Well...

this kind of says it all! hahahaha




hoping to find some time to share exciting news!!!

Ridin' Dirty

They see me Rollin'...

Thanks GDaddy for the truck! The babies love it ~ although I'm sure Colby will be the Boss on this one!

Your Next Meal: Real Popcorn Chicken

So, most of my readers probably get the Parents Magazine, but for those of you who don't, I just had to share this recipe with you! It is SO good! Hubby even ranked it above my Doritos Chip Chicken - which if you've been following for a while, you know that is a huge deal! Ha!

It took no time at all and was super delicious! So, let me share your next weeknight meal with you complete with sides! :)

Real Popcorn Chicken:
What you Need:
3 cups popped popcorn {1 bag}
1 tbsp. fresh thyme
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 egg
1 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I just bought 6 chicken cutlets)
1 tbsp. butter
1tbsp. canola oil
1 lemon, cut into wedges (I just used lemon juice)

How to Make:
1. Remove any unpopped popcorn kernels. Put popcorn in a food processor; cove3r and pulse until coarsely ground. Place the popcorn in a shallow dish and add thyme, salt, and pepper. (I put in a large square tupperware dish with a lid to help with coating later)
2. Place the egg in another shallow dish; add the water and beat lightly with a fork.  Place the flour in another shallow dish.
3. Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat, shaking off excess.  Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then in the popcorn mixture.  *I did all cutlets at once, shaking the popcorn mixture over all and it coated it perfectly.
4. Put the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and cook 10-12 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, turning occasionally to brown evenly.  Reduce to medium heat if necessary.
5. Squeeze lemon juice over chicken.
*I also added Cajun seasoning on the chicken and a bit of Frank's Hot Sauce just because we like a little extra kick. :)  Serve with Honey Mustard!



{side dish} Parmesan-Roasted Cauliflower (and Cucumbers) - MIL's Recipe!
What you Need:
1 large head cauliflower
1 cucumber
3 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
1 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese {let's be honest, I shook as much as I wanted out of the Kroger brand Parmesan cheese canister}
1 C freshly grated Gruyere cheese {again, I never have this cheese laying around, so I used shredded mozzarella cheese and it was even better!}

How to Make:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Remove the outer green leaves from caul. and cut the head into florets, discarding long stems.
3. Place florets in a large ziplock baggie.  Cut cucumber into halves and place in baggie.
4. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle generously salt and pepper. Shake well.
5. Lay out on a baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, turning once.
6. Sprinkle with cheeses and back for 2-3 minutes longer - just until cheese melts.
Serve hot or warm


{side dish} Fresh Cut Up Fruit
strawberries, blueberries, green grapes, pineapple, kiwi

{summer drink} Skinny Girl White Cranberry Cosmo


Try it! You will thank me! :)

{Currently}WILW

Haven't linked up in a while!

Here's what I'm currently loving:
{of course, baby edition-ish, haha}

I'm LOVING: being home with my baby girl!

I'm LOVING: darkening shades for her room - nap time is soo much easier!

I'm LOVING: that baby is {knock on wood} sleeping until 8:00! (nevermind me feeling terrible about the last 8 months having to get her up at 630 work work)

I'm LOVING: going to the pool with Harper and my sister and nephews!

I'm LOVING: being crafty again!

I'm LOVING: the feeling of summer free-ness a teacher feels!

I'm LOVING: my spanx bathing suit! HAHA

I'm LOVING: my NUT of a girl! She is seriously a hot mess climbing onto everything and falling all over the place trying to be just a bit too big for her ruffly britches!

I'm LOVING: baby's giggles and squeals all throughout the day!

I'm LOVING: new meals I've been cooking {I'll share soon!}

I'm LOVING: the warm weather!

I'm LOVING: my sweet hubs:) - 3 years ago today he proposed to me on Tybee Island, GA! :)

HHI Family Vacation!

This past week we were at Brian's family's home in Hilton Head Island, SC. His sister just relocated down there, too!  Brian's cousin and her daughter also joined us again! It was a lot of fun!

We loved showing Harper the beach for the first time.  She enjoyed eating the sand, too... haha!

While we were there we got to celebrate Cooper's 2nd birthday. Harper hasn't seen her cousins and aunt/uncle since she was 3 days old. But that didn't stop our sweet girl from instantly knowing her family! She got along so well with everyone and did SO good all week!

Honestly, we could not have asked for Harper to have done any better! We were very impressed with our sweetie!  She even cut her very first 2 teeth while we were there which also caused us to head to the UTC to find out Harper had a bladder infection and had to take her first antibiotic.  So, again, she was an amazing little baby girl!

Here's just a few pics from the week - more are on our FB page!

harper and hayden

lana swinging

hayden, harper, lana

harper and i in grammy's pool

sweet cuzzies

aunt heather and harper

hayden teaching harper to push the buttons on the book

TOTALLY unprovoked...harper leaned over and kissed the baby! she obviously gets kissed a lot!

she loved it!

daddy, harper, and grammy

lana and kelley

livin' the dream!

beach tent : a must have

ok, this is hilarious! it totally does not look like her! it was her first taste of sand!

me and my girl

harbor town

so fancy - her own portable fan for patio dining!

cooper's party with aunt heather and cousin kelley

uncle boyd and harper

cooper and harper

pops and harper

grammy and harper

happy 2's! sweet cooper

funny hayden

We had a great week - and now it's Monday and I'm enjoying my first official 'SAHM' day! Yea! I'm working on new routines and trying to "fix" our girl back to sleeping through the night! Ahh! :)