Crafty Tot Tuesday

Today we teach a tot how to drive a bobcat….

Nahh, just kidding – Mr. Eli did drive a bobcat but I am not going to begin to explain how to do it because I don’’t know myself and it looked pretty darn hard. We have, however, had some work done to our yard and we are very pleased…pictures soon to come.

Today the boys and I made 4th of July fans. Every year on the 4th, my family takes a little road trip to South Carolina to my Grandfathers Farm. We have a little reunion up there and eat a picnic under the huge oak trees. Well, this year, since I am pregnant, all I can think about is ‘how am I going to stay cool’? I hate that this is one of my biggest worries, hehe, but the heat makes me absolutely exhausted when I am pregnant and exhaustion with 2 little boys does not mix. So we are making fans for everyone on the 4th!! Yipppeee!!

What you will need:

• red, blue, and white cardstock or poster board
• star stickers (or paint pen since we didn’t have stickers)
• large popsicle sticks
• glue
• sissors

1st, if you use paint pens, let the tot color dots for stars, or any shapes they would like. Or let them place the star stickers on either paper.

2nd – cut strips of paper to make stripes on whatever color you would like.

 

sandwich 2 different colored papers together with a stick in the middle and glue, glue, glue.

They actually turned out pretty sturdy and they are great for these hot days.

12 Weeks (3 months) and Counting…

4 weeks ago we had what looked like a little bean, and look at this beautiful Freeman baby now!!!

Everything seems to be healthy, measurement are good, organs are looking wonderful so far. So cute – only a couple of inches long, but already a complete baby – 10 fingers and 10 toes, heart looks wonderful, his/her mouth was opening while we were looking, and he/she was just jumping around like crazy. I can’t feel anything yet, but it won’t be long.

Profile:

 

Hand and fingers: He/She turned sideways and we got a shot of the arm and fingers

 

Little toes, foot, and midsection:

Pregnancy brain has officially hit – I am very forgetful and very foggy. Caglewood trip this upcoming weekend! Busy week for me of planning and getting everything ready!!! So if you call and don’t get a call back, don’t fret – I will remember and will have the time next week =)

Off he goes….

And he is off!! On his first excursion without Mommy or Daddy for a longer period of time than just overnight.

Every time a grandchild has and will be entering kindergarten, Paul’s mother (Minna) takes the grandchild to Chattanooga for a weekend. This weekend is Elijah’s weekend!!! They will be staying at the Chattanoogan Hotel (with an indoor pool that Eli is ecstatic about), visiting the Aquarium, children’s museum,  a river boat, Rock City, and so much more.

There they go, Friday afternoon….

And he will not be back until Monday!!

He has been talking about it constantly for a week, and hasn’t slept well for 3 nights now. I thought I was going to miss him horribly, but since I have been so busy lately and since this weekend is pretty packed, I am so happy for him and happy he is finally getting some alone time on an excursion. Go Chattanooga!!!!

Freeventures…

The Freeman Four is slowly becoming the Freeman Five =) I have my next Dr.’s appointment tomorrow and will hopefully hear “everything is looking wonderful!” The boys are extremely excited and Noah is telling everyone about his new baby, every stranger we meet.

Paul has had a HUGE work load lately with his 2 techno jobs and we haven’t seen much of him. He had to work all of Memorial Day weekend because of some server failures so we were blessed to have him able to take the day off of work on Friday and have a much needed ‘family day’. We had free tickets to Stone Mountain so we took off!! Had a blast!! And we are still recovering =) Stone Mountain is such an amazing place to visit here in our backyard, they have so much for the kiddos – a GREAT, HUGE playground with picnic area, a lot of hiking, a big ball factory with slides and tunnels and guns, train ride, 4D theater, putt putt golf, tree fort climbing, petting zoo, laser show, and my goodness…so much more! We didn’t do it all, we have to go back to get it all in.

   

Train ride around the Mountain…

 

Mmmmm….icecream…

 

And look at what we saw as we were leaving!! Went across the entire road from one side of the lake to the other….a perfect rainbow.

Oh my boy who wanted his hair as long as a pirate. Changed his mind in one quick second and now it’s gone! He can’t stop talking about how cool it feels to feel the wind on his head…

And he also lost his SECOND tooth tonight!!!!

Our newest Family member….Turtle. He was saved out of the road today and hopefully we will let him go in the creek this weekend. I gave Noah many name choices, Myrtle, Franklin, Moe…and he said “ummmm…..TURTLE!”

Our neighbor Tommy came over just to play with him and ended up teaching our boys a great deal about turtles. He is one smart 12 year old and the boys adore him!

Crock Pot Lasagna Recipe

Ok, here you go ladies ~ Super Easy Crock Pot Lasagna for those of you that have asked!! This is great for those of you with big families, those that work, those that just don’t have much time during the day (like me), all you crazy, busy mamas!!

To start with, I am not a big ‘ingredient follower’ or ‘instruction follower’ ~ I was always a bit rebellious when it came to bosses or having people telling me what to do while growing up. And that rebellion has carried over into my cooking, gladly and sadly. Sometimes my food doesn’t come out as planned, but more often than not, it comes out absolutely delicious because I love to add an extra ingredient here and there.

So play with this recipe and make it your own!! I have a 5 quart crock pot – so add and subtract for different sized crock pots.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 to 2 lbs. of ground beef or turkey (I have done both, and ground beef adds so much more flavor and texture to the lasagna – you can also add a bit of ground sausage to add some ‘zing’)
• 16 oz. of mozzarella cheese (you may use less than this, depends on how much you like cheese)
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce – whatever flavor you like
• 1 box of lasagna noodles (Do NOT use the ‘no boil’ noodles, get regular noodles. I use the Healthy Harvest whole wheat noodles because they are healthier) You will not use the entire box.
• 1 24 oz. container of cottage cheese OR Ricotta cheese, whichever you prefer. They are both scrumptious!!!!!
• a bit of parmesan cheese
• a bit of oregano
• If you want to add vegetables, go for it!!!!! I want to try a bit of spinach next time I make it ~ but I haven’t been brave enough to slip it in there. I am afraid that my hubby will notice =)

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef/turkey with a few seasonings of your choice. I use worcestershire  and garlic. Do not brown meat completely. It will finish browning in crock pot and will be more tender if you don’t over cook. Drain.
2. start your layers and layer everything 2 times:

• put a layer of noodles on the bottom of crock pot. You will have to break noodles to fit.
• layer of meat (half  of what you cooked)
• layer of cottage cheese (half the container) or Ricotta
• Layer of sauce (half the jar)
• Layer of shredded mozzarella cheese
• sprinkle oregano and parmesan
• layer of noodles again
• layer of Meat again
• …….and so on – exactly the same.

Cook on High for 3 hours or Low for 4 to 5 hours.  Cooking time will vary depending on your crock pot. But when it starts to get a bit dark and crusty around the edges and the top is starting to brown, it is done!!! I have noticed that it is a bit watery when you first cut into it, but as it cools, it thickens. And left-overs are scrumptious.

Crafty Tot Tuesday ~ High Calorie Style

This past weekend, me, my mother, and my niece all attended a craft festival to sell some crafts. Well, while we were there we noticed a funnel cake maker on the row behind us. Mmmmm, Yummy! Of course I haven’t had a funnel cake in years and my pregnant mind was saying “I HAVE to have one before we leave here today” – well, the day got away from me and I wasn’t feeling too well stomach wise by the time we left. Never got my funnel cake =(

So this morning I went to open my e-mail and of course my  wonderful mother had sent me many homemade funnel cake recipes. “So, today we make funnel cakes” I said =)

What you need:

 

• flour
• baking soda
• baking powder
• sugar
• milk
• eggs
• salt
• honey
• plastic baggie
• vegetable or peanut oil
• powdered sugar
• and a toddler…or in this case I used a 5 year old wearing his GI Joe costume

Mix all ingredients together except for the bag and the oil! Pour mixture into a plastic baggie and close. Cut a small hole in one of the bottom corners and pour into hot grease (veg. or peanut oil) on the stove and let cook. I didn’t want to pour all of my oil into the pan, so I had to flip the cake like a pancake to cook both sides.

 

Let cake drain on paper towels and then top with honey (optional) and powdered sugar. And Voila!!!!!!!….

 

PURE YUMINESS!!!!!!! Of course, something has to be healthy so serve with some fresh fruit or yummy strawberries on top.  If anyone is interested in making this, let me know and I will send you the ingredient measurements.