Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Gregory's half year birthday

Monday, was another milestone for Gregory. He's now 18 months old. He's learning more and more and growing bigger and bigger. In fact, he thinks he's so big that he thinks he should be able to type this up, so he's climbed up on my lap to help me. Crazy kid.

His favorite thing to do lately is watch movies. He loves Veggietales! He still likes Mickey Mouse and is adding to his favorites a few more...Dora, Diego, Wonderpets and Little Einsteins. And of course every sales add has at least one of these in it, so he loves to window shop :-)

On Nov 7th, Gregory has his 18 month check up, so we'll update you after that appt too. He is getting a couple of more teeth right now too - we still need to get him to a dentist for his first check-up. See the two open places in his mouth, that's where the two new teeth are coming in. So then all he will be missing on top are his molars. I'm sure the bottom teeth (in the same area as on top) are not too far behind in coming in either.



I haven't been doing monthly pictures of Gregory, so here's his 18 month photos. Very cute boy, don't you think? These pictures were taken in our backyard.

Acts of Kindness

When was the last time somebody did something nice for you, just because? Last week I had one of those experiences. It really felt like there was an angel right there in Wal-mart. When Gregory and I were in line to pay for our groceries a couple of ladies walked up to Gregory and asked if he could have a sucker. I said sure and took it for later (maybe). Then the lady went on to say that she had something for me too. The two ladies were from a local church and they were just out looking for people to bless. Amazing. She handed me a gift card for Wal-mart and said it was to help pay for the groceries we were buying. Wow! I thought how neat, it's probably like $5 which is nice, but I was surprised when it came up to $10 off my total. What a blessing from God. I had purposed when I went to the store that I was going to keep my total below a certain amount and this gift card helped do this.

So this reminded me to do something for someone I appreciate...so I picked the pastors of our church. I made blessing baskets for each of them. All eight of them! In the baskets I put four different kinds of breads (zucchini, banana, applesauce and pumpkin). They turned out really cute.

This was also an opportunity for Gregory to help me for the first time in the kitchen. He loves to stir, stir, stir :-)

Random Thoughts

I really don't know what to blog about today, but I do have some pretty awesome photos I want to share, so maybe I can come up with words to go along with the pictures...


Here is a photo from when Tom opened his birthday presents on his birthday...he's reading the card from Gregory. Gregory loved helping Tom open the presents. Christmas here I come - that was great practice!



While I was busy baking, Tom and Gregory were goofing off with the camera. I LOVE THIS PHOTO! Don't think it needs any explanation. :-)

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, so we played outside--there was swinging, playing in leaves and Gregory even tried to help rake a few too.

Monday, October 20, 2008

A busy weekend is past

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted...sorry. This past weekend was a busy one. It started with Friday morning we had MOPS. Our speaker spoke about "Joy". I know I sure could use some more in my life - but I also know that it's my choice to have more joy in my life, so I'm seeking God about this. Our craft was YUMMY caramel apples.



Then Friday night we celebrated Tom's birthday (a few days early). We had some friends of ours over along with their kiddos. It was a great time of visiting and just hanging out. On Tom's actual birthday (Wednesday) he'll get to open his cards and gifts from Gregory and I. So more to come about this event.



On Saturday we went to what was called a "Pumpkin Patch"...actually the pumpkins were in a bunch of big boxes. Crazy. There were other things to do there too. There were goats to pet, a hay bale maze to go through, slides to go down, tractors to sit on and a corn box to play in (like a sandbox) and of course we got a pumpkin to bring home.







As always there are more pictures on our shutterfly site... http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/

Monday, October 6, 2008

Today I tried another new recipe. It was soooo delicious! Gregory even ate quite a bit of it. I hope Tom enjoys it tomorrow when he gets to eat the leftovers.

Here's a picture of my yummy supper.


And here's the recipe....this makes a ton of food...I will probably cut it in half next time. Says it makes 6 servings (at least).

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into 1" pieces ( I used one medium breast and one small one)
Salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons margarine
1 onion, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces ziti (2 1/2 cups) or elbow macaroni
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream (I substituted this with half & half)
1 bunch broccoli (1 1/2 pounds) (I used a 16 oz. bag of frozen broccoli rinsed in water to unthaw it).
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup) ( I just used a half cup of the stuff in the parmesan cheese shaker)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Pat the chicken dry, then season with salt and pepper. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until it is lightly browned, but not fully cooked, about four minutes. Transfer chicken to a bowl. Add 1 more tablespoon of the butter, onion, red pepper flakes, oregano, & 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet. Cook until the onion is softened, about five minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Sprinkle the ziti evenly into the skillet. Pour the broth and cream over the ziti. Cover and bring to a boil, about five minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the broccoli and roasted red peppers. Cover and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta begins to soften and the broccoli turns bright green (approximately eight minutes). Stir in the chicken and any accumulated juice. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about three minutes longer. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, the Parmesan, and lemon juice (if using). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Rock Ledge Ranch

Today Tom and Pastor Scott (our youth pastor) went to go check out a possible winter retreat location--it was about two hours away. So Gregory and I went to a Harvest Festival at Rock Ledge Ranch. Gregory got to ride a pony for the first time, we watched a blacksmith make a nail and we watched some other people make apple cider. I got some great pictures too, so check them out...http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/

Here are a couple of my favorites...

Gregory looking at the pony that he would eventually ride.

Gregory wandered around the "fake" pumpkin patch trying to roll all the pumpkins around.


Here's Gregory and I after his first pony ride


This is how picturesque the location of the ranch is.


We'll go get a pumpkin next weekend hopefully with Tom.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

MOPS Blog

Here's what I have been up to. Check out my "other" blog. I've been busy getting this blog going and keeping it up. I create the powerpoint slides for each meeting and during the meetings me and Amber take all of the pictures along with trying to enjoy MOPS at the same time.

Here's the website for our church's MOPS blog.

http://radiantchurchmops.blogspot.com