mid-week meal share: lapensee family lasagna

Boy, do I have a special treat for you today.

But, I hope you're prepared because this is the most time consuming and elbow-grease-needing recipe of all time.

Break out your pasta machine (yes, I thought it would have a technical name but no) because you're gonna make this dish from scratch..

LAPENSEE FAMILY LASAGNA!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

For those of you who thought I might have been serious I tip my hat and thank you. Not even a little bit serious. I thought the black and white added a nice old timey, passed down through generations recipe feel about it. I've had hardly any effort to put forward towards dinner lately especially on days that I work 3a-3p. Our evenings at home fly by and by the time I think about dinner it's much too late and we likely don't have any of the right ingredients. I actually had to PLAN a night for this frozen meal because of how long it takes to cook.. two entire hours.

Cooking instructions are going to differ based on your family recipe but all our family does is preheat the oven, open the lid and bed to form a tent, place on a cookie sheet and throw that baby in the oven. Cook for two hours and voila!

 A lot of time we take the easy way out and I literally have no shame in admitting it. Not half bad for frozen food either.



"Freshly made pasta."
Leia

chicago "tourist traps"

Another Chicago post because before heading home to Michigan after the bachelorette festivities, I spent the afternoon and evening with two of my best friends who just recently moved to Chicago. You better believe we did tourist stuff! I thought they would enjoy it more being new to the city rather than being a 'local' and visiting these busy places and becoming annoyed the the real tourists haha. Maybe my logic is off, but maybe I just had a really good time with my gal pals and don't care all that much.

I drove out of the city to their cute little suburbian neighborhood and from there we grubbed on some delicious local eats and then took the train back downtown.

The first thing we did was go to the "Sears Tower" Skydeck. I mean, officially it's Willis Tower but does anyone really call it that? And after the new owners changed the name.. understandable, but I also think petty.. how annoying do you think it was to have to define their building as Sears Tower since know one knew what the hell the Willis Tower was? Tickets to the top were $22 for general admission with no extra frills which I thought was pretty decent (especially compared to the $62 per person it would've cost to go to Medieval Times.. better planning for my next trip because it's been 16 years since I last dined like a Knight).

The biggest attraction here is The Ledge. SO COOL! 1,353 feet above Chicago with clear views of it all; hopefully if you visit it's not on a cloudy day. My biggest let down of this portion of the day was when we asked someone to take a group picture of us. Obviously no one can ever get the picture quite how you like it, but my anger also stems from the fact that I got great pictures of said person's group before it was our turn! GUH. But then I quickly got over because I was with the best of friends doing something cool.

Next up.. I'm sure you can guess. Millennium Park and a visit to the great and shiny BEAN! But before getting there we passed this interesting art installment. I don't recall seeing it before or even hearing about it. Giant waterfall fountains with moving faces that spit water? Yes, I TOTALLY see what the artist is representing.

Okay, back to the Bean and a Chicago style hotdog!

Aw, friends!

 Yeah, I know, without the onions and tomatoes my dog looked pretty bland and green compared to Chelsea and Caytee's. Yeap, that whole 5 year old taste palette striking back again. I don't care though, it was still delicious and I downed the whole thing!



Windy City out!
Leia

tummy troubles

Well guys, I hate to report that an illness finally found it's way to catch up with me. The weekend was hell for me and I'm thankful it's all behind me now. I think it might have been something I ate because no one else seems to have been affected but then I'm left to wonder, what food would turn on me like that?! The only real culprit could have been..

..the #9.

Surprisingly I don't feel sick thinking about it. Probably because I love Jimmy John's so much that my mind is truly blocking it out or I have left over bread opioids making my brain extra happy. Or maybe because this isn't my usual order and my body is incredibly grateful that I don't have to debate about one of my favorite meals in the future. Either way I'm happy the whole ordeal is behind me.

Freaky sick.

Leia

kindergarten fun facts: week 3

Kindergarten is going well so far; we are all really getting into the swing of our new schedule and our routines we need to stick to. 

One annoying thing that happened this week was we got a letter from school regarding the book fair that is happening next week along with Kennedy's wish list. This is fine and great, but attached on the wish list was a note saying, "Book fair is such and such day, please make checks payable to such and such for the correct amount as we want to make sure no one is disappointed and can get everything they want." I'm a book lover. I'm all for kids having their own books and picking books of their liking, but what about the families that don't have the extra money to send to school for the book fair? The note made it seem like an obligation and how is that supposed to make those families feel?

ANWAYS!

What's one thing you learned in school this week?

Kennedy: "I learned to read three new words. In, the, and see."

Going places!

Leia

harry potter and the cursed child

It's now taking me one month to read a book. What has my life come to?! The Cruelest Month did not have me as engaged as the first two books in the series, but overall it was a good one and I will definitely be picking up the fourth installment in a little while.

One quote/excerpt from one of the main characters in the series really got me: 

"I did. But I hated being left out more. Everyone does, don't you know that?" Clara thought of all the wedding invitations she hadn't received and how she'd felt. Partly relieved at not having to go to the party and bring a gift they couldn't afford, but mostly offended at being left out. Forgotten. Or worse. Remembered but not included.

Being on the younger side of motherhood and all the other roles I fulfill, one hard area to keep fueled are friendships. So often I have to say no, or give a rain check because a lot of my friends are last minute people and last minute happenings aren't really a possibility for me so in the long run it seems like I always say no and then eventually I feel like the invites to tag along are few and far between. Blah, blah, blah, I know enough with the sob story.

Next up though we have Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two, #18 for the year. I was going to start it on Friday but thanks to my damn nails that slayed, I started it yesterday. The script style sort of takes a moment to get used to but it's good, no large paragraphs! My biggest flaw is that I'm typically reading past whose line it is and at the end of a page I'm like, 'wait, what is actually happening.' Annoying story: typically I buy my books online since they are cheaper, for instance this book was 40% less online. Well, they were 20% off in store, and I had a 20% off coupon to use so even though I knew I wouldn't get to it in a little while I thought I would just get it in store for 40% off. Well, all the way at the end of the coupon it said this book was ineligible.

..and I'll just leave this here for you.

Expelliarmus!
Leia

a bachelorette in chicago

On Friday night, I headed to Chicago to celebrate with my cousin for her bachelorette party! First things first, I obviously wanted to slay so I had planned on getting my nails done. The part I had not planned on was my nails taking almost two hours causing me to miss my damn train. Luckily I was able to get refunded 80% of my tickets, but I was still so incredibly angry at myself because it was all my fault. I mean really it was the perfectionist nail tech that I had. I like to think they were at least worth it.

So, I put Piper to bed for the first time as a two year old, Brendon gathered me some snacks and kindly filled my gas tank and I was off! I made it just under 4 hours; only 30 minutes later than my train was scheduled to arrive! Either way I was unfortunately going to miss day/night one of festivities. 

The room was setup so cute! What a wonderful maid of honor she had! Why didn't I document more of it..

The next day we all got up, got ready and headed out to a delicious brunch!

Yah, the eggs benny was so good I coudn't even get a picture before digging in. Haha, why yes, I AM A YELPER! 

Afterwards we made our way through the city to a wine tasting event. I'm absolutely not into wine but it was such a good time with everyone! Initially I was nervous about fitting in because out of 11 guests I was 1 of 3 that was not in the same sorority, but after meeting and hanging out with  everyone (two of which I had met previously but had completely forgotten about - my bad, girls!) those worries drifted right away.

We headed back to the hotel for some drinks and a few games before getting ready to go out for the main bar hopping event. Everyone looked AMAZING, so of course we had to celebrate by doing an impromptu photo shoot! In addition to the cutesie decorations, there was a confetti champagne bottle popper and we were attempting to recreate a photo Amanda found on Pinterest. To practice for the champagne pop self-timer photograph we were throwing regular confetti and I was extremely happy that I decided to bring my big camera along. We were not happy for the huge mess it created; our hotel room was trashed with confetti.

Next up was making our rounds through the city. No one got too crazy and it ended up being a pretty chill evening.

^^ This place was def a swingers bar. At first we.. or maybe just me.. were feeling sophisticated since they required a dress code and had rules like "one drink minimum" to stay.

This old gal can still have a good time. Some of the bars/clubs in Chicago are open until 5am which I did not know or expect. Definite bags under my eyes after those 36 hours, but well worth it. Now to wait for the wedding in October!



#miss2smith
Leia

rip brangelina

I just want to know why you did this AFTER Jennifer Aniston got married?!

Maybe this was an entire 'plan' having backfired? Maybe she has always been unhappy after ruining Hollywood's ultimate couple and she had to stay with him for so long but saw her way out after Jen got married? Is that what's happening here, Angie? 

We can just take a minute to appreciate Justin Theroux and his happy marriage to Jennifer, though.

But I mean sure, now that George Clooney is off the market.. hold on let me wipe the tears.. it will be nice to have another eligible bachelor on the loose.

"Jennifer Aniston Meme Day"

Leia

piper hazel turns two

Piper Hazel, Piper Hazel. Where to start? She is the coolest kid with the best attitude. There are some days when a lack of sleep or food get the best of her, but I mean, that happens to all of us so who am I to blame?

It's hard to believe that after two years with this child I'm still functioning. I can still count on my fingers how many uninterrupted nights I've had (to be fair this does not include nights I've spent away from her or that she's been with granny). Would I change it? You know, some days as horrible as it sounds, yeah. But I mean, I would only change it for a kid who sleeps through the night!

Extremely active, a daredevil, a joker, a love bug, a talker, an animal lover. She's talking so much more than Kennedy did at this age; still not putting multiple words together but she says "thank you", "night night", "bye bye", and "love you". All her in own speak, of course.

Other words she's mastered:

• mom, momma, MOOOOOOMY
• dad, daddy, DAADDDDDYYYYYYYYYY "da-yee"
• Kennedy "dee"
• blankie "gankie"
• puppy, doggy "goggie"
• kitty "kee"
• water "wa"
• drink "gink"
• paci "ba" (I have always been confused about this one)
• granny "ga-yee"
• papa
• hungry "gungie"
• shoes "ew"
• wipe, napkin "weep"
• sleep "weep" (all in the context clues, peeps)
• chips "chippies"
• car
• truck
• ride
• welcome "gum"
• gum
• snack
• phone "mone"
• baby
• bike
• boo boo
• plane "peen"
• bird "bir-yee"
• eye
• butt
• toe toe
• bug "buggie"
• get up "gup"
• stop
• good boy "boyyyy"

There might be more, but this is what happens when you don't write them down as they happen because like always, you THINK you'll remember and then you just chuckle at the absurdity of that self confidence.

She can identify so many body parts; including elbow!

I just can't believe how the time flies. Yeah, I know. The most used but highly accurate statement in all of parenting. The time only speeds up with you have more than one kid in the mix.

At the end of the day I just truly love being her mom and all the different emotions she brings to our little unit. She loves to follow in big sissy's footsteps (even when she's not always wanted) and she wants whoever is leaving; it never fails. We all love you so much, Pipes. 

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

Leia