Meal Time

Hello! So before I blog about what I actually set out to...let me please just say....being pregnant is TIRING!! I need some energy people! It hasn't helped that my husband hasn't felt well either the last couple of days. Lots of laying on the couch going on around here and I am not proud of it! I have to keep reminding myself....it's only for a few weeks. Then I will get some energy again and my house can cease to look like a tornado came through....I hope. :)

Ok...so meal time. Meal times around this house are sometimes....well...not fun. Mostly due to a certain 3 year old who doesn't like to eat anything except pancakes, goldfish, or dessert. Little Austin has gotten very stubborn these days about not wanting to eat his meals. He usually ends up sitting at the lunch or dinner table for at least 30 to 40 minutes because he tries to play or just sits there and avoids eating. We have tried various things to make him eat....making him sit there until his plate is clean...setting a timer for them and they get in trouble if they don't finish when it runs out...no snacking. (He is not the only one we have trouble with...Lily can do this from time to time as well, but definitely not as bad). Anyway...you get the picture....it is a constant battle for us. Well today at lunch we went for the sit there until your plate is clean approach. And well....this is what we got...
I guess the little guy just gave up. Lily had finished well before him so he had no one to entertain him. I guess eating ranks higher on his "Do Not Like" list than nap time. However, if I must say so myself, that is one cute kid! I LOVE to look at them when they're asleep. And how better than when they fall asleep in such a funny position. Anyway....that's all for today!

Oh...and p.s. Austin is in his pj's at lunch time because he wears his pj's all day long. That's all he wants on when he is at home. He's always had such an opinion about what he likes to wear (you know...pj's, no pants....the norm).

Baby, Baby, Baby....OOOHHH!!! :)

Hello Friends! Well....we are having a baby!! I waited a little longer to post about it this time after our unfortunate tubal pregnancy about 4 months ago. Very sad...but as a firm believer in life at the moment of conception, I know that baby (along with the first baby we lost due to miscarraige) is safe in the arms of Jesus.

Anyway...so I decided to wait and post about this pregnancy after our first ultrasound which was this past Thursday. Everything is looking wonderful!! I am almost 9 weeks along, and my due date is August 27th. This due date is very special for 2 reasons. One being....my Papaw's birthday is August 27th! Many of you remember that we lost Papaw this past November after a long hard fight with alzheimers. So needless to say my grandmother was very excited to hear that his first birthday may not be as hard of a day as she originally thought. :) The second being....August 27th is also my sister-in-law Molly's birthday!! So there is a lot of pressure for this baby to be born ON his/her due date!!

As far as my pregnancy so far....it has been pretty good. I have been a little sick to my stomach from time to time, but nothing major. And of course I have been extremely tired. The beginning of pregnancy has always been the most tiring for me with all my pregnancies. The one thing I am noticing with this pregnancy that I don't remember as much with the others is my moodiness! I can go from mad to crying to happy all in a matter of seconds. So for those of you whom I will see and/or talk to...BEWARE!! :)

The kids are VERY excited about the new addition to our family. They all of course have their preferences on the gender of the baby. Daniel wants another boy, while Lily and Austin want another girl. We will of course be soooo happy with either, but I since I am blessed to be so close to my sisters, I can't help but want Lily to have a sister. However, I have great sister-in-laws too so if it's a boy we will pray she will one day too! :)

Well....enough blabbering about me and my pregnancy! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!!

Children's Christmas Program!

Yes, I know...this happened over a month ago. But better late than never, right? The Children's Christmas Program at Deep Creek was adorable. The adults who put it together did an amazing job. My kids of course are still too young to have major parts in the programs, but I loved how they still got to have some little parts. They sang a couple songs at the beginning of the program....(notice Daniel cheesing in the background)...
And then Daniel's age group got to play the bells...

And then at the end everyone who participated in the play sang a few closing songs. So here's Daniel singing....

Lily singing...

Aaaannnnd Austin.....

...crying. I think he was upset because Daniel and Lily were up on the stage and he was sitting on the stairs. It was pretty funny and cute! The program had a lot of other great parts to it as well....the older kids did the play, and the youth put on a puppet show and did some Hands routines to music. It was all very very good. Isn't it fun to hear about Christmas Programs in January? :)

FOOD!!

Do you ever have a day when everything you make just hits the spot? I love those days. Well, Thursday was one of those days for me...(well for lunch and dinner anyway). I started lunch off with my homemade chunky tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches....
Sooo delicious. So since I know you want to make it yourself....here's the recipe....straight out of my favorite Betty Crocker cookbook given to me by my very first "secret pal" at Beaver Baptist Church over 7 years ago....
Hearty Tomato Soup:
2 tbsp. butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. fresh basil OR 1/2 tsp. dried basil
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups milk
2 cans condensed tomato soup
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1. Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic in butter about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in paprika, basil, and cream cheese. Stir until cream cheese is somewhat smooth. Gradually stir in milk and soup. Beat with hand beater or wire whisk until cheese is melted and soup is smooth.
3. Stir in tomatoes. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until hot.

And there you have it! A delicious bowl of soup in under 30 minutes. YUM!!

So then for dinner I had thawed some ground beef and wanted to make some hamburgers. I had opened a can of rotel tomatoes the day before and had some left over....and got an idea. How about a burger, with guacamole and rotel tomatoes?

So that's what I did! Burger, cheddar cheese (I would recommend pepper jack, but I didn't have that on hand), rotel tomatoes, a drizzle of ranch dressing, and LOTS of guacamole! Delish! The other thing I would have done had I thought about it earlier is season the beef with a little more "southwesty-like" seasonings to really round out the flavor. Oh well....there will be a next time for this burger! AND....what better way to finish off the remaining guacamole than atop some salty tortilla chips....P.S. All I did to make the guacamole is make your classic guacamole mix (an avocado, half a lemon, salt and pepper)...and add some of the rotel tomatoes and a chopped up garlic clove. Sooo good. As Rachel Ray would say....YUMMO!! I love good food!!

Dance Party!

So this past Saturday night we decided to attempt to take all 3 kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks...Chipwrecked. Now the last time we attempted this was this past summer. We went to see both Cars 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2 and both were a disaster. I couldn't tell you the plot of either movie due to numerous bathroom breaks, diaper changes, and not wanting to sit still. Daniel of course did fine...Lily only does good when its a movie she is REALLY interested in...and Austin....well...need I really explain? Anyway....despite our history we decided to try again. And to our surprise, they did AWESOME!! All 3 really enjoyed the movie and we each only had to get up once to take Austin potty! Anyway.....so after seeing the movie the kids decided that we needed to have our own dance party. So after church and lunch on Sunday, we put on some loud music and let them go. And here's what we got....

These kids got groove!! Jason and I did join them for part of the time, but I spared any of those pictures.....very intentionally. :) Happy Wednesday!

Christmas 2011

I thought I'd start off this post by posting a couple of the pictures I put on our Christmas card this year...

That was just 2 out of the 6 I put on the card....just thought I share a couple.

Anyway...ever since we got married, we have always rotated holidays with our families. This year was our year to spend Thanksgiving with Jason's family and Christmas with my family. However with Christmas being on a Sunday this year we decided to change it up a bit. We woke up here at our house on Christmas morning...opened presents...went to church...and then packed it all up and started our 15 hour trek to Memphis! Anyway...here are a few pics of the kids opening their presents on Christmas morning...

They had been waiting for Christmas morning for a long time. Lily's prayer request every night at prayer time would be that it would be Christmas morning the next day! So funny! (Oh, and p.s....the kids were so excited too because they got to sleep on the floor in our room on Christmas Eve...slumber party!!) :)

Here is a pic of all the grandkids at my mom's waiting to open their presents...

I think Logan is especially stoked about opening his presents.

And here are a few pics of Daniel and Lily holding baby Logan...

They loved holding baby Logan. Well, there's a little about our Christmas. It was wonderful and special. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well!!

Sledding!!

Ok....so maybe my New Year's Resoulution (well one of them) is going to be to keep up with the blog more. I have soo much catching up to do over the last several weeks, but I've decided to start with the most recent fun thing.....sledding! Winter has officially hit here in Garrett County! I think over the last couple of days we have accumulated about a foot of snow on the ground and temperatures have mostly been in the teens and twentys with wind chills in the negatives! Yeah...it's been COLD!! But yesterday, despite the freezing temps, we decided to go to the Lahay hill and sled!! But first, Lily needed to make a snow angel...

Jason got pretty tired of lugging the kids and the sleds up that hill!

We had to wrap the kids faces with scarves to help with the chilling wind...(in case you couldn't tell, this is Daniel). And btw..he has pink gloves on because he left his at home and had to borrow some of Ashley's old ones!

Lily girl....

The boys got creative with the sledding...

And Austin! What a way to ride!!

The kids didn't last long, but it was fun for a little while! Well...off to church for now, but hopefully in the next couple of days I can get caught up on here!!