Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
1 package yellow cake mix
1 (3.9 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1/4 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk chocolate chips
Mix together all ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes in a bundt pan coated with cooking spray.
Enjoy!
My three precious ones...
Nate and I made banana bread - he still likes to cook with me. Wonder how long that will last?
And to close, aren't these so sweet??
I woke up excited that morning. Ecstatic that Scott & I were finally getting married. I didn't feel nervous, but anxious that everything would turn out the way I thought it would. Soon, I was off with my mom and sister to attend a bridal luncheon in my honor at Mrs. Winchester's house. The boys were off to Mrs. Vicki's to eat at hearty lunch. After the luncheon, and a short rest at my parents house, my mom dropped me off at the church to meet Jane Ellis, who was going to do my hair and makeup. I walked into the church and I was the only one there. I wandered into the nursery where the girls would be getting ready. I set my bags down and sat down on the floor. I allowed myself to lay down for a minute. I prayed. I thanked God for Scott and that we were brought together. It felt good to be peaceful.
Jane Ellis arrived and quickly went to work on my hair and makeup. We were by ourselves for a little while. Talking and laughing. It was special.
My mom and sister walked in. My future mother-in-law and sister-in-law arrived with Seleta in tow too. Then the rest of the girls arrived. They brought gossip magazines to read while they waited. My Aunt Kathy and Aunt Lee were there too. The next hour consisted of hair, makeup and nails. Once everyone was beautified, we walked out into the sanctuary for pictures. They took a long time. My family was patient (?) 
After pictures, we went back to the nursery to hang out. Time seemed to stand still until it was time to go. I was worried that when I opened my mouth to speak my vows that nothing would come out. My Dad finally came in to get me. He was breathing deeply to hold back the tears. I thought about how much I loved him and how thankful I was that he could walk me down the aisle. 
After all the girls went down the aisle, Mayme changed the music and off we went. I was shocked at the number of people in the church. This many people really loved us enough to come to our wedding? Wow. 
I saw Scott. He saw me. We cried. I left my veil on for the ceremony. We tried to listen to the minister. But our heads were swimming with happiness. We tried to light the unity candle. It wouldn't light. Scott stuck his hand in the hot wax to hold the wick while I lit the candle. He does love me. The minister spoke about a recipe for a good marriage. Again, we tried to listen. Finally we exchanged rings. Scott lifted the veil and we had our first married kiss. Mayme started the music up again and off we went down the aisle.
We headed off to the reception at a mansion in Cairo. Our cake melted. I didn't care. We danced. We visited. The cops made it a party for the history books by showing up. My lawyer cousin discussed probable cause. Finally, it was time to leave for the B.V.I. We said goodbye and were on our way to the rest of our life!
to compare to this...
Lila looks huge compared to Nate (must be the camera angle). I'm still not sure they look much alike for brother and sister. But their poses are scarily similar. 
Lila is 5 months old! wow, wow, wow, can it really be???? I'm not sure what I did to get such a sweet baby, but I'm sure glad I did it!We love Miss Lila Lulu Bell so much! If I could just slow down her growing up, we'd be all good:)
That would be the only picture I have of Nate in his church clothes. I got him a Star Wars t-shirt for his Easter basket and he has barely taken it off! Guess I scored on that one. Here's one of our Easter cuties in her pretty dress. Her eyes were gorgeous because the blue in the dress really made her blue eyes sparkle. 
We had to have our hunt inside because it was raining. I don't think Nate minded too much.
Evan, Olga, and Elena came over for dinner. I did take pictures of Olga and Lila but they didn't turn out - so sad! But I managed to get the other family members. Sweet Elena...she and Nate play well together despite their age difference. Elena likes to follow Nate around and Nate likes to boss. Match made in heaven:)
Elena eats so well and Nate even tried the twice-baked potato after Elena told him it was so good. We need her around more often! 
Lila took it all in, like usual. She was very good until she turned into a pumpkin at 7:00. Bad thing about that set bedtime routine and my young babies. If you are a few minutes off, she'll tell you about it!
Evan and Lila - she was almost at the end of her rope here, but Evan managed a few good minutes. 
I hope everyone had a great Easter!! 
I am not a coffee drinker, but when we moved to STL a few years ago and I started working in the home office, it was cold. Really cold in the office. So I started drinking tea. This is my favorite tea and I use honey to sweeten it. Love the extra boost of caffeine in the morning and it warms me up!
Back in the day, I used to be a religious lipstick applier. Then when I started working in the home office, I slacked off. I mean, really, what's the point? This meant that all my lipstick dried up because I got out of the habit of wearing it when I did go out of the house. I've always loved Burt's Bees and I love this new tinted lip balm! I use Red Dahlia - so easy and quick and doesn't require lip liner or a mirror.
What are you loving these days??Deviled Eggs
6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise
1/4 cup Light Mayonaise
1/2 tsp dry ground mustard
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Paprika for garnish
Pop out (remove) the egg yolks to a small bowl and mash with fork. Add mayonaise, mustard powder, vinegar, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Fill the empty egg shells with the mixture and sprinkle lightly with paprika.
Happy Easter! Enjoy!
Scott had the Masters on and Lila couldn't take her eyes off of it. Future golfer? Maybe. Future lover of TV like her mother? That's more like it. This year, two of the famous Dogwood Azalea 5K runners were injured. Bob Whitehead and my Dad are sitting and their good friend Kevin Willoughbly is standing. He ran this year! I thought it was a monumental occasion that Bob & Dad weren't running and Kevin was - hopefully all 3 of them will be out there next year.
Hamil & Scott are both in green - not planned of course.
The kids came to play while the race was going on - thanks to my wonderful aunts for corraling them while I was working/visiting/taking pictures. 
This year a new award was given out to honor our good friend, Bill Bullard, who passed away earlier this year. It went to the youngest 5K finisher. Bill's wife Vicki was in attendance to present this special award. 
Thanks to all that make this race a success! See you next year!I had a hard time getting Nate to even take a picture at the parade, but finally snuck one by him.
Lila wore this precious sweater that Scott's Aunt Bonnie gave to her when she was born. It is so cute!! I'm glad that she got to wear it to this special occasion (you know - it is a small town so we like to show off our babies at DAF).
Sometimes my camera strap gets in the way of my pictures. And it seems like I take good pictures when that happens. It's funny like that. This one is no exception. Lila "putin" with Debbie. 
My Nana & Grandpa gave Emily this John Deere tractor on her 2nd birthday (I think 2nd). The label is still on the front of it "Happy Birthday Emily." My Grandpa loved a label maker. Truly, he labeled everything. Hamil told a story this weekend that he still finds labels in his house and some of them just say "Mine." As in, Blondie, don't touch. He called my Nana, Blondie. Anyway, here's my Nate on the tractor. He says it always needs oil. And he's right :)
Paprika Chicken
6 boneless chicken breasts
1 tsp poultry seasoning
2 tsp paprika
pepper to taste
A pinch of garlic powder
Lay chicken in greased baking dish. Mix seasonings together, and then sprinkle mixture over chicken evenly.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 375 for 50-60 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink inside.
Note: I used Paula Deen's House Seasoning to substitute for the poultry seasoning, pepper and garlic.
Enjoy!!
You see, I didn't even know what wheezing sounded like. But when Lila had a cough that would not go away, I started to listen. I thought I could hear her chest rasp when she was breathing. I told Scott I thought she might be wheezing. He talked me out of it saying it was reverberations or something like that. Her disposition was great, she didn't have a fever, so off she went to school.
When I got to school to pick her up, she broke my heart. Poor child looked so sad with watery eyes and a cough that wouldn't stop. The teacher said, "I think she's wheezing." Well, that's all I needed to hear. We grabbed Nate from his classroom and took off towards the doctor's office. Thankfully our pediatrician got us in within 15 minutes of me calling.
We arrive at the doctor's office and I observe our appearance (typically I make sure we look halfway decent when visiting the doctor's office). It was Pajama Day at school so Nate had on his pajamas. And I guess Lila had spit up on her original outfit because she had on her spare clothes (which means I didn't like the outfit very much so I sent it to school), no pants, and fresh spit-up on her shirt. We looked like the ragamuffin bunch. I had no diaper, no pacifier, no nothing. I mean, we were coming straight home like we always do. Lesson learned.
Do you have a history of asthma? No. Did Nate ever wheeze? No. Do you have wheezing in your family? No. Do you smoke? No. Does your husband smoke? No. Is Nate sick (he's standing right there)? Not really. Is someone sick in her class? Probably. Well, I'm glad you brought her in. She's wheezing and working very hard to breathe. Alrighty then.
They taught me how to administer the breathing treatment right on the spot. It helped. So they sent us home with a spacer and prescription for an inhaler. What fun I thought. It may or may not be RSV. But this kind of stuff usually peaks on day 5-7, she says. We were on day 4. Fabulous news.
I could not get a hold of Scott so I hauled both kids to Target to get the inhaler. We were victims of a few impulse buys while waiting for the prescription. We got home, ate dinner, and settled in for a rough night with a baby that can't breathe. We made it and are getting better with the inhaler.
A new experience for us! Parenting always has something up it's sleeve. Just when you think you have everything figured out. You don't. And never will. Pleasant thought:)
The week is kicked off by a parade. Scott has attended every year and even though it wasn't convenient for him to go on Monday, I know he wouldn't have missed seeing both of our kids "marching" in the parade. 
I'm not sure what the hats were all about, but I know the kids were excited to wear them! 
We changed her into a summer outfit and she was much happier. She had just woken up and I love her expression. 
We headed off to the zoo to celebrate the warm weather. It was the first time to the zoo by myself with both kids. We did great. I mean, yes, it's a lot more work, but it's worth it and I didn't even think about it being the first time until after we were home. It helps that both kids were angels. 
Nate even let me take his picture quite a few times. I think he looks so good in green & blue! 
I know this picture has shadows, but I love his expression. He had just shouted out to me from a few feet away that he saw a certain kind of butterfly. He called it by name. And I had no idea what he was talking about. He just kept shouting it over and over - it was kind of a technical name (I don't remember it now) and he was so excited that he saw it. We were starting to get stares because he was looking like Encyclopedia Butterfly, so I told him to come over to this chart and point it out. Sure enough, there it was. Correct name and all. 
Ugh. I love having a big boy, but it makes my heart hurt at times because he is so grown up. He is such a big boy. And handsome. And blessed with some awesome hair. 
Outside the penguin house (Yes. I went in. Scott wasn't with us so I had to do my duty as a mother. It wasn't that bad), Nate wanted to get on this ledge. Sure, I said. It wasn't that high. And then he wanted to walk along it. So I told him to hold my hand, while I pushed the stroller with the other hand. We were having a great time. This older gentleman asked me if I needed help. I politely declined. We really were fine. He was looking very concerned for us. And then he asked again. And again. I was glad when Nate got down. 
On Saturday morning, I walked in the living room to find this. It looked like when I used to study and had books laying open everywhere. Nate had his big Lego book open and was doing his own rendition of one of the large space ships. He would study a minute and then construct. Study and then construct. I love it. 
Rice cereal didn't really agree with Sis Lou. So we switched to oatmeal and she seems to be doing much better so far. Nate asked for some oatmeal while Lila was eating hers. So here they are eating oatmeal together. So sweet. 
Here's to Spring hopefully being here for good!! 