Quick Update!

Just wanted to let everyone know we came out of the hurricane with hardly a scratch. A few tree limbs in the yard, and lost power for maybe an hour in the middle of the night. We're feeling very blessed and grateful for everyone's prayers! 

Friends of ours didn't fare quite as well: flooded homes and extended loss of power. Please pray for them and everyone else affected by this storm. I know there were some deaths and injuries as a result, so their families are in my prayers in a special way.

On a very good note... Gemma pretty much turned into a walker this past weekend! I'll post a video soon :)

Anticipating Irene

Just figured I'd write a little posty-post on ye olde bloggy-blog before our power takes a hiatus. 

Being from upstate New York, I've lived through my fair share of storms. Mostly blizzards, but a few crazy torndao-ish "microbursts" as they call them, as well as ice storms and thunderstorms. I lived through a few tornado warnings during my years in Ohio. And just a few days ago, I lived through an earthquake! (A feat which I also conquered while I was over in Kenya).

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I'm pretty storm-weathered, if you will. However, I've never experienced a real hurricane before. Sometimes we'd get some pretty heavy rainstorms up in Syracuse, the leftovers of the hurricanes those down here had experienced. But now I'm just a few hours away from riding out my first real hurricane. 

Here's the thing. I'm pretty scared!! When I listed all those storms I'd handled before, it wasn't to brag and say "I'm tough, bring it on!" I was just trying to comfort myself a little bit I think! I'm kind of like a housepet when bad weather comes. I get all quiet and tense for days beforehand, the anxiety building more intensely as the storm moves ever closer. And when it hits us, you better believe I will be curled up in the safest spot in our house, saying Hail Marys and drinking Gin & Tonics (medicinal purposes only, people, for my nerves) until it's all over. 

The worst part is, even though this is our first hurricane, we decided to stay and ride it out, rather than evacuate. It's too late now to leave, since Irene will be here soon. We tried to get the opinions of all the locals and SO MANY of our friends here were all "Meh, it's no big deallll, you'll be fiiiiiine!" Come to find out, about half of these people ended up evacuating themselves, leaving us newbies here to fend for ourselves!! 

But, in all seriousness. We should be fine. Our immediate neighbors all decided to stay as well and told us they have our backs. I think about how deeply terrified the disciples in the boat were during the storm, and the moment they cried out to Jesus for help, he stood, commanded the sea, and all was calm. We're definitely not alone during this time. Even just writing this now bring so much comfort to my heart.

Anyway, here's a before/after of the dock in our backyard:

What our dock normally looks like.

The dock as of 11am.

The dock as of 5pm. Also, notice the branches on the tree, being blasted by the wind.

We'll see how the night goes. Please pray for us and all those who will be affected by this hurricane! I'm looking forward to seeing the sun again! :)

Happy 1st Birthday Gemma!!!

I've put this post off a little bit for 2 reasons. 1. We've been insanely busy the past few weeks! and 2. I'm still in denial that my sweet little baby is already a year old! 

Her official birthday was August 13th, and on that day, we were all stuck in the car, driving back from a wedding. Strapped into a carseat, facing backwards, is not the best way to spend your birthday. So, to make up for it, we threw her a super, amazing, fantastically awesome Safari Party this past weekend. 

Here's a few pictures of the preparations/decorations:

How cute are these napkins! Ordered from Celebration Express.

Yes, we made that sign! I did the letters, Rocky did the artwork :)

Check out the LOOT!! (In Safari print wrapping paper of course - Dollar Tree)

Alright, so, here's the thing. We had food. We had... lots. of. food. Unfortunately, I was so busy making/devouring it, that I forgot to take pictures of almost all of it. There were bbq brisket sandwiches, buffalo chicken dip, veggies, cheese&crackers, fruit kabobs, sausage dippers, shrimp rangoon cups (yea, they're friggin awesome... will post recipe soon), candy, sweet safari punch, chips&salsa... the list. goes. on. 

Oh, and some amazing cupcakes that I literally spent close to 4 hours baking/decorating! :)

This was all I managed to get pictures of:

The Cheese Lion. My brainchild, Rocky's handiwork!

So cute!! Worth the effort :)

Of course, no birthday post would be complete without sharing some pictures of Gemma destroying eating her 1st cupcake.

It all started so nicely...

 Then, the destruction began.

 She was lovin it!

Daddy gave her a little ice cream to wet her whistle :)

She was taking this whole cupcake thing very seriously... this is as close to a smile as I got out of her!

Note the placement of her chocolate-covered right hand!

All in all, we had such a fun party! First birthday parties can be silly, I know, since technically "they'll never remember it" but really, it's for the parents to celebrate an amazing year of life with their child! I am so, so, so grateful for my little girl. She is truly a blessing in our lives, and I feel thankful to God that I get to be her Mommy. I love you Gemmaroo!! 

Garden-Fresh Sloppy Joes

So one of the things that has been so amazing since we've moved to VA, is that many of our neighbors and friends from church have been sharing the harvests of their gardens with us! It's been amazing. I'm a Farmer's Market junkie as it is, because there's nothing quite like fresh fruits and veggies home-grown and hand-picked, ya know? So what's even better than buying fresh home-grown produce? Receiving FREE home-grown produce. Seriously, how awesome is that?!

Anyway, here's how this recipe happened. It was just one of those nights when I really had nothing planned for dinner and was feeling kinda lazy about cooking, so I wanted something simple and easy. I looked over to our big wooden bowl we keep on the counter for fruits and veggies that don't need to be in the fridge, and on this particular night, it was overflowing. I thought, hm, maybe I'll make a quick pasta primavera? But as I kept looking at the bowl, I noticed there were a LOT of tomatoes. So I thought, maybe a red sauce? And then the wheels kept turning... it was a ridiculously hot day and I thought, I don't really want a big heavy pasta dish tonight.

Then, the lightbulb went off. I was cutting veggies, throwing things in the pan, sauteing, and throwing some more things in the pan, and just a few minutes later, voila! I had made some insanely scrumptious sloppy joes! The hubster and I mnoshled (yes, I just made that up) into those bad boys like there was no tomorrow. The little kid inside me rejoiced and the adult inside me who actually cares about being healthy ALSO rejoiced. It was the best of times, it was ... the best of times.

The following recipe is not super precision, seeing as my method (described above) was pretty fly-by-the-seat. So I hope you don't mind the amazingly accurate measurements I'll be using. :)


Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1 small/medium chopped bell pepper
1 smallish chopped onion
1-2 cloved finely chopped garlic
2ish cups fresh chopped tomatoes
1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
A few tablespoons of light olive oil (feel free to substitute another oil of choice)
4-5 splashed of Worchestershire sauce
A small blob of kethcup
A small blob of spicy brown mustard
Salt&Pepper to taste
A few dashes of hot sauce (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat up the oil over medium-high heat, and get your carrots sauteing first since they will take a bit longer to soften up. After a few minutes, add the rest of your veggies. Let those cook for a few minutes, and once the garlic becomes really fragrant to you, add the tomatoes and turn the heat down to low.
2. Once you start to see the tomatoes breaking down, add the ground meat and give it all a few good stirs.
3. Add your sauces and seasonings and stir.
4. Continue to cook until the meat is cooked all the way through.

Serve hot on a nice big whole wheat bun with marinated cucumbers, chips, cottage cheese, pickles, crackers or whatever you fancy!

*As a side note, I wanted to add that if you're planning on feeding this meal to kids who will likely turn their noses up at the sight of carrots and bell peppers in their sloppy joes, simply puree all the veggies, and you'll have an even sloppier texture, the kids will never know, it'll taste AMAZING, and it's still super healthy! :)