Some things never change

Josiah last May (10 months old)...

And today, wearing the same exact outfit... (2 years, 2 months old)!

Same crazy boy with mouth wide open... fitting in the same clothes 16 months later :) 

*For those of you that are curious - this is a Calvin Klein 24 month shirt (runs slim).  At 10 months old, he was wearing mostly 18 months, and now, he wears mostly 2T-3T, but as long as they aren't too short, he can still wear some of his 24 month shirts.

OAMC

Sometimes I hear myself giving another plug for freezer cooking, and I laugh at myself... but it honestly has been such a great discovery for us, so I just want to share it in hopes that I can help someone else out!   (Note to self:  why do I not hesitate to share something as trivial as cooking tips when I think it could benefit someone, and I yet when I have this life-changing relationship with God, I hold back sharing about it for fear that someone might not want to hear about it?)  Wow - something to think on.  But I'll keep it light for now... back to cooking.

We are gearing up for our next big cooking day this Saturday.  My good friends Danielle & Stephanie and I all cook together about every 7-8 weeks).    Danielle posted our menu on her blog (and so I'm totally stealing it here to share) :) 

-Here's what we're making on Saturday for OAMC (a.k.a.  Once A Month Cooking):

• Pizza Hot Pockets
• Pesto Chicken Hot Pockets (with homemade pesto sauce)
• Black Bean & Chicken Burritos
• Pasta e Fagoli Soup
• Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
• Poppy seed Chicken Casserole with broccoli
• Shepherd's Pie
• Black Bean Soup with Chicken
• Turkey Meatloaf (with feta & sun dried tomatoes)
• Teriyaki Chicken
• Carnitas (Mexican Pulled Pork)
• Herbed Fish Cakes
• Spinach Quiche
• Creole Chicken

We each get 2 of most of these dinners, so after a full day of cooking, we'll stock our freezers with 27 dinners, 16 hot pockets and 16 lunch burritos!   I can't tell you how nice it is to have all of these meals planned, shopped for, prepared, and cleaned up!

I've also started doing a few mini freezer cooking sessions in between.  Like this week I found a crazy good deal on some ground beef at Target:

So we seasoned and made hamburger patties, and I browned the rest, mixed 1 lb with taco seasoning and kept 2 lbs. plain to add in to spaghetti or anything else.  That's the beginning of 4 dinners in less than 30 minutes. 

I also made these delicious (& nutritious) No Bake Energy Balls that I can't stop eating.   Seriously... they are addicting.  It's like eating cookie dough, except that they are pretty good for you!

I'd like to do some breakfast burritos soon for Mike to grab in the mornings.   IF ONLY I HAD SPACE FOR A DEEP FREEZER!!!!  :) 

Even Josiah likes to help out in the kitchen these days!  :)  Here he is whipping up some French Toast - he's actually a pretty good little helper (as long as I don't turn my back for too long!) :) 

4 Years

I doubt many people even read this anymore since I've been so slack at posting, but I thought I'd do a little update now that another month has gone by!   I can't believe it's September and the summer is over.  Hopefully we'll take advantage of our "beach-house" location a little more this Fall than we did the last month or so.  I don't know why we stay so busy!  We do take evening bike rides down to the beach every week or so though and that's fun.  This past weekend was the American Music Festival, so we went down there twice and got to hear some good music while we played in the sand. 

Mike and I will celebrate our 4 year anniversary this Thursday!  We decided that since we live at a "resort location" we will enjoy a little mini stay-cation without having to travel!  Josiah is going to go spend a couple days with Grammy & Gramps, and we are going to enjoy some of the beach fun.  I was kinda hoping for one last week of summer-weather so we could go sip margaritas on the beach and enjoy relaxing down there kid-free, but Fall has moved in quickly so we might have to be a little more creative.  The one thing we're doing for sure, is having breakfast at Doc Taylors one morning.  We tried to go last month but there was an hour wait... and reading the menu, we're not surprised.  Maybe we'll have dinner at Waterman's (where we had our rehearsal dinner 4 years ago) too.  Oh why is it that I love to eat so much?  :)  I guess that's why I asked Mike to get me a membership to the Virginia Beach Rec Centers for our Anniversary.  It's actually an awesome perk of living here... the membership is only like $6 a month and all the facilities are quite well-equipped.  The only thing they are lacking is childcare, so I'll just have to go workout once Mike gets home, but we have one within walking distance to our house and I've decided it's time to get my butt in shape!  Mike's anniversary present was getting cable with the sports package for College Football season :)  We've only had the bare minimum package with DishNetwork (and only had that to finish out our 2 year commitment from a while back) but I knew he'd go crazy if he couldn't watch his beloved Michigan games this Fall, so we upgraded just through January.  ;)  And then there's one more thing that is totally out of both of our comfort zones....  couples dance lessons!  Ha!   Mike mentioned it a while back that it would be fun, and last week a deal popped up on Groupon, so we decided to give it a go!   I'm almost cringing just thinking about it.  Neither of us has an ounce of rhythm.   It's going to be hilarious... or awkward... probably both.  :)


I almost made it through an entire post without talking about Josiah, but I'll at least leave you with a bunch of pictures :)