OCD

I am a blog background freak! I have been sitting here for an hour and have had no less than 10 new background options on here and I am just not happy with any of them! I'm ridiculous!

Stylin'

The summary of a happy 2 year old = Panties and Carter's hand-me-down snow boots standing on her very own aerobic step stage!

I tell you what, there is NO art to potty training. There may be tips and certain measures to try but what works one day does not work the next and THAT my friends is frustrating!
She stayed dry all day one day even when we went out, the next day she was wet all day long! All I know is she is wanting to wear panties and go on the potty more often than not and since we are such homebodies these days I figure why not let her try with low expectations... plus I am saving on diapers and have a constant stash of M&M's in the house, its win-win really :o)

Lately

Help I've been transported to 1987!

I found this tape of Joni Erickson-Tada & Friends when I was moving. It was a favorite of ours when we were younger and I was hoping it would still work... it doesn't. My hubby was a little peeved at me for putting it in the tape player in my car. I questioned why he cared if the tape player gets broken/jammed and why does a 2000 Camry even Have a tape player??? Anyway much to every mothers chagrin, it turns out that even 2 year olds in 2011 pull the tape out of a cassette!

My centerpiece is a bumbo seat & there are teddy bears decorating my living room shelves!

I feel like I am working around in circles. Yeah, that's right, you heard me, working around in circles! Being home for a week straight with sickos has exaggerated the stay at home mom role because that is what I have done... stay at home. I have ventured out once or twice, to Kroger (woo hoo!) but for the most part I am here, cleaning, and then cleaning again, and then cleaning again, until I turn around and say to myself or whoever will listen... "didn't I just wash this shirt/put this toy away/unload these dishes?

Being up late nights and rocking babies comes with a lot of singing in this house. Annie sings all day long and makes many requests during her bed time routine. I choose to sing praise and worship songs the majority of the time because 1. They are what comes to mind 2. I want Annie to learn them 3. I feed off of the lyrics. Annie and I have been learning the song "Make Me A Servant" lately and I found myself singing it over and over which I found appropriate and I was scrubbing puke out of a shirt or being awake until 4:30am.

But even as this past week has been difficult I have still stopped to see the good in it. Can I tell you that after one day of potty training Annie last week she asked the whole time she was sick to wear panties and sit on the potty and although she couldn't wear panties she still sat on the potty frequently and now that she seems to be over the worst of it she is wearing a pull up (not willing to admit that we may be all better) and has kept it dry all day long!

And as for the bumbo in the middle of the table, Mia has decided to be an eater! Annie was so not a baby food eater, she skipped that stage so this is new for me. She is so cute! She will let me put the food in her mouth and then looks at me like "why me?" and then swallows and yells at me for more! Dont get me wrong she still only eats maybe a tablespoon full when we are having dinner, but it has been fun to watch her learn. Like the bad mommy that I am her first food was apple, pear, banana medly because that is what a friend gave me... so much for the one new food every 4 days!
However in my working around in circles I can't seem to get things under control and actually have the house clean! Therefore bumbo seats on the table and teddy bears on the shelves!

Bird Feeder Necklaces

In my desperation of trying to quietly entertain a sickly 2 year old Annie and I made these cheerio necklaces... I thought she might like to munch on it because she hadn't been eating much all week however she never touched one... so I decided we would see if the birds liked them. I also put out a dish of seed for the squirrles since they must be starving in all this snow. I hadn't seen much wildlife in days so I didn't promise Annie anything. However after she went down for a nap Joe and I spy 2 dozen turkeys making their way across the neighbors property! Then today I look out the kitchen window and spy a blue jay and a red bird around our feeders... well they must have had one taste and moved on because I haven't seen them again, snobs!

Frab Fest 2011

Oh sweet Jesus what a crazy week this has been! We have been caught up in our own story of the "Frab Fest of 2011" and it has been going on for the typical 7 days... so far anyway. Joe started with it Sunday night and we were grateful that he didn't have work this week (a first in his 2 1/2 years of being self employed) so that he could be home mending and not having to work. He felt good after a shot of Phenergan and 14+ hours of sleep Monday night! Annie waking up from a nap wednesday with zero color in her face wanted to sit on the potty chair (!) and go poopy so that she could get the toy I promised her... well for it only being day 2 of potty training I could have kissed the germy little child because she had "big poopy" and therefore mommy has only had to change 872 diapers this week instead of 873 :o) We went from the bathroom grabbing towels and sheets and trash cans on the way to the couch setting her up with the conveniently just arrived new DVD of Peter Pan! Within the hour she threw up but then that was it! I felt so bad for her and I am glad to say it was a first for her, the little thing has never been sick before! Color immediately returned to her face and she has been decent ever since. Hasn't eaten much more than oyster crackers, cheerios, popsicles and gatorade all week and holy cow the diapers that I have changed! She ran a fever one night and and I camped out on her floor just to keep her father happy (he was nervous and I would have blown him off but a friends little one had just had a possibly febrile seizure that day so I was thinking with my tired emotional middle of the night mommy brain)
In the midst of all this Amelia has come down with the snottyest cold ever and hasn't been sleeping well through the night either! I have gone from the mommy who's babies sleep through the night or only get up once for a quick feeding, to a woman with little sleep and when I do I dream about frightening bodily fluids :o)
Now today after dragging our supposedly on the mend children out to get Mia's late 6 mo pictures taken, Annie not wanting to cooperate, we tried to go to lunch while we waited for our pictures to develop just to have Annie Frab all over Applebees! Oops! Poor little girl, we felt pretty bad for trying to make her smile and say cheese all morning long!
Now Joe is drugged up on NyQuil (Cherry flavored please) snoring away next to me as I type this because he has come down with whatever it is that Mia had!
I wont bother knocking on wood when I say I feel fine because I have only had the assumption that I will be getting either or both of these diseases!
I have had more interesting topics that I have been wanting to share with you but this disease has taken over my time and brain... sorry if it was TMI. :o)

"Two Different Faces But in Tight Places, We Think and We Act as One"

The beginning of a beautiful relationship

I am having a hard time keeping up with Amelia's milestones. She is officially sitting up, although I wouldn't just want to sit her up and walk away from her. She does flip from her stomach to her belly and then she gets up on her hands and knees and leans back onto her rear and holds herself up with her hand in a sort of leaning/sitting position. She is still the happiest of babies although she has started waking up twice in the night instead of just once so I think it might be time to ween her night time feeding.

Annie is crazy and picking up all kinds of new phrases. She asks for "salter" at every meal which is her word for Salt & Pepper :o) She also randomly pulls memories out of her brain. The other day she asked about Aunt Linda :o) She sings the first part of Amazing Grace and the theme song to Veggie Tales as that is all we have watched since receiving it at Christmas, needless to say we invested in Peter Pan and Lady & the Tramp this week just to keep our sanity. Plus I think that owning the old Disney classics is an important part of childhood :o)

Snow Place Like Home

I loved waking up to a dusting yesterday, but I super duper loved that it snowed...all...day... long! It was great! Little flakes like it was raining snow, and then big fluffy flakes, and then these swirly ones that are fun to play outside in!





Annie spent the better half of the morning propped up on her belly on the couch looking out the window saying "Annie make a snowflake Mama?". She calls Snow Angels "snowflakes" :o) A few days ago she was going around the house laying in different spots on the floor pretending like she was making them, she would even get up and turn around and look where she was laying as if there was something there to assess.
She was a happy girl when Mia finally was ready to nap so we could head outside.
During Annie's nap I did fun Mommy snow day things like try Melissa's bread recipe!
I also made this recipe from Pioneer Woman who I have just recently found and fell in love with along with the rest of America it seems :o) It was a very easy recipe only I don't grill, its an agreement we have officially made in our marriage and so it would have been easier if I could have done things before my hubby got home. It was not a cheap recipe even with red peppers on sale they are expensive and who knew pine nuts were so ridiculously expensive? Not me...or did I get taken by Kroger? We threw in some grilled sliced chicken because unlike PW my hubby believes that a meal is not a meal without meat. It was very tasty and I even dosed Melissa's bread with a healthy dose of olive oil and had Joe throw it on the grill as well! Then I rubbed it down with a nice big fat garlic clove and it got 5 stars from me! Joe wasn't a fan, but then he grew up eating the frozen brick-like garlic texas toast! YUCK!

Pictures & Chicken Tortilla Soup

Honestly what is a blog post without some pictures. And I am without blog post topic inspiration these days but I know how much my family appreciates these adorable pictures (your welcome Aunt Linda & GG). I also promised Aunt Linda the recipe I found online for Max & Erma-like Chicken Tortilla Soup.

At 6 months she is getting up on her hands and knees and a few weeks later she has figured out how to roll from her back to her belly! She is brilliant :o)

It has been fun to watch Annie interact with Mia these past few weeks.

Annie with "Papaw Meal" playing with the wonderful blocks

We will force these two to be best friends. Sharing Grapes.

I couldn't resist editing this one.

Big Uncle Joe always has some sort of surprise for the kids. Last year it was cans of silly string. This year it was those firework pop thingys. Annie was very excited when her dad showed her she could stomp on 'em.

She was too scared to pull the string and make the streamers fly out

Christmas presents from "Papaw Meal"

"Joey, GG, Lan, Grampa & Momma"

Great Grandpa Neal, Grammy and all the kiddos (minus Kelly & plus an extra Emmy Jo)

Happy New Year!
(From all of the Hendrix family that was present anyway)


Chicken Tortilla Soup

1/4 c butter
1/4 cup flour
Melt Butter, stir in flour and cook for 3 min stirring constantly

3 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
whisk into butter & flour in small amounts

decrease heat to low
8 oz Velveeta cheese
stir until melted

add
1 10 oz can Ro-Tel tomatoes with chilies
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1t cumin
1t chili powder
salt pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Serve with Tortilla chips to crumble into soup (yum!)

I love this recipe because it takes no time at all! I take a serving out for Annie before I add the spices because this soup is true to the restaurant and SPICY!