Another Ten Miles

Happy Birthday to Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:12:00 +0000

Birthdays are always best when they last an entire weekend!

On Friday Matt was working late, so I took the kids over to my parents' house for dinner, and then Matt picked me up for our movie date. We actually went to Target first to pick up a prescription and walk around. You know, because we know how to live it up. Anyway, I had been wanting to see Beauty and the Beast since the day I heard it was coming back to theaters, but once we got to the ticket booth, I couldn't bring myself to spend an extra $6 on 3D tickets when I've seen the movie a kajillion times and own the DVD. So we saw One for the Money instead. I thought it was cute. Apparently all the critics thought it was the worst movie they've ever seen. I'm glad I didn't know that ahead of time. Anyway, it was better than the book and was a fun way to spend our evening.

Landon liked Uncle Nick!!!

I have no shame.

We went to breakfast (for free! thanks to a birthday coupon and gift card) at Ihop on Saturday morning before Matt had his men's lunch at church. Check out the awesome table we decorated.

Oh, that smile!!

Melt. Love these two.

The ideas were Matt's, the execution was mine. We're a good team.

We met up with my parents, Brittany, Aaron, Chelsea, and baby Evie at Chuy's, aka my favorite restaurant ever, for dinner. One word, Chuychanga with deluxe tomatillo sauce. Oops, that was five words. Yum.

My parents are the coolest.

Avery with her Aunt Chelsea and almost-Aunt (in May!) Brittany

Bro.

I think they like Evie. And one of these days I'll get a picture of her face!

Sunday was my actual birthday, and we had a great day at church. Landon was back to his happy self (no more sickness?!?) and he even slept the whole time Ms. Patsy had him in the nursery! (The only reason this is a big deal is that he usually goes napless at church, which leads to a very frustrating rest of the day.) My mom is awesome and made me tilapia, awesome green beans, and potato casserole for lunch, complete with cinnamon roll cake for dessert.

Two things make me laugh about this picture: 1) Allison took it and it's blurry. 2) Mom looks like she wants to help me blow out the candles.

See? Happy baby!

This had to be shared because it went like this: "Allison, you look like a hippie." "That's the point. (Wipeout.)" So funny. Maybe you had to be there...

Getting in a game of washers on a GORGEOUS day

Aw, I have so many memories on that fort, and I love that Avery loves it, too. What I bet she didn't love, however, was how much time it took for Matt to dig out all the splinters out of her hands when we got home. Oops.

Matt made homemade pizza for dinner, and then our friends Megan and Deke came over to watch The Help with us after the kids went to bed. We may have also enjoyed even more dessert (thanks to Megan and my sweet neighbor Brooke) and an adult beverage. It was the perfect way to end the weekend.

The kids were super sweet this week, and it even continued through today when we did our grocery shopping. They were so good that I was even able to make a stop at Walmart (after two grocery stops!) to pick up a bunch of over-the-door shoe organizers, with which I am going to attack some closets with a vengeance. And they're still napping, so I'm off to be productive! Have a great week!

Friday Five

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:05:00 +0000

1. We've been sickish around here this week. It's mostly Landon and me feeling icky, so the two of us are trying to get lots of rest. It's mostly cold stuff, and who can blame us since the temperature outside keeps going from 50 one day to 70 the next and back and forth every day!

2. Wednesday night was the only night this week I've been up past 9 (that's when you know I'm sick because I'm rarely in bed before midnight!), but Landon woke up at 11:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep until 1:30. I'm convinced that during our two hour bonding session he said Mama. At first I thought it was just a fluke, but he said it a lot when he was looking at me, so I decided that was my reward for staying up with him, haha. He's said it since, so I think it's for real!

3. I bought Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on my Kindle last night, and I'm so excited to read it! I've had it on my list for months now, so I decided to finally just buy it so I could go see the movie after I finish. I'm only on the second chapter though because my Tylenol PM kicked in a little earlier than I anticipated.

4. Our vet had to close his practice and I am devastated. He had an accident on the job and then had some complications from a surgery, so he's recovering in Hawaii. I know it's ridiculous, but I think our vet is the doctor that we're most attached to! He's an old hippie type with long, curly hair who wears Hawaiian scrubs and goes barefoot in his clinic. He loves animals (obviously), but he and his staff really know everyone who takes their animals there, and when you're there, you feel like you're with friends. He shoots straight with you and doesn't charge an arm an a leg for his excellent care. Meg's due for her rabies shot, and I still can't decide where I want to take her. I think I'm in denial.

5. It's my birthday weekend, so we have some fun stuff planned. I'm turning twenty eight on Sunday. That is just bizarre to me. I never remember how old I am because I feel like I stopped actually getting older at 23. Let's hope that's not when I peaked! Have a great weekend!

Friends, Beautiful Weather, and Baby Registries!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:04:00 +0000

Texas is ridiculous. It's January, but yesterday was a gorgeous 79 degrees, so we took full advantage of the beautiful weather!

We went to visit my friend Amy and her two kids in Ft. Worth in the morning. My sister-in-law Chelsea met us there with baby Evelyn, so there were kids everywhere! I actually met Amy when we were both bridesmaids in Chelsea and Aaron's wedding. We had both had baby girls just a few days apart only two weeks before the wedding, so we had an instant connection. Amy and her husband just moved up to DFW from Austin this week, so it was fun to meet up! The kids had a blast running all over the place, and we finished off with a lunch trip to Chipotle. I love that place. Maybe as much as Chick-fil-a. Maybe.

Sweet Ryan!

My gorgeous sister-in-law Chelsea with precious Evie

I couldn't get these two little peas in a pod to say still long enough to get a good picture. Avery and Carissa were so cute to watch!

Amy and Landon

After we got home, Landon continued his nap, but Avery had slept too long in the car to stay asleep, so we spent the rest of the afternoon outside. In short sleeves! In January! It was such a tease though because today was a high in the 50s. And then tomorrow is back up to 70s. I told you Texas is ridiculous. We'll get our actual winter weather in February I'm sure.

Anyway, back to Friday. Matt got home from rehearsal just in time for me to leave for our soccer team sleepover. I didn't stay the whole night, but it was so much fun to have one last hurrah with the girls. We all went to On the Border and then back to one of the girl's houses for swimming (don't worry, I spared the girls the sight of me in a swimsuit!) and movies. I may have eaten ~~two~~ three s'mores bar cookies that I will be finding the recipe for and sharing with you very soon. Yum. We had the greatest group of girls on our team this year, and while I'm enjoying having the extra time with my family, I really will miss seeing them every day!

This morning we had a pretty chill wake-up with the kiddos. I love Saturday mornings when we're all home. Pajamas, happy kids, and breakfast make me one satisfied mama.

I had a baby registering date with my friend Kendra this morning, so Matt got some more quality time with the little ones while Kendra and I spent hours (hours!) perusing each aisle of Babies R Us and the Target baby section. Lunch at Panera Bread and a kid-less trip to Joann were just an added bonus! Let's just say that baby Camila is gonna be one well-accessorized little girl! Plus it was fun to have some girl time with a sweet friend.

The rest of our Saturday night is upon us, so I'm gonna go spend it with my amazing husband. And some laundry, but let's focus on the first part.

Seize the Day?

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:14:00 +0000

Yesterday was a blissful day. Well, after Avery got out of her out-of-character morning funk. And then it lasted until about 9 am when both children melted down on our way out the door.

But for about an hour, I got to enjoy some of this.

After we got home from Bible Study and it was time for lunch and naps, I got to enjoy some more of this.

It's pretty normal in this house to have a Jekyll and Hyde kind of day. You know, minus that whole serial killer thing.

Which is why I so appreciated this article about not carping the diem. Hilarious.

You're welcome.

The Easiest Freezer Meal Ever: Breakfast Burritos

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:38:00 +0000

Reason #5,732 that my husband rocks:

He's making us a stock of breakfast burritos to keep in the freezer. Yes, we can also thank Pinterest for this brilliance.

Let me back up. Things have been crazy around here, so when I knew I wouldn't have time to cook before dinnertime last Wednesday, I made us sausage breakfast burritos while the kids were napping and then froze them so we could just reheat and eat that night.

They were so, so good (and easy!), and we were bummed when our freezer stash ran out. So Matt requested that I purchase some bacon and tortillas at the grocery store this week so he could make us some more. I do not say no when he offers to cook because, let's face it, he's so much better at it than I am.

In case you want to create your own burrito stash, here's how you can copy ours:

6 eggs
Breakfast meat (we've done one batch using a pound of sausage, and one using a package of bacon)
Frozen tater tots (or hash browns)
Cheese, grated (we used cheddar)
Tortillas, flour
Aluminum foil, cut into 12"x10" squares

Bake the tater tots according to the package instructions. Brown breakfast sausage in a large skillet (I didn't drain it because it wasn't too greasy; use your own judgment). Whisk eggs together in a small bowl. Pour into browned sausage. Add desired amount of grated cheese.

Let the sausage mixture cool while you set up your assembly line. Set out your foil squares, tortillas, potatoes, and sausage mixture. Assemble tortillas with as much filling as you like. I stuffed ours pretty full and ended up with 8 burritos. Wrap each burrito in foil and place in the freezer. I told you it was easy!

The beauty of this {totally unoriginal} recipe is that you can make it into whatever you want! Variations we'd like to try are adding chopped spinach and diced tomatoes and using roasted potatoes instead of frozen hash browns. You could use whatever meat you want, or you can omit the meat altogether. You could use whole wheat tortillas. You can make them with just egg and cheese. Or just egg. Or whatever. Oh my goodness I'm making myself hungry.

And now we have breakfast for the rest of the week. You know, if I can keep from eating them all tomorrow morning.

EDIT: After these are frozen, we just stick them in the microwave for about a minute and a half (give or take, depending on your microwave).

Also, Matt conceded that my burritos were better. :)

While I Wasn't Blogging...

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:04:00 +0000

It has been pretty slow around here lately, but I think I'm back again. So here's what you missed while I wasn't blogging about it:

Matt and I celebrated our 5th anniversary with a low key date night at a nice little family-owned cafe that served the best sauteed spinach I've ever eaten in my life. We even went a little crazy and topped off the evening at a small coffeehouse. Mmm, espresso milkshakes and Bohnanza. Happy anniversary to us!

(Can someone please remind me to make an appointment to get my eyebrows waxed?!? Sheesh!)

The next night we celebrated the New Year with Candace and Tiffany and their families at Tiffany's house. There was an abundance of Crock Pot hot chocolate, adult beverages, fireworks, and Kinect competition. I barely made it to midnight.

Girls, next time we have to get a picture of the three of us!

We celebrated Christmas (in January, haha!) with my extended family at my aunt and uncle's lake house.

Avery, Landon, and I went to the hospital to visit my friend Kari and her brand new baby boy.

We finished watching Friday Night Lights. I cried many real tears over that fictional television series. I mean, really. It is the best TV show I've ever watched. Ever. The characters are ridiculously lovable, well-written and well-acted. The story line from season one all the way to season five was so engaging, and the way it was all tied up at the end was completely satisfying and uncheesy. It took us way too long to finish the five-season series, but once we got to season five we took a really long break because I just didn't want it to be over. Really. It's that good. It's the first TV series I've ever watched from start to finish (Friends doesn't count since, although I've seen every episode, I haven't watched each episode in order.) Anyway, add FNL to your Netflix queue, borrow it from a friend, buy it, whatever. Just watch it. And then thank me. Texas forever.
On a more serious note, I've been hugging my kids extra tightly these past few weeks. It seems like every day I hear another story about a seriously sick baby, and it has just wrecked me emotionally. I can't even imagine the pain of watching your child suffer and knowing that there's nothing you can do. My heart has just been aching for these families, and it's really helped me put things in perspective.
My kids are growing up quickly. Life with a toddler and an infant can certainly be frustrating, but I've decided that during those times that I'm driving with two screaming kids behind me or putting Avery in time out for the fifth time in one afternoon or trying to get Landon to finally succumb to his nap or tripping over toys in my living room, I'm going to remind myself that these moments are so temporary and I will miss them. That thought helps me laugh at the insanity and appreciate the sweet moments. And there are plenty of sweet moments!

This picture just makes me laugh!

Our last soccer game is tomorrow, so I feel like I'll be able to get back to some sense of normalcy, and I'm actually really grateful for that. Returning to coaching has been a great experience, but my kids and my husband need more than my leftovers. And my house really needs a good cleaning.

So I'm back to blogging about our {not all that interesting} life so that I can remember this precious season of our journey.

Love, Heather.

Landon: 7 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:53:00 +0000

Baby boy! Just stop growing so fast!

Seriously, I have been so intentional about soaking up every minute of your baby-hood because I remembered how quickly your sister grew up, but it's not even helping! Every time I blink you're doing something new.

At 7 months:

You're still wearing size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes (although you can still wear a lot of your 9 months).
You are a HAPPY baby! You smile and laugh all the time, and you have such a sweet temperament.

You've become quite the mama's boy lately, and I am not complaining about that one bit. I love all those Landon snuggles! I love that you recognize me and want me to hold you.
You got some sippy cups in your Christmas stocking, and you love chewing on the spout! You've even managed to get some water out of it.

You've become a much better eater this month! You've gotten the hang of actually taking food off of the spoon and swallowing it, so I'd say that's success! Sweet potatoes are your favorite, but you also eat peas, applesauce, bananas, and carrots. We'll add some more variety this month.

Crawling is happening soon! You get up on all fours, but you kinda roll from there. Not being able to crawl definitely hasn't kept you from moving all over the room via baby roll, but soon you'll be unstoppable!
You still just adore your big sister and I love to see the special bond you share. She LOVES you (sometimes a little too much), and it's fun to see you guys playing together. I hope there is a lot more of that in our future!

I know I say this all the time, but we just love you like crazy. You're such a blessing to our family!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Well, well, well.

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:19:00 +0000

I'm procrastinating via blog at this current moment.

Avery's at Mother's Day Out, so Landon and I are just chilling in the living room. That boy really wants to crawl. He wants to crawl so much that he's not much interested in napping this morning.

So my To Do list is calling me, but he's not cooperating.

Maybe I should just start by taking a shower.

Anyway, the point of this post is this:

I have blogs to write in the near future and I need to hold myself accountable by previewing.

Landon's 7 month update (um, over a week late)
Avery's 2.5 year update (only two days late [so far])
Handmade Christmas
New Year's celebrations and non-resolutions
Recipes
Organizing before and afters

There are more running through my head, but until things calm down around here (who am I kidding?), those will have to wait.

Only two more weeks of soccer though, and Matt will be done with the musical in a month, so there is a light peeking through, right? Right?!?

Well, I hope you enjoyed this worthless excuse of an update. I'm off to the shower. Not that you needed to know that. I should just stop typing now.

Christmas: Round 2

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:01:00 +0000

We took a day after Round 1 to clean, do laundry, pack, and basically recover before heading out on the road Tuesday to go to Baytown for Christmas with Matt's family.

We even made record time! Less than four hours to get there WITH kids! We didn't stop once! Excuse my excitement, but this was a major accomplishment.

There were so many presents, but Avery and Landon wasted no time tearing into them. Okay, so it was mostly Avery doing the tearing, but Landon had fun watching. And chewing on boxes. We were SO thankful for each gift; our families are so thoughtful!

We got the kids to bed pretty early, and Matt and his dad had a Kinect party while I crashed on the couch at 9:30 pm. I was obviously exhausted because I didn't wake up until 9 in the morning. (Thank you Landon for sleeping in!)

Wednesday was a fun day of playing with new toys and just generally hanging out. We went and visited Matt's friend Adam that afternoon and got to meet Adam and Melissa's precious baby girl, Edie. And I took no pictures! Argh!

Matt and I taught his parents how to play Bohnanza after the kids were in bed, and his mom totally beat all of us. I won't be so nice next game :) I also joined in on the Kinect Adventure and Fruit Ninja fun. I'm a little sore today. That's kinda sad.

On Thursday we got to go to Moody Gardens in Galveston! Ava and Carrie joined us, and we all had a blast seeing the Aquarium and Rainforest pyramids. The Imax Bugs movie was a little bit of a downer, but it gave the girls a good nap, haha.

Avery just adores Ava and copies everything she does!

Hooray for the Moby Wrap! No strollers for us!

Shark tank! Aaah!

Matt was a trooper and carried the pink backpack all day.

Silly girls!

The Rainforest Pyramid was a little, uh, humid.

Carrie's fiance (and Ava's dad), Bubba, came over on Thursday night and we made crockpot hot chocolate. That stuff is SO. GOOD.

Nene's girls

We've had a really nice visit this week, and I hate that we only get to come down here every few months. I wish we all lived closer!

And now we're just waiting for Avery to wake up from her nap so we can go to Ross and Tiff's house for our annual roommate New Year's Eve extravaganza!

5 Years!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

I love love love this man.

I’m so thankful that I finally gave in to his pursuit over six years ago.

I still remember being stunned on the gorgeous day in May of 2006 that he got down on one knee at Waterwall Park in Houston to ask me to be his wife.

And I will never forget saying “I do” in front of our family and friends on December 30, 2006, the best day of my life. I thought our wedding was beautiful, but I think our marriage is even more so.

He is the funniest, hardest working, most generous and faithful man I know. I love the life we’ve built together, but mostly I just love HIM.

While our marriage isn't perfect, I know we're perfect for each other. Happy FIFTH anniversary, Matt!

Christmas: Round 1

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:50:00 +0000

Now that we're on the holiday downswing, I have some posting to catch up on!

We've had a super relaxing and enjoyable time celebrating Christmas with both of our families. The first part of the holiday was spent with my family, during which time there was never a dull moment. I wish Allison would post some dang pictures already because she got some hilarious ones. Since she's a slacker (haha), you're just gonna have to be okay with the ones I got.

{Christmas Eve Eve}

We went to my parents' for dinner (complete with Blue Bell for dessert!) before Matt and I took the kids out to look at Christmas lights. Avery calls the lights "fancies" and just gets so excited every time she sees them, so we thought she'd love our little drive. Um, she loved it alright. She loved having our undivided attention, which she used to tell us a story about a lion for an hour straight. The story went something like this: "Guess what the lion did?" "What did the lion do?" "The lion ate Landon." "Uh, yikes! Was he okay?" "Yeah." And then she repeated the story, changing out the fated lion dinner each time.

Anyway, we thought about driving through Interlochen or Highland Park to see good lights, but we ended up just looking at some different neighborhoods in our town. It wasn't a spectacular light show or anything, but we didn't have to sit in crazy traffic or drive 30 minutes away either.

{Christmas Eve}

I got one picture of Christmas Eve. We decided to let Avery forgo her nap and just watch a movie instead. Maybe that was a bad idea, but oh well. Live and learn.

I love Christmas Eve. My parents always have a big party at their house, complete with tamales, chips and queso, lots of dips, and more desserts than can fit on the counter. It is a feast of YUM. It's family, it's friends, it's food, it's fun.

And next year I will take pictures.

{Christmas Day}

We stayed up past 2am every morning the week leading up to Christmas (one night we even stayed up until 4), so by Christmas Day we were exhausted. (Whose idea was it to do a handmade Christmas?!?) We were still up with the kids by 7:30 though, and we started our family festivities.

We did stockings first, and then we opened gifts one at a time. (We did three gifts for each kid, plus some necessities in stockings.)

Matt and I don't buy each other gifts, we make them instead. He did so good this year! I mean, he usually does, but this year he really surprised me. I had this great pair of red cabochon flower earrings that I used to wear all the time. And then they broke. So he replaced them with 18 pairs of cabochon rose earrings in every color I could possibly want. I'm not even kidding. They're perfect! He also made a library check out system for my OCD self so I can lend books and DVDs without having to wonder where they went if they are, ahem, not returned.

I made him an iPod case, an "I love you because" dry erase board, and a collage frame of the kids with outlines of their hands. (Thank you, Pinterest!) I love the way they all turned out!

Our gifts for Avery were a magnetic dress up doll set (Costco), pretend medical kit (Toys R Us), and a Dr. Seuss matching game (Target). Landon got a Leapfrog activity table (Craigslist!), sensory ball set (Costco), and stacking cup toy (Target). They also got to open their gifts from Uncle Justin and Aunt Miriam! Avery loved her digital camera, and Landon was fascinated by his cell phone (while I loved the shirts they sent him!).

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, we got the kids dressed up for church and then went to my parents' for breakfast with the family. My mom always makes baked French toast and Orange Julius on Christmas morning, so we devoured some sugary goodness before heading out to church. We had a great service worshiping with our church family; we even got to light the advent candle.

After church we went back to my parents' house and all the kids put on PJs again so we could have our Christmas "morning." We always do stockings in front of the fire in the living room before we move into the family room for presents by the tree.

Sneaky, sneaky!

Waiting not-so-patiently...

Squish!

Looks like somebody's ready to try a sippy cup...

This was the first time I've spent Christmas day with my brother Aaron in over 5 years, so it was really fun to have our whole family together again.

Best game ever! Thanks, Allison!

Ugh, all that work and a stupid clip fell off! Sorry, Brittany!

Uncle Vernon, Aunt Tina, and Ral and Maddie came over for lunch (steaks, the best potato casserole ever, baked green beans, and blueberry jello salad), and the rest of the day was just chill. We stayed over there way too late playing Ticket to Ride (Aaron always brings over weird new games for us to play), and Avery finally put herself to bed on the couch because we were neglectful parents who kept her up well past her bedtime.

These kiddos got lots of fun things!

My precious niece, Evelyn!

Ah, it was a fun day with family and way too much food. We are so incredibly blessed to have such amazing family and more food and tangible things than we could possibly need. We don't take it for granted, and my prayer is that we're able to share those blessings with others.

Happy birthday, Jesus! And stay tuned for the post of Round 2 with Matt's family...

Christmas Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:47:00 +0000

We've been trying to do lots of special Christmas-y things this season since this is the first year Avery's really been into it. We've been doing the advent activity calendar, but we've been pretty, um, flexible with our activities. Let's just say that there are days that we pull out the day's activity and tell her that it says something completely different.

We're supposed to open a new Christmas book and we forgot to buy it? That's okay, Avery can't read that little slip of paper yet. And that day's activity quickly becomes "eat that candy cane you got in your bag at Breakfast With Santa." Haha, we're good parents, I promise.

Here's some fun stuff we've done this month:

Decorate our (teeny tiny) Christmas tree. It can't even hold up our tree topper, but we love it. It's so skinny and pre-lit and perfect, and we don't even have to move any furniture to fit it in our living room.

Watch the Polar Express at bedtime! Landon didn't really stay up much longer than the opening credits, but Avery was enthralled. I was shocked that she watched the entire thing. I had forgotten that it's kind of a boring movie, but she didn't seem to think so.

It might've helped that she really loves popcorn. I think that's genetic. I've never seen a family who loves popcorn more than mine. We're weird.

Breakfast with Santa.

January is going to have to be our "get off the sugar high" detox month. I think the girl was happy to be decorating some cookies! Shoot, give me cookies and a bunch of icing and sprinkles and I smile that big, too.

Avery just adores Ms. Amy! She helped her make some reindeer food at Breakfast with Santa.

"Daddy, stop taking all these pictures of me already!"

We packaged up some snowman poop to give Avery's classmates at their Happy Birthday, Jesus party at school. Yes, my child is the one who will give yours poop. What can I say, she really likes poop.

We've also done some more stuff like make a present for Matt, buy an Angel Tree gift, make paper snowflakes, eat lots of baked goods, and other stuff that I didn't take pictures of, but we're having a great month celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Although I'm pretty sure I'm going to be very tired of singing Away in a Manger by the time Christmas actually gets here. It's her very favorite song and she wants to sing it all the time. If we can just get her to like singing solo, we'll be golden.

Speaking of Christmas actually getting here, I still have a KAJILLION presents to make and I'm just ~~sitting~~ laying here on my couch writing a sub-par blog entry as to avoid doing anything productive.

Mmm, I could really go for some hot chocolate right now. Anyone want to make the recipe I posted here and bring me an oversized mug full of it?

I would love you forever.

Peas and Hot Chocolate

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:47:00 +0000

Ewww, not together.

But this little guy has finally decided that he likes to eat real (okay, pureed) food! Yippee! No more trying to force open his mouth! That was getting exhausting. And messy. Well, it's still messy, but hooray, Landon likes peas!! (And sweet potatoes. And bananas. And applesauce.)

And Avery likes hot chocolate! But who wouldn't like this fantastic recipe?!? Seriously, it takes a couple of hours in the crock pot and it's more expensive than Swiss Miss, but it is fantastic and completely worth the tiny extra effort to throw it all together.

Here's the recipe:

1.5 C heavy cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
2 C milk chocolate chips (I just threw in the whole bag)
6 C milk (I used 2%)
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk all the ingredients together in the crock pot and stir every now and then. (Helpful hint: put the chocolate chips in first so you don't splash milk all. over. your. kitchen.) The recipe says to heat on low, but I was impatient and put it on high. It still worked, you just might have to stir more frequently. It makes 6-8 servings.

Add marshmallows when serving. Or don't. But you will probably want more than one mug of this rich, chocolatey goodness, with or without them.

You are welcome.

Friday Five: Linky Love

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:17:00 +0000

Once again, I don't really have time for a real post, but here are some little gems from zee internet.

1. This season of the year always makes me think. A lot. Now that Avery's getting old enough for all the Santa stuff, we've been talking about how much of the jolly ol' fellow we'd like to include in our celebration of Christ's birth. Gifts are also a struggle. I mean, we have SO much and I hate buying stuff for people if they're not going to love it. I love giving gifts to people I love, but I want them to be meaningful and not just more junk to fill up the house.

All that to say, this article really made some good points and put into words a lot of the things I've been feeling.

2. Another one was this article about loving others. While I don't agree with the author 100% and it's a VERY long read, I thought it was a well-written reminder about how I should be living my life.At the very least, it'll make you think.

3. My sister's so stinking talented. I've said that a million times, but she really is. Here's the link to our recent family photo shoot. And really, why have you not hired her to take your pictures yet??

4. Speaking of talented, my friend Rachel has one of the cutest Etsy shops I've ever seen. I can't remember if I've ever linked to it on here, so I'm doing it now. She makes bibs, burp cloths, and lots more cute kid stuff. It's not too late to order Christmas gifts, and handmade is a great option! (Or hey, at least keep her in mind for the next baby shower you're invited to.)

5. I love my crock pot. It has become my best friend during this soccer season. Tonight we devoured my new favorite Chicken Tortilla Soup. While I know it probably uses too many canned ingredients to be healthy (don't judge me, Mom), it sure was convenient. And yummy. We had some guac and chips with it, and I was in Tex Mex heaven. We're definitely adding it to the meal rotation.

Happy weekend! Oh, and I have a new NIECE! I'll post about her when I have pictures to go along with it.

Landon: 6 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

How has it been half a year already?!?!

This little dude just adds so much life to this house, and we love him like crazy! His little personality is really coming out now. We've had so much fun watching him grow and do new things!

Sweet Landon, here's what you've been up to this month:

You had your 6 month check up today, and you're still off the charts! You weigh 20 lb 7 oz, you're 28.5 inches tall, and your head circumference is 18". You wear mostly 12 month clothes, but you still fit in a lot of your 9 month outfits. You're still comfortably in a size 3 diaper.
You sit up pretty well on your own now, but we usually sit you in the Boppy or our laps because you're still a little wobbly.

You're pretty close to crawling already! You roll all over the floor to get to new places, and you've started pulling those knees up to get yourself moving.
Sleeping is still one of your strong suits. :) You sleep all night (mostly) from about 7:30 pm to 7:30 am, and you nap a couple times a day. You get a 1-2 hour afternoon nap, and the length of your morning nap is hit or miss, depending on our schedule (which means that sometimes it's in the car).

You make all sorts of fun noises these days. There are lots of squeals and general "yelling," and you really sound like you're trying to talk to us when you get on a roll. Avery likes to translate what she thinks you're saying.
You've started eating baby food, but you're really not a big fan. So far all we've tried is rice cereal, bananas, applesauce, and sweet potatoes. I think that I haven't been making the consistent smooth enough, so part of your dislike is probably my fault. We were really wanting to wait until you turned 6 months to start you on solids anyway, so we'll really start picking it up now. I think you need some green beans or peas soon. :)
You have a tooth! One of your bottom ones poked through a couple of weeks ago, and I think you're working on some more.

Life's a party and you love to play. You grab everything! You love to play with your toys and in your jumper and exersaucer. You also love it when we sing to you and play peekaboo. Everything Avery does makes you smile, and you watch her every move. You two are going to be quite the pair!

Stop growing so quickly. :)

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Activity Advent Calendar

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:57:00 +0000

One of the more important things I learned as an education major was how to beg, borrow, and steal. Why reinvent the wheel when there are so many great ideas out there? Thanks to Pinterest, it's become even easier to do just that.

So our advent calendar this year is simply a Pinterest knock off, but I'm still excited about it and thought I'd share. It is December 1 after all, so the countdown does begin today...

I pinned this calendar and this one for inspiration, and I was going to make a super cute pocket calendar out of scrapbook paper. I even created the base for it and figured out pocket measurements and everything. But then I remembered that, hey, I have no free time whatsoever and what was I thinking making all that extra work for myself. So I bought a $2.50 felt pocket calendar in the dollar section at Target. It's a piece of crap, but it's a piece of crap that took me all of 5 minutes to buy.

My friend April made her own fancy shmancy calendar, and it. is. awesome. You should definitely check out her tutorial for some advent awesomeness.

The point of the activity advent is that you focus on creating memories each day of December instead of getting a cheap little gift that will eventually end up in the trash.

We came up with 24 activities, printed them out, and stuck them in each pocket. Easy breezy! The hardest part was coming up with activities, so I'm listing the ones we picked in case you need some future inspiration. Or something like that. We coordinated with our calendars to make sure everything would actually be do-able on the date we chose, and a lot of the activities we picked were things that were already on the calendar (i.e. visiting Santa, Christmas concert, etc.). And I didn't include things like reading the Christmas story and a few other traditions that are already a given. We'll do those things throughout the season anyway.

So without further ado, here's our list for this year...

Decorate the tree for your room

Make a Paper Chain

Decorate the Christmas tree

Watch a Christmas movie in PJs with popcorn

Go to Christmas light-up parade

Color a Christmas picture

Make Christmas cookies

Go to the choir Christmas concert

Make a special gift for Daddy

Visit Santa

Open a new Christmas book

Buy a gift for the Angel Tree

Make Christmas cards

Make paper snowflakes

Sing carols at the piano

Go out for a Christmas treat

Go to the Arboretum

Drink hot chocolate in front of the fire

Make peppermint fudge

Deliver Christmas gifts to neighbors

Decorate Christmas cookies

Look at Christmas lights

Wrap Christmas presents

Open new Christmas PJs

Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:56:00 +0000

Whew. I'm ~~a little~~ really late in getting this posted, but we had such a great Thanksgiving break!

Avery had her little Thanksgiving feast at school the Thursday before Thanksgiving week, and Matt was able to come sit with us for a few minutes during his lunch break.

Avery wasn't really having the family picture.

We spent most of Thanksgiving week with Matt's family this year, and I'm pretty sure we've been on a major detox after eating so much food (and being kinda lazy, haha)! We had a lot of fun though; we even had a fun s'mores fire pit!

Let the baking begin!

Our yummy feast

This little girl was ready to eat! (And she was adamant about using that goofy Buc-ee's cup for her water...)

Landon with his Pop Pop and Grandpa Fred

Gotta love that huge smile!

Meeting Aunt Darcie

Matt and I went out for a little Black Friday shopping, but we didn't go out until the afternoon and didn't buy much.

We have so much to be thankful for, and last week was a nice celebration of those things. Bring on the Christmas season!

10 Years Already?

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 04:49:00 +0000

So the actual event was almost two weeks ago, but thanks to my impromptu blog break, I'm just now getting around to blogging it.

I know everybody says this, but I seriously cannot believe it's been ten years since I graduated high school.

I had a good high school experience, but I definitely think life got a lot better post-2001. (College, anyone?) That said, it was still a lot of fun to get together with everybody for an evening of catching up.

We graduated with 32(ish) in our class at a small Christian school, so everybody knew each other. I really liked the majority of people in our graduating class back then, and it was fun to see how everybody has grown up into likeable, accomplished adults.

The reunion was at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Dallas, and our valedictorian, Andy, did a fantastic job putting it all together! We had 19 classmates show up (that's a pretty good percentage if you ask me!) for a night of reminiscing. Oh, and there might have been some embarrassing pictures on a slide show. Let's just say I'm glad I didn't peak in high school, haha.

These are some of my favorite ladies! (L-R: Kari, me, Rachel, Kati, and Carissa)

Sarah and I were venting buddies our senior year. :) She now has the coolest job ever, working for Congressman Jeb Hensarling in Washington D.C. I'll have to vicariously live my high school dream of working as a politician through her.

Aw, Betsy. We go way back. Like WAAAYYY back. Our moms always talk about how they would sit together in the nursing room at church when we were babies. I love that we've stayed friends for our whole lives.

And this guy makes me so happy that my "real" life didn't begin until after high school. I love him SO much! (Thanks for spending an evening hanging out with a bunch of people you don't really know, Matty!)

I'm so glad we were able to all get together. See you guys again in 2021!

Thankful for a Bloggy Break

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:05:00 +0000

I've been noticeably (or maybe not) absent from the blogosphere these past two weeks, and the reason is...

...I'm tired.

I can hardly keep up with anything these days. I was sick for a good week, so that contributed to my writing funk. I'm also just really enjoying time with my family (and my sewing machine, haha), but since the whole point of my little bloggy is to keep a record for future reference, I'm back this week for some serious updating! Get ready for an influx of posts in the very near future.

We had our family photo shoot yesterday morning, and after we finished that, we went home to pack and head out for Thanksgiving with Matt's side of the family. Our normally four hour drive was a treacherous six hours long. Seriously, there were three different times that I had to slam on the brakes because traffic just randomly stopped on I-45. We even saw a wreck happen right in front of us. Thankfully I don't tailgate, our brakes work well, and no one was hurt in the minor accident. I'm just as grateful that Landon and Avery were angels in the car. Landon slept most of the way, and Avery was just singing and talking up a storm when she wasn't napping.

Our poor little girl is running a fever for the second (third?) day in a row though, so I'm starting to get concerned. She's being a trooper for the most part, but I hate to see her hurting. Matt's feeling pretty crummy too, but nothing can ruin Thanksgiving!!

I love this holiday. :)

Okay, I'm off to help in the kitchen and continue my internal debate regarding whether or not it'll be worth it to brave the crowds/insanity of Black Friday ~~tomorrow~~ tonight.

Our family has so much to be thankful for this year (and always); I hope you do, too.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Friday Five

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:21:00 +0000

1. Bleh. I am sick. It's really just a cold, but I've come to accept the fact that I'm just a big fat baby when I don't feel good. (Actually, it's headaches that really do me in; I can still function if it's anything else.) Fortunately though...

2. ...I accepted my awesome mother-in-law's offer to come in town to help out with the kids during this crazy soccer week. So I got to sleep in this morning, and my kids got the attention they needed while I wallowed in self-pity. And my kitchen has even stayed clean. Y'all, she rocks. And on top of everything else, we got to go to Fuzzy's for dinner tonight. I'd say that's a win on all counts.

3. I think I'm going to cut my hair off. Like short. Landon's killing me with all of his hair-pulling ways, and it's probably just time for a change.

4. Speaking of Landon, he and his crazy sister are cracking me up these days! Avery's such a little copycat, and Landon just "talks" our ears off. Avery gets the biggest kick out of trying to make him laugh, and it's especially funny to hear her say things to him that she's heard us say (like, "Good morning, precious boy!" and "You alright, buddy?"). Oh, I just love those little boogers.

5. I'm going to my 10 year high school reunion tomorrow! I have nothing to wear. I'm not just being dramatic. I really can't find the box of clothes that I had from last fall/winter. Where are my long-sleeved shirts?!? Anyway, I'm excited about seeing everybody.

Okay, I'm off to ~~eat a bunch of ice cream~~ take care of my sore throat. Happy weekend!

I Shouldn't Blog When I'm This Tired

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 04:34:00 +0000

I don't really have time to blog right now.

I need to do my Bible study before tomorrow (procrastination anyone?).

My neck hates me (I wasn't able to move it at all for two days, and I'm just now able to turn it left and right. Up and down are out of the question.).

My eyes decided that they hate contacts.

I'm getting some sort of sickness in the throat.

Waah.

Anyway, I decided I needed some sort of filler post to explain where the heck we've been.

Ummmm, last weekend was good. Went to a baby shower for a good friend. My sister in law came over and painted Landon's wall verse. Yesterday we celebrated my little brother's 24th (!!!) birthday.

Today I took a baby to our away game in McKinney. Whose brilliant idea was it to coach with two young children?!? Oh yeah. Well, at least now I can say that I've changed a dirty diaper while coaching a soccer game. And nursed in a bus. Good times. We didn't lose though, so we're making progress! (We're 0-1-1 now.) And "Miss Resa" (according to Avery; Teresa to everyone else) even brought me a plate of cupcakes when she came over to watch Avery this afternoon. I'm a sucker for sweets.

My awesome mother in law is coming up on Wednesday night and staying until Saturday. I'm really excited. :)

I'm kind of in a church funk. No need to go into details using this medium. Leadership is really hard. Being paid to do ministry is something I'm still not used to.

We're going to my TEN year high school reunion this Saturday. What the heck? Didn't I just graduate? In all honesty, I seriously feel like I stopped aging at 23.

Oh, but tonight Landon and I came home to a VERY clean house. We have the best daddy/husband and sister/daughter in the entire world. Y'all, they even cleaned ceiling fans. They rock.

Oooh, and next week I have a soccer break. I'm looking forward to having a week of "normalcy," plus one of my old college roommates just moved to Ft. Worth and is coming over one night, and I'm going to visit my cousin Amy and get bunches of craft supplies for Avery.

Speaking of Amy's (I know that shouldn't have an apostrophe, but it looked weird when I wrote out "Amys," and "Amies" is just wrong.), my friend Amy is moving up to DFW from the Austin area! Yay! We've actually only hung out for real one time when we met during my brother's wedding (we were both bridesmaids), and our daughters are only like a day apart. Maybe we can be real friends instead of just online ones now, haha.

And speaking of grammar (was I speaking of grammar?), I'm really tired of people misusing the word "lead" when they mean to say "led." "Lead" is either the center of your pencil or used as a present tense verb. "Led" is the past tense of said verb. GET IT STRAIGHT, PEOPLE.

Okay, okay, in the grand scheme of life and the world, proper word usage is not that big of a deal. Nor are my minor complaints about how hard my life is. It's really not that hard compared to people with "real" problems. So thanks for listening to me whine, blog world. You gave Matt a short break from it.

I really should go to bed now.

Halloween 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:28:00 +0000

I know I say this every year, but I'm still not a big fan of Halloween. But since I have two super cute kids, I figure I might as well dress them up. That and, you know, make memories for them and whatnot. Oh, and get some chocolate out of the deal.

Maybe Halloween isn't so bad after all.

Anyway, I went all Suzy Homemaker this year and made Avery and Landon's Tinkerbell and Peter Pan costumes. I absolutely LOVE the way they turned out. I used this tutorial for Tink, and this tutorial served as my inspiration for Peter Pan (I really only made a hat and "belt" since I just cut up a green t-shirt and used some pants we already had).

Avery got to show off her mad fairy skills at the costume parade at Mother's Day Out. She stripped out of it during naptime, but at least she made it through the morning. I also got to test out its construction since I desperately needed to wash it after it lived through craft time. (I did have to make an easy fix to one strap because I am still a sewing novice.)

Landon got some time with Ms. Iris while we waited for the parade!

Avery with her teacher Ms. Joy

On Sunday night Landon joined in the fun when we went to a Trunk or Treat at the church where I grew up. Lots of kids from our church were there, so Avery had a blast seeing her friends and taking in all the excitement. Landon just hung out; he's good at that.

We got a late start to the evening since I didn't get home from practice until 6, but exhaustion aside, we had a really nice evening. We live in a good trick or treating neighborhood though, so we might give that a try next year.

I'm just glad the ghosts and goblins are done for the year so we can focus on thankfulness and Jesus. Bring on the (real) holidays!!

Landon: 5 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:51:00 +0000

I can't believe this little booger is 5 months old already! We just love him like crazy! (Okay, and I might also love to squish those cheeks.) Seriously, we just can't get enough of our Lan Man!

Precious Landon, here's what you're up to these days:

You're already wearing 9 and 12 month clothes and a size 3 diaper.

You have become a thumb sucker. We never could get you to take a pacifier, but this is so stinkin' cute (you know, as long as you stop by a decent age).

You roll over like a pro now, and you prefer to sleep on your side or stomach.

Nap time is still a struggle (you like to wake up after only 30 minutes no matter what), but you sleep about 12 hours at night (you usually go to bed at 7:30).

You LOVE your exersaucer and doorway jumper! You've even jumped yourself to sleep a couple of times...

You also love your big sister. Your face just lights up any time Avery's around, and you even put up with her constant hugs and kisses.

We were trying to hold off until next month, but you got your first taste of rice cereal two days ago. You weren't quite sure what to think of it, but I think you'll appreciate having a little extra to hold you over while I'm at soccer practice (since you still won't really take a bottle!).

You continue to bring so much cuteness and joy into this house with all your happy squeals and smiles; we think we'll keep ya!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Pink Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:52:00 +0000

Whew, what a LONG day!

Packing for a mini road trip. 5+ hours in the car to see Allison's last home soccer game (which happened to be their Pink Out game). Trying to plan Tuesday's soccer parent meeting. Dinner with the best sister in the world. Listening to the World Series on the way home. Laundry. Packing lunches. Fun stuff. Boring stuff.

I'm so glad we got to spend some time with Allison today, so the exhaustion I'm feeling at this very moment was totally worth it. Love you, Sister!

And GO RANGERS!!!

Friday Five

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:00:00 +0000

1. Go Rangers! If you've followed my blog at all (ever), you probably know that we're huge Rangers fans in this house. And yes, that includes before last year when they actually started winning some games. So it should be no surprise that we've been watching every postseason game (we'd watch all the regular season ones too if they weren't only on cable), and I'm SO ready for us to win the Series this year!! It's been a long time coming. Last night about gave me a heart attack though, so I'm glad we pulled out the win! And sheesh, I wish all the Ron Washington haters would just give it a rest already. I don't think he's nearly as bad as everybody says. Yes, he's unconventional. I like risk-takers. Sometimes those risks pay off, and sometimes they don't.

2. Soccer started this week! I'm so excited about coaching these girls, and I'm up to the challenge/balancing act that this season will bring. Only a couple more weeks until our first game!

3. It seems like once a month I have a major mom fail. (And no, it's not that kind of once a month.) According to Matt's diagnosis, I let minor frustrations build and build and then I just lose it. He's right. I hate it when he's right. Said meltdown is like a slow-motion out-of-body experience, during which I hear myself freaking out and verbally taking it out on my kids, but I can't actually believe that I would become so impatient and say such ugly, irrational things to two of the three people I love most in the entire world. And then they're crying, I'm crying, and as my mom arrives to babysit until Matt comes home, I'm walking out the door an absolute mess because I'm late for soccer practice.

Those days really suck. Someone please tell me I'm not alone and that you're not all as perfect as Facebook and blogs make it appear. :)

4. Now enter the sewing list. How are there only TEN days until Halloween (and only SIX until Avery needs her costume)?!? Yikes, I need to make friends with my sewing machine again. The good news is that I have all of my needed materials for costumes, baby gifts, t-shirt quilt, and some other looming projects. I just have to find time to make myself sit down and DO IT.

5. Ah, but it's the weekend now. We're going to a real live square dance at our church's hoedown tonight, tomorrow night is a Sunday School party, and Matt's taking off on Monday so we can go to Allison's soccer game!

And hopefully I can retain what's left of my sanity without having another day like Wednesday. Happy weekend, everybody!