Recipe Monday

Okay, so I'm not super adventurous when it comes to taking liberties with recipes.  I pretty much follow all recipes to a T unless it is something I make a lot and then I skip the measuring cup & spoons.  But that's about it. I mean putting banana bread mix into a muffin pan for Banana Bread Muffins was a stretch for me. Ya know, cause it wasn't supposed to be muffin mix. But Nate loved them anyway - the boy can put away some banana bread.

In an effort to find another family friendly meal...i.e...something we will ALL eat happily, I decided to try a baked spaghetti. Told ya I was adventurous.  I couldn't find the exact recipe I was looking for online, so I decided I would just try making baked ziti - substituting angel hair for the ziti.  I know, soooooo going out on a limb:)

But everyone loved it! Nate & Lila both asked for seconds. Winner! They love baked ziti too, but I'd say they love this just a little more. 

Baked Spaghetti (adapted from Amanda's Baked Ziti recipe)

1 16 oz pkg angel hair pasta (I broke the pasta into 3 equal parts before cooking)
1 jar pasta sauce
1 lb ground beef
1 cup Sour cream
Provolone cheese (I used 8 slices)
2 cups mozzarella cheese

I put this into 2 disposable pans so that I could freeze one. You could make it in a large pan, but it makes so much that half is plenty for us to each and take for lunch the next day.

Brown ground beef and drain. Return to pan. Add pasta sauce and let simmer.

Boil water and cook noodles according to package directions. Drain.

I pour a little bit of pasta sauce in the bottom of each pan before beginning. Then layer, noodles, provolone cheese, sour cream (spread), sauce mixture, noodles, sauce mixture, mozzarella cheese. I've done it out of order and it still tastes good!

So there's my not-so-adventurous departure from real life. Enjoy!

Grant's Farm

We made our first trip to Grant's Farm of the season on Saturday. It was between thunderstorms/tornados and we thought the misty rain was going to blow over. It eventually did, but the animals did not get the memo, so we didn't see much. Thank goodness the carriages and horses are inside. 

I'm realizing that I don't have many pictures of Nate & Lila together. Guess who is the problem with pictures these days? Little Lulu. I feel for certain this would have been a winning picture if they/I had not been in motion while trying to take it.

And then we had trouble getting Lila back to Nate (there were Dippin Dots involved), so Nate indulged me with a solo picture.

And then the heavens opened up and they are both looking in the general direction of the camera with semi-smiles on their faces.

That's about all I can ask for these days folks. 

Anniversary #11

 Today is our 11th wedding anniversary - how did it go by so fast?

Windows on Richmond Place

I kind of joke that our house is always under contstruction. But it's true. Not major construction, but most definitely always under minor construction. We've talked about replacing these windows since we moved here 5 years ago. It's just not one of those things that is on the top of the list. Until one day when Abatha decides it must be done. Right, Scott?

Well a few weeks ago, after several gentle reminders (ok, maybe not so gentle), Scott got on the ball and found a great local company to do the windows. After purchasing the windows, they referred us to a local installer, who did a great job replacing our old and older windows.

These are the new windows in the office. There are 5. Yes, 5. It could double as a sun room at times. But the shift in temperature is much less apparent with these windows!



These windows were probably original to the addition, which I'm guessing got put in circa 1940s or 50s. The installer had no problem popping them out and putting the new ones in. Yay! Windows we can finally open! The other ones were mostly painted shut.

Then there are these beauties. This is our front porch window. The installer, who works mostly in the Maplewood area, said these were the oldest windows he has ever worked on. He said they were most probably original to the house. Which was built in 1921 I believe. Can y'all believe that??

He thought he might have to do brick repair to get the old casings out. But he didn't. Thank goodness. He did have to build a new casing, which you can see above - it hasn't been painted yet.

I didn't know I could get so excited about windows! But these new ones are pretty much making my day. Thanks to my husband for managing this project!

Fishing in SE MO

During Charleston's finest weekend, we made time to go to Hamil & Sarah's and fish. Well. Scott & Nate fished. My mom baited hooks. I sat in the golf cart trying not to think it was cold. Everyone tried to keep Lila from jumping off the dock. Including me directing traffic from said golf cart.



She is a mess. With a capital M. Nate would have not come near water when he was her age. The differences are massive.

Nate caught a fish! So excited and a little freaked out at the same time.

I love his expression here! He does really love to be at the farm. I'm glad I can share such an important part of my childhood with him. He loves to be out in the yard, making up stories with no one else around. I used to love that too.

Hopefully next time we fish, it will be a tad bit warmer! It was a beautiful day though - so crisp and green. Happy Spring! (finally - we had to go through a little summer to get here!)

DA 12

Dogwood Azalea Festival was this past weekend. It truly is Charleston's finest weekend. The dogwoods and azaleas are usually beautiful, but this year, our summer in March made them bloom a little too early. But they were beautiful a few weeks ago. And the town in itself, without the blooming, was beautiful this weekend.

On Saturday morning, we attended the parade. We haven't missed a year since Nate was born and we'll hopefully keep it that way!



So hard to get a picture with my sweet boy. He just cannot bring himself to do it:)

Lila liked the parade - she was an angel the whole time. She probably thought the pomp & circumstance was for her.  She especially liked the dogs - any dog for that matter. The child has no fear.

The 5K was on Sunday and my parents plus all the volunteers did a fabulous job once again. Even though it started raining at the end of registration. The race still had 247 runners cross the finish line even in the rain! Sets a new record, which we've been doing every year here lately. Kudos to all involved!

Sometimes...

it's downright painful to sit next to your mother...

More to come after a brief hiatus last week! 

24 Hours in D.C.

This weekend, my Mom, Aunt Lee and I jet-setted to Washington, DC to see my cousin, Paul get married to his beautiful, now-wife, Meg. It was a whirwind trip, evidenced by my tired and puffy face in this picture. Lots of planes, trains and automobiles that day. I can't help but warn you. 

But it was so worth it to be with our DeLaney family. The wedding site was beautiful - the Little Sanctuary at the National Cathedral was a perfect place for their union to begin. So simple and elegant

My cousin Stan and I at the reception - it was so so great to see him and his family.

This is a terrible terrible quality picture, but it is the only one I have of the bride & groom, so here goes!

Best wishes to the newlyweds!

Recipe Monday, I mean Thursday

I'm a little behind on searching out new recipes. And I know my 2 readers wait excitedly each week for me to post something:) Well I found something post-worthy this week! 

Lila & I love rice. Nate likes rice. Scott doesn't love or like rice. Hence, I don't make it much. But I decided to go out on a limb and see if we would like this crock pot recipe found on Crockin' Girls. Check out this site if you haven't yet.

I made a few changes to this recipe, mostly just for personal taste.

Slow Cooked Chicken & Rice (http://www.crockinggirls.com/)

3 cans condensed cream of chicken soup (I used 2 cans - 1 chicken & 1 mushroom)
2 cups quick cooking rice
1 cup water
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenders
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 cup chopped celery (I left this out)

Place chicken in the bottom of slow cooker and top with celery (optional). Add soup, water, and seasonings to taste. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours and the last 30 minutes add the uncooked rice to the chicken mixture.

So good! Even Scott liked it!

Enjoy!

AB's Clothing School

Some of you ask, and I love to talk about, Lila's clothes. I really only have about a tenth of the gene you need to dress your children adorably, but with girls, that's about all you can afford to have anyway! Even when I didn't have a girl, I took great pride, and still do, in Nate's clothing. I love to shop for their clothes, pick out their clothes, and wash their clothes. I don't really like the act of putting on their clothes, or making them put on their clothes, but who does. I like how they look once they are on!

Since having Lila, I've had to get creative, since there are so many cute options out there. Most of them are expensive. These are not my original ideas, I picked them up on mom blogs over the past year. These are 2 that I use with much success.

1. Ebay

I know you are thinking "ewwwwww, used clothes over the internet!" Right. Me too. But here's the deal. Many moms (and grandmas) overbuy for their little girls. And since little kids grow so fast, many of these clothes never get worn, and if they do, it's only 1-2 times. Enter Ebay. Lots of clothing is posted as NWT (New with tags), NWOT (New without tags) and EUC (Excellent used condition). These are items that have never been worn by the seller's little ones or worn very few times. Wash them up and you are on your way. And they are a FRACTION of the cost to buy them new.

So you plan and perfect your bidding strategy and you are off to the races. I've paid on average $10-$15 for smocked, name brand dresses and outfits. The bidding has gotten a little more competitive as more moms have figured this out, but it is still worth your time to logon and check it out.

I search by size and lowest price most often, and sometimes I will put in my favorite, known brands. Or just the word "smocked." 

Another tidbit is that you can also search for monogrammed items.  So I do that every once in a while too (i.e. Monogrammed L 18 month).

2. Facebook has provided the opportunity for many local boutiques to sell their inventory online without the cost of a website, etc...The original prices on the items are not cheap, but I wait for them to clearance out their store. They mark the outfits down to over half price and many come with monogram & shipping.

These small stores don't hang on to their inventory, so at the end of the season, they mark the items down to sell. This is the time to buy and start planning for the next season.

A few of my favorites:

Frogs & Frills
My Bella Bums
Smockaroos

Good luck shopping! If you are into this kind of stuff of course...and if not, consider yourself schooled in the Abatha Boyle way of shopping for kids clothes!

Happy Easter!

We had a most fabulous Easter weekend. Mimi & Paka flew in on Friday morning and since Nate was off school, the three of us went to fetch them. I thought about doing an activity after we got them, but decided that I didn't want to over program the weekend. So we headed back to our house to play in the backyard and soak up this wonderful weather.

Lila got a ride from Paka, whom she fell in love with over the weekend. She would say "Pak! Pak!" and hug his legs whenever he walked into the room. I'm not sure who was happier.

I wish Lila would have liked this pose. But. Well. She didn't. Thanks to Nate for flashing me somewhat of a smile.

Dyeing Easter eggs outside...it was very bright so Nate had to sport his shades.

We put Mimi & Paka to work!

On Saturday morning, one of the local churches sponsored an Egg Hunt at our park down the street. There were masses of kids and I was proud that we live in such a great area. Our kids had a great time, even though Nate was a little timid. I couldn't blame him - competing for eggs with kids twice his size.

Trying to negotiate a picture with Mimi & her Boyle grandkids. We failed.

I mean seriously. I could eat her with a spoon. Not really. But she is really that sweet.

I love the special relationship that Mimi has with her first born grandchild.

We were sitting in the living room and the cat really wanted to be part of the action. And since KP doesn't get near enough air time, here's the one and only Kitty Paus.

When did he get so tall and thin??? He wore size 7 pants to church today. And even though there were way too big in the waist, he totally pulled them off in length.

Hunting eggs after nap. Both kids were tired and cranky when they got up (Nate wasn't even supposed to be sleeping but when I went and checked on him, he was snoozing hard), but a little egg hunting helped the attitudes. At least for a minute.

My sweet boy...I love everything about him. Even when he makes me go out of my mind:) That's normal, right?

Lila really just wanted the Hershey kisses inside the eggs. She's our sweet tooth.

Nate pontificating about Easter eggs. I know you wish you would have been here to hear it:)

It was so pretty that we ate our Easter dinner outside. We were so blessed with beautiful weather this weekend!

And this sums up how we feel after a fantabulous weekend with Mimi & Paka. So tired:)

Happy Easter!! I hope all of you had a fantastic day celebrating!

Sam A. Baker 2012

This past weekend, we all headed to Sam A. Baker, AKA the place where you don't get any cell service (at least Verizon customers). It is also the area where that serves as the backdrop for the movie "Winter's Bone." Beautiful, gorgeous part of the country.

My parents started this weekend trip when Hamil was just 3 weeks old. That was 30 years ago. I've only missed 2 meetings of the weekend and that was when I lived in Atlanta.  The first weekend in April has become a fabulous time for family and friends. I'm so thankful that some of my dear college friends join us. It has become a tradition for their families as well, and this makes me so happy! I didn't get any pictures of Kurt, Robyn, Megan or Drew, but a good time was had by them too:)

Lila on Saturday morning. Sam A. Baker is one of the few places where you get up, get dressed, get out the door before you have your breakfast. She had to come back in to eat. Not looking too happy about that or me taking her picture either.



The 3 Stooges - Nate, Myra & Reid. They had so much fun together and I'm so happy they pick up where they left off, even though we don't get to see them as much as we'd like!

Searching out some poor creature (a spider) in this tree. Many trips inside to fill up the water guns.

Chilling out on the float down Big Creek on Saturday. It was so warm that the kids were constantly in the water!

Lila & Scott joined us toward the end of the day so that she could experience her first canoe ride. She loved it and exclaimed "Water" over and over again. When I let her out of the boat, she walked toward the water and promptly fell in. Oh well, she had her life jacket on. She got up and went about what she was doing. I think she will fit in nicely with the canoeing part of the family. Not saying I'm in that part. This is, in fact, the only time I go canoeing every year. But I do love it for this one day. Truly.

Here's to another 30 and beyond!

Flower Girl

While I get my act together documenting our 30th celebration of the Best Saturday of the Year (aka Sam A. Baker weekend) and Lila's first canoe ride, enjoy some photos of Lila with the soon to be flowers in our front yard.



Recipe Monday

Just in time for Easter, here's a sweet one...It's also a treasured family recipe from my Aunt Mil.

Pecan Chewies

1 lb light brown sugar
1 stick margarine
3 eggs
1 tsp vinegar
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 cup pecans, chopped

Cream together brown sugar & margarine. Add eggs one at a time, beat well. Add other ingredients and mix well.

Bake in greased 9x13 pan at 350 for 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!