Dinner and Dessert

Lobster, Crab, and Shrimp Ravioli. Served with garlic bread, corn, peas, and cheesy cauliflower.

For dessert, Key Lime Pie with homemade whipping cream.

This {homemade} Key Lime Pie was, well, easy as pie. But since the Hubs is not necessarily a "sweets lover", I had to give 3/4 of this fabulous pie away to prevent myself from eating it {all}. 

And for the record, dinner came frozen in a box. But it was still delicious {and Jack ate it too}.

Cooking 101

When anyone mentions cooking, I am usually the last one to chime in. But now that I have a husband and a son that needs nourishment {on a daily basis} I am really trying to put forth a better effort.

A couple years ago I asked my brother to get me a cookbook for my birthday filled with all our favorite recipes that my mom made growing up. My mom is nothing short of a gourmet chef and always had dinner on the table every evening for a family meal together.

In the beginning of the week I try and put a menu together for the week, to kind of keep us on budget and so that I only have to go to the store once a week. However, this week I got a little late start to the whole menu thing as my Munchkin and I just got to the store this morning. We decided to make all new recipes this week since we have been kind of getting sick of the five usual things I make, about every week.

My usual recipes I make are:
1. Cheeseburger casserole
2. Lemon Baked Cod
3. Lasagna Rolls
4. Enchiladas
5. Chicken Tortilla Soup
6. Spaghetti
7. Crunchy Chicken
8. Roast
9. Cheesy Potato Soup

But this week we are going to try:
1. Cheesy Tortellini
2. Mixed up Lasagna
3. Smoked Turkey Tortilla Wraps

And that is all that I have come up with so far... More "research" today...

But I also got new recipes for desserts that I would like to try:
1. Peanut Marshmallow Bars
2. Key Lime Pie
3. Dark Chocolate & Oat Clusters

I've actually already made the Dark Chocolate & Oat Clusters, they're just no-bake cookies with dark chocolate and are oh so yummy {if you like dark chocolate}.

I am planning on making the Key Lime Pie for my birthday, Friday. So I am hoping it turns out well...

Cast {went} Away

This last weekend we went to Dallas, Texas for a relaxing get-a-way that I conveniently filled with shopping.

Before we hit the road, I took my little Munchkin to get his cast off {three days early}. The doctor said that his ankle will most likely be sore for a couple days and that they want to see us back in three weeks to make sure it is still heeling correctly. So as I carry him out of the office, he seems very excited to get down and run around, only he will not put weight on his right foot.

Six hours later we make it to the Galleria in Dallas, Texas and we hit the pool. My in-laws get to the hotel and they had no idea we got the cast off early, and they were beyond excited for him.

Saturday we started the morning off with breakfast, then a little shopping, swimming, more shopping, more food, a little more shopping, then Lawry's The Prime Rib for dinner with everyone. If you like prime rib, then I highly recommend taking a trip to this fabulous place. However, I am not a lover of this cut of meat, but it is pretty darn amazing if I may say so myself. And their desserts... I cannot say enough good things about this place to do it justice. Oh, and if you do happen to stumble upon this place, get their famous "Spinning Salad", delicious. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Sunday morning my Munchkin woke up with "pool" as one of the first things out of his mouth. So of course we had to make another trip out to the windy pool on the fourth floor of this great hotel. The sweet little guy gave his Daddy his Father's Day gift, a remote control helicopter. There is a ball room right inside from the pool, so the Hubbs and his Dad {my Munchkin's Papa} flew their gifts around for an hour. Those four boys {Uncle Nene was there too} had a blast with those little things. Then we headed to In N Out Burger, which just opened North East of Dallas. I had never eaten there, and it was so yummy!!! Wish we had one here.

In the end, we had an amazing trip to Dallas, Texas. And I cannot wait to go back again in the future. Oh, and did I mention I got to do some great shopping? Thankfully I got my birthday gift from my in-laws early so that I had a little extra spending cash :-)

Karma

This morning as I was getting my little Munchkin ready while he was playing with his favorite little trucks, I realized we have not gotten out to explore in quite some time. Obviously due to his right leg being in a cast for the past five weeks... So I figured we could go to Exploration Place this morning before lunch. On the way out the door I glance at my "Weekly To Do List" and realize that I have been meaning to get to Babies R Us for the past two weeks. Noticing that Babies R Us is some what close to Exploration Place, I figure we can swing by there first and then head to E.P.

I should have known better. Every single time I "swing" by Babies R Us, I always spend way too much money. In my defense, who can resist under armer for little ones?! When pulling out the plastic, I notice I still have my Sephora gift card... And then remember the new Sephora just opened up in Towne West mall {located in JCPenny}. 

Okay, so my Munchkin and I walked around and played with some toys at Babies R Us so we would have only had about an hour at Exploration Place, this is the only reason we went to the mall instead. Plus is was basically in the same parking lot. 

While at the mall I also remembered about a JL party tonight and that I do not have a thing to wear... Under armer, diapers, desitin, dress for party, and some new makeup later we had {materialistically} burned through the entire morning without making it to Exploration Place.

I really need to work on not letting my To Do Lists get the majority of my Munchkin and I's quality time together. 

Do you believe in Karma? Because I do. And I feel like Karma broke my foot. As I was getting the stroller out of the back of my SUV at the mall, I realized a little too late that I had not properly "locked" the base together after our last stroll. So as soon as I pulled the base out, it fell open right on the top of my foot {dressed with flip flops}. I now have a circular bruise on the top of my right foot that still hurst so bad four hours later... 

Darn you Karma? No, darn me for not taking my baby to Exploration Place :-(

June Motivation

I never thought that I would be so excited about purchasing a pair of {running} shoes as I was this past weekend. I had researched them for weeks, and finally found the pair I wanted, my pair.

This morning as I slipped them on, I got this boost of energy, and was actually excited to get outside for my run. This is what I needed, these shoes were just the motivation to keep me on this health kick.

I have now figured it out. If I just get one item every month to introduce into my workout {i.e. clothes, shoes, new music, shoes, etc...} then it will keep me motivated to keep working out. And also if I mix it up a bit, maybe I'll keep going consistently instead of stopping every other month when I get bored with the fix.

What girl doesn't want to look cute while working out, right?

I really feel like if I wake up and work out, then I make smarter/healthier decisions through out the day. So thank you Hubby for letting me use your Christmas Gift Card to purchase my June motivation :-)

"Heaven is for Real"

{My Grandpa with Jack, when he was around 3 months old}

Over this last weekend, my Munchkin and I took a trip to Lincoln, NE. The reason for this trip was to see my Grandpa and stand by and support him {and my Grandma} during his heart surgery.

While we were there, I read this book {Heaven is for Real}. It is an amazing book, and a true story. It is about this young boy, only 3 years old, that gets very sick. And while in emergency surgery, says that he went to heaven and met Jesus. The story is told from his father's point of view, who is a pastor at their small town church. It expresses the power of prayer, and has direct quotes from the bible proving Colton's, the young boy, stories to be true.

Before my Grandpa's surgery, I met him in the lobby of our hotel, with my Dad, Aunts and Grandma to say goodbye and good luck. That morning I remember my Gpa looking kind of down and grey in color. His surgery was set to happen around 8am. After getting to the hospital around 9:30am with my Munchkin in tow, I found out he still had not been taken back for surgery. Come to find out his blood was too thin and they were waiting for his medicine to kick in to thicken his blood. While in surgery the doctor said that he was already starting to bleed internally, and if they would have not done the surgery he would have died within weeks! Praise the Lord that his stress test allowed him to go through with this surgery {His heart was working at 40%, which is the borderline of allowing him to have this surgery done}. After surgery, my Grandpa was on a breathing machine due to troubles breathing on his own. But came through like the fighter he is and was doing so much better withing 24 hours.

The nurses were amazing at the Heart Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska. They gave my Grandpa so much support and put up with his onry ass. {His surgery was Friday morning} Sunday morning before we left for home, we went to spend some time with my Grandpa, who was finally allowed a shower since he was starting to walk again. While in the shower he sprayed one nurse right in the face with water and laughed his butt off. The other nurse made it out of there with only drenched pants. He was still laughing about it when we were walking out the door after our "Good byes", "I love yous", and "See you soons".

Since my Grandpa had been doing so well {eating, walking, and being so dang onry} the doctors decided he was going to be able to go home sometime today. But this morning I got a phone call from my Aunt that Grandpa had a really rough night, he was throwing up and having a hard time breathing. He was on a breathing maching, receiving breathing treatments, now has a feeding tube in, and the doctors believe he is coming down with pneumonia. With all of that, they said he will be lucky to go home on Friday.

Please send prayers for my Grandpa, I will keep everyone posted on how he is doing as soon as I find out myself. Thank you so much for everyone's love and support. It truly means the world to me that I have such great family and friends!!

Munchkin Madness

My little Munchkin found a new love this week. He absolutely adores going over dips, bumps, jumps, hills, and everything in between in Daddy's truck. No matter how my day is going, I just have to listen to that little man laugh and it instantly turns my frown upside down.

As you can see, he still has his cast, but it now has a new addition... A green foot. When we went last to the doctor to make sure everything was heeling good, they found a hole in the heel of his cast, so they had to add a couple extra layers. He had also "filed" down the inside of his foot (on the cast) from crawling every where. But the doctor said "it is going to be a shame to have to cover up all of those signatures"... So wouldn't you assume that they would cover the entire blue cast? With her saying that, we decided to go with a different color. Nope, just the ankle. If we would have known that, we would have definitely gone with the same blue. But we are excited for our little Munchkin to get this long whole leg cast off on MONDAY and then he'll get a short cast on (as long as the X-Rays all look good) and he will then have that on for 2 weeks. So excited! 

This little guy woke up so happy the other day from his nap and just wanted to read in his bed, for close to 45 minutes actually!! I love it when he wakes up so happy :-)