A Little Catching Up

Last weekend, we went to visit my Granddad. My Aunt Connie and her two grandsons brought him to his house here in Georgia for a few days. Since that's much closer than where they live in Kentucky, we try to get up and see them when they come here.

Unfortunately, we had not been able to make it the last couple of times, so we had not seen them since the beginning of December! So we were really looking forward to the visit.

Austin is four, so he and Ruthi had an absolute blast together. They laughed and giggled and ran around like best friends. I wish my kids got to see their cousins more often, but everyone is so spread out, it makes it very difficult. The way Ruthi and Austin played together, you'd never know they hadn't seen each other in almost seven months! I was so glad they took right to each other.

We had a very nice visit. It was so good to see my Granddaddy again. And I could hardly believe that Ruthi went right in and gave him a great big ol' hug. It was so sweet.

After a while, we headed to a somewhat local lake and had a grand time in the water. The kids, my aunt and I did, anyway. My Granddad, parents and Chip sat out and watched.

When the beach closed we got out and my Mom informed me we were all going out to eat. I laughed, knowing Chip would never have agreed to that knowing I didn't have anything with me to make me presentable again after swimming!

Apparently I was wrong. And from what I gathered, it was even his idea! I protested for a while, saying there was no way I was going to eat with wet hair and no makeup. But I soon gave in and decided not to worry so much about my appearance. After all, we were away from home where no one but my family knew me right?

Actually it took a lot of convincing from everyone else that I looked just fine. And even though I didn't really agree, I went anyway. And it didn't kill me! LOL.
Thankfully, my sunglasses acted as a headband to keep my hair out of my eyes!

It may sound silly, but for those who know me well, know this was a big step for me. I'm not terribly vain or anything, but I like my hair to be brushed and at least a little bit of foundation on to be seen in public. But I went, and I survived, and it didn't hurt me. And maybe it was good for me.

Anyway, as usual there were tons of pictures taken. So I've narrowed them down and put them in yet another nifty slide show.

Enjoy!

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far...

According to my parents, I had this silly odd cute thing I did when I was very small. Seems I had some sort of obsession with my feet.

As in...I wanted people to kiss them.

Apparently, I would be in a cart at the store and when a stranger would peer in to look at how cute I was, I'd stick my foot in the air and say, "Kiss my foot!"

Thankfully, I outgrew that game.

My daughter has a similar game she likes to play.

However, she prefers smelling over kissing.

So she regularly sticks her feet in our face and says, "Smell my feet!"

Endearing, huh?

I'm very pleased to say though, that so far, she has only offered the aroma of her feet to family members. And I hope it stays that way.

I don't think I'd find a rock large enough to crawl under if she insisted that a complete stranger "smell her feet!"

I'm hoping that she too will outgrow this little obsession. At least before she starts dating!

As they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And though she may LOOK just like her Daddy, she is so much a little me!

And frankly, that scares me just a bit!

Not Keepin Up So Well

What made me think I could post every day this month when I haven't posted much at all lately?

I did have good intentions of posting yesterday. I even thought about it a few times. But I was running around all day and cleaning last night.

I'm still going to try to post as many days this month as I can. I need to get back into the swing of it! Maybe if I post more often, then my posts won't be quite so long.

Yeah...Right.

You all know me better than that.

Since my parents are in the middle of moving, our 4th plans changed. We were going to go to their house to celebrate. Now we are going to celebrate here. So I've been a little busy.

But I'm so excited that it is official. They closed on the house and are moving their first load today! I keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming.

And I'm not.

My parents really are going to live only 20 minutes from me. I'm a very happy camper.

I haven't had a chance to get pictures up yet, but I will work on that tomorrow.

Now I've got to run finish a few things.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Works For Me: The Five-Ingredients-Or-Less Edition

Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer hosts Works-for-me-Wednesday every week. I've never participated before because I don't usually have great ideas to share. However, today she's asking for recipes that use five ingredients or less. And since I have a few good ones, I thought I'd share some. So here we go:

This first one is something my neighbor makes and my son loves. I finally got to taste it and it was so good, I came home and made some right away. This would be great to serve at a party as an appetizer, but we like it for lunch.

Chicken Dip
2 boneless chicken breasts
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 bottle Ranch dressing
1/2 bottle Franks hot sauce (you could probably use any kind, but this one has a bit of a vinegar-y flavor that works really well for this)
Grated Cheddar cheese

Boil chicken breasts until done. (About 10-15 min.) When cool enough to handle, chop or shred the chicken.
In a bowl, combine chicken, cream cheese, dressing, hot sauce and about a handful of cheese.
Spread into 9x13 baking dish. Add a layer of cheese on top.
Place in 350 degree oven until heated through and cheese is bubbly - about 20 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips. YUM!

This was spicy, but not too hot. If you like less heat, just use less hot sauce, and you could increase the amount dressing.




This next one I made for dinner tonight. It was very good and my kids loved it. I changed it slightly - I'll post the original ingredients, and my changes next to them. This came from the Kraft Food & Family magazine.

Cheddar Macaroni Beef Casserole
Prep: 20 min.
Total: 30 min.

1 pkg (7.25 oz) Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner (I used a generic mac & cheese)
1 lb. lean ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1 can (14.5 oz) Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained (I used a can of Rotel)
1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves or dried basil leaves (I used the oregano, but I also added some garlic powder)
1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare Mac & Cheese as directed on package, omitting butter. Meanwhile, brown meat in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat; drain. Add tomatoes and oregano; mix well. Bring to boil.

Add meat mixture to Mac & Cheese; spoon into 2-qt. casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake 10 min. or until cheese is melted and casserole is heated through.

Makes 4 servings, 1 3/4 cups each.

We actually poured some Ranch dressing over the top before eating. The Rotel makes it a little spicy, and the dressing cuts the heat. The original version is a little more Italian-y, and the was I did it was a bit more Mexican-y which we love!




And for a quick and super easy dessert - I cannot believe how easy and how delicious this is!

Peanut Butter Fudge
1 cup butter, plus more for greasing pan
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar

Microwave butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes on high. Stir an dmocrowave on high for 2 more mintues. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to peanute butter mixture and stil to combine wiht a wooden spoon. Pour into a buttered 8 by 8-inch pan lined with waxed paper. Place a second piece of waxed paper on the surface of the fudge and refrigerate until cool. Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight contained for up to a week

I got this recipe from The Food Network, and it is from Alton Brown. Every time I've made it, everyone gobbles it up!

If you'd like to see more five-ingredient-or-less recipes, be sure to visit Rocks in My Dryer. There are TONS - as in almost 400 people posted recipes before me!!!

Still Kickin'

That's right - I'm still alive and kickin'! I've been quite busy and haven't had much blogging time. I'm even behind on blog reading again!

I have so much to catch up on, I'm not even sure where to start. I have lots of pictures to share, and I'm going to have more before the weekend is over.

I'm not going to share any tonight, or this post will end up being painfully long. I will get them into a slide show and share them on my next post.

We went to visit my Granddad on Saturday and then Chip's Grandmother yesterday, so I have lots of good pictures coming!

Monday was my birthday and it was a fabulous day. My neighbor had been "stealing" Ruthi away to work on a gift for me, and Ruthi got to help bake me a birthday cake. I haven't taken a picture of the gift yet, but I'll get that done and put up soon too.

And by this weekend, I will probably be blogging from my new laptop!!! It is actually my hubby's laptop, but it's about to become mine. He needed a smaller one since he carries his everywhere, so I am absolutely thrilled to be getting his "old" one. I was excited when he showed me the other one that was coming but actually thought to myself that I'd have to figure it all out. When I discovered I would be getting his current one, I was actually more excited!

He's been going through the tedious process of moving all the stuff from one to the other. And I've been going through files and trying to delete a bunch of stuff I don't need anymore to make it a little easier for him to move all the stuff from this computer to my new one. Once the move is complete, this computer will become CJ's, and he's just a little bit happy about that!

I know I've been scarce in posting lately, and I thought I'd do something to get me going again. So I joined the NaBloPoMo for July. However, I already goofed up and missed yesterday! So I won't get my 31 days, but I'm still going to try to go for it and post every day for the rest of this month.

There is actually a monthly theme, and for July it is food. So I'm going to try and post quite a few of my favorite recipes this month. But I'll be posting regular stuff too. We'll see how it goes!

That's all for now - I'll work on getting these pictures ready to post. Be back tomorrow!

Menu Plan Monday

I've been lazy posting my menu for the past couple of weeks. Actually, I've been a very lazy blogger for the past couple of weeks as well. But I'm enjoying my summer and blogging just hasn't been on the top of my priority list.

But I decided to get my menu posted this week, so here goes.

Monday: Mexican Chicken Casserole ~ Refried beans ~ Chips & Homemade Salsa

Tuesday: Sandwiches/leftovers

Wednesday: Southwestern Ranch Chicken Salad ~ Breadsticks

Thursday: Cheddar Macaroni Beef Casserole ~ Tater Tots

Friday: Breakfast for dinner

Saturday: Homemade Pizza

Sunday: Chicken Quesadillas ~ Refried beans ~ Chips & Homemade Salsa

Hope you have a yummy week! For more menus, be sure to visit Laura's Blog!

Sooooooo Excited!

I have some news to share that is incredibly exciting! I've known about it for a while, but it wasn't final, so I didn't share. But now I can!

What is it?

My parents are moving!!!! Why is that exciting? Because after 10 years of them being two hours from me, they are now going to be living 20 minutes from me!!!!!!!

Before they moved away, they lived 5 minutes from me, and I loved it. When my Dad was transferred and they had to be 2 hours away, it wasn't so great for me. But I knew it could have been worse. At least it was within a not too terribly far driving distance. But I still missed having them close.

They've been talking about moving back for a while now, since my Dad now works closer to this area than where they currently live. But I didn't hold my breath because they kept going back and forth.

But not too long ago, they started seriously looking at houses. And they finally found one and made an offer. It was accepted and they will be closing at the end of the month - on my birthday! Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

20 minutes may not be as convenient as 5, but I'll take it! It's FAR better than 2 hours! I can hardly wait until they are here - I am so incredibly excited.

Now, we are just praying my Mom can get a transfer quickly so she won't have to stay in the other house alone during the week. It would too far for her to commute from here. And my Dad's commute is much shorter from here - so they'd be apart during the week, which doesn't sound too great!

So, if you think about it, say a prayer for my Mom that a transfer for a Full-time position is available as soon as possible!

Oh, and yes...I'm still around. I know I've not been blogging much. But honestly, I haven't been spending quite as much time on the computer lately.

I've been enjoying evenings sitting out on my front porch while Ruthi plays. (The child would live outside if she could!) It's been so nice in the evenings, and I know all too soon it's going to be too hot and sticky even after the sun goes down. So I'm enjoying the nice evenings while I can.

And, we just had some new neighbors move in next door, and I have a new friend! She and I hit it off and get along great. We both LOVE to talk and she even scrapbooks! So as soon as they get everything unpacked and settled, we are going to do some scrapping together!

It's been nice having someone right next door to hang out with and talk to. My neighbor on the other side of me is great too - we've been neighbors for 15 years. But she works full time, so she's not around quite as much to hang out with.

My new neighbor will be working too, once she can secure a job. And I know after that, it will be evenings and weekends. But until then, we are enjoying daytime chats as much as possible.

Their moving truck finally came today, so I spent most of today helping them out. Then she fed the kids and me dinner! (Chip is at the station.) We unpacked boxes until 9:00 tonight. I'll be helping her tomorrow as well.

So between enjoying some time outdoors, playing with Ruthi and hanging with my new neighbor, it hasn't left as much computer time.

And suprisingly, I haven't missed it quite as much as I would have thought I would!

So, if I'm not around much, it's because I'm enjoying my family, friends and summertime!

Happy Father's Day

Just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband who is an AMAZING Father to our children. Honey, I am so thankful our children have such an incredible dad.

I love the relationship you have with CJ and what a wonderful role model you are for him. I love the example you set for him in how to be a man, a husband and father. I thank you for what you are teaching him. And I thank you for helping me understand what is in a boy's head, because without your guidance in raising him, I would be lost.

I get misty-eyed watching you with Ruthi. The love she has for you is so amazing. I love the fact that she thinks you hung the moon. And I love the fact that you will drop everything to give her the hugs and kisses she needs. And I love the fact that you need those hugs and kisses just as much as she does. I love that you are teaching her how a man should treat a woman in the example you lead.

Thank you for loving our children with all your heart. Thank you for every minute you spend for them and everything you do for them. Watching you with our children makes me love you even more.

***************

I want to say Happy Father's Day to my Dad. I couldn't have picked a better Dad. Thank you for always loving me. Thank you for all the things you've taught me and for always supporting me.

Thank you for being the greatest Poppy in the world to my kids. They adore you and I know you adore them. They love you, and I love you too!

****************

And even though my Father-in-law won't be reading this, I want to say Happy Father's Day to him too. Thank you for raising such and incredible son. And thank you for loving me like a daughter.

Thank you for being the greatest PaPaw in the world. Your grandchildren love and adore you and I know you love and adore them too!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Monkeys, Monkeys Everywhere!

I'm still getting caught up on posting pictures from last week while the guys were gone.

On Thursday, a group of my friends got together to go have some monkey-jumping fun. There's a fabulous (and inexpensive - a plus!) place called Gorga Monkeys. It has a bunch of inflatable slides and obstacle courses.

Ruthi and I were the first of our group to arrive. It's a good thing that you can't see the big play room when you are signing in and paying. Because once we walked through the door, Ruthi took one quick look around and was off. She didn't even hesitate...she headed straight for the largest slide and began to climb. In a matter of seconds she was at the top of that slide and two seconds later, she was at the bottom with the biggest smile on her face.

I knew it was going to be a good day.

As our friends began to arrive, she got very excited. It's much more fun to play with friends!

Us moms hung out and gabbed for a while. We ate lunch and gabbed some more.

Pretty soon, Ruthi was wanting me to come play with her too. So I took a break from the mom group and headed off to climb, slide and bounce.

I felt like a kid again...on the inside.

My old, not-a-kid-anymore body was protesting quite loudly, however. But I wanted to have fun with my daughter, so I perservered. Even though I was sure I had pulled a muscle in my leg as I threw it over one of the small 'mountains' in the obstacle course. But the slide was a lot of fun.

I needed to rest, so I rejoined the moms for a while. Then I went back out to play some more, and this time Jamie and Fonda came to play too. Melissa and Cindy were happy to watch.

Melissa, Cindy and Fonda gradually left us. That left Jamie and her daughter Kylie, and Ruthi and me to play by ourselves.

And did we ever. We played and played and played. I haven't played that hard, or had quite so much fun in a very long time. I really hope I burned lots of calories!

When Jamie and I finally decided to drag ourselves out of there, I realized Ruthi and I had been there for seven and a half hours! But we had a blast.

I think we are just going to go there once a week. At $7 a visit, (mom's get in free) it's cheaper than joining a gym! Well, unless you went several times a week that is.

I took so many pictures, as you can imagine. I narrowed it down to only 16 to post. Since that's still a lot, I did another slide show. Enjoy!

Best Friends

Ruthi calls Emma her best friend. If you ask her who Emma is, she will say, "My beeeest friend!"

When the guys were away on their trip, Emma came over to spend a night with Ruthi. They had so much fun and played like...well, best friends.

When it was time to go, Emma didn't want to leave, and Ruthi didn't want her to either. It was a bit sad. But we'll be doing it again soon.

Here are a few pictures of them. (Better late than never I suppose!)

Ready for bed.


Playing with play dough (the nice, squishy homemade kind!)


Enjoying popsicles.


Playing in the sand.


A fun day for sure!

Tagged

OK, so Jan tagged me a while ago, and I haven't gotten around to doing this yet. Actually, I'm pretty bad about playing along with these things. I know I've been tagged a few times where I haven't followed through.

To be honest, most of these tags I'm not too crazy about doing which is why I don't typically follow through. But I'm going to play along with this one this time.

Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

And this is going to require a lot of thinking, so we'll see if I can come up with seven!

1. I love to eat...just about anything. It's like I have a love affair with food. I don't eat just because I need the nourishment, I actually savor just about everything I put in my mouth. It is a passion.

2. I really need to lose weight. See #1. 'Nuff said!

3. I have wanted to be a wife and mom for as long as I can remember. It was my dream for a long time. Sure, I thought about doing other things, but this was my ultimate goal. I am very happy to be living my dream.

4. I watch way too much TV. I'm slightly obsessed with several shows. I won't even begin to list the shows I enjoy. The list is very long. Thank heavens for my DVR - I can watch my shows in less time now!!

5. I just now had a very deja-vu moment. Is that how you spell it? I'm not going to try to look it up, so if it's wrong, don't judge me!

6. I worked in children's ministry for 14 years. Then Ruthi was born. I planned to take a 6-8 week break. My break ended up lasting over 3 years. Through the years I've taught kids from 3 years old to 6th grade. Now I am back teaching 3 year-olds again. I never thought I'd be teaching 3 year-olds again!

7. I have a huge procrastination problem. I tend to put most things off for far too long. I don't know why I do it. This is probably why I never get around to doing most of these tag things. But this one is done. And now my brain hurts from trying to think of things!

And this is where I'm going to totally wimp out. I hope the tagging police don't come after me...but I'm not going to specifically tag anyone. If you are reading and want to play along, then let me know so I can read yours!

After Their Date

My sweet hubby is such a great dad. He has started taking Ruthi on "dates". His schedule is a three-week rotation. Every third Wednesday he takes Ruthi on their date.

Today was their third date. And she REALLY looks forward to this. She gets so excited. They go get lunch and then go to the park. He has some back-up plans in case of rain, or when it just gets too doggone hot to go to the park, but for now this is perfect.

When he took her the first time, she wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Even though she was terribly excited to be going somewhere with her daddy, she seemed a little unsure as to why mommy wasn't coming too.

Her uncertainty quickly faded. And now she counts down the days to their dates.

I absolutely love this. It makes my heart flutter to see how excited she gets to be able to go out with just her daddy.

And when she comes home to tell me about it, I can't stop smiling.

Today they came home and she was beaming. And I knew she was tired. She rarely takes naps anymore, but I knew she really needed one...especially since we have church tonight.

She didn't want to admit she was tired, and certainly didn't want to give in and go to her bed.

So she had a nap with her daddy instead. And this...these little moments that I get to capture...totally melt my heart!

Spoiled

So, the guys are away on their canoeing/fishing trip, and Ruthi and I are hanging out at home. Actually, Ruthi's little friend came over yesterday and to spend the night and they are playing happily right now.

Since they hubby is in a canoe, he obviously had no reason to take his laptop with him. So before he left he told me he was going to let me use it as long as I don't download anything and don't change anything!

My computer is running quite slowly because there is a LOT of stuff on there. And it locks up on me all the time. So using his, which is MUCH faster is a very nice break!

It has been so nice, hanging out on the couch, with my feet up, surfing and reading blogs to my heart's content. And when Ruthi wants to go out and play in her sand box, I can now take this wonderful machine and sit on the front porch with plenty to do while she plays to her heart's content! And, since this computer is so much faster than mine, I can blog hop much quicker and do everything I usually do on the computer in a fraction of the time - so much so that I've even played some online games with my all the extra time I've gained! LOL! Yes, I'm definitely getting a little spoiled!

This is making me want to work very hard and make lots of money so I can save up for one of these of my very own!

The only downside at the moment is I don't have access to my photos, so I can't post any from here. And I really don't want to go to my slow computer to upload any at the moment!

And though I am really looking forward to my husband and son coming home, I will miss the luxury of the laptop! But I'd much rather have them home than a lifetime of laptop use!

Menu Plan Monday

This week it is "just us girls" as my guys are away on a canoeing/fishing trip. So I'm keeping things pretty simple and easy.

I'm not assigning meals to specific days this week, we will eat whatever it is we are in the mood for on that day. Here are our choice:

Spaghetti
Hot Dogs with Mac & Cheese
Chicken Strips & Tater Tots
Peanut Chicken Salad
Pizza

And for the weekend, I haven't decided just yet. But I'm sure the guys will be ready for a "real" meal! We'll probably grill burgers on Saturday since we didn't do them last Saturday.

Also, just for fun I'm going to try this recipe for homemade doughnuts. However, I clicked on her link to the original recipe to convert it to a smaller batch. I don't NEED any doughnuts, but I certainly don't need 18!

Time Flies

I can't believe I've been married for 16 years! It seems like yesterday I was walking down the aisle to the love of my life. And at the same time, it feels like we've been together much longer.

I am truly married to my best friend and love of my life. And I'm looking forward to many, many more years of us growing old(er) together!

It's kind of hard to put a lot of focus on our anniversary, since it is also CJ's birthday. What a huge (and scary) surprise for him to enter our world on our two year anniversary, three and a half months before he should have!

We had a nice evening. We all went to Bugaboo Creek Steak House and had a wonderful dinner and a great time. More on that later, because there is a little story!

Anyway....

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWEETHEART! I love you more now than I did the day we got married. Thank you for putting up with me all these years!