I'd just like to say, that yes, I know, I'm huge. I've been telling y'all, but no one believes me. And I still have at least 5 weeks to go...Poor little Andrew, you can hardly see him back there.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
A Few Christmas Eve Pictures
I'd just like to say, that yes, I know, I'm huge. I've been telling y'all, but no one believes me. And I still have at least 5 weeks to go...Poor little Andrew, you can hardly see him back there.
Friday, December 4, 2009
O Christmas Tree
A Couple of Random Photos
Happy Birthday, Andrew!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Simon and Ruby
*All photos by Lindsay Black Farrar
Friday, November 20, 2009
Chicken Pot Pie!
Here's the list of ingredients:
1 pound of boneless chicken, cubed into small pieces (about 1")
1/4 c. zesty Italian dressing
4 oz. cream cheese
2 tsp flour
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 package frozen mixed vegetables-thawed
1 refrigerated pie crust
And the directions:
Heat oven to 350. Cook the chicken in the Italian dressing in a skillet until mostly cooked all the way through. Add the cream cheese, let it melt and mix it in. Add in the flour, one teaspoon at a time. If one teaspoon is enough, you don't have to add the other. You don't want it pasty or cakey, but you also don't want it runny. Add the chicken broth. (Add more flour if it's too runny after adding broth.) Add the mixed vegetables. Stir it all up, and let it heat through for a minute or two.
Put into a deep dish pie plate (mine is 10") and cover with the pie crust. Cut slits in the crust to vent.
Heat for 30 minutes at 350 or until crust is nice and golden.
A few notes:
This is a really cheap recipe, and once you buy the ingredients to make it once, you have enough to make a second one later. One can of chicken broth makes two, one 8 oz box of cream cheese makes two, and pie crusts come in packages of two! I use the Tyson individually frozen chicken tenderloins (if you use these, I use about 5 or 6 pieces), and one package lasts for several different meals. The frozen vegetables I buy when on sale, and I typically get them free (with a coupon.) So this is a meal that I typically can throw together if I have nothing else planned. And one bottle of the zesty Italian lasts forever, and you can use it for salads. Typically with the chicken broth I put the other 1/2 c. in a freezer container and freeze it for the second batch, so it won't go bad.
I hope you all enjoy!
*A bonus little note: Andrew is potty training right now, and he just came running naked around the corner with the biggest smile on his face, "Mommy! I tee tee in the potty!" And y'all he did it all by himself, he even pulled his pants down! And, an added bonus, it was #1 and #2. He's there, folks, just days away from being completely potty trained!!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Andrew's Christmas for $16!
Here's a look at what the little man is getting under the tree this year:
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Storybook DVD
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Golden Egg
Monday, October 19, 2009
Saturday Afternoon Snooze
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Redecorating Time!
I apologize that it is so small. I had issues saving the picture from JCPenney's web site. I think if you click on the picture, it might enlarge it. Anyhow, the other plus, is that it's reversible. I like the colors, its not too baby, but not too big-kid. Perfect!
Now, for baby's room. This was equally difficult for two main reasons. One, I didn't want pink. Do you KNOW how much pink stuff is out there??! And two, 75% of what is out there is also $200 plus for a three-peice set! Sheesh! I almost threw in the towel and decided to learn to sew! Hah, got ya there, didn't I? I wanted something girly, but not cutesy, and something that would go with the green walls. Lavendar! After searching and searching, I found the perfect thing!! It's a quilt-style set, that looks hand-embroidered, with little wreaths and lavendar flowers. Love it, and it goes with our 115 year old house very well. And, it was the right price!! Here's a photo:
I just love it! And I can even throw in a very pale yellow for an accent color. I think it's feminine enough! And the good think about it, too, is that it's available at a bunch of websites, which brings me to the second part of my post: How I'm going to buy this without spending money!!
I have done a few posts about SwagBucks in the past, and a couple of you have signed up (thanks!) but I've got some new readers out there, and want to try to encourage them to sign up...ahem, MOM!
SwagBucks is a web site exactly like Google. It's a search engine. If you want to find something, type it in the search bar, and the same results pop up as would with Google. Except, for one huge thing. SwagBucks rewards people who use the site by giving them SwagBucks. The SwagBucks are randomly awarded, in various denominations. This morning, I searched for "baby monitors" and recieved a surprise 2 SwagBucks!
What can you do with a SwagBuck? Well, all SwagBucks you earn add up over time until you have enough to redeem them for prizes. I have redeemed $40 (yes fourty) in Amazon gift cards, and have enough points for another $55 in Amazon gift cards! So I have $95 available to spend on Amazon.com. And that's not counting the $25 or so I've already spent over the past year. And let me tell you, you can buy just about anything on Amazon. Including that darling baby bedding set you just saw.
Here is where you come in. If you sign up by clicking this link, you'll create an account on SwagBucks, and can start searching and earning points. But the BEST part is, if you sign up, using my link, I will get credit for EVERY SwagBuck you earn until you hit 100. So, by searching as you usually do, using SwagBucks instead of Google, you can help me earn more money to purchase this bedding set for baby! It's very easy to do, and legit, you don't give any sensitive information, just your name, address, and email. That's all! It's a nice, easy way to earn fun money doing something you likely already do. (It's also a nice way to help me out!) Here is the link:
http://swagbucks.com/refer/JennyManley
Friends that have already signed up...Amber, Shannon, Aunt Tracy, Dara...y'all love it, right? And it's really easy to do! And a big thank you, since you've helped me earn enough for Andrew's Christmas present, which is another topic for another post!! Love y'all!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Getaway
I had planned on just hanging out in the hotel room while Brian was at his meeting. A whole week, of a quiet, clean (well, it's a hotel; clean in this case means no toys scattered everywhere...) room, my own T.V., and a book. Well, I devoured the book in one day, but I found plenty of time to nap and watch TLC for extended periods of time! Our hotel was right on the Riverwalk, which is a neat little section of the San Antonio River that winds through downtown. Along the Riverwalk are restaurants, bars, shops, lots of little vendors. It's really quite romantic! We must've walked two miles every day, though, and little pregnant me only packed her flip flops, so Brian so sweetly rubbed my feet for me at night.
The last full day we were there, we hit some of the main sights in town. One, of course, the famous Alamo. The Alamo was one of five Catholic missions in San Antonio founded in the 1700's in wild Texas to convert native people to Catholicism. Surprisingly, they are all still standing and still serving. The Alamo is famous for the number of battles fought between American soldiers and the Mexican army. I couldn't figure out what the big deal was...I mean, usually, you fight for a specific region that has a valuable resource, like clean water, good soil, gold, etc. This place, in 1836, was the desert, 6 million miles away from nowhere. After taking the tour and reading up on the history, I realized it was more of a fight of principle, symbolic of taking a stand for something you believe in. All of the men died defending the Alamo, because they'd rather die than admit defeat.
The Alamo at night.
We did drive to all five missions, I thought it would be neat to see these living pieces of history. We started at Mission Espada, which is the one farthest away from town, the most remote of the missions. Since it was so far from town, it was (and is) the least elaborate, I imagine due to it being so far from supplies and laborers. It was beautiful in its simplicity. The church is still standing, but that's pretty much all that's left of the compound. All the missions housed hundreds of people, had numerous livestock, gardens, granaries; they were self-sufficient little cities. The "mission of the mission" was to convert the native peoples (Indians? Mexicans?) to Catholicism. What struck me as most poignant here at the mission (more so than at the others) was that it is an active parish. (*Side note: I'm not Catholic, so forgive me, my Catholic friends, if I use the wrong words...a parish is like the congregation, right? The area the church serves?) This means that there are still nuns and a priest that live there. You'll see from the pictures just how rustic and remote this place was. The nuns had a little garden full of beautiful flowers, and had many, many birdfeeders filled with birds.
Mission Espada
The church at Mission San Jose
Another view of San Jose
Our last night in San Antonio we walked a few blocks to our hotel to San Fernando Cathedral, which is the oldest cathedral in America! It was beautiful, and very much still in operation. In fact the Pope was there just a few years ago. I took some shots of it at night, and the lighting almost makes it seem like the light of God shining from the cathedral. I had goosebumps when I saw the picture!
Anyways, this was the longest blog post in history, but the pictures were too pretty not to share. And it was nice to share how moved I was in seeing these missions. I could only hope that I would be filled with such convictions to go to so desolate a place, in a dangerous territory filled with warring peoples, to spread the word of God.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice!
This one is another favorite. It's my little girl with her 'dukes' up. She's got both her fists up in front of her face, ready to take on the world! Maybe that means she will be a tomboy. After all, her mommy was on the boxing team for a year in college!
Andrew went with us to the ultrasound; we thought he might enjoy it. He did actually sit very nicely eating his grapes. At one point he did recognize that it was a baby, but about 20 minutes into it he said, "Yucky!" Then we went to the waiting room to wait to see the doctor, and Brian showed Andrew the picture of the baby and asked, "What is that, Andrew?"
To which Andrew replied, "Monkey!"
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Measure of a Mother
I look around and I've got friends who have 2 years old children who are using the potty, sleep in a twin bed, and have never used a pacifier. How can I not compare Andrew to those kids? Did we drop the ball somewhere? Or are we just doing what we feel Andrew can handle?
He's peed and pooped in the potty several times. But the number of times he has peed in the floor is exponential. In fact, he thinks its hilarious when he pees on the floor. Especially when he stomps in the puddle, then runs through the house, leaving pee pee footprints everywhere. Monday morning we were working hard with the potty until he apparently decided he'd had enough, and actually threw the potty at me. So, after that incident, paired with the eight sets of pee-soaked underwear, and the availability of ZERO clean towels in the house, I (we, Brian has a say too!) decided it wasn't worth getting angry at Andrew and putting pressure on him. Nevermind that I'm now 20 weeks pregnant, and losing the ability to get up and down off the floor (easily and painlessly) to wipe up pee. So, we're taking a break.
How do you judge whether or not you're doing a good job with your kids? Do you compare them to other kids? Or do you just wait until they're older and see if they put themselves in jail? Or do you really ever know? I suppose that's where prayer and faith come into play. You do the best with what you have, rely on God to mold their hearts, and pray for the best. After that, it's up to them to decide the kind of people they want to be, right?
In the meantime, it's 12:09 pm on Tuesday, we're both in our pajamas still, and haven't had lunch yet, and Andrew is watching TV. See what I'm saying? Other kids have already been to playgroup, the library, and had lunch and are sleeping peacefully in their twin size beds with no pacifier!!!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
So Long, Old Friend
May lounging in Andrew's Elmo chair.
Y'all, we love our vet. There's something to say about living in a small town, we all look out for each other and help one another out. That's the way it should be. Even the neighbors now are polishing up their guns in case the wild dogs come back...Who's to say the dogs wouldn't attack a small child? I shudder at the thought.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Why I am loving Walgreens...
Monday, July 27, 2009
Recipes!
The first is for Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. It's from a very dear lady named Becky Brass, who was my 'adoptive' mother during college. Our church allowed families to 'adopt' college students and cook dinner for them once a week, allow them to do laundry (for free!) at their house, etc. She was such a sweet woman, and a Godly woman at that! She used to make these for me at least twice a month because I loved them so much! They remind me of those cookie cakes that they sell in the mall, minus all the icing.
Preheat oven to 325.
Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix 1 egg
1 stick melted butter 2 tspn. vanilla
1 pound of choc. chips (1 bag)
Mix it all together, then press into a 13x9 pan, bake 15-20 minutes! Easy, huh? Then just cut it into squares and enjoy!
Gooey Buttercake. This is a good one too, just don't dare think of calories and fat...Ronnie Higgingbottom made these one day. He is one of the zoo's maintenance guys, a great guy that I worked with often on construction projects within the zoo. I learned a lot working with him!
Preheat oven to 350.
Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix 1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 stick butter 3 eggs (1 for cake, 2 for icing)
1 box powdered sugar
Blend cake mix, butter, 1 egg for 3 min, press into 13x9 pan.
Blend sugar, cream cheese, 2 eggs. Pour over cake mix.
Bake for 45 minutes. When done, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top.
Hope you all enjoy!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Name Game
I thought it'd be neat to see what y'all thought about some of these names. Keep in mind, this list seems very long, but we have a long time to decide, and I'm a very thorough person. I want to make sure the name is one I like, as well as one I think the little one will like at all stages of his/her life.
First, the criteria. And by criteria, I mean things that I'd like, not things that I have to have. I'd really prefer a family name. And I'd also like it to be Biblical. It can't be 'trendy' or have silly nicknames, and the initials cannot spell or insinuate anything that might cause teasing later in life. Easy, right? Psh.
So, on with it. Here is our not-so-short list of names, boy and girl. The ones we're leaning towards the most are at the top, and goes down in preference. The names are all eligible for first and middle names! (And I do realize that a few of the names meet none of the above criteria, but there needs to be a few in there to eliminate early on...)
Owen