2014 Dance Festival

This morning I attended the end of year dance festival for the kids.  They all did such a great job. Unfortunately, I did not match their skill with my videography.  Halfway through Jared's dance, I stopped recording but quickly started back up, only to have my phone run out of room.  Thankfully I had enough time to delete some stuff so I could capture Isaac and Amelia's dances.  Then, I didn't realize that just because you turn the phone sideways, doesn't mean that the image is still captured right-side up, so some of the videos are on their side.  And finally, I guess I kept putting my fingers over the microphone.  I'm fired!

So without further ado, I present this year's dances.

Here is Jared's dance.  Sorry, two parts to this one.

Part 1

Part 2

I loved how seriously Jared took his dance.  He did such an awesome job.  He definitely gets his dancing skills from me. :)

Here is Isaac's dance.

Isaac's dance was fun and full of energy.

Sorry, Amelia is a little harder to see.  She is several kids back with hot pink shoes and orange shoelaces. Turn your head side-ways to watch this one.

Amelia did such a great job with her dance.  She knew all of the moves and was such a cutie out there.

And here are the kids all posing for a picture afterwards.

Tuesday, the Make-up Motherhood Monday - Camping

I missed my first Motherhood Monday, but I guarantee you I have a very legitimate reason.  I was busy this whole weekend hanging out and camping with my family.  No time to blog when those activities are going on.

And anyway, it's like a Monday - kind of.

Today, I want to focus on the fact that my kids still like hanging out with me and Nathan.  I know that this won't last forever and I feel that Jared is already on the verge of thinking that his friends are way more fun than us.  But, for this moment, right now, Nathan and I are still legit.

This past Memorial Day Weekend, we went camping up by Mill Hollow with some of my extended family.  I didn't take very many pictures unfortunately.

The first night, we ended up camping in a parking lot and in the morning Clara and Grandma drew pictures with sidewalk chalk.

Once we got setup in our actual camping spot, it started to sprinkle and it was pretty chilly.  I had purchased a couple of puzzles from the dollar store in preparation.  I thought this 100 piece puzzle would be a good challenge for Amelia, but it turns out that I severely underestimated her ability to put together puzzles.  She still had fun though.

The boys and some of their cousins kept themselves busy and warm by digging a big hole.  Isaac utilized the pick ax to make the whole deeper.

Sometimes when you're in close quarters for a few days you can get on each other's nerves, and Jared and Isaac are no exception to this.  After a pretty good disagreement, I made them stay in the trailer until they could say sorry to each other and hug.  They tried to protest, but I wouldn't let up.

Proof that they actually like each other!

And if they knew I was posting this online for the world to see, they'd die of embarrassment.

Overall the weekend was really fun.  We had a great time eating, chatting, shooting BB guns, looking at wildlife, and hanging out with family.

I really am so blessed by these guys and I am so glad that they like to go camping with me.

Quick Beef Stroganoff

This is a favorite recipe at our house.  It is loosely patterned after this recipe from Kraft Foods.  Their recipe is for a crockpot meal and uses stew meat.  I wanted it quick and easy and I wanted to use ground beef.

Quick Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb.  ground beef
• 10 oz.  canned mushrooms (you could use fresh)
• 1/2  onion, chopped 
• 1 clove  garlic, minced 
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 2 tsp.  paprika 
• 1 tsp.  salt 
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream (I like things saucy, so the 1 cup they suggested wouldn't cut it!)
• 1 Tbsp. dijon mustard 
• 4 cups egg noodles, uncooked 
• 2 tsp. dried parsley 

Directions:

In large pot, cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, lightly oil, large skillet.  Saute onion, garlic and mushrooms, until tender.  Add ground beef and cook until brown.  Drain grease.  Return meat mixture to medium heat and add beef bouillon (and a 1/2 cup water), paprika, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix sour cream and dijon mustard.

When pasta is al dente, drain and add to skillet with meat mixture.  Mix to combine.  Then add the sour cream mixture and mix more.  Add parsley to top.  Serve in skillet.

Serve with green beans or the vegetable of your choice!  Enjoy!