Saturday, January 28, 2006

Everett's Swing



We finally put up Everett's swing. He seems to enjoy it but doesn't like to be swung too high. There are some more new photos on our flickr site too! Enjoy. :)

Monday, January 16, 2006

Busy, Busy

I've felt a lot busier now. One reason is because I'm babysitting for a friend from church, Kirstin, two afternoons a week. She has an adorable 7 month old little girl named Grace. I'm also leading a playgroup on Wednesdays because the playgroup I was in got too large. If anyone is interested in joining, just let me know. We meet in each other's homes from 10am-Noon each week. Add all that to my normal things like grocery shopping, visiting friends, bringing meals to new moms, etc. and I'm feeling very busy. It's a lot of fun though!

In my spare time I'm cooking a lot of new recipes and working on Everett's scrapbook. I tried a new recipe tonight and Allen gave it a "Top 10" rating, which doesn't happen very often. It's from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (75th anniversary edition), which I got for Christmas last year. It's a wonderful cookbook!!

Tostada Pizza
Start to finish: 40 minutes
Oven: 400º
Makes: 6 servings

1 pound lean ground beef
1 4-ounce can diced green chile peppers, drained
½ of a 1½-ounce envelope (about 2 tablespoons) taco seasoning mix
1 teaspoon chili powder
tablespoono0n cornmeal (I just used flour)
1 10-0unce package refridgerated pizza dough
1 15-ounce can pinto beans with jalapeño peppers, rinsed and drained (I couldn't find pinto beans with jalapeño peppers, so I bought plain pinto beans and jalapeño peppers separately, but I think next time I'll just use refried beans instead)
1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (4 ounces) (I used four cheese Mexican cheese and some cheddar)
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped
½ cup thinly sliced green onions (4)
Bottled taco sauce (optional) (I topped it with sour cream)

1. In a large skillet cook meat until brown. Drain off fat. Stir in ¾ cup water, chile peppers, taco seasoning mix, and chili powder. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered 15 to 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is gone.
2. Meanwhile, grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with the cornmeal. Pat pizza dough into a 12x8-inch rectangle on the baking sheet. Bake in a 400° oven for 5 minutes.
3. In a bowl mash beans with a fork; spread over partially baked dough to within ½ inch of edges. Spoon meat mixture over beans. Bake, uncovered, 10 minutes more or until crust is just golden. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 1 to 2 minutes more or until cheese melts. Top with lettuce, tomato, and onions. If desired, top with taco sauce.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

I have a headache now from trying to type on our old and slow laptop and using all those alt keys. Allen's trying to work on our pc right now (he's got the whole thing torn apart). Our office looks like a tornado went through it with the bathroom torn apart and the computer torn apart. He had gum surgery on Friday and hasn't been able to work on much lately. Hopefully we'll get things together soon.

One question to ponder why do cheeses like Monterey Jack get capitalized and others don't? I could just Google that, but I'm tired. I just heard an "Alleluia" from Al, so I guess the pc is coming together at least.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

A Big Mess

As I was attempting to feed Everett lunch today he seemed to be making a bigger and bigger mess with each spoonful. Before I knew it, food was all over me, all over him and all over his high chair. At first I was very frustrated, but then I just had to laugh and thought it made a great photo moment, especially with his "Gerber Baby" bib on. He's definitely a good advertiser.

He's getting so big and seems to be doing new things everyday. Just when I think he's not really into his pacifier anymore, he started putting it in his mouth on his own today. I was pretty surprised. He likes to suck his thumb when sleeping, suck any number of fingers or his whole fist if possible when playing, and his pacifier too! He's a fun baby!!

Monday, January 09, 2006

All Bundled Up


Everett is 5 months old today. Here is a picture of him as we were about to head out on our morning walk. Isn't he a cutie? The weather has been pretty nice lately for walks and it's great to get out of the house. We are all doing well and things are moving right along.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Christmas Morning



We've uploaded all of our Christmas photos to Flickr now. Here is a photo of us on Christmas morning in Augusta.

New Year

allen goes back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off. it's going to be weird being home without him, although the house may stay neater without him here at least. :) everett has changed so much in the past two weeks. allen spent an hour or so trying to get him to roll over the other day and now he's rolled over on his own twice in his crib since then.

everett's also eating a lot more "mush" now, which consists of fruits & rice cereal in the morning and veggies, fruits & rice cereal for lunch and dinner. we just began veggies a couple of days ago. so far he's had squash and sweet potatoes. next we'll do carrots and then peas and green beans. he's turned into such a good eater.

papa & mimi (allen's parents) gave him a high chair for christmas and it's been so nice to have. it's the fisher price healthy care high chair (in jungle plaid...which is a nice neutral print) and i would highly recommend it. much easier to feed him in it rather than the bouncy seat or holding him. since he's eating so much, he's not taking as much formula now, so that's nice...maybe save us a little $. allen keeps saying he's going to eat us out of house & home and we've begun to wonder exactly what the phrase means. :)

christmas was nice and we had a good time with our families. it went by fast though. allen got a popular mechanics subscription and i got a real simple subscription from my sister & brother-in-law and we are both really looking forward to those. allen got a new 18 volt crasftman drill from his parents and has already torn apart our downstairs bathroom to install a new sink and cabinet and i can hear the drill going in my ear as we speak. he's really loving it. i got a pair of dansko clogs (the professional in black oiled leather) from allen's parents and i'm enjoying them immensly. i've worn them every day since christmas. they're so comfortable.

we got all of our decorations put away yesterday which was really nice because it's been raining all day today. i began working on everett's scrapbook and have already completed several pages. it feels good to get started on it. our new year's resolution is to get a lot, if not all of the work done on our house...basically meaning painting the rest of the downstairs. the den and kitchen will be the most work, so we'll see how much we can get done, especially once everett starts getting into things! i'm about to start taking an aerobic kickboxing class twice a week and i'm thinking about trying a cooking class (called 30 day gourmet-a month of meals made easy) both through the gwinnett county community schools program.

looks like 2006 is off to a good start!!