Boys and Tractors....

"Cooo dude"...Noah

So, there is a small town near us that has an annual Tractor fair the first weekend in Spring. Some friends of ours told us about it and we all went and had a great time. I thought it was so neat to see so many different kinds of tractors...and Jon, of course being the Mechanical Engineer that he is, wanted to figure out how they all worked. Luckily, some of our friends that came with us grew up around farms so they could offer us some great insight. Noah wanted to climb on all the tractors and play with the steering wheels.
Here's some pictures from the day's events....

A very old tractor, to which Noah kept saying..."Browwken? browken."

As if to say..."Don't you mess with MY tractor!"

See...boys and tractors....trying to figure out this giant tractor!

And of course, some of you may know that this past weekend we traveled to Czech to visit some of Jon's distant relatives...so I will be posting about that next. THAT trip was a blast! Can't wait to blog about it! ....I think Jon might want to have the honor of bloggin it.

love these boys...

So, when Mom is away..the boys will play.......So silly.Yes, Jon taught Noah to say " eeeyyyy matey!"

Oh, the other weekend Noah attended his very first Birthday Party. Here he is, very proud of his gift to his friend, Lochlan.I have an endless supply of cute scrapbook stuff I never get to use..so I thought I would spruce up the ordinarily plain brown paper wrapping job.Noah spruced up his side too...drew him a nice picture! Needless to say, the wrapping job proved to be a big hit at the party. Oh and he just loved the party, there were plenty of lil ones his age that he played with and all night long he kept sayin, "berday pawtee? berday parteee!!!" Even on the way home. ...I think he even mentioned it today as a matter of fact.

Meanwhile...March Madness has begun....the TV is on.......My bracket is filled out...happiness is everywhere here at our house!

Happy Easter Season

I just thought I would take advantage of these cute Easter-ee blog headers/pages.
So...Here are the cute lil Easter pics of Noah from the previous years.
Im bummed just a lil bit....this year we didn't plan any cool Easter pics! Shocker I know! Sorry to let all of you down. I know we always gave you guys a really good laugh with those!

....on another note....MARCH MADNESS has begun....

have you done your bracket today?????

Oh man...I can't wait..I can't wait! Mine is filled out...but Im a lil hesitant about my picks this year. Oh well. The cool part about this tournament is that we get to watch some with Jon's brother Mark! :) He comes to visit in about a week! YAY!

Cheerios!

Brown Bag Burritos...yum!!!

So, after talking to my Mom about these lil diddies I decided I should post about them.

Ok let's begin. I was reading some blogs about foods to make ahead and freeze and I came across this recipe for Brown Bag Burritos:It makes a ton of burritos...20 to be exact...Excellent for putting in Jon's lunches and such.

I went to the store to gather recipe ingredients and stood in front of the dry packet mixes for a long while. ( I had just attempted and succeeded with an amazing pulled pork seasoning packet from McCormick, so I thought I might find a seasoning packet for burritos:) ) Sure enough, there it was. So, I read the back of it and it looked similar to the ingredients of the original recipe...I decided to do half the beef with the packet directions..and do the other half original.
I also found a packet of Old El Paso Spanish Rice in a microwavable pouch that I decided to add to my experiment too.
Here's the new recipe....they are delicious..I just finished eating one!

1 lb ground beef
1 burrito seasoning packet (and what is listed on the packet)

• 1 cup water
• 1 can refried beans

1/3 cup chopped onions
1 packet of spanish rice
about 12 burrito tortillas (mine were small..so if you get the big ones...probably half that amount)

Brown up your beef, add the onions...then add the rest! Wait till the mixture gets thick and then load your burritos! (I used my cookie scooper to load mine up, about 3 scoop fulls per burrito...it made it so much easier and evenly distributed my burrito goo) If you plan to freeze them like I did, wrap them in a paper towel first, then foil. Here's what I ended up with.

Yay! I felt so accomplished! I have lunch ready for the whole week for Jon! YES! Oh, and I felt so good about them, I decided to wait to make the original recipe for next week. So, I cannot tell you how those taste/turn out yet. But, Im sure they will be just a great.

And...since you took time to read this...I will reward you...
....

with some pictures...

Here's Noah trying on his big boy underwear I bought him. We aren't potty trained yet, but I thought I would get ready for the big day! What a ham!!!!

(note, when we were in the underwear isle..the box HE grabbed was Little Mermaid! LOL! I think it's because he likes fish so much!)

Also....drum roll....the very first...

Belly shot....17 weeks! I feel great! My clothes still fit me...aside from not being able button up my jeans! No biggee..I've just been using a rubberband! :) Can you believe we are close to half way to meeting this lil baby?????????