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 ;)
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| 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!)
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| 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!
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| 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.
We finally got to go to the beach this year after a two year wait!! We were so excited to get there esp since this would be HB's first time! We left out friday and met up with dustins grandparents and camped with them for the night. It was good to get to see them on the way :) We left first thing on Sat for Flagler, FL Beveryly Beach Campground. I wanted everyone to change in their bathing suits as soon as our feet hit the ground!! I could not wait to see Hailey at the beach. She LOVED it and (the first time, but this will be later in the story ;) ) was pointing and laughing the whole time. She even sat down in the sand and started petting it. We gave her the shovel and bucket and she would dig it up and then put it in the bucket! It was so cute and I got a couple of cute pics of her doing it :)
The second day she HATED the sand. haha!! It went like this the rest of the week. She loved it, she hated it, she loved it, well you get the point. The third day that we were there, Nini (dustins mom) got shoulder deep in it with her building a sandle castle and she was having a ball! After about 15 minutes she realized what was going on and immediately wanted to be washed off!!!... but the again I don't blame her! :) Glad Nini jumped in there with her, cause mommy def. wasnt :b We traveled into St. Augustine and Daytona two of the days we were there and had fun viewing the towns :) Wednesday was Ann's bday we went to a good fish house and eveyone got fish sandwiches (if shrimp counts ;)) We got some family pics the last day we were there and enjoyed a late night on the beach followed by a good camper cooked steak meal :) We had so much fun and were ready to be back Thursday night when we got in. So glad that we got to get away for a while and bring HB to the beach!! :)
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| Floyd Beach Trip |
IT'S BACK AGAIN!! Yay, I am finally taking the time to do a Menu Monday!! This week I thought I would do one of my favorite types of food, Mexican!! Can you tell from the previous post!! haha. This dish is like not other of its kind and makes for a great summer dinner. It is pretty simple and not too many ingredients, but just enought to make it burst with taste! I love how it takes a traditional taco salad and turns it into a curious adventure for your taste buds :)
Crowd Pleasing Taco Salad
1lb ground Turkey (or your choice of meat)
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tspn dried oregano
1 tspn chili powder
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 small bag lettuce (shredded)
2 md tomatoes, diced
1 can shredded taco (mexican blend) cheese
1 can (2 1/4oz) olives *optional
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup taco sauce
1 pkg (10 1/2 oz) corn chips
Tips:
*As always, choose the meat that you like best, turkey, pork, chicken, or beef
*For a little less spice, try using taco seasoning instead of chilli powder
*For a cheaper way out on lettude, get a head of lettuce and shred
*If you keep diced tomt's on hand, you can substitute one can for the 2 fresh tomt
*As always with my recipes, I like to encourage you to make it your own.. so add other ingredients, such as onions or bell peppers, that you think would compliment this dish :)
Glad to be helping you out at the dinner table again!!
~**~ENJOY!!~**~
Nicole
