Making memories.... of any kind!!

Last night, some friends and I were discussing how who ever made up the phrase, "the terrible two's", must of not made it to the 3's and 4's. From what I've been told, and experienced thus far, the closer the girls get to 4, the more dramatic they become. They are sooooo right. Case in point, our lovely trip to the Enchanted Forest today.

                                                                 The Happy Girl
At first, Amelia was super excited and ran around in awe of the animals, fake snow, and lights. Yeah, that lasted about 5 minutes!!! She quickly became very frustrated and mad because I would not allow her to climb over the white fence to join the animals in the snow. Now, I kind of understand this. Who wouldn't want to go play in the beautiful snow with all the fun animals??!!! Then, my excited little angel turned into a foot stomping, crying, trying to scale the fence almost-4 yr old - girl!!! So fun, right!

                                                          Stomping my foot
                                                      Pouting face - look at that lip!!!
                                                            Trying to scale the fence

                                                                      Full-on meltdown!!

Gigi and I should have wasted no time getting Amelia out of there. But, the blogger that I am now (hahaha), had to get pictures of her, before I could carry her out of there! That's another thing - my "blogging friends" and I were talking about... How, if we catch our children doing something funny, precious, or naughty, we quickly go get our cameras. We all think to ourselves, "this would make a great post on the blog'!!! Today was no different, which I think just infuriated Amelia even more. I think we like to capture all moments... the good, the bad, and the ugly!! Because they all do make great memories!!!

The day has finally arrived

Finally, I was able to watch Amelia during her ballet class. Her teacher, Ms Mary, invited the mommies in for the last 15 minutes of class. I have been waiting "patiently" for this moment. All the girls in Amelia's class are just precious and she has loved going to see all her "ballet friends", as she refers to them!! We are definitely going to sign up for the Spring!!!  I think I took over 150 pictures. It was just too cute!!

Happy Birthday???

The finished product
Happy Birthday!!
Hard at work
Another Happy Birthday
So careful
Ahhh, Christmas time!!! It is the best, isn't it?? Decorating the house, ornaments on the tree, buying gifts, making cookies. Amelia LOVES all of it!! Every morning when she wakes up and every night before she goes to sleep, she greets all the decorations. "Goodnight tree", "Goodnight reindeer", "Good morning Baby Jesus". "Good morning Nutcracker"!! She has really enjoyed listening to Christmas music and dancing to it. Amelia and GiGi were busy making cookies tonight. Amelia continues to impress me with her baking skills. She might already be better than me :) She made me laugh so hard tonight as she would throw flour into the air and shout out "Happy Birthday"!!!!!!!! I tried, unsuccessfully, to tell her to shout "Merry Christmas", but no, she insisted (man, I use that word a lot!) it was "Happy Birthday"! In my head, she is saying Happy Birthday to Jesus.... that would be so sweet! And, I am including a picture of our Extreme Makeover Gingerbread House. After I read the directions, I was able to put it back together. Thanks for the helpful hint Amelia!

The Nutcracker

We had such a wonderful time at The Nutcracker!! Amelia loved it as much as I hoped she would. She has been pretty obsessed with Clara and her "Cracky Nut" for a while now. She loves to watch the movie, hum the music, read the stories, and play with them :) My sister, Sara, and I grew up going to The Orpheum to see The Nutcracker. Sara was actually Clara in the same ballet 15 years ago! Its hard to see anyone else in that role now. Amelia watched with her mouth open. She even waved to the mouse king when he came out!! I am so excited to start this tradition with her!!

Next time we will listen to Amelia

The roof caving in
Bring on the sugar
This is all for me
Working hard
what it was supposed to look like
Gigi and I were so excited to make a gingerbread house with Amelia... So excited, that we, and by "we", I mean GiGi, started squeezing frosting everywhere in attempt to get the house put together as fast as possible. The candy was already open, and Amelia was digging in. After a few minutes, the roof started to cave in, then the walls, and then it collapsed. Amelia could have cared less, because she was still stuffing candy in her mouth. She just looked up at us and said, "You should've read the directions..." 

This almost 30 year old is TIRED...

Make a Smilebox photobook

You shall now refer to Amelia as "Princess Glitter"

Amelia is such a girly girl - and as a girly girl she loves princesses and loves glitter!! So, what did she pick out as her "Indian" (I know, not really politically correct) name?? "Princess Glitter", of course! She got to enjoy a great Thanksgiving feast at school on Friday and has been wearing her headband and necklace ever since. When I was talking to her in the car today, she would not answer me( I can't tell you how much this bothers me when she does this!!!!) Finally, she told me her name was not "Amelia", it was now "Princess Glitter". As soon as I called her by her new name, she happily answered me! There's no doubt, she makes me laugh every day!!

Recipe Round Up - So far, so good!!

Here 's are few pictures of the dinners I have cooked this week - Roasted Pork Tenderloin with an Apple Cider Reduction, Braised Beef Short Ribs over Blue Cheese Grits, and Southwestern Pork Soup. When I went to the grocery, I only spent around $45.00! That was eight dinners worth of groceries! I will post the rest of the pictures and recipes this weekend! 

There are just no words.....

Step One... check

Items found when cleaning the pantry out :

-19 boxes of rice

-20 boxes of pasta

-13 boxes of expired pudding

-Bubbles

-Dot dot markers

Fire Extinguisher - hidden behind everything, helpful, huh?

-Bug Spray

-A dustbuster

-And.... a hairdryer, no joke

Everything comes with a price. In exchange for me cleaning the pantry out, I told my Mom that I would be calling her out on my blog and posting pictures. It's only fair, right??

The BIG Challenge - Me vs Myself

I am just getting back from church and am inspired, excited, and ready for the challenge!!! 

Craig Strickland, our pastor, has been preaching a wonderful series on getting out of debt and living financially free. The challenge? Spend less money. What do I spend the most money on? Groceries!! Like I said in my last post, I love food, love shopping for food,  love buying food.  Honestly, I don't think I go too crazy at the grocery. My average a week is somewhere around $100 - sometimes more, sometimes less. However, I'm not the only one that goes to the grocery every week. My Dad usually makes a trip to the grocery and to Costco. And, my Mom will venture there to grab a few things too. I'm sure it all really adds up. From church today, I headed to Costco to stock up on meat. I bought two whole chickens, four pork tenderloins, eight chicken breasts, and ten short ribs for $52.83. My plan? To see how many meals I can prepare with the meat I purchased. My goal is to make leftovers from one meal into a wonderful, completely different meal. I am about to clean out and organize the pantry to see what's in there I can use. I hope to only have to buy fresh vegetables at the grocery this week. I will keep up with my shopping lists and totals and will post that as well as the recipes. Here is my meal planning so far -

-Braised Beef Short Ribs over Blue Cheese Grits

-Shredded Beef Short Ribs and Roasted Vegetables over Egg Noodles

-Pan Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Thyme Apple Cider Reduction

-Southwestern Pork Soup

-Grilled Whole Chicken

-Ginger Chicken Wonton Soup

-Lemon and Garlic Roasted Chicken Breasts

-Chicken Enchiladas

This may be a tiny step, but I hope I'm headed in the right direction!!!

Recipe Round Up - Making a meal out of leftovers

Ok, so I know I haven't posted a recipe in a while. Actually it has been a few weeks ( at least that's what I was told by a friend :) Well, I have not made it to the grocery this week which is way out of the ordinary for me. I'm usually there a few times a week  - I love it, really... I  love to go grocery shopping. I'm telling ya, I am obsessed with food, even when its not cooked yet. I really wanted something good for dinner tonight, but did not want to spend an hour cooking. So,  I started thinking of what was in the fridge.... half a container of pesto, leftover roasted chicken (from my french roasted chicken), cherry tomatoes, and leftover green veggies ( a mixture of edamame beans, asparagus, & broccoli). I made a quick trip to the grocery and bought some fresh linguine. I sauteed the the cherry tomatoes, and green veggies in a little garlic and olive oil for about 10 minutes. Then added the shredded chicken. I cooked the fresh pasta, which only takes three minutes. After draining the pasta, I put it back in the pot and mixed in the pesto. Then I added all the veggies and chicken and topped it off with some freshly grated parmesan. Took me all of 10 minutes (maybe) and I spent $5.00 - not too bad!!! It was delicious!!

I'm a cowgirl, baby.....

This has been a great, fun week for Amelia - western day at school, ballet, play dates with friends, shopping and lunch with GiGi and Mom, and going to see Madagascar 2... twice!!!  I am pooped!! Apparently, she was too!!

Girls Trip to KY

Make a Smilebox slideshow