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.

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.

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/

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.

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. :)

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.

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!!

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.

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!!