iPhone Friday 05/27/2011

Wow, what an exciting/emotional/heart-wrenching week. I am so happy the heavy storms spared Tulsa, but my heart is so heavy for Joplin, the Hamil family in piedmont, Will Norton's family and everyone else. I so badly wish Oklahoma's soil was different so that everyone ere could have a basement for storm protection.

In other news, here are pics from the past week.

Emmy just chillin and reading her picture book.


I was so nervous about this storm, I even packed an emergency bag and had it waiting in the closet. Just in case.


The waster is still FREEZING, we are talking 72*. I guess Emmy has no temperature sensors in her little feet!


Loving on her puppies. She can't say Frank yet, but she loves to call for Lally, aka Sally.


Our little garden is plush, green and on the verge o being cramped. Plenty of good soil for the plants to share. So grow, veggies, grow!


This morning. Life is rough for this little toddler.


Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial day. If you know an active or non-active member of our military, please remember to thank them.

iPhone Friday 05/20/2011

Last Friday I picked Emmy up from school early. I get off of work at 230 on Fridays and sometimes I have errands to run sometimes I don't. So we came home and asked "puppies, walk??" so we did.


Chris and I had lots o' help putting together the new swingset for miss priss.


Emmy and her first strike!


Just putting the new swim skills and confidence to use.


She had to have her hair wrapped in a towel like mama.


Happy Friday! We are headed to KS this weekend for a high school graduation. Hoping to get back early enough on Sunday to enjoy some fried goodness at Mayfest.

Girls Trip 2011

DSC_1062, a photo by JordanYEnsley on Flickr.

Ahhh, the end of a wonderful trip! Fun time with fun girls!

iPhone friday 05/13/2011

Friday the 13th!!!!

Here's a sampling of what we have been up to this past week.

She climbed into the toy hamper on her own, I promise!




Someday, she will be using this for it's intended purpose ;)



Our garden that is quickly running out of space. We already have 2 tomatoes and 5-6 squash growing. Wahoo.



Mini key lime pies from Albert G's. Nuf said.



This weekend we will attempt te big move into a big bed. We don't have a bed purchased yet. Whoops. So this kid sized aerobed will have to do for now.



Happy Friday. Enjoy the weather and hope everyone has a blessed weekend.

21 Months

A few happenings from the past month:

• Favorite Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (sometimes she'll sing the last line), It Ain't Me Babe
• Favorite Food(s): Fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, peanut butter on a spoon, Eggo cinnamon toast waffles
• Favorite Obsession: blowing bubbles in the bathtub
• Favorite Book: ALL books, nothing in particular this month
• Favorite Word: Lally (Sally, the dog)
• Favorite Shows: Toy story 3, handy manny, mickey mouse clubhouse and other big girl movies
• As we drive the curves on the BA, will say “wheeeeeeee”
• Started noticing “owies” and says it in the sweetest voice.  She also likes to kiss others' owies.
• Emmy has graduated to drinking milk out of normal hard spouted sippy cups! (She’s been off a bottle since a little over 1 year old, but has been drinking her milk out of soft spouted sippy cups)
•  Lower left incisor finally cut through
•  Walking is a THING OF THE PAST!  Tip toe-ing around and running are Emmy’s new talents.
•  She is putting two words together now, “hi mama”, “dada home”, “puppies no”, “puppies walk”…and many others that we can’t really understand
•  I follow a lot of statements with, “ok?” to which she replies “tay” with an up and down nod
• We are getting less bratty no’s and the revival of the “yes” nod
• Emmy has thoroughly enjoyed swim lessons.  She is blowing bubbles, going under water, kicking, moving her arms and floating on her back (with assistance).
• Occasionally does a perfect downward facing dog, we simply call it “doing her yoga” and sometimes she’ll do it when we ask.
• Seems like Little Miss has grown up SO much this month, I’m wondering what happened to my baby.  As any parent would say about their own child: she is the smartest and most beautiful little girl in the world.

iPhone Friday 05/06/2011

Another rainy Sunday:



Enjoying the weather, and taking the wagon for a walk.



Watching sooooo intently at swim lessons.



Just chillin poolside.

I have a birthday part to plan, only 3 months to do it...

or more recognizably titled "21 month collage"....read on, if you want to know the details behind the pics.  You probably aren't too interested, but I know I will be in the years to come.  This IS my journaling and scrapbooking, all in one.

1. Easter party at school.  It's multiple toddlers in one picture, this is the best I could get.  I figure it's a success since they are all sitting down :)
2. At the zoo with Uncle Jay Jay, Hays and Halle (Aunt E-E and cousin Hollis were talking to an old lady in a moo-moo while I snapped this pic)
3. Emmy was cleaning her hands while we did some work on the vegetable garden.
4. Taking a break from gardening.
5. Enjoying some "papa" (my dad) time.
6. Monkey see monkey do.  Emmy and Lucy (neighbor) are just TOO cute together.
7. My sick little girl.  She NEVER lays on the couch like this.
8. Maaaaaaaaw, put the camera away and just play with me already.
9. No caption needed.
10. At the school Easter egg hunt.

I have MANY more pictures I need to upload, I need to tell you about the Grove Park Inn, I need to show you all of the Easter cuteness that happened in this part of Oklahoma, but man- I really need to go to bed.

Goodnight friends.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Pot Pie

I remember my mom making a certain dish growing up that we dubbed “the hospital casserole”. Need I explain more? It was prepared for people who were in the hospital, or had loved ones there. I think hers involved tuna and pasta, can’t quite remember as it wasn’t really prepared for me.

I have a dish now that has quickly become “the new baby casserole”. We have had quite a few friends, inside of church and out, that have become new parents or added new babies to the family recently. I find that I keep going to this one particular dish. It’s not so easy to fix, but the reward is a great one. Besides, who can resist the flaky crust, steaming hot filling and wonderful aroma of a CHICKEN POT PIE!

Well, maybe YOU can. But I most certainly cannot. I usually make a double batch so we can have some for a meal that week too.

Yesterday, as soon as Emmy went down for a nap, I put the chicken on the stovetop and ran (er, drove) to Reasor’s to get a few missing ingredients. I came back home and got to work on the pot pies. In about 30 or 40 minutes I had the filling done and was waiting to put it all in the oven. We were visiting a new baby at 530 and I wanted the dish to be fresh out of the oven when we arrived.

Fast forward to 515. I go to pull the dish out of the oven (it was baking on a baking sheet in case of excessively bubbly filling). With my right hand (b/c the other hand can’t operate a hot pad right now) I go to pull the sheet/pan out of the oven. And like a slow motion shot of Wylie Coyote falling over the canyon’s edge, I see my dish falling off of the baking sheet. My left hand had nothing on it so there was no way I was risking a huge burn on it to save the dish.

This is what happened (well, I am sparing you the picture of the dish on the floor). So I scooped it into a pan and VOILA, we now have happy dogs who are enjoying the extra love that’s going into their Pedigree.

This is the recipe I use for homemade (except the pie crust) pot pie. It tastes delicious, it makes your house smell delicious, it looks delicious….but none of this matters when you drop it onto the kitchen floor.

man","serif"'>Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas (I usually just use the bag of frozen veggies: peas, carrots, lima beans, green beans)
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion (considering the thumb chopping event that took place last weekend, I opted for the frozen chopped variety this time around. They worked beautifully)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed (I never have this on hand, so I use dry ranch seasoning)
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts (someday, I will try a homemade crust)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425*

2. In a saucepan, combine chicken and veggies. Add water (I use the 1 ¾C broth here to add more flavor to the chicken and veggies)to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions and celery in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust (My next alteration to this recipe will be to cook the bottom crust for a few minutes before adding the liquid mixture). Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. (I would also suggest putting foil around the edges because they tend to get a little overdone @ 425*)

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.