January 2015

(I told y'all, I abhor figuring out technology, especially with my kiddos currently running around, Jackson reading Jesus Storybook Bible aloud to Ellie, while Ellie pries open unopened boxes of pasta, and dog Tucker breathes his terrible dog breath in panic of a potential storm.  Keepin' it real, folks. So...I obviously meant to publish this in January. Didn't happen. Better late than never)

Andy and I rung in the New Year at a Widespread Panic concert in Charlotte with his work (great concert, and the crowd made me laugh hysterically, but overall great musicians). Andy has been out of town for over 2 weeks in January, so our family of 4 was able to sneak away to try out a new beach in our area.

Oak Island, North Carolina.  AMAZING and quaint and low-key.

As you can see, we had a front row view to the sunset, as well as a front row view to sunrises (a perk to having your kids awake early...you get to see the sunrise! :)  We found a great beach front rental, and it was dog friendly, so sweet Tucker loved, beyond loved, running free on the beach.

Jackson loved digging endlessly in the sand, and despite our winter gear, the weather really was nice, in the low to upper 50's during the day.  We drove over to check out Wilmington one day, and saw Wrightsville Beach.  So thankful for a low key weekend with our family.  (Not to mention, it was great to have another adult to help in the family, as mama-here has had a virus cold going on 3 weeks now).

 Ice cream for breakfast, since Daddy was out of town. You only live once!

 Ellie's first trip to the dentist. These two pictures happened in a matter of 3 seconds.

 Story of my life. :) Jackson took away her brochure. And she responds in kind.

 A rare, and much-needed, Mom's Night Out celebrating Volree and Lindsay's birthdays.

The park with Mae Harbuck

Books to read with Toddlers

I realize it has been way too long since I last posted. I can blame it on being busy, or being lazy, or dreading all things technology-related and the woes that befall me whenever I attempt the majority of Internet-land.  Mainly, I don't blog during the day, and once the kids are in bed, I'm usually wiped, and curl up with a good book, an even better glass of wine, and promptly fall asleep.

I will eventually getting around to blogging on these past few months.

But, since we are in the full swing of summertime, I've been trying to take advantage of my kiddos being home to fill their little minds more with books than with TV or movies.

I found this perfect website on books to read aloud to your toddlers.  The podcast rocked my world.  5 minutes, just read 5 minutes a day to your toddlers when you have their attention.  Those 5 minutes quickly add up, and I've found my kids bringing me books to read throughout the day.

I also struggled with reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, but felt I had to read those asap to my kids before they grew up.  I'm still in the process of collecting these amazing books, but I have started with easier reads that interest all of us.  Please note, reading books with a 4.5 year old is much easier than my 2.5 year old.  But I still try, and I have found mealtimes can be a nice time to read, as well as at bedtime.  And, if I am too tired to read-aloud, or need to unload the dishwasher/clean up the dishes all over my countertops/throw in a load of a laundry, I have found our library has a great online resource of various authors reading various books, and that has been great to let these authors read short snippets to my kids at mealtime.  (My kids, I mean JACKSON, usually last about 10-15 minutes in listening at this stage.  Ellie is very hit-or-miss in her attention span.)

Without further ado, here are some books we've had success in reading, and books that I've enjoyed as well:

(note, I have found it to sometimes be helpful to let my kids see the movie as well, as it further enhances the book reading experience and can prompt Jackson's memory as to what he has seen and what we're reading)

Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon, as written some other wonderful books, and we've enjoyed the various ones we've seen at the library

This is the beginning of our intro to reading chapter books, and while I still love reading Dr. Seuss, The Giving Tree, Max Lucado children's books, Llama Llama books, Where the Wild Things Are, and all the other children's books we read, I am slowly venturing into trying to read longer to the kiddos (when I'm not too tired!).

Hope y'all are enjoying your summer, and Happy Reading!

Jackson is FOUR

On January 31st, our sweet Jackson turned FOUR!  We celebrated with cake, a birthday party at his preschool, and dinner at Mellow Mushroom.  Our friends the Harbucks ended up joining us, and we had so much fun!

A fearsome four-year-old

His four year old check-up kept getting delayed because of ice storms, snow, and all the other crazy weather we have been having this month.  But yesterday we went for his 4 year old check up and shots, and he was 40 inches tall (50%) and 35.4 pounds (50%). He was so brave with his shots and finger prick and did NOT cry.  So proud of my big boy.

Jackson loves to draw, color, work on his "letters" in his "office" (just like daddy), and is quite the independent little man.  He loves books and we just finished reading together "Alice in Wonderland" (what an odd book), just started "Little House on the Prairie," in the middle of "Stuart Little" and "Mr. Popper's Penguins," "Boxcar Children," plus every other child's book around. :)

This boy can down a cupcake like it is nobody's business

Jackson is hiding a slew of items inside his shirt

Some sweet things he says (in the midst of the temper tantrum typical 4-year-old days):

1) Jackson will often ask "How is your day going?", and he wants you to ask him in return.  The response is always, "Good!" and now Ellie has picked up and responds in kind.  He will sometimes also say, "God, how is your day going?"  (long pause...)  "Good!  Okay, good!"

2) I love how both children say their prayers only in the terms of "I'm thankful for..."  Out of the mouth of babes. Shouldn't we all do that?

3) Occasionally I get the comments of "Mama, you're my best buddy," or "Good job Mama!" or "Thanks for doing that for me Mama!"  Motivation to press on, weary warrior mama.

4) He is super sweet with Ellie (when they're not wrestling or fighting over a toy), and is very concerned if she ever gets hurt or has a boo-boo.  Sweet, protective big brother.

Winter Roast Recipes

With Andy working crazy hours and a house full of a 2 year old and a 3 year old and a dog, I ebb and flow in how often I'm cooking (and most nights is a frozen pizza, Tyson chicken fingers, leftovers, PB&J kind of night).  But, I got on a kick and followed Southern Living's pot roast recipe with 2 other recipes to make with the roast.  Delicious, and perfect for these cold winter nights.  Enjoy!

Zesty Pot Roast

Southern Living

October 2014 edition

2 (3-lb.) boneless chuck roasts

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper 

2 tablespoons canola oil 

1 medium onion, chopped 

1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic 

2 cups beef broth 

1 tablespoon lime zest 

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice 

1 (15-oz.) can whole tomatoes, undrained and crushed 

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Sprinkle roasts with salt and pepper. Cook 1 roast in 1 1/2 tsp. hot oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat 4 minutes on each side. Remove roast; repeat with 1 1/2 tsp. oil and remaining roast. Sauté onion in 1 Tbsp. hot oil in Dutch oven 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Return roasts to Dutch oven; add broth, zest, juice, and tomatoes.

2. Bake, covered, at 350° for 3 hours or until beef is tender. Let roasts stand 10 minutes. Slice 1 roast, and serve with 1 1/2 cups tomato mixture. (Reserve remaining roast and tomato mixture for pot roast pies and soup, if desired.)

Image courtesy of Southern Living

Parmesan Potatoes

3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup half-and-half 

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

1/3 cup butter, melted 

1 teaspoon salt 

3/4 teaspoon black pepper 

Bring potatoes, 1 tsp. salt, and cold water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 16 minutes or until tender; drain. Return potatoes to pan; cook over medium heat until dry. Stir in half-and-half, Parmesan cheese, melted butter, 1 tsp. salt, and black pepper; cook 30 seconds or until heated. Remove pan from heat. Mash potatoes to desired consistency. (Reserve 2 cups for pot roast pies, if desired.)

Shepherd's Pot Roast Pies

1 (14.1-oz.) package refrigerated piecrusts

2 cups Parmesan Potatoes

2 cups chopped Zesty Pot Roast

1/2 cup sliced Roasted Carrots (note, I didn't add b/c I didn't have room in the pie for this)

1 cup frozen English peas, thawed

1/2 cup tomato mixture reserved from Zesty Pot Roast

1 large egg 

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Unroll 1 piecrust on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Spread 1 cup potatoes over half of crust, leaving a 1-inch border around edge. Toss together chopped roast and next 3 ingredients; spoon half of mixture over potatoes. Whisk together egg and 1 tsp. water; brush a small amount of egg mixture around edge of piecrust. Fold dough over filling, pressing and folding edges to seal. Repeat with remaining crust, potatoes, pot roast mixture, and a small amount of egg mixture. Brush tops of pies with remaining egg mixture; cut small slits in top for steam to escape.

2. Bake at 400° for 25 to 30 minutes or until crusts are golden brown and crisp.

Image courtesy of Southern Living

(and these looked much prettier than mine turned out, but mine still tasted delicious!)

Beef-and-Orzo Soup

1 cup chopped onion 

1 tablespoon canola oil 

1 cup chopped carrots 

1 (8-oz.) package sliced button mushrooms 

2 cups chopped Zesty Pot Roast

1 cup tomato mixture reserved from Zesty Pot Roast

1/2 cup uncooked orzo or other small pasta

1 (32-oz.) container beef broth 

Sauté onion in hot oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat 5 to 6 minutes or until lightly browned. Add carrots and mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add remaining ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 to 6 minutes or until orzo is al dente and soup is thoroughly heated.

Image courtesy of Southern Living

And I'm not normally a beef stew kinda girl, but this is really delicious, hearty, yummy, delicioso on a cold winter's night.

Happy Cooking!

Christmas 2014

Our first Christmas in our new home was fun, busy (year-end check up with builders, so many workmen in our house), full of attending neighborhood parties, and taking time to slow down and savor time with family and the miracle of Jesus' birth and God's unending love, grace, and mercy towards us.

We attended Christmas Eve at our church (which we joined around Thanksgiving).  If you're ever in need of great videos/podcasts, check out Forest Hill Church.

Celebrated Christmas morning at our house

Jackson LOVES his bike

And Ellie loves anything involving her baby dolls

And then we packed up the car and headed to Birmingham to celebrate with my mom, dad, brother (up from Austin, TX), missing my sister (celebrating in South Africa), and my Dad's parents.

Ellie loves her GoGo!

The boys sporting their tacky Christmas sweaters

 Squeezing in a few visits with dear friends

And watching Auburn play with our fun Charlotte friends

Ellie is TWO

This little nugget expressed angst at turning T-W-O!  Sweet baby girl celebrated with cupcakes at her preschool, cake at home, and overall a low-key family birthday.

This girl loves to help me try on things in stores, and then promptly dashes off in her speedy nature.

I'm TWO

Ellie is talking up a storm, which is so fun to hear her little (or long) conversations, and it is nice to be able to understand what she wants/needs.  She loves anything to do with her babydolls, snuggles with her stuffed animals, wrestles with Jackson, and is vocal if he takes a toy away from her.  Her favorite shows are Bubble Guppies, Super Why, and she loves the movies Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Tangled, Frozen (what child doesn't like it), Up, and usually whatever brother is watching.  We often hear her singing "Up to the highest heights" (from "Let's Go Fly A Kite"), "spoonful of sugar," "raindrops on roses," and of course "let it go."

Fun with Uncle Jason

Jackson is almost FOUR, and he is so cute when he makes up songs and comes to sing them to you, when I overhear him singing worship songs I have playing in the kitchen at meal times, when he hugs and kisses Ellie, when he says an emphatic "Thank you MaMa" for random little things, like a sippy cup, for getting his toothbrush, etc.  Certainly is a little perk to my day :)  He and I have been slowly reading through some bigger chapter books, and we are halfway through "Alice in Wonderland," "Little House in the Big Woods," and we have finished "Tom Sawyer."  I emphasize the word slowly, as we usually have to read (when I have energy) after Ellie has gone to bed, and all are not exhausted.  But some is better than none in reading together, and I love that time with him, to see his little imagination take off.