F is for Fancy

F: Fancy Date with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, 10/16/11

Every now and then, it's good to dress up and go on a fancy date. My husband is very good about making sure we do that occasionally, and that is just what we did for our "F" date. Trey knows how much I love Amy Grant. I grew up on her music, and it brings back so many good memories of home and childhood on into adulthood. When he found out that Amy Grant would be playing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, he bought us tickets and arranged for a babysitter!

 Of course, on our way to the Sunday afternoon matinee, my hubby decided he needed a little ice cream pre-concert, so we swung through Wendy's for a Frosty to split.

The concert was a lot of fun. We arrived just a little late, and when we checked in with our tickets we were sent down to the box office to upgrade our tickets for free to the orchestra level. It was so great! We were able to listen to a couple pieces by the DSO, then Amy and her band came out to join the orchestra. They did some songs with the DSO and some just the band. Amy sang some of my favorites, including It Takes a Little Time and my all-time favorite, Children of the World, backed up by the DSO. It was so unbelievable.

Here are a few more pics from the performance

I promise I told Trey to make a funny face for this picture, but he's never been good at following directions :)

After concert pic

After the concert, we drove to Carrabbas for dinner. On our way, though, we had a mini-adventure. I had to pump since I was away from Kate for so long, and when I was finished, I didn't realize the strap from the pump was wrapped around the handle of the truck door. When I moved the pump to put it away, it opened the door...while we driving 70mph on the interstate! It got a little harry there for a minute, but we were fine in the end. I did have my seat belt on, and for that I am thankful. We went on to have a delicious dinner at my favorite restaurant. Overall, I'd give Trey an A+ on planning this fancy date with his wife in mind!

A Tooth? Already???

That's right, you read correctly. My little barely 4 month old has her first tooth coming in! I've been wondering. She has been drooling like crazy, gnawing on anything she can get in her mouth, and has been a little fussy at times. Sure enough, last night I spotted that first little tooth on her bottom gum. It hasn't broken through yet but you can see it on the surface. How do I feel about this, you ask. I feel sad! I mean, it is so much fun watching my little girl grow and learn and explore her first world, but her first tooth? Is she really growing up so quickly? Her fourth month of life seems to have been a big one. Kate learned to roll from her tummy to her back in the beginning and by the end of the month has turned into a rolling machine. She rolls across the room, and it is so much fun watching her get around like this! She is also making different cooing noises and even making funny faces with her mouth as she makes noises. She has become a pro at grasping objects in front of her and putting them in her mouth. Oh, and she is a pro thumb sucker, just like her momma was! We are in Georgia right now. A couple of weeks ago she and I visited Trey's parents in Odessa for the weekend, and we've been in Georgia for a week already. We head back to Texas this Saturday, and next Tuesday Trey, Kate, and I will head to San Antonio for a 5 day family vacation. Needless to say, October has been a fun month filled with traveling and family time. I am so excited about our first family vacation and will be posting pictures once we are back!

Chewy Granola Bars

I LOVE granola bars. I mean, love them. I used to always buy the Fiber One bars because they are really tasty, then I discovered this recipe in a Home Life magazine from Lifeway. It is so yummy and simple, plus it's already saved us a ton of money over buying premade bars at the store. I've made several batches and had to tweak the recipe a little to make them stay together, and I thought I'd share with anyone who happens upon the blog. If you try them out, let me know what you think!

Chewy Granola Bars

2 Tbsp butter

3/4 cup honey

1/3 cup brown sugar

¼ tsp. salt

2 cups instant or regular oats

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup raisins or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Line 9X9 baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Melt butter, honey, brown sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Stir in oats and pecans. Let cool slightly, then stir in chocolate chips or raisins. Spread on pan, pat lightly to make sure it’s packed in there, and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely, then cut up!  

Today I added about 1 cup of peanut butter when melting the butter and stuff, and I made them with chocolate chips. They turned out delicious! I’m sure you could cut down on the brown sugar to make them even healthier, but they are just so good as is I don’t mess with it. Enjoy!!

I Only Have Eyes For You...

I have that song in my head as I type this post. As I hum this song, I think of our sweet baby girl, who is sleeping soundly in her crib right now, and her daddy. You see, she may be only 3 1/2 months old, but already...she only has eyes for her daddy. It is the sweetest thing to watch! When Trey comes into the room, she lights up with big ol' smiles. Of course, I think the feeling is pretty mutual, because her daddy sure is taken by her, too. I am having so much fun watching their sweet relationship blossom.

The other day, Kate was awake during lunch time. Trey had come home and I'd made us some hot sandwiches. We put Kate in the bumbo to sit with us while we ate. As we sat there and talked, she was content to watch us and listen. She looked at her dad for a while, and all of a sudden Kate started to crack up. I mean, throw your head back, deep belly kinda laughing. We have no idea exactly what set her off, but of course I grabbed the camera and was able to capture some of it. I have a feeling it was something her daddy did, like maybe chuckle, that got her going.

E is for Explore

E: Explore, 9/17/11

I know it's been a while on the ABC dating, but for good reason (well, bad reason, actually). I was sick the entire month of August and spent the first couple weeks in September recovering. But we are back in the game now, so onto the date!

It was Trey's turn to plan this date, and he did a great job! E stood for exploration, and we explored through pictures. I'll explain in a bit. We started our date off by going to Athens to eat at McAllister's Deli for dinner. I had a Greek salad, a French Dip sandwich, and some potato soup. Trey had the Southwest Cob salad and some broccoli cheese soup. Our meal was yummy!

We really enjoyed getting away from town and relaxing during dinner. Lately, whenever we go out to eat, we have to take turns passing little miss Kate back and forth, as she does not enjoy being in her carseat when there are arms there to hold her! Thus, eating out isn't typically relaxing or easier than eating at home.

After dinner we drove back to Canton's coffee shop, Come Together. As I've said before, our first "date" was to Starbucks after church. Trey was driving me home and wanted to prolong his time with me (I found out later), so he suggested we stop at Starbucks to look at pictures of his recent mission trip to Canada. On this, our "explore" date, Trey brought along our computer and some picture albums. Our task: explore all the fun pictures from when we first met! Oh my word how funny it was looking at some of those old pictures and remember what we were thinking and feeling during those times.

 It was open mic night at the coffee shop, and to start things off they introduced a special guest...a lady all the way from Uganda! Her name was Julianna. She told her testimony, then she had everyone in the coffee shop stand up and participate in a singing and dancing to a couple songs from Uganda.

To be honest, I was a little annoyed at first because this was interrupting our E date and we only had a little bit longer before we had to go home for the babysitter. But then Trey reminded me that hey, this was our explore date, and what better way to explore than to experience a little bit of another culture! Plus, it was pretty funny seeing Trey dance :)

One Smart Girl!

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day as far as schedule goes for Kate. I joined a women's Bible study at church, which goes from 9-10:30 on Tuesday mornings. Kate woke up at 7:30, ate, played, and was ready for her morning nap by 8:30. I kept her awake til the Bible study at 9, and when we got there she found herself snuggled up and sleeping good in the arms of a lady from church. She slept for about 45 minutes before waking up and wiggling around for the rest of the Bible study. We came home from the Bible study and I fed her and put her down. She was more than ready for a nap! But unfortunately, not too far into her nap I had to get her up because I had a doctor's appt (follow-up). So I woke her up, put her in the carseat, and off we went. Car sleep is never the best sleep. By the time we got home that afternoon (3ish), she was MORE than ready for a good nap. Unfortunately, she was so tired it proved difficult to fall asleep. She cried for about an hour or so in her crib (I would check on her, soothe her, put her back down...only for her to get worked up again within minutes). This is not my normal napper. Kate normally cries a little after I lay her down and then puts herself to sleep. Anyway, when I went to check on her again about an hour into her nap, my daughter must have decided that crying obviously wasn't working for her, so maybe if she changed tactics I would pick her up and not make her nap. She is awful smart for 3 months old. It almost worked. Almost.

3 Months!

Our baby girl is 3 months old today! What a joy sweet Kate is to Trey and me. As you can see in the pictures below, this little girl is smiling big time now. She knows how to win our hearts for sure. The other day when I picked her up from the church nursery, the workers showed me a video of her laughing so hard at the mobile they kept spinning. I can't believe I missed it!!! She has been chuckling some, but never has she laughed for us like she did the other day. We are being as silly as possible now trying to get her to laugh again. I'm hoping it will happen again soon. This baby has also mastered the art of rolling from her back to her tummy. Thankfully she enjoys her tummy quite a bit, but when she is done with her tummy time, she gets pretty upset trying to get back to her back. This has proved to be no fun at 1, 2, or 3 in the morning!! We are doing lots of tummy time in the day, now, to help encourage her to complete that roll!