Black and White Gallery Wall up in Kitchen!

In our new rental, we have a big wall behind the eating area of our kitchen...

and I knew right away I wanted to do a gallery wall with all my black and white frames!

I'll do a more detailed post sometime soon.

Right now I just put all the frames up on the wall and

I have some different prints to update them next.

Since taking the photo below, of the frames up on the wall,

I backed up and moved the bottom row all over a little to the right. haha.

The perfectionist in my has been tweaking them. ;)

 The next morning we enjoyed eating breakfast while looking at our frames!

Excited to UPDATE the frames next! I'll be sharing what I put in them

and where the frames are all from. Super happy with how it's coming together.

Mommy Confessions

If you want to feel better about your parenting skills...keep on reading.

I love being a mom.

LOVEEEE it.

It is one of the hardest but most rewarding things I've ever done in my life.

 -- I have cried while getting dressed.

1. because everything had baby spit up on it

2. because I don't know what fits or what doesn't fit at this point.

3. because I look in the mirror some days and only see a tired mommy

and not the young fresh faced girl I feel like I used to be.

-- Sometimes I feel like I say....

 no. stop. don't do that. time out. slow down. don't put that in your mouth. don't fight. get out of the cupboard. don't lick that. no your brother isn't a motorcycle. talk quieter. get out of the bathroom. don't pull her hair. go to sleep. put your clothes back on. go to bed please.......

 WAY too many times a day.

It makes me want to go bonkers. seriously bonkers.

--I have felt overwhelmed.

--I have felt incapable

--I have felt like a failure

--I have felt like my brain was going to burst from the noise in this house.

--My laundry room has a mountain of dirty laundry.

--My bedroom has a mountain of clean laundry.

--at one point this week every single room had laundry in it.

--Many mornings I choose keeping the kids alive and the

house from burning down instead of showering.

--I have texted my husband,

while he is at work, that I was losing my mind.

the text sometimes starting with "blah sdhfjkhsjdkfdhjs"

this happens more often then I want to admit.

--Sometimes I don't have time to wash my hair for a couple days.

thank goodness for dry shampoo.

--I'm TIRED. a lot.

I always wanted to be a mom. since I was a little girl!

One thing no one ever told me...was how TIRED you will be as a parent.

Think cramming for finals times a million......haha.

But the crazy thing about "parenting exhaustion"...

is that it can suddenly be easy to handle in one sweet moment with your child.

a hug.. a giggle.. a reach for you.. it makes you forget how worn you feel...

and gives you the biggest feeling of peace.

Just knowing you are everything to that child. and this is what God is wanting from you.

 

THREE KIDS.

Sometimes it's easier to stay home... sometimes it's easier to take them out!

I just have to prepare myself mentally before I go.

I will be slower than I WANT to be.

I will probably think at one point I wish I didn't make this decision. haha.

BUT... I have gotten better at taking the whole gang out.

We once went to target. I didn't have my k'tan wrap... So I was carrying micah on my hip and the girls were in the cart. we got a lot of stares. and a lot of "you are brave!" "you have your hands full!" "do you need help?".... my reply was "oh they are being angels right now! this is a good trip." ;) which they were. I think silly straw bribery worked.

I have learned how to juggle them better.

Micah goes in the wrap. each girl gets a hand.

We have our system down, even though sometimes things get a little crazy and I'll be holding a melting down sienna while micah is in the wrap.

And that is when I get chuckles and stares from passerby's. soo fun!

Cure to any hard day... baby giggles.

You can't help but be happy when you hear them and see a jolly face.

I am learning to accept and not be so hard on myself.

But many days I wish that I could have been a better mommy...a better wife..

Sometimes I wish I trusted in God more.

Every day I pray for more patience.

I have the peace of knowing this is exactly where God wants me to be...

Now I just need to be realistic in my expectations that I set for myself.

I can do this. with HIS help. and maybe a case of diet dr pepper.

Winner of the $100 Visa Gift Card from SHOPPERK...

and the winner of the $100 Visa Gift Card from SHOPPERK is...

Sarah L.

If you haven't checked out Shopperk yet you should!!

Here's my video post sharing what I thought of it!

Favorites- Fried Fresh Mozzarella and Chicken Parm

These are two of my all time favorite "special" dinner recipes...

Fried Fresh Mozzarella and Chicken Parm!

Sometimes we make them together but plenty of times I'll make up the fried Mozzarella with some pasta and salad...or as an appetizer when friends come over.

The plate gets devoured.

Cheese.. fried.. c'mon. amazingness.

The Chicken Parm is such an easy meal to make when you have company coming over. You can have all the messy work done with it ready to go..

The chicken parm in the oven! kitchen clean... pasta boiling!

These recipes are low fat, low calories, low everything.........

just go with that. ;)

Once you make this one time you'll be able to cook

without even pulling up the recipe! super easy. 

FRIED MOZZARELLA

(Better than store OR restaurant bought!)

Originally posted here when I discovered the recipe on recipezaar.com

I've changed it up to fit how we like it! Below is the recipe I use.

(not the prettiest photo below..but you get the idea! this wasn't a planned post. ;)

INGREDIENTS:

pack of fresh mozzarella (ball or log)..cut into pieces

2 eggs beaten

2 tablespoons water

3/4 cup panko italian bread crumbs

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoon dried oregano (I LOVE this spice. heavy handed with it)

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/3 cup flour

pinch or two of salt and pepper

olive oil (for frying)

DIRECTIONS:

--Pull out three bowls.

--In one bowl combine the water and egg.

--In your second bowl but the flour

--In the third, and final bowl, combine the bread crumbs and spices.

--Dip the piece of fresh mozzarella into the egg mixture, flour mixture, egg mixture and lastly in the bread mixture. Place on a plate.

--Repeat till all the cheese is coated.

--Cover the plate of breaded cheese with foil and put in freezer.

This helps the cheese to hold it's shape when fried.

--When you are ready pull out the cheese a little before frying.

--Heat up your saucepan..and then add olive oil.

--Make sure it's hot enough.. (test with a pinch of flour.)

--I put in enough oil to have them soaked but not swimming in it!

You'll get the hang of how much to put in.

--Place your cheese in the pan and brown both sides. make sure not to overcrowd the pan.

--Tongs make this whole frying process easier.

--SOMETIMES I place on paper towels to drain..but sometimes if the cheese is melting already I skip that or you'll have a big ol mess. I don't put in too much oil to begin with.

--EAT UP! You can dip in marinara or spaghetti sauce.

CHICKEN PARM

The ingredients are the same as the fried mozzarella... same idea..

You just need thin chicken breasts.. and maybe a little more

of the dry ingredients depending on how much chicken you are making up!

INGREDIENTS:

Same as Fried Mozzarella

+ Jar of Spaghetti Sauce

+Pasta of choice (sometimes we'll make just chicken parm with thin spaghetti)

+Thin sliced Mozzarella (You could use deli sliced...

shredded mozzarella.. or even the fresh ball/log sliced thin)

DIRECTIONS:

--Bread the chicken and brown in pan, the same way I explained the fried Mozzarella.

--put some of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of your casserole pan

--Layer the chicken, sauce and cheese

--Cover with foil

--Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.. depending on how thin your chicken is!

(The chicken is browned but just needs to be cooked through. I always check occasionally)

--You can remove the foil near the end if you want it a little toasted!

--enjoy!

--Leftovers are great for chicken parm sandwiches!

little tip when covering recipes that are cheesy on top, with foil....

spray the foil with cooking spray before you cover!

GENIUSSSSSS. I know. Can't remember who

told me that trick but it's awesome.

(photo from when I last made lasagna roll ups)

If you are looking for a good dressing to go on salad...

This is our all time favorite in the house.

Enjoy!

Fun part of having a Blog: Announcing Giveaway Winners!

This is one of the best parts of having a blog...

The Winners of the Giveaway... two $50 credit for Caroline G. Jewelry are.....

Valerie D. and Jessica W.!

I'll be e-mailing you tonight to make sure you know you won!

Congratulations girls Have fun shopping!

Having 2 and 4 yr old girls.

The other day, as I watched my girls driving

around in their little jeep in the backyard...

I pictured them little again.

I'm so glad my girls have each other. They will be 3 and 5 in August.

The fighting over toys and "don't look at me!! mommmm she's looking at mee" moments

are worth the cute ways they play together and giggle.

They make each other pee their pants from laughing.... seriously.

we've had to do complete wardrobe changes.....

Sophie and Sienna share a room..

and even though there are nights many nights we

wish they would just goo tooooo beddd...

It's cute hearing them giggle and whisper.

When sienna first moved from the crib, to a big girl bed in sophie's room...

She kept waking up in the middle of the night and coming to our room.

Or sometimes she would just cry out from her bed for a minute.

One morning sophie told us sienna woke up but that she got her back to sleep by rubbing her back. Once sophie held sienna on the couch and got her to fall asleep...... Tonight at dinner sienna got down and moved her chair closer to sophie's. they are so cute together. They also know how to push each other's buttons.

sienna is a hair puller/leg pincher..and sophie is a pusher/stomp away-er.

we do plenty of time outs during the day because of sisterly love. ;)

GIRL TIME.. + daddy.

Daddy crashed the picnic I made the girls...

Seeing my girls growing up, makes me excited for

all the fun we have in store with our micah!

I love when babies are little and in the newborn stage...

but I reallyyy love the 6-12 month age!

He is coming to life.. giggly and jolly as ever

but moving and ready to rock and roll. a total snuggler.

Trying to savor every moment with my kids...

and have more patience in all the crazy moments...

because they are growing up SO FAST.

My Faith + Finding Mr. Right

I love getting e-mails from my readers. So many of them start off with,
"this might be weird, because you don't know me, but I feel like I know you!..."
So, even though a part of me wasn't sure if I should share this post...
I felt like my readers might appreciate hearing this part of me too.
I feel like this is.. really personal. but it'll be good to share!
----------------------------------------

Growing up I was a good girl. no angel, but I barely got in trouble.
In all the home videos you see craziness going on and then me in the background either poking my finger into the birthday cake and eating it..or cuddling a baby doll like a little mama. I'm sure I gave my mom head aches..but she has told me that I was definitely easy.

In high school I went to multiple youth groups...I was really picky when it came to boys and only said yes to a handful of dates. Never having a serious boyfriend but having an amazing group of guy + girl friends. (I blog about shannon often, she was in that great group.) We would go on retreats and nights of worship.. along with doing the typical high school fun.
Here's a video from Christmas one year. Since losing my best friend shannon, this video has brought me so many tears. happy and sad ones. I was sooo lucky with my high school years.... blessed with a great group of friends that made it "normal" to be active in your faith and church.

Everyone has a cross in their life. I had hard things happen in my childhood that gave me the choice to either run from God or run TO Him. And luckily I had really holy people around me that helped me realize that He had a plan for me. and not to waist a single tear, to offer up any suffering you may have for others who might need a prayer.

I grew up around some very Holy Consecrated Women and Missionary of Charity Sisters (Mother Teresa's sisters).. they were beautiful, holy AND normal?! triple threat. they inspired me. I even spent a day with Mother Teresa when I was ten. She put her hands on my head and blessed me...pulling my dad down to her height with his tie and saying "you have a good family."(we still have that tie) at the time I really wanted to be a sister.. and looking straight into mother teresa's eyes, I told her, "I want to be a sister!" She laughed at me!!! and with a smile she held my hands in her soft wrinkled ones and told me, "Pray 3 hail mary's every day for your vocation".. I figured she knew what she was talking about. and took her advice to open up that conversation with God to discover HIS plan for me.

Through my parents, and these holy women's examples, I learned how to really pray.
I prayed those 3 hail mary's every night... at first for my vocation and then, once I discerned, for my future husband.. I started a deeper personal relationship with God...prayer was a real but simple conversation with Christ. I learned how to use my talents to tell people about Christ. I was VERY active in my faith. I ran retreats, fundraisers, went on missions, flew across the country and overseas to speak at events for young girls. Right after high school I did a year of volunteer work for the church. they send you where they need you. I ended up meeting/traveling/living with some incredible holy crazy girls who I'm still close with. We did mainly youth ministry at schools and parishes. one of the hardest but most rewarding years of my life. My prayer life was the best it had ever been and the sacrifices we made really helped us mature and go deep. plus we had a lot of fun adventures. We once had no money and needed food for a retreat we were running.. I went with another girl to a grocery store and asked the manager if he could make a donation.. he gave me a shopping cart and said fill it up. It was those kind of experiences during that year of service that I was able to see how God provides.

Then it was time for college.

I chose a VERY small Catholic college.

I immediately met my amazing roommate and a fun group of girls.

They were loud outgoing and we laughed...ALOT.

I love being around people. and having fun and being spontaneous and silly.

I found myself in the "party crowd"... (it was a small school......there was a defined group?)

I had so much fun with these people. But there were times I found myself getting into trouble...ALOT. and I was not respecting myself or others.

I wasn't focusing enough on studying and was going out too many nights.

There are certain friendships, that I made during that time,

that I'm still connected with and cherish.

But there were others where it felt completely superficial.
I didn't feel like myself and didn't like where I was going.
I decided I didn't want to party as much.
It was quickly becoming my identity at this small school.

One day, I was on the phone with my mom.
And I was talking to her about all of these things on my mind...
She suggested that.. when my friends go out to a party...
I should go to the gym on campus and shoot hoops.

So I did.

I'm horrible at basketball.

But I did it.. I would go and shoot hoops.

and one night....

My future husband was there...and that's where we had our first real conversation.

We had "met" earlier that week when I was in the gym talking with a mutual guy friend while watching an inturmural game. Ben walked over and said
(this is the truth. it's in the scrap book. it happened. even though ben denies it. ;)
"Hey girl, I see you all around campus.. I gotta know your name."

BAHHHHHH ::insert melting college girl here::

He was so cute and charming. I didn't even remember his name after he told me it because I was so in shock with how confident and sweet he was. and cute. did I mention cute?

So when I was in the gym that night, while my friends were at a party, we started talking.

He had on those breakaway basketball pants and was showing off his game ;)

We walked together to the campus library to check our e-mail/facebook.. (what else?) and then we were talking outside and I remember being  in complete shock when, after saying goodnight, he didn't ask me for my number.. we just said bye and walked opposite ways.
I remember making that face like what??? haha.... Makes me laugh now looking back.

We eventually ended up exchanging numbers...and he took me on a date.
I was in my notre dame sweater and yoga pants. we went to eat n' park. classy.
He had his baseball hat to the side with stud earings in.

And he interviewed me on my family, how many kids I wanted etc. etc..

He jokes that he knew I was the one when I ordered a huge burger.

But in all honesty, we both knew very quickly...this was IT.

I had never felt that way about a guy before. It was more than the butterflies that did it.

He was sweet, kind, funny, but most of all.. a holy guy.
He was my first and last exclusive relationship!
We weren't a perfect couple..but we both had the desire to strive for holiness.
We prayed and went to church together. Ben had a passion for ministry and
He started doing part time youth ministry while we were still in college..
and, as the girlfriend/fiance, I was there a lot too! Doing ministry together was really fun.

THE PROPOSAL: "ben told me that we were having a dinner with our youth group kids and that everyone was dressing up..but when we got there...he got me into the church and I saw that it was all glowing with candles down the aisle to the altar..100 roses everywhere..candles all over the altar with the monstrance. it was so beautiful. he walked me down the aisle I was freaking out haha and at the end he said all this amazing stuff and then knelt down and said natalie catherine will you marry me?? and I said yesss and we hugged and kissed and some of the youth group kids who set up all the flowers and candles for him screamed from the cry room where they, and our priests, were hiding haha. then we knelt down infront of the tabernacle and said a prayer then everyone came out and we took photos and the priests stood over us and blessed us and my ring with holy water (which they gave us at the end) then ben and I took more roses to the statue of our lady and we prayed together and he gave me a couple gifts that he got while we were in medjugorje over christmas. then ben said we had dinner reservations so we left for the george town inn that looks out onto the skyline of pitt. we walked into the restaurant and there was his family and my family!!! all waiting for us to get there and celebrate. I was so suprised I cried haha. it was the most amazing night ever. and the festivities carried on all weekend. I am so thankful for the amazing man God put in my life. "

It's funny because I had texted my mom "false alarm" on
thinking it was proposal night...only to it really being the night..and her in town!
He tricked me good.
When he proposed, Ben told me how since he was younger he had been praying for his future wife. So even though we didn't know it..we were praying for each other!
We occasionally are asked to speak at high schools and retreats, and we always share that detail. how we felt God working in our lives through that unknown prayer from the other person!

I really feel like God put me right where I needed to be... in that gym.
I was there trying to be faithful to Him, and He blessed me with ben...
and we were able to start our life towards the path of where we are today.
It's amazing how God works in our lives!

We ended up getting engaged within 8 months. married 8 months after that.

Looking back it went FAST. like.. super speed fast. But we really stayed close to God during that time and prayed a lot as a couple and He led us. Every day we prayed those 3 hail mary's to our Lady asking to interceded for us and our engagement.. then we continued those prayers after we were married.. and to this day, we still include in our pray time every night, those 3 hail mary's for our children's vocation. We pray that they will know how amazing they are and that God has a plan for them in their life.

I'm so lucky to have a man who randomly asks "do you want to go have some prayer time?".... "do you want to go to novena tonight?"... "do you want to go to that talk on ___?"...

Having our faith helps us get through the tough times that come with family life.
We had children right away.. and we love it. I can't imagine not having sophie.. sienna.. micah... they are amazing and a blessing even when they drive us insane + to exhaustion. haha. There are days...we feel like crazy people. not gonna lie. This past sunday....was one of those days. we arrived to church, only the underneath part of the bottom part of my hair was straightened. (as far as I could get) ben's shirt was on INSIDE OUT... and sienna had dressed herself and we just "went with it".... BUT.. we made it to church. we were there and had that hour with God and got a bunch of blessings to help us through this week.

It's been incredible seeing how God has worked in my life.

Taking me where I'm at and helping me discover His plan for me.

Sophie asks me all the time right now...
"mom..what do you want to be when you grow up? You'll be a superhero"
 and to tell you the truth, sometimes when I get through
a day with 3 kids under the age of 5.. I feel like one. ;)

I always had the desire to be a wife and mom.. that's what I "wanted to be when I grew up."
And I always had the passion to be creative and to connect with people.
I feel blessed with where I am in life right now. Who knows the crosses that might be ahead of us... but I know that I have a partner in my
husband who loves ALL of me and who wants to help get our family to heaven..
so with our faith and family as our rock.. I'm excited for our life.

ps. we were made for each other.