Recipe Thursday!

I borrowed this recipe from Kraft's Food & Family magazine a while back. I love this magazine, and it's free - if you don't already get one, go to Kraft's website to subscribe, because there are tons of good recipes in each issue, which comes quarterly! This recipe is fun and kid-friendly. And yummy too!
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Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-ups

1 lb ground beef
4 slices bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 oz Velveeta, cubed
1 pkg pizza dough (13.8 oz)

Cook ground beef, bacon, and onion until browned, then drain. Add Velveeta, stir into meat until melted. Unroll pizza dough to a 15 x 8 rectangle on sprayed cookie sheet. Top dough evenly with meat mixture. Roll dough long-ways. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Slice roll into slices to serve.

Randomness

A few things ~

First, my friend Ashley got engaged over the weekend! And, she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, which I am so excited about. The wedding is being planned 2 years from now, because her fiance is going to Iraq for a year, but I can't wait to help with planning and such. Congratulations Ashley! Maybe now you will have something to blog about...

Secondly, I just found out that we are getting a Qdoba Mexican Grill here! I was very happy about that, since we used to go all the time in Michigan, and it has been a while since I had eaten there. Mmmmm, chicken nachos.... Also, Ashley gave me an invite that she got from her work to their VIP opening night for a free dinner. Oh, I can't wait!

Also, I found out today that What Works for Us has awarded me The Egel Nest Blog Award. I have proudly posted it in my sidebar. Thank you!

It has been a very busy week or so. I have been working a lot of hours, we had to take Ray's car in to the shop, lots of playdates and such... but all is good, I just haven't had much extra time to post lately.
Looking forward to Recipe Thursday tomorrow....

Matching PJ Pants

I am loving Emmy and my matching PJ's.

It's been kinda busy lately. I'll try to post an update soon!

I did want to say that my friend Kate has announced that Thursdays will now be "Recipe Thursdays" for anyone who wants to join in. I don't necessarily love cooking, but I do have to cook a lot, so I have a few yummy recipes, and I am always looking for new ideas for variety.
I am becoming so domestic, it is a bit scary.

Wordless Wednesday

P.S. Poor little Pooky has Roseola. The pink spots appeared this morning and his fever finally broke after 4 days. His pediatrician was right....

Happy Tuesday

Emmy drew this picture yesterday. She said that she was drawing robots. I asked her about the robot on the far left. She told me that it wasn't a robot; it is a picture of Daddy, and he is angry because the construction noise next door woke him up. Ha!

Not much is going on here - Pook has had a fever for the past 4 days and I ended up taking him to the doctor this morning. They said his throat was a bit red and his top and bottom gums are swollen from teething, but otherwise he was fine. They even did a strep test and poked his toe to check his blood count, and determined that it is viral. Poor Pooky!

Finally - conversation with Emmy today while we were driving back from the doctor's office:

Emmy: How much longer?
Me: We will be home in about 5 minutes.
Emmy: No... in twenty-teen minutes.
Me: No, it will just be a few minutes, we are almost there.
Emmy: No! Twenty-teen! You are driving me crazy!
Me: (laughing) I think that you are driving me crazy!
Emmy: (in a serious voice) No, I can't drive.

Happy Tuesday!

Pooky Age 10 Months

Pook is now 10 months old, and as always, I am shocked by how quickly time has gone by. It has been a busy couple of months for my little guy!
He is now walking. He is still a bit unsteady and falls a lot, but he can walk from one room to the next, or all the way down the hallway. This, of course, enables him to get into even more stuff. We recently had to clear off the picture frames and such from the end tables because he likes to knock them off. He also keeps trying to walk under the kitchen table and ends up clonking his head and cries.
He puts everything in his mouth. Some of his favorites are toilet paper, dryer lint, and shoes. Gross. Actually, he likes to pull all the toilet paper off the roll first before eating it. Fun times.
He is eating "real" food now in addition to his baby food. He will pretty much eat anything you put in front of him (shocking, since he enjoys eating dryer lint). He will gobble down Cheerios, toast, cooked carrots, green beans, pasta, and tacos. OK, just kidding about the tacos, but the kid loves to eat! He also has one tooth now - which took me by surprise since Emmy was toothless until 14 months.
My Pooky Bear is still a very happy baby. Unless I am changing his diaper. Or getting him dressed. Or eating in front of him and not sharing my food with him. Then he yells. Loudly.
Before I know it, his first birthday will be upon us....




Loving the swings











Such a handsome guy!

Wordless Wednesday

St. Jude Address Labels

I don't regularly give money to charity. I have never really been in a financial situation that I was able to give money away, despite the thousands of worthy causes needing financial support. I really do wish I could help others more, but at this point in my life, giving loads of money to charity is not really an option.
If you are like me, you have received cute address labels designed by the kids at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the mail over the years. If you are like me, you looked over them, thought that the labels were cute, maybe used a few on letters and bills going out, and didn't think much else about it. I realized that the address labels were a fund raising campaign for the hospital, but like I said, giving money was not exactly in my budget.
I had received an envelope of these address labels several weeks back, and the envelope got stuck in a pile of junk mail and forgotten about. I later found them again, and set them on the counter, where once again they were forgotten. Finally, I got around to opening the envelope of labels, and this time I actually read the letter from St. Jude inside.
The letter explained that the labels were from the kids at St. Jude, and they were hoping that I could help out financially by sending money. Nothing too surprising. However, this time I noticed one of the payment options was for giving just $10 to help.
That's it. $10. I typically spend more than that on lunch. And then I see my 2 healthy, happy babies and am struck with a feeling of gratefulness.
I have no idea what I would do if one of my children became ill. The kids at St. Jude are sick. Their families and friends have to deal with the prospect of their child dying and they have no control over the situation. My kids are running around my living room, hopping and singing, and there are lots of kids who are too sick to do that - and it suddenly hit me that I can easily give $10 to help St. Jude.
I know that my $10 isn't going very far, but if more people can give just $10 - well, that will add up. And I am sure that in the future I will give more than just $10. But every little bit helps, right?
After I mailed St. Jude my check, I went to their website to learn more, and I realized how much St. Jude does for kids with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. Since St. Jude opened in 1962, the hospital's research team has totally changed the way cancer is treated in children. Thanks to them and other advances in medicine, a child diagnosed with cancer, who at one time had only a 10% chance of survival, now has a 90% chance. Also, no child is turned away from St. Jude, even if he has no medical insurance. No one pays for treatment beyond what is covered by insurance, and those without insurance are never asked to pay.

Anyways, I know that this post got a little long, but it is something I feel strongly about. As a mommy with healthy kids, I want to help other families whose children are sick. You can easily donate to St. Jude on their website or the next time you get those cute stickers in the mail.

Have a good week everyone!

Teething

Baby Brown Eyes has finally started teething. I can just feel the tip of his first tooth that has popped out. Needless to say the last 2 days have been a bit rough. Poor little guy!

Bowling with Recyclables

Emmy's new favorite game to play is bowling, using a few empty plastic bottles from the recycling bin and a ball. She came up with the idea all by herself, and it is actually pretty fun - when she lets me have a turn!.
Good rainy day activity... ;) (even though it is not raining today)


Setting up the "pins".
















Going for a strike!











I love this kid!

Happy Wednesday! (maybe I'll go wordless next week...)

Labor Day Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend. My sister was here all last week from Florida, and my grandparents are also here. So, we did lots of visiting, lots of sitting around, lots of eating meals as a family and making idle conversation.
And I am still getting used to working all the time. My new manager role at work has me working 5 nights a week. I actually like being at work, but I have been getting home later than I would like and have not been sleeping well.
That's it. No cute pictures, no funny baby stories. Much too tired for that. But overall it was a nice weekend.
And it was a beautiful weekend! We actually had the windows open for a while this morning. The fresh air was awesome. Fall is coming - even though it was still 90 degrees this afternoon! I love fall, I love Halloween, and pumpkins, and being able to enjoy that cooler weather outside with my little ones.

What about you? What do you enjoy most about fall??