Wednesday, August 26, 2009

MJ's

friday night we took olivia to monkey joe's for the first time. it's one of those places that has a ton of inflatable bouncy things, slides, etc. we met up with her cousins coleman and mckinley since they frequent the MJs and could lend olivia some of their expertise. she loved it! she is a bit of a scaredy cat, but she took off as soon as i put her in the first little tunnel. it was hard to keep up with her and hoisting little tots up the "stairs" to get to the top of the slides is no easy task! adam was happy to let me take that on. next time maybe i'll wear workout clothes!



coleman was happy to show olivia the ropes....

olivia trying to follow coleman up the stairs to go down the slide for the billionth time.

her big, toothy smile at the end of this cracks me up. fun times!

Friday, August 21, 2009

odds & ends

you know you're a reality tv junkie when.....

your husband really needs (wants) you to come look at something on the computer, but you're realllly comfortable where you're at, so to convince you to come he says, "abbie... you have to come.. tori & dean are getting divorced!!!" (for the record, i knew he was lying, but did google to just double check it later on. the reality couple curse is bound to catch up with them sooner or later, right?)

you know your baby is not happy to be having "diaper issues" when....

she scowls at you in her sleep. and looks like a monster with her crazy hair. and yes she's sleeping with no sheet, in her regular clothes. monday was a rough day.

mac & cheese

we love mac & cheese around here. we love this recipe in particular. i've been making it for a few years and the other day, my brother requested it for his birthday gift. so, it's been on my mind. so much so that if i had the ingredients right now, i would probably go downstairs and make me some. it's that easy.

4 T unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish
3 cups elbow macaroni
2 (12 oz) cans evaporated milk
1/3 c. skim milk
2 large eggs
1/2 t. seasoned salt
1/4 t. garlic powder
2 (8 oz) packages extra sharp cheddar, grated
1 (8 oz) package monterey jack, grated
paprika, for sprinkling (if you feel like it)
salt and pepper

preheat oven to 375. generously butter a 9x13 dish. bring large pot of water to a boil, add salt and macaroni. cook until al dente. drain and return to pot. add butter, toss until pasta is coated and butter has melted. set aside.

in a medium bowl, whisk together evaporated milk, skim milk and eggs. add seasoned salt, garlic powder, 1 t. of salt and 1/2 t. of pepper. set aside. in another medium bowl, combine cheeses. set aside.

place 1/3 of macaroni in an even layer in the bottom of the prepared dish. cover evenly with 1/3 of cheese. repeat with remaining macaroni and cheese mixtures. pour milk mixture evenly over the top. sprinkle with paprika. bake until top layer is slightly browned--30 to 45 minutes. let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving. note- you definitely want to give it time to cook together in the oven and i even like to let mine get almost burned. it ensures everything is melted and "set" together and it makes the top a little crispy. delish.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

la playa

this weekend we got a last minute vacation invite from adam's sister and her family. we packed up on friday and headed to the beach for 2 nights. olivia loves hanging with her cousins and we had a great time soaking up some sun and getting in some good laughs. thanks guys! sorry this is picture overload... i had lots of good ones and figured i might as well document the fun we had!


taking a pool break for some crackers with coleman. can you tell they've been doing some serious swimming?

a shot with mom....rare.

olivia warmed right up to uncle garrett when he sang her some songs one night before bed

a little tubby time after a long beach day!

giving me a fake smile she she can get back to playing hard

pondering what she wants for lunch on the beach....

hi mom!

heading out to sea with her buddy coleman. she is obsessed with him. it's pretty funny. he is a great entertainer.

paddy cake with mckinley

the 3 kiddos

i love this one. it captures what olivia thinks of coleman perfectly. everything he does is so funny to her. don't mind how deep the water is... i promise i was watching them.

she takes her body surfing seriously. she had a method. crawl towards the wave until it's right in your face, then sit down on your bum and brace yourself till it passes. then, keep moving!

playtime in the "pool"

sometimes olivia gets in major worker bee mode at the beach...these next few pics show that...





coleman decided he would like to know what these fishermen were up to so he cruised on over for a look

"don't worry mckinley, sometimes i need my binkie on the beach too."

buddies

coleman showing us how to lounge in the little pool he found

missing her nap meant a binkie on the beach and her periodically climbing on me saying, "go...go."

eventually we caved and left for a nap. she fell asleep just like this and ended up taking her nap by the pool. i can't complain about that!

one last cousin pic before we head home!


on a side note- here's how our little crab olivia got around for a lot of the trip. why walk OR crawl when you can use this really comfortable method of transportation? i guess it was quite appropriate for the beach!

Monday, August 10, 2009

why

why do i torture myself with those dumb widgets? i might have to take it down....but for now, enjoy. also enjoy these pics of olivia chasing her shadow like a little puppy at the beach. 


Wednesday, August 5, 2009

a little record keeping....

little miss had her 1 year check up today (a little late, i know). doc thinks she's "slimming up." hopefully not too much! she weighs 24 lbs, is 31 inches tall and has an 18 3/4 inch head circumference. most drastically, she's dropped down in the weight category to about the 75th percentile and stayed in the 95th for height. she is so sassy to the doctor and we always get the same nurse so it's pretty funny to see her contemplate whether she knows these people who are poking and prodding her. big girl got a sticker this time. she was amazed. she won't take anything from the doctor, though. they have to give it to me and then i can give it to olivia and even then...she's a little concerned that it might be poison. pretty funny.

do you see her little tear? and this was pre-shots! yeeeaah.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

rated E for everyone...except olivia

some of you may recall my previous reference to olivia's fear of the show yo gabba gabba. it just happened out of the blue one day a few months ago when it happened to come on. she FREAKED. so we've obviously avoided it. anyway, lately she has been seeing the big characters on commericals and stuff and even part of an episode with them in it and she's been fine. so i thought she was over it.....

NOT SO. 

today i knew it was coming on in moments so i tried to get the remote and change it just because even if she wasn't scared anymore, she never watches it. well, i pulled up the guide (so whatever was on was in the small corner screen) and looked for something else to come on. i was a little too late i guess because in the tiny screen that she could barely even see, the host in the orange suit (see picture) started crawling on to the screen with his boombox. 

the music had not even started yet and she FREAKED again. she spun in a circle and started frantically crawling to me crying with real tears. she was grabbing my legs like a little scared dog and when i picked her up (and changed the channel), i felt her heart beating and it was literally POUNDING out of her chest. what in the world?? if it wasn't really mean and if i didn't think one of you would call child services on me (haha jk), i would videotape it. it's really bizarre. but....i'm not gonna lie. DJ lance might be kind of weird. 

when i was looking for a pic of dg lance, i did come across this on google images. hilarious. i bet she wouldn't be scared of him. (note: i did not add the text on the picture...haha)