Bubble Up Pizza

Another new meal we tried thanks to pinterest! (derived from this recipe!)

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion (or 1/2 large onion)

16 oz tomato sauce

1 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

2 tubes (7.5 oz each) buttermilk biscuits

pepperoni or other pizza toppings

Brown ground beef and drain. Chop onion and add to beef. Pour in tomato sauce and half of the cheese. Cut biscuits into quarters and stir into pan. Add some of the pizza toppings and pour mixture into 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Add remaining cheese and additional toppings and bake for 10 more minutes until biscuits are cooked through.

Pancakes for Dinner!

I was sitting at work today thinking about what we should do for dinner. Meat options were out of the question being the first Friday of Lent. Maybe fish? Or pasta? or....BREAKFAST? :) Breakfast for dinner is a wonderful thing, and pancakes sounded perfect!

We have boxed pancake mix, but I know it has milk in it (which means Mariah can't have em). So I did a quick search for a dairy and egg free pancake mix, found a recipe that seemed simple enough, and gave it a try!

Let me tell you - these were the BEST pancakes I've ever had! I've never made pancakes from scratch, but it is WELL worth the extra effort. Plus the fact that these are safe for Mariah is a huge bonus!

Egg Free, Dairy Free Pancakes

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup rice milk (or regular milk)
1.5 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

(We also added dairy free chocolate chips! YUM!)

Instructions:

Whisk or sift flour and baking soda/powder and salt.

Add sugar.

Add vanilla and oil and half the rice milk. Whisk together.

Gradually add the rest of the rice milk until normal pancake pouring consistency.

Heat over medium heat and turn when bubbles form in batter.

Oh Toddlers!

Toddlers are the funniest little people. Lately Mariah has been cracking us up with the funny things she comes up with. Here is a sample of her ever-expanding vocabulary:

Nicknames/pronunciations she has come up with:

"Manny" is her brother Madden (we have all started calling him this now!)
"Et" or "Ed" is her Uncle Evan
"Lou" is her Aunt Lori
"Ray" is her Aunt Larae
"Gampa" is both her Grandma and Grandpa Hopper
"Gampa Tom" is her Grandpa Payne
"LeahLeah" is her friend Olivia at day care (this is my favorite i think!)
"Erin" is her teacher Ms. Angie at day care (I dont get it either...)

Funny things Mariah says:

"Hi Mommy - nice to see you!"

"How's your day?"
"Manny nice"
"KISS! HUG!"
"Riah do it!" or "RIAH'S!!!"

"Look at me!!"

"Hold me!"

"Tickle, Tickle, Tickle!"

solution for day care art projects!

On a daily basis Mariah brings art projects home from day care. I LOVE looking at them and talking to her about the fun things she made. For a long time I was keeping them in a file folder until it was bursting at the seams, at which point I sorted through them and decided which ones we should keep and which were OK to get rid of.

Then I came across a fabulous post on pinterest about scanning and making a photo book with all of the art projects! What a genius idea!

Last night both kids were in bed by 8:45pm (AMAZING!). So I decided to spend the next hour scanning in art work. It actually went way quicker that I thought it would, and we are well on our way to creating this book! And how awesome that I won't have an entire file cabinet full of squished art work taking up space in our home that's already bursting at the seams :)

Here's a project Mariah just made for us on Valentines day:

Madden even made one, too! :)

How fun will it be to look back on all these projects one day and have it all nicely organized in a photo book?!

2 months old!

My little guy, Madden, turned 2 months old this week (on Valentine's Day!). Time has gone SO fast and he is growing so much. On Wednesday he weighed in at 13 pounds, 2 ounces and 23 inches long. (That puts him 8 ounces and half an inch behind his big sis' 2 month stats - it will be exciting to compare their growth!)

He's the best little baby. A good eater, a good sleeper and very laid back. I love the little smiles he gives when he's perfectly content in my arms. It doesn't get much better than that!

He also loves his big sister, Mariah. You can tell by the way his eyes follow her around the room. Mariah loves Madden, too and gives him as many kisses as possible. I can't wait to see them grow up together and watch them interact and play!

Kids are truly the most wonderful gift there is! I thank God every day for our two fantastic children.

Just for fun, I thought I would post a side by side of Mariah and Madden at two months:

Do you think they look alike??

my daughter - the technology pro

My 22 month old daughter Mariah amazes us every day. My husband has had his ipad for almost a year now, and early on he downloaded a free game for toddlers (a letters, numbers, animals matching game). He would play it with Mariah every now and then - she didnt necessarily get the concept being that she was barely 1, but she sure learned quickly how the touch screen on the ipad worked! Almost instantly she became a pro. Unlocking the ipad like it was nothing, scrolling through apps, finding her games and within a matter of seconds she is sitting on the floor playing. It's crazy!!!

When Mike and I both got the iphones in December, she quickly picked up the concept and with ease she unlocks my phone, finds various videos and apps shes interested in and off she goes!

Last night after I put Mariah to bed I was looking through pictures on my phone and found a couple new ones.

The photographer kind of gave herself away by catching her toes in the shot

She must have decided that they was not enough in the foreground, because then she captured the same shot with inserted sippy cup. :)

I laughed for a few minutes when I found these photos and had to share them! We have ourselves one technologically advanced toddler - but maybe that's just the way kids will be growing up in such a techno-savvy world. Mike and I joke that she will likely have a cell phone in Kindergarten - and I kind of wonder if that will be reality!

Quick & Easy Baked Beef Taquitos!

Mike (my husband) loves mexican food - so I make enchiladas A LOT. We like them fine, but sometimes you just want to try something new. I had all the ingredients to make enchiladas tonight, but thought I would try something different. I did a quick search for "beef taquitos" and found a couple recipes. I gathered some ideas from each of them and came up with my own recipe. They turned out super yummy!

We made some with and without cheese. My 22 month old daughter Mariah could actually eat the ones without cheese! It's always a small victory when we can make ONE meal for dinner that makes everyone happy and is allergy-free (Mariah is allergic to eggs, milk and soy!)

Baked Beef Taquitos

1 lb ground beef

1/2 cup salsa

salt and pepper to taste

mexican blend cheese

10-12 flour tortillas

canola oil

Brown ground beef. Once browned, stir in salsa, add salt and pepper to taste. Place approximately 1/4 cup of beef/salsa in tortilla as well as a couple pinches of cheese and roll tightly. Place rolled taquitos in a foil-lined baking dish and brush with canola oil. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Simple as that! They came out slightly crunchy and super tasty! Have some sour cream and extra salsa handy for dipping! :)

My Mission

Life happens way too fast. That is a fact.

As a wife and working mother of two (under the age of 2!) life is BUSY! So many things happen on a daily basis and I find myself snapping a quick photo or filing a moment away in my memory with no place to document this small, yet important, piece of life's journey.

Starting today - February 16, 2012 - I plan to document these little things in my blog. Maybe it will be as simple as sharing a photo of our dinner for the evening or telling a funny story about what the kids did at day care, but it will be fun! Maybe I will even document the little DIY projects I attempt every so often - successes and failures! Basically, I hope to capture all those moments that might otherwise slip our memory years from now.

These are the good times in life - I want to enjoy them and REMEMBER them, too! :)