We are so grateful to have Genevieve with us now. She is such a peaceful baby... for now. Aydia is very excited about being a big sister and always wants to hold her baby sister. Genevieve already has her daddy wrapped around her finger; I wonder if she will be a big "daddy's girl" like Aydia. I am doing well, I think I am finally getting some more sleep. Kris is back at work and we are trying to settle into a new routine. I can't say that taking care of two kids is necessarily hard but its exhausting!!!

Aydia the Big Sister

Eat Better America Challenge

Okay, so I watched this documentary the other day on obesity in America. The next day I threw out a bunch of junk food I found in my fridge (okay I threw away some). We generally eat pretty healthy in my house but sometimes I fall off the wagon! I made a challenge for myself this week to make one recipe each day this week from www.eatbetteramerica.com website. If you've never visited this site, do it! They have some great recipes. Anyways, I will post my thoughts on what I've made. Join me and let me know which recipes are worth trying!

Parmesan Crusted Fish

My rating: 5 out of 5

Yum... Fish. This was so good. I used the halibut Kris brought back from Alaska. Aydia ate a few bites- I think she liked the flavor but has issues with the texture of fish. This is definitely one of my favorite fish recipes now!

Stir Fried Broccoli & Mushrooms with Tofu

My rating 4 out of 5

I really like this. Served on top of brown rice. Aydia ate all of her bowl with a little bit of coaxing. This is not a salty dish-contains only 1 Tablespoon of low sodium Soy sauce. Changes made: I didn't use Tofu I used a few strips of pork loin (about 1/4 lb) and replaced dry sherry with a spoonful of sugar.

Blueberry Breakfast Cereal Bread

My rating: 3 out of 5

This bread was pretty good. It was very hearty and filling. Not too sweet (I don't like super sweet breads). Changes made- I did half whole wheat flour. I used grated lemon peel and I think next time I will try the orange peel or omit it. It left a tart aftertaste I wasn't that fond of.

Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi

I wanted to enjoy one last vacation before the baby. We took an overnight trip with my parents and my brother Dan. The water was actually quite refreshing!

Feeding the Dolphins at Sea World

I love this dolphin's pose... he looks so happy!

Oohhh! Sparkly Makeup

Aydia loves to play with makeup. She got some kid makeup for her birthday but it made her break out into hives; so I let her raid my makeup bag every now and then.

For the Love of Books

As some of you know, Aydia loves to read books. This pile-easy reading. She usually holes herself up in her room for about an hour each day and "reads" her book collection. Kris needs to hurry up and build her some more bookshelves!!!

Getting Dressed All By Myself

Reindeer Run

My sis in law Christi and I ran the Reindeer Run 5K last Saturday. It was a lot of fun! Next time our husbands will be running at our sides... or in our dust!

Merry Christmas Michelle!

I've been hinting all year long about what I wanted for Christmas. If any of you have ever seen my old oven, you would understand! The large burner went out, there was no window (can you believe that?) and it was not self-cleaning and let's just say it really needed to be cleaned! Anyways, thanks Kris for granting me my Christmas wish. He installed it while I was out late with some friends, and it took me forever to notice it. I finally walked into the kitchen and Bam! There it was!

Helping Trim Abuelita's Christmas Tree

Notice Aydia's "dancing princess" dress? She has discovered the movie, Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses. She watches it everyday... When I got her this dress, she was so excited she wanted to put it on and watch the movie at the same time.

Isn't she precious?

The Hammock

Most kids ignore this until they see another kid in it. And then... hey, who needs turns? Lets just stuff them all in at the same time!

Its finally done!

So... Kris tends to build stuff when he has time off. It all started with this little clubhouse to the left about a year ago and now we have a beast of a playground in our backyard. I told Kris that if we ever move he will have to build this all over again. This thing will entertain for hours! Oh yeah, thanks Dan (my big bro) for helping out!

Aydia's Best Buds

Every now and then we watch our neighbors (Hurt family) kids. Emmy is Aydia's "Best Friend". This time they got to stay really late and have a Pajama party. They all fell asleep on the floor or couch and were carried home by dad late that night. When Aydia woke up the next morning she said, "uh, oh! Where's my friends?"

Halloween 2008

Our Little Ladybug

Aydia's Chapstick Obsession

I try hard to hide any chapstick or lip gloss (or "lips" as Aydia calls it). Much to my dismay she always manages to find it. Aydia will spend about an hour walking around rubbing the gunk all over her face. I've resorted to hiding the stuff; unfortunately I tend to forget where I hide them and a few weeks later Aydia comes around the corner with sticky hands and cheeks!!!

Aydia and her mischief

My little monkey loves to climb and look for treats.


Kris put up a swing on our deck. Aydia loves swinging; hopefully we will put up a swing set soon. This lone swing tends to instigate a lot of fights...

Aydia's Haircut

There's that famous scowl...

While we were camping I just couldn't help noticing how crazy Aydia's hair looked. So we decide to chop it off as soon as we got home. She looks ADORABLE!!!

Oh, A Camping We Will Go...

Guadalupe State Park Family and Friends Camping Trip

Do We Look Tired?

I don't know about everyone else, but camping sucks the life out of me!

Smoke? What Smoke?

Whole Wheat Recipes

Whole Wheat Honey Bread
This tastes similar to that expensive loaf I've been buying.

1 1/8 cups warm water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup honey
1 Tablespoon dry milk powder
1 1/2 Tablespoons shortening
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select preferred setting (I actually choose BASIC not Whole Wheat setting & remove a few minutes early) and press start.

Whole Wheat Recipes

I have always been a fan of baking with whole wheat. A few weeks back I was determined to find/create the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I also wanted to create a "healthier" cookie. Okay, how healthy can cookies really be? Several of you have requested the recipe and my husband has now dubbed me the "Cookie Queen". Anyways here is what I came up with; enjoy. This is my idea of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I wont be offended if you think otherwise!!!

1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 (1 1/2 sticks) cup butter, room temp
1 1/4 cup Brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup quick cooking oats (reg. works fine, just place in food processor to grind)
1 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (nothing but the best!)

Preheat 350. Stir flour, baking soda, & salt. In large bowl cream butter and sugar until light. Beat in vanilla and egg. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
Bake 9-11 minutes.

Some of the old gang

So part of the reason my friends Erin and Kelly were in San Antonio was to attend a choir reunion/performance on Saturday night. I was not in choir but wanted to see old friends who were in choir and and also saw some old running buddies! So weird seeing everyone after all these years! Good to see everyone is happy and successful!