A Great New Cookbook

When I was at my parents' house for dinner on Saturday night, my mom showed me a great cookbook she'd gotten at Costco.  It's called Quick Fixes with Mixes by Southern Living, and it has a ton of great, easy recipes in there ... all of them utilizing either bagged, bottled, or frozen ingredients.  I don't really see a lot of mixes being used in it ... I think they just liked that name.  What I really like about it is that the recipes are easy, quick, and so far really tasty; they don't require random, hard-to-find ingredients that you buy for one recipe and throw away six months later; and they don't require very many ingredients at all.  When we went to Costco on Sunday, I picked up a copy for myself @ only $11.99!  I love Costco's book prices.

Tonight, I tried an enchilada recipe that was really easy and tasty.  I'm skeptical when a cookbook says that a recipe only has a ten minute prep time, but this one really did!  It took my oven longer to preheat than it took me to get the enchiladas ready for the oven.  Because I was using a Pampered Chef pan, my cook time was about 5 minutes longer than suggested before the enchiladas started to bubble, and I did switch to the broiler for just a few minutes at the end because I wasn't happy with the non-browning of my cheese.  Then, it was time to eat the yummy enchiladas!  We had spicy rice and black beans to go with our enchiladas.

It was really delicious and filling.  Katie Anne liked it, too!  I made a very kid-friendly (and Saunders-friendly ... he doesn't like spicy foods) using mild ingredients, but I think you could make this even tastier if you spiced it up a little more.  Another great thing about this recipe ... lots of leftovers for lunch this week!

If you'd like to try a recipe from this cookbook before you buy it, here's the recipe I made tonight:

I would highly suggest
Quick Fixes with Mixes
if you're looking for a new cookbook!!!

Resisting Her Nap

For about the last week or so, Katie Anne has moved into the "resisting the nap" phase. 

  Luckily, it is a peaceful resistance ... 

Today, at 4:00, I walked in (just up from a great hour and a half nap myself) to find the little hippie in her room, playing quietly and having a great time.  So, at least her resistance isn't too much trouble.  She doesn't put up much of a fight about laying down - most days it's easy as pie to get her to lay down and rest.  She never tries to leave the room or calls for me to come back.  She just quietly gets up, gets some fun things to do, takes them back to her bed, and plays.  

Some days, she plays quietly for 15-30 minutes and then falls asleep - that's the ideal situation in this new scenario.  That way, she gets a little quiet playtime and about an hour and a half nap, and that seems to work perfectly.  Sometimes, she doesn't sleep at all - I come in and find her still playing quietly after her two hour "nap time" is over.  Then it is a toss-up whether she'll be pleasant until bedtime or get irritable after 7:00 or so.  If she's irritable, we just do an earlier bedtime, and everything's fine.

Unfortunately, sometimes she falls asleep very late in the nap time frame ... and that seems to be the worst possibility.  If she plays for a long time and then falls asleep for only a few minutes, she is as surly as she can be when I wake her up after the two hours is over.  I've even given up a few times and just let the monster continue to sleep ... and she's very cheerful once she wakes up on her own.  The bad thing is that she also wants to stay up until 10:00 at night because her nap ran too late if I do that - and I have a very hard time staying up that late and being any kind of coherent parent at that point, and Daddy's patience starts to run low once we hit the 9:00 hour.  So, I've just started forcing her to wake up after two hours, regardless of how long I know she was actually asleep.  This is a very tough time for both of us - yesterday, she cried and whined and dropped on the deck and flubbed like a fish for 45 minutes after I forced her to get up at 4:00 ... and the only cure for her attitude was gymnastics class at 5:00.  She was just as happy as a little clam once she got to the gym.  Unfortunately, after fighting with KA for 45 minutes, sitting on the hard metal bleachers in the hot, stuffy gym for 35 minutes wasn't much of a cure for my bad attitude!

Right now, our hope is that going back to school next week - waking up earlier and napping with the class at a scheduled time - will straighten this situation out a little bit.  Otherwise, we're going to have to make the call whether or not to end KA's nap time ... and that's not something I really want to do with a new baby almost here!

Rocking the Vote!

Today was Primary Voting Day, and Katie Anne and I did our civic duty this morning and voted.

She "researched the candidates" (well, she read the well-memorized A Very Hungry Caterpillar out loud) on the way to the polling site.

Then, we headed in to cast our vote.  It was a short line - maybe 15 people ahead of us - and it only took us a few minutes.  Then, we got our stickers and were off to the grocery store! 

It didn't seem like a good idea to take a picture for civic duty documentation purposes inside the polling place.  While I didn't see a sign that said "No Flash Photography", I figured that - if you can't take pictures on the floor of a casino - you probably can't take pictures inside a polling place.  So, here are two pictures of KA sporting her "I'm a Georgia Voter!" sticker.

Of course, who else voted?  Peach!

We voted!  Have you?

Katie Anne in her Twirly Skirt

Katie Anne was so excited about her twirly skirt!  

She tried it on this morning and modeled it for me.

Side view (she wanted to do both sides):

 Trying out the twirly-ness:

Model walk:

She looks so cute in it and will be all ready for football season!

She loves the skirt - especially the twirly-ness - and has now requested one in pink and one in purple.  Nice!  I think I'll make it a little shorter next time - I was just guessing with the length of this one.  It hits her about mid-calf, and I think it would be so cute to have a twirly skirt that's just above the knee... and it would only take 1/2 a yard to make it!

Custom Boppy Slipcover

Today, I was able to knock another nursery project off my list - and it was so quick and fun to make!  

One of the problems with choosing a non-traditional nursery theme like UGA is that coordinating accessories aren't always available.  I've been looking for a cover for my Boppy pillow for SJ4, and I couldn't find one I really liked - and I definitely couldn't find one that was anywhere close to matching his nursery theme.  Most of the boys' Boppy covers are blue and green based - I couldn't find a single red, black, or even plain white one.  So, I thought about making one.

I found this pattern online at the blog Vanilla Joy, which was originally featured on Economical Baby (but has since been removed).  The pattern was super-easy to follow, and I loved that she had a picture of how to tape the pattern pieces together:

 I'm sure I would've gotten that step wrong without that picture.  Once I got the pattern cut out and taped together, it was smooth sailing from then on out.  

I was so surprised by how easy and quick this project was to complete.  I'm usually scared of sewing projects that involve a lot of curves ... and this Boppy cover is all curves.  However, it was not difficult at all!  It didn't take hardly any time to complete this project, and (in my opinion) it looks really good and professional.  For those of you who watch Food Network, I started cutting the fabric after I watched the first few minutes of Barefoot Contessa, and I had the whole project finished before Paula Deen could finish her pie - the Neelys came in between.  So, that means it took me right around one hour.

Here's my finished UGA Boppy Cover!

Front:

Back with zipper:

I let Katie Anne choose the fabric from Hobby Lobby's collegiate selection - they had about 5 UGA fabrics to choose from, and she choose the second most expensive one, but it was on sale for half off.  The two yards cost $8.00 (normally would've been $16.00).  Plus, the 24" zipper cost a little more - it was $3.80.  So, I had about $12.00 in this Boppy Cover ... not a bad price considering Boppy Covers run from $9.99 - $24.99.  I definitely could make one a lot cheaper - easily around $5.00 - if I wasn't so particular about the fabric.  

Also, you don't need two yards - I think 1.5 yards could easily do it.  I even had enough fabric left over to make big sister an easy twirly skirt!

(Not that she necessarily wants to coordinate with her brother's Boppy, but Katie Anne will need something cute to wear this fall when football season starts.)  I'll take a picture of her wearing the twirly skirt tomorrow!

Nursery Projects!

This week, I've finished two of the projects I needed to complete for the nursery ... one big project and one small.  It is almost complete!

First, for the small project, I did a little redesign of a lamp shade.  This lamp was the one I'd had in college, and I'd spray-painted it for use in Katie Anne's nursery.  I had bought a white shade with pink rick-rack for her nursery, but that obviously wouldn't work for SJ4.  So, my mom had the good idea to try to pick the rick-rack off and see if we could reuse it.  The pink rick-rack came off really easily, so I just hot glued some jumbo red rick-rack around the top and bottom where the pink had been and - voila!  A girl's lamp becomes a boy's lamp in about 15 minutes' time and - best of all - for only $1.38!

Also in that picture are two glass jars I bought for supplies for his changing table/dresser.  I had two small containers in Katie Anne's nursery in the same spot, but I always hated them because they were too tiny and wouldn't really hold anything.  So, I picked up these two at Hobby Lobby for 50% off each one.  The big one is for cotton balls, and I've got to get some gauze squares to go in the little one.  

Now, for the big project - curtains for SJ4's windows.  When I made the curtains and things for KA's nursery, it was really my first adult foray into sewing.  I'd sewn a bit with my mom and grandmother as a child/teen, but making the curtains, table skirt, rocking chair pad, etc. for KA's nursery was my first sewing go-round alone.  So, her curtains now seem very simple to me - just two hot pink panels with one row of medium-sized green rick-rack at the top.  Since I'm a more experienced sewer this time (and I'm not sewing nearly as much for his room), I thought I'd jazz up the curtains in the new nursery.

I think they definitely look more professional and visually interesting than the ones in KA's room, but ... they were a lot more time consuming!  They really weren't hard to do - most of the work was cosmetic, and it was all just straight stitching - but they're so freaking long that they're hard to iron, keep straight while sewing, and not drag all over the floor while I'm working on them.  Also, the gingham had a lot more give than the Kona cotton, so it was tough not to over-stretch the gingham while stitching it.  They generally just became a pain in the rear, and it annoyed me that none of this hard work was for any practical purpose - even though that was exactly my intention in the beginning.  Crazy, I know.  

My goal was to finish them two weeks ago, but I got really tired of working on them the week before vacation, so I had to put them aside for a while.  This week, I've been motivated to complete them - and I was able to find the jumbo black rick-rack that I needed to finish them.  I worked hard on them for the past two days, and they're finally finished!  I bowed on my knees and cried holy when this project was done.  I was so relieved to finish it!  So, his curtains are finally up!  Here are some pictures of them.

Room with curtains open:

Room with curtains closed:

I still need to find tie backs.  The one window (pictured) is so close to the closet wall that the original tie backs I'd bought wouldn't fit.  So, I'm on the hunt.  For now, I'll just push them over to open them.

Same curtain closed:

At the top of the curtains, I did a black polka dot ribbon and edged that with two rows of jumbo white rick-rack:

At the bottom of the curtains, I did a ten inch panel of black and white gingham with red polka dot ribbon edged with two rows of jumbo black rick-rack:

Now, I'm ready to work on SJ4's blanket and Boppy cover!

A Doctor Visit with Mommy

This summer, as my OBGYN visits have gotten more and more frequent, Katie Anne has had to accompany me to a few appointments with Dr. Pitcher.  Today, we headed to her office for our last joint visit - KA will be back in school by the time I got back in 2 weeks.  When we got there at 11:00, the office staff said they had my appointment time down as 2:15 ... even though I had the paper where they'd written 11:15 as the time when I made the appointment last time!  So, they said they'd try to work me in - which meant a long wait for me and Katie Anne.  I was very stressed about how I was going to keep her busy during that time.  Luckily, we'd brought a bag full of books and small toys for entertainment.  Katie Anne was spectacular during the wait and while I saw Dr. Pitcher.  All together, we were at the office for right at two hours - and she was so good the whole time!  I was so proud of her!

The appointment went well, too.  Baby SJ4 is still measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule, and his heartbeat sounded good.  He's in the head-down position and ready to go!  My blood pressure and everything else looked great.  The best news of all was that I'd only gained 1 lb in the last two weeks, even though we'd been on vacation during that time!  Everyone at the office was very proud of me. Hooray!

Ready to roll:

Here she is, playing quietly while we wait on Dr. Pitcher:

Since she was so patient, I let her pick our lunch location.  She gave me two choices - Sweet Tomatoes or Cracker Barrel.  Since I wasn't sure how I'd navigate the whole Sweet Tomatoes set up with the two of us, I chose Cracker Barrel.  We had a great girls' lunch out together!  We played with Polly Pocket until it was time to eat. 

Then, we finally headed home for much-needed naps for both of us!

Learning Spanish

Today in the car, Katie Anne wanted to listen to her "How to Speak Spanish" CD from Chic-fil-A.  She was so cute practicing her little words that I just had to catch it on video!  (I think she thought I was taking a picture, so she's smiling the whole time in between her words - even cuter!)  

And, don't worry, the video production process is totally safe... I just turn the camera on and sit it on the back of the Element's headrest and let it record for a little bit.  I don't actually hold it and video while driving.  :)

Last Day of Vacation!

On Friday, on our last official day at the beach, we started off the morning with a big, delicious breakfast at Another Broken Egg in Grayton Beach.  Everything was so tasty - but unfortunately I decided to take it a step too far and order two glasses of pineapple juice.  I hadn't had any juice since Dr. Pitcher got onto me about my pregnancy weight gain in March, but I thought I could splurge on vacation.  I love pineapple juice!  So cold, refreshing, and tasty ... but also so full of sugar.  I felt incredibly terrible after breakfast.  I definitely had a "hypoglycemic event" as my OBGYN labels it, and I went back to the condo and basically passed out in bed for about 2 hours.  So, Saunders and my parents took Katie Anne to the pool that morning, but I was sound asleep in bed!

When I woke up, I did feel better - and I'm certainly going to avoid juice in the last few weeks of this pregnancy!  I still didn't feel 100%, but I wasn't going to waste the whole day in bed.  Plus, we had big plans for our last dinner out.  Saunders had heard lots of great things about a restaurant called Red Bar in Grayton Beach, so we decided to go there for our last dinner out.  We'd heard from several people that the wait at Red Bar is crazy, and we'd need to arrive when the restaurant opened at 5:00.  So, we pulled up in front of the restaurant on time and walked in the front door at 5:02 ... and it was already packed!  Now, this place does not look like some place you'd necessarily stop and eat ... it has a very hippie, beach shack vibe.  It could definitely be featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  However, it has totally delicious food and is very popular - our waiter told us that there's a line to get into the restaurant before they even open at 5:00!  He told us that they'd served over 900 customers the previous night - and this is not a big restaurant.  Parking is also at a premium there.  Luckily, Saunders and I went on in while everyone else looked for a spot, and we only had to wait about 5 minutes to snag a table. But by the time Gigi, Granddad, and Katie Anne parked the truck and walked inside a few minutes later, our waiter told us that the wait time was already 90 minutes!  Insane!

Here are some pictures of us at Red Bar:

 

After our tasty dinner, we headed to Seaside to look around some of the cute little shops there.  Here are some pictures from our last night out on vacation!

We had such a wonderful time on our vacation this year!!!

Girls' Day Out

On Thursday of our vacation, Daddy and Granddad played their last round of vacation golf in the morning.  So, Gigi, Katie Anne, and I headed down to some of the cute shops in Rosemary Beach.  There are lots of cute, unique shops at Rosemary that are fun to visit.  We love to go to two of the stores there - The Sugar Shak and Gigi's Fabulous Toys!

The Sugar Shak is absolutely filled with all kinds of fun candy - it is a little kid's dream store!

Katie Anne was fascinated by all the candy/toy combos:

After Katie Anne made her (many) candy selections and Gigi bought them for her, we headed outside to the little tables to enjoy our treats.

Katie Anne got two Laffy Taffy candies, a Hello Kitty candy necklace, and a lollipop.  Gigi and I kept it simple with two delicious cherry cordials.

While we were snacking, a ladybug flew up to check us out.  Katie Anne got to hold it on her hand and was fascinated by it:

Then, it was off to Gigi's Fabulous Toys - another kids' paradise!  

Gigi's is the neatest little shop.  It has all kinds of unique toys, dress up clothes, and even a selection of whimsical real outfits for kids.  It is jam-packed with all kinds of fun stuff.  

Katie Anne spent 30 minutes looking around in there before we dragged her away, but she could've easily shopped a lot longer!  She loves that store.

Two scurvy pirates!

Katie Anne and Mom shopping:

Gigi and Katie Anne taking a break:

Even Batgirl needs a rest every now and then!

After we finished our shopping, we met the guys for lunch at George's.  We'd only been there for dinner before, but it has a fabulous lunch menu, too.  Gigi, Granddad, and Daddy had the famous grouper sandwich, I had the chicken fajita wrap, and Katie Anne had the cheesy frog pasta.  (No real frogs in there ... just green and white frog pasta shapes!)  We'll definitely be going back for lunch there next time we're near Alys Beach!