Pampered Chef

Well I did it and I'm super excited about it. I am Stephanie Laney, Pampered Chef Consultant.

I love that I have the opportunity to stay home with Roman and Avery, but I think I'm like alot of SAHM in that I miss adult interaction. I also wanted a little mad money to spend on whatever so I went out looking for something to do. I started with the medical field (since I'm a nurse), but everything that you do requires a lot of time and set schedule so I marked that off my list. Then I decided to look at all the "home business ideas" like Mary Kay, discovery toys, Arbonne, and on and on. As I was thinking about other businesses, Pampered Chef popped into my mind....Ahh.. this was perfect. I love to cook, and I love fun kitchen gadgets and appliances so I researched and really liked what I saw so I signed on up. And ya'll wouldn't believe what came in the mail...ha. I expected some Pampered Chef supplies. It was better than Christmas...a huge boxes LOADED with goodies. Everything from stoneware to a garlic press. HEAVEN : ) So needless to say I'm having fun and have been blessed with good friends helping me get started (thanks guys).

If you are interested in hosting a cooking show or doing a catalog party let me know. I promise it will be fun.

Show Us Your LIfe - Beauty Tips and Favorite Products

So I'malways thinking about doing Kelly's Friday Show us your Life, but always forget on Friday then by the time I remember its like Tuesday so I never do it. But today I remembered and ita on Beauty Tips...ha...whatever I need beauty tips, but here I go.

First I have very fine hair I think there is quite a bit of it (although I'm losing alot recently...post pregnancy), but because its so fine it just lays flat and looks thin. Anyways one thing I have found is a hair thickener or works really well. I use whatever. Right now it Garnier Fructis Texture paste, but I'm sure there is better ones out there.

Second a root boosting spray like Big Sexy hair, but that stuff is EXPENSIVE (at least for the cheap like me ) so I use TreSemme Root Boosting Spray and it works really well. Finally my flat iron and a big fat round brush. After lots of work it looks decent but I'm really wanting a change. Usually I go chop it all off, but my goal is a real fun layered cut so I will let it grow grow grow : )

As for Make-up I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing and stick to the same 'ol stuff. My two favorite things is a bronzer and mascara...for sure!!! I'm looking forward to reading everyone else that posts because I need some good ideas : )

Simple Pleasures

One of my favorite blogger friend, Kelly, is doing a blog today about her simple pleasures. It got me to thinking and here are some of my simple pleasures.

Avery's cooing in the early morning

Roman saying Thank you mama and love you mama

Coffee with a friend

A clean house

Freshly washed sheets and a made bed....ahhhhh

The smell of Spring and fresh cut grass

going to the movies

The smell of coffee

Reading blogs (which I spend entirely too much time doing)

Spending the night with my grandma (still my favorite place)

The sound of our loud dishwasher and dryer...especially during naptime : )

Naps

Thunderstorms

A good book

Here are a few. What are your simple pleasures?

Avery Claire--5 Months

Well here we are 5 months later...I can't believe it!! It's hard for me to believe that next month you are 1/2 way to a year. Crazy!! Time flies when your having fun.



You are starting to be quiet the ham especially at the sight of Roman. You love him!!! It's sweet. When you get excited you get all stiff and shake. Pretty cute!!


Up until the snow storm you were getting on a pretty good nap schedule, but the snow through our schedule all off. you are getting better about being put down, unfortunately you cry so we've been trying the "cry it out " method. I stink at it so i rescue you often : ) It might take awhile.

Some milestones from this month are :
You weigh 19 pounds and are 26 inches long
You wear size 4 diapers
You are in size 9 months and some 12 month stuff
you are rolling to your side so I think you may roll over this month (we'll see).
you have started teething--you constantly chew on your hands and you drool all the time. You are pretty fussy. You very much hate any discomfort...thats ok so do I.



Some things you really enjoy:
The bumbo-you are sitting in it very well. It's vey helpful I can put you up on the bathroom counter and get ready in the morning and I sit you on the kitchen counter while I'm cooking. It buys me a lot of time as does the high chair you love it too. You don't use your bouncy seat much anymore. You usually will sit in it for about 20 minutes in the morning while I'm getting Ro ready but thats about it.

The mirror--I put the mirror by my desk when I'm on the computer and you sit and smile at yourself. It's very sweet. I always wonder what your thinking about that person in the mirror : )








I stopped feeding you rice because of bathroom problems, but you eat pears, applesauce and bananas like an old pro. I fed you a bite of avacado and you seemed to like it then i rememebered avacado allergies run in the family so we stopped at a bite until you are a little older. I think you are pretty much going to like anything that we put in your mouth. Yay for being unpicky : )

You are a blessing and I sure do love you. I'm looking forward to Spring and the pretty weather. I know we will enjoy many park days and having fun outside. I love you Pumpkin!

Roman 2 years 6 months

Roman you are the bomb. It just continually gets more and more fun with you. Today you were a total ham and kept jumping in front of the camera to get your picture made. This makes me extremely happy because for the last 6 months its been like pulling teeth to get a picture.



You are talking all the time, and you can and do repeat most everything. You are quick to say thank you and love you. You will come up to dad and I randomly and say "love you momma" and "love you dada". I love it. Its funny because if you do something for us and we don't say thank you you are quick to say "thank you Roman".



You can count to 17 and say your abc's. Your favorite show is still Kai-lan (ugg..really ready you to get a new favorte). You love Charlotte's Web...which you call "spider pig"...ha. You LOVE to sing...you sing all the time. Your favorite songs are, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABC's,We will Rock you, Happy birthday, and any song from Kai-lan. You LOVE church and I can't describe how happy that makes me. On Sunday's we wake you up and tell you its church day and you smile real big and say, "yeah, church".

You are getting tall and looking more and more like a little boy and less like a baby : ( Although the time is going way too fast I sure am enjoying this age. I love your independence and being able to conversate (is that a word?) with you. You are a light to my world. You're a gift and I cherish you so much. I love you Roman

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.