Family Photos

We recently had Lynze Prater take these great family photos of us at the Botanical Gardens.  I was really pleased in how they turned out!  (And if anyone in my area is looking for a great, reasonable, quick & efficient photographer, let me know and I can get you her contact info).  Also note, Jackson skipped his morning nap this day, so I am very impressed in how these turned out   :)

Celebrating in Atlanta

This past weekend, I planned a quick surprise getaway trip for Andy's 30th Birthday.

My parents were awesome and watched Jackson for us, which we really appreciated.

I chose Atlanta because it is a quick and easy drive, and because

was being performed at the Fox Theatre. Andy and I had always wanted to see this in NYC, but we never had time to go watch it.  We really enjoyed the performance, and I'm glad I was actually able to surprise Andy :)

We also enjoyed an AMAZING Italian meal at Ecco.  We feasted on everything from fried goat cheese slathered in honey, to a tasting of meats and cheeses from around the world, to a fabulous pasta and for me, a grilled flatbread pizza with arugula.  Delicious.  And we topped it off with olive oil ice cream, with bits of chocolate chips and sea salt.  Simply amazing.

I'm sad to say the one picture I remembered to take turned out incredibly blurry, and the wind was blowing our hair (and my dress) in all sorts of crazy directions. I'll spare you the dreadful blurry picture.

We topped off our weekend with the Jamisons, eating a wonderful lunch at their country club, and hanging out with their two precious kiddos.

 Throwback pics from Will and Margaret Gaither's wedding 2 years ago. Peyton to the right of Andy.  Megan below to the right of me.

Needless to say, we had a fun and much-needed getaway, and we enjoyed celebrating Andy's 30th.

16 Months & 30 Years

Happy 30th Birthday Andy!  Jackson and I love you so so much, and you are the most wonderful husband to me and the BEST daddy to our son.  I hope you feel so loved and celebrated today.

And for his birthday cake, I made this delicious

Three Day Coconut Cake
 (you make it 3 days in advance so the flavors all have time to meld together, hence the name)

1 Duncan Hines Golden cake mix
14 – 18oz bag of coconut
16oz sour cream
1 cup sugar
8oz cool whip

Make cake and use 8”pans (2). Cool and cut in half to make a total of 4 layers.
Filling:
1. Mix sour cream & sugar in a bowl, then add all the coconut except 1 cup.
2. Frost between the layers.
3. Add 8oz of cool whip to the 1 cup of reserved coconut and frost the top and sides.

Put in sealed tupperware and refrigerate for a couple of days for best flavor. This is great frozen
(pre-slice and wrap so you can pull out a few pieces at a time).

As for this 16 month old, we've been doing alot of this lately (thank you Rogers Howell for the fireman hat. It's a big hit around our house these days!).

Note the pillows scattered everywhere.  Pillow forts are the latest big hit. Jackson likes to tackle and wrestle with us on them. (and note unbuttoned Jon Jon...that can be life these days)  Jackson is still such a ham, always a happy baby (yes, I still call him my baby), into EVERYTHING, picky some days in what he eats, has discovered our DVD player in my car and points at it every time we get in, and he loves to hug, or hit, dog Tucker.

We are loving life with this busy body, and every day he does something else new and funny.  We are so grateful for this blessing God has given to us!

Movies

Here are some awesome movies we've watched lately, and I'd highly recommend them to you.

"Courageous"
Great movie, especially for men to see, as it speaks a good bit on fatherhood.  Done by the church that did the movies "Fireproof" and "Facing the Giants" (except this one doesn't have quite as cheesy acting as the other movies). Have some tissues nearby!

"The Iron Lady"
Academy Award Winner Meryl Streep (won best actress for this film), as she portrays Margaret Thatcher.  I really enjoyed it, and now that I know all about Margaret Thatcher, I love and admire her and her leadership of Great Britain.  I've also enjoyed reading her famous and true quotes on various websites.  She is one wise woman. (i.e. "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.")

"Downton Abbey"
Amazing PBS series. Check it out.

Avocado Toast

Picture courtesy here

Oh my, I just made this Avocado Toast for lunch. 

Simple and Easy.

Find the recipe here.

Must.Make.This

What comes to mind when you hear the word

meatloaf


Some may reminisce of their grandmother's home cooking. Others, like me, envision stereotypes of nasty-cafeteria-school-food-make-you-want-to-vomit-hard-bricks-of-who-knows-what. I didn't grow up eating meatloaf, never cared for the idea of it, etc etc. You get the picture.

My husband did grow up eating meatloaf. And he very sparingly will drop hints (literally, only about one hint a year) that he likes meatloaf.

Well, after a gigantic beef purchase at CostCo, the lovely concept of meatloaf came to mind, and I was on the hunt for the perfect recipe.

And guess what? I found it.

Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf

And I must say, I'm a meatloaf-lover now (but probably only of this recipe. My weird sickening stereotypes of all other types of meatloaf are not out of my head quite yet).

I highly recommend giving this very easy recipe a try. Your husband will thank you for it.

15 Months

My lack of posts have been due to:

1) Celebrating, like crazy, Mark and Lucy and their glorious wedding this past weekend

 2) Me losing my voice at the wedding reception, and still hoarse (6 days later), and fighting a lovely little cold (but I'm all better now due to the aid of a Z-pack)

So we've been laying low, taking lots of naps, I've been reading this intriguing novel, and listening to lots of babbling and chasing/running after our active 15 month old.

Jackson is at such a fun and busy age.  He's still a happy child, but I'm definitely beginning to see some throw-myself-on-the-floor fits when he doesn't get his way. These fits don't last long, and I can usually distract him with something else. Nevertheless, they've begun.

He can be a picky eater when he wants to be now, and a good bit of his food gets thrown down to Tucker. Jackson is constantly babbling, and it sounds like he's mastered some foreign language. Absolutely hysterical to listen to.

Since my YouTube videos are MIA right now, I'm showing Jackson's determination at 7 1/2 months old. What sweet sweet days those were, but I know I have even more fun times the older he gets.

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**note, videos not working right now! will work on it

Everything is a phone...it goes up to his ear, whether it's his play phone, a bubble wand, a banana, his pacifier, anything. It's funny because I'm not much on the phone around him, but I know he is picking up quickly on anything and everything we're doing. He also loves dancing, which consists of banging his head up and down (not hitting anything, just head banging). Thomas the Train is a big hit these days, whether we're reading the book, listening to the theme song, or watching episodes on our Kindle Fire.

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Thankfully he's still taking 2 naps a day, sometimes fighting one or the other of them. This boy needs his sleep!

And while I know this last one is sideways and I can't turn it, I loved these days of him "dancing" in his exersaucer

What sweet, happy, "containable" days :)

**At the pediatrician's office, Jackson weighs 20 lb 14 oz...my long and lean little boy!