Happy Thanksgiving and a Safe Black Friday

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This year our Thanksgiving was way more eventful that it had ever been in the past. Jackson was up bright and early to watch the parade (well I watched the parade he clapped when Mama did). Then we started cooking our Thanksgiving feast for the three of us. Although it is just the three of us I still feel the need to go all out (just because we are away from our family and friends does not mean we cannot celebrate!). This year Jason and I were feeling the effects of being away from our family more than we had in the past. I am not sure if it was due to the fact that it was Jackson's first Thanksgiving, if it was because it was our first year without Grandma Lehr or what but we were a lot more sentimental this year.

Some of my thoughts from yesterday kept going back to how thankful I am so taking a cue from my friend Mel I thought I would share with you a little list of what I am thankful for this year:

-My wonderful hubby and father to our son
-My silly crazy boy Jackson
-Jason getting and Anesthesia residency spot
-Jason being home for Thanksgiving and not stuck in the OR
-Our annoying and lovable dog Cooper
-Our families happiness, health and safety

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and as always it came and went too quickly, but it was so fun watching Jackson enjoy his first Thanksgiving meal!

This morning I had Jackson endure another tradition...Black Friday. Before you all go crazy on me I didn't not have my son out in the cold at 2 am or anything like that, we shopped according to his schedule. After he woke up at 830 we headed out to Babies R Us, Kohls and SAMs we were back home after an hour and a half of being out and got everything that we wanted on our list. I tell you what it was the most enjoyable Black Friday shopping I have done ever! Now Jackson and I are going to decorate the house with all our Christmas decorations before Jason gets home from work to stop us!

Week 9 Football

Week 8 of Football was a bust! I tried to make fish and chips and it turned out really bad so we are going to skip that week!

Week 9 I made Beef Stew. It was one of those really cold days the ones where you fear that the snow is going to fall because its so cold and yucky outside. Although we missed the snow the beef stew turned out great!

Beef Stew

2 Tbs shortening

3 lbs stew meat (or a roast works too)

1 c. celery

2 1/2 c stewed tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

1 can peas drained

1 onion diced

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 c parsley

1/2 Tbs thyme

3 1/2 c water or beef broth (I recommend beef broth)

12 carrots sliced

6 potatoes diced

Melt shortening. Then put in stew meat and onions and until stew meat is browned.

Add celery, garlic, parsley, tomatoes, thyme, salt and pepper, 2 1/2 c. beef broth, bring to a boil and then let simmer for 2 hrs. 

Add peas, carrots and potatoes simmer an additional hour.

Add a little flour to the remaining beef broth to create a rue to thicken the stew.  Once that is added you can enjoy!

Now when I made this I made a half batch and it still made a ton so keep that in mind.

9 months old

My baby is slowly turning into a toddler! I know that's a very sad way to start this post about him being 9 months old, but it's the truth. Another Mom at Jackson's daycare didn't even recognize him, she thought he was a new kid in the class and then upon realizing that it was him she said..."Oh Jackson I feel sorry for your Mommy because you are growing up way to fast!" Yeah lady I know and I am sad about it! )Although it is sad to see the baby in him disappear there have been a lot of new developments for him over the past month.

We will start off with eating, which many of you know is something I pretty much obsess about with him. (I just want to make sure he's healthy that's all). Jackson is now starting to discover more and more table foods, we have had pears, peaches, noodles, mashed potatoes, grilled cheese sandwich (thanks Dad for that one), cheerios, peas and banana although we do not really care for the texture of banana which surprised me because he loves banana baby food and puffs. Jackson also is holding his own bottle for Jason and I now, apparently he did this for a while at school but he wouldn't for us...little stinker! We are starting on sippy cups but we are not a fan of water it confuses us a little bit.

Jackson now has 6 teeth! Four on the top and two on the bottom. We brush our teeth two times a day with our baby toothbrush and paste which is loves to do, especially if he gets to do it right after Mommy and Daddy brush theirs. He is also a fast mover now...finally! He is finally starting to belly crawl and he's getting really quick at it so I have to keep a better eye on him. His favorite way to move though is to walk while holding on to Mom's or Dad's fingers...which is fun to watch but can be painful after awhile. He loves to stand at our activity table, holding on the couch, ottoman where ever we can stand that's what we would prefer to do.

I know I said before that he had started saying Dada, but he regressed a little and didn't say it for the longest time, but now it's back and in full swing. He has even started to say Daddy every once in a while. It stinks for me because he will keep saying it over and over until he can see Jason and then he will just give him a cheesy smile. I did a little sulking after this development mainly because Hello I was the one who carried him for 9 months I should have been first, but then to see how excited Jason get when Jackson says it kind of got me out of that funk.

Jackson had his first really serious illness this month he got a little case of the flu. I was really worried about him getting dehydrated, but other than just a few times of throwing up and 2-3 nasty diapers he was happy as a clam and you would never have guessed he got sent home from school. I have to say we are really blessed with a happy baby, it takes a lot to get him down.

It has finally turned cold here so we had to bust out his winter coat and hat. I took this picture and he was standing holding on to our ottoman and then shortly after he tipped over and fell. Mind you the kid still falls like a tree so of course I jump up to check on him. He was laying there a little  stunned  but then started to laugh because it didn't hurt. The coat is so puffy it provided him with a lot of cushion for the fall.

Stats from our nine month appointment: Weight 22lb 14.5 oz, Height 30 in we are in the 95% for height and weight. We recently switched to 12 month clothes because everything was getting to short on us. Yep my baby is growing up. I cannot wait to see what this month holds for us!

Week 7 Football

My goodness I'm really bad at keeping things up to date and taking photos. I'm so sorry! We now are having a med student stay with us for the month and so I have planning on making bigger meals on Sunday so that way he can join us. ( I always feel bad when they eat sandwiches all the time because they don't want to buy a ton of groceries!) So this week I decided to make Michaka...it's like Mexican shredded beef.

Michaka

1 3lb roast

1 pkg. taco seasoning

2 Anaheim chilies

1/2 onion

salt and pepper to taste

water

Cut up roast in to 2in cubes and place in a crock pot. Slice Anaheim chilies and onion and put in crock pot. Add salt and pepper to taste and pkg of taco seasoning. Put a small amount of water in crock pot (about a 1/4 in). Turn crock pot to low and cook for 5 hrs. The roast will slowly break apart and shred. 

To serve: You can serve this in two ways I like to make mine into a burrito so we have tortilla shells, cheese, lettuce, tomato pretty much all your favorite fixings. Jason however prefers to have his Michaka as nachos with queso, lettuce etc. Try both ways and see which one you like the best! Michaka is also really great to add to a breakfast burrito!

Week 6 Football

Whoops sorry I haven't had a chance really to post what we have been doing in this household. Two weeks ago for football we had Tator Tot Casserole! This is one of my favorite dishes and it's funny because it is really easy and makes really yummy leftovers!

Tator Tot Casserole

1 lb. hamburger

1 bag mixed frozen veggies

1 can cream of mushroom soup

milk

salt and pepper (to taste)

1 bag Tator tots

Brown hamburger and then drain grease. Place browned hamburger in a baking dish ( I usually use an 8x8). Then cover with the bag of frozen veggies. Mix cream of mushroom soup and milk together using just enough milk to thin the cream of mushroom soup. Then pour over the hamburger and veggies. Add salt and pepper to taste and then cover mixture with tator tots. Place in oven at 350 for about 45 min or until tator tots are brown and enjoy!

Super easy and a great meal for picky kids!