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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Newest addition to our family!

Brandon 'surprised' me with a Highlander over the weekend!!  I use the term 'surprise' loosely, because this man can hardly keep a secret!  After he worked everything out with the dealer, he told me because he couldn't contain his excitement.  I'm a little sad about saying goodbye to my Murano, but I won't miss the black exterior/black interior the summer months.  Hadley's new ride has tan interior which we can already tell is so much cooler, even when it's 100 degrees outside!  Here's a couple pictures of my new car. She is so pretty!  Yay!




Thursday, July 28, 2011

Chicken Tamale Casserole

Who doesn't love a good mexican dish?  I ran across this recipe and it sounds delish, and with the low fat ingredients, healthier than usual! 


Chicken Tamale Casserole


Ingredients
- 1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
- 1/3 cup fat-free milk
- 1/4 cup egg substitute (or one egg)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
- 1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White or Jiffy)
- 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
- 1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 9 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. (Closer to 20 minutes is better to avoid a soggy bottom.) Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken and black beans; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

First trip to the zoo!

Hadley and I went to the Knoxville Zoo on Saturday with my old manager Sam, his wife Rachel, and their 2 kiddos (Brooke 3, and Brayden 18 months).  Brandon was playing in a golf tournament this weekend, so we still need a real family zoo trip soon!  It was sooooo hot, but Hadley didn't seem to mind and we had a wonderful time.  She was just glad she had cheerios and juice, ha!  Here are some pics from our afternoon!


Camels - so cool!

Yay for Cheerios!

The Elephant exhibit


Zebras


Monkeys/Chimps - they were snacking!


Tiger, in the water to stay cool
 

Brooke and Brayden :)

Monday, July 25, 2011

Sunday, July 24, 2011

My little helper

Hadley is such a good little 'helper.'  We've been doing laundry this afternoon, and she loves to 'help' me get it out of the drier and 'fold' (and when I say fold, I really mean knock over the piles of freshly folded clothes and wave them around)!




A little live action...

Saturday, July 23, 2011

10 months!








Double digits, folks! I can't believe it's already been a whole month since I did a monthly update for Hadley.
  • 20 lbs (not sure the % as we took Hadley for a sick visit yesterday....had a little conjunctivitis yesterday and had to go to the doctor)
  • FINALLY said MAMA just about an hour ago in the bath tub!!! Couldn't get her to say it again, but Brandon witnessed it!  She still says Da-da-da about 1,000 times a day.  
  • Crawls everywhere now! We still have not baby-proofed yet.  What is wrong with us?!  
  • The best little eater I know.  You name it, Hadley loves it.  She loves fruit!  She's had peaches, cantaloupe, grapes, pears, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, watermelon, mandarin oranges, plums, apples, mangos, and maybe more.  Also loves deli meat, cheese (thank goodness for Kraft crumbles!), cheerios, peas, carrots, zuchinni, squash, couscous, tomatoes, avacados, sweet potatoes, yogurt, applesauce, pasta, green beans, and the list goes on.  I make her dishes with meat - I need to blog about this great book I am using for recipes.  It's full of healthy recipes and Hadley loves everything I've tried so far.
  • Eating 3 meals a day + a night time bottle. She is more interested in solids these days than her bottle.  
  • Still in 6-9 month clothes and a few 9-12 month clothes.
  • Has about 5 teeth!  I think a couple more on the way.  She has been such a champ with the whole teething process.
  • Smart!  Love watching her figure out her toys.  She loves opening and closing things (the door on the little fisher-price mailbox and the lid on the fisher-price laugh and learn table).
  • Has ticklish feet and tummy. She giggles when I tickle her....it's the sweetest sound.
  • Pulling up on the couch, other furniture pieces, toys, the tub, etc.  She can get to a standing position pretty quickly!
  • Now takes her baths in the big bath tub and not her infant tub. I think she is loving all the extra room!  
  • Sleeps from around 7:30p to 6:30a. Pleeeeease sleep till 7 one day soon :)
  • Babbles when she wakes up in the morning. I love watching her on the monitor while she lays in bed and talks in the morning. Sometimes she looks directly in the camera, and talks, like she knows I am watching!
  • Loves daycare and her sweet teachers!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful ladies caring for her while we are at work. One of her teachers, Ms. Erin, knew me when I was a little girl!
  • Such a happy baby and hardly ever cries. Only when she is tired is she really fussy.
  • A talker!  I promise me and Hadley have 'conversations.' I will say something to her, and she replies (aka, jibber-jabbers back to me).  Her teachers have told me the same thing.  So cute!
  • Likes sitting in the highchair at restaurants and the shopping carts at the grocery store these days!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Summer weekends = Fun!


Crawling and hanging out with Riley


Lazy Saturday morning breakfast with Mommy and Daddy


Kiwi.....mmmm!

Brooke's 3 year Birthday Party




Hanging out with my bud, Aiden!



Karah and Hadley!


Pulling up on my toys.


Grocery shopping...turkey please!


Mr. Jack!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

big girl.

Someone is finally starting to hold her own bottles and sippy cups - YAY!  One happy mommy :)



And we are fully crawling on all fours now....she still occassionally scoots, but is hands and knees crawling for the most part.  She also LOVES to crawl on mommy and daddy when we play in the floor with her.  She especially likes to crawl over our legs when they are flat on the ground...a mini baby obstacle course!

We also just bought Hadley a new carseat (Britax Marathon).  We are tired of lugging around the infant carrier with a 19 pounder.  I think she will love all the room in her new seat!  And we are happy to each have a carseat in our car!

Little girl is turning into a big girl so fast!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

1st Independence Day!

We took Hadley to swim with her buddy Cooper (her first time in a real pool!).  She looked so sweet in the outfit her Grana got her :)














I couldn't get a great picture of the babies, but this last one cracks me up. 

Hadley slept right through all the fireworks, I couldn't believe it!  Maybe next 4th of July, she'll stay up late enough to watch them.  Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Viva Las Vegas!

Spent 3 fabulous days in Vegas over the weekend with Chris and Julie!  We stayed at Thehotel at Mandalay Bay and had fun shopping, visiting all the big hotels/casinos, eating wonderful food, swimming and laying out at the pool, saw a Cirque show (Ka), and just enjoyed spending time with my husband and great friends! 

Our sweet suite :)

View from our room

Relaxing

At Luxor


At MGM Grand

Lions at MGM Grand

Shopping at Caesar's - Beautiful inside!



Dinner before seeing Ka!



Loved all the beautiful lights!


Group shot before lunch!


Fun lunch at Todd English Pub! 







Awesome dinner and drinks at Yellowtail (at the Bellagio)




Fountains at the Bellagio. These picture do not do them justice!