Staple Meals in our Family

I was thinking about to write for this post and it never fails...it seems that my blog posts always seem to be about babies or food and how we do this in Asia! But then again, that's my life...babies and food :) Of course much more than that but it seems to be that is always on my mind. So, I apologize to those of you who are wanting more, today, food is on the brain. I was thinking about what staple meals we cook around our house. I have found that I cook so much more living overseas. I guess that's because you just can't run out and get Chick-fil-A or Thai food, yummy!! :) So, our family is starting to realize just what meals that we enjoy having week to week. I thought I would share those with you and hopefully you will leave comments on what meals your family likes to eat. And who knows, just maybe you will give me an idea of a new meal to cook around here :)
We like to eat:
Beef Tips
Chicken and Dumplings
Pork Tenderloin
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Spaghetti
Chicken Parmesan
Taco Soup
Tacos
Chicken Casserole
Calzones (this one was a new one from tonight!!)

So, that's our list for the moment and of course the occasional sweets that I fix...today I fixed a home made chocolate cream pie...yummy!! Tomorrow I am going to make zuchini bread and granola bars...I will let you know how it turns out! :)
So, blog friends out there, what meals do you enjoy cooking for your family??

And I thought about adding a picture of some of this delicious food but who has time to take pictures when you are trying to feed your child and yourself and still stay sane at dinner!
So instead, enjoy a picture taken of us back in the spring at the sports meeting at Clark's school.

Have a great day!! :)

Update

I only have a minute because Sadie is waking up....but I just had to update you...it is 8:00 in the morning and my child is just now waking up!!! YAY!!! I couldn't believe it when I woke up at 7:30 AM and realized that it was already 7:30!! Anyway...she is starting to cry so I must go!!! We will see how this continues....

Bedtime...

Well ladies (and others who read this blog!) she has done it! I am proud to say that my little girl slept until 7:05 this morning!!! Can you believe it? Clark and I were commenting on how well rested we feel :) I did follow the advice of friends who said put her down earlier. I think it actually helped! I have been putting her down about 6:40 and she is so ready for bed. I think also its the combo of her moving to one nap a day. I am doing what my friend Jen says, just removing the afternoon nap and moving her morning nap up. You all are brilliant! And I think this should work with no problem if she keeps sleeping until 7...or I am secretly hoping later next time. But for now...I will tak 7 with no problem!
Here's another question for you....I got loads of tomatoes yesterday from a friend who got them from friends. I am planning on stewing them today and freezing them...anybody got any good ideas on what to use with stewed tomatoes? I was thinking...tomato soup, use in taco soup...got any other good ideas?
Happy Monday!!!

Crazy Questions from me and other people

So...my child likes to get up early...and no, I don't mean early like 7:00 AM...try yesterday..5:15 AM! Why? Why does she like to get up early?? I have no idea!! I am open to suggestions on how to get her to sleep later. This would be for my sanity. We have tried black out curtains, we have put her to bed later than her normal bed time and nothing seems to help. But then again this morning she slept till a whopping 6:30!! We couldn't believe it. And we didn't do anything different. So, you moms out there...how do you get your kids to sleep later??

In other news...I have started telling lots of people around here that I am pregnant. The responses are crazy sometimes. Many people have looked at me and said, you want this child? And I, in shock respond, of course I want this child!!! And their response, who is going to take care of this child? Why me and my husband of course! You see, here they only have one child and the grandparents keep them. So, it's completely foreign to them that we would have more than one and 18 months apart at that and the fact that I would stay at home to keep the kids!!! I get crazy questions all the time...but this is amongst the craziest...do you want to this child? oh my goodness, what a gift from Father, of course I want this precious life!! Are we scared at having 2 kids, 18 months apart, living in Asia? Oh yeah we are!! But by His Grace, He will give us the strength when we are weak, because friends, we are weak, very weak.

Catching Up....

Almost two weeks ago, we took a trip down to a city on the coast with some friends of ours. While we were there we went to an aquarium. We had such a great time! I was highly impressed for Asia to have something like this! Sadie loved it. She kept pointing at all of the fish and other animals and saying.."oooh" and just loved every bit of it! Here are a few pictures of us that day.



In other news, we went to the doctor last Tuesday and heard Butterbean's heart beat! Things seem to be moving right along with his/her growth. I haven't gained any weight yet, I am hoping to do better than my 45 pounds from my last pregnancy! :) We should know some time in mid-August whether we are having a boy or girl. I am still pretty tired a lot. I did talk to the doctor about my migranes, he said that I just need to make sure that I am getting a lot of rest and not doing too much. It seems my headaches come on when I am tired. So, this makes life hard when I am chasing after a one year old! Clark has been great and helping out a lot. It's just hard getting used to not being able to do as much as I want to. But Father is good and He continues to give me energy when I need it!
Sadie's little personality is still continuing to come out. She is going to be a fireball but is so precious! She has learned to give me and Clark a kiss. But of course not when we ask for it, it has to be her wanting to do it! :) The other day Clark was getting on to her for something and she ran over to him arms open for a hug and gave him a kiss. Oh that girl! She is learning way to young!!!
Well, that's about it from us.....
Happy Monday! (Wait, can Monday's be happy? :)

How we do things here in Asia...

Since Monday, I have had the migraines of all migraines. I have had these things a lot during my lifetime, but hardly every during pregnancy and never like this. I woke up Tuesday morning after already suffering for one for 36 hours and begged and pleaded with Clark that something be done with this crazy head of mine! He called our friend in the states who made some suggestions. Then Clark got on the phone with the American doctor in the capital city near by and he said he had the meds we were looking for but we would have to come there to get them. That's about 2 hours there and 2 hours back. There was no way this little momma was getting in a car for 4 hours. I could barely move from the bed to the bathroom without excruciating pain. So, plan B, ask around here to see if anyone could get this medicine here for me. Our friend got the first meds for my nausea right down the street costing as little as 15 cents for 100 tabs! (LB, I thought about you dear and wished I could send some your way! They really do help!!) But I still had nothing for the head. No doctor would give me the meds because there way of thinking is a little different than the Western way and wouldn't pass those drugs along to me! And oh how I needed those drugs! So...Clark decided he would make the trip. As he prepared to leave and we got Sadie already to go to a friend's house, the driver called and said that he was already in the capital city and that they could just pick the drugs up and bring them to me. Praise Father!!!! All of this happened before noon yesterday. By three p.m. I had the drugs in hand! I took those suckers and started to feel better within two hours. And of course today...the headache started again, but thankfully, I already had drugs. Now, why isn't it just as easy as picking up the phone and getting the doc to call it in and running down to Walgreens to pick it up??? Ah, life in Asia! Wanna join us? :)

Me at One Year

So, my mom sent me this picture yesterday. This is me on my one year birthday! Do you think it looks like Sadie at all? I wish I had a picture of Clark at one year...I will have to ask his mom. Thought you might enjoy seeing this! :)

Reason for my absence...

So, I have decided that I just need to write on my blog when I feel like it and not wait for something whitty to say....I have all of these posts in my head but I never stop to put them down for others to see. So, today I decided I just need to write what is on my mind. And what would that be? None other than food! You see lately, I have been enjoying cooking like crazy. I have no apetite for Chinese food at all. Yeah, not a good thing, seeing as we live in CHINA! So, I have been cooking American food. I have made chicken and dumplings, hambugar steak, beef tips, pork tenderloin, tacos, spaghetti, brownies, chocolate cream pie, chicken casserole. You name it!! It has been lots of fun, I enjoy cooking. It is like my time away. Well, time away if you can call if that when you have a one year old holding onto your leg! But I love the challenge of creating something that you "hope" will taste good! :) And lately, my track record has been good, everything we have had has been great!!! Last night, Clark went and got us a pizza from pizza hut. And as I was cutting it up for Sadie I was so nauseous. It was the worst I have felt yet. I couldn't even handle being the same room with that horrible pizza! It was crazy!! I LOVE pizza, so that is a first for me! I am in my 12 week now, so hopefully I will get over this feeling sick pretty soon!!
So...yes, this is a random post about what is on my mind lately, and yes, it is nothing deep at all, other than talking about food :) I hope you enjoyed it!
I have this great idea for a fun post, maybe it will happen in the next few days!
Happy 4th everyone! We are about to go and enjoy it with some friends in our city....grilling out hamburgers, french fries, and I made cookies and brownies!
Now to go and get my screaming child....she was suppossed to sleep 2 hours and has only slept 45 minutes...this is a problem people.....