http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/01/ranch-style-chicken/

So tasty. So bad for you, but in a good way. Bacon. Cheese. Chicken. Yum.

Day 23:

If you have not tried the flavored pretzel bites by Snyders of Hanover, then you must run out to the store and get some RIGHT NOW! They are so good and so addictive. Our new favorite snack. We tried the cheddar and the buffalo wing varieties and they were both awesome!

January 24th (Saturday):

Typical Saturday morning - Georgia's soccer game. Figured I should go ahead and get the soccer picture in the book!

January 25th:

I started getting sick on Saturday afternoon (sore throat) that progressed into general malady by Sunday. R was so sweet and made brownies for me! I can't decide which picture to use:

This serious one or this one: 

I already posted the "feel better soon" drawing that G made me for day 26.

January 27th:

Irelyn made an awesome drawing all by herself! She asked for it to be the picture of the day:

She was so proud!

Day 28:

Me, doing much of nothing since I've been sick all week.

and finally, today:

We made brown sugar bacon for dinner and it was AWESOME!! Next time we'll use the thicker cut bacon, but this turned out pretty darn good. Breakfast for dinner, yum!

I've been sick since Saturday. First a sore throat and then sinus congestion and now chest congestion. Plus extreme fatigue. Fun times, huh? I picked the girls up from school yesterday and as I was going through G's backpack I found this:

Of course this had to be the picture of the day for yesterday. Do I have a sweet girl or what!?!

Playing catch-up again!

Day 17: Since R's mom was here to see the kids, we mostly hung around the house all day. Georgia was scheduled to have an 8am soccer game this morning. R took her to the game. They got to the field and there was no referee. So they waited a little while (keep in mind it was about 34 degrees) then the referee showed up but the coach for the other team never showed. Apparently the other coach emailed our coach that he wasn't going to make it to the game on Saturday. Our coach's email is always messed up so he never got the email. So the 6 kids on our team had a scrimmage match since they were all there anyway. Crazy. Georgia scored 2 goals during the scrimmage game, so that was good, too. Anyway, here is the picture for the day: a photo of Georgia's "puppy kingdom" she built out of blocks and put all of her puppy in my pocket toys in the kingdom.

Day 18: Georgia and Irelyn have both been using my camera to take pictures of things around the house. I thought it was cute and this is one of the photos that Georgia took and wanted to use it for the "picture of the day"

I'm going to let her journal on the card for this day, too.

Day 19: Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. R was off, and the kids were out of school so we decided to head to the Florida Aquarium for the day. We received annual passes for Christmas to use for all of 2009.

I'm sure there will be more photos from our adventures to the Aquarium this year.

Day 20: R had a really, really, really bad day at work.

Giving him a hug before I left for my job.

Day 21: One of the coldest nights we've had this winter so we decided to build our annual fire. The girls were just excited to roast marshmallows (or smarshmallows according to Irelyn). Brrrrrrrr. According to the weather man, we have our best chance of seeing snow in 32 years tonight. (Didn't happen).

Day 22: Again the theme is the cold (for us) weather. This morning when I took Georgia to school it was 25 degrees and then an hour later when I took Irelyn to school it was 28 degrees. Took a photo of the temperature from inside the car. There was frost on the ground and frost on our roof.

You may remember in January of 2008 I participated in a layout a day challenge (LOAD) to complete 31 layouts in one month. It was great fun and a great way to jumpstart my scrapbooking for the year. This year, LOAD is beginning in February so we will have 28 days and 28 layouts. I'm hoping to keep up. I seem to have a lot more going on this year than I did last year, but I am definitely going to give it a try.

If you are interested in playing along go HERE. There are a few changes this year, and a nominal fee to play along, but I think it's worth it! Hope you decide to join in on the fun of LOAD!

Gah! I'm so behind this week.

Anyway, here are the past 6 days in photos:

January 11th - we celebrated my nephew's 6th birthday at an indoor bouncy house place. Lots of fun! 

Jan. 12th - photo of my Project 365 kit that arrived via UPS today!

January 13th - List of things to get at Target today.

January 14th - Had a pretty good morning of shopping. Decided to go to JcPenney's and ended up getting new shoes for me, a blanket for Irelyn's bed, 3 new shirts and a pair of jeans for Irelyn and a Hannah Montana dress up wig for Georgia. All for under $40! Love that!

1-15-09 - Georgia's first "official" report card for Kindergarten. Reading is Above Level, Math and Writing are On Level and received a grade of Excellent in all academic areas. Her teacher says she couldn't ask for a better student and she is a joy to work with. She also told me a story about Georgia. One day while playing outside, Georgia came over to Mrs. S and said "you know, I'm really lucky. There are just so many things I know how to do and I'm really smart. I think I'm full of magic. Do you think I'm a superhero?" Mrs. S. just smiled and said "well maybe you are". Too cute.

1-16-09 - We flew Robb's mom down to celebrate her 60th birthday. I made a really yummy Banana-Sour Cream cake with Cream Cheese frosting. Here is the photo of her blowing out a candle with the girls.

The end.

Hope to post a 365 update later this evening. Until then - Happy Friday!

Day 6 - snack of wheat thins and hummus while checking emails. I get on hummus kicks and will eat it for many days in a row. Love it!

Day 7 - Girls in the back of the car getting ready to drop GA off at school in the morning. Imac still in her jammies. Typical morning routine.

Day 8 - Happy mail! I signed up to take the Library of Memories class with Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I received my welcome packet today and I'm SO excited to take this class!

Day 9 - Celebrating a friend's birthday at Carabba's. We each had a "Bacino" dessert - yummy and just the right size.

Day 10 - Father/Daughter girl scout dance! Georgia was so excited to have a date with daddy. They both got dressed up and had a blast at the dance. Took way more than 1 photo for today - here are some favorites:

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!

Yes, girl scout cookies go on sale (in my local area) tomorrow! Luckily for any of you who are local to us, Georgia is selling cookies! Please let me know if you would like to purchase any and she will be happy to accept your order.

Here are the cookie options:

Samoas, Thin Mints, Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos, Dulce de Leche (new), Lemon creme, Tagalongs, and Chocolate Chip.

You know you want some! Spread the word and help the Girl Scouts with their biggest fundraiser event of the year. Thank you for your support.

In December of 2007 I rejoined the work force. I had taken some toys over to the Child Abuse Council's annual toy drive for their holiday store and ran into my former boss (who also happens to be a good friend). She told me about an upcoming program and asked if I were interested. I immediately said "yes" without giving any real thought to it. I had been debating about going back to work -began thinking about it over the summer trying to sort out the logistics of how I could work without having to put the girls in all day daycare and aftercare. It seemed pointless really, because there was just no way I could work outside of the home without sacrificing something in the care of my girls.

The details of the new program were 1) It was a parenting class that would meet once a week for 15 weeks. Each class lasts 2.5 hours, with an hour before and after for prep time, case notes, etc... 2) It was a contract job giving me the flexibility to opt out of the next session if I felt the need. 3) It paid well and would be a total of about 5-6 hours a week at most and the classes would meet in the evenings. Perfect! I got the contact info for the manager of that program and emailed my interests. We set up a meeting and I was "hired" on the spot. I would be a Child Development Specialist working with the children in the nurturing parenting program (along with another Child Dev. Specialist and some volunteers). I would also be assisting in the creation of the curriculum to be used for the group. How exciting to be able to use my degree (BA in Child Development), get out of the somewhat monotonous routine of being a stay-at-home mom, and get paid for it. The program reaches out to anyone who wants to be a better parent and, ultimately, a better family unit. Many of our clients are self-referred, but the majority are court ordered and the children may or may not be in the care of their parents. Some are grandparents going through the process of adopting their grandchildren or even some foster parents going through the process of adopting the foster child(ren).

It's been 13 months and even though it isn't always easy (difficult kids, heartbreaking stories, exhaustion from trying to do too much in general) it is rewarding. Especially at the end of the 15 weeks and we have our "graduation" ceremony and even if just one child from the group will say that he/she is sad because they won't be coming back and this class was something they looked forward to every week. We made a difference.

That's the good stuff.

Georgia has had a loose tooth for over a month. Not that I'm comparing, but several of her friends have lost their first and second teeth in the time her second tooth has been loose. Well, it's been barely hanging on for about 5 days and today while she was eating her lunch (at home because school doesn't start back until tomorrow) she bit into an apple and came running to me saying her tooth really, really hurt. I took a look and it was just hanging there. I grabbed some toilet tissue and pulled. Came right out! I guess the tooth fairy will be visiting tonight and, luckily, she has one dollar bills in her wallet this evening. Georgia, however, thinks that the TF is bringing her $10 this time. Um, yeah. Not gonna happen.

Of course, this will also be the photo of the day.

The photo of the day was going to be our visit to Starbucks, but I guess I'll save that for another day. As I mentioned before, Georgia doesn't return to school from the winter break until tomorrow. Irelyn returned to preschool today. We had a few errands to run (buying a birthday gift and Target) and I let Georgia choose between getting Starbucks (inside the Target) or eating lunch somewhere "fancy". She chose the 'bux which was fine with me. I ordered a Grande nonfat caramel macchiatto, she ordered the Horizon Vanilla milk and a 3 pack of vanilla bean scones that were seriously GOOD. Here's the would-be photo:

What will tomorrow bring?

Day 3:

R and I took GA to see "Bedtime Stories". Irelyn stayed home with a new babysitter and had a great time without us! The movie was fantastic and perfect for all of us to enjoy together. Georgia picked out a kid pack - popcorn, candy and a blue raspberry Icee to enjoy during the movie. Great afternoon out with some alone time with G.

Today:

The highlight of the day was some much-needed grocery shopping. I haven't been to the grocery store in almost 2 weeks, and with school starting tomorrow, we were out of a lot of items. Both girls came to store with me since R was at the range. I'm sure that's part of the reason that I left Publix spending $175!

We made these awesome Teriyaki Burgers for dinner:

You will need

1/4 C soy sauce

1/4 C honey

2 garlic cloves, pressed (we don't have a garlic press so I just mince it up)

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/3 C Mayo

1.5-2 lbs. Ground Chuck

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

hamburger buns

------------------

Stir together first 4 ingredients. Take 2 tsp. of the soy sauce mixture and mix it with the mayo and set aside. Combine 1/3 C soy sauce mixture with the beef, salt & pepper. Shape into 6 patties. Brush with remaining soy sauce mixture. (OR if you are Robb and making dinner, just add the beef into all of the remaining soy sauce mixture and then shape into patties). Grill over medium-high heat until desired doneness. Spread mayo mixture on buns and enjoy. We like to put some provolone cheese on our burgers. Enjoy!

Visiting Santa:

Christmas day:

Letter to Santa:

I'm embarking on a photo a day challenge (and hopefully this kit to go with it).

The day 1 entry will either be my receipt for the kit that I (hopefully) purchased. There was such a huge demand for this kit that the website crashed and now none of us really know if we are getting kits or not. Crossing my fingers that I get one - my confirmation email says so - and moving forward with the project. So, as I was saying, day 1 will either be my receipt or this photo of us:

I can't believe how WHITE my legs are. That is just ridiculous. Note to self: wear long pants from now on! R and I were trying to be casual and not look at the camera but the girls had other ideas.

Day 2:

I ordered the movie "Ariel's Beginning" from Netflix for the girls. They didn't know I ordered it as I was saving it for a surprise. We had a pretty great day, so as a treat this evening I decided we (the girls and I) would watch the movie. They were super excited! So the picture for day 2 is of me relaxing on the sofa with a magazine and the girls on the floor with pillows and blankets, wearing their pj's and getting ready for a snack of homemade granola.

The goal of the project is to record your daily life - 1 photo for the day that sort of sums up what that day was about. I'm excited and hope you enjoy the journey with me.