Chopped!

My side of the family all went on vacation a couple of weeks ago...everyone...8 adults and 5 kids (all 3 and under!!). It was as relaxing as having 5 kids all in the same house can be. We took lots of walks to the beach, went to the pool on a daily basis, and drove to a couple of beaches. Having kids made us take it easy - we didn't try to do too much since they needed (and I mean needed) their naps and early bedtimes. A typical day for us was ...wake up (times varied depending on the children - we were up early because our precious Brice likes to wake up early), eat some breakfast, walk to the ocean, play, eat lunch, go to the pool, take naps - the kids and sometimes the adults, play, maybe walk back to the ocean, feed kids dinner, baths for kids, bed for kids, adult dinner (more about that later on), then dessert and maybe a card game or two. Sounds crazy, but by the end of the week, we had it down to an art, and it wasn't too bad. Since the kids were outnumbered - for now at least - there was usually an extra set of hands if someone needed help or needed to rest. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the week...you can check out my album on facebook for the rest of the pictures.

Our home for the week...it was just as pretty inside!

Just too pretty not to post.

Rider showing off...

"Boat boat"...Brice's favorite game to play...point out every boat he sees (and doesn't see).

Mommy and Brice at the beach.

Darren caught a shark...a baby one, but hey - it was a shark!

I promised (and I know you are dying to know) that I'd talk about our dinners. You might remember my post a while back about my dinner challenge. Well, that idea blossomed into a fabulous dinner menu for the week. Now, the kids all still ate mac 'n cheese, ravioli, hot dogs, avocados, etc. But, the adults - man, we ate good! So, each couple created a list of 4 ingredients (a la another Food Network show - Chopped), we drew names and traded lists. Every night, during the kid dinner, bath, bedtime, one couple was releived of those duties, and got to cook dinner for the adults. (May not sound like a good trade off, but trust me, not having to feed, bathe and put kids to bed every now and then is VERY nice!) Each couple paid for the groceries they used for their meal, and it was fun to see what we could eat for - no one's dinner was over $10 a plate, and every dish would have easily been more than that in a restaurant. So, here's what we created...

Beth and Clark...Sirloin Oscar with Spinach noodles and a lemon, garlic sauce. The sauce on the sirloin was a crab bernaise sauce...sounds fancy, and it was delicious!

Brad and Crystal...Shrimp Scampi with linguini and a lemon caper sauce and a fruit salad. Theirs was my favorite!

Mom and Dad...Toasted walnut grouper with a fruit salsa and mashed sweet potatoes. Can't get much better than fresh - and I mean fresh! - fish!!

Darren and I...Bacon wrapped cream cheese and jalepeno stuffed chicken with an adobo peanut butter spread and jalepeno spoonbread and salad with avocado vinagrette dressing. In our defense - our ingredients were by far the most difficult...jalapenos - no big deal, peanut butter - what??, ritz crackers - what??, and polenta (we used this, but it was not very tasty the way I did it...maybe I'll try it again someday). Oh, and I made sopapilla cheesecake for dessert...thanks to my friends for their help with the recipe! :)

What a fun week - it was good to get home, but Brice still asks to go to the beach...almost on a daily basis. I'd love to be able to grant him that request! Maybe next year buddy!

You can check out a couple other blogs if you haven't read enough...my sister, sister-in-law, and dad have also blogged about our time together!

Mmmmmm

Mmmmm...that is what Brice says when I am eating something that he wants. It's also the way I get him to try new things....I will eat it, say "mmmm" then suggest he try it...it usually works. Anyway, we like food around our house. We also like to watch cooking shows. Brice will watch almost an entire episode of Rachel Ray - no joke. I am convinced Brice is going to be a little chef - which is fine with me - maybe one day he'll cook me dinner! Here he is helping "cook, cook" - which he asks to do every day around 5 o'clock. Yeah, it's Hamburger Helper - don't judge - read on! :)

Anyway, one of our favorite summer shows is Next Food Network Star. I wish I was getting some sort of compensation for promoting their show - even some free food would be nice. I'm not, but I'll still tell you that we like the show. So, every week they have some sort of culinary challenge. So, this week, we had our own "dinner challenge". Now, I think I'm a pretty good cook - if I have a recipe. If I don't have a recipe, forget it. But, here's how the challenge worked...Darren gave me 6 ingredients that I had to use in our dinner...no computer to use to look stuff up, no cookbooks, just my little brain. My ingredients were: cherries, honey, pineapple, carrots, avocado, and chicken. Here's what I came up with:

Honey-Balsamic Glazed Chicken

Pineapple, Red Pepper, and Avocado "Relish" - here's a pic - I didn't think about taking pictures until after we were done, but there was some left over.

Honey Glazed Carrots

Cherry, Berry Sauce for dessert - and a pic of this too. Not the greatest picture, but it was delicious!



Darren told me I won the challenge...not sure who I was competing against, though. Nonetheless, it was a fun way to change up the daily "What's for dinner" question!

Fourth of July Weekend

So, I realize it's too late to wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July, and it is getting too late to even talk about what we did. So, I am taking a break from my mom duties - which have included - in no particular order lately - trying to get Rider to nap, dishes, trying to get Rider to nap, laundry, trying to get Rider to nap, cooking dinner, trying to get Rider to nap, enjoying some time at the pool with Brice, and trying to get Rider to nap. Thankfully, right now, Rider is napping peacefully in his swing...I better type fast...when he does nap, it is usually for about 45 min. I seem to remember a while back, I posted that Rider is a good napper...not so anymore. Never again will I blog about how well my boys sleep...everytime I mention it, they do just the opposite. Anyway, this isn't a post about Rider's napping...it's about our Fourth of July...

Me and my two firecrackers...precious boys!

We went to Franklin's July 4th celebration...Franklin on the Fourth. They had a petting zoo, that Brice wasn't too sure about, but he eventually warmed up enough to walk around at least. I must say, it was somewhat of a stretch for me to be in there with the animals, too. Not really my thing!

Anyway, here's a pic of Brice and I with Eeyore.

Darren had Rider duty, and Rider cooperated nicely by sleeping in his Snugli.

Brice with his flag...he will say "cheese", but you better be fast...he doesn't hold the smile for long!

And Rider with his flag.

I won't bore you with our evening activities - which included a dinner challenge (see "Mmmmm"), a 7 o'clock bedtime for the boys, and a movie during which I fell asleep. Yeah, I won't bore you with those details. It was a fun, relaxing day, and any day that I get to spend with Darren and the boys is great - no need for fireworks here!

Dad-Dad, Dee, and Dedication

My dad, "Dad-Dad" as he is affectionately known to Brice, came to visit last week. He had a conference in Nashville, so he decided to make a week of it. Brice had tons of fun - it's nice to have someone other than mommy around all day! Dee came later in the week to spend the weekend with us and to see Rider dedicated at church on Sunday. It was a great time, and as always, so good to see family! We were sad to see you go...Brice cried for a good 5 min after they pulled out of the driveway, and even tried to run down the street after them. Thankfully we'll get to see them in 3 weeks when we go to the beach! Here are some pictures of the week...

Our closet under our stairs was a DISASTER! I wish I had taken a before picture, but here's the after...my dad helped put shelves up, and it is much, much better! Sometimes I go in there just to see how good it looks. :)

Dad-Dad loves to build things...so after we got the shelves put up, he used the leftover wood to make Brice his own seat outside.

We took the boys to the pool twice - Brice is a huge fan of the "la-la-la-la" (water).

Rider and Dad-Dad hanging outside


We went and checked out the Belle Meade Plantation...here are Dee and Brice in their gardens.


Rider's Dedication at church. It was a special day! We are so thankful for a church and a church family for Rider to grow up with. Even though our family isn't close, our boys will have people who will be like family, and that is a great feeling.


Thanks for visiting Dad-Dad! We had a great time! You still take care of your little girl pretty well! :) Oh, and Happy Birthday!!! We love you!!


And, if you're bored, you can check out Dad-Dad's blog we set up for him while he was here.

Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum

Brad, one of Darren's friends from KC, came to visit last weekend for the Eddie Vetter...er... Vedder concert here on Thursday night. We had a great time with him while he was here. He was a trooper and endured Friday with me and the boys while Darren worked - surviving Brice's fits and all. We enjoyed a great show at the Bluebird on Friday night...if you're ever in Nashville, I highly recommend a show here...but, make sure you get your tickets as soon as you can (they are only available a week before the show, and the sell out quick!).

On Saturday, Brad and Darren took Brice on a roadtrip to Louisville to visit the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. You know - the famous Louisville Slugger bats? They make them here! Being the baseball fans that they are (Brad, we don't hold it against you that you are a Red Sox fan), this was at the top of their list of things to do. So, they took the 3.5 hour trip north. Oh yeah, and Brad got to check Kentucky off of his "States to visit" list.

On their way there, they stopped off at Chaney's Dairy Barn for some lunch and ice cream.

Rider and I stayed home (and enjoyed a rather relaxing day, I might add), but they were reminded of me anyway. This brand of popcorn shares my name...all the way down to the spelling! Crazy, huh?

Brad, Darren and Brice on the big glove scuplture...which also doubled as Brice's playground for a little while.

And of course, Brice had so much fun that he crashed on the way home. I know he had a great time!

Thanks for visiting Brad! We thoroughly enjoyed your company! Oh, and Brad also has a blog...check it out...he's a pretty funny guy!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Darren!!

You'd never brag on yourself about how great a dad you are, so I am going to take this opportunity to brag for you. You are such a patient, loving, FUN "daey" (Brice's new way of saying daddy). I love it that every weekend, you want to make it so special...doing things the boys enjoy. I love it that when you get home from work, you put aside all other distractions and focus on them. I love to watch you playing cars with Brice or cuddling precious Rider. I love when you laugh with them - I see such joy in your interactions with them. You are a wonderful daddy, and our boys are so blessed to have you in their lives. I, too, am beyond blessed to be able to share in our journey through parenthood with you!


Happy Father's Day to my sweet dad, too...aka "Dad-dad"!

I have so many fun memories of times we spent together - design building, buddy trips, swimming in the rock swimming pool in Coffeyville, the list could go on forever! You set the bar high, and for that, I am forever grateful! I am super excited for you to come visit tomorrow!


And to Darren's dad...aka "Papaw"...Happy Father's Day!!


I am so thankful to you for your influence on Darren's life...for the values that you taught him, and for being such a great example of a father! We hope you guys are having fun in Germany...or Italy...or wherever you are right now! :)

And, finally, Happy Father's Day to the Great Grandads, too! We love you, and well, without you, none of us would be here! Hope your day is great!!

A Trip to the Zoo (and a look into ours)

Brice absolutely loves animals, so we've been wanting to take him to the zoo for a while. Saturday ended up being that day! We took both boys to the Nashville Zoo. Unfortunately, many of the animals were snoozing in the back of the exhibits - I don't blame them - it was a hot one! But, we were able to see many animals that Brice had only seen in books up until now. He had a good time, as far as we could tell.

Here is one of Darren and Brice checking out the elephants.

This was Rider the whole time we were there. He took his cue from the animals.

The elephants were HUGE! Thankfully, you can't say that about me anymore (or at least, please don't, even if you feel like it!)

One of the best parts - they have a little petting area full of goats, birds, donkeys, etc. Brice loved the goats - ran around saying "goat, goat, goat" and saying hi to them all. Here is one of his new friends.

Here are Darren and Brice hanging out with the lemurs.

And because I found the giraffes so intriguing and amusing...did you know that they have the same 7 neck bones that we do, theirs just grow to be a foot long each?!?

And now for a quick peek into our own little zoo we have here at home...

Brice has found a new use for sidewalk chalk...

Brice has found a new use for his lion toy (he's mowing the yard - no joke - he pushed the thing all across the yard - back and forth for a good 1/2 hour!) He then proceeded to "pull weeds" (which meant, he pulled random handfuls of grass) and redistribute mulch. Must have been a day for yard work!

Here's Rider showing off his new trick - he can sit! Well, not on his own, but still -he's a strong kid!

Gotta have a bath pic. :)