Happy 4th of July!

We had an awesome 4th of July. After church, we spent the day at my parents' house, grilling out and laying out by the pool. All the guys had a great time playing around in the pool while us girls watched in amusement. Even Baby Julie had her swimsuit on by the pool, although she napped in the shade on her Mommy :) My precious nephews are so funny - they love to swim and play. Uncle Blake likes to play too so he spent some time tossing the boys around in the pool. Fun times! Preston napped while we swam so he didn't partake in the pool that day. However, after he got up we let him get his first taste of watermelon! And the verdict? He loved it! I didn't let him get too much of it though - we didn't want a diaper disaster :)

That evening we headed off to watch the Trussville Freedom fireworks show. We really enjoyed hanging out and getting ready for the fireworks. However, we made the mistake of trying to get our dinner there and the lines were ridiculous! Blake stood in line at Dreamland for a short while and then they ran out of food. Then he got in the Papa Johns line for about 25 minutes when they ran out of food. Ah! So...we made a trip by Arby's after the show. Anyway, my whole family was there along with our friends Ryan and Amber so we really did have fun. I was a bit nervous about how Preston would react to the fireworks but he wasn't scared at all. He actually liked watching them. All in all, this Independence Day was probably the best I've ever had. The only thing we will need to do different next year is bring our own food to the firework show :)

Fun Five Days

The last five days have been busy and fun-filled. It all started with Blake's 27th birthday on Thursday, July 1st. We celebrated with dinner at PF Changs with Blake's family and finished off with a chocolate cake that I made for him (recipe to come later). Side note: I've never been a big fan of PF Changs for some reason and I must say, our dinner was fabulous! Blake and I had such great food that we went back on Saturday night, ha ha


On Friday, Blake had the day off so we loaded up Preston and took a family trip to Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium. This was our first time to take Preston on a trip so it was exciting for us. Preston slept most of the way so he was ready to go once we arrived. And for a weekday, the aquarium was PACKED. I'm sure the holiday weekend had something to do with it though. One thing we learned: buy tickets online at home. We stood in line for nearly 30 minutes, ugh. Anyway, we loved looking at all the fish and animals. They were so beautiful. Due to the crowds, Preston couldn't see very much so he wanted to be held the majority of the time. We took some fun pictures of him by one of the large aquariums and he seemed to enjoy himself looking at the fish. We rounded out our trip by browsing through the gift shop and purchasing a new friend for Preston, a stuffed baby penguin. He has been affectionately named George, taken from his home state :) Preston LOVED him right away and slept with him on the way home.


Waiting in line. This is our new face when we see the camera




Wants to grab the shark



Loving his new friend, George

Saturday, Blake played some golf and then we hit the pool with our good friends, Ryan and Amber. After Preston took a much needed nap, we headed back to PF Changs and did a little shopping.

Sunday was Independence Day! I have a separate post coming for this day. Preston also turned 8 months old so that post is coming too!

Blake was off again on Monday for the holiday so we spent the day hanging around the house and then making a grocery store trip. It was so nice having Blake home for a four day weekend. We really had a blast hanging out with friends, family and of course, our sweet boy. July has definitely gotten off to a great start!

Crock-Pot Chicken

Well here we go. As mentioned in a previous post, I am going to start sharing some of my favorite recipes on the blog. They will most likely be tossed in sporadically with my other posts but I promise to try and organize them somehow. As for this first recipe, I came up with it last week, kind of spur of the moment. Blake and I have been grilling chicken like crazy during this summer season and I was so sick of it! I had some chicken tenders on hand so I started raiding the pantry. This is a very simple recipe but it is so delicious. I was pleasantly surprised at how tender and moist it turned out. Blake usually turns his nose up to Crock-Pot dishes because a lot of the meats come out dry. However, he loved this one and I will definitely be making it often. I've shared this one already with a few friends via Facebook so I thought I would kick-start my recipe blogs with it. Enjoy!

Crock-Pot Chicken

You will need:
1 package (about one pound) chicken tenders, pre-trimmed
1 can Cream of Mushroom Condensed soup
1 can Chicken Broth

Place tenders in the bottom of your Crock-Pot. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Add the Cream of Mushroom soup and spread over the tenders. Add enough chicken broth to cover the chicken. You will probably only use half of the can of broth. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours.

Puny

That's the best word to describe Preston this weekend. My poor little guy is experiencing his first illness and it has not been fun. It started on Friday afternoon. Now we all know that my child does not like to sleep during the day and usually refuses all naps unless he happens to fall asleep in the car or while nursing. Being the determined mother that I am, I still place Preston in his crib throughout the day in hopes he will give in and fall asleep. This was the case on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. He fussed for a few minutes and then silence. Yay! I'm hoping we might get a good 30 minutes to an hour. Well...4:30 rolls around and he's still sleeping. Hmm...a few minutes later he awakens and is "talking" just a bit. A few minutes later, silence. He is back asleep. We have friends arriving at 6:00 p.m. to have dinner with us and he is still asleep when they get to our house. Alright, what the heck is going on here? We wake Preston and I'm thinking once he has some food he should be a happy camper for the evening since he's had so much sleep. Wrong! He was very cranky and did not want to be put down. At 7:45 we are heading to bed. He was feeling a little warm so I gave him some Motrin just in case.

He slept all night until 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning and when I pick him up he is blazing hot. Temperature comes to 102.6. Holy cow! He has never had a high fever before. I gave him some more Motrin, nursed him back to sleep and called the doctor. We were at our weekly playgroup on Wednesday and one of the babies turned up sick the next day. Her doctor thought it could be the beginnings of Hand, Foot Mouth so I was concerned that he could have the same. His appointment was at 10:15 and we had to wake Preston just before we left because he was still sleeping. Yep, definitely not feeling good.

The doctor said his throat was red and that it may be a viral infection or still could be HFM so we would have to wait and see if anything happens. HFM is a common illness in babies that starts out with fever and a day or two later, red sores develop in their mouth, palms of the their hands and soles of their feet. I've heard it's very contagious and worse in adult form. Yikes!

So...my sweet Preston has just been kind of puny this weekend. His temperature went up to 103.9 on Saturday afternoon. I know babies typically run higher temps than adults do but it's still scary. Today has been an improvement though. He took a nap this afternoon and then played for an hour in the floor after he ate. I could tell his temp was very low if not normal. It started going back up by bedtime but I'm hoping we're headed towards recovery. No sign of any sores so I'm hopeful it is not HFM. I've included a sweet photo of Preston the day before he started feeling bad. I'm sure he will be back to his happy self soon! Two new posts below

Julie Elizabeth Reeves

I wanted to brag about my first NIECE! Julie Elizabeth arrived Wednesday, June 16th. Her proud parents are my brother Ryan and sister-in-law Dawn. She also has two big brothers that love her to pieces. She is the first girl grandchild in the family so we are excited to see a little pink :) On her birth day, Julie stopped breathing for a short period of time and was taken to the NICU for observation. She was overall very healthy and they are still unsure what caused it. But we are so thankful that God answered our prayers and this sweet girl only had to stay one extra night in the hospital. She and Mommy are doing great now! My pictures are taking forever to upload to I've just added a few. New post below!

Mommy's Kitchen

I have a new favorite recipe website, well it's actually a blog. It's called Mommy's Kitchen and it has some fabulous looking recipes. I have now added it to my Bloggies list so check it out! Blake and I made the Goulash recipe today and it was great. Blake loves goulash and devoured two bowls in a span of 15 minutes. She has lots of Southern-style recipes and old-fashioned traditional ones. I can't wait to try some of these out. Those of you who know me, know I absolutely love to cook and especially bake. Mommy's Kitchen has inspired me to share some of my recipes and meal plans on my own blog so stay tuned!

Daddy Day

Blake celebrated his first Father's Day today. I am so thankful for him and the role model he is becoming for our son. Preston loves to play with his Daddy and they have a great time together being silly and having fun. It puts a smile on my face just to sit by and watch them.

"Preston" made a personalized cup for his Daddy that has his handprints and footprints around it. And of course it's orange and blue :) Side note: Getting good handprints and footprints from a 7 month old is nearly impossible - especially with bright paint that you are trying not to get everywhere! It was worth it though. Blake also got a frame containing a collage of pictures of just him and Preston.

We spent the afternoon with my parents and celebrated my Dad's birthday in addition to Father's Day. I know everyone may say this but I truly have THE BEST Daddy in the whole world! He is so selfless and would go to the ends of the earth for his family. He is Preston's only grandfather but he couldn't get a better one. He loves to just walk Preston around showing him new things - he has endless patience when it comes to his grandkids. Little P loves his Granddaddy! And wouldn't you know, Granddaddy got a personalized cup too...in addition to a new lightweight fishing shirt.

All in all we had a wonderful family day...although it would have been a little better if I didn't have a stinkin' cold. Oh well!

Blake and "Daddy's Little Caddy" (On P's shirt)
Blake's picture frame
Daddy's Cup!
Footprints
Helping Granddaddy open his cup