Welcome to What I Wore Wednesday, where this week’s theme is apparently “my eyes do funny things in pictures.” Blegh. Just like you, I hate pictures of myself. But I want to show that plus-size women can be cute, on style, and have just as much fun with clothes!

tank: Merona Braided Neckline tank in Bering Sea (Target). jeans: Lauren by Ralph Lauren. shoes: odell flats by mossimo in gold.

I wore this comfy outfit to the rehearsal for Libbie’s dance recital. It promptly got spit up ALL over. Which is pretty much my life.

I love the braiding on this tank. At $15, I’m tempted to buy a couple more colors.

Let’s just be honest. This is what I look like a lot of the time. My room is a mess, I have a baby spitting up on me, and my hair up. I’m a stay-at-home mom of 3, and that’s awesome.

I like this shirt but it kept falling off one shoulder and making me feel very Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

shirt: Old Navy. shorts: Target (I don’t think those are the exact ones, but similar). shoes: Dr. Scholl’s (free at Blissdom ’12 from Famous Footwear).

I thought I had a better picture of me from Libbie’s recital, but alas, no.

dress: NY Collection printed maxi dress via Gwynnie Bee. cami: VERY old Lane Bryant. necklace: my daddy bought it for me for Valentine’s Day before I was even married. Libbie: ridiculously expensive feathered dance outfit and flowers from her daddy.

shirt: Investments II wave texture top. pants: Worthington Classic Curvy Fit from JCP.  shoes: mossimo odell flats in black (on sale for $7.50! And yes, I do have them in gold, black, AND cheetah).

I wore this to church Sunday. I think I liked the shirt better with capris last week though.

I’m in love with my clock in the background, by the way. I ordered it from Joss & Main. I got free shipping because when you sign up they give you that for 30 days, and then they ended up giving me a partial refund just because my clock said “London” instead of “Times Square.” (Did I even notice? Um, no.) Their customer service was excellent and I highly recommend shopping through them if you’re looking for some nice things for your home!

maxi dress: Belk (different print and regular sizes, but same style). chambray shirt: Old Navy. cami: same ancient Lane Bryant one. flippy floppies: somewhere along Virginia Beach.

Look, Jill, I’m trying. I bought my chambray shirt. I bought it specifically to try to wear with a maxi, but I’m thinking it is not working here. Maybe my chest is just too big to pull this off. I will still wear it, but with something else.

This is my favorite maxi dress, though. I love purple. I wore this to Vacation Bible School today.

___

So, I REALLY need want some white pants or capris or even long shorts for this summer. But it’s so hard to find ones that don’t show panty lines or are completely see through. Do you have any suggestions?

Yes, this post has affiliate links.

photo source: foodthinkers

Who wants to spend time in your kitchen with a hot oven during the summer? Not me. Especially not our stuffy, basement-apartment kitchen with no windows. It’s bad enough that every time I cook anything the smoke detector goes off.

Of course we will use the oven, but I think summer’s a great time to put your slow cooker to as much use as possible. It’s easy, forgiving, and makes tender meat and tasty soups.

Here are the delicious slow cooker recipes you can find on Vanderbilt Wife – and a few of my other favorites.

Barbecue Crockpot Chicken doesn’t have a picture it the post is so old. I guess we’ll have to make it again soon and take pictures! I’ve also heard it’s good in your pressure cooker.

If you just want a lighter or out-of-the-ordinary dinner, why not have snack night? This Mexican Corn Dip melts together super-easy in a little slow cooker.

Just call this Adventures in Ethnic Slow Cooking: Sort-Of Indian Butter Chicken.

Honey, Parmesan cheese, soy sauce, and garlic? Yes. Oh yes. You will not believe how these flavors meld into something delicious on this dish: Honey Parmesan Pork Roast.

Stuffed peppers in the crockpot? SO much easier than boiling them, then stuffing, then baking. And the texture is better, too. These are amped up from your normal pepper: Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers.

Confession: I made this Pork Tenderloin with Garlic, Herb, and Red Wine in the slow cooker again this week. And I think pork tenderloin is just too good of a cut to go in the crockpot. The recipe is still great, so marinate and then throw it outside on your grill. Or try it … just be warned, you only need to cook a few hours on low. NOT an all-day dish.

Sure it’s hot … but I like soups and stews even in the summer. And they’re so easy in the slow cooker. Here’s some delicious Beef and Tomato Stew from my German foods experiment last summer.

This stew is way more appetizing that it looks. Blame the photographer. We’ve been making Little League Stew for the entirety of our marriage and it’s always just as good. (I just buy organic cream of chemical celery soup now instead of Campbell’s. That makes it OK, right?)

I also have a recipe for our favorite vinegar-based barbecue: Pulled Pork with Lexington Red Sauce. It’s a Cooking Light recipe I adjusted from the grill to the slow cooker. Yum!

And, as promised, here are some other family favorites:

• Freezable Yogurt in the Slow Cooker
• Sweet Aromatic Chicken
• Golden Glow Pork Chops
• cook a whole chicken in water all day, remove chicken and cook egg noodles in the broth, then add meat and some butter back to the noodles. Yum!
• Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast

And here are some of my readers’ favorites:

• Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
• Slow Cooker Lasagna
• Italian Spinach Tortellini

So grab that slow cooker, throw a few things in, turn it on, and then go to the pool. Your house will smell good when you get home, and you won’t have to heat up the kitchen with your oven.

What’s your favorite slow cooker recipe?

Added to Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale. 

Hey! It’s that time of the week again. I have to admit that this past week I was not great at cooking breakfast or lunch. We were SO nuts with VBS every day – and there is just more of that this week! (Plus this week I am teaching! Not just dropping off my little ones!)

We did have very yummy Blueberry Oatmeal Bars and also Oatmeal Cinnamon Banana Cake (it has oatmeal, thus it’s OK for breakfast). This week I’ll probably make Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars and then just serve up yogurt, string cheese, cereal, or maybe eggs as we rush out the door each morning.

For lunch, we’re just doing sandwiches, yogurt and granola, or leftover. Keeping it real, people.

But I will cook dinner. I promise.

Dinners

• Shrimp Mexican Roll-Ups with Avocado Cream, Mexican Rice (didn’t get to yet)
• Greek Seasoned Grilled Pork Chops, Roasted Lemon-Mustard Broccoli, Easy Pasta Side with Garlic and Herbs
• Cracker Barrel Grilled Chicken Tenderloins, mashed potatoes, Cracker Barrel baby carrots
• pancakes, eggs, bacon
• Grilled Salmon with Maple Glaze, rice, grilled zucchini

What’s cooking in your neck of the woods this week? 

Find tons of menu plans, always, at OrgJunkie.

It’s amazing how quickly an hour and a half can fly by when you’re the only one awake. Why yes, that does mean that after the baby got up shortly after 5 I just stayed awake. It’s my new plan for actually getting anything done or just having some restful time to catch up with She Reads Truth or blogs.

This does, however, usually involve taking a nap when the kids do in the afternoon!

Tonight is this little princess’s first dance recital, by the way. She loved dress rehearsal. Mommy came home, cried, and went to sleep because it stressed her out so much.

Anyway, on with the links.

• Community, Not Perfection at Servant’s Life
• Five Myths about Reading and How to Put Them to Death at Jeff Goins (guest post) - Jesus taught in parables — in other words, a story, a form of fiction — because it’s an effective teaching method. So if Jesus thinks you can learn from a story, it’s safe to say that you can learn a lot from a novel.
• Fashion, Make-Up, Jesus, and Me at (in)courage
• Defining Hospitality in the Age of Pinterest at Amy J. Bennett (guest post)
• YUM of the Week: Fajita Pie with Tortilla Crust at Finding Joy in My Kitchen {oh yum. Think it would still be good without cheese? Silly baby getting all gassy when I eat dairy.}

Just a note that this linky is for your own link posts. If you have just one favorite post you want to share, leave it in the comments, OK? 

So, what did you read that was great this week? Link up here. You can grab the code for the button in the sidebar, if you want. Please link back to Vanderbilt Wife and add the PERMALINK to your post, not your home page.

I was kind of depressed last week when I surfed through the What I Wore Wednesday linky at The Pleated Poppy. I’ve had a newfound interest in looking decent. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m FINALLY not pregnant and don’t have any intentions to be anytime soon (or maybe ever). Maybe it’s just the need to feel put together in some area of my life. Or maybe I just want to make sure my husband is proud of me and finds me attractive.

But when I perused the linky for ideas, there were NO plus-sized bloggers to be found. What is up with that? Just because I am plus-sized doesn’t mean (a) I don’t want to look nice; (b) I can’t share pictures of myself; or (c) I am not cute. Because I am! (Or at least my husband says so.)

When I asked on the Facebook page, there was a resounding affirmative to me sharing pictures here for What I Wore Wednesday. Because there’s a lot of plus-size gals out there who want to dress nicely and need ideas.

So here we go …

top: lucky brand ikat plus via Gwynnie Bee. navy pants: christopher and banks (similar). shoes: mossimo odell flats in gold

Wore this Saturday for hanging around at home and going out to dinner with my grandparents. LOVE this t-shirt that I got from Gwynnie Bee.

top: investments ii wave-texture striped top via Gwynnie Bee. pants: Lee Platinum Label denim capris. shoes: Teva Makena ballerina flats

I got this shirt from Gwynnie Bee to try out. I ADORE it, and I went out and found it at Dillard’s today so I could have it for my very own. (Gwynnie Bee is a plus-sized clothes rental sort of thing. I’ll have to explain it in another post.) It’s great to discover a brand that fits well and I really like.

These are my “pregnancy shoes” from this past pregnancy. Comfy, slip-on, yet kind of cute at least. They feel like tennis shoes but look more like flats.

I entertained some family at our apartment, and then went out to dinner with my family and my grandparents again!

top: Faded Glory from Goodwill. pants: INC via Ross a few years ago. tank: Christopher and Banks (similar – love their tanks!). sandals: Nine West. earrings: Lane Bryant, I think.

Libbie’s adorable dress is Hanna Andersson, found at a consignment sale. She is nutso about it.

This looks nicer in the picture than it felt on. I like sparkles and was therefore drawn to this shirt at Goodwill last year. The pants are too small now, though, and really need to take their own trip to Goodwill. They’re just much nicer than any other black pants I have that fit.

I wore this to church and then came home and threw on the yoga pants.

[lovely picture courtesy of Target dressing room]

tank with ruffle: Covington (Sears). red pants: Mossimo. shoes: cheetah odell flats by Mossimo

This is my favorite outfit of the week. I have this ruffled tank in black and aqua and I’ve been wearing the heck out of them. The red pants are new … my first colored denim. And I am crazy in love with them. I bought a size up like the reviewers recommended and they are perfect.

I ran a zillion errands this day.

dress: Belk. cami: Bass. shoes: Payless a million years ago.

I felt better in this dress than I think it looks. Maybe just needs some shapewear. Or maybe not meant for nursing chest …

At some point in the day, I was wearing a
Lisa Leonard – ((together)) Necklace too, but this pic was toward the end of the afternoon. I dropped off and picked up kids at VBS and went shopping with my sister.

So … what do you think?

Linked with What I Wore Wednesday at The Pleated Poppy. Yes, there are tons of affiliate links and some non-affiliate links riddled throughout this post.

We had a great week last week! (Well, food-wise. Four-year-old attitude wise? It’s sometimes great and sometimes I have to go hide in the bedroom.) The highlight for me was this Honey Parmesan Pork Roast. The meat is just awesome. Libbie said it was the best meat she’d ever had … although she might have said that about the Taco Chicken the week before, so we’ll take that with a grain of salt.

This week my older two are going to a preschool Vacation Bible School from 9-12, so we need some quick lunches that will be ready as soon as they get home. And breakfasts we can prep the night before so we can get out the door before 8:30!

Here’s what I have on the plan.

Breakfasts

• Blueberry Lemon Oatmeal Bars – They’re in the oven as I write!
• Smoothies (I froze extra of these cran-raspberry ones when I made them last week)
• Cereal
• Granola and yogurt
• Giant Brown Butter Granola Breakfast Cookies

Lunches

• Toddler Thai Noodles (never made last week)
• leftovers
• sandwiches or quesadillas
• fruit, yogurt, crackers, lunchmeat
• salmon patties

Dinners

• Roasted, seasoned chicken (marked down at Bi-Lo), Quinoa Fruit Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing
• Texas Squealer Burgers on homemade whole wheat buns, Sauteed Swiss Chard with Stems, mashed sweet potatoes
• Shrimp Mexican Roll-Ups with Avocado Cream, Mexican Rice
• Crockpot Beef and Noodles, mashed red potatoes, fruit, corn
• Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin in Red Wine and Herb Sauce, whole wheat couscous, Jalapeno Creamed Corn

Snacks & Dessert

•  Watermelon Frosty

What are you excited to cook this week?

Added to Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Yesterday’s passage to read on She Reads Truth was 1 Peter 2:4-12. It’s a lovely, awe-inspiring passage that Peter writes.

Check out verse 4:

As you come to him, … in the sight of God chosen and precious …

And then verse 9, a favorite passage in all of Scripture for me:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

I hope Stacy doesn’t mind me copying some of her comment from the She Reads Truth post. She puts everything in such vivid language!

We all want to be chosen, don’t we? It’s the whole bachelor/bachelorette scenario. There are ten people and only nine roses and even if we didn’t give a hoot about the one doing the choosing – we still would want to be picked, right? We all want to be wanted.

How much more amazing to be wanted and chosen by a holy God who knows every intimate detail about us! He sees us in all our brokenness and says, “Yes. I choose her.” He sees what we do not see in ourselves.

Last night, praying and dwelling on all of this, I could almost hear Jesus say,

“Jessie. I love YOU, and you can know it. My Word tells you so. Your little ones – your loved ones – YOU – you all belong to Me. You are weak, but I am strong. Yes, I love you, Jessie.”

Put your name in there. Dwell on His love for you, chosen one.

Happy Sunday.

Good morning, friends. I’m writing this quickly with the baby in my arm, so I’ll just go ahead with links. Hope you’re having a great weekend so far!

• Just Be … Normal by Simple Mom at (in)courage
• If These Crib Rails Could Talk at Pink Dryer Lint – Grab some tissues!
• Repurpose a T-Shirt for a Dog Pull Toy at Amy J. Bennett
• 10 Tips for a Good Tip When I Take My Kids Out to Eat at Baby Rabies
• Dear Weary Mom, You Are Chosen at Teri Lynne Underwood
• Marriage Advice (The Kind That’s Hard to Hear) at Pensieve
• YUM of the Week: Chunky Southwestern Quinoa Salad at Fit Foodie Finds

Just a note that this linky is for your own link posts. If you have just one favorite post you want to share, leave it in the comments, OK? 

So, what did you read that was great this week? Link up here. You can grab the code for the button in the sidebar, if you want. Please link back to Vanderbilt Wife and add the PERMALINK to your post, not your home page.

This post is part of the Hunger-Free Summer program sponsored by ConAgra Foods and in conjunction with theMotherhood. 

In Chattanooga, private schools are the thing. I think I’ve astonished several people by telling them our daughter will go to public kindergarten when she starts in 2014. Sure, we aren’t zoned for the best school ever; but we’ve heard good things about it.

What really surprised me, though, was when I saw that 85% of the kids at this elementary school are on free or reduced lunch. Wow. With Mr. V working at one of these expensive private schools and seeing the mostly affluent kids who come through, it seems impossible that there are so many children living right around us at risk for hunger.

Did you know 1 in 5 kids in the United States falls in that “at risk for being hungry” category? I did a video with ConAgra at Blissdom in 2012, which you can see here, after they showed me the child huger statistics just in my neck of the woods. The reality that there are so many kids going hungry while my kids refuse to eat a speck of green pepper and throw away their dinners is embarrassing and revolting.

Here’s a little thing we can do to help this summer: watch this video featuring actor Chris O’Donnell. It’s only a little over a minute, and for every view ConAgra will donate one meal to help stop child hunger this summer. 

Summertime is the worst time for kids who are on the free or reduced school meal plan – because school is out. Only 2.3 million of the 21.5 million kids on the school-year program get assistance during the summer. It can be from lack of awareness, barriers to getting to the summer program, or that there simply isn’t a summer program in their area.

ConAgra Foods is providing grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 to food banks in 20 states to help them get through this summer. And make sure you do your part by watching the video and sharing it with your friends!

I’ll be sharing some more of why I’m passionate about stopping child hunger in a few weeks. How do you connect with it? How can you help?

This post is brought to you by ConAgra Foods and The Motherhood, and I’ve been compensated for my time. However, all opinions are my own.

Well, the dining hall is closed, so it’s back to cooking chez Vanderbilt. I always enjoy it, at least for a few weeks! So far we are loving summer around here. Having Mr. V home is a blessing, playing outside, cooking summery foods and treats, and just being all together.

We’re looking forward to two weeks of VBS, a dance recital, and a trip to my parents and to see our best friends from college in June!

Anyway, here’s what I have planned for this week.

Breakfasts

• “Lucky Charms” – I buy Mom’s Best brand when it’s on sale for a treat. At least then the kids aren’t eating food coloring.
• Peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars
• Blueberry breakfast cake
• Oatmeal pancakes with chocolate chips

Lunches

• Toddler Thai Noodles, carrots
• Pizza Puffs
• Salmon patties, couscous, salad
• PBJ
• yogurt, fruit, granola
• leftovers
• Oven-baked corndogs with coleslaw and Terra chips {from Rachael Ray 365}

 Dinners

• Asian Drumsticks, Fried Rice {we really didn’t care for either of these. For some reason, the marinade didn’t really sink into the chicken.}
• Homemade Pizza – cheese for kids, goat cheese, green peppers, and sausage for mom and dad. I use the Pioneer Woman’s crust recipe with half white, half wheat flours.
• Honey Parmesan Pork Roast, sweet potato cubes, broccoli and cauliflower
• shrimp tacos, Mexican rice, fruit, tortilla chips
• Macaroni Bake, salad
• Crunchy Oriental Chicken Salad

Snacks & Dessert

• Award-Winning Peach and Strawberry Cobbler
• Cran-Raspberry Smoothies
• blackberry pie
• Marshmallow Popcorn

 Anything fun on your menu this week?

Added to Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.