No More Baby Food!

Finally we had a break-through. For the first time, OK well maybe the second time, in the last year Lukie ate chicken and eggs. Seriously, he still eats baby food. I'm not sure if it's because he's a lazy eater or he just doesn't like textures. But for the last year he has been so picky about the solid foods he will eat. His diet has been limited to baby food, cream of wheat, grapes, watermelon and pasta. He wouldn't eat meat, cheese, eggs, apples or veggies. You know all the normal things you feed a toddler. I can't even describe my joy when he chewed up the chicken and didn't spit it out. Then he asked for more! He wanted more chicken!!! A whole new world has just opened up for me. I am so excited.

It's a bad thing...

really it is! My inner T.V. junkie is about to kick in. It's that time of year when I stay up way to late on Thursdays watching all my FAV tivoed shows. But I am so excited because all week they have been playing previews and now I just can't wait. Only one more day until I zone out in front of The Office, Grey's, Ugly Betty, Survivor and The Amazing Race. In all honestly I'm embarrassed to say those aren't the only shows I'm addicted to. Those are the ones that I'm dying, really dying to see!

I Pledge....

At first I was a bit hesitant to send Anna to preschool. I just thought maybe she was to young and wouldn't adjust well. Boy was I wrong!!! She loves it. She is learning so many new things and enjoys her teacher Miss Shelby so much. Last week she was into reciting the alphabet daily and telling us all the different letters she would see. This week she into reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Now every time we see a flag she has to stop and say the Pledge. It is so adorable. I am constantly amazed at how quickly children learn. She's memorized it in such a short period of time. I guess at school someone each morning gets to hold the flag while the children recite the Pledge. She was so excited to come home one day last week and tell me that Mrs. Shelvy (Shelby) choose her to hold the flag. Since then she has not been chosen again, but each day she comes home and tells me who got to hold the flag. I just keep telling her that everyone has to get a turn and it will be hers soon again. Tomorrow we're having our first field trip. We're off to the Fire Station. Anna is so excited!

Early Mornings

This morning...

Mom: "Anna it's time to get up for school"

Anna just moans and pulls the covers over her head.

Mom: "We are already running late, really you have to get up. Do you want to miss school?"

Anna: "No"

Mom: "OK then, hurry and get up"

Anna: "Mom, after Joy picks me up from school and brings me home can I snuggle my bed alittle bit longer?"

She is so sweet I just can't help but adore every word that comes out of her mouth. Although it takes me about 10 mins to pry her out of bed each morning she wouldn't think of missing school.

I love, love, love...

I am obsessed with candy buffets. I love the whole concept of a table full of sweets. I just spotted these ideas online and can't wait for an occasion to try out a color scheme of my own. I know I should probably be sleeping but I have so much more fun browsing the Internet for fun ideas. It's my therapy. Who knows if this inspiration will ever come alive for me but I can only dream of a fabulous party. Maybe when Anna gets married. Can you imaging how many ideas I'll have by then!!!

So Super Yummy!

After falling in LOVE with Magnolia cupcake recipes I decided to try the banana pudding recipe. I wasn't at all thrilled about the time it was going to take. I am so an instant gratification person and don't have alot of patience for things. But was this worth the 8 hour wait? YES it was. It was so light, fresh and creamy. This is definitely something I'll make again. Now if I could only convince Chris to take me to New York for Magnolia cupcakes, banana pudding and Wicked. HINT! HINT!

Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups ice cold water
1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix (preferably Jell-O brand)
3 cups heavy cream
1 (12-ounce) box Nabisco Nilla Wafers (no substitutions!)
4 cups sliced ripe bananas

In a small bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl (preferably glass) with a 4-5-quart capacity. Arrange one-third of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, overlapping if necessary, then one-third of the bananas and one-third of the pudding. Repeat the layering twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours - or up to 8 hours, but no longer! - before serving.

Happy Birthday Leah!

Last week Anna was invited over to celebrate Leah's fourth birthday. It was a "Think Pink" theme with all sorts of girly things. Anna writing a special birthday message to Leah.

Cute card. Love the hanging pom-poms!
Just hanging out before the party started. There were Shirley Temples for drinks, pasta with pink sauce for lunch, pink nail painting and lots of princess music!

OK, OK, I know I should not have let him get his nails painted but you had to see him waiting patiently in line for all the girls to get their nails done. Then he just hopped right up on the seat and placed his hand on the table. How could I say no. Next time I'll have to because Chris did not think that it was at all cute. He spent the next several minutes picking the nail polish off of Luke's nails. Oops! I didn't realize I had run out of nail polish remover.

"Are you crazy???"

It all started about a week ago when Chris asked if I had gotten any mosquito bits while we slept. I guess he thought there must have been a mosquito trapped under the blankets. I did have one so I went along with his analogy. Apparently in the night he had gotten bit by what looked like several mosquito's. His legs were pretty bumpy and red. Over the next few days he continued to scratch the bites until it looked like a rash had covered the lower part of both his legs. And now it was spreading to his arm. Well the self proclaimed 'webmd' that Chris is, he researched his symptoms on line and decided that he had scabies. A form of mite bits that you get from your bed. Because he refuses to go to the doctor he purchased medication to treat scabies on line along with a few other over the counter products. Oh no it did stop there. Chris decided that we could no longer sleep in a bed infested with mites so he SPRAYED our mattresses with RAID!!! That's right RAID. The outdoor ant and roach killer. All I could say when he told me what he had done was "ARE YOU CRAZY!!!???" Who does that? I still can't believe he did it. All he could say was that the sheets would protect us from any harmful toxins and it was better than having mites in the bed. OK but really all mattresses have mites. The best part of the story is that when my mom came over and Chris showed her his legs she assured him he did not have scabies but instead had a pretty severe case of Poison Oak. Yup no need for the RAID in our bed because it's Poison Oak. Chris immediately went back to the computer to research Poison Oak and realized that it has the same symptoms as scabies. And that is why you should never self diagnose yourself.

Thanks Mom for proper diagnosis!!!

Time goes by...

Where has the time gone. I can't believe it's been more than a week since my last post. I must be busier than I think. Between preschool, church activities, keeping up with house hold duties, swim lessons, Chatterbox stuff and day trips our days have been packed. Oh but so much to blog about. I'll save them for the next few nights. So many pictures to organize I could stay up all night but then Anna wouldn't get to school in the morning. Probably not a good idea. I know I'll be up checking the blogs I've missed out on over the past week. Just have to get caught up on what everyone else is up to!

Yeah it is Steven

I didn't post about our visit because I was waiting for the picture. I thought it would be fun to show a before and after. I'll have to add it later. So I am so glad you called and we were able to hang out. I know your getting deployed soon, just wanted to say be safe and we miss you!!!! One of my favorite memories was summer 1993. It was the summer after I graduated and it was a carefree time. It was the summer that Hillery, Steven and I became inseparable. Hillery and I had always had our ups and downs, probably because we were fighting over the same best friend. Oh high school so silly!!! Anywho, the best friend (Buffy) left us and moved to Utah and so we were left to hang out together. But it all worked out and we are still best friends to this day. Sometime that summer enter Steven Astle. We spent the summer going to dances, hanging out at Steven's house, crusin in his Camero or Hill's CRX, and working together at JC Penny Catalog center. We took phone orders all summer and hated it. Because we were together we made it fun. Good times. Never will forget them. We have all moved on but I'm happy to say that we all keep in touch.

Steven waiving his fist at me because I keep talking pictures. He just wanted to enjoy his food.

A couple of weeks ago Steven was in town and we had lunch at Boudin. So YUMMY! It's a must try if you live in the area.

Best tomato soup ever!