Appreciation

As I approach the two year mark of Abigayl's arrival into heaven, I feel compelled to urge all who read this to appreciate the amazing people in your life.

I know first hand how quickly ANY life can be cut short and we never (on earth) get to share our love and feelings for that person again. Don't allow a tiny squabble to interfere with a relationship. Forgive and move on.

Take your children in your arms. Hug them tight. Tell them a hundred times a day how much you love them. Don't get mad and stay mad for the whole day. Think twice about getting on to them and really think about whether or not what they are doing/did merits being angry for longer than just a moment. Appreciate their personality and love them no matter what. Watch what you say to them because you never know how long it will affect them.

As a stay-at-home mom, I know how frustrating children can be but as a mother who has a sweet baby in heaven, I know how short a life actually can be.  Through the frustration, remember them as the sweet, tiny baby on the day for their birth. Remember all the love and dreams you had for that tiny being the moment you heard the first cry. Maybe that will soften your heart and allow the little things to wash over.

All I ask as we approach the most painful day of my year is that you take hold of your children and appreciate them. ALL of them. But, to also appreciate EVERY relationship in your life.

Many Faces....

I noticed that it had been far too long since taking a picture of my oh so handsome boy. So, during our walk yesterday I snapped a couple of the two of us. After reviewing them for the blog it occurred to me that they would all need to be posted because of his hilarious expression in each of the photos.

Enjoy!!


Sorry for the horrible layout. I'm trying to figure out blogger's new setup and we are not getting along at the moment.

Have a happy and blessed Tuesday!

Garlic, Rosemary and Cheddar Bread...

This bread is a must try!! Absolutely YUMMY! Plus, it is so easy.

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C wheat flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 C 2% sharp cheddar cheese
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 t rosemary (I used dried)
1 1/2 C 1% butter milk (I put 1 T + a little more than poured in enough non-fat milk to equal 1 1/2 C)

Mix together the flours, baking soda, salt, garlic, rosemary and cheese.

Add milk and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until it comes together. Place dough on a silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake 40 minutes at 375.

Told you it was easy! Now get in that kitchen and make some homemade bread for dinner!!

WWW- week 6

I am down yet another pound! I am now weighing in (on my new scale!) at 161... woo hoo. It is definitely a slow process but I'm hoping that means it will stay off, for good. Except when I get pregnant again and it all comes rushing back.

Won't that be exciting? You'll get to do this whole weight blogging all over again! I bet you can't wait. I know every Wednesday you check with absolute anticipation to see where my weight is! Right? No? You have no interest? Oh well.

Well, either way I want to thank you for the support. I know it is slow and daunting but it really helps me to blast my weight on the bloggasphere for all to read. Some how it really keeps me from putting that cupcake in my mouth... sometimes.

I love you all my wonderful readers! Thank you for keeping me going.

EWWW...

Yeah... that is what I saw in the bathroom! I about had a heart attack. It was big and furry and I was at a loss on what to do. So, I called Rusty and he told me to spray it with bug spray.

Spray it I did! I almost used half the bottle! The crazy part, I went back in to clean up some of the spray that had dripped and he had crawled from where he was sitting to wear the picture was taken!
So I grabbed a dish and covered him up until Rusty got home. Then I let Rusty get rid of the ginormous thing. I think it was borderline a tarantula.... gag. I HATE spiders.

Wore Out...

Our new Sunday schedule involves a trip to grandma and grandpa's house while Rusty plays flag football. When we arrived this Sunday little man had only slept for 20 minutes that day (it was 2:30 when we got there) and was super sleepy.

How can you expect him to nap when he is so excited to see grandma and grandpa?! Well, they had bought him a little stroller so they could walk him around the lake that is in their backyard. After being out in the warm weather with them and being soothed to sleep with the pushing of the stroller, he was out!

Fisher-Price House Party

As I have mentioned a few times on here, I was chosen by Fisher-Price and Houseparty.com to host a party featuring five toys from Fisher-Price.

Saturday I had over a few mommies with their fun kids/babies. The ages ranged from 7 months to 3 years old. I have to say, the toys were a big hit!

Ms. A enjoying the "learning kitchen"! She also liked riding on the "stride to ride dino".

Ms. K and Rowynn playing with "baby's first baseball" while Mr. K and Mr. R play with "spinnin' sounds speedway". That was a big hit with ALL of the kids!

It was really fun getting to see all the babies "play" together! Rowynn, Ms. K and Mr. S are all 7 months old.

Ms. K has GREAT taste in football teams ;-)

Isn't Mr. S such a cutie?!

Goodness. I just love this boy!

I just want to say a HUGE thanks to Fisher-Price for allowing me to try out these toys on all the wonderful kids. I also want to say thanks to Houseparty.com for allowing me to be a host to one of their amazing parties. I really enjoyed having a reason to get together with friends.

On a side note, Rowynn is officially a real crawler! I crawled from the living room into our sun room yesterday while I was on the phone! Then, today he crawled from the living room into the sun room while I was on the computer. I think it may be time for baby proofing. YIKES!

Red....

Yep, that's me! I decided to go red. I was tired of my drab hair and decided to liven it up with a bit of red.

After reading an article about hair trends on Yahoo!, which is how I make all of my decision (got ya!), I read about how to chose a red hair color to do at home. So, that night I loaded up my two boys and forced them to give an opinion. Seeing that one can't talk yet and the other doesn't have much of an opinion either way, I was forced to jump in feet first and go for it.

I decided on L'Oreal Superior Preference in color 6R light auburn. Yahoo! had said to pick a color that looks like a natural hair color on the box and I was really diggin' the girl's hair on the box.

So, there you have it. I am a red head like my husband and child. Maybe now people will tell me that Rowynn looks like me!

WWW- on Thursday!

I guess this is week five of my weight watcher journey. Wow. Time does fly!

Once again, I have lost a whopping one pound. I guess if I worked out 5 days a week instead of 3 I might see better results?! Oh well, three days is what I tend to be able to get in. I just wish our stupid weather would hit fall already! Here in the great (I say that sarcastically) state of Oklahoma we are still stuck with 90 degree weather and to top it off we still have that wonderful (again, sarcasm) thing we call humidity.

I'm hoping that when it cools off I will have more energy and be able to get out and run 5 days a week.

As for the actual weight watchers program, I think it is one of the best things I have ever done. I am learning more and more each day about my eating habits and how to make modifications. I highly recommend the program to anyone who is wanting to lose weight but gain a healthier life style.

Until next week!

Baby K

My friend came over with her sweet little man. Rowynn was so enamored by this little being! He just wanted to touch him and crawl up next to him. It was pretty cute!!

Seeing Rowynn next to baby K made Rowynn look like a giant! It is amazing how fast they grow.

I sure do love my little guy a whole lot.

I think it will be neat to watch Rowynn and baby K grow up together.

Boomer!! Sooner!!

Football season has started!! Being the OU football fans that we are (I married into it), we all sported our crimson and cream for the big day.

Jump

Rowynn finally figured out how to jump in his jumper!! No more swaying. Maybe now his legs will get strong enough to start trying to "stand" on.

LOVING his Fisher-Price toys

Since receiving all of Rowynn's new toys from houseparty.com and Fisher-Price, he has been super happy getting to play with all of them!
So far I think this fridge is his favorite toy. Especially the light. He waits for that thing to come on.



This Saturday is our actual Fisher-Price house party. I can't wait to watch all the sweet babies play with all these fun toys. I'm super excited that they gave me some stacker toys to give away to guests!

Christmas in September

This is the box that was dropped off at the door last night. I opened it up and was completely ecstatic. Just picture a 28 year old jumping around the house. Now picture that 28 year old with my face. You have now seen what I looked like last night when I opened this box.

This amazing package was all because of houseparty.com. Thanks to this AMAZING website, this is the second house party I have had a chance to host. I really enjoyed my last one and I am really looking forward to getting to together with all of my girlfriends and their amazing kids.

Here is what all I got in the box (some how I am missing 2 of the toys from pictures):





After getting all of the toys out of their boxes and putting together the ones that needed assembly, this is what our living room looked like (the other two toys were the green creature and the thing behind it).

It was finally time to get Rowynn up from his nap and I think he enjoyed getting to play with some new toys. I'm sure he gets bored with the same old ones all the time!



He was a bit on the tired and hungry side. Hopefully we will have more fun and photos today!

WWW- Week 4

Has it been a week already?! Wow, time flies.

It seems that the weight loss is just going to be SLOW and (hopefully) steady. Once again I have lost one pound. My current weight is 164 (6 pound loss).

My goal is to get a better scale and then I can take a picture so you know I'm not lying. Though I wouldn't lie. Would I? Hmmm....

No, I won't lie.

I have started week 2 of the Couch to 5k program and I am really enjoying it. Hopefully the running program will aid in a swifter weight loss. I know it is healthy to lose 1-2 pounds a week but it is so daunting seeing I have 24 more pounds to go! That means I will be writing to you guys for another 24 weeks. Yikes! That might get boring... for both of us!

Best Chicken Ever!

This is, by far, one of the BEST chicken dishes I have ever eaten. This recipe has been adapted from www.skinnytaste.com (all weight watcher friendly foods).

Asian Glazed Drumsticks

8 drumsticks
1C water
1T sriracha hot sauce (Asian food isle with the rooster on the bottle)
1/2C balsamic vinegar
1/2C soy sauce
4t sugar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1T cornstarch
1-2T water
1 1/2 t ginger, grated
1-2 scallions, chopped

In a large pan, sprayed with cooking spray, brown drumsticks on high for 3-4 minutes. Turning to brown both sides.
Add water, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger and hot sauce. Cook on high until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 20 minutes.
Remove cover and bring heat to high. Boil mixture until it is reduced to a glaze (~8 minutes). At this point, I mixed the 1T cornstarch with 1-2T water until combined and poured it into my sauce/chicken mix. It helped bring the mixture to a thicker consistency. Turn chicken occasionally to coat the drumstick with the glaze.
Place chicken on platter and pour glaze over the top. Sprinkle with sliced scallions.
Would be YUMMY served with brown rice that you could put some extra glaze on!

7 Months!

Rowynn turned 7 months yesterday! It is amazing to look at our little boy and know that he used to fit in my tummy and now he is working on crawling.

He has pretty much mastered sitting up and he is a pro at rolling over. He has two pearly whites and strong little arms that he uses to pull himself around with.

I'll have to get back to you with a weight and height number.

I have figured out that he LOVES dogs and I am excited to take him back to the zoo so he can go in the petting zoo area. I wonder if he will act the same way with goats as he does with dogs?

Picture Perfect

Our little Rowynn is getting so big and it is amazing to watch him go from a little lump that couldn't do anything to this little being that "scoots" around to grab the toy he desires. He can "drink" from a sippy cup. He has one tooth that has sprouted through the surface of his glossy gums and its twin is right behind. Plus, he is DAYS away from being SEVEN months old!

Where does time go?! I know that in a blink of an eye he's going to be walking, talking, fishing with daddy and helping mommy cook and bake in the kitchen. YIKES!

Cooper

Last night we had dinner with Rusty's cousin, Megan, and her man, Geoff. We met them at their house and they have a BIG mastiff, Cooper. Cooper has a love/fear relationship with the babies in his life! He stands as far back as possible and stretches his neck to sniff Rowynn.

When we returned to their house after dinner, Rowynn giggled every time he caught a glimpse of Cooper. It was the cutest and funniest thing and it went on for 15-20 minutes. If that kid could have crawled, I have a feeling he would have been chasing poor Cooper all over the house!

The best part was when Megan was holding Rowynn in her lap and Cooper stood behind Megan to sniff and lick the back of Rowynn's head!

A side story about Cooper and his love for my babies (maybe not just mine but I like to think so!), one day Megan watched Abigayl for us for a whole day. She said Cooper would stand at her pack-n-play, looking in, while she was sleeping or lay next to it like he was guarding her. Also, she walked in on him gnawing (gently) on her foot with Abigayl just looking at him. She wasn't scared or anything. No tears. Just staring and Cooper taking delight in her little tootsie!

If I could write the story correctly I would have you rolling on the floor. I love when she tells that story, it is one of my favorites.

WWW- Week 3

All right.... here we go again. I know you all are absolutely fascinated each Wednesday to read about my weekly weigh ins. Sorry if it is worse than watching paint dry!

This morning I weighed in at 165. That puts me at a five pound loss since starting weight watchers. I really wish that I could lose more than a pound each week! Although, I didn't workout a full five days this week.

Rusty and I have started the Couch to 5K program and I will be running the Zoo Run in October. Wish me luck! I will need it. I really enjoy using the C25K app on Rusty's iPhone, it makes the run go by quickly and keeps you from having to check a timer constantly. If you have a smart phone, I highly suggest this app if you want to become a runner.

Well, I guess that is all for now! I will see you next week with, what I hope, will be a much larger loss!