Menu Monday!

Lots of eating going on this week! We're trying some new recipes (like tonight's Greek salad, and the pork chops on Friday), and also some favorites (Beans & Cornbread, yah! And I LOVE the Tilapia Parmesan). Most of the recipes are very South Beach friendly (yes, I'm working on it... :-)

So, without further adieu...

Monday   Grilled Chicken Greek Salad, Pita Bread, Strawberries
Tuesday   Baked Omelet Squares, Whole Wheat Toast
Wednesday   Beef Stroganoff, Cabbage Noodles, Corn
Thursday   Beans, Cornbread (with enough to take to a friend)
Friday   Paprika Pork Chops, Zesty Coleslaw, Butter Rolls
Saturday   Broiled Tilapia Parmesan, French Bread, Caesar Salad

What are you eating this week??

(linkup)

Very Pinteresting: School!

With the kids and I starting "school" in a little over a week, I thought I'd share some fun stuff I've found on Pinterest. {follow me} I think Pinterest is going to be a totally invaluable tool to home schooling!

Thanks, Stefanie, for the link-up!

One thing we will HAVE to do without a doubt, is have scheduled routines. I love these chore cards for kids. I will likely make some of my own. I'll be sure to share when I do!

Source: livinglocurto.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Here is another super cute way to manage chores. I will have to weigh my options and see what will be the easiest for me to pull off!

Source: theclayfamilyblog.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I know we will be quickly overrun with papers galore! Something like this might help us reign it in. I have lots of empty frames! {shame}

Source: lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I really want my kids to LOVE reading. Of course, the best way for this to happen is to expose them to lots of books! I may do something like this to encourage book time. :-)

Source: sewliberated.typepad.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Of course, none of these ideas are specific to home schooling. Any kid could benefit I'm sure! Do you have any back-to-school ideas for getting your kids in the groove?

Happy Birthday, Paisley!

(I originally posted this on Monday, on Paisley's birthday, but something happened and the pictures didn't work, so I pulled it. Then we were out of town the rest of the week, so I'm just getting this fixed!)

My sweet sweet baby is ONE today! This is one of those things that in some ways feels like it's totally been a year, and in some ways I can't believe it. Y'all know what I mean.

Paisley is truly the sweetest baby I have ever seen. She is so happy and content about 98% of the time. I'm really praying that the easy baby/hard toddler thing doesn't come true in our case. :D

I just snapped a few pictures of her with my phone today. One of these days I'll get something that's actually designed to take pictures. ;-)

I {heart} this face.

She's an observer. Content to (mostly) sit back and watch her brother and sister.

Sleepy girl. :-)

Haha, I don't know what she's telling me, but it looks like a good story!

"Is this food? What? It's called bark? Hmm..."

"Um. No. I don't think so."

She wasn't too impressed with the fiber we were trying to get in her diet.

HA! Love the hair.

This is really an outtake, but I just love it.

Paisley's face is totally saying, "Why are you letting them do this to me?!"

Sweet sisters!

Our family wasn't complete without you, Paisley! What a blessed first year we've had!

Paisley's Perfect Party

{please excuse the excessive overload of pictures. I cannot resist. Why fight it?}

Is it even possible that my baby is turning ONE?????? Well, like it or not, here it is. Paisley's birthday is tomorrow (Monday), but we got together with the family last night to celebrate. I don't do big first birthday parties. The baby won't remember it, and there's no reason to stress and spend lots of money (in my mind) when they can just as easily smear homemade cake on their face without fancy decorations as they can with it. Ha! But it was SUCH a fun time. Zack and I are blessed with the best families, and fortunately, they like each other! :-) 

Here is the sweet birthday girl with Uncle A.K. (Zack's brother)

Awwwwwww. Just love this precious girl.

Wouldn't be a Paisley without these two. ;-)

Paisley and her Aunt Willow. These two are great chums already.

Annie makes me (and Paisley) laugh the way she always says, "Ahts dere da Paisley!" Some Nannie gibberish I guess. :-) It always sounds like "Ah, Cheddar Paisley" to me. I might start calling her that. :-)

"There's a chocolate cake!" My boy can say it all, just with an expression.

This is a cushy family to be in as a kid, let me tell you. Even when it's not your birthday, you still get presents! Sara holding her hand out for her surprise...

New animals from Nannie! The kids LOVE these little plastic animals. What is it, Tuck?

A JAGUAR!!!

Um. Ok. So... this was the best chocolate cake ever, if I do say so myself. It was rich and dense, while still being fluffy. And SO moist. Uncle Jay gave it a 15 out of 10! I think we all agreed. (Thanks, Allrecipes!)

Jaguar, meet Puppy.

The real fun begins!

"What is this stuff??"

"No, really. What am I supposed to do with it? I've never seen anything like it."

Haha. Got it figured out!

Lip-lickin' good.

My dainty little girl didn't really get that messy on her own, so we had to help her out. :D

"Friends, relatives, fellow chocolate-cake-eaters, lend me your ear!"

"All gone!"

Nothing sweeter than a baby in a towel. It makes me sad that she is already growing out of this baby-ness!

New dolly from Grandma and Poppy! Giving kisses :-) I wish we had gotten it on video -- when I first held the baby up, Paisley said in an adorable Southern accent, "Hiiiii!!" (which sounded more like "Haaaaaah!")

No iPhone yet, but Baby still needs to communicate, right?

My pretty mama with the birthday girl. I am so grateful my kids have such wonderful grandparents who want to be a part of their lives. They have the added benefit of great aunts and uncles, and their "other" grandparents, Jay & Betty.

This was SO cute. Annie got Paisley this bouncing zebra. Her feet don't touch the ground yet, so I helped her bounce. Any time I would stop, she would bob and nod her head as if to say, "Keep going, Mama!" She was quite serious about it. :-)

What a sweet, precious life Paisley is. I can't even overstate the blessing she is to our family. But. More on that tomorrow. :-)

Crocs, and Snakes, and Jaguars! Oh my!

This past week, Zack needed to go to Dallas to make a presentation at a church on Wednesday night, so we decided to tag along! Annie (Zack's mom) even sponsored a trip to the Dallas World Aquarium for us! What a blast!!

Crocodiles... (or alligators? I think this is a croc. Who can be expected to keep such things straight?? I can barely remember what my own children are called some days.)

Anaconda!

What a sweet little family I have. Love these people.

Indoor waterfall. It was cool, even if it was hot in that rain forest.

This is what Tucker was looking forward to all along! SHARKS!

This jaguar was asleep, but Tucker hasn't stopped talking about jaguars since then! He even requested the episode of Diego this morning where he saves the baby jaguar, ha! And oh my, that cat's coat was gorgeous up close. God is truly an amazing designer.

Aaahhhhh my babies. Blessed.

Sweetest little face in the world.

And quite possibly the silliest face in the world. :-)

Whew! Our day definitely tuckered us all out. (No pun intended.) We drove home after getting a late lunch, and made it home about 10:30. So glad we chose to go with Zack! It's always torture being home when he's gone off somewhere.

We're headed back to Texas next week! But that's another story for another post.