If He's Told Me Once....

.....He's told me 100 times already. Rangers start tomorrow.

Don't get me wrong. I love baseball. I love Texas. I love the Rangers. I love that my husband llllloooooooovvves sports. BUT, what really gets my goat, is that he struggles to remember my birthday, our anniversary, and other various important dates; and when it comes to Ranger's Baseball - let the count down begin. (HUGE EYE ROLLS). :) How many wives have heard this recently. "Hey guess what is in seven days? Hey guess what is in four days? Hey guess what tomorrow is???" RANGERS START TOMORROW. 3:00 tomorrow Rangers start!

Want to know the ONLY reprieve to the evening? Cullen told me tonight that the NFL is in a lockout and there MIGHT not be any Fantasy Football. WHAT??!?? Did my ears deceive me??

So, Happy Ranger's Baseball Season Opening Day, my Dear.

Eating In - Lent: Week 2

Here we go! Week 2 of eating in. I must say, there are nights where I could be easily swayed to eat OUT but, Here is to having some sticktoitness (is that a word??) Want this week's menu?? It is outstanding!

Monday: Sloppy Joes with baked tater tots and baked beans. Yumm!
Tuesday: Parmesan Ranch Crusted Chicken
Wednesday: Creamy Chicken Pesto (minus the carrots - because, gross.)
Thursday: Taco Braid with Taylor and Kenny.
Friday: Turkey Spaghetti

Yumm.

And, just because posts are better with pictures, here are a few from spring break!

Mrs. Stephanie had us over for a play date. He thinks playing the piano is better in a shirt and diapers.
Being a baby is tough work, but he has his water bottle, gabbing with friends.
New favorite game: chew on my fingers.
Look at my teeth. Mommy loves them.
This is his "aren't I cute?" face. And, Noah, the answer is yes. You are.

Eating In - Lent: Week 1

I was having a conversation with a good friend the week before Lent, about what we were going to give up for the Lent Season.... She is giving up the snooze button. Instead of snoozing, she will wake up and spend a few extra minutes reading a devotional or The Bible. What a brilliant idea. I decided to give up eating out. Yes, that means for 40 days, there will be ZERO meals out. No ordering in and eating at home, no quick breakfasts. Good, home cooking. I chose this for many reasons.

• This is a vice of mine. If I could choose to eat out every meal and not cook I would (oddly enough, I L-O-V-E to cook)
• Eating out is convenient, yet a hassle with a baby. While it should give Cullen and I more time together, it seems to do the opposite.
  
• Eating at home, means we spend more time together as a family during the week....which may allow Sundays-at-church seem much more doable.
  

Point #3 - isn't that the whole purpose of Lent? Giving up something that hinders a relationship with The Big Guy?

So, let's make Lent a little more fun...I am posting (weekly) my dinnertime menu. 40 days, cooking in....we are going to have to get a little out of the dinner comfort zone.

Here was last week's, and this week's menu's.

Ash Wednesday, March 09: Ate Leftover Chicken Broccoli Bake at Jenny's.

Thursday, March 10: Blue Cheese Turkey Burgers on the grill. Nothing fancy here, we made burgers and added crumbled blue-cheese to the inside and baked. Delish. Very rich but DELISH.

Friday, March 11: BBQ at Cullen's parents.

Saturday, March 12: Crack-pot Lasagna; It was so good. I had made it a time before. I loved it. I change a few things, but keep it basically the same. Bravo. I would have it again. (**HEY, LAUREN, did you catch the "crack-pot").

Sunday, March 13: Melt in your mouth Pizza Bagel Bites. OMGosh. This is the Devil's handy-work. I could eat 17...problem is, each one is 1/2 a bagel.

Monday, March 14: Chicken Parmesan. Crispy. Hearty. Will need exercise afterwards.

Tuesday, March 15th: King Ranch Chicken. Simple. Easy. Done.

Wednesday, March 16th: Chicken Packets. Don't knock 'till you try it, because YUMM. (side note: I am not sure why she calls them chicken pAckets, instead of chicken pOckets. Who cares? They are good.) HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER AND UNCLE STEVE!

Thursday, March 17th: P.F. Changs frozen meal. It is AS GOOD as the restaurant. If I'm lying, I'm dying.

Friday, March 18th: Fiesta Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas. Humm.....I feel like we are eating a lot of chicken this week.

Saturday, March 19th: My Momma's Ham Casserole. A moment on your lips, forever on your hips, it is so good. You will have to email me for this recipe. It is a family one...and too good to share with everyone.

Funny Little Faces

My little angel has been fighting a bad case of Croup since Tuesday. Yuck. Cullen and I have had incredible amounts of help with him (thanks Mom. Thanks Carol.) Our parents have kept him through the days while I have been at a conference in Austin and Cullen has worked. I seriously don't know how new parents have babies without help.

He has been so sweet, although not feeling good. He has been cuddly and angelic. He also has given me these sweet little faces:

How do you get any cuter??


On a different note, Noah is picking up new abilities daily. He can point, he says ma-ma (which doesn't mean momma), says bye-bye (when he waves bye-bye), and gives hugs on command. I can't wait to see how much he continue to grows. It is unreal how smart, and fantastic my little monster is. It is true, I love him more daily.

I Can't Handle ALL Of This Love!

My dear baby Noah went to his best-friend's first birthday party today. He was, Kylie was, the party was as perfect as it should have been! Kylie had a great time, and received some great gifts, including a ball pit from her momma and dad! Check out these pictures in all their glory.




Yes, they are truly the best of friends. Yes, they are REALLY hugging; not forced, but genuinely HUGGING! And, yes, they are sharing. They are my one of my favorite parts of parenthood.

One Year Ago...

Last year, on February 18th, I was pacing around with Cullen waiting for big news from The Durbins. Finally, around 10:00 p.m., Cullen's phone rang. CONGRATULATIONS! It is a girl! Cullen's phone was filled with pictures of a beautiful new Baby Kylie. And, Oh, what a beautiful little girl indeed.

We couldn't wait to get to the hospital the next day to meet our new little friend. Danielle, I cannot believe your special little girl is already ONE! Here is a little compilation of my favorite pictures of Sweet Baby Kylie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLIE!

Happy Valentine's Day My Love!

What a sappy holiday.... YEP, I AM AS SAPPY AS THEY COME.

Happy Valentine's day to my one and only. You make me happier every day I am with you. I love you more and more and consider myself one of the luckiest gals in the world!!

Old Man Winter...

Winter blew in last week. EVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT in Texas closed (it seemed) except Killeen ISD. However, Thursday night, Old Man Winter heard my jealous rages, and blew right into Killeen just long enough to close school on Friday.

Noah and I had an extended weekend, and we had such a blast! We played and played, crawled, napped in our beds, and played some more.
Regardless of time, regardless of how long we had al-re-ady been inside, regardless of how quickly I caught cabin fever, Noah was so sweet, so cuddly, and so much fun!
AND, because it NEVER snows in Texas, I thought I would chronicle the snow by writing in it!
I couldn't wait to get Noah all bundled up for the snow....guess who was LESS THAN AMUSED with the idea of sitting in the cold, wet, snow?? You guessed it..... This guy.
Can you read the caption bubble over his head?? "Ugh, maybe if I just take this one picture, she will let me go in...."
BUT, never fear, my little chunker was EASILY distracted by the thought of eating...even if it is eating snow.
See, I told you. Easily distracted.
The winter blizzard that was 2011 was so fun. I am so glad to see it come AND GO.

My Giggler -

Noah has this funny squeal/laugh. It is one of the new noises in life that no matter what can brighten my mood. Today, Noah and I were home all day long because of "inclement weather conditions". We were the best of buds. This evening, we went to dinner with friends and on the way home, we stopped for Cullen to get cough medicine. While he was inside, Noah and I played "Where's Noah?" This game, nor this giggle get old.



*Please excuse the angle and the amount the video shakes. I am holding the camera to where he cannot see it.

BIG NEWS IN NOAHLAND!!

In early January, we pooled a date of when we thought Noah would REALLY crawl. Most of the family thought it would FOR SURE be no later than January 11th. BOY WERE WE WRONG. The further and further we were removed from early January, and with the speed and which Noah could army-crawl, I just knew that Noah was going to be one of those dear little ones that didn't crawl. He was going to go straight from army-crawling to walking. And, why not? He does everything else at his own pace....

It is now February 2nd, and Noah is OFFICIALLY crawling. Our friends Kenny and Taylor came over this evening, and Noah crawled to get Kenny's phone. They went back and forth for what seemed like forever.

I am such a happy, and proud momma. This little boy melted my heart.