surprise!

- I have WAYY (like 4 times as many) cable channels than I thought we had. I found this out by complete accident by typing into the remote 66 (really just trying for channel 6). Lo & behold, my channel 66 actually showed a picture instead of the usual message "Channel Not Available". The biggest question in my mind is, "How long have we been getting these extra channels without paying any extra????" What's funny is that Jen & Ben (who have the same cable provider) all of a sudden started getting extra channels awhile back, too. Ahh! how many wasted hours of NOT watching HGTV. So, pros: HGTV, Cons: Wayy too many channels to flip through to see what's on.

- I had so much fun planning a getaway for Josh & myself as a birthday surprise for him, Valentine's celebration for us, and anniversary celebration all wrapped into one. I figured that we wouldn't be into celebrating our big 5 year anniversary on May 29 in any huge way, considering we might have a 2 week old in the family. The funniest part was that we went to a hotel & resort REALLY close by, like 15 minutes away, but it was still wonderful to walk into a beautiful hotel room with a king size bed (we have a double at home), plush linens, a shower with two heads, and the deepest, most luxurious bathtub I have ever had occasion to bathe in. Oh, and a flat screen television. We had a special deal that included a great price & an extra late checkout, so we really got a lot of time at the hotel for our buck. We felt like young'uns again as we strolled around the grounds, and took a Sunday drive that lasted forever! We talked a lot and just had fun having absolutely no schedule! The most surprising thing of all: how much I missed Kate. I missed her little voice chiming in from the back seat asking me, "What's it time for, mom?" I missed her sweet little voice waking up with a song. I couldn't wait to pick her up from Mima & Papa's house. She said she didn't miss us, but she snuggled with us both on the couch for quite awhile when we got home. :-) I think she was glad to be in her own cribbie, too.

- This weekend was actually full of surprises. Josh planned a wonderful evening for MY birthday on Friday evening. We headed up to Athens for dinner at a trendy little spot, The Last Resort, and finished off the evening at an ARCO concert, the chamber orchestra connected to the University. Jen is a 6 year alum of ARCO, but it had been several years since I had heard the in concert. And, to top it all off, we got to spend the evening with my best friends, Ben & Jen. Talk about a true rarity! They are usually the ones keeping Kate. Mima & Papa get a gold medal for the whole weekend. They had all three grandgirls on Friday evening, and then Kate most of Sunday & all Monday. Thank heaven for grandparents!

on the menu

February introduces birthday season at our house. Both Josh & I have birthdays within a week of each other.

Kate: Mom, when your birthday?
Mom: I don't know, when is mom's birthday?
Kate: Ju-fly (ha ha)
she chuckles because she knows that's the wrong answer.
Mom: Noooo, when is mom's birthday?
Kate: Febuuary . . . and who else?
Mom: When is dad's birthday?
Kate: Febuuary. . . .ALSO Febuuary.

Kate must have birthdays on her mind, for sure. Yesterday we ate lunch at a restaurant & she thought that the toothpick (complete with blue glittery paper on top) looked like a . .

Kate: I's a can-del, mom! (expressing deelight!) There's two!

She even tried to blow them out.

Well, birthday season brings out the cookbooks & recipe searches & here's what's on my plate for this week.

Steak with dee-licious, best ever, steak rub!
Roast Asparagus drizzled with Lemon
Twice Baked Potatoes (or maybe once! I just noticed that it's 4:38P already)
French Bread
Fresh Strawberry Galette

and, on another day. . .

Chicken Sour Cream & Tomatillo Enchiladas, made with homemade tortillas
Homemade Refried Beans (I'm making the beans today & frying them tomorrow)
Mexican Rice with Carrots
Chocolate Pound Cake with Fudge Icing

Doesn't that just make your mouth water? Can you tell that my family cares about food? What's funny -- if you asked me to create a birthday menu for myself -- I always have trouble. I love so many different kinds of food. I love to cook, and eat, but the particulars aren't as important to me. Yumminess is important, but the rest is immaterial. I'm currently on a huge Mexican food kick. If you are interested in Mexican food at all, I HIGHLY recommend this cookbook. This was perhaps my favorite wedding gift we received, especially from the group of gifts that was NOT off of our registry.

So, a few recipes.

Fresh Strawberry Galette
It seems as though it originated from Martha Stewart Living. It's made with a pie type crust & filled with delicious fresh berries. Pretty easy, especially if you have a food processor. I used the basic Martha recipe, but the less than perfect pics on this blog were so appetizing!. :-) Update: I just ate this dessert & let me tell you -- it was delicious! I didn't make the fresh cream, but it sure sounds good!

Yummiest Steak Rub EVER!
From another great cookbook, SL Busy Mom's Weeknight Cookbook.
I've used it on all sorts of types of steaks. You don't have to let it rest that long after you rub it on the steak, but I think it does have some tenderizing/flavoring properties attached to it, so letting it sit for 30 min-1 hour would be good, too. Update also from tonight: This rub is a tad spicy. .fair warning. If you want less heat, lower it. :-)

1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Chicken Enchiladas II from Allrecipes.com
This is a REALLY easy recipe that I'll be making one pan of for Josh's birthday. The other pan of enchiladas is going to have the tomatillo-poblano chile sauce. Mmm.

What are your favorite things to eat on your birthday?

Happy Birthday Girl (at her party)

*Several new posts, so keep looking!*

On Saturday, Kate invited her family over for an Elmo birthday party! I had been psyching myself up for weeks about her cake, and with many good tips for Jenny AND her decorating kit, I began on Friday night to decorate her cake. It went so much smoother than I thought it would, although it did take a few hours to make all of the icing, mix the colors, ice the cake (almost harder than decorating, really), and cleaning up some essentials! We had lasagna, salad, and bread for everyone and Kate was funny the whole time. She wanted to sit with Mima, so look who jumped in her high chair? She was extra intimidated by everyone singing happy birthday to her and the first pose is the "why mee????" pose. She did not even try to blow out her own candles. Ah me! The present opening was more enjoyable for her and by the time we got to the slideshow, enough people were focusing on other things and she could play happily with Lauren and Lydia. Her table from Mima & Papa and tea set from Gagi were special hits and she plays with these things daily now! We haven't let her put water in the set yet, but apparently, the cups change color! She populates her table with her friends (real or imagined) and pours tea for everyone, adding sugar and milk until you think there's no room left for tea! It's especially cute to see her snag daddy for playing Tea Party! I'll have to get a picture soon. We had such a great time with everyone, but I think next year, we should have her party the week BEFORE her birthday. :-)

Happy Birthday Girl (on her day)

The week of her birthday, Kate had a nasssty cold that seemed like it would never go away. That week was also the last week of school where I had to give exams, so somehow, I didn't plan very well for a birthday breakfast, lunch, or dinner of any special nature. (Bad mom!) Finally, we came up with the idea of doing French Toast for dinner, so dad & Kate ran to the store & picked up the appropriate items. We made it Birthday French Toast by adding raspberries (Kate wasn't impressed so mom & dad finished the whole pkg by themselves!) & whipped cream. Yum! Kate LOVED the whipped cream so much, that was practically all she ate for supper. Then, daddy bought an ice cream cake for her to celebrate, but I couldn't find any candles. So, yet another improvisation was made, and Josh used a match. We let her open all of our presents on her birthday & she had such a great time. Kate & dad are going to start their own garage band. I promise that next year, I'll have a better plan for her day!

This year has gone by so quickly (and slowly), it seems. I cannot believe that one year ago, Kate was barely learning how to walk and talk! She now plays pretend and runs all over the place and talks a mile a minute when there's no one else around! She is still a sweet little girl who likes to read & cuddle with mom & dad. She is starting to learn patterns of the day and frequently asks, "What's it time for, mom?" Lately, she's been more attached to her dad than ever. Sometimes the first question out of her mouth in the morning is, "Where's dad?" She is turning into the consummate mommy & homemaker. She loves to make food sometimes pretend and sometimes with mom! This morning I told her that Dad went to the store to buy some oil, and she told me that the oil was in the pantry! I mean, how did she know that?? Well, I told her that it was oil for the car, and she wasn't sure if she could believe me. I'm always amazed at how much she knows about caring for a baby and can't wait to see her learn even more when her baby sister is born. We learned something else about her this year -- she doesn't particularly love to be the center of attention in a large group. She can be really shy, even around people that she knows, and it seems that it can take her awhile to warm up to people that are her favorites (like Mima or Auntie Jen). Someone she never takes ANY time to warm up to is Lydia. She adores her cousin Lydia & learns so many things from her. She's taken to talking about Costco (It's so fun, They have everything!). We haven't been there in over a year b/c my membership is expired; Lydia however is a frequent shopper with her mommy and apparently has been passing on the information to her little cuz. At the same time, she LOVES to make people laugh. At school, she has lunch in the room with all of the students. They don't usually sit in there, but prepare their lunches & pass through on their way to the outside or a classroom. They love to talk with her as they pass & sometimes she says something that really tickles them. She'll repeat it over & over just to get the same reaction! She's a little ham!

If you haven't already seen it, I posted her slideshow on Facebook.

two years

Two years ago today. . .

Katherine Noelle Bailey, 5 lbs 14 oz 18 1/2 in. tall
born at 8:06 a.m.

One year ago today. . .

(look at these cute chubby cheeks!)

Two years old. . .
25 lbs
2 ft 91/2 in. tall
:-)

the first anniversary of my birth

I got this cake eatin' thing down!

"Wo, Wo, Wo" WITH hand motions for the first time!!!!

Not for the last time, I'm sure, Kate learned a song from cousin. Lydia was so excited to be singing row, row, row your boat in the water!!! As soon as we stopped singing, Kate piped up with "Wo, wo, wo" so we sang it again! Their very first song together.

it's my life (all twelve months!)

you're invited to a birthday party

For once, I wasn't behind the camera, so you'll actually see pics of me. Thankfully, dinner came together without too big of a hitch, mostly thanks to my m-i-l who came & helped out for an hour before hand. Kate was never so naughty as she was that day. She ate dirt, pulled out all of the clothes in her drawer, and the tupperware in the kitchen cabinet, and got into a cleaning supplies cabinet several times after several spanks! I think she knew I had too much to do and couldn't supervise properly!

Katie-boo and her sweet everyday caretaker!

Although I was a bit scared about doing a "shape" cake -- I went for it, and I was so pleased with the outcome. One big CUPCAKE for the cutest birthday girl!

Mom had to blow out my little candle. I was trying to touch the flame!

Papa helped Kate get into her cupcake. She basically sucked off bits until it all got crumbled up into smaller pieces.

Is THIS how you're supposed to eat it?

I love this shirt, Mima!

Here you get a picture of what present opening was like -- Kate opening and Lydia looking over her shoulder, being restrained from "helping" too much.

This towel is SOOO soft & it has my name on it.

Part-eeee!

My little reader got lots of books for her birthday.

Although she started her party quite seriously (she had just woken up from a nap), she ended up gleeful! Especially after she got her baby doll & stroller. We had a time separating Lydia from some of Kate's toys, but thankfully, Kate wasn't to upset at letting Lydia play with her toys. She did have so many other things to look at!

Hope you enjoyed my party, everyone.

How Old Are You?

Lydia's P-0-0-l Party was a big hit! We've taken to spelling out 'that word' because Lydia loves it so much that every time it is mentioned, she wants to go there! I know that this is what Mima and Papa were thinking of when they put their pool in -- wonderful family gatherings. Of course, Kate won't be having her parties at the pool, but what can you expect, being born in December! The party had a distinct Dora theme. Cake, many of the presents, and probably Lydia's favorite thing there: be-woons!

Deja Vu

We won't mention how many deja vu's Bob has had, but we celebrated last weekend. The other deja vu he experienced was receiving the same birthday gift as two years ago. He lost his first pair of sunglasses we gave him, so we thought we'd give him another chance to look so shnazzy. The Bailey home is in various states of finishedness, so all Josh could find to rest his little body on were some couch pillows on the floor. I guess someone else had had the great idea and brought the pillows up from the basement previously. And, although the last picture isn't the "cutest" per se, use your imagination to fill in the before and after. Lydia loves finding spots that are her own. She found the perfect cabinet and had fun in that for awhile. She also loves to sit down on the stairs, because they are the perfect little chair for her. She shared a special moment with Papa on the step. She loves to get up and sit down over and over. She also gave Papa some of her adorable love pats. They start off gentle back pats and end up a twinge more vigorous.

Fun in the Sun, part 2

Unfortunately, my usual habit of chronicling every event in life with a marvelous pictoral display was absent from this vacation. I only have a few pics, and most of them are of the cute kid that was with us. Hopefully others will have more of a variety.

On one of her many tramps through woods.

Just chilling with her daddy

Naked Baby!!!

We are trying to teach her to LOVE tomatoes, unlike her mom & dad

A Fine Day for Fishing on Bass Lake. . the motto was "We threw back 25 or 30"

Jen enjoyed Lydia's extraordinarily long naptimes by relaxing with a book and a beverage.

Although we tried to teach Lydia to love the lake, she mainly loved walking in about 2 inches of lake water, not hanging out in the "deep" end. We'll chalk it up to her new found skill of walking. Can't do that in 2 ft of water, can ya?

Jake's 20th birthday was celebrated before we left for vacation. Sorry there wasn't a shape cake this year.

Lydia's Birthday & Update

Hello all Peanut & Lydia fans!
I have had a series of pretty good days followed by sort of ghoulish nights. The night before last I lay awake for perhaps an hour from 3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. sort of aimlessly mind wandering whilst trying to find some comfortable, Mr. Sandman sleep position. It's not that I was UNcomfortable, it's that my body was not be swayed into sleep again. I finally abandoned our bed and moved to the guest bedroom. I was feeling really self conscious about flipping over for the thirtieth time and just HOPING that Josh wasn't being disturbed by all of this. So, yesterday, I took no wonderful 2 hour day time nap and I went to bed armed with 4 pillows. Unfortunately, most of my pillows are full size, although I don't NEED them to be quite THAT big. In our double bed, this doesn't leave much room for Josh. The sad thing is, I'm not even that HUGE (at all) yet, so I can just imagine what sleeping will be like in the late months. This morning I woke up trying to imagine some crafty way to halve the size of a pillow without losing all of the stuffing, etc. Well, enough about me.
Lydia's birthday was last week, and we celebrated with a big bang. Most of you, I'm sure, have already looked at the pics on Jen's blog, but I have a few unique shots, so I'll post 'em.