A lot of people ask me why I have my children so close together. I have two reasons. One is that it is so hard...the diapers, the loss of sleep, the teething, the stages, the tantrums. You might as well do it all at once and get through this stage as quickly as possible. But don't get me wrong. I do enjoy these stages. I've already decided I'm going to carry this last baby around on my hip until they are five and walking in the front doors of school to go to Kindergarten. Sure there are hard days, but like I've said before. The good days out-number the bad days BY FAR!!!
My second reason is because of this guy...
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| That's my brother Robbie (And a tree that was dying in the hot Phoenix sun). He's 25 months older than I am. |
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| He's my best friend. |
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| We did everything together and he was my biggest fan. |
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| I thought he hung the moon. (And my mom dressed him like a clown. haha) |
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| Our age difference was perfect and sure, we fought a lot. Teen years weren't that fun. |
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| But when he left for college, I missed my best friend and we became closer. |
My mom went to visit her mom, my grandma. The girls call her Gigi, but growing up, we called her Grandma Nevada because she lived in Nevada. Easy enough! My mom actually went to go visit both of her parents. She got to spend Father's Day with Grandpa Jack and then her and dad stayed at Gigi's house and helped do projects around the house and enjoyed her company. While mom was in town, she ran in a 5k and won her age division.
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| On the winner's podium! |
I'm so proud of her and all her running. She started running while we were in High School. Dad used to run all the time. We had a pecan orchard behind the house and dad would disk a path back there. Robbie and I used to ride our bikes around it like we were racing. Dad would run in tennis shoes and his wrangler jeans. :) Once my parents moved to Snyder, Texas, my mom started entering races in 2006. My dad was all about it. He would help her train and encourage her. She was pretty good because she won several races. Robbie and I were so proud. When we were home one Christmas, we told her that Adam's friend Andrew wanted to race her. Robbie told her to take a picture of her game face and show him that the race was ON! So this is the picture we got to show Andrew.
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| Robbie loved it so much, I blew it up poster size for him. |
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| Starting line. |
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| Adam just had knee surgery so dad hauled him to the finish line in the back of the truck. |
Boy this post has been fun to write. Lots of old memories and fun pictures to look at! I'm probably the only one enjoying it.
On to the recipe! My mom used to make this for us when we were little. We called it "Boings". We would ask her if she was making boings tonight. It's because you use Rotini and they look like little boingy springs. It is pretty kid friendly and an easy casserole to stick in the oven. It only bakes for 35 minutes so it gives you plenty of time to clean up your mess, make a side or two, and set the table. You'll have to give it a try!
Baked Rotini
from dear ol' mom
8 oz Rotini
1 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 - 28 oz can tomatoes, cut up (I bought petite diced to avoid chopping)
1 - 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 - 4 oz can of sliced mushrooms, undrained
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp basil leaves
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 cups grated mozarella
Prepare rotini according to package directions. Drain. In large skilled, cook ground beef, onions, and green pepper. Drain excess fat. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, mushrooms, and seasonings. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. Combine cooked rotini and sauced. Layer into a 13 x 9 like this. Half noodles and meat mix, half mozarella, other half of noodles and meat, rest of mozarella. Bake in oven at 350 for 35 minutes. Enjoy!
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