Beignets at Café du Monde
Hurricane at Pat O'Briens
Snowball at Hansen's Sno-Bliz
Sazerac at The Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel
Muffuletta from Central Grocery
Have a good week!
Friday, October 21, 2011
5 Pins for Friday
Today I am showcasing 5 things I have pinned that I want to eat/drink while on vacation next week!
Beignets at Café du Monde
Hurricane at Pat O'Briens
Snowball at Hansen's Sno-Bliz
Sazerac at The Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel
Muffuletta from Central Grocery
Have a good week!
Linking up with Kat!
Beignets at Café du Monde
Hurricane at Pat O'Briens
Snowball at Hansen's Sno-Bliz
Sazerac at The Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel
Muffuletta from Central Grocery
Have a good week!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
I'm leaving mah baby!
Guh, is a mother ever ready to leave her baby for the first time? Oh, I mean I am more than ready to be baby free for a few days. More than ready to have it be just Robert and I for a few days. More than ready to be Meredith for a few days and not Sadie's mom for a few days. But I am less than ready to not see a two-tooth smiling face at me in the morning for a few days. Less than ready to not get to snuggle that little baby against me at bed time for a few days. Less than ready to not get to ruffle her soft blond hair and smell her sweet baby cheeks for a few days.
Perhaps this is why I have been slacking on preparing for this trip. Y'all I have yet to start typing up instructions for my mom next week!! Now, I know my mom would be perfectly capable of taking care of Sadie sans-instructions, but I figured it would be helpful to type up some for how many bottles to take to daycare etc. At the rate I am going I'll be handing Sadie over to her and saying "check ya later'.
I suppose this is what I have all day Saturday for. Well, that and packing.
I think I am also semi-freaking out about leaving Sadie because two weeks ago Robert picked Sadie up from daycare so I could go run some errands and he said he thought she was looking for me all night and she was super fussy for him. Sigh. How I can I leave her for a week when she will be looking for me the whole time?!?! My heart, it hurts. My brain knows that S is going to be juuuuuust fine with my mom. She'll spend the whole week eating peanut butter.*
And, because I need to end this post on a good note, here is a picture of Sadie wearing 32 (because she can't quite master the claw and antlers yet) saying "Let's go Rangers!"
*I have an aunt who mixes peanut butter into Hudson and Wade's dog food when they stay with her, although she will never admit to it. Robert and I just take the don't ask don't tell approach (since we don't feed them people food) so when ever they are going to stay with her we are always like "eh, they'll be fine, they get to eat peanut butter all weekend!" So Sadie getting to eat peanut butter all weekend just means she will be spoiled all weekend!
Perhaps this is why I have been slacking on preparing for this trip. Y'all I have yet to start typing up instructions for my mom next week!! Now, I know my mom would be perfectly capable of taking care of Sadie sans-instructions, but I figured it would be helpful to type up some for how many bottles to take to daycare etc. At the rate I am going I'll be handing Sadie over to her and saying "check ya later'.
I suppose this is what I have all day Saturday for. Well, that and packing.
I think I am also semi-freaking out about leaving Sadie because two weeks ago Robert picked Sadie up from daycare so I could go run some errands and he said he thought she was looking for me all night and she was super fussy for him. Sigh. How I can I leave her for a week when she will be looking for me the whole time?!?! My heart, it hurts. My brain knows that S is going to be juuuuuust fine with my mom. She'll spend the whole week eating peanut butter.*
And, because I need to end this post on a good note, here is a picture of Sadie wearing 32 (because she can't quite master the claw and antlers yet) saying "Let's go Rangers!"
*I have an aunt who mixes peanut butter into Hudson and Wade's dog food when they stay with her, although she will never admit to it. Robert and I just take the don't ask don't tell approach (since we don't feed them people food) so when ever they are going to stay with her we are always like "eh, they'll be fine, they get to eat peanut butter all weekend!" So Sadie getting to eat peanut butter all weekend just means she will be spoiled all weekend!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
This Texas Baby: 8 Months
Holy cow, baby girl, you are officially EIGHT MONTHS OLD (well, officially a week ago)!
Is it bad that I want to say how tired I am of doing these monthly posts? I can just never seem to get my act together on time and they end up being late which make me feel bad. But I know in the future you and I will both enjoy looking back through these, so I'll trudge on!
Here are few bullet point worthy events that happened during the last month:
Is it bad that I want to say how tired I am of doing these monthly posts? I can just never seem to get my act together on time and they end up being late which make me feel bad. But I know in the future you and I will both enjoy looking back through these, so I'll trudge on!
Here are few bullet point worthy events that happened during the last month:
- You are a crawling machine little one. If I put you down in the living room and go to the kitchen to do something, the second I am out of your site I can hear that pat-pat of your
- You are pulling up on ANYTHING YOU CAN, including the couch, cabinets, trashcan, the side of your crib. You're not really taking any steps yet but I imagine that's not to far in the future for us.
- You can get into a sitting position from crawling by yourself. You do this with one leg bent behind you and if I am not careful you will sit like that for too long and your little foot will start turning purple!
- Your daddy taught you how to give 5's while you're clap-claping.
- You started eating chicken and fish.
- We cut your bottles down to 6ozs (you were getting 8, but generally leaving a few ounces) which has resulted in me having to get up with you in the middle of the night a few times, but I think it's just an adjustment period.
- We took you to your very first concert! It was during the day on a Sunday and it was at Gruene Hall to hear Pat Green play acoustic. See, your mamma created a new logo for Gruene Music and Wine Fest (not the website though, eeehhh) and her company got free tickets to the Sunday show and since your daddy and I met while Pat Green was playing we decided to try it out. It went pretty good, but it was just too close to your bed time for us to stay the whole time
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| I know I look cute in my pearl snap and jeans tucked into my boot-socks, but I'm tired! |
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| Peeking in on the show. |
- You and your daddy cheered the Sooners on to another Red River Rivalry victory over the Longhorns.
This next month you get to celebrate your first Halloween and we all get to experience our first week apart (I hope I make it).
Monday, October 17, 2011
Two Years
Two years ago today I was doing this:
It was probably the best day of my life.
Well, that is until this day happened:
But this day would not of happened if it had not been for the first day!
We've managed to set a precedent for these two anniversaries of Robert doing some fun thing with his brother instead of hanging out with me! Last year it was a Rangers playoff game and while he is technically around today, he did spend the whole weekend on a guys fishing trip. Good thing we are going to get to spend all next week together!
On a serious note, this past year has been an amazing roller coaster of events, emotions and change and I can not imagine going through it with anyone else besides Robert. It definitely would not of been as much fun!
Friday, October 14, 2011
5 Pins for Friday
This Friday I am showing y'all my last big party theme contender:
Sunshine Party
I actually toyed with the idea of calling it a pink lemonade party, but I so love the idea of a "you are my sunshine" themed invite that I am going to call this a sunshine party with pops of pink!
Invitation
I am absolutely in love with this invitation. The whimsy in the writing is amazing. The envelope liner is awesome. Everything about it I adore. The wording is fantastic "bright at the sun our little zoe is turning one".
Invitation
Here is another invitation that is pretty awesome too. Bonus the wording is not depending on it flowing with sun!
Party Hat
I love the big yarn pom on the top of this party hat. You could even make some to hot glue to cheapo hats for all the guests.
Balloons
Remember I said pops of pink? What's better than hot pink balloons?! A good idea would be to attache the streamer to the knot of each balloon.
Of course I am linking up with Kat!
Sunshine Party
I actually toyed with the idea of calling it a pink lemonade party, but I so love the idea of a "you are my sunshine" themed invite that I am going to call this a sunshine party with pops of pink!
Invitation
I am absolutely in love with this invitation. The whimsy in the writing is amazing. The envelope liner is awesome. Everything about it I adore. The wording is fantastic "bright at the sun our little zoe is turning one".
Invitation
Here is another invitation that is pretty awesome too. Bonus the wording is not depending on it flowing with sun!
Party Hat
I love the big yarn pom on the top of this party hat. You could even make some to hot glue to cheapo hats for all the guests.
Balloons
Remember I said pops of pink? What's better than hot pink balloons?! A good idea would be to attache the streamer to the knot of each balloon.
Tablescape
Again, more pops of pink with the food drinks a flowers. Just a little to break up all the yellow.
There are so many things that can be done with this theme, just searching yellow and pink party on Pinterest brings up so much inspiration! For more on what I have pinned check out my full sunshine party board here.
So, now that I have shown y'all my big 4 contenders be sure to vote on your favorite theme! I added a poll to the side over there that will be up for a week. So, everyone vote! Even you lurkers out there!
Here is a list to the other 3 themes:
Rainbow Party
Dr. Seuss Party
Sock Monkey Party
Again, more pops of pink with the food drinks a flowers. Just a little to break up all the yellow.
There are so many things that can be done with this theme, just searching yellow and pink party on Pinterest brings up so much inspiration! For more on what I have pinned check out my full sunshine party board here.
So, now that I have shown y'all my big 4 contenders be sure to vote on your favorite theme! I added a poll to the side over there that will be up for a week. So, everyone vote! Even you lurkers out there!
Here is a list to the other 3 themes:
Rainbow Party
Dr. Seuss Party
Sock Monkey Party
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Epic Babyfood Making
This past weekend I finished what I would refer to as the week of baby food making. It was intense, it was exhausting, I'm so glad it's over with. I am also so glad I did it. I was having a really hard time getting creative with Sadie's food. I felt like all I was feeding her was one fruit or vegetable at a time. That's where this book came in handy:
Oh yes, I 100% felt dumb buying a book of babyfood recipes, I mean it's all just steam and puree, right? Well, yes most of it is steam and puree, but what I loved about this book is that it told me what foods to combine together. I didn't have to worry about if carrots and squash would be good together or not. I never would of thought to combine chicken, sweet potatoes and apples, but sounds pretty good, doesn't it? A lot of the recipes also use spices and herbs which I've read are good to introduce babies to so they do not have a hard time with them later, I guess something about it making for a less picky eater since it's stuff they have been eating all along.
I did get a little freaked out with how to plan my shopping list, so I picked out 8 recipe to double and wrote down all the ingredient just adding tick marks next to duplicate veggies. I doubled the recipes for several reasons:
The Saturday that we started all this, we woke up early loaded up in the truck and drove down to the Farmers Market to buy most of what we needed, I even bought chicken! I've never bought meat at the farmers market before, I felt so fancy! $60 later we headed to the grocery store to pick up the rest of what we needed and headed home.
Our process went like this:
We introduced Sadie to chicken and fish during all of this. Out of the 8 recipes I picked out 2 had chicken and one had fish, so far she seems to love them, but Sadie is a fantastic eater, we have not found anything yet that she does not like.
By Sunday evening we were totally done with 6 recipes and I had one that was done but just needed to be separated into the freezer containers. Thankfully Robert was home last week so we were able to knock the rest our pretty fast after Sadie went to bed.
Now you are totally wondering why, if I had 7 made last weekend did I just finish over this weekend. Well, I had a bunch of random stuff left over. Some I over bough (butternut squash) some came in large packages (carrots, spinach) so I used what I had left and made up two of my own recipes! There was no way I was going to let any of that produce go to waste.
I might have to make a fruit or two for Sadie's breakfasts to last us through the middle of November, but those are pretty easy, other than that we are all set!
I know I wont always be able to feed Sadie local or organic foods, but it makes me feel good that at least the first foods she is getting aren't chock full of pesticides or have been sitting in a warehouse for a week.
Anyone else out there making their own baby food and have any recipes to share?
Oh yes, I 100% felt dumb buying a book of babyfood recipes, I mean it's all just steam and puree, right? Well, yes most of it is steam and puree, but what I loved about this book is that it told me what foods to combine together. I didn't have to worry about if carrots and squash would be good together or not. I never would of thought to combine chicken, sweet potatoes and apples, but sounds pretty good, doesn't it? A lot of the recipes also use spices and herbs which I've read are good to introduce babies to so they do not have a hard time with them later, I guess something about it making for a less picky eater since it's stuff they have been eating all along.
I did get a little freaked out with how to plan my shopping list, so I picked out 8 recipe to double and wrote down all the ingredient just adding tick marks next to duplicate veggies. I doubled the recipes for several reasons:
- we were totally out of the last batch of food we had made so I knew I needed a lot
- most of the recipes I chose said they only made 4 servings
- I needed to make food to last to the middle of November, the next time we will have a free weekend with both Robert and I at home
The Saturday that we started all this, we woke up early loaded up in the truck and drove down to the Farmers Market to buy most of what we needed, I even bought chicken! I've never bought meat at the farmers market before, I felt so fancy! $60 later we headed to the grocery store to pick up the rest of what we needed and headed home.
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| Only part of our bounty (sigh, yes my countertop extends UP my wall, it's lovely) |
- Meredith peels, chops and cooks the food while Robert plays with Sadie
- Robert dumps all the food into the food processor, purees it up and portions it out into our freezer containers while Meredith plays Sadie
- Robert washes dishes while Meredith drys and Sadie plays on the kitchen floor
- Repeat until out of freezer containers (we only have 32 containers)
- Once frozen, Robert runs a little hot water over them so Meredith can pop them out into a labeled ziploc bag and return them to the freezer
- Robert washes all the containers while Meredith starts prepping for the next recipe or playing with Sadie
- Repeat until all recipes are done!
We introduced Sadie to chicken and fish during all of this. Out of the 8 recipes I picked out 2 had chicken and one had fish, so far she seems to love them, but Sadie is a fantastic eater, we have not found anything yet that she does not like.
By Sunday evening we were totally done with 6 recipes and I had one that was done but just needed to be separated into the freezer containers. Thankfully Robert was home last week so we were able to knock the rest our pretty fast after Sadie went to bed.
Now you are totally wondering why, if I had 7 made last weekend did I just finish over this weekend. Well, I had a bunch of random stuff left over. Some I over bough (butternut squash) some came in large packages (carrots, spinach) so I used what I had left and made up two of my own recipes! There was no way I was going to let any of that produce go to waste.
I might have to make a fruit or two for Sadie's breakfasts to last us through the middle of November, but those are pretty easy, other than that we are all set!
I know I wont always be able to feed Sadie local or organic foods, but it makes me feel good that at least the first foods she is getting aren't chock full of pesticides or have been sitting in a warehouse for a week.
Anyone else out there making their own baby food and have any recipes to share?
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
A Big Easy Vacation
Remember a few months back when I posted about Robert and I taking a vacation for our anniversary, but couldn't decide on where to go? Well, as if the post title doesn't give it away, we decided on New Orleans! So, here's the plan, Monday morningish we'll load up the truck and drive 6 hours to Lake Charles and stay here:
We decided on this pit stop for many reasons; Robert has always wanted to take a trip to Lake Charles to go gambling, so we thought this would be a good test to see if it would make for a fun long weekend trip sometime, it looks really pretty to me, we didn't want to start our vacation out exhausted from driving 9+ hours, they have a lazy river! You can see where my priorities are.
Tuesday morning we'll get up and drive the rest of the way to New Orleans, a little less than 4 hours, and arrive at our destination for the rest of the week:
I was torn on whether or not I wanted to stay in a hotel near the French Quarter or in a B&B/guest house in the Garden District, but after lots of travel website browsing, we ended on the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter. We decided that we did want to be close to all the action and explore all that the French Quarter has to offer while maybe taking a side trip over to the Garden District. I am so excited for our stay here! The best part might be that they have a bar that looks, and moves, like a carousel!
Again, you can see where my priorities are.
We'll be in New Orleans from Tuesday until Saturday morning. Saturday morning we will drive the whole 9+ hours back home just in time to make it to Gruene Hall to see these brothers:
We have funny priorities, don't we?
We're not really planning out anything to do while in New Orleans, just making a list of things we would like to do. We don't want to stick to any sort of schedule or "have to be here or there at this time". We really just want to take this time to hang out and enjoy being with each other for a while.
Here are a few of the things on our would like to do list:
Have you ever been to New Orleans?
If so, what should we add to our list?
Got any other suggestions for our trip?
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| L'Auberge du lac Casino Resort |
Tuesday morning we'll get up and drive the rest of the way to New Orleans, a little less than 4 hours, and arrive at our destination for the rest of the week:
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| Hotel Monteleone |
We'll be in New Orleans from Tuesday until Saturday morning. Saturday morning we will drive the whole 9+ hours back home just in time to make it to Gruene Hall to see these brothers:
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| Bruce and Charlie Robison |
We're not really planning out anything to do while in New Orleans, just making a list of things we would like to do. We don't want to stick to any sort of schedule or "have to be here or there at this time". We really just want to take this time to hang out and enjoy being with each other for a while.
Here are a few of the things on our would like to do list:
- Eat beignets at Cafe du Monde (duh)
- Drink a Hurricane (maybe more than 1)
- Take a cemetery tour (not sure if we want to do guided or not)
- Visit Bourbon Street (after 10pm to get the full experience)
- Ride on a riverboat (after reading terrible reviews about this online, this one might get scratched)
- Take a swamp tour
- Visit a plantation
- Tour the Abita factory
- Eat dinner or brunch at Commander's Palace
Have you ever been to New Orleans?
If so, what should we add to our list?
Got any other suggestions for our trip?
Monday, October 3, 2011
This Texas Baby: 6th Month Pictures
Before Sadie was born I booked this whole "baby's first year" package with a local photographer. It's good for newborn, 3, 6, 9 and 1 year pictures, plus all the images on dvds, a few canvas prints and 2 books. Well getting together with the photographer for her 6th month pictures was a little challenging, so we actually did not take these pictures until right after she turned 7 months old. I LOVE THEM. They are probably the best pictures yet out of our sessions, she was awake the whole time for her newborn session and she did not smile at all during her 3 month session, the smiles were still few and far between during the session but when they came out it was just perfect!
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| You want me to sit on this bridge and do what? |
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| Perfecting the side-eye. |
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| Don't make fun of my white, white baby. |
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| Clap-Clap |
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| Only one picture in the tutu I made, she thought it was a tasty treat for her! |
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| Do what? |
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