4 Months and Pumpkin Patch

Check out our little 4 Month Old:



She is WAY more vocal now -- lots of squealing, screeching, giggles, and smiles. She seemed to be getting a little bored with our routine and seems happiest when she has a toy in her hand. She is desperately trying to crawl, but her arms just won't move. This results in her going in circles on her playmat. No rolling over yet, but we are doing "assisted rolling over" with Mom and Dad's help.

Stats:

Head: 60%
Height: 24.75 in. - 70%
Weight: 14lb 8oz - 71%

Pumpkin Patch

Derek and I took Eleanor to a little farm about 35 miles east of here to pick pumpkins. This place will be awesome when E can walk around, but for now, we just carried her in the Bjorn and showed her some farm animals, pumpkins, etc. Even though she probably had no clue what she was looking at, she seemed to have a good time.




(if only I knew how to photo-shop the spit up out of this photo)








Sporting her John Lennon shades

The Lone Star State

Eleanor made her first trip to Dallas two weeks ago, which also involved her first plane ride (and my first trip solo with an infant). Overall, the flights went well. The plane gods must have been in a good mood because we had two empty seats next to us on the way down to Dallas and one empty seat on the flight home. Who knows what it would have been like if we didn't have that luxury. The toughest part was going through security at National...the TSA agents pretty much just watched and laughed at me as I tried to put all of my crap through the X-ray machine and fold up a stroller while carrying an infant (who also happened to be spitting up at the same time). The TSA agents at DFW, however, helped me do everything and were really nice (imagine that...East Coast people = generally rude and Southern people = generally nice).

E had a great time in Dallas. She hung out with Grams and Grandpa and Hobby and Kora and went to church to see the blessing of the animals. She also met my best friends, went to her cousin's birthday party, and was introduced to the best burrito restaurant in the world (Freebirds...seriously, one trip there confirmed my hatred for Chipotle).



Hanging out with Grandpa


Chillin with Grams


Lounging in Grandpa's seat


Eying my Freebirds Hybird

Recipes

Dinner

Derek and I were getting a little bored with our dinner routine, so we started a search for some new recipes. Around the same time, the new issue of Real Simple came, and it had an entire section devoted to four weeks of meal planning, complete with shopping lists. We started with Week 2 and made four different meals: Chicken with Wild Rice and Grapes; Shrimp Tacos with Black Beans; Steak with Cognac Sauce and Salad (we substituted Bourbon because we didn't have any cognac); and Pasta with Sausage and Tomatoes. (I completely forgot to take pictures, but the recipes at Real Simple have photos). Overall, we really liked the recipes -- our favorite was probably the Steak, followed closely by the Chicken and Shrimp for me. All of the recipes were really quick and relatively cheap.

After a week off, we tried four of the Week 1 recipes: Tomato Soup with Roast Beef Panini; Pork Chops with Roasted Beets and Oranges (we left off the beets...gross); Chicken with Potatoes, Bacon, and Cabbage; Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Fontina. These were also a hit, minus this: I still hate cabbage...even when there is bacon on it (and that is saying a lot), so I think we will do spinach next time. My favorite was the Tomato Soup and Panini, followed by the Tortellini, and the Pork Chops.

I even remembered to take a picture of one of the meals -- Pork Chops (with couscous).



One other recipe we discovered (from Rachel Ray) that I am in love with is Lemon Spaghetti (I could seriously eat this everyday and not get sick of it). You can find the recipe here.

Pumpkin!!

Now that Fall has officially arrived, I started my annual pumpkin obsession. I was in search of some new recipes and found a few on Pinterest. I followed this recipe to make pumpkin bread, and it was awesome.



My second pumpkin attempt, however, was not as successful. I tried this recipe for pumpkin/chocolate chip brownies, and they were just ok. The consistency was off or something...they just sort of tasted like pumpkin bread with chocolate chips rather than brownies.

Derek and I took Eleanor to the pumpkin patch (post on that to come later), but we picked up some little gourds and stuff for decorating, so now our house looks a little more ready for the Fall.

5 Years Old

Reggie turned 5 a few weeks ago, so for our typical dog birthday tradition, I made him a pupcake to enjoy.

It's really weird because although the pupcake has some pretty DIS-gusting ingredients (beef jerky and beef flavored baby food, topped with cottage cheese), it actually smells quite delicious when it is cooking.



Happy Birthday to the best dog in the world!


(Don't let this picture fool you. He only looks scared because I kept telling him to stay so I could take the picture...he was actually very excited about his cake).