Avery Pics...because I haven't already posted enough

Avery is growing like a weed. I decided to see if she could sit in the highchair last week. I figured she wouldn't really like it...well I was WRONG. She loved it!!!





One of my new favorites



This picture cracks me up...I think its her huge eyes, whatever it is its funny

Jalapeno Lime Fettucini Alfredo

Again this recipe needs to be tapered to your tastes. I don't like super hot, JM loves it, and yes this is a bit of a problem, but thats another post. So, I'm going to give you the ingredients and sorta the measurements but everything is give and take.

First, grill three chicken breast, season with whatever sounds good (I'm sorta cracking myself up with my lack of instruction here, you will never see me writing a recipe book : ) ) garlic, pepper....whatever. JM put some lemon pepper on them and it was good.

Secondly start your noodles a boiling (my cousins who are english majors are cringing about now)

For the alfredo sauce
Blend 1 package of cream cheese, a cup of milk, a jalapeno, fresh cilantro (as much as you like), 1/2 c of parmesan cheese and about 1/4 cup of lime juice in a blender them put it in a small sauce pan until a creamy smooth consistency. I had to add a little milk and more lime juice to smooth it more and take away that cream cheese flavor.

Chop up the grilled chicken and mix everything together.

Serve with a salad and fresh french bread.

Bon Appetit

Spicy Jalapeno Ranch

This can be used as a salad dressing or a dip. Its super good to dip chicken in. In fact Foghorns, a local restraunt, has a chicken tender that is coated in this sorta thing. Thats actually what we were trying to copy. Ours wasn't nearly as hot but I was a little chicken so I didn't put the jalapeno seeds in it, next time I will. Alright here it is-- oh btw I started with only half a bottle of ranch but really this recipe is give and take with your taste. I'm not a measurer so just add as you go and as needed for your taste.

1/2 bottle of ranch dressing (I used GV buttermilk ranch)
1 jalapeno
Some green chilis ( I used a couple of tablespoons of rotel...I liked the tomatoes in it)
and a couple of sprigs of fresh cilantro.

Blend together in blender and your done. Its a nice twist to traditional ranch

Day at the park and the longest post ever!!!

Last week we had some gorgeous days. Seriously it was like Spring had arrived. the kids and I went to the park for a picnic. Not surprisingly Roman ate his lunch in the car on the way home there was no way he was going to stop playing to eat. Avery just sat and cooed...she loved it!!!











As I'm sitting here I am listening to Avery "cry it out" in her crib. Let me just say I HATE it. John Mark is strict about it, "let her do it", "Don't pick her up", but if you are a mom you realize why I am ready to scream and pull my hair out. Although I'm the one who suffers when she doesn't sleep and I would really like to see her sleep better it still makes me crazy listening to her scream, but she is settling now. Hopefully this works...and FAST. This is no way to spend your evenings.

Went to Barnes and Noble today with Avery. It was WONDERFUL!!! Does anyone understand when I say I love the smell of that place? Its seriously one of the reasons I love it so much. The smell of books mixed with coffee is delightful. I sat and looked at craft books and sipped a White chocoloate mocha (yummo), and my daughter was angelic (I wasn't sure it would be a success, but she did great!).



Can you tell she adores him? Yep pretty obvious and its very mutual!!



I need more money...shocking I know, but while i was there I saw about 2 million books I needed. I really needed them. I guess thats the good thing about the library, but if I'm honest I would say ,I mine as well buy the books because I always have late fees. I don't know what it is but I CANNOT get books back in 2 weeks. I usually finish reading them in a few days, but for some unknown reason I'm pretty incapable of returning them on time. I'll blame it on being a mother of two, why not? That excuse usually works : )

Shewt she was asleep and now she's crying again....CRAP!!!! What do you do now...continue to let her cry? THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight I plan on posting several post. So don't think I'm crazy for posting one after the other.

She's back asleep--maybe the hubs is onto something...hopefully

Anyways, I'm trying a lot of new recipes over the next two weeks. I'm a girl who LOVES to cook, but was really starting to dislike it. I was getting so bored with the same recipes. So I challenged myself to make at least 2 new recipes a week...so far so good. Tonight we had jalapeno lime chicken alfredo. It was delicious. I'm going to post the recipe...try it. Then I made a jalapeno ranch dressing and we ate it with chicken tenders and it was delicious. I forgot to take pics so it just the recipes but I promise they are worth trying (if you like spicy..that is).

I made Roman a "giraffe" blanket. Super easy and its really cute and soft.





Alright I'm going to post some pics and start my recipe post : )

P.S. This is Roman's Smiley face. Isn't it cute? I Love it!!

Mexican lasagna

I get so tired of the same recipes over and over again. So I've challenged myself to make 2 new or newer (ha) recipes a week. So this week I made mexican lasagna. When I lived at home we ate this some and it was one of my favorites. It's been forever since Ive eaten it and let me tell you it is the BEST. I guarentee you will love it and it looks pretty. The sausage and cilantro make this dish. Try it...you'll love-I promise!!!

Mexican Lasagna
1/2 pound of ground beef
1/2 pound of mild pork sausage
1 (15 ounce) can of jalapeno ranch style pinto beans
2/3 cup of canned diced tomatoes and green chilies ( I used a can of rotel, drained)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
1 can of cream of celery
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 can of enchilada sauce
9 corn tortilla
2 c. of shredded cheddar cheese ( I used sharp cheddar...yum)
1 cup of shredded monterey jack
1 medium tomato (diced)
4 green onions 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 medium avacado


Cook sausage and ground beef together in large skillet over medium high heat, until no longer pink. Drain. Stir in beans and next five ingredients. Cook thoroughly until heated.

Stir together soups and enchilada sauce until hot

Spoon 1/3 of sauce mixture on bottom of lightly grease 13x9 baking dish top with 3 tortilla. Spoon half of beef mixture and 1/3 of sauce mixture over top sprinkle with half of the cheddar cheese. Top with tortillas; repeat layering and end with tortillas. sprinkle with monterey jack and last three ingredients.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

Serve with fresh avocado on top and chips.

*delicioso*

Oh Glorious Day!!!

It was such a beautiful day here today. After it being below freezing for over a week the 50 degree weather made me feel like the kids should be in shorts..ha. it was so nice. I took the kids outside and they LOVED it. Avery sat in her bumbo and everytime the wind would blow she would open her eyes real wide and act excited. It was pretty windy so Ave and I didn't stay out long, but Roman stayed out there off and on for about 2 hours. he needed it bless his heart we have been cooped up for too long. Come quickly Spring...please : )

Before I was a mom the colder months were my favorite...although I don't like to be cold. i just love the coziness of the colder months...the candles and fires, the cute clothes, and all the yummy comfort foods. Now as a mom I'm all about spring and summer. The easy clothes (summer dress, shorts and t-shirts ), flip flops, bbqing. Its so much easier.

You know I actually opt to stay home so I can avoid getting coats on and off. It's so much work to get them in their coats, to the car, in the car, coats off all to get somewhere to do it all over again. Ughh....too much work..its true..sad I know...but so true. Anyways, today was a much needed break from the cold.

Here are some pics from today....

My new favorite. I'm blowing it up for my living room. Aren't they precious? I do think so : )


Miss Avery being all cute


Roman about to throw Midas his ball. See his lion and zebra? My child and his
animals. This year we are doing a safari party...I think. Its a wee bit early to start thinking about it, but when I'm laying in bed at night I do and I've decided that would be a fun party...don't you think?

Ramblings and a few cute pics

My mother in law text me yesterday to tell me it hasn't been this cold since she was in the 9th grade, that would explain why I NEVER remember it being this cold. Thankfully we didn't get ice like they were predicting, but its too cold to even think about buddling up two kids and going out. My mom would love for us to come visit her in Canada for Christmas some year, but I'm afraid I would die. It was 12 degrees here today and I can't imagine it being colder than that but -30's is normal there...yikes!!!!

So needless to say we stayed in today. It was a lazy day. I watched Julie and Julia, it was fantastic. I loved it!!! If you haven't seen it I highly suggest you watch it especially if you love to cook and love to blog.

Several months ago I tried to start potty training and I ended up decided to just wait. So last night while I was at Walmart I bought Roman a big bag of peanut butter m&m's and decided that today would be the day. Well....10 minutes, 2 accidents and 2 underwear changes later I put a diaper back on him. He would just stand there with his legs spred and a horrified look on his face and he would say "pee" then I would see a small puddle at his feet. Aghhh....its so gross. I know its normal to have LOTS of accidents, so tomorrow we will try again and then this weekend when JM is home maybe we will make some headway...hopefully.

Roman and Avery got My Baby Can Read for Christmas (thanks poppy and juju) and Roman loves watching it, Avery will even sit and watch it. Anyway Roman is very cute to watch when he's watching it. A word will pop on the screen and they will say the word or action and then ask you to repeat. One of the actions is put your arms up, so Roman very eagerly throws his arms in the air, which is so cute. But even sweeter is he goes up to Avery and says, "baby put your arms up," then lifts her arms up.

He sure does adore Avery and she's mesmerized by him. He says " Hi, baby" about a million times a day followed by a tiss (kiss), he gets a kick at her especially now that she smiles at him. I hope they will always be best friends.

This post is one big ramble...sorry. I'll blame it on the fact that I've been shut in this house for 3 days... ; )

I adore this picture...I just can't get enough of it.


This is her excited look


....and this is her being stunning


Little Artist


This is a picture of his dolphin--Isn't that good? I have to say it impresses me : )


This picture is classic. I can see us laughing about it when they're teenagers.

I Feel Like I'm living In The Arctic

IT IS FREEZING! Our kind weatherman said negative 2 tonight. What the crap? This is Arkansas its not suppose to get that cold. It's hard with young ones to get out when its that cold so I thought we should get out today since we probably won't tomorrow : ) So we went to the mall today and the kids did great. We scored at B. Dalton in the mall. If you live in NWA check it out. They are closing and everything is 50% off. Roman and JM love tigers so I bought one of those BIG hardback books on Tigers. I showed it to them tonight and got major brownie points from both...ha.



Here is doodle-bug having a little tummy time today.

Avery Claire 4 Months

Well Miss Avery Claire you are 4 months old and 4 days. You are so fun these days!!! you are a smiley queen lately and I LOVE it!!! You love your little family too. Any one of us (dad, ro and I) look at you and you burst into a huge gummy grin. You are talking ALOT and when I sing you start cooing REALLY loud. Its so sweet.This month you celebrated your first christmas. As expected you could have cared less, but did enjoy all the attention and you were rarely not being held. You love being held so all the festivities were good for you : ) You looked precious in your dresses that i made for you. I will always remember your first Christmas and those sweet dresses. It's so fun having a little girl.

You are truly a blessing.


So here are some things about you this month:

You are wearing size 3 diapers, but dad thinks we need to move you to size 4. That would be 4 sizes in 4 months..ha. Thats a little crazy : )

You started cereal this month and you like it. Don't tell anyone but I put juice in it. At first you didn't seem to care much for it, but your getting the hang of it.

You are in 6-9 months clothes. We had to go buy you 9 month jammies because your others were to small even most of the 6 month ones.

You can lay on your tummy and hold your head up very well. You like it a lot.


You are pretty independent. Often times you are very fussy and we just put you down and you suddenly become very happy. You just want to do your thing! Can't blaim you there ;)

The last two days you have been going down for your morning nap awake and fall asleep in your bed without being rocked. Thats a huge accomplishment.

I love being your mom and I'm so glad that we are all falling into a pretty predictable schedule. I love that your tummy troubles are finally resolving and you are content much more often. That makes for much better days.

I love you little girl and can't believe you've been here 4 months. They are coming and going far to fast.

Craft Project--memo board

So I went to Potters House ( a local thrift store our church runs) to drop off some stuff and they were throwing these out. I asked the guy if I could have them and he was so kind to let me take them : ) So out of one I made a memo board for one of my besties whose crazy about zebra. Isn't it cute?

Before:


After:

I don't know about that Animal Planet

Alright, my husband is an Animal Planet FREAK and his son is following in his footsteps. During our snow day yesterday we watched a show on animals/insects eating other animals/insects. So today this is what I watched Roman doing to his animals--it totally made me laugh. Kids pick up on EVERYTHING!!!!








I wish everyone could see the joy on roman's face when he's playing with his animals. He LOVES them and I love watching him play with them!!!

Snow day

So the predicted dusting turned into about 1 1/2 inches of snow. It was Roman's first time to play in the snow. He loved it. After about an hour JM had to drag him in. Here are some cute pictures from our day.

Welcome 2010

Well that is weird to write 2010 and for the next 6 months I will forget to write 2010 on all my check therefore every check i will write will have 2009 crossed out and 2010 written over it...ha ha.

I don't usually think too hard about resolutions probably because when I've made them in the past I hold up for a few days, but then I totally fail at them so I decided to quit making them. This year it occured to me that maybe I should look at the new year as a fresh slate. Not making resolutions that are ridiculous (like losing 30 pounds lol), but thinking more about a few things I want to do better. According to my mom writing them on my blog may keep me more accountable. I really hope so ; )

So, here they are:

First, I want to blog more diligently. I started this blog to document life. I want to be a scrapbooker but I'm just not so I wanted a place to post pictures and write stuff I don't want to forget. unfortunately, it becomes a chore if your not careful. So, this year I'm going to allow my blog to be my outlet. A place i can write about whatevers going on. The good the bad and the ugly. I want to focus on my kids and the day to day craziness of raising them.

Second, I love my friends and family so much, but I'm horrible at keeping up with important days in their lives. Ask anyone who knows me I think birthdays are a BIG deal, but fail to really show people that I'm glad they were born and that I'm thinking of them on their big day. So, this year I'm going to really make an effort to celebrate people on their birthdays.

Third, This one is more my attitude than anything else. I read on someones blog this week, "the days are long, but the years are short." I want to embrace this life. I have pity parties ALL the time, but I really want to remember that everyday with my kids, husband, friends and family are a blessing. As stressful as being a mom can be I know I will look back and wish I had these days back. So this year I'm going to try to remember just that.

Fourth, i'm going to challenge myself to give more. I get so stressed out worrying about getting all done that I don't get anything done. This year i want to really take the time to have coffee with a friend, take Roman out for donuts, date my husband, and get more involved with church. I struggle with having a quiet time. The last thing i want to do is wake up early to have one, and nights are soooo unpredictable, but I'm going to play it day to day, but everyday I'm going to set a goal to have a quiet time to reflect and spend time with God.

And Last, I'm not going to set a number of pounds to lose, but I'm going to be more healthy. Make healthier choices. Drink tons of water, and exercise. My kids watch me and learn from me. I want to be healthy and I want to feel good. I also owe it to my husband to be healthy and fit : )

So there they are the five "resolutions" and they will keep me busy. Don't you think? What are yours?

Roman 2 years 5 months

One word for you this month...hilarious!!! You have kept us in stitches even more than normal.

When you make us laugh you smile real big and say, "Roman funny, " when you see someone on tv crying you say , "sad." You amaze me with how much more you are talking. It just happened ,it seems like, overnight. You pretty much repeat everything (keeps me on my toes..ha). You can spell your first and last name, dog and cat. We are working with you on recognizing lower case letters. When you learned them we taught you with uppercase so sometimes you get sorta stumped when we ask you what one is in lowercase. Dad and I are THOSE parents, the ones who sit and brag about their kids and beam when someone compliments you or is amazed with your knowledge. Its because we are so proud of you.

You are artsy....and I LOVE it. Today you painted with me and we definitely started something there. I had to distract you with coloring so I could put my stuff up. You love coloring and drawing, and the first thing you do when we get to Bopa and Nana's is play the piano. You are a little engineer. You like to know how things work. You have a specific way you like things done and if we want peace in this house it better go that specific way : ) Its can be annoying but its also sorta sweet. You play for HOURS with your animals and blocks amd of course your favorite show continues to be Kai lan. For Christmas we got you Ho Ho (a character off Kai lan) and you were so excited when you opened it. we had the video camera set up and it ran out of tape we didn't realize that until after we were done opening gifts. I was sick that we didn't capture your excitement on tape, but I did get some pictures.

Yesterday we brought in a new year and a new decade. I pray that you continue to grow strong and healthy. That you would be kind and loving to those around you. As always I pray that you grow to be a man of God. That you would come to know Him at a young age and know him intimately. I will always pray for wisdom for dad and I as we raise you that we would know how to raise you to be a man of integrity and honor. That purity would be written on your heart and lived out in your actions. When I look at you Roman I know God has BIG plans for you and can't see what those are.

Happy New Year little man. I love you


Mom