Last day of 2012

Have big plans??  We are going to my aunt and uncle's house to have game night and finger foods. 

Ava and I made sausage balls(a Southern staple) this morning after watching the Lion King cuddled on the couch! 

I ran 1 mile this morning to finish off 1,075 miles for the YEAR! And 132 miles for the MONTH. That is the most miles I have ran in a month all year!  So proud of meeting my 1,000 goal for 2012 and exceeding it!

This weekend, I got up an ran 7 miles and then we got ready to go on a family grocery trip to Kroger. Since Ava and I go either on Tuesday or Thursday, Clint isn't able to go with us.  I usually have to reign him in when we go shopping, but the money spent was pretty much what I had figured and under budget!

We came home and put up the groceries and had a quick lunch and then got busy taking both Christmas trees down and putting up all of the knick knacks in totes to put away until next year.  Our house feels empty!

Ava using the dust buster to clean up Pine needles.

I REALLY wanted lasagna for supper, so while we were at the grocery I made sure to get the ingredients I needed to make this masterpiece for supper!  It was all I was thinking it would be.  Hot and cheesy!!

After supper, Clint and Ava put together the Dora play mat she got from my parents.

Playing with shapes on the play mat is something we do multiple times a day now!!

After shape learning, the teat party was in full swing!!  Daddy got roped into participating!  Love this kid!

Sunday I got up and ran 6 miles and then we got ready for church.  Lunch at Logan's(yum) for lunch with my family.  Yesterday afternoon, while Ava napped, so did I.  It was marvelous!!   We lounged and lounged and ate leftovers for supper. 
Have a Happy New Year!!!  See ya next year!!!!

Christmas in pictures

Hi! I have took some time off from Blog world.  Four days of Christmas food and presents and I wanted to relax and enjoy!  Here are a few pictures of the days of the holiday.  There are WAY too many that didn't make it.

One of the many dishes I made for all four Christmas shindigs.  Cheese ball

Family sugar cookies

Our neighbor got Ava some baking equipment!  So cute!

Sugar cookie success!

Ava's great gramma got her a horse!

Snow the day after Christmas

A snow dusting!

Xmas schedule & Thursday recap

FOUR MORE DAYS KIDS!!!  Yep, Christmas is almost here!  Our festivities start Sunday.

-Sunday after church-Clint's dad's house and then straight to his aunt's for food and gift exchange
-Christmas Eve-Clint's gramma's house for his mom's side of the family food and gift giving
-Christmas morning-home for our family gift opening and homemade cinnamon rolls.  We started this tradition 2 years ago.
-Christmas day afternoon-my side of the family for food and gifts
-Day after Christmas morning-back to my parent's house for breakfast and gifts. My dad, brother and sister in law are working Christmas day, so we wanted to wait and open presents with them.

Whew!!!  That is a hectic Christmas schedule!  I am so excited!!  Especially to see Ava open presents!!

Well, on to the recap of our Thursday...
I got up and ran 7 miles in 62:30minutes.  I finished mere seconds after Ava woke up! Perfect timing. 
I got her breakfast and went to shower and get ready for the day.

We had to go to the office to clean and my trusty helper did not disappoint!

Sweeping her little heart out!

After we cleaned, we went to pick up my mom and then to get my sister at work. 

Charming Charlie's was again on the to do for the day.  We had a coupon that we got last week that expired in the next few days, so we HAD to go use it!

Singing in to the belts.

She picked up this sparkly green CONTACT CASE and loved it!  WE couldn't deny her.  I just gave the little contact holder from inside to my sis and we put change in it for her.  She loved it!

We headed to Home Depot to pick up a present for Clint and Ava decided to start "hiding" from KeeKee(my sis). 

I love that they think they can't be seen!  So fun!

We were all starving by then, so we decided on Chik Fil A! Yum!!  Love that place. 

Instead of eating her grilled chicken nuggets, she shared my grilled chicken sandwich.  Well, of course!

I had to make a quick stop in to Kroger for some vitamin C filled produce. 

Clint started feeling puny yesterday morning, so what did I do?

Juiced!!  I juiced him 3 oranges, 2 carrots, a few bunches of broccoli and 1/4 a grapefruit!  Vitamin C overload!!

Supper last night was chicken sausages from Trader Joe's, salad and Red Beans and rice. 

We lounged on the couch the rest of the night watching

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation! 

It is not Christmas unless I get to watch that movie! 

Well, of to get some work done!  Have a great day and I'll see ya soon!

Christmas get together

Hi!  Middle of the week y'all!  Yay!  How was y'all's Tuesday?!  Ours was busy but great!!

I got up and started laundry and got my grocery list together.  I started cleaning the house a little and then decided to start my run.  Ava woke up about a mile in, so I got off and went and got her and fixed her breakfast.  I turned on Cinderella in the bonus room while I jumped back on the treadmill.
Total of 8.37miles!  Oh yeah! Good stuff!

I finished cleaning the house from top to bottom.....we were having guests later!

Time to get cleaned up for the day!  Ava is the only one I know who wants to eat an apple in the bathtub.  Who can deny that kid?!!

We headed to Kroger and got some produce and a few groceries for the rest of the week.  No grocery shopping next week! Because of all the shin-diggin!

After Kroger, we headed to Walmart to pick up one of my dear friends and her daughter.  They were going to our house to hang out for a while and then 2 more of our friends and another daughter were coming over for supper!

Waiting for Leigh and Zoey to get there!

We got home and had some lunch and put the groceries away.  I put the chili together and let it marry together for a good 2.5 hours.

We went up to the bonus room and played!

Not sure what is happening here!

Mary and Kate arrived and Rachel shortly after.  We fed the girls organic chicken nuggets and mac n cheese and then sent them off to play while we bowled up some chili and cornbread and caught up with each other!

After supper, we had Clint take our pictures and then we all played and laughed at the girls in the living room.

Perk of being home is getting in your jammies early!

Hugs all around!

Zoey LOVES to hug....anyone!

We had such a good time together!  Love these girls!!

Hope you have a great day! See ya soon!

Weekend update

Hey there. Monday is here!! The weekend went by too fast!

Let's start off with a picture of my sweet toddler!  Being a toddler is EXHAUSTING!!

Saturday I got up and knocked out 8 miles on the treadmill before Clint and Ava were up and about. 

We all got ready to run some quick errands. 

Target!

"Mama, you wanna read?"

Well, of course!

We left Target and headed to Lowe's.  Clint is making Pekka a doghouse.  He won a gift card from work to Lowe's so why not by the wood for the doghouse with it?!

First, we had to peruse the Christmas section and turn on every dancing animal, snowman, Christmasy thingy to see how they looked dancing.

Next, LUMBER.

"How bout this daddy?"

"I'll get it."

We came home and I cleaned and rearranged while they went down to the garage and started on the house. 

We left shortly after to go have smoked brisket, coleslaw, baked beans, and pie at our dear friend's mom's house.  They were up for the weekend, so we had to go visit! 

Ava and Zoey (16months) are the same height and size and had a blast running around the house and playing. 

They are coming over to our house tomorrow for some more play action!!

Sunday morning I got up and made some brownies and gingerbread cake from Trader Joe's for our Sunday school class refreshments.  When that was done, I hopped on the treadmill and knocked out another 8.25 miles!  Having such great runs lately!

I got Ava breakfast, Clint was up.  Time for a shower!!

We got ready and headed to church.  Good stuff!!

Lunch was with my family at Fazoli's.  I indulged and Ava and I split a piece of pizza and had their breadsticks!  Holy yum on the butter and garlic breadsticks!  I wanted to eat my weight in them, but settled at 2!

We ran in to Toys R Us and sneakily bought Ava some new bath toys.

Made one more stop and then headed home! 

Yesterday, was a lazy afternoon!  We all laid around and just relished in the day. I made some bread in the bread machine and we fended for food when we wanted it. 

Family time in pajamas is where it is at!!

I hope y'all had a good weekend!  About time for lunch!  Good thing, because I am starving! 

See y'all soon!

Girl day!

Happy Friday!!
Yesterday was a memorable day for me!! I made a goal to run 1000 miles in 2012 and I made my goal yesterday!!!!!
I am so proud of myself!! Actually I have time left to go over the goal!!

After that, Ava and I got ready, I mailed our Christmas cards, got gas and then picked up my sister in law.
We went to get my mom and sister for a day of shopping!
Charming Charlie's was first! It is my favorite accessories store!! Everything is color coded! Shiny and sparkly!! Love!!! You get a basket and go to town!
Give a toddler a basket in a jewelry store and she becomes a shopping monster! I had to teach her we ONLY put stuff in our basket that mama gives you!
We were in there a while let me tell ya haha!!

We ran in to Barnes and Noble and I sneakily got my sister in law a gift card for my mom. I love sneaky Christmas shopping!

Panera Bread was next! Yippee!!
Ava and I got a pick 2 of plain utterly sandwich and the Apple Fuji salad! Plenty for us with some to take home!

Kohls was last on the list. After grabbing a gift for Clint, Ava and I went and sat down up front to wait on my shopping maniac family! They would shop for hours on end! I have about a 3 hour window!! It was over!
We finally got home about 20 minutes before Clint and we rested!!

Supper was biscuits, eggs, sausage and I made up some scratch sausage balls for after dinner snacks/breakfast with the extra sausage! So easy and less ingredients than bisquick!!

Well, work needs to get to getting done!! Have a great day and I'll see ya soon!

Shopping, lounging, teaching

Good morning!  It is yucky rainy and the temperature is quickly dropping!  Yay Monday right?!
I hope y'alls weekend was full of fun and family sprinkled with all sorts of other things! 

Our Saturday started with me running 8 miles!  Great way to start!! 
We all ate breakfast and got ready and headed to Opry Mills outlet mall.  It took us about 15 minutes to get off the interstate and get parked!  It was busy but I enjoy it!  It feels so Christmasy when so many people are out and about shopping! 

We got a couple of odds and ends and our ornament for the year.  Do y'all know the kiosks that have ornaments that can be written on, well Clint and I started getting one every Christmas since we have been engaged.  Ava has her very first Christmas one and they keep adding up.  It is a fun way to see how things have changed each year!

Distraction while I check out with a small Christmas gift for Ava.

Peeking in Cinderella's castle

People watching!!

We came home and did NOTHING but lay around the rest of the afternoon. I knew I had Sunday to clean house and the house was just lived in, not dirty, so I decided to call it a "no-cleanin day." 

At 5:30 we headed next door to have supper with our neighbors.  They are our age and have no kids, but a big loveable mutt named Thor. 

She had made lasagna, garlic bread, salads and different cookies.  It was soo yummy!! 

We chatted for a long time and they rented BRAVE for Ava to watch.  It ended up being just background noise because we were all talking and Ava was playing with the 115lb Thor!
We are going to try and swap houses every 4-6 weeks from now and and try to get together more.

Sunday, my hamstring was a little sore, so I only ran 3 miles and did a little bodyrock workout. 

I put some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the oven for Ava and Clint and then cleaned the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher.  

So good to get productive!

We all got ready and headed to church on a rainy Sunday.  The sermon was good, but Ava was not in the whispering mood at all!!  Once during the Lord's Supper, she saw my uncle Robert serving and she said, "there's ra-ra!!"  Not once but TWICE!!  We tried to tell her "quiet", but it was hard when you are giggling!! 

We substituted as her teachers for Sunday School class.  Whew there are some TAZMANIAN DEVILS in there!

Ava and Isaac. 

Lunch was at my parent's.  Meat chili and white chicken chili. Grilled cheese, tortilla chips and nacho cheese.  She also made brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  We were very happy campers leaving!  Especially with LEFTOVERS for supper!!

We came home and I "tried" to nap and then when that wasn't going to work I got up to make bread.  (It did not rise!!  Crap.  I'll just have to make another loaf tomorrow)

I folded laundry, put away summer clothes and put away Ava's clothes.  Ava was watching Cinderella, so after I finished my chores, I curled up in the recliner with her and we watched the rest!  The lights were off except for the Christmas tree and the mantle lights.  It was such a special time for me!! 

For some pure Monday enjoyment!

Have a great day and I'll see ya soon!

Apples and dancing

Well Happy Friday to y'all!!  I am glad it is Friday!  Who can have a bad day on a Friday, right?!

Yesterday, I woke up with Restless legs which was quite irritating because it was 5am!  I got up and had my cup of coffee and did my computer ritual, read my She Reads Truth for the day, told Clint bye when he left for work.  At 6:20, I decided to go ahead and start my run for the day.  I was planning on 7 miles, but I decided to run until Ava woke up.  Well, I decided to call it at 9 miles and 5 minutes later Ava FINALLY woke up!  Sheesh kid, you are sleeping the day away waking up at 8am!! 

I got her breakfast and jumped in the shower before making my own breakfast.  I had a dental cleaning at 10:30, so we got all dressed and headed out to the dentist office!

My aunt works there, so it was fun getting to see her at work!  Ava, sat in my lap and played with toys the whole time!  She is such a great kid!!

We stopped at Kroger for some organic apples and bananas and ground turkey meat for supper, got gas and then headed home. 

It was lunch time for sure!  I made a salad of kale, carrots, a morningstar black bean burger, bell peppers, pickles( yes pickles) and a smidge of bbq sauce as dressing! I love bbq sauce!  I could drink it through a straw, y'all!

Ava and I share the salad while watching Scooby Doo.

Shortly after I went down to the kitchen to grab an apple.  I took 1 bite, 1 and asked Ava if she wanted a bite too.  That was the first and LAST bite I had!  She wouldn't share! 

Stingy apple taker!!

I guess there are worse things than your toddler stealing your organic apple, but hey I wanted that apple! Oh well right!

Clint got home and we did our typical "catch up on DVR shows" afternoon until it was time to start supper. 

I picked up hormone free ground turkey meat because I had some leftover pasta sauce in the fridge that needed to be used. 

We had a simple but fantastic supper of pasta, salads, and garlic toast!  YUM!

 

Daddy/daughter dancing is a frequent thing in our house!

Off to get some work done!  Have a great day and I'll see ya soon!

Cleaning, Kroger, chicken & dumplins

Tuesday morning, I got up earlier that I had hoped.  I  had a bad dream and couldn't shake it, so I just got on up.  I drank my coffee, kissed Clint bye when he went to work and went through my coupons for when we were heading to Kroger later. 

Finally about 7am, my sleeping beauty woke up!  I got her breakfast and got my run on on the treadmill.  8 miles, who yah!  I am having really good runs!  No complaints that is for sure! 

After my sweat-fest, I showered and ate breakfast and got Ava and I ready.  It was cleaning day at the office.  I packed snacks, books and my coupons and we headed to the office. 

I did a thorough cleaning in record time with my fabulous helper and we headed to Kroger. 

Successful trip and money saved!

Um.....can I help you mama!???  I was just rearranging the gum, that's all!

Apparently, her Bible was some upsetting reading!

We came home and I put away the groceries and straightened the house and finally sat down for lunch at 2:30!  Oddly, enough I wasn't all that hungry.

Clint got home and we watched some DVR'ed shows and then it was time to make supper. 

Chicken and Dumplings and green beans!!

I went on the Pillsbury site to look for an easy recipe using biscuits that I had on hand.  This recipe came up and I had all of the ingredients on hand!

INGREDIENTS:

1 carton (32 oz) Progresso® reduced-sodium chicken broth (4 cups) (I used the broth from boiling my chicken earlier in the day)

3 cups shredded cooked chicken (about 1 1/2 lb) (I used hormone free chicken tenderloins, 3 of them)

1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning (I used a pinch of celery salt, , 1/2tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp parsely

1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits) (I used the small can of 5 biscuits)

2 medium carrots, chopped (1 cup)

3 celery ribs, chopped

1 In 4- to 5-quart Dutch oven, heat broth, chicken, soup and poultry seasoning to boiling over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low. Cover; simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high; return to a low boil.

2 On lightly floured surface, roll or pat each biscuit to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips.

3 Drop strips, one at a time, into boiling chicken mixture. Add carrots and celery. Reduce heat to low. Cover; simmer 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent dumplings from sticking.

Review:

This was really good!!  I would have let the carrots and celery got a smidge softer, but it was such a good, easy comfort food.  That is "to save in my binder" recipe! 

 

Well, work needs to be done!  Have a great day and see ya soon!

Glorious weekend

Good morning!  I hope your weekend was fantastic!  Our's was and the weather was crazy warm for the first weekend of December!
I got up Saturday morning and ran a wonderful 7 miles.  We got ready and went to the town Christmas parade.

 

We staked our claim at the head of the parade and waited on it to start!  Anticipation, baby!

Firetrucks!  We have a special place in our hearts, my dad and brother are Nashville Firemen.

The Dwarf horses seemed to be Ava's favorite.  She was so excited she jumped up and down when she saw them!

Of course, there were tractors.

Watching and waving.

Look at all of this candy they threw at us!!  More than what she got at Halloween!!

We came home and played outside for a bit.

Then it was time to go inside and watch Alabama beat Georgia in th BCS game!  And that they did!!

Finally naptime conquered!

Supper for white chicken chili for Clint and I had some leftover "regular" chili that needed to be eaten.  I made some skillet cornbread, almost burned down the house and relaxed the rest of the night!

Sunday I got up before the other two and ran another 7 miles before getting ready for church!  Whew, I am getting great runs in lately!  30 miles last week!

Church was as always a breath of fresh air for the week!

Then we headed to Olive Garden with my family for lunch! 

YUM!  Breadsticks, salad and Ava and I shared a Kid's cheese pizza! Love that I can share food with my toddler!!

The rest of the afternoon was lazy town!  Ava napped for 2 hours, I put bread together in the bread machine and laid on the couch and read.  Clint watched football!  Wonderful afternoon!

Supper was Y.O.Y.O(you're own your own) since lunch was heavier than usual. 

We finished the night with The WALKING DEAD mid-season finale. Oh man that was a good one!!  Some things totally threw me for a loop!!  Guess we have to wait until February!

Well, work needs to be done!  Have a great day and see ya soon!