Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Amy's Southwest Casserole

Hmmm, not sure I like the name but that's ok. I'm going to do my best to write down my chicken black bean dish but since I just throw in a little of this and a little of that it's difficult to pin down. But here goes:

What you'll need:
1 16 oz pckg. of dry black beans cooked according to package directions or 4 cans of black beans rinsed and drained (if you don't drain them the dish will be to soupy)
3 boneless skinless chicken breast-cooked
1 package taco seasoning
mojo (you can find it in a bottle in the Mexican food section) just use a splash- to taste
1 package frozen corn (I like white best but you can use any variety)
1 small jar salsa-thick and chunky- whatever heat you like
1 8 oz pckg. Mexican cheese

Combine all ingredients in a large skillet and cook until bubbly. I like to serve with Hint Of Lime Tostitos but you could serve over rice or anything else really. You can also make a casserole by layering flour tortillas, bean mixture, cheese...repeat, in a springform pan with the last layer being a tortilla with cheese on top. Cook at 4oo degrees until the cheese is bubbly- about 20-25 min. slice and serve with sour cream and Franks hot sauce, mmmm.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Blink Once for Yes, Twice for No

Have you ever seen one of those Dr. shows where there's a patient in a somewhat vegetative state and they ask them to "blink if you understand what I'm saying."? Well, this post has nothing to do with that.

It does, however, have to do with Halle blinking. I'm sure you're thinking, blinking? It's one of those things like breathing you just do it. Well, she has started blinking with purpose. The other night at Target she bumped her head on the shopping cart and made a face and blinked very hard and deliberately as if to say, "you may pick me up now!". She'll also copy my blinking pattern. We played a blinking game during dinner last night and it was adorable.

OK, so there's only so much you can write about your kid blinking. So, everything else with us is fine and I must say that I'm incredibly happy to be here. I'd like to be more settled but that will just take time. Now if we could only decide what church to go to.....

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

All Kids Update

I realized the other day when I was reading Mary's blog that I have neglected to post anything about the kids in quite a while. Now, that may not be too important to most of you, but I'm sure it's important to my Mother In Law. I'm pretty sure that my Mom doesn't read my blog but she gets to see the girls way more often so here goes with milestones and little anecdotes.

I took Halle a couple of weeks ago to get her 9 month check up and shots. During the visit it was determined that her weight fell in the 5th percentile. It's funny, she started out in the 90th percentile because she was a big baby, but now she's a tiny 5th percentile. After talking with the Dr. we decided that she's ok and she's just built like her Daddy.

Which, BTW, she said "DaDa" as soon as Travis walked through the door yesterday. She's said DaDa before but this time she was saying it to him, so sweet.

So, back to her being tiny. Yesterday I put her in her little car walker that Chloe had which was a hand me down from her cousin. Well, she started fussing and I thought she just wanted to be held so I didn't check on her immediately. Then Chloe said, "Mom, somethings wrong with Halle. Come in here and I'll show you what's wrong". I'll admit I was a little concerned because of the way Chloe phrased it but she wasn't yelling so I was pretty sure everything was ok. When I went into the living room it looked like Halle was twisted around in the seat but upon closer inspection I realized that her entire body had slipped through one of the legs of the seat and she was stuck! It was cute and pitiful. Of course, I rescued her and everything was much better.

Amanda "almost" broke her pinky. She decided 2 Sundays ago to go to the "Chili Bowl" which is an event that Cornerstone youth group puts on annually. There is lots of chili served and several teams play "flag" football. When she said she wanted to go she said she wasn't going to play. She wasn't dressed for it and wasn't on a team or anything. Well, 2 girls dropped out and she decided to fill in. When she tried to catch the ball it hit her on the end of the finger and sprained or jammed her pinky. We waited until the next day to take her to the Doctor. We were pretty sure it was broken which is why we took her at all. The Dr. said to "buddy tape" it to her ring finger and sent her to get X-Rays. Now, notice he told her to tape it, he didn't tape it himself. It's so aggravating. He couldn't even tape the fingers? I don't like this particular Dr. anyway, but really, the office doesn't have any tape? The X-Rays revealed that there was no break but I guess it's better to be safe...Man that was an expensive Chili Bowl.

Chloe, sweet Chloe. She does so much cute stuff it's hard to just come up with a couple of things. Oh yeah, bedtime.

The night before last I was so tired. I went to bed early and Travis put Chloe to bed then got into bed himself. We were both sound asleep when Chloe bursts into our room with her lunch box, back pack, and wearing only underwear. She cried "Mommy, Daddy, I want to go to Cornerstone! I want to go to school!" To which we calmly replied, "Huh, What! Chloe!!! GO TO BED!!!" Travis said when he went into the hall to put her back to bed she looked crushed. I felt so terrible and really it was cute. I am just not the most understanding person when I'm awakened from a dead sleep.

OK, so that is some of the cute or tramatic things happening here and as soon as I can I will post pics.

OK, that is a post in itself but let me summarize.

Tisra taught me how to put pics on my blog so I downloaded Picasa and set it up to put pics on. Travis moaned and groaned and complained about me putting a new program on the computer.
"What! What is this?!? It automatically comes up at startup? Who did this?!?" Yes, he did do that, although as soon as he reads this he'll deny it. Anyway, later HE decided that HE wanted to put pics on his blog so he changed something and now I can only post pics to HIS blog OR HIS MOM'S!!!!! UGH!!! I love him and his Mom but I want pics on MY BLOG WHICH IS WHY I DOWNLOADED IT TO BEGIN WITH!!!!!

Insert the somewhat sarcastic, give Trav a hard time font here! OK, a really, really hard time font.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

All Moved In

You'll notice the title is "moved in" not "settled in". As you can imagine there is stuff EVERYWHERE! It is quite a large task but we're up to it.

So, the move was thankfully uneventful. We arrived at Mom and Dad's house at about 9:30 PM (I'm so glad we both got off early so we could leave early). We left later than we wanted to and were stuck in traffic for a while so it took us about an hour to actually get out of town. The next morning we had a great breakfast that Mom prepared for us and were off to get the moving truck. It's so funny, but apparently you can rent U-Haul's from anywhere. The place we went to for instance was in ghetttoville, OK, Bessemer, but you get the idea. When we got there I was amazed at how run down the place was. Did I say rundown? Because what I meant was a strong wind could have blown this place over. It looked like it used to be a gas station and inside there was a bunch of old used tires and junk. I can't imagine that anyone would buy those old tires, I don't think you could have driven on them and the ceiling was literally falling in. There was insulation hanging down from several places in the ceiling. The guy that ran the place was very nice but I'm sure just being there everyday is hazardous to his health. He did have a computer though and he asked Travis to enter his information so it would be faster- he wanted to get home to see the football game. Again, he was a nice guy and we got our truck.

Then we went back to Mom and Dad's and Amanda and I left for haircuts. Haircuts? Yes, haircuts, much to the dismay of my husband. He didn't want us to schedule them to begin with but we like getting our hair cut at this particular place and since we won't be in town for a while this was the only time to do it.

So after the haircuts we went back to my grumpy husband. He's not usually grumpy but we had so much to do you really can't blame him. I did give him a little pep talk though and he was much better. Hours later we were packed, fell into bed and got up early-ish for the long drive home.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Finally Getting Settled

Of course, with the way things go it may be premature to say that we're actually getting settled, but we are going to get our stuff. I really am pressed for time right now because I have to complete the move from apt. #1, (hereafter known as the animal urine soaked carpet, nasty, dirty place), to apt#2,( hereafter known as the clean, what an apartment should look and SMELL like place). I didn't want to post about apt. #1 too much because I didn't want to sound like a whiner but it really was gross and we were very unhappy. So fortunately for us, we were able to move right next door. Unfortunately for the next poor suckers, they will have to live on nasty carpet. The final straw for me was when I picked Halle up from being on the carpet and her face smelled like animal urine! Then later that same day I hugged Chloe and her hair smelled like it! So, so, so, gross! There is a reason we don't have pets and don't smoke.

In a few minutes I will be heading over to vacuum and clean the tile in apt. #1 and then I'll head to apt. #2 to pack up some clothes for the trip and to put away as many things as I can so that nothing is in the way when we get back.

So, cross your fingers, but I think we may just be able to get our stuff and set up house. I will let you know how it goes but now I'm off....

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Too Much Bubbles!

"Mommy, there's too much bubbles! Too much bubbles, too much bubbles, too much bubbles..."

Do you ever ignore your kid? I do, especially when I'm doing something important. Like today for instance, I was reading very important TV gossip at E! online about my most favorite show that I never get to watch. Alias, if you must know. Poor Vaughn was "killed" in the first episode and I'm just devastated (man, I'm going to invent the sarcasm font someday and be rich. I mean, I do hate to see him "go" but I'm not too devastated!). Anyway, since we are in our apartment sans stuff I have only purchased the basic necessities. And since I'm in my newfound incredibly cheap mode, we have been using dish soap instead of dish washer detergent in the dishwasher. I know, I know but it's worked fine so far. I had been concerned, though, that I hadn't been using quite enough soap and I'm concerned (I'm a little paranoid) about the sanitary aspect of continually washing and reusing plastic cutlery. Hence the "little extra" soap I put in the dishwasher this morning.

"Mommy theres too much bubbles!" I finally looked up from the computer screen and, in fact, there were way too many bubbles. So, I thought, Well, Chloe needs a bath anyway and she'll really like playing in the bubbles, ah, what the heck! "Hey Chloe, you want to play in the bubbles?" Not to mention that since I didn't bring the mop, the floor could use a scrubbing as well, so I guess I killed a couple of birds with too much dish soap and made one of my girls happy as well.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

A Baseball Game and Up To My Elbows in Snot

Hmmm, great title, huh?

Friday night we babysat for the Fadely's so they could go out for a date and when they got home we were invited to Grant's baseball game. Of course, we were thrilled to go. Amanda played tee ball when she was little and I grew up at the softball field so going to baseball or softball games brings back good memories. It's funny but since Travis didn't grow up playing baseball he was unfamiliar with some of the expressions. "Come on, run it out!" I yelled to a little boy I don't know who started to slow down before he got to first base. "Run it out?" Travis looked confused and a little proud that his wife knew what that meant. Several of the adults also took turns to take the little kids to an empty ball field to throw the ball and run bases. An hour and forty five minutes is a long time to watch baseball for little kids. I took my turn and tried to teach Chloe how to run the bases. Touch first, touch first...tag second..., You know, teaching her to actually step on the bags as she runs around in case we put her in tee ball. I'd really like to do that. It's a huge time commitment but I think it would be really good for her.

So, about the star of the game...Grant Fadely. He did a very good job of doing what his coaches told him. He was playing outfield and during a play he ran right over and backed-up first base, which in this league is very important. He also scored twice and I think he's the fastest runner on his team! It's so cool to share these milestones.

OK, so today I'm up to my elbows in snot. Yes, I said snot. It's not a pretty word and it's not a pretty substance. Kind of like the word "blog". I hate the word blog. I know it's short for web log but it really is a dumb word. It reminds me of some slimy substance that would be marketed as a childrens toy. But I digress. Anyway it started out electric green and has now gone clear. I swear with the amount of, you know, coming out of her nose it must be packed up to her brain. I was really wanting to go to church today but sitting in the "nursing mother's" room with an incredibly fussy Halle didn't sound like too much fun. Last week we visited Sumner Life and this week we are visiting Cornerstone. I hate to miss any of these visits because now I feel like I'm a week behind. Not to mention the spiritual "lift" I get from corporate praise and worship and a good message. Well, I hope the the rest of the Buttons enjoy it. I know they will. Chloe and Amanda were very excited to be able to be there today. I don't know what church we'll end up at. I really do love Cornerstone. There are things we don't like, as with any church, but we can get past that. I just don't know if I see us just going back and being in Choir and doing drama and that's it. I know that the Lord will show us where we're supposed to be I'm just not sure why he's hesitating.

OK, does anybody else have as much trouble wrapping up a post as I do? I have no trouble writing, it's the stopping that I have trouble with. Maybe I should just say "I'm done writing now".

I'm done writing now.

Friday, October 07, 2005

A Wonderful Birthday Bash

Well, not to steal Kris and Mary's thunder or anything but the Buttons had a completely wonderful time at Owen's 2nd birthday party last night. I have been so exhausted lately, I guess from hopping around so much. I haven't really had time to rest and I've just been very stressed. Anyway, Travis suggested maybe I should stay home last night and rest to which I responded, "Are you nuts!". Everyone needs time away to play and play we did. I ran through all the tunnels, slid on all the slides, slid on all the slides again with Halle in tow, and successfully beat up on Amanda and her friend Zach, thus ensuring myself the "coolest mom in the world" title with another one of Amanda's friends. I think that playground should be my new hangout. Yeah, Big Mountain Coffee was great, but the playground was way more fun.

Oh yeah, the party wasn't about us, was it? Sorry, but I'll have to let Kris and Mary fill you in on all the great Owen details. I do remember Kris snapping some covert pics of poor unsuspecting adults as we climbed in a very undignified manner through the tunnels. I'm sure we'll see some of those posted soon.

Last night was great fun and I heard it suggested that we ditch the kids and let the grown-ups have a turn...hmmm...now there's an idea!

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Well, I guess you've noticed the new look. I've been working on it for a couple of days and I had to go to my blog to remember what it looked like. I tried several different backgrounds and really couldn't find anything I liked so I guess basic black is good. I really felt like I needed a change and I never want to hear the word "gypsy" again.

We do have a new vehicle now. I'm going to spare you all of the boring details, but the jist of it is we are now driving a 2005 white Dodge Grand Caravan. It handles well and is very roomy and of that I'm glad. We do need to get Travis a new vehicle in the next few months and it will definitely have to be something more sporty so we can have a "date" vehicle.

We're in our apartment, sans furniture, and it's nice to have the space here as well. The apartment wasn't in great condition when we moved in but I'm not going to take up any blog time by complaining. We do have a nice view of a fountain out of most of the windows. I love water features and though the beauty is slighty marred by the "tidy bowl" blueness of the water, it's still very nice.

I'm looking forward to being at Owen Kelso's 2nd birthday party tonight and should be able to catch up with friends and to let Chloe catch up as well. She asked if her "boyfriend" Grant would be there tonight. I don't know where she gets that from, but whenever we talk about Grant she always asks about her boyfriend Grant. It's funny how kids make things up.

My time is up. Halle refuses to take a nap that she desperately needs and I can no longer bear her pitiful "mommy come get me" cries.