7-up Biscuits & Macaroni Beef Saute

Have you seen the recipe floating around blog-land and Pinterest for 7-up biscuits? I've seen it on several blogs I follow and finally decided to try it. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it.
As you'll see, there are only 4 ingredients, so it's not hard. In fact, it's pretty fool-proof. I'm not a big baker and rarely make anything from scratch, but this was so simple!
Here is how they turned out:

 

Another close-up view:

  I cannot do these biscuits justice with words. You just have to taste them. They are light, flaky, buttery... delicious!!! Try them, you won't be disappointed. I promise!

On to another recipe. This one has been around since my parents were newlyweds. When my mom got married, someone gave her this cook book:

 When I got married, my mom gave me the same exact cook book. It's an "oldie-but-goody." (did I spell that right???). She even book-marked the recipes that she made when we were growing up. She's so good like that. Thanks mom! :)

Of course, since the recipes are adapted for two people, you have to double, or sometimes triple the recipe depending on how many people you are cooking for.

This particular recipe is called "Macaroni Beef Saute."

It's quite simple, really, so it makes for an easy weeknight meal. I paired it with the 7-up biscuits and some steamed broccoli. Yum-O!!!

Here's the recipe:

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Let me know if you try out either of these recipes. They're both keepers for your recipe box!

Cute craft

We all got our flu shots today. Yes, every single one of us... including the baby. It wasn't much fun, but everyone took it in stride and lived to tell about it. :) Afterward, we all headed home and decided it was best to just lay low the rest of the afternoon. Parker napped, and Payton asked me if we could do a craft. Well, of course I was thrilled. He hasn't been too into crafts lately (he prefers to play video games or do Beyblade battles instead). So we went to one of my favorite craft web sites and found this cute idea.
Fortunately, I had all the materials on hand. So we quickly got to work!

First we lined everything up:

Then glued everything down:

 And chatted and laughed while we were doing it (which is my favorite part of crafting):

Then Payton wrapped all the pipe cleaners around a pencil to make the pumpkin vines:

And here's the finished pumpkin patch:

Did you notice the "angry bird" that apparently is picking out his pumpkin???

Of course Parker woke up from his nap and wanted to join in on the crafting too:

His idea of a "craft" is a little different than ours, but hey... he had just as much fun.

Another fun day of crafting had by all!

Cute

I haven't posted a side-by-side photo of the boys in a while. Thought you might enjoy this one. Same pumpkin patch, just 6 years later...

Pumpkin patch - 2nd post

Alright, I warned you that another pumpkin patch post would be coming! And here it is. The weather was so nice out this weekend - sunny, breezy, not too humid. So, we loaded up and went to the same Cub Scout pumpkin patch with the whole fam this time (except for Rohy... that would have been hard). We got so many fun pictures - nothing of professional quality - but fun for sure! 

Here are a few of my favs:

Payton was trying his best to hold on to Parker, but little squirm-er wanted to grab all the pumpkins around him. So, this was the best shot of them together - sorry it's blurry, I'm pretty sure they were both moving:

 Here are some of little man flying solo:

 And our big man:

And some family shots:

 

 We ran into some friends-of-friends while we were there and we swapped cameras and took some family pics of each other. (Random fact, their 10-month old son was also named Parker - how ironic!)

This one is my favorite. I think it will be framed very soon!

We also went to the park that day since it was so nice out. Here are a few cute pics of Parker exploring the playground:

 Sorry for the pacifier smile, but if we don't make sure he has it in, he eats the mulch.

 He loved going down the slide for the first time!

Happy baby!

 We're supposed to have lots of rain this week, plus a cold front. I hope you all are enjoying some fall-like weather where you are!

On the move

My little man is really on the move these days. He is getting much faster at crawling, and has started pulling himself up to a standing position. I have a sinking feeling that walking may be just around the corner.

Of course, his favorite place to beeline to when I turn my head is here:

 Yes, that's our side table. He crawls into it. But usually not all the way, so he usually ends up falling back out of it. Or getting stuck. Which leads to lots of crying. You'd think he'd learn not to get in there. But no.

 The other day, after he tore my Pottery Barn catalog to shreds. He realized that Payton was laying on the couch behind him playing his DS. He worked and worked until he finally pulled himself up to standing position to see Payton eye-to-eye.

 He was so proud of himself. He started laughing when Payton looked at him and said, "Parker! What are you doing up here???" 

I think it surprised both of them!

 Why do babies grow up and change so quickly? It's not fair. Someone please slow down the clock, I don't want my baby to grow up this fast! :(

Although I know that's not possible. So, instead I'm soaking up every second of each stage he goes through. Not wishing for the next phase. Not pushing him to the next milestone. Just enjoying where he is, which is a very fun place.

Washing your washing machine

Any other front-loader washing machine haters out there? 

If you own a front-loader washing machine, you know what I mean.

The mold, the smell, the constant cleaning... it's THE WORST!!!

If I could, I would return my front-loader and take back my grandmother's 15-yr old top loader. Seriously.

Apparently with front-loader washing machines, water collects in the rubber seal area of the door. And if you don't continually wipe it out, it will stain and then smell like mold... forever.

Oh, you also can't use liquid fabric softeners, like Downy (which I love). Apparently this makes it even worse.

This annoys me, to put it lightly.

We can create cars that parallel park by themselves, strollers that fold by themselves, phones that text by themselves... why can't someone create a front-loader that drains properly?!?!?

Urgh.

Since my husband has reminded me time-and-time again that we are NOT getting a new washing machine any time soon, I have learned how to "deal" with the one we have.

I run a hot water & bleach load every week.

I leave the door open every time I finish running a load so it can dry out.

I remove, and hand clean - with an old toothbrush - the detergent drawer (which also doesn't drain and easily collects mold) every few weeks.

HELLO PEOPLE... I'M WASHING MY WASHING MACHINE... does this seem wrong to anyone else???

Well, apparently I'm not the only one out there with this problem. In fact, I know several friends who have gone back to top loaders just because of this annoyance. And if you do a search online, you'll see hundreds of pages of complaints, solutions, suggestions, and questions about how to clean the moldy smell from a front-loader washing machine.

Also, this just came on the market...

I saw an ad on TV the other day and immediately went to Target the next morning and purchased it.

I used it the same day.

IT WORKS!!!

But for how long, I wonder.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my fresh-smelling washing machine and really, really enjoying not having to clean it.

Thank you Tide, from the bottom of my tired-of-scrubbing-hands. :)

Pumpkin Patch... 1st of 2 posts (eventually)

Payton's Cub Scout troop hosts a pumpkin patch each year near our house. Every member signs up to host the patch for 2-hour increments. Fortunately, Brian was nice enough to serve our 2 hour assignment with Payton, because it was rainy and dreary out the day he had to go.

Not that the rain put a hamper on his fun! Not when you get to volunteer with all your buddies that is!

And play on one of the other parents' i-pads... (don't these two look like they are really helping out a lot???)

 He even picked out a pumpkin (or two) to bring home.

Next visit will be in the sunshine, with little brother in tow. Stay tuned...