My Take Home Chef

I thought I should beef up the posts and add some interest to our family other than our beloved Miller. I don't think I give Landon enough props for all the hard work he does around here, especially in the kitchen. We often joke that we "job share" cooking. He's very flattering when he says that we share it 40/60...it's more like 70% Landon to my humble contribution of 30%.

Tonight fell into the 70% category. Landon just so happened to whip up a fabulous fall Pumpkin with Shrimp & Lime soup. He doesn't take the shortcuts like mia the lazy chef. He went throught the whole hoop-la of carving the pumpkin and getting out the meat. I must say that all your efforts paid off tonight and even Miller gave the gourmet soup his stamp of approval with a rousing bravo of "Mmm!" & "more". We're so blessed to have you as our own "Take Home Chef". What ever would I do without your cooking?

Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp and Lime:
6 cups peeled pumpkin, cut into cubes
3 leeks, white part only, cleaned and chopped
4 cups vegtable stock
1 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 c whipping cream
8 oz. cooked shrimp
6 cherry tomatoes (for garnish)
2T pumpkin seeds (garnish)
Finely chopped cilantro (garnish)

In slow cooker, combine pumpkin, leeks,stock, salt& pepper. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hrs until pumpkin is tender.
Strain vegtables, reserving stock. In a blender or food processor, puree' veggies with 1 cup reserved stock until smooth.
If serving hot, return soup to slow cooker and add remaining stock,lime zest and juice,cayenne, cream, and shrimp. Cook on high for 20 minutes until shrimp is heated through.
When ready to serve, ladle soup into individual bowls and add garnish for final touch.
Viola!

Taken From:
The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes by Judith Finlayson

Blog Tag

Heather Dahlby has tagged me! I'm so excited as this is my very first game of blog tagging!

5 random things about me:-A pet peeve of mine is when people lick their saucy fingers. I can't stand it. It makes me cringe inside.

- Landon thinks it's crazy that I love yard work.... like pulling weeds, laying pine straw, planting & watering. Our next door neighbor commented once, "What's your wife doing pulling all those weeds?" Almost to say, that's YOUR job.
* Correction: This is not to say Landon isn't right out there with me edging, pulling and mowing!!
-I clip coupons and like to feel thrifty, but then I forget to send them with Landon when he grocery shops!

- Closet, New Kids on the Block fan...The countdown for the reunion concert is only 8 days away. I'm so excited that I go to sleep humming "The Right Stuff".

-I accidentally threw away Miller's new saddle shoes last week!! Still getting over that sad, sad day.

And, now I tag Mandy, Terra, and Kelli R.

Holding Down the Fort

Omi and Grandpa joined us for a wonderful fall weekend in Atlanta. Landon enjoyed having company as he had daddy duty all day Saturday. Miller just thrived on all the extra helpings of attention poured out all over him. On a tour of the neighborhood, Miller showed off his new word "pumpy" while admiring and pointing to all of the colorful Halloween displays. There's just so much to look at on our street now! Miller also showed Omi and Grandpa his member benefits from the "Cookie Club" at Publix. Too bad Landon didn't have our card to get another punch. One of these days we'll have enough punches to redeem our prize.
After church on Sunday, We all enjoyed brunch at J. Christophers. On the way, we fed Miller a quick snack of cheerios. Omi was modeling please and thank you's. It was too cute when Miller joined in with "peez" and "ti-too". Hopefully with more practice, he'll master these new polite gestures.
As we gathered around the table, we refreshed Miller's memory of Omi and Grandpa's names. He's working on Omi which comes out as "Omi" & sometimes "MiMi". Grandpa Fokens comes out as "PaPa" so far. It will be interesting to see how their names evolve with time.
Thanks for visiting us Omi and Grandpa. We'll keep practicing your names with pictures!

Bridal Shower in the "Ham"!

My mom and I loaded up the car this morning with all kinds of shower essentials and journeyed south to Birmingham to help host a bridal shower for my sorority sister and good friend Melissa. The shower was at Terra's house. The decorations and hot pink & brown color scheme turned out fantastic. Terra showed that she's the hostess with the mostess, pulling off cleaning and setting everything up with twin boys in the oven!


How wonderful it is to be able to participate in such a wonderful season of life! It was Melissa's very first shower. And, oh I could just feel her excitement and reflect on such wonderful shower memories of my own. You just can't help but feel love from all your friends that go back 12 years already. Friends that travel from far away to help celebrate in your moment....yes, Rebecca traveled from Oregon with her baby bump! Speaking of bumps, something's in the water. Tis the season of weddings and babies. It was a reunion of rich friendships that's for sure. You scan the room and all 15 girls share a history that's close like family, and then you remember just how geographically distant everyone actually is!!
Now bride to be Melissa has hosted some fabulos-o showers in her day, so there was some pressure to lead a game up to her ah-humm... par, if you will. Anna Mac pulled it all off with spunk as we conducted our own interview with the groom before the shower. Melissa proceeded to show us how well she knew her groom. I must add, that she aced the test with flying colors and has been approved to visit the chapel in February.
Congratulations! We're counting down the days to your wedded bliss. We couldn't be happier with your groom...you make the perfect pair!

Mr. "Words"worth

Woah...I've heard that 18 months ushers in many new words, but didn't expect so many different words only 2 weeks into this fun talking stage. It's like a light bulb has gone off and Miller is a little spongue absorbing all that we say. Or, maybe it's that I can really begin to understand more of what Miller says. The nonsense talk is becoming more clear!
It helps that Miller is around his gal pal Caroline (21 months) at Miss Karens. She's a fast talker..typical verbal girly, girl. We credit Miller's new phrase ,"Mommy, be back!" to Caroline's teaching. When I picked up Miller today from his fun morning with Miss Karen she said,"He's becoming quite the TALKER!!"
Here's just a sample of Mr. "Words" worth's new words:
"spoon", "choo-choo","apple", "cookie","nana"-banana,"juice","pumpy"-pumpkin, "leaf", "worm", "bunny","butter"-butterfly, "bee","hoo-hoo"-owl,"see the fish","house","hat", "boon"-balloon,"pane"-airplane, "no"-finger pointed to nose, "mou"-mouth, "head", "tee"-teeth.
Miller now gives us an emphatic "no!" with a side push to the object he doesn't want!!
My mom commented that I should be writing these all down to remember. This post is for you grandmama!

Pumpkin Patch Playing Pals

Andrew, Griffin & Miller looking at the turkeys!
"Caution, they bite!"

Ansley, Griffin & Miller exploring the pumpkins


Miller and I met some friends from our care group at Berry Patch Farms this afternoon. A fun time was had by all the toddlers playing in a sea of orange pumpkins. My, has our lil pumpkin grown since pictures at the patch last October. Too bad Miller's pumpkin hat beanie won't stretch over his growing noggin.(Believe me, I tried :)

Berkley & Miller hunting for the perfect sized pumpkin

Miller enjoyed the sights and smells of the turkeys, pigs and goats. The "viewing zoo" was fun for our little guy. Something about a sign that reads "Caution, Animals Bite" turns a petting zoo into a looking zoo. Of course, he loved the "truck", tractor hay ride out to the patch. It was a party wagon with all his pals.
Last year, all the kiddos just sat up at the patch. What a difference a year makes! These pumpkin playing tots were all over the place barely pausing to take pictures. Miller ran up to the patch proclaiming "ball, ball"! He was in heaven thinking orange plastic balls were waiting all just for him to throw. He quickly found out that they were too heavy to lift, but he did find one just his size. Oh, what an adventure at the patch!

I have a feeling we'll be back to the Pumpkin Patch later in the month with Landon to pick out our most perfect pumpkin to grace our front door. I'm sure the weather will be cool enough then to enjoy the hot cider!

Eighteen

Months!! A whole year and a half has gone by with our little man. Oh what joy he's brought into our lives and we love our day to day with him. What did we ever do without him.
His intense laughter & action packed busy, busy-ness brightens up our whole house.

Miller's Growing Personality- Our little climber is on top of everything lately. He's been turning lights & fans on and off from the top of his rocking chair for months. When I'm not looking, he loves to climb on top of the kitchen table and play in the fruit bowl. He thinks the shiny red apples are toy balls for him to throw and play with. It's on and off the couches and chairs around here. At least he knows to roll off with his legs toward the ground.
Miller loves to put his head in between my knees with both hands wrapped around each leg and walk right along wherever I'm going. He gets a kick out of doing this to daddy while he's trying to cook dinner!
He loves to play with stickers and place them on construction paper, however he get's frustrated when he can't remove and replace them on his sheet of paper...we're still learning!
Miller stands at our front door usually with his nose pressed against the glass in the afternoons pointing and begging to go and play with the kids on our street. He doesn't want to miss any of the action going on before his eyes. Hmmm...sounds like Landon.
Another funny ritual happens when it's time to go bye-bye. I'll call for Miller and announce bye-bye time. He usually doesn't come running until he hears the garage door open and an unlocked door. Then, he runs as fast as he can making an "uh-uh-uh-uh-uh" sound while his cheeks bounce up and down as if to say, "Hey, you better not leave me momma!!"
He enjoys spinning & turning around and around in circles until dizziness overtakes him and he falls. Walking backwards is also another discovered way of mobility.
Miller also follows simple directions like, "Bring me your sippy. shoes, book, toy etc. I guess I should add that he obeys my directions when he feels like it!! We're working on the importance of obedience.



New Words- Miller's little vocabulary is growing everyday. Most of what he says mimics conversation rhythms that he hears with words interjected here and there.I enjoy listening to his nonsense talk while he "reads" books. He is obsessed with "Melmo" (Elmo). Miller loves reading Sesame Street books and hunting for his furry red friend in all the pictures. As soon as he spots his "tickle,tickle" me buddy, Miller points and proudly announces "Melmo". The cookie monster also captures his interest and he identifies him as "cookie".
Miller loves saying "shoes" and helping me hunt for them in the morning. New animal sounds have been further developed over the past few months..."ooohh oohh, ahh ahh" for Monkey," "toortle" for turtle. "way-el" for whale. "Sssss" for snake. "Prrrshe" & "L-fent" for elephant, "tickle tickle?" for dog. "meoooowww" for kitty kitty."horsey" for horse."grr" for tiger. He loves to make a very fierce lion's "Roar" to scare those around!
He says "hot" or "cole" when something feels a particular way. Miller stands on the air conditioning vent and announce "cole". He sends me into a frenzy when he touches the outside of the warm oven and says "hot, hot" and shakes his hand up and down.
When Miller plays with his toy cell phone, he loves to open it, hold it up to his ear and say "hello". When he closes it, he repeats "Bee-bye" Grandmama taught Miller "bu.....S" and "See the bus" this week as they hunted for big yellow school buses on the road. And, how could I leave out a word we hear every hour on the hour..."uh-oh". My heart melts when he points for something and says, "peez momma?" Just yesterday after Miller sneezed, I heard him say "ahh choo" afterwards...too cute! A favorite hobby of his is to look at family pictures and scrapbooks and point out familar faces. He identifies himself as "baby". Landon loves to observe our mini-lessons on new words each night. I'm sure he's thinking, this is only the beginning of her tutoring Miller:)
Another cute trait he's picked up is humming familar songs and singing certain words in the song with us. We've played our Music CD from this summer over and over and he loves to humm what song is coming next in the series. Our favorite song continues to be "I'm going to the Zoo". Miller joins in with each animal noise and proudly sings along with us. I need to get it all on tape before it becomes a distant memory of days gone by with our big boy 18 month old!