Back to School

For all of us! Sorry it has been so long, things have been extremely busy here in the heartland.
Adam's Memphis business trip was great. He says he felt confident in all his tests and he really seemed to enjoy the class time, which is good because he had to hit the ground running as soon as he got back to work.
I slept until the glorious hour of noon every day we we're in Memphis an we explored a good part of downtown while we we're there. We ate at the Kooky Kanuck, I didn't have the best experience with the food there but it was still a fun night. We we're going to go eat on Beale St. but we just happened to be there on the anniversary of Elvis' death and things we're pretty crazy down Beal so we opted out. We did check out the Peabody Hotel. The rooftop view is gorgeous and the Duck Palace was pretty cute. All-in-all it was a great little mini vacay.

Just woke up in our delightfully cold hotel room.

Riding the trolly in M-Town

Crazy lights Beale Street

Some really handsome guy I saw on top of The Peabody

Sun Studios

The handsome man spotted again inside Sun Studios

The amazingly talented tour guide, you could just tell that this was her passion. Oh and some microphone that the King of Rock sang into. No big Deal

My favorite picture from the trip. The giant Gibson outside Sun Studios.

2nd day of school for me (I forgot to take a picture of the first)

The kiddos have started back to school and everything seems to be going really well for them. They like all of their teachers so far. The girls should be starting Girl Scouts soon and Chris has already had several football practices. I am so excited for fall and all of the fun festivities it brings.
I went back to school too, of course. I am working a different position than last year and I moved up some grades. I am at one of the new Intermediate Schools in Mustang (5th & 6th Grade) working in Special Education. I am on my feet almost literally all day and it is exhausting but so rewarding. This is a big couple of growing years for this age and it's really fun to watch them all discover new things.
It's sad to say, but things are getting kind of boring around here, just our usual day-to-day stuff that makes me sleepy just typing. I'll keep everyone updated on all of the important things though.

Really Depressed About The End Of Summer

I'm not happy about this Summer coming to an end. I've been all weepy and reminiscent about our time together so here is the resulting photo dump, enjoy!

Our Last Week Together

I'm a day late so, sorry for that. This is my last full week with  the girls and I'm trying to soak up every minute of it.
 Last week we got to attend an evening pool party because the girls read over 50 books this summer. The best part about the party was that Adam got to come with us. The Library provided free hot dogs, drinks and cookies. Reagan and Adam had a little impromptu eating contest with Reagan eating  3 whole hotdogs plus chips and cookies. Adam and I got to spend a little time relaxing by the pool in the evening light which was divine.

hotdog lul

This week is pretty sad for me, if I had it my way I would get to keep the girls forever and always, I had such a good time with them this summer and my experience only solidified my desire to be a stay-at-home mommy someday. We are spending this week just having fun, although this is one of the hottest weeks we've had this summer. It's supposed to cool off by Thursday and we have something extra special planned. For now though we are just splashing in the pool and enjoying some movie days inside curled up with the air conditioning.
In other news, Adam and I will be leaving for a business trip to Memphis next Wednesday which we are pretty excited about. I've been there before with dad and we had a blast, it will be fun to revisit some of the historical (musical) sites. I am also pretty excited because after a long, stressful Summer, I have finally landed a job for the upcoming school year. I will be working with some 5th and 6th grade special education children at a new school in our district. This is such an awesome opportunity for me, not to mention I can finally breathe easy about the whole job situation.
I hope you all enjoy your last weeks of Summer!

Also, this happened.

Just hanging out in our front yard yesterday. I'm fairly confidant that this guy is someone's escaped pet.

Breaking News

Normally I try to do a general post every Monday and leave it at that, but this is super important breaking news! Adam's little sister found out that she is prego about 20 weeks ago. This is super exciting for our family and yesterday she and her husband found out that they are having a precious baby girl! This news was too good not to share!
Mom's best friend will be having a little boy about 10 weeks before her. Everyone is pretty sure they will grow up and get married. Our other sister is very excited because she will have a perfect little ring bearer and flower girl at her wedding. Everyone is just ecstatic about this wonderful news.
Mom is totally one of those glowing pregnant women and she is developing quite the little baby bump, here are a couple of pictures for your enjoyment!

Early on Baby

Ridiculously cute glowing pregnant lady

This is her, "It's A Girl!" shirt that she wore today

Sweet baby GIRL sleeping with her hands on her head

Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops

Hello all, today I have a delicious recipe that I got from Living Laughing & Loving last week. Adam is a big fan of anything pork so he was very excited for this recipe, he even had some friends come over to share in the meal.

I know it may look a little sketchy here but I assure you this was very yummy.

Ingredient List:

Pork Chops
1 packet of dry ranch mix
1 can of cream of chicken

Instructions:
Ok, the original recipe is a bit different from how I ended up doing things. I used probably 10 pork chops and I just put them into a gallon sized bag along with the ranch packet and the cream of chicken. Then I sort of kneaded it all together, shaking the bag is a little scary because the mixture is really thick.
Then I put my mixture into the crock pot. The original recipe says to add either a can of water or another can of cream of chicken to help fill the pot. I used a can of water but I ended up mixing in some flour later because I wanted that gravy consistency so I would recommend using another can of cream of chicken.
I left this in the crock pot on low for 6 hours and these babies we're so tender, like cut them with a fork tender.
This recipe was a hit with everyone and I know I will make again, looking back I think I could add even another packet of the ranch for a bit more of that ranch flavor.

Recipe breakdown:
1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Cook on low for 6 hours.
3. Eat

So easy! Happy Eating!

Last Week

Hello again, just wanted to touch base for a minute. Things have been busy here lately and my phone is on the fritz right now so it's been hard to be technologically present.
The girls and I have been trying to get back into the swing of things since school will be starting soon. They have these little workbooks, Summer Bridge Activities, that are grade specific and really help them get prepared for the upcoming year. They started out asking me for help on every single problem but now they are figuring things out on their own, which is pretty cool to watch. They have been doing the "Dig Into Reading" Summer program at the local Library. The girls had to read 50 books in order to go to the Pool Party and they accomplished that little goal last week. We have really been enjoying all of the programs the Library has been hosting, last week we got to learn from an upside down artist and interact with the OKC Improv. The girls really seemed to enjoy all of the fun programs that the Library hosted.
Today we got up early and started cleaning out the girls rooms. There we're toys in there from 4 years ago! It took about 4 hours but we loaded up 3 contractor sized bags of just trash, 3 bags of donation items, and 2 bags for some friends. They are getting some new furniture soon so now their rooms are nice and cleared out.
Adam and I had a great weekend, we had friends over for dinner on Friday (recipe post coming soon) and we spent Saturday and Sunday building a palette coffe table (DIY post coming soon)!

Recipe: Cottage Cheese and Egg Scramble

Hello again! This is my second recipe post today and I will have another one for you tomorrow, I'm on a roll!
I got this recipe from All Recipes Tried. I love scrambled eggs and I love cottage cheese so I figured this would be a really good breakfast for me that would keep me going until lunch!
The recipe calls for two egg whites, one whole egg and 2 tbs of cottage cheese. I deviated from this just a bit because I don't really want to waste two perfectly good egg yolks every morning.

Please excuse my ketchup Southerners, I was raised by a Yankee.

Here is my recipe breakdown:

1. Mix 2 eggs and 2 tbs of cottage cheese together in a bowl.
2. Scramble in a small pan on low-medium heat until cooked to your liking.

That's it, just 2 whole steps!

Now, if you want to go really lean and healthy on your breakfast just follow the same instructions but instead of 2 whole eggs substitute 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg. The cottage cheese stays the same.

Happy Eating!