Life Lately

Obviously I have been absent for quite a while.  We have been busy, busy, busy, and I have been trying to find a good place to jump back into this.  After being gone so long, there really is no perfect time so here is what has been going on lately.

Griffin Turned One!

We had a fun Mickey Mouse Party, and a very happy one year old.

(More on that later)

We had a very Merry Christmas!

We played in the snow!

And finally, celebrated with the sweetest Valentine :)

This year is already going by so quickly.  I just want to slow it down and love each and every moment.  Although we have such a crazy few months ahead of us, I am determined to share our adventures and enjoy it!

Baby Boy Printable

This verse will always hold a special place in my heart.  I found it before my son was born, and since he has a nervous Momma, I decided this would be my prayer (one of many) for Little Man.  Feel free to download and enjoy.

Download Here

White Chicken Chili

It has been feeling A LOT like fall around here, and not only do we love the weather, we love the food that has now become acceptable.  Soup, chili, and roast are all "my kind of food," and I would eat them everyday, but I know not everyone wants to come home to a piping hot bowl of chili after working outside in 95 degree weather all day long.  So when the end of September rolls around I start looking to add new recipes to my fall menu.

I pinned THIS and found that the directions on the bottom of the pin (that are not complete) are not the directions on the link.  

So I crossed my fingers and decided to use a little of both recipes and create my own masterpiece.  Luckily, it worked and when testing my new favorite chili, the word BOMB was used.

  DISCLAIMER: This recipe is not for someone who has to have exact measurements while cooking.

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs chicken breast

1 small yellow onion

1 green pepper

1 packet ranch seasioning

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

2-3 shakes onion powder

2-3 shakes oregano

1 can rotel

1 can sweet white corn

2 cans great white northern beans

1 block cream cheese (8oz)

Chicken broth

Jalapenos (optional)

Stove Directions:

Trim chicken breast and boil.  When fully cooked, shred.  Put chicken, sliced onion and green pepper in the pot and heat to soften onion and pepper.  Add in ranch seasoning, chili powder, cumin, onion powder and oregano.  Continue to cook and stir.  Add rotel (drained), corn (drained) and beans (undrained).  Stir in chicken broth (amount depends on how much liquid needed).  I added about 1/4 of the box.  You can add more later as need.  I added a heaping spoonful of diced jalapenos to add heat. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Cut cream cheese in small blocks and add to the pot.  Continue to stir as the cheese melts.  Let simmer until ready to eat.  The longer it simmers the better, but it is ready to eat after this.

Add some tortilla chips and/or cornbread and ENJOY!

8 Month Photos

Little Man celebrated his 8 Month Birthday on 8-6-13.

I wanted to celebrate with a few pictures.  He is getting so big, and I want to remember every stage.  The only issue is, we don't have enough wall space for all of the precious pictures I print.

As earlier mentioned, I take a TON of pictures of this guy.  Candid, posed, everything, but I have quickly learned, he has a lot of stuff, and so do we.  If I don't clear the area first,  I have a bunch of pictures with a MESS in the background.  I borrowed my Dad's "good camera," and we headed outside on a cloudy afternoon.  It had to be overcast, because he and I both have "I can't smile with my eyes open when the sun is in my face" in an awful way.  We took a few things to distract him, a book, and hat.

I LOVE the way they turned out.

This one is already printed, in a frame and waiting for a spot on the wall.

So is this one.

We went outside and found a hill so the background would be only grass.  We did have a minor bug problem, but I think they were bothering us more than him.  I think he could stay outside all day.  We might have a problem when winter rolls around.  He doesn't seem to mind having his picture taken either, which is great news for this girl.  I have learned a lot of baby picture taking tricks so beware future King babies.

Kentucky Visit

We went to visit Grammie and Papa, Stephen's Parents, a few weeks ago.  His Dad is a preacher, and they moved to Kentucky about 6 months ago.  They have been here to visit several times, and this makes the second trip we have made to Kentucky.  There is just no good way to get there. Just isn't.  Griffin doesn't hate the car, but if he isn't sleepy, he's not in a great mood.  Right now, we travel with our two dogs, Griffin, Mommy and Daddy in my Accord.  Not the best situation.  Our Dear Luna gets carsick and freaks out in the car so she gets to sit up front and relax while I am in the backseat smashed between the car seat and the door with my feet in the seat because we have stuff piled EVERYWHERE.

The good news is I get to take sweet pictures like this:

SO in Love with those lashes.

His parents live in a fun, small town in Kentucky so we decided to go exploring on Saturday.  I wanted to walk around the downtown area and eat something "good" for lunch while sitting outside.  We took forever to get ready and get out the door.  At this point lunch was going to be at 2 pm.  We finally got in the car and rode for three minutes, and Griffin had a projectile incident, soaking himself, his car seat, and the backseat of my car.  Poor Grammie and Papa.  We turned around and decided that was his way of telling us he wanted to hang out at home.

Sunday, we went to church to hear Papa Preach, and he stayed in the service the whole time. Such a good boy.

Well, Grammie was ready for this picture, but no one told Griffin and Papa.

SO cute in his Polo.

We have a Crawler!

Sort of...

Our little guy has been rolling and scooting to get where he wants to go for a while now.  This past weekend, he went for it!  It is more like an Army Crawl, but he is on the move!

We have to convince him to crawl by moving all of his toys over to one corner of his quilt in the floor.  He is also obsessed with standing up.  He can do it alone if he is leaning on something steady.  His favorite toy to stand up and play with slides though, and he thinks he can stand up on his own so I sit in the floor 30 minutes at a time keeping this little dude up on his feet.  Whatever makes him happy, and builds those baby leg muscles.  He can sit up perfectly, but he has trouble getting up on his own, but we are thiiiiss close.  I will be stalking him with my phone to catch that on video too! 

These are a Few of our Favorite Things

I am loving Griffin's age right now.  He is slightly mobile, but he isn't totally into everything just yet.  He can army crawl and roll to get where he needs to go.  He is loves to laugh and play with his toys all day.  I can tell he definitely needs brothers and sisters because this kid does not like to be left alone to play.  I will happily leave the dishes and laundry for later to play with this sweet guy anytime.

This picture completely sums up his first summer.  We got this new stroller, and we are all obsessed.

In this picture, we are up by the pooling grilling, which is our FAVORITE things to do these days.  He loves bubbles, and lots of them, so he fell in love with his Hippo bubble blower from Grammie.  We have to take it with us when we hang out for entertainment.

He also has, and has had for quite sometime, an obssession with Mickey Mouse.  He loves watching Mickey Mouse Club House.  So much so that we have over 70 episodes saved on the DVR.  Though, that is mostly for my sanity because I'm pretty certain he could watch the same episode everyday and be perfectly happy.  If I really want to see the little guy excited, I put him in his bouncy seat and put on Mickey.  He smiles and jumps up and down when he hears "He-ey Everybody, It's ME, Mickey Mouse!"  Cutest ever!

We have also started playing in the floor a lot more lately.  We don't have that much extra floor space yet, but we are working on it.  For now, I lay a quilt down on the floor and about 10 toys, and we go to town.  He thinks it is so fun to grab my fingers and pull him self up.  I can leave him down there and watch him play for a little bit while I multi-task, but he quickly finds himself off the quilt and over in a corner.

   

He also has a strange obssession with EVERYTHING he is not allowed to have.  He loves my cell phone charger, my phone, the remote, all water bottles, my food, shoes, my toes, hair, and necklace, paper, and last but not least, Wiley.  We have two dogs, Wiley and Luna, and he and Luna love each other.  Wiley is warming up to the idea of him, but he has longer hair, which is perfect for pulling.  We may have to shave him.  Seriously. 

I have heards lots of Moms say each new age will be your favorite, and so far they are correct.  

Love you, Little Guy!