Thankful

I am thankful for:

• My husband Jon. I would not trade him for anything, except maybe coffee, but probably not.
• My daughter Brooklyn. She is hilarious! I laugh everyday with her around.
• My son Travis. When he smiles my heart explodes. That's a good thing.
• My huge family. They have made me the crazy person I am.
• My husbands family. They are amazing.
• Coffee! Without which nothing would get done.
• Digital Cameras. Without pictures I have no memories.
• Facebook and Blogs. Don't judge me, you are too!

...and so much more.

I am so blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Sick and cozy...

This is what we have been doing for the past three days. Brooklyn came down with a crazy cough and sore throat on Thursday night, so we have been laying around watching movies. I'm just thankful that she has this next week off of school so she can rest.

7 weeks old

As of yesterday my son Travis is 7 weeks old. Seriously? It feels like he has been a part of our family for much longer than that. Maybe that's because I am attached to him, or more accurately he is attached to me, 24 hours a day. The boy thinks that if he is awake he should be eating and that if he is breathing he should be in my arms. 99% of the time I am alright with this...I actually love the closeness that I feel with him. There are times though (the other 1%) when all I want is to take a long hot bubble bath with a book and a glass of wine. **sigh** Someday. Until then I will enjoy my baby snuggle time;It goes by way too fast.

Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing

A couple weeks ago I was reading my friend Mary's blog and found a recipe for Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing. I am not one of those people who love to be in the kitchen experimenting with random recipes...I wish I could be, but I am not. I have a few simple recipes that I make and that's it. I am not a fan of recipes with 27 ingredients. A dash of this and a pinch of that and an oodle of something else; it's just not my thing. Right in the title of her blog post is "5 ingredients or less". Heck yeah! Now that's the kind of recipe I can get excited about! Add to that the fact that the name of the recipe alone had me salivating and I just had to try it.

Yesterday me, Jon and the kids went grocery shopping and I got the few things we needed to make the recipe...I was so excited! We got home and I started right away browning the pork chops and making the stuffing. As I was spreading the apple pie filling in the bottom of the pan I was giddy with excitement and Jon was in the living room trying to recover from the shock of seeing his wife in the kitchen. I took the browned pork, layed it on the apples, then covered them with the stuffing and then foil before popping the whole thing in the oven.

The recipe was everything I had hoped for it to be...it was simple and fast and the way the flavors mingled was amazing. I will definitly make this again, but next time I plan to use thinly sliced fresh apples instead of the very sugary pie filling.

Thanks for the recipe Mary! Keep the easy ones coming for those of us who are Kitchenly Challenged:)

Sunny Saturday

Today was gorgeous. This afternoon we loaded up the family in the car and headed out to a local walking trail. Brooklyn rode her bike while Jon and I walked with Travis in the stroller. It was so nice to get out in the fresh fall air and get a little exercise with the family. I hope to do this more often...it felt amazing.

Jon, Brooklyn, Amy and Travis getting ready for the walk.

Take 2: I'm not used to taking family of 4 self portraits

She loves to ride her bike.

Me and my girl...

Oops! How did this one get in here?