HAPPY 1/2 BIRTHDAY AVERY!!!

Today is Avery's 1/2 birthday! We don't really celebrate half birthdays at our house. I know some people celebrate with half a cake or cupcake. Avery would probably just push it in the floor like she does all the toys that I put on the tray in front of her, so I won't waste my time! I just can't believe she is already 6 months old!


















She is still the most high maintenance baby I've ever been around in my entire life. We are learning little things that make her happy. She loves the sound of the vacuum and the hair dryer. She really doesn't like many toys. She'd rather play with a piece of paper or watch a red laser pointer move around the ceiling. She LOVES her mama but is starting to enjoy playing with her daddy a lot more. I'm sure she'll learn like Sydney did that he is the "fun" one! She loves to eat. She has been on solids for a couple of months now. We've moved up to the 2nd food size containers of veggies and fruits. She prefers veggies, but will eat just about anything! She pitches a fit when she sees me put the container down when it is empty. She's a little piglet!

Sydney is still trying to adjust to not being the only child anymore. After 6 months, it is a little better but still hard on her sometimes. I still think it will get a little better as Avery grows and can play more with her. Sydney enjoys playing with Avery when she can catch her in a good mood. Here's a video of Avery "copying" Sydney. Sydney thought it was "alarious" as she would say!

What Happens In the Van...

Stays in the van. Ha! No, not really. It usually continues on in the house or wherever we may end up. The craziest conversations get started in there. On the way to school this morning, Sydney asked me when we were moving again. You have to realize that she is used to moving frequently, so she figures it's about time! She asked me if we could move to France next time. She said she wants to move to Paris and live close to "that tower." I told her I wasn't sure I wanted to go that far!

We had a much longer trip in the van last night than we expected. Our electricity went off around 5PM yesterday. I really needed to go to the grocery store, so Sydney, Avery, and I just got in the van, and off we went. Stephen headed to his weekly softball games. I fully expected the lights to be back on when we returned from the store. We reported the outage before we left. So, we got home around 7:45, and still had no electricity. Please keep in mind that when we don't have any electricity, we have no lights, air, or water because we have well water, and the pump won't work. Sydney was mad because she wanted fish sticks, and I couldn't cook them. I turned the van back around and headed back toward town to a drive thru for supper. I just couldn't deal with putting groceries away and trying to fix anything in the dark while Avery was screaming. By this time, Avery is irate because she wants to eat. One good thing about nursing- no preparation or electricity needed! We got back home and lit the candles. Sydney read her AR book to me with the help of a flashlight. Stephen came home from his game a little early to help since we still didn't have electricity. It finally came back on around 9:30. Oh, but the problems didn't end there. We flushed the toilets several times while the power was off. I didn't realize you weren't supposed to do this. (Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!) The pump couldn't prime, so we couldn't get water in the house. One of our neighbors ended up coming over to help at 10:30. They finally got it going so we could shower this morning. I'll have to bake them a cake or something!

Avery slept through the night last night. Sometimes I wonder if she can just sense that I just can't handle anything else! It was nice to get a few extra hours of sleep after a long day and crazy start to the night.

Speaking of "in the van"... I have gotten so frustrated with radio stations. There is hardly any station around here that is completely "family friendly." It seems like when I was little, country music was pretty wholesome. Now, there are lots of songs with risque topics that Sydney is old enough to understand (or at least ask questions about) or curse words in the lyrics. That upbeat tune is fine until your 7 year old is sitting in the back singing "toes in the water, @$$ in the sand!" I have started listening to 88.3 The Way FM. It is a christian radio station, and the music and morning shows are great. My new favorite song is "Walk on the Water" by Britt Nicole. I just love the music, and the lyrics are really inspiring. Sometimes, you just have to step out on faith- even when you are terrified- to be the person God wants you to be. What are you waiting for?

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As Promised...

Since Avery wasn't feeling well for Easter, and we didn't make it to church, I promised pictures of the girls in the Easter dresses that their Nana had made for them this year. The dresses were beautiful. I wish the pictures had turned out better. Sydney says that the sun hurts her eyes too much, so she had watery, squinted eyes in every picture. Avery was too busy watching the leaves to look at the camera or smile, but here you go anyway!

Avery really likes being outside. I'm thinking about just putting her on the porch in her pack and play every day from now on!

I think we'll try again at the park to take some better pictures. We have to do pictures a few at a time or I start to pull my hair out.

We also took on the task of cleaning Sydney's room this weekend. She wanted more room in there (more room to make messes!), so we took her full size bed out and put the twin bed that we had in the office in there. She insisted on having a new "bed cover." We went to Ross hoping to find a cheap one. They had a green set that would have matched the curtains from her old comforter, but NOOOOOO. She wanted the silky "Suite Life" comforter that matches NOTHING in the room. It was her "prize" for getting all A's and an S in "verbal self-control" on her report card (and if you know Sydney, you know how hard that verbal control is for her), so I let her get it. It was only $15, so it didn't hurt my feelings too bad that it was the ugliest thing in the store!

It took us practically all day to get her room done. She must be the messiest kid on earth. Some of the things we found under her bed were: a roll of toilet paper, an ice tray, wash cloths, a gel eye mask, and of course tons of dirty clothes, towels, toys, and shoes. We got rid of a lot of stuff. (I am not a pack rat and love to throw things away!) We didn't get entirely finished. I am going to clean out her closet tonight if I can get to the grocery store and get supper cooked at a decent time.

She also got to pick the restaurant for dinner on Friday night as part of her report card celebration. She chose Mexican. The last time we went there, I had to go sit in the car with Avery because she pitched such a fit. I was dreading going in there. But this time, she was as happy as could be. She "talked" and smiled at everyone around us. She even sat in her seat almost the whole time so I could eat without holding her. I did have to pick her up eventually. She got a big handful of rice off my plate (which I took away from her) and some guacamole too. I let her taste the guac. She hated it. I figured she would because I'd already tried to feed her avocado, and she hated it. She just wants to be into whatever I have! Sydney, as usual, asked what was for dessert as soon as we sat down. She ate all her tacos so she could have a sopapilla. Avery kept her eye on that, too!

I am hoping to keep the house straight this week (yeah right!) so next weekend won't be spent cleaning. I hate cleaning on the weekend. We have a birthday party and a Girl Scout event to attend on Saturday, so I need to at least keep up with the laundry! Oh the life of a working mother and wife!

Smurf Yourself

I am soooo excited about the new smurf movie that is coming out next year. The Smurfs was my favorite Saturday morning cartoon when I was growing up. I don't know what it was about them. Maybe because they're just so darn cute! We will definitely be going to see the movie.

I was thinking about what smurfs our family would be if we were cast in a movie. I would probably be Greedy Smurf. You know, the one that loved to bake all the cakes and pies and would eat it all himself! I love to bake- especially new dessert recipes. I'm not really as bad as Greedy Smurf. I will share. However, if I eat the last piece of cake, I don't feel bad about it- not one bit! Besides, I had to pick Greedy Smurf. They didn't have an Exhausted Mama Smurf!

Jokey Smurf probably best represents Stephen. He probably has the best sense of humor out of all of us, and he loves playing tricks on us. He will have me all beside myself about something. I will just be going crazy, and then he'll tell me that he was just kidding. It is just so funny to him to make me go nuts. He doesn't have to try very hard though!

Sydney, without a doubt, is Vanity Smurf!

She doesn't hesitate in telling you how good she looks in an outfit or how pretty her eyes are. She is constantly into my lotions and perfumes, and I cannot count the number of outfits she has ruined with a tube of greasy, tinted lip gloss from Bath & Body Works!

Now, let's not forget Avery. She'd be none other than Baby Smurf! Of course, Baby Smurf was delivered to the village by a stork. That is definitely not how Avery was delivered, but other than that, she pretty much fits the profile!

How Big Are Your Shoes?

I've been thinking about the old saying "Don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes." Or, as Harper Lee put it in To Kill a Mockingbird, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." I really try not to judge people without thinking about what may be going on in their lives. This really comes into play when I'm driving. I just think about that when some crazy person cuts me off or doesn't use the turn lane properly. I mean, what if they just found out that their kid's been kicked out of school, their spouse is leaving them, or they have an incurable disease. How would you be driving if that happened to you?

Lately, my shoes have felt really big. This move to Panama City has been hard on me. Without friends and family here, it gets pretty lonely. And since Stephen works a lot more hours, I have a lot more responsibility at home. Yesterday, Stephen's alarm clock went off at 4AM. It woke me and Avery up as well. She, as always, wanted to eat, so by the time I got her fed and settled back into bed, I had to get Sydney up for school in 15 minutes. I got her up, fixed her breakfast, layed her clothes out, jumped in the bath, got dressed, fixed Sydney's hair, put some product in mine so I could dry it when I got back, made sure Sydney's teeth were brushed, and woke Avery back up to take Sydney to school. We made it to school before the tardy bell on the first day back after spring break. Yay for us! When I got back, I dried my hair, folded the clothes in the dryer, put the ones from the washer in the dryer, and started another load. No makeup today since Avery is screaming her head off because she wants to be picked up. Then, I go upstairs, start the dishwasher, eat about half a bowl of cereal, and log in to the office to start work at 9AM. I print about 30 work orders that need to be closed and billed. I have to type all this up while Avery is in my lap because if I put her down, she screams, and then I can't hear my customers when they call in. Not long after, Avery's hungry again, so I give her some solids and then nurse her- all while answering the work phone. I feed her again before we leave at 1:50PM to go pick Sydney up from school. Carpool is what I get to do on my lunch hour every day. Avery screams the whole way there because she's tired and refuses to take a nap. I pick Sydney up and listen to her complain about school and homework. Get home, fold more clothes and transfer another load to the dryer. Fix Sydney a snack and make sure she starts her homework. Get back on the computer and answer the 4 million emails that I received in the last 45 minutes. Feed Avery. Listen to Sydney complain more about homework and fight with the dog. Listen to the dog bark forEVER at the garbage men. Finally 5PM gets here. Log off the computer. Unload the dishwasher. Start supper. Give Avery a bath. Stephen comes home around 5:45 to find Avery screaming while I'm trying to cook and Sydney fussing because I'm too busy to take her to the ball field to watch her daddy play. He stays just long enough to use the bathroom and change into his jersey. I finish the first part of supper. Fix Sydney's supper (because she HATES spaghetti) and get her in the bathtub. Feed, rock, and put Avery to bed. Start the remainder of supper. Oh, wait. Avery is awake and screaming AGAIN. Turn stove off. Tuck Sydney into bed. Go back downstairs. More rocking. Finally get her in bed again around 9:05. Go back upstairs to put bread in the oven. Stephen comes in at 9:15 and gets right on the phone. So, I fix my plate and eat by myself. Get pj's on and get to bed so I can get a few hours of sleep before Avery wakes up at 1:15AM to start this whole crazy cycle over. Please people- don't judge me!!! : ) My feet are tired, and my shoes are worn out!

So, let me just give you a breakdown of the rest of the family and why I have to remember that they have shoes too...

STEPHEN

I can't act all innocent here. I knew what I was getting into when I got married. My husband likes to be taken care of. Sometimes I wonder though what it must be like to have someone take care of the kids, clean the house and laundry, cook dinner for me and make sure there's a clean plate to eat off of when I come home from playing softball with my friends. What it's like to have a friend where I live and get to eat lunch with them and play golf with them. Okay, I don't want to play golf or softball with friends, so we'll substitute manicures and movies for that. BUT, I also don't work with doctors who yell and scream, get up at 4AM to drive hours for a surgery where they may not even use my product. I don't deal with the bills or take the trash out or mow the grass. So, Stephen has shoes too. (And I usually have to pick them up out of the floor and put them in the closet!)

SYDNEY

Two words... spoiled rotten. Her food is fixed, her hair is done for her, her backpack is packed for her, her clothes get laid out for her. She gets "prizes" all the time. I want someone to do that for me. (I know, I know. My mama used to do that for me, too.) When she complains about what an awful mama I am because I want her to clean her room and she just got through with her homework, I have to remember that she's only 7. School is not fun for her, and neither is homework. So, maybe she needs an hour of play time before cleaning up. Seven year olds have shoes too- even though we can't usually find them because they are covered up with all that junk in her room that I want her to clean up!

AVERY

Avery doesn't have shoes. Her feet are too little, and she won't even keep socks on. She likes bare feet. And she pretty much gets everything she likes. She gets fed on demand, rocked, held, played with, sleeps whenever she wants. I can assure you, I'd LOVE that, and I certainly wouldn't fight the sleep like she does. I guess if I had only been in the world for five months and there were people constantly in my face and loud siblings and dogs, I might be a little cranky too!

DAISY

Don't even get me started with this dog. She's fed, bathed, gets treats all the time. She tears up stuff all over the house. I listen to her incessant barking at random people walking down the street, and I STILL haven't taken her to the pound. She gets to lay in the sun all day without a care in the world! Man, I wish I was the family dog! Well, that is, except for when Sydney is about to drown her in the bathtub or jerking her toys away or chasing her in the yard. I guess Daisy has it a little rough, too!

Warm Weather Food

I heart warm weather food. Pasta and potato salads are my favorites. As soon as the weather warmed up, I started pulling out the recipes! I'm not sure how warm it's been where you are, but it has already been HOT here. It was in the upper 80's on Monday.

I am always looking for new recipes. I get tired of cooking and eating the same things all the time. I thought I would share a couple of my favorites today. If you have some favorites, please share!

This one for Baked Potato Salad is from my favorite cookbook. In my opinion, it's the best cookbook EVER! I would say run out and get a copy of Absolutely A la Carte by Charlotte Skelton, but I think they must be hard to find. I bought my copy for $21.95 at A la Carte Alley in Cleveland, MS when I was in school at Delta State University in 2002.

I looked online today to see if I could find a copy. Amazon.com had some used ones listed, and the cheapest was $99.86!!! If you ever see an affordable copy, get it! And, if you are ever in Cleveland, you must eat there. I miss it so much! A wrap and a side of fruit or baked potato salad made a delicious lunch. And let's not forget about a slice of pie for dessert! I loved this place so much, we hosted my bridesmaids luncheon there!

BAKED POTATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS

10 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups sour cream

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1 1/2 pounds bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/3 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup creamy Italian dressing

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

6 large baking potatoes, unpeeled, baked, and cooled

DIRECTIONS

Combine cream cheese and sour cream in a large bowl, stirring well. Add mayonnaise and next 7 ingredients, stirring well. Slice potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces and stir into mayonnaise mixture.

This recipe serves 8 to 10. I have also had it heated with cheese melted on top, and it was to die for! The creamy Italian dressing is sometimes hard to find, so make sure you have some on hand before you decide to whip up some of this deliciousness!

This next recipe is a pasta salad that a coworker of mine brought to share with us last summer. It quickly became one of my favorites. She got the recipe from her daughter, Kristy Glenn Mize. Thank you Kristy for sharing!

MANDARIN CHICKEN PASTA SALAD

INGREDIENTS

1 large can chicken breast (I use Swanson. I think it's a 9.75oz can. Equivalent to about 1 cup chicken if you prefer to cook and chop your own.)

1 16oz box of mini bowtie pasta

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup seedless red grapes, sliced

1 cup seedless green grapes, sliced

2 small cans mandarin oranges, drained

1 cup chopped pecans or almonds

1-2 packages of dry ranch dressing mix

1 1/2 - 2 cups mayonnaise

Cook pasta while chopping other ingredients. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Mix mayonnaise and ranch dressing mix together in a large bowl. Mix in all other ingredients.

This makes a huge bowl. We eat it over several days. You can eat it immediately, but I prefer it after it has chilled overnight. I like it with Ritz crackers. A word of caution though... This is not something to make for a romantic picnic. Between the onion and the ranch dressing mix, your breath will be kickin'! Make sure the breath mints are handy!

Hope you enjoy!

Manic Monday, Terrible Tuesday...

Monday started off after getting NO sleep with me trying to get an appointment for Avery at the pediatrician's office. Our doctor is on vacation this week, so we had to see a different doctor. We're not sure what is wrong with her yet. She has just been extra fussy, and seems to have some sort of urinary tract or bladder issue. We sent a sample to the lab and should know the results tomorrow.

We didn't get much sleep last night either. I'm not sure I remember what it's like to sleep!

I went to the bathroom like I do every morning, and the toilet started to overflow. I tried the plunger to no avail, so I waited for it to quit, and then dried up the mess. I was in a hurry to get ready for work, so I left the towels and went upstairs to take a shower. When I came back downstairs to get the blow dryer, all the shower water was pouring out of the downstairs toilet! So, now there is at least a half inch of soapy shower water in the bathroom floor, and it is running out onto the bedroom carpet. A plumber is supposed to be on his way. I hope the rest of the week gets better!

Happy Easter!... A Little Late

Well, it has taken me a while to get to the Easter pictures, but better late than never!

Sydney and I dyed eggs Saturday evening. Sydney loves any kind of art project, so dying eggs is always a favorite activity. She likes to write on them first with an invisible crayon so the design is left when the egg is dyed. This year, we had cross and bunny designs as well as names and "squigglies" as she called them.

Avery layed happily in her bassinet and played with her Ookie while we dyed eggs. She looks like she doesn't have a left hand because the arms on that 3-6 month size Easter sleeper are too long. She'll be 6 months old in a couple of weeks, and she still only weighs a little over 12 pounds. My little petite angel!


As much as Sydney enjoys it, dying eggs is not my favorite activity. Believe it or not, it's not even the mess that bothers me. It's the smell. I HATE the smell of vinegar. I know you can use just water with the dye, but the colors aren't as pretty. So, I deal with it. It's only once a year!

Here's the finished product!

Sydney and Avery both got a visit from the Easter Bunny. He filled their baskets with lots of goodies. Avery wasn't too concerned about what was IN the basket, she just wanted to eat the basket! I'm not sure what Sydney's favorite was, but she got a "chapter book" as she calls them- Junie B. Jones, First Grader: Dumb Bunny. She has already read a few chapters. I'm glad she likes to read!

Avery's First Easter!

Silly Bunny!

We didn't get to go to church this year. Avery had shots on Friday afternoon and was still running fever on Sunday. She was VERY fussy, and I thought it would be a bad idea to take her to church. They might have thought she had the devil in her! Poor baby! Between the shots and teething and her general personality, this Easter weekend was not a happy one for her. I will have to dress them up some time soon in the Easter dresses that Nana had made for them so everyone can see!

Stephen had the job of hiding all the eggs this year. He makes them really hard to find. Sydney usually wants to hide and find them over and over again, but by the time she found them all this time (We hid around 50 eggs.), she was ready to go inside.

The weather was really nice. Well, it actually got a little hot before we finished finding all the eggs. I'm still trying to get used to this Florida weather.

The flowers in the yard are so pretty. I LOVE Wisteria and was pleased to see it blooming up and around the chestnut tree in the front yard. Wisteria is a member of the pea family. I learned that in my college field botany class. I hope that Dr. Stewart would be pleased that I remember something from his class!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! I am so blessed to serve a RISEN SAVIOR!

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs!

Some of my fondest memories of childhood are of egg hunts at my Aunt Mary Jane and Uncle Butch's house. They had a big yard and all the cousins would get together and hunt eggs. It seemed like there were tons of kids there. A lot of us were close in age, so it was fun to hunt eggs together. I never found the prize egg, but it was fun anyway.
Sydney has never experienced a big family egg hunt like that. If cousins were money, my children would be broke! (Hint, hint- aunts and uncles- hint, hint!) Well, cousins her own age anyway. We've taken her to some church egg hunts to get the big egg hunt experience in the past.
This week, I decided that instead of having a regular Girl Scout meeting, I'd invite the girls over for an egg hunt. We hid 95 eggs, and I think they found them all! They had so much fun. Sydney really enjoys the competition. Although, she does realize that when she hunts them by herself, she gets all the eggs AND all the prizes and candy inside them! I saw a few of the girls with more eggs share with the girls that didn't find as many. They also sat in a circle at the end and traded candy and prizes. They are so much fun to watch!

I have to take Avery this afternoon for her shots. I hate having to do that. I've put it off as long as I can though, and I finally have a free afternoon to take her. After that, it's back to the house to get things ready to go out of town tomorrow.

Happy Easter Everybody!

Here's a video of the egg hunt and of Avery having some tummy time. She's liking it a LITTLE bit better!