Was it just me?

Was it just me?

Or were y'all thinking this also on Wednesday night?

CONDI 2016?

Has a nice ring to it!

We're off to the Beach for the Labor Day Weekend!

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend...

T Minus 5 Days

Roll Tide.  

Let's do this Bama!

16 Months!

Dear Harrison,

You are 16 months old!  And I'm really behind in updating this, but alas, life gets away from us sometimes...

You are about 23-24 pounds and are eating like crazy lately.

You are in Size 12-18 month clothing, and Size 4 diapers.  

You love eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, waffles, pancakes, mac & cheese, pizza, cereal, oatmeal, crescent rolls, homemade muffins, cookies .... CARBS.  

You could care less about meat, fruit, and veggies.  

Thank goodness for Pediasure.

You are so mobile - you're running everywhere!  

And you're climbing.  On everything.  And over everything.  

You're a regular little monkey, and love climbing the stairs, and recently discovered you can crawl on top of the toilet.  Not fun for mommy.  At all.

You're also a pro at throwing temper tantrums. 

You like to throw one in the morning and one at night. 

And your school claims they've never seen one.

Liars.

However, about 99% of the time, you're so precious and sweet.  You still love to snuggle, and I will gladly take it because you're getting so big!  Your school says you are very sweet to the other kiddos, and like to share your food and toys too.

You are still obsessed with Mickey Mouse, Little Einsteins,  Jake & the Neverland Pirates, and Special Agent Oso.  And you have recently discovered Chip from Beauty & the Beast, Flounder from The Little Mermaid and the puppies from 101 Dalmatians.  

You LOVE reading your books, and you love music.  You're also getting quite the rhythm, and we so enjoy watching you jam out with those dance moves of yours!  Dance parties are becoming the norm around here.  

You're still loving ceiling fans, light switches, TV remotes, iPhones, and Kindles.

And by Kindles, I mean breaking mine. 

We love you Bug!

Irish Chicken & Dumplings

I saw a recipe for "Irish Chicken and Dumplings" recently on my new favorite recipe site - 

http://www.momswhothink.com/easy-recipes/irish-chicken-and-dumplings.html.

How authentic!  Original!  Getting back to way of the rustic Irish kitchen!

... I first thought.

And then I saw the "Cream of Chicken" soup requirement.

Nevertheless, I pushed onward and delivered a hearty meal in the Smith kitchen this weekend.

Of course, I made some changes to make it a faster recipe:

1.  2 Cans Cream of Chicken

2.  3 cups water

3.  1 cup chopped celery

4.  2 onions - I only used one.

5.  Salt and Pepper

5.  Poultry seasoning - I didn't use this.

6.  4 Chicken Breasts - I used a pack of 3.

7.  5 Carrots - I just threw in some baby carrots.

8.  1 package frozen green peas

9.  4 potatoes, quartered - I just used 2 (peeled and quartered).

10.  Homemade Dumplings - I cheated and used a can of Pillsbury Grand Biscuits, just cut them up.

It did take a little over 2 hours to do, but I did it in a pot like they said and not the crock pot.  I'm sure it could be easily thrown in the crock pot for a couple of hours on low, and then you could throw in the peas and dumplings at the end. 

Your call.

Either way... YUM.

And it makes a ton... enough for two nights of dinners.

Three cheers for the Irish!

The High and The Low

Sometimes I like to recall The High and The Low of the week... 

lucky for you I'm going to share, right?

The High

Finding this ah-mazing website to help brainstorm and organize our Dinner Menu.

http://www.momswhothink.com/dinner-recipes/dinner-ideas.html

Where they give you 8 weeks of Dinner Recipes.  

Hello Lovah!  

The Low

When a certain Pork Chop waddled over, grabbed my Kindle (where I was reading Bringing Up BeBe, ironically), threw it to the ground and then stomped his chubby foot right in the center of it.

Either H really hates this book, or he really wanted my complete devotion and attention.

Either way - Not Cool H.  

Anybody know how to fix this?

Recovery Mode in the Sunshine.

It's been sort of rough around here lately guys.

H has been battling a rough cold - complete with fever, no sleep, snoring resembling Chewbacca, and a nonstop running faucet of a nose.

Also, a couple of rounds of throw-up.  

Neither Mr. Smith nor I have been spared from this, although I'm sure I was the only one who found dried Strawberry Pediasure on their cheek around lunchtime on Thursday.  

So, with Sunday's awesome weather and a full recovery from H, we hit up the neighborhood park.

Where we played...

Had some deep thoughts...

Conquered the slide with Daddy... 

Had a few laughs...

Flew through the air...

Battled some serious static cling...

(Ironically, this is what my mane looks like every morning.)

Posed rather cutely...

And shared some serious giggles with Mommy.

Meeting Baby Graham!

This weekend, I got the chance to swing by the Dean Household and meet Baby Graham, who is 4 days old in this picture!

So sweet and snuggly... I was a smitten kitten instantly.  

And proceeded to hog him all to myself for about an hour.

Which I think was okay with Mommy Dean, who was provided some dinner and a few belly-hurting laughs by yours truly.

Congrats Mama and Daddy Dean!

Baby boys are quick to capture your heart!

FYI... this is not an infomercial for Bump-It.  

Nor do I use one.  

It's been that kinda week...

Wordless Wednesday: This Time Last Year

Summer Reading with a Dose of Reality

As mentioned previously, I'm reading "Bringing up BeBe" this Summer, by Pamela Druckerman.

So far, it's fascinating.  Fascinating to learn how another culture does "their thing."

Not so fascinating to read how "your thing" is not, shall we say as tres bien as you thought.

Trying to put a little of the French ways into action, H has presented numerous opportunities for Mommy.

He's gracious like that.

Two of the things Mrs. Druckerman reports on is "The Pause" and "to talk to your babies like adults."  They will listen, they will understand, they will stop what they are doing.

Join me, won't you, in this exercise?

Whilst spotting H "discovering" Cooper's water bowl.

Do "The Pause."

Then, "H, please do not do that.  That is Cooper's water bowl."

Does not even look up to acknowledge Mommy.

The Pause.

Again, "Harrison, please remove your hand from Cooper's water bowl.  That is the dog's water, not yours."

Still no acknowledgement from H.  

No Pause.

"HARRISON EDWARD SMITH - TAKE YOUR HAND OUT OF COOPER'S WATER BOWL RIGHT NOW."

Merci.

America = 1

France = 0

The Parenting Olympics continue.