March Madness

March is such a filled month.. this year anyway.

Joseph's 28th birthday was the 12th. My Mom's "21st" birthday was the 17th. And now we're gearing up and getting ready to make a week long road trip (which I couldn't be more excited for).

Joseph's birthday fell smack-dab in the middle of the week this year, so with the demanding work schedule he has it was kind of a quiet one this year- Although he did have the day off! What did he request? A day of lounging with his girls :) I won't complain. We did splurge on the calories for two of his favorite eats that day. We 'ate more chicken' for lunch & Tijuana Flats for din. talk about a cheat day. I made him a Budweiser Beer Cake- it turned out pretty sweet if I do say so myself. (Inspiration found via Pinterest). And birthday candles are always a must, so I made a real cake too. Make a wish :)

The following weekend we went out with some fam for a nice steak dinner to celebrate the birthday boy with them. It was a lovely evening: excellent food, excellent people and a divine baby that was awake&quiet the entire time. (She impresses me more and more each day).

I've been trying to stay busy- and Caroline doesn't make that too difficult. We've been doing lots of tummy time and rolling over as well as introducing bumbo time now. Surprisingly, my little bean loves the bumbo .. which this mommy loves. She'll be sitting up on her own in no time! (a special thanks to our good friend Buck for the bumbo! what a great gift!)

Caroline's little personality comes out more and more as the days go by. It's remarkable to watch her discover herself and what she can do. Her facial expressions are some of the highlights of my days. She is such a gem. I can't wait until she learns how to laugh. Right now she makes expressions and motions that show laughter with no sound. She is cooing a little these days too! (Maybe it's just that she is my child, but I think she is advanced). Just saying.

One thing is for sure.. I think she feels the love for us as much as we do for her. She is such a little cuddle bug. She squirms to position herself exactly where she wants to be, which is pressed up against you. Such a sweetheart.

She is such a light in our life. This little girl made us a mommy & a daddy. So much love for this child.

 

We have a long week of traveling coming up. So Flippin' Excited. Niceville, Brewton, Atlanta, Dothan. Such an adventure ahead of us. All because two people fell in love! So happy to be attending the wedding of two very sweet and dear people to our family- Brad & Maria. We've been looking forward to this for awhile now!

 

So the rest of this week, I'll be shopping for dresses, packing and getting everything ready for our family vacation- a much needed one at that!

 

New Recipe Alert!

This week I found a super simple  and extremely delicious recipe! I hadn't cooked in the Crock Pot for awhile so I specifically was looking for a recipe to slow cook all day. If you're feeling like trying something new, give this one a shot! It didn't have a title so I named it:

 

Mushroom & Soy Pork Chops

ingredients:

6 pork chops (boneless)

1/4 cup brown sugar

5 ounces soy sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup

directions:

1) Rub brown sugar into both sides of each pork chop

2) Place chops in a shallow dish and pour soy sauce over them

3) Cover and refrigerate dish for 1 hour to marinate

4) Pour cream of mushroom soup into bottom of slow cooker

5) Remove the chops from soy sauce & place on top of the soup in the cooker

6) Cover & cook on low for 6-8 hours until tender

 

& BOOM! Done. That's seriously it. I don't think it gets much easier than that. I served them over brown rice & made that the main dish! Super easy. Enjoy!

 



What better way to end a post than with a picture of my four legged pride & joy??? My brown eyed boy, Ace, says hey to the virtual world!

 

A Taste of Home

We've had a busy weekend - we headed north for the weekend. When I say north, I'm talking about north Florida & south Alabama, nothing crazy y'all.

I was delightfully surprised with Caroline's first trip. She was wonderful! She slept almost the entire car ride. We stopped twice to feed her and change her and those were the only times she woke up. What did we learn? Mommy is free to travel because baby doesn't mind! #yayus

Another wonderful surprise? My prayers were answered and bright and early on our first morning in town, Caroline & I headed to Mississippi to visit & meet Uncle Matt! Words could not explain how thankful I was that everything worked out. I'm so glad they were able to meet and spend a little time together before he flew out for his next orders. #militarylife My heart is smiling about their connection. He was so good with her.

Before this trip Caroline knew very few people, she knew her parents and she knew her grandparents... now our little baby knows 60+ people! Haha, that little girl is so loved. It's so wonderful. She met her Aunts, her Uncle, some of her Great Grandparents, her 2nd cousins, some of her Great Aunts & Great Uncles, even some of her Great Great Aunts. It was so wonderful to see everyone gather for our sweet Caroline.

 

She was passed around and cooed at and loved on all weekend. I can't even count how many pictures were taken of her of the 4 day span. She got to go to her cousin Karleigh's 2nd birthday party while we were in Niceville and she had a photo shoot while we were in Brewton. We stayed busy :)

She's going to grow up around such wonderful people and she will learn so much from them. We're blessed to know such great people and call them family & friends.

The trips always seem to never be long enough. There is so much to cram into such a short amount of time, so much to catch up on. I think we're all ready to move a little closer so the distant isn't so great. (Next year will be here before we know it!)

I really enjoyed seeing everyone! It was so nice to see some of my friends while I was there. & this mommy even got out for a couple hours one of the nights (I was nervous but Caroline was in good hands- not to say that I didn't check in on her half way through my outing #couldnthelpit)

Currently I'm working on getting back in the swing of things. Starting back our routine at home. It's been a little difficult these last few days, between doctor's appointments and then Caroline & I catching a cold it's probably going to take another day or two. Luckily, the cold hasn't affected her too much, you can hear the congestion but she is still being her playful self and still eating so she's doing ok. We'll kick it soon :)