At Our Home: May

May proved to be a busy month in our homes. I guess all months are like that when you have kids! Here's what our month looked like.

Muffins with Mom for Mother's Day at our church

Naomi decided to open up the bean bag chair and play with the beans. Not fun!

We read lots of books... as usual!

These girls love each other. So blessed!

We went strawberry picking and the girls had a blast. They insisted on carrying
and filling their own buckets.

Our haul!

I baked a lot with our strawberries and froze all of it. I've been able to take our baked
goods to different functions without having to do anything.

We played with our puzzles

Nyla loves these puzzles

We are always dressing up!

I got an Amazon gift card for Mother's Day and bought a cookbook. Shocker! :)

We said, "goodbye" to our teachers and friends at KDO.

Nyla finished AWANA at a local church. She got a book award for finishing her book and learning
all her verses. We are so proud of her! 

Nyla's little imagination has taken off in the last few months. This is Mr. Glenn, her puppy. :)

We got a new kiddie pool to enjoy!

Daddy fond a bunch of worms over by our compost and he and the girls talked about
them and dug them up and put them in our vegetable garden.

The girls are definitely little mommy's. They are going to be great big sisters to Natalie in a few months!

We enjoyed ice cream one night

Naomi, as usual, had us cracking up with her silly faces!

We treated Naomi for a fairly serious staph infection on her booty. We had to bathe her 2-3 times a day with an antibacterial soap, put a cream on her booty after that, spray everything with bleach, wash all her clothes and sheets in hot water, she was on a strong antibiotic and we had to watch for bad breakouts that come along with staph. It was a long 10 days with all that. I'm glad she's better. We have no idea how she got it but I'm glad we got it treated when we did. They swabbed and ran tests on it and called about 4 days later. MRSA staph is what it's called and can be deadly if not treated. Eek! Thankful for our Pediatrician! 

Fun at Putt Putt

Nyla and Daddy had a great date night Monday. She really enjoyed our time together.

Beignets

Y'all, these are SO good and really easy. I was surprised at how easy they were to make. The longest part is waiting for them to rise in the fridge for an hour before I could fry them.

My husband and a few members of his family love board games and, when possible, we like to host at our home. It gives me an excuse to try new recipes on them and spoil them with yummy food. I enjoy having people in our home since we go days with just seeing each other. :)

Without further ado, here's the newest recipe in our collection. I will be making these again. I was able to roll them out and fry them up in under 30 minutes. Try them and enjoy!

Beignets- from Cook’s Country

Yield: 24 beignets, all different sizes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

1 cup warm water

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp sugar

¾ tsp salt

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 eggs

Instructions:

Mix first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes.

Whisk next three ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix last 2 ingredients together, add to flour mixture. Add yeast mixture when ready.

Mix all together with a rubber spatula and cover with plastic wrap. (The dough will be very sticky)

Refrigerate 1 hour to rise.

In a dutch oven, add 2 quarts (8 cups) of vegetable oil. Heat to 350 degrees F.

Working with half of the dough roll out into 9x12 rectangle. (Use lots of flour to roll out dough because it’s very sticky)

Cut into 12 pieces.

Place cut pieces on well-floured cookie sheet.

Fry 4-6 beignets at a time. Let oil come back to 350 degrees F before adding each batch of beignets to fry. Fry 2-3 minutes or until brown, flip and fry until brown.

Place fried beignets on cookie sheet topped with cooling rack to let excess oil drain.

Coat well with powdered sugar.

Repeat with other half of dough.

Serve warm and add extra powdered sugar if desired.

*Note: If you don’t have a candy thermometer to test your oil temperature, start heating the oil at medium heat. Lower or raise heat as needed. I found that on my stove a little lower than medium heat was the desired temperature, otherwise the beignets browned too quickly and I felt like they looked a little too brown. And tasted it, too.

Interview with Natalie

Long-time readers of this blog - all 2 of you - may remember that I have mastered telekinetic abilities and inside-the-womb communication. I was fortunate enough to interview both Nyla and Naomi prior to their grand entrance. Now that we are less than 4 months away from Natalie's arrival, I decided to dust off the skills and see what the sweet girl is up to these days...

DCG: Natalie, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I know you have a lot going on.
NGG: No problem, Daddy. Anything for you.
DCG: I'll remember that in 13 years when you pretend as though I don't exist. First question, how have you been feeling?
NGG: It's nice in here. I can feel myself growing stronger every day. Mommy eats good stuff for me to try.
DCG: I'm glad. No doubt you've had a chance to hear your older sisters the last 24 weeks. What are your impressions of them?
NGG: Most of the time they seem to be well-behaved. Nyla really likes coloring and crafting. Naomi really likes being loud.
DCG: I'd say that's a fairly accurate description. How do you think you'll fit into the family dynamic?
NGG: As long as everyone knows that I'm the baby, we'll all be good.
DCG: Hmmm. Naomi will beg to differ on that one...
NGG: She'll just get over it...
DCG: I think you underestimate her powers. But anyway, do you have any questions for me?
NGG: Yeah. Why did you almost know name me Erin Harrison?
DCG: I'm sorry. What?
NGG: You told Mommy that boy or girl, you wanted to name me Aaron/Erin Harrison. Why?
DCG: This.
NGG: Yeah you got loud during that.
DCG: You will learn the ways of the Wildcat, little one.
NGG: I look forward to it.
DCG: Ok, let's play a little word association. Tell me the first word that pops into your head when I say these things.
NGG: Got it.
DCG: Honest Toddler.
NGG: Role model. I hear what you and Mommy read each other.
DCG: Unfortunately, that's probably true. Next. March Madness.
NGG: You stay home from work and are loud.
DCG: Favorite activity with Nyla and Natalie in a few years.
NGG: Beating you at Ticket to Ride.
DCG: Unlikely.
NGG: Carcassonne.
DCG: Doubt it.
NGG: And Agricola.
DCG: Awfully confident I see.
NGG: Well, yeah.
DCG: Well, Natalie, my head is starting to hurt from all the brain power I'm using. Any final thoughts?
NGG: Yes, Daddy. I'm glad you asked. When I turn 16, I do not want a hand-me-down car that Nyla and Naomi drove. Let's work on that, ok?
DCG: ... you're dreaming... but I love you.

And with that, the interview was over. As always, it is great to hear from the baby before birth to prepare myself for her little personality. Have a great weekend!

-D

Saying "Goodbye" to KDO

Last Friday was the girls last day at Bartlett United Methodist Church's Kid's Day Out program. We have been blessed by this wonderful group of ladies for 2+ years. It was definitely a bittersweet day for this mama as we said, "goodbye" to them. They've been so caring and loving to each of our girls. I definitely had a moment not long before I picked them up from school. I know that everyone eventually leaves this program but we're leaving in such a different way than most. My girls aren't moving up to the preschool program like most or all the kids are doing. We are leaving this program to pursue their education at home (but that's a story for another day). 

Ms. Debbie and Naomi

Ms. Linda and Naomi

Naomi and her "best friend" G.
She talked about this little boy often and when I asked her a few weeks ago who
she liked to play with his name came up. And not long after that she said he was her "best friend." Talk about heart melting. :) I had to get their picture together.

Ms. Angela, Nyla and Ms. Gretchen

Nyla and Dellia
Dellia is Ms. Angela's daughter who would stay and play quite a few times when Nyla was there.
They became fast friends and Nyla wanted her picture taken with her.

We have so many great memories from this wonderful place. Nyla started out in the summer of 2012 and was in Debbie and Linda's class. She was in the 2 year old class last year with Ms. Evelyn and Ms. Tracy and loved them, too. And now she leaves the 3 year old class. It's pretty crazy to think of her in the class Naomi is in now. They grow up so fast!
Naomi started out last summer in Debbie and Linda's class and was in there all this year. She loved both of them so much and looked forward to going to see them. She never had any issues walking into her class and sometimes barely said "bye" to me.

"Goodbye" for now KDO teachers and friends. We'll be back to visit when Natalie comes, per your request. :) Thanks for the love you gave to each of my girls. I know that each time they stepped through your doors they would be loved and cared for and this mama didn't have to worry about a thing. Thanks for that!

Menu Plan Monday: May 19-25

Happy Sunday to y'all!
We spent the morning at our sweet church worshipping our God. The music team was rocking the house today. There was even a banjo played today. It was pretty awesome!

Daniel and I just finished our leftover fajita lunches and now we're enjoying the quiet of the house while the girls nap. This pregnant mama might not be too far behind. :) I've got to take advantage while I can with the whole sleep thing.

Before I nap, I figure I'd share my menu with you for the week. I've been much better about planning our meals lately. I guess that comes with more energy in the second trimester. I'm still staying away from sourdough recipes and Jason's deli. I have no idea why but those are the two things that are completely unappealing during this pregnancy. We all have our dislikes, right?!

My menu planning has gotten better since I'm planning monthly, for the most part. I print off a basic, monthly template for the month and plan at least every two weeks. Sometimes I'll move on and fill in spaces here and there for the rest of the month. I like the view of this better than anything else I've tried. I feel like at a glance it's just better for me. And I can hang this on our fridge and we can all see what's for dinner. Whatever works is what I'm all for during this time in my life.

Monday- pretzel honey mustard chicken {new}, brown rice and vegetables

Tuesday- lasagna leftovers (I have a Bible study tonight)

Wednesday- club sandwiches, chips and fruit or yogurt

Thursday- layered enchilada bake leftovers

Friday- pizza

Saturday- dinner with Gigi?? TBD

Sunday- dinner with my parents?? TBD

That's our menu for the week. If we don't have dinner with our families, we'll have something easy, like leftovers or sandwiches.

My View Thursday

Thursday after work I played golf with a couple of co-workers. We could see the storm moving toward us as we teed off on #1. By the time we teed off on #3, the downpour hit. 15 minutes spent under a tree. Then we were treated to one of the best rainbows I've seen. Awesome view.