ALMOST wordless Wednesday...

I guess mommy blogs too much...

presh or WHAT?

Punkin's New Swing Set!!

KeeKee & Pops got Punkin' a lil swing set for his first birthday!  Once again...I didn't get one till I was TWO, but I guess times change!  :P

Dad came over & put it together Saturday morning before the big game.  Sadly enough, I honestly thought he would pull out all the pieces & then just hire someone to do it.  That's what he does with just about...EVERYTHING.  So...he proved me wrong & put the WHOLE thing together himself!  VERY impressive!  :P

Punkin' LOVED the finished product!  He couldn't get enough of the swinging in!

"Why are ya'll just standing there...PUSH ME!"

He REALLY likes the slide!  He'll slide down it himself, but he's a BIT hesitant that you'll leave him!  :P   After he gets to the end, he turns around & wants to slide UP the slide!  Ha!

Thank you KeeKee & Pops for my new swing set!!

Good Night Moon.

I am so blessed to have such a GREAT roommate who loves my child, doesn't mind LIVING with a child, AND someone that my child loves OH.SO.MUCH!  Sometimes he even chooses her over me.  I guess cause he's with me all.the.time & she's someone different!  :P  (or at least that's what I tell myself!)

He LOVES her room...AND everything in it!  He likes to take her head bands, &...get this...put them on his head!  HA!  I'm telling you...he's a smart one!  :P  When she has her door shut to her room, & he knows she's in there, he will knock/bang on her door until she opens it! HA!  We laugh SO hard every time he does this!

The other day Mary Beth (the babysitter) picked me & Amy up from school to take us to lunch & Punkin was in the car with her.  He SCREAMED.LIKE.A.LITTLE.GIRL when we both got in the car!  He did not know what to think!  He was just SOO excited, & kept screaming & screaming!  We LOVED it!

I love that Punkin' loves Amy so much.  She couldn't believe he actually laid there with her & chilled the other night while she read him a book!  He will do that every once & a while, but not very often!  :P

I think living with us is definitely preparing Amy for mommy hood!  She tells him she loves him all the time, & I just say, "Wait till you have your own!"  In a nice way...not mean.  She just THINKS she loves Punkin' as much as she can, but one day she will love her own EVEN more!

Thanks for being a great roomie & friend to me & my Punkin!

Cozy Coupe & TEETH!

KeeKee & Pops got Punkin' a cozy coupe for his birthday!  I didn't get one till I was TWO from my grandparents, but I guess he's EXTRA special! 

KeeKee had to come put it together for us...cause you know GOOD & WELL I wasn't going to be able to!  :P

He loves it!  He climbs in & out of it all.day.long!  He even tries to just climb out the back or the side without the door!  If he falls out...he doesn't even care!  We left the floor board in it until he is old enough to actually roll it around himself...but until then, he loves us pushing him around the house in it!

Another thing Punkin like to do...CHEW ON HIS CRIB!!!  I walked in their one day after his nap & his face was covered in blackish specks.  I was like "what the heck!?"  Come to find out...it was from chewing on his crib!  I was so upset, but what's there to do?  I let him know that that was a no-no & swatted his hand.  I guess that didn't work...because it has gotten worse AND he did it on the front rail as well as the side.   :/

It's only a piece of furniture right...but STILL.  

Allison's "rice surprise"...!

I am always looking for new recipes to try, & my friend Allison gave me this easy, but delicious one to try!  Ryder will even be able to eat it before long!  It was VERY filling, & my dad REALLY like it, which says a lot for how easy & simple it is!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground chuck (or whatever you use...hamburger meat)

1/2 block of Velveeta

1 can RoTel

1/2 package of taco seasoning

1 cup of white rice

I bought "boil in a bag" rice and used two bags.  Heat them up in the microwave or oven as directed.

While your rice is cooking, brown & drain you hamburger meat.

Add your rice to your skillet of cooked meat.

Add your can of RoTel (I did NOT drain..)

Cut up your 1/2 block of Velveeta into cubes & place in the skillet.

Stir all ingredients together & begin to heat so the cheese can melt.

Keep stirring until the cheese is melted.

Add your 1/2 a package of taco seasoning...

Stir all together & it's ready to go!  It's great rolled up in a tortilla, or even as a dip with Scoops tortilla chips!

...my sweet love.

Punkin is into so many new things!  It's amazing how fast they change and all the new things they catch on to SO fast!  The weather cooled off for a bit & then it got super hot again!  I let him play outside when I can, but I end up just chasing him the whole time & that wears me OUT!

He got this ball for his birthday from Jake, & he loves it!  It's so heavy & he just lugs it around!  I like to think it's making him strong!  :P

We are running out of things for wear for summer...nothing fits any more, except for a few things, so I just have to keep everything CLEAN!  I don't see any sense in going out and buying new summer stuff, when it's hopefully about to be fall weather time anyways!

Doesn't he look like a little boy now, & not a "baby"?  :/  This mommy is sad & happy at the same time.

I can't seem to get a good picture of him any more anyways...he is always.on.the.move!!!  I love it though!  He has even started to run!  It's too cute!  & I love to hear his bare feet on the hardwood slappin' around!

When I picked him up from the nursery on Sunday, they told me that he was kissing everyone on the head!  Grabbing them, and kissing them!  When I thought about it, he had JUST started doing that to me that morning!!  He has finally put it all together from the kisses that people give him, & started to kiss other people!

He kissed Amy yesterday totally out of the blue, but then got embarrassed when we asked him to do it again!  He stayed with my parents for an hour or so last night while I had class, & mom said he would bend down & kiss Trixi (their dog) but never her!  After I got there to get him, Pops was carrying him to the other room & Ryder grabbed his face & kissed him on the check!  KeeKee was SOO not happy with that!  :P

Here we are with our CRAZY cousins!  Aidan & Sterling!  Ryder is telling you he is one!  I've been trying to teach it to him for a few weeks now, & now when I say stuff like "One more bite" or "One at a time" he'll put the number one up!  SO smart!  :P

He got SOO many great new toys at his party that I am still sorting through, & opening and trying to put away!  I can't wait to see him learn, & grow & develop even more with all these new gadgets!

He has started to imitate alot of things people do.  I was hammering something earlier, & he picked up his hammer & started hitting the floor!  Jake threw him some socks the other day just playing & Ryder picked them up & threw them back at him!  It's the little things that make watching this lil man grow so joyful & entertaining!  We love him so much!

Abby's Corn Dip!

Here is an easy, great, "go-to" dip without hardly any cooking involved!  We used to make this in the dorm room for a snack!  It was always gone by the end of the night!  :P My friend Abby's grandma made it, so that's why I call it "Abby's Corn Dip".  You might even have all the ingredients in your pantry!

Ingredients:

2 cans of corn (drained)

1 can of original RoTel

I block of cream cheese

1/4 pkg. of taco seasoning

It would be best if you let your cream cheese sit out at room temperature to soften.  Throw in a microwavable bowl.

Drain both cans of corn...

...and add them to your cream cheese.  

Add the can of RoTel (I did not drain).

Place in microwave for 1 minute increments...

Stir & then place back in the microwave until cream cheese is fully melted.  Add a LITTLE BITTY BIT of taco seasoning.  The less the better...honestly.  If there is to much in there it will be too hot to eat!

I know it might look like something you would serve to pigs, but it is a huge delicious bowl of mush!  :P HA!

Food & Decorations..

I've been searching the web & planning decorations & recipes for his party for months!  I was constantly saving pictures into a folder on my desk top of things I wanted to recreate or do spin offs of!

I was very pleased with how everything turned out, even though I was totally stressed out about the whole deal..that's just me..I can't help it!  :P  I feel like I totally neglected my child & my studies the past for weeks trying to pull all this off!  :P

In the office we had a "sweets" table.  It included, a cupcake tower, cupcake pops, a tree with pictures from different months of Punkin's life, & a few foods that didn't fit on the other table!

I made the cupcake tower out of old boxes, kraft paper and some ribbon!  I added Punkin's initials to the three boxes.  I made the cupcakes (with coconut oil instead of vegetable) as well as the cupcake toppers!

Cupcake pops just like in this post.  You can visit Bakerella's website here for step-by-step instructions! They are so fun, and there are endless possibilities.  She actually just came out with a book!

The table in the entry.  I wanted to have a memory of all of Punkin's guests, and what better way than a matted picture I can put in a frame in his room for years to come!?

Also in the entry were cookies for guests to grab on their way out since it was a "drop-in"!  

What was on the menu?

You can find the recipe here!

We served old school glass bottles of Orange Crush to go along with the theme!  Each silverware packet had a straw in it, so it was perfect & they were a HUGE hit!!

We also had KeeKee's famous sweet tea!  What party in the south is complete without sweet tea!?

The table in the kitchen!  It had all the "real food" on it!  As well as another tree, some picture frames and mason jars tied with some rafia, with votive candles inside of them surrounded by coffee beans!

This was actually my hair chair when I was little!  KeeKee found it up in the attic (she had forgotten about it!) just in time for the party!  It was perfect!

My grandma made the bib and the cake made it all the way down here from Rick's! thanks to Auntie Dell!

"Ryder is 1!" banner was made by mwah!

As well as this one...it hung on the fireplace in the living room.

Tissue pom-poms to add some color to the living room!  You can find the tutorial here.

And...last but not least!  Some hand-towels that matched the rest of the party!