Random Pics

Don't have much to write about but have some random picture to share

Mike and Abi boxing with the Wii

 She's loving the big bath tub!

 Green Eggs and Ham, yes I made them...Abi missed school last week and she was upset because she was going to miss making them, so I made them and she didn't eat them.  Me and Mike did-- pretty good!

Grocery Cart

Does anyone shop at Winn Dixie? Well I do and the one I shop at has remodeled the store and stuff in the past year, well yesterday Ava and I went shopping. Just like we have in the past. This day was a little interesting. After we were done I needed to return my redbox movie which is about 10-20 feet from the store. I was pushing my cart and then all the sudden the cart locked up on me! I couldn't believe it, I was trying to push it just trying to make it to the redbox...if anyone was watching me they had to be laughing! It wasn't moving! Then out of all people a bum walks by and and looks and me and I said what is going on...he said " they lock up" so I had to leave Ava (just a few feet away) to return my movie and then either drag the cart to my car or transfer all my groceries to another cart. So luckily there was another cart next me to. So yeah, my cart locked up on me and if this has happened to me, let me know...I just laughed at my self!

Swing

Since the weather has been so nice lately, we've been able to take advantage of it.  Ava loves the swing.

Abi doesn't stop talking as you can tell in the video I have no clue what she is doing!

Abi is the new big helper

Abi started helping me with Ava.  What a big sister, she also feeds her just like Mike, she opens her mouth when she gives her food!  Its funny to watch!

Our backyard

So about a month or longer we had our drain field for our septic replaced, which meant the back yard got to be a huge mess.  So after that was done, Mike decided that he would dig up the entire back yard and start fresh!  Well he didn't know how hard it was!  See we have devil weed (stinging neddle) in the backyard so really we couldn't enjoy it if we wanted to.  That's why Mike wanted to dig it all up.  Well after two weeks of piles in the back yard I convinced him that he shouldn't be doing this and where would we put all the dirt!  So I called my uncle, he's a landscaper with a tracker.  He came out and hauled all the dirt away and leveled it all out. 

After he leveled it all we laid rye seed down.  Well that took forever and Mike wanted sod, so we got sod!  Its brown sod, but the promise it will get green!  We also got some palms from a great friend so our back yard is starting to look better. 

Yeah this was a boring blog, but I had pictures so I thought I would share...

Once the sod gets finished being laid I will take more pics to share!

Recipes

So I'm trying out some new recipes this coming up week. Tonight's was a winner! This one is for Becky it has a glaze!

Glazed Chicken with Apple Salad

(Pampered Chef-29 Minutes to Dinner cookbook)

Dressing & Apple Salad

2 tbsp cider vinegar

2 tbsp apple jelly

1/3 cup Mayo

1 Granny Smith Apple

1 McIntosh or Gala Apple

1/2 cup lightly packed watercress

Chicken & Glaze

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt & pepper

2 tbsp apple jelly

1 tsp stone-ground mustard

1 tbsp brown sugar

1. For dressing, mix together vinegar, jelly and mayo, set aside. For salad, slice apples into julienne strips. Remove leaves from watercress stems. (discard stems); coarsely chop watercress leaves. Combine apples and watercress in bowl.

2. For chicken. heat Grill Pan (since this is a pampered chef recipe) not sure what else you would use, I guess just a pan to medium high heat 5 minutes. Meanwhile, flatten chicken to even thickness. Brush oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook chicken 4-6 minutes or until grill marks appear. Turn chicken over; cook 4-6 minutes or until center is no longer pink.

3. While chicken is cooking, prepare glaze. Combine jelly. mustard and brown sugar in a small bowl (prep bowl if have one) Brush chicken with glaze during the last minute of cooking.

4. To serve, arrange additional watercress on serving plate, if desired. Pour dressing over salad just before serving; toss gently to coat. Top watercress with salad and chicken

Yield: 4 servings Calories: 280 per serving

Abi's Photo Shoot

A couple weeks ago Abi was outside playing in the dirt, remember those piles I was talking about, well since it was such a nice day out I figured I would take some pics, she's not dressed up at all, we just had fun!  Enjoy!

Adventures of a Stay at Home Mom

Yesterday as I was on hold with the turbo tax people Ava was sleeping and Abi was playing in her room.  She came out and told me..."I cleaned my door", I said with what, but before I could get that short phrase out of my mouth, I smelled it...she cleaned it with Lavender Hand Sanitizer!  Oh my and wait it gets better then she decides to go into the bathroom taking a long time then she comes out and asks me what is this, while holding a small bottle of cologne.  I asked her where she got it etc.  She told me out of the trash.  Well then again I smell something!  She smelled like the cologne.  Since I was on the phone I couldn't really do much, but after they hung up on me I went into the bathroom and the smell was so strong!  She apparently poured it out in the sink and instead of throwing it back in the garbage she climbs up on the toilet and puts in the medicine cabinet, like she didn't do anything!  Oh the joys of staying at home!  Below are some pictures from the last couple weeks, mostly of Ava because she's so darn cute!

 Yes, Abi is doing work, I bought this at Sams and she loves it!  She's going to be smart!

This is how I keep her contained...just kidding!

 She got stuck behind the end table!

 She's sitting in her MESSY play room listening to music while she's figured out a way to keep the basketball in one place so she can prop her legs up!

 Thought this was cute...you can see her tooth!

 This is one of those pictures I was suppose to take when she was newborn...just a little late she's almost 10 months!

Valentine's weekend

This year Mike surprised me, well he tried to until Andy blew it.  But oh well.  I knew Mike had something planned because he was texting and being secretive he wouldn't even talk to me!  So Friday night we went with the Garmons to Pizza Connection.  On the way to pick them up I kept asking Mike what we were doing.  He wouldn't tell me.  I told him it would with probably be either The Melting Pot or PF Chang's.  Well we picked the Garmon's up in the mini and we were discussing what we were going to get on the pizzas, Andy said...Lettuce Wraps from PF Chang's....I looked at Mike and he looked in the rear mirror and said "Thanks Andy"...so I knew what we were doing, but didn't know with who or if it was with ourselves.  I knew the Garmon's couldn't come so narrowed it down...don't have that many friends!  :)  Well I was really hoping that Danny and Courtney would be able to go with us or if Mike asked them I hope they would say yes, since we don't get to spend much time with them.  Well traffic to Tampa is awful so we thought we were running a little late, Mike called someone and said we were in traffic and would be there soon.  So I knew then someone was going with us.  But still didn't know who.  We finally got there not too much after he called whomever, and walked in and there they were...Danny and Courtney!  Yay!  I was really happy.  So we all enjoyed dinner and talked the whole time to the point where I had to say, I think we need to leave since they are probably wanting to sit the table.  But the night didn't end there we walked around the mall trying to find them something to wear for an event, but no luck.  Thanks Honey for the nice night and thanks Danny and Court for being such good friends! 

Here's some pictures of Abi & Ava all dressed up in there Valentine's outfits.

After church that evening we decided to roast marshmellows...yummy!  Abi learned that she really likes them.  I think me and her ate all of them because Mike was gone on his phone doing church business...

Tara's birthday

I haven't posted much of what's been going on with events, instead of my grocery shopping, so I'm going to try and catch up from the past couple weeks. 

Tara, my best friend since childhood's birthday was February 9th.  So instead of going to dinner I asked Andy if he wanted me to cook for them.  Tara decided what she wanted and he bought the ingredients.  So I made chicken alfredo with zucchini.  It was really good!  Then we sang and had cake.  Almost forgot to mention that I went to the dollar store early in the day and got decorations for her birthday, since earlier in the week she celebrated with her family and it wasn't about her it was about her baby inside of her!  So I wanted her to feel special since it was her birthday!  Andy said I out did my self and I had too much time on my hands...I told him it was only 4 dollars!  That dollar store at Grove Park is great!  Here are some pics and a video of her special day!

If you notice in the video Harley our dog was singing too.  I hope you enjoy!

Amended Return

Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to begin!  I'm so confused and frustrated!  So the church gave us a corrected W-2 since the first one was incorrect, duh that's why its called a corrected one, oh whatever, so I went to amend the return last night and when I went to print it I noticed that Ava wasn't listed as a dependent!  I don't know how this happened or how Turbo Tax missed it!  So I went to add her as a dependent well the refund raised, went to view it again and now Abi & Ava's name were on the amended return, GOSH!  I researched how to delete the 1040X and finally figured out how, but that didn't change the refund amount!  So my last resort I called them.  They had me download the program, after waiting for 20 minutes for it to download my return wasn't there!  So he put me on hold to get his supervisor, and waited, and waited and waited and then they hung up!  I'm so frustrated.  So I logged back into Turbo Tax and clicked on the print forms section, where is says if you need your form or something like that so I did, and it had Ava as a dependent but the forms I saved from when I finished the return at the beginning of the month didn't have her, so I don't know what the IRS received!  Anyone have any help for me?!  I've contact a lady from the church that does taxes, hopefully she can call me soon! 

Gosh, well feel a little better now!  Thank God for blogging!

BOGO

So as I mentioned in a previous post I started clipping coupons and visiting www.southernsavers.com and watching the sales. So this week Publix had great BOGO! I didn't have a lot of coupons but I was so excited to see the savings! I spent $50 and saved $40! 90% of it was BOGO. One cool savings was that I had a coupon for $1 off (2) Gerber Organic baby food, since I feed my family hormone injected items, why do I need organic?! ha ha Anyways, that food is more expensive, but I kept the coupon. While at Publix I checked out the clearance table and there was Gerber Organic baby food marked down to $.80 I thought hmm can I use my coupon...sho nuff I could! So I basically paid $.60 for both (4) containers of Organic Baby food! CRAZY! But the story doesn't stop there, CVS had Wisk detergent BOGO, and I clipped (2) coupons a couple weeks ago for $1 off one. So I called the coupon queen, Courtney Rohrdanz, and asked her if I could use two of the coupons she said YES! While I was there they also had Raisin Bran buy one get one for $.01. I didn't have coupons for that but I think if I did I could have used them, I'll have to verify that with Courtney. So my total for 2 bottles of detergent and 2 boxes of cereal was $12 and saved $15! Again, crazy! So its exciting when you really take the time to find the deals! Thanks Courtney for introducing and encouraging me to do this!

Try it out and let me know how it goes! Until next time...

Aunt Jemima

So Sunday we had our monthly Family Feast where everyone brings potluck, but this Sunday was a little different, Mike decided to have people stay and play games. Well it was a beautiful day but a little breezy, and I've been very careful these days with Ava and her ears when there is lots of wind, I don't really know if it would affect her or not, but I always cover them up. I wasn't prepared for the wind so I didn't have her hat, so I came up with something. I did bring her an extra pair of pants so Tara said you can tie the pants around her head, so that's what we did. She looked like Aunt Jemima, just a little younger and maybe cuter... :)

Stay at home mom...

Yes, so that's my occupation this week and to be honest its not that bad! Yesterday I told Mike I would be the best stay at home mom under one condition...the laundry...you see my laundry can get backed up, I'm kinda like my Aunt Sherry...I hate doing it or actually I hate folding it and putting it away so my laundry was piled high on top of the dryer and in baskets in our room, until I told Mike I would be the best stay at home mom I could be, if he would help me get all those clothes put away...I was feeling very stressed by the amount of clothes, so like a wonderful husband we as a team folded and put away all the laundry and now today all the laundry except one load is done...yeah me!

I wonder why I'm blogging, I guess so I can just vent or something, who knows....

Day two of staying home...
My friend from High School came over-Heidi-we talked for hours and then it was time for us to pick up our kids...it was a great visit, she'll have to come over again soon, then I picked up Abi and Jackson from school. Jackson is a cute little boy from church, I helped out his mom and dad today by picking him up...took them to McDonalds to get happy meals, got home for them to eat it, fed Ava and then what do I do with a boy at our house...so the Night of the Museum 2 started...well that didn't last too long Jackson was interested in Ava's toys Abi said to me, it Jackson going to watch the movie or not...Then at 2:25 I left to pick up Jackson's brother, Clayton. Then off to McDonalds again, can't not give Clayton the same treatment as Jackson, plus I got them all ice cream. For about 30 minutes I had 4 kids in my car, so I didn't get to experience 4 kids all at once because their mom pulled up right as we did...oh darn, maybe I'll get the pleasure to do that another time.

So I didn't even get to watch TV today, this stay at home mom thing just might make me too busy to do that! Oh my!

But good news is that tomorrow I'm going to take a test for a teller position at Regions bank. Will keep you updated, is anyone even reading this...who in the heck knows! I kinda like just typing away! Thanks Becky for encouraging this!

More to come...

Tax Season!

So last year was the first year I did our taxes...it seemed so easy, but for some reason this year its driving me crazy! I've been messing with it since Saturday, and I've already deleted it and started over. I'm about to call H&R Block to do it, I can't believe how stressed I get where I can't even talk! I guess that's where this blogging thing comes in handy! Hopefully I'll post later in the week to tell you all I've completed the tax return! Wish me luck!

Coupons

So on Sunday my dear friend Courtney came over to show me how to save money! Its called clipping coupons and southernsavers.com. So later that evening I bought two papers and started clipping. Apparently I won't use them for a couple weeks, I'm still learning, hopefully I can save us money, you know me without a job...Any tips with the coupons are welcomed! Thanks Court for introducing this to me...just something else to do.. :)

Its been some time...

Well its been a while since I've even thought about blogging, but a lot has gone on in a year! First to say, I had a wonderful little girl that was born on April 26, 2009. She is now 9 months old! Once I remember how to post pictures I will, or just visit my facebook page and you'll see her!

In September a lot happened....Mike became a Senior Pastor at Turning Point Church in Mulberry, went to TN to visit one of my best friends, it was a great visit, turned 29 and started working 4 days a week.

In November, we started being tested by the Devil! Mike turned 31 on November 8th and got sick and was sick for two weeks straight or maybe even longer! Now we have $1,000 medical bill for Lakeland Regional! Way to go Mike, just kidding. Not only was Mike sick, little Ava started getting ear infections in October, she was on meds for 27 days straight, Tubes were coming in her future...So in December we finally went to the ENT, (ear, nose and throat) doctor. We were scheduled for tubes the next day! We were shocked that it all happened so quickly, well about 30 minutes later Watson Clinic was calling for money, then Lakeland Surgical, well long story short, we didn't have the money to do it so we had to cancel! I was so sad, and I asked Mike what do we do? He said start praying and God will provide, ye of little faith, yes, that would be me....Called someone else and guess what they said the same thing, just start praying! So guess what, I did! Well again another long story short, went to church that night and God provided! Yes, the whole amount! But we waited to have Ava's surgery until January, so a new deductible and everything!

Christmas was very different this year, but we managed with the family! It was nice to have Christmas with MY family! I think we started a new tradition!

January was a busy month for me, I basically was in Jacksonville the entire month or and the beginning! Olivia, my wonderful Albritton sister got married, so there were bachelorette parties and showers and the wedding that we had to go to, it was wonderful, she married a WONDERFUL man of God!

While we were there, I got sick! I got the FLU! It wasn't until the last day, but that was the day we were suppose to go to St. Augustine, we didn't get to do that, sorry Mike! I missed 3 days of work for having the Flu, yuck!

So here I am, a Thursday morning, when I should be at work! Well after working for 4.5 years, I was terminated, fired! I knew it was coming, just wish it would have been a mutual agreement, so I didn't have to say I was fired! So why did it happen, well I think I was set up! I've been working there like I said for 4.5 years, and hadn't had too many problems, but within the last 4-6 months, I was written up 3 times for pity stuff...I just think he was done with me, since he hired a Office Manager...but I've never felt so much peace about losing a job, the only thing is I don't have one, but God will take care of us and I'm still searching, so in the mean time, I might start blogging, sometimes, I think it just need to vent, so now all you can enjoy!

So until next time, pray for me and my family that I find a job! I got some ideas for other blogs so keep posted!