Family photos!

The photographer posted a few photos from our shoot on Saturday.  I'm excited about them, they turned out really great!  A huge thank you to Lisa Reyes Photography in Fayetteville, NC for these photos.  I can't wait to see the rest of them!

My first attempt at meatloaf

Pioneer woman I am not.  Until today I had never made a meatloaf before.  Something about it intimidated me.  Plus the fact that my mom makes the best meatloaf I've ever tasted, I was sure I'd screw it up.  And I was kind of right.  But I had to try making it, and while it wasn't as good as my moms, it was decent.  I messed up a little but now I know what to do different next time. 

The problem is my moms recipe is the "a little bit of this and a little bit of that" type of recipe.  So can you blame me for getting the proportions wrong?  I used way too much meat.  Enough meat to make 2 whole loaves, but only put in enough other ingredients for one.  So it was kind of bland. 

The ingredients

I sliced the onion really thin because I don't like chunks of onion.  And I should have used more onion for the amount of meat I used.

 Then I diced up the onion and threw all the ingredients in a big bowl (except for the carrots potatoes and bouillon).  

 Then you mush it all together.  It's messy.

 Form it into a loaf (or in my case, two loaves) and bake it until browned.

 Mmmmmm meat

 

Cut up the carrots and potatoes and place around the loaf and cover with beef broth and bake until meat is cooked through and veggies are tender.

 Finished product.  Before I took the meatloaf out of the oven I made a mixture of ketchup and Worcestershire and slathered over the top of the meat.  It was really good.

 Really really good. 

But, it'll be much better next time when I use half the amount of meat and the same everything else.  And there will be a next time.  Very very soon. 

Motivated

I am not a great cook.  I'm not even that good of a good cook.  For Father's Day my mom got my husband a drink coozie that says, "My wife's a better cook since she found out the smoke alarm isn't a timer."  I'm serious.  And so was she.

I am well known for my kitchen mishaps.  I've shattered a pot lid cooking spaghetti sauce.  I've burned a pot beyond saving while steaming veggies (I got distracted and it ran out of water...easy to do, right?  Just me?).  And best of all, I set a pan on fire.  I was heating butter.  Enough said.  In my defense though, that last one was when I was sleep deprived right after my son was born, and my husband was gone so I was getting like NO sleep.  (On the bright side I learned how to use a fire extinguisher.)  So, in my bio, where I say "I often try and fail at being domestic," this is kind of what I'm talking about.)

Anyways, we recently moved, and we're on a really tight budget being on a soldiers salary, so I have become super motivated to cook every night.  Well, at least 6 nights a week.  I got this great idea to plan a menu for the week, do ONE shopping trip for everything to make those meals, then we would pick something off the list to make for dinner.  I know this sounds like a totally normal thing that people probably ALREADY do, but we didn't.  We just figured it out that night and would have to run to the store, or try to figure out what we can make out of our pantry and fridge contents.  We also have a problem being incredibly indecisive, so this helps a lot with that.  If it's not planned out, our evenings usually go like this:
Hubby comes home from work at 530.  We sit and play with baby.
Hubby:  What should we do for dinner?
Me:  I don't know, what do you want to do?
Hubby:  I don't know...
Repeat every 30 minutes, until finally around 8 or 9 we end up just getting fast food.

It's very frustrating.  And we end up very hungry and cranky.


So, I compiled a list of the meals that we already make, scoured the interwebz for recipes (feel free to leave recipes or links to recipes in comments, we need more options!), and every weekend we make a menu from the list of meals, go grocery shopping, and every night we pick something off the list to make.  It's wonderful.  I feel like I'm one step closer to a better housewife.

New Beginnings

I guess I'll start  by introducing myself.  I'm Erin, a 27 year old army wife and new mom.  I've been married to my wonderful husband for 4 years, after a 3 year long engagement.  We have a 6 month old son, Connor, who is the most amazing little boy.

My husband, Chris, joined the army around the time I found out I was pregnant.  He was away at basic training my entire third trimester, and came home on my due date.  Connor was born a week later, then Chris left for AIT (training for his specific job) When Connor was 10 days old, and was gone for 4 months.

(Side bar:  I have SO much respect for single moms.  It's so hard taking care of a baby all by yourself...nobody to help you with the baby in the middle of the night, nobody to hold the baby so you can take a shower, or eat, or go to the bathroom...well, you get the idea.  It's hard.)

So, Chris came home when Connor was just about 4.5 months old.  Then began my real introduction into the military life.  We packed everything up and moved to Fort Bragg.  Luckily, it's only about an hour and a half away from where we WERE, and where my family still is, so I still get to see them sometimes.  It sucks though, moving somewhere not knowing a single other person in the area (aside from my husband and baby that is).

It's an adventure, that's for sure.   My life as an army wife and a mom is a crazy roller coaster, and it's just begun.  This is my life as Mrs. A.

Here's my little man Connor