Almost 2 months old!

Tiger and Twig will be 2 months old in a few days.

They've nearly doubled in weight in just the few weeks we've had them!

 Tiger

 Twig

Some Valentine's Decorations

We want to leave our Christmas tree up til Keith is born, so I had fun trying to turn it into a Valentines Day tree this afternoon.  I took all our Christmas things down, and replaced them with Springy or Valentines Day things, too.

 Mantle

 Photo Collage

 

Sorry about the glare. And these really are the same collage. For some reason the wall looks gray in one picture, and pea green in the next...

35 and 1/2 weeks

With Keith's due date only a month away I'm allowed to count by half weeks now, right? :)

Thanks for taking the picture, Pappap

Pappap and Grandma's visit, cont...

On Friday night Steve and I taught Grandma and Pap how to play Monopoly Deal...Grandma got the best cards every time!

 

On Saturday Pap and Grandma took us to Ruby Tuesdays with James and his girlfriend, Evelyn Richardson.

After supper we all went to the beach and enjoyed the full moon and 65 degree weather.

Sunday, after church, Grandma wanted to try out some floor polisher she got on my entryway floor. It sure brightened it up!

 

 

Before...

  

...After. Nice!

They left Monday morning. Have a safe trip home! Love you guys!

Pappap and Grandma's visit...so far

Last night Pappap and Grandma arrived! They will stay til Monday morning, when they'll head back to North Carolina, then home to Ohio.

With them they brought a Toy Chest that Pap made for Keith, and a crib that they bought from the Amish for him!

We set the furniture up Thursday night, and then spent Friday goofing off and having fun.

Toy Chest

 

 Crib

 

 

 Friday Fun

 

 Grandma's Pie

 

Thanks, Steve!

I tried to do wash the other day, and ended up with a little flood in the laundry room!  Steve borrowed John's plumbing snake and took care of the clog for me, and now I can have clean clothes again.

You're amazing, Steve :)

New Doghouse

I was praying for God to provide for these puppies, as well as our growing family, and he did!  Thru Steve's brother, John, we were given a doghouse for the pups.  Dad Bryan brought it over and now the pups are all grown up and living outside.

Before, I brought their beds outside when it was warm.

 Now they're in their own house.

Twig helped me weed the flower bed and wore herself out, lol :)

Steve's babies

I have to start by saying that I've been praying for free lab puppies for several months now. With Steve and I we always said, "Double or Nothing" so that the pups would have someone to play with when I was busy during the day.

Sunday afternoon Steve saw a sign for free puppies! We brought home Tiger that afternoon, and I put a want ad on craigslist.com Monday afternoon. Monday we brought home Twig.

All we had to pay for for their entire uptake so far was just a bag of puppy food (the lady giving Tiger away gave us several cans of puppy food), a brush, two flea collars (just a precaution), and shampoo.

Mom and Dad Bryan let us use their big dog crate on the back porch til Steve can build a doggie house outback.  I was wondering how much puppy shots would be, but I found a vet close by that only charges $30 for shots, exam, deworming, and clips their nails while they're there too!

Tiger

 

 Twig

 Tiger is mostly lab, with a bit of chow.

Twig is all mixed up, and very smart! Her dad is lab/black-mouthed cur, her mom is german shepherd/collie.

So cute!

33 weeks

Lamaze and my infant car seat

Lamaze Class

 First of 6 weeks of classes

 Car seat

Old vs. New

Thank you so much, Mom and Dad for this new, cute seat cover :)

S'mores Night

Steve got a 3 pound box of s'more ingredients as a white elephant New Years gift. We took it over to Mom and Dad's on Saturday (the 5th) to share.

Mom invited us to join them for supper and I got a new recipe!

 

  Mmmm!!!

Recipe: Corn Noodle Casserole

Preheat oven to 375

-----

1 lb ground beef, browned with a diced onion

6 cups macaroni, cooked

2 cans of corn, drained

1 can of tomato paste

2 cans of tomato sauce

1 cup of cheddar cheese

-----

Combine all and pour into a greased 6 quart casserole dish.  Sprinkle with about 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and bake for 20 minutes.

This was so delicious, a blend of tangy and spicy yumminess :)

Ethan!

 We had a game night last Friday with Nate, Dani, Ethan, and Micah.

Somehow I only got pictures of Ethan.

 

Almost 2 and 1/2 and as smart as can be!

Freezer cooking

 I did mostly chicken-y dishes and soups for the freezer this month.

I made a gallon and a half of two favorite soups (Diane's Chili and Beef Barley Soup) and froze them in 4 cup increments for defrosting.

Our grocery store had a sale for 10 pounds of chicken for 10 dollars.

 

 I used a few pieces for chicken salad, and put two packages of chicken breasts in the freezer for baking.

 

 I saute'd the bits and pieces for stroganoff and simmered the bones and fat for hours til I got a gallon of stock.

 

 From the bones I got 2 more cups of shredded chicken for casseroles.

After the chicken, I made meatballs.

 Recipe: Italian Meatballs

Preheat oven to 425. Line a jellyroll pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper.

-----

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup each italian bread crumbs and parmesean cheese

1 Tablespoon each oregano, basil, thyme, onion powder, Worchestershire sauce

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper

-----

Combine all ingredients but ground beef and mix well,add beef and mix well by hand.

Shape into 32 meatballs and place on sheet. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center.