Overheard Conversations

The boys were having bonding time with their daddy.

He'd been gone most the night and all of the day plowing.  As he sat on the bed to plug in his phones, the boys bombarded him.  A huge pillow fight ensued.

As they ended up resting and chatting and catching up on their day for a little bit, S4 spoke up.  "Daddy, do you know why we love Moma so much?"

"Why's that?"

"Because she cooks good food," S4 informed him.

Husband laughed a bit and said, "Yup, that's the only reason we keep her around, too."

I am so outnumbered here.

But later as S4 was trying to tell me it was a good thing I was such a good cook, Husband just couldn't resist adding, "When we first got married, your mama couldn't even cook!"

S1's jaw dropped open.  He could not fathom such a thing.

It's true.

When we first got married I was young and didn't know a thing.  I am blessed with an amazing mom who made amazing food.  I imagined I would learn from osmoses, I guess.  It would just, you know, like, come to me naturally.

It didn't.

We lived on hamburger helper.

And that first year it worked kinda handy that we were walking distance to a Burger King and a pizza place in town served the biggest yummiest pizza's we had ever seen.

At some point that first year, I called my mom in tears and begged her for some sort of easy recipe to get me started on.

She told me how to make shepherd's pie and tuna noodle casserole.

To this day, my husband will not eat hamburger helper or tuna noodle.

To this day I only still make a few dishes regularly, but I know how to make those dishes pretty well.  But that the boys think I am great cook makes my heart feel all warm...even if hubs says that is the only reason he keeps me around and then reminds me of how awful of a cook I used to be.

Sheesh.

I feel EVER so loved.

Here is the recipe for Tuna Noodle Casserole...a favorite for everyone (ultimate comfort food) except my husband who turns up his nose at this to eat at McDonald's. (Pics of us eating this HERE)

Tuna Noodle Casserole

A bag of wide egg noodles (elbow macaroni works too)

Family size can of cream of mushroom soup (may need a small can as well)

Sour Cream

2 Cans of tuna

1 can of peas

cheddar cheese

Boil the noodles until cooked.  Add the tuna, peas and soup.  Add a good dollop of sour cream. Add more sour cream or soup as needed to make sure the mixture is creamy.  If you are a fan of cheese (we are), add a little shredded cheese and stir it in.

Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly (an hour maybe?)

Top with cheese and return to oven to melt cheese.

Serve.

We like it with rolls or bread and peanut butter - applesauce and milk to drink makes this taste extra good for whatever reason.

Enjoy!

It's Really Spring

I am writing this post in honor of my husband!

Well, spring has officially arrived in our home - my husband who has had a winter of working hard here at home is back to working hard on construction AND here. It'll take awhile to get used to the new regular change back to normal life.

In the winter, my husband takes the boys back and forth to school for me every morning, unless he has something big going on. He will rework his schedule just to take them in the morning. This gives me the morning to sleep in, wear my pj's extra long, exercise while he is gone and gives me an excuse to have a yummy breakfast in the morning (cuz he makes me omelets).

We settle into a relaxed schedule. It's wonderful! I go from having to run all errands to the store and being the 'mom taxi' to getting all kinds of help and being taken care of and I soak it all up. It's great. I feel all loved well cared for.

In the spring/summer/fall seasons, I do it all. My husband puts in long hours at his 'regular' job and then he puts in even more hours here at home with the garden (I don't know if you can call seven or eight acres of perfectionly cared for vegetables a 'garden'.) and we do just fine and dandy working that way but the winter is our time to reconnect. And by the time winter rolls around, we NEED to reconnect!

But in the winter we get lazy, we relax and sure, sometimes get on each other's nerves. The boys love coming home to see their Daddy and getting his help on homework. They wish they could stay home, they are sure that when Daddy is home we have all sorts of fun. And they are sort of right, we go out for lunch and breakfast sometimes and we don't ever EVER do that any other time.

So Wednesday began our day back into 'real life'.

My boys do not think it nearly as cool to arrive at school in our suburban than to arrive in their Daddy's pride and joy a rusty, old, covered in bumper stickers little gray car. I will admit here that I broke down and got them a new CD to help them enjoy the ride a bit more (- or was that me who needs to enjoy the ride more, not hearing how Daddy goes a LOT faster than this? or that Daddy does donuts, etc.....)

My husband and I have this little game we play. I once asked him what I did that made him feel loved. He said it was making up his special coffee. Now he holds his coffee up and lets me know when it gone or rattles a spoon to let me know it's gone. He gives me the most devilish grin when he does, and it's really funny to see people's reaction to him telling me to 'hop to' to get his coffee not knowing it's a game we play. I missed getting him his coffee in the worst way yesterday.

And while I was wandering the house lost and in a very sleepy state from getting up way earlier than I have in weeks(remember, I said I was getting lazy over the winter!), hearing our youngest say every five minutes "where is my Daddy? where are my guys?" I wondered, did I tell my husband how much I appreciate all the little things he did for me while he was home? Does he know I appreciate him?

Does your husband know you appreciate him?

Just something heavy on my mind today...................................