Yay for Dads!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!  Especially the two dads that keep me going every day.  I grew up with a dad who loved to spend quality time with us.  At an early age, he taught us values of hard work and discipline by teaching us how to ride horses and rope.  It later paid off as I took on other things like playing the piano and playing volleyball and basketball.  Most importantly, he was a family man who always had his family in a church pew and led by a good example.  Everyone loved my dad and liked to hang out with him when I was a kid.  I think one of the most important things he did for me, was show me what kind of man I needed to have in my life.  Which leads us to our very own Super Dad!

Adam is quite the super dad.  He is definitely a family man.  When we first met, he told me that his priorities were school, basketball, and then me.  OUCH!  But for some reason, I found it refreshingly honest and honorable.  He knew what he wanted and didn't want anything in his way.  But I also knew I could easily top those two priorities in a matter of weeks.  And I did.  :)  At the same time, he kept all his major priorities in check as he was an Academic All-American, graduated with honors, and was a

 pretty good basketball player.  He's a hard worker and provider for our family.  He quickly hung up those basketball shoes, turned away offers to continue his career overseas, and worked on getting his MAC (Masters in Accountancy).  Shortly after, I had a shiny ring on my finger, he was ready to be a family man, and he began his career with Deloitte.  Which brings us to...

Happy Eight Years with Deloitte! 

When we were talking about it, I thought I would put it in a good perspective for him and I told him it's like making it to 8th grade graduation!  Later he told me that putting it like that REALLY made him feel old.  It seems like during your childhood it takes forever and you grow so much from 1st grade to 8th grade.  But he was a sport and went with it and I got to take pictures of him going to work like it was his last day of 8th grade.  :)

Super Dad with his backpack

What keeps him going, you ask?  A bowl of oatmeal (which can easily be eaten at home but he insists on driving and eating it), a cup of coffee, a cup of water, and a grocery sack with his packed lunch and maybe a few snacks.

Here is where they safely lie.  I've recently had to steam vac the seats in this car because he's spilled coffee in the passenger seat.  One day I can see that bowl of oatmeal flying off of there.

Uh oh.  Super dad is getting sick of the pictures!  That's right folks.  He even takes the time to put our trash on the curb!

Since I had the camera and the girls were up after dad went to work, I thought I would capture them in all of their morning glory. 

She usually looks in the mirrors, pushes her hair back and says, "My hairs are wild."  A very true statement most mornings.

Here's my little big girl just sitting in her bed, playing with her stuffed animals.  That paci will be leaving us soon...

Adam got one gift really early.  I ordered it online and it got here really fast.  So we wrapped it and let him open it early.  It was an alarm clock that is also a docking station for his phone.  It charges his phone at night.  His old alarm clock was always 17 minutes slow because he spilled water on it one night.

I had Aubrie answer a questionnaire for Father's Day.  Here is how it went.

My dad's name is:  Adam

He is 3 and 6 years old.

He is __ feet and ___ inches tall.  Her answer is A BIG BOY!

He weighs 200 pounds

His favorite tv show is football.

His favorite food is peanut butter toast

His favorite thing to drink is Juice or water.

His favorite thing to do is play monsters.

He likes to wear a dress.  (I went back to this question several times and kept asking her if she was sure on that answer.)

My dad is REALLY good at muscles.

I like it best when my dad swims.

My favorite thing to do with dad is swimming.

When my dad goes to work he throws the football in the basket. 

Aubrie wanted to wrap 10 presents for him, so I bought a 10 pack of socks and she wrapped each sock.  They loved helping him open all of them.

Even Petey got to open one!

Hugs for dad.

Here's the other super dads in my family.  The one who started it all, the patriarch, my dad.  My brother Troy is the father to 3 wonderful boys who are getting way too tall.  He's such a good dad and has always taken good care of his boys.  And then you have Robbie who is a wonderful dad to his little girl Lindsey (the girls call her Lindsey Lou).  He's always working hard to provide for his family and has taught her how to wink without moving any other muscle.  It's amazing and hillarious at the same time.

I hope all you other dads out there have a wonderful Father's Day.  I'm especially excited for all our friends who have babies on the way and will be dads soon.  Adam has several former teammates who are expecting with their firsts.  Adam says Father's day isn't a big deal compared to Mother's Day, but in our house, we are going big!  You're celebrated here!  Happy Father's Day!

Love to all! Pin It Now!

Tacos Al Pastor

I came across this taco recipe several years ago and we love it.  It calls for a pork shoulder, but my grocery stores never have it.  So I buy a pork tenderloin and cut it into long, thick, strips before marinating it and grilling it.  It also calls for dried chiles.  If you live in the West, you know what to do.  But if you are here in TN, ask a produce guy at the store.  At Kroger, they sell tiny packs of them and they hang above the jalapeno and bell pepper section.  They are red chiles that are dried out.  If you love grilled pineapple, guacamole, and the taste of lime and cilantro, then you'll really love these tacos.  They are so flavorful!

Tacos Al Pastor

from Better Homes and Gardens

1 1/2 lb pork shoulder

2/3 cup zesty Italian Dressing

8 dried chilis

1/4 tsp cumin

1 cup pineapple chunks

1 avocado

2 Tbsp mayo

1 serrano chile

corn tortillas

chopped onion

cilantro

lime

Rip the stems off the chilis and wash out the seeds.  Put the chilis and Italian Dressing into the blender and blend until it is a saucy.  (I have a cheap blender, so sometimes it requires me to add a little water to get it going.)  Add the cumin and pour this marinade over your pork and marinate for 2 hours or more. 

Heat your grill.  Slice pineapple into rings or large chunks.  Grill the pork and pineapple. 

Meanwhile, mash 1 avocado with the mayo and diced serrano chile. 

Cut your pineapple and pork into bite size pieces and serve these tacos on corn tortillas.  I like to fry mine in a little bit of oil so they don't break and they heat up.  Top with avocado mix, chopped onion, cilantro, and squeeze some lime.  Enjoy!

The girls have been keeping us busy lately.  Emilie is still having table tantrums every once in awhile.  She hasn't completely opted out of dinner lately, but she still gives us a hard time.  Aubrie is also getting slower and slower at the dinner table.  It takes her forever to eat a meal, but she is a really good eater and will eat what you give her.  We just hope that Emilie becomes more cooperative these next couple of weeks before the baby comes.  She doesn't know this yet, but we plan on talking her into throwing her pacifiers away soon.  Poor Emi. 

One fun thing the girls have been doing is taking turns praying.  Aubrie has learned to sing her prayer at our bible study.  Emilie has quickly picked up on it.  A couple of weeks ago, Adam or I would say we would pray and Aubrie would hold up her hand and say, "No, I got it." and she would pray for our food and random people.  But now, Emilie has taken over the "I got it!" and won't let ANYBODY pray.  You'll start a prayer and she holds both her hands up and yells, "I GOT IT!" and then she prays.  And if you listen closely, she actually does pray for the food in front of her (rice, waffles, juice) but then she mumbles and you have to help her wrap it up.  Now when you try and sing a song, she no longer sings with you.  She'll come up to you and hold her hand up and say, "I got it." and start the whole song over.  And if anybody tries to chime in, the song stops immediately, you get told I got it, and she starts over again.  What a mess that girl is.

I made brownies the other day.  Here is my turtle eater.

Emilie is enjoying drinking her milk out of a glass.

According to Aubrie, brownies and milk give you muscles.

Here is Emilie enjoying yogurt.  She doesn't look like a problem, does she?

I made a new recipe I found on Pinterest the other day for Buckeye Brownies.  It is supposed to taste like Buckeye balls that we usually make at Christmas time, but it really didn't.  Don't be disappointed though.  They were delicious brownies with peanut butter in them!  You'll like them if you are a chocolate and peanut butter fan.  You'll also like them because they are super easy and the recipe calls for a boxed brownie mix!  So there's not much preparation.  Just a lot of eating!! 

Buckeye Brownies

from cookiesandcups.com

• 1 box (18-19 oz) Brownie Mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped peanuts
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Lightly grease 9x13 pan
3. With your mixer combine brownie mix, oil and eggs until incorporated and smooth.
4. Stir in chopped peanuts
5. Divide batter in half.
6. Press half batter into bottom of prepared pan (it will be a thin layer) and set the other half to the side.
7. In a large bowl combine peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk with whisk.
8. Pour mixture over the bottom layer of brownie.
9. Drop the remaining brownie mix on top of peanut butter mixture, pressing each spoonful lightly into peanut butter.
10. Bake for 25 minutes until just set.
11. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

I will say this, I use the Ghiradelli chocolate brownie mix and it required me to add some water to this, so if your brownie mix is pretty thick, make adjustments until it looks like a normal brownie mix.  Also, mine required me to cook for about 35 minutes.  Just test yours with a toothpick.  You know they are ready when the toothpick comes out clean.  Enjoy!!

I hope everyone is having a super week!  Love to all!

Pin It Now!

10 weeks to go

EVERYBODY PANIC!

That's what is going on in my mind.  I don't feel ready at all.  And I know what you all are thinking.  You have 10 weeks...get ready.  But you don't understand.  I'm so slow.  I'm not moving like I was during the good ol' days.  On top of that, my water aerobics class hasn't met in the past 3 weeks because the water has been too cold.  My back hurts, my feet hurt, and thankfully Aubrie is the world's best helper and will come into any room I'm in and pick something up if I ask her to.  She's such a great girl. 

But I'll get ready.  The nursery is a disaster.  Emilie's stuff isn't all out and we haven't unpacked any newborn clothing yet.  The mattress is turned on it's head and I need to wash all the bedding.  On top of things like that, I have a small list of honey-do chores for Adam.  Most are simple little things that I would like completed before the baby comes.  His two hardest projects are to finish changing the faucet to the master bath tub and to paint the half bath.   And it's mostly because we all know that once we add one more to the mix, our time will be limited for projects.  It doesn't help that the water heater was making bad noises and required a costly repair today and Petey likes to walk up to me and pant in my face as a reminder that it's time for his summer haircut.  It's always something whether you're expecting or not, have kids or not...it's always something.  I hope that if your weeks have been crazy, you're getting through it and you're able to see the good.

In the meantime, we are enjoying our two sweethearts.  We went to the zoo a couple of weekends ago.  The weather was gorgeous but we had no idea it would be so crowded.  Luckily we got there early because when we left, the line to get in winded through the parking lot.  It was crazy.  The girls had a blast.  We walked through some of the exhibits and the girls got to ride the train with dad.

Emilie was REALLY into the train.  She hung out of the window and her eyes were huge.

This past week, Aubrie went to Princess dance camp at Nashville Dance Center.  I wanted to see if she enjoyed it and would be interested in her doing it in the Fall.  We all know she's going to be tall and go through some tough growth spurts, so we would like to help her out.  This was a great camp for her.  Everyday a different Disney Princess was there and the girls learned how to dance, did a craft, had a snack, learned about ettiquette and played. 

Emilie enjoyed dance camp, too.  It meant that she got five half days of some alone mommy time.  We did things like went shopping, worked out at the Y, and went to the library for story time.  (above)

Each day I took pictures of Aubrie.  This was day 1.  She's getting so big, it's breaking my heart!

After camp shot with her door marker and crown that she made.

Getting ready to leave for camp in the morning.  Somebody was a character.

Here she is with baby sister.  She's got a magic wand that she made in her mouth.  Legs are crossed because that is what princesses do.

Last day of camp with all the princesses except Snow White.  She was registering for college.  Good for her...not just a pretty face.  :)

I'm glad she enjoyed camp.  I enjoyed watching her dance and getting into character.  After a couple of days, she started bowing down to me when she would walk into the room.  I could get used to that.  :)  Unfortunately that wore off.  But she still goes on and on about the princesses and everything she did.  She's at a fun age because her imagination is running wild and she can tell us all the crazy things she is thinking.  Her stories are pretty wild and entertaining. 

I made these tiny taco cups the other night because I knew the girls would enjoy them.  There's no recipe, it's just stuff thrown together.  I put 4 fajita size flour tortillas in ramekins and put them in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.  I then took them out and put some seasoned taco meat, Mexican rice, pinto beans, and shredded cheese inside and put them back in the oven for 5 more minutes.  Everything was already hot because I just made the meat and rice, so if you put cold stuff in your shells, you may have to do more than 5 minutes.  The girls really liked having their own little cup.  You can always add a dollup of sour cream and some salsa and avocados when they come out.  I even thought about putting some corn in there. 

I hope everyone is doing well and that you all excuse my long absence.  Like I said, I was panicking.  :)  Hopefully I'll get a lot done the next couple of weeks so I can enjoy the home stretch and take it easy.

OH!  And my friend Katie had her little boy last week.  I hope to share some pictures of him soon.  He's precious and I had a hard time handing him back over when I went to visit them in the hospital the other night!

Love to all!

Pin It Now!

Skinny Bangin Shrimp

One of my favorite places to dine when I'm on a date with Adam is Bonefish Grill.  I love that place!  And part of the reason I love that place is because of their famous appetizer, Bang Bang Shrimp.  They bring out a bowl with these wonderful breaded, sweet and spicy shrimp bedded on some lettuce and you just take some chopsticks and fight with your date over how many you get to eat.  They are so good!!  Luckily, this is a popular pin on pinterest and I decided to give it a try.  It's meant to be divided among four, as an appetizer, but I put it on a large bed of lettuce and made it the main meal.  It was so delicious.  Adam asked if we are still going to order the bang bang shrimp when we go to Bonefish now that we can make it ourselves.  The answer is yes, although their ceviche is a great alternative!

Bangin Good Shrimp

from skinnytaste.com

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp light mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
• 1 tsp Sriracha (to taste)

For the Shrimp:

• 1 lb large shrimp, shelled and deveined (weight after peeled)
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 3 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
• 1 cup shredded purple cabbage
• 4 tbsp scallions, chopped

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, and sriracha.  Set aside.  Combine lettuce and cabbage and divide among four plates.  Set aside.  Coat shrimp with cornstarch, mixing well with your hands.  Heat a large skillet or wok on high heat.  When hot, add oil and once the oil is hot, add the shrimp to hot pan and cook tossing a few times until cooked through, about 3 minutes.  Remove from pan and combine with the sauce coating well.  Place shrimp on lettuce and top with scallions.  Enjoy!

It's been a rough couple of days here.  Emilie came down with some type of stomach virus and had many dirty diapers, which then gave her a horrible diaper rash.  We've spent most of the week here at the house, fighting that rash and trying to get house work done.  But I can't really get much done!  I put on Sesame Street in the living room and then snuck back to my bedroom to fold laundry and turned on Live! with Kelly and tried to watch the host chat with Martin Short, who is always hilarious.  But they found me!  Not only did they come find me, they brought 15 million toys in with them and destroyed my bedroom and bathroom within seconds.  They LOVE playing in my closet for some reason.  I'll be looking for a shoe and have to sort through toys, lego blocks, and a shampoo bottle to get to my shoes.  They love it back there.  They got so loud, I couldn't hear the tv. 

Elmo no longer holds a magic spell over my children.  It's a sad day.  (That's ok.  Dora does.)

It happened again the next day.  We were upstairs and they were playing in the playroom, ignoring me.  So I thought, I'll sneak into the nursery, strip the bedding, move the mattress, and try and adjust the crib to a higher setting for the new baby.  Nooooo.  They found me again.  Now the nursery is trashed.  I got the mattress sitting on one end, bedding on the floor, and books and toys everywhere.  Nap time is the only time that I can get a room picked up and looking good for more than an hour.  They are pretty good about cleaning up if I ask them to, but they can make a room look real bad, real fast. 

I love them though.  They crack me up.  Yesterday Aubrie grabbed Emilie and planted a kiss on her head and said, "I love you Emi.  You're my best friend."  Then later she was correcting her at the dinner table and telling her to use her spoon.  Emilie loves to ring Aubrie's buttons.  Her latest favorite is to go up to Aubrie while she is sitting in a chair and back into her lap and try and sit on her lap.  It drives her crazy.  She'll push her away and yell, "No EMI!  I'm not a chair!" and Emilie with just look at me and smile and back up to her again.  Amazing how little siblings are wired to drive older siblings crazy.  :)

I was NEVER like that.  I was always loving and respectful to my brother.  :)
Love to all!

Girls in their patriotic dresses

Pin It Now!