Catching Up on our Snow Day

I never meant to take a break from blogging this week but it just happened. We put our house on the market on Monday and we have been working on odd jobs around the house each night after Emma goes to bed. I guess that is one reason I haven't written-there is only so much you can say about decluttering your house and touching up paint!
Currently we are going on about 30 hours of being in the house without going anywhere. I might be getting a little stir crazy!! I tried to go out and start the car and run to Walgreens but the ice was too think on the windshield. Guess the errands will have to wait until tomorrow. The streets are looking pretty good so I don't think we should have any more problems.
This is what our street looked like this morning. The sun hasn't come out today but the street melting-now we are just worried about all of the ice on the trees. Our neighbor had some big limbs fall-thankfully they weren't on his house.

Bradley showed Emma all of the snow/ice outside.

We finally got all dressed up and went outside. Don't you just love the outfit!

I think she had fun even if we just stayed less than 5 minutes


Thursday night cousin Grace called us on Skype. This is the first time they have talked to each other this way and I think it was a success! They laughed and babbled away! I am sure we will have more Skype dates in the future.

Monday Night TV

I am an avid Bachelor/Bachelorette watcher. I don't know what it is about these shows-really most reality shows in general-but they suck me in! So of course I will be getting my Bachelor fix tonight but afterwards I will be tuning into special show.
The Buried Life on MTV. It comes on at 10EST and is only 30 minutes, so if you have some time to spare, you should watch. The title of the episode is "Make a Toast at a Stranger's Wedding" and that wedding is going to be my sister's wedding! Here is a link to the episode teaser. Check out Courtney's blog for a few pictures of the guys from her wedding and then tune in tonight for the whole episode.

Playtime with Cousins...the birthday dinner

After Grace's party last Saturday we went over to the Bond's house to celebrate the January birthdays. The girls had sooo much fun playing. Actually, I think that Reagan had the most fun playing with her uncle Bradley. She kept crawling all over him!
Emma even got to spend the night at Honey and Granddaddy's and continue the fun-we went home to work on the house. I heard that there was a great time had by all, I think the girls stayed up till close to 11pm!

Happy Birthdays

Our families have sooooo many birthdays in January I thought I would do a group message. This is for our granddaddy, Grace, "ca", brett, pa, daddy mac, michelle and all the other January birthdays!

Cousin Grace's Party

So I downloaded these pictures last Monday but I haven't had a chance to actually write a post about them. Cousin Grace's birthday party was last weekend. We had so much fun attending her Elmo party. It was just chance the girls wore the same color dresses-but it did make for some cute pictures. I am so glad that Emma has a cousin so close in age, they absolutely adore each other!
Grace was super happy about her cash register. She was nice enough to let Emma play with it with her.

Sporting their Elmo hats!

The birthday girl with her cake.

The Vaseline Time Out

We have finally approached the time...the time when "Time Out" has become part of our vocabulary. For a little bit it has become apparent that our "no no" was not working.

Today Emma got into one of granddaddy's desk drawers and pulled out his vaseline jar and scooped a lot out. The vaseline ended up all over her face, on her hands and on granddaddy's desk.

After the second time of this repeated behavior (yes, the first time I cleaned her up and took her and said no) it was on to time out.

I put her in a chair right in front of me and made her sit there for one minute (hey, she is only 20 months and can't still too long). She sat there and cried and when her minute was up I told her that if she stopped crying she could get up. Well, can you guess what that little stink did? She dried those tears up immediately and went on to playing. I am happy to report that there were no more vaseline run ins for the day-but that could be because we put the stuff up also!

I know the pictures aren't awesome but the goop is clear!

The Wild Child Hair

It is no secret I have been wishing for Emma's hair to grow so I can adorn it with bows and pigtails. I am not wishing away her baby days but she is just resisting headbands these days and I get so sad when people refer to her as a boy!
Bradley snapped these pictures after her bath last night. Just a little proof that the hair is coming along. Her hair actually has some curl to it!

Chick Fil A

This past Saturday we set off on Saturday morning to eat some breakfast and head to Home Depot. We are working on remodeling our bathroom so I think I made about 3 trips to Home Depot this weekend-more about that later.
We decided to eat at Chick Fil A. Surprisingly, when we were there they weren't very busy. After we ate Emma had the playground all to herself-well, except her dad.
We thought she was going to go up alone...not so fast...dad had to end up going with her!
In the end she had a great time playing.

Yummy Potatoes

Monday night I made some really good roasted potatoes to go with our pork chops. I got the recipe from a Rachael Ray cookbook but can't find the recipe online so I am going to summarize:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Regular Russet Potatoes-how ever many you need for your family. Cut each potato into 8 wedges. Put the wedges in a bowl and toss with some olive oil.
Put them on a rimmed baking sheet and put it in the oven for about 25 minutes.
A few minutes before the potatoes are done melt 2 tablespoons of butter and 3 chopped garlic cloves in a small pot. I used minced garlic.
When to potatoes are finished put them them in a bowl and pour the melted mixture over them along with some minced parsley. Toss and serve.

Hope you enjoy!

Just Because...

On some days it is appropriate to wear a crown at 7:30 in the morning! I know it looks like I forced her to wear that crown but she really did put it on herself.

and it is alright to drink your milk out of a 4oz baby bottle because your mom forgot to bring your cup to work!
The recipe cooking is going pretty good! We skipped one night this week because we were out after working doing a few things and decided to eat out. Last night was our steak night! We had ribeyes, smashed potatoes and I had a salad and asparagus. Technically, if I had followed the recipe that lettuce and tomato was suppose to be on top of my steak but I decided to go with that separately! The steaks were done on the stovetop and the asparagus under the broiler. See-you can still have grill worthy food when it is cold outside! Tonight we are having Chicken Noodle soup-it is already in the crockpot cooking.

I had some questions about my meal from Monday night.

Pork Chops came from The Pioneer Woman. Let me say that I have never fried a pork chop in my life and these were easy and tasty!!!

The Potatoes came from a Rachel Ray Cookbook called 2,4,6,8. It has a whole chapter of recipes for 2 people which is how I am really still cooking right now-Emma usually wants to eat something before we are ready. I can't find the potato recipe online but I will tell you about it tonight-not word for word out of the book-just how I did it!
I promise this isn't turning into a recipe blog but this is just what we are doing in our lives this week!

Recipe Cooking

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to continue to cook more at home. This week I decided I was going to cook all new recipes out of cookbooks. I had got into a kinda cooking rut and was getting so bored of the same old things each week.
I sat down and picked out some new recipes-this is not an easy task since Bradley does not eat lots of things-like onions-I think there are onions in like every recipe!
I went to the grocery store on Sunday with my loooong list in hand. I am not going to be able to cook like this every week because it cost way too much! However, I do think it is much healthier to cook from recipes because they encourage you to use more fresh, simple ingredients. There is nothing too healthy about Hamburger Helper!!
Here is what my kitchen looked like at about 6:30 on Sunday night. I had plates and bowls everywhere and I think there was about 3 pots/pans on the stove. I was making a few things early so there was so excuse.

My finished product from Sunday night. Pork Chop, Garlic Roasted Potatoes and Bacon and Tomato Salad. Don't worry, Bradley didn't touch that salad!
What is on the menu for the rest of the week? Creamy Shrimp Pasta, Steaks/Roasted Asparagus/Peppered Mashed Potatoes, and Chicken Noodle Soup.

This week I am using a crock pot cookbook, a Rachel Ray cookbook and a Pi Phi cookbook.

Happy Birthday Grace

Cousin Grace turned two years old yesterday. Sorry we could not get you this message sooner!

The Box is Always Better

I know you have been there-or will be there at some point. You go in search of the perfect gift, or so you think and what do they end up playing with more-the packaging! Right now at the office Emma is playing with the Turtle Art Desk BOX. Granddaddy even cut a window and then arm holes in it for her. I go by there various times during the day and there are other little playmates-stuffed animals and baby dolls in her box too. Guess you just never know what kids are going to like.
I a good developement-she has really shown interest in the turtle desk. She thinks the removable seat is a snack storage bin. I lifted the seat up yesterday to find a snack I guess she was saving for later!

I love how her wolf is standing guard above her. I also don't know what is going on in her mouth right here-I think it might be full of raisins. I think Emma is going through a growth spurt-she has been eating all day! Raisins, bread, wheat thins, apples-she has ate them all-and those were snacks!
Our box with added arm holes!

Dancing

Someone got a Barney Singing DVD for Christmas and is loving dancing along to the music.





Don't really know about this dancing style!

New Year's Weekend

I mentioned that we ventured up to the lake for New Year's. Our friends, Erin and Steve, drove over from Nashville to spend the Holiday with us. We didn't take any pictures but we had a fun, laid back night. It consisted of eating a yummy dinner and watching lots of football-and that crazy guy jumping over some water in Vegas in his car. Yep, it was a wild night! I guess our New Year's have become kinda low key, but that is fine with me.
It was bitterly cold in Paris-kinda like it is in Memphis now! I just checked out the weather on my phone and there is not a temp on there over 34 degrees for the next six days. This southern girl needs warmer weather. I don't have clothes for this kind of weather. In about 2 days I am going to have to go back and rewear something! However, some how Emma has clothes to wear-I secretly wish I had some of those fleece pants from the Children's place. Maybe I would pick black instead of pink or red but they sure do look warm. And don't get me started on the fleece jammies-I think you know what I think about those!
Sorry, got off subject. Super cold in Paris. We spent a lot of our days indoors, watching football of course. What else would you do on a New Year's weekend? Emma has a new obsession with Bradley's hats. She likes to tell us they are "daddy's hats" and then put them on her head. Guess it is even better if she puts both kinds of hats on at the same time!
I caught her torturing Cassidy on Saturday morning. I looked over and saw Cassidy with two sets of Mardi Gras beads around her neck. Since I know she did not put them on by herself there was only one other little culprit that would have aided in her fashion statement. Boy, we are super lucky she is an easy going dog.

Friday afternoon Bradley invited me to go shoot his gun with him and Stan. He wants me to know how to use it properly. I don't love guns but I also don't mind them. I know it is good for me to know how to use it correctly. Don't worry-they are stored properly in our house!

Here is our target...we all shot at the same one. I have a few holes on there, but the one I am most proud of is the hole closest to the x-yep, that's mine. So, FYI for any of you robbers out there reading my blog-don't break into my house-haha!
No lake trip would be complete without a golf cart ride. This time we had to get very bundled up. And when I say we, I mean Emma went with her grandparents. I think we already discussed my love of the cold! Needless to say-the ride didn't last too long!

On a completely different note, who is loving all of the new TV shows coming on right now? The Bachelor, The Biggest Loser and next up is American Idol! So excited!!! What shows do you watch?