On Our Plates: Easy Crockpot Mongolian Beef

So before Felicity was born, when the nesting took over, Mommy made many, many crockpot meals and froze them. Well, sadly, we've just about eaten them all. The convenience of those meals cannot be overstated. Most of them were able to feed us two or three times (ain't no shame in great leftovers). And we're ready to share with you exactly which ones didn't taste like cream of glue.

Up first, Easy Crockpot Mongolian Beef. This was totally up our alley. Saucy. Oriental. And there was rice. Vivian loves rice...but why does it have to be one of the messiest foods?? Sticky rice doesn't exactly sweep up off the floor nicely. And there was hoisin (look in the international aisle at the grocery). Tim doesn't actually believe hoisin is an ingredient; he eats it like a condiment. Anyways, here's the tried and true recipe. We hope you like it, too.

Easy Crockpot Mongolian Beef

1 lb. stew meat
2 tsp. olive oil
1 onion, thickly sliced
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. fresh minced ginger
1/2 cup hoisin sauce

Instructions

1. Freezer directions- mix everything together, dump into a labeled freezer bag, seal, freeze.
2. If you remember, take the bag out of the freezer the night before and let it defrost in the fridge. Cooks fine without doing this, just give it the full 8 hours to cook. The next morning dump the bag into the crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you're going to be longer, just add a bit more water so it doesn't dry out. 
3. Serve with fresh sliced green onions (if you have any in the veggie drawer, tastes fine without them) and rice.

As Backpack would say, "Yum yum yum yum yum, ¡delicioso!"

ZOO

We took a trip to the zoo this week. Our second time this year. It's one of the girls favorite places and their parents love it, too. Although, Felicity seemed to be a little shocked by the whole thing. :-)

It was a big party for all the zoo members which meant the zoo was insanely busy! But with the free rides, meal, and bounce houses, we didn't mind. Plus the weather was pretty cool so many of the animals were active. Except these lemurs who didn't appreciate the 70 degrees and tried to roll together in a big ball of body heat.

 
This orangutan was so pretty and the girls loved watching her because she had somehow thrown a sheet over her head. Looked like she was pretending to be the Virgin Mary.

Aunt Maria came with us this time. (Sorry, Maria, next time we'll get a picture with your eyes open.) We always like having her around.

Mommy's favorite picture of the day:

Felicity passed out on her Daddy. Ah. Too sweet. Hope you're making some fun summer memories!

We get that a lot

So, we know this has been hashed out many times by many blogging parents. That's ok. We're always pretty happy to throw in our two cents about the strangeness of strangers. As the parents of young children, here is what we don't want to hear again.

1. Are they twins?
          NO. No. no. The big one. The one that's 5 inches taller than the littler one. She's older. Another clue: she doesn't put everything in her mouth anymore. This is the most forgivable because the two oldest do look alike especially when sitting next to each other in the cart at Kroger. What we actually say with a smile, "Nope. 11 months apart. Irish twins. So you're close!"

2. These days go by so quickly. Cherish them.
          Actually it is our prayer that some of these hours/days will go by quickly - some are just harder than others. And if you want to cherish them, we'll loan you our little cherubs for five minutes in a public place. How about, say, in line at an ice cream shop? Or trying to cross the street to get to the library? Or in Walmart with a cart full of groceries, ready to check out, when the two year old has to go potty? We love them, but parenting has it's moments. What we actually say is nothing. Just smile. With clenched teeth.

3. Just wait until they're teenagers.
          Yes, we are. We're waiting for the time we can have an actual conversation and we don't hear the word "why" 75 times. Said it before, saying it again - at least when they are teens they will be able to feed themselves, go to the bathroom on their own, avoid smearing the jalapenos in the garden all over their faces, etc. What we actually say, "Yup. We'll have three teenage girls in the house at once." Stating the obvious and walking away is effective.

4. When are you going to stop nursing?
          She's not even four months old. No one is counting the days more than Mommy. So can we get a little nursing support, peeps? What we actually say, "Oh, we'll start solids around six months."

5. Three? Wow. So...you're done having kids, then?
          SIGH. So much we'd like to say about this. To begin with isn't the question a little personal?!?! We have been shopping in the same store for a total of ten minutes and now you want to have a discussion that we reserve for our closest family and friends. Odd. Furthermore, is three children REALLY that many? Really? Really? Historically, no. Yes, we know as well as anyone how much work they are and how much money they "cost" and the sacrifices they require and all of that. But if God's giving out the gifts and trying to get us to heaven there are worse things He could hand out than children, no? Some people He gifted with martyrdom. We'll take the kids. What we actually say, "Well, we've always said at least five, but we'll just see." Then, before they pass out, more of the walking away.

Are we missing any?


Sorry...no pictures today, just rants. Thanks for listening.

For the Sake of Being Real

A bedtime story before we shovel them into bed.

Having three kids (three and under) is hard. Maybe it gets easier when they are older?? Sometimes we do not know how people with more children do it. Actually, we're not exactly sure how we're doing it. We've started calling this "Survival Mode". We're doing what we have to to keep it together. Mowing the lawn the minimum number of times to not be the "bad neighbors". Sweeping the floor of food but rarely scrubbing it...occasionally Swiffering. Our meals aren't what you'd call gourmet or often even yummy. Most come out of a crockpot and taste similar. Exciting. Should we admit that perhaps the living room has only been seriously vacuumed two or three times since Felicity was born? And now that she can scoot off her blanket, we're going to have to be better about that. We spend more time in the cry room and bathroom during Mass than actually praying. Oh yeah, we're here and breathing and this blog makes it look like we're having all kinds of good fun.

Felicity's first swim...she really did love it!

But for the sake of Being Real...know that there are days we're ready to throw in the towel and say, "We're done. Three is all we can take."

But for the sake of Being Real...know that we're in "Survival Mode". And hopefully one day these parents will get a real, one-on-one, 2 hour (at least!?!?) date again.

But for the sake of Being Real...know that we're eating way more hot dogs and cold meat sandwiches than the American Academy of Pediatrics would approve of.

But for the sake of Being Real...know that Felicity is being breastfed only by sheer willpower. Cause this Mom doesn't like it at all.

But for the sake of Being Real...know that Tim works late many, many nights and truly wishes he had more time eating family dinners and being with his girls.

But for the sake of Being Real...know that we went to bed last night before 10 PM. Probably before Tim's grandparents.

But for the sake of Being Real...know that we have some serious sibling rivalry/catfighting happening in this house. And that's understating the situation by A LOT.

But for the sake of Being Real...know that we're giving credit where credit is due. God is the ONLY one getting us through these challenges and keeping us from losing it.

Despite her parents failings, turns out Miriam is having a happy childhood.

Frequently we marvel over how difficult we thought that first one was. Seemed we were barely surviving. Doubtless the first is a shock to the old system. But now...now we laugh at how much free time we must have had then that we didn't appreciate.

Vivian enjoys some fruit snacks - all nutrition, all the time.

So what we really want to say is: Cheers to three little girls who we love to death. Who make our life chaos. But who are absolutely worth it.

POP!

In honor of the Hot Air Balloon Festival last week, we had Balloon Week. A few highlights - Using this worksheet, we practiced our shapes. Mommy was pretty impressed with both girls' ability to do the activity independently (except for the cutting, that's something we need to work on eventually).

And they loved adding "clouds" to their hot air balloon scenes.

We also talked about the letter "Bb". Bonus: being allowed to use a highlighter!

Mommy filled balloons up with different materials and the girls had to guess what was inside. They LOVED these balloons...played with them for hours during the week.

The blue balloons had water, yellow was dirt, green was tiny alphabet pasta, and red...

...no, you can't hear the ocean in the red balloon. It's just flour. With no prompting, they started sorting their balloons and making patterns! 

Of course, balloon week wouldn't be compete without water balloons. The heat certainly called for it!

Finally, we made ice gems. Easy fun: few drops of food coloring (or a lot if you're like us) into a balloon. Fill with water and tie. Freeze for at least 24 hours. 

Peel the balloon off and enjoy! 

Both girls carried the ice gems around the yard like their babies. 

But in the heat, these babies didn't last long. Hope you were able to stay cool, too!

We've got ourselves a Roller.

As narrated by Felicity:

"Hi, Mom! It's me...your cutest, sweetest child. I'm about to do a trick. You'd better get the camera. I'll just suck my thumb while you do that."

"Are you ready now? Ok, great! No, that wasn't the trick. Keep watching."

"I'm pretty sure I can do this one with my thumb in my mouth."

"Oh shoot, my arm's stuck."

"TA-DA!"

"Now wait...how do I get off my tummy?!?!?"

14.5 weeks old and rolling. Overachiever already.

Come Fly Away With Me

We were inspired this weekend

In a town half an hour north

Our friends Mike and Chris with their oldest daughter, Maria

By a gathering of hot air and fabric.

Grandpa and Miriam

No, it wasn't a quilting shop, but a hot air balloon festival. 

Mommy and sleeping Felicity

We're going to overwhelm you with pictures...and this is a very parred down selection. But really we loved it! They were all beautiful. And who sews something that big? Where is it done and how?

Miriam, Vivian, and Aunt Nichole...the girls loved the Sugar Bear balloon

We got to hang out with friends and family. Including our friends Mike and Chris. Their oldest daughter is a couple months younger than Vivian and then they have TWIN girls who are a few months older than Felicity. (So you can imagine how busy these parents are every day.) When all our girls are older they will have SO much fun together! Until then, we really admire how patient, generous, and joyful they are! 

Chris' mom with one of their twins

It was a beautiful day.

Miriam and "little" Maria play Ring Around the Rosy

It's on our bucket list to take a hot air balloon ride, so maybe this brought us one step closer?

There was a really good announcer at the event who had been a hot air balloon pilot in the past. He explained the winds and the competitions. This was the one we saw: Each pilot had a bean bag with him or her. They flew their balloons from any spot they choose in town back to the festival at the small county airport. When they returned, the pilots had to lower their balloons, toss the bean bag out to hit a mark, then rise back up and sail away to a safe landing place. The pilots whose bean bag was the closest to the mark won. Really fun to watch and cheer on the pilots as they lowered themselves to almost scrape the ground and then glide away again.

Hot air balloons are pretty temperamental creatures. Too much wind from the wrong direction makes for a cranky balloon. Saturday wasn't too bad for them.

The pilots name their balloons. Mommy really likes naming, so that made her smile.

Aunt Maria and Aunt Bridget

Plus, some of them look like giant quilts.

While the day was too windy for these big, unbalanced guys to fly, the pilots did blow them up and the girls thought they were fabulous!

Betty Jean the Butterfly

Arky

 Loved seeing these two in their wide-brimmed hats. 

Grandpa and Felicity

 At the end of the night, the pilots set up their balloons in the airfield...

...and put on a light show for the crowd.

Bet you can guess the theme this week in our house.