Family Photos

We had our family photos taken by Colby Moore Photography here in Springfield. He hasn't gotten them all done, but he gave me some to tide me over. =) We hadn't had family pictures taken since Greyson was 2 weeks' old. Crazy! I have so many great pictures of Greyson that I've taken, but just none of all of us.

Penne with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter

We did a quick and easy meal for lunch today and it happened to be really good. We cooked this pasta dish as the main meal, but next time we do it we will probably grill a steak to go with it.

Recipe from Food and Wine

1 pound asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 pound penne
1/4 pound butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Heat the oven to 400°. Snap the tough ends off the asparagus and discard them. Cut the spears into 1-inch pieces. Put the asparagus on a baking sheet and toss with the oil and 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Roast until tender, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the vinegar in a small saucepan. Simmer until 3 tablespoons remain. Stir in the brown sugar and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Remove from the heat.
Cook the penne in a large pot of boiling, salted water until just done, about 13 minutes. Drain the pasta and toss with the butter, vinegar, asparagus, Parmesan, and the remaining 1 3/4 teaspoons salt. Serve with additional Parmesan.


Variations:

• Penne with Roasted Broccoli and Balsamic Butter When asparagus is not in season, cut 1 pound of broccoli into small spears for roasting. Toss them with 2 tablespoons oil and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and roast for about 15 minutes. Continue with step 2.

• Penne with Roasted Vegetables, Toasted Nuts, and Balsamic Butter Toss in 1/3 cup of toasted pine nuts, hazelnuts, or walnuts at the end with either asparagus or broccoli.

Mini Me Grocery Shopping

Uncle Truman told Greyson that Dillons got small grocery carts. We had to go try them out. We went Wednesday (which was one of the busiest shopping days ever!) and had a blast. Greyson did really well. He loved it. We almost had one little crash with a lady, but I think if she was rear-ended (really rear-ended) she would have laughed.

Crazy Little Sleeper

I was going through pictures tonight and came across these. Ever since Luke got the new iPhone, he has been taking pictures all the time. Two crazy sleeping pictures within one week. Makes me smile.

Driving Nate's Car

Greyson loves to "drive" and he especially loves to "drive" Nate's car. Well, Grandpa Randy had the car out the other day and offered to let Greyson actually DRIVE the car. He thought that was just the best thing ever!

Chocolate Banana Bread

Recipe found here.


Oh my goodness, this was soooooo good! I think the sour cream gave the bread this creamy awesome moistness and the chocolate gave the bread, hmmm, chocolate! Delicious. I don't know if I will ever like banana bread plain again. =)

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
3 ounces chopped chocolate, optional
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then the egg, beating for about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas. Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients (don't be disturbed if the batter curdles), all the sour cream and then the rest of the flour mixture. Stir in the chopped chocolate by hand. Pour the batter into a bread pan. Bake the bread for about 28 to 32 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the bread pan to a rack, cool for 3 minutes, then gently turn the bread out of the tin. Cool to room temperature on a rack. Storing: Wrapped airtight, the bread will keep at room temperature for 2 or 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Wilson Rutledge Park

Stacey, Cody, Luke and I and the kiddos all went to Rutledge Wilson Park a few weeks' ago. It was amazing and one of the most amazing things was that it was FREE! I love free. They had the cutest little park area that was all barn themed. They had a pond that you could fish out of. We went Halloween weekend, so they had a few vendors selling jam and popcorn. They had blow-up houses for kiddos. They had a "pumpkin patch" (ahem, a pretty pathetic one). They had hale bale mounds. Greyson loved climbing all over them. They had cows, mini horses, chickens, turkeys, etc. BUT....they also had TRACTORS. Greyson was in heaven! They had big ones (full-sized) and mini ones. They had a little area marked off where kiddos could ride them around. I think we probably could have spent all day there. It was a great time!





Petting the cow. Greyson didn't know what to think about that.


Picking pumpkins out. I think he touched about 30 before we ended up taking two. =)





Trying to give Katelyn a kiss. She didn't cooperate. lol



Sharing his pumpkins with Katelyn. It was a proud mommy moment, until he took them back. =)

22 months (a few days late)

You weigh 24 lbs (around the 13th percentile).

You eat three meals a day, and a ton of snacks! You love to eat. Your favorite things to eat are multiple ingredient meals (tacos, lasagna, chili, etc.). You even like hot stuff. Daddy eats Jalapeño chips (which he says are very hot) and you love them.

You go to sleep at 7:30pm and get up around 7:15am. This is the first time in your life that you have consistently slept past 7am. I like it! You nap at 12:30 and take a two hour nap.

You wear mostly 18 month clothing with some that are sized 18-24 months. You are wear a size 6 shoe.

You wear a size 4 diaper during the day and a size 4 overnight diaper at night.

You love to play outside. You love to play at playgrounds, "drive" the car, boat or tractor (but you don't want to actually start them because they make noise - you hate noise), put Mommy and Daddy night night, play with your little people sets and vacuum the house.

You have started connecting two words together. Some things you say are: "All done," "More please, " etc.

Unfortunately, you have also started throwing major fits. We had to leave Ocean Zen a few weeks' ago, because you wouldn't stop throwing a fit. During the fits, you bang your head on the floor. You get out of control.

On the good side of things, you have started squeezing us when you give hugs. I just love that.

*Warning...picture overload



Trying to get a snapshot of all of us = FAILURE




Eating salsa with a spoon = Crazy baby!


Coloring with Daddy


Trying to find puddles to go puddle jumping, but we couldn't find any. =(



Working on fine motor skills.




Great Grandpa & Grandma got Greyson a really cool truck.












Listening to story time at Barnes and Noble.


Enjoying his first sucker.