First Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Jackson's 1st Birthday (although his real birthday isn't until January 31st). We were so grateful for beautiful blue skies, very pleasant weather, and for our family who traveled to be with us to celebrate Jackson. Also, two of my very best friends (BFF since 5th grade!) and their boys came to celebrate too. It's so fun that we all have boys around the same age together.

Here are some pictures of our day:


Skeptical of the cake and icing


He didn't particularly care for the sweets




Thomas Menendez headed towards Tucker's dog bowl


Hanging out with Meemaw


Playing with his new toy from Meemaw and Papaw


Gifts from Mommy and Daddy









Front door says "No Cats Allowed, Woof!"





My friend Rosemary gave Jackson this bib a few months ago, and it was perfect to have at his puppy party! (And she gave the cute pitcher that says, "The Yorks")









Puppy paw print cupcakes I made (thank you Pinterest!)


















And, Jackson got some play time with Ya Ya, along with some much-needed Spanish lessons.







*Note, I apologize for the pictures being disorganized, but I have neither the drive, energy, or desire to re-organize them now :)

Baba Ghanoujh

What a fun word to say, Baba Ghanoujh (pronounced "ga-nooosch). I've never made it before, and I didn't know much about it, other than it's on all the Lebanese restaurants' menus around town. It's a Middle Eastern dish that is now glorified in the South (the deep South of the United States of America, that is).

I saw a recipe for "Quick Baba Ghanoujh" in the Southern Living "Homestyle Cooking" cookbook. I dashed to the store, purchased a beautiful eggplant, and whipped up this beauty in no time (with my extra tahini from my Black-Eyed Pea Hummus).


Picture courtesy of good-ole Google

Quick Baba Ghanouhj
1 large eggplant (about 1 to 1 1/2 lb)
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp olive oil
Garnishes: kalamata olives, fresh parsley sprigs

Remove and discard end of eggplant (do not peel). Prick eggplant with a fork. Microwave on HIGH 7-10 minutes or until eggplant is tender; cool completely.

Cut eggplant in half lengthwise, and scrape out soft pulp; discard shell. Process pulp, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and cumin in a food processor until smooth. Add water to reach desired consistency, if necessary (this was not necessary for me). Place mixture in a shallow serving dish; drizzle with olive oil. Garnish, if desired. Serve with pita bread (or carrots and other veggies).

So good and easy and a great and healthy alternative to another "chip dip." Jackson loved this dip when I served it to him last night :)


And one more recipe for kicks. I've been reading The Pioneer Woman's cute book, "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" about her love story and her life on the ranch. I was perusing her blog and found this amazing recipe: Chicken Bacon Ranch Panini, and I just HAD to make it. My mother-in-law gave me an amazing panini maker for Christmas, and I'm always looking for an excuse to use it. So, while I intend to make this for dinner tonight, I just thought this recipe needed a little taste test for lunch too (I couldn't help it; the bacon was calling my name from the fridge).


Picture from The Pioneer Woman's blog


Chicken Bacon Ranch Panini
Ingredients

8 slices Crusty French Bread
4 Tablespoons Softened Butter
2 whole Chicken Breasts, Cut In Half From Top To Bottom
Spicy Mustard
Ranch Dressing (homemade Or Bottled)
4 slices (thick) Sharp Cheddar Cheese
8 slices Bacon, Cooked Until Chewy And Cut In Half

Preparation Instructions

Fry the four pieces of chicken breast in oil and butter until done in the middle, about 10-12 minutes. Slice into strips and set aside.

To assemble the sandwiches, spread a generous amount of mustard on one half of the bread. Spread a generous amount of ranch dressing on the other half. (Definitely be generous; when the sandwich cooks, these will turn into more of a "sauce.")

Arrange chicken, bacon slices, and cheese slices on the bottom half. Top with the top slice. Butter both sides of the bread generously, then grill in the panini maker. (If you do not have a panini maker, you can grill the sandwiches in a skillet, laying a heavy skillet on top of the sandwich to press it together. Turn to grill the other side in the same way.)

**I didn't have any bottled Ranch dressing, so I made my own here.

Countdown

(yep, he still fits in his doorway jumper, and thankfully, he still loves it)



The countdown is on until my sweet "baby" turns one! I can't believe it. Since I'll be busy at work next week and have a conference for work, I know I need to get ahead on the celebration preparations.

So, with some of this:


And some fun paper purchases at Michael's, I've been making this:




This was really easy and fun to do, and I got the idea from Pinterest and Etsy (although my version is much more affordable than the ones they sell on Etsy). You can find the tutorial here.

Thank you, Pinterest, for the ideas on Jackson's puppy dog birthday invitation. We're looking forward to our family who will be in town to celebrate his big day!


Andy surprised me with an iPhone for Christmas (score! best surprise ever!), and so, sadly, I haven't been taking as many pictures of Jackson with my "real" camera (and I've yet to take the time to learn to do an iPhone "dump," but it'll come soon). The past few days I've tried to be intentional about taking pictures with my Nikon. Here are some pictures I took today of Jackson playing with his sweet friend Julia. They were just too cute together!


And, they're off!


They both loved looking at Tucker outside





In these funny pictures below, Jackson is making the funniest faces because of the camera flash. I know I should have stopped taking pictures at that point, but his faces were totally cracking me up.






Must.

Get.

The.Puzzle.


(doesn't it sort of look like he's sucking in his stomach for this picture? ha!)


Typical Jackson stance...getting into something! Sheer determination.




Showing off his bottle to Tucker, as well as throwing his arms up in the air whenever we say, "Touchdown, Auburn (or Touchdown, Jackson)!"


"



I've been surprised at the sheer number of people/strangers who stop me everywhere we go and tell me how "fast they'll (babies/kids) grow up." While it's almost annoying how I hear it every.single.moment when we're running errands, I guess I do appreciate their concept of the brevity of life, and it's a good reminder to soak up each moment with Jackson.

How do I feel about having a one-year-old? I guess I've always thought moms sounded silly when saying they couldn't believe their baby was one (or they couldn't believe they're sending their baby to kindergarten, or to college). But I get it now. It's like a blur, and I feel like I'm just going through the motions of throwing a party but not really grasping how short, and at times how long, this year has been.

I'm beyond grateful that God has blessed our family with a healthy, happy, joyful, funny child. Working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, I see hardships, hurting parents, grieving families, sick sick babies. Because of this, I'm even more appreciative to have a healthy child. Jackson is such a ham, and he's going to be funny and witty like his daddy (I hope). He's always smiling, always giggling, always wanting to play with our dog Tucker and show off his toys. But I am "sad," in the sense that Jackson is growing up, that I'm weaning (talk about crazy hormones and some tears on my part; and tears about RANDOM things); that he's eating grown up food (cut up grilled chicken, mango, black beans, cantaloupe). All you moms out there (if anyone is even reading my blog?!?), am I alone in these feelings?

But Jackson is not mine; he's a gift from God. A sweet gift that the Lord has chosen for me and for Andy. A gift of parenthood that can be sleep-depriving, tiring, just-plain-hard-at-times. A gift I wouldn't trade for the whole world. A gift of a son that I didn't realize I could love this much, this deeply, this unconditionally, this all-encompassing-crazy-in-love. This, to me, is one of the sweetest pictures of Christ's wonderfully, amazingly, unconditional love for us, for the whole world, for all of His creation. Our pastor, Tim Kallam, was discussing this last week in church (Psalm 127:3 "Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.) Jackson is going to turn ONE; it's inevitable, and it's a great part of life. Each day brings us that much closer to our sweet Savior returning to this earth to take us home to Heaven. Come, Lord Jesus, Come.