Just a Quick Hello

Holy moly - the last post I made was Little Man's One Year birthday party?! That's crazy, friends! Life seems to be on fast forward with him. He's learning new things every day as he is quickly approaching two. It's so fun to see him experience things for the first time. Just this week he's learned how to fist bump. Definitely a milestone and important life lesson.

Look at his cuteness...

In other news, my work computer got a virus when I stupidly downloaded a browser from a fishy source randomly caught a virus this week. I am constantly amazed at how terrible people can be. I mean, really, what's the point of creating computer viruses? It made for a frustrating week of trying to get old files off, having my wonderful IT guys at work build me a new computer so they could overnight it to me, working off our home Mac (don't get me started on Office for Mac...), and feeling like a complete fool for downloading catching such a virus. In order to make myself feel better, tonight's dinner will be from Pioneer Woman - her food (*cough*butter*cough*) makes a rough week better. Here's what we're trying - fingers crossed it will be amazing!!

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp. Yes, please.

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Wow - I am so behind on my blogging, but I could not miss the opportunity to relive my son's amazing Little Man birthday party. I still cannot believe I have a one-year-old. It's been such a great year, but I'll leave the gushing for another post.

Today, I'm reliving his wonderful party. We had the best time, and thanks to the ever so talented Elyse Fair (www.elyfairphotos.com), we have some great pictures to remind us of the day. Here are the highlights:

The decore: ties, everywhere - around lamps, hanging from chandeliers, tied nicely on a coat rack, and of course, on every guest.

The food: Big Man Brisket, Macin'-on-some-Cheese, Little Man Crackers (aka Goldfish), and Root Brewskies.

The cake: Mustache cupcakes

The activities: Paper tie decorating, reading of The Book of Nash, and best tie contest

And last, but certainly not least, the man himself: my wonderful, funny, sweet, shy, silly, little man Nash

Gosh I love him! :)

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Since I've moved back to Edmond, I have noticed more and more how alike my mother and I are. But Friday night was eerie. Hubs and I had been prepping all week for Little Man's birthday party (it was amazing - more on that later this week). So when Friday night came, I was pooped and was not going to be cooking! We decided to hit up our favorite restaurant down the street. Just as we got situated in our booth (not an easy task with a 1 year old) who should walk in but my parents! We had to laugh that when we both decide not to cook, Interurban is the restaurant of choice. We enjoyed a nice meal and parted ways. There's a grocery store down the street which reminded me of a few last minute prep items I needed for the party. As I was walking through to the back of the store, cutting through some random aisle, I ran smack into my parents once again buying their last minute prep items as well!

I really am my mother's daughter...and proud of it! :)

Recipe: Balsamic Baked Tilapia

I made a fabulous tilapia recipe tonight that I thought I would take a moment to share. I meant to take a picture of how it turned out, but it smelled so good that we devoured it before I remembered to snap a shot! Woops. :/

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped (or 1 cup frozen onion)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tilapia filets

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat and add onion and bell pepper. Saute until vegetables are soft (about 10 minutes).
3. Add salt & pepper to taste as well as balsamic vinegar. Heat another 1-2 minutes.
4. Place fish filets in 9x13 baking dish and poor vegetable mixture over. Bake for 30 minutes.

Super easy and super yummy! For those on Weight Watchers, this is about 3-4 points depending upon how big your filets are. Enjoy!

Family Photo Fun!

During the Thanksgiving holiday, we took advantage of the fact that we had everyone in one place for some family pictures by the wonderful Elyse Fair. Below are some of our favorites that I thought I would share:


This is my Mom's family. Great lookin' bunch.


Just our smaller family unit, which as you can see is continuing to grow!


My sweet grandparents...love this shot!


Love this man.


And this little man!


Be still my heart! This was our favorite from the day. Love!

And you may now return to your previously scheduled activities. Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Approaching

With Christmas just weeks away, Nathan and I have been discussing what Christmas will be for our family - what traditions do we want to start and what do we want to carry over from our families. It's amazing how little you talk about these things until you have children. I look back at my childhood and Christmas was always such a fun and special time. There are so many of my experiences that I want to give to Nash. But there are also new ones that we want him to have. I want Nash to know that we don't celebrate Santa and that Christmas is not about "me". It's about the birth of our Lord and celebrating the sacrifice he gave to us. While a big fat man coming down your chimney with presents may sound more magical to Nash, the true wonder is how our Lord came into this world and that he defeated death that we might live. But how do you teach that? How do we learn that and model that for our son? That is definitely my prayer this Christmas - that God would change Nathan's and my mindset so we could teach that to our son. I so desperately want him to be a better person than me!

Parenthood

Today has been one of those memorable days that Nathan and I have many exchanged looks that say, "Yes, this is parenthood." Here's what we have experienced in the past day:

• Baby waking multiple times through the night to babel, cry, and cough. (breaks my heart to hear that pitiful cough!)
  
• Diaper explosion that had poop up to the armpits, complete with Daddy accidentally flinging said poop onto my face. (Yes, that was disgusting.)
• Quickly running over to whatever Nash is getting into and yelling "No, Nash!" about 50 times.
• Baby almost pulling a bottle of red wine off the end table
• Baby almost pulling a glass of Scotch off the end table
• Pulling a dog bone out of Nash's mouth as he peeks up between your legs as you sit on the couch trying to enjoy that glass of Scotch
• Baby licking an outlet (yes, it had protective plugs in PTL!)

Whew...and we're loving every minute!