15 Month Check Up

This morning we had Ryan's 15 month check up! He did great and he is right on track for all his milestones. He weighs almost 25 pounds (50%), is 32 1/2 inches tall (75%) and his head is in the 60%. We have one tall lean little boy.

He is still not saying many words but he is showing improvements. We are working with flashcards and puzzles every day. He says mommy, daddy, sometimes baby. Today he almost said Bible. He loves his Bible and when I asked him about Jesus after church the other day he clapped his hands. He knows where his ear, mouth and teeth are. We are working on nose and eyes.

He is so funny! When we are out and he sees someone he will smile at them and wave. If they smile back he will get this really big cheesy grin. It's so adorable. I could just eat him up.

The doctor also said Ryan's ears looked perfect, no fluid at all! Woohoo!

We are so blessed to have such a healthy and adorable little boy. I think back to this time last year and how he was just a almost 4 month old. Seems like so long ago. They grow up so fast. I cherish every day at the stage we are at because it definitely won't last long!

Pumpkins and a New Project

I love to decorate and make cakes. I've taken cake decorating classes and I love it. I love to do cakes for birthdays, showers and any kind of party (just not weddings). I'm actually making a birthday cake for my neighbor's little girl at the end of this week. It's a Little Mermaid cake. My head has been swirling with ideas for days! I will definitely post pics once it's done!

But recently I've seen so many adorable decorated cookies. I absolutely love decorated cookies and I want to try my hand at them and make them for birthday's, showers and other occasions.

I bought a pumpkin cookie cutter and tried my first batch. I found my cookie recipe from Robin's blog All About the Cookies. She has the most adorable cookies! The cookie recipe was a huge success! Making the royal icing was a little tricky. I've made the icing before but had a little trouble getting the right consistency. Hoping that gets easier over time.

I'm still a beginner but I was pretty happy with the way the pumpkins turned out. Of course I made mistakes but I know I need lots of practice and I will get better in time.

Just sittin around

Today was a cool rainy day. I was so excited to pull out Ryan's new fall clothes!

It was a perfect day to sit around and watch cartoons! I pulled out Ryan's big boy chair from the corner and he climbed right in to watch his cartoons. It was sooo cute!!! He isn't very interested in tv but he liked sitting in his chair watching.

His favorite toy...the remote control. Too bad he doesn't know this remote doesn't have batteries, ha!

Our Weekend

We had a great weekend!

Saturday we decided to go to Applefest in nearby Lebanon. We had never been so I thought it would be something fun to do. Our friends Tiffany and Presley met us there. We also met up with Ashley, Daniel and their kiddos Caedman and Chloe. It was really fun but super crowded. The pic below is the only pic I took the entire day.

They had all kinds of apple goodies. Apple fritters, caramel apples, apple pie, apple doughnuts and any other kind of fair food you can think of. Matt had a buffalo burger and I enjoyed a caramel apple, my favorite.

One of my favorite things about fall is visiting apple orchards and pumpkin farms. I can't wait to go to some in the next few weeks.

This morning it was finally cooler outside and actually felt like fall. Yay! Ryan can now wear his fall 18 month size clothes.

He looked too adorable this morning I had to get some cute photos after church. This is his orange Tennessee Vols shirt! ;)

Tonight we had a great dinner at Grandpa and Grandma's house (my in-laws) for Aunt Erin's birthday. It was a yummy dinner and Ryan enjoyed spending time with his grandparents! Happy Birthday Aunt Erin!

Show Us Your Life - Master Bedroom

Today on Kelly's Show Us Your Life Friday we are showcasing Master Bedrooms! I absolutely love seeing everyone's homes and getting all kinds of ideas on how I can decorate our house.

I like our master bedroom but I would love to upgrade our queen bed to a king size. I like to spread out when I sleep and Matt can't stand to be hot or touched in his sleep, ha!

View leading into our bedroom.

We got our furniture shortly before we got married. I like our furniture and like the dark cherry. I'm so glad we wall mounted our tv in the corner. It works so well there. And the bay window is a perfect space for Ryan's pack n play.

View from the master bath.

I picked out our comforter set before we got married and I love it. The comforter is super thick and heavy. It's so warm on cold winter mornings.

Annabelle and Gracie's beds are to the right of the dresser. Annabelle usually sleeps in our bed but Gracie gets so hot when she sleeps we have to put her in her own bed.

I've thought many times about changing our bedding but I always want to redo other rooms in the house first. I just need to save up some money and update our bedroom. Here are just some of the bedding sets I LOVE!

I love blue and brown together! Thinking about getting blue and brown pillows for our sofa and loveseat.

This one is so cute! Yes, I realize it's similar to what we currently have but I really like it!

So what do you think? Which is your favorite?

Thursday

Today was our first official day back at MOPS after our summer break. It was so fun to see everyone and catch up on what happened over the summer. I am so blessed to have found some sweet girlfriends through MOPS. And the nursery workers absolutely love Ryan. They always tell me how good he is and just delightful. That makes this momma happy and proud!

After MOPS Ryan and I had lunch with Tiffany and Presley at Chick-fil-A. Our favorite place of course, ha! Presley is so cute and loves to say "cheese" for the camera! She is too cute. I'm going to have to teach Ryan to say cheese since I take so many pictures of him!

While I was getting our food Ryan was sitting at the table with Tiffany and Presley. He took his snack trap full of cheerios, over his head, and started shaking them out. Tiffany said it was like raining cheerios. When I walked to the table I saw a slew of cheerios on the floor and was so embarrassed my child had done that. Oh my, being a mom can be very humbling!

Bible Study and Chicken Nuggets

This morning we started a new bible study at church. I'm so excited about this study, I know it's going to be amazing. We are doing Covenant by Kay Aruthur. It's my first time to do a KA study so I'm pumped at what the Lord is going to teach me over the next 8 weeks.

I've said it so many times but I really want Ryan to eat more foods. My neighbor recently let me borrow the cookbook "Deceptively Delicious - Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food" by Jessica Seinfield (Jerry Seinfeld's wife).

I knew the first recipe I had to try was chicken nuggets made with broccoli puree. Ryan loves his chicken! I made them for lunch this afternoon and surprisingly Ryan ate them up!!! I was so happy and excited he ate some veggies. He really enjoyed them so I will definitely be making more. I can't wait to try another recipe in the book!

The recipe is at the bottom of the post.

We've had a nice afternoon. I'm really excited about the season premiere of The Biggest Loser tonight! Will you be watching? I love this show and it always motivates me to workout harder and eat better.

Chicken Nuggets (with broccoli or spinach or sweet potato or beet)

Ingredients:

1 cup whole-wheat, white or panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup flaxseed meal

1 Tablespoon grated parmesan

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 cup broccoli or spinach or sweet potato or beet puree

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or chicken tenders cut into small chunks

1/2 tsp salt

Nonstick cooking spray

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, flaxseed meal, parmesan, paprika, garlic, onion powder on the paper or foil, and mix well with your fingers.

2. In a shallow bowl, mix the vegetable puree and egg with a fork and set the bowl next to the breadcrumbs mixture.

3. Sprinkle the chicken chunks with the salt. Dip the chunks into the egg mixture and then toss them in the breadcrumbs until completely coated.

4. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil. Place the chicken nugget in the skillet in a single layer, being careful not to crowd the pan, and cook until crisp and golden on one side, 3 to 4 minutes. Then turn and cook until the chicken is cooked through, golden brown and crisp all over, 4 to 5 minutes longer.

Serve and enjoy!

Ready for Fall

I think I speak for most people when I say I am SO ready for Fall!!!

It's been a long hot summer and we need some relief. Of course across the nation most places are still experiencing summer like temps in the 90's. What is up with that?

I love this fall wreath I got for the front door. I've got all my pumpkins and fall decor set out to enjoy. Today I got some mums for our front porch and I'm planning to purchase some real pumpkins later this week!

I I even found an orange tank and brown cardigan to wear to Bible study tomorrow. I'm ready for fall now it just needs to feel like fall outside!

Birthday Party, Petting Zoo and Pony Rides

This weekend Ryan's 3rd cousin Evie turned TWO! We went to her birthday party on Saturday and it was so much fun. It was a cowgirl theme complete with a petting zoo and pony rides. Ryan really enjoyed seeing all the animals. He wanted to pet the ducks and chickens.

Ryan's very first pony ride. He wasn't too thrilled at first but got more comfortable knowing Dad wasn't going anywhere.

Look at me, I'm riding a pony!

Some of the other animals they had were goats, a sheep and a llama.

Ryan especially liked watching the goats eat the grass!

And he just had to pet the sheep! So sweet!

"Hey little ducks and chickens, what are you doing in there?"

The birthday girl Evie! How adorable is she? She had the cutest dress on with the most adorable cowboy boots. Oh I could have died she was so cute! And she is seriously the smartest two year old I know. She talks so well and can say just about anything.

Ryan wanted to pet Lola the miniature pony. She was just his size!

The ball pit was a huge success as well. Ryan had a ball playing with Jack in the ball pit. He is 20 months old.

My cute little cowboy!

I loved the cookies Ellie had made for the party. I wanted to make cookies like these for Ryan's birthday party but knew I couldn't do both a cake and cookies. Matt totally thinks I should start making them and selling them.

The cookie and cupcake Ryan and I shared. How cute are they?

Happy Birthday Evie!

Thanks for letting us celebrate with you! We had so much fun!

Ryan had a blast at the party. It was a good thing bath night was last night because he was a mess when we got home. He was wore out and went right to sleep.

The party was really all so cute. Ellie did a fantastic job. I'm already thinking about what to do for Ryan's 2nd birthday party.

Show Us Your Life - Living Rooms

Today on Show Us Your Life on Kelly's blog we are showcasing Living Rooms. Since I didn't participate with the "show us where you live" last year I am super excited about showing you this time around.

Here is our living/family room with our NEW sofa and loveseat! Have I mentioned how much I love them? They are so pretty and so comfy! Now we each have a spot to stretch out and relax. No more fighting over the sofa, ha!

Looking in from the kitchen. I love our open floorplan. I like being able to be in the kitchen and see what is going on in the family room.

I'm thinking about moving the sofa table (on the left under the 4 pictures) that is next to the recliner. I want to get two somewhat small chairs and a small table to go in that spot. What do you think?

View from the corner near the sofa table looking towards the kitchen. I would love to get some window treatments for the three windows in the family room but just not sure what I want to put there. Any ideas?

I'm planning to put a collage of pictures on the blank wall behind the loveseat. Once I decide on some chairs I will move the sofa table under the picture on the right.

I really like our family room and love that it gets so much light during the day. I feel like it's warm and cozy and that's just the way I want people to feel when they step into our home.