Jane Lately

Jane and I haven't done much of anything special lately (ever?), but here are some pictures from the past week or two.

^This is by far my most favorite picture of Jane.

^I took this picture to show off my new haircut :)  My sister-in-law is a hair stylist and was kind enough to give me a brand new 'do while she was here over thanksgiving.  Thanks Broni!  She knows her stuff!

^Cat photo bomb.

^Working hard at sitting up!

^Jane LOVES to watch the cats.  Only recently has she tried to reach out and touch them.  They have no idea what to do.  Most of the time they just sit there and stare at her like "... why can't you control your arms?".  She just kinda whacks them and if she gets a steady hand on them she grabs their fur.  Too funny.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  I know I did!  My parents and two of my brothers with their families were able to meet at our house to celebrate and spend time together.  It was so much fun to be with them!  After they all left, and as my parents were driving away from our house, I may have started sobbing like a little girl...  I just really love my family!  We missed all the family members that couldn't be there with us, but at least we got to Skype with most of them and see their beautiful faces!

Enough mushy stuff, now on to the fun part!

I don't have too many pictures from the weekend, but we managed to get some good ones on my phone.

^Olive and I played some field hockey Thanksgiving morning while Nono and Uncles Jared and Ryan played football with a bunch of other guys (I don't think I knew who any of them were...)

^She is one good hockey player! I can't wait until she's older and all that hard works pays off into championships and Olympic medals ;)

^Little man just hangin' out.

^Half way through our game O says, "We forgot to warm up!" haha So here we are taking a jog after doing some jumping jacks.  She cracks me up.

^Marme and Nono with all the cousins that came.

^Typical.

^I just discovered this cool thing! 

^This one is even better! 

I have edited pictures on my phone but they aren't showing up.  So once they do I'll post them on here.

So as you can see by the plethora of pictures(...) we had a really fun time together.  The food was delicious and I'm so thankful we were able to be together.  I'm thankful for all of my family members, their spouses, and all my nieces and nephews.  They mean the world to me :)

Wild Rice Soup

Today is rainy and cold.  It's perfect weather for some delicious soup!  This recipe is one of my favorites.  I found it on Pinterest last year sometime, and I've made it quite a few times.  It's quite thick, creamy, and delicious.  Everything I love in a soup.  

The recipe can be found here.

^Sadly, this is picture is not mine. But doesn't it look delicious??

Slow Cooker Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

2 tsp. Vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

2 medium stalks celery, diced (1 cup)

2 medium carrots, diced (1 cup)

1 cup diced smoked turkey (6 ounces)

1/2 cup uncooked wild rice

1 tsp. dried tarragon leaves

1/4 tsp. pepper

3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a small skillet.  Cook onion in oil about 4 minutes, until tender.

2. Place onion, celery, carrots, turkey, wild rice, tarragon, and pepper in slow cooker.  Pour broth over top.

3. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until wild rice and vegetables are tender.  Stir in peas the last 15 minutes of cooking.

4. Mix milk and flour; stir into soup.  Cover and cook about 20 minutes or until thickened.  

Easy peasy!

I don't follow the recipe exactly.  I use canned chicken or shredded chicken breasts instead of turkey.  A good amount of the reviews of this soup said that 1/3 cup of flour is too much and makes the soup way too thick, and I think I agree.  I have yet to make it the perfect thickness, but changing up the amount of chicken broth and flour will help keep it from becoming too thick.  More seasonings could also be added, to add more flavor and personalize it to the way you want it to taste.  

So there you have it.  A very basic recipe that can be tweaked whatever way you like.  Enjoy! 

New Blog!

Hey Everyone!

I decided that I wanted to start fresh with a brand new blog.  Just because.  Reasonable thinking, right?  I thought so too.  

So here we are, coming towards the end of 2013 and a lot has changed for this little family of mine.  We have a cat.  Her name is Piper.  She had kittens.

 ^This is very telling of Piper's personality.

 ^As is this picture.

 ^And this one.

 ^And this one too.  She's just a very expressive creature.  I love it.

 ^Here are two of the four kittens she had at the end of August.  Aren't they so precious??

^She has been a very good mom, even though I could tell that some days, she just wanted to be left alone :)

Three of the kittens have gone to good homes.  We still have one kitten here and he is just a little cutie.  He's a maniac, but so fun and he has brought out Piper's playfulness, which is pretty hilarious to watch.  She beats up on him pretty bad and he lets out little yelps now and then.  She's teaching him how to be a man!  So if any of you readers out there (Mom...) want a playful kitten or know of anyone in want of a cuddle bug, just let me know :)

We had another addition come to our family.  Her name is Jane.
Jane Eloise Brandt

 ^This is the first time her Daddy held her.

^"Mom, it's staring at me..."

Now, I have about a hundred million pictures of Jane, but I can't figure out how to get pictures from my phone to my computer to my blog and all that junk.  So basically I'm an idiot, but I'll figure it out soon so that I'll be able to post more frequently.

So there she is, our little bundle of joy.  I had a whole post nearly finished on my old blog telling her birth story, but I don't think I ever actually finished it.  So maybe that will be one of my posts for the future.  A few months late, but that's all right.  I'm pretty sure I have every detail from that night seared into my memory...

Jane is just the cutest little babe I've ever seen (duh), and I wish I had better pictures to show you.  She's goofy and dramatic, and pulls facial expressions I never knew babies could have.  Her smile is huge and she loves to stare at her Dad when he gets home from work.  Seriously.  She could stare at him all night long.  She also loves to watch the cats.

There's so much I could say about Jane so that you could know her, but I'm planning to post as much as I can, so I won't need to say a whole lot right now.  You'll get to know her, and our family, by sticking with me as I continue to post on this blog :)