On a roll...

I saw this idea for a scrapbook design and decided to make my own version to hang on the wall. It is a 20x10 print and we plan to hang it in Eli's room. Maybe with the next baby I will get it finished a little after the 1st birthday instead of a little before the 2nd! I think I am going to write the day/month of each picture, straighten out a few lines and then send it on its way to the printer.

It starts with one day old, one week old, one month through 12 months.

Did I mention that I cried while making this? I did. Look at my baby... what happened to those little chunky cheeks?

Also, I am proud to say that I got the other print from the previous post in the mail this week, bought a frame for it and Chris is hanging it today! Hooray!

Feeling guilty...

I have been feeling guilty.

I have been going over to a lot of friends' houses lately and noticing that they have pictures of their kiddos hanging everywhere. We don't have a single picture of Eli on the wall...not one. How stinkn' sad is that? Really!?! SAD!

 Honestly, we are still in the decorating phase in this house that we have been in for a little over a year!

Last night in a huge wave of guilt, I threw together this collage of our little fire drill shoot of Eli that we took last February...I sent it off to a new printing vendor that we are trying out and it should be here in a few days.

I wonder how long it will take me to get a frame for it....and then to actually get it up on the wall.

And so, there it is. I am a horrible parent. We have so many fantastic pictures of Eli...maybe the next time you come over our walls will be plastered in them. Here is hoping!

I don't do it enough....

So, we are busy. Like super duper busy; which is great, really it is. However, I would be lying if I said that it hasn't affected our marriage. It seems as though there is an unending amount of pictures to edit and projects to do at the end of the day, when Eli doesn't have every ounce of our attention.

I decided that I wanted to take the time to show Chris how much he means to me and just do something a little special for him. I don't do it often enough, but it was really time for some special hubby attention.
What better way than his tummy, right? I got online and picked out an entire meal just for him. One that I normally wouldn't make for myself. It turned out really well; Chris loved it. I wish that Eli would have loved it as much as his daddy, but hey, he isn't going to starve!

We started with lemon pepper chicken, roasted potatoes, roasted corn and peppers, and a side of pesto. Okay, so I know that this really isn't that hard to make, but I wouldn't have come up with this on my own.

First up, the lemon pepper chicken and pesto found at any awesome little blog, Scarlet Threads.

You'll need:

•1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil

•1/2 lb. of Chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

•Lemon Pepper spice for seasoning the chicken; this is where my seasoning to taste comes in, so start with 1 tablespoon, then add more if you want more!

•1 jar of pesto sauce
•1/2 of a bag of small pasta; I used Bow Tie this time, but Penne or Spirals would work just fine too.
•1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese; freshly grated tastes best, but any will do.

Directions:
Cook the pasta as directed; while that's cooking, heat the oil in a pan in medium. Spice up the chicken after it's been cut up, but before you throw it in the pan.

Once the oil is hot, toss in the chicken and cook until no longer pink, stirring often in order to avoid burning.


Once the pasta is finished, drain and place back in to the pot (but not back on the heat); add the chicken, pesto, and the Parmesan cheese and toss to mix.
And that's it!

Next I found this recipe for summer roasted vegetables.
Oh, now, this you have got to try. I am always looking for sides! This was easy and so, so good. It will become a staple here!

Sweet, Summer Roasted Vegetables

1/3 cup red onion, diced
1/3 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup zucchini, diced
1/3 cup frozen corn kernels
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper

Toss all to combine & roast at 400 for 15-20 mins.

I left out the zucchini, but I think that next time I will add yellow squash instead. Pretty much anything would turn out yummy in this recipe!


So, there you go. Chris's meal.
I know that it wasn't that hard, but sometimes we all need a little something to get us out of our rut! Try it! Go cook something extra special, just for your significant other that you would never cook for yourself...you might be surprised!

Meet Miss Kaylee

Meet our new little cousin, Kaylee. She would be my cousin, right? She is my first cousin, Robin's new little bundle of joy, Kaylee Hazel. She was born July 29th on her momma's birthday at 1:25 p.m. and weighed in at 7 lb 2 oz, and 18 3/4 in.

I got the joy of taking a few pictures of her one afternoon! I have been wanting to put them up on the photography blog for a while, but we are so backed up on there that it is just easier for me to put them here!

She is just precious! I had a blast with her...Eli got a little jealous, but I think he better get use to another baby in the house! ;)

and because I didn't know which one to pick, and I wanted Robin to see both...

Royal Family...

I betcha didn't know that we are related to royalty, did you?

Well, we are!

We are so happy for our niece, Megan! Last week she was crowned Miss Rodeo Top O' Texas Queen!

We were so happy that we were able to be there and celebrate this awesome moment with her!

We took a ton of pictures, and I don't have enough time to post them all yet, but I just had  to show off these few of how adorable she is!

A quick shot of her personal cheering section... don't they all look so proud?!

Congrats, Megan! We are so proud of you! More pictures to come later!

19 months...

I know I am a little late, but I didn't want to forget to post about Eli this month! Not to throw out excuses, but we have had a little bit going on...

I can't believe that it has been 19 months since he joined our family...

I can't believe this is his last month in the "teens". Next month it will be 20 months- holy cow, he might as well be two!

Two weekends ago we headed out to check out a potential new photography venue and decided to take along our favorite subject. Because of the nature of the venue I decided to go a little country...I don't know, the overalls with no shirt is a little too Huckleberry Finn for me, but it is classic. I had to post the pictures because I can't believe how old Eli looks.

You know, I think he takes after his daddy. He is a thinker. There were no smiles for the camera during this venture. There was just too much to take in at this place!

Eli's eyes still catch me off guard some days. If the light catches them just right, they take my breath away. You know, if he would have shown up at the hospital with those eyes we would have changed his name to Oliver in a heartbeat. They are such an amazing color...

I forgot to include it last month, but our little guy weighed in at 24lbs, 3oz at his 18 month check-up. He is in the 71st percentile in height and the 80th for his head size. The nurse looked at him and said he is going to be long and lean...I laughed out loud and told her that he did not get that from his momma! 

We are still doing the delayed vaccination schedule and we are totally planning the same for Baby PII. I will be doing a lot of research for the upcoming shot visit because I have heard a lot of negativity about the two-year shot round. I just want to be prepared and have my facts straight if I have to defend my stance. Lord knows the medical staff that we have encountered thus far always make me justify my opinion. Anyway, I digress...we love Eli and his health and saftey are totally worth all of it.

We are so proud of our little boy! He continues to amaze us everyday. It is so cool watching him learn. What a joy!

General Update and Wonderland...

First, the general update:

I am officially caught up on my blog postings for both our personal blog and our photography blog. Thank goodness! Honestly, I was feeling a little overwhelmed after Chris's work trip to Angel Fire and my venture to White Deer followed by an incrediably busy weekend with the family.

It is really awesome that our little side photography gig has us overbooked for the next three weeks. It is funny to look back on it all...we weren't even planning on starting the whole thing up until this fall, but decided to get the ball rolling late in the spring and we have been trying to catch up ever since. Our goal is to use all of the money that we generate to pay for Baby P II- wouldn't that be incredible? The thought makes me smile.

 We are doing really well with our savings and are on track to have this little bundle paid for well before her/his arrival date. One shout out to my in-laws: Thank you! When we don't take Eli with us to a shoot, they are the ones who have been stepping up to watch him while we are at a shoot. I know that they are trying to do everything they can to help us get ready for the new baby, and this is such a help. I think one week they saw him 5 out of the 7 days of the week. 

I am feeling a little better- still nauseous and very tired, but better. I can't decide if the tired is from all of the photo shoots/editing, the 18 month old I chase around all day or just the general pregnancy. Chris and I did head to the gym this week, so I am hoping that working out will increase my energy levels. I go back to the doctor in a little over a week....I can't believe that in 4 weeks we will know if we are having a boy or a girl.

To round out our weekend, we headed to Wonderland on Sunday night.

You know, honestly, I think Eli is still a little young for some of the kiddo rides. I really don't think he can understand to sit until the ride is over. I mean, what if he just stood up in the middle of the boat ride and decided that he wanted off? (Of course, my image of that scene includes him falling out of the fast-moving boat into the water and me panicking behind the gate...)

For some reason, the workers let Chris ride the rides with Eli while they turned other parents away. I don't care, I was just happy that he wouldn't be alone.

Here a just a few of the pics from our night....

Look at his little face! I love it when he puts his hands on his cheeks like that! He really, really loved the train...

Here are the older kiddos on the Frog Hopper!

This is the ride where they were turning away other parents...Chris and Eli were the first ones on, so maybe they only allow one parent to ride...

:) So cute...Eli loved to watch the rollercoaster.

Of course, Memamaw wanted to ride too...

We had a good time, but between all of the weekend activities we had one very tired little boy! I think we will be good until next year! All week long he has been taking two, two hours naps.

In John Deere Green...

Oh, I knew that my crazy country music phase would come in handy someday. Does anyone else remember that song?!?

Anyway, Eli's new favorite color is John Deere Green. We took him out to see grandpaw at work and grandpaw decided it was time to take Eli on a tractor ride. He had so much fun on that stinkn' thing that we had to go back the next day...

Bye-bye mommy...

He can always find something fun to play with at the store.

I know these pictures are blurry, but I was so caught off guard by how grown up Eli looks I had to include them...

Seriously, he looks so big! Don't you love his shirt?!? His personal shoppers, Aunt Stef and Aunt Kaci got that for him for his birthday...

Well, I forsee many more tractor rides in our future. All week long he has been repeating: "Papaw, tractor, work, Papaw, tractor, work" staring and smiling at the picture on my phone of him in the tractor with Grandpaw...

White Deer Rodeo & Kickback Day!

July in White Deer is simply the best month ever...first the 4th of July and then the Rodeo/Kickback Day.

It is almost too much for one month to handle. :)

We love Rodeo time because it is like a mini family reunion! We love to see our OK and Kansas City family! We had a blast...and there are a ton of pictures to prove it!

Here are a few shots from the rodeo. Eli loved seeing all of the horses and cows...

Isn't he getting so big? What is happening to my baby boy?

Short story on this bull. They couldn't get him out of the arena. I thought it was hilarious to watch everyone trying to get him to leave. He was really stubborn and we thought he was going to try to jump the gate a few times. Of course, our crew had some sort of light sabers and caught the bull's attention and he charged right at us!

Anyway, they finally got him out and the next bull did the same thing. My nanny looked over at me and said:

"That other bull and this one must be SISTERS." Oh, I about died. She quickly recovered from her mistake, but we will be remembering that for a long time!

I just thought this was a cute picture...

After the show was over I took Eli over to see the bulls. He had a great time yelling "moo" and they would moo back at him. Precious!

Grandpaw and Eli...

The next morning we headed to Kickback Day and the parade...

Little miss...

My mom was super excited about the beef jerky she pushed little kids out of the way for!

Grandpaw might have a favorite, but we all know who Memamaw favors!

I know, I know. I am a total dork with my kid.

Uncle Baff, Eli and Papaw...

Halle, Lanie and Andy...

The Oklahoma crew!

Little miss Emma again...

Eli really loves his Nanny...

Cindy and Morg with Papaw...

I hate my huge smile and disappearing eyes in this picture, but I still had to post it!

Morg and Halle...

Cindy was a trooper...she took Emma and Max in the train for a ride!

Matt volunteered to ride with Eli! So cute!

Boy, was it hot! But we all still had a great time!