Happy Birthday Gigi!

I want to wish my Mother-in-law, Janet (aka Gigi) a very Happy Birthday today. They are coming to visit tomorrow so we are really excited about getting to see them again. Sooo without further ado...

Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday dear Giiiiiggggiiiiiiii. Happy Birthday to you!

In other news, please remember Jackson tomorrow with his surgery. I had to jump through 1800 hoops yesterday with the insurance companies before it was finally approved. It seriously took 6 hours to work everything out. Something about a waiting period and other nonsense. Anyways. It all got worked out, so sometime tomorrow morning, he will have his second set of tubes put in. Please say a little prayer for him.

While you are praying for Jackson, toss another one up for my little sister Kellyn. She had a bad reaction to a routine TB test yesterday at a local Doc-in-the-box place that shall not be named. She ended up passing out and fell face first onto the tile floor. Her top tooth ended up going through her lip, and her jaw may be fractured. They can't tell yet because of the swelling. There are a bunch of issues surrounding this, so just be in prayer for a few specific things:

1. That she feels better soon. It is so hard to see my favorite little sister feeling so bad.
2. Her teeth aren't damaged too severely, and that the antiobiotics prevent infection in the tooth.
3. That her jaw isn't fractured.
4. That the place of business does "right" by her. That they take responsiblity for the accident.

I guess that's it. I will update later. Once again, Happy Birthday Janet! I hope everyone has a great day, and a good weekend.

Works for me Wednesday

Once again it is WFMW over at Rocks in my Dryer. Apparently, all I am good at sharing is Crockpot recipes, but who doesn’t love a good Crockpot meal? I got this recipe from an old high school friend, and I loved it. The leftovers would have been great had they not gotten forgotten and sat out all night. It reminds me a lot of Sante Fe soup, but with chicken. So delicious!

Chicken Taco Soup
1 chopped onion
1 16 oz can chili beans
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz corn, drained (I also added 1 small can of shoe peg corn)
1 8 oz tomato sauce
1 can chicken broth
2 cans Rotel, un-drained (Use the mild Rotel if you're not a hot-spicy fan)
1 pkg taco seasoning
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat

Place ingredients 1-7 in a slow cooker. Stir in taco seasoning. Lay chicken breasts on top until just covered by other ingredients. Cook on low for 5 hours. Take out chicken breasts and shred and then stir back into soup. Cook 2 more hours. Garnish with sour cream, shredded cheese, and crushed tortilla chips. (I cooked the chicken a little longer than 5 hours to begin with, and the chicken was literally falling apart. I then added it back and cooked for about an hour longer).
This is so easy and I can’t wait to have it again. I hope you enjoy!

Elijah Oliver

Congrats to Allison and Jason on the birth of their 3rd child. Elijah Oliver Muehling was born today, one month early, weighing in at 5.5 lbs and 18 inches long. Allison and Eli and doing great. I will post pictures later.

Let's try this again shall we...

We have been trying to get Jackson to begin drinking from a regular cup. My sister Kellyn's mother-in-law Jeanette, taught her granddaughter to drink from a cup by offering her some REALLY cold water, and it only took a few minutes for her to realize what happens when you tip the cup over too far. Jackson asked for some water the other day and we decided to try it with him. These are the results:

In the second video you can see him signing the word for "more" and "please." These have been so great for him to learn. We are also working on "thank you" right now. His teachers at school have really done a good job with this.

I promise Jackson was okay from the water. His clothes were soaked when we were finished, and my floor was covered in water. So for right now, I think we are just going to slowly keep trying. I keep telling myself that by the time he graduates from high school we should be finished with the paci and he should be able to drink from a cup. Right? Let's hope so. Potty training...Puh-lease. Who needs that...

Jackson want a cracker?

I was pretending to break a cracker with my hand, and Jackson found it hilarious!

It's Deja Vu all over again

Hey ya'll. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We spent Saturday helping Leslie and Mike clean out their backyard. It was such a humbling experience. When we got there a little after 8:00, the backyard was a mess. It sounds so stupid to think, but I never really thought about how you clean up after a tornado. It leaves such tiny debris, but it is everywhere. So it was tons of raking bits and pieces of shingles, paper, nails, plastic, wood, leaves, limbs...you name it. There was a busload of volunteers that was actually dropped off right outside Leslie's house, and we all just worked side by side cleaning up a little at a time. When it came time to get the roof off the pool, I was certain at A) someone was going to fall in the pool, and B) that the roof was going to end up in the pool instead of on it. However, neither happened. They attacked the roof with chainsaws, and just dismantled it, and within a couple of hours the roof was gone. It was amazing!

The saddest thing that happened was after I had been there for a little while a middle aged man came over from the yard behind Leslie and Mike's. The house was destroyed, and most of the roof/attic ended up in their backyard. He told me that it was his parent's house and many years ago they lost a baby. They had a small hope chest in the attic and it was the only thing that his mother wanted to retrieve from the mess. It was full of everything she had left from her baby. My Mom and I immediately moved to his yard, and starting moving debris. We had found a congratulations card for a baby in Leslie's yard, along with part of a funeral register. After searching for several hours in the other yard, we came across a white teddy bear in a Ziploc bag that was in the chest.

We never found anything else.

How does that happen? How do you lose everything like that...all those memories and keepsakes just gone. So sad. The Mother was shocked that we were able to find what we did. By the time the day was over, Leslie's entire yard, along with two neighbors, was clean. It was hard work, but so worth it, even the pain from my tetanus shot. I will be back on Saturday to help more. There is still so much to be done.

In other news, Jackson will be having surgery on Friday to put tubes back into his ears. This will be his second set, so be in prayer that he will do great during the procedure, and that this will be the last set that he needs. Have a great day!

So here's my question...

Rick and Bubba had a great discussion yesterday about voting, and they were very honest and said that they were not sure that there were going to be voting in the Presidential election this coming November. Their reasoning: They are Christian, very conservative, and simply don't like the choices this year. They feel that John McCain is simply too moderate for them, and they have serious objections to his views on several vital issues. Their producer, Speedy, had the opinion that he was going to vote for the lesser of two evils, meaning John McCain. Rick pointed out that if you vote for the lesser of two evils, you are still voting for evil. Both Rick and Bubba felt that maybe having a landslide election in favor of the Democrats would show the Republican party that people want more conservative people to choose from.

What do you think? Is NOT voting okay if you don't have a dog in the race. I didn't realize how moderate McCain was, and now I am all confused on what to do. I have voted in every election since I turned 18, and I hate the thought of not voting, but as a Christian (and a Republican), should I go vote for someone simply because they are Republican. I would love to hear your opinions, especially if you are a card carrying member of the "I Hate Hillary" group. Even if you are not, I would still love your opinion. All I can say is thank goodness the election is still 9 months away. Maybe that will give me time to decide what to do...

Oh, and I will post a new video of Jackson later. Have a great day!

Works for me Wednesday

Once again it is Works for me Wednesday over at Shannon's place. For today, I have a recipe from my super Mother-in-Law, Janet, that is my hubbie's favorite thing to eat in the world. It is called Crockpot Beans and is tastes amazing, and couldn't be easier to throw in the Crockpot and enjoy when you get home. Here goes..

Crockpot Beans

Add to Crockpot:

1 can Lima beans drained

1 can Pinto beans drained

1 can Pork-n-Beans

1 can Kidney beans drained

1 1/2 lbs of ground beef drained

1 lb bacon (I use the quick kind you put in the microwave, about 10-12 slices) crumbled

1 small chopped onion

1 chopped Bell pepper (optional)

In a separate bowl mix:

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 BBQ sauce (The BBQ sauce can really change the taste. If you like spicy, use spicy. I use honey bbq)

1/2 cup worcestershire sauce

Add the sauce mix to the crockpot and stir well. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Serve over white rice. I hope you enjoy!

The aftermath...

I was able to get into Mom and Dad's neighborhood yesterday after Jackson's doctor's appointment, and I was shocked. It is devastated. They have determined that it was an EF3 tornado that hit the area, with winds between 140-150 miles an hour and 1/4 of a mile wide. The tornado was actually caught on surveillance camera. It was enormous!! I have never in my life seen such destruction up close, and to have it literally so close to home. There are piles of debris that are at least 10 feet high one after another. Unbelievable...

Here are a few photos of the damage that I was able to take.

One of the streets in the neighborhood

The side of Leslie and Mike's house

The triangle above is actually a complete roof sitting on Leslie's pool

Another shot of the roof

Noah's toys in the backyard

Leslie and Mike's backyard

A tree outside Leslie's house

Random house with the entire roof gone

Yet another house with no roof

Yet another...

More debris in the yard

Utility lines outside of Walmart

Walmart parking lot

Please continue praying for the folks affected by this storm in Prattville, and all over the Southeast. The damage will take a long time to repair, and they are going to need ALOT of prayers. Thanks ya'll.

Happy Birthday Jeremy, and a HUGE prayer request

I want to wish Jeremy a Happy 29th B'day. He is such a wonderful husband to me, and a fabulous Daddy to Jackson, and we both love you so much. Happy Birthday!!!

In other news, please be in prayer for the city of Prattville, AL. There were about 200 homes and businesses hit by a tornado yesterday afternnon, and the city is a wreck. The tornado struck my parents neighborhood, and by the grace of God, their home was fine. Mom, Dad, Kellyn, and Jason were all there, and they were all okay. I was at home with Jackson and got a phone call from Mom and all she said was, "Get in the closet now!!" and then she hung up. I was terrified. I just kept thinking that if something happens to them, my entire family (outside of Jeremy and Jackson) were together and that I could lose them all. Luckily, everyone in the neighborhood was okay other than some minor cuts and scrapes. The damage is so close to their house, and my parents say that I won't even recognize the area. You can't tell me that God doesn't work miracles. 200 homes damaged or destroyed, and no lives lost. Some of our friends from church, Leslie and Mike, and their three year old son, Noah lost their home. Leslie is pregnant, and due in July, so please remember them in your prayers. They were able to salvage some stuff from their house, but the home is destroyed. Their next door neighboors roof is literally sitting in their pool right now. Please lift everyone up in your prayers, and thank God that no one was hurt. I will be heading to Mom and Dad's house after Jackson's appt. today.

Once again, Happy Birthday Jeremy. He is such a wonderful guy that he is using his day off to help clean up some of the mess from the tornadoes. Jeremy, you are amazing, and I love you. Happy Birthday!

Congratulations Kellyn!!!

Kellyn passed her Board exams for her license as an Occupational Therapist!!! Way to go Kellyn!!! We are so proud of you, and I want to be the first one to welcome you to the real world. It's so much fun out here!

Happy Valentines Day and Half B'day for Little Man

Happy Valentines Day!! I hope your day is going wonderful. Mine has been good so far, busy at work, but good.

Today is Jackson's Half Birthday!! Our little monkey is 18 months old. I can't believe it. We go to the doctor on Monday for his checkup and shots, but until then, I thought I would share a few new things about our little man.

• He loves chips and salsa. We went out for Mexican last night before church, and he kept insisting on dipping his little chip pieces into the salsa. At first I didn't want to let him, because I thought it would burn his tongue, but he kept insisting, so I figured, who not? He tried it, and then literally sucked the salsa off the chip. He LOVED it!!! He definitely inherited that trait from his Nana, who we joke with by telling her that she has literally burned the taste buds off of her tongue. Nothing phases her.
• His favorite veggie is green beans. He loves them!
• He can identify most body parts: Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, chin, hair, toes, fingers, legs, arms, and his favorite, the belly button. He is so funny.
• His new words are: shark, hush, fish, and tons of babbling that I can't quite figure out.
• His favorite word is still truck. He LOVES trucks and points them out all the time. So cute!

In other news, our Soles4Souls drive is going great We have collected 349 pairs of shoes so far, and my girls are so excited! Our goal is 500 pairs, so if you have any shoes taking up space in your closet, get in touch with me and I will gladly take them off your hands. I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day, and have a great Thursday!

Gotta love Alabama!!!

You gotta love living in a state where it can be 70 degrees on Tuesday and snowing on Wednesday. You really can’t beat that. We have had lots of snow flurries today, but none of it is sticking. Imagine that. It is however, so stinking cold outside right now. I think the high for the day is the upper 40's, but the windchill is in the mid 20's right now.

In other news, plans were just announced for my high school’s 10 year reunion. Here we come...Prattville High School class of 98. Whoo-hoooo. I am so excited. It is going to be the weekend after Amy’s wedding, and we are going to go to a Montgomery Biscuits game on Friday night, have a picnic on Saturday at lunch, and then have the last part of the reunion at the Robert Trent Jones clubhouse. I can’t wait to see everyone again!!

I guess that's about it. Have a great Wednesday!

Works for me Wednesday...

I have a super easy crockpot spaghetti sauce that works great for those working days when you want something hot when you get home. It's so simple and always tastes wonderful. Here goes.

1lb browned ground beef

2 cans petite cut diced tomatoes undrained

2 jars of spaghetti sauce (whatever flavors you like) I usually mix a Ragu Traditional and a Ragu Veggie

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

Dash of garlic salt

Dash of sugar

Whatever else you like to season with

Add everything into your Crockpot and cook on low for 4-6 hours. When you get home, cook some Angel hair pasta and then you're done. It is so good, and I promise that it really can't be any simpler. Have a great day!

Not much new...

Except that my $10 rebate from Kohl's came in the mail yesterday. Whoo-hooo. It only took 3 months to get a Thanksgiving rebate. See it pays to be persistant, especially when you are talking about rocking the bank with a whopping ten dollars. I mean seriously folks, imagine all the stuff I can buy....

Great weekend

We had a great weekend with Jeremy's parents coming to stay with us. Unfortunately, Jeremy's sister, Amy, got sick and couldn't come. We really missed her! We ended up going to the Montgomery Zoo on Saturday and had a great time. The weather was perfect, and Jackson has definitely got his tiger sounds down. Gggrrrrrrr. The Wade's left on Sunday morning and after church and a fabulous nap, the three of us headed to the park to play for a little while. Enjoy the pics!!!

Jackson making his "cheesey" face!

That's just my baby daddy...

Gigi and Jackson

Papa and Jackson

Taking a break at the zoo

You can't catch me!!!

Just the three of them..

Isn't he the cutest thing ever...

Jeremy and Jackson at the park

New pics

Jackson before church yesterday

You know I'm cute!

Making the cheesey face with me and Jer.

Making the cheesey face with Kellyn and Jason

Walking a mile in Aunt Kellyn's shoes.

Jacksonisms continue

Our little man has added new phrases to his ever expanding animal vocabulary. Saturday, before our disasterious 18 month photo session, I had the following conversation with my adorable son.

Me: "Jackson, what does a tiger say?"
Jackson: "Roooaaarrrr"
Me: "Jackson, what does a cow say?"
Jackson: "Mmmmooooooo"
Me: "Jackson, what does a duck say?"
Jackson: "Duck Duck"
Me: "Jackson, what does a pig say?"
Jackson: "Nuk Nuk" (I guess this is his version of oink oink. We haven't quite figured it out yet)
Me: "Jackson, what does a sheep say?"
Jackson: "Baaaa"
Me: "Jackson, what does a Jackson say?"
Jackson: "Da da"

Yes, it is official. Jeremy is Jackson's favorite person. He will now repeat this anytime you ask him what a Jackson says. It is so stinking cute, but I can only imagine that if I asked him what Mama says we would get a resounding "No No."

Highlights from our weekend

• Jackson had his 18 month pictures taken. He looked adorable, but the photographer seems to have a hard time grasping that you are asking a toddler to sit still. That is expecting ALOT from a kid, especially Jackson who is always on the run.
• I won a lavender eye pillow over at the Bloggy Giveaway from Robin Lemon. Yeah!! I never win anything and so this is super exciting for me. It is really supposed to help with headaches also, so that is great.
• We watched Evan Almighty with Kellyn and Jason for the first time this weekend (I know, it's been out forever). It was wonderful. I laughed so hard. If you haven't seen it, you have to watch it. It will not disappoint, and was so much better than Bruce Almighty.

In other news, please be in prayer for my Nanny. She has a severe UTI, and is in the hospital right now in Prattville. I guess that's it. Have a great week, and don't forget to go vote tomorrow!

My Humble Opinion

Hey everyone. Our state Primaries will be this coming Tuesday and I thought I would share a few of my opinions on our Presidential contenders before I go cast my vote. Just think...my political opinions offered free of charge to you. It really must be your lucky day! Before reading this I have to include the following disclaimer:

The opinions below are the opinions of Amy only, and are not necessarily the opinions of her fabulous husband Jeremy, although he really should be agreeing with his wife about stuff like this. Amy is a Southern Baptist, Christian, conservative Republican who is very anti-Democrat. If you don't agree with her opinions, deal with it. That's why we live in America, and that's why we vote.

Hillary Rodham Clinton. What can I say about her? I can't put into words how much I detest this woman. The only leadership position she has ever held has been to be Senator from a little state up north. Being a First Lady...Puh-lease. Other than picking out a china pattern, what difference does that make. Her and her husband have snookered their way into the good graces of those unfortunate enough to live in Blue States. Let me be clear, I am not opposed to A woman running the White House, however, I am seriously opposed to THIS woman running the White House. Mark my words, if she gets elected as President, our country will go nowhere but down. I wonder how many people have gotten on her bad side, only to end up swimming with concrete shoes? If I go missing after posting this, you know the first person to start talking too...

Barack Hussein Obama. Can Americans really vote into office someone whose middle name is Hussein? I know it isn't his fault, but seriously...Hussein. I also have concerns with his religious affliliation. His Dad was a Muslim, and apparently his church is very tied to supporting Africa, which also has it's roots in Islam. Although Oprah is a huge supporter, and we all know O has tons of fans, I can't help but hope that Oprah loses some steam on this one. Hollywood is apparently in love with Obama, so that right there should tell you something. Judging by his picture, he seriously needs to hold back on bleaching his teeth. They probabably glow in the dark.

Now for my real contenders...

Mitt Romney. Probably the most moral out of all the people running. He is Morman, which may be a little hard for some to digest. Definitely a family man, which I really appreciate, especially with politcians these days. Very good at business and seems to know alot about the economy. I don't think he has a chance, but he does seem like a really nice guy, and I line up with him on several issues.

John McCain. Former POW. Nuff said. This man could probably beat the crap out of any other nominees even though he is about 80 years old. I think he is on a roll right now, and will probably clinch the Republican nomination easily. I think he would make a good President, and certainly has a good background considering we are in the middle of a war right now.

Mike Huckabee, the former Southern Baptist Minister and Governor of Arkansas. I LOVE him. I line up with him all 99% of the issues, and he will definitely be getting my vote on Tuesday. He is Christian, and conservative, and for me, that seals the deal. I also really like the sound of "President Huckabee." It sounds fun to say, and seems like something out of a Mark Twain book. Oh wait..That's Huck Finn. Never mind.

I think that when the general election rolls around we will see...

vs.

Who do you think will end as President? All I know for sure is that if you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain, so get out the Vote!!