dinner is served.

i really enjoy cooking.  

my favorite is to cook for a lots of people.

don't get me wrong, i do enjoy cooking for mike, but i like making lots of food.  

it makes me happy & feel fulfilled when i can provide yummy food for hungry bellies.

tonight i made my favorite recipe.

it's kinda my signature meal.

i made it up a few years ago & it's made its way onto many a friends' dinner table.

i have decided that i would like to share it. 

i think it's worth sharing, so here you go:

oh, but let me warn you....i don't measure things when i cook.

{you'll have to forgive me for not offering a true recipe.}

oh, and it doesn't have a name other than "shannon's recipe".

start with a pound of ground turkey {you could use ground beef if you wanted}

i use a wok to brown it up in some olive oil:

then i cut up a bunch of veggies. 

i use red, yellow & orange peppers, summer squash & zucchini 

{and sometimes spinach & grape tomatoes}

once the meat is browned, dump in the veggies:

then comes some flavor.

i use crushed red pepper flakes, onion powder & soy sauce.

but here's the part of the "recipe" that is where i freestyle.

i like some spice so i do a few shakes of the pepper flakes.

i give the meat a nice covering of onion powder.

and probably 7 shakes of the soy sauce {i totally just made that up}

while the veggies are getting tender, i cook the rice.

i'm all about microwaving my rice using my pampered chef steamer pot.

great purchase!

allow it to simmer until the veggies are tender to your liking.

i personally like them very tender, but i know some people like them a little crunchier.

then check on the baby who is crying in the other room:

serve over rice & you've got yourself a great meal!

for some reason awhile ago i started eating mine with parmesan cheese.

so there you have it.

"shannon's recipe" as prepared by me.

let me know if you try it!

my week via instagram

ok, so we are back on track!

as i mentioned before, i have those "i think i'm getting sick" feelings.

i just finished gargling with salt water.

yep, sore throat.

and just you wait to see what this week has held for me!

the week started out like any typical week.  

we hung out & enjoyed having the windows open in the house. 

{anyone else disappointed about the forecast for this week....which is, in reality, typical march weather LOL}

we also enjoyed some freebies this week:

first was rita's

& then brewster's 

{yes, we got free ice cream....a HUGE ice cream...just for wearing our pj's}

so 2 weeks ago i was at my parent's house & discovered that my dad had pink eye....

while he was holding eli {commence prayers of protection}

turns out, my dad loves to share...

 this was me thursday night.

hot, right?

mike took this pic:

i don't remember pink eye being so painful.

friday morning.

this doesn't even do it justice.

the entire white of my eye was blood red.

still is.

i tried hiding my eye by wearing my glasses for a few days.  

{we sent this pic to daddy one day to let him know we were thinking about him}

 we took eli to his first baseball game.

it was a very special day for mike.

a day he's been looking forward to for a long time!

saturday was a special reason for 2 reasons:

 it was dink dink's 10th birthday

&

 we went dress shopping with smit.  

can't wait to see what she chooses!

 i was supposed to go to the midnight showing of hunger games on thursday,

however, pink eye ruined that.

{though, to be honest, i don't know how i ever would've managed that one}

but i did get to go.

i thought the movie was pretty good, but sadly, i realized while watching the movie, there weren't too many details i could remember from the book.

i couldn't even remember how it ended!

thanks, post-preggo brain.

 i'm linking up again with fat mum slim for #marchphotoaday

1. "funny" - eli sucking his middle finger. not many funny things happened that day!

2.  "before/after" - drinking water...which lately i've been terrible at

3.  "delicious" - i love popcorn & it's become my new evening snack

4. " kitchen sink" - i'm getting better at keeping it semi-empty of dirty dishes...one day at a time

1. "moon" - a page from eli's new fave book {one that his friend, bauer, left at our house before he was born}

2.  "an animal" - dink on his b-day

3.  "breakfast" - this will become my new fave breakfast: nutella & bananas on multi-grain waffles

 thanks for sharing in my fun for the week. 

here's to hoping i wake tomorrow with a clear eye & an unsore throat.

until next time.....

 

 

my week via instagram {missed week}

so i'm sure everyone was worried about the fact that i missed a week of posting my pics.

i got busy & then i started feeling like i was getting sick, so i laid low.

now i'm back with tons of pics to share.....though i can't say the "i think i'm getting sick" feelings are gone.  

i blame this crazy weather....and my dad.

stay tuned to my next post to find out why!

we headed down to williamsburg on tuesday thanks to groupon!

our first family vacay!

 this was our little home away from home for a few days.

we stayed at the historic powhatan inn & would highly recommend it.

it was a really great place to stay.  

here's eli testing out the bed for us.  

now as for colonial williamsburg....not exactly our cup of tea.

unfortunately we learned an expensive lesson in figuring this fact out.

mike took this pic to represent our feelings towards this lesson.

this was one of the highlights of our trip...taking eli swimming!

he was pretty indifferent towards the giant bathtub.

but he certainly looked ADORABLE in his swim trunks!

every friday i want to try to sneak some pics of our connect group & i finally managed to do it.

this group is a very important part of our lives.

we're very blessed to have them in our lives!

and yes, charlie is an active participant in the group.

 for the last {maybe...can't remember exactly} 7 years we have celebrated what we call 

"the sager family christmas".

it started with just myself, smit & the sagers.

then mike came along.....

and this year we added caleb.

we have never actually celebrated at christmas....it's always been late january.

but this year our schedules were so crazy that we put it off until st. patty's day.

we exchanged gifts with the kids & gift cards between the adults.

we had to shoot them with the nerf gun in order to claim them. 

to top it off, we had breakfast for dinner:

green pancakes!

and just for fun:

green beer.  

then smit asked jen & i to be her matrons of honor.

woo hoo! smit's getting married! {finally :)}

 finally, we have the #marchphotoaday pics:

1.  "fork" -  monday of this week we had some of mike's family over for dinner. what a great time!

2.  "a sign" - our entrance into colonial williamsburg

3.  "clouds" - i was totally on cloud 9 when we found a sweet frog in williamsburg.

we LOVE sweetfrog & can't wait for it to open here!!

4.  "car" - this was the view from the car on our way home from our trip.

1.  "sunglasses" - my new faves

2. "green" - old faves

3. "a corner of your home" - where i rock & sing eli to sleep

now it's on to the next post....see you there!

my week via instagram

 another week down & more pictures to share.  

this week went way too fast, but it's ok because on tuesday we are heading out of town for a few days.  we're super excited!  

can't wait to instagram our trip! 

until then, enjoy a glimpse into our world this week!

 monday i spent some time going through eli's clothes.

if his clothes weren't still piled high on our dresser {that's that whole completing a project issue i have},

then his closet might just look like mine!

people have been so good to us by giving us clothes & letting us borrow clothes.

it's so awesome!

but it also means he's growing out of things :(

 

i LOVE dunkin donuts coffee.

there's just something about it that just makes my day better & it's even better when my husband treats me to a cup of bliss!

 this is dink dink.  

he's my first baby & my most favorite cat in the whole world.

i think i have just as many pictures of dink that i do of eli. 

i just love him.

i thrifted {new word?} this hat at community aid this week.

too cute, right?

almost every time my dad stopped over to see eli this week, eli was napping.

so on one of our walks this week, we headed over to see him. 

#marchphotoaday is in full effect now! mike & i are having a lot of fun checking out each other's photos at the end of the day.  this week we had 2 photos that were the same without telling each other.  

that's my favorite: to see how much we think alike!

1.  "smile" -this is a page from eli's favorite book. it always makes him smile :)

2. "5pm" - this was eli at 5pm....ready for dinner.

3.  "something i wore today" - this is a bracelet my mom got me for christmas last year.  it was made in thailand & i love it!

1.  "window" - one of the photos that mike & i had the same...eli watching out the front window.

2.  "red" - hadn't been to target is over 2 weeks. figured i was overdue.

3.  "loud" - this was eli at 6:30am. crying....very loud! and also the second pic that mike & i shared.

4.  "someone you talked to today" - this is my wonderful friend, smitty.  i don't think she knew i took this.  haahaha i'm so sneaky :)

well, friends. that's my week. 

 hope you all had a great one.  

until next time....

moments.

as a new mom one line i hear all the time is:

"enjoy this time because it goes so fast."

can i tell you how much i dislike this phrase?

no offense if you've said it to me before, but you're telling me to enjoy time with my child.

have you seen this face?

tell me, what's not to enjoy???

sadly, there are some parents that need to hear this....repeatedly.

but certainly not this momma.  

and the whole "it goes so fast" part...yeah, way.too.fast.

i feel like every time someone says those words, they speed up the process just a bit.

we've gone from this to this to this in just over 6 months.

but don't you worry, i cherish every single moment i spend with this little boy.

every single time i wake up with him....even if it's every 3 hours.

every diaper i change.

every bounce that keeps him from fussing.

every smile that brightens his face.

every time he laughs {the sweetest sound on the earth}

every runny nose i wipe...& wipe...& wipe.

every ounce of spit up i wipe...& wipe...&wipe....&wipe.

every kick of his little legs.

every squeal he makes when he sees charlie & dink dink.

every sound he makes when he tells me about his day.

every tear that falls when he has to take a nap.

every tug of my hair.

every snuggle i get in.

every slobbery "kiss".

these are the moments i live for.

these are the moments that i have been training for my whole life.

i feel as though i've just been waiting backstage for my turn & now my time has come.

i will cherish every single moment that God gives me with this little boy.

i'm so thankful that He chose me as his momma.

no need to tell me to enjoy this.....

 done & done!!!

my week via instagram

can you believe it's march already??

where in the world did this winter go?

not that i'm complaining, of course, because winter is my least favorite season.

but we are that much closer to spring!! 

for family fun day this week we headed to long's park in lancaster.

i so wish this park was closer because i think i would go there everyday! 

just an fyi, we are a puma loving family! 

family fun day happened to be puma day too :)

this week moo {if i haven't mentioned this before, it's our nickname for eli}

got his first haircut.

it was getting so long in the front.

he had a mullet from birth, which only got longer in the last almost 6 months.

it was time!

tara, one of my oldest & dearest friends, and her family came to visit saturday.

it was so fun to hang out with our kids & have lunch together.

these are the days that we would dream about 15 years ago as roommates! 

this week we finally cancelled our cable.

i have to admit, it was a little difficult, but i'm excited to limit the distractions in our life!

means more time for reading!!

mike did manage to find some old school video games, so saturday night we played a litte super mario.

i remembered why i am not a big "gamer".

i stink!

i died within 12 seconds of every level.

think i'll stick to reading!

i teach pre-k at church once a month.  

some weeks i'm pulling out my hair remembering that i taught middle school for a reason.

but there is something so sweet about hearing their little voices reciting scripture & teaching them that jesus wants to be their friend forever!

mike & i decided it would be fun to take a photo-a-day challenge.

we are linking up with fat mum slim, doing the #marchphotoaday challenge on instagram.

1. "up" - my first thoughts were this verse found in psalm 121

2. "fruit" - i painted these for our kitchen a couple of years ago

3. "your neighborhood" - we live on the corner of mckinley & george

4.  "bedside" - just a few items that are on my nightstand

i'm looking forward to the coming week....

eli will be 6 months old tuesday!

more photo-a-days & family fun & maybe a few projects!

in the words of my hubs...

"have a good one!"