Emmalee's Nursery

Kelly's Korner is having her weekly link up today and this week is "Show Us Your Life:  Kids Rooms".  So, I thought I would like up with this post I did last April before Emmalee was born showing off her nursery.  I have to be honest - I love the way it turned out, and now that she is a year old, I think she does too.  She loves going to play in her room! 

Anyways, here is the original post:  A Place for Our Princess.

This is Who I Am

3 Posts in one day - I know - you think I'm insane! 

But today I'm linking up with Life on LeRoy to find new blog-friends.  I love new blog friends, so if you're stopping by, then Welcome!  Here is a bit about me!

I'm Ashley (a.k.a. Grabbie).  I've been married for (almost) five years to my very best friend, Brant.  After trying to have a family for 2 years, God gave us the biggest blessing and we finally became parents to our precious darlin', Emmalee Caroline on April 15, 2011.  She has her momma's eyes and sassy attitude, and her Daddy's blond hair and blue eyes.  She is truly the light of our lives. 
 

I'm work as a corporate compliance specialist and thoroughly enjoy my job.  I, of course, would love to be at home full-time with Emmalee, but has made the most wonderful friends at Ms. Donna's, her in-home sitter.  We love Em being with Donna. 

I hope you'll stick around and read all about us - we love making new friends!!

Menu Monday

Well bonless skinless chicken breasts were on sale for only $1.69/lb at my local supermarket the other day, so I stocked up big time!  So chicken is definitely in the menu this week.  Rump roast was also on sale, so I grabbed a few of those too!  So here is this weeks menu:

Monday - Apple baked pork chops with Paula Deens Sweet Potatoes with a Kick! (Do you love sweet potatoes, and love trying new recipes with them - then try these - they are fabulous!)

Tuesday - Cheesy Chicken & Rise casserole

Wednesday - Chimichangas (made with our delicious rump roast in the crockpot - here the original post I did on how to make these)

You can also make with shredded chicken. Just put your FROZEN chicken breasts in the crockpot and book on low for 6 hours...follow the other directions just the same!

Thursday - Chicken stir fry (I just grill my chicken w/ a teriyaki glaze, the toss with a frozen "Asian Stir Fry" mix I find at my supermarket. Then add some more teriyaki glaze to coast the noodles & veggies, then serve - delicious and easy!)

Friday - Pizza Night!

And you know me - I never plan for the weekend because you never know where we'll be!

Lil' Miss Independent

So I guess 14 months is the age of independence. Lil' Miss "Thang" definitely knows how to assert hers! These are the moments I want to scream "What happened to my baby?!?!?"  Just a few days ago she was being swaddled and rocked to sleep, but now she is running all over the place and being such a "big" girl! 

Em is now to the age where it seems like she won't hardly eat anymore unless it's food that she can put in her mouth herself! There are definitely some perks to self-feeding, but definitely more messes to clean up too...especially when its cake!

"No Momma, I'll do it"

Please notice the black towel on the floor to catch the mess!

 DELICIOUS!

Family Ice Cream Night

Sometimes we like to go for ice cream at Sonic - its Family Ice Cream Night - and we ALL love it! 

 

There's a certain "big" girl who likes to do it herself. 

 

"Look at me Momma!"

Summer List

I have seen so many people posting "Summer Fun Lists" of things they want to do, or do with their children,  before the end of the summer.  I love this idea. 

So I've created a "Summer Fun List"!

• Pick Berries at Gnismer Farms
• Go to Hawaiian Farms
• Spend a day on the lake 
• Wagon ride through Rose Memorial Park
• Go to a petting zoo
• Blow bubbles 
• Take Dax to the park
• Fly a kite
• Have a picnic
• Plant an herb garden
• Read books
• Go to the splash pad
• Feed ducks at the park
• Go see 4th of July fireworks
• Fingerpaint
• Plant a flower
• Dallas World Aquarium
• Make cookies
• Play in the rain

Do you have a summer to-do list?  What's on it???  

Homemade Apple Fritters

Yesterday I was looking for a dessert to make, but I was low on quite a few "dessert" ingredients (like vanilla).  So I used one of my favorite websites, www.supercook.com, to enter all of the things I did have to see what I could make.  I found this apple fritter recipe and it was great! 

Here is the recipe, but I changed it up a bit, so here is my recipe:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 TSBP baking powder
• 2/3cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 large, or 4 small, apples (I used a few fuji and a granny smith). I peeled, cored, and chopped into small pieces.
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Cinnamon & sugar mixture (roughly 1/4 cup white sugar, 2 TBSP cinnamon)
• 2 cups vegetable oil or shortening melted for the frying

1. In a medium bowl, mix together first 6 ingredients (the dry ingredients, milk, and eggs.  Add in apples and 1 TBSP vegetable oil.  Mix until apples are evenly distributed.
2. Heat oil or shortening in a pan or skillet - I used a large saucepan so that the oil would cover more of the fritter. I was able to fry about 3-4 at a time.  Heat until "smoking", then turn down to medium heat.
3. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden on both sides, about 3 minutes each side depending on the size. Fry in smaller batches so they are not crowded. Remove from the hot oil using a slotted spoon and drain briefly on paper towels.\
4. Toss with cinnamon sugar mixture while warm.

For the caramel sauce, I  just used caramel ice cream topping.  I put it in a bowl and added a bit of milk to thin it out, microwaved and about 15 second, then drizzled it onto the fritters.  This was so delicious and easy! 

"Fabulous" Father's Day

Well, maybe it wasn't fabulous.  On Saturday, Emmalee had a fever when she woke up from her nap but we had plans to go to my sister's for a cookout to celebrate my dad for Father's Day.  Em was acting complete fine and ate a good dinner.  Well when I went to get her out of the bed Sunday morning, Em had thrown up in her bed.  So Brant ended up going to church while I stayed home with this poor thing.

.

Brant was also sweet enough to pick up some fried chicken on his way home so I didn't have to cook, although I offered. Since I didn't have to cook lunch, I did cook dinner (Monterey Chicken found here) and made a special dessert - homemade apple fritters with a caramel dipping sauce - DELICIOUS! 

I will share the recipe in the next post.

  All in all, it was an ok day, but I felt horrible that we didn't get to go to church with this man.

The saying goes that "A Daddy is a son's first hero, and a daughter's first love".  And I say its true.   This baby loves her Daddy - and always has a smile and a kiss waiting just for him!  Brant Williams, you are one incredible dad and I could not have asked for a better father for my children.  Emmalee and I are two lucky gals to have you in our lives.

Wordless Wednesday

Menu Tuesday

Well this is supposed to be Menu Monday, but when you're a slacker like I am, it becomes Menu Tuesday.  Don't worry, you didn't miss much because last night we just had spaghetti. 

But for the rest of this week:

Tuesday:
Fried egg BLT sandwiches

Wednesday
BBQ Chicken Pizza

Thursday
Jerk Chicken and Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers

Friday
Grilled Chili-Rubbed Steak w/ Vegetable Shish-Ka-Bobs

And just FYI...I don't ever plan the weekend because you never know what the plans are going to be! 

Being A Mom Is...

!) The GREATEST thing on Earth!  And yes, it is everything I hoped it would be, and more.  Although hearing "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy" every 5 minutes can get on your nerves, it is also the sweetest thing I hear every day.

2)  Its much more time consuming than I ever imagined!  Don't get me wrong, I knew being a mom was a full-time 24/7 job...but I never realized how much I would ""forget" to do.  Hence why I have not blogged regularly in forever!  My evenings are no longer filled w/ a computer in my lap beside a still, sleeping infant; they are now filled with my exercise routine...running all through my house chasing a 14 month old!  (And yes I said chasing because the child actually RUNS - not crawls, not walks - RUNS!)

So, I promise to change this.  I forgot how much I really loved blogging until a few days ago when my daughter was taking a 3 hour nap and I spent that 3 hours reading and catching-up on the blogs I used to read almost every day.  I felt so out of touch.  So I'm back int he saddle! 

So stay tuned this week for:
Menu Monday Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Thursday Tales of a Toddler (aka Emmalee at 14 months)
Family Friday

Dog Callin'

This is my darling daughter. 

This is my darling dog - Dax. 

 This is my mom's dog, Spencer.  

Emmalee has it in her mind that all dogs are called Dax, even little dogs like Spencer, are Dax.  In all honesty, any animal to Emmalee is a "Dax." 

So last night, Emmalee and I had to go to my parents' house to let Spencer outside for a little while. Apparently Emmalee has heard Brant and I yelling at Dax a little too ofetn, so I guess she needed to let "Dax" (aka Spencer) know who was boss!  If Spencer started walking away, she called "Dax" back!

This video just cracks me up!

Celebrate

My Sweet Emmalee Caroline is officially a year old.  I still can't believe it even as I type it.  It doesn't seem like its been an entire year since I brought her home.  Actually, it was exactly one year ago today that she came home...April 17, 2011.  I remember bringing her home like it was yesterday.

Getting ready to leave the hospital.  She looks so tiny in her seat.

Parenthood has been an amazing journey - each day you learn something new and watch your precious child grow and learn.  It seems like they change everyday, and they certainly grow up way too fast!  Nothing can compared to the joy Emmalee has brought to our lives.

To celebrate as a family, Brant and I both took off work yesterday to take Emmalee on her first trip to the zoo.  I, personally, think going to the zoo every year for her birthday would be a fun tradition.  Yesterday was perfect weather - high of 76, partly cloud with a slight breeze.  It was the perfect kind of Zoo-Day!
 

Here are a few pics from our day!

I love the color of the bird.  It stands on one leg & looks almost like a miniature flamingo!

Getting ready to go inside & see the reptiles & amphibians!

This tiger was so beautiful!

One of my personal favorite - the white tiger!

 

This is probably my favorite picture of the day. I love how Brant is explaining to her what an elephant is! She was very intrigued by them!

So precious!

Em had so much fun when we would let her "explore" on her own.  She would look and point at everything and say "That?"  Its her favorite word these days .

The Jaguar!

Well I hope the tradition stick and that we have another fabulous trip to the zoo when our little angel turns two!

Springtime

The weather here in North Texas has been really beautiful lately, expect for a huge of tornadoes last week - that was a bit scary. 

Anyways, a few weekend ago we were stuck at home because Emmalee had Hand, Foot & Mouth disease (which she kindly shared with her mother, but that is a completely different post).  So Saturday afternoon we were having some cabin fever and it was so gorgeous outside that we took Em out to play. She had so much fun playing and exploring!

 (WARNING:  PICTURE OVERLOAD!)

He is Risen; He is Risen Indeed

 I love Easter - I love the weather, the songs and the praise, the family, the food, the eggs and candy, and especially the meaning - I just love it all!   Emmalee was only 9 days old on Easter last year and it was her first day at church (yes, I took my baby to church when she was only 9 days old because I WAS NOT going to miss church on Easter Sunday).  She technically, she has had two Easters before she was even a year old!  HA!

On Friday, Brant and I both had to work, so Emmalee went to stay with "Special K," aka Brant's sister Kristie.  So Em got to spend the whole day playing with her cousin Aeson and got spoiled rotten!  And I love it - I love that she is so loved by all of her family and that she can spend time with and play with her.

Kristie sent this picture of the kids playing on Friday!

Saturday Emmalee and I had a play date with our good friends Baylor (and Baylor's mommy Leslie) and our friend Elizabeth (and Elizabeth's mommy Sally).  I love watching Em play with friends and watching how the all interact.  That afternoon Em and I went to a massive Easter Egg hunt at Crossroad Christian Church with Sister and her family.  When we got home our daddy was home for work so we spent the evening relaxing after our busy, but very fun, day!

Sunday was a fabulous day, too.  It all started off with checking out what the Easter Bunny brought us.  He brought new pj's, a cute new swimsuit cover-up, some Teddy Grahams, animal crackers, pacifiers, and a new sparkly ring rattle. 

 We went to church to praise our risen Savior!  I get goosebumps every time I think about it - how He died on a cross for me but overcame death and rose again.  He is ALIVE!  What glorious news!

After church we went to my parent's house with my sis and her fam and had a huge Easter egg hunt with all the kiddos, then a delicious lunch.   Then we just let the kids play and have fun together.

Let me just tell you that I LOVE seeing Emmalee with her cousins.  First of all, they adore her, but she adores them too, especially her Mason.  She grins from ear to ear when he walks into a room. But Ethan and Kate can always make her laugh, and Connor just dotes over her and makes sure that she has everything she could possibly need.  During our egg hunt, Em thought it was fun just to rattle the eggs - she could have cared less about gathering them in her basket (she had no idea Momma needed some of that candy!) - so Connor and Kate started gathering eggs for her and putting them in her basket.  Connor wanted to make sure Em had plenty, and was so willing to share everything he had with her.  It just melts my heart to see all of them together.

I am so thankful that Brant and I both have family close that get to spend time with Emmalee. Even though Brant's parents don't live in town, they definitely try to come and see Em as often as possible. 
 
Well I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter weekend as well.