Interesting Night....

We had quite an interesting night last night.

After work, I picked up Avery from my in-laws. They informed me that she hadn't pooped all day-which usually means I'll get a nice blowout poop at some point which results in a ruined outfit or two. I get home and tell Gabe that and he tells me that she didn't poop overnight either. Great-an even bigger one on its way. It was bath night so Gabe went to get her bath water ready as I got her undressed, etc. Still no poop (very unusual for her)! Gabe comes and gets Avery from me to give her her bath. I'm in her room getting clothes out for the next day, etc. I hear Gabe talking to her in the bathroom:

"Oh Avery does the water feel nice and warm? Are you doing whizzers? OH MY GOD-she's pooping! She's pooping! Nik come here!" (Insert a different word for pooping)

So I go in and there's poop floating everywhere in the bath tub! So I scooped her out and we drained the tub and started all over!

We get her to bed and I go to bed around 10. Lately she's been sleeping until around 3-4am before she eats. I wake up to her screaming-look at the clock-11:30pm! Ugh...so I let her cry a few minutes to see if she calms down. Nope-instead she screams harder and harder. All of a sudden it dawns on me-I wonder if she rolled and is stuck on her stomach? I jump out of bed and sure enough, there she is stuck on her tummy! It happened again at 4am as well and when Gabe went in to wake her up she was on her tummy as well! I knew this day would come! Now she needs to learn how to roll from her tummy to her back so she can get herself out of a jam! Hopefully soon!

Happy 2nd Birthday Bianca!

Today is my neice's 2nd birthday so tonight we went to my Sister-in-law's house for her party. We were greeted by my neice and nephew-how cute is her outfit?!

Avery wore one of Bianca's old dresses for the occasion:


We had a very nice dinner then opened gifts. My in-laws even brought a gift for Avery. Gabe opened it and you can see how entranced she was by it:

The gift was a glow worm and so far I think Avery likes it!
My neice is really into the movie "Toy Story" so my in-laws got her some figurines from the movie. This is her opening up Woody:

She also loves dolls and she got a new one tonight:

Gabe and I got her a trunk full of dress up clothes:


Avery was busy eating her glow worm:

And watching it play:

Bianca's Shrek cake that she picked out and couldn't wait to eat!

Lighting the candles-she was so excited!

Owen and Bianca:

Singing "Happy Birthday":

Owen helped blow out the candles:

Avery had a little taste of frosting from Daddy (Mommy wasn't too thrilled about it):

We had a very nice evening at the party-everything was very nice and we all had a good time! Happy Birthday Bianca! We hope you had a wonderful day!

Cute to the Core

Oh yes she is!

Beef Stroganoff

I went to a Pampered Chef party a few weeks ago and they made this recipe at the party. The sales rep emailed it to all of us following the party so I decided to make it for dinner tonight to try it out.

Beef Stroganoff
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, pressed (I used 2 cloves)
Cook the above ingredients in a large frying pan until beef is cooked through and brown. Drain fat/grease.
To the beef mixture, add:
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup water
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Bring to a simmer, then add 8oz sour cream
Serve over 1 lb of egg noodles (I mixed them right in instead).



This turned out pretty good! I would just add more salt and pepper to taste after since it needed more to me. We enjoyed it though and I'll be making it again for sure!

No More Spaghetti Legs

Avery no longer has spaghetti legs! When you would try to stand her up, her legs would just bend like nothing-she wanted nothing to do with standing up! In the past week or two, when you try standing her up, she now locks her legs and enjoys being a "big girl" and standing! It's too cute:

Here's another pic of her from earlier this week:

Praline Sweet Potato Casserole

I've had this recipe for awhile, but never had the chance to make it. I found it in some magazine and thought it looked good. Tonight we had some friends over for dinner so I thought it would be a good time to try it out!

Praline Sweet Potato Casserole
1 can (40oz) sweet potatoes, drained
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs

Topping:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pecans, chopped (I omitted)
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease shallow 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. In bowl, mash sweet potatoes. Stir in granulated sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and eggs. Spoon into casserole dish. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over potato mixture. Bake for 30 minutes.



The verdict? These are sweet....very, very sweet. Maybe even too sweet for me, which doesn't happen very often in a recipe. I think next time, I will at least cut the brown sugar in half, maybe even more than that. There's just way too much sugar! The funny thing is that after I made them, I was going through a cookbook and found a few recipes that were very similar and they called for the same amount or MORE sugar-which is just crazy! I already think it's too much. Besides that, they tasted good so I will try them again!

Today....In Years Past

This day holds a special place in my heart for two reasons....

Six years ago today, Gabe and I had our first date! Without that, I obviously wouldn't be where I am today-in many respects. It's hard to believe it's been that long already-it seems like yesterday he showed up and swept me off my feet :) Happy six years of happiness honey!

One year ago today we unofficially found out I was pregnant. I say unofficially because it was the day I took the home pregnancy test. It was the first thing I did that morning and what a way to celebrate our anniversary! Those tests were confirmed later that week. Again, another life changing moment for us.

What else will November 2nd bring us in the future?! Only time will tell....