Weekend

We had a busy weekend! .. And it was finally NOT about house repairs! ha! We had visitors from Ohio.. Micho, Wendy and Brea!

I just realized I only took 1 good pic of the girls.. and my camera died while we were at Niagara Falls.



Here are a few of our bubba a t the falls with Dadda.

We went to the falls and then we had to treat Buffalo style with Lanova! CHicken Finger pizza and Wings.. yum!

Sunday we got up and went to brunch. I snapped a few of sjm while we were waiting outside the restaurant for a table.





It was such a pretty day.. 60's and Sunny..




Here is one pic I did snap of the little angels in their pj's getting ready for bed on Saturday night

Wedded Bliss

Just a week ago today, Mom and I were driving back from Pittsburgh and reminiscing about the amazing wedding weekend that we were a part of. Leslie and Michael's wedding!

The rehersal was at Heinz Chapel in Downtown Pittsburgh, We almost missed it... it was a little tricky to find.. haha..




The bride and her Daddy..


The rehersal dinner was atop Mt Washington, which looked over the entire skyline and beyond


I didnt get to stay to see the city all lit up, bcause I got SOOOO sick. I was throwing up everywhere... Well in the bathroom I mean, My mom said I looked white as a ghost and I was feeling so weak and sick. So I had to leave early... and went back to the hotel. I was so upset! I missed an amazing meal, and (I was later told) 7 different cakes for dessert! ugh!!!

But I knew I needed to be on my game for the wedding. So I went back and passed out. And the next morning I was feeling a little shaky still.. but I played it safe at the salon with tea, and a bagel bite.



Knowing Leslie for over 10 years, I HAD to get a cameo of the bride with her signature drink of choice..



We made our way downtown and got ready at a nearby hotel room.




We headed over to the chapel, where Leslie got her dress on, and we all got the last minute touches done.

Her Mom and sisters were so cute,helping her put her garter on and steaming her dress.




The wedding was at Fox Chapel Golf Club which was so elegant and beautiful. I felt like I was in a movie.




It was really one of the best weddings I've ever been to, and it made me miss having Leslie nearby.



This is Grant. 3 weeks old. The littlest guest at the wedding. He was the son of one of the bridesmaids Nicole that was in the wedding with us. The bridesmaids were so great and nice. and I had such a great time!

I also got to see how wonderfully happy that her and Michael are and will be for a long time. The wedding brought many tears to my eyes on numerous occasions.

North Carolina Sandwiches - Jacksonville, North Carolina that is...

North Carolina Sandwiches
Let me just preface and talk about the self given name of this delish recipe. When Mathew and I began dating, he was in North Carolina, stationed in Jacksonville, NC on the airbase. I was working in Ohio, and we would drain our bank accounts to see each other as much as possible on the weekends.
So when I would visit NC, we would try and not eat EVERY meal out, and since he lived in the barracks (which was pretty gross in itself).. there were not many options for food. So we came up with this idea.. and we would toast them in his little toaster oven in his room, and sit and have a little lunch/snack.ha!
Its super easy, and the ingredients are NOT fancy by any means, I mean, I was dealing with the low end grocery stores near the base… Jacksonville’s finest Food Lion.. haha!
Ingredients:
Pane/French Bread Cut into even slices
McCormick Grinders – Italian Seasoning Flavor (pictured below)

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
Tomatoes – any kind
Sea Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1. Place bread slices on alum foil, or on toaster pan. Drizzle with olive oil and a few turns of the seasoning on each slice.
2. Cut and arrange tomatoes evenly – these don’t look like tomatoes, but they are from my mother in law’s garden.. they are heirloom tomatoes.. some of the most tasty tomatoes I have EVER had.


3. Cut thin slices of the cheese and arrange evenly



4. Give another 3-4 grinds of the seasoning & sprinkle with sea salt
5. Pop em in the toaster oven on 350 until cheese is melted. At the last minute I turn on the toaster to “toast” to make the bread crunchy on both sides.
It’s a self-invented recipe, and one I will always have such fond memories of, that on an emotion filled day.. (you ladies know what I mean) It even brings a tear to my eye as I remember our good times in North Carolina.



Enjoy!
Joelle

A Walk in the Park

Earlier this week, Samantha and I had a little nature date at one of our pretty local parks here in our village. There is a waterfall and rushing stream, ponds, ducks, very very pretty.

It was such a nice day, breezy and maybe 65ish.. I love fall.

She enjoyed walking on the stone path, and picking up the rocks/stones.



She walks pretty fast now, so I said to her…”bye”… and she waved and said “bye” and just kept walking.. haha.. scary huh?


It just reminds me of how innocent and precious she is… and I ran up to her and squeezed her so tight (which she loves by the way)..

We had some crackers, apples and juice by one of the ponds.



It must have looked pretty appealing, because this little guy got pretty close to us!


Scary how friendly they are when you have food. I had to hold Samantha back, otherwise she would have let him take her little finger off!

Yesterday, I got a lot of work done, so I made some dinner while Sam took her nap. I made Chicken Florentine,


...Rolls and


Herb Compound Butter…so delish!



Momma’s escaping this weekend to be in one of my dearest friends’ wedding! Leslie! … So Daddy’s on duty.. So now he’ll have some leftovers, ha!



For Dessert, Grammy and Uncle came over and we had Carrot Cake and Vanilla Ice Cream. Uncle’s Birthday is TODAY!! Happy Birthday Uncle!!
So tomorrow Grammy is my date for the wedding weekend in Pittsburgh! Momma deserves a weekend away…. All it has been lately is “momma .. .momma… momma” … Samantha cannot get enough of me, and wants to love and cuddle all day long.. which is fine.. but no laundry, work or anything would ever get done.. hah!

First Trip to the Zoo

Now, before you get all excited. I must warn you. After being to the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, and even the Cleveland Zoo, the poor Buffalo Zoo shouldnt really even be in the same category. ha!

But we were looking for somewhere fun to take Sam, and to be honest I havent been to the Buffalo Zoo in years. It seemed so much bigger when I was a little girl.

The first thing we saw when we got there was this guy...



Samantha has a bear bank that looks just like him, so she's learned early on how to growl like a bear.. She let out a HUGE.. "ahhhhhhhhhhh" and kept doing it over and over, it was hysterical. I think she was the most animated with the bear.




She saw a Tiger tucked behind a wall and thought it was a "kee kat" as she says. We went in the Gorilla House, but there was only 1 and he was hiding behind a rock. There was a little petting zoo that was kind of lame, so we walked over to see one of my favorite animals, the giraffe.

But we got a better picture on the way out.. since he (as you can see) was hiding behind the Giraffe House. ha!


I think Samantha had fun though. We got her some popcorn, which she can say that word now too.. and she loves it! Everytime we go to Target, mommy can spend all the time she wants looking at baby stuff, food, decor, even clothes! As long as Sam has a bag of popcorn next to her!


Our first Zoo experience was a good one. I think they had some areas that were under construction too.. I didnt see any alligators, hippos, crocs, even monkeys! Who has a Zoo with no monkeys!... Hmmmm, I think they must be re-doing part of it.

We will be back. But for now it was probably all the excitement she could handle anyways.

Labor Day Weekend 2010

Labor Day weekend came and went. What did we do?
I tell ya I did a lot of baking and cooking. The weather Saturday and Sunday was awesome, very Fall like. 68 - rainy/cloudy, wonderful

I made Banana Crunch Muffins again, Eggplant Parmesan, Soup, French Toast, but not just french toast on regular boring bread... on this...



Texas Toast! And let me tell ya...It will be hard to ever make french toast the old boring way ever again now that I've tried it with this amazing bread.
We were breakfast eaters this weekend, Sage Sausage, Hash Browns, French Toast, Banana Pancakes....mmmmmm loved it.The mornings were cool, and brisk and I am welcoming fall with open arms!

Sunday I started a big pot of my Chicken Soup again

And since I've met my husband, through my mother in law I've learned how to cook/bake so many yummy things. One of which is Crepes.

I was never a big Crepe person. But I found another use for them through Mathew. You curl them up and slice them into noodles, and out them in the soup... ahh heaven in a bowl!

And of course we saved some for dessert. Mathew always has one with Rose Hip Jam, Nuts and Whipped Cream. I always go for the Nutella, Walnuts and Cream.

So instead of eating ourselves silly this weekend.. we did do other things, ha! We ordered our dining room table .. The dining room is where Laney is right now and its the LAST room that needs to be done. Stripped of wallpaper and painted I mean.

Actually we didnt do that much..sad. Well, no I take that back. I love that we had ot much to do.. it was wonderful. I was so inspired by the cooler weather and I loved cooking in my kitchen all weekend. Now we have leftovers for the week!

Samantha Jane is getting more teeth! She has been so cranky lately. And Saturday we couldnt get her to nap to save our lives. I put her in the stroller and walked her, and she started screaming after about 15 minutes... then we came home and she finally did fall asleep. With the help of some Teething Tablets and a little Curious George DVD.


We also took Samantha to the ZOO! But I'll save that for another post.

Baka and Pa-Paw Visit from Ohio

The weekend before Labor Day, Baka and Pa-Paw came to visit us at our new house from Ohio!...

We had lots of fun with them, and Samantha warmed up to them almost right away, letting them hold her and play with her; which usually has been taking about a 1/2 day, because she doesnt see them that often.- We havent been back to Ohio since her 1st birthday bash over 4th of July!

The first day/night they were here, I made a big pot of home made chicken soup, so we ate, and just relaxed and Daddy and Pa-Paw worked outside a little on the back sunporch that comes off our dining room.

Saturday Baka made Chili, while Daddy and Paw did more work!.. So Sunday we decided to take a drive to Niagara Falls and walk around.

It was Samantha's first trip to the falls... but certainly not her last. We live only about 20 minutes away from this wonder.

She loved this statue..



Huge teeth showing smile.. ha!



We walked to the end of one side and all along the American Falls.


She was loving getting misted by the falls...





And walking like a big girl with Daddy and Pa-Paw on our way back




I just love the rainbow in the background...



It was such a pretty day, and we had so much fun with Baka and Pa-Paw. We hope they come again soon!