Valentines Photo Shoot

I like to have a little photo shoot with the kids on every holiday!  We had a busy Valentines day and it was right before I left for dinner I realized I hadn't taken their pictures yet.  I asked them both to sit next to the fire place and they both were extra excited to get their picture taken.  I also didn't notice the banana muffin on Allie's chin, and Hayden's nose that needed wiped until after I was done taking pictures.... oh well, that's real life!

February's Mid Month Update

Outside my window . . .very foggy

I am thinking . . .why are both of the kids still asleep?  Hayden is usually up before 7.

I am thankful for . . .being healthy.  I had the flu on Sunday and trying to take care of both kids, let Kevin sleep, and keep from feeling like I was dying was a hard task.  Thankfully my parents grabbed Hayden for a few hours and I got a good nap while Allie napped.  

In the kitchen . . .my homemade sour dough bread is rising. 

I am wearing . . .jeans and a long sleeve v-neck shirt.  My feet are cold so I need to put on socks. 

I am creating . . .a list of pros and cons whether or not Kevin should mow again this year.  (He asked me to.)

I am going . . .to take the kids to the library today.  I just realized the last week or two I've been keeping busy and not reading to the kids as much as I should have. 

I am wondering . . .if my sister in law is having a boy or girl!  We'll find out Monday! 

I am reading . . .Finding the Hero in Your Husband

I am hoping . . .tonight goes by fast.  I'm ready for Kevin to get a few days off work. 

I am looking forward to . . . Allie's 4 new teeth finally coming through.  The girl has been a down right monster!  (I'm really not exaggerating!)

I am hearing . . .noises from Allie's room.  I think she's waking up...

Around the house . . .there are pillows everywhere.  Hayden had a pillow fight last night and I just realized I didn't pick up the pillows before I went to bed.  I will let him do that when he wakes up :)

One of my favorite things . . .to eat, is strawberry pretzel salad.  I'm making it on Monday and it's sounded good for several days!

A few plans for the rest of the week . . .tomorrow we're taking my in-laws to Log Inn to celebrate their 40th anniversary, Sunday we're going to mom and dads for lunch or dinner, Monday we are finding out the gender of my new neice/nephew AND eating strawberry pretzel salad :) 

#1 Role

Who or what makes you feel complete?

This is a tough question to answer honestly!  I know the answer IS God, but sometimes my little mind gets sidetracked from the bigger picture.  The kids have a tough day which means I have a tough day.  I feel drained.  Kevin is working a lot which leaves us very little time to even have a real conversation.  I feel empty.  I don't prioritize my day well and when the day is done, I feel mad at myself for not accomplishing anything that needed to get done.  Doing day-to-day life and relying on others for your happiness is an uphill battle!

This is where my DOK class comes in to give me a slap upside the head.  This last Wednesday we were talking about when my husband doesn't meet all my (thousands of) expectations, when he disappoints me (even though we all know I'm impossible to please).... I blame him (or the kids) for my bad mood and disappointment!  And really, I am the one to blame.  Ouch.  God never intended Kevin to make me feel complete.  Only He can do that.  He wants to make me whole.  Kevin, although he is an amazing husband, and really does everything he can think of to make me happy, it will never be enough to fill the spot only God can fill.

The book we are studying is "Finding the Hero in Your Husband" and let me tell you this book is much more about changing ME (rather than me changing him, which that seems like it would be easier)!  I'm learning a lot.  I want to grow a lot too.  When I start my day asking God to fill me up, I end the days thanking him for his faithfulness.  The days I get too busy to do that, I find myself feeling utterly drained and thinking "Why didn't I just ask God for help?"

First and foremost, I am a child of God.  Then I am a wife and a mother.  (Not to mention a daughter and sister and friend.)  For all those relationships and roles to happen the way they were intended, I need take care of my #1 role first!  It makes so much sense to me now, I just need to keep putting it in practice!

Cavanaughs

Kevin and I celebrated our Valentines day at Cavanaughs, which also happens to be the place he proposed to me. We usually go there about once a year for a special dinner.  It's a very nice upscale restaurant with a beautiful view of the river.  Kevin arranged a babysitter and made reservations all without my knowledge (extra points for that!).  I get the exact same meal every time I go.  Everything is a la carte.  I do usually switch up the dessert I get.  Dessert is a MUST when you go!  It is expensive, but definitely worth it!

Warm bread

Butter and roasted garlic for your bread.

Their ranch is my all time FAVORITE!  It's amazing.  The salad has large chunks of carrots and cucumbers, which I love.

Between salad and the main course they serve sorbet.  Last nights was lemon sorbet and I wanted to ask for an extra scoop!

Kevin is always trying something new there.  He had their rib eye and he really liked it.  He also got a twice baked potato. 

My 8oz sirloin, butterflied, and well done!  It's the most tender, well done steak around!  LOVE IT!  I also got a twice baked potato.

A steak isn't a steak without A1!  I love the little gravy boat they served it in.

Alleluia!  The dessert tray.  They had 11 choices last night.  At this point I was thinking I should have skipped dinner and ordered 4 desserts!

I told Kevin over and over I wanted cheesecake, because I haven't had any in forever.  They had a creme brulee cheesecake and a turtle cheesecake.  I told our server "I am trying to decide between the creme brulee and the turtle.."  After a pause I told her I wanted the creme brulee.  This is what she brought me out.  I was a little puzzled, but though ok, maybe they serve it in a bowl?  I took one bite, gagged, then realized she gave me creme brulee, not creme brulee cheesecake.  I was frustrated that I didn't communicate better.

After I dug into the "creme brulee"  they certainly weren't going to take it back, so Kevin insisted I reorder and get what I wanted originally.  He really didn't have to persuade me too heard, and I'm glad I got the cheesecake!  It was exactly what I wanted it to be! :)

Before we left, I got a rose.  Perfect ending to a perfect dinner and a great day!

Happy Valentines Day

To start off the morning, I made some *pink* banana nut muffins :)  It really helped to put me in a Valentines mood bright and early this morning!!!  I have never tinted this muffin recipe but I was happy with how they turned out!  Kevin got home from work this morning and arrived with a box of Stephen Libbs chocolate turtles.  He knows how to make his Valentine happy!!  We are going to dinner tonight to finish off the evening.  Hope you all have a lovely day too! <3

Lambert's Cafe - Home of the Throwed Rolls

I visited the Lamberts Cafe in Alabama about 10 years ago.  I remember enjoying the food and atmosphere, but that's about all I could recall from my first visit.  When we went to Missouri last week, I had google searched some of the best restaurants in the area and was pleasantly surprised to see there was a Lambert's Cafe between Springfield and Branson.

Our 2nd night, we had made plans to have dinner there.  We arrived around 5 hoping we there wouldn't be a wait.  We were able to walk right in.  Kevin immediately fell in love with the restaurant because they were playing "oldies" (and he is a 60 year old man at heart and LOVES that kind of music!).  Their menu seemed to have a little bit of everything, but I decided on the dumplings, corn, and mashed potatoes with gravy.  Kevin ordered the chef salad, not knowing it was big enough to feed our whole family of 4.  Hayden picked out a cheeseburger, applesauce and peaches.  I got Allie dumplings, corn, and mashed potatoes. 

While we were waiting on the food, the little high school boy, with his curly hair and suspenders announced "Hot Rolls!"  Kevin put his arms up and caught our first roll.  I was starving at that point (we usually eat at 4 because of his work schedule) so I split the roll in half.  I took one half and gave the kids the other half.  The bread was SO good!  Probably the closest thing I've had to my mom's sour dough bread.  I told Kevin he had to catch us some more!  He caught another one and fell in love with the bread too!  As we were devouring our bread, random servers came by with pots of food.  We were offered:  fried potatoes and onions, fried okra, and macaroni and tomatoes.  We did get all 3, but I only tried the friend potatoes (which were excellent!).

We weren't let down at all by our food.  It was GREAT!  I think Hayden ate more cheeseburger that night than he ever has!  We also decided from now on we'd stop ordering Allie food at restaurants because she rarely eats any of it.  She let her plate go cold and didn't try a thing we ordered for her.  Kevin ate and ate and ate on his salad but you couldn't tell he touched it when he was done.  It was huge.  I polished off my plate and considered dessert, but finished my thrown roll and was full enough :)

Here are some pictures from our visit to Lamberts.  I can't wait to go back to another one!!!

The roll thrower (in the red hat) and a roll being thrown (by the purple balloon).

Me & my buddy.  We also loved the huge drinking glasses :)

100% delicious

Kevin's huge salad in a bread bowl.

Hayden eating his "pittle".

My dumplings and sides

Fried okra

Fried potatoes and onions

We put the macaroni and tomatoes on Allies plate, and she didn't try them.  (Kevin and I aren't tomato eaters).

Big Cedar Lodge 2012

We still don't have our computer fixed, but after not using it for a week, it seems more refreshed and I hope I'm able to make it through this whole posting!

We took a mini vacation to the Ozark Mountains in Missouri this week.  I'd never been and it seemed like a perfect trial run for our Florida vacation that is coming up.  I was anxious to see how the kids did in a longer car ride (7 hours, which was actually around 10 after we stopped for food twice and stopped to let the kids run through Walmart).  The scenery was beautiful and we're looking forward to going back during the spring or summer of another year.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the lodge :)

View from our balcony - overlooking Table Rock Lake

Family/tv room

Kevin wanted to take the table and chairs home.

Bedroom with king sized bed and lots of windows!

The waterfall outside our window.

We had 2 full bathrooms.  This was one of them :)

The lodge we stayed at

Our only family picture - thanks to the self timer on our camera!

I loved the lines in the parking lot!

Pretty buildings

I saw these S&P shakers I thought I'd get my mom...$260!  Yikes!

Pretty stained glass

A closer view of Table Rock Lake

The huge bass was on their miniature golf course.

Allie getting a kissy sandwich

Me & Allie

Hayden checking out the giant goldfish in the little pond.

Another beautiful waterfall (that you drove over).

They have "cookie ladies" on staff that every night bring you fresh baked cookies!

The Truman Cafe at the Lodge was Excellent!!!  WHEN we go back, we'll eat there everyday for breakfast!

Inside the cozy little Cafe

Biscuits and gravy and sausage

One of the most delicious banana nut muffins I've ever had.

Cinnamon crumb cake

Be Back Soon!

*Sorry for the lack of blogging lately.  Our computer is about to die and when I attempt to blog, it shuts down on me multiple times!  We hope to get the issue resolved when our tax check arrives* :)

Looking Forward To...

I do a mid-month update @ the 15th of the month... but I'm thinking about doing a "Looking Forward To" post at the beginning of each month.  February is the best month for me to start this because I'm looking forward to a LOT this month! :)

1. Valentines Day!  This is the biggy for the month.  I LOVE this holiday!  I love the decorations, I love the food, I love the crafts, I love the colors, and the romance.  
2. I will find out in the middle of the month if I will be having a new niece or nephew!  Either will be exiting :)
3. My in-laws will celebrate their 40th Anniversary and we're going out for a nice dinner to celebrate!
4. We get our taxes done!!! Getting money is always fun!
5. We are taking a mini vacation to Big Cedar Lodge in the Ozarks.  I think it will be a great trial run to see how the kids do on a longer car ride and to see how the sleeping arrangements will work out.  Our Florida trip will be here soon!
6. Allie turns 18 months and will have a well baby check up.  Minus the shots, I always enjoy those!
7. My "Uncle Keith" has a birthday this month, actually February 3rd, but we're celebrating with him on the 2nd.  I always enjoy getting to spend time with the Millers.  
8. This is Kevin's LAST month on 12 hour shifts!  At the end of the month he will go to 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week.  We may almost feel like we have a normal life!

Chocolate *Chocolate Chip* Muffins

When I saw the recipe for these, I immediately moved it to the top of my list of recipes I wanted to try!  I could eat chocolate 24/7 and never get sick of it.  I didn't really want to make these for breakfast (not the most nutritional way to start my day) but I just kept not finding the time once I got my day going.  Last night I decided today was the day - we were having chocolate muffins for breakfast!  Before bed, I premixed all my dry ingredients, laid out my muffin pans, put cupcake liners in them, got out my whisk and anything else I thought I needed to make these.  It made the process go much quicker this morning and the muffins were in the oven when the kids woke up.

Recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe who got it from allrecipes.com
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lowfat milk (I used skim)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, chocolate chips and salt. Toss to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, water, milk, oil and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet mixture, stirring just until moistened .
Line muffins cups with paper liners and fill the cups 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins to a wire rack to let cool completely.

I always use the Reynolds baking cups.  They are located with the foil & plastic wrap.  They are the BEST!

I expected these to be really heavy and dense and I was surprised by their lightness.  They aren't as light as cake, but they are a perfect density.  They are RICH, very very rich, but that's another reason why I like them.  I prefer them warmed (or right out of the oven) because I'm a sucker for the melted gooey chocolate!  I think these would make a fantastic dessert, served with ice cream and berries.  In fact, I may just have to try that tonight.....if you are a chocoholic, you need to make these!  You won't be disappointed!!!