Halloween

This year Drew was a "footballer" (that's British for soccer player ;)

Baby Beckham to be exact…

and here's the the trio: baby beckham, posh mermaid, and porter the playful pirate…

Drew LOVES suckers!

but he LOVES reece even more!  He is asks for "EECE' constantly!

and some from last year

drew and friends

Drew and one of his best friends, Kenzie (who is my dear friend's, Andrea's, little girl) at a pumpkin patch…

last year:

Beau, Porter, Drew, and Reece

Then it was off to the aquarium with his other sweetheart, Amelia Grace.

Blast from the past - drew and amelia grace at around 2 months old… so sweet

 and I think this one from about a year ago, around 8 moths old

 

And I can't leave out precious Mary Kate… these are from the summer, May, I think

Another flashback, my Bachelorette night (March-ish, 2008): Catherine (top right) is Amelia Grace's mom; Brittney (bottom) is Mary Kate's mom, and Angeline (left) is Henry's mom (I will be meeting little Henry for the first time in just two weeks and I cannot wait!)  

and fyi, Kelly (Beau's mom) and Andrea (Kenzie's mom) were there that night too, but all of my pics are on my old computer (I swiped this one from facebook).   I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends with such sweet children; I love, love, love watching them grow up together!

to the beach!

We went on two trips to the Alabama Gulf Coast this past September, first with the Vaught family, and then with the Diaz's.  Drew really enjoyed himself… he loved playing in the sand and swimming in the pools, but he only just tolerated sitting at the shore and letting the waves splash his toes.

Just In Case You're Interested….

Throughout the years I have experimented with countless "healthy" muffin recipes, but haven't been impressed until NOW!  So I had to share...

Here is the link to the original recipe:

http://www.food.com/recipe/cherry-oatmeal-muffins-174328

And here is my modified version of it:

• Oatmeal Muffins: 
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• * 3 tbs saco cultured buttermilk blend
• * 3/4 cups water
• * (or 3/4 cups of buttermilk instead of the buttermilk blend and water)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries and zest of one lemon; OR 1 large ripe banana and 1/3 to 1/2 cup peanut butter; OR 1 cup pureed pumpkin and 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan or 24-cup mini-muffin pan with paper cups (or spray with oil).
2. 2
   With a wire whisk, combine oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk blend in a large bowl.
3. 3
   Combine water (or buttermilk, if using), egg, oil and vanilla extract in a small bowl.
4. 4
   Make a well in the center of the oat and flour mixture. Add liquid ingredients. Stir until just moist.
5. 5
   Fold in fruit.
6. 6
   Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes. (mini-muffins for 10-11 minutes)
   
   
   Note:  Today I used 1/4 cup each of all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, ground flaxseed, and oat bran (instead of 1/2 cups each of all-purpose and whole wheat flour) - DELISH!.  Next time, I will probably cut out the all-purpose white flour all together.  Also to note, they don't rise very much, but who needs a muffin-top anyway ;)

   
   

   
   

   
   

Good Girl Daisy

England 2011

Most of you know that Chad, Drew, and I took a vacation recently to England.  My mom, dad, brother, and cousin Craig went too.  Most of you also know how anxious I was about traveling with Drew (it's about 24 hours total!) and about how the the 6 hour time difference would affect his sleep.   Well, I'm happy to say that he did much better than expected!  The flight was hard, not because he was fussy or had ear pain, but because he is an active 15 month old and didn't want to be still.  But with so many helping hands (thanks mom, dad, Erik, and, of course, Chad) it wasn't too bad.  Basically, Drew was happy, it was the rest of us that felt a little stressed trying to keep him entertained.   And if the time change affected him at all, it was for the better... the first night he slept from 8pm - 10am!

At the airport, on a much-needed leash 

 Meeting the Captain!

As always, England was awesome!  Mostly because of my amazing family, but also because of the country itself.  I grew up going to England every other summer, so I have many fond memories, and it really holds a special place in my heart.   It is such a beautiful country!  I love the lush, green countryside, and the colorful, beautiful gardens.  And of course I love, love, love London…the history, the architecture, the shopping, the pubs, the hustle and bustle, and especially the people watching (Europeans are just so cool!).
  
Chad and I went to London two days.  Besides just walking around and taking it all in (which I loved doing), we took a hop-on, hop-off bus tour which was the perfect way to sight-see, and we also were able to go to Wimbledon (which was awesome!). 
  

Some London pics...

(True to England's reputation, we were rained on during most of our sight-seeing, so sadly I don't have many photos from our London days)

The Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben

The Thames River, and the London Eye

Buckingham Palace

Me, Michael, Anthony, Chad, Erik, and Craig, 
at the first of many pubs

Wimbledon!

This is a hill where you can sit and watch 
the center court game on a big screen

John Isner (doesn't he look just like Chad in this pic?)

The town of Wimbledon
This picture doesn't do it justice…
such an amazing part of London!

Wimbledon at night

But there is so much more to England than London... we explored the cute city of St. Albans and village of Harpenden, which were near Aunty Wendy's house (where we stayed).   Then the entire family spent a long weekend in the countryside, in an amazing little village called Castle Combe.  This town is literally untouched by modern-day anything (hard for me to explain but just see the pictures that follow).  We also went to the historic city of Bath and another old quaint village called Lacock (some of Harry Potter was filmed here, and Pride and Prejudice).

 Bath...

it was busier than London!

On our way home from Bath we stopped at a little berry farm and 
picked the most delicious strawberries ever!
I think Drew and Chad had the most fun of all of us!

Castle Combe
(the village where we stayed)

The main reason for the family trip Castle Combe was to celebrate Nanna's 80th birthday!  It really was a special day.  Nanna is truly one of the most amazing people I know, and I am so very blessed to have her as not only as my grandmother, but also a role-model.  I aspire to be like her...she is so kind, generous, elegant, gracious, and fun-loving.  Here are some pictures from her birthday celebration…

The singing of a hilarious song written by Aunty Anne

Lastly, some family shots...