Summer Kickoff Fun

We have had an amazingly fun weekend!  Friday night we just went to bed early and enjoyed a relaxing night after a long week.  Nicholas didn't take naps at school this week (apparently he thinks he doesn't need to) and I had a couple of nights that I didn't sleep well, so we were just wiped out.  I just laid on the couch and finished my book while he went to bed at 8:00! Ha!

Saturday morning we went to work early on our backyard.  We had been saying for a couple of years that we wanted to do some landscaping around our patio and fence.  We started small and made a small shrub bed beside our patio.  I might as well be known as the hospice for plants because as soon as I buy them, they die, so I decided to get a few things you cannot kill.  I got 2 knockout rose bushes, 3 hosta, and a couple of wave petunias just because I love them.  Pray that my plants can make it despite the fact  I am the worst plant owner in America.  I also put a bird bath out that belonged to my Nana in her yard before she moved to the assisted living.  I think it was the perfect finishing piece!

While we were working, Nicholas played in his water table and wore his pirate bathing suit for the 1st time.  He was in pirate heaven!  This kid played for 2 hours with his pirates and table.  I am pretty sure he is going to spend his Summer wearing a bathing suit and playing in the water table or pool!

Finally around 2:30 we had eaten lunch, mowed the yard, and cleaned up all the landscaping things and off to the pool we went.  Nicholas wasn't so sure about the cold water, but he LOVED playing with his pirates and his friend Blake.  

Nicholas also enjoyed spending time with his babysitter Miranda who was at the pool with her family.  She is so sweet and loves to play with Nicholas.

 This picture completely cracked me up.  He just HAD to have a pair of goggles to be like his friend Jackson (our 11 year old neighbor).  He wore them all afternoon and just the way he is standing and the look on his face is just priceless!

Saturday night 2 neighbor families came over and we all grilled out and watched the kids play in our backyard.  We love our subdivision, but we REALLY love it in the Summer when we can have nights like that.  I can't imagine living anywhere else right now we love it so much.  The Payne family brought these over for dessert.  Needless to say, they didn't last long! Yum!

Today we had another fun day of Summer fun! Michael had to work :-( but Nicholas and I were lazy for a little while before heading to Walmart to get some pool toys and then back to the pool we went! We met some of our fun neighbors there and enjoyed another day of sunny fun!

 

Tonight we had steak kabobs and baked potatoes.  Nothing quite says America like some good red meat!  :-)  One of us had too much fun today and was just too tired to eat and just watched Mickey while we ate.

Nicholas wore his "America clothes" today.  Even though we had a fun day and enjoyed the pool, being off of work and school, we also remembered the reason for the holiday.  I am so thankful to live in a country that I love where men died to give me the right to enjoy the day today.  I am forever grateful for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for my rights.

Fun Summer Recipes: Nana's Peach Ice Cream

When I was a little girl there was a couple of things you could ALWAYS count on eating at Nana's house in the Summer: homemade tea cakes, rice krispy treats, and peach ice cream!  Nana loves peach ice cream and she always had some made and ready.  I never realized how much it symbolized Summer to me until I made some this weekend for her birthday.  As soon as I tasted it I felt like I was back at her house and it was 1990s all over again!  :-)

 Ingredients:
6-8 sliced, peeled peaches (I cheated this time because they aren't really in season yet and used thawed frozen peaches)
1 cup of sugar
4 cups half and half
1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Slice and peel peaches, mix with sugar.  Stir and let sit for about an hour.

After an hour, place the peaches and sugar in a food processor (do not use a blender, it will not work as well) and puree until it is a chunky puree.  We like to have chunks of peaches in our ice cream so I do not puree all the way.

In a large mixing bowl, stir pudding and evaporated milk.  Add peach puree, condensed milk, and half and half.  Stir well.

Pour into ice cream freezer and freeze according to the freezer's instructions.

Hope you enjoy!

Happy Birthday Nana!

My Nana is truly an amazing woman. She has done SO much in her 83 years. I truly believe she has lived one of the most full, Godly lives of anyone I know. Today we celebrated her 83rd birthday and I couldn't help but think of everything she has seen in her lifetime. She has seen 13 presidents, the great depression (she used to talk about it a lot), Pearl Harbor, World War II, Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, 9-11, and both Iraqi wars. She married at 16, became an interior designer in her mid 40s, a grandmother at 51, a widow and on her own for the 1st time at 56, and again at 77. She definitely has seen and been through a lot! 

My Nana has always been my biggest fan and probably loves me more than anyone (it also makes me laugh because I see the same thing with my mom and Nicholas). I have been blessed to have her and blessed to be able to say she is my Nana, so today, we celebrated her!

We had a small party at her assisted living this afternoon. We brought cupcakes and enjoyed spending some time with Nana and her friends. 

 

After her party, we brought her to our house and we grilled out and had her favorite...homemade peach ice cream! To me nothing says Summer quite like peach ice cream. Nana always made it during the Summer and it has always been a family favorite. We enjoyed a nice evening just being a family and celebrating our favorite Nana! 

Happy birthday Nana! We love you!

Thoughts For Thursday

Because so many people do a "brain dump" and I seem to want to do one at least once a week, I have decided to do a post every Thursday called thoughts for Thursday. Here are my thoughts for this week:

1.  A few weeks ago I made my Summer Scentsy purchase and I had been dying to get the Forget Me Not warmer that is for Alzheimer's awareness.  I am so glad I got it.  My shipment arrived and I LOVE how it looks in my blue bedroom and I bought it in honor of my Nana, so it is absolutely perfect!

2.  Nicholas has gotten so BIG lately!  He has been sitting at the bar to eat like a big boy.  I die at how big he looks from the kitchen side of the bar!

3.  I made a change with my hair earlier this month.  I am still growing it out, but I decided to add some caramel highlights for Summer.  I am loving how they turned out!

4.  Last Friday was the last day for Spring practice for my dad's football team and it makes me feel like Fall is getting near (I know it really isn't).  I love Summer but by July and a month or so of 90 degree humid weather, I'm ready for Fall. I think Nicholas is going to enjoy going to games this year and I am so excited to take him again. Not to hurry Summer, but I'm ready for football season and our Disney trip...

5. Speaking of Disney, it is less than 6 months until we go to Disney and we finally made our reservations last week! I've been busy again planning our trip! It seems to come in waves, but I'mback to  planning  again! I'm thinking of doing a Disney planning series so you can see what I've done to plan and for those of you who are new to the Disney planning thing like me, we can learn together!

6.  I've completed my 1st Summer book.  I started with Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner.  It was a good, easy read.  Now I'm reading Where We Belong by Emily Giffin, to be followed by Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella.

7.  It's has rained 3 out of the last 4 weekends and I am beyond excited to see the forecast for this weekend...no rain!!!! We have been wanting to get started landscaping our backyard and I can finally get that going Saturday! I plan to be at "the flower store" as Nicholas calls it, bright and early!

Praying For Oklahoma

It has now been 2 years since the devastating tornado in our small town, but there are times I still feel overwhelmed by the things I saw as a nurse in the days and weeks that followed. This week my heart has been so heavy for those in Oklahoma, especially those missing family members, the first responders, and the hospital staff. 

I cannot imagine what the families of those sweet children at Plaza Towers Elementary are going through. I also cannot stop thinking about how awesome the teachers were as they shielded the students in the hallway as the school was destroyed.  We are again reminded that teachers love our children as if they were their own. (I know my dad always has been that way. We actually refer to his football team as "his boys" because he feels as though they are his.) 

Those involved in the recovery efforts and at the hospital are working long, emotionally and physically draining days right now and a lot of them will have post traumatic stress when it is all over. I know the sadness they are dealing with. There is nothing to bring reality into your world like seeing someone face to face that is your age that has lost everything including their wife and child while you were spared when the same tornado turned towards them a mile away from your house. I know I changed as a person after seeing the things I saw during that time.  I learned to never take anything for granted.

Please pray for my friend, Heather that I have met through blogging and twitter that lost her home. She and her family are ok, but they lost everything. If you feel led, you can read how to specifically help Heather here: http://www.vanzantfamilyblog.com/2013/05/praying-for-oklahoma-help-mills.html

Please join me in praying for those in Moore, Oklahoma and those coming to their aid. It's going to be a long, hard road ahead and they need our prayers. 

Fun Summer Recipes, Easy Chocolate Ice Cream

Instead of boring weekly meal plans, I am going to do a Summer recipe series over the next few weeks.  First up is my easy chocolate ice cream.  It is one of the recipes in a book my mom made me when we got married.

I was given the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment for my mixer for my birthday and I was so excited to use it to make ice cream this weekend.  If you have a Kitchen Aid mixer but do not have this attachment, GET ONE!  It is awesome!  It is soooooooo much better than dealing with the mess of ice, salt, and a big ice cream mixer!

Easy Chocolate Ice Cream

1 Can Eagle Brand Milk

2/3 cup Chocolate Syrup

1 small jar Marshmallow Cream

Milk

Mix eagle brand milk, chocolate syrup, and marshmallow cream in a bowl, refrigerate for a couple of hours until chilled.  Pour into ice cream maker and finish filling the container with milk.  Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions.  

Fun Night With Fun Friends

Last night we had one of the most fun nights we have had in awhile!  Those of you who read often know we have an amazing circle of close friends that have children the same age as Nicholas that we LOVE to get together with, the Millers and Castleberrys.  They came over last night for a shrimp boil, which is a Summer favorite meal of ours!  It had rained on and off all day and right before they were to come over the sky cleared off for about 4 hours.  It was perfect timing!  Michael fired up the boiler and we had a lot of fun watching the kids play.

Baylee and Nicholas are a match made in heaven!  They love each other, but I think deep down Nicholas really loves her older sister, McKinley.  I'm thinking he may like older women! :-)

I'm laughing at all of these pictures because Nicholas INSISTED that his top button be buttoned last night.  He had a meltdown until it was done! Haha!

We have found the best way to eat a boil is to cover the table in a vinyl tablecloth, cover it in newspaper, and pour it all over the paper and just eat off the table!  We are true Southerners! 

Needless to say, I love some shrimp and corn! (and Coronas, but who was counting? Ha!)

The kids had cheese pizza and I made homemade ice cream with my new attachment for my mixer.  I'll share the ice cream and a tasty pie recipe later this week!

Having a house full of kids and our closest friends is as close to perfection as it gets around here.  My heart was full all night.  We are so blessed to have this close group of friends and we plan to do this a lot this Summer and I can't wait!

Nicholas LOVES having friends over and we love entertaining, so it works out well.  The best part of doing a boil is that it doesn't require much clean up, the playroom however...that's another story!  :-)

Mother's Day 2013

Sometimes it is so hard to believe that my baby is almost 3 years old, almost potty trained, and acts like he is much older than he is.  I still imagine him being a tiny baby!  It's also hard to believe it has been 4 years since my last Mother's Day without him (or being pregnant).  I spent 2 very sad, lonely Mother's Days while waiting to be a mother.  I spent days sad and wondering if I would ever get to celebrate that day honoring me as a mom.  I have spent the week of Mother's Day thinking about those days and how blessed and thankful I am to have this sweet boy in my life.  Last Friday morning I fought tears the entire time I spent having breakfast with him during his Mother's Day breakfast at school.  I dreamed of that day for so long, and it was finally here.  I just kept hugging and kissing him while we ate because I was so thankful for that moment.

Sunday my boys made me mimosas and gave me 2 Pandora charms for Mother's Day before they took me to brunch!  I am a very lucky Mommy!

We then had some time with Michael's Grandmother and enjoyed spending some time with his family.

After we played at the park for about an hour, we went to the cemetery where his Mother and Grandmother are.  It was so sweet, but also very sad because Nicholas just randomly went up to the flowers on their markers and he would take one flower out and say "Happy Mother's Day" as he placed them back into the vase.  So sweet!

That night we went to spend some time with my mom and Nana.  Nicholas LOVES his Gigi and his Nana!

I'm always so happy when he gets to spend time with Nana.  This week we will celebrate her 83rd birthday!

I am definitely blessed beyond measure to have this sweet boy.  God definitely knew what He was doing when He gave Nicholas to me!  He is the best gift I have ever received!

Happy Nurses Week!

This week is nurses week and yesterday our clinical secretary set up an amazing candy/dessert bar!  She is truly the best and I am so thankful for all she does for us!  We couldn't do what we do without her and all of her help!

 She made chocolate covered graham crackers to look like x-rays!  This was my favorite of all of the snacks!  This lady is beyond creative and talented.

 Dipped pretzels to look like thermometers...

 Let's not forget cookie "pills" and medicine cups full of "pills".  Seriously, how creative!

Thank you Debbie for remembering us and doing something special for us!  You're the best!

Meal Plan Monday

This week is going to be a busy one, so I've got some quick weeknight meals on the list this time.

Sunday: Mexican out for Cinco de Mayo!
Monday: Crockpot beef tips, mashed potatoes, broccoli
Tuesday: Sloppy Joes (Nicholas' favorite!)
Wednesday: Taco Salads
Thursday: Peppercorn Pork Loin, Corn, Asparagus
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Oven Baked Fajitas

Crockpot Beef Tips
1.5 pounds of sirloin roast cut into 1.5" cubes
1 package onion soup mix
1 package brown gravy
1 cup water
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
Place beef cubes in the bottom of crockpot, cover with dry soup mix and mushrooms. Mix gravy mix, soup, and water in a bowl and cover beef. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. I serve with mashed potatoes or rice and a veggie.

Potty Training Boot Camp and A Wedding

I took off from work on Friday and cleaned house and did a few things around the house.  Since torrential rain was in the weekend forecast and I didn't see us doing much, I decided it was a good time to bring out the big boy undies for a solid day of wear (not just an hour here or there).  I pulled out all 12 pairs that we own, poured some M&Ms in a bowl on the counter and told Nicholas we would be home for 3 days straight, so he needed to get his mind set on being a big boy! Ha!

From the time he got out of the bathtub at 10:30 until he laid down for a nap at 1:00, he went potty 4 times and was still in his original undies that were DRY when he woke up!  HUGE accomplishment!  That kid will do anything for a M&M!!!  We haven't left the house today other than for Michael had to work and for me to run to the grocery store, so Nicholas and I have been a slave to the potty.  He had another good morning, but has had a few accidents this afternoon.  He is refusing to wear pullups anymore!  I am really proud of how well he is doing.  He has told me a few times, "I a big boy, no diapers!"

Last night we attended Nicholas' first wedding.  My cousin Richard married a very sweet girl that we are so happy to have a part of our family now!  It was a gorgeous wedding in an old church downtown.

Unfortunately, I watched from the windows outside because my toddler had a meltdown right as the bridesmaids entered the church.  :-(  We had to leave right after the reception started because Nicholas was done with the day and ready for bed, but I stole this picture from her facebook today. :-)  I loved the old bricks and the lights in the background.  Gorgeous!

Welcome to the family Wendy!!!

Nicholas finally went to bed around 9:00 last night and my kid that always wakes up by 8:30 no matter what slept until I woke him up at 11:15!  I'm pretty sure his behavior at the wedding was a result of being tired and not very well rested.  I took on my absolute least favorite task in the world this morning, I cleaned out my closet.  I would rather be beat than to hang up clothes and it showed by the fact I couldn't even walk in there before I got started.  3 hours and 2 large bins of winter clothes later it looks like this...

Tomorrow is going to be another rainy, cold day, so I'm planning to get a couple of meals made for the week and run out for some big boy undies and extra clothes for school.  We may even head over to our favorite Mexican restaurant for some Cinco De Mayo fun!  I am so glad I kept a couple of sweaters when I packed up the winter clothes, I needed them this weekend!  Hope everyone in Chattanooga stays warm and dry this weekend!

Summer Reading List

Remember back in school there was always a Summer reading list? Yes, its true, most of it did not appeal to teenage girls, but I am a history-loving, classic-literature-loving dork, so I enjoyed them. I can remember reading Cheaper By The Dozen, Great Gatsby, and Grapes Of Wrath in a day a piece while floating around my backyard pool (I was also a sun worshiping teenage girl that is paying dearly for that now with wrinkles and bad skin). Now it always seems that I do 90% of my reading in the summer and this year I'm stocking up and hope to read a book a week, but we'll see how that goes. Lately it feels like all I read are Llama Llama and pirate books. I love reading to Nicholas, but once he is in bed I love to curl up with a good book and wine in my bed.

Last Summer I read the 50 Shades of Grey series in about 10 days. I read Matters Of The Heart over vacation and I read How To Raise A Superhero over a weekend, but that was about it. We were in the middle of doing an estate sale and selling my Nana's house, working full time, and chasing a spirited 2 year old. Books just had to wait...a year apparently.

Since I can't sleep, I decided to share what is on my list for this Summer:
Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella
Family Pictures by Jane Green
Revenge Wears Prada; The Devil Returns by Lauren Weisburger (I'm dying to get my hands on this one June 4!)
Another Piece Of My Heart by Jane Green
Sparkly Green Earrings by Melanie Shankle (if you don't read her blog you're missing out!)
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld (still waiting from last year)
A Little Salty To Cut The Sweet by Sophie Hudson (another blog you must read)
Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

That's it for now because I am allowing a week off reading for Nicholas' birthday, a wedding shower I'm hosting, and by August it will be football season around our house and I'll be ready for Fall. :-)

Anyone else want to share their Summer reading plans?

Judgmental Much? Not Now

Before I became a mom I thought I had a plan on raising the perfect child. I look back and realize how Judgie McJudgerson I was when I saw a child in a store having a meltdown, a child on a leash, kids in public in clothes that don't match and hair not combed, or when I heard my mom friends talk about how they didn't want to bring their children places because their kids could tear up a home in no time. I always wanted to give a disapproving look or ask why they didn't just correct the child's behavior and that would be the end of it. Haha! I was wrong! If only it were that simple!

I was the best mom ever before I had Nicholas. I had all the right answers to how I would handle certain situations, I would breastfeed my child for a solid year and he would never discover that candy and sweets exist until he was well into preschool. I would never be frustrated or upset when my much wanted, longed for newborn cried. I would just sit and hold him for hours upon hours while he slept peacefully, you know, only waking to eat.

Then, God laughed at me. He gave me the most gorgeous, 9 pound baby who was also the most stubborn, colicky, severely allergic to milk newborn and all that went out the window. I didn't know a thing about being a mom! My no bottles except at daycare rule went out of the window on day 3 when even the 2nd lactation consultant couldn't get him to eat. We got home and 3 weeks in he began screaming. 24 HOURS A DAY. He didn't sleep, he just screamed. I cried with him. I slept on the couch for maybe 3 hours total in 2 days/nights. I cut out everything dairy, soy, greasy, or spicy from my diet. Nothing worked. Finally at week 5 I had to put him on the most expensive over the counter, $30/can formula. My plans were shot to hell and I felt as though I was a terrible mother. I couldn't even feed my child who apparently was allergic the enzymes in breast milk. Awesome.

Then came the grand finale that made me throw my hands up and want to call every mom I had ever judged, friends and strangers. It was the day my sick 17 month old naked baby escaped the exam room at the pediatrician's office, ran down the hall prompting his doctor to ask if I had invested in a leash for my "Olympic sprinter". Yep, my child was THAT CHILD. The one melting down in the store because I wouldn't buy him cookies, streaking the hallway at the pediatrician office, looking like a homeless kid because he was so filthy from daycare, and his hair a mess because he has more hair than some adults and there is nothing you can do with it...and that's ok! It is what it is.

You see, even the most type A, obsessive mom can be THAT mom. You don't know what it is like to be THAT mom until you've walked in her shoes. Maybe she is a single mom or a working mom that is exhausted and her child has been at daycare all day and is exhausted himself. Nothing is worse than a child who i exhausted and wanting attention after a day at daycare. Maybe those really are the best clothes she can afford for her child. Maybe her pediatrician recommended the child be on a leash when he goes to Disney or even the park (we haven't bought one yet, but plan to before our trip) because it is a safety measure, not a cruel punishment. Moral to this story is don't jump to make judgements. Every mom does the best they can, even if it isn't how you would handle a situation.

My name is Amanda and I was a great mom...until I became a mom.