Austin's 2nd Birthday :)

This past weekend we celebrated Austin's 2nd Birthday, which brought the bittersweet realization that my baby isn't a baby anymore :(  I know some people still consider 2 years old to be a baby, but he is so grown up lately.  I literally dropped him off at daycare as an infant one day, and the next he was spitting out three word sentences.  He is playing with the older kids, and doing a pretty good job of keeping up!  He is my little jokester and has such a unique personality that will keep you laughing for hours.  I love this little guy so much!!  He loves monkeys, so my friend Lisa and I created a monkey birthday party pack (which can be purchased here at our Etsy shop).  It turned out awesome and everyone had a great time.  I wasn't able to take as many photos as I wanted, I guess because I was the hostess, lol.  Now I realize why you hire a photographer for your wedding, as opposed to taking the photos yourself....it's hard to participate all at once.  Austin wasn't too keen on hitting the piñata, but it didn't take Alex long to step up and give it a good whack.  Oh my goodness, how could I forget, Austin had a special guest too....AUNT NATALIE!!! She flew in from NY and surprised us!! Well more me than anyone else, but it was great to have her there and spend some good quality time with the kiddos.  Austin got some great gifts and we are so thankful to have such great family and friends that love us as much as they do.  The pics I could take are posted below.  Check out Austin's t-shirt, LOVE IT!! My little monkey boy.....

 

 

 

 

Girls Weekend in Austin

Austin had been calling my name for a few weeks, and I patiently waited for that special Bachelorette time with my sister, mom and all of our closest friends.  Needless to say, it didn't disappoint :)

The bride flew into San Antonio on Thursday afternoon, which was great because the kiddos were itching to see their Aunt Natalie!  Her visit with them was short, but sweet and finally Friday morning we got headed to Austin, YAY!!!

First stop was at my long time friend Kelly's house.  Her oldest, and my youngest pretty much share a birthday, so we had to stop by and see the Birthday Boy!! Oh my goodness, there was not a chance that my camera was staying in the car with these 2 precious babies around.  I posted a few pics below from the visit.  And yes, the baby in these photos is real....she is not a doll, although she may look like it, lol :)

 

After we visited for a while with Kelly, it was time to head towards the Bachelorette destination, Downtown Austin!  Natalie and I met up with one of the other bridesmaids, Christine, and quickly headed to Costco to stock up on snacks for the hotel rooms. 

Later in the evening, after we got checked in, my mom and her two best friends from high school, Julia and Sharon, showed up and the party was finally getting started :)  The formal event wasn't until Saturday night, so it was nice to spend some time with Nat before the chaos began.  We had dinner at Max's Wine Dive, and it was delicious! After that we headed down to Rainey Street, which was a whole new thing to me.  Now I spent most of my teenage years in Austin, but all we had was 6th street.  It was old and dirty, but we never came short of having a blast!  Rainey Street was cool, very chill and relaxed.  The perfect place to hang the night before the party started.  After that we headed back to the hotel for some girl talk and then off to bed.

Saturday morning came early and with much anticipation.  The party-goers would be trickling in all day, arriving from their homes.  We started with brunch at Taverna, and good Lord, I have never had a bellini like that before, and even better, it was $1!! That's my kinda drink.  Loved this place!! I had the chicken and waffles, and they were phenomenal.  This is definitely a new spot I'll hit up when I'm in Austin!

After brunch we headed back to the hotel and just hung out the latter part of the day.  We had dinner reservations at 6:00pm, so about 4:00 everyone started heading for the showers.  We showed up to Chupacabra Cantina on 6th street about 6:15pm (just 15 minutes late with 14 girls, not too bad last time I checked :) and were immediately greeted with enormous margaritas that someone had so politely shoved Coronas into, LOVE IT!!! Dinner was great, the service and food were outstanding and Natalie had a great time! 

After dinner we headed back to the hotel room for Natalie's Lingerie Shower.  Ohhhh good times.  Who doesn't love a great lingerie shower :)  We had cupcakes, jello shots (thanks Jess!), played games and watched Natalie open all her loot.  Natalie said we needed to start planning her baby shower after all the great lingerie she got :) 

Finally, what's a Bachelorette Party in Austin without a trip to 6th street!! Old school 6th...not west 6th, we wanted a good, let loose time!  I think I am still amazed that I made it until the bars closed!! Don't worry, it's Wednesday and I am still paying for it.

Sadly Sunday morning came and it was time for Natalie to head back to the airport, to return to her far away home :(  We had soooo much fun and I know Natalie truly enjoyed herself with all her favorite girls.  A good time was had by all for sure.  If you don't believe me, check out the pictures below :)

Until October Austin, we will see you again!!

 

Veggie-full Spaghetti

I don't know what it is about kids and spaghetti.  I don't think I can name a kid that doesn't love it, including mine.  If I say we're having spaghetti for dinner, you would've thought I just told them they could have ice cream for dinner.

As usual, I use every opportunity to get them to eat as many vegetables as possible, and this is one of my best kept secrets.  Not to mention is a great way to use all those veggies that are on the verge of going bad.   My criteria is: if it's a vegetable and you can dice it up......then throw it in!  Onto the fun part, cooking!!

I started by rummaging through what I had in my vegetable drawers that I needed to get rid of.  The lucky winners were squash & zucchini (a staple in our everyday in case you haven't noticed), sliced carrots, bell pepper, onion and of course garlic.  

I diced everything except the garlic into bite size, non-recognizable pieces :). If you have a pickier eater, you may want to dice them smaller.

Then I got some olive oil going in a pan (about 3 tbsp) and threw some minced garlic in to sauté for a minute.  

Time to put all your diced veggies in!  It may seem like a lot, but they will cook down.

While the veggies are cooking, I get my tomato products and pasta ready to go.  I used one large can of pasta sauce and one can of stewed tomatoes to keep it nice and chunky.  Feel free to nix the stewed tomatoes if you like.  Also, if you like a soupier sauce, you may add some more of the pasta sauce.  Be mindful though, these canned tomato products have quite a bit of sodium in them.  

 

I use the veggie pasta all the time now.  It tastes great and the whole family loves it.  The only thing I can slightly complain about is that it can get a little gummy if you cook it too long, so keep eye on it.

Next, throw in the ground beef.  I used 1 lb regular ground meat and 1 lb lean.  Some might not like the idea of putting raw meat on top of their vegetables, so feel free to brown the ground meat separately.  I myself, love the flavor that infuses with the meat when it cooks with the veggies.  Either way will work:)

Now when it comes time to break up the ground meat I have the found the best thing ever!! It's by Pampered Chef (surprise, surprise) and it provides pure perfection when trying the get ground meat into a good fine texture .  LOVE IT!!

 

 

Once the meat has browned and the veggies are soft, add in the pasta sauce and stewed tomatoes and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes on low heat.  Because there is already plenty of sodium in the canned tomato sauce, I usually don't add any additional salt.  Feel free to add fresh basil or oregano, and plenty of pepper of course :)

Once the sauce has simmered for a little bit you are ready to eat!!   I paired this with some nice crusty garlic bread and it was delicious!!!