"Gaaayce!"

Until recently, William has been a boy of little words, haha. He really only said ONE of his friends' names, and that was Grace! He says it like, "Gaaayce" I love it! He is constantly calling her name out over and over all day long. He just loves her! He also started saying "Carolyn" too (her mama!). Because of their mutual adoration for each other, Carolyn and I are trying to be better at planning play dates for them! They (and we) love getting together!

One Friday, we met at Chick Fil A. We had a quick lunch and then let them wear themselves out playing! We had a quick run to Target, and then headed to their house. I set up my work computer there; since I had been having internet issues that morning at my house anyway. We were thinking about leaving around 2:30, so the kids could nap, but they were playing sooo nicely together, and Carolyn and I were enjoying discussing our mutual love of Patsy Aiken clothing....that we put William down at her house! Her guest room has a pack and play and he fell right OUT. He was exhausted! After a 2.5 hour nap (WHOO HOOO!!!!), we decided to have dinner together, since both daddies were at work until 8:30. After a dinner of delish leftovers, we moseyed over to Kohl's to see what they had on sale. Paul and Robbie met us there when they got off - probably to inspect the damage haha! We had such a fun day together - probably a record; 11 hour playdate!!!

Mommy selfie while the babies sleep! ;)

Post-nap snack of cheese!

Baby drink vs. mama drink ;)

A few nights later, Carolyn and Paul invited us over for dinner. We had so much fun dressing Grace and William up in C & P's wedding Mickey ears. They looked SOOO cute and you can't help but hope they DO end up together so that you can show this picture at the rehearsal. ;) We ate outside and I think the kids took about 2 bites apiece. They were so excited to be in a different setting and with a friend, ha! We had such a great time!!! We look forward to many more fun memories with The Rutherfords!!! :)

Enjoying some ice cream!

Church and Chicken!

Today, our church had a toddler story-time/playtime! I had to work of course, but Mama took William. He loved it! They read stories inside for a few minutes, and then headed out to the playground for an hour or so. He loves a playground, shew! The story-time went pretty well according to Mama, but he didn't really want to sit still. Here's hoping preschool helps with that! Ha! He did have a ball on the playground, though! I kept getting pictures from Mama of him on the slide, swing, the horse, etc. I hope the church decides to do this regularly, because it seemed like everyone had fun!!

Listening....??

Maybe not!

Loves to swing!

Horsey!

They left the church around 11:30, and I met them at Chick Fil A for lunch! I told William last night that Grace was going to be at church and maybe CFA with him, and his eyes lit up! Haha. But, they didn't end up going! So, when we got to CFA, he started looking around and saying, "Grace? Grace?" and then pointing to the play area, "Play! Play!" Needless to say, we ate as quickly as we could so that he could play. He was still mourning Grace in the play area - there was a little girl in there with pigtails, and he went up to her, "Grace!!", and was met with a blank stare. Poor thing!!! He still played and played, though. Today was the first time he actually climbed up to the top all by himself, and went down the slide!! He thought he was BIG stuff. I am sure once he got home today, that he totally crashed. Fun at church + lunch and play time at Chick Fil A = a toddler's dream day!!! ;)

Ready to play!!

So sweet!

So big!

Planes!!

Friday night, Robbie closed, and Mama went out of town. William and I are not fans of staying in the house for all day and all night if we can help it, so I decided to take us to see Planes! We were super excited when Courtney and Davis decided to join us! We met them at Chick Fil A for a quick dinner, then headed to the theater. The boys were SOOOO cute! Courtney made me laugh so hard when she said that Davis wanted to dress like William - and they were dressed alike, haha! As soon as we pulled up to the theater, William started saying, "Nana, Nana!" He is so used to her taking him to the movies.

Selfie with the sweetest boy!

William and I went and got our tickets before dinner, and he was so excited to see the poster!

He was so pumped!

Davis was so nice to share his truck!

So sweet!

William had zero interest in eating! LOL

They did pretty well in the theater. Courtney and Davis ended up leaving a few minutes before it was over, but overall they were too sweet. They looked so cute sitting in their seats with their little bowls of popcorn!! Planes was a super cute movie, with a sweet little message about following your dreams, no matter how out of reach they seem. I loved it!! ;)

Cheeeeeeeeeese

So sweet!!!

Ready to go!

How old are they?!

Paying attention!

So funny!

Thanks for joining us, Courtney and Davis! It was so great to see y'all and catch up!!

Slides and Cupcakes!

Thursday afternoon, William and I took a quick trip over to the park in our neighborhood. We had been stuck in the house all day, and wanted to get out before Dada got home! We were seriously only there for maybe 25 minutes, and we were so stinkin' hot we had to go home. William had the reddest face he's ever had!! I didn't realize it was so HOT! The nice thing was, he was the only one on the playground, so he just played and played!! He was dying to get to the pool, poor thing! I kept promising him we would go to it soon. He loves to repeat, "Pool, pool!!" It just needs to cool down a little bit, and we can enjoy being outside more!!

He loves a wheel!!

LOVE!!!

Coming down the BIG slide!

At the bottom of the twisty slide - his hair cracks me up! And he kept saying, "Whoa! Whoa!"

So big!!!

On the way to dinner, all of our neighbors were outside celebrating Christie's birthday!! William ran right over and wanted to play! Of course, he had a cupcake - that's right, before dinner. Ahhh, to be a toddler! ;) Anyway, after that fun little appetizer, he has a NEW word, Cupcake!!! LOL. Every time that we pull in the driveway, he points to Christie's house and says cupcake! Ha!!

Aldi Update!

So, I thought I'd do a quick Aldi update! We have been using the products for a couple weeks now, and love them! For myself as much as people reading, I figured it could help me remember what we like to buy!

As we all know, Aldi isn't really a brand name type of store. I am not a brand name snob with everything, but I always have been about peas. I was raised on Le Sueur peas, and they are my favorite! Can I get an amen from my fellow La Sueur lovers?? Yes, they are THE most expensive canned vegetable on the aisle....but they are the best tasting peas, so they were worth the $2.00 price tag. However, at Aldi, I picked up their version of LS peas. They were in the silver label, not the regular ones in the green label. And wouldn't you know? They are seriously almost as good as my beloved Le Sueur!! So, for now they have been replaced. These are only .99 a can, so I am sure we will use Aldi, except with Harris Teeter or someone runs a $1 special on the "real" ones!! ;)

More canned goodies! We tried the green beans this week. Ehh, they weren't my favorite. But at .49 a can,  I can doctor them up next time to have a little more flavor. We also used the CoM soup. I can't remember how much it was, but I do know that it was el cheapo. We couldn't tell the difference!

Cereal! We got Kid's Krunch (Cap'n Crunch), Honey Nut Crispy Oats (Honey Nut Cheerios), and Marshmallows and Stars (Lucky Charms). We haven't tried the Marshmallows and Stars, but the other two taste really similar! And at only 1.69 a box, that is a significant savings!!

I swear, I think these cheese crackers are better than Cheez-Its! And a ton cheaper. I think they were around a $1.49, and Cheez Its are hardly EVER on sale that low, if ever!

William loves these fruit snacks. He really doesn't miss his other ones, and gobbles these right on up. So they are definitely worth the savings!

William could eat his weight in raisins, seriously. Although they're not super expensive in a regular store, they were cheaper at Aldi, so I grabbed a box to see what he thought. He is still eating them as fast as we put them on the plate, so they seem to be a winner!

Chips! We don't eat chips very often, and one reason is because they are sooo expensive! Shew. But the chips at Aldi are very reasonably priced! I think they're around $1.49 a bag!!! We picked up Sour Cream n Onion, Vegetable Straws, tortilla chips, "Goldfish", and pita chips. They are all awesome! The pita chips are my fave and already gone (hence the missing picture). They have Sea Salt and Garlic and Parmesan Herb. I got the garlic/parmesan, and they are so good! William doesn't mind the Penguins, which are fake Goldfish. They definitely aren't as good as real Goldfish, but William doesn't notice! It's so nice to have some variety to our lunches now!

There were a few other things that we either haven't tried yet, or I just didn't take a picture of. Things like sauces, vinegar, etc, we have used and I can't tell a difference at all in them. And of course, Aldi actually had our favorite BBQ sauce, Sweet Baby Ray's - so we knew that was going to be a winner. We have tried their pork tenderloin, beef tips, and hamburger meat. All of the meat has been great quality so far. We bought frozen pizzas and frozen chicken tenderloins - neither of which we've tried.

We look forward to another Aldi trip, and continuing saving a little bit of money without sacrificing what we love!

Cheeseburger in....Paradise?!

A recipe for Cheeseburger in Paradise has been circulating Facebook for a couple weeks. It looked delish, and Mama had been begging me to make it! Last night, we got brave and tried it. It was really good! It had great flavor. The only issue is, the recipe called to make it in a pie plate. I hate pie plates! I am always afraid the ingredients will spill out, so I put it in a casserole dish. Well, like a dummy, I didn't even think about the mixture being thicker, requiring more cook time. I cooked it for what the recipe called for, and the fork was not coming out clean. So we ended up having to cook it another 20-30 minutes. Ha! Once it was done, we all liked it though!! And it was super easy to put together, which is always a plus!!

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Ingredients:
-1 lb hamburger meat
-1 onion, chopped
-1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
-1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
-Dash of Worcestershire sauce
-1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (I used some mozzarella too)
-1 cup of milk
-1/2 cup of Bisquick
-2 eggs

Directions:
-Heat oven to 400 degrees.
-Spray a pie plate with cooking spray.
-Cook beef and onion until done; drain.
-Stir in salt, garlic powder, and Worcestershire and pour into pie plate.
-Sprinkle the cheese on the beef.
-In a bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and Bisquick mix, getting as many lumps out as possible.
-Pour over the beef/cheese in the pie plate.
-Bake in over for 25 minutes, or until fork comes out clean.

Finished!

Chicken Teriyaki!

 

 

Last night, we had chicken teriyaki, made in the crock pot! It was delicious and super easy! We served it with rice, peas (the only veggie W loves), and fresh steamed broccoli!

Chicken Teriyaki (Source)

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:
1. Combine chicken broth, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, and garlic in the crock pot.
2. Add chicken to the sauce, and turn a few times to coat.
3. Cook on low 4-6 hours.