14 Months

It's been a while since I have done one of these so I figured I should make a list of all of your recent milestones!!

Here are just a few:

1) You have officially become a little dude! The bloody scrapes and scabs are evident of a little boy that is on the move and into everything. We have already used several bandages on you and I know that this will not be the last box of Elmo Band Aides that we will be purchasing!

2) You have decided that you are ready to feed yourself with a spoon! This is proving to be one of the more frustrating stages in the feeding process. Mommy is trying really hard to let you do it yourself even when a third of it is hitting the floor and is all over your clothes!

3) Books continue to be your absolute favorite toy! I don't know of many toddlers that are so enamored with reading as you are, but I am not complaining! It just makes my day when you bring me a book from your room and say"booook"!

4) Watching you dance to music is among one of my favorite things to see.  As soon as you hear music you start dancing to the beat!

5) Pools are becoming less scary to you even though I know you would much rather play at the splash park or in the sprinkler in the yard! I'm sure that this phase of being afraid of the water is soon to be short lived:)

6) Your vocabulary is growing at an alarming rate! Here are some of the words that you have mastered so far:

BuBu= bubbles

Boooook= book

odder= oscar

fie= five (this of course is accompanied by a high five!)

emo= elmo

bye bye

my

puppy

7) You are also able to identify with things:

Like pointing to what you want

Point to your nose and head

Go get your ball when I ask for it

you go to your high chair when I ask you to just to name a few

(boy you are one smart fella!!!)

8) You think that everything you deserves a round of applause, and I think that I might have to agree with that!!

Love you more than all the stars big guy!

.....................................................................................................................................................................

Here is a pic of the Father's Day card Cohen and I made for Tyler!

Who's the best dad in the world??

 You are!!

Why Do We Love Daddy?

Cohen and I sat down together tonight and came up with a looooong list of the things we love about his Daddy (better known in blog-land as Hubs). We are going to post a short version of that list here.... just in case he happens to check this blog tonight. Hey- there's a third time for everything, right? 

We love Daddy because:

1) He makes us both laugh every single day. Mama pretends she gets mad when he gets some of Cohen's "big" laughs, but she is laughing inside, too. 

2) He has a wonderful spirit that made Mama fall in love with him... and that will make Cohen think he is THE best Dad around one day.

3) He always comes home and asks Mama how he can help. Even after a long day of work, he ALWAYS cleans the kitchen after meals and even tidy's up the living room each night before we go to bed! 

4) He enjoys spending time at night with Coco and with Mama even though we secretly know he wants to be watching ESPN or some golf tournament or any other type of sporting event shown on television:) 

5) He is SO very handsome. Mama added that one in. 

6) He loves Mama when she is a crazy, crying, handful... and he loves Cohen when he is a crazy, crying, handful. 

7) He prays everyday for our family and wants to be a good example for us.

8) He makes learning Mama a priority, and takes endless hours of instruction from her on how to "handle" a baby. 

9) He works so hard everyday, doing a very difficult job so that Mama and Cohen can live a comfortable lifestyle that includes shopping sprees every once in a while. 

10) Because he wants to be everything that we need... but the secret's out... he already is!!!

We love you! Happy Father's Day!!

Here are some pictures of Cohen and his daddy:)

Daddy's little cuddle bug:)

Daddy teaches Cohen how to be a handy man!

Daddy loves his Cohen too!

Summer Yummer!

Summer Yummer what's for supper??

Mexican Chicken

This was so easy to make and tasted really really good!

3 or 4 chicken breasts (boiled and torn into bite size pieces)

One can cream of mushroom

One can cream of chicken

One can of rotel

One cup of cheese

Tortillas (small) torn into pieces

Put one layer of torn tortillas in the bottom of a 9X13 dish.

 Mix the chicken, wet ingredients and cheese together. Pour over the tortillas.

Top with more cheddar.

Bake at 350 until bubbly!

I served this with a mixed green salad!

Enjoy!

Summer Yummer!

Summer Yummer What's for Supper??

I absolutely LOVE the smell of fresh okra! Some may think this is weird but it just reminds me of my grandmother when she would cook okra and I got to help her! 

Putting up peas is something that I have never done on my own before. I used to help peel the peas when I was younger but I never had to blanch them myself. But I quickly learned the other night that there was not much to it!

Now we have fresh peas for any time of year!

I put away two bags of pink eye purple hulls, one bag of lady peas, one bag of butter beans and three bags of okra!

This was the prep work for last nights supper. My mamaw Mert used to cook me squash and onions as a kid! Let's hope I can make mine half as good as hers!

I also LOVE the smell of fresh shucked corn on the cob. When I was a little girl, I had to help my babysitter peel corn to make cream corn. And something about the way it smelled just stuck with me!

And just a little FYI, did you know that you don't really use cream to make cream corn?? This was a misconception of mine up until a few days ago! 

Just a bit of trivia for ya there.

ON MY GOODNESS THESE WERE FINE!!! Fried green tomatoes!

Making these was a first for me and they turned out great!

Not healthy but delicious!

So Cohen got corn on the cob, baked chicken and squash with! He also had his fruit but we had to put it on the side!

The S's of Summer

Snow cones!

Swimming!

Splashing!

Snoozing!

Summer Yummer!

Ok, so as I mentioned in a previous blog I have been working on an idea that I got from another blog that I follow.

The blog is called Totally Tots and has some great Ideas about home schooling children, hands on activities, and just encouraging words on how to raise your tot!

But, the one theme that caught my eye was called Tot food! And her blogs were labeled "What's on your Tot's plate?"

This really resonated with me because sometimes I wondered if people really saw what I was eating or rather what my child was eating they might think it a little less than appealing! So when I thought about beginning this adventure the first thing that came to mind was "If I am forced to put what my child or myself eats online, then I might do a better job of eating better foods if I thought people might actually judge me for it!!"

(I guess it's just a way of holding myself accountable for what we put in our tummies!!)

This brings me to something else that just popped into my head. How many of you ever feel like people are judging you as you meander through the grocery store with your box of oreos in the cart or bag of potato chips?

Maybe I feel that way because I am constantly looking at what other people have in their cart!! And I think to myself, must be nice just to walk around with all that junk food in there and feel no shame!!! 

So, I got a little off subject with that one but I was just curious if I was the only one who felt that way!

Back to my project....

After reading this woman's blog I decided that we would start trying new things and eating more of a balanced meal as often as we could. And by seeing what other people give their Tots, it gives me more ideas as to what to give Cohen so that his meals don't become so monotonous and hopefully become more healthy in turn. After all, I don't want the kid to be a picky eater and only want chicken nuggets and bacon for the rest of his life...that was a play on an inside joke!

I had a hard time deciding on whether or not I would post recipes for each meal idea with pics of all the ingredients before I begin (and some of them don't need one, I'm sure most of you know how to scrabble eggs!), but I have decided not to. The reason behind it being that I don't really have time for that and once I get in the cooking mood I have forgotten to post pics of all the before ingredients. 

BUT, if you would like a recipe then just post a request in the comments section! (This being for all five of my followers!! hehehe)

Here it goes!

Summer Yummer What's for Supper?

This was a really neat recipe that I got from parenting magazine! It's called a fritata and you can make them in all kids of combinations! 

First, I sauteed some bell peppers and mushrooms (that's what we had in the fridge). Then I took a muffin tin and sprayed it with pam and poured in the veggies. You whisk together two eggs and pour them over the veggies. Then you put turkey pepporoni around the edges. 

Then bake until top looks done! 

These were really good!

I served it with a combo of fruit: strawberries, watermelon and blueberries!!!

Artichoke chicken bake!! This was sooo good and easy to make! I served it over rice with a side of green beans...one of Cohen's favorites!

I try to put something "green" on his plate for each meal but it is really hard to get a one year old to eat a raw veggie so we have to resort to frozen veggies instead.

I once tried cucumber with a tiny bit of ranch dressing on it....he spit it out! There was no fooling him!

We eat this meal often in our home. Just a simple whole wheat pasta with marinara. We usually buy whatever sauce looks good but we had marinara in our fridge already so that is what I used.

Cohen is really into cheese straws right now so that was his "dairy" portion of the meal.

And, of course...strawberries on the side!

Smoothies for breakfast!!!

These turned out to be sooo good and really good for ya! Of course I put Cohen's in his sippy cup, but they looked so much prettier in the clear glasses!

Leave it to the teacher in me to think that everything I has to have a theme! I love the book Pancakes, Pancakes and when I taught school, every year I would read this book to my little Kindergartners and we would make pancakes! So , instead of making plain old boring pancakes, we made whole wheat banana pancakes from scratch!!! They are AWESOME!!!

I know some people are weird about fruit in their pancakes, but trust me these are AWESOME!! Did I say that already:)

I surprised myself with this one. I grew up on soul food. i.e. roast with veggies and potatoes, fresh peas, fresh butter beans, cream corn, cornbread, fried squash, chicken and dumplings..the list could go on and on! This is making me really hungry by the way!

Anyway, I made my first roast the other night.....and OH MY GOODNESS it was FANTASTIC!! Just like my grandmother used to make! This type of food is by no means healthy, but this is what I used to eat and I think I turned out ok??

You gotta have a dutch oven for this bad boy. I have a Le Creuset one that I bought a few years ago and if you don't have one, you need to get one! They are the best and you won't be disappointed in the performance!

What's on the plate? Roast with carrots and potatoes over rice, green beans, and mixed fruit!

Apple Cinnamon oatmeal with fresh fruit! 

This was a big hit with Cohen!

I am glad to be home in the mornings so I can make him things like this. When school starts it will be back to a banana and dry cereal :(

Good ole afternoon snack! I know yal think that all I give my kid is goldfish and cookies..and judging by the size of him i might could see how you think that:) 

But, I really do try hard not to give him junk!

This snack: One cheese straw and fruit!

OK, this is ABSOLUTELY not healthy and Cohen didn't get any of it....but you gotta treat yourself sometimes!!

Nothing like good ole dirt cake!!

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar??????

Come on! I had to let him at least try an oreo!!

So, to my buddies out there...Summer Yummer What's for your Supper???

The coolest thing since sliced bread.....

Splash Parks!

These things are so awesome and seem to be popping up everywhere. 

They are very affordable and so much safer than a swimming pool.

The entire park is zero entry and has some of the neatest fountains! 

One of the more popular attractions in the 50 gallon bucket that fills up every 10 minutes and pours a huge waterfall onto an anxiously awaiting group of kiddos!

As bad as Cohen "thinks" he would like to sit with the other boys and girls waiting for the bucket to unleash it's furry, I know deep down that being dust rolled by 50 gallons of water might would be a little traumatic for him!

So, luckily there are plenty other fountains to hold his attention. One of them being the sprinkling rings! He loves to go through them over and over!

And as some of you may know,  my child is not the biggest fan of a swimming pool. He is like a leach that refuses to let go of me and will certainly not allow me to get his face anywhere near the water!

I have somewhat figured out though, that Cohen likes to do things on his own. And I believe he is well aware that swimming is not something he can do by himself. So, therefore he is a little scared to sit in a large body of water just wading around. 

He would much rather be able to run around and play in the sprinklers. So, you can imagine my excitement (and his) when we discovered this awesome fun place! 

As soon as we get through the gates, my little clinger immediately leaves my side to go do his own thing! I guess as he gets older this is something that I am going to have to get used to!

We are very lucky that this place is a mere 5 minutes from our house and is somewhere that we will continue to frequently visit! The squeals and the smiles are well worth it:)

The frog slide is a big hit!

Why were there no splash parks when I was growing up???!!!

The mushroom fountain!

Wait for it.......

WOW!

I'm sure these kids were less than thrilled to be bothered by my one year old, but they were tolerant! :)

He just wanted to be one of the big kids!!

Priceless!!!

Hope you all are having a WONDERFUL summer!

leslie

I've got sunshine....

On a rainy day!!!

One of my favorite things as a kid was playing in the rain.

There is just something about the feeling of warm drops of fresh rain falling from the sky and the wonderful fresh clean smell as it washes away all of the dirt and grime!

We FINALLY got some much needed rain showers on Tuesday and I thought we needed to take full advantage of God's natural sprinkler system:)

Enjoy the pics!

This face followed a loud clap of thunder!

Yay rain!

Monster boots for our little monster!

I love the expression on his face!

Let's work on this lawn mower since we are in the garage anyway!