5.29.2008

Good Friends:

"A friend loves at all times..." Proverbs 17:17

these girls are that verse to me! on tuesday our bible study group met to surprise lizzy with her first baby shower. we miss lizzy since she's moved about 1 1/2 hours away, but we're thankful we still get to see her every once in a while :)

i am truly blessed to have these girls in my life. the way christ shines through their lives is always an encouragement to me and i'm so thankful to know i have these prayer warriors behind me when i face trials.

thank you girls for challenging me, keeping me accountable, praying for me, and laughing with me!

Recipe of the Week:

last night i felt very mommy-ish....

i had sutton's homemade babyfood cube trays thawing a bit on the counter so i could transfer them to bags in the freezer, sutton's bath running in the other room so that daddy could bathe him, dinner in the oven, laundry going, the iron on, and some DEElish smelling banana bread for betsy's bridal b'fast in the oven. whew!

i really enjoy cooking (when i have the time and good ingredients on hand)...so i thought i'd share my favorite recipes with y'all.

first up is my mom's banana bread recipe i made last night. i'm not sure of where it originally came from but we will give her credit for it. i keep ripe bananas in the freezer and thaw them in the fridge whenever i have time to make some of this homemade goodness. i really challenged my kitchenaid mixer by trying to make a triple batch...we survived without too much batter slung around!

chris likes this bread best when i leave the center of it gooey for him...i decided to cook it all the way through for saturday's party, i hope they appreciate that :)

Mimi's Banana Bread

1/2 c. softened butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas
(1/4 c. chopped nuts if desired)

Preheat oven to 325. Mix butter, sugar, and eggs well. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt with a wisk. Add flour mixture to egg mixture. Add bananas and mix. (Stir in nuts, if used.) Bake in greased loaf pan for 55 minutes.

(okay...the recipe says 55 minutes, but it's never done for me in 55 minutes. i usually cook it an hour, turn off the oven and leave it in. i go back and check the center with a tooth pick until it's baked all the way through!)

if you're feeling a bit indulgent....try spreading some cream cheese mixed with either some orange juice concentrate and powdered sugar or sliced sweetened frozen strawberries. mmm...mmm...good!

enjoy the bit of lovin' from the oven!!!

****update 9-9-08!! you should definitely make this recipe as muffins...soooo much better. i think it's the the increase in muffin top to inside bread ratio that does it! (there's a seinfield reference in there, somewhere.... :)

5.17.2008

Yo' Momma's Day:

**note: i wrote this a while back and just realized i never posted it! sorry :)

happy belated momma's day to y'all! we had one action-packed weekend. with a daycare family cookout on friday, the farmer's market saturday morning, the big fat greek festival saturday night, and church, lunch with friends and bible study on sunday....WHEW!

check out the beautiful flowers my boys bought for me at the farmers market...okay, i bought them and said they're from my boys, but $15 for this gorgeous bouqet was too good to walk away from! sutton saw his first belly dancers at the farmers market....ya, that was odd. 9 am is a little too early to shake things that much!

here we are enjoying some tasty eats at the greek festival. sutton says he LOVES some baklava!
my boys did get me an awesome t-shirt that says, "i'm gonna come at you like a spider monkey!" -- long story there.... and a more practicle hip carrier for sutton, since my chunky-monkey is too big for his baby bjorn now. thanks guys!!!

here's a picture of what sutton and i made his grandmother's for mother's day. he had a fun time with the paint!


really, there's no better gift on mother's day than just celebrating the fact that i get to be a mom. i am so thankful God has blessed me with a little one and how could i ever ask for anything more!

5.16.2008

Toofer Numero Tres:

tuesday morning sutton's two toofers had a surprise visitor show up!

Flashback like a Flashdancer!

check out these totally rad pictures from my friend, AM's, 30th b'day party we hosted!!





(not sure why the picture of trish, jabob and dakota is sideways....maybe the camera was laughing so hard it fell over!!)

It's a Zoo Out There:

i took sutton to the zoo a few weeks ago so daddy could get some work done on our bathroom remodel.

the face he's making in this picture cracks me up!! he was watching the polar bear swimming under water :)


even the king of the jungle likes a good belly scratch!!


Sutton Pics O' the Month:

just wanted to share some fun pictures from the past few weeks :)

here's sutton rockin' his hat from the leonard family. they said it was for hangin' out at the sail club on lake hartwell...i guess the pond at the dog park will have to do for now!

"come on momma! let's go for a ride in daddy's jeep!"

i don't know what it is about this laundry basket, but KC the bird loved it, tilly loves it and now sutton loves it! am i missing something???

this was at church one wednesday night. sutton was telling me how good lookin' that kid in the mirror was....

5.07.2008

Toofers:

preceeded by months of drool...my little man's first toofer popped up last week! just monday his little friend decided to join him :) i can already tell momma and daddy need to start a braces fund!

GQ:


i love this picture. he's too cute how he just sticks that hip out modelling his new outfit from poopsie and granddaddy-o :)

Baf.


i loved carla's picture of scout in the bath so much, i had to take one of sutton! he's just too cute...