Goal #71: Take Ryan to a Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we took a trip to the Green Level Gourd Farm in Apex. They had a hay ride, donkey/pony rides, face painting, a corn maze, etc. Ryan was so excited when we got out of the car. The first thing he saw was a coop full of fluffy chickens. We had to drag him away from them so we could get on with the rest of the activities.

We went on the hay ride first. The tractor pulled us through the woods where they had a series of hanging "scary" things that moved or dropped down when you clapped at them. Ryan likes getting startled and hardly anything scares him. I think he was just laughing at most of the things.

Next, we let Ryan ride the donkey. She was so lazy and had this look on her face that said "could you get these crazy kids off of me?" Jimmy was holding on to Ryan's leg so he would slide off and Ryan kept shoving his hand away. He held onto the horn of the saddle like a champ. I guess he knew what he was doing... The lady leading the donkey said she'd never seen a kid not want their parent to hold onto them.

Whenever I would say "Gideeyupp" Ryan would rock his body and kick his legs to try to get the donkey to go faster.

He also got to ride the horse tire swing which he wanted to hold onto by himself as well.

Oh my gosh, this next thing was so cool. If we ever have room in our yard I'm going to have Jimmy put one in for Ryan. They just took a huge pipe and angled it up. They had some slippery plastic like feed sacks to sit on and slide down. Since Ryan is only 22 pounds he flew down the slide. He absolutely LOVED it. I think Jimmy sent him down the slide at least 10 times.

I think his face tells you how much he liked it.

He rode the tractor...

And finally picked out a pumpkin.

Family photo.

They had TONS of small pumpkins. Ryan was trying to get all of them.

He got a Frankenstein tattoo the day before. He kept trying to get it off of his arm but then realized it wasn't a sticker or band aid.

MMM. Pumpkin..

I'm not sure how the Green Level Gourd Farm was actually a gourd farm. I didn't see anywhere where they would grow pumpkins or gourds. Either way, we had a good time. We ended up getting our large pumpkins at Wal-Mart since they wanted $15+ for a larger pumpkin. They didn't really have too many left anyway.

We had a really good (and cheap) time. This was a great place to take a younger child.



Goal #6 - Read 50 Books (2/50)

I just finished reading "The Stormchasers" by Jenna Blum. I went to the library last week to find a book and it was sitting up on a shelf by the "New Releases" on a book stand. I figured someone must have liked it enough to put it out like that. Not squished between all the other books on the shelf. Ryan was wanting to get down and pull all the books off the shelf so I grabbed it and jolted.

Jenna Blum is a New York Times bestselling author. Her best seller is called "Those Who Save Us". I'll have to check this one out too. I think it's about the Holocaust..

In the book, Karena (the main character) has a twin brother whom she has not seen in 20 years, since their 18th birthday. He is a stormchaser with bipolar disorder. After receiving a call from a hospital that treated her brother she joins a Storm Chasing Tour in hopes of running into him. The parallel between the storms and her brother's bipolar disorder is no coincidence.

Halfway through the book right when there is an "Oh my gosh!" moment the book changes. If you read it you will see what I mean. I've never read a book in this format, but I liked it. Just when you think you are going to find out some answers there's a switch.

There is a lot of information about tornadoes in the book. You feel like you are right there with them in the middle of the storms. I can't imagine the amount of research Jenna Blum had to do in order to write this book.

The book was an easy read. I won't say it was quick because it is a pretty long book. At some points I think I was reading 2-3 pages a minute because I was in suspense.

Check it out!!

So Sorry!

I'm sorry I've been MIA for a little while. I've been a little busy but it seems like I haven't done anything. Ryan's been sick with a cold and the 3-4 teeth he's got coming in still haven't broken through. This has made for a very cranky baby.

We took him to a Panther's game on Sunday. The temperature was around 1000 and the sun was beating down on us. We left after the 2nd quarter. The Panther's were losing and there was no sign of them turning their act around. We ate lunch at this little biker bar looking place called Mac's. Our friends Rob and Kandyce went with us to the game and recommended we eat there. It was really good! We ordered a barbecue plate that came with a few sides. We got mac 'n cheese which was just heavenly and some black eyed pea something or another that really didn't have much flavor. The meat was awesome. The plate had brisket, beer can chicken, pulled pork, and ribs. The brisket was my favorite but all the other meat was really tasty as well. We were stuffed when we left there.

I haven't cooked anything new that I can count towards my goals. I made the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti again and froze half of it for a lazy day when I don't feel like cooking. My aunt told me that a similar recipe is in our family cookbook. I looked it up but there were some missing ingredients. I like the addition of the pimentos.

Last night I cooked Sausage Pepper and Onion Hoagies by Rachel Ray. I made them a long time ago when I was living in Greensboro. I had forgotten how spicy "Hot Italian Sausage" is. The recipe calls for Cubanelle peppers but I could only find Anaheim which was ok since they are milder. I still got a contact burn from the Anaheim. I need to get some gloves to use when I cut peppers. This usually happens with a jalapeno but I didn't think a mild pepper like that would do it too. This is a 30 minute recipe but it took me 45 minutes since I had to feed Ryan his dinner in the middle of all of that. I only made half the recipe and there was enough for 4 sandwiches. As Rachel says "Yum-O!"

I just got back from the OB and I got my first ultrasound with baby #2. I'm a week behind from what we originally thought. They pushed my due date to May 31st. Everything looked good and there was only one in there! It sure is amazing how that little 1.5cm baby can make you feel so sick at times. Hormones..ugh. I read the other day that morning sickness is a good indicator of a healthy pregnancy though. My appetite sure hasn't suffered with the nausea either.

Last night I watched the 33rd miner being pulled from 2,300 ft. below ground in Chile. It is a miracle that they all survived, much less survived down there in that small room for 70 days. I pray that their lives can get back to normal, that there will be no long term health or mental effects, and that this will never happen again! It's rare that we hear about survivors from mining accidents. God was definitely watching over all of them and guiding them to their safe room. Kudos to the drilling team from Texas that was able to drill that hole to get them out.

Goal #11: Try 75 new recipes (2/75)

We went to my friend Amanda's house for dinner about a month ago and she made this Chicken and Broccoli Braid thing. I didn't get the recipe from her while I was there but I found several variations online. I settled on this one from www.allrecipes.com.... Chicken and Broccoli Braid.


The hardest part was getting the crescent rolls to not fall apart when I was "braiding" the dough. I wish I had sauteed the vegetables a little as well before adding the mayo, cheese, and seasonings. Although it was really good, the vegetables weren't cooked enough. I don't remember Amanda cooking her veggies (and I don't think she put red bell pepper in it) but it was really good.


I do like this version since it has the red bell pepper!

Goal #53: Cook 3 recipes out of every cookbook I own (6 of ?)

Last week I made Lemon Chicken Pasta from the Southern Living Comfort Foods cookbook. It had chicken, peas, pasta, lemon and some other things. I can't remember all of what was in it but it was good. Good enough to eat for lunch the next day too! The fresh lemon in the dish was a nice surprise and really rounded it out.

update 12/16/10: Someone requested I post the recipe so here it is!
Lemon-Chicken Pasta
Southern Living Light & Easy Comfort Food

Cooking Spray
1 tsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/4" wide strips
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/3 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup condensed low-sodium chicken broth, undiluted
2 T. tub style light cream cheese
2 cups hot cooked farfalle (about 1 1/4 cups uncooked bowtie pasta, cooked without salt or fat
3 T. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Fresh chives (optional)

1. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil, and place over medium-high heat until hot. Add garlic; saute 15 seconds. Add chicken; saute 1 minute. Add peas and carrot; saute 1 minute. Remove chicken mixture from skillet; set aside.
2. Add chicken broth and cream cheese to skillet, and cook over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until cream cheese is melted, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return chicken mixture to skillet. Stir in pasta, parmesan cheese, lemon rind, salt and pepper; cook 1 minute. Garnish with chives if desired. Yield: 2 servings of 1 1/2 cups each.

Goal # 11: Try 75 new recipes (1/75) and Goal #63: Baby sit for a friend

This weekend was in a word - crazy. It was a whirlwind. I don't even know where to start.

Let's try Friday....My pregnant neighbor called me and told me she'd been having contractions about 3-5 minutes apart for 4 hours and asked if I minded watching her kids that night if she had to go to the hospital.  Of course I was happy to help. She, like me, doesn't have family close by to come watch her kids at the drop of a hat.

Her kids are 7, 4, and 3. They are well behaved and are pretty independent.

I took her my exercise ball to sit on during contractions. That really helped me when I was laboring with Ryan. I asked her if she wanted to go walking to get her contractions on a roll. At this point she wasn't even flinching with her contractions and didn't even have to stop talking. We walked up and down the road in our neighborhood several times. I pulled Ryan in the wagon along with us.

Around 8:30 she said the doctor wanted her to come in to get checked so I headed over to her house. The kids were excited and wired so we played some Wii games and then watched Madagascar. I had the younger kids go to bed at 10:30. Late, I know, but it was a special occasion.

I did not get a lick of sleep but it was worth helping out a friend in need. Their cats were going crazy. They knew something was up. I'm not a cat person but their cats are nice. At one point, I think it was 4 a.m., one of the cats was batting at the plastic wrap that was over the carseat. UGGGHHH!!!

She and I were texting throughout the night when she got updates. Her labor was creeping along.

In the morning I brought the kids to our house and Jimmy made them breakfast. Then I took them to the park. They played for a bit then we walked around the lake.

After lunch the younger kids took a nap.

At 12:04 p.m. the baby was born. Healthy. She was 4 weeks early and perfectly fine.

After the nap I took the kids to the hospital to meet their new baby sister. They were so excited. Mommy and baby were doing great. She was so tiny. 6lbs. 14 oz. and just as cute as can be. I got to hold her and she was a little feather.

I went home and left the kids at the hospital since their grandma came.
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We had a birthday party to go to on Saturday night. Another neighbor was turning 30 and since she was born in 1980 she had an 80's party.

I made some Ham and Cheddar Pretzel bites I found on the Pink Parsley blog. The recipe is from Gourmet magazine. They were a little time consuming just because I had to let the dough rise for 2 hours and then once I rolled them up I had to let them rise for another 30 minutes. I think I cut that part short since I was in a hurry. They tasted really really good but I think the texture would've been better if I let them rise more.

The serving platter was cleaned off so I guess everyone liked them. I will make these again...when I have ample time.

The party was great. Everyone dressed up in clothes from the 80's. I haven't uploaded our pictures yet but I will add them to this post when I do. Just a tease - I had big hair and Jimmy had a rat-tail...
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Today we took Ryan on the American Tobacco Trail. We rode our bikes and had him in his new child carrier seat he got from his Aunt Linda for his birthday. The trail is like a packed sandy road and is very smooth and pretty level the whole way. There was only 1 hard hill and a few easy hills. We rode 6 miles total. Ryan kept going "ooooooooooohhhhh, eeeeeeeeeehhhhhh". He saw horses and lots of dogs on the trail. The weather was so nice and there were lots of people out there.

I took a really good nap when we got home. I am just so tired from everything that went on this weekend.