My Funny Children

Oh, this picture makes me laugh! Am I the only one? Does everyone else look at it and think, "Oh, what a scared little boy! Somebody help him!" My sweet little guy was absolutely terrified of the sheep and goats at the petting zoo this week, and I have to admit, it kind of made me chuckle. :) (What kind of mother am I?!?!)

Another funny story... (don't judge me...) we were eating supper last night and I can't, for the life of me, remember what we were talking about. It had something to do with me forgetting to do something, and Reese laughed sweetly and said, "Oh, Mommy, you're a silly bitch." Wade and I both almost choked on what we were eating and asked her to repeat what she said because we were sure we had heard her wrong. "I said, you're a silly bitch" she said with a smile. Wade asked, "Did you say 'witch'?" And Reese replied, "No, well, kind of like witch, but with a B." 

**SILENCE.**

Wade and I exchanged glances, trying to decide what to do, when we both just burst out laughing! Where on earth would she have heard such a thing!? Neither one of us swear, nor do we hang out with people who do. She is in a stage right now where she makes up random words and expects us to know what they are, or that 'joisdjfsoh' means 'cup' in Spanish, but is that what was going on here????? We decided to not even bring much attention to it, instead telling her that calling me that made me feel sad, so she shouldn't say that anymore. And like that, she was asking for more milk and had totally forgotten about the whole thing. OH WOW!

I also found this today that I wanted to share. SO neat. Makes me feel like I'm kind of doing something right.  What should a 4 year old know?

{From last night. She insists on making a silly face every time we take self pics like this. Cracks me up.}

*Liz Monroe

B Potty Training and Random. :)

• This little boy is a rock star. A ROCK STAR, I tell you! I would never brag about him like this in real life, but just can't help being excited about how well his potty training is going!

Back when I wasn't a mom, I had no idea about how excited I would be about pee and poop (and even more excited that it's not on the floor)! And I never thought I'd post pictures of my kids on the toilet!

At about one month shy of his 2nd birthday, he's pretty much got it down! He wakes up in the morning and after naps dry. He can go when I want him too, but also tells us when he needs to go. We are wearing underwear all the time (except for bedtime, just in case) and only have accidents when he's outside playing and is too busy to stop and go.

 Have I mentioned that I'm ridiculously proud of him!?!?

• A random summer movie:

• I have been researching a lot about this. IT. IS. WAR. And I will win.

• The 30 Recipes in 30 Days Challenge is going exceptionally well!! Here's what we've had so far:

1. BBQ Chicken Pizza Soup - Excellent! I added more broth, diced tomatoes from the garden and substituted 2 shredded chicken breasts for the canned chicken. Next time I'll add orzo or quinoa to beef it up a bit.

2. Avocado Feta Salsa - Wade and I both give this one a 10 out of 10! We will definitely make this again! I added a little bit of lemon juice to prevent browning

3. Creamy Vegetable Bow Tie Toss - Found from Ms. Rachel Greene's food blog, and it was quite tasty. Kids ate it and it made a ton for leftovers!

4. White Chocolate PB&J Puppy Chow - Yummy, but only in small ammounts. (Don't ask how I know this.) We made this this morning since it was to wet to play outside, then cuddled on the couch and watched Cars. Perfection. :)

5. French Silk Pie - Trial #1. Verdict, WOWZA. So creamy & chocolatey & rich & fattening.... anyone interested in taking some pie off my hands in the future??

6. Sun Dried Tomato Hummus - We are big hummus fans in this house, so this one was kind of a no-brainer. Simple and good.

If you try anything, let me know!!!!!!!

• If you haven't seen this yet >> click here << The highlight of my week :)

• Reese got to meet Dan Wardell  (that crazy guy from IPTV) at the library yesterday. (the link above has more pics from that morning.)

Aaaaaand I think that's it! Congratulations if you made it this far! Tomorrow we are off to the pool (again!) because Friday's our pool & ice cream day! :)

Summer So Far

Head's up.... this post contains A TON of pictures!!!

Our version of a summer scrapbook :) And the best part is there is still much more summer left!

(I have so many stories to share about each of these photos, but am too short on time right now to write them all. You get the point, though, right? We've basically had a ton of fun!)

My Food Challenge

So..... remember a little while back I told you I was looking for a new adventure?

Well, I've found it!

My oh-so-lovely friend, Christina, suggested that I do something food/cooking related. Well, just so happens that I love to eat and try new things, which has a little something to do with cooking! I have kind of been a slacker mom lately. I usually have our menus planned out and had a least one new meal every week or so. Well, I've been in a rut and have felt way unmotivated to cook.

So I've decided on two food related adventures:

1) Enter a cooking contest. I had no idea what this entailed or how to even go about doing so. After some searching on the internet, I found that the State Fair has food contests for just about ANYTHING, and I knew we were going to be in town on August 15th which happens to be the day they will be judging the FRENCH SILK PIE contest! So I entered online and paid the fee and recieved my "tags" the other day in the mail. Ohmygoodnesgracious I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

Yeah, so what if I've never made a French Silk Pie in my life?! I'll learn. Uhh, anyone have any tips?????

2) Try 30 recipes in 30 days. They must be new recipes that I've never had before. It can be snacks, desserts, meals, anything. I don't even have to eat them right away, I can stick them in the freezer for later. I can't possibly do 30 new suppers for 30 days straight. There are just some nights where I'm tired or short on time that we stop and get pizza or eat leftovers. Not to mention that this would blow our weekly food budget out of the water. Which is I guess part of the challenge. To keep me organized, I'll try to post what I'm making on here now and then in case you want to try anything as well. (I'm thinking this will definitely be on my list!)

So here goes nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and this one sounds like A LOT more fun than my running challenge, don't ya think? :)

{Pie image found here}

My Kind of Saturday Night

I love my little family. Every little darn thing about them.

I usually try to keep us somewhat busy. Like yesterday evening, we didn't have anything going on so we decided to head to the nearby pool or the golf course for 9 holes of golf as a family.

We needed groceries first, so we loaded everyone up and headed out. When we got home, I realized I forgot to get potatoes for supper and my pork chops to grill were still frozen. Sweet corn was the other item on our menu, so Wade and Beckett left in search for some. As Reese sat next to me on the step, playing with her Barbie, I waved good-bye to my husband (sporting some awesome aviators) in our gold minivan. I knew right then that this is exactly the life I've always wanted. A modest home on a quiet street, remnants of lunch still on my kids' faces, and a minivan for goodness sake!

Anyway, turns out, the sweet corn vendors pack up sometime before 6:30 so we were out of luck. It took Wade about 2 seconds to be on the phone with Pizza Hut, ordering us supper. (I seriously love him.)

Ideas of going swimming and golfing quickly turned into a game of tackle football in the backyard. Just hanging out, being a family. It was so one of those nights that was nothing special, but one that I want to cement into my brain. (Hence the dozens of pictures!) My heart just feels so full!

(to document that I was actually there...)

Woooah there, Garden!

Dear Garden,

Please stop growing! I mean, go ahead and ripen your delicious fruit, but stop getting so freakin' BIG!!!!! You're right, it is my fault for planting you all so close together, I realize that. But next year I'll know better! But in the meantime, go ahead and take a couple weeks off. That'd be great. K, Thanks.

Love, Liz (the girl who comes out and admires you everyday)

May 24th

July 8th

Waiting for things to ripen...