The Best Baked Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese is the ULTIMATE comfort food, I think most would agree. It's great on a cold day, when your are upset and just want to say home binge watching your favorite shows (or Disney movies), it also pairs well almost anything. BBQ? How about a side of Mac and Cheese? Yes please! Steak? Mac and cheese sounds like the perfect side.

I remember thinking Kraft Mac and Cheese was the bomb when I was little, now as an adult I know better. Homemade mac and cheese is the way to go. It's so amazing, and fairly simple to make. My absolute favorite mac and cheese is baked mac and cheese. It really is just amaze balls. You know why? CRUMBLY TOPPING, that's why. Who doesn't love crumbly topping?!?!? (If you say you don't you need to go stand outside.) Baked mac and cheese is so fabulous because it combines these 2 awesome things, mac and cheese WITH crumbly topping!!! WHAT?!?!?

The recipe I'm about to share with is a fairly large amount, but if you are like me, it will be gone before you know it. What you need is, 1 lb of pasta (you can use elbow, shells, any really). I choose shells for this go around. You will also need 6 cups of cheese. You can use any cheese or combo you like. I did 4 cups of mild cheddar and 2 cups of sharp white cheddar. (Lazy girl tip, to save time and effort, buy the preshredded stuff). You will also need 4 cups of whole milk (don't use anything other than whole milk or cream or it will be runny). You will need 1/2 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of flour, salt and pepper, paprika, and red pepper (the paprika and red pepper are optional).

Cook your pasta according to directions on box.While the pasta is cooking, heat 1/2 cup of butter on medium heat. Once melted, sprinkle in 1/2 cup of flour and whisk constantly for about 2-3 minutes. Pour in your milk, and whisk. Add in salt and pepper (you will want a lot of it for this amount of pasta, but you can scale back the pepper if it's not your thing, you will want about 1 tbsp of each), also add in the paprika and red pepper if you like (just a sprinkle of each, it just adds a little to the flavor). Whisk on medium heat until thickened.

Grease 9x13 pan with butter and pour in pasta. Sprinkle the 6 cups of shredded cheese over the top and pour the sauce on top. Let the sit to melt the cheese a bit. Next you will make the crumbly topping. Heat 4 tbsp butter in a pan on medium heat. Once melted added 1 cup of bread crumbs (you can use any, but I prefer garlic and herb). Stir constantly until the crumbs are golden brown. Sprinkle on top. **If you aren't that into crumbly topping (something may be wrong with you), you can use 2 tbsp butter and 1/2 cup of bread crumbs.

Cook in oven at 325 for 12-15 minutes.


I made this for a bbq today, and it was gone before I even got a chance to eat! They devoured it. I did taste test it before going just to make sure it was good enough to serve to people (I have to make sure it was up to my standards, since this was my first time making it this way). It was amazing and I am so sad I didn't get any. I will 100% be making this again at home soon.

No more mom labels

Today I read a post on another blog site that SUPER annoyed me. I read posts and said blog often (not going to call anyone out here) and I usually really enjoy them. I usually agree with them, find them funny, etc., not today though. This particular post was complaining about "helicopter moms", it talked about how judgmental they are, how they ruin park time for everyone (kids and parents), and so and so on.

The problem I had with this is that while this post was complaining about this "subgroup" of moms being very judgmental, the post was extremely judgmental in tone, so in theory you are just bad as the person you are complaining about.

Why do we even have these labels? Mainly, they are just to lump everyone into a category for us to judge. Helicopter mom, Tiger mom, attachment mom, Free-range mom, Panda mom. Why can't we all just be moms? Especially since there is a lot of grey area on this. Sometimes I act like the "helicopter mom" and hover (especially with Bret, because he always gets himself in crazy situations), sometimes I am more like the "free-range" let them explore on their own type. Sometimes I let my kids have cookies and juice, other times I make them snack on water and carrots. It doesn't really matter.

The only time I will judge you at the park is if you straight up don't pay a lick of attention to your kid (especially if your kid is causing issues), or if you are totally neglecting your kid. I don't use labels to describe my parenting, or other people's parenting (unless it is to say they aren't being a parent). The labels being their just causes us to be more judgmental.

Hey, if you want to play with my kid while I sit in the shade, or help my kid do something that I don't care to help him with, more power to ya. I'm not going to get all pissy and bent out of shape about it. I'm not going to mentally give you the finger for it, and I hope you don't mentally give me the finger for enjoying a little bit of downtime while my kids play.

Cinco de Mayo

Since Cinco de Mayo is coming up, I decided to teach the kids about Mexico and the holiday, and put some Spanish into their learning (I like incorporating upcoming holidays into their learning because it makes crafts/activities super easy). I printed off a few things for them to color. The first was just a Cinco de Mayo coloring page that they colored while I talked to them about Mexico and Cinco de Mayo. The second was a map of North America.

I labeled Canda, United States of America, Mexico, and the oceans. I gave them special instructions for coloring, each country and ocean got a specific color. 

After that I created a spanish words/pictures activity because I have learned that having the picture and the word really helps Sophie. I decided what words to teach, got a clip art picture of it and printed it. I printed each word in English and Spanish.

We went over each word (in English and Spanish) 3-4 times that night, and we will keep working on it.

**I'm thinking about doing the last activity with Japanese words to help her learn a little Japanese while in Japan.
**I do these activities with Bret too, but he never really pays attention, and doesn't really follow directions yet, so it's really just busy work to keep him occupied while I work with his sister.

Spaghetti with pork meatballs

Spaghetti with pork meatballs, yum! We haven't had spaghetti in ages it feels like, so tonight I'm whipping up some spaghetti and meatballs (using ground pork instead of hamburger). As I have said many times, I don't usually measure, especially spices, but I will try.

Meatballs
1 lb ground pork (or burger or turkey if you prefer)
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I use garlic and herb)
2 green onions chopped
basil (about 1 tsp)
oregano (about 1 tsp)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Sauce
29 oz can tomato sauce
garlic(for powdered I use about 1/2 tsp, cloves I use 3 cloves minced)
onion powder (about 1/2 tsp)
basil (about 1 1/2 tsp)
oregano (about 1 1/2 tsp)
parsly (just a sprinkle, about 1/4 tsp)

I use whole grain spaghetti.

1. Mix meatball ingredients in small bowl and mix with hands. Roll into small balls (about 1 tbsp) and place on greased baking sheet.
2. Cook about 45 minutes until golden brown
3. While that is cooking prepare sauce. Heat tomato sauce on low heat and add all ingredients, stirring occasionally, heat about 15-20 minutes on low. I always taste test to see if it needs more of anything.
4. Cook spaghetti according to directions on package.
5. Serve

PIZZA

We love pizza, but I am not a huge fan of Pizza Hut and Dominoes over here was sorely disappointing. So here is my recipe for buffalo chicken pizza (we also use this same thing for bbq chicken pizza).

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
Frank's hot sauce (or bbq sauce of your choice)
pizza crust
mozzarella cheese
toppings of choice (peppers, olives, mushrooms, etc)
olive oil (only a tbsp or so)
seasonings (to taste, for buffalo chicken pizza we use cayenne, black pepper, and a pinch of Lowry's)

1. Season and grill the chicken.
2. Preheat oven
3. Shred chicken with forks
4. Brush crust with olive oil
5. Brush crust with sauce (either bbq or Franks)
6. Cover with cheese and toppings of choice
7. Toss chicken in sauce (again either bbq or Franks)
8. Add chicken to pizza and bake (the crust we buy needs to bake for 10 minutes)

Schedules/routines for toddlers

The kids and I used to have a very set routine (when I worked it was even more strict), but lately we have completely gotten off of our routine. I have been very tired/exhausted lately and the kids have been extra whiny/irritable lately so tonight I am making a routine (flexible not rigid) for us to stick to on a daily basis. I am hoping Sophie will get into preschool on base for the coming school year (and if she doesn't we will most likely enroll her off base), so I want to get her into the routine of waking up and getting ready at the same time throughout the week, so that when August comes she isn't thrown through a loop. I have also noticed that Bret tends to do much better behavior wise when he has a routine (we are keeping it flexible so that things like errands or daddy's shift change won't completely throw it off balance). I'm going to leave room for adjustment, if needed. Here is what our daily routine looks like for weekdays (weekends are kind of up in the air, it really depends on what is going on and if daddy is off that weekend or not).

As you can see I set aside about 2.5 hours each day for learning and that I split it up. I did this because I attempted to do at home preschool with the kids last year and I learned very quickly that Bret is unable to stay focused for a long period of time and that made everything more difficult and both of us became frustrated very quickly. I also am going to do something different this time around in that I am not making learning time completely structured and planning what we do for each day way in advance, because sometimes days just don't go as we planned and they take a different turn, and that's OK. I will either plan the night before what we do for the next day, or wake up in the morning and decide what to work on while eating breakfast. That way if it is a nice day we can do outside activities or if it is crummy/rainy we can plan for indoor activities. I find the different learning activities we do all over. Here are some great resources for learning activities http://livingmontessorinow.com, http://www.makingtimeformommy.com/, and http://www.readingconfetti.com. If you look at my Mom Stuff board on Pinterest, I have a ton of activities/lessons pinned from these sites. We also have ABC Mouse, and the kids have leappads, we have each of them set to their level with lots of games and songs for learning on them. Sophie's is set to Pre-K and Bret's is set to early preschool. We also do lots of activity bins and sensory play (those keep Bret's attention the best). I'm also hoping that we can add in some learning trips to some of the museums around here (there are so many...the train museum, trick art museum, national museum and so many more), and also hit up some of the local zoos. We have been to 2 but there are a few more.

Advice for new military spouses

 Military life is hard. It is not for the person who isn't willing to work at it. When I met my husband we were both in the military. We met at tech school, and even though I was military before becoming "just" as spouse, it's still hard for me. That being said, I don't buy into the whole "being a spouse is the hardest job in the military" bull. Yes, being a military spouse is hard and it certainly has it's own set of challenges, but it is not a job. If you view your role as a spouse as a "job", then chances are you are doing it wrong. 
One of the main things to remember is to support your spouse. Without supports, no military marriage would work. I'm sure you are hearing a lot of things about the military not being supportive of families. I have found that to be completely untrue. Yes, your spouse may need to work on a birthday or anniversary, but when shit hits the fan, the military can be very supportive. When I got a call from the UC saying they thought my son had cancer (don't worry, he didn't), my husband was off work in the blink of an eye to be at the hospital with me. When money was tight, we received food donations from the squadron.
One thing to be prepared for is for your spouse to miss milestones. It sucks, but it part of military life. They will miss birthdays, anniversaries, possibly holidays. They may even miss pregnancies or childbirth. We can't always plan TDY's or deployments. My husband was gone for a majority of my first pregnancy and our first anniversary. This is why it's important to make friends at every base, find some positive people to have in your life. My first pregnancy I had almost no friends at the base (I worked off base, and my guard base was over an hour away) and it really took it's toll on me. Luckily I have a pretty awesome group of friends for support now. Also, get involved. It seems like there is always some event going on. There are intramural sports, spouses groups, book clubs, block parties, and so much more. Get out there!
Military schedules can be crazy. If you are lucky, your spouse has a 7:30-4:30 5 day a week job. Congrats if that is the case. In other fields some work 24 on 24 off, some work 12's on panamas and work nights or midshift. Some places may be critically manned and they may have to work more than expected. 12 hour shifts may turn into 14 hour shifts. The biggest thing is to learn to roll with the punches (I know, easier said than done). Your spouse may have to take weekend duty or work on Christmas. They may get called back in after just getting home from a 12 hour shift (especially if they are not a nonner). 
Exercises are a main stay on military bases. They happen often and the WILL disrupt your life. Be prepared to show your dependent ID just to get into the post office or bank. Be prepared to not be able to make an appointment at the clinic because of it. If you live off base and need to get on base, you will wait in a never ending line, same goes for trying to leave the base. It's annoying for sure, but complaining won't change it. Exercises are how they stay prepared.
If your spouse works with classified/sensitive intel, they won't be able to talk to you about work. It's not that they don't want to, it's that they just can't. They could get in a lot of trouble if they did. Along those lines, be mindful of what you post online and your privacy settings on social media. Know who can see what you post, a lot of terrorist groups use social media now. Know what things are ok to post and what things aren't. If you are unsure, ask your spouse. 
Try to learn the lingo, it will make things easier on you. The military is all about acronyms and abbreviations, they use them a lot and more than likely your spouse will unknowingly use them when talking to you. Know what an LES is and how to read it (Leave and Earnings Statement). Know what the MPS and DFAC are (Military personnel flight and dining facility). Know what to say when asked what your spouse's AFSC or MOS is (basically, their job title). Know what TDY is (temporary duty assignment) and PCSing is (permanent change of station). Those are some of the most commons to know. 
Make sure you keep all important documents safe and in a central location. That way in the event that you need to leave your home quickly (like a fire) you can easily grab them. Important documents include Power of Attorney, marriage certificate, social security cards, passports, orders, birth certificates, and anything else of that nature. Those are things you don't want lost or damaged. 
Know your spouses chain of command, and how to get a hold of them in case of emergency. These are the people that can quickly locate your spouse if needed. They are also the people to help you with important things while your spouse is deployed. Know who their supervisor is, who their first shirt is, and who their commander (or xo) is. It's also good to have key spouse info. These are the main people that can help you if needed.

I have included a printable below. One is for the fridge, for important names and phone numbers.