Italian Sausage Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb. Italian Sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans Beef Broth
1 (14.5) can Italian Style stewed tomatoes
1 cup sliced carrots
1 can Great Northern Beans, undrained
2 cups zucchini, cubed
3 cups spinach, chopped
1/4 tsp ground blk pepper
1/4 tsp salt

In a stockpot, brown sausage with garlic. Remove any excess fat from pan. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, salt and pepper. Reduce heat, simmer 15 minutes. Stir in beans with liquid and zucchini. Cover and simmer until zucchini is tender (15-20 min). Remove from heat and add spinach. Cover until spinach leaves are cooked. Serve with small amount of mozzarella on top and a squeeze of lime.

Catching Up Part 2

looking back at the last few posts, I realized I never posted any of the kids starting the school year.

LET'S PLAY CATCH UP, SHALL WE???

There's A LOT to catch you up on, so this will take more than one post. I'll start with the most recent pics and happenings, and work my way back. Geez, it's been so long that I'm not even sure if I can remember how to upload a pic to the blog anymore, haha.

Apparently Blogger website has changed a bit since my full-time blogging days. I'm playing with it right now and trying to figure out all these updates! I HATE CHANGE! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!!....



.....still trying to figure this out.....



.....still trying....



....and trying....



Okay, after a few YEARS minutes of learning the new updates of the Blogger website, I finally figured out how to upload my pics!!

These pics are as recent as of tonight, right before bed Emily and I did some bow making. My lil fashion diva is still into craft/fashion design as ever before. She's now starting up her own bow making business. Contact me if you're interested in an order and I'll send it her way! Tonight she worked on her very first order...3 Breast Cancer Awareness Bows. They came out cute and full of girly glitter!!! Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month, by the way!!!!

 

Last night, she worked on this Halloween one. Not sure if you can see the spider in the middle of this one or not. Flash was on.

 

 

Oh, speaking of Halloween.....let me share this buy with you. I love finding a deal!!! I'm very excited with this new rug I purchased at Michael's. It was normally $14.99, I bought it on sale for $7.99!! SCORE!!!!

  We are sloooowly getting ready for Halloween over here. I know, I know....this is not NORMAL for our family. But we have been very busy, and there's always something going on!!! It never ends.

.

And since we are looking at my porch.... check out the old rockers. I chose to nix the red paint, it was looking old and sad. I'm not too sure what came over me though because I LOVE my red normally. One day I woke up and decided that these chairs wanted to be black. I am elated with the results. It pops now more than ever before. They also match my black shutters on the exterior of the house.

 

And since we are talking about the outside areas of our house, I'd like to introduce you to our nightly visitor. He is nameless at this time, but that will change soon I'm sure. He is only a baby and comes by almost every night to eat Ewok's leftovers. We watch him from the window. On the nights that Ewok doesn't feel like sharing, we will purposely leave out food bait just to get a glimpse of this lil guy. Isn't he cute??? Did I mention he's just a BABY!!!! Maybe he won't be so cute when he gets older but you know me and BABIES. He's adorable. And he's not afraid of us at all. He is as intrigued with us as we are with him. I do worry though, because his mama must surely be nearby.

But like I said...

 He is too cute NOT to feed!!!

 

 

I'll end with this one pic. Elizabeth, Emily, and a friend of Emily's, took their first sewing class on Monday. In the days leading up to it, I tried not to make a big deal about it because of course anything that mom thinks might be cool is completely lame in the eyes of a tween/teenager. As I hoped and prayed and crossed my fingers, I drove to pick them up from class to hear them yelling out how much they LOVED IT!!!! They each made their very own pillowcase and are completely addicted to sewing now! Which is sewwwww cool in my eyes! (Sorry, couldn't help myself, haha) They've slept on their pillows each night this week. On the way home from the class, they both admitted to me that they originally thought sewing was for old ladies (and me, apparently I'm OLD in their eyes) but now plan to start making their own clothes. We'll see how that goes.

 

Stay tuned for more updates ...

Matthew Starts Soccer

This boy LOVES soccer. He is a left-footed natural. Yesterday was his first day of soccer practice. He made me so proud.

Ben's Firework Freakout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsoPjSK6OXs

 

Happy 4th of July!

Megan Turns 5

Our lil Megan is the Big 5 now.



She'll start kindergarten come August. I put her in preschool but she missed so many days of it from being sick all the time that I pulled her out for a lil while to give her immune system a break. Yes....I like my kids to live in a bubble. The teacher wasn't very happy with me for doing so. But, guess what?.... I'M THE MOM!!!! HA! I am debating on putting her back in for the summer though; we'll see if I change my mind.  The kids got season passes to Raging Waters so we will definitely be spending our hot summer days between there and Nana's pool.

Elizabeth wanted to join band at school to play the flute; I assumed it was because her best friend wanted to as well. But, she's really taken to it and sounds pretty darn good at it too. So mom and dad surprised her last week at her band concert with her very own flute. She's happy she gets to return the rental one.

Emily has improved sooo much in school and the time it takes to get her homework done. It's been a relief for me! We still need to work on her weekly progress report comments that always come back to me saying: 'talking during class' or 'disrupting others'. What can I say.... THAT'S EMILY! Math and Science are great opportunities to catch up on girl gossip. All three older girls will be taking some horseback riding lessons over the next month or so as well as their cooking classes they seem to enjoy so much.

Brianna will be in high school in just a few short months. I'm scared to death. However, I do have to admit, it's pretty cool being a 'young' mom. Her and I were getting pedicures early this week and the lady doing her toes asked if I was her SISTER!!!! HA! Gave me a big head for the rest of the day. She is involved in a writing mentoring program that Papa found for her called WriteGirl. She comes home from those workshops excited and pumped up. I can't wait to watch her amazing talent for writing develop even further.

Matthew developed this intense love of reading pretty much overnight. He is addicted to a series called BIG NATE. I have to force him to put the book down at bedtime. I often sneak back into his room to find that he pulled the book out again the second I walked out. The relationship he shares with Megan is one that a mother dreams of. He is constantly looking out for her and she looks up to him and just adores every move he makes. He comes home from school and seeks her out. She waits all day long for him to get home. He is the absolute BEST big brother a girl could ask for. Those boys in kindergarten better standby. He ain't gonna put up with anyone messing with his little sis.

Benjamin is....well.... simply... BEN. The baby. My youngest child. Pure bliss. He puts a smile on my face when I am in the worst mood possible. The one who completed my baby carrying days. I am absolutely obsessed with him. The problem is...HE KNOWS IT!!!!

Oh.....I sold my first house!!!! And..... Sarah bought her first home! Can you guess who her ridiculously cool agent was?! Here she is on the day she signed her final loan documents. I'm so proud of her and all that she has accomplished in her life. All on her own. 

Time is flying by and I can't slow it down. This makes me sad. I don't want my babies to grow up.

Another One Bites The Dust

Guess who has pink eye now!
BEN, the latest victim.
Eye drop assembly line 4x a day now.