Father's Day

We had a wonderful Father's Day celebrating both  my dad and Evan.

Our day started off by letting Evan sleep in a bit. As part of my gift to Evan, I ordered him a 26 week subscription to the News and Observer. Ethan and I woke Evan up and gave him his paper in bed-which he was thrilled about. You know who else was thrilled about the paper? None other than Ethan of course. He sat in bed with his daddy and read the paper with him for an entire hour. I see a great father/son tradition in the making. Oh yeah, and that hour of quiet meant I could get ready with no distractions. A win-win for us all. :)

 

 

 

Once everyone was dressed and ready to go, we made our way over to my mom and dad's house where we cooked a big breakfast for my dad. One thing is for sure about this family...we love a good breakfast. We had blueberry, chocolate chip, and plain pancakes, eggs, English muffins, fruit salad, and sausages. It was delish. You know what else is great about eating a big, mid morning breakfast? It keeps you full for most of the day which means you don't have to worry about what's for lunch.

 

I wish I would have gotten a picture of all us eating our breakfast- but I didn't think of it at the time.

 

Evan's second Father's Day surprise was that we got him Holly Springs Salamander baseball tickets for that evening. For those of you that don't know- Holly Springs just recently opened a beautiful baseball stadium, which in my opinion has been great for this little town.

 

Evan was so excited. The man lives for baseball. He got to take Ethan to his first ever baseball game. How much better can it get?

 

 

Don't let the gloomy face fool you. He was having a great time.

 

Yes, that is sweat. It was really, really hot.

 

 

 

I bought these tickets knowing good and well Ethan wasn't going to make it a full 9 innings. I mean let's just be honest here...I can barely make 4. Baseball....well....it's just too slow for me. Not to mention my intense fear of getting hit in the face by a foul ball.

 

Ethan made it through 4 innings, which in  my opinion was perfect since it was blistering hot, and we were getting hungry. 





We enjoyed pampering Evan and being thankful and grateful he is on our lives, and does so much for us. He is an amazing father!

Build it!

Two Sunday's ago Evan and Ethan got to participate in their first ever official father/son outing. We are members at the Kraft Family YMCA, and they were hosting a race car building event.

This event could have not been more perfect for the two of them. Evan and Ethan love watching races together and naming all of the race car drivers. Ethan has learned a good handful of them just by memorizing their car logo. Every time we drive by a Lowe's truck he'll say "hey look, there's Jimmy Johnson!" He is quite proud of himself.

Another one of his favorite drivers is "hot rod Harvick" as Ethan would call him. All I know is he drives car number 4- and Ethan loves that car. Hence the number 4 on the race car he built with his dad.

Okay so back to race car building...

Evan was equally excited as Ethan was, and I was just excited for them. Excitement all around. :)

They built, painted, and raced their cars. They had a wonderful time. Thank you to Kraft Family Y!

 

 

Even though I am sad Ethan is growing up, it is very rewarding to watch him start to participate in such fun activities. These are the things his daddy has been waiting for! :)

Next up...Father's Day blog. So stay tuned!

What's for dinner?

What's for dinner is always the famous million dollar question. So, whenever I can find a new recipe that's both good, and easy, it's a win win situation.

I stumbled across a recipe book in my pantry that peaked my interest. I completely forgot I had it, and to be honest, never used it. It is a crock pot cook book...which happens to be my favorite type of cooking.

The recipe I tried last night is called "Charlene's Ritzy Chicken". It was so easy, I thought there is no way this can taste good. Much to my surprise, it was so good.

Here's what you need:

1 can of cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1 sleeve of ritz crackers crushed
1/2 cup of melted butter
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Mashed potatoes or rice

How to make it:

Combine soup and sour cream into a small bowl and set aside. Melt butter and mix crushed crackers into the butter. Place chicken into your slow cooker and spread soup mixture over top. Then sprinkle crushed cracker mixture. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hrs, or high for 4 hours. (I did mine on high for 4 hours, it worked perfectly)

I did not serve my chicken over mashed potatoes or rice. However, the recipe makes a lot of sauce, so in my opinion it would be great over brown rice. If you are a down home country cookin' type you might prefer the mashed taters. I am not a mashed potato fan, but Evan would have loved it that way.

And yes, even my 3 year old gobbled it down.

It pairs well with asparagus- which is what I served mine with.

Happy cooking & happy hump day!

Last day of Preschool

I know, I know...this post is a few weeks late. But in my defense, we have been busy and out of our normal routine the last 2 1/2 weeks. We have had almost 2 straight weeks of vacation putting me very behind in my blogging. I know what you're thinking. You don't have to feel sorry for me for being on vacation. :)

In between the first vacation (to the mountains) and the next (to the beach), Ethan had his last day of 2 year old preschool.

I know it's very cliché to say that "the time has flown by", but what else can I say? The time really did fly by, and here we are at the start of summer. To be honest, it makes me a little sad. Ethan is growing up right in front of my eyes. I feel like we just celebrated his 3rd birthday, and in 2 months he will be 3 1/2. I can't take it anymore.

Here is a comparison of his first and last day of 2 year old preschool. I think he looks bigger, and has more of a big boy face. What do you think?

 

 

 

 I know I have said it before, and I will say it again. His teachers this year were simply amazing. Kind, compassionate, creative, and top notch. Ethan adored both of them, and loved every minute of preschool this year. We are also thankful for the great friends he has made.

Ethan is already talking about moving up to the 3 year old class in the fall.  He can't wait!

For now, I say let's just enjoy summer. :)