Fall Festival Friday! ...or not

Tonight we are going to the Fall Festival at Lake Pointe! Are you? I love love LOVE doing things with Wes and Eli and so we will be enjoying the free festivities this evening. :) I'll be back later to post some pictures! Happy Fall Festival Friday!

Ok- so we didn't end up going to the Fall Festival. I was SO sad because it looked like so much fun but Wes' allergies were killing him and being outside right now would not have been the smartest choice. So, Wes decides that we should go on a date! I of course am all for that but it was super last minute and I wasn't sure if my mom had plans or not. We called her up and she graciously said she would keep Eli for us.

Whoo hoo! Spontaneous date night!

We pack Eli up in his super cute new shirt from Target (I'll have to take a pic later... adorable!) and take him to meet my mom and sister at our new Chick-fil-A (yes!!) and off we go to... P.F. Chang's! I have never been there before and I was beyond excited to a) go on a date with Wes and b) eat there!

We pulled up, parked in the front row, and checked in for our reservation. We had such a great time being a couple! We did talk about our kids, our debt, our future, but all of it was good because it's just really wonderful to be able to connect with my husband.

The service was excellent, the food was great, and Wes had made us an online reservation and told them it was a day to celebrate our upcoming baby and they gave us a free dessert! Way to go P.F. Chang's! Thank you!

And, Amy and my mom had a great time with Eli (of course) and I always love getting a "good report." I don't know if I've ever had a "bad" report on Eli but, it just makes me happy to hear that other people get to share in the joy that we get by having him around!

We'll try to hit up that Fall Festival next year! I'm sure it will be just as fun!

Eli did request a "sheto" (aka: cheeto) yesterday so I put a few on the table for him. What I did not do however, was put the bag in a place that he couldn't reach. It's like I forget how big my son is getting! So, he told me he was going to go get a "sheto" and I said ok, and... well... he definitely did get one!

yikes. Poor picture quality! Sorry about that. :)

If you have some extra time this weekend and want to be challenged, moved, and blessed, please check out this blog: Kisses from Katie

I cannot get through a single post of hers without weeping and being completely humbled at what God is doing in her life and the lives of those sweet sweet children. If you don't have time for it this weekend, mark it on your page and go back to it later. Hope is written all over that place.

Love you friends!

Free from not having a plan

Debt is a topic that Wes and I could (and sometime do) talk about every single day. For the most part, we have been pretty good with our money. When we first got married and bought a house, we were shocked that we could afford a brick house! (sigh... we were so young ;) We were experiencing paying bills and keeping up with all the money as a couple for the very first time so we were really careful! We didn't think we could afford cable, so we didn't have it. We didn't think we could afford high speed internet, so we bought NetZero. Both of our cars were paid off. And I remember when I needed to buy clothes for my brand new job straight out of college that we wanted to be so careful in how much we spent. 

Each year of marriage (it's almost been 5 1/2 now) we have added new things. We ended up getting cable with internet in a package. We even have a DVR now! :) We ended up buying a new car because before Eli was born I just refused to put my newborn in that car. Which now seems so ridiculous to me, but I really am so thankful that we were able to get a "new" car. We've bought new things for the house. We've painted rooms. I went to Europe! (with plenty of help from my parents, thanks mom and dad!) I started and completed my Masters, which we paid off as I was taking it. We've had a baby, with a c-section, and paid for that. 

We look back on all the times God has provided endless amounts of support, both financially and emotionally, and it brings us to our knees. But for all the times that we have paid off things we bought or paid for them in cash, we still have the weight of debt looming over us.

Now I loved my college experience. I loved being at Hardin-Simmons and getting my degree from there. However, that school was dang expensive! And we still have to pay off those loans, which people to refer to as "good debt" all the time, but good debt and bad debt feel the same to us. 

We have a credit card that we have had to use since I have been only working half time. Wes is an incredible money manager and it's a 0% interest card, but it's still debt. Romans 13:8 says, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." 

We have debt that is outstanding. We have to, and want to, pay it off. 

So, Wes and I have developed a plan that is radical (to us) and will change a lot of things about where we work, where some of our time is spent, and refocuses us on the charge that we are given as Christians to do. Luke 16:13 says, "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." And although the context of that is different than where we our in our lives, we have felt that we have been a slave to money due to our debt. We have thought so many times, "ugh, if we didn't have this debt we could do this, give that, go here, help with that" and those are things we would not be saying, if we did not have debt.

Well my friends. We are changing that. It can't change right now, and we've prayed over that, cried over that, and mulled over that time and time again... even last night. But, it will change soon and we'll be going over our plan when we've finished it. 

For now, I'm ordering this book that I'm a little scared to read! But I need all the encouragement I can get, and I hear that reading this will do the trick :)

Those of you who have debt, how are you dealing with your debt? (you obviously don't have to answer that by the way) Does it take a toll on you? Can you even imagine the freedom you would have without it?

Did anyone try the orange citrus chicken yet? It was delicious!

Orange Citrus Chicken greatness

For several reasons, Wes and I have been diligently working on not eating out and cooking at home. I was kind of scared about this at first, but then I found this Taste of Home cookbook at WalMart called Simple and Delicious and fell in love with cooking! Now, I'm not that "come up with my own recipe" type cook yet. But, I can read! So I can follow pretty much any recipe that I come across! 

I've learned several things throughout our 3ish months of cooking at home (for the most part). 

1. No matter how many different ways I cook or flavor pork chops, I just don't like them. I've tried over and over!

2. The back part of my oven cooks things way faster than the front part of my oven. 

3. There is a difference between the cheap cookie sheets and the more expensive cookie sheets.

4. Wes doesn't trust any meat in leftovers except for chicken. ???

5. Making your own salad is ten times better than buying the salad in a bag.

6. If you share your recipes, people will share with you. (hint hint...)

7. I'm not good at trying to cut a recipe in half to feed just the two of us. I seem to cut some parts of the recipe in half but not others. who knows...

8. Fresh garlic and pre-minced garlic in a jar cook at much different rates... I keep burning the pre-minced kind.

9. Sometimes nothing is better than a really good baked potato.

10. And cooking crescent rolls to go along with the meal makes anything taste good.

So I'm always looking for new recipes, well, really always wanting people to recommend recipes that they have really enjoyed. So please feel free to pass some along! I have a whole little folder on my gmail account for them (amandam dot blog at gmail dot com). 

One of my all time favorite recipes is from my sweet friend Rachel. It's an orange citrus chicken recipe that she has come up with by combining some of her favorite orange chicken recipes. You will LOVE it! So, I'm cooking this tonight if all goes as planned. My mouth is watering already...

Ingredients: 

- 3-5 chicken breasts (however many you need to feed your family)

- olive oil

- 1 tbs butter

- 1 tbs minced garlic 

- 3 cups of orange juice

- 3/4 cup of brown sugar

- 1 tbs of balsamic vinegar

- ginger spice

Do you have those ingredients? Ok, here's what to do next, from the chef herself...

1. Cut 4-5 chicken breasts (1/2 frozen they are easier to cut) at a diaganal angle so they cuts are very thin (kind of like pei wei chicken would be) and about one inch wide apeice. 

2. Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and add in one tablespoon of butter ( I use the heart smart kind). 

3. Add in garlic (you can use fresh, but i keep a jar of minced garlic in my fridge and I probably addded one tablespoon of minced garlic and sauteed it in the butter)

4. Then saute the chicken until it is all yummy and golden brown around the edges. THen take out the chicken and put on a plate to the side. (It took me about 8-9 minutes to get the chicken nice and "dry" and sauteed)

5. Add in about 3 cups of orange juice into the same skillet you have been using. Then add about 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar to the mix (never said this was all light weight or anything ...ha!). 

6. Add about a tablespoon of balsalmic vinegar, and a GOOD sprinkle of ginger spice ( you can again use fresh, but our ghetto athens walmart doesn't carry it)

7. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken you have already cooked into the mixture and let it boil at a low pace until the sauce becomes thicker and more like a marinade. I let mine boil prob about 8-10 minutes. You will know when it has begun caramalizing and looking good.

8. I heated up two bags of uncle ben's instant rice and served the orange chicken over a bed of rice.

9. For a side, I did fresh snapped green beans (boiled in water with a little garlic salt until tender).

You will not be disappointed! (I hope!) It is super yummy and doesn't take that long. 

Now... feel free to post, comment, or email me some deliciously great recipes of your own! and... maybe skip the ones that involve pork :)

Lend me your ears

First of all I want to start by congratulating Jen and Coby on their new beautiful baby boy, Crew! Her first born, Camren, just turned one year old a bit ago and now they have a new baby! So exciting! You need to read her post about finding out she was pregnant again, too great! Congratulations friends! We love you!

So Eli had this rash type thing on his leg. mmm, more like his upper thighs and little butt cheeks. Anyway, I noticed it yesterday after lunch when Wes and I were getting him up from his nap. It completely freaked me out... again. He has had this once before when Mere and I were playing in the park with him. I thought it was poison ivy but he makes no reaction to it. He doesn't even know it's there! I took him to the doctor at one of those clinics since it was a Saturday (and by the time we got there it was completely gone and I probably looked crazy) and he said it was probably a food allergy. 

Well circumstances were totally different than the last time he had the rash, but it looked exactly the same! He basically eats the same type stuff every day, so I still have no idea what caused it! I gave him some Zyrtec and it was gone pretty much right away when the medicine kicked in. But seriously, what the heck is happening? Friends! Tell me! :) (the pictures are kind of hard to see, but it is there!)

Now, three of my sweet friends offered to throw me a second baby shower. I've heard all kinds of things from that you shouldn't do that, it's tacky, it's rude, blah blah blah. But! I didn't ask them to throw a shower for me! They just offered! So, maybe it's just a way of the past not to have a second shower? What about you moms with more than one kid? Did you have more than one shower?? Well, I am completely excited about it! We really don't need any of the big stuff, so I don't feel bad about the showers because it's all the little fun stuff that people like to buy anyway that I registered for. Plus, who doesn't like to get together and have a little party? A big thank you to Liz, Leny, and Jourdan! I can't wait! 

OH! And my department head at work mentioned that she thinks there should be another wedding shower for married couples at like 10 years or something! I mean, hello! Stuff breaks! Stuff goes out of style! And well, getting new stuff is fun! Let's all start that tradition. Who's up first? :)

Nothing but the truth

Well, hello dear friends! I have missed you SO much! And I mean that! I have no good excuse for my absence. I just didn't feel up to writing and so I didn't. But I have been reading so much great stuff lately that I feel inspired to start up again and to read all about your sweet lives. 

I needed a fresh start, hence the new name. I also needed some structure because being 33 weeks pregnant now (yikes!) I feel completely disorganized and crazy for the lack of a better term, and need some focus. So, I'm going to try and get myself back in the game with using each day of the week as a different topic.

Monday: Family

Tuesday: Friends

Wednesday: Food

Thursday: Free

Friday: Friday! (whatever that means)

Saturday: Fun

Sunday: Fitness

All of those things are important to me and I really want to talk about them! :)

So, here's to Monday and Family!

Ok, so I'm having a BOY! And... not only am I having a boy, I'm having him in about 6  1/2 weeks! We went ahead and scheduled a c-section for December 2, which is about 39 1/2 weeks. So, if I go into labor before then, so be it :) We'll just make sure and immediately check to see if this little guy is head down or not so we don't have to go through all of that like we did with Eli. 

We are naming him Judah Miles Martin! We don't have any special meanings to our kids' names except that we love love love their names and well, that's about it! But, they are special to us! There have been several people, family members included, who don't like the name Judah. It doesn't hurt my feelings at all. They got to name their kids, we get to name ours! Fair enough? :)

We (as in Wes) have been working on Judah's room. We have a couple more decorations to go up and then I'll post some pictures.!

Eli is busy being Eli! He's 22 months now and seems pretty excited about this Judah person, although there is definitely no real connections being made yet that Judah is an actual person! haha... I cannot wait to see him as a big brother! Eli is very much into anything that has to do with drums. It's kind of an obsession, and I am in no way exaggerating. He is so big now and seems to never stop growing and never stop learning! He fascinates us all the time! I can't wait to post some pictures of him!

I haven't cut his hair yet... (sorry Mom) and still haven't decided when that would happen. My mom says I said something about cutting his hair around his 2nd birthday. But... I think she may have dreamt that ;) We will see. (I know, I know... pictures would help so much)

Wes is doing great! He's just working on building up his in home studio, traveling with the band, and seriously being the most incredible husband and dad ever. I feel so helpless most of the time now because I am HUGE and uncomfortable and have become a complainer! ew! So, he has taken over so much of every day life that I really feel so lost when he's gone! 

I am still teaching 1/2 days at the high school and I love it! My kids are incredible and I learn from them all the time! I will definitely miss them during maternity leave.

Obviously I could go on and on since it's been so long since I've written but I'll pace myself so you will keep returning instead of having to read a book each time! Love you friends!

It's hot out here!

Any chance of some sun vitamins are only being soaked in early in the morning for me and Eli. It is SO HOT! As soon as we go outside, Eli starts going "hot! hot!" 

Do you see that little hippo pool in the background? Well, my mom and dad got him that because he loves water, in fact, he says "water" all the time! But... he hates it. He does like filling it up with water though! So not all is lost.

This has been such a great week. Last weekend if you remember I was so sad and tired of everyone being gone, but I haven't felt that at all this week! God definitely hears our cries! And the guys come home early next week and then we get to find out if our sweet little one is a boy or girl! 

This little baby is a mover. Just like Eli was! 

Today Eli was watching his favorite show, Yo Gabba Gabba, and there was this guy on there that was beat boxing. Eli picks up his little microphone and starts trying to do it! I was freaking out! I loved it! Maybe I have a professional drummer/beat boxer on my hands! I hope so!

Eli and I have been having so much fun lately. Yesterday, well the early morning hours we were fighting, but then he got super cuddly and really funny. Sometimes when I sit on the couch, he'll sit on the floor underneath me and I'll grab his head and kind of pull it back on the couch and kiss him. Well yesterday he was sitting on the couch, and I was sitting underneath him and he pulled my head back and kissed me! hahaha... I was laughing so hard! So, of course he kept doing it... anything for a laugh that kid!

Anyways, it's been a great week. My mom came home from Europe last night and dad comes home from Boston tomorrow. Hope your week has been great too!

Summer Lovin

Meredith and I went to visit one of our besties, Rachel, and her beautiful baby girl, Ellie! We laughed a lot, ate some really good food (thanks Rach!!) and watched the kids be kids! Here are some highlights!