First Day of School, 4th grade; 1st grade; and preschool

Summer goes so fast! We are already in school full swing but wanted to remember the fun excitement about our first days this past fall!

Garyn didn't say much about school in the days leading up. That night before he did say he was excited to see everyone and see who all was in his class. Mrs. Elrod is his teacher this year.
The 4th and 5th grade hall is in the back of the school so we haven't been back there much! Neither of us knew much about Mrs. Elrod so we were both anxious to see how this year would go!

There were several people in his class he had never been in class with. I'm still trying to remember everyone's names. And as usual, he is doing well in class and Mrs. Elrod is great!

Ansley had a familiar face! Ms.Dent was Garyn's teacher for 1st grade, not that she remembers that!
Even still, Ansley was excited to have the same teacher. She doesn't have many people in her class from last year so that took getting used to. I went to eat lunch with her one day and she was sitting with boys.(Not that this is bad, she just usually plays with girls more) I asked about it and she said she wanted to sit there so she would be next to her friends from last year sitting at a table next to her. She has since started making friends with girls in her class but it took some getting used to. She also had to get back in the swing of being away from mom and home. She cried a few times after the first few days, not wanting to go. We had to start offering a shopping spree for not crying all week. She loved that idea! After two weekends, we scaled it back until we didn't even need to mention it anymore.

Ansley was pretty excited the night before, I went to lay at her first day outfit and found that she had already done that and had shoes ready too!

Layne has his same teacher and is in the 3 year old room again since he won't go to Kindergarten til 2019. He now has class with Brinkley though so he was excited about that! (And we love Ms. Debbie who he has again!) The first day of school, we got report that Brinkley held his hand all day and another girl was kissing him on the cheek! Starts young these days......:)

Layne still likes school for now and gets excited most days. He did however have a couple of weeks were, when I took him, he cried to not go. He would go fine for Pop.

I totally forgot to do his picture in front of the chalkboard but here is him starting to write his name!

Freezer-filling day!

I have been trying so hard to make things easier on myself and my husband to eat from home and healthier. Tyler is a lot less picky now! Somehow, he has put aside his previous view of some foods and will just eat it while saying "Man, this is good". I'm proud of him and shocked!

So today I made some Brown Bag Burritos that I had read about over here. (The recipe is here) You supposedly can easily take them out of the foil and heat them in the microwave. I ate some just now fresh for lunch......oooohhhh were they yummy! I hope he likes them, I think he will. If not, I only halved the recipe so I'm sure Garyn and I will eat them pretty fast. It made 11; 9 to freeze, 2 for lunch. (Refried beans is a new food to Tyler)

I also did some ingredients to freeze instead of a whole meal. Onions are normally left out of any recipe we make, but not anymore!! Tyler will eat them now. He said "You really can't taste them." I wanted to slap him! I have watched him pick at his food for so long telling him if he just try it he wouldn't taste them! So I cut up some onions before they went bad and froze them. I also boiled rice (extra from the below recipe) and bagged it. (Got that idea from www.moneysavingmom.com, too.)

Then I made my Mexican Chicken Casserole. I split it into 2 meals.
Last but not least, I did some freezer cooking last week when I made pancakes. I made a second batch while we had the grill out and everything. We have already been eating on them. You really can't tell they were frozen! This is another thing Tyler can pull out of the fridge easily. Garyn wants pancakes every morning! He doesn't get them but he still asks for them. Having them frozen to heat up quickly is great.

Overall, it was a successful day. I really only work for a couple hours and then I'm tired of cooking. Maybe one day I'll have a full table and my dream!

yUmMy YumMy

We have been having some new recipes and yumminess this week. We have ate at home every night since Sunday! The only slip ups have been that Tyler and I went to eat lunch on Tuesday at Zaxby's while Garyn was in Mother's Day out. He had just enough time while out on an errand to eat so we took advantage of it. Otherwise, we have stayed on our meal plan except for we didn't have hot dogs because Tyler wanted breakfast for dinner.....

I tried these blueberry pancakes that I kept seeing on moneysavingmom. They were so good! I didn't use whole wheat flour so they weren't quite as healthy. I used frozen blueberries, too, instead of fresh. Tyler didn't want blueberries in his, but loved them plain! You should try them.

On Sunday, we had our barbecue potato skins. They were so good! There is really no recipe out there for these so I was worried a little. I always seem to mess up the easiest of things, but not these guys......

I used left over Pot Roast meat that I just shredded and covered with barbecue sauce earlier in the day. Then prepared the potatoes as you would for twice baked potatoes. Layer them up with cheese and put back into oven for a little bit. Topped them off with sour cream then devoured! Baked beans went well with them, too. Garyn ate them like it was candy, which surprised me because he normally doesn't like potatoes. We can judge how much he likes something by whether or not he feeds himself. If he hates it, he won't eat it unless you force him to, and sometimes not even then. If he kinda likes it, he will eat it when you feed it to him. If he loves it, he feeds himself!

I made the Pork Tenderloin and wasn't that happy with it. It was simple, but the marination that came on it wasn't very flavorful. We ate it, though, I just won't be buying that type again. Then, I also made Lasagna for the first time. It was yummy, but messy to assemble. Didn't look like a pretty rectangle! I guess I need a rectangular pan to put it in, although that wasn't what the recipe called for. Anyhow, there is no picture. Garyn feed himself the Lasagna so it will be back!

I get the night off, though, cause we are heading over to these guys house. We will have our Baja Chicken Tacos tomorrow night before I head out to work. Then Saturday is date night!

My number one!!

This is my first post and I want to let you know:

-I am not a good writer!! I write like I talk

-Having said that, I have no idea if you will find this the least bit interesting!

-I am working on the design of this blog....not very creative nor computer savy...any help out there?

Continuing the title....

My true number ones are:

My wonderful husband, Tyler...we have been married 3 years and 10 mos. He keeps me so grounded yet always gives me confidence to live a little more than I would on my own. God truly brought us together against all of the trials.

(Tyler and Garyn at football game in October)

Next is my sweet baby boy Garyn.....I remember being younger and dreaming of what my children would look like....man, God is such a better creator than I could ever be! I love motherhood , learning every little thing over again with Garyn, doing whatever he wants (most of the time), and just watching him evolve. We all know that happens fast!

(Garyn lining up his farm animals...so funny huh?)

My family is so sweet and dear to me. I don't let them know it enough. I don't get to spend near as much time as I would like with them. And I am hoping this blog can let them know how much they mean to me, if its interesting enough for them to read!

(this is only 1 side of the fam)

At the center of all these is God, Jesus, religion, faith, salvation, trust, and devotion. The last few months, these words have been resonating in me. I have been a Christian for 9 years now but until recently have fallen short of that title. I have always been a "good" girl; I want to be His girl! God has been transforming me to be a better everything! The horizons ahead are going to be great if I will only finally follow His lead, rather than my own.

Less important firsts

I am currently doing a first by opening my thoughts to all....scary!

This is my first weekend without Tyler while having a toddler to keep happy 24/7

First time in a looong time to have bangs

Easter celebration first this year where I spent more time thinking about Jesus' death and resurrection, does anyone know when eggs became the center of attention??

(Easter morning, with my neice and nephew)

About to have my first 4 days away from Garyn when I leave for New York!

(Garyn and I this past Halloween)

So I hope all of you got something out of this and can think of your own firsts.....

I look forward to sharing more!