TWO THINGS

First---- I failed to mention a minor mishap that involved a bird, 4 kiddos, & 2 crying adults.... HA

As I mentioned yesterday, Sunday we had a small get together... So later that afternoon while we were cooking dinner, Lindsee came busting into the house almost in tears. Zoie, Lindsee and Westley's Schnauzer, had killed a mama bird. :( The baby bird which was about to take flight in a matter of days was in the back yard hopping around trying to find his dead birdie mama. I went outside to see what we could do about the bird and the kiddos were all standing around staring and talking their best form of baby talk to the birdie. Conner bent down trying to get eye level with the little fella and said "hey baby bird...hey". Then he turns to Jackson and said "sit on it, Jackson". HAHA I guess Conner thought it was an EGG...???? Being the animal lover I am I was yelling at Joey to find something to put it in. Lindsee and I wanted to save the little guy. Joey brings me an old plastic bowl and we are trying to scoop it up when out of nowhere-----No, not really he was standing there the whole time----- Chipper, our Schnauzer, leaps through the air and ATTACKS the poor baby bird!!!!! So now I am practically in tears and I storm in the house (after of course beating spanking Chipper).

Now lets jump on to after we eat dinner and everyone is hanging out in the house when Angela says "OMG! WHAT IS THAT...AAAAHHH EEEWWW It's half of a bird" There in the middle of my living room floor is what appears to be the head/neck/beak of a bird that a dog clearly PUKED up. We had a small debate of who would pick the remains up and I nominated Westley because of course he is the paramedic. Westley scoops the guts up in a paper towel and starts examining it. He then proceeds to tell us that it is in fact potatoes and green beans, not the remains of a bird. I guess one of the doggies got into someone's scraps outside. OOPSIE!! HA

Second --- Recently Conner has started calling me "Mom"! He says it a million times a day and it totally cracks me up. He also calls Joey "Dad" sometimes. Tuesday morning I was getting him ready for school and he said "Mom, my John going to pick my up from school today?"...... Then we were about to leave and I asked if he wanted a juice box to carry on the way to school and he says.. "No thank you Mom"! He is so sweet sometimes and has such good manners! I hope those good manners stick with him!!!

Catching Up

So the past couple of weeks have flown by and I haven't blogged any so here are some pictures to quickly catch up on some of the things we have done.....

Last weekend Joey had to work so Conner and I hung out and played!

Sunday we spent the afternoon shopping with Grammy. We hit Marshall's and I found several cute tops for CHEAP!! I love finding good deals... After Marshall's we stopped at Sam's and loaded up on some groceries! Conner was one tired toddler and took a nap on the way home.

Don't you love his "shades" !!! He always wears them upside down. :)

A couple of weeks ago we decided to plant a garden. We didn't really have a clue what we were doing, but hopefully we will have some veggies come up eventually!! Conner wanted to help, so he broke out his four wheeler! 

This past Saturday we headed over to Jana & Bobby's to hang out! We had a great time and made a quick Sonic run for some ice cream.... YUM! Conner & Katie had a blast playing together... 

And finally - moving on to yesterday.... After church we made a quick Walmart stop and picked up a pool for Conner. He loved it and wanted to play as soon as we got home!! We stayed outside all afternoon and Lilee, Jackson, & Peyton came to play. The grown-ups girls got some sun and the kids had a blast. The guys hid in the shade.... HA!

Conner had a little fun in the mud too!!! :) 

Now it's time for another work week... BOO! And it is Joey's LONG week at that ... YUCK!

Whew...What A Weekend!!

Friday after work I went with one of my besties to Kirkland's to get some new decorations for our living room. I've been wanting to paint for a while now and finally got the motivation. It seems to have hit me all at once because while we were in Kirkland's I decided I wanted it done right then and there. So, on the way home I stopped at Lowe's and bought some paint. We got back about 9:30 and I told Joey "We are painting TONIGHT" !!! :) He was not too happy, but he went along with it and we got started about 10. We painted until the wee hours of the morning and got up at 9:00 Saturday and went at it again. My dad came over and helped with the trim...he was a lifesaver!! Around lunch Jenn came by and helped get my furniture back in order and set out all my new decorations. I forgot to mention we were cooking out THAT NIGHT! Somehow we managed to get everything done!!

Here is a picture of part of the living room. All I have to do is get something to hang my picture and we will be good to go!

Saturday night we had some friends over and we had some YUMMY food. I just have to share this recipe.... of course it is from kraft.com . :) 

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers

1/2 cup  ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese

1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

1/8 tsp.  black pepper

2 portobello mushrooms (1-1/4 lb.)

2 Tbsp.  KRAFT Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Tbsp.  chopped fresh basil

 

 

HEAT greased grill to medium heat.

COMBINE first 4 ingredients.

USE spoon to remove stems and brown gills from undersides of mushroom caps; discard. Mix dressing and garlic; brush onto both sides of mushroom caps.

GRILL, top-sides up, 5 min.; turn. Top with vegetable mixture; grill 5 min. or until mushrooms are tender and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with basil.

Side Note: We grilled these Saturday night and it made a HUGE mess on the grill... (Sorry Babe) We tried again Sunday night and baked them..... just as yummy and not near as messy. :)

Sunday we had decoration and then we ate at my Nana's! It was soo good and as usual I ate too much! We had a great weekend.... it went by WAY to fast! I totally failed on getting any pictures of the little man :( But he has been such a sweet boy and is feeling great since his surgery. He sleeps so QUITE at night, I can't tell when he falls asleep like I could before. We go back to the doctor tomorrow for his check up after surgery.

 

 

Me + Cooking... Seriously!

I have never been a great cook and have never had the desire to cook. Recently I have started trying to stay on a budget with grocery shopping. Usually a normal trip the grocery store consists of me going down each aisle and throwing whatever looks good into the cart. By the time I get home I have spent $200+ and have nothing to put together a decent meal. About a month ago I started planning out our meals for the week and making a list. (yes I realize it's sad that it took 7 years of being married to start this) I went to kraft.com to get ideas & recipes and let me tell you.... It was love at first sight! Being a working mom it's hard to find time to make a decent meal each night, especially now with a 2 year old that runs WILD! I have found the easiest recipes at Kraft and I thought I would share one!!

Tuesday night we had Chicken Club Pizza. It took all of 30 minutes and was SO GOOD. Joey loved it!! I had planned on taking the leftovers to work the next day, but we didn't have any left!! :)

What you Need........

1 can (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust

1/4 cup  KRAFT Mayo with Olive Oil Reduced Fat Mayonnaise

1/2 cup KRAFT Ranch Dressing, divided

1-1/2 cups  KRAFT Shredded Triple Cheddar Cheese with a Touch of PHILADELPHIA, divided

1-1/2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken

8 slices  OSCAR MAYER Bacon, cooked, crumbled

1-1/2 cups finely shredded lettuce

1   tomato, finely chopped

I used Mexican shredded cheese instead of Cheddar and I also used pre-cooked bacon because it's super fast & easy to heat in the microwave.

HEAT oven to 400ºF.
UNROLL pizza dough on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray; press into 15x10-inch rectangle. Bake 10 min.
MIX mayo and 1/3 cup dressing; spread onto crust. Top with half the cheese, chicken, remaining cheese and bacon.
BAKE 5 min. or until crust is deep golden brown and cheese is melted. Top with lettuce and tomatoes; drizzle with remaining dressing. 


So far every recipe I've tried has been really good!! I will have to add some more later!!

 

Tonsils & Twisters!

It's been  a week since Conner had surgery and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. One, we didn't have power for about 4 days.... Two, I've had a heavy heart the past week and I just didn't have it in me to post about our crazy day last Wednesday when so many people have lost homes and loved ones. I am so thankful that my family and friends are okay and that we didn't have any damage here in Albertville. I pray that God wraps His arms around the families that have lost so much and He gives them strength and courage to get through these hard times. I can not imagine what they must be going through. It truly breaks my heart.

Last Wednesday, the 27th, Joey and I got up at 5:30 and kicked it in high gear. Conner's surgery was scheduled for 9:30 and we had to be at the hospital at 8:00 that morning. The air in my car stopped working several weeks ago and we had yet to have it fixed, so Joey's mom and dad were coming to pick us up at 6:30. I had just finished drying my hair when I heard the tornado sirens... If you know me, you know that I am TERRIFIED of storms. I have been since I was a little girl. Joey's parent's got to the house shortly after the sirens started going off (BTW..our power was off too) and Joey was ready to go. Me, no.. I wanted to stay and wait because we didn't know what part of the county was actually under the warning. Joey won and we loaded up in the car and about that time my mom called and told us to hold off. We finally left at 7:00 and when we got to the top of the mountain in Guntersville I was so happy we decided to wait. It was horrible.. power lines down, tress down, buildings with damage. I was a nervous wreck!!!!

We made it to Huntsville right after 8:00 and because of the weather they were behind on surgery. The sweet nurse let us change rooms to a room with a TV so Conner would have some entertainment while waiting. It didn't really work.... but we made it through the wait and they took Conner back about 10:15. The surgery did not take long at all and the doctor came out and said Conner was doing great. They removed Conner's tonsils, adenoids, and put tubes in.

About 10:45 they called me back and let me go into recovery to be with Conner when he woke up. Joey had to stay back and wait with our parents. As soon as I got into recovery with Conner there was a tornado warning for Huntsville. UGH!! We ended up staying in recovery for about 2 hours. The nurse that was with us was super sweet...she even used her cell phone to text my mom and keep everyone updated. By the time we got to leave recovery Conner was able to be released. He did such a great job! He never really cried and he slept the whole way home!!

We got back to Albertville, hit the BK drive-thru and dropped Joey's parents off at home. We stopped to get Conner's meds filled and then........ ANOTHER WARNING! I think my heart was pounding out of my chest the entire day. We made it home and Conner slept on the couch most of the afternoon. Our power went back off... I have no idea what time... we listened to Joey's police radio the rest of the afternoon. Jenn came over...bless her heart...she was planning on cooking dinner for us, but because of the weather it didn't quite work out. We hooked up the laptop and listened to WHNT. The last tornado warning of the night I was about ready to vomit.... I think I really would have, but Conner did instead so I didn't really have time. It was quite an eventful day!

Here is a couple of pictures of Conner before he went back for surgery. I forgot to mention that he rode around in a wagon and when he actually went back for surgery he got to ride in a jeep. He was really excited about that! :)