Happy Father's Day Dinner for Wes

My sweet handsome hunk of a husband has been appropriately titled 'The Worlds Greatest Dad' as you can see below. He wore this shirt to the gun show on Saturday where a man tried to correct him, saying that he in fact held that title. Wes offered to fight him for it and the guy respectfully relented. To celebrate I made him this delicious meal. Oh and it was SUPER delicious!!! This is Wes's favorite meal his Mom used to make. Roast with au jus. The roast is the easy part, but the au jus is a little tricky. So I'm going to post it here so I won't forget. I've been forgetting things more and more lately.

3 to 3 1/2 pound Bottom Round Roast

Fresh Ground Pepper

16 ounces Beef Stock

1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce

1/3 cup A1 Steak Sauce

Place roast in slow cooker. Cover roast with ground pepper. Add beef stock and worcestershire sauce. Top the roast with the A1. Cook on low for 10 to 12 hours or high for 4 to 6.

For Au Jus: Remove roast. Place cheese cloth inside a strainer and strain the liquid into sauce pan. Reduce in a sauce pan. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Can't wait to do this again!!!

Sloppy Joe Craving

I remember having sloppy joe's at school sometimes when I was a kid, but I never had them at home. I don't even remember ever trying Manwich, and for some reason that seems weird to me. Well today I saw a recipe and decided tonight was the night. Thank you Pillsbury! It may not go with my diet, but I sure loved it. I hurt my back running for the past couple weeks so I had to take today off. I promised my sweet husband that I wouldn't even leave the house. My sweet sister Shaun helped me out by running to the store for the ingredients my pantry was lacking.

This first picture is Pillsbury's picture of their Sloppy Joe Casserole.

This is the picture I took of my casserole. I made it the same way except I covered my casserole completely. I think I must have used a different shape of dish or something. Didn't matter though. I loved it!!! I highly recomend it.

Sweet Memories

Tonight Max and I were playing with one of his toys that lights up while we were under a large quilt. This is a comfort thing for him. He LOVES forts! We were having so much fun pushing the buttons to make the music play and have it light up. It looked really cool under that quilt. Max sat on my lap as he always does and I couldn't help but to think of my first little while with him. To be specific... the day this picture was taken. Max was 13 days old. Daddy was at work and I was still recovering, so I just held my boy, fed my boy, changed my boy and took naps with my boy. I remember holding him while he slept on my chest in this picture. He still has the same sweet little boy smell he had that day. I can't stop kissing his little red head. What an awesome feeling!!! I love remembering my first days of being a Mom. It was all new then and now I can't remember how it felt not being a Mom. Babies are amazing and mine are the BEST. And yes... I'm totally playing favorites!!!

Taking The Day Off

While I was getting us ready for our run/walk this morning, I noticed Max playing ball in the living room. For the past couple weeks we've been going daily. It's great for us I think, but sometimes it's nice to just stay home. Not because it's raining, or because someone doesn't feel good. We all feel good and we want to spend time together at home today. We wish Daddy was here to play too, but we love that we're blessed with work for him. Can't wait to have him home so he can enjoy this as much as I am!!!

Comfort

My babies have been sick with one thing or another, on and off for the past month. They've both been teething, had the flu, colds and/or fevers. Comfort is sometimes all I can do. I want to take the pain away, but I can't. I try to make it all better and I can't figure out how. Then they get to the point where their little eyes droop and they grab for the softest blanket they can find. I snuggle Maggie close to me and Max scoots in too. This is how they both tell me how to make them feel better. One at a time I carry them each to their crib in the bedroom they share. Their eyes close and they finally have some time away from the sickness. Comfortable and safe in their favorite room, knowing that Momma will come running at the littlest whimper to make sure they're OK. Little do they know, I also come running when I know they're both snoring to make sure they have what they need or to correct the uncomfortable position they passed out in. My most favorite job is to comfort my family. Something that I learned from my parents. Something that takes years of love to teach. I thank my Heavenly Father for all my blessings and the opportunity to be a wife and Mother. It's the best tired feeling I've ever felt in my life!

Who needs to go to the beach when they have this at home?!

I've been wanting to go to the beach for some time now. It always helps me feel rejuvenated and all that. Well today my little family did it. I had a wonderful, beautiful day!!!

Wes is the gardener in our little family, but I wanted a garden for me to take care of this year. I really want to learn how to 'NOT' kill a plant. However, I didn't know what I was doing, so my sweet husband went from explaining it to me to doing it for me. I bought the stuff and put the plants in the ground, but he did everything else. Happy early Mother's Day to me!!! Max insisted on helping Dad. He had a ball walking in the dirt, finding rocks and sticks and carrying the tools for his Dad. Such a great little helper!!!

Once Wes started watering all the plants, 'help Dad time' was all over. He was ready to play in the water. Oh my GOODNESS is this boy CUTE?!!! We laughed and hugged and kissed him. What a crack-up!!!

We put both babies down for naps and finished up on the planting. Then Maggie woke up just at the time I needed to start dinner. Dad volunteered to watch her in the front while he edged the sidewalk for me. I love my pretty yard. It's not completely done yet, but it's well on it's way. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

Thank you Grandma for helping while Wes wasn't home. Max, Maggie and I loved having you over!!!

Happy May Day!!!

Friday was a tiring day!!! We were able to take a trip to the storehouse for some food storage with a couple friends we don't see very often. It was so much work and so worth it. I was working on 4 hours of sleep because of a teething baby and then I forgot to eat. Not a good combination I found out. Wonderful Grandma babysat for the billionth time. I'm so thankful for her!!! All I could do when I got home was to lay on the floor with the babies while they watched a movie and climbed on me. There was no more energy to be found, and I looked. LOL!!!
Because Friday was so exhausting, we all slept in Saturday. We woke up to the sound of Max talking and laughing. Words can't describe the feelings that go through me when I hear my babies playing. Soon after Max's sounds, came Maggie's lovely singing. When I got to Max, instead of wanting out of his crib to play in his room, he wanted to play in Maggie's crib with her. So I went to make a couple of bottles. Max crept over to Maggie in the crib and kissed her head softly. When they had their bottles, he moved slowly over to her to snuggle while they both relaxed. Max even shared his blanket with her.

Next thing on the list for the day was to go on a run with the babies. While I got everything together and buttoned down the house, Max continued to work on his bottle. Maggie was past that and on to playing. She rolled right into Max while he was relaxing. I knew in my mind that he was going to have an attitude and push her away. Instead, he put his arm under her belly and pulled her in for a hug and didn't let go. It was as if he thought she was his teddy bear. LOL! ~ I know, I know... No pictures. I failed. It was precious!

The jog went well till we got to the grocery store. Max started having a melt down... at the TOP of his lungs. AHHHH!!! I remember listening to people with the screaming children and thinking, 'Uh... Can you take care of that kid?!' Can you say Pay Back? Yeah, I got what was coming to me. I quickly got him out the door and had a talk. He was reasonable and allowed me to get a couple things before I ran that cutie boy home. I opted to take them in the car to Freddy's so I could shop and Max could drive his sports car shopping cart. One of the best ideas EVER!!! Well, at least for me today. He was in heaven. We were over in the children's clothing and I heard Maggie start to giggle. I looked over and Max was leaning toward her just jabbering away about something. She thought it was hilarious and so did I! Then Daddy stopped by and surprised him. Oh the smile. ;0)

We grabbed some yummy to go food after our shopping and headed home. Max went down for a nap. Maggie woke up from hers and then Grandma Cecelia dropped by for a visit and to bring us a couple of kid sized rocking chairs that she's had forever. They're adorable and both babies already love them. It was wonderful to spend time with her!!! When it was time for Maggie to sleep, Max woke up (of course!). I headed outside to mow the lawn and weed (@ 8pm). One of my sweet neighbors laughed when they saw me out there and offered to loan me a flashlight. ;0) I guess I was just determined to get my lawn looking nice and it totally does. Now I give myself permission to buy some pretty flowers to plant. I'm super excited if you can't tell.

When the yard was completed I gathered the garbage in the house, cleaned the litter box and started the laundry. This all sounds like lists now, but I was amazed at how much I accomplished today. The sun is so powerful. It motivates and makes people happy. Can't wait till tomorrow. Heading out for a picnic at the park after church with the family. Simple things make life wonderful.

(Sorry there were no pictures on this posting!!!)