Recipes I Want to Try

A Thai Peanut Chicken over brown rice sounds AMAZING! (need to find a recipe)
Homemade sandwich bread from The Frugal Girl.
Ice Cream - I have a perfectly good ice cream machine I have never used, and some wonderful Mexican vanilla.... so what am I waiting for!?
I still have never made a homemade stock for soups and such.... I need to do that soon! Maybe when whole chickens are on sale.
PJ has a smoker that a friend gave him (for FREE) that we still have not tired out... I think brisket might be a good fit for that! OH and maybe a cheese! Hmmmm... I need to do a little research for this one.
Oh and last but not least I want to learn how to can things this season. I have a TON and I mean a TON of tomatoes this year. I would love to do marinara, tomato sauce (not seasoned) and salsa. I will have to start looking into that as well!
If anyone has recipe suggestions I am always looking for new ideas!

We're home!!!

It has never felt so good to be home! We all woke up in wonderful moods. Pj brought Brody into our bed this morning and he was all smiles and very chatty. (Sorry the pic is blurry he would not stay still, but you get the point) We got back yesterday morning, took naps went to the store, made din and went to bed. We were all so tired! This morning I made us a good breakfast, eggs, turkey bacon and toast. Then headed off to weight watchers. Pj is mowing the lawn while Brody naps and I pick up the house. It is so wonderful to get back to our normal routine. Tonight we are going to take Brods to the park right down the street and then grill some turkey burgers and chicken (for later in the week). What a good day we have planned!

Have a wonderful Saturday!

KT

Let's play dress up!

So while Brods is napping this morning i decided to take some pics of the outfits i am planning for our trip to Florida.We leave tomorrow so these bad boys are about to be packed into my suitcase! Let me know what you think.... which one you would wear if any, do you love them, hate them? I am trying to get my style on :) HA!

Nautical?

Shirt - Forever 21, Shorts Old Navy (long time ago), Hat Macys, Flops... who knows they are so old

Girlie Girl?

Dress -Macy's, Shoes -Reefs from Dillards, Chunky bead necklace hand-me- down from my sistie

Fun & Flirty?

Romper - Forever 21, Shoes (see above) Belt- so old I don't even remember, Bangles - H&M, Earrings - Sisties!

Monoblue?

Skinny Jean - Gap, Tube Top & Shoes - hand-me-down from Sistie, Necklace -I made this one!

Mommy chic?

Skirt - Rue 21, Tank - Liz Lang maternity (no I am not preggers again, I just love the longer length of this tank), hat - Target, Shoes - see above

I just hope they look as good on me as they do in the pics! Now get in your closet and have some fun!

KT

A Mothers Love

We had a good day today. We woke up and hung out at home in the morning and then went shopping with Brods, my mom and my sis. I think we are passed the easy shopping stage with my little man! He wants to get out and touch everything and crawl and roll.... Not such a good thing to do in Oak Park Mall.

Brody at the home department in Macys

We got home about 4:30, Brods had skipped his afternoon nap and turned into a handful, to say the least! So anyways he was snoozing away when we got home. He napped until about 5 and then got up and was in a terrible mood! He was just still exhausted.... poor little man! So he got his evening bottle then got to snuggle with me :) We were never rockers from day one with him. He is a bouncer, always has been.... probably always will be. My parents gave me this advice after having him. When he gets fussy sit on the edge of the bed and bounce. That was my saving grace for the first couple weeks while i was learning what his cries meant. We would sit on the edge of the bed in the spare bedroom and lightly bounce him right off into his little dream world :)

Naturally he still loves to be bounced. So when he has a rough time falling to sleep we turn on some light background music (usually Christian rock, yes I am proud to say I listen to Christian rock!) And I will bounce around his room with him in my arms, his little head nuzzled perfectly into the curve of my neck. Sometimes I sing, sometimes he slowly talks himself to sleep. When he talks.... I can not explain the purity and innocence in his little voice. It makes my heart swell with love, joy, wholeness.... you can not quite explain motherly love. Its unlike any other thing you will every feel. I will forever and always hold these few moments each night in my heart. I am so very blessed.

KT

Dinner with the fam!

Dinner at Spin Pizza followed by ice cream at Glace was wonderful!

To be honest the service at Spin was not the best, but the food was great. So overall i would visit Spin again. Also, side note, The architecture firm I work for designed Spin's space, its really neat!

Glace was a little bit of the same story but the ice cream I had there was out of this world! Check out the website to see a list of all of their flavors!

http://www.glaceicecream.com/

I had the French Lavender and Goat Cheese with Honey. MY goodness! First of all that was, in my mind, a wonderful combo. The floweriness of the lavender matched with the creamy richness of the goat cheese made for the perfect combination. I was very impressed with all the flavors! You rarely get ice cream like this anymore! If you have a chance to visit (or frequent this place) I would absolutely recommend it. What flavor would you get!?

Here are a few pics of our evening!

Please Enjoy!

How lucky am i to have the 2 best boys in the world!

Yes he really is as onreyand handsome as he looks! (I AM SO LUCKY!)

Brods LOVES his Aunt Bef!

The boys outside of Glace

How blessed am I to live in such a wonderful city and to have an even more wonderful family to share it with!

Cheers!
KT

I had a great evening. The best part about it was there was not one spectacular thing. We went and drove passed a few house we liked. Then we came home and I fed the Bubs dinner while I prepared ours, roasted veggies, talapia & braided cheese bread. While dinner was cooking Brods got a bath, then he was off to bed! We ate our delicious dinner, I took a long bath (amazing!) And now we are in bed early. That is a great evening in my book :)
Sleep well & sweet dreams
KT

Birthday birthday

So on my actual b-day, last Sunday July 18th, we were driving back from the float trip. We got a flat, had no spare, spent a good couple of hours driving to a near by town in nowheresville Missouri, finding a spare, driving back to the trailer, putting the spare on and then finally getting back on the road.... I mean seriously, this kind of thing would happen on the day of my birth! But you know what.... we laughed the whole way through it and at least I was with people that I love and care about, (my sis Beth and her hubby Kevin). Poor Kevin was out in 90+ heat dragging tires back and forth!

Kevin & Beth with the trailer Beth being silly in the car

I mean this tire not only got a flat the tread literally blew up

We got home around 3:30, so at least i got to hang out with my boys for a few hours! We ordered Jalapenos take out and were lazy all evening. It was exactly how i wanted to spend the rest of that day!

The ladies at work surprised me with a sampling of cupcakes at my desk!

It was a perfect addition to my birthday since i did not get a cake on the actual day.

We are going out to dinner with the whole fam Wednesday night. We are going to a local pizza joint, Spin Pizza. None of us have ever tried it so i am very excited to try something new and get everyone together! There is supposedly a GREAT Ice cream place next door that we will hopefully try right after din!

Hopefully i will have lots of good pics to post after dinner. For now, have a wonderful Tuesday!

Lots of love (& sugar!)

KT

Tacos, Tacos, Tacos

We made some yummy fish tacos the other day! We use talapia fillets and just baked them with some Cajun and southwest seasoning. The only thing i would have changed about them is to use spices instead of the seasoning mix. I decided that the premade seasoning is entirely to salty. But they were still delicious, even though over seasoned/salted just a tad.They were as yummy as they looked! Those tomatoes are fresh from my garden....

To go along with the tacos I made a wonderful rice! I started by cooking a combo of brown and white rice in some chicken stock. While that was boiling away I sauteed some onions, peppers and corn. I combined the 2 and add some garlic and artichoke salsa and voila! It was the perfect side dish to the light fish tacs :)

Everyone should try these. They are super easy and super yummy!

Have a great Monday.

KT

The perfect lunch date!

Yesterday was just an ordinary day at work... literally nothing exciting. Kandi - my fav work friend, was getting ready to head out to lunch, literally she was putting her fancy shoes on to put her in the mood :) When she got the news her friend had canceled. SO spur of the moment we decided to do lunch.... and let me tell you this was the best lunch I have had in awhile! Kandi went to the market (it was actually just a grocery store, but it sounds so much better when I say the market!) and picked up a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, some blue cheese and a baguette. We threw some berries together at the office and headed to liberty memorial with one of our favorite boys Danny! It was literally the pick me up we all needed that day I do believe.

I am learning, slowly but surely, to appreciate the small things in life.... the moments we can get away and enjoy the company of good friends, chatter of light conversation and simple taste of wine with bread. These are the diamonds in the rough that we all need to learn to spot out when we get the chance.

Join me for lunch?

KT

House hunting.... I mean Dreaming!

PJ likes to look online at houses, "just in case" he finds the house of our dreams for what we can afford right now, which is close to nothing right now. lol But I think its good that PJ is so ambitious when it comes to this. Looking now can only prepare us for our future, what we want, what we don't want, what we need to do to get what we want and so on and so forth. So for the time being we are just house dreaming but i think sooner then later we will be house hunting :) Have a happy Wednesday!
XOXOXO
KT

Happiness

So today I was chatting with a friend at work when I realized I have been a much happier person as of late. I am attributing this to 2 things.....

1. I started going to church again. I have been going every Sunday for a month now. I know, not that long of a streak but it really feels good to go. I hope that I can keep the streak going strong. I love going and sharing mass with my little man Brods!

2. Blogging! I realized today how beneficial it is to write out everything I am thankful for. A lot of times its easy to see whats wrong with life and what you don't have.... this blog gives me a chance to celebrate and share everything that I do have that is right in my life. My dad always told me that if you share your sorrows it makes them less and when you share your joys it makes them greater. So this is exactly that! My dad is a smart man so I am just following his lead :)

KT

P.S. I love this pic of my dad and Brods at his first Christmas! Look at those smiles :)

4th of July

We had planned to go to the usual Ragan 4th of July celebration this year, but like always of course plans change..... PJ was feeling a "a little under the weather" so we decided to stay home and have a few family and friends over. It turned out to be a really nice evening!

PJ putting on his "pyrotechnics show like you've never seen before!" lol The closest I got was a sparkler :)

Extra meaty ribs, baked beans, pasta salad and corn for din!

Last but not least mini 4th pies!

What a great night and what lucky people we are!

LOVE - KT

Junior Ranger

My Aunt Marian bought my little man his first Junior Ranger hat!

I mean seriously! Could he be any cuter!?!?!?

Love,

My Junior Ranger and Me

P.S. He is wearing his 4th of July button up from the night before... lol (don't judge he just woke up! :)

Life is just a bowl of cherries

A woman that i work with has a wonderful cherry tree. She let me pick some a month or so back. After picking them fresh it soooooooooooo made me want a cherry tree at the final house we end up in (which ideally would have some land so i could have a garden a a few fruit trees). It was a warm sunny afternoon and i just swung by her house after work. What a lovely way to spend 30 minutes after work on a Friday! I am being serious! :) lol Most people my age would prefer a happy hour, and admittedly some days I would as well. But this was the perfect way to wind down from my week before heading home :)

Check back soon for a post about what i did with these wonderful cherries!

Enjoy the summer sun!

KT

Enlightenment

Lets start with a HAPPY FRIDAY! This short week went by pretty fast which i am SUPER happy about! But kind of in a crabby mood this morning for some reason.... oh well.

So here is my newest interest.... Astrology!

My Aunt Marian got into it awhile back and did birth charts for Beth and I. So recently she was telling us what was on our birth charts and i asked her a bunch of questions. So she sent me a book, The Complete Idiots Guide Astrology. I have read the first few chapters and am really enjoying learning about the history and such. I hope to be able to do birth charts for PJ and Brody once i get through the book. As always i will keep you updated on what I am learning throughout the book. Take care and have a loverly Friday! :)

KT