The Green Scene

Drying my first load of cloth diapers. Isn't it just the cutest?!

Dance Recital

My beautiful ballerina

Proud parents.

Gracen and her good friend Carson. Love this.

Practicing for the big show.

Gracen had her Spring Recital the night we left for the beach. It was a crazy day of packing and getting ready. But somehow we managed to get her there, and ready to perform. She did such a great job! I'm serious...such a great job. I'm not one of those moms that thinks her kids are the best at everything...I'm totally aware of their flaws and their weaknesses. I actually didn't know what to expect with her. At her Christmas performance she ran off the stage crying. But she has matured a little bit even in the 6 months since then. So when she got up on stage, I could tell it was gonna be a good night for dancing....and was wonderful. I love that she loves to dance.

Dress Rehearsal

She looks like she's at least 6 years old to me...the make-up is freaking me out.

My little Daisy

Her very first bun.

Gracen has her dance recital this Wednesday. It's going to be a lot of fun. She's really excited...which is great. Because, she had a massive melt down at the little Christmas recital at the studio. This one will be in a huge auditorium. But she did fabulous tonight. I guess you can never tell. Gracen takes dance at Dance Emotions. www.emotionsdance.com. It's a great studio. The owner and Gracen's teacher is Sarah, who is a friend of me and Ryan's from high school....and she is wonderful with the little ones. Next year we'll add Grier into the dancing mix.

Real Food...Sort of....

I finally started feeding Evan some rice cereal. She's about to be 6 months old...in 10 days. You know how excited you were to feed your 1st born cereal? You couldn't wait until they were eating real food. Well, I was like that too...with Aiden. And maybe with Gracen...I stress maybe. Well, definitely after Gracen, that ship had sailed! As our family grows, it is so much easier just to nurse a baby, then to gather up some solids. So I dreaded having to feed Grier baby food, and I've been that way with Evan too. Although, I am looking forward to making baby food. There is something about making my own food, that makes me feel like I'm going above and beyond. You know how bad mommy guilt can be...making baby food sort of redeems that momentarily. Anyways, as usual, Evan was laid back when I gave her cereal for the first time. She ate the entire bowl, like she'd been eating cereal her whole life...no faces, or grimaces. After one bowl, she was a pro. So I guess I'd better gear up, and face the fact that solids are here to stay.

A Thumb Sucking, Tummy Sleeper

I love that Evie is choosing to sleep on her tummy...I am a tummy sleeper. I really appreciate this about my daughter...just another reason to adore her.

Kindergarten...here we come!

My kindergartner
They were singing us "So Long, Farewell" from "The Sound of Music"...yeah, I was a crying mess.

Aiden's teacher, Mrs. Nicole, was going down the line, saying what each kid wants to be when they grow up. Aiden apparently wants to be a "House Cleaner". :)

He was so proud and such a little performer, concentrating very hard.

My handsome guy, excited about going to his graduation.

We had Aiden's preschool graduation a couple of weeks ago, and I still think I'm in denial that I have a kindergartner on my hands. He looked so grown up that night. They sang about 5 songs, complete with hand motions...it was awesome! Aiden was a very focused little man. He took his singing quite seriously...and it made this former singer, pretty proud. He really showed us his sentimental side, realizing that he wouldn't see his friends very often (or in some cases, ever again). I kinda got caught up in his emotions, which rarely happens, and doubted for a few days about our schooling choice in the Fall. But after much prayer, and talking it out with Blake, and some friends...I once again recognize God's leading in this area. So kindergarten....here we come!!

Meal Idea Monday

White Bean Chicken Chili


1 lb. dried Great Northern Beans
2 medium onions, chopped
1 TBS olive oil
3 (4.oz) cans chopped green chilies, undrained
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. dried oregano
6 cups chicken broth
5 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeno peppers
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
¼ C. chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

-Sort and rinse beans; place in a large pot. Cover with 2 inches of water; let soak overnight. Drain; set beans aside.
-Sauté onion in hot oil in Dutch oven over med-high heat until tender. Add green chilies and next 3 ingredients; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add beans and chicken broth. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 2 hours or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally.
-Add chicken, 1 c. cheese, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring often. Stir in cilantro if desired.
-To serve, ladle chili into soup bowls. Top each with remaining cheese. Yields: 13 cups.

-For the chicken broth, I keep the broth from boiling the chicken. When boiling the chicken, I add minced garlic, a couple bay leaves and some chicken bouillon. The broth is excellent. I put the extra in a container in the freezer, for future chicken noodle soup. This recipe is from Southern Living...and it SOO good!

Meal Idea Monday

*This is one of Blake's favorite meals.

Chicken Divan

2 pkgs. (10oz. each) frozen broccoli spears, or one large bunch of fresh broccoli
1 can (10oz.) of condensed cream of chicken soup
¼ C. Sour Cream
1 TB Lemon juice
1 tsp. Soy Sauce
¼ tsp. Garlic Powder
2 C. Cubed Cooked Chicken
1 TB Butter
1/3 C. Grated Parmesan Cheese
¼ C. Unseasoned Bread Crumbs


Cook broccoli according to package directions or until slightly tender; Cover bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish w/ broccoli. In Medium bowl, mix soup, sour cream, lemon juice, soy sauce, and garlic powder; Stir in chicken; pour over broccoli. Set aside. Melt butter in small pot; Stir in Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs; Sprinkle over casserole; Cover w/ foil. Cook at 350˚ for
40-45 minutes.

*I serve this with a salad and bread

Meal Idea Monday

I'm gonna try something new here, and post a meal idea every Monday. I really enjoy meal planning, and cooking...and thought I would share some of our favorites on here.

Pork Chalupas

1 4lb. Pork Shoulder Roast

1 lb. dried pinto beans

3 (4oz.) cans diced green chile peppers

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. dried oregano

3 cloves chopped garlic

Place the roast inside your crock-pot. In a separate bowl, stir together the beans, 2 cans of the chile peppers, chili powder, cumin, salt, oregano, and garlic powder. Pour the whole mixture over the roast, and add enough water so that the roast is mostly covered. Cover, and cook on Low for 8-9 hours. Check after about 5 hours to make sure the beans have not absorbed all the liquid. Add more water if necessary 1 cup at a time. When the roast is fork tender, remove it from the crock-pot, and place it on a cutting board. Remove any bone and fat, and then shred with 2 forks. Return it to the crock-pot, and stir in remaining can of green chiles. Heat through, and serve with flour tortillas, or tortilla chips and your favorite toppings.

This is SO yummy, and it makes a lot!! I made this last week, and we froze enough for a couple of meals, and ate this for 3 days IN A ROW! That's how good it is. We were not tired of it at all!

I made it with a beef roast, b/c that's what was on sale. And it was delicous! We couldn't tell a big difference between the pork and the beef roast. Let me know if you try it.

Phil's Ice House

She was "selling" ice cream.
This thing spins around when you sit in it.

What a cute city boy!

Cool Slide

Ahh...their first "Amy's Ice Cream" experience...Sweet Cream.

Side View of playground

Side view of restaurant.

Ready to conquer the playground.

Ride 'em Cowboy.

Fun Retro chairs


Okay, so if you haven't been to Phil's Ice House/Amy's Ice Cream on Burnet Road, you gotta go. It is so fun! It's a really neat place that has a lot of Austin flair to it. Phil's Ice House has some fun, fair food...burgers, corn dogs, hot dogs, onion rings, Frito pie...in other words, don't go when you're dieting...you'll be outta luck. But they play fabulous music...and you can sit inside or outside. There's a cool retro photo booth to document your time there. And attached to it, is Amy's Ice Cream. It's a one stop shop....and of course, the bonus feature for all of us parents, is the attached, covered playground...SCORE! We all had a blast. Grier was having a rough day, so we decided to leave her at my parents' house to take a much needed nap. Aiden and Gracen loved it, and enjoyed being together, minus their little tag-along. Check it out...you won't be disappointed! Here's the website:

http://www.philsicehouse.com/

The Zoo

***Ridiculous amount of pictures

Handsome guy
A little fearful

Sliding with the Otter

Watching the Monkeys

Lunch

Super Sweet Moment

The Birthday Butterfly

Notice their purses? They took them everywhere ALL day.

We went to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco on Gracen's birthday...April 13th. Yeah, this post is SUPER late...but I took SO many pictures and couldn't figure out which ones to post...so I posted them all. Actually, not even close. I mean, I really took a lot. This is the coolest zoo, and seriously kid friendly. Our family had a blast. I wore the baby most of the day...so she was a trooper. The weather was perfect, and all the animals loved the attention from the kids. There's an awesome playground in the middle of the park. There's also a clear acrylic-like slide that runs right through the otter tank. So the little otter is swimming all around, as you're sliding down...very cool! There's a lot to see and do. It's pretty affordable too. I ran in to a friend of mine from Dallas! Crazy stuff...her family loves coming to the Waco zoo...and they have the Dallas Zoo, and the Forth Worth zoo close by...so that should say something. Oh, and right now there's a really cool Texas exhibit...so lots of fun, native animals. I would totally recommend packing up the kids for the day and heading north to check it out.

Baby Yoga

Check out Evan's flexibility. We've never had a child so into their feet before. And apparently, they are pretty tasty.

Accident Prone

Legs full of bruises

A busted lip, and a shiner, and a healing goose egg.

Check out that massive goose egg

Grier was fighting the ice, and her goose egg got rather big.

Grier is so accident prone these days. Every time we turn around, she's falling down or bumping her head on something. Last night, she fell in the driveway...and busted her lip. Last week at Aiden's Tball game, she tripped and fell flat on her face/head, and hit a flat rock that was in the ground. And we noticed a few days ago, that the goose egg has caused a shiner in the corner of her eye...which we read could happen. I'm starting to get a tad self conscious. I'm trying to convince her that she has a VERY happy and loving home, so CPS doesn't pay me a visit. Maybe the sad picture of her crying isn't helping my case. I think I might research helmets...

I Love My Life

I got to sleep in today, thanks to my wonderful family! When I finally decided to get out of bed, I woke to french toast, and my precious children holding signs that they made me. (We're celebrating Mother's Day today b/c Blake now works on Sundays.) I really love my life...I am blessed with an incredible husband, and 4 amazing kids. But it's seriously the hardest thing I've ever done...I get frustrated at times...like when I finish mopping and someone spills a drink, or treks dirt in the house, or when I pick up the house, and moments later, I can't see the floor anymore. Or the fact, that I'm on an endless quest to finish the laundry...or when I've worked hard to cook something new and tasty, and my kids turn up their noses in protest, and call it yucky...I get frustrated. But at the end of the day, I wouldn't trade any of it. I love my kids...and there are other moments that make it awesome...like when they need a comforting hug, or when they tell me I'm the bestest mommy in the whole world, or when I hear them praying...or when they tell me I'm a great cook...that does happen on occasion believe it or not. Or when they choose to obey, the first time, on their own, with a great attitude...ahh those are great moments.

I'm SO thankful that God has allowed me to become a mom. I have learned SO much from being a mom. I am a different person because of my children. I've become so much more aware of my sin...even more then when I got married. That was an eye opener too. God has used my kids to refine me and grow me in areas I'm weak...the many many areas. But I'll save that for another post. God has also reminded me of simple pleasures and joys. I admire the way my children look at life...full of wonder, and anticipation of something great. I'm thankful to be a part of that. Thank you Aiden, Gracen, Grier and Evan (and Blake for helping them) for making me feel special and loved. Happy Mother's Day! It's a good day!

Playmates

Gracen and Grier are becoming such great playmates. I think having Aiden in school a couple days a week has been good for their relationship. They get to have totally girly days...dress-up, tea parties, playing house, playing with their ponies. It's been really fun. Grier follows Gracen around and wants to do exactly what she does, and Gracen LOVES that! And don't you know she likes bossing her little sister around, after being bossed constantly by her big brother. We rediscovered an old toy...a bus tent, and they have been imagining all kinds of games in there. I can't wait until Grier gets bigger and they can have real conversations, where she's contributing to all of their pretending. In the mean time, Gracen is getting pretty used to having a shadow that does everything she says...Hmmm.