Recipe Blog

Not like I need more things to do in my life, but thought this would be a great way for me to have easy access to my favorite recipes!!! Click here to see the next blog project (still has much work to be done)!

Back in the Game!!!

Weighed in tonight and lost another 2.2 lbs. But I also gained 1 lb. last week :.( So now my total loss is 14.2 lbs. Only 2.8 more lbs. before I make 10%!!! Yay!

Lemonade Stand Pie, the Weight Watcher's way!

This was so good....so good I have to share the recipe!!!
Makes 8 Servings

What you need:
1/3 c Country Time Lemonade Drink Mix (4 pts)
1/2 c cold water
2 c fat free, sugar free vanilla ice cream, softened (7 pts)
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip Free thawed (7.5 pts)
1 Reduced Fat Graham Cracker Pie Crust (18.5 pts)

Make It!
PLACE drink mix in large bowl. Add water; stir until mix is dissolved. Add ice cream. Beat with electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping. Freeze, if necessary, until mixture is thick enough to mound.
SPOON into crust
FREEZE at least 4 hours or overnight until firm. Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving. Let stand at room temperature until pie can easily be cut. Store leftover pie in freezer.

Soooo....total points for the entire pie= 37 pts. One slice (1/8)= 5 pts. Now if you DO NOT use the graham cracker crust, one serving (1/8) is 2.5 points. Thank you Country Time Lemonade!!!

You bring out my inner redneck...

To continue on with the festivities of the week I (Jon) was able to score some tickets to an Indy car race in Richmond courtesy of SunTrust. It was actually a weekend of racing that started on Friday and ended with the SunTrust Indy Challenge that we went to.

It has been a few years since my last race and was long overdue. Just like any other sport, concert, etc., these things are always much more enjoyable live. If you have never been to a race before I would say it parallels a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.

The tailgating is unbelievable... you would be amazed at the type of folks that ride up in these $100k+ motor homes and camper trailers. The parking lot is normally a party days before the race. Loud music and lots and lots of drinking.

I figured if you lined up 32 people you'd have a full set of teeth (barely). The women are typically a little heavyset, they decide to show more and cover less. The men: as sure as you'd find a Marine with a high and tight, you'd find a race fan with a mullet. And don't worry, plenty of tattoos on everyone. The great thing about race fans is that they know how to have a GREAT time.
And the race - Loud, fast cars.

It was a perfect night for a race. The weather cooperated and it wasn't over crowded - couldn't be any better. Indy racing is a lot different than NASCAR racing, but fun none the less. I chatted to dad about how it seems to come down to not wrecking your car and pit timing. There are only 20 cars in the field and they would pit about every 100 laps and didn't do a lot of passing. Those laps went fast; rightfully so when you're driving 220+mph. I am sure all these elements change when they race a road course and my hat is off to all the drivers because I know I couldn't do what they do.
If I had to pick one over the other it would definitely be Sprint Cup Series. And if you have never been to a race... I highly recommend it!

It's All About the IGD

Today we finally returned from our quick visit to South Carolina. The car ride actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would. We have to thank Jenny for her outstanding multi-tasking capabilities for that. Here is a picture on Thursday morning at our first of many stops.

So, I'm sure most of you reading are looking at this picture and saying, "Awww, look how sweet they are. I bet they slept most of the time and whenever they were awake, they smiled, cooed and giggled." Well for some of the trip, that was true, but here is a clip of what the rest of the trip was like:

After 6 hours, including all the stops and traffic from a crazy accident was drove past (above pic), we finally arrived at Grandma Dots. We were so happy to see her and the girls were even more excited to be out of their car seats. This was the first time K has gotten to be with her second great-grandmother. K is much more active now and definitely can't sit still for long...nevermind...ever, so this made it very hard to get a picture of K and Grandma Dot. At first, K was quite shy to everyone, but after a short time, she warmed up and started giving her sweet little head bumps (hugs). I swear I have the most loving little girl in the world ;) We ate dinner, got to visit with the Lockaby's, then K read her favorite Mermaid book, and finally K and Alena played for a little while and then went to bed on their own schedules ;) The rest of us stayed up and played some major UNO ATTACK. We are quite the competitive crowd I have to say. Tim, Jared, Kayla, Jon, Jenny, and I circled around a table talking major smack ("there the same both ways"), singing some quite out there tunes (from the window), forming bonds (IGD), and laughing uncontrollably because of the direction the fan blew...I know, you had to be there! We had a blast, which forced us to play another round the next night!
The next day we hung out at the Lockaby's pool and all of us some more of that much needed tan...except for the little ones of course.

Kayla was such a great pool hostess/babysitter/helper! K fell in love with Kayla and would even walk to her, talk to her, and dance with her. It was the cutest thing! Kayla...we already miss you tons.I know this is random, but K has two baby teeth growing in the front bottom jaw, so I started the whole tooth brushing ritual right before we went to SC. I thought I was probably going to have to hold her down as she flung her body every which way just to get the brush in her mouth, but K really surprised me. She LOVES to brush her little teefers! She even kinda gets sad when I take the toothbrush away. Hope this habit lasts a lifetime ;)

We ended up leaving early this morning after eating a delish breakfast. It was so nice getting to see everyone. Grandma Dot is such a sweet woman with an enormous heart. We love her so much! Can't wait to see you all again!

To Grandmother's House We Go...

Today we are leaving to visit Jon's Grandmother in South Carolina. It will be a very interesting trip. The car riders include: Jon, Me, Jenny, Kelsey (11 mon.) and Alena (4 mon.). This means 2 car seats and skinny little Jenny in the backseat. I will definitely let you know how this trip ends up.
We are extremely excited to see Grandma Dot, Tim, Marla, Jared, and Kayla. We haven't visited them in almost 2 years...which is just terrible on our part. Please pray for us on our 5 hour trip today and our return trip on Saturday! 2 babies, 3 adults, luggage, 5 hours...ok...I'm still trying to process this!

Doobie Brother's and Bad Company

Jon and I went to Walnut Creek (first date in a long time...K was with g'ma and g'pa (thank you soooo much)) to watch the Doobie Brother's and Bad Company play. I wasn't to sure if I would enjoy this concert since I don't really listen to this type of music. But I do have to say...there was some great entertainment....and it wasn't necessarily the bands.

We arrived a little early since we had lawn seat tickets and found a nice cozy spot right in the center of the stage. As show time came closer more and more people arrived and took over each and every little area of grass left.

Once the Doobie Brother's started, I realized that I might have gotten the worse seat EVER.

My entertainment for the ENTIRE night (I'm not kidding) was of a man that had the worse dance moves I have ever seen. Jon and I started naming the moves because once we thought we had seen them all, he would jump right into another new move. Since I wasn't really watching the show...I got some great footage of the mystery doobie groupie dancer. Here are some clips of the super cool moves I captured.

Of course while we were there...we had to do our signature moves:

Bad Company finally played starting around 9 pm. By this time I was a little deaf and pretty smoked out (lets just say there was some gnarly "smoking" going on from the younger crowd beside us and the wind was unfortunately blowing right towards us...yuck). We had a much better time than I thought. I guess I could become a rock star groupie!!!!

The Little DZ Reunion

Kelsey and I drove to Greenville today to visit with The Keith's! I was so happy to see Shelley, Terry and Rainey Grace. K and RG played together as "nicely" as two 1 year olds can...both still learning how to share.

Terry, with his huge imagination, wanted to show me everything from his car in the garage to his sleeping bags...such a sweetie! Shelley and I had a hard time getting a picture of the two girls together, but Shelley was able to catch their attention by making loud mommy noises...so this explains the stunned look on their faces ;)

It was so nice seeing them...wish we could do it more often. Love you guys!

Father's Day Extravaganza!

Today we celebrated Father's Day at Tim and Tonja's house. Since all of the grandchildren were there together, it was a BIG deal! Here is a picture of Keith and Janice (Jon's Parents) and all their grandbabies. This was my favorite out of all the ones that I took.

Kelsey was in quite the mood today....bad mood that is. We could not get her to sit still for very long, she crawled all over the place, and she actually started hitting Alena and Josh on the head (basically looked like a "hard" pat on the head...but still...not acceptable). If you don't believe me...well just look...the pictures speak for themselves.

The Chase (Aunt Tonja with K)

The Wiggler
(Tim/Josh, Jon/Kelsey, Jenny/Alena)

The Pat (poor Josh)

Kelsey, Josh, Alena

We ate some yummy food and hung out for awhile. I got to spend some time with Alena. She has grown so much and has the cutest little grin. Alena likes to grab faces...so when I asked Jenny to take a picture of the two of us, she grabbed on to my "beard" and this was the final outcome ;)

My favorite part of the day...or any day... is watching Jon and Kelsey spend time together. He is such a wonderful Dad. I have never seen a Dad look at his daughter the way Jon looks at Kelsey. He loves her more than anything in the world. It always makes my heart melt!

A match made in heaven!!!

These Boots are Made For Walkin'

Guess who's ready to walk?!?!? You're right...it's the new big girl Kelsey. Yesterday we practiced walking and were suprised to see that K can take 5-7 steps on her own before she falls. It was so exciting to watch. Here...you'll have to see for yourself!!!

Teeth Pool Bumps

Life is grand...well until I went to the dentist today. I haven't seen a dentist in almost 10 years and who would have guessed I would get absolute annoying news during my "routine cleaning." Turns out I have 4 cavities (what in the world?) and there is a possibility I might need a....ROOT CANAL. Just hearing that word makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand. I'm hoping that the fillings (once I get them) will solve all the pain problems in my poor little mouth. HOLY MOLEY...that'll be a bill!
We all had a relaxing weekend. Jon had to work Sat and then hung out with Ben afterwards. They went to Raleigh Downtown Live to watch Filter play. I am definitely going next time...I love hanging out and listening to music. If only I could get Huey Lewis and the News to play ;) K and I went to Grandma's and Grandpa's house and enjoyed some time at the pool and dinner. K loves the pool!!! She hesitates to sit in her float but I think she's starting to become more independent.
Last night we got to eat dinner with my good friend Stacy. Through all the laughing and joking around, I'm sure we annoyed a few neighbors sitting near us at Chili's. Stacy brought her friend Mike (who was super awesome) and we shared our completely embarrassing stories of high school and summer adventures with him....Stace...Hope we didn't scare him away ;) Here's a pic of Stacy and Kelsey (K is not a fan of camera flashes anymore...so her eyes are closed in most pictures now...ahhhh!):

Kelsey has finally learned how to give hugs...well....we call them head bumps! She gives them to her stuffed animals, to the carpet, to doors, to legs, to her gates, to our cat Sammy, to us of course, and now to other people. The best part is the "Awwwww" sound that follows each head bump. She is so loving and sweet...we are just so lucky! Muah!

Last little update...I have lost 3.6 (1.2 this week) lbs since I last wrote on my blog. Woooooo-hoooooo!

School's Out For Sum-ah!

What a relief!!! No more school...no more office referrals, no more cursing, no more fighting, no more yelling, no more grading, no more writing, no more phone calls home, no more meetings, no more waking up early, no more lesson planning, no more filing!
On a sad note...no more hugs, no more "dear teacher" letters, no more dancing, no more games, no more drawings, no more lightbulb moments, no more 4th graders! They have all grown up and have embarked on their next journey....5th grade!
As for me...I plan on taking it EASY...until I receive my next set of students in August! May my hair not turn gray for yet another year?!?!

The Month Early Birthday!

We just finished celebrating Kelsey's 1st birthday (1 month early). I knew Mom was flying in for the weekend and really wanted her to be there for a "Kelsey occasion," so I made some quick plans and created a small little party. Here are one of the few pictures Kelsey doesn't have her eyes closed...so precious!

Grandma, Cindy, Jimmy, Warren, Tenille, Alex, Sharon and Bethany all showed up to see mom and join in the festivities. I was so happy and grateful they could be there. Kelsey really warmed up to Uncle Warren...I did too when I was little!After our little cookout, we sang "Happy Birthday" and then it was time for Kelsey to have her first sugar-filled food. I gave her a cupcake hoping she would go for it and devour the whole thing, but sure enough, all she accomplished was shredding the poor little cupcake it to a million crumbs smothered with frosting. Not a single handful actually entered her mouth...she is so silly!

Cupcake Before

Cupcake After

There was cupcake remnants in every nook and cranny of the high chair and all in her clothes. So I immediately had to give her a bath...what a sticky mess!!!

When it was time to open presents, Alex was a HUGE help! He brought the gifts over, peeled a portion of the wrapping paper, and actually showed Kelsey how to open her presents. She is such a big girl...Mommy is so proud!

Thank you everyone for all the super gifts...finally Kelsey has some new toys that keep her occupied. Now I just wonder how long they will hold her attention?!?!? Hmmmm!

Before we left I made sure Kelsey got a picture with Great-Grandma! Can you believe there were four generations of English's together?!?! This will always be a special moment I will hold near and dear to my heart!