Instagram!

I have officially resigned from my role as President, and sole member, of the LG flip cell phone club and have upgraded to an I-phone!  Lucky for me, they are so common now, I was able to snag me one, after my $30 Verizon credit for 60 bucks.  With a pricetag like that, I am not fearful of exposing it to my workplace hazards.  My first (and only) app download was Instagram.  It has been positively addicting to take and send pictures to Nick throughout our day.  It's like a fun little surprise he can find in his inbox amidst the dry work stuff!  He supports my new upgrade!

A couple of days ago, Emmy tried to run off with my faux lashes from our wedding day.  I quickly told her that we'd get her some, in an effort to get her to let go before something awful happened to them.  Lucky for me, I woke up wearing my thinking cap. She was appeased with our construction paper replicas.

Pinterest offered us so many fun activities this week!

Blowing bubbles from a plastic cup makes for some super-sized bubbles.

Pre-nap story time.  Emmy insisted that she and Hannah sit together in the chair.

Emmy and her best friend, Dane, on a date at Chick-Fil-A. :)  They bonded, wordlessly, over a box of hashbrowns.

Love that nudie patoodie!

Emmy separated all of the purple letters on her own and then called me over to present her arrangement! 

We visited the new Publix and both Emmy and I fell in love with their car carts!  They are BRILLIANT!  They aren't long like other car carts, which make it nearly impossible to turn corners, and they are created for bigger kiddos so you don't have to wrestle their legs through the little holes.  Emmy's first words when I plunked her in it were, "This so cool!! I so 'cited!!"

Emmy attempted to help herself to my diamond wedding earrings the other day.  So we got out some blank mailing labels, crayons and scissors and made her some of her own.  Now she asks to make new earrings each day to match her outfit. :)

I told Emmy that she could play some games on the Nook while I took a shower...And this is how I found her when I emerged a short time later.

More bubbles!  Hannah's a fan.

Sleeping Beauty

She insists on eating meals on her "stepping dool."

Hannah's first balloon.

Emmy's ensemble for her friend Charlie's birthday party.  She had her sunglasses, her baby doll's bottle and an harmonica in her purse.

The gift Miss Lindsay gave her went over big!

She loved painting the ground with colored ice.

Hannah might be outgrowing the sink.

Why sit when you can stand?

Hannah barrel rolled under my bed while I was giving Emmy her bath.  She was very proud of herself!

Hannah feeds herself after I was distracted by the dogs.

Hannah LOVES the new Jumperoo from the incredible York family!!

EMMY ATE DINNER!!!

It's three hours later, and I am still in disbelief!  I can't remember the last time Emmy remained at the dinner table, let alone ate the meal in front of her.  It's no wonder she perpetually wakes up famished each morning since her last bit of sustenance came from snack the afternoon prior.  But tonight, she did it.  Not only did she devour her dinner, but she uttered the words, "mmmm this is delicious!" MULTIPLE TIMES!  This milestone deserves a place of honor in her virtual baby book, and I must also document the meal that is responsible for such a momentous occasion!

Once again, I credit Pinterest, particularly the originator of this recipe at Dashing Dish.  I altered it slightly based on what I had on hand:

*Low Carb Lasagna*

I made this in an 8x8 inch pyrex dish, so the ingredient quantities cater to that size (and they're pretty rough, I kind of eyeballed everything) :-P

"Noodles"

9 1/8 inch slices of large eggplant

Salt and Pepper to taste

"Meat Sauce"

1/2 pound ground chicken

1 cup of cauliflower florets

1 cup broccoli florets

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cups spaghetti sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning

"Cheese Layer"

1 cup Light Cottage Cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded fresh mozzarella

Heat Oven to 425.  Spray cookie sheet with Pam, lay eggplant slices & season with salt and pepper.  Roast for 5 minutes on each side, then set aside.  

Turn down oven to 375.

For meat sauce:  In a large non-stick skillet, brown ground chicken.  Add veggies and seasonings, cook until softened.  Add spaghetti sauce, simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For cheese layer: Mix cottage cheese & parmesan cheese.

Assembly: Spray 8x8 inch baking dish with Pam.  Layer 1/3 meat sauce, then a layer of roasted eggplant slices, then layer 1/3 cheese.  Repeat until dish is full.  Top with mozzarella cheese & a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.  Bake for about 45 minutes.  Let sit for 10 minutes & serve!!

I must admit, this might be part of the reason she was so hungry:

Sticker Chart

The tooth-brushing part of our bedtime routine has been rough since, well, forever.  Knowing full well that I didn't have it in me to battle each and every night while I'm flying solo (not that Nick cares for it much when he's on bath duty), I called in my back-up to formulate a game plan.  I am so lucky to have Mom and Kris who are both so well-versed in child behavior modification approaches after their combined years teaching school.  After a few tweaks, we are making headway via Emmy's brand-new sticker chart.  We're keeping it simple with the only focus being on brushing teeth, for now...She's already been rewarded with some safety scissors and most recently, a mommy pedicure!  She is so excited about this, and so am I!

The very first thing she said to me the morning after she got her last sticker was: "Mommy, you paint my toe nails now?"  I had to make good on my promise, so she was polished up long before the 7 o'clock hour.

"We paint our nails together, Mommy?"

Backyard picnic

When I first got to Clarksville, someone told me that, without fail, the fall weather arrives as school starts.  In the five years that I've lived here, it's been spot on!  It was stunningly beautiful outside today and we took full advantage with a picnic in our backyard...

Quite possibly my new favorite picture of my girls.  They love each other so much.  My heart may well burst from the joy I experience watching them adore each other. :)

Hannah tasted some puffs in the nursery at church last week, and devoured quite a few fragments.  So, I added them to my grocery list!

Emmy rolled herself up like a burrito with our picnic blanket. :)

Help in passing the time

Kris and the kids so kindly paid us a visit to help knock off a few days from the deployment countdown....We kept the agenda simple.  Among other things, we watched the Olympics, ran through the sprinklers and painted pottery.

The latter of the three was ambitious, for sure.  It's definitely laughable now that Kris and I have showered off the residual sweat that came from moving at lightening speed to stay one step ahead of the kids; and that we escaped only having paid for what we went in for.  We started the 20-minute field trip off with Emmy, my literal bull in a china shop, accidentally dumping her water bowl in Andy's lap...It pretty much set the tone for the rest of the trip.  Lucky for us (and any other potential painters looking for a relaxing outing,) we were the only ones in the joint.  It didn't take long for Kris and I to step into high gear once we realized that we probably should've waited a few years for this.  The employees let us make up our own rules as we barely had control over our three pint-sized painters.  Hannah and Jacob were none too thrilled to be watching from the sidelines and let us know about it.  Just as we were nearing a welcomed completion, I had the bright idea to leave handprints on our original serving bowl.  Kris had everyone's hands painted and printed on the bowl in the time it took Emmy to find a gumball on the floor and eat it.  Pretty remarkable.  

Two late additions to the Chinese synchronized swim team.

Andy printed off flags from different countries so that he was prepared to root for whomever was playing...Its was awesome!

Still "swimming."

The "furnished" house

I need to make good on my promise to Mom...Here are some pictures of the house that I took before our church small group gathering on Sunday.  It's the most "put together" the house has been, yet I still have some serious work to do!  I have an idea or two for some projects, but I think I might need to wait for Mom's Day Out to begin before any of them get underway!

Nothing like a move to encourage one to purge!  I have decided to go digital with books from here on out and invested in a Nook tablet, just like my hubs.  Unfortunately, Emmy thinks it's hers.

Guest Room!  I pulled all of my spare bedding that somehow coordinated with the existing window treatments, for now.

The guest bathroom is pretty make-shift, too.

It fits!

I'm still trying to decide what the best furniture arrangement would be for our long room.

Kicking myself, wishing I had asked the previous owners to leave their gorgeous octagon-shaped rug.

I got this beautiful canvas at a silent auction run by our church.  I love it.

The playroom!  I have big plans for this space!

Dear Hannah's room.

Still need to put up the majority of wall-hangings in Emmy's room.  I figured it was time to swap out the baby pictures, though.

The girls' bathroom.

Definitely still have some unpacking to do in the man room/second guest room.

We're using the man room couch for now, but we're in the market for a new, non-white, non-chenille non-Pottery Barn couch for the living room.