Do the Robot

Junk in the Trunk

Me and Robie

The costume contest - Ryder got THIRD PLACE!

Getting our prize 

 Funny Robot

Cheesin' Robot

Originally, I had purchased the cute little green dinosaur with the blue polka dots for Ryder to wear for Halloween.  I happened to be at Babies R Us over a month ago and picked it up without looking for anything else.  Then, as the weeks went on and everyone asked what Ryder was going to be and I told them a dinosaur, each persons response was, "Oh, the cute green one with blue polka dots from Babies R Us?"  I decided I would look for something else, for I didn't want my little dino to look like all the rest!  So, I happened to be out running an errand for work out by Dogwood yesterday, and made a quick trip into The Children's Place just to see if they had anything left.  Wouldn't you know I found the cutest little robot costume, complete with tight blue leggings.  The best part?  It was on clearance being so close to Halloween.  $7 baby!  So I kindly returned my $29 dinosaur and off we went.

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I was playing with my "aperture" and "ISO" settings on my camera (blah) and so I had fun capturing all of Ryder's most common expressions.

This is the face he makes right when he says "Ffffffiiiiii" (five)

This is the face he makes when he says "dhat" (that)

This is the face he makes when he wants us to pick him up and has his arms wrapped around our legs

This is simply his precious semi-smile

Now that Ryder walks, he loves walking over to us and giving hugs.  It is beyond the sweetest thing.  I know his hair looks really oily... it's just wet.  Right after bathtime.  Just had to clear the air.

We had quite the incident the other night.  Ryder's favorite thing is to knock his little wooden chair over.  This time, he tumped right over with it and banged his lip into it.  Immediately after it happened, I thought his lip looked a little different but I couldn't tell.  Then about 20 minutes later JM walked in the door and I asked him if Ryder's lip looked different.  He said "YES IT LOOKS DIFFERENT WHAT HAPPENENED!!!!!!"  Then I got a closer view.  You can't tell by the picture, but it was pretty swollen.  Dismiss the food on his face.  We were making our way to the bathtub as this happened.

It was gone the next morning.


This week's dinner special was an easy but favorite: 

TACO SALAD

Brown meat and mix with taco seasoning
Must-Have Toppings:  Lettuce, cheese, sour cream, taco sauce, chilli cheese fritos, bananas, pineapple.  No, that wasn't a typo.  Try bananas and pineapple on your taco salad.  It's delish.  And remember, I am super picky.  Promise you'll like.

And wah-la!

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We are headed to Starkville tomorrow for the weekend with Ryder in tow.  He's already showing signs of a cold so I hope he doesn't get sick while we are there, especially with the weather change.  I'm looking forward to him playing at the tailgate.  I'm making a fun "fall-themed" tailgate dessert.

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE DIP

1 8oz tub ready-made cheesecake filling

1 15oz can pumkin pie mix (I only use half the can so it's not too pumpkin-y)

1 3oz package vanilla instant pudding mix

Mix well and serve with gingersnaps or graham cracker sticks.  It's tasty!  And I've got some halloween colored sprinkles to sprinkle on top to make it festive.

And I couldn't resist making these tonight...

REDNECK TRUFFELS - HALLOWEEN STYLE

1 package oreos, crushed (I used my food processor)

1 8oz cream cheese, softened

Mix both ingredients well

Roll into bite sized balls and place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, refrigerate for an hour

Melt 1 package of chocolate or vanilla almond bark

Dip balls with a toothpick into melted chocolate

Place on wax paper to dry

If you want to top with sprinkles, do it immediately because the chocolate dries quickly.

Aren't they puuurty?

In -n- Out

If this is what it takes for me to get things done in the kitchen, so be it.

I was trying to prepare my crock pot roast and I didn't want the guilty concience of not playing with Ryder, so I gave in and let him load and unload the tupperware cabinet until I was finished.

CROCK POT ROAST

1 Rump Roast

1 tbsp Tony's

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tsp pepper

3 tbsp oil

3 packages brown gravy mix

2 packages ranch dressing mix

3 cups water

1 cream of mushroom

1 bag baby carrots

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

Rinse roast and poke several holes in it with knife.  Season all over with Tony's, garlic powder, onion powder and pepper.  Heat oil in pan and when hot, add roast.  Brown well on each side.  In crock pot add gravy mix, ranch mix, soup and water, mixing well.  Once roast is brown, add to crock pot along with baby carrots and potatoes.  Cook on low 8-10 hours.  You can cook rice and top with the roast gravy if you don't want to use pototoes.  Or, you can do both like I did :)

Note to working moms, this is what I did:  I seasoned the roast the night before and put it in a bowl and covered with reynold's wrap.  Then, I pulled out all ingredients that are needed and left them on the counter.  Then, in the morning all I had to do was brown the roast and put everything in the crock pot. 

When I walked in the door after work I had forgotten I cooked and let me tell you what a nice surprise it was to come home to!

Ryder ran into his buddy Gaines while out and about!

They both go to Mrs. Connie and they love eachother.

Hangin' with Nanni and Terrell

Pants on my head, Pants on my head, Lookin' like a fool with my pants on my head!  (Hopefully you've heard the American Idol version).

Or do they look better at this angle?

Representing the dawgs at church Sunday after the big Florida win.

Sunday afternoon we gave a shower for one of my best friends, Lindsey and baby Levi.  I am quite proud of my photography in this particular picture:  Notice the nice blurred background.  I think my class is working!

Door decor

 Mommy to be Lindsey, and her mama.

I tried SO HARD to get pictures of Ryder today after work.  The only reason I couldn't get any decent pictures was because he was practically running from me and my camera.  He is quite quick on his feet these days.  I tried to sit him down for at least one good shot and he would jump and and start hauling it.  So here's the best I could do.  And as you can see, he is on the move in every single shot.  Why was I on pins and needles for him to start walking...?  I can't seem to remember.

Why, thank you son!

 Ryder's morning pallet I make him in front of the couch if I am trying to get ready and JM has already gone to work.  Sid keeps him occupied.

Saturday morning we went to Applebees to support Attache's pancake breakfast.  I tell you what, Ryder loves a good utensil. 

When we pull into the garage I'll turn around and look at Ryder and say "You ready to open the garage?"  He starts getting excited and looks over to where the door is and when I get him out of the carseat he grins all the way over to the door and holds his pointer finger out ready to push the button.  He's always so proud after he punches it and the garage opens.

"I can see you, but you can't see me"

We are on a stacking blocks kick.

 More block stacking

Ryder is infatuated with the sound machine.  It's on his floor and he always goes straight for it and pulls out the plug.  I grabbed it from him to put the plug back in.  And this.

After I had taken it away from him too many times he got smart and grabbed it and waddled out of the room with it and bumped right into the door and got this big bump on his head.  After a few more tears we finally got him grinning again.

A few things Ryder is up to these days:

-As soon as we get home after work, I change clothes and immediately take Ryder outside.  He stays out there until he's filthy.

-While he is outside, 90% of the time he is getting in and out of his little car that I know you have seen in many pictures on this blog.  He gets in it.  Gets out of it.  Repeat.

-He also likes to go in and out of the door, back and forth 20 times in a row.  He'll crawl over the metal part of the doorway and turn around and crawl right back into the door. 

-If you say where is your ear, he sticks his finger in his ear.  Smart lil monkey!  This is kind of scary but when we are in our bathroom he goes straight for JM's sink cabinet and the other day he pulled out an open box of q-tips.  Luckilly I happened to look right over when he pulled out a q-tip and put it right where his ear was.  At least he knows what to do with it (right?)

-He loves to give sugar to me and JM in the mornings.  But he is always even.  He'll make the mmmmm sound and turn my way to give me sugar, then he does the same thing to JM.  And then back to me, and back and forth a couple more times. LOVE HIM!

Bend and SNAP

We had our family pictures made Sunday.  Connie posted a few sneak peaks, so here are a few I stole from her page, but there are tons more we haven't seen yet.  Will post more when we get them. 

Don't you love them?  You wish you would've had some made, don't you!

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Watching none other than Sid.  You know, the Science Kid.

Okay, things have been breaking lately.  First it was the garage.  Broke.  Wouldn't go up or down.  Then it was the coffee pot.  I can remember the night I bought this pot.  Kayla and I went to Walmart late one night when Ryder was only a few weeks old to get this thing.  They asked if I wanted to purchase the one year warranty for $5.  I purchased.  Not one week before the one year warranty ended, the pot conked.  It was quite the coffee maker, a Keurig.  I dug for the warranty receipt and found it, and JM called the hotline.  They said they would replace the machine at no charge.  JM tells me our new machine is on the way, but I needed to mail the old one within 30 days or they will charge us.  I couldn't believe it.  I told him I couldn't believe they were making us mail that big machine back.  I told him it would probably cost us $100 just to mail it.  And shoot, I could've just about bought a new machine.  I mean, what was the point in buying the warranty then?  He told me I was crazy, and that it wouldn't be more than $5.  I did not understand his logic, for that machine was a boulder!  I stared at it for days, dreading taking it to the post office to mail, it was soooo heavy.  No kidding here, weighs 12 lb.  I looked it up.  Finally, in fear that they would charge us for the true cost of the pot, I loaded it up into my car and was headed for work and planned to mail it sometime after lunch.  It just so happened I picked up JM for lunch that day and he asked me why I had the coffee maker in my back seat.  I said, "are you serious?"  He was like "Yes, I'm serious."  I said, "You've been bugging for weeks that I mail this thing before they fine us, so why are you asking why I have it?"  He says NO, I told you that the only thing you have to mail is the coffee holder."  OMG.  No wonder he thought I was so crazy that I expected to spend $100 mailing this thing.

This is what I was imagining I would have to mail.

There's a difference...

Can you imagine if he would NOT have seen that in the back of my car and I would've MAILED IT!!!!  Worse, I didn't even have the little coffee holder with me, because I didn't know I was supposed to mail it.    I had actually considered chunking it because a new one came with our new pot, so I didn't think we needed it anymore.  Would've been a major lose/lose situation.  Nice save, JM. 

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Ryder loves to "Peek" these days.  He loves to peek around the corner, peek through a little hole, peek around the door, peek his head above his towel.  Wherever he can peek, he does.  Since he also loves to push his chair around the house, what better way to tag team than to peek through that as well, while pushing.

Oh, and he peeks out from under the table.

I was cracking when he got on his horse.  I've never seen him get on his horse by himself until tonight.

Then the squeezed the horse's ear to cue the music and the dancing began.  He perfected his version of the bend and snap.

BEND....

and SNAP.  That booty pops each time.  He's got rhythm... should I be worried? 

He was bending and snapping at such a rapid pace, my camera couldn't even keep up.  He LOVES to dance.  Dancing with the Stars possibly.........?

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Tonight we had my very own version of Chicken Salad.  I mixed several recipes together and came up with the following:

BRITTANY'S CHICKEN SALAD

2 c chopped chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken already cooked at Kroger, and it basically equaled 2 cups, well the white meat anyway)

1/2 c sour cream

1/2 c mayonnaise

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt (if you boil your own chicken, I suggest more salt and pepper)

1/4 tsp curry powder

1 c chopped pecans

1 c sliced red grapes (was about two handfuls worth of grapes)

1 tbs fresh lemon juice (equaled 1/2 a lemon)

Mix all ingredients while the rotisserie chicken is still warm, then chill in the fridge for an hour or so.  Great as a sandwich, but JM preferred his on Ritz.  Well, until he took a bite of my sandwich of course.  You can also add one stalk of celery, chopped.  However, if I would have done this, I would've been the only one eating it.  The chicken salad may look really creamy at first, but don't panic.  It soaks up while in the fridge.