The At Home Gym

She just realized that she could climb in when the side to the crib is down..
this is a whole new world of fun for her. :)

Love,

Fun Finds

What a Great find! :)

I stumbled upon this recipe when I was blog hopping...

Mexicorn Salad

2 ripe avocados, peeled and diced

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

3 tomatoes, diced

1 1/2 cup Jack/Cheddar cheese, shredded

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can mexicorn, drained and rinsed

Combine all above in a large bowl.

Mix the juice of 2 limes,

1 Tbsp. olive oil, a pinch of salt, and garlic powder to taste and drizzle over salad.

Serve with corn chips.

I'm making this recipe on Saturday.. i'll let y'all know how it goes :o)!

Another interesting find! I originally saw this one on Tip Junkie - but then quickly clicked over to their page Kari and Kijsa.. this was done with chalk board paint.. but they mentioned a product that I am certainly going to try.. chalkboard stickies. They supposedly stick anywhere and you can reuse them.. hmmm... possibilities are endless.

Family Wii-kend

We had such a great weekend with my parents and brother in town! We all had a great time and enjoyed our time together - In our down time we played my brother's Wii - so addicting... I don't want to know how many hours we spent!!

While they were here we had a mini birthday party for audrey - two weeks early, but she doesn't know the difference - and it was nice to have some family here to celebrate with us!
I made her this birthday cake (which she didn't even eat - she just picked all the blueberries off of her piece and ate those.. {this surely isn't my child} we all ate enough for her! We gave her a BIG present from my mom and dad, us, and the chapmans, careys, browns, stanfields, leflars, reeves' - THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! she LOVES her new kitchen and refers to it as "birthday kitchen!"
After that we went downtown to site see and hear some (not that great) live music...but it was still a fun outing - we got ice cream and then did a lot of walking to work it off :)

Another fun thing we did was go to a hibachi grill. they gave us SO much food.. i thought we were all going to pop! audrey had fun playing with chopsticks and she LOVED all the food..

We were sad to see them go - Thanks so much for coming to visit us in Greenville - We loved having y'all here!

miss y'all already!

Mucho Bueno Tacos

TACO TIP:
wow! i never knew how restaurants did it - here's the trick to making ground meat extra fine for tacos or whatever your mexican dish is.. i tried this and YES it works! why oh why have I never seen this before?! :) Oh yes, the Viator's (my family) are gonna LOVE THIS! we ate so much mexican food growing up!!

Click Here for the tip! <--- i browned 2 lbs of meat to only one 8oz can of tomato sauce - and it was perfect!

baby mac

I had my first doctor's appointment today and everything looked GREAT!

I was a bit confused after leaving about when my actual due date is... during my examination the doctor said that I was definitely at least 7 weeks 5 days along, maybe further (he estimated t the due date at Mar.4). Then, in the ultrasound the baby measured only at 6 weeks 4 days (Making the due date Mar. 11th) I decided to take it upon myself

{{the medical professional that i am..}} to split the difference and keep it at March 8... making me 7 weeks & 3 days..

It was AWESOME to see that tiny miracle in my belly and hearing the little heart beat (145 bpm) loud and clear! It was NOT SO AWESOME to learn that I have already gained 3 pounds~!!~!! UGH! i need to watch it!!

by the way.. THIS IS MY 100th POST! thank y'all for reading and letting me carry on about anything and everything! ;) and a *special* thank you to the peanut gallery - i love reading comments - it makes me feel like someone is actually reading this blog.. so keep 'em coming..

Fun Friday Project

this one is yellow & purple - the picture made the purple look a little extra dark... (LSU colors.. if you were wondering why the odd color combination!)

I just added some pom-pom trim and decorative ribbon to some plain ole gerber burp cloths .. (this is not my original idea - I copied some that were in my mom's store) they're even cuter when they are monogrammed! Some are gifts and some are to possibly to sell in ThreadWorks ...it was fun to break out the old sewing machine and get crafty! I miss my sewing nights with my girlfriends back in Katy.. we had so much FUN!

Where does it all go?

I've alway wanted to know where we spend what $$-but never follow thru with all of the data input - here is a really cool site I came across in Real Simple Magazine...

WWW.MINT.COM

Mint automatically categorizes your transactions to make it easy to see how much you’re spending on food, gas, groceries, entertainment, and more. Some handy reporting and budgeting tools allow you to see your spending trends over time and drill down into individual categories to see how often and how much you spend at your favorite stores.
Spending trends throughout Mint show spending history for different merchants and categories automatically (you don't have to imput the info - it automatically retrieves it for you.)

Very COOL! and did you hear FREE?

here are some of their credentials:

Award-Winning Money Management Software— Because Mint.com solves the long-standing problem of easy, automatic and online money management, we’ve caught the attention of major national media and won recognition and multiple awards from PCWorld, BusinessWeek, Lifehacker, TechCrunch and others. Click here for more information on product reviews and awards. We’re honored --- but the benefits go to you! You can get access to everything that Mint.com offers with a quick, five minute, set up today. No need to go find your credit card; Mint.com is free!

check it out!

Miracle in the Making..

Our baby's just about the size of a pencil eraser, but is already developing amazingly distinct facial features! Dark spots mark the areas where her eyes and nostrils will be, and his/her arms, legs, hands, and feet are taking shape too. Since fingers and toes have not appeared yet, at this stage these limbs almost look like tiny paddles. The baby's brain is also growing more complex; if you could take a peek, it would be clearly visible inside the transparent skull. And he or she's started to move in small jerky motions, although you won't feel these movements until about your fourth month of pregnancy. And how cool is this: I'll likely get to see my teeny, tiny baby through an ultrasound at an upcoming prenatal visit!

I've been feeling pretty good - I get a case of the "queasies" every morning and sometimes afternoons too... not too bad most of the time - however, the feeling of starving to death but nothing sounds good to eat is kind of frustrating - but all worth it in the end! I've also been super sleepy, which is to be expected.. so far no throwing up - so I'm happy! ;)

GUESS WHAT?!

I'm only about 6 weeks along... and haven't even been to the doctor yet ;) I just couldn't contain myself any longer - We're THRILLED!

my first appointment is on July 22 at 10:00 - in the meantime, please be praying for a healthy pregnancy!

WOO WHOO!,

Last Night's Dinner

Ok.. girls - here's a super simple and quick dinner to add to the rotation.. PEPPER BEEF (growing up we called it Pepper Steak.. but whatever...I just like the fact that it isn't ground beef or chicken.. something a little different..
I got the recipe from Lake Charles' famous "Pirate's Pantry" cookbook.. (Page170 for those of y'all reading this from the great state of Louisiana...) I did change a couple of things though - in my opinion, for the better :)

You'll need:
1 to 1.5 lbs of lean beef cut into 1/4" strips -
(I buy the beef sliced & ready to go in the meat section labeled "stir fry beef")
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 (i do a heaping) teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Accent (not sure if this is vital to the recipe - but it is a seasoning)
1 teaspoon salt
3 bell peppers cut in strips
1 onion cut in strips
vegetable oil

cooked rice - to serve pepper beef on top of

Mix beef with soy sauce, cornstarch, pepper, salt & accent - set aside.
In a large skillet, saute bell pepper in about two tablespoons of oil
Once those get going a little bit then add onion. Saute both until done, but still crisp (not wilty)
Remove onions and peppers from the skillet and set aside in a separate dish.
Add a little more oil to skillet and then add beef, saute until browned (doesn't have to be completely done). Add bell pepper and onion mixture back into the skillet and gently mix with beef. Cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes - peppers and onions should be soft at this point and beef should be tender - (serves 4 easily) Simple and Yummy -
I make this about an hour before Charles comes home from work and let it sit on the stove turned off.. right before we are ready to eat I crank up the heat to warm it back up and VOILA!

Home Visit

My parents had a big fourth of july bash

- audrey and I went in town to join in on the fun~me and my sis - kari

Kevin (kari's boyfriend), Kari & Me

Kari & Audrey on mom and dad's nice new deck!

floating around - audrey loved all the water stuff!

working on her tan?

audrey and her "MaMere"- doesn't mom look great?!

audrey and her "cappy" with a napkin on her head!

She spent hours playing on the new boat - she had a ball!

(this is my mom's sister Aunt Liz)

Once Upon a Potty

I just wanted to share that Audrey pooped on the potty 3 DAYS THIS WEEK! WOO WHOO! for those of y'all reading this that don't yet have kiddos - i know, i know - too much information!

...About the same time every morning she sits on the potty and I read to her for about 5-10 minutes and "it just happens." We sing and dance and celebrate BIG TIME! still no tinkling on the potty yet.. but we're in no rush.

YAY!

Crazy Carnival

Charles' company, Fluor had a big Fourth of July celebration over the weekend. Since Charles was out of town, I invited my friend, Allison and her daughter, Lillian to come along. Everything was free to Fluor families including BBQ dinner, funnel cakes, snowcones, cotton candy and all the rides you'd typically see at a carnival.. FUN~

audrey loved snowcones - not to my surprise.. she always enjoys eating ice - This was a hit~

This is my friend, Allison - audrey loves her!

(since allison kept her for me while I got my hair done the other day they really got to be buddies!)

So sweet! audrey and her friend lillian would hold hands when they walked around.. :) awe~

audrey hated the kiddy ride - which was a little tiny caterpillar that went around in circles.. Geez~

(it broke my heart to see her like this.. around and around)

for some reason, she was okay going down this GIGANTIC slide!..

(i guess b/c it was with me)