Thanksgiving Parade

Each year, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, our family goes to the parade in our town. So last night, as usual, we went. Here's a few of the pics!

Media Free Wednesday

I posted earlier this month about mine and Kevin's decision to have a weekly, mid-week date night that was distraction free. The two of us both agreed that each Wednesday when we walk in the door, the phones go on silent and the tv stays off. Wednesdays are a time for us!

I wasn't sure how it would go and if we would be able to accomplish our task but overall we have! The last three weeks we have spent each Wednesday night having a distraction free date night. As soon we are both home, we put all of our distractions away and focus on what is most important... each other.

Yesterday was our third mid-week date night. Tuesday night I had to stay at school late for Reading Night so I had the opportunity to leave school early yesterday. Kevin just happened to be off so I was determined to get all of my work done so that when my students walked out the door, I could go with them. And thank goodness that determination paid off! As soon as the clock struck 2:30, I was hightailing out of my classroom!

As soon as I got home, Kevin and I headed to Greensboro. We went and saw Jack & Jill... a movie I had been dying to see but was sorely disappointed after watching :( But on the bright side, Kevin and I got the theater all to ourselves and had a great time laughing and carrying on about the movie. Following the movie, we went to the mall and shopped for Kevin.... one of my absolute favorite things to do! I don't know what it is, but I love dressing him up (: Then we went and had dinner at one of our favorites... Olive Garden! I ate so much I could have walked home and still felt stuffed!

All-in-all, it was an amazing night and I have to say, if you don't have a distraction free night, you should seriously try it! It can do a relationship wonders (:

Weekend Get-a-Way in the Mountains!

When Kevin and I came home from our honeymoon in Tennessee, we told Kevin's family that we thought we should all take a trip to the mountains. The idea was a hit and we all aimed to take a trip in October. Fortunately, I was hired as a new-teacher in my county this year; but unfortunately, that meant I had no vacation days available in October. As a new teacher, I did not want to take any annual leave days because planning for a sub is more trouble than it is worth so we decided to push the family vacation into the future.

Well, a few weeks ago, I just happened to be looking at our teacher workdays for the Spring Semester since we only had ONE this semester and I noticed that the County had scheduled a teacher workday for February 17th and February 20th! Boy was I excited! Four days off in a row... woot woot! I immediately sent Kevin a messaged and asked if he wanted to take a vacation. He was game so I started looking at a few hot spots that we could go to and get away for a weekend getaway. Then I thought, hey! that would be the perfect time for us all to take a trip! So I sent all of Kevin's family an email and asked if they'd be up for the idea and if they could get off. And what do you know... it worked perfectly for all 8 of us!

So after spending 4 days hunting for the perfect cabin, I finally found one! Here's the pictures from the website! I am STOKED!

{Recipes}: Easy Cheesy Lasagna

As you all know, I could eat Italian ALL day long! My stomach is growling just thinking about all the different choices I have when Italian is on the menu. There's fettucine alfredo, spaghetti, stromboli's, pizza and then there's my favorite... LASAGNA! Lasagna is one of my all time favorite Italian dishes. I love it with all of its cheeses! So since Kevin and I have gotten married I have only tried like five different lasagna recipes but none of them were quite right in my book. But I finally found a recipe and tweaked it enough that I think it is absolutely scrumptious! And better yet... it is super fast and easy to fix! And a girl like me that works for ever and a day, tries to work out and keep tan, and spend time with my family... well, time is of the essence! So I figured I'd share the recipe with my readers! You should try it but let me warn you... If you're on a diet... you won't be for long! 

What you need:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 24 oz. and 1 16 oz. jar of traditional spaghetti sauce
• 32 ounces cottage cheese
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat brown the ground beef. Drain the grease. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, eggs, the grated Parmesan cheese, dried parsley, salt and ground black pepper.
3. To assemble, in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish evenly spread part of the sauce mixture until you can't see the bottom of the dish. Cover with 3 uncooked lasagna noodles, 1 3/4 cup of the cheese mixture, and 1/4 cup sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with 3 noodles, remaining sauce, remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Add a few tablespoons of water to each edge of the casserole dish so the noodles don't dry out. Cover with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Media Free Wednesday

Last Sunday, Kevin and I were eating dinner at Applebee's in Danville. After the waitress had sat us at our table and taken our order, I instinctively did what I always do.  I immediately took out my cell phone and started flipping through all of my bookmarks on my phone. I checked my facebook; caught up on the news at fox8 and digtriad; read the new posts on Suri's Burn Book; and checked out my twitter account. As I was flipping through some webpages, I was shocked to have my phone yanked out of my hand. When I looked up, I saw Kevin giving me that stern look. I was busted! I knew I should be spending time with my husband and talking with him, but somehow in this technologically advanced world, I've become addicted and started ignoring one of my top priorities!!!

For the rest of dinner, Kevin refused to give me my phone back. So the entire dinner we sat and talked. And you know what? It was nice. It is sad to say that I could not remember the last time I sat at a meal with my husband and just talked with no interruptions. So on the way home, Kevin and I came up with a brilliant idea. Kevin wanted us to be able to go to dinner with no distractions. He wanted us to be able to sit and enjoy a conversation with no interruptions with phone calls or text messages. I felt like if I was giving up something, he had to as well. So I agreed to give up my distractions if he would give up his. That meant that once a week, while we were at home, he had to give up his television and his video games. So in turn, we created Media Free Wednesdays. We agreed that by the middle of our weeks, we are both stressed out and need a break and some time for just each other so a mid-week date was the perfect answer.

So beginning this week, our Wednesdays are going to be media free as soon as the two of us get home. The cell phones will be left on silent and the tv will remain off unless we are going to watch a movie together. All in all, I am very excited! We did however make one amendment to our contract and that is that before we go to bed on Wednesday night, we are allowed to check our phones in case we have a missed call from a parent or work!

Anyways, I'll let you know how this goes!