State Fair of Texas!!!

Last Thursday we went to the Great State Fair of Texas!! I absolutely love the fair and the fact that it takes place around my favorite time of year makes it better.  Caroline loved everything about it.  There was tons to look at, tons to touch and tons to eat!!! My kid is a bottomless pit so all the food was an added bonus.  Some of her favorites included going to the Food and Fiber building and getting free ice cream, the petting zoo and birthing center where we fed the animals, the dog show and last but not least the bird show.  We got a perfect seat next to a perch in the middle of the amphitheater where the birds would land.  She LOVED it!! Several of the birds would be released from the ferris wheel behind us and fly in to the stage.  She started realizing this and wouldn't take her eyes off the ferris wheel in hopes to see another bird fly down.  It was so cute.  There was plenty for the adults as well and tons of exhibits.  We checked out all the cars including the Tahoe's! :) (An interest of mine)  Daddy even checked out a few John Deere Gators and I did a little shopping!  We had such a wonderful time and the weather could not have been more beautiful.  I look forward to taking Caroline every year!

Caroline & Daddy enjoying a Fletcher's corny dog!

Yum!

More!

This was probably one of her favorites!

At the bird show!! Another hit!!

This owl was only 8 months old and massive!!

Watching that ferris wheel waiting on the falcon to fly down!

Bye, Bye Fair! Until next year!!

Sicktober!!!

I'm a little behind on all of my blogging lately as this month has been one of the sickliest I've had in a looooong time.  Hence the title of my post.  :) At the very end of September, Caroline came down with a nasty bug and it stayed with her for about 14 days.  Poor kiddo, I tried so hard to teach her to blow her nose or cough hard and it just wasn't happening.  Finally, after doing load after load of laundry, lysoling everything we touched, and a trip to the pediatrician, I thought we were in the clear.  A full 7 days after Caroline got sick... here comes Scott with the same thing C had.  And let me just say... I don't know what it is about men and their sicknesses but they just can't handle it.  He was more pitiful than Caroline was. Talk about dramatic, but he got over it.

Finally, we are getting back into the groove of things, feeling good.  Scott had a day trip to Chicago for work one day last week.  We all know how disgusting airports are and this time of year the germs are in full force.  The next day after his day trip we left to go home to Sherman and hit up the State Fair.  Friday evening, Scott comes down with a horribly sore throat, body aches, and chills.  By this time I'm thinking this is just perfect.  How much more isolation and disinfecting are we gonna have to go through?  Sunday we come home and everyone seems to be doing fine.  Boy, was I wrong.  Tuesday morning I woke up with a sore throat.  I took some dayquil and went on with my day feeling pretty good.  By the days end it hit me like a brick wall.  Body aches, chills, sore throat and fever.  Great! Taking care of a 1 year old while feeling awful was going to be interesting.  Asking Scott to stay home was out of the question as he was in Sacramento Tuesday and Seattle Wednesday.  Luckily my sweet neighbor and friend Andrea came to get Caroline and watched her for the morning while I rested and went to the doctor.  No flu or strep just viral, it has to run its course is what they told me.  I hate the words "Run Its Course" with a passion now.  I've heard it probably 10 times in the last month.  Oh, I forgot to mention, while all this is going down this week, Caroline has been running a steady low grade fever from about 99.8-100.3 degrees.  Who knows whats going on there.  Probably something that needs to run its course!!!!! :)

Needless to say, I'm ready for November.  Or it could be that fevers, snotty noses, coughs and Lord knows what else, is my destiny until Spring.  Any who, I've got some blogging to do and pictures to upload and will get to it a.s.a.p.  Hope everyone else's October has been healthier than ours!!

Lazy Days

Below are some pictures I've snapped of Caroline over the past couple of weeks and I had on my camera until yesterday.  We are soon approaching her 13 month birthday so I'll post again with new pics and the fair too sometime next week. 

I forgot about this one for our fall decorations.  C and I painted a pumpkin to match her room!

I took this when we got back from the doctor.  Nasty bug was with us for pretty much 14 days.

Rainy Sunday.  She was thinking "What's that wet stuff falling?"

She will finally pose in front of the trash can and Mia's placemat. :) Oh well!

Fall Time is in Full Force!!!

Saturday after the pumpkin patch we headed to the nursery and picked up a few more mums and a hay bale for fall decor. I'm not sure what happened to my first set of mums, but they cr$ped out on me.  Sorry for that but I really don't know how to put it any other way! :)  I absolutely love this time of year, it might be right up there with Christmas.  I'm especially welcoming to fall after the summer we've had.  I've never been so ready to see summer go and fall come, not even last year when I was EXTREMELY pregnant during the hottest part of summer.  It's been almost too much to take. Anyway, here are some pictures of some of the decor!!

"Whatcha' got there?"  And this of course went straight to the mouth.

Wednesday we are heading up to Sherman for a long weekend.  We are going to the fair on Thursday with my parents.  I absolutely can't wait.  It's been a tradition to go to the State Fair of Texas every year since before I was even born.  Last year we didn't get to attend because Caroline joined us soon after the fair started. I really want to keep the fair tradition going with our kids.  We always have a blast! It looks like we may have our first cold snap this week as well, so it should be extra nice!  Looking forward to the cool down and time with the family. 

Pumpkin Patch Fun!!!

Saturday morning we got up and dressed and headed to the pumpkin patch that they have every year at the local Methodist Church in Old Katy.  They always have the cutest display to take pictures and great selection of pumpkins. Caroline was about two weeks old last year when we went so of course we didn't get as good of pictures as this year.  We met up with Clint, Jennifer, Brody & Brinlee Wren as well.  Thanks Jennifer for snapping some family photos of us! :)  The display was set up in a different area than it was last year, so the sun beamed right down on us, causing squinty faces in a lot of pics.  Might have been better to go in the evening.  Oh well!!

Let's go pick out our pumpkins!!



Ball Fun!!!

Caroline has a set of these balls that come in all different sizes and colors and absolutely LOVES them!  Last night her and Daddy were throwing one of them against the door and making it bounce back.  She was getting so tickled that I had to video a little clip of it!!  :)

Turkey Southwest Skillet & Cornbread Topping!

I picked up this recipe card at our local HEB over a year ago and I finally made it last night.  Why I have waited so long to do this, I have no idea, but it was delicious and a major hit with Scott and Caroline! She ate it all up!!  Here is the recipe...

1 pound of lean ground turkey

1 packet of low-sodium taco seasoning mix

1 can black beans, rinsed & drained

1 can corn kernels, drained

1 can diced tomatoes w/ green chilies (aka rotel, I used mild b/c of Miss C)

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded colby jack cheese (divided use)

1 packet cornbread mix (plus ingredients listed on packet)

1.  Heat over to 425.  Prepare cornbread mix according to package and set aside.

2.  Brown turkey in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat; add seasoning and cook 3 more minutes.  Add beans, corn, tomatoes, tomato sauce; stir and simmer about 5 minutes.  Stir in 1 cup cheese; remove from heat.

3.  Pour cornbread mixture over top; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.  Bake 15-20 minutes, or until lightly brown and firm in the center when touched. 

It turned out soooo good and was about the easiest thing ever.  It makes quite a bit so I bet half of the mixture could be frozen for future use.  If you don't have an oven-safe skillet you can pour mixture in a regular Pyrex type baking dish then pour cornbread mixture over that.  I also served with a little dollop of sour cream on the side and tortilla chips! Yum!