Crockpot Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients:

• 8 to 12 large cabbage leaves
• 1 to 1 1/2 pound very lean ground beef/turkey/chicken
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
• salt and pepper, to taste

This is not my photo..
I didn't know at the time, I'd be
sharing the recipe. 

Preparation:

Pour boiling water over cabbage leaves and let stand for 5 minutes, until somewhat wilted. Combine ground beef with egg, pepper, salt, rice, and chopped onion. Roll a portion of the filling into each leaf. Secure rolls with toothpicks. Place in slow cooker. Combine tomato soup and tomatoes; pour over cabbage rolls. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours.




These were a huge hit with Kevin.  He liked them so much he joked about eating them for breakfast the next day.  It made plenty for us to have multiple leftovers.  So if you like them, great, if not, I suppose feed them to the dog. 
I loved how simple they were.  Next time, I would add more seasoning to the meat/rice mixture. I did seem a little blah, but not enough to keep us from devouring them.  Another important tip is to use VERY lean beef/meat.  This is because the meat is raw and will cook over the course of the day in the cabbage rolls. If the meat is not lean, you will have a lot of excess grease and that's not very appetizing or healthy. 
Next, depending on the size of the head of cabbage you purchase, you will most likely have some left that was not used/cooked for the rolls. Save this, store in refrigerator and I'll give you a round 2 crock pot recipe in a few days. 
Enjoy!

Pike's Market

Yesterday we decided last minute to head into Seattle and check out the market.  We said several times.."It's going to be busy, we should have gone during the week".  We should have listened to our gut.  It was absolutely insane.  The crowds + double stroller + 2 toddlers + stressed out parents = not fun.  We were warned that it was going to be a pain with the stroller but we just didn't feel comfortable having them walk around.  Needless to say, we will not be returning until the kids are atleast 5 feet tall.  I witnessed a girl around 5 years old get elbowed in the face by people trying to push through the crowds.  Just not worth it, in my honest opinion.  We may venture in again and leave the kids at home with someone but it's definitely not a place for little ones on a busy weekend.  I did manage to snap some pictures.  Enjoy. 

Potty Training...HAHAHAHA

So now that we're settled into our new house and Lauren's shown signs that she is most definitely ready this time...we're going to go at potty training again.  I could really care less if you think she should have been by now.  I'm sure she should have but she also moved 4 times in the last 2.5 years and had her father gone for a year, a heck of a lot of traveling and a mom who just wasn't ready either.  I still don't know if I am...but I so am.  Does that make any sense. 
Lauren is just a different breed. She is just so stubborn.  She holds it in and will.not.go.   Tomorrow I'm putting her in big girl undies and we're going to wing it...again.  Wish us luck...and sanity!
P.S.  If she actually does go..we owe her a princess car, a trampoline, several packs of gum, chapstick, and a trip from her grandma.  Lol.  She has a memory like no other and I'm sure we'll remind us too.

Kevin's 32nd Birthday

On Sunday, we celebrated Kevin's birthday.  I know he's starting to feel old, but he's not to me!

Being such the great dad that he is, he took the girls to the Tacoma Children's Museum on his day of celebration.  The girls had fun,  but Kevin and I weren't impressed.  Maybe we were spoiled with the awesome museum that Normal had back in IL, but this just seemed small and disorganized.  The girls had a blast playing at the water tables and playing pretend and what not, but there was only one floor of activities and the girls couldn't really climb the pirate ships and other things because of their size and the fact there were bigger kids up there.  To get to the reading room, you had to walk through the art room.  That was a mess.  We attempted to let the girls paint. Lauren did great and Kaelin, not so much.  I then tried to get her to play with clay, and she just ate it.  To try to get her into the reading room from the art room, just turned into a full blown tantrum..so back to the water tables we went. 
The price is right and it is donation based only but we were surprised we had to pay for parking (guess that comes with big city life)..so after we made a donation and paid for parking we had spent $20 for the girls to splash in water, have a pretend tea party, and throw fits.  Next time we are going to check out the museum in Olympia, hoping it's better. 

After the museum, we went to Duke's for lunch.  Talk about amazing!!  They specialize in their award winning chowders.  It was so delicious!  Kevin had fresh panko crusted fish and chips and a bowl of their Dungeness Crab and Jack Daniel Whiskey Chowder, and I had a Blackened Salmon Taco with Wasabi aïoli, black bean and corn salad, tequila lime aïoli, all natural hand– stretched tortilla, and a bowl of the Cajun Chicken Corn Chowder.  Oh man, my mouth waters thinking about the Chicken Corn Chowder.  It was like a tortilla soup but creamy and rich and a bit spicy! YUM! 
Not to mention, the view was fantastic.  We were on a pier, right on the Puget Sound.  It was so so pretty.  I didn't have my camera with me, so I haven't been able to take any pictures, but hopefully soon. 
If you aren't familiar with the west coast (like me).  Here is an image of the area that I am talking about.  Fort Lewis is located just near Tacoma, not right on the water but in and around the surrounding "suburbs". 

After lunch, the kids were beat so we decided to just go back to our hotel. Of course they fell asleep on the way back so we decided to just drive around and familiarize ourselves with the area. 

An hour or so passed and we were ready for naps too and maybe a little birthday dessert.  We didn't have many options on the Army post, so we opted to split a cinnamon roll from Cinnabon and call it a day.  I honestly can't remember what we did the rest of the evening. I know we all slept like a rock though that night.

We made it!

We made it to the great state of Washington last Thursday.  It was a 4 day, 1800 mile, 7 state trip, but we made it!  Safe and sound.  We could have cut our trip short by a day but with a an almost 2 and almost 3 year old, frequent stops and short travel time were a must.  The girls did absolutely fantastic!  I can't even remember any meltdowns.  Of course there was frequent whining, and that's to be expected, if I wasn't riding with my MIL, and with Kevin, I'd have been whining more too. :)
We have been staying in temporary lodging at Fort Lewis for the time being while we house hunt.  In fact, the hunt is over and we should be getting the keys to our new house sometime today! Woohoo! 
I thought house hunting would be fun, but it is the complete opposite.  This month must be the prime moving season for the military and houses were being snatched up left and right.  We have learned a few lessons this time about putting in applications and wasting money..I won't go into detail but we're out $80 and housing authority will be getting a call.  That.Is.For.Sure. 
Anyways...  we're here, we're adjusting, we're tired of living in a hotel room, 2 weeks today without our belongings, tired of living out of suitcase..and just plain tired.  But happy.
I know we'll still be tired, and soon I'll be posting on how I'm tired of unpacking and tired of living in a sea of boxes and packing paper..but that's the life I suppose! 

Part of the reason I am so tired is the adjusting to the time change.  It's only 2 hour difference but man it messes with us.  We notice it with meal times and sleep times.  The girls are doing fantastic. The first night was a little off for the them. They both went to bed around 6pm.  Lauren woke up at 1:30am and was wide awake, but I laid with her and she fell back asleep around 3am and then slept til 6:30 or so.  Kaelin the first night slept from 5:45pm to 5am. She's my early riser, so that was to be expected.  I am just thankful that she slept all night.  Naps are so screwed up right now.  They are mostly napping in the car or at weird times.  We had a schedule going in Kansas, naps after lunch between 12-1 for an hour or two.  Not so much anymore.  Yesterday Kaelin woke up at 7, went down for her nap around 10:30 and slept for 2 hours, then was tired and ready at 5:30pm for a nap. She slept in the car on our way to supper and thankfully was not a crank when we went into the restaurant. 
They both went to bed shortly after 9 and are still snoozing away.  As for me, I've been up since 2:30am (4:30amCST)..I guess I'm not as adjusted as I thought I was either.  Hopefully once we're in our house and in our own beds and have more of a "schedule" things will start to even out. 

Well that is about all for now. 
Oh, PS. I got to visit my brother Jordan on the way out here in Boise, ID and I met his girlfriend Amy.  It was so fun to have pizza and go swimming with them!  So my bro from Illinois was visiting his girlfriend from South Dakota who lives in Idaho and he got to see his sister from Illinois, who was traveling with her husband (and MIL) from Minnesota who were stationed in Kansas traveling to Washington. 
:) :)
Have a good day and I hope to have pictures of our house soon, but for now, look what we get to see on clear days! Everyday.. God is good.  I did not take this picture, but this is exactly what we see everytime we leave our temp lodging.  Amazing! 

                                                                                      photo credit

In transition..

Proud of our girls for adjusting as well as can be expected for a toddler.

Anybody still there??

Hello...(taps mic) anybody still here (tap tap tap)?? 

:)  I thought I'd pop in here and give you a run down of what's going on.  I'm sitting here in my living room full of boxes.  The movers came yesterday and packed up all of our belongings and the truck driver will be here today to load it all. 
I'm ready for a change but sad for a change.  I am going to miss my friends that I have made here.   It's going to take some time but I know I will make new ones. 

I want to start new in Washington.  I want to focus more on taking care of myself.  I am going to confess to you all that things haven't been easy since Kevin got home. It's a whole new ball park of adjusting.  Our marriage is great, no worries there.  We are still very much in love.   It's just an adjustment to doing stuff by myself and having my own way of doing things and on my time etc. I don't expect anyone to understand really..It's just hard to explain.  I felt the time off needed to be spent with my kids and Kevin and focusing on our family and (re)building of our relationships. 

I am also going to confess that since he's been home, I have gained 20ish lbs back of what I lost.  I.could.cry. 
I am going to blame it on stress and just the mere fact that I am not eating as healthy as I did before and I am not exercising consistently. My.Own.Fault. FAIL.  Ugh! 
I really want to find a nice gym with an awesome childcare that  I can go to with the girls.  We need to get out of the house and I need to exercise, meet new people and the girls need social interaction as well. 

So to wrap it up, I've just been a little down in the dumps, a little stressed and some things have just taken a back seat to what we really needed to be focusing on.  I feel like I am getting my blogging groove back and hopefully will be updating more frequently as we start this new adventure.