Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Blackberry (well, any berry) Cobbler


The weekend before we left for Germany, Kevin, Rosalie, and I went for a walk. On our walk we came across an empty Italian home that had blackberry bushes growing wild out through the fence. We decided to pick some. We ended up picking A LOT lol. We knew we would never eat them in one day, so we decided to freeze them and I would make something yummy when we got back from Germany. I must say this Cobbler was ohhh soooo yummy. Kevin loved the cobbler part, but he decided he doesn't like the grittiness of blackberries. I'm going to try it again with a different berry, preferably blue. I have no doubt in my mind that this will taste delicious with any type of berry or fruit!

Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients:
1/2c butter + 1/4c butter
1 1/2 c self rising flour. I DID NOT have this, so I substituted with 1 1/2c all purpose + 1/4 teas salt + 2 1/4teas baking powder = perfect.
1/3c milk
1 c water
2 tbls sugar
4 cups of blackberries (cleaned)
cinnamon

  • Melt 1/4c butter and pour into a baking pan. (i used a large corningware dish and it worked out perfectly. Unfortunately after the cobbler was all gone and i was washing it, I accidentally dropped it and broke it. danggggggg. Now what I am going to use for my cobbler?!??!?!) You aren't going to want a very large pan, but something some what deep.
  • Set the buttery dish aside.
  • Place flour (or flour combination as I had to make) in a bowl. Cut 1/2c butter in until fine crumbs. It is much easier to cut the butter in when it is softened. (don't you dare soften it with a the microwave! Let it soften naturally!!!)
  • Add 1/3 c of milk
  • In a small saucepan heat 2 tbls sugar and 1 c of water until sugar melts.
  • Split your dough mixture in half. Lay half of it onto the butter pan and work it out til it touches the sides.
  • Spread berries onto dough.
  • Sprinkle berries with some cinnamon. (However much you like!)
  • Place the other half dough on top of berries and cinnamon. Work it until it touches the sides. Be very careful not to smash your berries!
  • Sprinkle top with cinnamon.
  • Pour water and sugar mixture over the top. I know what you're thinking OMG this is a mess! It's going to look like a water logged mess, but trust me, it will bake beautifully!!!
  • Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
  • Remove and sprinkle with sugar and return to oven for 15 more minutes or until nice and golden brown!
  • Serve warm with icecream and or cool whip! When eating it after it has set, pop it in the microwave for about 15 secs.. PERFECT!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Family Photoshoot.. Warning Picture Overload.

On the day before the 4th of July I had to go to the base to deliver bows. On my way home I spotted this perfect little spot down a lil farming road to take some pictures. I ran home and snagged up Kevin and Rosalie and we went and had some fun. I loved how they turned out and I even ordered a bunch of prints to make a wall collage in our room. These aren't the family pictures we had done this past weekend, these were just Kevin and I playing around the with the camera. I'm just now getting around to uploading them onto blogger!
























Sesame Street Live

I have so many different things to catch up on.. I'm really trying! I've posted more this week than I did all last month! lol! Kevin's been working ridiculous hours lately and Rosalie and I hardly ever see him. They were suppose to be on 12 hour shifts all last week and it kind of bummed me out because Sesame Street Live was coming to the base and we wouldn't be able to make any of the shows. If Kevin would work a normal shift, we would be able to catch the last one on Thursday. Kevin came home Wednesday night and announced that he would be working until 4 on Thursday instead of 6!

We got up early so we could take Kevin to work. We left for the base around 2 because i had a PILE of errands to run. After I got all of my errands done I went across town to another part of the base and picked up Subway for dinner and then went back to Kevin's shop. Kevin changed at work, we ate, and then headed to the show!

We made the mistake and got there 20 minutes early. That was 20 minutes of trying to keep Rosalie sitting in one spot. Not exactly easy. lol.

When the show started her face LIT up like a Christmas tree when she saw Elmo. For the first half she kind of just sat there and watched, mesmerized. Finally she got up and started dancing and having a good ole time!

I'm so grateful for the things the USO does for military families!











Monday, August 1, 2011

Weightloss

Since having Rosalie I have lost 60+ lbs. (Almost 65lbs to be exact) Last summer and fall I was doing great with my weightloss.. then around last Christmas I put some of the weight back on. I decided for my New Years Resolution I wanted to lose 20lbs during the deployment, which I did! That brought me to where I'm at now. Since Kevin has been back I have yo-yo'ed the same 3-4 lbs. Last week I got back on the wagon and I'm back to my -65lbs. Kevin and I were talking in the car just the other day how after I had Rosalie I told myself if I lost 50 lbs I would be happy with myself. 50 lbs later I wasn't happy. I started putting some of it back on. I told myself that if I lost the 20 lbs during the deployment I would be happy with myself. 20 lbs later, I still wasn't happy. I'm back to my pre pregnancy weight, but I'm shooting for my high school weight. I keep telling myself that if I can manage to get down another 10-15lbs I would be happy. I guess I won't know until I reach that goal if I truly will ever be happy with myself. I guess I just don't see the results. Sure I've had to buy new clothes 3 times now, but I just don't my hard work paying off...

until now.

I compared our family pictures from last year to this year.. and yeah, I guess i do see a difference!

Fam[ily]

I know I've been the world's worst blogger lately lol. We've been terribly busy. We had family pictures yesterday with PumpkinCharm Photography. I got a sneak peek this morning and I love them so far! I just wanted to share!











Saturday, July 23, 2011

Rosalie Maggie.. Rounding the 21 Month Mark


It occurred to me this morning that the reason this blog was originally created was for Rosalie updates and here it has been months since I've blogged her growing status!

Weight: She has plateaued around 28lbs, thank goodness. Her doctor was concerned because since she was born, her weight hasn't slowed, which has nothing to do with her eating because she's a TERRIBLE eater. He said he wanted to see her back when she turned 2 to make sure her weight was starting to plateau. She's been hanging around 28lbs since her 18 month check up! Woot! She's actually starting to look like she's thinning out since she's getting so tall and her weight's staying the same!

Height: 33".. yeah, she's tall lol.

Teeth: Since she got her first 4 molars in, we haven't gotten any teeth since. She's still at 16. We think she's trying to get her 2 year molars in because this past week was pretty rough with all of Rosalie's usually teething symptoms: no sleep, nonstop explosive pooping, chewing, biting, whining, ect.

Words: Rosalie's talking isn't at where I'd like it to be. She has developed a language of her own (Scary, I know) and she knows what she's saying, but we unfortunately don't lol. She talks A LOT, but we just don't know what she's talking about. She does say... Dad, Mom, Mama, Papa, Nana, Pappap, Hi, Baby, What's That (although it sounds like "Wass that), Wow (Everything is OH WOW), Thank you in Chinese, Yeah, Dora, Sass (We think she picked that up because I'm always telling her she's sassy lol).. That's really about the extent of the words she uses on a daily basis. We're really working with her, but she won't repeat. She's so stubborn. I truly believe she could talk more if she wanted to, but everything is always on her terms.

Sleeping...
Since we transitioned to the toddler bed it has been pure HEAVEN! (Except for this past week!) Rosalie goes to bed around 7:30 (Well, always 7:30 on the dot..but there have been times she doesn't go up til 8, like this week because Kevin has been on 12s and doesn't get home from work til 6:3o). She gets up around 5:30 and gets a fresh diaper and will go back to bed til 6. Some mornings I have gotten lucky enough that she'll sleep straight til 6 or 7. I've haven't known this kind of sleeping since she was a newborn! She LOVES her big girl bed!



Behavior...
Rosalie's behavior is finally getting better. She's out of the destructive stage (THANK GOODNESS!) She will stop doing something if she gets yelled at (Although she still uses her selective hearing sometimes lol... but what kid doesn't). She now knows right from wrong. If she gets busted doing something she shouldn't be doing, she covers her eyes and just grins this big ole grin lol. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Learning and Playing
She loves peek-a-boo still and learning her body parts. She knows her tongue and nose and we're working on hands right now. Her new favorite game is throwing food up for Kevin to catch it in his mouth lol. She loves to color, do puzzles, and READ READ READ. Her nose is constantly in a book. She has books upstairs and downstairs. She loves getting books and getting in her bed and reading. She would spend all day outside if we let her. She love being in the pool or sandbox or even just running around the back yard. She loves going for rides in her car, but the weather has been absolutely crappy lately so we haven't gotten much time outside. All it has done here the past few weeks is RAIN.

Mealtime..
Is a nightmare. Rosalie is the world's worst eater. She is EXTREMELY picky and it's so hard to get her to try new things. She only has a few cereals that she'll eat and the only breakfast foods that she will eat are toast or pancakes. Those are the only 2 forms of bread that we can get her to eat! She will NOT eat meat. at all. period. We've tried and tried and have given up. She even boycotts hotdogs now. She eats chicken and that's it. She'll eat every form of chicken, but no other meats. Scratch that. She will eat lunch meat. She'll eat ham and turkey lunch meat, but will not eat real ham or turkey lol. She's a big cheese eater, so we do a lot of grilled cheeses in this house. She likes every form of potatoes. She likes strawberries, blueberries, and grapes, but will not even look at a banana. The only veggie she'll eat is green beans. We've just got her to start eating pasta, The only way she'll eat it is if it's lightly sauced. My dad suggested just giving her butter noodles and seeing how she likes it.. I may have to try that. She doesn't eat junk food.. she's not a chocolate eater or a candy eater.

Potty Training..
Kevin and I decided we're not going to full blown try potty training until after our 2 vacations in August, but I do believe Rosalie is ready. The past 2 days she has pooped in the potty!

Before we know it, Birthday Number Two will be right around the corner!!!