4th of July is my absolute favorite holiday, and not just because I'm a military wife. I love the BBQs, fireworks, warm weather, and being able to celebrate our nation's birthday and what it stands for with friends and family.

We celebrated the 4th of July at a friend's house down the street. She was gracious enough to open up her home to us and a few other families. I made Happy Potatoes and a flag fruit pizza (I will share the recipes of both at the bottom of this blog post). The food, company, and all the fun made for a great celebration of our nation's birthday.

Here are a few pictures from our day of celebration:

Flag Fruit Pizza

Yummy Food

P-Man

W

All the men surrounding the grill

Recipes:

Flag Fruit Pizza:

Ingredients

• 1 (16 1/2 ounce) packages Pillsbury sugar cookie dough ( 1-2 packages. depends on how thick you want your crust to be, I use 2)
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese ( softened)
• 1 (8 ounce) containers Cool Whip ( thawed)
• fresh fruit, any kind you may like ( i.e. kiwi, strawberries, grapes, oranges, bananas, etc.)

Directions

• Cut sugar cookie dough into 1/4-inch thick pieces.
• Lay it down on a greased pizza pan or rectangular pan.
• Press dough till pressed together.
• Bake in 350°F oven for 10 minutes or until brown.
• Let it cool completely.
• While baking your crust, get a large bowl and mix together sugar,vanilla,and cream cheese.
• Fold in Cool Whip.
• Spread mixture onto baked crust (that is completely cooled.) When spread on, cut up your fresh fruit and place onto your pizza.
• Then put in refrigerator for an hour to chill.
• Then your ready to eat and enjoy.
• Another great and fun way to make this is using the rectangular pan is to use blueberries and strawberries to make an American flag.
• Use the blueberries as stars and strawberries and raspberries as stripes.

Happy Potatoes:

Ingredients

• 1 bag of frozen hashbrowns
• 1 can of cream of celery
• 1 8oz container of sour cream
• 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese or american cheese
• 2 cups of Cornflakes or Frosted Flakes (for an added sugar taste)
• 1 stick of butter, melted

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Line 9 x 13 pan with frozen hashbrowns
• Mix cream of celery, sour cream, and cheese in a small-medium sized mixing bowl
• Pour over potatoes and mix in a little
• Sprinkle Cornflakes or Frosted Flakes
• Pour melted butter over top
• Bake 30 minutes covered, and then another 30 minutes uncovered for a total of 60 minutes

Summer Tradition

The boys and I spent the Memorial Holiday weekend with my parents, sister, friends, and grandparents at our cabin on the lake. My grandparents have owned their cabin since the 1970's, so we've been spending major summer holidays and weekends since I was born. It's neat being able to do this now with my own children. W was only a week old the first time he visited the cabin, and P-man was 4 months old.

It was quite chilly the first day we were there with low hanging clouds and rain. We even splashed the jetski and I rode it to our cabin with the cold wind and rain pelting my face. However, I tried not to think about it, and just enjoy my time on the open water. The boys played with toys inside the cabin that had once belonged to my mom and her brothers, and watched P-man go from room to room. One of my best friend's from college drove out, so having her out there made for a fun afternoon, despite the nasty weather.

Right around mid-afternoon, the sun decided to make it's first appearance, so we got the boys into their swim trunks to enjoy the weather...it warmed up too... about 10 degrees when the sun came out. It was so enjoyable watching my little fish splash around in the water...W even got it all the way. P-man had a blast too... he would only put his toes in, and then waves would come in and scare him (he's my delicate child).

We ended the day with a delicious Ham with Happy Potatoes, my mom's famous pasta salad, and baked beans. Even my picky eater ate up all the ham, which really surprised a majority of us. I'm glad I finally found a second source of protein he enjoys, with Nutella being the first. We ended the evening playing Skip Bo.

Monday was gorgeous temperature and sunny wise, however the wind was horrid at 20-30 mph with gusts reaching 40mph. Needless to say we didn't get much jet skiing in that morning, because the wind was so awful it was throwing dust, sand, and bugs into our eyes. Poor W was waiting all weekend to get his first jet ski ride of the year, but it just wasn't safe. P-man wasn't a fan of the wind either, and spent a majority of his Memorial Day inside.

The wind still didn't stop W, nor the rest of us. While P-man napped (which turned into a 3.5 hour one), my mom, sister, friend Jill, and William soaked up some sun and swam in the lake. Of course, I didn't wear any sunscreen. I tell myself this every year, "I don't need sunscreen, I never burn"...and every time...I burn...oh well!

We finished the weekend with burgers on the grill and some "see ya later's" to my grandparents. We will be seeing them again a in a few weeks for a family reunion. All and all in was a great weekend...it would have been perfect if Jess was here with us. I sure miss him... less than two weeks until he gets here.

During all the fun we had, we did take a moment and reflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day...to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrafice fighting for this great country of ours and to thank our men and women in uniform... especially to my husband who has been active duty serving in the United States Air Force for almost 11 years now... my Uncle Richard, retired Chief Master Sergeant with the Air National Guard... and my Grandfather, retired Lt. Col with the United States Army. God Bless the good 'ole U.S. of A!

W's 4th Birthday BBQ Celebration

Yesterday we had a few of our closest friends over for a BBQ to celebrate W's 4th birthday. He doesn't turn 4 until the 21st, but we'll be on the road to the cornhusker state to visit family. Anyway, I really didn't want to throw a huge "party", especially since we just had a pretty big one for P-man's 1st birthday. Plus, I'm trying really hard not to go "all out", but every other year, so we will have a big party with favors, balloons, and other party decorations for their 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc. birthday's.

W had a fabulous time and the food was so yummy. Of course, we had to have a cake! Here are a few pictures from the fun celebration...

It was a very fun day, and I'm glad we were able to celebrate the birth of an amazing little boy. I can't believe my first born will be 4 soon and then be a preschooler in August. I wish I could slow down the clock or even turn back time.

Up, Up, and Away! We Celebrated P-man's Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated P-man's first birthday with an airplane theme. Everything came together nicely, but not without the help from my wonderful family and friends. P-man slept through the entire gift opening and is not a fan of cake!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday!

Gift Bags:


Center pieces (they consisted of a wooden plane and dowel spray painted red and a solid piece of wood with cotton balls scattered on the bottom):






Food table:





Cake:


Gift table:



Table with airplane books:


Pictures of the birthday boy:






If you would like to know where I got my inspiration for P-man's birthday party, please check out this blog post: First Birthday Planning.

**Stay tuned for a review regarding P-man's birthday shirt and cloth diaper, it was custom designed by my dear friend and WAHM, check out her business while you're waiting: Plum Crazy for Cloth.**

Military Life is Like Predicting the Weather

Being a military family, you never know what the future holds. Predicting our future is like predicting the weather, or comparing it to the ever so changing weather. Anywho, we have been preparing for Jesse's deployment since November. The boys and I were planning on packing our things up and head back to Nebraska to stay during Jesse's deployment. It's been really stressful trying to prepare for that, a first birthday party, a baby sprinkle, etc and trying to be emotionally and mentally strong for not only myself, but for my family; as D-day was rapidly approaching.

Last week, a good friend of mine found out that her hubby was coming home early from deployment, because his job was canceled. Well, this job happened to be this same job Jesse was deploying to do, so we had this feeling his deployment would also be canceled. However, no "official" word from San Antonio. This was almost a week ago, and we finally got "official" word that Jesse will no longer be deploying this morning and all his out processing has seized. This is wonderful news for our family, because saying "see you later" is never easy, especially when this was to be our first actual deployment to the middle east(Jesse did a one year PCS to South Korea from 2008-2009).

Again, we don't know what the future holds for us. We do know Jesse is still high on the list for deployments, but only one can hope and pray he will be able to keep his feet on American soil. We also know how time is so valuable and important, especially being a military family. Right now, we celebrate, because we will be welcoming home another airman very soon, who put his life on the line for our country overseas. May God continue to watch over and bless those who are abroad fighting for what we believe in and our freedom, and God bless the USA!

Valentine's Day 2011 Cont.`

Wow, what a day it's been. I'm exhausted! We started off our morning with Valentine's Day pancakes. W and P-man just inhaled them. Of course, trying to make heart shaped pancakes came with a lot of trial and error. However, in the end they all looked like hearts, which is what I was aiming for in an end result.

After we ate breakfast, W and I worked on his Valentines he will be handing out to his friends at a playdate on Wednesday afternoon. I wanted to do something more homemade this year. My inspiration for these cards came from this blog: Craft-O-Maniac. One side of the cardstock has the boys picture(and candy), and the other is a homemade template I made in publisher.


Lunch was another Valentine's inspired meal with heart shaped grilled cheese and tomato soap(was not heart shaped... lol). Jess came home and ate a good lunch, and both boys enjoyed eating their grilled cheeses. The soup wasn't a huge hit with W this time, he normally really enjoys his "mater soap", as he likes to call it. I had a nice mess to clean up, especially since half of the mess was still from breakfast. Thank goodness the hubby volunteered to help clean up for me.

I still had some last minute errands to run, and wanted to grab ingredients to rice krispie treats. I didn't have any marshmallows and needed more margarine. Now, I will admit, this is only the second time in the past year that I have ran to the store with both boys, pathetic, right? The trip to the store wasn't so bad, and the boys had fun riding in the cart. We came home to start making dessert, which of course was heart shaped rice krispies. Anyone who knows me, I'm not a good baker, and am quite intimidated by the process. Anywho, I ended up burning the dang butter, the dial was turned a little past warm, and I had a fussing baby at my hip which help any. Before they cooled all the way, W helped me use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the rice krispies. They smelled so good, of course after the smell of burnt butter left the room.
After making another huge mess, I decided it was time to do a fun Valentine's Day craft with W. A new follower let me know about a blog she does, which is directed at early childhood education, Touch of Home Learning. I went over there, and found some neat heart shaped craft ideas. I showed W, and he told me he wanted to make a heart shaped octopus. He had a blast gluing on all the heart shaped parts of the octopus, and mommy enjoyed using fun scissors to cut out the hearts. In the end, the craft turned out really cute, and of course W had fun.


I had a fun dinner planned for the four of us. I made homemade heart shaped pepperoni pizza with mozzarella and cheddar cheese and breadsticks. I also decorated our kitchen table with fun Valentine's Day decor. I also placed the boys and the hubby's gifts right behind dessert. The hubster surprised me with beautiful white daisy's that I used as our centerpiece. Dinner was super yummy and everyone enjoyed the pizza, P-man even polished off an entire piece. At the end of dinner we at our rice krispy treat and exchanged gifts. The boys got a card, Valentine's Day book, and William got chocolate(you can't have a Vday without chocolate). I gave Jess a one hour massage, because I know he's been under a ton of stress from work and of course from the upcoming deployment.




All in all, it was a great day, exhausting one, but great. I love the men in my life so much, and I really enjoyed spoiling each and every one of them. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! Here is our Vday card picture. I will be placing a Snicker's candy on top of the sweetheart W s holding. I can't wait until our cards are finished, and of course I plan on sharing our creation with all of you.

Valentine's Day 2011

Tomorrow we will celebrate as a family of four. Not only is this P-man's first Valentine's Day, but it's also the 6th "dating anniversary" for Jesse and I. He asked me to be his girlfriend over Mexican dinner at El Toro 6 years ago tomorrow. I have a fun day planned for us. My day will start right around 5:30 am. I'm going to make heart shaped pancakes and sausage, so my family can have a great breakfast to start off their day. After breakfast, the boys and I will finish making Valentine's Day cards (my inspiration for these came from this blog: Craft-O-Maniac...one side of the cardstock with have this inspired picture of the boys(and candy), and the other is a homemade template I made in publisher(pictures to come) that says, "Bee Mine"(this is the side the boys get to color). I can't wait to see how these turn out. Then, I'm going to make heart shaped grilled cheese and tomato soap for lunch. Following lunch, I have to run some last minute Vday errands and get some other stuff for a baby sprinkle I'm co-hosting. I'm hoping to add in another Vday craft, and then I will make a homemade heart shaped pizza for dinner.

I'm so excited for tomorrow. I don't know why, but I'm a huge sucker for this wonderful day of celebrating unconditional love. I'm very blessed to be able to spread the love to and be loved by the three wonderful men in my life. Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

*edited to add, I think I'm going to make heart shaped rice krispies in the afternoon. :)**

Military Monday

My good friend, gave me this wonderful idea. Every Monday, I'm going to post something "military" in my blog, it could be a photo, poem, article, etc. Today, I want to share my most favorite picture in the entire world. I captured this photo just moments after Jesse marched in the Veteran's Day parade. W was only 5 months old at the time.

Icepocalypse 2011

It started with three simple letters in our forecast a few days ago, ICE. Being from Nebraska, we rarely get ice storms, but we do get large amounts of snow and wind (not to mention the below zero temps). The forecaster stated only a few degrees could make a huge difference in the significance of the storm. We heard anywhere between 1/2 inch of ice to significant amounts of snow, all depending on temps.

With the predicted forecast, I stared and looked into our fridge and pantry, we had to get groceries. Now, this was on Sunday evening, and this mess was supposed to start Monday evening. I had 24 hours to get the store. To make matters worse, the trip to the store would be on a day where everyone would be in a mass panic to get food before the impending storm and it was on pay day. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful hubby who offered to hit the store on his way home from work. I'm so glad I didn't have to drag both the boys out to the store and shop amongst the crazies.

Last night after I was leaving to go home from my MOPS meeting, the freezing rain began to fall. Boy, does it run chills through your spine when you get pelted with frozen rain drops. It followed me all the way home, where it was barely sprinkling. Come this morning, we were greeted to about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of ice, and a hubby who didn't have to go into work. It's been a wonderful "ice day" so far, with breakfast burritos made by my better half, pajamas on our bods, and movies playing on our TV. We'll see what tomorrow brings, as we're bracing for round 2 of this "lovely" winter weather. I guess Mr. Groundhog will be able to tell us tomorrow if we will have an early spring or six more weeks of winter.