The Every Things Mrs Mumaw : Fort Wayne Lifestyle, Travel & Mommy Blogger

Kennedy the "cooker" & her first recipe!

1:04 PM

Kennedy in recent months, has been utterly obsessed with all things baking and cooking. It first started when "Martha Bakes" came on PBS after one their shows. & she was obsessed with Martha Stewart. She would go in between an orca whale "person" & Martha Stewart as who she wanted to be when she grew up!

If she would have it her way, she would watch the Food Network ALL day long. Which is when she in love with Ree Drummond, aka the Pioneer Woman. She will sit with one of her cookbooks for hours. Its the sweetest thing!

I always let the girls help in way that they can when I am cooking. But she has been pushing & pushing to do more. To be like Ree.

I let her cut up the summer sausage the other day...with a ...sharp knife. I was pretty nervous, &
she, of course, was over the moon. Its so funny to watch her because she will drag what she cut to the other side of the board like she has seen on shows.

Next, is she really wanted to do something with the stove. Let not forget she is only 4 years old. I really was dragging my feet. But she kept pressing the issue, & really seems to have intrested cooking. So after sitting her down & showing her the stove is NOT to play with & can really hurt her & how to be safe. I had her stand right next to me, & helped a few times and then finally I let her try herself!

Her dish of choice was biscuits & gravy! She brown the sausage & made the gravy 100% by herself, adding in the flour & milk! Sissy did the biscuits!

Kennedy Buscuits & Gravy

Ingredients:

1 lb sausage

pepper

flour

milk

tube of refrigerated biscuits

Instructions:

brown sausage til done, we leave the grease in the pan but that is optional.

Add equal parts, flour & milk, stir constantly til a good thick {but not too thick}. Add pepper to taste.

Make biscuits as directed on package. Serve gravy on top of biscuits & enjoy!!

It was so yummy! She did such a great job!

Things no one tells you about not being able to have more children.

12:14 AM

Not being able to have more children, after already having children puts us in such a weird club.

You already have children, & can't have more; & for a lot of people that hard to understand. & the yearning to have more, doesn't make sense; I mean we already have a child{ren} right?
No one told me how hard it is to explain.

When you have a dream of your family & how many children you want; & have that decision of how choose to expand it taken away for you. It pretty devastating.

I often hear, at least you have your girls, & believe or not been told that my life is already crazy enough with two what would I do with three. Yeah, someone actually said that. Just because someone might already have children & maybe a hot mess with those children, does not make that longing for another child less hard. YES, I know I am so blessed to have them. But that does not take away my yearning for a bigger family go away. It insulting to our feelings when we are told that.

When that decision was taken from me, We lost what our family would looked like. I lost filling my dining room table every night for dinner, our view on Christmas morning changed, dreams that my husband and I had our lives were taken away.

Somehow being sad, in other people's eyes makes them think you are ungrateful for the children that you already have. & that just simply is not the case.

It seems so simple. "Just adopt".."Just be grateful".."God has reason for only giving you two"

We still get sad with pregnancy announcements, baby showers & isles. We are thrilled for our friends & families, but there will always be jealousy. It has NOTHING whatsoever to do with that person & has everything to do our own hurt. When you have children, going through that hurt you see in your children as well. They don't understand why they can't have another sibling. They don't understand that their friends mommies have babies & their bellies & their mommy can not.

A good friend recently pointed out to me, that one of the biggest struggles I have is that I get more sad, for feeling sad. That in my mind, I am not aloud to feel that way. How could I? I have two children, when some can not have any at all. & yes that IS just the way it is. There IS nothing I can do about it. But we ALLOWED to be sad & jealous.

We realize people have it worst. But that is just not what you say to people going thru a tough time. It isn't like we, me more so, like being sad. I can't just stop wanting, when its all I've ever dreamed of.

Regardless if you've ever had a child, when you're told you can't do something as natural as carrying a baby, it hits your most basic level. & no one should ever feel ashamed or apologize for that.

The whole point of this post, is have compassion. If you have a loved one struggling with not being able to expand their family, for any reason, there are so many; be kind. Love them. Make them feel validated in their feelings. Make them feel loved. Don't try to find a way to fix it. We aren't sad ALL the time. We don't focus our every moment on the things we can't have, but sometimes; the sadness creeps in. When you don't know what to say, hug them. Tell them how unfair it is, & how much it does suck. There are so many of us hurting afraid of what people will say about our feelings, fearing we may somehow hurt others with our own hurt or sound ungrateful, and could use your compassion when so many are making them feel lousy.

If you are going through this, I promise you It's okay to be sad. It's okay to be angry. It's okay to be jealous.
I pray God covers with peace when understanding seems so cruel sometimes to understand.

Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn

10:13 PM

My good friend Christy got me hooked on this treat!

It is the perfect fall night, sweet caramely goodness to sit by the fire & watch Hocus Pocus, snack.

You HAVE to give it a try. Here's how to make this amazing-ness:

1. Pop popcorn, just your normal store bought bag!

2. Melt Butter in a pot on the stove. Add brown sugar & corn syrup until its all mixed in & blended! Next add the secret to this goodness, marshmallows!! Stir continuously til its all melted!

3. Pour mixture over popcorn. Drrrrooollll...

4. You can either spread it on parchment paper & cut into squares or at my house, we can't wait that long & eat it right out of the bowl while its still gooey & warm.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you tried it & what you thought!!

Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn

Ingredients

1 bag popped popcorn ( any flavor works )
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 TB light corn syrup
20 Large Marshmallows

Recipe adapted from: Little Luna

my little pumpkin

12:26 AM

While Kennedy is in school, Kensley & I sometimes do fun things..like go take some fun pumpkin photos!

She was absolute doll for these. Which is a far cry from what she normally is for photos. She doesn't always like it, mostly because she is on hip or some body part while i'm the one taking them :P But when she does want her photos taken she is such a ham! As you can see!