Thankful Thursday

It was 2 years ago today that I found out I was pregnant. I remember that day like it was yesterday. Me and Nick had been joking around that I might be pregnant, only because my boobs had been so sore for a couple of weeks. I finally decided to take a pregnancy test, but never thought in a million years I might actually be pregnant. I remember when the plus popped up on the test I almost freaked out! I ran out to the kitchen to get the directions to read them ONE more time, to see if "+" really meant pregnant. I stood in the bathroom looking at myself in the mirror, half laughing, half crying. I was filled with about a million different emotions all at once. I had no idea how much becoming a mother would change my life. There are days when I feel like I'm pulled in a hundred different directions, but I wouldn't change my life one bit. Having a child is the greatest gift I could have ever hoped for. So today, I am very thankful for my angel, Bailey Grace.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Terri said she was interested in the recipe for the biscuits I had in my last post, so I thought I would post it on here in case anyone else wanted to make them also. These are seriously the easiest things to make, and they are SOOO good! Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix 4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick) 1 heaping cup grated Cheddar cheese 3/4 cup cold whole milk 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder Topping: 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees 2. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter of a fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there about the size of peas. Add Cheddar cheese, milk and 1/4 teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, don't over mix. 3. Drop approximately 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown. 4.While the biscuits are baking, melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a microwave. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. 5. As soon as you remove the biscuits from the oven, use a brush to spread the garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Makes a dozen biscuits. This recipe is from "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2". This is a great cook book with lots of yummy recipes!!

Old Friends, Poop and...Fire?!

Yes, I know, odd title, but it pretty much sums up the weekend we had at the Maxwell house.

Friday night I went to Upbeat Cafe to hear Eric Vinson play. He married a high school friend of mine, Laura Glass, and they are both musicians. They tour around, mostly playing at churches and at church retreats, but every now and then they will play at a coffee house. They are both so amazing! I had them sing at my wedding and everyone loved them. You really must check out their website...http://www.elworship.com/. My favorite song you can hear on the site is Psalm 86. And Eric has 2 Cd's himself, and I love Changing Colors, my favorite song on there is "Hold Onto Love". If your church is interested in having an amazing group come play one Sunday or for a retreat, I would highly recommend them!!! You can contact them from the link to the website I posted.

Aside from the great music, it was so nice to see Laura again and catch up with old friends.

The big news around my house has been that Bailey is telling us when she has poop in her diaper! I went to get her up from a nap yesterday afternoon and she was standing up saying "Poop" and pointing to her diaper, and sure enough, there was poop! And this morning she came up to me while I was getting ready and she was doing the same thing, so I asked her, "Do you have poop in your pants?" and she shook her head no, and THEN she started pooping, so she was trying to tell me that she had to poop. I'm hoping this is a sure sign that it is time to introduce the potty seat!!

This picture doesn't really match the poop story...but it's just too cute. Bailey kept trying to ride her little Alphabet Pal caterpillar last night :)

Ok, so I had posted our weekly menu, and on Saturday we were supposed to have beer can chicken. Well, it started out well...the spice rub smelled amazing and I just knew we were going to have a fabulous dinner. That was, until the black smoke started pouring out from the grill and flames were shooting up everywhere!! Apparently some of the beer had spewed out from the can landing in the grill...and alcohol and fire don't make for a good combination. So we had to use the fire extinguisher to put out the flames. It was kind of scary. I kept seeing fire trucks in my head, and a news reporter asking how the fire had started...not the way I want to make it on TV! But, Nick got the flames put out and we had two sad looking chickens doused in fire extinguisher fluid just sitting there. So...we ordered pizza that night :) However, I ended up making the cheddar biscuits last night that should have accompanied the chicken, and they were amazing!!! We have the cookbook that has recipes (at least very similar) from different restaurants, and these are from Red Lobster...and I swear they tasted just like them!!!

Weekly Menu

So, this isn't going to be an exciting post for my fellow bloggers, but I've decided to start posting our weekly menu here at the Maxwell household. I'm doing this for two reasons... 1. There are many times we forget what we had planned for one night and scramble to come up with something else. This way I can just refer to my blog and see what is planned. 2. I feel like every week we're basically having the same things over and over again. I'm hoping by posting for all to see, it will force us to get a little more creative. Saturday - Beer can chicken (recipe here), baked macaroni cheese, green beans & cheddar biscuits. We are having Justin & Shana over tonight and the chicken and the biscuits are new recipes we're testing out on them :) Sunday - Grilled boneless pork chops, potatoes Au Gratin, peas & rolls Monday - Chicken 'n Dumplings & cornbread Tuesday - Spaghetti, salad & garlic bread Wednesday - Chili Thursday - Fajitas & rice Friday - Chicken piccata (recipe here), baked potatoes & steamed broccoli

Valentine's Day Weekend

For the past few years me and Nick have pretty much stopped celebrating Valentine's Day. It really had more to do with watching our budget than anything else. We'll still go out to eat or something, but that's about it. I had a walk through to do and houses to show that afternoon, and then we ended up ordering pizza and just having a family night. It was great! After Bailey went to bed we did make some chocolate covered strawberries (yummy!) and had some wine. It was a wonderful evening!! Sunday was another great and relaxing day. We played with Bailey all day and Nick made us a wonderful meal: grilled salmon with an orange jalapeno sauce, steamed broccoli & baked potatoes...for those of you that don't know me this is a big step for me, eating both fish AND broccoli!!! :) We also worked with Bailey on her words a lot this weekend, and it really paid off. By Sunday evening she managed to string a few words together! I got her to say "Beach please"...I'm dying to go on vacation this year!!!! And this morning when we were leaving the house she said "Dog bye", which is a little backwards, but she's getting the idea of it :)

Thankful Thursday

1. A healthy girl!! We had our 15 month check-up today and Bailey is growing like a weed :) She is 31 3/4 in. tall (85%) and she weighs 22 lbs (50%). She had grown 1 1/4 in. since her last appointment and she hadn't gained any weight, but they said with her height being what it is that's very normal.

2. New tires. I HATE having to spend money on these type of things, but I needed new tires and had them put on today. I can't believe how much smoother my car rides now! I think this is the first time I've ever put 4 new tires on my car. I highly recommend Bumper 2 Bumper for any car repair you need.

3. Warmer weather! I have been loving this Spring-like weather we've had the past few days. I know it's just a tease, but it's making me very ready for Spring!

Happy 16 months!

Bailey enjoying a little treat on her 16 month b-day! This was a yummy red velvet cupcake that we had left from the cupcakes that Michelle and Greg had brought over Saturday night.

Bailey turned 16 months old yesterday...it just seems unreal to me that time is passing this quickly!! Yesterday should have been her 15 month check-up (yeah, that doesn't make sense to me either!) but I rescheduled it for Thursday so Nick could come. So, I don't have any specifics to share, but here's what we're doing at 16 months...

Favorite Food: Just about anything. She LOVES fruit!

Favorite Book: Mama and Me (only when we do the funny voices for the animals!) Favorite Songs: If You're Happy and You Know It and Itsy Bitsy Spider Favorite Toy: Blocks Favorite thing to do: Take a bath! We can no longer say the word "bath" in our house unless it is time for her to take a bath. It doesn't matter what she's doing, if you ask her if she wants to take a bath, she'll throw down whatever she's holding and RUN to the bathroom screaming "Bath, bath!" She has such a good time! Talking: Bailey will try to repeat most words we say. Everything is still pretty much one syllable though. The best word she can say is "teeth". She grins real big when she says it and it's so cute! Mommy's favorite thing about 16 months: How much fun it is to play! She is pretending more and more, and she'll feed me with her spoon and then she'll take a bite and make an "Mmmm" sound :) It's much easier to get certain things done now that she can understand and follow some directions. For instance, no matter where she is in the house, if I tell her it's time to eat she'll come in the kitchen and wait at her high chair, she'll go to the bathroom when we tell her it's time for a bath and when it's time to brush her teeth she goes to the bathroom and points to the sink saying "Teeth".

Fun Filled Weekend

This last weekend was great! Saturday afternoon Nick and Bailey got to spend a little alone time together while I went house hunting with some of my clients. Then Saturday night we had a play date with one of the teachers Nick works with. Her and her husband and their little girl, Emily, came over to play and to have dinner with us. Emily just turned 19 months, so she's not too much older than Bailey. The girls were both pretty shy at first, but warmed up pretty quickly.

They both enjoyed watching the dog run around outside...and I guess Bailey was trying to find a way for them to escape :)

They played with these soccer balls a lot! It's so funny to watch them pack them around!!

They were both dancing to the music of the chair :)

Sunday I painted mine and Bailey's toes...she LOVED it!!

Sunday night Brooke and Clay came over for dinner and as soon as Bailey saw them she squatted down and kept saying "Toes" until Brooke came over and looked at her pretty toes :)