Saturday, February 25, 2006

Family Weekend

Allen's family is here for the weekend. Last night his parents and Allen and I went to the Martini's & Imax at the Fernbank Museum. We saw the Amazon Imax movie and it was pretty cool, although it made me a little motion sick. It was a good night out.

Today we've been doing all sorts of things. Allen's sister, Lindsay just got here tonight and is newly engaged (as of last Saturday)!! The picture above is one of them taken on their spring break trip last year. She and her fiance, Michael, are getting married December 9, 2006 in Augusta. We are super excited for them. Michael is such a great guy and we couldn't ask for a better future brother-in-law! Lindsay is 21 and an accountant major and cheerleader at Georgia College and State University. She met Michael there who is getting an education degree. He will be 22 next Friday. They will both graduate in May and Michael is going to teach for a year while Lindsay gets her masters degree.

Tonight I made a Chicken Parmesan recipe that I got from Sam Mohlenhoff, which I've modified just a little bit. It's super easy. Everyone seemed to like it and Lindsay asked me to put it on our blog so that Michael will cook it for her...so here goes:

Chicken Parmesan
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded flat
1 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 egg whites
2 jars spaghetti sauce (or about that, depending on how much sauce you like)
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 package spaghetti noodles (cooked and drained)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Mix bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese in a bowl. Dip chicken in bread crumb mixture, in egg white, and then back into the bread crumb mixture and place in a lightly greased oven safe casserole dish. Cook chicken in oven for 35 minutes (or until chicken is fully cooked). Pour spaghetti sauce into a sauce pan and heat it on the stove. Once chicken is done, remove it from the oven and cover it with sauce (to taste) and mozzarella and remaining parmesan cheese (sprinklethymee or basil on top for color). Put chicken back into the oven and cook for 5 more minutes (or until cheese is melted). Serve with spaghetti noodles and extra spaghetti sauce.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Working on the House

We spent all of last weekend painting all of the trim in our living room white. I thought this was so cute of Allen feeding Everett with the paint all over his jeans. Feeding Everett was about all we took a break for but we got it all done. It was a very productive weekend. Allen's still working on remodeling our downstairs bathroom. He's got all the drywall done and is about to start working on putting up the new molding. Then we can start painting and put in the new cabinet/sink, light fixture, towel bars, etc. I can't wait to get that finished. Then we'll start painting the trim in the dining room. It seems like we're definitely making progress on the house. I can't wait until everything is painted. I think it will really seem like a whole new house. Getting all the trim painted in the living room in one weekend really gave us hope that things can all get done...one day. I'm really looking forward to this weekend, as always, and next weekend, Allen's parents are coming to visit. It's going to be really good to see them again and I know they are so excited to see Everett. He's changed so much since they saw him at Christmas. It feels like time is really flying by. I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather though.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

February 9, 2006


Wow! Everett's 6 month birthday is finally here! I can hardly believe it. He had his well visit today at the doctor and measured 18lbs. and 5 oz. and 27" long. That puts him at around 60-70% in both categories. He got three shots today...2 vaccines and 1 flu shot. He's such a brave boy and barely even cries when he gets his shots. He slept in the car the whole way home from the appointment and slept for over 2 hours once we got home. He's such a trooper and truly our pride and joy. He's so content and happy and such a great eater and sleeper. We're so grateful that God has blessed us with such a wonderful baby. As this 6 months has passed, I can't wait to see what's in store for us in the future.

Check out more of his 6 month photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejoiners/

Monday, February 06, 2006

February Already?

I can't believe that February is already here and that Everett will be 6 months old on Thursday. Time is really going by quickly. We had a great weekend, with a quick visit to my mom's in Columbus. I got to see my best friend from high school, Traci, that I hadn't seen since the late 90's. Allen and I went over to see her and meet her husband. It was really great getting to see her again. It's weird because we both ended up working with children (she's a kindergarten teacher) and marrying men who work with computers. Funny how things turn out.

Saturday night we went to Allen's friend's 30th birthday party, his old roommate, Brian Evans. Sunday we went to see Sam and Trevor's baby, Maddie, get baptized at their church, Old Peachtree Presbyterian, and over to their house for lunch afterwards. And of course Sunday night, we went to a Superbowl party with our Young Couples group at church. It was a really great party.

Allen and I joked about how Everett went to four parties in one weekend. He's such a crazy kid.

Everett is now grabbing onto and holding things really well. He now wants whatever we are holding at the time. Yesterday in church, he grabbed the hymnal that the woman was holding next to me and wrinkled up the page! He's also gotten more into sucking his thumb. After just about every bite of his food he tries to get his thumb in his mouth so we have to constantly hold his hand down. It's pretty funny.

We're excited to find out his weight and length at his 6-month doctor visit on Thursday...we'll keep you posted.