Cookout

This afternoon our church Sunday School class had a cookout. Our teachers, Don and Dwain Bouldin, hosted the party at their house. They live in a very nice neighborhood and have a nice house. We ate lots of good food-hamburgers off the grill (thanks Don!), salads, fruit, chips, and cheesy carrots (that's what I brought). We also had all sorts of goodies for dessert!!!

I just love our class!!! Brad had to work during the first part of the cookout, so I was there alone with Parker and Halle. Everyone was so nice, making sure I had everything I needed, helping out with Parker when needed, etc. I am so used to doing everything myself all the time, it felt weird that people were trying to wait on me.

We had lots of fun!! They first passed out a sheet of paper to everyone with a list of different things, such has: who has seen the new Indiana Jones movie, who has been to Europe, who has a blog, who does something "green" in their home, etc. Then we had to get as many people to sign something on our sheets that was true about them. Whoever had the most signatures at the end won a prize. They also had a game called "Ladder Ball". You have these two stands with three different rods and you have to throw your ball on a string and get it to stay on the rod, each rod with a different point value. I only played it once, but quite a few of the guys were getting a serious competition going on. Halle played a few times and she was getting the hang of it by the end. It was definitely a hit!! You wouldn't think something so simple would be so fun, but it was!!! It is definitely something to invest in if you are having a cookout/party!!

Parker did so well while we were there. He loves being outside, so I figured he wouldn't be too much trouble. One of the other babies and he got into a little baby pool with just their diapers on. It was pretty cold water, but neither seemed to mind after a couple minutes. Everyone just thought he was so cute (which I will agree to) and he actually let quite a few people hold him.

The cookout was so nice because it gave us all a chance to get caught up with each other's lives. At church, we can only talk for a few minutes before we have to go get kids from their classes, so it was nice to finally get to carry a conversation with someone for more than 3 minutes!!! I feel like I finally know a lot of people in our class and actually got a few offers to babysit Halle and Parker so Brad and I can actually have a night out!!!

The Flying Biscuit

If anyone has ever wondered what I do all day long, today was a great example. After Halle gets off to school, my mornings are quite boring. I watch Good Morning America while eating some breakfast (still trying to finish up the 2nd loaf of cinnamon bread), watch the first 20 minutes or so of Regis and Kelly-I only really like the part where just Regis and Kelly talk about their lives. I will stay tuned if they are having a celebrity on that I really like. By then, Parker is back asleep for his morning nap, so I rush around getting dressed, making beds, doing laundry, loading dishwasher, etc. I usually always keep the tv on while I am running around, so I tend to hear about the family dramas being discussed on Dr. Phil. Although I don't agree with everything Dr. Phil has to say, I will admit that he does give good advice most of the time. I usually always watch the ladies of The View duke it out with each other over the many Hot Topics they come up with. Today on The View it was a behind-the-scenes look at how the show works. It was quite interesting and very informative. I never knew it took that many people to run a show. I also didn't realize that everything the ladies say has been written for them, even the jokes that Joy says. It makes you wonder why they get paid as much as they do, and yet someone else is doing all the work...

By the time the 12:00 news comes on, Parker is back awake and eating lunch. Today he ate half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a banana. He was starving!!! We play and then get ready to pick up Halle from school. Today she was quite ticked at me because I made her wear a dress for the Father's Day Special and she couldn't participate in gym class because she was wearing sandals. I am still unsure why she couldn't play the games because the sandals were strapped to her feet. They weren't coming off. She runs around in them all the time. Oh well.

We usually have some errands to run in the afternoon, and today we went to Target. Halle got a bright pink innertube and some new goggles for the pool. We headed home, got our suits on, piled everything into the wagon, and went to the pool (another daily routine-well, at least while the weather is warm). We swam, played, and had some friends stop in and swim with us. Halle practiced jumping in the pool through her innertube-she actually got really good at it!

We usually spend a couple hours at the pool in the afternoon and we head home starving for dinner. I make dinner almost every night, but tonight I got a break and we went to a new restaurant called The Flying Biscuit. We sat outside and there was a group of three high school boys playing their guitars and singing. I can't say they were the most talented, but they did attract quite a crowd of teenagers (probably all their friends from school). The food at The Flying Biscuit was SUPER GOOD!!!! Brad and I both got the BBQ Chicken Burrito. It came with a salad and of course, a fluffy, flying biscuit. I was really impressed. I guess they are really popular for their breakfast, but their dinners were good too!! We couldn't go home without a dessert, so we went and got an ice cream and drove around looking at big houses (something we haven't done since the first months we moved here). It's always fun to dream about one day living in a big home, but then I remember that someone would have to clean all that space, and that would be me, and then my dream kind of dwindles.

I always end my night with working out for 1/2 hour up at our fitness center. I took Halle with me tonight. She usually is always in bed when I go work out, but since tomorrow is Saturday, I let her tag along. She watched tv in the kids play room and I got done with my 3 miles as fast as I could.

That was my day, just like most other days. Nothing too exciting, but just another normal day in the life of Kellie.

Halle's Art

Every Thursday Halle brings home a bunch of different folders from school, one filled with poems we are supposed to go over, another filled with letters/forms from the teacher, and the other is usually crammed full with all of Halle's work from the prior week. There is always at least one or two pieces of art that she has completed. She does such a nice job on all of her work and I had no idea what to do with it all. Instead of just throwing it into a tub to be stored away, I decided to showcase her art on the walls in her room. At the beginning of the school year, the walls were quite blank, with one or two paintings hanging alone. Now, with the end of the school year just a week away, her walls are overflowing with art. We are running out of room!!!! I love going into her room to see all her colorings, paintings, drawings, etc.


This is a bug Halle paper mached. We hung it from the ceiling so it is actually flying in her room.Halle drew a picture of herself as what she wants to be when she grows up. "When I grow up I want to be a singer. I will need a microphone and a song"This is one of the walls in her room!!!
I can't wait for the many other art projects to come home from school in the years to come. Who knows, maybe one day Halle will become a professional artist!!!!

Sudoku

One of my absolute favorites things to do is Sudoku. If you've never heard of it, it is a mathematical puzzle that you try to solve in as little time possible. The puzzle consists of a 9x9 grid square, and each row, each column, and each of the 9 3x3 boxes need to contain the numbers 1-9. You always start out with some numbers given to you and then you fill in the rest of the box. Here is a picture of what a typical puzzle looks like:

Everyday when I am in line to pick up Halle from school, I try to finish at least one puzzle in my Sudoku book. I am usually successful and sometimes I even get 2 done!! I will admit, there have been days that I leave a few minutes early to pick her up just so that I will have a few extra minutes to work on a puzzle!!!

Today was a rainy one and of course it was my big grocery shopping day. Why do I always pick the rainy days to do my shopping?? We got quite wet hauling groceries to the car and then inside once we were home. I do a lot of my major grocery shopping at Super Target. For anyone who doesn't already know it, Target (or any form of the store) is my absolute favorite store. I definitely spend more money at that store than any other. There are weeks when I have gone up to Target 4-5 times, sometimes twice in one day!!! When Italian Charm bracelets were popular a few years back, my mother-in-law, Micky, bought me a link that said "I love Target". I truely love that store and pray it never goes out of business!!!

I made hamburger stroganoff for dinner tonight. My mom used to make it for dinner when I was kid, but I have never made it since I have been married. I always forget about it. It was a hit with the family, so I will definitely be adding it to my list of meals. I am always trying to find something new to make for dinner. I get so sick of the same ol stuff all the time. I also made cinnamon bread tonight- another new recipe. I actually found it while searching other blogs. Here is the link if you are interested in baking it.

http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2008/05/cinnamon-bread.html

It tastes amazing!!! This is what mine looked like. I ended up making two loaves because I accidently doubled the amount of butter needed, so I just ended up doubling the whole recipe. It's probably better that I made 2 anyways. The first one is almost gone!!!

We rearranged our living room this evening. I've always like to change things around every once in a while. I really like how it looks, plus the couches now cover up a bunch of stains on the carpet!!!

Play Group

Parker and I had our first scheduled "play group" today. Only 2 other moms and their babies were there today, but it was still fun. It was nice to get out of the house, converse with other moms while our babies played, and eat good food. Christy, the mom who hosted the play group, made scrumptious banana bread (my absolute favorite!) and a cucumber/feta cheese salad. It was super good. I could have eaten the whole bowl of salad, but I restrained myself. Unfortunately, we had to leave early because I had to pick up Halle from school. This afternoon, Brad came home from work early and we went down to the pool. He hardly ever gets to go swimming with the kids, so it was a nice treat for them. We decided on Hungry Howies Pizza and salad tonight. I love nights where there isn't hardly any clean-up in the kitchen after dinner!! Halle rented the movie, The Water Horse, and watched it after dinner. I got a nice surprise when my friend, Jackie, and her son, Carter, showed up and asked if I (and Parker) wanted to go for a walk. We ended up taking a nice long walk and talked about all sorts of things. The babies were so good, and it gave us a good work-out. I still went up and actually "worked-out" at the fitness center after the kids went to bed, so I got a double work-out tonight. I've gotta lose this baby weight!!! It was another great day!
I just had to post this pic because I thought it was SO cute!!!

Memorial Day

It always seems like Memorial Day gets more attention for being a day off from school, work, life, etc., and the real reason we are supposed to be celebrating the day just gets mentioned in passing. I will admit that the majority of my day today was spent relaxing and playing with my kids, but I did take a moment to pray and remember all those who have given their life for us so that we can live freely. I have quite a few friends whose husbands are either over in Iraq or are going soon. I don't know what I would do if Brad were to leave me for many months to go fight for our country. I give a lot of credit to my friends who stay home, trying to live a normal life, while their husbands are facing danger daily.

We spent the majority of the afternoon down by the pool. It was an absolutely beautiful day- mid 80's and pure sun!!! We packed a picnic lunch, swam, laid out, and I got a little sun burnt. I actually put sunscreen on the majority of my body, but I didn't get my back, and now it is quite pink and very uncomfortable. Hopefully, by tomorrow, it won't hurt as bad.

Parker loves his boat. He can go everywhere in the pool when he sits in it! Halle usually pushes him around.

Halle is a fish! She practiced her hand-stands and flips and she rode around on Parker's boat. We HAVE to get her a noodle or raft. I always forget to pick her up one when I am shopping, but it is going on the top of the list!!!

3 day weekends

I am so happy that we have another day to go before we get back into the grind of daily living. I think every weekend should be 3 days long!!! It always seems our Saturdays are filled with errands and cleaning and Sundays are busy with church, lunch, more cleaning... I need that extra day to actually relax. This holiday gives me a taste of what summer vacation will be like. Halle gets to be home, no rushing around, no homework, just enjoying the warm weather and sunshine.

This morning, we headed off to church. Our pastor is preaching a series on Jonah.

He talked about how we need to obey the Lord and be ready for His discipline when we disobey. It was a good reminder that the Lord only disciplines His children because He loves them and wants what's best for them.

On the way home from church, I stopped by Walmart to pick up my keys (read yesterday's blog if you haven't already) and then at a little produce stand in a gas station parking lot. I got all sorts of fruits and veggies and only spent $10!!! I will definitely be stopping there more often.

We spent the whole afternoon down by the pool. It was so warm out, the cool water felt nice. My friend, Jackie, and her 11 month old son, Carter, came over and swam with us. We all had a good time and were quite tired when we got back home.

I made a new recipe tonight. I am always leery to try something new, but it actually was a hit with the family!

Broccoli Chicken Casserole

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked

1 pkg. frozen broccoli, tender

10 slices of cheddar cheese

1/2 pkg. egg noodles, cooked

1 can Cream of Celery soup

3/4 soup can water

Cut cooked chicken into bite size pieces. Mix the soup with water. Throw all the ingredients into a casserole dish and cook 30-45 minutes at 350*.

It's really simple and tasted great!!

We ended the night with a competitive game of Skip-Bo. I actually won for the first time!!

Ready...Set...Go!!!

Well, here we go. I have finally decided to start my blog. It has only taken me a week to sign up, get my page half-way decent looking, and now I am actually "blogging". I really don't know much about having/using a blog, but I am just going to use mine to share special moments in my life that I don't want to forget.
Today started out so nice. Both kids actually slept in for a change. Usually, I am up by 7:30am with Parker, but today I woke up at 9:00 and checked on both Parker and Halle, and they were still snoozing. I couldn't believe it!! We just relaxed around the house and stayed in our pj's until about 1:00pm.
This afternoon was a different story. We decided to go to Wal-mart to look for a few specific items that I haven't been able to find. I hardly ever shop at Wal-mart because there really isn't one close to where we live. The items we were looking for ended up not being there, however, I seemed to still buy a couple bags worth of stuff. When I got out to my car I couldn't find my keys anywhere. I had let Parker play with them while we were in the store because he was so fussy and they tend to keep him occupied while we shop. I ran back into the store to see if they were in the bottom of the cart, but someone had already taken the cart we had been using. I went to the service desk and asked if anyone had turned some keys in, but they said no. So, while I was holding Parker, who was extremely fussy because he was tired, and a couple of heavy bags, Halle and I started to walk the route we took in the store. The keys were nowhere to be found. I was pretty sure they were probably still in the cart, which was somewhere in the midst of the other 100+ carts inside the store. So, I start calling Brad, who was at work. He, of course, did not answer the first 5 times I call. I was getting quite upset, sweating like mad, and panicking that I would be stuck at Wal-mart for who knows how long. Thank heavens for texting!!! I finally got a hold of him (through text) and told him he needed to come and save me. He was able to leave work right then and head over to Wal-mart. While waiting, Halle and I decided to take one more trek around the store, but we had no luck. About 25 minutes later, Brad showed up to save the day with the extra set of keys. When we got home, we got a call from Wal-mart saying our keys had been found!!! I was so happy!!! Unfortunately for Parker, he will no longer be able to play with the keys while we shop.
After all that drama was over, we headed out to get a bite to eat and then to a concert in the park. It was a beautiful night and there were tons of people there. We made ice cream sundaes with some of our friends and listened to the band play a bunch of different songs. The night ended so peacefully.
What a day!!! I will admit- it was a great one to start my blogging journey!!!