Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday!

Today, I'm thankful for my pretty-much potty trained little boy.  When we first started with potty training, we told him how exciting it would be, but what we didn't think of was all of the times we would have to pull over because he had to go, how at the drop of a hat, we run him inside the house like ninjas so he doesn't have an accident.....you know....all of that fun stuff.  Nevertheless, I'm thankful that he finally got it.

Source

I'll be on vacation next week, so I'll see you soon!

Question of the Day:
What are you thankful for today?

Until next time!
~Anne Marie

You Know You're Italian When......

1.  You talk with your hands.

2.  The red stuff you put on pasta is gravy, not sauce.

3.  There's a box of Torrone's at every holiday meal.....but yet no one ever eats them.

4.  Italian Wedding soup and crusteans are the way you start dinner at your grandmom's house.

5.  You hug and kiss just about everyone you meet....what, that's weird?

6.  You were as tall as your grandmom (and in my case, my aunt) by the time you were 6. (Sorry grandmom and Aunt Nette!)

7.  You've heard stories from your great uncle about the pretzel man, the milk man and how he received oranges for Christmas.  (Uncle Joe always reminds me how grateful he was to have received that orange....)

You eat a meal with "gravy" at least one night a week.  This week, we had eggplant parmesan.

I used three good-sized eggplants, pealed, cut and breaded them.  After they are breaded, put them in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, flipping them once halfway through.

After they are cooked, assemble the eggplant like you would if you were making chicken parmesan - gravy, eggplant, ricotta cheese (in this case, I used fat free cottage cheese), more gravy and shredded cheese.  Bake for an additional 30 minutes and enjoy!

I don't make this too often, but whenever I do, I'm reminded of how much the hubby loves this stuff.  What a great way to get some vegetables into our diets!

Question of the Day:
Are you a fan of eggplant?

Until next time!
~Anne Marie

Weekend Recap

Happy rainy Monday!  As soon as I left the house this morning, it started pouring.  It's always an experience getting to work when it's raining!

Yesterday my brother and his family treated us to the Reading Phillies game.  It was John's first time at a baseball game and he was super excited.   My brother got us awesome seats in the front row, and the players and mascots came over to all of the kids to sign autographs and give high fives.  John really wanted top meet The Screwball and when he finally came over, John was over the moon.

After giving him high fives, he proceeded to tell The Screwball how he was going "pee pee in the potty."  It was epic.

Despite the heat and lack of a nap for all 3 kids, they were awesome.  John wanted to be near my brother at all times.  It was great for them to spend some time together.

It's really great to see my niece, nephew and son get along so well.  Now that my niece is older, she is able to keep up with John and my nephew.  I was always close with my cousins growing up and I hope that they continue to get closer as they get older.

Since we don't have too many family shots, we jumped on the opportunity to take one.

We all had such a great time, and John was still talking about it this morning.  In fact, they had a giveaway at the game - all of the kids got superhero capes - and John insisted on wearing his to the babysitter's house.  It was really cute!

Question of the Day:

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Until next time!

~Anne Marie

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday!

The older John gets, the more his personality begins to shine through, and it's amazing to watch.  He's breaking into his creativity and exploring the world in a new way.  Of course along with this comes a little attitude, but I'm taking it all in stride.  The other day we were playing with play doh and he told me he wanted to make a "fider" (translation "spider").  

This is what he came up with....

See those white things?  John was adamant that the "fider" have teeth.  I personally think his spider looks more like Bob Marley than a spider, but maybe that's just me.

Today, I'm thankful for the little boy he is growing into.  He's growing up so quickly and it's times like these that make me want to hold him tight and never let him go.

Question of the Day:

What are you thankful for today?

Until next time!

~Anne Marie

Venturing Into the World of Kale Chips

Happy Wednesday!

I've been seeing kale chips all over the blog for the last year or so, but I've been reluctant to try them because, well, they didn't seem very appetizing.  I've been reading up on all of the benefits on kale and was pretty impressed.  It seems like a great superfood and over the weekend, I bit the bullet and finally tried making kale chips.

First, get a bunch of kale and remove the stems.  Wash and thoroughly dry them.  Most people use a salad spinner, but since I gave mine away, I used paper towels to get them dry.  This wasn't as effective as a salad spinner, but it did a pretty decent job.

I put some olive oil and salt on them and baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

I secretly wanted to try this recipe specifically for the little guy.  He loves anything remotely crunchy and I thought this would be an awesome way for him to get some vegetables into his diet.  As you can see below, he couldn't wait to get his hands on them!

I really liked the crunch of the kale chips and really, they weren't so bad afterall.  I think they have been really hyped up in the blog world, though, so I expected something more than what I came up with.  So how did John like them?

All smiles......that is until he got his hand on a soggy one.  Oops! We ate almost the entire batch, so I'd say this was a success!

Question of the Day:
Have you ever tried kale chips?  Did you like them?

Until next time!
~Anne Marie

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend?  Mine was awesome!  Somehow we have on our hands an almost 100% potty trained little boy.  He started telling the babysitter on Wednesday when he had to use the bathroom and hehasn't turned back.  Right now he's only in diapers during nap time and bed time.  We couldn't be happier for him!

On Saturdays I usually visit my mom while the hubby goes to work but this weekend she wasn't feeling too hot.  I was wracking my brain trying to figure out something to do with him - it was sweltering outside so that was out.  I dug through my DVDs and found Finding Nemo.  We went to the grocery store and picked up a "special" dinner - he wanted chicken fingers with sweet potato fries and I opted for a spicy California roll.

After we ate dinner, I popped some popcorn and we snuggled under a blanket.  John was so excited to be watching a "real" movie for the first time.

About halfway through the movie and after eating one kernel of popcorn, he asked me for ice cream.  I had a Skinny Cow cup in the freezer, and so I put his spoon in it and brought it downstairs for him to eat.  When I pulled the spoon out, this is what I saw....

I don't know whether it was the heat or just being tired, but I couldn't stop laughing because it looks like the ice cream has a face.

Yesterday we pretty much did some house stuff and put John in his pool.

All in all it was a pretty fabulous weekend!

Question of the Day:
What was the highlight of your weekend?

Until next time!
~Anne Marie

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday!

Boy oh boy do I love short work weeks!

I don't typically go into religion on the blog, but today, I'm going there.  You see, I'm learning that I'm a complete control freak and I think I've gotten worse since John was born.  The thing is, with kids, you can't have total control.  I can't control when he gets sick, I can't control if someone is mean to him, I can't control how he's going to behave on any given day.  What I can do, though is let it go and give it over to God.  Every single time I've given something over to God, He takes care of it.  

I remember my single days when I would look for people to date.  None of those people that I sought out worked out for me.  Then, one day, I said to God "you know what?  I'm completely done trying to control this.  Whatever happens, happens.  If it's in your plan for me to get married, then it'll happen."  A few months later, guess who I met?  Yup, the hubby.  It's funny because looking back on it, I remember meeting him and thinking how happy I was being single and how I didn't really want to start a relationship at that moment.  It's ironic how things work out.

There's been a situation going on in my life with John and his daycare situation that has been driving me nuts since January.  About a week or so ago, I had another one of those conversations with God where I told Him that I was done and whatever was supposed to happen would happen.  Literally two days later, guess what?  The situation was resolved.  You know, I wish I wouldn't hold onto things for so long before I give them over.  My anxiety and worries would be much less and I think I'd be much more peaceful.

So today, I'm thankful for God's gentle reminders that He's the one in control, not me.

Source

Question of the Day:

What are you thankful for today?

Until next time!

~Anne Marie