Why I Love My Crockpot

Crockpots - one of the greatest inventions for any busy person!  You can just put whatever in it, leave it for awhile, and viola` you have dinner.

And so was the case tonight.  We had the main dish for small group and the girl that plans the meals is so thoughtful - she asked me what I wanted to make knowing that I worked and dinner may be a challenge.  I opted for the crockpot!  We had BBQ Chicken - so good! 

Brad introduced this to me in college and it is the simpliest thing ever.  Take some chicken, stick in the crockpot all day to let it cook (with some water over it so it doesn't burn), dump the water at the end of the day, add so bbq sauce, let it get warm and serve.  So easy and so good!

Anyone else have a favorite crockpot recipe?!?

Successful Saturday

Accomplished.  That is the word I would use to describe our day.  I don't know that I really planned to get so much done in one day, but we made it happen and it feels great!

Because we got so much done I feel like I should make a check list...

1) Eat breakfast together - check!  Breakfast at Chick-fil-a, yummy and what a great way to start your day!!

2) Paige's one year pics - check!  Our baby girl did great!  It was a gorgous day down here and we were able to take advantage of the fabulous weather.  Here is a sneak peek of Paige's pictures.  This is our first time to use this photographer and we are both so excited to see the end result.

3) Organize Paige's new clothes - check!  In the process of trying to decide what P would wear for her pics I did a lot of shopping.  And when I say a lot of shopping, I mean a lot of shopping.  The poor girl didn't have any spring clothes and it is definitely getting warm here.  Back to the clothes - P also got some really, really cute clothes for her birthday and I wanted to get everything all organized and washed up so she would be good to go.  In the hustle and bustle of trying to find clothes I was buying everything, not really paying attention to price.  I was able to sort through everything and really decide if we needed some of the outfits.  Turns out I got some really good deals - go to Belk and Old Navy!

4) Return, return, return - check!  When I was planning Paige's party I would just buy things not knowing if I would need them.  I did the same thing with the clothes (don't know a size, buy 2 sizes and return one of them).  Needless to say I had a bunch of stores to visit to make these returns happen, 7 to be exact.  Paige and I loaded up and got all 7 returns done - talk about feeling accomplished!

5) Dinner at one of our favorite restaurants - check!  We got to eat at the East Shore Cafe - yummy!!!

The weather was so nice we got to eat outside!

One of my favorite things about Mardi Gras are the decorated trees!

6) Take Paige to her first Mardi Gras parade - check!  Need I say more?  She loved it!  Well, that is after she woke up.  She fell asleep on the way to the parade and didn't wake up until we woke her up for the 2nd go around (the floats come by twice in Fairhope).  She loved all the lights and music.  It was too cute watching her little arms go up trying to catch stuff (really they were just flinging around to the music and cheers).

Parade Buddies!

The Rest of the Weekend

The rest of our weekend last weekend was pretty low key.  Paige was bright eyed and bushy tailed about 6:30 but then konked out by about 8:30.  I knew she was exhausted when she fell asleep on me.  There was no rocking involved and there was no crib involved, she just fell over asleep in my lap - too cute (and it gave me a reason not to get up and finish getting ready)!

We headed off to Cracker Barrel to meet the rest of P's entourage for brunch.  There were 10 of us there, not including Paige, all there for her.  I know she loved all of the attention!

It was a gorgous day and I could not see us sitting inside and not enjoying the beautiful weather.  We headed to a local park and boy did Paige enjoy it!

She got to slide with Papa Joe.

Swing with Daddy

And ride dinosaurs with Uncle Justin (She didn't know what to think about the dinosaurs and wouldn't get on them without someone else.  Uncle Justin stepped up and did his uncle-duty and rode the dinosaur with P).

 After a busy afternoon at the park we came back and rested.  Just before dinner I caught this cute pic!  P was so into the computer and wanted to know what Uncle Justin was up to.  She absolutely loves her uncle!

Star of the Show

And now for the star of the birthday party, Paige!

I am having eye issues (allergies I guess) and can't really see out of either eye right now.  So, if something doesn't look right, bear with me and go with it.

Enjoying some time outside just before the party begins 

Bring on the food!!

Ella was so sweet to help Paige open her gifts.  Ella picked out each gift for Paige and showed Paige the proper way to oogle and aagle over gifts.  Ella was so expressive - I think we all loved how excited she got over Paige's new clothes!

Our attempt at a family pic before the cake.

Ready to dig in!

Paige's two little helpers were waiting and ready.

Paige was more into the icing this time so I thought I would dig a little for her to let her get to the cake.  When she saw the fork, she knew she had to have it.  And since it was her birthday, I gave it to her for a minute.

What was left of the cake - lots for Momma and Daddy!!

Welcome to Paige's Flutterbration!!

I started working on a post from Paige's party this past weekend but realized I wanted to share too many pictures (when it reached 20 I thought that may be a little much for one post).  So, I decided to break this down into 2 posts. 

I had the best time decorating for the party!  I had been working on this for about a month, trying to figure out how exactly I wanted everything and I think it really paid off.

As you walked in the door, the side table was decorated with a ribbon wreath (I learned to do this from my friend Emily), an invitation framed, and one of the party favors. 

Brad and I are obsessed with these cupcakes!  This lady in Mobile makes them and they are so good.  I probably hyped them up way too much and he and I may be the ones who really like them, but boy are they worth it to us!

Now on to the party!!

Thought for the Day

Not much going on down our way so I will leave you with this -

Let no one ever come to you

without leaving better and happier. 

Be the living expression of God's kindness:

kindness in your face,

kindness in your eyes,

kindness in your smile.

~Mother Teresa

God Gave me You

For my Valentine...

God gave me you for the ups and downs

God gave me to you for the days of doubt

For when I think I’ve lost my way




 

There are no words here left to say, it’s true

God gave me you.

On my own I’m only

Half of what I could be

I can’t do without you

We are stitched together
And what love has tethered
I pray we never undo

God gave me you.

I love you, Brad!

(These are the words from the song that you hear as you open the blog.)