Kids, Award, & Crock Pot Wednesdsay

Lilly might be getting her molars. We have just been hanging out this week. She has gotten so fast--it is impossible to keep her out of things!

Crazy eyes--this picture cracks me up!! Oh, a couple of things she is up to--"singing", waving her arms to say "finished", talking in a high pitch voice to Reid--all of these are soo cute and adorable to watch!

Reid went 6 hours between feedings last night. However, he was up for the first two of them so we were stuck with only four hours of consecutive sleep. We will get there soon, though! Okay, well the rest of the post is about me and then a recipe....so all my "kids only" readers, posts will be back to normal tomorrow!

Well, I won my first blog award!!! (Insert beaming smile!) Thank you so much Debbie for honoring me with this award!! It was so sweet of you to think of me and this blog. I love getting to keep up with family and friend's through their blog...otherwise I might have to rely on Matt to keep me updated--this would be summed up with, "I talked to them, they are doing good!" No details. So, for this reason, I am going to follow the rules and share this award!! Here are the rules:

1) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.

2) Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

3) Share "10 Honest Things" about myself.

So, first the 7 awards--

The first three go to our friends that are just too talented!! Lilly has benefited or will benefit soon from all three.

1. http://www.whimsytin.blogspot.com/ --Jaime makes amazing buckets for all occasions!

2. http://www.aprincesscanplaytoo.blogspot.com/ --Amber makes the cutest tutu's, shirts, and bows--this is where Lilly's birthday outfit came from!

3. http://personalpizazz.blogspot.com/ --Lindsay makes cute canvases for all seasons and reasons. I wish I had a fraction of the talent these above three have!!

4. http://trumbofam.blogspot.com/ --My friend Lisa just got back from Italy--throughout my pregnancies she has told me her stories to let me live vicariously through her. It helps!!

5. http://thelucyfiles.blogspot.com/ --This one just because I love seeing all the cute pictures!!

6. http://theopitzfamily.blogspot.com/ --Same reason as above--this girl is a doll!

7. http://www.noahsroad.com/ --This family is going through a really rough time but are so positive yet honest about their situation--it is really inspiring!

Okay, now for 10 honest things about myself.

1. I earned my Master's Degree in Education in only 4 years.

2. I consider marrying Matt the best thing I have ever done--these past 5 years have honestly been the best years of my life!

3. I (too, Debbie) am blessed far beyond what I deserve.

4. I am a home-body. I love going on vacation, but I am always ready to come home (even from Hawaii).

5. I do not like change. I have learned to live with it and accept it...but good or bad, I fight all kinds of change. I am working on this, you know, since the only constant is change! Ha.

6. Having my babies was an exception to #5. I was ready for that change--even the surprisingly quick second child. (c:

7. Parenting is harder than I thought it would be. I thought my 10 nephews and 1 niece, years of nannying, and Master's degree in children(!) would have taught me all that I needed to know, but adjusting to life as a parent was a little bit shocking for me. I enjoyed it the whole time, never regretted it, but it was just more difficult than I anticipated.

8. On the other hand, adjusting to two babies has been far easier than I ever expected. I guess by now we just have the hang of it!

9. I am turning chicken. A few years ago I wanted to sky dive and bungee jump--now I wouldn't do either one for a large (and I talking LARGE) sum of money!! Maybe my prefrontal lobe finished developing..haha..or maybe I am just turning chicken.

10. I am starting to become a very amateur cook! I have never been a good cook, but since we are eating home almost all of the time now, I have had to branch out of my 5 recipes (you know, tacos, spaghetti, chili, shake n' bake, etc) to find more stuff to eat. Online recipes have done wonders for my cooking...I still only make the recipes that say EASY on them, but now I have several to choose from.

Like I have said before, I am not a great cook BUT my sister is!! This is one of her recipes and it SOOO good!! She also makes her own bbq sauce...which I will add that recipe to the end and it is YUMMY, but we use store bought and it turns out pretty tasty, too!! This one starts on the stove and ends up in the crock pot.

Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
2 pounds boneless pork roast
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 cups water
1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring

Directions:
1. Cut the pork roast into large chunks. Season generously with the Cajun seasoning. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork, and brown on all sides. Remove from the skillet, and transfer to a slow cooker.
2. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes until tender. Stir in the water scraping the bottom to include all of the browned pork bits from the bottom of the pan, then pour the whole mixture into the slow cooker with the pork. Stir in liquid smoke flavoring.
3. Cover, and cook on High for 6 hours, or until meat is falling apart when pierced with a fork. Remove pieces of pork from the slow cooker, and shred. Return to the slow cooker to keep warm while serving.

Note: This recipe sounds more difficult than it is. We also use the garlic that comes in a jar that stays in the fridge and it still tastes good. We also use onion powder instead of onion.

BBQ Sauce (again, we use store bought so this is totally optional)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Big-Als-KC-Bar-B-Q-Sauce/Detail.aspx is the recipe for the sauce that my sister makes. It sounds difficult and has lots of ingredients.