Let's Go Krogering

Whoa, Nelly! Does this thing have brakes??!!

Don't worry-- Hadley loved her first ride in the grocery cart today. She even squealed and laughed a little. Especially when we happened to see my mom at the store. Hadley couldn't believe that Maggie goes to Kroger, too. Who knew???

Saturday....In the Park

Every time I hear that song, I get nostalgic for something... I'm not sure what exactly. A relaxing Saturday? A day spent laughing in the park with friends? We definitely don't have enough of either. Our Saturdays are normally pretty busy and we rarely have time to relax at the park. But, today, we managed to do exactly that. We spent the day with friends at the local botanic gardens, perusing an exhibit of locally-made pottery and strolling through the flower gardens. We had the best time. The pottery was amazing and the flowers were beautiful. We found a HUGE Magnolia tree with the most amazing blooms.

Some of the plants got a little unruly with us, though.

Robert had to fight his way out of this creepy tree/ plant thing.

It was a hot, hot day, so we tried to stay in the shade. To make sure Hadley was protected from the sun, I slathered her in spf 60 and put a hat on her to shade her from the sun.

She didn't so much like the hat. In fact, she ripped it off before we even got outside-- several times. I put the hat on, Hadley pulled the hat off. Sean said he couldn't decide which one of us is more stubborn. I think I am.

Robert and his wife, Ana, have a 3.5-month-old named Samantha. Ana had a cute, yellow hat for Samantha to wear, which Samantha actually wore. Samantha isn't quite to that stage where she can reach up and rip her hat off yet, though. I kinda miss those days.

Hadley didn't really like her sunglasses, either. She took them off as soon as I put them on.

Hadley did like the ducks and geese we found in the Japanese Gardens, though. There were a lot of little ducklings and downy gosslings for her to look at.

She couldn't get enough of the cute, little ducklings.

We bought fish food on our way in to feed the koi in the Japanese Gardens. Look at these things. Are they not kind of creepy?

There were tons of them and they piled on top of each other to get to the food.

Our day was so incredibly relaxing and fun. I can't wait for our next carefree Saturday in the park. Try it if you have time soon-- you won't regret it!

Happy Weekend!!

Happy holiday weekend everyone! We have a full weekend of relaxation planned. We are still working on getting well and plan to utilize every bit of free time this weekend to lay around, watch movies, and veg out. Sounds fabulous.

As promised, I will have pictures and a full post on the front door project on Tuesday. I can't wait to show you what we have planned!

Friday Night Dinner: Enchiladas

I love food. I love to shop for food, cook food, and best of all, eat food. I have always loved reading about food, too, and can remember spending hours as a child reading my parents' cookbooks. I still have my recipe box that I created as a child with all of my favorite recipes neatly printed on Strawberry Shortcake recipe cards. It's so fun to look at my young handwriting and the recipes that captured my interest back then. I know, I was a supreme dork. But, what can I say?

Looking back at my Strawberry Shortcake recipe cards, it's plainly obvious that I loved Mexican food even as a child. Most of my recipes are for different types of chilis, enchiladas, mexican-style casseroles, and tacos. And, that love has followed me over the years. There is just something about the spices, heat, and flavors of Mexican food that I crave. In fact, I could eat it every day and sometimes, we do. I don't play favorites, either. I love all types of what I call "Mexican" food, whether it is Tex-Mex, Americanized Mexican, or authentic Mexican. It's just all good. I really lucked out with Sean, too. He likes Mexican food and is willing to indulge my cravings by eating it quite often. What other sign of true love do you need??

Lately, I have had a mean craving for Tex-Mex, especially Tex-Mex style enchiladas. You know, the yellow cheddar cheese variety that is covered in chili gravy, more cheddar cheese, and a sprinkling of onion? We just can't find good Tex-Mex here. We have an abundant supply of "authentic" Mexican-style restaurants, but they serve white Chihuahua cheese, bland meat, and fake guacamole. It's okay for what it is, but it's not great. And, it doesn't satisfy a craving for Tex- Mex.

One Friday night when I was dying for some cheese-and-onion enchiladas, I asked Sean if he would want to try making our own chili gravy and enchiladas. He was game. I don't know why we didn't try this earlier. We love to cook and to experiment with new recipes, but for some reason, I envisioned enchilada sauce being more difficult to make than it was. Don't get me wrong, this is a time-consuming meal, but it's super easy.

I found a recipe on Homesick Texan's blog for chili gravy by Robb Walsh, the guru on all things Tex-Mex, and we jumped right in. The basic method is simple. You make a roux with flour and oil and then you add tons of spices, mainly chili powder and cumin, and let it thicken to a rich, thick, hearty gravy. Then, you lightly fry corn tortillas, stuff, and bake, and voila, you have homemade Tex-Mex. And, oh my, are they good. Those enchiladas are simply heaven on a plate. We have made these enchiladas for several Fridays over the past few months, and they are my favorite meal right now. And, the fact that Sean is willing to spend hours in the kitchen making my favorite meal just melts my heart. You know the saying that food is the way to a man's heart? It's totally the way to my heart, too.

Weekend Rain

We woke up Sunday morning to a loud thunderstorm and pouring rain. The bedroom was dark and the bed was snuggly and warm. There's nothing like that feeling of security and warmth when you're tucked into bed and the world is crashing down outside. Rain was so not what I had planned for Sunday morning, though. I had flowers and herbs to plant, I needed to weed our flower beds, and we needed to repair a window frame. But, boy was I happy to see that rain. It was like a hall pass for the adults. As soon as I realized my morning chores were being washed out by rain, I almost jumped for joy. Then I realized it was much smarter to stay in my nice, warm bed. Just the thought of free time and potentially more sleep was exhilarating. That's what happens when you live with a tiny terror who relentlessly wakes you up at odd hours.

We put Hadley in bed with us and snoozed, snuggled, and watched cartoons until the rain slowed down. Then, Sean made pancakes. Lots and lots of paper-thin, crepe-like pancakes. The rest of the weekend was pretty lazy, too. It rained off and on with the sun coming out just long enough to taunt us. We managed to venture out for a family lunch and to run a few errands, but with all of that yucky weather, we spent most of the weekend holed up inside. We watched old movies, spent lots of time playing on the floor with Hadley, and generally just lazed about. Oh, and I might have taken some pictures of Hadley for fun. She loved it, though. She always does.