Reunited!

So happy to have Sophie home! She's a little smarty pants as well! I can't believe everything she can do! Beware... I'm about to seriously brag.

Here's her list of words:

Hi

Bye bye

Sophie

Baby

Uh oh

No

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Down

Up

Out

Thank you

happy

Auntie

Papa

Mommy

Daddy

Yabba Dabba Doo

Zap!

Choo choo

Amen

Woof Woof

Meow

Kitty

Doggy

Moo

Owie

Oh Man!

Nana (means food!)

Dora

Din ev Cry! (Didn't even Cry!) So cute!

I'd know! (I don't know! while shrugging her shoulder with hands out)

Nama (Grandma)

is lil piggy (This little piggy)

She can do "I'm a little teapot." "Itsy bitsy spider," "Patty-cake"

She blows kisses to EVERYONE

She can do a somersault!! I love it!

She recognizes Jesus and says "Jee-us!

And my FAVORITE thing! She can pray! I love it! I have the cutest video of her doing it. She folds her arms, squints her eyes, speaks a little gibberish, and says, "Amen!"

I'm so in love with my little peanut! When she came through security she was walking, she spotted me, and ran as fast as she could and jumped in my arms! I was crying my eyes out! She just layed her head on me. So so sweet! Cory and I are just eating her up!

She also got her first haircut today. It was very bittersweet... she looks like such a big girl! My baby is growing up!

P.S. Only two weeks of school and I'm DONE for good! Yahoo!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our sweet Sophie and HUGE Bodie!

What are you having for dinner?

I haven't blogged much simply because there isn't a lot going on! Sophie is still cute as ever and is growing up before my eyes... I kind of hate it.

Here's the highlight of our week! We took Soph ice skating. She preferred being held rather than skating herself... but when she did it, she was pretty good!

Aren't the tiny skates to die for??

On another note... Cory and I are getting sick of our regular dinners. I swear we have about ten that we just cycle through! So, if anyone has some great, easy suggestions... I'm all ears!

Here are a few of our favs:

Chicken Fajitas

Chicken

Orange Pepper

World Harbors Fajita Sauce (in my grocery store its by the bbq sauce and ketchup)

Slice your chicken into strips. Put it in a pan with oil. When the chicken's a little over half way cooked I add the sliced pepper. When everything is cooked I pour on the fajita sauce and let it simmer for a bit. So easy!

Put it all on a warmed flour tortilla with your fav toppings... mine are a little cheese, sour cream, and lettuce. Cory likes to throw on some olives.

We have it with chips, guacamole, and mexican rice.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I buy the Pillsbury pizza crust. So yummy.

Cook a large chicken breast in the oven on 350 for about 45-60 min. Let it cool and dice it.

Roll out my pizza dough.

Mix together BBQ sauce and a couple spoon fulls of Pesto sauce.

Slather it generously on the dough

Throw on the diced chicken, some mozzarella cheese, pineapple tidbits on my half, and olives on Cory's. (Are you noticing a trend that Cory really likes olives?) Sometimes Cory likes me to put pineapples on his half... and then he picks them off. Strange, right? Cory doesn't like warm fruit but, "likes the residue it leaves behind." Weirdo. Oh well, more pineapples for me.

Its ready in a jiffy. We throw together a salad and Voila! Dinner's ready.

Grandma's Lasagna Casserole

12 oz. Egg Noodles

1 c. cottage cheese

1 c. sour cream

1 can tomato sauce

1 lb. hamburger

Cheese

Brown the hamburger (I sprinkle on garlic salt and Italian seasoning) and boil the noodles. Combine everything in a casserole dish (minus the cheese). Sprinkle the top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Throw together a salad or garlic bread. Yummm.

Another simple recipe is Spaghetti. I must admit, this is my favorite dinner (as well as Sophie's)

1 lb. hamburger

Beef smoked sausage

Spaghetti Noodles

Spaghetti Sauce... my fav is Classico Traditional Sweet Basil

I brown the hamburger and boil the noodles. When the hamburger is about halfway done I throw in the sausage. I only use half the package and slice the sausage into edible bites. I let the hamburger, sausage, and spaghetti sauce simmer for about 10 minutes... then we dig in!

I'm pretty sure my mom's the only person that reads this blog.... But, if someone else out there is reading this, please give me some of your recipe ideas! We are desperate to get out of this rut! :)

And I'll end the post with another darling picture of my little lady at a wedding we went to Friday night...

Introducing, Bodie

A week after Mherra died, we made the decision to get another dog. I definitely didn't want a puppy and we're all about adopting dogs from the humane society. Why support breeders when there's dogs in shelters waiting for families? The humane society uses ASPCA's Meet Your Match evaluation system to categorize dogs into specific energy levels (Purple, Orange or Green) and personalities (ie; Busy Bee, Wallflower, Go-Getter etc). They use this MYM system to match the new dog adopters lifestyle with a dog's personality to make a "perfect match". Mherra was a "Purple-Constant Companion" and she was great. We knew we wanted a "purple" dog, so that's the first thing we looked for. There were three purples at the humane society.

1. Achillies, he was a jumper- no, thank you.

2. Libby, she just didn't mesh well with me...

3. Bodie. 126 lbs of pure LOVE. A sweet Mastiff that looks eerily identical to Mherra (besides the enormous head)! He's a "purple- teachers pet" that loves to sleep and eat. We adopted him on Wednesday and every time we see him, we're still surprised by his size. He's 3.5 feet tall and 4 feet long. And I'm pretty sure Sophie thinks he's Mherra.

We're excited to have Bodie in our lives! However, we are not excited about his gas and enormous poops! :)

We love you, Mherra!

I have been avoiding writing this post because it makes me so sad. Our sweet Mimi dog got hit by a car last week. I'm not even kidding, it felt like we lost a family member. We adopted her in August of 2009. Everyone was skeptical (and by skeptical I mean condemning) that we adopted a pit bull while I was 5 months pregnant. However, we knew she was perfect for our family. She minded well, slept all day, protected our family, played with Soph, and adored Cory. She was all around a good doggy. The night she died was devastating. I'm not sure the last time I cried that hard. And seeing poor Cory so sad nearly broke my heart. They were the best buddies. I am super glad we adopted her though. We gave her and extra year and a half of life that she probably wouldn't have had if we didn't adopt her.

We love you Mherra!

Cory will miss playing hide and seek with you.

Sophie will miss laying on you and giving you fruit loops

I'll miss sharing my popcorn with you.

Success!!

Today was a success! I was ready for it to be a total failure because I decided to take away Sophie's bottles for good... She's no longer needs lactose free formula so I've completely transitioned her to cow's milk. She went down for her nap and only cried for two minutes! Then tonight when she went to bed she only cried for four minutes. I'm so proud of myself! We are now binky and bottle free in this home! Yahoo!

Now if I could just get rid of the diapers... haha jk :)

I love this sweet video... I was reminiscing with myself her newborn days...

(Sorry that the first few seconds with Cory are a little Blair Witch! Also, Cory really likes to get close ups!)

And... blowing kisses :)

Mherra

Today, Sophie realized Mherra likes snack time too! Hey... at least she's sharing!!