Kluth Family Ranch Day

Man oh man. I know I have said it before but Danny's family has this ranch that is such a glorious place. Just about an 1.5 hours away so not too far but far enough to definitely not feel like you are in the city. Danny's grandparents were gracious enough to let my family spend all day out there on Saturday. We even had 2 family members from Chicago (Pat and Patti) come in for ranch day. All in all we had 17 adults, 6 kids and 1 on the way. We did some 4 wheeler riding, elk brisket eating, and lots and lots of fishing. I mean you would have thought we were professionals because we were pretty much catching them every time we put a lure in. It was a great time and we couldn't have asked for better weather! Here are some pics to sum it up.

Ah mom, you caught us.

I just do the catching not the getting the slimy thing off the lure. I know, so girly.

This is a mom of 4 y'all. I know....
I don't know how she does it either.

The boys gettin their fish on.

Cooper with the fish of the day.

The girls having some serious girl talk over dirt.

Birthday girl enjoying her cupcake

Hey, did you need this egg. I am talking with Papa.

The kids

During the kid wrangling

Wrangling little M for the kid pic

Family pic

Yummmm

So I made dinner last night. For those of you that knew me pre solid food inhaling Molly, this was a rare occasion. I am proud to say now I cook at least 4-5 nights a week  3-4 nights a week which is a lot people! So my mom brought over this butternut squash because, well, Molly loves them. So, during her nap time yesterday I was doing some pinterest perusing to see what I could make with the squash. I knew I didn’t have enough stuff for her all time favorite, butternut squash mac and cheese, so I settled on butternut squash lasagna. OH.MY.WORD. It was so good! Danny even loved it which for him was HUGE. This man doesn’t eat veggies, period. Well, I should say that, he will eat lettuce with ranch dressing and now he will eat butternut squash lasagna. Winning!!! Here is the recipe courtesy of Mom Foodie Robin Gagnon.

Butternut Squash Lasagna (on-the-fly)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of reduced fat 2 % milk
• 2 tbs. fat free plain yogurt
• 1 tbs flour
• 1½ cups marinara (or pasta sauce of choice)
• 6 sheets of no boil lasagna noodles
• 4 slices of cheese (prewrapped singles or equivalent easy melt cheese) - I just used grated parmesan for this
• 3 cups cubed butternut squash (steamed)*
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Whisk together the milk & flour in sauce pan. Place over medium-high heat bring to boil, whisk regularly. Cook until sauce starts to thicken, but not reduce. Remove from heat & set aside.
3. Spread marinara on bottom of 8×8 baking dish, and top with 2 sheets of noodles.
4. Spread a little of the white sauce on top, just enough to coat noodles.
5. Mash the squash, and mix in egg (this can easily be done in food processor).
6. Spread a layer of the squash over white sauce, layer on 2 torn slices of the cheese, then marinara. Top with 2 more noodles and repeat. 
7. On top of the final two noodles, spread the remaining white sauce, then marinara, finally top with the grated Parmesan cheese.
8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for a final 5 minutes.
9. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Notes

* squash can easily be steamed by placing in glass bowl, wrapping in plastic wrap and microwaving until tender

* Yogurt gets spread over 1st squash layer (sorry, forgot to add that in)

The only thing I will change in the future would be to add meat (I will probably do spicy ground turkey) per Danny’s request because this man is a carnivore. I could easily be a vegetarian but I digress. I would also boil the noodles. I used the no boil necessary noodles that the recipe called for and hey less work for me….I will take it but the noodles were still hard after 45 minutes of cooking or as Jenna called them, al dente. We are not that fancy so we just called them hard. And I didn’t have plain yogurt on hand because plain yogurt is gross but I did have ricotta cheese so I added that. So, sans yogurt add ricotta. Go try it! You will not be disappointed. Soooo yummy and let’s go ahead and call this healthy. ;)

Rain, Rain, Come Again....

That is not usually how you say that little jingle but that is how Molly would say it. At least the sprinkling kind of rain.

The other week there was a quick, intense storm at my parents house. Well, as the raining was finishing up I took M outside to see what she would think of the rain. She LOVED it. Thought it was hilarious.....kids these days, or maybe just kids in general. She is definitely not a prissy girl, maybe that will come later but she was all about jumping in the mud puddles and getting as dirty as possible. Here are the pics to sum it up.

It's raining out here

Oh my goodness, there is water falling from the sky! I love water!!!!!

Like really, this is FUN!

Ahhhhh - get out here mom!

Good thing it is supposed to rain here tomorrow, hopefully we will be able to go out afterwards and play.

15 months old!

Wow, how time has flown by. I know I write this in each of your monthly posts about how you amaze me but goodness girl you continue to amaze me month by month. It is crazy to think how you used to be this tiny little baby that depended on me (and daddy) for everything but now you are a rambunctious, smart, outside lovin, baby doll huggin, firecracker kind of girl. Here is your monthly info:

This is my vintage look

Clothes:

• 18 and 18-24 month clothes 
• diaper: size 4
• shoe: 4.5 - 5

Sleeping: You still take your one good nap from 1-3pm and go to bed around 7:15pm -7:30pm. For the most part you are up about 8am but for about a week you were up at 7am this month which makes it a little tricky for me to get ready for the day because I generally get ready before you get up. Luckily when you wake up you are completely content and play in your crib for at least 20 minutes before you start calling my name. 

Eating: You drink 3 sippy cups of milk with your meals and eat 1-2 snacks a day (sometimes you don't eat a morning snack).  You are a good eater but still a bit picky on the meat and veggie side.

New Tricks: You point to most all of your body parts (at least the ones we are teaching you), you have started twirling when you dance, you can pick out animals (ducks, dogs, bunnies, turtles, birds)

Words: You still say these words: uh-oh, mamma, dada, do (dog), ba (ball), owl, harli (our dog), mommy. You new words this month are: daddy, papa (my dad), nenna (Aunt Jenna, my sister), pop (Danny's dad), Bobbie (Danny's brother), tach you (thank you), hi, nigh nigh, bye bye, baby, shus (shoes), sx (socks)

Hey! Whatcha doin over there? I am gonna need you to hand me the hose.
I am not wearing my swimsuit so I can stay dry.

Teeth: You back teeth have finally started to break through. You have 10 teeth now (both back ones are on the right side).

Likes: You still love all the same things liking reading books, dancing, being outside, riding your car and horsey. You LOVE to play in or with water. I think we need to invest in a water table or something. I built a little "fort" for your behind your chair in your room with books, your lovie, and some Christmas lights and you would have spent all day back there but you just like being behind the chair as it is your favorite hiding spot. Speaking of hiding spots you LOVE to play hide and seek which really just means you want us to chase you. You don't quite have the hiding part mastered. Your hiding spots are behind people's legs.

Dislikes: You are not a huge fan of riding in the car especially when it is more than 10 minutes which can make for a really long car ride for mommy. The past couple times we have dropped you off at the church nursery you are NOT a fan but you love going to school. So weird, maybe it is because you are there more but you cry and cry hard when we drop you off at church.

***Updated 4/17/13 We went to see Dr. D today and here are your STATS:
Height - 31.5 inches (80.74%). You have grown 1 inch since your 1 year check up. 
Weight - 25lbs 10oz (85.86%). You have gained 2lbs 1oz since your 1 year check up. 
Head circumference - 18.5 inches (80.13%). Your head grew .23 inches since your 1 year check up. 

mmmmm popsicle

Girlfriend, you are a ham! Seriously, you love being the center of attention and you know when all eyes are on you because you pull out all your tricks to get people to laugh. Sometimes it is so hard for me and daddy to be serious when we tell you no because you give us this look that just cracks us up but we try and be strong. Girl - there is one thing. You have started pinching, particularly people's faces. That is a no - we are working on that. So if anyone picks up little miss m just beware, watch out for the hands. You are pretty independent but always want someone to be close by so they can chase you if need be. You are uber proud of yourself when you see something that you know and you just keep pointing and yelling until we acknowledge you like 50 times. Sometimes you wear me plum out but Molly Grace you are my little home slice and I can't go too long without looking at a picture or video of you or giving you a little huggy hug if you are around. It's plain and simple. I love you my little goose. I can't wait to see what next month brings us.

Whirlwind of a Weekend

Goodness this weekend was jam packed with fun stuff. My paternal grandparents came in town from Ft. Worth to visit little miss. They hadn’t seen her since her b-day so to say they were excited and eager to see her would be an understatement. So Thursday night they came over after work to play and have dinner.

Getting some serious reading time in thanks to Granny and Great Granddad

Friday we made the trip the galleria to see your banners! And, we stopped by the Build a Bear and you pretty much had the place to yourself and just wandered around looking at everything. Of course your papa and great grandparents were so proud I think they told everyone they saw that you were the girl on the banners! It was quite humorous.

Gettin a little pep talk before seein the banners

Say cheese!

Look Molly, that is you.

Now, if I could just get my foot in the water

I gotta take a little break while yall are taking a million pictures

Saturday your daddy and I had to go to a funeral of a very sweet man. I didn’t know him well but what I did know of him was that he had a sweet spirit and a kind smile. It was your Mawmaw’s brother (Danny’s grandma) that went to be with Jesus. You on the other hand had a blast with Granny, Granddad, Papa and Uncle T at the park. After nap time we headed over to Mimzie and Papa’s house to have dinner with cousins. You were the life of the party making everyone laugh at dinner. We kinda think you are crazy funny and I think you know it!

 

Sunday, we woke up, went to church, napped then back to the galleria to show daddy your banners.

More pictures?!? Fine, I am just gonna sit here and wait

We had a great weekend and you little girl are truly blessed with the amount of people that love you!

Birthday and Easter Festivites

Saturday was my 29th birthday. One more year til 30, better make this one a good one! It started out great with me sleeping in a little bit - you can't beat that when you have a wee one. I walked into the kitchen to find Danny cookin away getting breakfast ready. While he finished up I went and got M out of bed. Danny had the menu written out so I just got to hang out and play while breakfast was prepared. My kind of meal!

Daddy's a good cook!

After that, we got ready and headed to the ranch for the annual Klotz family (Danny's maternal side) Easter celebration. Oh, what a glorious place, 200 acres of freedom that we don't get to experience enough. There were 11 great grand kids there so of course we had to have an egg hunt! Most of the kids marched out there and ran to collect eggs, Molly on the other hand saw her first egg and plopped down and worked on opening it so she could get the candy inside. This girl doesn't wait for food. All in all, she got three eggs with much convincing on our part to keep her moving and looking for eggs - we brought twelve. I should have known we wouldn't have gotten past one - ha!

Go Molly, go Molly, go!

I found an egg, now what!?

Ok, maybe I sat down a little too early, gotta rrreeeaacchhh

Hmm, what's in here?

Hey mom, you wanna hand me those. (please) 

Anyone need a kiss? 

Just hanging out like a big kid with Pawpaw

The attempt at a posed kid pic (we are missing two)

Then we moved on to lunch, nap then more playtime. And my MIL brought my favorite cake of all time, the Tollhouse cake at Empire Cafe. I have talked about it before when I was preggers and how I craved it all the time. Man oh man - it was just as good as I remembered. It is making my mouth water just thinking about it. Wait, lemme go get a piece.....ok back. Delish! Around 4pm we closed up shop and headed home for a birthday celebration with my family at Benihanna, yum!

William chillaxin with Uncle Bobby (chillaxin is still a cool word right?!?)

Pops, what is Lolli putting on my head...

Let's go daddy

We had an outfit change after lunch to her shirt that says "hanging with my peeps" and now I thought I would take you through the mind of a 14 month old on how to sit in a chair.

A chair that is my size.

One foot up

Gotta stand up

Now turn around and sit down

Almost done

Got the leg out

Now, I am ready!

On Easter Sunday we woke up, got ready and headed to church. What a great service! He is Risen, He is Risen indeed. M loved her big twirly dress. After nap time we headed to my parents to hang out and have a delicious meal.

Easter loot

Wait, Molly let's try this again in our Easter pj's

That's better!

Clearly not in a hurry to get ready.

My twirly dress!

Family pic with a little girl that is NOT feeling it.

What?!? Can I not eat this yet?

Here Great Grandma, you want this?

Oh my goodness, he's gonna find me, he's gonna find me.....

Eeeekkkk, he found me!!!

This weekend was just perfect! I am truly blessed.