Sunday Blogs!

Well, I'm a little late for Lent but I think that is okay! I've decided that for Lent I'm going to give up the

COMPUTER

for six days of the week. Unfortunately that means I won't be able to keep you updated daily like I have been. I'll be checking email, facebook and posting a (long) blog on Sundays! I'm excited to see how I'll grow as a person and a Christian when I don't spend two hours (or maybe more) a day on this computer!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

See you Sunday!!

A Night Out!

I told her all day we were going to eat Mexican tonight with Mr. Joey.
I think she was excited!

She did GREAT the whole time. Well, she was a little grumpy the way
there and the way home but the whole time we were in the restaurant
she was great and so was my steak quesadilla!



Everyone sure did love her!!

When we came home it was bathtime. She is really starting to love a
good warm bath! Sure makes things easier on me too. We decided to
take a couple of photos she was loving it so much!



Look how much she has changed since her very first "real" bath.

The first photo she was exactly three weeks old.

The next one was tonight!

She's a sweetie! Growing like a weed but

still as sweet as pie!

Y'all have a good night!

The Magical Hour Of The Morning...

That is right! Anna has been doing SO good in the nights lately.
The other night she took a bottle at 8:30 and slept 'til 5:40 with
out making a peep! Last night I think she may have had a bad dream
or something around 2:30. I went in to check on her and she was still
asleep but crying some so I just put my hand on her chest until she
calmed down. She slept until... 5:40!!

She's an adorable little sleeper! (I think!!)



This picture was just a few minutes ago
(which is why I have time to type this up).

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I made the soup! It WAS very similar to ATL BC's! (Atlanta Bread Co.)
except for the dill. It had a little too much dill for my taste.
I'll definitely make it again but when I do I may try substituting
the dill for basil! I'm going to try to perfect it. I'll let you know
the winning recipe once I figure it out! =)

As for tonight... we are going to attempt to take Anna out to eat!!
I'm not sure how this will go. It will be our first "restaurant attempt".
I'm craving our favorite mexican joint! I'll let you know how it goes!
I may even snap a few photos...haha.

Until then I'll leave you with this adorable little yawn!



Y'all have a good day!

My Little Grocery Shopper!

Anna is getting to know the grocery store very well! Today we went to get stuff to make tomato soup. Have you ever had Atlanta Bread Company's tomato soup? It is my favorite. I could eat that EVERYDAY! I found this recipe and I'm hoping it will compare. I'll let you know!


SERVES 6 -8

Ingredients

3 tablespoons salted butter
1 cup diced onion
1-2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3-4 teaspoons kosher salt (or more depending on your tastes)
1 tablespoon crushed fennel seed (should be like powder)
1 cup diced carrot
3 cups chicken broth
2 (28 ounce) cans plum tomatoes, with juices
1 (28 ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2-3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1 cup heavy cream


Directions

1 In a large stockpot, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium high-high heat.

2 Add chopped onion along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and fennel seed.

3 Saute onions until soft and slightly caramelized, about 5 minutes.

4 Add carrot and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

5 Pour in chicken broth. Then add plum tomatoes (with the juices), diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and 1 tablespoon of the parmesan cheese.

6 Using a wooden spoon, break up the plum tomatoes.

7 Add 1-2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2- 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper.

8 Bring to a boil then, reduce heat to simmer and cover.

9 Cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring every now and then to ensure even heat distribution.

10 Add the dill and heavy cream and stir to combine. Add 1-2 tablespoons of remaining parmesan, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.

11 Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

12 Adjust seasonings to taste.

13 Take soup off heat and CAREFULLY! blend in food processor or with a stick blender.

14 Process to desired consistency.

15 Enjoy alone, or with crusty fresh bread.


Okay well, I hope it is good.. it sounded good! Don't know if I'll get to it today since Casey isn't getting back in town until late. Maybe sometime this week or weekend. More adorable pictures of my little shopper to come!

Tricia's Pictures

My little smiley face!
I had to scan these photos in so sorry they are a little grainy... but aren't they cute!!

That Wondeful Time of Year!!

That's right... GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TIME!!!

You think we got enough? (Six boxes and somehow we ended up without at
least one box of "thin mints"!!!!)



I love 'em!!! Tagalongs and Samoas are my all time favorites!!

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(to change the subject)

Check out our little "ham"!!



Tricia took this picture last weekend. It totally cracks me up.

I'm thinking Anna may be a little class clown one day!!

She's hysterical!

I'll have to post more of Tricia's pictures soon!!

weekend fun in photos!

Anna's first weekend get-away was to Mimi's and Paw's house! Saturday was Sam's birthday so we decided we'd go for the weekend! Anna was a total joy (I know I say that all the time but she really is a "total joy" all the time!) the whole weekend. She is an excellent little traveler too!!



The weekend was full of fun times! Casey was WONDERFUL and let me sleep and he got up with Anna in the night. She did GREAT both nights though. She slept until about 4:30 would take a bottle and go back to sleep until around 8am. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to sleep til 8!!

Saturday morning we got up and Rob and Val and the kids came over to start celebrating Paw's birthday!



(I also think they were pretty excited to see baby Anna!)



Amberly told Valerie- "I'm ready for Baby Anna to get here. I want to see all her clothes!!!" I thought that was totally adorable!

I also thought it was so great when Samuel came up to me while I was holding Anna. After checking her out for quite some time he said in complete seriousness, "Well, I think she's got a lot of me in her except she's a girl!!" HILARIOUS!! If she looks like any of those kids she'll be adorable!!

Even though Anna doesn't talk or crawl or do very much at all she was very much the entertainment for the whole weekend!

Mary Mae couldn't get enough of her. Everytime I turned around she was doing something for her!!! Like in this next picture I walked in the room and Mary Mae and Anna were the only ones in the room...



Even Amberly wanted to feed her!



She is going to be BIG buddies with her cousins!!!

Sunday we went to Casey's Memaw's house! Anna was definitely passed around like a hot potato... but I don't think she minded one bit!



Memaw was first in line!



There are tons of pictures for tons of fun!!!




Even Tommy and Paula came to see us! (Sorry Paula... I didn't realize I didn't get any pictures of you!!)



The entire weekend was a blast! We had a great time but when we got home last night it was obvious how tired I was...



...yep, I came in and changed her diaper and that is how I put her pants back on! It took me about 10 minutes until I realized it too. Once I showed it to Casey he said I better take a picture and put it on the blog after teasing him about putting her clothes on backwards! It was pretty funny!!


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Do y'all use this?



Well, if so there has been a recall on the one oz. bottles! Call this number to find out if your's has been recalled and for a refund!

1.800.222.9435

A while back you may recall that I was afraid Anna was getting colic because she was having little gassy tummy aches. Well, after a few days I started to think that the gas drops might have been adding to the problem (or causing it). Casey and I decided to see if we could go a day or two with out them and see how she does.

......PERFECT!!!

We haven't needed any in weeks. I'm thinking this is why! Be sure and check into it if you use it!!!

Have a good one!

Sleep and Soup...

SLEEP-

... or lack there of ...

I've been exhausted these last couple of days! Anna has been waking up for a bottle in the middle of the night the past few nights. She had been sleeping until 5:30 or 6 for quite some time. Obviously I had gotten used to that.
Yesterday I couldn't hold my eyes open once 2 o'clock came around so I decided to put her in the bed with me so we could both take a little nap! Would you believe we both fell asleep and slept until 4:30!! We may have a similar situation today too because I'm once again exhausted!
This morning after Anna's bottle she woke up around 6. Normally she'll wake up around this time every morning and if she's already had a bottle she just wants to be held or something. Casey put her in the bed with me and we slept until 8. She was being so sweet when she woke up this morning... ALL SMILES!

I took a little video of her yesterday. This is how she is 99.9% of the time.. so happy to just play, play, play!! Sorry it's grainy. I didn't say anything in this video.. I just let Anna do all the talking =)

SOUP-

My friend DG (and yes I will come cook for your 12 anytime...) gave me her beef soup recipe. VERY EASY and GOOD!

Ground Beef
Stewed Tomatoes
Frozen Veggies (I used fresh eggplant, squash, zucchini, and 1/2 a can of corn)
Water (as much as you like... I used 1cup because I like mine pretty thick)
Season salt (to your taste)



Okay... so I put a little too much season salt. I don't like my food too salty but I'm going to try again next week because both Casey and I decided that it would have been SO SUPER good had my salt shaker not had a little "happy party"!

Do y'all have one of these?



My brother gave me one from William Sonoma (one of my all time favorite stores) for Christmas this year and it is awesome!! I love it! (Thanks Houston!) I'd seriously consider getting one if you like to cook... especially with fresh veggies!



It's easy to use, easy to clean, and has four different ways to cut!! It's awesome!


I wish you all a very happy weekend! Hopefully I'll have some fun weekend photos to share next week!

A Good Day!

Today was one of those days where I could just hold and squeeze and hug and kiss Anna a million times over and over again. She was totally and completely adorable and wonderful ALL day long!!



She is such a sweetie! Since she was so good I was able to get some random house-hold chores done around the house!

I've been wanting to clean out our pantry for ages now. It didn't really need cleaning out! (I don't think I threw any food out... I'm pretty paranoid about food going bad so things get thrown out quite often around here.) It WAS in desperate need of organizing though!! I'm a big organization freak. I just love to organize a drawer or something and then admire it for a day until it's destroyed again!!
Thought you might like to admire my handy-work too!!



Do you see the FUZE on the floor of the pantry?


These are my new favorite drinks. Not just any flavor, the Pomegranate Acai Berry flavor!! mmmmmmm SO good! They are pretty pricey (almost $2 a bottle I think) but at SAMS they were 12 for $10!

Barefoot Contessa's eggplant gratin turned out GREAT tonight. I thought it was pretty tasty myself. My two taste testers (Casey and Jessica) also seemed to enjoy it so I'll probably be making it again!



I decided to roast the eggplant in the oven instead of frying it.. it was still good!! Also, I had shaved parmesan instead of grated... I'd make sure you get the right kind. It turned out fine but it would probably work a little better being grated!





That is MY plate. I know the salad looks puny (those of you who know me are probably surprised to see a salad at all... I'm liking them now!)... Don't comment on the amount of dressinig! It poured out too fast... I had to get more lettuce!

It must have been yummy because we all made "happy plates"!!

Well, I'm off to bed! Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures for you tomorrow!

Cooking, Cooking, Cooking!

Casey got home yesterday!! I had my camera all ready to capture Anna smiling but most of them turned out blurry. I didn't really get a picture of her smiling anyway!! All I know is we were all very excited he was finally home!

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One of my LOVE's: COOKING!

I decided that since Casey had been gone for so long this week I'd cook things I've never made before. I went through some of my cookbooks and came up with three new ideas (complimentary of Barefoot Contessa, Paula Deen, and my good friend Dg)

Last night- Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf (Paula Deen's recipe)
Casey loves meatloaf! Me? Not so much! I do love bacon cheeseburgers though. This recipe was really easy and actually pretty good! Casey LOVED it!!



Ingredients
1 pound ground chuck
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 (8-ounce) package sharp Cheddar, grated
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup bread crumbs, toasted
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 (3-ounce) can French fried onions
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the ground chuck and next 8 ingredients, mixing well.

In a small bowl, combine the ketchup and mustard. Stir 1/4 cup ketchup mixture into meat mixture, reserving remaining ketchup mixture.

Press meat mixture into a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan, or shape into a loaf and place on a rack in a broiler pan. Spread remaining ketchup mixture over loaf. Bake 40 minutes. Top with French fried onions; bake another 10 to 15 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink.

Tonight we are having the Barefoot Contessa's Eggplant Gratin! I'll let you know how that goes!!