The Happy Little Hawkins Family

Our Family Baby Shower

2012-01-24T16:33:00.006-05:00

Jim's sister and brother-in-law threw us a baby shower this past weekend. We had fun getting together with the family, and they were so generous with lots of gifts for the baby. We had a delicious dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, salad, and rolls. After dinner, we played the diaper game. There were 13 diapers, and each had some kind of baby food or melted candy bar in it. We had to try to figure out what was in each diaper and write down our guesses. I was actually the winner with 8 correct guesses! Here is Jim trying to figure out one of the diapers.

Some of the family.

We got so many nice gifts! Here is a little pair of sunglasses. Drew didn't care too much about most of the gifts, but he thought those were very interesting.

One of the gifts we were very excited about was a rock and play sleeper. I've heard good things about how well babies sleep in them, and I am really hoping that our baby will sleep well in hers!

Here we are with Jim's sister, Sharon, and her husband, Larry. They are always so helpful and generous, and we truly appreciate them very much. They spoiled us at the shower!

Here are the gifts we received. We got several cute outfits for the baby and several packs of diapers.

We also got some new bottles (since they have to be BPA free now), some bibs and burp cloths, some cute baskets with pink gingham liners, a baby book, a diaper stacker, some wipes, pacifiers, headbands, a swaddling blanket, a Babies 'R Us gift card, and a diaper and wipe clutch for the diaper bag. The little monkey was a gift from our niece, Lilly, who just turned three. She had one just like it, and it was her favorite, so she got one for our baby.

We also got sunglasses and a little coat.

Another very nice gift we received was a pretty, girly travel system. Drew's infant car seat expires in December, and we had planned to use it for the new baby, but Drew's stroller was a hand-me-down, and we were planning to replace it. The stroller we had registered for was discontinued, so Jim's sister called from Babies 'R Us to see if we would mind if she bought us this travel system instead. Jim put everything together last night, and we love it!

We really hadn't expected a shower this time, and we were overwhelmed by the generosity of our family. We are feeling much more prepared for our little girl's arrival now, and we are looking forward to meeting her three weeks from today!

Some New Baby Pictures

2012-01-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

I have gotten a few new 3D baby girl pictures in the past couple of weeks. They are kind of blurry, and she has a tendency to keep her hands up near her face, but here are the pictures.
The first two were taken about two weeks ago. You can see her little nose and lips here, and her little hand is covering her eyes. Here's another picture - mostly of the bottom half of her face.

This last picture is from last week. Jim came with me, and we didn't get a clear view of her face at all. In this picture, you can see her covering her face with her crossed arms (over to the right). She was really uncooperative! :)

The last two ultrasounds have been to check fluid levels (which have been good), and I will be having a growth ultrasound this week where they will do a full scan and give us an updated weight and size estimate. I am looking forward to finding out how big she is!

We are so thankful that things are continuing to progress well, and we are praying that baby and I will remain healthy. We are down to less than a month until we get to meet this little girl! We have a little baby shower this weekend with Jim's family, and we are trying to use these last weeks to prepare as well as we can for the changes that are ahead of us.

What We've Been Up To

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

We have had a great several weeks since Christmas - getting back to our new "normal" routine.
Jim is back to work, and he has actually been pretty busy, which is unusual for January. We have hardly had any snow this winter, and this past week or so, we have had temps in the 40's and 50's, so the golf course has been very busy.
Drew is back to school two mornings a week. He truly loves school, and I am so thankful that he does. He is also enjoying playing with all his Christmas gifts, and he and Jim love playing the Wii together. I've been working hard to get our house and our family ready for baby's arrival. I've been gathering things we will need, mostly at thrift stores. I've found so many cute girl clothes and several things for her nursery. I've also been washing up some of our own baby things in preparation for this new baby. This week, I washed Drew's old car seat and put it all back together. Drew let me use a George to help make sure the straps were put in correctly.

I've enjoyed getting back to couponing and CVS shopping. I'm trying to restock the house a little bit. I've also been doing a little bit of freezer cooking to give us some meals for after the baby gets here. So far, I've made two bags of Stuffed Shells, a Stromboli, and a Pizza Dough. I am planning to make several more freezer meals in the next few weeks.
I have also been scrapbooking a little bit this past week. Let's Scrap is having a January challenge to make a layout of each day of the month (LOAD). I thought this would be a fun way to get caught up a little bit before the baby comes, even if I don't actually accomplish 31 pages. I'm at 6 so far, and here they are:

These pictures are from this Halloween. Drew had so much fun being Buzz.

These pictures are from Drew's first field trip - to the apple orchard.

This was a quick and easy page about our pumpkin carving this year.

This last page is about a trip that Drew, my sister, Nora, and I took to Yogurt Mountain this past summer. Drew loved picking his own toppings!

That is pretty much what we've been doing lately. I have another ultrasound/doctor appointment this week, and I am planning to blog some recent ultrasound photos next week.

A Visit With Family and a Real Hudson Hornet

2012-01-10T08:00:00.002-05:00

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in South Carolina, and on our way home, we detoured through Nashville, TN to visit Jim's Uncle Paul, Aunt Ruby, cousin Sandy, and her husband David. We spent a couple of hours at their house.
Here is Drew with Uncle Paul and Aunt Ruby. Drew enjoyed playing with his cars and the dog while the adults talked. Here he is with David and the dog.

Jim with his aunt and uncle.

Drew with Sandy and the dog. He really liked that little dog!

Uncle Paul was a race car driver when he was young, and then he was a Hudson mechanic for many years. He has owned several old cars, and his current car is a Hudson Hornet. He took us down to his basement garage to see it.

Uncle Paul has had a few strokes, so if he has to go far at all now, he uses his scooter. He gave Drew a little ride around the garage.

His garage walls are covered with old pictures and memorabilia from his work with cars throughout the years. He has won several awards for his different cars, and he has been on the cover of a car magazine with one of them too. It would take hours to see all his stuff. He pointed out a few things to us while we were there.

Drew had a great time looking at all the things in the garage and talking to Uncle Paul. They share an interest in cars! Uncle Paul gave Drew a little Hudson Hornet from the Cars movie, and Drew thought that was great. :)

Because of his health, Uncle Paul cannot drive anymore, and it is hard on him to have that Hudson Hornet in his garage and not be able to drive it. We really enjoyed our visit, and we hope to back again on another trip south.

Thanksgiving in South Carolina

2012-01-06T08:00:00.002-05:00

We spent Thanksgiving in South Carolina this year. By Thanksgiving Break, I had been teaching for a few weeks, and I was pretty exhausted. We had already planned our trip to South Carolina before I was asked to sub, and since Jim had already gotten the time off from work, we decided to take the trip as planned. We were with my family for about five days, and it was so nice to see them and to relax.
We ate Thanksgiving dinner at my sister and brother-in-law's house. We went over early so the food could all be finished up there, and so the men could watch the Lions' game. Nora had gotten some Thanksgiving window clings for Drew to play with, and he had fun making a turkey on the front door. The men watching football (and Dad on his ipad).

Drew kept us entertained in the kitchen.

The food was delicious! Nora and Mom made everything, and it was so good!

Nora's pretty table.

Drew was excited to drink his lemonade from a straw.

Our hosts, the newlyweds.

Drew, as he often does, got too excited to eat, and we urged him to try a few bites of everything. Drew used to have an overactive gag reflex, but he had been doing great with that for quite a while. However, one of his bites of green bean casserole had a texture that he didn't like. He gagged on it and threw up at the table. It was quite an unpleasant ending to our meal! Drew ended up taking a nap on a spare bed in some of Nora's clothes, and he seemed to feel much better when he woke up. This was the aftermath of the gagging incident.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew spent Thanksgiving at the beach with her family, but they were back our last night in town, and they came over for dinner that night. We set up my camera on a tripod after dinner and took a family picture. We haven't gotten a family picture in a long time since our nephew, Ryan, was being born during Nora and Topher's wedding. It was nice to get a picture of everyone.

We had a great time in South Carolina, and we were sad to leave. The next time we are there, the Hawkins family will be a family of four!

A Very Nice Christmas

2012-01-04T15:47:00.005-05:00

The Hawkins family is still alive and well! We have had such a busy last month or so, and blogging was (obviously) way down on the priority list. We've made it through Christmas, two sets of house guests, my long-term subbing job, and several more weeks of pregnancy since I last blogged. I am getting back to a normal routine now, so I thought that I would try to catch up on my blog a little bit.
Our first set of Christmas guests was my parents. They arrived the weekend before Christmas, and we had a great week with them. I was still teaching while they were here, so they took one of my teaching days and made a day trip to see some relatives in Ohio. During the other half day that I taught, my dad had a guy day with Drew, and my mom went to school with me to help me with my class Christmas party and to help me get all of my things out of the classroom. That afternoon, I had an ultrasound and doctor appointment, and my mom went with me to see the ultrasound.
Baby is still measuring in agreement with the new due date, so we have a c-section scheduled for Valentine's Day! Because of the discrepancies between the early and later ultrasounds, I will have to have an amnio the day before the scheduled c-section to check baby's lung development. If everything looks good there, we will go ahead with the scheduled date. If not, my c-section will be pushed back a bit.
While they were here, my dad painted the baby's room a very pale green. It looks so pretty, and I was quite thankful not to have to do the painting myself. Their last evening here, we watched "Polar Express," had cookies and hot chocolate, and opened gifts.

Our next Christmas celebration was with Jim's side of the family at his sister and brother-in-law's house. We tried to get a group picture of all the children, but Drew kept covering his face.

Drew (and all of us, really) got spoiled, as usual.

One of Drew's favorite gifts was a Cars 2 race track. He couldn't wait to get home and set it up. He and Jim have been having fun racing with it.

On Christmas morning, our little family opened gifts together.

Drew had a bad cough and runny nose, so he and Jim stayed home from church that morning, while I went to work in the toddler nursery. Since Jim was home, he took over some of the household duties, including baking the ham! He found a recipe for a glaze on-line, and he made it. It was delicious!

Drew used his festive straw at lunch.

Jim's mom came for lunch, and we had a little gift exchange with her. She got our family a Wii for Christmas, and Drew has become obsessed with the Wii. He has a sports game and a Cars 2 game. He loves to drive in the Cars game (even though he is terrible at it!), and he really enjoys the sports, too - especially the bowling. Jim and I can rarely beat him at bowling!

My sister and brother-in-law arrived Christmas afternoon (our second set of house guests), and we had a great few days with them. While they were here, Nora drew and painted a tree on the baby's wall. We love how it turned out! We plan to hang some shelves on three of the branches.

Topher, Jim, and Drew played a lot of Wii. We also did some thrift store and Christmas clearance shopping and went to the Little Caesar's Bowl game while they were here.

Now that all the Christmas excitement is over, we are getting back to normal at our house. We are working hard to get ready for baby's arrival, and this week marks the beginning of twice-weekly doctor appointments for me. Between Drew's school schedule, my doctor appointments, and work at home, we are keeping busy!

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas, and I am looking forward to posting a few other little updates and projects in the next few weeks!

Latest Ultrasound Pictures and a New Due Date

2011-11-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

I had an ultrasound and doctor appointment this past week. The purpose of the ultrasound was to check the location of my placenta. It had looked low at my 20 weeks ultrasound, and they had thought I might have placenta previa. Everything looked great at this ultrasound! The placenta has moved up, and baby and the fluid levels looked perfect. There are still no visible boy parts, so we are pretty sure that we really are having a little girl! The tech surprised me at the end by switching over to 3D, and taking a picture of baby's face. We think that she has the same little nose as Drew has! A shot of her little legs.

She is lying sideways right now, facing out. She can still change position in the next several weeks, but even if she doesn't, I am planning to have a c-section, so it will be fine.

I had a doctor appointment after my ultrasound, and this week I saw a different doctor than my regular doctor. He came in and was glancing over my ultrasound and mentioned that I was 27 weeks. According to the due date I was given from my first two early ultrasounds this summer, I was only supposed to be 24 and a half weeks. He checked the dates and agreed with me, but then he looked at the ultrasound again and told me he would be right back.

He came back after about five minutes and said that they had looked over all four of my ultrasounds so far, and that there was no way that I was only 24 and a half weeks. The early two ultrasounds had agreed that I was not as far along as I had originally thought, but my 20 weeks ultrasound and the most recent one both agreed that I was actually 27 weeks (28 weeks today). He said that we would do more ultrasounds before the end to make sure of my dates, but he was pretty confident that my due date was earlier than we thought. My due date was March 9, and it is now changed to February 21. I am still planning for a c-section a week before my due date, so this baby could possibly be a Valentine's Day baby!

I will be seeing my regular doctor later this week to get her take on things and to have my blood sugar tested. With my past history and this discrepancy of dates, things could get interesting in the next few months!

Fall at the Park

2011-11-26T09:07:00.004-05:00

I took Drew to the park the other day to play in the leaves and on the playground (and take pictures, of course). We had lots of fun!

Drew let me take a few pictures in the leaves before we went to play on the playground.

We rode the slides a few times.

Drew went on the swings for a ltitle while too.

We had a fun time on one of our rare afternoons together (now that I am teaching), and I was happy to be able to get a few fall pictures before the leaves are all gone and the snow comes!

Drew's First School Program

2011-11-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Drew was in his first school program this past Friday evening. It was a special "Around the World" evening at school with a program in the gym and an open house with special food and projects in each classroom. Drew's preschool class chose India as their country, so the children were supposed to wear Indian-looking clothing or the colors of the Indian flag.
For Drew's costume, I bought a women's linen shirt at the thrift store and cut it down, rehemmed it, and put the smaller sleeves back in. I was amazed that it worked as well as it did!
Here is Drew's class on the front row and the kindergarten class behind them.

The preschool and kindergarten classes sang a song together at the beginning of the program. Drew found Jim in the audience and waved to him.

Here they are singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children." They did a great job!

I wish we could have gotten it on video! Drew was very intense as he sang - he almost looked angry!

I was playing a couple of roles at the program that evening - proud mother and fourth grade teacher! Jim had to be the photographer in the audience because I was sitting with my class. As of last week, I am the temporary fourth grade teacher at our school. The previous teacher left mid-semester, and the principal was struggling to find a permanent replacement for her. He called and asked if there was any way that I would consider filling in for a few weeks while he tries to find a teacher to finish the year.

I wasn't sure what I should do since Drew is not in school full-time yet, and I'm in the middle of a high-risk pregnancy. Jim and I talked and prayed about it. We decided that I would give it a try, and that if it was too much for our family or if I started having any kind of health troubles, I would stop.

My first week was busy and tiring, but it really went very well. I have a great class with 11 students, and I am really enjoying my time with them. Drew is going to school three mornings a week, and my mother in law is keeping him for us during the rest of the week. Jim's schedule has freed up quite a bit just this past week since the days have gotten shorter, and he has gotten an assistant for the off-season. He is picking Drew up from his mom's house every afternoon, and he has taken on most of the cooking. He e-mailed me with this week's menu, and he seems to be excited to be the cook at our house for the next few weeks. I am so thankful that he and my mother-in-law are filling in for me with Drew and at home. They are really trying to help me make this work, and I appreciate their help so much! It should be an interesting next few weeks for all of us!

A Slight Curious George Addiction

2011-11-12T08:39:00.003-05:00

Drew has always loved Curious George! I got him his first one at Kohl's when he was about 18 months old. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but he found it before I had a chance to hide it, and it was love at first sight. He became a fixture in Drew's crib, and Drew wanted to sleep with George every night.
I found another one exactly like it at the thrift store, and I decided to take it home and wash it and keep it as a spare. Well, Drew didn't want it to be a spare. He wanted two Georges! He started sleeping with both of them every night.
My parents got Drew a mini George in striped pajamas for his second birthday, and Drew liked him, but not quite as much as he loved the twin Georges.
Lately, Drew has gotten into George again. He carries the three Georges around the house. The other day, I found him reading to them! They have gone on a few errands with us (monkeys aren't allowed in stores - they have to stay in the van). The Georges are currently sitting on our couch watching Drew play with his train. He took a little train break a few minutes ago to go pat each George on the head. This past Wednesday night at church, Drew got to use his accumulated points from his church children's program to purchase something from the little program store. He came home with another George! He was absolutely thrilled to have found a fireman George! He told us that he saw it as soon as he went into the store, and he ran right over to it to make sure that he was able to buy it before anyone else did.

A month or so ago, Drew and I were shopping at the thrift store, and we found a Curious George crib sheet that fits on the mattress in Drew's Thomas bed. He loves these sheets!

I'm afraid to think of how many Georges we might end up with before this phase is over!

Halloween Fun

2011-11-01T08:59:00.007-04:00

Drew had lots of fun this Halloween! He and Jim found Drew's Buzz Lightyear costume almost a year ago, and he was very excited to finally get to wear it.
Our first Halloween activity was a couple weeks ago. Our friends, the Scallys, had a little Halloween party. The children dressed up in their costumes and had lunch. They got to make a little sucker ghost, and they each got a little pumpkin with their initial on it. They had lots of fun playing. Here is the whole group.

Last night, before trick-or-treating, we carved our pumpkin. Drew wanted a "cross" face on the pumpkin this year, and he helped plan out the shapes we would use before Jim started cutting. Drew did not like the pumpkin's insides or seeds!

Drew helped pop out a few of the pumpkin's parts.

Admiring the cross-faced pumpkin.

Drew and his two pumpkins this year. I bought the big one a few weeks ago at Aldi for $1.99. (I love to watch Bargains to Bounty to find the best prices on seasonal things like this!) The little pumpkin is the one he got at his Halloween party.

Drew has had a cold all weekend, so we decided to just stop by a few relatives' homes instead of going and doing actual trick-or-treating as we had thought about this year. We went out for dinner at Chili's first. We had gotten an e-mail with a coupon for a free kid's meal. Drew enjoyed eating in his costume.

After dinner, we went over to Jim's mom's apartment to see her. Drew was very excited!

Heading down the hall to Grandma's apartment.

Drew was really into character, and he had to show Grandma all his gear.

Drew and his basket.

While we were in Jim's mom's apartment, someone knocked on the door. It was a lady who lives down the hall from Jim's mom. She had seen us come in, and she had brought Drew a big bag of treats. She gave him pudding cups, popsicles, chips, and candy! We also went upstairs to see Jim's aunt, who lives in the same building. Drew had to show her all the features of his wings.

He put on quite a show!

Our last stop of the night was at Jim's sister and brother-in-law's house.

They had a big bag of candy for him, and he had a great time playing hockey with his Aunt Sharon.

On our way out of Aunt Sharon and Uncle Larry's house, they gave Drew a bunch of their left over candy (they had only gotten 2 trick-or-treaters!). In spite of only going to a couple houses, Drew ended up with quite a haul! One of Jim's employees came by work yesterday on her day off with a big bag of treats for Drew, and Drew's Aunt Nora and Uncle Topher sent him a fun Halloween card and a McDonald's gift card too.

It was a good Halloween, and we can't wait for next year when we'll have two children to dress up and take trick-or-treating!

Baby Shoes

2011-10-23T12:57:00.003-04:00

I have found several cute baby shoe ideas on the internet, and this weekend, I found this tutorial and free pattern for little baby Mary Janes. Since Drew and I had to stay home from church this morning (due to Drew's very runny nose), I thought I would see what I had on hand and try to make a pair of little shoes. I had everything I needed (all left over from other projects), so I got to work. I followed the tutorial almost exactly. I ended up top stitching the straps, but I think that was about the only difference. I really love how they turned out! My only disappointment was that the raw edges are exposed on the inside of the shoes. In the comments section of the tutorial, a reader told how to avoid raw edges, and I will try her method next time - there will be a next time! These little shoes are so cute and fairly simple to make. I see several pairs in baby girl's future!

The tutorial didn't give a seam allowance, so I just used a 1/4 inch seam allowance, and it seemed to work fine. I also just used cotton for the lining and soles of the shoes. I will post my future shoes and let you know how the new method of attaching the soles turns out. I have a few other projects that I am working on, and I hope to post them soon!

Baby is a . . .

2011-10-19T08:51:00.003-04:00

Girl! We had our ultrasound last week, and we were so happy to find out that we have a healthy baby girl on the way! Jim and Drew insisted that this baby was another boy, and I really thought it might be. The ultrasound tech was pretty sure that it is a little girl this time.
Everything looked good with baby, so we were surprised when the tech told us that we would need to stay and talk with a doctor. The doctor told us that all the baby's measurements and organs look good, but they are concerned that the placenta is low. She said that it is possible that I could have Placenta Previa, and she wants me to come back and have another ultrasound in 5 weeks. The doctor said that in most cases, the placenta ends up not being as low as it looks, and things are fine. We are praying that everything with the placenta ends up being fine, and we are looking forward to an unexpected extra ultrasound (and hopefully another confirmation that this baby is a girl!).
I've been having fun this past week planning a little girl bedroom and shopping a little bit. We have ordered the bedding for the nursery, and we've bought a few girl clothes. We've even started receiving a few baby girl gifts - clothes and blankets! So fun!

I have been gathering ideas on Pinterest, and I have so many things I want to make for this baby girl. I plan to share the projects I make as I finish them, and I should have one to share soon!

Drew's Apple Orchard Field Trip

2011-10-05T11:00:00.010-04:00

Drew had his first class field trip this week, and I got to go along. They went to an apple orchard, and it was a lot of fun! We rode a little train out to the apple trees. Here are Drew and his little buddy, Joseph. They were both excited when the train started up.

We got dropped off by some rows of trees. If you have ever seen how Drew walks/runs, you'll know that this picture captures that a little bit.

We each got to pick five apples.

Many of the apples on the lower parts of the trees had already been picked, so we really had to search for apples that the children could reach.

There were lots of fun things for the children to do after we picked apples. They loved climbing this big hay pyramid.

There were some wooden trains that they all enjoyed climbing through.

There was also a little petting farm with goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, and ponies.

Drew's preschool class.

At the end of the morning, we each had a donut and some cider. We all enjoyed those!

We petted the animals a little more, and then it was time to go.

We took one last picture by this huge hay man on the way out.

We had a great time on Drew's first field trip! I made an apple pie this morning with the apples that Drew and I picked at the orchard. We'll be enjoying that later this evening.

200th Post!

2011-09-23T16:30:00.007-04:00

I noticed a few months ago that I was getting close to 200 posts, but I had no idea that it would take me so long to get there! I just haven't had that much to post about lately - not many craft projects or new recipes happening at my house these days!
I am 16 weeks today, and pregnancy-wise, I've been feeling pretty good. I have been regaining energy, and my blood pressure has been great. This week, I've felt the baby move a few times. It is usually low on my left side, and most of the time, it has felt like a rolling pressure. One afternoon, I felt some flutters across the center of my belly. I've been battling a cough and congestion for the past month, and I think that if I could just completely get over these cold/allergy symptoms, I would feel great. Here is a picture of me from this morning (at 16 weeks).My next OB appointment is October 4, and our ultrasound is scheduled for October 12. We are hoping to find out the baby's gender that day, and we are also hoping to hear that baby is developing well.
My birthday was last Saturday, and I had a really nice day. Jim had a day off - which is pretty rare for a Saturday in September. He usually has outings to run every weekend, but there weren't any scheduled for that day! He took me out for dinner on Friday night, and then he and Drew made me a cheesecake on Saturday morning. It has a turtle cheesecake, and it was delicious!

I meant to take a picture of a slice of cheesecake, but I forgot to take one! I was too busy eating to stop and photograph, I guess!

Drew had a soccer practice that afternoon, and he had a great time! Here they were playing a dribbling game, which included dropping to the ground. I think that was his favorite part!

They had a little scrimmage, and Drew was upset this week that the other kids weren't sharing the ball with him. He didn't want to try to take the ball away from anyone. We tried to explain that taking the ball was pretty much the way to have a turn with it. I don't know that his feet touched the ball at all during the scrimmage. Hopefully, he will catch on before the end of the season.

At the end of each practice, the children walk through a tunnel of cheering parents, and I snapped this picture of Drew as he walked past.

Snacks at the end are the favorite part, and Drew ate his with his buddy, Joseph.

Jim's mom took us out for dinner for my birthday after soccer practice. Drew fell asleep in the van on the way to the restaurant. He has to miss his nap for soccer each week, and all the running wears him out!

Drew has his first field trip coming up soon. I will try to post pictures from that, and I will definitely post some ultrasound pictures and results after we get those!

Timbit Soccer

2011-09-10T18:31:00.009-04:00

Drew started soccer this afternoon through our local AYSO chapter. He is in the Under 5 group, which is sponsored by Tim Horton's. His group is called the "Timbits," which is the name for the donut holes at Tim Horton's. Drew was so excited to get dressed up in his uniform and go to soccer today! He is number 81. Each week, the children are put into different groups where they will learn soccer skills by playing little games.

The Timbits headed out to do their first drill. They played a game called, "Coach Says," where they had to follow the coaches' instructions. AYSO is staffed entirely by volunteers, and Drew's volunteer coaches this week were a couple of young teenage boys. They were very kind and knowledgeable, but they weren't great at communicating with 4 year-olds. Many of the children were pretty confused.

The coaches said to sit on the soccer balls. Drew followed this direction ok, but he struggled with many of the skills. Jim and I are planning to practice some of the harder skills with Drew at home this week.

In the second game, the children had to listen and follow directions, but the directions all had a pirate theme.

There were frequent water breaks.

Toward the end, half of the group put on orange pinnies, and they had a little scrimmage. They mostly clumped around the ball, but there was one little boy that kept taking the ball to the goal and scoring. He probably scored three or four times!

Drew loved running around with the other children.

The final skill they practiced was shooting at the goal.

The coaches pretended to try to stop the balls from going into the net, and the children were thrilled to get the ball past their coaches.

Everyone's favorite part of the day was snack time. Each child got a juice and a snack.

On the bottom inside of Drew's jersey, it says, "I just played. I'm thirsty!" After each of Drew's soccer practices, he can go to Tim Horton's and show his little shirt hem to get a free drink. We stopped at Tim Horton's on our way home, and Drew got a chocolate milk and some Timbits.

The worker loved Drew's shirt!

Drew had a great first day of soccer, and we are looking forward to five more Saturdays of soccer this fall!

I shot a little video of the pirate skills game. I'm hoping that Drew will get a little better at his soccer (and listening) skills as the season goes along.

Drew's First Day of K4

2011-08-24T13:47:00.004-04:00

Drew had his first day of K4 this morning, and he loved it! We took him to his classroom, and he found the hook with his name on it and hung up his backpack. We took a few pictures. Here is one of Drew and his buddy, Joseph.

Here is our little family.

Drew couldn't wait to be done with pictures so he could go play with some of Mrs. Johnson's toys! After a few announcements, the parents all left (many of the moms were crying - I was not). Drew was so happy to be there, and I knew he was going to have a wonderful morning.

I came back before lunch to pick him up. The K4 and K5 students were all waiting in a line for their parents.

Drew's teacher said that he did a great job today, and Jim and I are so proud!

For now, Drew will just be going to K4 one morning a week, and he and I will be working on some things at home during the rest of the week. We are looking forward to a great year!

Drew's Golf Lessons

2011-08-17T10:50:00.004-04:00

Drew has been taking golf lessons this month through the First Tee program. The local group has its offices at Jim's course, so it has been fun for Drew to go to Daddy's work each week for his lessons. Drew's group is called the "Tiny Tots," and it is for children 4-6 years old. So far, they've had three lessons, and they have worked on pitching, driving, chipping, and putting.
Here is Drew waiting for his turn. Using his pitching wedge.

Getting some help from one of the teachers.

Here they are on the putting green.

The teachers have been great! They are very positive and kind.

Here is a little video from this week's lesson.

My Medical Existance

2011-08-01T14:40:00.002-04:00

The past several weeks have been filled with doctor appointments, ultrasounds, and medicine! The day I took my home pregnancy test, I called the doctor's office to see if the blood pressure medicine I was taking was safe for pregnancy. I went in to see a doctor later that week, and he changed my blood pressure medicine and had me get some lab work done.
I went back twice the following week - once to see the OB nurse and talk about my pregnancy and health history and then again the next day to have a dating ultrasound and see the doctor for the first time. My first ultrasound showed me to be about 5 weeks along, and all that we could really see was the yolk sack. Since my blood pressure was a little high that day and we hadn't been able to see much at the ultrasound, my doctor wanted me to come back a week later to see her again and to have a second ultrasound. I was in South Carolina with my parents the next week, but the day after we got home, I had my second ultrasound and doctor appointment. According to the first ultrasound, I was supposed to be 6 and a half weeks along at my second ultrasound, and the second ultrasound confirmed that. At the second ultrasound, I saw the baby and the heartbeat. The ultrasound tech and my doctor both said that everything looked good. My blood pressure was high again, so my doctor wanted me to come back again a week later for a possible blood pressure medicine change.

I went back last week, and my blood pressure was still high, so my doctor switched my medicine. I am now taking blood pressure medicine twice a day, a prenatal vitamin, a baby aspirin, a vitamin D supplement, and a DHA supplement every day. I went ahead and bought a pill organizer to keep things a little simpler!

I am also taking my blood pressure at home several times a day and keeping a record for the doctor. My blood pressure has been great this week at home, so I am wondering if I am just getting nervous at the doctor's office. I'm praying that that is the case and that my blood pressure really is under control.

I go back to the doctor again on Wednesday, so I am hoping for a good visit! I was very thankful to learn this week that I do not have a copay for prenatal visits, so at least all of these appointments are not costing us anything out of pocket. I would appreciate your prayers that my blood pressure would be controlled and that it won't cause trouble this pregnancy.

2011-07-21T08:00:00.002-04:00

Jim and I had decided that since we were taking an anniversary trip, we would not give each other gifts this year for our anniversary. So, Jim was a little surprised when I gave him this box at our hotel. It took him a little while to figure out what the two lines meant, but after I explained the code to the left of the little window, he got it!

I bought this shirt for Drew to wear to announce our happy news to our parents.

We invited Jim's mom over for dinner to tell her.

My parents were coming that weekend for a visit, so we waited to tell them when they arrived. Drew had his shirt on, and he was very excited for them to arrive. He got out his Buzz Lightyear binoculars to watch for them out the front window.

We are very excited about this new little addition that is coming to our family. After a couple of dating ultrasounds, it looks like my due date is March 9 - Drew's birthday! Everything looks good so far, but we are praying for an easier pregnancy than last time (especially at the end), and we would appreciate your prayers that I would be able to avoid the complications I had with Drew's birth.

African Safari - Part 2

2011-07-15T08:00:00.001-04:00

After the pig race, we got back in the van to do the drive-through part of the safari. Animals swarm around the cars as they drive through. It was very hot that afternoon, and some of the animals were hanging out in the water.

This guy must not have been hungry. He came over to our van, but he wasn't interested in our carrots.

The deer loved the carrots!

So did Drew! He started taking bites out of each carrot before he offered it to the animals.

The buffaloes were some of our favorite animals last time, but we learned our lesson and didn't put the windows all the way down this time.

The giraffes were at the very end. They would bend over the fence to eat carrots too!

It was more crowded this time than it was last time, so we only drove through once this time. We had a very nice day, and I'm sure we'll be back again, especially if I can get another great Groupon deal!

African Safari - Part 1

2011-07-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

A month or so ago, I bought a Groupon for the African Safari in Port Clinton, Ohio. We had gone a couple of summers ago, and we thought it might be a fun thing to do while my parents were visiting. We went last Wednesday and had a very fun day.
We started by going through the walking section of the safari. One of the highly advertised animals was the white alligator. They are quite rare, and this one is one of about forty in the United States. There were some geese and swans swimming around the pond.

There was also a pen of mama and baby alpacas.

Once Drew found the playground, I was afraid we weren't going to be able to get away to see anything else. He really like the slide, even though he was kind of afraid of it. He would climb the ladder very slowly,

and then he would get hung up at the top. Children kept passing him at the top because they didn't want to wait for him to sit and slide.

He got braver and faster as he went along, and he had lots of fun.

We were finally able to get him away from the playground, and Jim talked him into taking a pony ride (a little bribery was involved)! He climbed right on to the pony.

He enjoyed his ride a lot and was very brave.

We were very proud of him for riding the pony!

After the pony ride, we went back across the little zoo to see the pig race. The monkeys were being very active as we passed by.

Before the pig race began, the man in charge passed out flags to some of the children. Drew raised his hand to be picked, but he wasn't chosen. (He cried about not being chosen after the race was over.)

The pigs were very cute as they ran around the track!

Mom got a little video of the race.

The 4th of July

2011-07-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

My parents were here for the Fourth of July, and since the Fourth is also my mom's birthday, we had a lot to celebrate! We spent the day at the fruit market and at home, and then we went out to Jim's golf course for fireworks that evening.
While we waited for it to get dark, Drew played with his glow necklace

and ate popcorn.

He even shared some with my parents - he passed it out piece by piece.

Once it was finally dark, the fireworks started up. They were really pretty!

Drew sat on my dad's lap the entire time, and he kept saying, "Wow!"

We had a very nice Fourth of July!

Anniversary Trip

2011-07-07T19:20:00.003-04:00

Jim and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary last week by taking an overnight trip to Traverse City, Michigan. We arrived around dinner time, and we had a wonderful dinner at the Apache Trout Grill. We each had a different kind of fish, and they were both delicious. After dinner, we went and had ice cream at a little ice cream shop near our hotel. I had a cherry chocolate ice cream, and Jim had a chocolate marshmallow ice cream.

The ice cream shop was decorated with some interesting animal art work. This one was called, "Noah's Ark."

We had a lovely view of the water from our hotel room (ha!).

This was the front of the hotel.

The next day, we had planned to take a sailboat ride, but the weather was pretty dreary and rainy, so we decided to cancel those plans and drive out to see a lighthouse instead.

This was the beach in front of the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was smaller and shorter than we were expecting it to be.

We decided not to pay to climb the lighthouse, since we didn't think that the view from a short lighthouse would be that much better than the view from the beach.

We went back to town for lunch, and then we walked through the shops for a bit before leaving to go home. We took our time driving home, and we stopped at a few outlets and for dinner along the way. We had a nice time, just the two of us, and Drew had a great time staying with Jim's mom!

Cars 2 and Golfing

2011-06-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned in the last post, Drew is very excited to see the new Cars 2 movie! He and Jim have been playing Cars 2 computer games on the Disney website, and Drew knows all the names of the new movie characters, before the movie is even out!
This guy is one of the new characters - Professor Z.
The past couple of Sundays, when I have picked Drew up after his morning church class, he's had cookie crumbs in his eyebrows. When I asked him about the crumbs, he told me that he was being Professor Z! We went out to the golf course to have lunch with Jim one day last week, and Drew was using his pretzels to be Professor Z again.

After lunch at the course, we took a little cart ride, and then Drew putted a little on the putting green.

He had a great time!

Running to chase the ball.

Very excited to have hit the flag!

There is a First Tee chapter at Jim's course, and Drew will be taking his first golf lessons from them in August. It should be lots of fun!

Father's Day

2011-06-20T10:28:00.002-04:00

Father's Day is one of the busiest days at the golf course, so Jim usually has to work that day, and this year was no exception. We decided to celebrate Father's Day on Saturday since Jim had that day off.
Earlier in the week, Drew and I bought Jim some gummy bears as part of his gift. I had them hidden away for the weekend, but when Jim came home from work that evening, Drew told him, "Daddy, we are going to surprise you and give you some gummy bears!" Keeping secrets is not one of Drew's strengths!
We got Jim a few little things, and his main gift is getting to play in a two-day golf tournament later this month. One other special thing we did for Jim was to take him out for dinner at Slow's on Saturday evening. We love barbecue, and after seeing Slow's featured on the Food Network several months ago, Jim had been wanting to try it. We were geared up for a long wait (we had seen on-line that long waits are the norm), but we only had about a five minute wait to get a table. Jim and Drew played with cars while we waited for our food. Drew is very excited about the new Cars movie that comes out later this week!

Jim and I each ordered a sandwich, and then we ordered a few sides to share. Jim got a sandwich called the "Triple Threat." It had pulled pork, bacon, and grilled ham. Jim really liked the Apple barbecue sauce.

I got a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and pickle slices on it, called "The Reason." I liked the Sweet barbecue sauce.

This was the Macaroni and Cheese that we got as one of our side dishes. It was really good!

Drew liked the waffle fries - they were very good too!

There was a line of people outside when we left, so we were glad we got there when we did.

We parked out behind the restaurant. There really wasn't much parking compared to number of customers.

We enjoyed our dinner at Slow's and were glad that we were finally able to try it!

My Favorite Potato Salad

2011-06-17T08:32:00.002-04:00

Jim and I are part of the Young Married Sunday School class at our church, and this summer, several of the ladies in our class are having a Bible study one morning a week. Our Sunday School teacher's wife is hosting and leading the Bible study at her house. We are working through the book, Lies Women Believe : And the Truth That Sets Them Free. All the ladies in the study are moms of small children, so while we meet, the children play with a couple of baby sitters, and then after the study is finished, we all eat lunch together. I have really been enjoying the study and am thankful for this opportunity!
Our Bible study lunches consist of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese and then a variety of dishes that the moms bring each week. I have been enjoying making some of my favorite dishes that I don't normally make at home, since they aren't Jim's favorites. This week, I made my favorite potato salad, and I thought I would share the recipe.
Dill and Sour Cream Potato Salad

3 pounds unpeeled new potatoes (5 or 6 regular)
2/3 cup mayonnaise
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tsp. dried dill
2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
Cook potatoes until tender. Drain. Cool slightly. Cut into quarters or eighths. Combine with remaining ingredients. Stir gently. Can garnish with additional dill. Serve immediately or chill.
My mom found this recipe in a Southern Living cookbook several years ago, and it is absolutely delicious! I love it warm (right after I mix it up), but I usually serve it chilled. I use light mayo and sour cream, and it still tastes great! I ran the onions through the food processor this time instead of chopping them, and I really liked the resulting texture.

Water Fight Videos

2011-06-09T13:11:00.002-04:00

This first video is of Jim and his mother squirt gun fighting.

The second video shows Drew deciding to ditch his squirt gun for the hose (it was totally his idea - I was honestly just holding the camera). Jim's reaction makes me laugh so hard!

Water Gun Fight

2011-06-09T13:07:00.001-04:00

One night last week, Jim and Drew decided that they were going to wash the cars and then have a water gun fight. Jim called his mom and invited her over to have her car washed. He mentioned that he and Drew were going to have a squirt gun fight afterwards, and, to our surprise, she wanted to participate in the water fight. I gathered my cameras for what was sure to be a good photo op!
I think Jim enjoyed chasing his mom a little too much! Drew lost a shoe.

Ganging up on Grandma.

Waiting for her to come around the corner.

I think the Jim might have enjoyed this fight more than anyone else!

Pure joy!

Grandma said she was done, but Drew didn't get that message!

I managed to stay relatively dry, and I enjoyed observing the fight without having to be a part of it!

We've had some computer problems (a virus) in the past few days, and we ended up having to dump the hard drive and install Windows 7 again. I have managed to salvage my pictures and videos either on our external hard drive or by my habit of not deleting things off my cameras in a timely manner, ahem. I was able to find the videos I took of the water fight, and I will upload them as separate blog posts - they are real treats! :)

Sprinkler Fun

2011-06-08T21:24:00.007-04:00

It has been hot here this week! We've been staying inside as much as possible, but this morning, I decided to take Drew out to play in the sprinkler before it got too hot.
He loved it! He started by just kicking his feet through the sprinkler. As he got braver, he stood to the sides and let the water fall on him.

He said it was raining on him!

He ran over to me and asked me to "picture" him, so I did.

He stood in all different places in the yard and just let the water fall on him.

Then, he decided to bring out his big dump truck.

He put it right on top of the sprinkler and let the water shoot through the windows.

Toward the end of our time outside, I finally talked him into running through the sprinkler. I had to give him a demonstration, but he finally got the idea.

We might have been the only people in our neighborhood who were out playing in the water at 9:30 this morning, but we had fun, and the water felt good!

Drew and I were pretty wet by the end and were ready to go in and get cleaned up for the day.

I discovered the Picnik photo editing program this week, and I ran the "Boost" action on all these pictures (at around 30%). I love the brightness it added!

Ruffled Sunglasses Case

2011-06-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

I made a purse last summer, and since I had some fabric left over from that project, I decided to make a sunglasses case to match the purse. I used this tutorial, but I changed the double ruffle to a single 2-inch ruffle, and I hemmed the ruffle with a zigzag stitch right along the edges. It was a quick and easy project - I think it took about an hour, from start to finish.

I've been on a sewing kick lately, and I have a few other projects I plan to make this summer. I'll be sure to share them when I finish them!

Some Scrapbook Pages - It's Been a While!

2011-05-31T12:15:00.004-04:00

My mom mentioned that it has been a while since I posted any scrapbook layouts. When I looked back to see the latest pages I had shared, I realized that it has been quite a while! Here are some pages from the last couple months.
This first one is about Drew's new Thomas bed - a birthday gift from His Aunt Sharon and Uncle Larry. (Edited to add: I just noticed that I have already shared this page. Oops!)
These are some pictures from a family visit to the city water park last summer. It feels warm enough here this week to start going there again!

This layout was for a challenge about traditions. Drew celebrates his birthday each year with his cousin Brandon and a family friend, named Sherry. These pictures are from Drew's birthday this year.

I made this layout for a "Then and Now" challenge. I used some of Drew's very early pictures and some more recent ones as well and talked about how much I enjoy being his mother.

Jim picked up this Mater teeth sucker for Drew at the movie rental store. Drew looked so funny with the sucker in his mouth!

This layout is about our Easter Egg Hunt at Jim's sister and brother-in-law's house this year.

I made this page for a challenge to use a book page on a scrapbook page. I used a page from a nursery rhyme book on this page about my role as Mother Goose in a second grade program.

This last page was for a challenge to make a page with no pictures on it. I scrapped some of Drew's funny phrases and confusions.

I made all of these pages using sketches from Let's Scrap.

Spring - Shoulder Season - Rainy Season

2011-05-25T19:01:00.005-04:00

In the golf business, Spring and Fall are called, "Shoulder Seasons." We are nearing the end of the spring shoulder season now (finally!), and it has been a busy one for Jim. During the spring shoulder season, golf courses don't have their full staff yet, and the management team must put in a lot of hours - both running day-to-day operations and preparing for the summer.
This Spring/shoulder season has been a very rainy season here in Michigan! A couple weekends ago, our street was covered with water. I walked down to take a few pictures. A crew from the city was out working to drain the water.

Drew and I have been keeping busy during Jim's long days at work. We've been playing with cars and trains, and running errands. I've been doing some coupon shopping again recently after having slowed down on it for a while (in an effort to use up a bit of our stockpile). This was my haul this week. I shopped at CVS, Aldi, and Meijer. I spent about $60, got $5 back in reward coupons, and saved about 50%, so I was pretty excited.

Jim has been working long days, and it seems that the nights that he can get away a little early seem to always be rainy or full of church or family activities. He has had trouble keeping up with the lawn this Spring, and last night, he ended up having to stay at work until almost 9, so I decided to surprise him by hiring one of my former 1st graders (who is now finishing 11th grade - how did he get so old?!) to cut our grass. Alex and his dad came and cut our grass. They did a great job, and Drew had fun following Alex around the yard with his little mower. Drew followed him the entire time! Drew's allergies are giving him some trouble today as a result of all the time in the grass, but he had fun, and Jim was thrilled to have this task taken care of for the week!

It ended up being a good thing that the grass got cut yesterday, because it has rained all day today, and it looks like the next few days will be rainy as well! This was the view out my back window this evening.

We are looking forward to getting through the end of this busy, wet season, and on to all the fun of the summer!

Learning to Ride

2011-05-20T21:07:00.003-04:00

Drew has started learning how to ride a real little bike! He's getting too big too quickly! We were at a friend's birthday party last weekend, and he tried to ride one of their bikes. He struggled with the pedals, but he really wanted to ride. We came home from the party and tried out his little bike that an older cousin passed down to him.

Big guy!

I had a feeling that this would be coming soon, so I bought him this Lightning McQueen helmet a few weeks ago. I guess I got it just in time!

He can't seem to get the hang of the pedals, but I'm sure it will come.

Drew is extremely cautious (just like his mother!), but I hope he will catch on to bike riding much more quickly than I did when I was a child. I had training wheels for way too long . . . We'll see!

Mother's Day

2011-05-19T15:18:00.002-04:00

I had a great Mother's Day this year! It started with chocolate french toast and turkey bacon that Jim made. It was very good! We spent the morning at church, and then we went home for lunch. Jim snapped this picture of Drew and me before he started grilling chicken for our lunch. Jim's mom came over for lunch.

Drew has been practicing his smile (this is really how he smiles for pictures these days) and saying "cheese" because he and Jim bought me a new camera for Mother's Day!

I am now the owner of a Canon Rebel, and I love it! I've been waiting and saving for this camera for a while, and I'm having fun learning how to use it!

I made myself a camera strap slipcover (you can see it a little in this picture), and this time, I used this tutorial. It includes a lens cap pocket, and it is a little longer than the cover I made for Kristen a few weeks ago.

My boys really spoiled me this year, and I'm so thankful to be a wife and mother!

Pretty Spring Wreath

2011-05-12T16:04:00.000-04:00

Several months ago, I found a tutorial for rolled fabric flowers, and I've been wanting to try them ever since. I decided to make my mother-in-law a wreath for Mother's Day, and I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to make some rolled fabric flowers!
Here is the wreath I made. The flowers were pretty simple to make. My fingers did get quite glue-covered (I can't stand to have stuff on my hands!), but I persevered and was quite happy with the way the flowers turned out.

I used a hot glue gun to attach the flowers and berries to the wreath.

My mother-in-law really liked her wreath, and now I think I might need to make one for myself!

Camera Strap Slipcover

2011-04-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

My friend, Kristen, celebrated her birthday a couple weeks ago, and since she loves photography and has a nice camera, I decided to make her a camera strap slipcover. I had seen lots of examples of slipcovers on-line, but my favorites had ruffles, and I decided to make a ruffled one for Kristen. I found this tutorial, and then I added the ruffle myself. I used knit fabric for the ruffle to make it feel soft and so it wouldn't ravel.

It is just a long tube that slides right onto the strap and can be easily removed.

This was a very east project, and Kristen said that the cover fit her Nikon strap well.

I am saving for a nicer, dslr camera, and when I get one, I will be making a cute strap cover of my own! One of the ways I am trying to save money for a camera is by using my Swagbucks to buy Amazon gift cards. If you haven't tried Swagbucks, I would encourage you to try it. It is a search engine (similar to Google), and you are randomly rewarded "swagbucks" when you do internet searches. You can redeem you swagbucks for prizes. I like to use mine to get Amazon gift cards, and in the past couple years, Jim and I have probably earned about $200 worth of Amazon gift cards by using Swagbucks. It is free to use, and it is so easy! If you would like to sign up for Swagbucks, I have a link on the sidebar of my blog. We love Swagbucks (and the rewards)!

Easter

2011-04-27T10:33:00.003-04:00

Our family had a very nice Easter. We started the morning with Easter baskets. I put Jim's and Drew's on the kitchen table for them to find when they got up, and they gave me mine a little later. Drew got some fun Toy Story things and some candy in his basket.

Then, we got ready for church. Drew wore this little striped suit, and Jim and I thought he looked like Ben Matlock from the old TV show.

Drew was in a new class this week (the 4 and 5 year old class!). We asked him what his lesson was about, and he told us that it was about when Jesus got the nails on his hands cut - he was a little confused about the story of Christ's crucifixion!

Drew's friends, Joseph and Grant had the same suit that Drew had, so we took a few pictures after church.

After church, we went out to Jim's sister and brother-in-law's house for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Drew had a fun time at the kids' table with the cousins.

After lunch, some of the adults went out to the front yard to hide the eggs. I loved this hiding place!

Here they are searching.

Drew was supposed to look for the little blue eggs.

Some of the older kids had some very difficult hiding spots!

A little hug for Aunt Sharon.

We had a great Easter, and I hope you did too!

Coloring Easter Eggs

2011-04-23T07:52:00.002-04:00

Our family colored Easter eggs after dinner Friday evening. Drew was much more involved in the process this year. He did a great job of lowering the eggs into the cups of dye.

Once they were done, he switched them over to the carton to dry.

These guys are so much fun!

They decided to peel and egg and eat it.

Drew doesn't like the taste of hard boiled eggs any better this year than he did last year!

We are looking forward to Easter Sunday at church tomorrow and then Easter dinner at Jim's sister Sharon's house after church.

What's New With Drew

2011-04-16T13:02:00.002-04:00

I've been posting about a lot of projects recently, so I thought I would do a little post about what Drew has been up to lately. We have found him lying on the floor on his belly behind Jim's recliner watching movies on his little portable DVD player several times recently. He is getting to be very independent. He loves to choose what he wants to watch and put in movies all by himself. He still loves his cars, and he especially enjoys lining them all up to drive in traffic and in races.

He has been displaying a bit of a temper lately, and he exhibits it with a very "cross" (to use a Thomas word) facial expression and his hands on his hips.

He loves to help us with anything we are doing. The other day, I was making a meal for some friends who recently had a baby, and Drew wanted to wash some dishes. I let him stand on my little step ladder and play in the dish water. He played there for about 20 minutes!

He is on a big Thomas kick again. He had been very interested in Toy Story before our trip to South Carolina, but since he has been home, everything has been all about Thomas. We've built a few sets on track on the train table, and we've watched a lot of Thomas movies. Drew has also been struggling a lot with his allergies. He was sick during most of our time in South Carolina, and now, the pollen is starting here in Michigan, and he has been coughing quite a bit again. We have been trying to keep him indoors as much as possible. He goes to see his pediatrician on Monday for an ear check and for his 4 year-old well-visit.

Bridal Shower Gift Idea

2011-04-13T07:43:00.002-04:00

One of the pastors at our church is getting remarried this month after losing his first wife to cancer a few years ago. Our church had a shower for the bride this week. When I went to look at her registry, I was amazed to see that just about everything had been purchased already. I was trying to figure out what I could give her, and I remembered this glass etching tutorial I had seen. I have been wanting to etch our last name on one of my glass dishes for a while, and I thought that maybe the new bride might like to have a personalized dish too. I bought a Pyrex casserole dish with a lid, some contact paper, and some etching cream. I used my Cricut to cut out their last name on a piece of contact paper. (My letters were 1 1/4 inch.) Then, I stuck the contact paper "stencil" on the side of the dish, brushed on the etching cream, and let it sit for 10 minutes. I was a little nervous as I rinsed off the etching cream, but when I peeled away the contact paper, there was their name! This was a very simple project, and I will probably do this again in the future.

The new bride is all ready for her first church potluck, and she probably won't lose her dish!

Drew, The Bell Ringer

2011-04-08T12:25:00.003-04:00

Jim pulled the wedding videos off our video camera last night, and I thought I would share the part with Drew in action as a bell ringer. He was so cute!

A New Nephew

2011-04-07T16:34:00.004-04:00

After Nora and Topher's wedding, we were all exhausted, but we had one more stop to make that evening after everything was cleaned up. My brother, Mark, had called my dad very early the morning of the wedding to tell him that he and his wife, Katie, were at the hospital. Katie was in labor! Their baby's due date was April 6, and while we knew that he could be born on the day of the wedding, we hadn't really thought it would actually happen. All day long, we kept checking for updates from Mark. Things were progressing through the morning, and by 11:00 that morning, she seemed pretty close. We hadn't heard anything new by 2:00 that afternoon when the wedding began, and we heard nothing during the reception either. Katie's parents and sisters were at the wedding, and no one knew anything. We were all getting a bit concerned. Finally, around 5:00 that evening, Mark called to tell us that Ryan David was here and that all was well. Ryan was born face-up, and it was a difficult delivery. The doctor ended up having to use a vacuum to help in the delivery, and the vacuum caused a cut on Ryan's forehead. Other than the cut, Ryan is perfectly healthy, and he has a full head of dark, curly hair! Proud grandparents. Baby Ryan.

Three generations of Loach men.

I was so happy to get to hold my new nephew! I didn't think I was going to get to see him on this trip, so I was thrilled to get to meet him before we left the next morning to go home to Michigan.

The new family.

Ryan is adorable, and I'm so happy for my brother and sister-in-law! April 2, 2011 was probably the most exciting day yet in the lives of each of my siblings, and I feel so blessed to have been able to be there! Sometimes, living so far away from my family, I feel sad that I have to miss things, and God was very good to me in allowing me to be part of both of these exciting events!

Nora and Topher's Wedding

2011-04-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

Hardly any of these photos are my own (and the same applies to the previous post). Being in the wedding made it difficult to take pictures myself, and since Jim was videotaping, he wasn't able to take any. The happy couple outside the church. Nora looked so pretty that day! The back of her dress and her veil.

My dad giving Nora away.

The bridesmaids.

The vows.

The kiss.

Nora and Topher with my parents.

The parents of the bride and groom.

The wedding cake. My mom made the cake, and Nora painted the little cake toppers.

Cutting the cake. Nora's flowers were so pretty! She has a childhood friend who works at the Biltmore House, and she did all the flowers. They were gorgeous!

Drew wandered through the reception eating cookies. He was a bell ringer in the wedding. He came down the aisle ringing a little bell, and then he sat with Jim for the ceremony. He looked so cute in his little suit!

Signing the marriage license.

The groom's cake.

The door monograms.

Instead of a guest book, Nora did a thumbprint tree. Guests inked their thumbs, and put their prints on the tree. Nora, our family still owes you our prints - we were too busy to do them!

The reception tent before all the food arrived. Nora and Topher had a dessert reception with two cakes, lots of cookies, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, fruit, punch, and coffee.

The wish tree. Guests could write wishes for the couple on little tags and hang them on the branches.

Going away. Guests threw chocolate coins at Nora and Topher as they went down the steps.

They went away in this rickshaw. So fun! Nora and Topher's house is near the church, so the rickshaw drove them home!

Nora and Topher had a beautiful day, and we were so happy to be able to be there and be part of it!

The Day and Morning Before the Wedding

2011-04-05T09:30:00.004-04:00

The day before the wedding, the bridesmaids and female family members went to get manicures and pedicures. It was my first pedicure ever, and it was my first manicure since my own wedding almost eight years ago! It felt so nice to be pampered after all the work we had done the week before. Nora getting ready for her manicure

After we got our nails done, we went back to my parents' house for a bridesmaids luncheon. The food was delicious, and we had a lovely time, but no one remembered to take any pictures!

Late that afternoon, we were able to get into the church to decorate and for the wedding rehearsal.

The church was so pretty, we really didn't do much decorating. Nora hung monograms on the front doors.

Earlier in the week, Mom and I sewed these pew banners, and then Nora and I painted the monogram and the border on each one. We hung them on every other pew with clear fishing wire.

The church had beautiful stained glass windows on each side wall.

The front of the church was a wall of organ pipes, and Nora's only decoration there was the big cardboard C covered with tissue paper flowers.

The bride and groom at the rehearsal

The rehearsal dinner was held in an upstairs room at Marble Slab. We ate barbecue and sushi and had ice cream for dessert.

Our little family with the bride at the rehearsal dinner

Nora with her sisters-in-law and mother-in-law

The next morning, we got up very early for our hair appointments.

Nora's hair was so pretty! She made the flowers for her hair!

Nora and I drove to the church together. Here was our first view of the church from her car. The white tent to the right of the church was where the reception was held.

Another view of the front of the church. You can see the door monograms.

We walked around the front to check things out while we waited for the maintenance man to arrive to unlock the doors.

Nora and me right before we went inside to get dressed and ready for pictures.

There were so many little details that I just had to do another post about preparations! The next post really will be about the wedding itself!

Wedding Preparations

2011-04-04T20:01:00.007-04:00

Early on the morning of March 24, Drew and I left for South Carolina to help prepare for my sister, Nora, and brother-in-law, Topher's wedding. We flew out at 6:15 AM, and we got to see the sun rise on our flight. Drew enjoyed watching a movie on his little DVD player and drinking juice. Both our flights were uneventful, and security was pretty easy (they were very accommodating for us since Drew was so young). I got right to work the afternoon we arrived! Nora had lots of projects planned, and most of her wedding decor was done by hand by family members and friends. Here are some of the projects we worked on: I made her a practice bouquet for her rehearsal using a paper plate, some packing tape, and ribbons from her bridal shower.

I glued on the bow in the middle with a hot glue gun and gave myself a huge blister on my thumb.

We also made practice bouquets for the bridesmaids using tootsie pops, rubber bands, and more leftover ribbon.

Drew's birthday was a couple weeks before we went to South Carolina, so he got gifts from the family while we were there.

We made corsages and boutonnieres by hand. We cut different sized circles from satin and melted the edges with a candle. Then, we stitched the layers together with beads, and stitched on leaves and wires.

Nora added berries and wrapped them with floral tape and ribbon. They turned out so cute!

Nora sewed little pillows for the ring bearers.

I monogrammed the napkins by stamping them.

Drew was sick with allergies for most of our time there. He had a very runny nose and a bad cough. One evening, he just lay around watching movies, which is very unlike him! We found out today at the pediatrician's office that he has a double ear infection, probably caused by all the congestion.

Dad and I put together most of the wedding programs.

Drew went out with Topher to spray paint the giant letter C that would be at the front of the church.

Topher's mom and aunt came over several times to help with projects. They packaged cookies for the wedding favors.

Nora's friend made these cookies. Topher is a big Chicago Cubs fan, and since their last name starts with a C, they thought these would be fun!

My mom made the wedding cake - a key lime cake with coconut frosting, covered with shredded coconut. It was delicious!

Topher and his sister, Ann, covered the big cardboard C with tissue paper flowers.

One evening, Topher's sister, sister-in-law, mom, and aunt came over to help puff out the big tissue paper flowers for the reception.

Kim, one of the bridesmaids, had also gotten into town and helped with the flowers too.

We did several colors of flowers, and they were so pretty together!

My mom sewed the bridesmaid dresses, and she had to do final fittings and alterations that week.

We were very busy the week before the wedding, but the personal touches and memories of working together made the wedding so special. You can see more of our prep work on my mom's blog. Later this week, I will share some photos of the wedding!

A Few New Layouts

2011-03-25T08:00:00.001-04:00

Since last month's blog hop at Let's Scrap, I have been a little burned out on scrapping (who would have ever thought that was possible!). I have made a few layouts though, and I thought I would share them today.
The first layout uses pictures from two Christmases ago. Santa and Mrs. Claus (friends from church) came to see Drew at our house. He wasn't quite sure about them, but he warmed up to them after some bribery, tickling, and finally, when Santa let Drew play with his key chain.
This layout is done with this week's sketch from Let's Scrap. I used these pictures of Drew's new room and bed to make this layout. The big Thomas is from one of Drew's birthday cards.

This is a layout about the cousins on my dad's side of the family. I used some older photos from childhood.

This last page was done for a challenge a few weeks ago that required us to use paint chips. I thought it would be perfect to do a page about coloring! Drew loves to color, and he and Jim color almost every evening.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-22T11:44:00.003-04:00

We had some fun last week for St. Patrick's Day. Drew and I made our traditional cupcakes. They are my favorite! We also stopped in to see Jim at work. They opened last week. Drew had fun wearing Jim's bank pouch on his head.

Our house is so small, and whenever Drew goes to a place that has room to run, he takes full advantage of it!

Jim was very busy that day - everyone has waited all winter to play, and they were calling and coming in pretty much non-stop the whole time we were there.

We met the Scallys at McDonald's for lunch. The boys always have fun there together!

They all ate their lunches,

at least somewhat,

and then they had cupcakes!

Maybe it comes from being an elementary school teacher in the past, but I love trying to do a little something to make each holiday a bit special!

Chocolate Midnight Cake

2011-03-19T15:29:00.003-04:00

Last week, I promised to share the recipe for Drew's birthday cake, and then I never got back to blogging and didn't share it! However, I didn't forget, and here is the recipe! This is our family's favorite chocolate cake, and the recipe comes from the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. It has a secret ingredient (mayonnaise) that some people might not find very appetizing in a cake, but it really makes a difference in the moisture of the cake, I think.

Chocolate Midnight Cake
1 package plain dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1 cup water
1 cup mayonnaise
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (I used the baking Pam spray this time, and it worked really well.) two 9-inch round cake pans.
Place cake mix, water, mayonnaise, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with a rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side. Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28 to 32 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert onto rack, then invert onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
Place the butter, vanilla, and 1 cup of confectioner's sugar in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed to incorporate, 30 seconds. Add the remaining confectioners' sugar alternately with 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, blending with the mixer on low speed. Add another 1 tablespoon milk if the frosting seems too stiff. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Use to fill and frost the top and sides of your cake.
This is a picture of the cake I made for Drew's party. It was for three different people, so I tried to get little decorations that reflected each of their interests! I made two recipes of this cake and baked each one in a 9 by 13-inch cake pan. I frosted the top of one cake with vanilla buttercream and then stacked the other layer on top of it and frosted the top and sides with the vanilla buttercream. I was a little lazy and did the decorative frosting around the edges with chocolate frosting from a can.
Next time you need a chocolate cake, I would encourage you to try this recipe! It is delicious!

Drew's Thomas Bed

2011-03-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

Jim's sister and brother-in-law, Sharon and Larry, gave Drew a Thomas the Train bed for his birthday! Just the other day, Drew told me that he wanted a Thomas bed. It was so random that he brought this up, because Jim and I already knew that he was getting one for his birthday. Drew was very excited when Sharon dropped it off at our house on Saturday morning. Up until this point, Drew had still been sleeping in his crib. He never tried to climb out of it (he is afraid of falling), and he still fit in it nicely. We had been planning to move him up to a twin bed, but when Sharon offered to buy him a Thomas toddler bed, we agreed because we knew he would love it. Jim put the Thomas bed together Saturday night after the birthday party, and we moved the crib out and the bed in on Sunday. Drew loves his new bed! He slept in it for the first time on Sunday afternoon. I usually read him a story before his naps and at bedtime, but he's been wanting to skip the stories and get right into his Thomas bed!

We rearranged the furniture in Drew's room a little bit. We moved the changing table out and brought in a bookcase, and we moved our reading chair out of the corner and farther down the wall. The reading chair is a hand-me-down from my parents. I had it in my classroom for 7 years, and I sat in it and read to my first graders every day after recess. When Drew was born, I brought it home and put it in his room. I've loved using it to nurse him, rock him, and read to him these past 4 years, and I'm glad that there is still room for it in his room - if he ever lets me start reading to him again!

His dresser is on the opposite wall.

I snuck in and took a picture of Drew napping in his bed on Sunday afternoon. He always sleeps with his 2 Curious Georges. He is doing a great job of staying in his bed and is transitioning well.

Drew is enjoying his new big boy bed and room, and we are excited for this new stage of his life.

Drew's Family Birthday Party

2011-03-07T16:42:00.002-05:00

We celebrated Drew's birthday a few days early on Saturday with Jim's side of the family at Jim's niece, Lisa's house. It was a combined birthday party for our nephew, Brandon, Drew, and Sherry, a family friend. Drew was so excited about the party all day, and he couldn't wait to get there.
He received many nice gifts - some Thomas trains and movies, a bubble gun, some coloring supplies, a lap desk, a Thomas flashlight, and a Target gift card. Drew was quite serious as he opened his presents.

One of Drew's favorite gifts was from Jim's mom.

She got him a Woody doll! He has been wanting one for a while, and he loves it! He even got down on the floor at his party and showed Woody to the dog!

We had pizza and salad and lots of good appetizers, and then we had cake and ice cream. I made the cake, and I will share the recipe later this week.

Drew didn't want any cake. He wanted Oreo truffles that Jim's niece Jennifer made.

It was a very nice little party. Drew had fun playing with the cousins, and he is enjoying playing with all his presents this week! I will have another post tomorrow about the present Jim's sister and brother-in-law gave Drew!

Soccer Mom

2011-03-01T15:22:00.002-05:00

We are so excited to be mini van owners! We have been wanting a mini van and have been talking and praying about buying one for a while. This past week we started looking, and we found one in beautiful condition, with very low miles and a price we felt comfortable paying. We test-drove it Saturday, and brought it home yesterday. We are very thankful that God has provided this van for our family!
Here is Drew in his seat in the van. It is a Chrysler Town and Country Touring.

I am loving the power sliding doors and back hatch!

We love our new van and are looking forward to many trips in it in the years to come!

A Rice Bag and a (R)ice Pack

2011-02-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

One of my recent sewing projects has been rice bags. I've made about 7 in the past couple of months! I found the idea and tutorial here (another blog I've been loving recently!). I made them as Christmas gifts for all the ladies in my family, and I've been asked to make a few more. My mother-in-law's apartment building wants me to make some for them to sell at a fund-raiser!
These are very easy to make, and they are nice for aches and pains, or even to just warm yourself up. To use your rice bag, put it in the microwave on high for 2 minutes (with a paper towel underneath it), and then you put it wherever you want it. I've heard that they are also good for women in labor.
I decided to make a small one for Drew and put it in the freezer for when he gets a bump. I cut a 6 inch by 12 inch piece of fabric for his (r)ice pack, and I used a cup and a half of rice to fill it. I made this rice bag for Jim's aunt. I used a 25 inch by 12 inch piece of fabric here, and I used six cups of rice (a cup and a half in each section).

Here they are together.

These are a fun little gift idea or something nice to make to pamper yourself. I still need to make one for myself!

Blog Hop Winner

2011-02-16T20:00:00.000-05:00

The Hoppy New Years Blog Hop at Let's Scrap ended on Monday, and there were so many participants! Lots of pages were made, and I think that the hop was a big success. I had 50 entries in my challenge, so I was thrilled! The (randomly selected) winner of my challenge - Resolution #10 - was Kathy Perry, and this is her adorable winning layout: I love the bubble wands she added to her layout - so fun! Kathy, send me a message with your address, and I will mail you your prize! :)
I have a few last pages to share from the blog hop. This first one was done for challenges #1 (scraplift another layout) and #4 (make a list). When I was born, I had six living grandmas, and I wanted to make a layout with photos of each of them. I listed their names. (Thanks to my parents for mailing me photos to scan for this layout!)

This layout is for Challenge #2 - a color combo challenge. I had a pen pal when I was in Jr. High and High School, and I got to meet her several times and even stay in her home for a week during one of our trips to France with my dad's summer mission teams. I recently found her again on the internet, and it has been fun to reconnect a little bit.

I enjoyed the blog hop very much and got a lot of pages done. I'm taking a week off from scrapping this week (to recover!), but I'll get back to it soon. :)

Our Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T14:56:00.003-05:00

We have had fun celebrating Valentine's Day this year. We got out Drew's little mailbox again this year, and he enjoyed checking to see if the flag was up (a signal that something fun was waiting inside). We also made Valentine cards this year for a few people. Drew liked coloring the branch for the owl and sticking the buttons on for the owl's eyes.
I made this page for the Let's Scrap blog hop. It was for challenge 6 - using a card sketch to make a Valentine card or page. Drew and I were invited to a Valentine party yesterday by some friends from church. Our hosts have two little girls, and Drew wanted to bring some "boy toys" with him, but he ended up having a great time playing with a doll house!

This was the table at the party. We had a delicious lunch and a great time together!

Jim and I got Drew a Buzz Lightyear set with a belt, binoculars, and a little disc shooter as a little Valentine's Day gift. We hid it and had Drew go on a little hunt through the house to find it.

Drew LOVES his new Buzz toys!

I made a heart-shaped pizza and salad for dinner (notice my little section with mushrooms).

A few weeks ago (right before our blizzard) I got the supplies to make this wreath. I finished it a week or two ago, but we didn't have a hook on our new kitchen door, so I couldn't hang it. Jim went to Home Depot last night and got me a hook so my Valentine's rose wreath could be hung for a few hours on Valentine's Day! I'm going to keep it up for a little while longer!

I found the tutorial here (I am really enjoying this blog!), and I bought my felt by the yard instead of by the sheet. I think I must have rolled my little roses more tightly than the tutorial ones are rolled because it took me about half a yard of each color (I initially bought a quarter of a yard of each, but I ran out and had to go get more to finish the wreath). It was easy, but time consuming, and I really like the way it turned out!

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! I'm enjoying my gift from Jim and Drew today - a Nook reader from Barnes and Noble! I borrowed my first library book on it last night, and I'm having fun figuring it out!

I'll be back tomorrow to share a few more pages from the end of the blog hop and to announce the winner of my challenge!

Let's Scrap Hoppy New Year Blog Hop

2011-02-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

I'm so happy that you have decided to join us for the Let's Scrap Happy New Year Blog Hop! For those of you who are new to the site, Let's Scrap is a wonderful group of scrapbookers who encourage and motivate each other in our love for scrapbooking! New sketches are posted every Wednesday, with sample layouts done by the Design Team to provide inspiration. Members have one week to complete and post their interpretation of the sketch, and one random winner is then selected to win that week's prize, provided by many different sponsors.
In addition to the weekly sketch, one of the Design Team members posts a challenge every Friday, and there are often special monthly challenges, with chances to win a prize for every challenge entered. Our forum contains tutorials, a place to "toot your horn," a 'Question of the week,' and much, much more. We believe that we have one of the friendliest communities of scrappers on the web, and we are so glad that you have decided to check us out during our blog hop!

And now, a little bit about this blog hop:
The Let's Scrap Hoppy New Year Blog Hop starts Friday, January 14, 2011 and runs until 11:59 pm central time on Monday, February 14, 2011. That's right - it runs for a whole month! Because it is the New Year, we thought it would be fun to name the challenges, "Resolutions."
There are 15 members of the Design Team from Let's Scrap who are hosting the blog hop. They will each have a Resolution (challenge) for you to do and a prize that you can win. Also, one of the members who doesn't have a blog is posting a couple of great challenges in the Let's Scrap Forum, and there will be in-depth rules and other important information posted in the forum, so make sure to check it all out!
Not only do you have a chance to win a prize for every challenge you enter, but if you complete and post an entry for every challenge along the blog hop, your name will also be entered into a random drawing for a wonderful prize supplied by Cosmo Cricket!
On every blog in the hop, you must become a follower, and leave a little love (a comment) for the host.

Okay, are you ready to start this section of the Let's Scrap Blog Hop? I am stop #10, and you should be coming to me from Mandy's blog. Here is the tenth Resolution (challenge).

Resolution #10 - I like to be as frugal as possible in my scrapbooking, so I like to look for inexpensive ways to make my layouts special. I am challenging you to find an old item from your home (not originally meant for scrapbooking), and use your "trash" to make a treasure! Make an embellishment from something in your home, or use your old item as a page element. There are so many ways that you can do this, and I have a few examples here:
This is the page I made specifically for this challenge. I used two "trash" items here. The first is the yellow twill ribbon. I was tied around a Christmas gift I received, and I thought it would be useful someday. The other old item I used was the Thomas tag at the bottom. It came on a Thomas toy that my son got a while ago. I saved it to use on a future Thomas project.
This is a layout that I did this past fall. I used some old fabric (from a pair of pants that I hemmed for my husband) to make the little tree trunks.

For this last example, I cut the circles that are behind the flowers from one of those cardboard rings that you put around hot drink cups to keep from burning your hands.

Other "trash" ideas I had are packaging, tags, book pages, fabric from old clothing, . . .

Specific Resolution #10 Rules:

1. Use a Let's Scrap sketch to make a 1 or 2 page layout. There are lots of sketches to choose from!

2. When you post your layout in the gallery, list (in the comment section) any "trash" items you used in your layout.

3. You must tag your layout correctly in order for it to be entered into the challenge. For my page, I used a sketch (from the MarchSketches2Print page) called MemorableSeasonsMarch, so my tag would be: Resolution#10, MemorableSeasonsMarch. NO space between Resolution and #10, comma, sketch name/number with no space either.

4. On February 14, 2011, I will randomly select one person who completed Resolution #10 to receive this fun prize.

Okay, now it's time to hop on over to the next stop - Wendy's blog!

And, just in case you get lost along the way, here is the full list of participating blogs:

Resolution #1 - Betty Ann

Resolution #2 - Kristen

Resolution #3 - Beth
Resolution #4 - Cori

Resolution #5 - Carolina

Resolution #6 - Roulien

Resolution #7 - Kristie

Resolution #8 - Bev

Resolution #9 - Mandy

Resolution #10 - Megan - you are here!

Resolution #11 - Wendy

Resolution #12 - Debby

Resolution #13 - Dawn

Resolution #14 - Tracey

Resolution #15 - Amy

Thanks for stopping by!

More Blog Hop Pages

2011-02-09T10:01:00.002-05:00

I have been scrapbooking a lot this month for the blog hop at Let's Scrap.
This first layout is some pictures from the day my in-laws were married. I did this for Resolution #15 - using the colors teal, yellow, gray, and silver and the word happy. My in-laws wanted a very private wedding, so they were married in their pastor's living room. They forgot to find witnesses, and the church secretary and her husband happened to stop by to drop something off, so they were the witnesses. The family had a little party at Jim's Aunt Maxine's house after the wedding. This next page is for Resolution #11 - using the colors blue, white, and silver. I love these pictures of Drew helping Jim with the snow blower.

This page is for Resolution #8 - using black and white photos and blue and yellow embellishments. These are some pictures of my mom and Aunt Pam when they were growing up.

This layout is for this week's sketch. I used some photos from our putt-putting afternoon back in September.

This layout is for Resolution #7 - using a banner. These pictures are from this past Thanksgiving.

This page is for Resolution #13 - using only cardstock and some small embellishments. These photos are from a couple summers ago. Drew had a little Frosty and enjoyed eating and making a mess of it! I embossed the paper strips with my Cuttlebug.

This layout is for Resolution #9 - scrap something that makes you smile. I thought that Drew was so cute helping Jim cut the grass with his little mower. He wanted to roll it along the sidewalk and driveway and then carry it across the grass to the sidewalk again.

This layout is for Resolutions #3 (use 3 patterned papers and stitching) and #12 (use eyelets). These pictures are from all the gift openings at Christmas this year.

This is last week's sketch. I scrapped some older photos of a zoo trip with my mom and sister.

This last layout is some random photos of fun things we did this Christmas (Polar Express, Christmas book each day, baking cookies, decorating our trees, and see in the lights at BJU). This page is for the sketch from two weeks ago.

The blog hop ends this coming Monday, and I've enjoyed scrapping so much! I have one more challenge to do and a few more layouts to share next week. I usually scrap on my living room couch (with a lap desk) in the evenings while we relax as a family and also after Drew goes to bed.

I hope you are all having a great week. It is very cold here, so staying in (and scrapping) has been perfect this month!

Our Blizzard

2011-02-03T08:49:00.002-05:00

We had a little blizzard here the past couple of days. It didn't end up being quite as bad as they originally thought it would be, but it was very cold and windy, and we did get quite a bit of snow. I spent a lot of time inside wearing these warm socks that my dad knit for me for Christmas. It snowed all night Tuesday night and through the morning on Wednesday until about 2:00 in the afternoon. It started back up again for a few more hours, and then it was finally done late Wednesday afternoon. Jim and Drew went out to do their first round of snow clearing/playing around 9:00 in the morning. This was how deep it was at that point on our driveway.

Here is a view down my street, from my front porch.

Here are the guys out on the driveway.

Drew made a snow angel in the front yard.

Then he crawled out to the sidewalk to see Jim.

He threw some snow.

And slowed down progress.

It took them about an hour the first time they went out. They went back out after the snow was finally done and cleared it all again.

Today it is bright and sunny, and the plows are getting to the side streets. Things are getting back to normal. Of course, I'm not going anywhere - this South Carolina girl doesn't like to drive in snow if she doesn't have to!

A Little Update and an Idea

2011-02-01T10:43:00.002-05:00

We have been busy this past week, but not really busy doing anything worth taking photos of. :)
Jim started back to work this past Wednesday after being laid off for seven weeks! We were so happy to hear that the City Council, after delaying their decision, taking a six week Winter Break, and then not having the contract on their docket their first week back from break, finally stamped the contract last Tuesday. Jim is now the general manager at the golf course, which is a promotion for him. He is thrilled to be back, and he is really liking the new company so far. God was very good to us during the weeks of waiting, and He provided for us during that time. We truly enjoyed the weeks together as a family, and it has been a little bit of an adjustment for us as Jim has gone back to work.
We are preparing for a blizzard today! I was able to get to some stores yesterday, so we are well-stocked and should be fine. The weather people are predicting 8 to 12ish inches, so it should be interesting!
I do have one photo to share today. I had read on-line about a cookie dough idea, and I decided to try it last week. I made a batch of cookie dough, scooped it all up with my little cookie scoop (which I highly recommend!), put the balls of cookie dough on waxed paper-lined cookie sheets, and put them in the freezer for a little while. Once they were frozen, I put all the balls of dough into a big Tupperware bowl, and put it back into the freezer. Now, I can pull out the number of cookies I want, bake them, and have a few fresh cookies whenever I want or need some!
A tip I saw was to pull out the number of cookies you want and let them sit at room temperature for a while before you bake them. I just let them sit on the cookie sheet while the oven preheats, and that worked well for me. I used our favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, and it worked great!
I hope you are all having a great week!

Nora's Burgers and Oven Fries

2011-01-25T09:58:00.001-05:00

While we were in South Carolina in December, my sister, Nora and her fiance, Topher, invited us all over to Topher's house for dinner one evening. They served us burgers and sweet potato fries, and the burgers were incredible (the fries were too)! Nora gave us her recipe, and we've made it several times since we have been home. She has given me permission to share it here on my blog. Nora's Burgers
For each pound of ground beef, add:
a dash of Worcestershire sauce
2 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp. onion salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. season salt
Mix this all together, form patties, and cook or grill to taste.
These burgers really are delicious!

One of our favorite side dishes at our house is Oven Fries.
Oven Fries
4 medium potatoes
2 T olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 tsp. garlic powder
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
Cut each potato into 16 wedges. Mix other ingredients, except cheese, and then add potato wedges. Spread on a foil-covered cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. If you would like, you can sprinkle the fries with Parmesan when they come out of the oven. I often skip the cheese, and they are still good without it.

Our Week

2011-01-22T19:27:00.002-05:00

We have spent most of the week at home this week, but we have had an eventful week. On Monday, Drew woke up from his nap with a fever. He lay down on the couch (Something he NEVER does), and then he fell asleep on my lap. He ended up throwing up later in the evening. He has been feeling better as the week has gone on, but he has a bad cough now. Jim's birthday was Wednesday. I made pork chops for dinner and blackberry cobbler for dessert. We were expecting for Jim to go back to work on Thursday, but that didn't end up happening. We got a call late Wednesday afternoon telling us that the City Council failed to stamp the contract at their meeting. They will meet again this coming Tuesday, and we are hoping that the contract will finally be stamped at that meeting, and that Jim and his co-workers will be back to work on Wednesday.
I have been enjoying the Let's Scrap Blog Hop. I've done a few pages this week.
This first layout is about Drew's trick-or-treating this past Halloween. I did this layout for Resolution #5 - not opening a pack of any new supplies.
This page is about my sister, Nora, coming home from the hospital. I did this page for Resolution #14 - 1 ribbon, 2 patterned papers, 3 - flowers, 4 bling.

This last layout is for the Julie Bonner sketch for the month of January. It is about Drew's visit with Santa this year. He was excited to see him until we got into the little room, and then he became shy.

I hope to have some more pages to share next week.

Daddy's Little Helper

2011-01-11T16:23:00.002-05:00

Drew loves his Daddy, and he has been thoroughly enjoying having Jim at home these last several weeks! He loves to help Jim with whatever project he is working on. Jim was going out to clear the driveway the other day, and Drew went out with him to play in the snow. When I looked out the window to see what they were doing, I saw them across the street clearing snow for our neighbor. Drew was helping with the snow blower! Jim said that Drew was doing the pushing, and he was doing the steering.

Yesterday, Jim started a project that will on-going for the next couple of weeks. We are planning to replace all of our inside doors, and Jim did the bathroom door yesterday. Drew was right there with him, "helping" with his little tools.

I talked him into wearing his goggles for about a minute.

Drew was very interested in the door project.

I will post photos of the completed door project soon!

Getting Back to Normal

2011-01-03T21:28:00.005-05:00

I hope that 2011 has gotten off to a good start for everyone! We have been staying busy around our house. We got all our Christmas decorations put away today, and now that Christmas is done, and things have slowed down a little bit, I've been doing some scrapbooking. I'll share some of my new pages in the next few weeks. I've been enjoying using some of my new scrapbooking tools I got for Christmas!
I will be participating in the Let's Scrap Blog Hop in a few weeks, and I would love to have some of my readers participate too! I will be hosting a challenge here on my blog, and several other members of the design team will be hosting challenges as well. There will be prizes for each challenge, as well as a grand prize from Cosmo Cricket for someone who finishes every challenge. The Blog Hop will begin on January 14 and go through February 14. There has been lots of football being watched at our house the past few days. Jim and Drew are watching the Orange Bowl this evening and cheering for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Here they are in their Hokies gear.

Jim is still at home with us for at least the next couple of weeks. We would appreciate your prayers that the contract will be finalized (hopefully around January 18), and that Jim will be able to get back to work as soon as possible.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

We have had such a nice Christmas this year, and we have all been quite spoiled! We started our Christmas celebration two weeks ago with a trip to see my family in South Carolina. We enjoyed our week there very much. We were able to see many people and spend a lot of time relaxing . I went to a cookie exchange with my sister and was able to see several friends from high school. I made more of the peppermint marshmallows, but this time, I dipped the tops in chocolate and sprinkled them with crushed candy canes. This is the container of cookies I brought home from the party. While we were in SC, we also got to have lunch with some dear friends, we got to attend the Christmas concert at my parents' church (and hear my dad's choir sing), and I got to go with my sister to pick up her wedding dress! We celebrated Christmas with my family on December 19th, our final night there.

Nora and her fiance, Topher

We came home on December 20th and had a few days to get settled back in and finish preparing for Christmas. We celebrated Christmas with Jim's side of the family on Christmas Eve and Jim's sister's house. Drew got lots of Buzz Lightyear presents!

Drew loves to play with his cousin, Danny, who is only two months older than Drew is.

One of Drew's favorite gifts was a pair of Buzz wings. He wore them all evening - even on the toilet!

We did some baking this week after we returned from our trip. I made four pans of cinnamon rolls for friends and neighbors.

Drew and I also made some sugar cookies.

Drew was in charge of rolling the tops of the cookies in the sugar.

We left some cookies and milk by the tree for Santa on Christmas Eve.

We did our own little family gift exchange on Christmas morning. Drew got lots of Thomas toys.

Jim's mom came over later in the morning, and we did one final gift exchange with her.

We have had a very full couple of weeks, but it has been lots of fun. We are truly blessed, and we are so grateful for our family and friends. We are also thankful for our Savior, who came to earth as a baby to live a perfect life and ultimately die on the cross to save us from our sins. We are so undeserving of His love and the gift of salvation, but we are so thankful that He chose to sacrifice Himself for us. I hope that you all have had a very merry Christmas!

Homemade Marshmallows and the Polar Express

2010-12-21T21:20:00.000-05:00

We had a special movie night at our house last Friday. Since Drew loves trains, we had decided to buy him the Polar Express DVD and have a movie night one night before Christmas. In anticipation of our movie night, I baked some cookies and planned to make hot chocolate. Earlier in the week, I saw this homemade marshmallow tutorial and knew that I needed to try to make some to go with our hot chocolate. They were pretty easy, and very tasty! Here is my pan of marshmallows as they were setting up. Here is the bowl of finished marshmallows.

Drew was very excited when he unwrapped his Polar Express DVD.

Our treats on my fun dessert plates. I found these at my favorite thrift store a couple of years ago, and they are the same pattern as my dishes. I cut the marshmallows into smaller pieces for our hot chocolate.

We all enjoyed our treats as we watched the movie.

Drew really loved it, and he was especially excited when Santa came on.

This will probably become a new Christmas tradition at our house. It really was a lot of fun!

Some Scrapbook Pages (and a little news)

2010-12-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have a few recent layouts to share. They are all made from sketches from Let's Scrap.
This first one is about our evening at Zoo Boo. I had fun making the little banner.
This layout uses some older photos from a banana box sale we went to in Greenville a year or so ago. These sales are so much fun, and I love that you can fill a box with so many great things for only $7! I always hope that a banana box sale is scheduled during our visits, and lately, there haven't been any. Maybe next time!

I took some cute pictures of Drew playing in the leaves, and I made this layout with a few of my favorites.

This last layout is about the Lion's game we went to in August. It is based on this week's sketch at Let's Scrap.

I got an exciting e-mail this past week! I had submitted a few pages to Scrapbook News and Review e-magazine a while ago, and I really didn't expect anything to happen. I had pretty much forgotten about sending them in, and then I got an e-mail saying that they were going to publish my pages in a special Christmas magazine. These are my first published pages, and I am pretty excited! The magazine with my pages will be published this Sunday evening, but you have to be a subscriber to see it. I know that most of my blog-followers are not scrapbookers, but I just had to share this fun news. :)

I also want to give a little update on Jim's job. He is still unemployed. We are really enjoying having him at home, but we will also be thrilled to have him go back to work. He met yesterday with his future boss to discuss specifics about his new position. He was told that when he goes back, he will be getting a promotion and a raise, so that was exciting to us. We are still just waiting for the contracts to be finalized. There is a small possibility that something could happen before Christmas, but things will probably not be settled until January. We would appreciate your continued prayers that everything will be wrapped up quickly!

A Visit With Santa

2010-12-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

We met some friends at a little Christmas market on Friday night. It was quite cold! We enjoyed watching some ice sculptures being made. We waited in a long line to see Santa.

We took a few pictures on the cute little porch.

When we got into Santa's little house, Drew was afraid. He is never afraid of costumed characters, except for Santa! Jim tried to get Drew to sit in the little chair beside Santa.

Santa tried to bribe Drew with a candy cane.

Drew liked the candy cane, but he still wasn't sure about Santa.

In the end, Jim had to sit in the chair with Drew.

Drew did shake hands with Santa at the end.

All bundled up and ready to go.

We had a nice time, but we were glad to get back to our warm car!

Christmas Decorations

2010-12-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Our house is all ready for Christmas, and I have a few pictures of our decorations. Here is our tree. Our nativity scene was a gift from a college friend. Her grandfather made it.

I like to put up greenery and lights above our window in the living room.

Even the bathroom got a little decoration.

Drew has his own little tree on his dresser, and he loves for me to leave the lights on while he falls asleep each night.

Our Christmas countdown moose.

We've been getting a few snowflakes the past few days. Drew likes to watch the snow through the window.

Here is our basket of books. Drew is enjoying opening one each day.

His first one was "Dick and Jane's Christmas."

We have lots of other fun Christmas activities planned for this month, and I will share them throughout the month.

Thankful

2010-12-01T09:20:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it is December 1 already! Today is a bit of a different day for our family, since Jim is at home and not at work. His job with American Golf officially ended yesterday, and we had anticipated that he would be starting with the new company today. Unfortunately, there have been some delays with the contract between the new managing company and the golf course owner, and until those details are worked out, Jim is unemployed. We are hoping that this will be worked out in the next few weeks, but it could possibly be longer. While we are a bit disappointed and unsure of what the next couple of months hold for our family, we are trusting God to provide for us and to do His will in Jim's job situation. We would appreciate your prayers that everything will get settled and that Jim can be back to work soon. In the meantime, we will be spending lots of time together as a family, and Jim is looking forward to getting some projects done around our house. We are so thankful that Jim has the promise of a job and that God is in control of this situation!
We had a great Thanksgiving last week. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Jim's sister and brother-in-law's house. Drew was a great eater! He is becoming better and better about trying new foods, and we were thrilled about all the new things he ate on Thanksgiving day. He tried turkey, ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, corn, and stuffing. He also enjoyed grapes, strawberries, cheese cubes, a juice box, and several chocolate chip cookies.

He had a great time playing with the cousins.

I thought I would also share some pictures of Drew's morning routine. When Drew gets up each morning, he heads straight to his train table. After playing for a few minutes, he usually starts to take the previous day's track apart, and then he asks me to build him a new one. (By the way, the Woody pajamas were a recent Marshall's purchase by Drew and Jim. They always bring home fun things when they go to that store! Drew loves these pajamas. They came in a set with a pair of Buzz Lightyear pajamas.)

I view the track building as a daily mental exercise as I work through a track using the pieces he has. :) This train table is probably Drew's most-loved and used toy, so I don't mind building his tracks each day.

We are looking forward to starting our Christmas book a day activity today, and next time I will show our Christmas decorations. We got them all up this past weekend.

Preparing for Christmas

2010-11-12T09:47:00.002-05:00

Every store I've been in this week has been full of Christmas stuff! We have been thinking about Christmas at our house too. I have already purchased several Christmas gifts, and I have even wrapped many of them. I'm pretty much done with the stocking stuffers from all the good drugstore deals I enjoy getting.
One big Christmas task that I have not started working on is our annual Christmas card. Before Drew was born, I made our cards. It was fun for me, and I always got lots of nice feedback from the recipients. Now that Drew is part of our family, I prefer to spend my scrapping time and money on scrapbook pages rather than cards, so in the past few years, I have found that it is cheaper and much less time consuming to simply order photo cards. People want to see Drew, so for us, photo cards are way to go. I love that I can do it all from my computer and just have the cards shipped to us. They always come with envelopes too, which cuts out that step and extra cost.
I've ordered our Christmas photo cards from several different shops through the past few years, and this year, I plan to get our cards from Shutterfly. They have lots of cute Christmas cards and photo cards to choose from. They also make photo books and calendars, which Drew's grandmas LOVE to receive!
If you have a blog and would like to receive 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly this year (like I am getting!), follow this link to sign up! Hopefully, this will save you a little time and money this Christmas and get you some cute cards to send to your friends and family!

Mater Teeth

2010-11-11T07:52:00.004-05:00

Drew and Jim went to a store the other night and came home with this fun sucker! He put it in upside down at first,

but then he got the hang of it!

Here is a little video of Drew and his Mater teeth sucker!

Some Recent Scrapbook Pages

2010-11-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have a few scrapbook layouts to share today. They are all based on sketches from Let's Scrap.
The first one is about our Day Out With Thomas in August. We had such a good time that day, and this sketch let me use a lot of pictures from our day. This next layout is about one of Drew's favorite activities. He loves to golf, and he is always excited to go visit Jim at work. Jim gives us a cart ride out to the little range behind the clubhouse and lets Drew hit golf balls off a tee. Drew loves it!

This layout is part two of our trip to the Creation Museum this summer with my parents. We didn't do too many of the the indoor activities at the museum, but we definitely enjoyed the dinosaur section!

This last layout is about our little baseball guy. He loves to hit baseballs in the backyard (and in the living room, for that matter, but we prefer outside!). I did a lot of hand stitching on this layout, and I had a lot of fun with that.

I had mentioned a while back that Jim's current job would be ending at the end of November and that he was hoping to be hired by the new company. He has still not officially been hired, but he and the other managers and superintendents are meeting with the new boss today. We are hoping that this meeting will give us a little more information, and we would appreciate your prayers that all the details will be worked out soon!

Pumpkin Carving

2010-11-04T18:03:00.003-04:00

We carved a pumpkin one night last week. It was a little pumpkin that we bought when we were at Lyda farm in North Carolina. Jim was the carver, Drew was the "helper," and I was the photographer. Jim's mom was also there as a spectator. Drew was a bit of a pill that evening, and didn't really help as much as he did last year. He didn't like the feel of the pumpkin, so he didn't help much with cleaning it out. We all pretty much just watched Jim carve. Drew spent a lot of time running around on the porch and playing with the lid of the pumpkin.

Here are the guys with the finished pumpkin. It was pretty cold by the time we finished, and we were all ready to get inside!

Maybe next year, Drew will get a little more interested in the pumpkin-carving process!

Little Engineer

2010-11-02T15:48:00.003-04:00

Since Drew is still a big train fan, we decided that he would be an engineer this year for Halloween. He was given the hat and scarf last year for his birthday, so I just picked up some overalls at the thrift store, and his costume was done!
We met some friends at the Detroit Zoo for Zoo Boo a few weeks ago. We had a fun time trick-or-treating at the zoo. Costumed volunteers passed out candy.

Drew and his friend Nathan

The reptile house was open, and Drew enjoyed looking at the animals.

We met some friends at the mall last week to see a little Halloween show.

Sunday night after church, we took Drew to see a few relatives. We went to Jim's mom's house first.

He wanted to fill his bucket with candy!

Then, we went to Jim's sister and brother-in-law's house.

Drew had fun being an engineer this year and was able to wear his costume several times! We are all enjoying his candy this week!

Fun in North Carolina

2010-10-30T11:35:00.004-04:00

These past few weeks have been very full and busy for our family, and I've been a bad blogger because of it! We were in Greenville, SC last week, visiting my family for a few days. We had not seen them since early in the summer, so we were glad to be able to spend a few days with them. One of our favorite days there was last Saturday, when we went to North Carolina for part of the day. Mom, Nora, Drew, and I went to a little farm - Lyda Farm - to get some produce and see the animals while the men golfed. Drew had fun looking through the bins of squash and pumpkins. He loves letters right now, and he enjoys spelling out the words he sees (although he starts at the wrong end).

Drew does not like to pose well, so Aunt Nora had to help him.

They had a wide variety of squash and gourds displayed beautifully!

Drew liked the different farm equipment around the farm.

They also had apples, and they gave us each one.

Drew loves apples, but he always wants me to cut them into slices for him. I was surprised at how well he ate his apple!

They also had some animals that we could look at - goats, turkeys, and chickens.

This goat was interested in Drew's apple!

Aunt Nora helped Drew share his apple with the goat.

Drew loved running between the bins. This is what he wants to do, no matter where we go right now, and it is not my favorite new habit! I'm afraid I'm going to lose him!

We had a lot of fun at the farm!

After we finished at the farm, we met the men and my sister-in-law, Katie, for barbecue at a little place in Flat Rock, NC called "Hubba Hubba." It was so good and was the perfect way to end our time in North Carolina!

Westview Orchard

2010-10-21T17:48:00.004-04:00

Jim had a day off one day last week, and we decided to take a trip to the apple orchard. We started by walking through the little petting farm. Drew enjoyed looking at the donkey, but he was a little nervous to pet it. Jim tried to help him warm up to the animals. Here they are by the goats.

We bought some pellets and fed the goats.

Drew did a great job feeding the goats!

We also enjoyed the play area. They had some great tractor pedal cars.

Drew loved sitting on the tractor, but he had trouble making it go.

He really liked climbing on the wooden vehicles, too. He especially liked this big train!

A big ship with a slide.

Another big tractor.

We ended our afternoon with doughnuts and cider. Yum!

I made this layout about our afternoon at the orchard. I made it for my challenge at Let's Scrap this week. You can see the challenge here. There is one more day to finish the challenge if anyone wants to play along!

Some Scrapping

2010-10-05T09:03:00.000-04:00

I have a few recent scrapbook pages to share today. This first one is about the trip Drew and I took with my parents to the dairy farm this summer. We had a fun time looking at the cows and eating ice cream! Drew loved looking at the tractors and other machinery. This page is about the Tiger game we went to in August. We had lots of fun watching the Tigers win!

This last page is about Drew playing Corn Hole in our yard. He loves to play this game!

All these pages were made using sketches from Let's Scrap.

Sweet Grilled Pork Chops

2010-10-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

My mom and I were grocery shopping together when she was here visiting a year or two ago, and she was amazed at the low price of pork here, compared to what it costs in South Carolina. I had never really noticed, because I never really bought pork. A few months ago, I noticed that pork chops were on sale, and I decided to break up our normal rotation of chicken and beef and buy some pork. My next job was deciding on a way to cook them. I found this recipe on the Tasty Kitchen site, and I decided to try it. We really liked it, and Jim asks me to make this often now. Sweet Grilled Pork Chops
4 whole, thinly sliced, boneless pork chops
1/4 cup olive oil
2 T honey
2 T soy sauce
1 T Cajun seasoning
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
Combine pork chops, olive oil, honey, and soy sauce in a plastic bag. Marinate for at least 2 hours. Remove pork chops from bag and discard marinade. Season with Cajun seasoning.
Grill pork chops over medium heat until cooked through, 15-20 minutes. flipping every 3 to 4 minutes. A few minutes before removing pork chops, coat both sides with BBQ sauce.
These are very good and easy, and we've grilled them outside on our grill and inside on our grill pan. I usually just cook 2 or 3 pork chops at a time, so I half the marinade recipe, and I find that to be plenty.
When I made the pork chops this week, I tried this new potato recipe as a side dish. It is similar this potato recipe on my mom's blog. Both are good and faster than regular baked potatoes.