Y3W: Driving to Delaware

Soooo excited! We're driving to Delaware tonight to visit my best friend and sorority sister from college, her husband, and my Godson to celebrate his 2nd birthday! Due to our crazy schedules and my fun pregnancy, we haven't seen each other since last September so I can't wait to reconnect!

We truly are sisters and have been through almost everything together - college, 1st jobs, 2nd jobs, marriage, babies and everything in between. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful friend in my life!

Here's a look at us through the years:

We'll have to get a picture together this weekend to add to the collection!! Cheers to 10 years of friendship!

What are your three words this week? Link up!

Lasagna Rolls - What's Cookin'

This week I wanted to try my hand at something Italian! I found the  the lasagna roll concept and thought I'd give it a shot!

Ingredients:

1lb Ground beef/italian sausage/meatless
9-12 strips of lasagna
15oz of part skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon or oregano
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
2 cups of mozzarella cheese
1 Cute little helper

 1 Hungry toddler and a curious pooch

First, I got a large pot of water boiling and placed about 10 strips of lasagna in the water. Once cooked, I strained the pasta and put it off to the side. I also browned the ground beef  and added it to the spaghetti sauce (obviously, you can skip this step if you would like a vegetarian option.) Once the sauce was together, I filled the bottowm of a large casserole dish with a layer of sauce.

Next, I made the filling by mixing together the ricotta cheese, milk, egg, parmesan cheese, oregano, and garlic powder. Here's the filling:

Then, I layed the pasta out, patted it with a paper towel and spread about two tablespoons of the filling onto the pasta.

I rolled up the pasta and placed it into the casserole dish.

I poured the rest of the spaghetti sauce over the pasta, covered with mozzarella cheese and placed it into a 375 degrees F oven for 30 minutes.

Here's what came out of the oven.... looks soooo good!

Served up with some garlic toast:

This recipe was both easy and delicious! I meant to roll up some fresh spinach into the pasta, but failed to remember that at the store, so you should definetly try it with spinach. I also wanted to use whole grain pasta, but the store did not have whole grain lasagna in stock!

Comments, suggestions? I'd love to hear them!

Wordless{ish} Wednesday

It's A Girl - some of the scariest words that have ever been said to me! Why? Because I knew I was bringing my daughter into a world where she would feel pressured to act, look, and think they way society tells her to and because I would constantly need to reinforce her fragile self-esteem and because magazines are now showcasing 10 year old girls like this:

It's an uphill battle when these are the images that are celebrated!

What We're Into...Right Now!

It seems as though my family's interests change with the season, so I thought I'd document what we're into...right now!

Me:

Right now, I feel like I am into soo many things! Anyone who's had a baby can probably tell you that there is a disconnect between you and the world around you for at least 2-3 months once your bundle of joy arrives. I think I am finally starting to reconnect so as far as things to do I've been into getting back in touch with my friends, socially, and family activities!

Here's what I'm reading:



I cannot put this book down and I cannot wait until the movie comes out!

 Here's what I'm watching:

This season of True Blood is soooo good!

Here's what I'm snacking on:

Sooo good and only 190 calories... sometimes, I put a little reduced fat peanut butter on top for some extra protein.



Alex:

Alex fills his free time with fishing, a current obsession, and strategizing for his Fantasy Football League - there are spreadsheets and practice drafts involved... it's pretty crazy!

What he's reading (Online):

What he's watching (when I hand over the remote):

Am I sensing a pattern here??

Vincent:

Vincent is very active! He's really into role playing right now. Alex and I always have to be characters from Spider-man or Transformers while Vincent is always the hero...either Spider-man or Optimus Prime. Audrey and our dog, Bug, usually get cast as a character as well!

What he's reading:

Vincent really likes any book that you read to him, but his current favorites are:

He know's all of the dinosaurs and I can recite this book from beginning to end from memory!

Vincent loves Thomas and this book is really interactive so he can help drive the train!



What he's watching:

A remake of an old favorite, my husband showed this to Vincent and voila, new obsession - I guess I should've put this under my husband's interests as well! 

Same as Thundercats, Vincent and Alex both love this show - sooo glad I also have a daughter!

What he's snacking on:

OK, I'll admit it, I like them too!

Audrey:

Audrey is just a couple weeks shy of 4 months old, so right now she is working on rolling over in both directions, she has recently discovered her hands and feet and she is putting everything in her mouth!

What She's Reading:.

I love reading her simple books that have beautiful and colorful pictures!

What she's playing with: 

She loves hanging out in the exersaucer with all of the bright and cheery colors!

To aid her in rolling over, she spends lots of time on her back or belly on this mat. There is also a star that lights up and plays music that is mesmorizing!

So, we've all got our own interests going on at the present moment and I'm sure they will change by this time next month, but for now, this is what we're in to!

A Day at the Filipino Festival

Yesterday, I attended this year's Filipino Festival with my family. It's the 6th year that this festival has taken place and, despite a few rain showers, I think it's been the best festival to date! You can read more about the history of the festival here. There were tons of neat vendors selling t-shirts, jewelry, handbags, and dresses. The food was delicious! The beer was cold! The children's activities were awesome! And the performances were outstanding!

Here are some pictures from the day:


 
When the kids and I got to the festival (after naptime) we met up with my husband who was finishing up his shift at the beer truck. Usually, Alex and his brother work there together, but his brother was reassigned to the food tent.

  

His brother was a little disappointed since, for obvious reasons, the beer truck is the best volunteer spot, but he still served up the food with a smile.

My father-in-law performed a stick fighting demostration.

But, before the performance could start, he practiced some moves with Vincent (notice the wolf t-shirt, I think it gave him special Ninja powers)



After his shift, Alex brought over some beer...

...and we watched some of the performances.

Then, we finally got to eat!

After we filled our bellies, we headed over to the children's area.

Audrey hung out with daddy...

And Vincent went up...



...and down this giant slide about 50 times!

A good day was had by all!