A Little Southern Flavor

I enjoy trying new recipes and adding to our monthly meal plans with new "go to" meals.  Since we now live in the south, I thought it was about time to start finding more "southern" dishes to add to my recipe box.   I have found a few that we have liked and will be making more then one appearance at our dinner table.  Here is what we have liked so far...

Creamy Garlic Cheese Grits 

These are delicious!  Really creamy and so good with baked ham or any type of chicken.

Carolina Pulled Park

If you don't already know North Carolina BBQ is different then what you might think.  It is vinegar based and is usually made with a pulled pork.   I found a crockpot recipe for it from a good friend of mine at church and we liked it.  I love that it is a crockpot meal, makes a ton (for lots of company or to put in the freezer for a quick meal on a busy day), and it's delicious if you eat it on a pretzel bun.  Even better if you can enjoy it with friends or family outside on the back porch :)

Skillet Cornbread 

I have to say ever since I got my cast iron skillets for Christmas a few years ago, I don't know how I ever cooked without them.  I use them almost every day and so many things taste way better when cooked in a cast iron skillet, Cornbread is one of those things.  I love the crisp curst that it makes and served with honey butter and a bowl of spicy baked beans it makes a perfect addition to a great meal.

There are several other "southern" dishes that I would like to try in the months to come so I will have more updates as we try new things.  Some on my list are Shrimp & Grits, Pimento Cheese, and Banana Pudding.   So, maybe when some of you come and visit we will get to introduce you to these delicious "southern" foods if you haven't had it already.

The Best Change

As many of you know already I am not really an early morning person.  Especially at the end of pregnancy, like now, I cherish every moment of sleep I can get.  I like to have a few minutes to myself in the morning.  Just enough time to wash my face and make some coffee.  Neal, when he wakes up, is ready to go, go, go.  He starts talking the minute he walks out of his room and always has so much to talk about.  Neal also has the strongest internal clock ever.  It doesn't matter what time of night he gets to bed he always wakes up around 6:30am, which is way to early for me :)

It was routine for him to wake up around 6:30 and come into our room ready for the day.  This was way to early for me and also made for some long days, if the night before was a late night.  So, we needed to come up with a new plan.

Last week I decided to implement a new rule in our house.  I decided to move a digital clock into Neal's room and told him that he had to stay in his bed until he saw a 7 on his clock.  I taped a piece of paper to his clock with a "7" on it just to make sure he knew what "7" was (and to cover up the other numbers so there was no confusion).  It has worked like a charm!  I am one very happy mommy.  This whole last week, no matter if he woke up early or not, he has staid in his bed quietly until his clock reads seven.

The second it reads "7" he excitedly runs out of his room, finds me, grabs my hand and says, "mommy come look, my clock says 7.  Hurry, before you miss it."   There was only one morning when he woke up and called me into his room to say "mommy I don't think my clock has a 7 anymore".  This particular morning I believe I heard him wake up around 6:30 so he was awake for quite awhile waiting.  I simply assured him that it did have a 7 and he just had to be patient and it would soon appear.

This has been the best change in our house.  It gives me time to wake-up, get somewhat ready for the morning and make some coffee.  It has also helped Neal to sleep a bit longer some mornings. Truthfully I may have set his clock a half hour late so really it's more like 7:30 for him but he doesn't know the difference, yet. :)

Safety First

A few weeks ago we finally bought Neal a helmet for his bike.  We found one that was a perfect fit and even had a race car on it.   Once we bought it Neal wanted to put it on right away and wear it out to the car.  He continued to wear his helmet, in the car, in the house, on his bike and even into daddy's office that day.  I couldn't get him to take it off.  He would tell me "mommy, I love my race car helmet" and then "mommy, knock on my head...see it doesn't hurt with my helmet"

Who knew that such a simple things would bring my little boy so much joy.  I guess according to Neal you can never be to safe so he wore his helmet almost non-stop for 3 days.  Finally it has been placed on his bike and is only used on bike rides.  He is getting faster on his little bike and I think next spring it will be time to retire the training wheels and learn to ride a real "big boy" bike.

A night out

Tyler and I don't get the chance to get out on a date night very often, but a few weeks ago we found someone to watch Neal for us and we got to go out for the evening.

We drove into Raleigh and went to a nice little coffee shop to enjoy some drinks and listen to a friend of Tyler's from school play live music.  It was a great date night!

First off, the coffee was AMAZING!  My mocha was so delicious and had a fancy little pattern in the foam on top, which always makes the coffee even more fun to drink.  Second, the music was great!  Tyler's friend, Matt, played the percussion and we had a great time enjoying the music, coffee and visiting with Matt between songs.

It was a great night out and we have decided we should go out for simple little coffee dates more often. It made for a fun, enjoyable and rather inexpensive date night.  It will be harder and harder to find the time to get away once there are two kids in our house so we hope to take advantage of the opportunity to go out a few more times before baby girl comes :)

My Not so Green Thumb

I don't know what it is but I have no success in growing any type of plant.  I am lucky that our yard already had lots of established plants, flower bushes and trees in it 'cause I cannot seem to grow anything, except weeds.

Several months ago a friend of mine gave me a small tomato start and so I went and got a pot and some good soil and planted it.  I then took it outside so it could get sun.  Amazingly I have remembered to water it each day and for awhile it was growing so well and even got a tomato on it!  I was overjoyed and started to get excited.  However, something happened.  It has been over a month now and the one tomato that started to grow is still green and not growing anymore and there are no other tomatoes on it.  It is now starting to look rather sad and I believe that it is not going to last much longer.  I don't think a garden is going to happen anytime soon here, maybe I'll try my hand at some fresh herbs next spring.

Until I can figure out this whole plant growing/gardening thing you will find fake flowers and other non-living plants in our house.  Neal helped me a few months ago put together a little spring/summer prayer pot.

This prayer pot can be found on our kitchen table and is filled with "pinwheel flowers" and prayer sticks.  The sticks have different people and things to prayer for and each night after dinner, during our family bible study, Neal gets to pick a prayer stick and then pray for that person.  It has been a fun way to get him to think about who and what to pray for and the "flowers" always look great, no green thumb necessary.

Starting to grow-up

I have been looking forward to this day since Neal was born, the day he starts to do his own chores.  That's right I now have a helper around the house.  Neal has always loved to "help" me every time I pull out the vacuum, broom or mop but finally he is old enough to actually have a few chores of his very own.

It's wonderful to see him helping out around the house and he actually loves to be responsible for a few things.  His chores, for now, consist of feeding the dog and emptying the silverware from the dishwasher (after I have removed the sharp knives).

He is a great help!

Dress-up day

Two weeks ago was "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-fil-A.  What does that mean you might ask?  Well if you dress like a cow you get a free meal!   So, needless to say Neal and I did not want to miss out on the opportunity for some free Chick-fil-A, and Neal thought that idea of dressing up like a cow would be fun (we couldn't convince Tyler to dress up, even for free food so we went during the day while he was at work).   It was a fun afternoon trip with some friends of ours.

While we were getting ready to leave Neal was walking around the house saying "mommy you look like a cow".  I told him this was the only day of the year that saying that to me, or anyone, was appropriate (especially since I'm in my third trimester of pregnancy and feel like a cow some days anyway).  Doesn't he make a cute little cow?