Busy January...

We have had a busy month! Here is a little of what we did in January:

The Smiths - Our good friends, Todd and Adrienne Smith, and their kids Saige and Cy come to visit us a couple of weeks ago. We became friends when we both lived in Midland, TX. Now they live in Frisco, TX, so we are a little closer! The kids had a blast and just played and played! Adrienne and I took the girls to see a movie, and enjoyed some "girl time". We had a great weekend!

Saige, Annie, and Cy...just being silly!

Tea Party - Annie loves to have tea parties in her room, so one night while Chris was out of town, I decided we would have a real tea party. Annie was SOOO excited! She got all of her little plastic tea cups and plates out and I washed all of them. I also got out a special tea set that Great-Grandma Garrett gave her. It is a real tea set that Chris' mom played with growing up, so that was a special treat for Annie. Annie set both the dining room table and the kitchen table. In the kitchen we had strawberries, oreos, and apple juice. In the dining room we had chocolate milk, strawberries, and cookies. We put the chocolate (ovaltine) in the sugar bowl and each made our own chocolate milk. Annie loved it and I enjoyed getting to be a part of her special tea party!

setting the table for the tea party

pouring the milk...and being so careful!

mixing the chocolate (ovaltine) in the milk

The kids - Annie is just as sweet as can be! I can hardly believe she is going to be 4 years old in a few months! She is just an absolute joy and I love spending my days with her. Cason will be a little one-year-old in a month and is as busy as can be! He loves to crawl, climb, and get into things he isn't supposed to get into! He LOVES water, and he doesn't care where the water comes from...Molly's dog bowl, the bathtub, the toilet...he couldn't care less as long as it's water! I have to really watch him, because he will sneak off to go find water when I'm not looking!

The kids are really starting to play together more, now that Cason is able to crawl around and stand up. One of his favorite things to do is to play with Annie in her kitchen. Annie likes to cook and Cason likes to wash the dishes. Here they are busy in the kitchen!

Here are a few more pictures of the kids!

Annie loves feeding her baby Cinderella...and Cason just follows her everywhere! Big sisters are sooo cool!

Hurry...take the picture Mommy...before Cason gets away!

My sweet blue-eyed little boy...a little bit sneaky, but so so sweet!

New Haircut - I got a new haircut, and I must have felt brave because I decided in the salon to get the same haircut the girl ahead of me was getting. It's not like me to venture out! I really like it and am happy to have something different!

Chris' turns 31 - Chris turned 31 on January 26th! We had a little birthday party at home and went out to eat at Outback. I should have gotten a babysitter so that we could actually enjoy our food. For those of you who have kids, you know what I mean! We get to the restraunt and Annie is yelling to everyone, "It's my Daddy's birthday!" We are really working on using an inside voice. We imediately say to our waiter, "We just want to order everything at once." So we order our 1/2 order of cheese fries (yes we know they are horrible for us but mmmmm...so good!), drinks, and entree's. We also tell the waiter that if the kids food is ready first, to just go ahead and bring it. So we get our salads before the cheese fries, busily try to keep the kids happy and fed, and try to keep Annie from eating 2 loaves of bread and hurting herself with all of the forks on the table! Life is always entertaining!

Happy 31st Birthday Chris!

Recipe

I decided to post this recipe because we LOVE it and I have made it quite a lot lately! My friend Jill gave me this recipe, and I think about her every time I make it! (miss you Jill!) Here it is:

White Chicken Chili

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 med onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 4oz can mild green chilies, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
2 16 oz cans great northern beans
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken breast
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream and grated cheese for garnish

Over medium high heat, heat oil in large saucepan. Add onion and saute until translucent. Stir in garlic, chilies, cumin, cayenne pepper, and oregano and saute 2 minutes. Add undrained beans, chicken, and broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Add cheese and stir until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream and cheese if desired. Serve over tortilla chips or with cornbread (we use chips). Enjoy!!!

Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and were happy to get to spend time with family, since last year we weren't able to come home for Christmas. We had our little family Christmas on the 23rd and enjoyed spending the day together as a family. Annie's favorite present was her pink Mustang powerwheels! I love looking out the window at Annie driving down the street with her Daddy trying to direct her away from the middle of the street. Cason even got to ride with her in the garage, since it has a little velcro seatbelt.

We left on Christmas Eve and drove through Nacogdoches to see my family at the Farm in Chireno. We ate lunch and exchanged presents and enjoyed spending time with them. My dad warned us that there was a Winter Storm Advisory for DFW, but we weren't very concerned...I mean, we're talking about Texas here! Obviously we were wrong! We were trying our hardest to make it to Granbury for Christmas Eve with the Clarks, but about 15 miles away we made the call to stop at a hotel. We were sliding all over the road and the people driving around us were getting stuck. Luckily there were plenty of rooms available when we checked in, but as we were unloading the car, we overheard that they had closed down the road and the hotel only had 8 more rooms available. Chris' brother Daniel was about 3 miles ahead of us and turned around to come stay with us. God was really watching over us and we are thankful we stopped when we did. The hardest part was telling my 3 1/2 year old little sweetheart that we weren't going to be able to make it to Grammie Go and Grandaddy's house. She was SO upset...I mean DEVISTATED! I haven't seen tears like that from her in a long, long time! I felt so bad for her. "But Mommy, where is the Christmas tree?" "Where is the chimney?" "Santa won't know I'm here." I convinced her that Santa would find her and that luckily we had brought our reindeer food to sprinkle outside for the reindeer. So, we bought some cookies out of the vending machine for Santa, and believe it or not...Santa found us! We will never forget our Christmas Eve in the Cresson Inn!
Putting out the reindeer food for Santa's reindeer...that cheered her up!

We will never forget the Cresson Inn!

We enjoyed the rest of our Christmas and went to Red River, New Mexico after Christmas. Annie loved playing in the snow, sledding, and making a snowman...she named him "Bert" from Mary Poppins. Cason got sick, but tried to have a good time! Chris and I loved skiing, especially since we haven't gone in 3 years. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Grandaddy and Annie spent lots of time making "Bert"!

Look at that cute little red nose...she doesn't seem to mind being cold at all!

Sweet little Cason!

Look at her go!!!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas too! Happy 2010!!!

I am in love

Yes, I am in love! I have just found the mop of my dreams! I am in love with my new Shark Steam Mop!!!


I love the fact that it only uses steam to clean, not chemicals. I love how it cleans those sticky, messy, hard to get spots off of the floor that I have been trying to get up with my regular mop but couldn't. I love that I don't have to worry about my little Cason crawling on the floor, now that I finally have clean floors. Call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed mopping the floor last night! :)

White Chocolate Party Mix

Annie and I have been trying out recipes from my new cookbook "Southern Living Christmas Cookbook" (thanks Mimi!). Okay, this is a recipe you HAVE to make! It is super easy and so yummy! Annie and I have already made it twice and are going to make it again tomorrow. It makes a great gift for teachers, etc.

White Chocolate Party Mix
prep: 10 min
1 (9 oz) package butter-flavored pretzels
6 cups cheerios (I used multigrain cheerios)
6 cups corn chex
2 (7 oz) packages salted peanuts
1 (24 oz) package almond bark candy coating

Melt candy coating squares according to package directions. Pour contents together and stir to combine. You may want to divide and do this twice, unless you have a huge bowl! Spread mix onto wax paper. Cool for 30 min. Break apart and store in an airtight container. If you don't give some away, you will make yourself sick because it is so addicting you can't stop eating it! Trust me...I know! Enjoy!

Father-Daughter Weekend

A few weeks ago Chris took Annie on a Father-Daughter trip. He has been talking about doing this since before Annie was born, but wanted to wait until she was a little older to start the tradition. So, for their first Father-Daughter trip they went to Moody Gardens in Galveston. Annie was so excited about staying in the hotel and swimming in the pool. They ate at the Rainforest Cafe, swam at night, swam again in the morning, and went to the aquarium. She loved riding the ferry and getting to spend time with her daddy. On the way home she said to Chris, "Daddy, I'm sad our trip is over." She is already looking forward to the next trip! Here are some pictures from their weekend:

Annie jumping on the bed at the hotel...one of her favorite things about staying in a hotel!

Daddy did a good job fixing that cute little ponytail! (Chris, I'm going to remember this!)

Annie and Chris in Galveston

Wonderful weekend

Last Saturday we went to see my parents at "the farm" in east Texas. My grandmother was raised there, and my mom inherited some of the land after my grandmother passed away. We always enjoy being out there, and now it is nice to be able to share it with our children. It seemed to be just what Chris and I needed after a somewhat stressful week. There is just something about being there that allows you to slow down, take a breath, and relax. Here are a few pictures from our day at the farm.

Grandpa and MaMal with the kiddos

Grandpa and Annie

On Sunday we drove to Houston to meet up with our Pennsylvania friends The Luttrells. They moved to PA about 6 months after we moved there, and now they are moving back to Houston about 6 months after we moved to Beaumont. We only lived in PA for about 18 months together, but we became very close friends. Natalie and Annie are exactly a month and a day apart in age, and Owen and Cason are exactly 5 weeks apart in age. Landon spent part of his childhood in Midland, and knows many of the people we know in Midland. It's a small world! We are soooo excited that they are moving to Houston, and will be less than 2 hours away from us! Annie and Natalie are best buddies, and miss each other terribly. The girls were so excited to see each other! We got to see their new house in Katy and eat dinner with them. The guys watched the boys and Kristin and I took the girls to see the broadway production of Mary Poppins, which Annie was tremendously excited about! Mary Poppins is her very favorite movie...she asks to watch it almost every day! She knows all the songs and even recites some of the lines of the movie. Anyway, as we were sitting there watching it, I overhear Natalie tell Annie, "I love you Annie." and Annie said, "I love you too Natalie." Natalie said, "You are my best friend." Then they hugged. What a special moment, and what a precious friendship. I was so mad at myself because I left my camera in the diaper bag with Chris, so I don't have any pictures, but we have lots of fun memories. Here is a picture from this summer when they came to visit us in Beaumont and we went to an alligator farm. No, I am not kidding, and if you come to visit us we will take you there too!

Notice all of the kids are staring at the alligator...I'm not sure if they know it's not real!

Monday morning is Annie's dance class. Although we had a busy and exhausting weekend, Annie wouldn't dare miss dance class...no matter how tired she is! This was "parent week" at the dance studio, so I stayed and watched her to see what all she has learned. She loves going to class, and would love it if she could go every day! Here are a few pictures:

ballett - dancing with ribbons


tap - Annie leading the group

acrobatics - doing the crab walk

Finally, to end my long post...

Go Cowboys!!!