Picture updates

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Play time

HB 21 months

Beautiful Weater

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

How's she doing?

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!)

Bringing in the New Year

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

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here are some fun pictures that we took of our snow "week"! she had so much fun and loved sledding by herself :)

Snow day

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Christmas Time is Here!

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

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Merry Christmas!!!!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Meals Mommy Makes

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~**~

Santa Pictures

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 :)