Is it Friday yet?

I just love me some weekends! This weekend was the first weekend Tony's been home in over a month. Before that he was traveling to San Antonio every Saturday and Sunday and a few Fridays for his test prep class for his exam. Here are a few updates in our world:

1. I'm 30 weeks this week and I'm feeling great! Aside from being super sleepy around 8:30 at night I'm doing good so far! I'm still riding the bike, lifting weights, and walking a bunch. We'll see how far I can make it with this...

2. Baby Emerson's room is a work in progress. Today we had crown molding installed in her room and in our room and it turned out great! My grandma was home to supervise since we were both working and we're very happy with the turnout.

3. Einstein is back to his Mini Schnauzer haircut! We buzz him short in the summer, but on Saturday he got his Schnauzer cut to grow out his skirt for Christmas time. He's ADORABLE and we love cuddling with him so much. He always comes back smelling so darn delicious from the groomers!

4. THE RANGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!! Seriously, enough said. Freakin' FANTASTIC! I think Emmy's their good luck charm. The first time in the organization's history...coincidence...I think not...

5. I made this pie Saturday night and it was DELICIOUS! I just finished a slice while writing this. OMG if you like peanut butter, cream cheese, and chocolate you will LOVE this.

6. We had this for dinner Saturday night before the pie and it was wonderful as well. We will be having this again since it was SO easy and yummy.

7. It's time to teach Fall in Kindergarten and I LOVE IT! It's one of my favorite things to teach! :)

8. My mom's birthday is on Friday so we'll be celebrating that this weekend!

That's about all I have time for right now. Pictures/real post coming soon. Night everyone!

28 Weeks! :)

Here's a shot from Friday. Life in our house is super busy with Tony preparing for his Professional Engineer's exam at the end of October. Once (not if, but ONCE) he takes and passes the test, my baby will be a licensed Professional Engineer and will add the initials P.E. to his name. Holla!

We celebrated Tony's 27th birthday this weekend. This was his sixth birthday that we celebrated together as a couple and we had a special night out at a great restaurant. School has been flying by and I'm blessed to have some great kids and fabulous families this year. It makes it fun to go to work!

I'll update more soon. We just had a delicious and SUPER easy chicken pot pie recipe for dinner and I will definitely share. It was YUM! My 28 week appointment is tomorrow so any prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Happy Monday everyone! :)

Fried Corn!

Not deep fried corn, so healthier right?!?

Ha, this has become one of my FAVORITE sides! It's definitely more indulgent than plain corn but we have it sparingly. I found it here and have been in love ever since!

Here is what you'll need..

Ingredients:

• 2 cups frozen or canned corn
• 1/3 cup chopped onions
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium sized skillet over medium heat, add 1 tbsp butter and chopped onions. Allow onions to soften and turn transluscent. Add corn, 1 tbsp butter, milk, and salt and pepper (if using frozen corn, add it in first without the other ingredients to allow it to defrost and warm up a little). Saute over medium heat until milk has nearly evaporated. You can add some chopped parsley if you want (we skip this step).

We have this with meatloaf, ribs, fried chicken, or anything that has mashed potatoes! I hope you love it!

Changes around the house...

It has been quite a few weeks since we've updated our blog. School has started and I have a great group of kids! I have a great group of parents this year who are so excited for Tony and I and support us so that is great too! I realized last week just how much I love my job! I know that being a working mom will be a difficult balance that I may never fully achieve, but it has always been a challenge I have wanted to face. Everyone makes choices that work for their family and I'm just so glad that Tony and my family support my desire to go back to work and also raise a family. My grandmother is planning to watch Emerson when I go back to finish the school year and my mom will pick up next August from there on out. I know that my career is the most flexible one to be a working mom, so at least I will get my few months in the summer, winter break, spring break, and all major holidays to be a stay at home mom. We'll just say that things will always be interesting and busy in our home, which is just how we like them!

In the spare weekends we have (which haven't been much since we've been here, there and everywhere lately) we have been receiving so many blessings!

Here are a few changes around our house:

Our great friends Mary Ruth and Preston gifted us with a wonderful gift card that allowed us to get the pack and play we wanted. It's still in the box, but it's super cute and has owls all over it. Thank you guys!

My mom surprised us with a car seat for Miss Emerson. We hope to take her many fun places that we enjoy going to!

Tony's parents gifted us this fabulous swing! They came into town a few weekends ago and wanted to buy us a swing, so away we went and found this adorable one for a STEAL! After being on sale and using a 20% off coupon this one was so much less than any other we had on our registry! Tony's mom insisted on buying Emerson her first stuffed animal so that little one is resting where she will one day! The swing has been on in our living room from time to time so that Einstein can get used to the music, nature sounds, and gliding/rocking motions it makes.

Here is a BOB stroller we found on Craig's List for a great deal as well! We plan on using this as our sole stroller so we were excited to get this one! The car seat pops in with an adapter so Emerson will be riding around the neighborhood and town in style.

Emerson has been blessed so far with a fabulous wardrobe! My sister-in-law Brianne is responsible for most of this as she went on a shopping spree at Babies R Us. The picture doesn't do all her options much justice since most of these sets have 3 outfits on one hanger. My favorites are the A&M cheerleader outfit, A&M dress, and Texas Rangers onesies. This girl is already ready for our love of sports!

I'm feeling great right now! I'm still working out and lifting weights nearly nightly. We've been going on many walks at night and I'm still riding my bike. After the morning sickness finally went away (praise God!) I wanted to get right back to what I had been doing and I got my doctor's blessing. I am a little over 6 months along right now but I haven't taken a picture just yet. Here's an old one of me at 5 months.

Will update more later!

Fast Dinner: Tostadas (or Chalupas if you're Hispanic like me)

Ingredients:

• however many corn tortillas you want
• 1 can of refried beans
• shredded cheddar cheese
• lettuce
• jalapenos (optional unless again, you're Hispanic like me and my pseudo-Hispanic husband)
• taco seasoned ground beef or turkey or chopped up chicken breasts cooked to your liking (we usually just go meatless but they can be great with meat!)
• sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place corn tortillas on cookie sheets spread apart so they aren't touching. Cook in oven for about 15-20 minutes (just until they look almost a dark brown or burned). This part is not an exact science, you just kind of keep an eye on them. You want them crispy, not chewy. So if you're first run is chewy, leave them in for a few more minutes next time. Heat refried beans in pot for a few minutes (sometimes we add a little water to the beans to make them more spreadable). Next layer a thin layer of refried beans on each shell. Sprinkle some cheese on top, lettuce, meat (if desired), jalapeños, and garnish with sour cream.

This is a great meal to get in some protein and it's fast! I ate these all the time growing up when my mom was in a rush and needed to get dinner on the table. Adding meat makes them more hearty but they're great without it! I will say that if we go meat-less I eat about 5-6 of them (I don't know if that's normal, but hey they're good!)

Delicious and Easy Cajun Oven Fries

These are absolutely one of my favorite sides. Sorry the picture has some corn in the picture, but that was another fabulous side I'll post later! We have these with ribs, hamburgers, steaks, you name it! Because I've found this fast recipe we no longer buy frozen fries. So good and they pack a little heat so try them! If you're not a fan of the heat, just skip the cayenne pepper. Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

• 2-4 medium thin-skinned Russet potatoes
• 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil (I just pour it from an oil thingy and guess)
• 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce (I just sprinkle cayenne pepper powder)
• 1 teaspoon paprika (again I just sprinkle)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut potatoes into wedges. The easiest way to do this is to cut a potato in half length-wise and then cut each half into thirds. Place potato wedges on a large cookie sheet (with edges that lip up to keep liquid from draining into oven). Sprinkle all ingredients over the potatoes and then toss the potatoes to cover all sides. Cook in the oven turning them once after ten minutes.

These are my favorite! I hope you enjoy!

Quick Catch Up Post

It's raining today in the Austin area and I'm THRILLED! There's nothing like dark clouds and thunder rolling in to a hot, steamy Texas day. I'm a big rain fan and I love how it just calms everything with its presence.

Life in our house has been very busy to say the least. Tony is busy at work designing roads and managing a pretty big project until all hours of the night. My morning sickness knew exactly when to say goodbye to our house, because Tony is not around so much right now to run the house and take care of me. Yay God for timing!

School is just around the corner and I've been busy unpacking, organizing, and editing my room. I'm staying away from the heavy things but still managing to get stuff done. This year will be a big change to the three previous ones and I know God will provide me with the energy, attitude, and endurance to face it like a champ.

Einstein is recovering nicely from a surgery he had last week. He went in for a routine teeth cleaning and we had the doctor look at a spot on his cheek that wasn't healing like it should. The doctor thought it could have been a number of not so good things, cancer being one of them, so he removed it and this left Einstein out of commission for a few days. Poor little guy was a trooper though! He's now back to his lively, neighborhood running, dog chasing self! We had quite a scare there for a second because he means the world to us!

We go for our 20 week check up on Friday to see Baby E. We always just pray for a healthy, happy baby but we may find out what we're having that day. We shall see!!

In the next few weeks I'm hoping to get back to trying out new recipes and posting them on here so stay tuned!