Fetal Doppler

I know I'm COMPLETELY lucky for not having any pregnancy symptoms (being over 4 months along) and definitely don't take that for granted, but sometimes I wonder if there actually IS a baby inside there!

Well now I can hear its little heartbeat whenever I want thanks to my Sonoline C Fetal Doppler. It's definitely my favorite gadget right now and when I'm having a rough day, I just lube up my lower stomach and rub the wand until I hear the magical little sound. Nothing makes me smile more right now than to hear that noise.

Only a few more weeks until we know the sex. I kinda think it's a boy, but there's definitely not a strong feeling either way!

What do YOU think we're having?!?!

Baked Penne

I got this fun recipe from my friend Kayla and we really enjoyed it.

It's very easy to prepare and it serves 8 so we had leftovers all week!




INGREDIENTS
•3 cups Cooked Penne Pasta
•1 pound Lean Ground Beef
•1 cup Chopped Onion
•2 cloves Garlic, Minced
•2 cans Italian Stewed Tomatoes (14 oz Cans)
•1 can Tomato Paste (8 oz Can)
•1 cup Water
•1-½ teaspoon Italian Seasoning
•1 teaspoon Salt
•¼ teaspoons Black Pepper
•1 cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Bring water to a boil and cook the pasta as directed on the box. Use enough raw pasta to make about 3 cups of cooked pasta. Drain and set aside.

2. Brown beef with onion and garlic. Drain off fat.
3. In a food processor or blender, puree canned tomatoes, paste and water.
4. Pour tomato mixture into ground beef mixture.
5. Add seasonings.
6. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
7. Stir in cooked pasta.
8. Spoon into a 9×13 baking dish and bake, covered, for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.
9. Remove from oven, top with cheese, and bake an additional 5 minutes.

** I doubled the amount of garlic and it was YUMMY.. but I heart garlic always.

Blueberry Yumminess!

I ended up trying out the two recipes I had found this past weekend and they were DELICIOUS! Considered both as breakfast items, they were a bit too sweet for us to eat that early in the morning. We ended up enjoying them as delicious desserts.

The muffins ended up making about 30 or so (a HUGE batch) so I gave a plateful to our Greek neighbors next door who are constantly giving us food from their fruit/veggie gardens. But the recipe for croissants (above) only made 8 and they didn't make it beyond a few days as they were so yummy!

Bow Wow Dog Beach

I was definitely a bit scared that the girls would forget how to swim when we moved up here. There seemed to not be any lakes that allow dogs to swim in them, nor any dog parks with water.

That is.... until another agent told Derek about the Bow Wow Dog Beach in Stow, Ohio.

It's a 7.5 acre park fully equipped with a dock for dogs, jump off, picnic tables for 'owners' to relax and a HUGE (clean) lake.

This past Sunday, we made the 40 minute drive hoping it would be well worth the trip... and BOY was it!

The park is free, clean, full of balls and HUGE! The girls swam for over an hour fetching every ball we threw and chasing other dogs. They hadn't forgotten how to swim in the least bit and had the time of their lives.

(To the left is Bailey and Lacy both swimming back to shore in with balls in their mouth's!)

We will definitely be back!

Blueberry Fun

Derek and I ventured out to a local blueberry farm today to load up on the delicious little morsels. They were fully ripe, firm and HUGE!

Anyone have any yummy recipes that call for fresh blueberries?

 I think I might try these blueberry turnovers or these blueberry cream muffins.

PS - Did I mention how much I LOVE my new camera?!

Michelle's Baby Shower

Last weekend I ventured down to the warm city of Dallas to spend some time with one of my best friends, Michelle! Michelle is due in 6 weeks with her first baby, Sam, and we planned a fun baby shower for her over the weekend. As someone who would LOVE to be a professional organizer, I absolutely love throwing showers and was so excited to throw one for Michelle. Overall, it was a great weekend full of her family and friends and hanging out with my favorite pug in the world, Neuman!

Here are just a few pics from the festivities -

Love ya Michelle!!

Faces of Lacy

The three pictures below, captured over the last week, pretty much sum up our first born.

The calm lover with understandable eyes. 

The protector (always on the lookout). 

The sunbather.

People are always amazed at how calm this lab mix is and we never complained. From birth, she has never had tons of energy and is a laid back dog in general. And with that comes loyalty. If we were on a hike and something happened to us both, this dog would not leave our side. Her beautiful, deep eyes continually communicate with us and she has always been considered by us to have a 'human' personality. We know what she is thinking and she loves nothing more than to snuggle. Lacy takes pride in keeping watch on our home and her sister. But what's the favorite thing for the black dog to do? Burn up while sunbathing outside to the point where I can barely touch her. Crazy, but she loves it.

And then there were three....

Yep, that's right. We're having a baby!!!!! Most of you know by now, but this is the "OBP". (official blog post!).

"Baby K" will grace us with his/her presence next January and we couldn't be more thrilled.

As far as myself.... doing GREAT! I had some lower back pain for a couple weeks early on but other than that, nothing. I haven't thrown up once, and except for the occasional short bout of dizziness, pregnancy is treating me well! I LOVE knowing there is something living inside of me that goes wherever I go, and I just can't get over the miracle of life. This whole process is just amazing and it's definitely fun to read up on how the baby is growing each week. No tummy bump yet, but I'm getting there!

I'll update on here from time to time on the 'newest development', but right now we are just excited to know that our family is growing and we can't WAIT to meet the little guy/girl!!

4th of July Festivities

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th of July this year! We missed being with our families, but still ended up making it a good day.

First we ventured down to the local farmers market to find all ingredients for our 4th meal! We had wonderful filets, potato salad, watermelon and grilled some sweet corn. Then, we ventured to the beach for the afternoon and were pleasantly surprised with how nice the sand and beach was for Ohio!

Lastly, we walked to the fireworks display at the park about a mile away from our house. It was wonderful people watching and the absolute best display Derek and I have ever seen. It went on forever, ending with a finale AND an encore finale. I definitely also had a fun time all day playing with the new camera and figuring out how to shoot fireworks!

New Camera

New car and now a new camera! Needless to say, it was a GREAT 5th anniversary last weekend. I had been wanting to get a good, new DSLR camera for quite some time; and we have finally made that big purchase with our new Canon! After also buying lens filters, accessories, warranties and more, we pretty much supported an employee's salary for a few weeks at Best Buy. I can't WAIT to begin practicing more and taking a couple classes just to learn the basics. If I can just master taking good pictures of vacations and our pups, I will have considered myself a success!

I LOVED capturing my girls flying through the air last night as well as playing with the different lighting and backgrounds. It's amazing how much difference a little point and shoot and a DSLR can make in clarity and quality of pictures.

Here are just a few from my first practice with the new toy -

Niagara & Toronto Pictures

Just remember that these are from a $20 waterproof camera with old school film! Enjoy!

New Exploder

Since Derek now has a company car and I work from home, we essentially had two cars sitting around not being used. We have decided to combine and get a better, newer Explorer Eddie Bauer seeing as how we definitely need to keep an SUV for these winters. So below are the 'old babies' which were hard to say goodbye to and the blue is our new beauty which we LOVE!

(It kinda looks the same as our old Explorer, but is three years younger and is the newer, different body style with only 35K miles!)

Happy 5th Anniversary!

Another year of bliss in our perfect marriage. I couldn't ask for more than to have you by my side everyday forever. I can't wait for what the future holds for us as it will be a fun journey.

Thank you for making me smile daily.

I love you with all my heart.

Sarah

Oh Canada!

So for our 5-year anniversary, we decided to venture up North a bit and explore the Niagara Falls and Toronto areas. We had a great time and although there seemed to be a lot of trash everywhere and the people dressed extremely eclectic, we were overall impressed with Canada and liked these two areas!

The worst part? I forgot the stupid camera battery! I was charging it the night before and completely forgot to grab it. We had the camera... but no battery. What else was there to do than purchase a $20 disposable camera and look like we were from 1997 when clicking and winding pictures around the city?! So this blog is picture-less and you'll have to wait until I can actually get them 'developed'. Wow... old school, I know.

Here's a quick rundown of what we did and our thoughts in case you are ever in these areas!

Niagara Falls

Maid of the Mist - Obviously a 'must do' if you're going up there. Super fun to be that close!

Fallsview Casino - HUGE and tons of shopping and eating! No table games offered there though so we didn't do much gambling.

Toronto

CN Tower - 3rd tallest building in the world, but we only went about half way because SOMEONE is scared of tall buildings.

Beaches - Beautiful with kayakers and swans all over, but they had 'poor water quality' signs all over and there wasn't a single swimmer. Definitely more to see than to go into!
Second City - Derek and I loved the comedy of the Chicago location so we decided to make a date and see how the Toronto cast was. It was definitely funny and we'd recommend this to anyone who wants a good laugh!
Honest Ed's - I read online that you HAVE to experience then when coming to Toronto. Yes, it was huge, and yes, you could purchase almost anything and everything for under $1, but it was not our style. We did enjoy reading the history and seeing some of the old celebrity pictures who made their way through though!
Kensington Market - Cute shopping area with TONS of bargain stores and things to see!

Streetcars - I LOVED riding the streetcars everywhere. They were pretty easy to figure out and it felt very 1930's!

Chippy's - Per online, this was "Toronto's Best Fish and Chips" and boy was it yummy. Served made to order and fresh, the fish was delicious and the french fries were fat and juicy!
Gladstone Hotel - This is where we stayed and although we liked the location right on Queens street, it was a different experience. The rooms were TINY and had showers the size of those on cruise ships. They do support all local and organic items and the shampoo and conditioner were bars. I've never rubbed something like a soap bar on my hair so it was a new experience for me! The building was built in like 1885 or something like that and had beautiful, old woodwork inside with an old-time luggage elevator!

Also, while walking along Queen street one day, we stopped where a bunch of people were watching a stage, when a Miley Cyrus song started! Shortly after, she came out and was apparently doing a sound check for a show later that night. Needless to say, I was super excited to spot a celebrity on our trip.... even if she is a teeny-bopper!

Kitchen Ceiling is FLAT!

Remember the flood a few weeks ago that caused our horribly ugly kitchen ceiling tiles to become stained? Well it turned out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise for us.

Derek and I were never really fond of having tiles for a ceiling and it felt like we were thrown back to 1972. All we needed was some shag carpets and for Derek to grow out a mullet and we would have fit right in.

As of last Thursday evening, we now have new, thicker molding, patched and painted walls (where the holes were cut out), a smoothed and painted ceiling and two can lights instead of the old 1953 kitchen sink light! We are definitely super excited for our new kitchen ceiling, but honestly I am LOVING cooking more now that I have 150 watts of light as opposed to 60!

Here are some before, during and after pics. You can see the old light over the sink and yep, that's me painting the new molding away! The bottom right picture is the final flat ceiling with the fixture back up!

(click to make larger)

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to the best two dads out there!

Love,

Sarah and Derek

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

I've never been the biggest meatloaf fan so I was hesitant to try this new recipe I found online.

We were just so tired of eating chicken that I had to spice it up with some lean ground beef! I probably could have tried to make it with some even healthier ground turkey, but didn't want to tweak the recipe just yet.

Derek ended up LOVING it and I thought it actually was pretty delicious. It was a SUPER easy recipe and the loaf ended up very sweet and moist! I'm pretty sure I'll be making this again sometime soon!

INGREDIENTS:

- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar                               - 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

- 1/2 cup ketchup                                                    - 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef                           - 1 small onion, chopped

- 1/2 cup milk                                                         - 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

- 2 eggs                                                                    - 3/4 cup finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.

2. Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan and spread the ketchup over the sugar.

3. In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place on top of the ketchup.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.

 

What do you mix into your meatloaf?

 
 

 

Twinks

Guess who got some new matching bandana's for summer?

Book Review - The Lucky One

I LOVED this 2008 Nicholas Sparks book!

Somewhat different than his others, this story tells the unforgettable journey of a man whose brushes with death lead him to the love of his life. Reflecting on the idea of a lucky charm, the main character sets out on a journey to find his charm: a photograph of a smiling woman he's never met, but who he comes to believe holds the key to his destiny.

Easy read (as Nicholas Sparks always is!) and a great 'journey' story!

First Lasagna!

I ventured deeper into the world of cooking this week when I made my first lasagna. I realize there are TONS of ways to make lasagna, but I found this online at my favorite website and we thought it was delicious!

It definitely made enough to serve about 6-7 people so we had leftovers for days!

INGREDIENTS:

- 1.75 pounds lean ground beef                      - 1 onion, chopped

- 4 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste                    - 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

- 3.5 cups water                                          - 2 tablespoons dried oregano

- 4 teaspoons garlic powder                          - 4 teaspoons salt

- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper                - 2 tablespoons white sugar

- 12 ounces cottage cheese                          - 9 lasagna noodles
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese                  - 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

- 1 egg

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef until brown. Drain. In another skillet over medium heat, cook onion until translucent. Combine beef and onion in a large saucepan with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour.

2. While sauce is simmering, blend cottage cheese, Parmesan and egg until smooth. Set aside.

3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

5. Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a Pampered Chef 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover sauce with 3 noodles. Cover noodles with one-third of remaining sauce. Top with half the mozzarella. Place another layer of noodles and one of sauce over the mozzarella; top that with the cottage cheese mixture. Top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining sauce.

6. Bake in preheated oven 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top and bake 10-15 minutes more, until golden and bubbly. Then enjoy!

Stainless Kitchen Sink

Yeah!! We've finally gotten rid of the 1970's white sink and outdated faucet.

Looks MUCH better doesn't it?

A Weekend in Pittsburgh

Why Pittsburgh you ask? Well, it's only 2 hours away and why not?! Derek and I wished we had traveled more by car when we lived in Florida so we're going to make an effort to see a bunch of Cleveland's surrounding major cities. Here's a quick run down of some sights we saw! (Feel free to click on pics to make them larger)

First up was to eat lunch at the original Primanti Brothers. Highly recommended from several individuals at Derek's work as well as online. They are known for putting cole slaw and french fries actually ON their sandwich's.

OUR RATING: B- (nothing special... just a plain sandwich to us!)

Next was a quick run down the Strip - Pittsburgh's Historic Market District. We'd describe it as a farmers market/garage sale/antique sale. Would have been great if we needed some fruits or veggies for the weekend!

OUR RATING: B

Then we headed to the Monongahela Incline. It was #2 out of 43 things to do in the city of Pittsburgh and that does NOT say much for the city. It was a nice view up top but was exactly what one would expect.

OUR RATING: B

Following that we ventured a ways south to the Frank Lloyd Write Fallingwater House. It was definitely amazing how much he incorporated the natural land into the house and I can see why it's been noted as one of the top 40 sites around the country to see before you die. No pictures were allowed inside, but I snapped some outside. Definitely worth the visit!

OUR RATING: A+

Next up: Catching a Pirates game inside PNC Park. This ballpark was beautiful with the city as the background! It was extremely hard to move down to a lower section, however, with the ticket nazi's on watch but it was easy to get around and fun to watch!

OUR RATING: A-

And to end the night, we walked over to the Rivers Casino. This casino just opened last fall and unfortunately didn't have their 'table games' license yet so we were stuck playing slots. Derek did try this Blackjack table with an electronic dealer but it was awkward and we lost.

OUR RATING: B (I bet if they'd had their table games, it would be an A!)

The next day we got up and went to the Pittsburgh Zoo! It was a great, little zoo with peacocks walking the sidewalks, baby elephants and belly-flopping polar bears! I always feel like a 5-year old in zoos and am glad that Derek tags along for the ride.

OUR MY RATING: A+ (Derek might rate it slightly less!)

We ended the trip with a wonderful outside lunch at a local Grille and walked by the Carnegie Museum and Library. Overall it was a great weekend and we explored a new city that we might not have anytime else!