I cant believe how long it has been since I have posted, almost a year! I have decided to pick it back up again so you can get updates on Hailey, with new pictures as she is growing so fast! I also want to track my pregnancy like I did last time because I love looking back on it now and reading it! Here are a few family pics we took this past fall and some others of Hailey! :) I will be uploading pics from our ultrasounds soon!
(click on picture)
 |
| New Year |
The weather has been so awesome lately that we have taken full advantage of it! I finally took my camera out with me and got some pictures of Hailey. She was having so much fun and being so a big girl. Our neighbors have a "big kid" play set and she climbed the ladder, got on the swings, and went down the slide all by herself! It amazes me everday how independent she is becoming. Sometimes I love it and love to watch her grow and do things herself. But sometimes it can be very hard to deal with! She is getting better and better with her words. It is hard to understand her sometimes even though she thinks she is saying it as clearly as possible, it is not exactly how it comes across. She is starting to form sentences and is getting better with it too. Her favorite one is "I want...fill in the blank" She will say it over and over again until you get what it is she is wanting. When she wakes up in the morning I have to hear "I want eat" about 20 times before I am able to get it fixed! haha. It is a lot of fun :)
I just did a photo shoot (finally!!)of her and want to do some edits on them, but will post them soon. She was in a great mood and did so good for me :)
Thanks for stopping by to see my sweetie.
 |
| From Play time |
Hailey is 20 months old now and doing so great!! She has been a busy little girl lately :) She is constantly into something. Whether it be "cooking" in her kitchen, or dancing to "Choo Choo Soul" She loves to be go go going! I recently enrolled her in a great program at "The Little Gym" It is for kids 4mo-5yrs I belive and they get to do gymnastics. Since she stays at home with me all day and really only has interaction with other kids through church and here and there playdates, I really wanted her to be able to get out and play with kids her age. This is the PERFECT thing for her. She gets to interact with kids around her agea and she gets to run around without socks and shoes on and climb all over the gym! What kid wouldn't want to do that. She goes once a week for 45 mins. Her teachers name is Charolette, and even though we have only been twice, she already gets so excited when we walk through the door and she sees her! They learn a new skill every week and this week it was the balance beam.. Hailey wasn't scared a bit and was the first one in line to do it! She did so great and put her feet right after the other with a little help (video to follow soon!) I can't speak highly enough about this program!
Another exciting thing that she has been doing lately is potty training! She has been interested in it for about a month and doing pretty good I might add. I know it is just like a mom to go on braggin about her child's "#1 and #2's" haha. but I am so proud of her. If I might add, she has done her #2 business ONLY on the toilet this whole entire week.. six times straight!! Now that is worth braggin about :) She even surprised me on thursday and told me she had to go "tt" while she was in the tub and GOT OUT to do so!! WOW! I know some adults that don't even do that ;) JK!
She, of course like her mommy, is talking up a storm now! Half of the time we understand her and half of the time we don't! She has gotten a couple of phrases down: "Get out/off/down" which she learned from me telling the dogs and will now tell you if she doesn't want you in the room.. or holding her hand! yikes. "I said no" which she has heard me tell her numerous times when in trouble.. guess I had that one coming. She told me the other day.. I said "Hailey would you like a banana" and she said "no" and i said "are you sure, you havent ate much" and she said "I said NO!" haha.. it was actually pretty funny :)"dad bye" we tried getting her to say bye bye daddy but that is what comes out! And even though not a phrase but I find funny "dodo" which is dozi the dog. She will walk around saying "dodo, kkkkkk(like she was calling her..dont know how to spell that!)
She has gotten a few new obsessions... and the main one is CHAPSTICK. You can not mention the word or even let her catch you doing it without a melt down to have one. And YES, for those of you that know anything about me, it is ALL my fault as I am a chapstickaholic myself! She knows where all of them are in the house and it is now part of her nighttime routine before bed! haha. At least she will have soft lips :)
She is in the process of learning how to jump and it is soooo funny! We will say 123 JUMP! And she will bend all the way to the ground and come up so hard and fast you think she is going to go 2 feet up in the air... but then... she just gets up on her tippy toes. It is hilarious. She tries so hard and just can't figure out how to get those feet off the ground! I hope to video tape it soon as it is too funny not to share.
We so enjoy laughing and charishing these funny and sweet moments as we know that they pass all too quickly. I hope that you enjoy following along with us as we watch her grow! Until next time..
May God Bless Your Family :)
Love,
(ps. hope you like the new look too!)
I haven't posted since New Year's and I would like to try and do so at least once a month! I would def. like to give you more updates, but it seems I just can't to keep up :) Here are some update pictures of little miss independent! She is growing up so fast and just changing everyday! She can say so many different words and do some many different commands. I am going to try and post some videos soon! I am also working on a 2010 slide show.. but no date will be promised! haha
Hope you enjoy the pictures :)
 |
| The New Year |
 |
| Snow day |
Wow, i cant believe i havent given any updates since halloween!! I am so sorry. We are doing great and keeping very busy, as I am sure you are doing as well with this time of the year!
Hailey is reall having a ball with this Christmas and it has really just gotten started :) She is so funny about opening up presents and does it so delicately!! She even likes to hand out everyone elses first! We are so excited for this year and know it is going to be a lot of fun!! I have been holding on to her present since September... so I am def READY to give it to her!!
I uploaded a lot of pictures for you to enjoy. There are two albums, one of just Christmas and the other is of her since October :)
I hope you have a great Christmas and Santa brings you everything on your list ;)
 |
| 16/17 MO |
 |
| Merry Christmas!!!! |
I had a lot of fun doing "Menu Monday" but as you can see I didn't keep up with it every Monday! So I have decided to start doing "Meals Mommy Makes" so that I can share it with you when I find great recipes, anytime, and when I have time! :)
Below are few recipes that I have cooked lately and the have be FABULOUS!! My new favorite things to cook are slow cooker items and meals that I can make extra of and freeze. So these are the best from what I have been cooking lately :)
EASY POT ROAST AND VEGGIES
*I am always looking for different varieties of Pot Roast. I found this one and added a few of my own ingredients and one that was a suggestion from the grocery store. Put them all together and this was "the best pot roast you have ever cooked" -the hubby!
6 servings
3-4lb, chuck roast
4 med. size potatoes, cubed
4 med. size carrots, sliced or 1lb baby carrots
2 celery ribs, sliced, optl (i left out and added bell pepper)
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
3 cups water (this is where i substituted the ingrd from the store, 1 can beefy mushroom)
PUT poat roast, potatoes, carrots, and celery in slow cooker
ADD onion soup mix and water (soup)
COVER and cook on low 6-8 hours.
CREAMY COOKER CHICKEN
*We just had this one tonight and the chicken was literally falling apart! You can serve over rice or noodles to make this a complete meal, or pair you favorite veggies with it to make a wholesome meal!
6 Servings
1 envelope dry onion soup (works great bc comes in a two pack!)
2 cups sour cream
10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
COMBINE soup mix, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup in slow cooker.
ADD chicken pushing it down so it is submerged in the sauce
COVER cook on low 8 hours
HOMINY TACO CHILI
*Here is a great spin on the traditional "colds night" dinner. The extra ingredients in this dish make it burst with flavor!! I would make it every week if Dustin would let me :) And it also freezes great!
4 Servings
1lb ground beef/turk
1 onion, chopped
1 can hominy, drained
1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 sml can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained (i opt out)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (i opt out)
1 cup water
1 envlp taco seasoning
1 envlp ranch dressing mix
1/2 tspn garlic salt
1/2 tspn pepper
Corn chips, optional, serve with
COOK beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. drain, stir in the next 11 ingredients
BRING to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 mins. Serve half of the chili with corn chips if desired.
FREEZE remaining chili in a freezer container for up to 3 months.
CHEDDAR POTATO CHOWDER
*This is one of Dustins favorite dishes and so good even after frozen (up to 3 months) It is also a great dish to have around the holidays because you can use left over ham in this recipe!
6 Servings
2 cups water
2 cups diced unpeeled red potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups milk (2%)
2 cups (8 oz) shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
1 cup cubbed fully cooked lean ham
COMBINE the first seven ingredients (on stove top) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10/12 mins or until veggies are tender
MEANWHILE place flour in a lg saucepan, gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Add cheese, stir until melted. Stir the ham an dht cheese sauce into undrained vegetables until combined.
CHEESY SPAGHETTI BAKE
*Another one of Dustins faves! This is a spin on the traditional spaghetti dish! It is very light with the tomato soup, but very heart and filling. This meal also freezes great for up to 3 months, just double everything and make all at one time!
6 servings
1lb uncooked spaghetti, broken into 3 inch pcs
1 1/2 to 2lbs ground turk/beef
onion, chopped
green pepper, chopped
1 cup milk (or 2 if you want a creamy sauce)
1 can tomato soup
1 can cream of mushroom
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
COOK spaghetti according to pckg directions. Drain and place in tow greased 13x9x2 baking dishes, set aside
COOK the beef, onions and green pepper over med. heat until meat i no longer pink, drain. Add to pot, milk, tomato soup, mushroom soup and 1 cup cheese. Bring to a boil.
SPOON over spaghetti (will absorb during baking) Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
BAKE, uncovered, at 350 for 40-45 mins or until bubbly and top is lightly browned.
Well I guess this makes up for the weeks I have been missing now!! I hope that you are able to use some of these recipes and you family loves them as much as we do!!
ENJOY!
~**~NICOLE~**~
hey There!
I have kept myself pretty busy lately, and apologize for not posting many updates as to what is going on in our lives! My Photography has picked up and I am having a lot of fun doing that :)
I am going to be hosting Santa Pictures on December 4th! I am very excited about this opportunity! Such fun to see kids with Santa. If you are interested (or if you dont have kids or if they are too old, please pass along to your friends!)then please check out my website for details
www.nicolefloydphotography.com under "Santa's Coming"
packages range from $15-50!!
thanks :)
Head over to This Mama Rocks and enter to win a $100 Visa GC! What a great thing to receive just in time for the holidays. I don't know anyone that would turn down a chance at winning $100! Follow the link below:
http://thismamablogrocks.blogspot.com/2010/11/100-visa-gift-card-giveaway.htm
Good Luck :)
We have been up to a lot of activites lately with Halloween :) here are a few pics from it :)and of course I can't wait to load the ones of our little black kitten after trick or treating tonight :D
 |
| Halloween Part 1 |
We went and visited Granny and Dadpa and Hailey had so much fun!! She always loves to go up there and visit them :) She got to feed the fish and play with all their toys. She loves to have Gran Gran read her books, she will just sit in her lap and flip pages with her.. it is so sweet :) This time she found a baby doll they had and was carrying it around everywhere! She would hug it and kiss it and pull it real close to her! She even wanted to read the book with her :)
I bought a craft for me and Hailey to do together! It is a wooden wall hanger with pumpkins. It had a place to put her name and everything. I thought this would be fun and special for her. So once she woke up from her nap, I took her outside and started the painting!! She looked like a natural with the paint brush in her hand :) She even helped me paint her name on it... which is why the letters are so straight and jagged ;) We had a lot of fun and now it is hanging up right outside her room!
Everyone have a great weekend!
 |
| Having Fun |
I forgot to post the picture of my proud display on the fridge... haileys first finger painting! :D
Hailey has now turned 16 months old! WOW!! She has hit such a fun age and is just a joy to be around... except of course the few days that those dreaded molars were coming in :( She has such a personality and is just a ham! She is constantly making us laugh at the things that she does :) She now LOVES our Camaro since she has had a ride in it, and ask Daddy everytime they are outside together. So it is now a Friday treat for them to go on a ride in the neighborhood together!
She also LOVES for her Daddy to get in her tent with her! The tent is pretty spacious.. .but it is def. a funny sight to see! lol
Last Sunday we got to go and meet our newest addtion to the family for the Bagwell side, Gracie! She was such an adorable little baby. She sleeps so well! Hailey hasn't been around to many babies, especially teeny tiny ones like her... so she wasn't quite sure? haha. She ignored her at first and just played with toys, but once we finally showed her to Gracie, she was giving her kisses! It was very sweet :) She had a lot of fun at Hunter and Gracie's house!
 |
| Baby Gracie |
 |
| pumpkin pickin |
 |
| 16 mo mini session |
Last week when it was so nice outside and not so hot, we started hanging out there a little more after dinner. Hailey got some side walk chalk for her birthday, and I finally decided to bust it out ;) haha. She had so much fun doing it, and started drwaing right away!! She was a MESS!!!!!! I can not stress this enough! She literally had it from HEAD to TOE!! But it was absolutely adorable, and she was making me laugh. We def. had to have a bath after this one! Dad had some fun and drew a body around her and she actually did really well laying there! It was a great family fun night!
 |
| Side Walk Chalk |
So I promised in my last blog that I WAS going to be better at blogging... well as you can see, I didn't hold up to that promise :/ So here I am to update you on what's been going on (since August!!) We have been looking forward to the month of September for a long time, because it meant football (which I am VERY disappointed!!!) and Pigeon Forge.. our two FAVORITE things... and FALL!! We Made our way to Pigeon Forge the middle of September and were hoping for cooler fall air..well it was still HOT! But we did have a great time. I got some really cute pic of our precious girl, and we shopped, ate great food, and Hailey even visited her first amusement park, which she LOVED!!! She pitched the biggest fit when it was time to leave, I had to divert her attention to getting to ride in the BIG truck! :)We found a HUGE pumpkin at Dollywood (they always have the best decorations!) and stopped to take pictures. Hailey was amazed by it and just kept looking up! I got some really cute ones with her lifting her hands towards the sky :) Unfortunately Dustin came down with food poisoning... well what we thought was that, but actually turned out to be more of a stomach virus. He got that Saturday and didnt't get out of the bed (except to drive home) until Tuesday morning when he HAD to go back to work. (sorry for the red eyes in pics... didnt have time to edit)
 |
| Pigeon Forge |
Our church so graciously through a thank you party for the volunteers at the church at a local water park. Haiely had so much fun playing and DID NOT want to get out... and was still WIDE OPEN at 8 when we finally made her get out!! There was a lot of cloud cover and it was freezing when you were wet out not all the way in the water. She was shivering and had blue lips and still just a going at it! haha. Dustin took pics for us, so sorry, but some are blurry ;)
 |
| Water Park |
haha! JK ;) here are the pictures that have been stuck on my old camera! Dustin wouldn't let me use my new one too much on the beach, so these are the ones that were of us on the beach :) (only a month late!)
 |
| Beach trip 2 |
I will have to admit that I have been pretty slack about keeping updates on the blog this summer... I took full advantage of the relaxation!!... well actually of keeping busy!! We have had such a great summer and did all kinds of fun things... one being Hailey's first birthday.. and I STILL cant believe it!! She had her first beach trip too and as you saw from the last post, had a mostly great time!! Since then we have kept pretty busy just doig things locally :)
One of the major projects we decided to take on was building HB a playroom... now it sounds like a whole lot, and sort of was, except that we had a great builder.. my dad!! For those of you that remember, when you walk into the front door, normally you would see a sitting room and could walk through to the living room. Well now there is a wall there and it looks like a hall way!! And on the other side is a fun playroom for HB that she is LOVING and so am I! For numerous reasons, but my favortie is that I can shut the door on the mess and leave it for another day ;)
Here is HB supervising the construction.. 
and here is one of her and how EXCITED she was to go in (FINALLY!)
(more pictures to come when finished decorating) The room seems like it has filled up already and one of her favorite toys is a kitchen set that we got from our friends at church.. look she even bakes us cupcakes ;)
She is def. a summer baby and loves being outside... ALL THE TIME!!!!! She will walk to the door.. and almost understandable talk say "outside" .. or sometimes just "this"! haha. We usually go outside every night for 30 minutes or so before bath, books, and bed. And sometimes it is a fight and the tears break out because we have to go back inside :( The other day it was raining here, so I decided to take the opporunity to get some cute pics (no, not me!) and put her in her rain boots and umbrella (yes I bought the umbrella just for the pics! ;) (hush!) They turned out very cute, but as you will see, she didn't really want to take pictures, she wanted to play in the rain! The sun had already came out by the time her BF got there, but they played together and got some cute pics anyways :)
She is doing ALL KINDS of new things. It just amazes us how quickly she can catch on to things and how quickly she learns to say new words! Some of the new things that she says and does now are: she can say, moo for cow, her version of quack quack for duck (and the word duck) ;) bock bock for chicken, i can spell how she makes the pig! lol, tickle tickle, shoes, hi (along with hey), fish, dog (and dozi) and she can do: kick the soccer ball (:D), run, blow bubbles in the water, blow kisses bye bye, make a smackin noise when she gives a kiss, push the button on her four wheeler, climb onto and off of the sofa! haha, and points at everything!! There is so much more that she is doing, but these are the main ones :) (ps. the last pictures are her having her first blow pop today!! she LOVED it :) ) Enjoy!
 |
| 14 months |
I wanted to spread the word that I am now pursuing my passion of photography :) I have been wanting to do this for many years, but have just put it off, especially with a new addition. Then my husband pushed me one good time and said now is as good a time as any!! So if you will please spread the word that I am available for any style photo or portrait, excluding weddings, and on site. I am willing to go up to 25 miles out of our town, Loganville, and will consider further distances for an additional trip fee. I would love to capture the memories in your life and look forward to your or any refferals you send my way. Thank you,
~**~NICOLE~**~
We had the most tasteful dinner tonight, so I just had to share it :) And the best part of it was, it all cooked itself in the croc pot!!
Slow Cooked Enchilada Dinner
6 Servings, 20 Min prep, 2 1/2hrs cook
1lb lean ground beef/turkey
1 sml onion, chopped
1 can (15oz) ranch style beans, undrained
1 can (10oz) diced tomatoes with mild green chilies, undrained
1/4 cup chopped green peeper
1 tspn chili powder
1/2 tsp each salt, ground cumin, pepper
1 cup (4oz) shredded mont jack cheese
1 cup (4oz) shredded cheedar cheese
6 flour tortillas (6 inches)
IN a large skillet, cook meat and onion over md heat until meat is no longer pink. drain.
STIR in the beans, tmtoes, grn pepper, powder, salt, cumin, and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the cheeses, set aside.
IN a 5qt slow cooker coated with cooking spray, place two tortillas side by side, overlapping if necc.
LAYER with a third of the beef mixture, and chese. REPEAT layers twice.
COVER and cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until heated through.
TIPS:
*As always, make it your own and do the meat of your choice and add and take away ingredients that you like
*I exchanged taco seasoning for the chili powder for more of a mexican taste.
*I did not want to by mont jack cheese and reg. cheese, so I just bout a taco blend and did 8oz of it
*Since this meal is mostly cooked on the stove top, I only put my croc pot on keep warm. I have made this once before and when put on low, I noticed that the edges burn.
