Pumpkin Farm

Clancy and I decided to get together Saturday morning and let the kids play at a pumpkin farm. Olivia and I got there early, and the first thing she wanted to do was go play on the "playground" (i.e. a slide). She is such a cautious little girl. There wasn't any crazy running or pushing over other kids to get up the slide. As you can see in this picture, she kept both hands on the rails and took her time to not fall....

I'm pretty sure her cautiousness annoyed the other kids! Before I knew it, there was a pretty decent trafic jam behind her! She turned and looked at me like "what???".

There were a few animals (goats, pigs, bunnies, chickens). Turner LOVED them. Olivia said the pig was "yucky". Love my girly girl!

Maggie taking Olivia to see the bunnies.

These kids were NOT interested in taking pictures...or even pretending to look and smile.

We told them there was a bird on my head. They at least looked (and Maggie smiled).

Enjoyed our Saturday morning with you guys!

Here's a little something totally off subject, but one of those little things I just don't want to forget. Last night, Olivia was saying her prayers. She did the usual (and almost always in the same order....sorry the dogs are ahead of you Nana and Gram E!)..... "Dear God, thank you for my mommy and daddy, Gracie and Biggie (aka Bentley), my Nana and Gram E....(long pause...)....and thank you for my ABC's and Mary Poppins. Amen!".

When she said them tonight, she kept her ABC's in there, but skipped Mary Poppins. Poor Mary!

I need to start keeping better track of some of the funnies she says. There's something every day, and no way will I ever remember it all! Doesn't that make you sad?!?!?! That you won't remember every single moment spent with these precious little angels? Ugh, I hate to think about it!

So on that "happy" note, good night! Sleep tight!

Look-alikes, Static & Great-Grandparents

I don't have many pictures of myself as a child, and I keep forgetting to look at pictures at my mom's house, but I did come across this one of me. I never know who she looks like, and to ask friends or family, we get about 50/50. After seeing this picture, I think there's a pretty close resemblance. Olivia saw it and said "Why am I holding a kitty?". HA! She definitely got my hair, but her dad's brown eyes (although his aren't nearly as dark)! As for the rest, who knows....maybe she's just 50/50!

Olivia recently had a moment of crazy static electricity hair. Enough said.

Olivia and I went to visit my mom and grandparents this weekend. We didn't get any pictures at mom's house, but we did manage to snap a few of Olivia and her great-grandparents.

Picking pears.

We enjoyed spending the afternoon with you guys!

Dallas Arboretum

Elizabeth (Gram E), Jason and I took Olivia to the Dallas Arboretum yesterday. There were quite a few people there, and Olivia gets pretty distracted and I think a little uncomfortable in crowds. I've really started to notice lately that in larger crowds, she kind of just shuts down and observes. She won't even hardly talk to ME! Ha.

So these were most of the pics in the beginning.....very uncooperative! Just too busy watching everyone.

Or this....her running away from us

This is her inside the little house (above). Jason was peeking thru the window at her.

In Cinderella's carriage (she kind of just blends in here!)

Once we got outside of the "children's area", she became more cooperative.

We attempted a family picture.

I don't know why I thought we'd be successful! HA.

Heritage Festival

Today our town had their annual Heritage Festival aka "The Cowboy Roundup". There were arts & crafts booths, food, horses (regular and miniature), mechanical bull riding, a train (broken when we were there), a little musical entertainment, etc.

Olivia kept picking grass and feeding the little miniature horses.

I managed to get a few pics on the porch this evening.

Loved this face....no clue what she was looking at but she had this look for several seconds.

Just want to eat her up....we love you Little Miss Olivia!

Pinterest is going to make me FAT!

Pinterest. What a love/hate relationship I have with that site! Besides awesome organizational ideas, craft ideas, hairstyles, decoration ideas, etc....people post recipes. I've pinned quite a few healthy ones, but I've also come across a few others that just looked too good to pass up, even if they were a little heavy in the calorie/fat categories!

I've taken pics for you the last couple of weeks. Why? I have NO IDEA! HA! It's really hard to take pretty pictures of food, and I've definitely NOT accomplished that, but I'm posting anyway! But I still wanted to share....if you are like me, then you get stuck in a rut cooking the same foods over and over and over again!

I'm also including the links to the recipes (just click on the recipe title). I'm pretty sure I tweaked each recipe's ingredients. I RARELY follow one perfectly.

CHICKEN ENCHILADA PASTA
***If you don't try any others, you might want to try this one!

Oh my gooodness....this was yummy! And definitely the most unhealthy recipe of all (go figure, right?!). Pasta. Cheese. Sour cream. Spice. What more could you want??? If you know me, then you know I eliminated the red bell pepper (yuck). I used whole wheat pasta, low fat sour cream and low fat cheese, but still no way was this helping out my scale this week! Heat warning! This recipe definitely has a little kick to it.

Verdict: Will definitely make again, but only on very rare occassions since we try to cook healthy. It was even good on the 2nd night!

TACO CUPCAKES

A nice little twist on a traditional taco. Adding in the black beans not only added an extra element, but it also really stretched the recipe. We were able to eat 2 meals on this (could be more, but my hubby likes to eat!). I used the mini wontons, but in regular muffin tins. You put one wonton, then some of the meat/bean mixture, then another wonton on top (2 wontons per "cupcake").

Verdict: Will make again. If you are wanting a crunchy taco, the wontons are definitely healthier than traditional taco shells. They don't taste just like a taco, but it was still a nice change of pace.

Just top with your favorite toppings!

CILANTRO-LIME RICE

I love cilantro-lime rice. I typically see it mainly at burrito places like Chipolte, Freebirds and Qdoba. We had it as a side to our Taco Cupcakes.

Verdict: I think it could be good. I'm not very good at cooking white rice though. It's always really sticky. Maybe I'll try it with brown rice next time to up the healthy factor (although I did use less oil...maybe that's why it was sticky?!?!).

BREAKFAST CUPCAKES
(or that's what I'm calling them)

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to make them for Jason. Bread, egg & bacon. The perfect breakfast, right?! I was hesitant that they would actually taste good though!

BEFORE THE OVEN:

I couldn't believe how much the bread actually toasted. I did overcook slightly. The yolk in the egg wasn't runny like Jason would have liked it to be, so if we make these again, I'll probably cook them a few minutes shorter than the recipe says.

AFTER THE OVEN:

Caution: These are really filling! I only ate one. Olivia ate part of one (she didn't like). And Jason had 2-3, but he said he was stuffed and couldn't eat anymore.

Verdict: Sure, we'll probably try them again. Not an every weekend thing, but worth doing again. Jason even ate the leftovers with ranch dressing (EEK!).

(you knew I had to throw in a pic of our princess, right?!)

CHICKEN LASAGNA ROLL-UPS

This was our dinner tonight. I totally changed this recipe (didn't use feta or plain parm...used a blend of Italian cheeses...but I did use the ricotta...well, a low-fat version). I also don't have white pepper. I used black pepper. NO CLUE if they even taste similar! HA.

Verdict: Jason really enjoyed it. It's not exactly on my healthy eating plan, so I only had one roll. It was ok. I guess we'd try again (when I'm allowed to eat that much cheese again....so probably never)! If you need something a little new and different, give it a shot.

Ok, so one more to share with you....but no pic (I'm too lazy to get it off my phone...probably from all this heavy food I've eaten)!

These ENERGY BALLS are YUMMY!!! Definitely a must-try! Go ahead...click the link! I've made a batch of these a week for the past 3-4 weeks. I originally wanted a good snack idea for Olivia. But of course, she won't touch them, but Jason and I like them! They are small and you shouldn't eat too many, but they are really good!

Ok, so maybe I've given you a few ideas for dinner next week! I have several more things "pinned", so maybe I'll have more for you in a week or two!

HELP PLEASE!

Hey guys! I have no clue how many people actually read my blog....but I'm coming to you for help so I can win a free photo shoot for Olivia!

If you are on Facebook, please go "like" Stephanie Freydenfeldt Photography. After you like her page, please write on her wall "Tessa Dominy sent me" (or somthing to that effect). That's it! Very simple and will take you less than 1 minute and will save me lots of $$$! Whoever sends the most people to her page will win a free photo shoot!

Thanks in advance for your help! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

YAY...Tomorrow is a New Day!

My last two Mondays have been TRUE Mondays. Last Monday, I received 2 tickets (1 speeding, 1 inspection). That was my first speeding ticket ever, so I guess I've been kinda lucky.

And today.....ohhhhh, let's see. It started at 4:30am when I got up to go to the gym. Olivia woke up crying before I could get out of the house. By the time I got her back to bed, it was 5:15am so I just decided to get ready for work. I left the house around 6:15am. Unfortunately, I needed to get gas, so I stopped at the QT by our house....I got the gas, got back in the car.....AND IT WOULDN'T START. Car trouble is terrifying for me. I feel completely hopeless and clueless when things go wrong with the car. So, of course I called Jason. He came (with Olivia...don't EVEN make me tell you what he had her dressed in!). We got a new battery and off to work I went. I got there a little before 9:00am. And around 10:30, I received a call from daycare that Olivia was sick. SERIOUSLY???? So....I got back in my car and drove an hour back to her daycare and took her to the doctor. Ear infection. Shocker.

After we got home from the doctor, Olivia napped and I logged on to my pc and worked.

I swear it felt like the longest day ever. I know the things that happened weren't really that big of a deal, but it was just one of those days where I felt like I was going to go crazy at any minute if one more little thing went wrong! I kept having to remind myself who was in charge, and I know He will take care of us! Today was full of a lot of small trials...the devil was definintely working today, but I know I can handle it with God on my side. If I know anything, I know that!