Help a girl out, would ya?

The link below is my sister and her husband who DESPERATELY need to be picked by HGTV for a room makeover. This is their 3rd time to try. All YOU have to do is click on this link to view their entry. The more views the more likely their chance at winning. Please help!

http://my.hgtv.com/hgtvd/Bedroom/I-hate-it-when-she-does-that/detail.esi?oid=24595644

A summertime favorite

I found a recipe for a fruit smoothie a few years ago on The Pioneer Woman website. It has been a favorite of mine ever since. This smoothie is a great go-to snack during the summer months. I usually have one 3-4 times a week June-August because it is so delicious and pretty guilt-free. I usually use 1/2 cup of plain yogurt (no flavor added), 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup ice cubes, and a squeeze of honey. Just blend it all up and you are good to go! Charlotte has taken a great liking to them as well, so Mama shares her snack! I hope you will try it and enjoy!

Our scampering squirrel

I love how Charlotte always grooved to the same part of this song each time it came on. So cute!

My parents went to New York and all I got was . . .

this "I Love NY" shirt . . .

I love NY thiiiiiiiiiiiiis much!

this pajama onesie . . . ("Community" fans will see the humor in this one)

and this white tiger from FAO Schwarz.

Well, at least I love the tiger!

This white tiger is yet to be name. Any suggestions?

Summer Savories: New Recipes Edition

I don't like cooking. There, I said it. Sad but true. Unfortunately, we do not have a tree in our backyard that grows money, so having dinner at home most nights is essential. I have found two ways to get me more excited about cooking dinner for my family: (1) have new, fun cooking tools/utensils to use, and (2) try new recipes. The fact that I don't like to cook limits the kinds of recipes I will try. If the ingredient list is too long or if it has items I don't recognize on it, then forget it. It isn't worth my effort. However, I have found that summertime is a great time to try new recipes. Especially now that we have Charlotte. During the school year we don't make it home until about 5:00, then I want to play with her before I confine myself to the kitchen, so that doesn't leave much time for cooking. All of that being said, I have resolved to try some new recipes this summer and thought I would share them with you. Here is the first:

Crunchy Whole-Grain Chicken Bites

(from Pampered Chef 29 minutes to dinner cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken tenders (or I just cut up some thawed out frozen chicken breasts)

1 egg white

6 cups whole grain whips (I used Sun Chips)

1 pkg. dry Ranch dressing mis

1/4 tsp paprika

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cut chicken into pieces. Whisk together 1 tbsp. of the dressing mix and egg white in a bowl.

3. Crush chips in a resealable plastic bag. Add remaining dressing mix and paprika and shake well to mix.

4. Add chicken to egg white mixture; mix well to coat. Add half of the coated chicken to crumb mixture; shake to coat with crumbs and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet (I used my baking stone) or a casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken and crumbs.

5. Bake 14-16 minutes, or until chicken is golden brown and centers are no longer pink.

My rating: I give this recipe 5 out of 5. It was delicious and super easy!!!

Isn't Summertime Grand?

Last week, I bought an inflatable pool and Daddy put up the canopy shade that we purchased this spring. Charlotte and I enjoyed relaxing in our pool in the backyard for the first time. I see this being a much-repeated activity this summer!

Happy Birthday, Mark!

Happy Birthday, Mark! Charlotte and I love you very much and are excited to spend the day celebrating the wonderful man, husband, and daddy that you are!

Father's Day 2011

Happy Father's Day to some amazing men in my life!

Mark - from your first moment as a father . . .

to many more . . . thank you for all you do! Charlotte loves and adores you!

Thank you to my dad and father-in-law, Tom, for being amazing fathers and equally as amazing grandfathers. We don't know what we would do without you.

Sweet Summer Getaway, Part 2

Our vacation in NYC continued on Sunday. We woke up and walked to another wonderful diner for breakfast. We did this 4 out of the 5 mornings were were there. We got hooked and I know that is where a large portion of my money would go if I lived in the city! Little did we know that Sunday was "National Puerto Rican Day" in New York and there was a parade down 5th avenue that lasted all day. Aaaaa! What a nightmare. It was very challenging to get around to where we wanted to be. It interfered with my 5th avenue shopping plans, and those had to get pushed back until Tuesday morning. In the early afternoon we toured the NBC studios and got to see where the Dr. Oz show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and SNL are recorded. Then, we made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather had been rainy that morning, but had cleared up and it was a beautiful day. So, we decided to walk across the bridge. If you ever have the chance to do this, I highly recommend it! It only took about 30-45 minutes and offered breathtaking views of the city. After we made our way across, we went down under the bridge to a pizzeria called Grimaldi's. This pizzeria is now in the Dallas area, but this particular location is where it originated. There is always a line to get in, but we hit it at an off time and only had to wait about 20 minutes. It was probably the best pizza I have ever had! I would wait much longer to have that pizza again!

Then, we had some ice cream and walked around a park right on the East River. After that we slowly made our way back into Manhattan. This is the view from Brooklyn looking at downtown Manhattan.

On Monday morning, we visited another diner and took a boat tour around the island of Manhattan. The tour lasted 3 hours and was one of my favorite things about our trip. You got to see so much and our tour guide was very informative and very entertaining. We probably took 100 pictures, but I narrowed it down to 4!
Once off the boat we went to see the Flatiron Building. We got some sandwiches from a deli and ate in a park looking at the building. It was so nice and relaxing.

Then we made our way to the Empire State Building. This was the first day in several with good visibility, so apparently everyone wanted to do the same thing! It took us about an hour to get to the top, but the views were worth the wait.

That evening we went to see Chicago on Broadway.

Tuesday morning was our last day there. We didn't fly out until the afternoon, so we were lucky to be able to spend the morning relaxing. After breakfast, we walked around looking at buildings, shopping, and then ended the morning in Central Park. What an amazing trip we were so blessed to be able to take!

Sweet Summer Getaway, Part 1

This past week, the first week of our summer vacation, Mark and I were so blessed to be able to get away on a "kid-free" trip to New York City. Charlotte spent the first few days at her Grammy and Poppy's house, and then my mom and dad came into town to keep her for the remainder of the time. We were there for 6 days, so I am going to break this into two blog posts.

When we first arrived in the city, we took a cab to our hotel. Everyone kept talking about how hot it was, because it had gotten to 98 degrees that day. Even the receptionist at the hotel desk apologized for the weather. Mark and I thought it felt pretty normal! Of course, by the time we got checked in the sun was headed down and was behind the buildings, so we probably missed the worst of it. We were very pleased with our hotel. We were a little worried about how big the room would be because you always hear about how small everything is in New York. It was a great size! We were also very pleased with the location, in midtown about 5 blocks from Central Park.

After checking out the park a little bit, we headed over to FAO Schwartz. I was pleased to pose with a lego Johnny Depp as "Captain Jack Sparrow."

We had dinner and then went to check out Times Square with all of its dazzling lights at night.

On Saturday morning we got up to experience our first New York diner. We love the show "Rules of Engagement", so we sought out the diner that the one in the show is based on. In the show it is called "Island Diner" but the exterior, entrance, and building were all the same. The inside was, of course, completely different, but the food was delicious!

Then we headed south to Washington Square Park, NYU campus, and Greenwich Village. We spent a lot of time that afternoon just walking around and checking things out.

While in Greenwich Village we did seek out two famous exteriors from T.V. shows. This is the building that was shown as the outside of the apartments where Monica, Rachel, Joey, and Chandler lived. The coffee shop at the bottom is what Central Perk was based on.

Just a few blocks over was the outside of the house where the Huxtables in The Cosby Show lived.

Then we headed over to wall street and saw the New York Stock Exchange. We also were able to see ground zero and the "Freedom Tower" going up there. It is only about 1/2 way built and is huge. It is going to be pretty amazing. We found out that it is going to be 1776 feet high, to represent out independence in the year 1776.

Then we headed back up to the northwest side of Central Park. We took some walking trails, got a great view across a large pond, and saw the Great Lawn.

It was in the 80's this day and got to be quite warm. We took the subway a lot of places. The platforms were pretty miserably hot and stuffy, but luckily most of the trains were well air-conditioned.

After dinner with my friend, Katie, who moved to NYC a year ago, we saw Rockefeller Center at night. It was beautiful and bustling.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to a rainy and chilly city. In turn, we decided to head over to the Museum of Natural History. That place was huge! After about and hour and a half we had only see the first of 4 levels! I was not wanting to spend the entire day there, so we skipped the 2nd and 3rd floor and went straight to the 4th floor where all of the dinosaur paraphernalia was.

After a great lunch at Patsy's Pizzeria, we checked out the New York Public Library and Grand Central Station before we made our way to dinner and a show. We saw "Catch Me if You Can." It is fairly new to Broadway, but was wonderful! We saw it on Saturday night, and then on Sunday night was the Tony Awards. One of the two main leads won the Tony for "Best Male Lead", so that we were really happy that we had just seen it!

More to come later . . .

To Make Your Day Happier

Charlotte is happy, and she knows it! (turn up the volume)

Last Day of School

Yesterday was our last day of school! Charlotte doesn't understand what that means yet, but Mommy and Daddy sure do! We are so excited about our summer together. Mark and I have a kid-free trip planned to New York City for later this week. Then, in July we are going to a beach house in Alabama with my family and then returning to spend time with Mark's brother's family who will be in town visiting. We have a very busy summer planned, with activities every single week until the end of July, but I know that we will have such a great time. We are in a very unique situation because Mark and I are both teachers, so we get all of our holidays and our long summer off together. We understand this is rare and a very precious gift. I may not be able to stay home with her during the school year, but Charlotte gets to have BOTH Mommy and Daddy home all summer long. We are so thankful for our jobs and the family time they afford us. We are also SO thankful that our long-awaited for summer has finally arrived!

Here is Charlotte on her last day to go to Miss Lisa's this school year!

Here is a picture Miss Lisa snapped of Char her first day there in August. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed!