Text from Kate that's totally worth posting.

Background:
We took the girls to Boone yesterday. We had a picnic and what not. On the way home Boone was looking a little green and shivering. So I tried to wake her up and she wouldn't even move when I started messing with her chops and her ears and her wrinkles, so I knew she didn't feel good. I covered her up with two blankets, and we stopped off the side of the road, and I got out and rubbed her and gave her kisses and was about to take her out of the car when she tossed her cookies. Poor little girl. So I took her out of the car and we cleaned her up and made sure she was okay. Much better after that. Perhaps those curvy mountain roads combined with tummy troubles from the previous night were not a good combo. My little baby. So when we got home, I washed blankets and towels.

While I was at the gym, I received this text from Kate:

"Is it sad that I put a dryer sheet in with the girls' blankets so they'll be fluffy, cling-free, and smell nice?"

Thanks, Kate, for putting that stuff in the dryer. And no, that is not sad at all. They deserve the best.

On a side note, all girls are feeling great today. Praise the Lord.

More sweet nothings.

Me: Casey?
Him: Yes?
Me: You're so handsome.
Him: You're so beautiful.

....

Me: Casey?
Him: Yes?
Me: You're so intelligent.
Him: You're so smart.

....

Me: Casey?
Him: Yes?
Me: You're so helpful and wonderful and...
Him: Well, you're all that. And a bag of chips.

Oh boy, oh boy. I love him.

Sweet Things Casey Says

Casey says the sweetest and funniest things ALL. THE. TIME. Not kidding.

I thought this one was extra cute. He's like a little kid sometimes, and I love that about him.

"I was talking to Tony (Sargeant Hall) yesterday 

and he was asking about my lunch 

and he said his wife makes him lunch 

and we talked about the similar stuff 

you girls put in our lunches. 

Pretty much we agreed that our wives are awesome."

I thought next he was going to say he traded his grapes for a banana or something. Like lunch time in the school cafeteria.

I'm glad he appreciates his lunches. I still need to get him a new lunch box. The one he has is falling apart. 

Oven Baked "Corn Dogs"

I can't believe how long it's been since I've done a meal blog. Cray cray. So here we go.

Oven Baked "Corn Dogs"

Why the quotation marks, you ask? Well, because I don't eat pig. Pig parts or pig meat...unless it's bacon. But that's a recent development and it has to be for a reason. (Example: It's in a recipe. Or it's crispy and just sitting in front of me made by either Mom or Casey. Those are the only times. That I'm aware of.) For this recipe though, we used veggie dogs! Casey was totally up for trying this. He's such a trooper when it comes to vegetarian meals I want to try.

We used these veggie dogs. At Harris Teeter they are found in the packaged produce section...as in where you can find bagged lettuce and carrots and what not.

Ingredients:

1 box corn muffin mix, 8.5 oz (we used Jiffy)
1/2 c flour
1 eggs
1/4-1/2 c milk
1/4 stick butter, melted
sprinkle of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 scallion, finely chopped
5 jumbo veggie dogs (1 package)

Action shots:

Combine muffin mix with the flour, then stir in the eggs, milk, and melted butter. Season the mix with cayenne, hot sauce, and scallions. The batter will be a thick, sticky biscuit dough. Place hot dog in the bowl of batter and coat with the dough (we put them on skewers too like real corn dogs). Don't coat it on too thick or it will off during cooking. But you still want to make sure you cover the whole dog.

Hand model creds: Katie Lamb

Ready to go in the oven:

Place in a sprayed pan. Preheat oven to 425.

Bake about 14-15 minutes or until a deep brown all over.

Ready to eat:

Served with a few sweet potato fried, strawberries and grapes, and ketchup (not shown) for dipping.

Ratings:

Kate gave them a 7 out of 10. Seriously?
Casey gave them a 8 out of 10. What!
I gave them a 9.5 out of 10.

I thought they were just delicious. They took me back to my childhood days of eating corn dogs like 5 times as a kid. Yum! Except these dogs each had 3 grams of fiber, 13 grams of protein, and only 100 cal. Yes, please! We're on board the healthy train. Definitely making these dogs again.

I think Casey is excited that I liked these smart dogs so much because he really likes Brats on rare occasions. You know, like a fall football Saturday. I won't even entertain the thought of brats. Gross out. So he had a brilliant idea that he could grill a brat with fixins for him and a smart dog for me. Sure thing, baby. He's a grill master, and I can't remember the last time I had a hot dog! And you can eat veggie dogs while you're preggo. Bonus!

Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Fall is here! Break out the pumpkin. So stoked for this weather we've had lately. The girls love it. We roll the truck windows down, and their ears flap in the wind. They are so stinkin cute.

I got this recipe from Dawn. Amazeballs. Seriously. You have to try it.

Perk of having a sister and brother-in-law with a huge vegetable garden? Even though they have 6 kids, they still have plenty to share. So that means, come fall, they have tons of fresh pumpkin to share! Fresh pumpkin is way better than Libby's canned any day. Oh-em-gee. You haven't tasted fall till you've tasted fresh pumpkin.

Here's a picture of the pumpkin we used for the crumb cake. Fresh from the garden.

That's 2 cups of pumpkin. Exactly what we need for the crumb cake.

That being said, the ingredients are as follows:

1 package yellow cake mix
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted

1 can (or 2 cups) pumpkin puree
3 eggs beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup white sugar
3 T butter, softened

Base layer:

Reserve 1 cup of the cake mix. 

In a large bowl, combine the remaining dry cake mix with the beaten egg and melted butter. Press into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan.

Pumpkin Filling:

Mix together pumpkin, vanilla, 3 eggs, 1/2 c white sugar, brown sugar, and spices. Pour the filling over the unbaked crust.

Crumb topping (and ready to go in the oven):

In a small bowl, mix the reserved 1 c cake mix, 1/2 c white sugar, and 3 T softened butter. Crumble over the filling.

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes or until the center has firmed.

Fresh from the oven:

A warm taste test for an afternoon snack: 

Casey and I couldn't wait for it to cool...actually, it was mainly me that had a hard time waiting :) But he jumped on board too.

 You need to try this. I find it more of a dessert than a breakfast cake. But suit yourself! Whatever reason you can come up with to eat it is even better. Cause it's really quite amazingly delicious.

Here's the baby vid. Please note my certainty that it's a girl accompanied by extreme lack of surprise. Then,upon finding out that we are in fact having a boy, my complete shock.

Thankfully, no eff-bombs were dropped. That's a complete joke. I would never do that. Seriously though, I wouldn't.

I still can't believe a boy! But, it's great that he has a name (YAY) and to be able to call him "he" now. On a side note, Casey felt the baby kick for the first time in bed on Wednesday night. It was so very cool. And special. And now Baby K kicks all the time. I think he's going to play soccer or do jujitsu or something.

Me: We're [VO2 max] testing some bobcats tomorrow.

silence

Me: Not the animal.

Kate: Really? Cause that was my first thought. Cause it would be really awkward putting a mask on their faces.

Me: I don't think I'd have a face after that.

Anyhow, testing some Bobcats NBA-ers at Time Warner Cable Arena today. Woohoo.

Ballin job. I'm kind of a big deal. But not.