Long week...

I'm late, again, on getting my weekly post written.  This week has just been a long week with the last couple days being a little rough for this momma.  So cut me some slack, won't ya?  Note the sarcasm in that last sentence. 

This week has actually been fairly uneventful for a nice change of pace (perhaps that's why it felt so long) so I don't have a whole lot to report on.  Big D spent Friday night with mamaw and pepaw.  Momma deep cleaned the carpets and worked some OT onSaturday  morning.

Sunday, was a yucky weather day. Yes, I said yucky; it's a scientific term to describe the weather. Google it if you don't believe me.  Anyway, if you know me, then you know I don't mind thunderstorms, but mention the word tornado and I'm a mess. Needless to say, that's all the weathermen talked about was the possibility of tornados. Big D and I were stuck inside all day. Big D and momma were both stir crazy; despite our best efforts to keep busy. As a side note, the downstairs playroom was a great idea!

The recipe for this week is the crockpot roast - a household staple. What you'll need is a nice roast (whatever cut you prefer,) a packet of ranch dressing, a packet of Italian dressing, a packet of brown gravy mix, and some water (I use about 2 - 3 cups.)  Mix the water and packets in the crockpot, then add the roast.  Mashed potatoes are a must!  Enjoy.

Of course, to end the post, here's a picture of Big D and momma.  Hope you make it a great week!

Un, twoo, treee Elephants!

This week flew by.  We did not have a whole lot planned, but we had a lot of fun.  Monday was a relaxing day around the house with some yummy food.  I made some chicken taco chili in the crockpot.  Very tasty and a nice change up from your everyday chili.  I was introduced to this recipe from my bestie, V, and now I'm going to pass it along to you.  The other thing I made tonight, perfect for a fall day, were pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling.  These are fantastically delicious!  I highly suggest trying them.  I made my own pumpkin puree out of some little pie pumpkins that Big D and I had picked up from the farmer's market; however, canned pumpkin will just as well.

To give credit where credit is due, here are the websites that the recipes came from and, of course, I adjust to my liking:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/11/crock-pot-chicken-taco-chili-4-pts.html
http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/10/08/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins/

On Tuesday, Big D's daddy wasn't feeling well, so for our health's sake, I stayed home.  Since I didn't have anything planned for our day and the weather was still nice, we decided to head to the zoo after breakfast!  Our first stop at the zoo is, almost always, the elephants and that was the case today.  Big D has been working on counting and today I was pleasantly surprised.  Momma said "Let's count the elephants" and this is the response as he points to each one:  "Un, twoo, treee."  No that's not misspelled, that's what he sounds like; and yes there were three elephants.  Eeek, I just love him!  Tuesday night we took some pumpkin muffins to one of momma's friends and his wife and caught up for a little while.  Big D got to see the music room with all the different guitars and musical instruments.  It was fun watching him listen to the stories and nod his head in agreement every once in a while.  What a charmer!

The penguins putting on a show for Big D!

The rest of the week was fairly tame.  And while we didn't have anything major planned, it was all the little things that matter anyway!  Wednesday, Big D spent the day with Pepaw and Mamaw since his daddy was still sick.  He had a blast, but I think he wore Pepaw out with all of the Thomas the Train viewing.  You can only watch the same episode/movie so many times.  Thursday, Momma ended up locked out of her house!  That prompted for a change of the locks so I had a working key and can avoid that situation in the future.  Extremely stressful, but cuddles from Big D before bed time melted all the anxiety away.

Saturday morning we got some chores out of the way and that afternoon, Aunt T came over for a while.  We headed to a craft show at one of the local high schools where Mamaw caught up with us.  It wasn't as busy as normal, which meant we could move without bumping into everyone.  I didn't end up buying anything except food related products; mind you delicious food products!  After dropping off Aunt T at her car, we headed to Mamaw's house for some dinner and visiting.

Saturday playtime, Neicy and Big D both in the tent. As a side note, recently I've been finding Neicy just hanging out in the tent.

Big D with his cupcake in an ice cream cone from the craft show.  He wasn't sure, at first, if it was ice cream or not.

Sunday, we headed to the grocery and then spent another quiet day at home.  We did our chores, played outside, played inside, and then played some more.  We've been slowly starting potty training and today Big D used his potty numerous times.  He didn't tell me when he had to potty, so I had to be very attentive.  Of course there were just as many accidents on the floor, but that's the name of the game.  I am still very proud of him and he enjoyed the sticker rewards.  Honestly, I think the only reason he used the potty was so he could run around the house naked!  No rush on the potty training;  he's still a little guy.

The weather here is supposed to get quite a bit colder this week with a chance of snow.  Wishing you all warmth and happiness wherever you are!  Make the chicken taco chili and pumpkin cream cheese muffins and you will have both warmth and happiness...just saying.

Halloween, November, and Time Changes...

Happy November everyone!  Hope you all had a nice Halloween and that the kiddos brought home lots of candy for you to snack on.  This week has been a busy one, as I'm sure it was for many of you as well.  Monday was Big D's Halloween party at school.  Mawmaw B took Big D to his party, where he made a spooky spider craft and did some trick or treating in the classrooms.  He received quite a few lollipops and I think he was afraid mawmaw was going to eat them, because he snagged the bag and wouldn't give it back.

Big D with his bag of lollies.

Tuesday, momma had a food day at work and everyone brought in some delicious food.  I made some beer bread and spinach dip, as well as some mulled apple cider.  As a new section of my blog, I will be adding a weekly recipe; so keep an eye out at the end for the spinach dip recipe- it was quite good, if I do say so myself!    Meanwhile, Big D went with Mawmaw B and Pepaw to the new Field and Stream opening, where he hung out with his cousins for a while.

Big D with his cousins.

Thursday, of course, was Halloween.  The weather was very uncooperative - rain and gusty winds.  Last year, Big D didn't get to go trick or treating because he was still too little and he had an ear infection.  Luckily, this year, the county libraries were holding indoor trick or treating, so that's where we headed with Mawmaw B, Aunt C, and daddy.  While at the library, momma and Big D received a huge surprise when Aunt T showed up with Mawmaw K!  It's been almost 4 months since we've seen Mawmaw K, so we were very excited.  Although, I will have to say, Mawmaw K isn't as sneaky as she thinks she is, as Aunt T and momma figured it out earlier that afternoon.

There's a tiger on the prowl in the library; stalking through the shelves.

Friday - dinner with Mawmaw K, Aunt T, and her boyfriend A at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  Unlimited crab legs contributes to the reason this is a favorite restaurant.  It was quite amusing watching A try sushi for the first time.  Their sushi is decent, but he really should have had something better for his first taste.  Big D, on the other hand, continues to constantly amaze his momma.  He tried (and liked) crab legs!  His favorite part, though, seemed to be dipping it in the butter and also trying to spoon feed momma clarified butter....yuck.  Oh, and they have a fish pond, which was right up Big D's alley!  The staff even fed the fish for him!

Mawmaw, look over there!

Saturday is our usual grocery shopping day, so we got those chores out of the way in the morning.  Ms. A, from momma's work, had offered to do a Fall photo session for Big D.  We headed down to the park and just had a good time while she snapped away.  Let me tell you how charming this boy is.  Rather, let me just show you since a picture speaks a thousand words!

More than I could put into words...

Sunday was a little more laid back with no set plans.  Big D went with Mawmaw B to visit Gigi and Poppy for a while and momma cleaned house.  The time change threw us off a bit, but Big D seems to be adjusting okay, but that could have been a fluke; I guess we'll just have to see how the rest of the week plays out on that front.  Overall, Sunday was a nice end to a busy, exciting, fun week. This upcoming week does not have a whole lot scheduled, so we'll see what fun pops up.  Maybe some decorating for Thanksgiving (one holiday at a time, folks.)  Here's hoping everyone makes it a great week; don't let those little things get you down!

As promised above, here is the recipe for the yummy spinach dip:

1 cup real mayonnaise

16 oz sour cream

1 package Knorr's dry vegetable soup mix

1/3 - 1/2 package dry green onion dip mix

10 oz frozen spinach - thawed and very well drained (squeeze all of the water out)

Mix all of the above together.  Refrigerate overnight for best flavor and enjoy!

Fall Fun for Everyone!

Hello everyone!  A day late, but better late than never.  These past two weeks the weather has become slightly cooler, sometimes a little too cool for my liking, and has been packed with fun Fall activities.

A couple of Tuesdays ago, Big D was feeling under the weather and his daddy was sick too.  This meant momma got to stay home to take care of Big D and even though he wasn't feeling good, I received lots of snuggle/movie time.  He seemed to be feeling a little better after his highly unusual second nap, so we headed outside for some much needed fresh air and pumpkin painting.  This was a ton of fun and quite messy!  Although it was messy, clean up was easy thanks to some washable paint.

That Sunday, we went to Hallzooween at the Cincinnati Zoo.  It was a beautiful day and boy was it crowded.  Lions, tigers, bears, princesses, and superheros, oh my!  I brought a tiger home from the zoo.  Check him out!

Last week, I decided it was time for momma to carve her pumpkins.  I handled all the knife work, of course, but I had a great helper when it came to pulling out the seeds and pumpkin guts.  Each time he stuck his hand in the pumpkin, he'd say "eeeeewwww" and then giggle.  His innocent laughter is absolutely contagious.  Just try to resist.

On Saturday, Aunt T and her boyfriend A invited us up for a litte get together they were having.  Big D and I had a great time.  He was a little ham and flirted with all the girls.  Like I said, just try to resist his charm.  On a side note:  I found a recipe on Pinterest for Buffalo Ranch pretzels that received many good reviews and I thought it would be a nice little snack to take up.  Don't waste your time.  Not good; they ended up in my trash can.

Sunday, Big D and I surprised great-grandma at church by attending service.  An hour is a long time for a 20 month old to sit still and for the record I did not expect that he would sit still.  With a little help from Thomas and Percy (choo choo) and some goldfish crackers, it ended up being a good first experience with a toddler in church.  It helped that the church didn't mind that he was competing with the pastor for loudest voice (choo choo!) or when he army crawled under 5 pews before I could catch up with him.  It was a good service too.  After church, we had a nice spaghetti lunch that Uncle D made. Big D thoroughly enjoyed the spaghetti and cheesey garlic bread and it showed on his face, hands, shirt, pants, and he even had a bit of spaghetti sauce up his nose. Heck, many adults have a hard time eating spaghetti with a fork, but Big D gave it a good try!

After nap time, it was off to Kinman Farms with Mawmaw.  It turned out to be a nice fall day and was perfect for visiting the farm.  Big D loved the petting zoo.  His favorite seemed to be feeding the cow and checking out the baby ducks.  My favorite part, and I believe Mawmaw will agree, was the petting of the llama.  Big D decided he wanted to pet one of the llamas, so he walked up to the gate and as he reached his hand out, the llama pushed his head through the gate causing Big D to jump. Mawmaw and I couldn't help but to laugh; it was priceless.

Whew, it's been a busy couple of weeks and I don't see it letting up any time soon, especially with the holidays coming up.  That's okay though, we all know the saying about idle hands.  Here's wishing everyone a spooky and safe Halloween!

Welcome!

First off, a warm welcome to everyone reading this.

The past several months have been quite tumultuous and as a result, I've had some difficulty focusing on the good.  It's time for me to turn away from the negative and start simply loving life!  As a result, I've decided to take a break from other forms of social media and instead put my writing skills to good use.  Writing weekly will allow me to reflect on the good of the week, instead of focusing on the bad, and at the same time give everyone an opportunity to keep up with the happenings.

As far as the direction of the blog, please be warned that until I get a good groove going, it may be a little here and there.  One thing I can guarantee is plenty of pictures and stories about my adventures with "Big D."

I hope that you all continue to read and keep in touch.  With all of that being said, here's a picture of me with my little tiger to hold you over until my next post on Sunday night.  Much love to you all.