Easy...

...dinners. That's my philosophy now that school has started back. We have started off with a bang. Back to our busy school schedules. I forget over the summer how hectic life is once I start back to work, and this year added to the mix is the fact that Emma has started kindergarten. Our weekly after school schedule is like this:

Monday: nothing much scheduled except to get back in the weekly routine.
Tuesday: afterschool duty for me, Emma- tumbling at 5:00
Wednesday: Literacy meetings after school, AWANA at church at 6:00
Thursday: afterschool duty for me (yes, again!!)
Friday: NADA!!

Needless to say, there are always a few extra things thrown in, especially once football starts because Emma and Mac both love football. Since we are pretty busy, I am trying to use my crockpot more often. Here are a couple of recipes I've tried since school started that are pretty yummy!!

Cheesy Crockpot Potatoes
2 1/2 lbs. Velveeta cheese, cubes 1 cup butter
1 cup cheddar cheese 2 large bags hash browns
1 pint half and half

**I actually used different cheeses I had in the fridge!!

Melt cheeses and butter together. Put hashbrowns in the crockpot. Pour cheese and half & half over potatoes and let sit for 1 hour. Cover and cook on hight for 1hour, then cook on low for 2 hours. May need to cook longer. Potatoes are done when soft and all liquid has been absorbed.


Lasagna
1 lb. ground beef (I used deer burger meat) 1 pkg. broad noodles (uncooked)
32 ounce can spaghetti sauce w/ mushrooms 12 oz. package mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten 12 oz. cottage cheese

**You could also add onion and mushrooms for more taste, but this was my first time to make it, so I stuck with the recipe.

Brown ground beef; drain. Place enough spaghetti sauce in crockpot to cover bottom. Combine egg with cottage cheese. On top of sauce, layer noodles, cheese mix, mozzarella, remaing spaghetti sauce, and meat. Save a little mozzarella cheese to put on top. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. WONDERFUL!!

Welcome, Charlie Blake Miller!

Isn't this just precious? I LOVE babies!! My cousin, Cody, and his girlfriend, Brittney, had their first baby this week. Charlie Blake was born on Wednesday, August 26 at 4:13 pm. He weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is just adorable. They came home yesterday. They had to stay an extra day due to a slight complication (positive strep test and high number of WBC!!). Randall, Emma, Mac, and I all went over to see him yesterday, and he was sleeping, so I haven't gotten to hold him yet, but I can't wait to get my hands on him!! I love babies!! Congratulations, Cody and Brittney, on your new little bundle of joy! Enjoy each and every day because they pass by too fast!!

Mac's First Sleepover

Ok, so here I am on a Friday night at 8:45, and both of my children are gone...that's right, they are gone. They are both spending the night with Grandma. This is nothing out of the ordinary for Emma. She loves to spend the night with Grandma. However, tonight, Mac is with her. That's what makes tonight different. This is the FIRST TIME Mac has spent the night away from home. Yes, I know...he's 2 1/2 years old, and I have never let him stay away. I'm a little, ok, a LOT overprotective. I guess since I spent 5 weeks away at night while he was in the NICU, I just didn't want him away anymore. BUT...I finally talked myself into it tonight. Grandma asked if they both wanted to spend the night and I thought we would try it. I haven't received a phone call yet saying he wants to come home (but I'm not saying that I don't secretly want that call to come, either!!) I am sure we will make it. I've been hoarse and sleeping very little this past week, so I've already taken my Benadryll for the night...I should sleep like a baby! I'll let you know later how the night goes!!
Mac and Emma's suitcase, along with Emma's baby Makayla...yes, I know she has no clothes on (none of our babies do!!) and I know she needs a bath. However, she is CONSTANTLY with Emma!! She even goes to Grandma's house!

Mac pulling his suitcase into Grandma's house.

Mac in the floor with the suitcases. My little man is growing up!!

Happy Anniversary...

...to us. I am a little behind, I know. With inservice and school starting, I haven't been able to blog like I would like to, so I am playing catch-up tonight. Randall and I celebrated our 7th year of marriage on August 17. He had to work that day, so we actually celebrated on August 15 (which just happens to be our "dating" anniversary...we've been together 11 years!!). Instead of going out to eat, Randall and I jointly cooked a meal together. He made blackened red snapper with bacon and sauteed mushrooms. I baked zucchini and okra. It was wonderful.

Randall, like Brad Paisley sings..."I thought I loved you then." After everything we've been through, I love you more each day. We've survived 3 military deployments, being seperated by an ocean on the day our first child was born, a 28 week preemie and 5 weeks in the NICU, and many other ups and downs. You are always there for me no matter what is going on, how far out of proportion I blow things, or how emotional I get...I love you!!

The First Week of School

Here are a few more pictures from Emma's first week of Kindergarten. From what I can gather, she has had a great week. She enjoys class, but really enjoys using her "credit card" to buy her lunch tray or her milk if she takes her lunch. She SAYS she remembers to call Mrs. Becky, our neighbor, Mrs. Tackett, and Mrs. Michal, Chandler's mom, Ms. Meadows, while at school. Luckily she still gets to call Mrs. Amy that at home and school. The only thing I would really like to see change this next week would be her sleeping habits...even getting up at 6:15, going to school all day, then going to bed between 8:00 and 8:30, she STILL isn't going to sleep until almost 10! It's taking its toll on this momma!

This was also my first week back to school with students. I love having summers off to spend with Emma and Mac, and this year, I really wasn't looking forward to going back to school. I seem to have 2 great groups of kids this year (hopefully it stays that way) which always helps. I was not near as organized as usual this week for the first week, so I plan on heading to school after church tomorrow to get ready for the upcoming week. All in all, it seems like both Emma and I are in for a great year!

Emma's First Day of Kindergarten

Well, today was Emma's first day of kindergarten. Randall dropped her off at school this morning and said she did great. John and Ainslee Henderson showed up about the same time, so John took some pictures. I'll try to post them later. Randall said Emma got out of the truck by herself and went where she was supposed to. Mrs. Amy (her teacher) said she did great and sent me some pics, so some of these are from the school day. Hope the rest of the week goes as smoothly!!
Before school.
More before school

Chandler, Ava, Emma, and Jessica

Emma and Chandler on the merry-go-round.

The girls playing tetherball.

Emma's Kindergarten Open House

On Monday, August 10, Emma had her open house at school for kindergarten. She is in Amy Wood's class. Amy and her family are very good friends of ours, so I am excited about Emma being in her class. Ok, truth be told, I requested Amy as Emma's teacher. Emma is so ready for kindergarten that she is counting down the days!! At Open House, Amy talked to us (I felt so sorry for her...she was a little overcome with emotion because she had to leave her family in Laurel, MS, where her son, Hunter, was playing in the Dixie Youth World series) and gave us all the paperwork to fill out for the first day of school. At least now Emma knows where she'll be going!!

The letter Emma received in the mail letting her know that Mrs. Amy was going to be her teacher.

Emma patiently waiting to head to Open House.

Emma's School...it's only about 2 miles (maybe) from the house.

Last trip of the summer

Last Friday, Emma, Mac, and I loaded up and went to spend the weekend at my brother, Randy's house. My niece, Mikayla, turned 4 on Saturday, so we headed up there for her birthday party. They live in St. Robert, MO, right outside Ft. Leonard Wood. Here are a few pics from our trip.

Emma ready for the birthday party. I love the bow in her hair. If you like it, let me know...
Mikayla and Emma playing in the water park at the birthday party. It was a cool little place...wish we had one here!!

Mac being a typical boy...playing in the mud!

More water play!

Mikayla's Tinkerbell cake

Mikayla eating a cupcake.

Emma with icing on her chin!

Ra-Ra liking the icing off the bottom of the Tinkerbell decoration!

Mac AFTER eating a cupcake!!

Mac, Gramps, and Emma in the pool at the hotel where Grammy, Gramps, Memaw, and Pepaw all stayed.

Mac and Gramps playing.

Emma and Pepaw playing!

This was in Pfeifer, right outside out Batesville...a Lightning McQueen car!!

Show Us Your LIfe- Wedding Reception

Ok, so last Friday when this was hosted, I was leaving to go to my brother's house for the weekend, so I am a little late in posting!!

The small figurine on the left is our cake topper. I special-ordered it so it would look like us. Do you know how hard it is to find a pre-made topper with the groom in his dress blues? Dang near impossible!! The Barbie and G.I. Joe on the right were used on the Groom's Table as decorations. The wedding dress on Barbie was made by a friend of Memaw's.

This was Randall's cake, and it was good, but not as good as the wedding cake!! Chocolate cake, chocolate icing with chocolate shavings and chocolate covered strawberries!!

Not the best pic, but this is our wedding cake. It was a 3-tiered strawberry cake. YUMMY!!

The get-away car...we left through a parade of balloons instead of birdseed or bubbles, hence all the balloons on the car!!

Oh, My...

While blog-hopping this morning, I found this video at Kelly's Korner...and it's very fitting for where I am in my life right now. I know it's God's plan, but I am having a pretty hard time realizing that I no longer have "babies" in my house and that there will not be any more...this is something I have struggled with since Mac was born and we were told that we didn't need to have anymore children because I would probably have less than a 20% survival rate during another pregnancy. I am very grateful for the two beautiful, healthy children that I have and I love them with all my heart. This song sums it up!! As I realize that Emma starts kindergarten this week, and Mac is on his way to being completely potty-trained, I am so very lucky to have the both of them...and I hope they dream great dreams!

Yummy Burgers

I have several posts to catch up on, but this will be the only one for tonight. School (inservice for me) started back this week, so posts may be a little slower coming.

Yesterday, I knew we were going to have something with hamburger meat for dinner because I had laid the meat out of the freezer to thaw. I didn't want regular hamburgers or meatloaf, which is usually what I make with the meat. I started rummaging through the ingredients we had at the house because I REFUSED to go to the grocery store. I want to clean out most of what we have stored up before buying more groceries other than necessities (at our house, milk, bread, and eggs!!). I found a container of feta cheese and some fresh mushrooms. Randall decided he would cook, but I told him what I came across. We (ok, he) stuff the hamburgers with the feta cheese and sauteed the mushrooms. We fried up some french fries. The burgers were DELICIOUS!! I added a little mayo to my bun, topped the burger with mushrooms, and it was great!!

Just a little update

Potty training is going well at the Martin house. Mac hasn't had a pee-pee accident since Thursday. Of course, we are still working on the other. I guess he became so used to me praising him that now when he goes in his potty, he'll stand up, start clapping, and say ,"Yeah, Mac!!" It's so cute.

This is officially my last week home with my kiddos. Where did my summer go? It went by too fast, I know that! We don't have much planned for the week. We are leaving Friday to go to my brother and sis-in-law's house for Mikayla's 4th birthday. Her birthday and party are on Saturday. Emma can hardly contain her excitement. She gets up every morning asking me how many more days till we go to "my cousin's house!" I'll take lots of pics and post them next week.

Mac starts back to Miss Renee's next Monday. We stopped by there Friday afternoon just to make sure everything was set for him to start back, and I wanted to give her a heads-up on how the potty training is going. He acted as if he'd never left. He even cried we when walked out the front door to leave. I am so happy that he enjoys his babysitter... it makes my days much easier.

Next week Emma will go to Day Camp at GymStars, the place where she takes gymnastics. She already knows that a few of her friends have been going throughout the summer, so she's ready to see them. The Tuesday before school starts, Gramps is going to keep her for 1/2 day while I do inservice, then she is going to work in my classroom with me that afternoon. I can' believe she'll be starting kindergarten in 2 1/2 weeks. WOW!!