Baby Shark do do, do do.

Last year for Halloween Zachariah was going to be a pirate. It was the CUTEST costume and he was in a major pirate phase, so I was pretty excited about him wearing it. Turns out he was terrified of the costume (you can see part of it here), so we returned it and he wore a Halloween shirt instead.

To avoid the same thing happening this year we let Zachariah pick out his costume and had him try it on IN the store to make sure he liked it. Wanna know what he picked?

A shark! Why a cute little pirate costume is more scary than a shark eating your head, I will never know. But I do know that he is going to be the CUTEST shark on the block!

Look, it even has a little dorsal fin on the back!

Watch out world! You have a cute little boy disguised as a cute little shark coming to eat all of your candy tonight!

And he has let me know that if he doesn't get lots of suckers, he just might chomp you.

Don't say I didn't warn you. He is pretty fierce.

Happy Trick or Treating everyone!!

Zac and Jack

Zachariah had his friend Jack over to play today. We have had play dates at his house quite a few times, but because I am a slacker of a mom it is the first time in their year long friendship that I have had him over to play. Needless to say, Zachariah was VERY excited about the whole thing!

We had a great morning that was filled with playing and play-doh making and because of the rainy day, some movie watching. The movie of choice? How To Train Your Dragon. I think the boys bonded over their love for the movie. They had each seen it before, so it was cute to see/hear them telling each other about what was going to happen next. :)

I don't think they could have been any cuter.

So yeah. We had a fun little play date today! And if I am not mistaken, the boys have already planned for our next play date to take place at the zoo! :)

New Toy

For my OCD child, bubble wrap is the greatest form of entertainment in the whole entire world. Daniel gave him a piece of that pop-able goodness on Saturday and he did not so much as glance at his toys all day. He was on a mission. Every free moment he had (even while sitting on the toilet) was spent trying to pop every single bubble on that sheet.

Dear inventor of bubble wrap,

Thank you.

Sincerely,

A very happy stay at home mom.

A Name

As you probably know, I am currently pregnant with our second child. And as you probably know, we found out about a month ago that this second child is a sweet baby boy. The ONLY problem with that is that we cannot decide on a name!

I had a feeling this baby was a boy, so we had a few boy names picked out before we went to the ultra sound. But low and behold, I am just not satisfied. I LOVE the three names, but I am having doubts about it being the right name for our baby. I just don't have a peace about any of the names yet. I know that probably seems silly, but hear me out.

Daniel wanted to name our first son Nathaniel Alan. It is a name that he has loved for more than 10 years.Turns out, I don't like the name Nathaniel. Now, don't get me wrong, its a great name. But try as I might, I really could not see our baby having that name. And besides, if we name our child Nathaniel I want people to call him Nathaniel. Not Nate or Nathan, but Nathaniel. Most people don't care what your kids name is, if it can be shortened they will shorten it. Heck, they may even CHANGE the name all together! People call Zachariah "Zachary", which is a totally different name altogether. Its kinda our biggest pet peeve ever. Zac? Yes. You can call him that. In fact, sometimes he will call himself Zac. What about Z? Yes. You can call him that too. (I think my dad calls him Z more than he does Zachariah. Its a cute nickname and we use it a lot when I don't feel like typing out his whole name, so we are obviously fine with that.) Zachary? Absolutely not. That is in no way, shape or form his name.

Ok. Stepping off my soap box.

Anyway. All that to say, I was not digging the name Nathaniel for our baby. We didn't settle on a name until I was around 7 months pregnant. And when we talked about the name Zachariah I could totally see our kid having that name. I didnt have second thoughts a few weeks later, I didn't try to look through the baby books and find one that might work better for him. I was really at peace with that name for our son.

Why am I telling you all of this useless information? The answer is quite simple, really.

I need help naming my kid.

I seriously need some fresh name ideas. It is overwhelming going through a billion page baby book, in alphabetical order. I know everyone has favorite baby names, so I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it if you all would suggest a few names. At least three. But I would be even more thrilled with five. And even MORE thrilled with a 24 page book report from each of you.

Just kidding about that book report thing.

Two things to keep in mind:

1. We like unique names. Not weird and ridiculous names, but ones you don't hear everyday. Names like Joe, Sam, Bob and Billy are not something we are necessarily going for.

2. It does not have to be Biblical. While we love a good biblical name, it is not a must when naming our child. Just because our first born has a biblical name does not mean the rest of our kids will.

Ok, so shout out some suggestions! It can be a list of your favorite names, a list of your kids names (provided they are boys) or just a list of names you think we might like. I will keep you all posted on the naming process and let you know if we end up choosing one of your suggestions!

Oh, and because of my handy dandy blog counter I know how many people view my blog each day. I KNOW that even though I get 0-4 comments per post, there are 50-60 people view this blog on a regular basis. I am not expecting ALL of the lurkers to come out of hiding, but if I don't have a good number of comments I will be holding a grudge. :)

Oh The Joys

Miss me?

You better have. I have been absent for almost a week! I had two to three posts lined up for this week, one including some of Zachariah's three year old pictures, but I have had a few set backs. Ok, mainly one set back.

You see, Zachariah got sick. He had a pretty high fever and he was VERY clingy. So we pretty much laid around watching movies all day Tuesday. Later that afternoon I decided to try and blog while sitting on the couch with him.

THAT was a bad idea.

He ended up projectile puking all over me, the computer, the couch and himself. My computer immediately shut down (I assumed out of self defense.) and hasn't turned on since. So if I want to use a computer I have to wait till late at night when my husband is done working on his. Luckily I am able to access my email and facebook on my phone or I would be cut off from the outside world!

Anyway. All that to say, my computer is dead and I will have to wait until it is fixed/I get a new one to blog anything of substance. All of my pictures are on the barf-y computer.

Stay tuned. I will keep you posted on my computer situation and when you can expect to see cute pictures of my kid! :)

Chicken Roll Ups

I am not gonna lie. This week has been crazy-go-nuts busy around here. For the normal super mom our week may seem like a piece of cake, but for a pregnant lazy mom who usually doesn't get our of her pajamas until 10 and gets back in them at 2, this has been a crazy week. Don't get me wrong, its been a good week... but definitely a busy one!

We have started potty training (which is going remarkably well this time), started our first week of homeschooling (using this term loosely. I will talk about this more in a future post), Z has officially given up his nap (which makes for more errand running, believe it or not) and we ventured out to take part two of Z's three year old pictures. Not to mention our usual errands and library runs and play dates. I am running around so much during the day, that by the time I get to sit down this little baby inside of me starts kicking up a storm! I swear he starts running a marathon as soon as my butt hits the couch. There was a time I thought he was seriously going to jump right out of my stomach!

Anyway. Enough about babies jumping. Lets talk about food!

Since it has been about 23 million years since my last recipe post I decided now would be a good time to throw one at ya.

Back when I was super pregnant with Zachariah, our friends Matt and Jamie had us over for dinner. Jamie made chicken roll ups and they were a huge hit with me and Daniel. Turns out Daniel had these when he was growing up, but I think that was a first for me! The chicken roll ups require a total of four ingredients and it is a pretty tasty meal! Anyway, all that to say, I added this meal to our menu a couple years ago and I thought I would share it with you! :)

Here is what you will need:

Two to three chicken breasts (These are cooked. I kinda forgot to take a picture before I cooked them. My bad.)

A heaping amount of shredded cheese (About two to three cups. Depending on how much cheese you like. I am kinda a cheese-a-holic, so I tend to use a lot!)

One can of cream of chicken soup

And a can of crescent rolls.

Put the chicken in a pot and cover completely with water and boil for 30 minutes. (If they are frozen boil for an hour.) After the chicken is no longer in its raw state, shred it. There is no fancy way of shredding chicken. I wait for it to cool down a bit and then just tear into it with my hands. Its quicker that way.

Now pop open that can of crescent rolls and break one off. Put a little shredded cheese on it, then pile on some chicken.

Then add some more cheese!

Oh how I love cheese.

Starting at the wide end of the crescent roll, roll it up!

Now, keep in mind you do NOT have to stuff your roll this full. Daniel dropped several hints that I did not stuff them full enough for his liking a while back, so I over-stuff them now. I started out just wanting to be a butt and see how full I could get them, therefore showing him that I NEEDED to stuff them lightly. But that backfired, because I actually enjoyed the over-stuffed version. Ha! All that to say, you may go a little lighter on the chicken and the cheese if you would like.

Repeat with each crescent roll, and then line them up in a 9x13 baking dish.

FYI: I sprayed the dish with cooking spray first. Not sure if it is always necessary, but I ALWAYS spray things with cooking spray. Unless of course the recipe calls for buttering the dish, then I butter it. But I am very hesitant about putting things in the oven without spraying it down first. Call me crazy, but I just don't like caked on residue.

Now this is where your cream of chicken comes in. I dump the can into a measuring cup and then fill it with half a cup of water. Sometimes I use 3/4 cup of water. It all depends on my mood. Once you decide how much water to use, mix the cream of chicken and water together with a fork.

I feel like I should tell you that the recipe I got from Jamie says to heat the cream of chicken soup and the water on the stove in order to get it all mixed together. And I'm not gonna lie... if I did that it would probably mix together a bit better. But I am lazy and I didn't feel like using a pot. So I took the easy way out. It obviously turns out just fine the way I do it, but please feel free to follow the rules and heat it on the stove. I just happen to be a lazy rebel. :)

Now take the cream of chicken soup and water mixture and pour it all over the chicken roll ups. As you drizzle it over the tops it will fill in between each roll up and all down the center.

Obviously, the more water you add to the soup, the more mixture you will have. If you want more mixture in the bottom of your pan, increase the amount of water. And vise versa.

Now, plop it into your oven (that was preheated to 375 degrees) for 20-25 minutes, or until the crescent rolls are nice and golden.

Here is what they look like! As you can see, I could have left it in for another few minutes to make sure ALL the rolls got that nice golden look, but I was hungry. And my boys were hungry. So I opted to take the lazy way out and go ahead and take it out.

Don't be like me.

Serve one (or two) of these suckers with some rice, potatoes, or as we did the other night, noodles! They go with a ton of stuff!

There you have it. Chicken roll ups! Nothing fancy, but an easy/yummy meal to serve that will please even the pickiest of eaters! My three year old DEVOURS this meal, so I give it two thumbs up. :)

Here is the recipe without all of the pictures and ramblings.

Chicken Roll Ups

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts

1 tube of crescent rolls

1 can cream of chicken soup

Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Boil chicken breasts for half an hour (if frozen for an hour). Shred chicken

Preheat oven to 375

Roll up shredded cheddar cheese and chicken into each crescent roll and place in a 9x13 baking dish.

Mix 1/2 cup of water with cream of chicken soup and pour over the roll ups

Cook for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Happy Friday!!!

Just One...

More will be coming soon(ish) to a blog near you!

The New Playroom

Zachariah's playroom was previously located in the last available bedroom in the house. We will obviously need that for a nursery in a few months, so we decided to turn our closed in carport (aka: our miscellaneous room) into a playroom! Since it used to be a carport, the room is pretty spacious. Which makes for a perfect playroom! Click here to see Zachariah's old playroom (which will become the new nursery here in a month or so).

It made for a nice playroom. It really did. But I am VERY glad that we were able to move it into a bigger space. I LOVE that everything is less cramped and there is room for lots and lots of play in this new play room!

Wanna see? Because of the largeness of the room and the lens I had on my camera, I was not able to get a full shot of the room, so I have several pictures. You will just have to piece it together in your mind. :)

Looking in from the kitchen, this is half of the room.

And this is the other half of the room. Just in case you were wondering this is my favorite corner of the room. The papasan chair is where I plop in the mornings to eat my breakfast/try to fall back asleep while Z is playing. :)

To the left of that brick step is the back door. And if you walk up that step you will be walking into our kitchen. It is GREAT to be able to keep an eye on/interact with Z while I am cooking.

This toy organizer is my new favorite thing. It doesn't hold all of his toys, but it sure holds a lot of them. Every toy has its place and Zachariah is OCD enough to want to keep it all neat and tidy. Fabulous!

And this is our school/art corner. Those containers hold everything from school workbooks to play-doh. I LOVE having everything all in one place!!

Anyway, that is the quick tour of the new playroom. I am beyond thrilled with the space. I know kids don't need a playroom, and I doubt our kids will always have one... but while we have one I am enjoying the heck out of it!

Tis The Season

...for eating pumpkin!

Love for pumpkin knows no bounds in this house, especially when it is homemade! Our three favorite homemade pumpkin treats are pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and swirled pumpkin cream cheese bars. I was in the mood to bake yesterday and I have been DYING for some of the bars, but since I didn't have any cream cheese in the fridge (and didn't want to run to the store) I settled for making some bread.

It's a rough life, let me tell ya!

When Zachariah got up from his "quiet time" (which is another name for toddler-who-is-skipping-nap) we set out on our bread making adventure! While I have had the pleasure of my toddler helping me make several things (broccoli casserole, pancakes, scrambled eggs, baked ravioli, muffins... just to name a few) I have never braved the bread making experience with him. But because of my prep work and a VERY easy recipe (no kneading required!) he did a great job helping and I kept most of my sanity. Which is a pretty big accomplishment.

His main job is stirring. Not because that is all I trust him with, but because that is all he wants to do. These days he just does not have time to put the spoon down to dump the flour in the bowl! Oh, and right when we were getting started he asked if I could "find his chef hat so he could be a cook". And then right at the time this picture was taken he started singing a song that he composed right there on the spot about being a chef.

Talent. My kid has it.

:)

Here is one bread pan right before it went in the oven! And the reason the hat is no longer on his head is because he was done stirring. Which, in his mind, means he was no longer a chef, so he couldn't wear the hat any longer.

And yes, he does crack me up on an hourly basis.

So! While we waited for the bread to bake Zachariah decided it was time for a bath. Well, I decided and he thought it was a good idea. It worked out wonderfully, because by the time his fingers were all prune-like the bread was just about ready to come out of the oven!

And here we are. Zachariah with his two loaves of bread!

And yes. That is a pink cat tattooed on his arm. And yes, he is completely naked. Sorry, but he smelled the bread as soon as he hopped out of the tub and seriously could not wait five seconds for me to clothe his naked butt before he drooled all over it.

Be still my heart. This bread not only looked and smelled amazing, but it tasted amazing too!

I don't know for sure, but I am pretty sure that this bread will be a staple around here for a while. :)

Hot Coco For The Win!

A few days ago I told Zachariah that we would have to bring out the hot chocolate if it got any colder in the mornings. Well, yesterday morning it was in the upper 40's and he heard me telling Daniel how chilly I was, so he excitedly asked, "Mama! Can we drink hot chocolate?!" Since this weather puts me in a fabulous mood (most of the time at least) and since he was pretty much adorable, I agreed. Under ONE condition though. I made Zachariah agree to let me take pictures while he enjoyed his hot beverage! :)

Oh, did I mention that this was Zachariah's first ever cup of hot chocolate? Well, it was. I mean, he may have had some at a family members house last year, but not that I know of. So unless I find out differently we are counting this as his first!

And I think its pretty safe to say that he enjoyed it. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that after I got done take pictures he finished off what was left in MY mug as well!

I love this cute little goober. :)