Swine Flu is AWESOME

In September the kids and I were ever so lucky as to get the H1N1 flu. Man oh man will that KNOCK ya down! Seasonal flu and Swine flu are so prevalent here that the Army has implemented measures to keep the spread of the creepy crawlies to a minimum by having a "Drive through flu clinic" No, I'm not kidding. I suppose I see the reasoning, and yet, you are asking people to roll down their windows and leave car doors open in the morning chill while you or the children in question have fever and what not, and are examined in the breeze for all to see, hacking up their lungs and vomitting. lol Goodness I wish I had taken a picture of the awesomeness that was some one's brainchild. haha. Little Soldier flagging you down and waving you through the tent poles and smiling at you all friendly, when all you want to do is mow the poor sucker down because you have 3 sick kids, are sick yourself, and haven't slept in days...lol Or maybe that's just my violent tendencies after no sleep and no break. Matt was lucky enough to escape our bout with the crud by being in the Field for training nearly the entire time, so I had to do it all on a hope and a prayer. Hey man, great diet even for pregnant ladies....ya just do't want to/ can not eat.....thus I lost 8lbs. wohoo! I need it to come back AFTER we have Aidan to assist in my rear end shrinkage! JK!

Thank heavens for take out, Tylenol, Disney channel, and online kids games or we might not have our sanity left after that!

pics from the ultrasound

Weiner weiner where are you?? Ah HA! THERE you are.

Weiner two

Yawning

Waving. AWWW yaya, I know most of you (esp those who haven't had kids yet) can't tell what all of it is, or pick out the face well but I can..lol

Aidan is definatly a boy!

Well for sure it's a boy! lol I got to see our sweet little Aidan at our 20 week ultrasound. He was so squirmy that the tech literally could NOT get the measurements she needed. She said I may have to go back for yet another if they Doctor doesn't like how bad the images all were. Hey...more chances to see our little man,..totally ok with me!
Matt had to go out to the Field Thursday morning and didn't get to go with me, I know he was really disappointed to not get to be there, but luckily I was able to hold the camera up...NEAR the screen, the filming was awful seeing as I was laying down trying to angle the camera at the screen without being able to see what I was filming, and had the tech pushing pretty hard to get any images of him at all at that point (an hour and fifteen minutes after she had started).
At one point you can hear the tech complaining about the fact that she couldn't get the images she wanted and I said "Because this is Matt's kid" lol. Matt doesn't sit still unless it's for football, perhaps if I had started talking about football his son would have sat still so we could have gotten a good shot or two. We got two images of his wobbly bits (ya no doubt that he's a HE lol) and one of his chest and face (rather shadowy but you can see his heart and the shadows of his eyes and mouth) and one where he was waving basically, super cute. On the video he was touching his face over and over. Although some of the fun of pregnancy can get a little old, feeling them move and seeing it NEVER does. I can't wait for him to get here! It seems so far off but we are now half way and time will fly! I'll have to post the pictures later, I'm too excited too wait since Matt just got to see it. hehe!

Orange ricotta pound cake and crock pot enchilada's recipes

Recently I realized I had allowed myself to get stuck in a cooking rut! I can't stand cooking the same thing over and over and over. I have a little routine of watching at least one or two shows on food network when I get bored and found a recipe from "Everyday Italian". Sometimes the flavors she puts together just don't sound right to me (I'm sure they are great) but that afternoon this recipe for Orange ricotta pound cake with strawberries just sounded amazing and rightly so! This recipe is WOW!!! There is little that can beat pumpkin bread or even come close to it for me but this......is really a contender. It was an instant hit with the entire family. I am thrilled I had the common sense to make two loaves because that 1st loaf was gone faster than I ever could have guessed. On the second loaf we tried heating it up just the tiniest bit and spreading a thin layer of Nutella (a hazelnut/chocolate spread, if you have never had it....WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!!! They sell it by the peanut butter and jellies) and I highly recommend it with a few strawberries on top of that too!

Orange Ricotta Pound Cake:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt ( it turned out just fine with regular salt since I didn't have kosher handy)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature, plus more to grease the baking pan
1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 orange, zested (omg don't skimp and use orange extract....the real thing is sooo much better!)
2 tablespoons Amaretto ( we used Disoronno liqueur, all the alcohol cooks out and the flavor was fantastic)
Powdered sugar, for dusting
1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered or 3 oranges, cut into supremes

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan with butter. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.
Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, ricotta, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the machine running, add the eggs 1 at a time. Add the vanilla, orange zest, and Amaretto until combined. Add the dry ingredients, a small amount at a time, until just incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Using a mesh sieve, dust the cooled cake with powdered sugar.
Meanwhile, place the strawberries (or orange supremes) in a small bowl with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Let sit until the juices have pooled around the strawberries.
To serve, slice the cake and serve with a spoonful of strawberries and their juices over the top of the cake.

It looks like a good bit of work but really isn't.

As far as easy goes there isn't anything much easier than the crock pot! I heart my crock pot!!! I'm trying to branch out beyond the diet of my teenage years of what Mom used to cook, and the most I remember is mostly chicken or pork chops, hey man a single mom doesn't always have the time to sit and cook a feast each night of the week when she's the sole bread winner of five heathens...lol

I have NEVER been an enchilada fan. I had them once as a child and all I got was squishy corn tortilla and a lot of sauce that just made me gag. I am attempting to change my mind about what really does taste good and this one was fun, easy and made a veritable mountain of food. Don't skimp and think you can eat this without the Spanish rice (duh just get the boxed stuff since we are going for easy here) because the rice really is necessary to get the right flavor, heck next time I'm adding re fried beans too. I am a sucker for re fried beans..lol

Crock Pot Enchilada's:

2 lg. can enchilada sauce (15 oz)

3-4 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)

2 cans cream of chicken soup (you can swap that out for cream of mushroom or celery)

1 sm. can sliced black olives (I skipped the olives,we aren't an olive family, we did chopped artichoke hearts because that's what I had handy)

2 dozen corn tortillas (cut into wedges)

1 chopped onion

1 pkg. sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (the sharp is sooo good in this)

Before I get into the supa easy directions.....take my word and use crock pot liners...OH HEAVENLY clean up! Anything to make your day easier!!

Directions:

Cook and shred your chicken breasts, shred and set aside, mix your chopped onion, soup, and olives (or artichokes) together and set aside. Pour your enchilada sauce into the bottom of your lined crock pot. Put all of your corn tortilla wedges in on top of that and try to submerge them all. Pour your soup mixture on top of that, then spread your shredded chicken on top of that, and your entire bag of cheese on top. Cover and let it cook on low ALL day. It is necessary that it cook on low all day so the sauce can come all the way up to the top covering everything, I didn't get mine started until after noon and by 7pm is still wasn't ready so I suggest starting earlier than my lazy tuschey! DO NOT try to pull your liner out with the food in it!! lol The bag could burst and you would have boiling hot cheesy mess on your feet and floor! Serve it over the rice. It was wonderful! If you try either of these out let me know what you think of them!

Hiccup!

OMG isn't he just too cute! He got a bad case of the hiccup's and was really adorable. The hiccup's were super loud before I turned on the camera, and as soon as I did he tried to stiffle them some. Man my family keeps me laughing. Isn't my hubby just too cute, and Michael's laugh in the back ground is so cute!

My Language of Love

You know someone really loves you when:

~ they listen to you whine about a migraine for two days and still get up to heat up the heat pack for your neck, for the 20th time, and cover you with the quilt.

~ they cook you food a 2nd time because you ralphed up dinner the 1st time.

~ they buy you flowers when you are on day 3 of camping, no shower, no make up and still has time to say......Gosh I love you!

~ they offer to wash your hair in the kitchen sink with the sprayer because it's the only thing that gives you relief, and it turns into a 20 min scalp massage! Sigh........

Silly little things, but they are the language of love. I am so blessed. I love you Matthew Morris!

Where there's a will there's a way!

A Gator fan won't be denied!!!!! Saturday was the 1st Gator football game of the season and my men were all every hyped up for the game! We had dr. pepper, football shaped soda's (I NEVER let them have caffeine......EVER, so this was a huge treat for them), mini English muffin pizza's, hot dogs, mini bags of chips, and candy corn pumpkins! We had been really excited about this, and the Gator's being ranked #1 in the nation we were CERTAIN that the game would be on tv.
Come game time......IT WASN'T ON!! Now this had everyone freaking out. Matt found the game online and was watching the very beginning on his tiny laptop screen with 4 other people attempting to hover over his shoulders when it dawned on Matt.........our tv has hook ups!!! He set to it, and 4 mins later.........SUCCESS!!!

Some one looks proud!

We couldn't get any sound on the tv and the laptops sound was WAY too quiet so he hooked up the computers speakers to the lap top and WOWZA.....my own McGuiver! Be still my little heart! lol

The the 1st touch down only a minute or so in and this........is what I caught on camera AFTER all the screaming of "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS woohooooooooo" lol

We had a great little family party, and of course the Gator's won....duh!


Unfortunately Matty had a fever most of the evening, sat quietly most of the time and then became a little photographer,


making Matt hold his froggie and pose with it..lol what a Ham.

mini pizza making

I love College football, I love Saturday night games, and I love having my boys all around me enjoying the same thing and not fighting with one another for at least a 3-4 hour stretch..lol I need more football games!! lol

Camping at Toledo Bend

I love fall! I love it, love it, love it! First of all, you can not comfortably camp here during the heat of summer! Heck, even during the fall unless you get lucky like we did. We had warm days that were a tad over cast, and nights that were ALMOST cool if you laid really still..haha. So over all the weather was lovely. The bugs however! HOLY BALLS BATMAN! We had bug spray and glade "off" fans but to no avail. My feet are thoroughly covered in mosquito bites. Bites or no bites there is nothing that can compare to the smell of a good camp fire, swimming in the murky lake, having no cell phones, no tv, walkie talkies and a beaver skull (lovingly nick named BOB by Michael..EWW EWEWEWEW!). We had some people pull in on our second night there who had a pop up trailer and spent about 3 hours setting up, hooking up a generator and even hanging outdoor lights, but their kids were stuck inside eating on the hot plate and watching dvds.....is that even considered camping? I am grateful that my little family had a blast, electronics free, bug infested and all the other fun camping has to offer.
A few of the awesome things we did while out there:
1: Put up out tents in the pitch black.
2: Foraged for fire wood in the dark, there wasn't enough and the next day had to drive
15 miles and pick up fire wood out of the tree line. Can we say REDNECK much?

3: Cooked some tin foil dinners and chowed down in the dark...ooohhhh the bliss that is
carrots, onions, red potatoes, and ground chuck! SIGH something this baby will actually
let me hold down.lol
4: Swimming in the NASTY murky lake! (WOW the MWR's photographer is AMAZING,
because this place looked AWESOME online, the actual camp site was TINY, and soooo
back woods, WOWZA, but no matter what the kids had a blast with Matt, and the cool water
felt great on swollen feet!

5: listened to fish jump in the water all night, out tents were right on the water, it was rather
nice.
6: Matthew attempted to complete a "flying squirrel" off the see-saw and didn't quiet stick
the landing, busted open his chin and got a wicked bruise. He blamed his flying leap off
on Cody skyrocketing him...lol I agree.

7: Got annoyed that our camping neighbors had a mini schnauzer puppy that was a non
stop yipper! I am sooooooooo glad we have a dog that is almost 100% silent! She barked
in excitement 2x the entire time we were out there, despite all the people, all the dogs and
so on! YAY cupcake!

I have to say, one of my favorite moments of the entire trip was the sense of humor my family has! We bought walkie talkies for the kids to play with and so on. Matt helped them pick call signs. Matt was Apache Red Five Delta. Michael was Comando (seeing as he doesn't ever wear underoo's unless forced), Cody was HULK, and Matty was Lightening McQueen. Matty like running over to the play ground equipment (within eye sight) with a walkie talkie clipped to his shorts so we didn't have to yell. We would do a check in with him and he would lift his leg funny and try talking to his thigh as though it wasn't necessary to hold down the button, we got a real giggle out of that. Cody however had me almost falling out of my camp chair when over the walkie we hear...."Apache Redneck Delta....come in...over" Matt's face was classic! "Did you just call me Apache Redneck??" "Ya that's your call sign right?" Sigh....that and Matty would sit in his chair saying "Roger.....roger that" over and over and over to everything the boys said on the walkies. Ah fun times!

It's a BOY!........again! HAHA

And then the results

The other afternoon I was whining to my little sister Kristy about how we were going to have to wait weeks to find out what we were having and she asked me why I hadn't tried these new gender tests. I googled it and evidently it's been featured on shows like Good Morning America and so on. It's 90% accurate in lab tests and 82% with human error. You pee in a cup and basically it reads hormone levels and so on and tada. We took two to see how accurate it was. So far we are going to assume that the results are correct and that we are now expecting my 4th, Matt's 1st son! lol The kids took it well even though they have really had their fingers crossed for a sister. Now that they have an idea that it's most likely a boy they are more excited to help up try out name combinations and pick out things for the room. We aren't going to be painting the room, or shopping a lot for baby until we get the ultrasound to confirm the results. As soon as we have a name set in stone we will let everyone know, for now it's still something we are working on but having fun with it! We have been a tiny bit disappointed that we aren't having a girl but as you can see, as soon as we found out it was a boy Daddy had to run to the store and buy cute little clothes,.....well, ok , fine, we both did!

I LOVE this little dinosaur sleeper Matt bought, it's so cute!

Matt and I are having a good laugh over God's sense of humor. He must really like this joke seeing as he keeps playing it year after year. LOL!

1st day of school and general catch up

Wow! Has it really been over a month since I last posted?? I'm usually so much more narcissistic and chatty than that aren't I! Ha Ha!

A few fun things have happened since early August. 1st and most important, as you can see, is the 1st day of school for my little Matty! AWWWW! KILL ME! Talk about painful for me ! LOL . I know I have already had the fun of sending the other two off to their very 1st day of school before, but neither of them really hurt quite like this. Michael didn't do pre-k, he went straight to kindergarten, Cody did pre-k but was so much of a big tough guy he was like "BYE SUCKA!!!!!" (obviously not verbatim, but this was his approximate attitude so to speak), at his age he was just so independent and more mature than his 4 years old. Matty however, sigh, he is ever so happily, a Momma's boy!! YAY. He has been uber excited to start school and ride his bus. His 1st day of school he was up and going, going, going by 5:30 am and ready to go out the door by 6:10 lol, I had to watch that front door like a hawk because he was trying to sneak off to the bus stop over and over, he literally had to forced to eat breakfast! I was fine walking him to the bus but about the time I saw the bus rounding the corner I was about to loose it, I had irrational visions of grabbing my child and running full tilt boogey for the safety of my house and holding him hostage with nick jr shows and fishey crackers...lol ok I said it was a THOUGHT...lol I did let him get on the bus. Sigh. He was precious, just waving and waving and saying "byyyyyyyyyyyeeeee Mom!!" just oozing enthusiasm. I wish I had the car that morning so I could have driven him and walked him to his class room but I know how independent he wants to be. I was on pins and needles waiting ALL day for that bus to come back and bring me my baby though, phew, relief! He had a blast and was so proud of himself for going all alone! Michael and Cody also had their 1st day of school as well, and at first they loved having uniforms for school, but by now, week 3, not so much..haha. I do really like their teachers so far, they each seem to have a teacher tailored just for them so I really look forward to their growth this year.

Other than the 1st day of school, we have begun the trek to the halfway point between Fort Polk and Houston, every other weekend to meet at the drop off point for weekends with Dad. About and hour and a half to two hours each way. While Matt and I are enjoying our weekends free, it's hard for me to know they are 4 hours away, where I can't just pop over if there's an emergency, but, I have to trust in their Dad's ability to care for them, this takes A LOT of prayer..lol.

On one of the weekends we had with the kids we took them to a grassy area not to far behind our housing to play football and have a mini picnic of sorts. Matt played football with the boys and chased the dog around, we lay in the sun got attacked by bugs but hey, we just had a blast. Our boxer Cupcake makes my day so fun, this dog cracks me up! she has a grill like a bull dog and sits with her bottom teeth jutting forward all the time, she often sticks the tip of her tongue out and leaves it there as well..lol she looks a tad special ed but we just love her!

Other than all that, we have been to or thrown bbq's most weekends with work buddies and that's been fun. What was fun for Matt was his CLS class (Combat life Saver). They have to administer IV's to one another, now that should be the new Army recruiting slogan...ARMY.....be a guinea pig! HAHA. Matt stuck his partner rather quickly, his partner got him quickly......after letting him bleed a bit..hahaha just watch the video, you can hear Matt in the back ground saying "you're making a mess George" lol.

As for me, I spend my day's cleaning house, running errands, napping (yay perk of pregnancy), annoying my friends on facebook, and being the Treasurer of our FRG (family readiness group). It's so nice getting to know some of the other wives, getting involved and helping plan fund raisers and so on. It's really very fun when it comes down to it. YAY. More of that to come soon. On the baby front there should be some more news tomorrow...YAY...we know what we are having!!!.................... CLIFF HANGER!!!!!! mmmwwwhahahahahahhahaha....ok ok all you facebooker's are cheaters..lol.