Busy & a New Recipe

You are probably wondering if I am ever going to upload a new menu for "This Week's Recipes." I feel really bad for not keeping up with it, but it also takes time to do, and time is not something I have a lot of right now. I feel like I've been running in a million different directions. As soon as I got home from Jamaica I had to read a thick ol' book and prepare for a neonatal resuscitation re-certification class. It definitely was not what I wanted to spend my whole week doing. I was so relieved when it was over because I could finally relax a bit and get back into the routine of everything.

Well, kind of.

I took everything out of my suitcase just to wash it so I could pack again. I'm headed out of town tomorrow for LIFE Deaf Youth Camp. I am the camp nurse every year, so it was kind of something I couldn't get out of. I know it will be a great week, but I just hate having to leave my little guy again. But on a positive note, at least Noah is getting to spend some good quality time with his grandparents. So if you have been wondering why the heck I haven't posted a single thing about Jamaica or uploaded any new recipes, now you know.

I do have a little something-something I wanted to share with you tonight. Tonight I cooked a deeeelicious new recipe. And as always, the best part is that it is very easy to make

Chipotle Bean Nachos

What you Need:

1 spray(s) cooking spray
1 tsp canola oil {I just used olive oil because I had it already}
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
15 oz canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/8 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp chili powder, chipotle variety, or more to taste
20 item(s) baked low-fat tortilla chips
7 Tbsp low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, sharp variety
1/3 cup salsa
3 tbsp cilantro, fresh, minced {I bought, but ended up not using}

How to Cook:

-Preheat oven to 400ºF.

-Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Heat oil over medium heat; then add onions and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add beans, salt and chile powder; mash with back of spoon or potato masher to make a pulpy mixture. Remove from heat; set aside.

-Place tortilla chips on a rimmed baking sheet. Spoon bean mixture over top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until cheese melts, about 3 minutes. Remove from oven and spoon salsa over top; immediately sprinkle with cilantro. Yields five topped chips per serving.

Weight Watchers Points: 3 points per serving
Servings: 4



Apparently someone couldn't keep his little fingers off of them. Funny guy. Hope you enjoy the new recipe!

Have a wonderful evening!

p.s. I will be out of town this week, but please come back and visit because I have written several posts that will automatically upload for you to read.

22 months

Today Noah you are 22 months old! Which means you will be the big two in two short months. Oh my. I'm getting a little teary eyed. How can that be?

-You are one busy, busy boy! You are always on the go.

-You are still in size 5 diapers.

-When you don't get your way or if you are mad about something, you let out some kind of an animal sounding scream/growl, and your face turns really red. It makes Mommy laugh every time.

-You are a good little napper. Every morning around 10 am you happily lay down for your morning nap. And lately you've been sleeping 2-3 hours! How did Mommy get so lucky?

-Mr. Noah you love to loudly stomp throughout the apartment. And you think it is so funny. I'm pretty sure our neighbors below aren't very happy with us right now.

-You hate brushing your teeth ... again. I blame it on the Veggie Tales toothbrush that no longer plays your favorite tunes.

-Your feet are getting so big. I can't believe you are in a size 5 shoe!

-I love how you sign "bath" every night by hitting your chest like a gorilla. It is so cute!

-You are a pro with your fork and spoon. You have been for several months now. I am so amazed at how well you feed yourself.

-You continue to sign to us when you want something. We are so proud of you! Here's what you've been signing lately:

• You sign "down" when you want off the bed.
• When you are finished with a meal you sign, "finish."
• When you are hungry you tell us by signing, "eat."
• The other evening you were eating ice cream in your highchair and decided that you didn't want to sit and eat it; instead you wanted to walk around the house and eat it. Of course, Mommy couldn't let you do that, so when you got out of your highchair, I had to take the ice cream away. As soon as you were out of your highchair, you came up to me and signed, "ice cream, please." It was so hard not to give it to you right then and there. It was so sweet!
  

-You are a little fishy in the water. We have taken you down to the pool a couple times this summer, and you just love it. It's so much fun watching you splash and play.

-You go to bed between 7 pm-8pm every evening. You are such a sweet little guy and never fuss or cry when Mommy or Daddy puts you to bed. You always go straight to sleep.

-You are wearing 18-24 month size clothes right now. You do wear a few 2T things, but it really depends on the clothing and where it is from.

-Foods you love right now are:

• M&M's {thanks to Papa}
• Pumpkin Waffles
• Hot dogs
• Apple Sauce
• Bananas
  
• Spaghetti {especially with meatballs}
• Mommy's Weight Watcher Chocolate Muffins
• Graham Crackers
• Mac & Cheese {one of your absolute favorites!}
• Yogurt

- You still love to play with balls! We have so many balls around the apartment. I lost count a long time ago.

-You love to play on Mommy & Daddy's bed. And you love to be "body slammed" on our bed as Daddy puts it. I am always telling your Daddy to be careful! Guess I better get used to the rough housing, huh?

-You have been doing this thing lately where you take a drink of water from your sippy cup, and then you transfer the water in your mouth to another cup. You're such a silly boy.

-You are very vocal with Einstein about not coming near you when you have food in your hand. It doesn't matter where I am in the apartment, I can always hear you loud and clear as you yell, "Nooooo!" Funny guy.

-Your new favorite Veggie Tales is "Moe & the Big Exit." You love it!

You are growing up so fast. I am so proud of you and all you have accomplished. I love you so much sweet guy!

Love

this

sweet

little face.

Sneaky Peaky

I think I may have gone a little picture

crazy while I was in Jamaica last week.

1,307 pictures

were uploaded to my computer a couple days ago.

Ya Mon, I'm serious.

Here's a sneaky peaky of some of my
favorites I edited tonight.







I have so many more I can't wait to share with you!

Crossing My Fingers

Guess what?!

One of my favorite daily reads, fabulous k, is hosting a giveaway to The Vintage Pearl!! Name sounds familiar, huh? I have had my eye on these three beauties lately, so a $75 shop credit sure would be nice.



I normally don't post about giveaways from other blogs, but I just had to this time so I could get a few extra entries into the giveaway!

Wish me luck.

Hope you're having a nice day!

Before & After

I've had several requests for an updated picture of myself,
so I decided to be nice and snap one of myself tonight.

But before I show you my updated picture,
I guess I must show you where I was six weeks ago.

So, as much as I hate to do this, here is my "before" picture:



Ugh. I hate that picture of myself.
Really hate it.

Why don't we just erase that image
from our brains and move on.

Erased? Good. Now that that's behind
us, I have some exciting news to share!

Guess what?

This past Monday I was able to celebrate a huge step
in my weight loss journey: losing my first 20 lbs!
I can't even begin to tell you how good it feels.

Here is my "20 lbs lighter" picture I took of myself tonight:

As always, I'll keep you updated on my progress.
Thanks for all of your support and kind, encouraging comments.
What a wonderful journey it's been so far!

p.s. I can't wait to share my trip with you!

The Vintage Pearl Winner

Didn't you all just love this giveaway?



I sure did! I'm definitely doing a little birthday shopping on The Vintage Pearl this week.

So, I'm sure you all are anxious to hear who won the $25 store credit, right?

The very lucky winner is ... JJ Blandford! Congratulations!! Send me an email and I will get Erin in contact with you.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

The Vintage Pearl {Giveaway!}

Giveaway Closed! Thanks for Entering.

I am so excited to introduce you to:


From the day I first laid eyes on the jewelry
from The Vintage Pearl, I was in love.

Erin started The Vintage Pearl in 2007 as a creative outlet
while she stayed at home to raise her children.
Her business has just taken off, and now she's all over the blog world.

I love how no two pieces come out the same--
each piece is it's own unique creation.

"Each and every piece is entirely handcrafted-
charms are cut, filed, hammered, hand stamped,
antiqued, polished and brushed with care in our studio."

Take a look at some of the fabulous jewelry she has created:

I have been going back and forth probably for a week or two now
trying to decide which piece I love the most. I've decided I'm going
to get myself a necklace with some of my birthday money.

Some of my absolute favorites are:
The personalized hammered star necklace,
the Mama Bird necklace, and the dainty initial heart necklace.

Gosh, I don't know how I'll ever decide.
Maybe I'll just have to get all three.

Are you getting excited?
Well, you should be.

Fabulous Erin is giving one of you a
$25 store credit so you can do a little shopping yourself.

Wanna win?

Go visit Erin's shop by clicking here.
Come back and leave me a comment telling me which piece
you love the most {trust me-- this will be really difficult}.

If you want an extra entry into the giveaway, then head
on over to Erin's fabulous blog and leave some comment love.

So, you have two chances to win!
{For each entry leave a separate comment, please.}

You have a whole week to enter in.
Giveaway will close Friday June 18th at 8 p.m.

Have fun!

Weight Loss Update

This morning I went to my Weight Watchers meeting,
and guess how much I lost?!?

5.8 lbs!!!

I have now lost a total of 17.6 lbs in five weeks.
That pedicure I promised myself is getting closer by the day.

Yippy!

Ok, enough excitement for tonight.



That is what I need to be doing right now.
I think I'll join Einstein and get to bed.
Goodnight.

My Random Thoughts

Ready? Here goes:

I leave for Jamaica in 3 days! Is it just me or has this week flown by?!

I caught Noah trying to climb out of his crib this afternoon after his nap. Does that mean he's ready for his toddler bed? I'm not so sure I'm ready for that. Any advice on that is much appreciated!

I got in a car wreck this past Monday. Talk about perfect timing {insert sarcasm}. I am just thankful it was not my fault. But still, it was quite the pain having to deal with all of this the week before I leave for Jamaica. However, I am so very thankful that I was not hurt in the wreck. The Lord was watching over me for sure. And, thank you, thank you, thank you to my sweet friend, Laura, and her cutie patootie son, Ian, for rescuing me and taking me home since my car was not drivable. Yeah, Josh's car needs some shop love, so the Camry was our only car at the time. We have a rental car now, and hopefully our car gets fixed soon!

I have sooooooo much laundry to get done. Oh, and my bedroom is a total wreck. I have some major cleaning up to do around here before Grammy {and Papa, for a few days} comes to stay with Josh and Noah while I'm gone.

Guess what? A fabulous giveaway is coming up very, very soon. It is set up to automatically post on Monday {June 14th}, and it will last for the whole week while I'm away. I found out I will not have internet access in Jamaica, so no blogging for me. But don't worry. I'll share everything with you when I get home!

I am on week 5 of my running program C25K {Couch to 5K}, and it looks really hard. I have to run 5 minutes at a time {I know, I'm weak}, and it's pretty much going to kill me. I have to run tonight since I put it off the whole day.

One of my new favorite drinks lately is Chick-fil-A's diet lemonade. It is amazing, and it's zero points!

You may have been wondering where "This Week's Recipes" are for this week. Well, they aren't up because I did not do them. We have still been eating healthy this week, but between having to work a 12 hour shift Sunday night, getting in the wreck Monday, and getting ready for Jamaica, I just didn't have the time to put it together. Obviously I won't put one up for next week either since I'll be gone all week. But you can count on it the week after I get back from Jamaica.

My birthday is coming up! I'll actually turn the big 27 {wait.. hm.. I think 27??} while I'm in Jamaica on the 17th.

I have my Weight Watcher's meeting tomorrow, and I'm anxious to step on the scales and see how much I lost this past week. Crossing my fingers it's a good loss! I usually go every Monday, but I wasn't able to go this past Monday because I was stranded and car-less in a empty parking lot. It was not fun. In fact, one of the worst parts of the wreck was missing my meeting.

Josh and I are so addicted to LOST. Oh my, it's goooood. We are planning on watching at least 2 or 3 episodes tonight. Laundry, cleaning, packing... yeah those things can wait.

Ok, I think that is all. Oh, wait. One more thing:

I am hoping to give you all a blog tutorial before I leave {but I'm not making any promises}. Are you sick of using Blogger to upload your pictures? I hate the Blogger picture uploader; in the tutorial, I'll tell you why, and show you a way around it.
Ok. I really think that's it.

Have a wonderful evening.

Sweet Summertime

This past Saturday was hot. Too hot!
We were out and about and decided a snow cone was a must, so
Noah and his daddy split a sour apple snow cone covered in cream.
This was Noah's first snow cone, and it's safe to say he loved it:

What a cutie!
Glad you enjoyed your first snow cone little guy.

Baby Bump

My sweet friend, Elizabeth, has the most precious baby bump ever:



She is 20 weeks along and just found out
she is having a little baby boy!!
I am so, so happy for Elizabeth & her hubby Josh.

Yep, that's right.
We both have Josh's {or is it Joshes?}.
And, yes, it does get a little confusing at times.
If we start talking about our hubbies we usually
refer to them as "your Josh" or "my Josh."

Of course, the most logical thing
to do would be to use their initials, right?
But guess what, they are both JB's!
Wild, huh?

So anyways.
Today Elizabeth and I went to the Fort Worth
Botanical Garden to take some pictures
of her cute pregnant self.



Did I mention she has the cutest baby bump?
Oh right. I did already.
It must be that baby fever clouding my memory.



Elizabeth, you are going to love having a boy.
I'm so glad Noah will have a little buddy to hang out with.

Thanks for braving the heat with me today!
I had so much fun.

Just Because

This morning my little alarm woke me up right at 6:56 am.
I'm telling you, Noah has an internal alarm clock set for that time.

I wish I knew where his snooze button was.

So anyway, I stumbled out of bed to get Noah out of his crib, and
before I knew it he was running around the house like a wild little Indian.

How does he have so much energy in the morning?
Yeah, I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Oh, right. He's a toddler.

As I walked into the kitchen to get Noah started on some milk,
I saw all this stuff sitting on our kitchen countertop.
Then I laid my eyes on something so lovely and so pink.
My heart skipped a beat.
A Gerber daisy-- my favorite!



Can you say gorgeous!
Did my hubby really get me a flower?
Yes, yes he did.
Just because.

Then I glanced down and saw a white piece
of paper with something written on it.

It said,

Today is National Donut Day, so I thought
my little Donut could use some donut holes
and chocolate milk {in the fridge}.

I also got you a Weight Watchers Egg McMuffin.
It's in the freezer if you want it. Love you!

How sweet is that?!
Josh worked all night long, but instead of coming straight home to get in bed,
he stopped to pick up some goodies for me and Noah.

Then I glanced down and saw this adorable card:



It read,
"Just wanted to tell you how happy you make me
and how crazy I am about you."

Melt my happy heart.

And he did all of this just because.

I thought it was so precious how he thought of Noah on "National Donut Day"
and brought him home some donut holes and chocolate milk.
That's what I'm talking about.. celebrate the donuts!

Here are Noah's donut holes that I was lusting over. Oh my.



But I am proud of myself because I didn't eat one. Not one little donut hole.
I did lick my fingers after I put them on his tray.
Oops, did I say that out loud?

But guess who did eat every single donut hole?



Noah loved, loved, loved his donuts.
He stuffed every one of them in his mouth.
And of course he downed his chocolate milk
in a matter of seconds.

Here is my wonderful breakfast.
Really, it was so wonderful!



Of course, the donut holes just weren't enough to fill
our growing boy. It wasn't long before he was
begging for some of my Egg McMuffin.

I tried to give him a bite of it, but no,
he wanted the whole thing.

So, I warmed him up one, and he ate half of it!
What a little oinker.



Thank you Josh for your sweet, thoughtful gifts.
We love you so much.