weekend recap

We had a busy and fun filled weekend here on the range. I just have lots of pictures to post of my SJ. I know it may seem ridiculous to post so many, but she has adoring grandparents who do love to see what is going on in her world. In particular, there is a certain Peepaw who travels far, far away from home a lot and needs to see his girl :)

Well, we are gearing up for The Most WONDERFUL Time of the Year around here...

Scarlett and I made Christmas ornaments that we will give to our family members. This is a little tradition that we started last year with "paint your own pottery" ornaments. So, in keeping with our tradition this year I took the suggestion of my darling sister-in-law and went to Hobby Lobby. Two trips later and actually a lot less moolah, we were ready to roll (thanks Sarah!). We got our "crafting" on and right now the only word that comes to mind to describe our masterpieces is GLITTER. It is ALL over my house. Or so it seems. Guess who was in charge of the glitter "dusting"... yep, the little red-head.

This picture so appropriately depicts our ornament making roles. I applied the glue and Scarlett could not wait to let the glitter fly! Ha!, that smirk.

You may notice her little hand is blurred in this picture. That is because it was moving almost at the speed of light. Hints the glitter covering my dining room.

But this face makes it all worth it! This is the "ooooohhhhhhh, wow" face.

Scarlett has started a new, nightly ritual. After her bath (and if we can wrangle her fast enough to get at least her diaper on), she crawls to the top of our bed (bulldozing pillows all the way), pulls back the covers and hops in. It is really sweet. Mitch was just saying tonight how he thinks children should think their momma and daddy's bed is cozy (no, we do not believe in co-sleeping... just sweet cuddles before bedtime). I could not resist, so I got the camera...

You may notice where SJ knocked her little noggin (her right) on Friday morning when Daddy was getting out the door. She bruises easily and it already looks 100x better!

For whatever reason our SJ took a very short nap on Saturday and was therefore out-of-sorts for the rest of the day. One of her favorite things to do is to "color" in my planner with a pencil. This only happens in moments of dyer need, such as when your nap was too short and you may cause our house to self-explode (I am totally exaggerating!!). So I tore out a page and she blissfully colored away for about 5 minutes.

And finally, our tree is up and this year we have a very busy toddler who loves to "rearrange" the ornaments for us almost hourly. Sigh. One day we will miss this so we just let her go to town!!! Who knows, maybe this is an artistic outlet she needs :)

I just love those chubby legs!!!!

Along with working the nursery this morning at church, raking what seemed to be 10 tons of leaves during Scarlett's nap, enjoying a visit from my sweet friend Mallory (who is hauling a bunch of stuff for us to Missouri for Christmas all because she read on here that I was going to have to ship it... she is so thoughtful!!!) and hosting a mini b-day party for Uncle Chaz today, I think that pretty much sums up our weekend!

I hope you and yours had a fabulous one too. Thanks for reading!!!

baking and addiction

I have gotten used to using my phone camera to snap quick shots, but I miss the quality of "big" camera. These pictures of my little baker are a little fuzzy, but oh well. Scarlett and I made chocolate chip cookies while we waited for Daddy to get home tonight. He volunteered at the Dental Mission downtown so he did not get home until late. Scarlett poured in all of the ingredients herself....

And taste-tested it. I know cookie dough is bad, she just had a little.

Don't you love the little pony tail Scarlett is sporting today?

And she decided it tasted really good :)

Her Aunts KT and Beth would be so proud because they are cookie dough fanatics!!!

Speaking of KT and Beth, they are responsible for my newest addiction... PINTEREST!!! It is SO fun. I am trying to figure out how to embed a link on here so you can follow me if you want... I will keep trying!

Wishing you a warm, cozy night where ever you may be. It is quite chilly here on the Owen Range.

Making a list and checking it twice!

How is it already Wednesday night? This week is going by in a flash and next week is Thanksgiving, hooray!!! Scarlett and I have had a great week together. She is talking more and more everyday. I just love being her momma and being able to spend every day with her -- thank you Jesus!!!

Yesterday we met our precious friends Kristin and Kingston at one of our most favorite lunch spots, the Chick-Fil-A.

These two sweeties had just as much fun as their mommas! This is hilarious.... and I should have gotten a picture but I didn't. Kristin's husband came with them because he wanted a yummy lunch too, but she made him sit at a table away from us by himself. ha! He was a good sport about it, but poor Kingston kept saying, "Daddy?, Daddy?, Daddy?" It was so cute. I want to give a little "shout out" to cheer Kristin on as she heads to California to walk 60 miles over 3 days at the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the cure. You can see her adorable picture here. Go Kristin go!!!!!

So, here is where the "Making a list..." thing comes in. I am excited to say that I am 95% done with my Christmas shopping. Whew. This is the first time this has ever happened. We are going to be spending Christmas with Mitch's family in Oklahoma and Missouri. That is a first too. We are flying (thank you Dad!!!) so that means all of our gifts will need to be shipped. I don' want them to get caught in the overwhelming Christmas rush so I am trying to get them packed up and on their way as soon as possible. I have created my own little Santa's workshop upstairs... it's so fun :)

I am a little embarrassed, but I have to throw this in... I hope someone is reading that might want to get this for me (mama?, Mitch?)...

Monday mania

I have some new kitchen help...

And boy does she love it! She is the all time dish rinser.

We are trying to get our house back in order after being away for the weekend at the GMHC. It was a great conference with awesome speakers and fellowship!

19 months and a few other things

Little missy turned 19 months a couple days ago... amidst all of the Mitch celebrating I have not gotten to her 19 month post yet!

I have to say something before I post these pictures... Scarlett is pictured with one of her favorite animals of all time, Bell. My parents' 21 year old, outdoor cat. She is insanely old and healthy. I do love Bell, but I am not a cat person. I know I have a lot of cat lovers in my life, but I am sadly not one. I don't hate them, I just don't feel affectionate toward them. But, I do love that Bell brings Scarlett so much joy and I like to think Scarlett does the same for her :)

Scarlett - another month has gone by and you are still changing and amazing us with each new day! It is a joy to be your parents. Here is what is going on with you...

- You have outgrown all of your 24 month clothes (which is kind of crazy because that is mostly what I bought for winter!) and are wearing a 2T in everything.

- You wear a size 7 shoe and a size 5 diaper.

- You still love to eat! In fact, you like to help yourself to snacks but that usually causes quite a mess.

- You are very affectionate and love to be around other children.

- You talk all the time and Daddy and I have really started to listen better, I think! Some of the words you say are: momma, dada, nana, peepaw (which sounds more like pawpaw), Chaz, bubble, Jesus, Bible, duck, get & back (which are only said to our dog Callie because she is WILD), uh-oh. And many, many more that we just don't understand yet!

- You love to read. This is something that I am so thankful for. You will look through a pile of books for 30 minutes and point and say animal noises. It is so cute to watch you when you don't know we are looking :)

- You LOVE to roll around in the pillows on momma and dada's bed. You help me make the bed every morning, but your favorite part is getting up into our made bed and tearing it apart. ha!

- You love to tell us something stinks. You krinkle up your nose and wave your hand in front of it and it cracks us up.

- You LOVE your paci. We try to limit it to just nap-time and bed-time. I don't know what we are going to do when it is time to paci to go bye-bye... we will cross that bridge when we get there.

With your big blue eyes and strawberry blonde curls, you are 100% busy!!! We are so thankful for you Scarlett. We love you very much, Momma and Dada

~~~~

A few other things...

This pie may not be much to look at, but let me just tell you it is nothing short of divine! This is a Derby Pie. A Bluegrass State must have! This is what we had for Mitch's birthday last night and I meant to share it yesterday.

This is a recipe that my mom has modified over the years. It is really easy and delicious.

~~ Derby Pie ~~

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbs. Kentucky bourbon

3/4 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1- uncooked 9 inch pie shell

Preheat oven to 350. Poke a few holes in the pie shell and bake in pie pan for about 5-8 minutes. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pour into semi-baked pie shell and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

And finally, if you are big blog reader then you have probably heard about the erin condren planner before. I am here to tell you that all of the hype is for real. This thing is amazing. It is personalized and they did not forget a single detail as far as planning goes. I could not swing the $50-60 that they run for, I got mine at a greatly reduced price because I bought a voucher off Zulily and had a coupon. There are all kinds of promo codes for the erin condren site if you just search for them. Just wanted to say, I highly recommend it!

happy birthday and some of our evening menu

Happy Birthday to the man of my DREAMS!!!!!

Mitch, You are the love of my life. My strong and steady. My sweet heart. My best-friend. The most amazing Daddy to our precious baby girl and the fearless leader of our family. I cannot imagine loving you more than I do today November 8, 2011. But, ask me on November 8, 2064 okay? Now don't forget babe :)

Mitch is not real into the lime-light and he does love to eat, so I thought I would share our menu for this evening. Uncle Chaz will be joining us for a festive, man dinner. He loves to eat too. ha!

So, I asked Mitch a couple weeks ago what he wanted for his special birthday meal and he said, "hamburgers." Ha! I said, "Come on now babe, can I jazz it up a little bit?" To which I am certain he replied, "Sure." So, I immediately emailed my greatest cooking and recipe resource (other than my momma, of course), my best friend Beth. She is where I get all of the recipes I truly love. She is an incredible cook. So, she suggested these...

Hamburger Steaks. I thought I would share the recipe with y'all. They are in the oven right now and the smell is incredible! The only thing I changed was I added some chunky onion slices for flavor.

THE CREEK's HAMBURGER STEAKS

1 pound hamburger
salt
pepper
Worcestershire sauce
potatoes
little carrots
olive oil
seasoned salt
A1 Steak Sauce

Put hamburger in bowl and DRENCH with worstershire sauce. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (to taste - it takes quite a bit). Mix well. Form hamburger into 2 thick patties. Place each patty in its own aluminum foil wrap. (i.e. Set it on the foil and have enough room so that once you add the carrots and potatoes you can fold the top over and seal it.) Then I always place the foil wraps in round cake pans when I bake it so it doesn't leak all in my oven.

For the carrots: Place carrots in a bowl. Sprinkle lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place carrots in the foil around the steaks. **Sometimes the carrots are still a little crisp after baking, and I'm always disappointed when this happens!! So make sure that your carrots are not too thick. If they are, cut them in half, lengthwise. You might also experiment with cooking them in the microwave for a few minutes first to soften them up. I want to try the microwave idea next time I make this!**

For the potatoes: Dice about 4 potatoes. Put in bowl. Sprinkle pretty liberally with olive oil and coat potatoes. Then sprinkle liberally with seasoned salt and coat potatoes. Place seasoned potatoes in the foil around the steaks.

Once you have the steaks & veggies in the foil, seal the edges completely (like you are making a big envelope or pocket). Place in the oven at about 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. Bake until juices run clear and veggies are tender. Serve with A1.

Along with some other sides we are going to have another Beth recipe.... Corn Souffle

This would be perfect for Thanksgiving, if you need an idea!!

BETH's CORN SOUFFLE

1 stick butter

1 can cream style corn

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 small container sour cream (I always use Daisy reduced fat)

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

Preheat oven to 350. Put stick of butter in a casserole dish (I always use a round 2 1/2 quart one) and put it in the oven to melt butter. If you want to speed things up you can melt the butter it in the casserole dish in the microwave instead. Once butter is melted, add all other ingredients and stir together. MAKE SURE YOU DRAIN THE WHOLE KERNEL CORN!! Bake at 350 for about 1 hour.

Thank you Bethel for these delicious recipes... I had to give credit where credit is due!!!! Love you! I have to be honest, I cannot wait to eat this meal either! From my kitchen to yours, happy cooking :)

weekend of celebrating

We had a great weekend of (early) celebrating. Mitch's birthday is tomorrow. I will save all of my sappiness for tomorrow's post :) So anyone who is anti-sentiment, you are forewarned!!

Friday night we got to go on a hot date... and by hot I mean 1) because of the guy I went with and 2) because of the Thai food we consumed. It nearly burned all of our taste-buds off! And we both ordered a zero on the 0-5 spicy scale. But it was so delicious we could not put our forks down! Here is a little pre-date photo in the car. It seems like just yesterday we were dating :)

We enjoyed all kinds of food and fellowship, but one of my favorites was this delicious HOMEMADE carmel popcorn my mom made before we watched Captain America together. It was seriously addictive! And the movie was really good too.

These two live it up together on the weekends... here they are posing during one of their MANY Gator rides. So sweet!

TGIF!

It's Friday! Whew. This week has seemed long. Probably because Mitch has been studying non-stop, literally. He had his last HUGE classroom test of dental school on Wednesday. It was an oral pathology final and he found out yesterday that he got an A!!!!!!!! He is amazing. Way to go babe!!!! Come on May 6, 2012 (Graduation DAY)!!!! God is good :)

Well, I have joined the technology age. I now have a decent camera on my phone so Scarlett and I have been wearing it out this week ;) The quality is not so hot, but the convenience is great.

Here we are trying it out for a shot together (please excuse the no-makeup mommy look)... she always waves at the camera when she can see herself on the screen...cracks me up.

Halloween is over so that means I can start Christmas planning!!!! I ordered these very festive tights for Scarlett to go with a little red velour dress my mom got on clearance at Target last year. How cute are those chubby thighs in polka dots and stripes?

I found my sweet girl doing this when I walked in her nursery yesterday. We have a climber on our hands. She loves to climb on anything she can! Thankfully she has not figured out how to climb out of her crib.

We are looking forward to a fun weekend celebrating Mitch's birthday coming up on Tuesday. Hope you have a fabulous fall weekend too!!!!