5 Years of Marriage

Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary Andy!! You're the best husband and friend, and I'm so blessed and grateful that God blessed me with YOU! You are such an amazing daddy to Jackson, and I look forward to many more years, Lord-willing, as we grow as a family.





Our niece, Celie, had just turned 2, and she was a great flower girl

5 Months

Jackson finally able to sit up in the Bob

Jackson is now almost 5 1/2 months. My how the time is flying. He's such a happy baby, always smiling and giggling. We recently went to visit family in Orlando for my grandmother's 80th birthday. Jackson did great on both airplane rides (slept most of the way), and he had fun meeting all of the Thomas side of the family (after all, it's who he's named for!). Here are just a few pictures of my sweet little boy: (I forgot to take my camera to Orlando, but I'll post pics when I get them from family members)


Jackson's 1st flight...sleeping the whole way to Orlando. Makes.me.happy.


Playdate with the Menendez clan

Emily Menendez (holding Jackson, 5 months), and me holding Thomas Menendez (3 1/2 months)



Jackson loves our dog Tucker, but Tucker usually won't have much to do with Jackson. Here's a few snapshots of Jackson's attempt to love on Tucker:



"I can almost reach him..."



"I got him!"



Poor Tucker's pleading look for help



I love my two "boys"







On another note, I had some extra strawberries that were on their last leg before losing their freshness, so I decided to make some strawberry bread. And I may or may not have eaten most of one loaf by myself. This is an easy and delicious recipe from allrecipes.com:

STRAWBERRY BREAD

2 cups fresh strawberries, chpd
3 1/8 c all purpose flour
2 c white sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 c vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 c chpd pecans

Preheat oven to 350 and butter 2 bread loaf pans.

Slice strawberries, and place in medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, and set aside while preparing bread mixture.

Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in large bowl: mix well. Blend oil and eggs into strawberries. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, blending until dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in pecans. Divide batter into pans.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until tester inserted comes out clean. Let cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn loaves out, and cool completely.

Yet again, no pics of food (it's eaten too quickly in my house for me to take pics!). So you're stuck with looking at more pics of Jackson :)



You gotta love the drool





Aunt Myra gave us this adorable outfit. Thank you Aunt Myra!

BBQ

Oh, how I love a good dinner of BBQ and Vidalia Onion pie and Squash Casserole on a hot summer's night. Having a 4 1/2 month old, I realize the value of a quick but delicious recipe. Here are 3 easy breezy BBQ recipes to smack your taste buds this summer, or as Lacey Russell's husband Mac would say, "spank your taste buds." :)

One of the most important elements in cooking is to make sure you have a cheerleader to encourage you in all your cooking endeavors.

Exhibit A--My enthusiastic cheerleader



Number two important rule in cooking BBQ is to make sure you use a good BBQ sauce. We love Corky's (can you tell I married a Memphis boy??)



CROCK POT BBQ

2 onions
1 (4-5 lb) boneless Boston butt
6 cloves
1/2 c water
2 bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce

Slice 2 onions. Salt and pepper Boston butt, top with sliced onions. Push 6 cloves into top of butt. Pour 1/2 c water into pot. Cook for about 8 hours on low or until pork is tender and falling apart. When done, take pork out of fat and remove all fat. Clean pot of all juices. Put pork back into pot. Pour BBQ sauce over pork and stir. Spoon onto hamburger buns.

(I have no pics for above roast, as I'm planning on cooking it tomorrow. And for those of you who use the Crock Pot, definitely invest in the crock pot liners! They are so worth it and make clean-up a breeze.)


EASY BBQ CHICKEN
from Southern Living

3 skinned and boneless chicken breasts (I usually use more)
BBQ sauce
(to the sauce, add 3/4 c apple juice, 1/2 c honey; stir all together over med-hi heat until thoroughly heated)

Place (raw) chicken and BBQ sauce in medium saucepan, and cook, covered, over low heat 15-20 min or until chicken is done. Shred chicken with fork and leave in sauce until ready to serve.

This tastes really good over a baked potato, loaded with sliced green onions, cheese, butter, and sour cream.



And last but not least, this is my mother-in-law's recipe and really yummy!

BBQ BEEF

Place a rump roast in the crock pot with a can of French onion soup and add water to cover. Cook all day. Drain liquid, shred, add seasonings (salt, pepper, etc) to taste. Add BBQ sauce and serve on hamburger buns.

Happy BBQ'ing!

These are a few of my favorite things...

These are a few of my favorite things...

1) Sitting on my sunporch, high on a hill, watching a summer storm roll in. Thank you Lord for the much-needed rain!



A view out the door of my sunroom: (not a spectacular pic, but it's my feeble attempt to show how high up we are...see the tree line??)



2) With a cup of Tazo tea



3) Or a glass of wine :)



(Josh and Kate Clinton brought us dinner once we had Jackson, and they graced us with this amazing wine! A very light Cab Sauv, affordable, and my new fav!)



4) With my sweet baby



5) And a good book



I want to hear your favorite things!

Home Sweet Home

We moved into our house last week, and now begins the endless unpacking, painting, and other various house projects. We are loving our home though, and are so grateful for more than one bathroom and plenty of closet space and storage! :)

Please excuse the hideous picture below, but at the advice of my friend Rosemary, I HAD to take a picture of us on moving day to celebrate the excitement of moving into a new home in 98 degree weather.



Jackson is wearing an outfit that his daddy wore when he was a baby. I love summertime clothes.



My parents were a HUGE help in helping us move, paint, install ceiling fans, etc. We are so grateful for their generous help! (and can you tell my mom loves to paint!?)





Off to unpack some more!

4 Months Old

Jackson's visit to the pediatrician went well, and she said he looks great! He weighs 13 pounds, 13 ounces, and is 25 1/4 inches long. He's been wearing mainly 6 month clothing, and the Carter's 3 month onesies just stopped fitting him. He so long and lean that the 6 month clothes fit much more comfortably on him. He's rolled from his tummy to his back, and he's working on rolling from his back to his tummy (he's only made it to his side). Jackson loves to grab any and all toys and puts everything in his mouth. He still tries to cram his fists into his mouth as far as he can! Sleep-wise, he mainly naps in his swing, and he's been waking up about every 4 hours or so at night, as I think he's on a growth spurt. He loves to laugh and giggle, and bath time and diaper changes are his favorite. He's quite the little charmer!

Summer Dinner

There's nothing like a good Southern cook-out on a Friday night. The smell of sweet pork tenderloin baking in the oven, and a yummy Vidalia Onion pie in the oven.

I'm trying to use up the food products we have in our home before the big move, so here are two of my favorite recipes that I'm cooking tonight. They are fail-proof crowd pleasers!

VIDALIA ONION PIE
(from Bham Junior League's "Food For Thought")

1 c crushed Ritz crackers
1/4 c plus 2 Tbps melted butter, divided
3 c chopped Vidalia onion
2 eggs
3/4 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 c grated Cheddar cheese
1/8 tsp paprika

Combine Ritz crackers and 1/4 c melted butter. Press into greased pieplate. Saute onions in remaining 2 Tbsp butter. Pour into crust. Combine eggs, milk, salt, and pepper; pour over onions. Top with grated Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serves 6


DELICIOUS PORK TENDERLOIN
(seriously, the easiest and best recipe ever)

2 pork tenderloin, trim off fat and rinse (I do only 1 pork tenderloin)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp creole seasoning
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1 Tbps Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp pick-a-peppa sauce
1/2 c white wine

Rub tenderloin with olive oil.
Sprinkle with pepper, creole, lemon pepper both sides
Rub spices lightly into meat.
Drizzle 3 sauces (Worcestershire, soy, pick-a-peppa) one at a time on top of tenderloin.
Pour white wine on pan around tenderloin.

Baked at 350 uncovered for 45 min to 1 hr. Let meat sit 10 min. before slicing.

Pair all this with a glass of white wine, and you have a fun summer dinner!

Because I don't have a picture of the food (I'm cooking it now!), I'll leave you with these cute chubby cheeks: