Happy Easter :)

Opening his basket from Papa

Family picture


Looking as goodies from his Easter basket from Papa & Nana

6 Months

Owen is 6 months! (and 2 weeks... better late than never, right?)

Here are his stats:

Weight - 19.1lbs (73%)

Height - 29in (98%)

Head circumference - 17in (30%)

I have no words to describe how crazy we are about this little guy. We're just beside ourselves in love with him. He is at such a fun age, developing personality galore.

He's also hit some great milestones lately. He can:

hold himself up in the crawling position (and occasionally army crawl across the floor)

Hold his own sippy cup

Be entertained for a while in his bouncer and play with all the toy attachments

sit up on his own for a few seconds at a time (although he hates sitting... he arches his back. He would rather be crawling or on his back!)

Hold himself up on all fours

And he's really really good at......

being cute :)

He's much easier to take places. If we go to a restaurant he can sit in a booster seat. He eats food puree about twice a day (bananas, applesauce, and carrots - we're about to start peas!). He really likes food, although he's distracted from eating pretty easily.

Personality-wise, he's such a ham. He loves loves loves to be cuddled. He wants me to hold him all the time. We are working with him on playing independently - not his strong point. He is pretty content and only cries for a reason - tired, hungry or wants to be held. In general he is quite a happy boy, ready to dish out the smiles, especially for his Dad. He is in an exploring stage, wanting to touch and taste everything. I don't think he's teething quite yet, but I'm sure that's around the corner.

He loves dogs, walks, attention, keyboards, his Daddy, Little Einstein, his cousins, sipping water out of a cup, my cell phone, his nana & pappas, and his favorite singing bunny stuffed animal. He's doesn't care for playing alone on the floor, his bumbo, getting dressed and putting lotion on, being put in his car seat and stroller, and sitting up on his own. He has a love/hate relationship with his walker, excersaucer, stroller, being tickled, and his baths. For such a little guy he has quite a few preferences already! The main one being his sleep schedule. He hasn't slept through the night in a little over a month, getting up once or twice during the night. These have been trying times for me, but seeing his cute little face every morning smiling when I get him up makes it all worth it!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my boy!

Changes

There are big changes going on around here. Ryan and I are planning to be a part of a church plant to Peoria, AZ. We are both really excited to be a part of this! Even more exciting, Ryan’s brother-in-law, Chris, and sister, Tara, will be leading us as our senior pastor (and pastor's wife). We have rented out our house and moved into my dad’s house in preparation for moving to Peoria in late summer/early fall. God is certainly going before us and blessing us - we have a wonderful facility for our church to meet in! We are enjoying getting to know the 25ish others going with us. Yes, it will be hard to leave behind my home church, family and friends and go into the unknown. But I think that's why this may be so good for us! We are excited to grow, be challenged, and break out of our comfort zones. If you think of it, please pray for us - for the moving process, the house hunting, and the church itself. It's going to be an adventure!

Meal Plan 3/30

So I know that it's Thursday and the week is half over, but I thought I should post for the sake of consistency :) I've had my meal plan of my fridge since Sunday, just haven't gotten around to posting it!


Monday - Family Night - Bruschetta 'N Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast, baked potatoes, salad



Tuesday - Meatloaf, Roasted Red Potatoes, salad



Wednesday - Fajitas



Thursday - Tortellini Sausage Pasta , salad, garlic bread


Friday - dinner with friends

Meal Plan 3/21

Monday - Chicken Noodle Soup

Tuesday - Date Night

Wednesday - Chipotle Pork Chops, Rosemary potatoes, Roasted Asparagus (on the menu for last week, never got around to it)

Thursday - Meatloaf, Mashed or Baked potatoes (depending on time), salad

Friday - Baked Ravioli, garlic bread


I tried this recipe out for a BBQ this week, and they turned out really good! Crisp on the outside, moist and chocolately on the inside

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies (Adapted from Martha Stewart Recipe)


½ Cup chocolate chips
1 stick unsalted real butter
1 ½ Cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ Cups flour
½ Cup cocoa powder (I used Hersheys Dark Chocolate)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon coarse salt
1 bag chocolate chips (chunk chips would be great, but I used chips today)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place ½ Cup chocolate chips and stick of butter in a heat proof bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. I just microwaved the butter for 1 minute, then stirred in chocolate chips until melted and smooth
2. Place cooled melted chocolate, sugar, eggs and vanilla into the bowl of a stand or electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until well combined. On low speed, slowly mix in flour mixture and chips until just combined.
3. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until cookies begin to crack on top and edges look slightly crisped. Let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling.

Menu Plan 3/16

Sunday - Tortellini Sausage Pasta (from my friend Tiff), crusty bread

1# sausage ( I used smoked mozzarella and artichoke chicken sausage from Costco)
1# refrigerated cheese tortellini
1/4 cup basil pesto (eyeball it)
handfull parmesan cheese

Slice sausage, heat in skillet over medium heat until heated through. In the meantime, cook tortellini. Add cooked tortellini to sausage, mix in pesto and stir in parmesan.

Monday - Family Night

Tuesday - Date Night

Wednesday - Taco Salad

1# ground turkey
1 can Ranch beans, undrained
1/2 cup French dressing
lettuce
chopped tomato
sliced cucumber
shredded cheese
crushed tortilla chips

Brown turkey, add beans and dressing. Heat though. Stir together in large bowl with remaining ingredients.


Thursday - Crock pot Chicken-y Chicken, veggies

2-3 chicken breast
2 cans cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup of milk
8 oz cream cheese
1 packet Italian seasoning
noodles (I use moscatolli) or rice

Combine all ingredients in crock pot, cook on low 6 hours. Remove chicken, shred, return to crock pot. Serve with pasta or rice.

Friday - Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Pork Chops, roasted asparagus, roasted rosemary potatoes

1 T olive oil
1 T butter
4 boneless pork chops
1 cup Roasted Raspberry Chipotle sauce (I buy mine at Costco)

Brown pork chops on both sides, add sauce and simmer over low heat 10 minutes or until pork chops are cooked through.

Until next week!

Menu Plan 3/9

Here's my menu plan for this week:

Monday - Family Night

Tuesday - Date Night

Wednesday - Ranch House Crock Pot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes,

Creamy Veggies:

12 oz mixed veggies (fresh or frozen)
4 oz fat free cream cheese
4 oz light Velveeta

Layer veggies in a casserole dish. Cube velveeta and cream cheese, place on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes; stir.

Thursday - Easy Baked Manicotti, Salad, Mozzarella Bread

Friday - Grilled Balsamic Bruschetta Chicken, Rosemary potatoes, Dried Cherry Almond Salad


Dessert:

Easy Baked Apple Pie

Pie Crust
20 oz can of apple pie filling

Topping:
1/4 cup old fashioned Quaker oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 TBS softened butter
caramel ice cream topping

Combine first three ingredients and sprinkle on top of the pie filling. Drizzle caramel over the pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!