Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Since starting this blog a month ago, I have seen that we lead pretty boring lives. We need more exploring our city and taking Finn on new adventures. That is why I decided to have a picnic today!I got way too much food and we went over to a big pond and field where Jon Finn could run all his energy out!

I could tell that Jon had a pretty good time flying the kite, even though it wasn't that windy. Finn loved chasing him around and trying to catch the tail. After, we had yogurt and we got Finn home for a nap.

Later that night, we had some friends over for a fire and cookout. They have a little girl named Adeline. Finn was very protective of his toys at first, but warmed up after a bit. We had a perfect day!

Flying the Kite

Finn caught the tail!

Father/Son Time

Coloring with his new friend :)

It's the Weekend!

It's Friday! It's Friday! It started off a little sad, because we had to say goodbye to Miss Paige. Hopefully she will be able to babysit for us soon. Finn adores her.

Finn had his first fun dip today, and it was a trip! He laughed and laughed and laughed! We Facetimed his Pap and Gram, which he thought was hilarious. He had a major sugar high!

We ended up doing lots of coloring and going to a friends house for dinner. It was great to start a weekend not having to worry about dinner and cleaning up the dirty kitchen!

Last class pic with Miss Paige!

Fun-Dip!

Pap & Gram are hilarious!

Hanging out in Bailey's room

Daycare

Finn's daycare lady is leaving tomorrow and it makes me so sad. We were very fortunate to get a place in a daycare that has such a caring and sweet young lady. I honestly felt so safe with Finn there. I am hoping that the next girl is just as good. The down side of the whole situation is that some of his friends will be leaving, too.

The mothers all decided to get her a spa gift card, so I thought I would take on an art project. I was a little bit of a task to put all the children's hand-prints on a canvas, but it worked! I love the way it turned out! Finn loved doing his hand-print, so we painted more when he got home. He is at the stage where he absolutely LOVES to color and paint. He asks to do it all day long!

Miss Paige and Finn's friends!

Hand Painting for Miss Paige!

What's biting my kid??

So... another day of nothing. I stayed home with Finn today because he has bites on his face and hand. I wanted to make sure he didn't have a fever or start to act weird (or they spread) just in case. I don't want to expose the children at daycare to him if he has something contagious. Finn didn't even get out of his PJ shirt today! 

He has started this thing that is driving me bananas where he says "mama, mama, mama, mama...." all the time! Just like Stewie on Family Guy. Sometimes he even screams it across the house. It was cute at first...

Look at that face! You can see a few bites on his cheek.

Wagon rides with daddy

I can't get enough of his cheese.

Doesn't every baby have a cabinet picture?

Snow day?

Snow? Ice? Heck no. Nothing. Some people get angry when the school system decides to close schools on days like this, but I don't mind one bit! It was extremely cold out. The only outing of the day was when Jon took Finn to the park. It is nice to have unexpected days off like this sometimes. 

It is interesting to read back on lots of my weekend posts (and days like this) and see that we have pretty boring lives. We really like to be at home and spend time as a family, so it looks like we never do anything. Oh well, we love it!

Finn has some bites on his face. I am worried because I never saw anything bite his face. I am hoping they are bites and not something more!

Checking out the "snow"

Uncle Nate came to visit!

Prepared for the cold weather!

Thai Ribs again! Yummy!

Finn's First Date!

There is a small chance of ice and sleet tomorrow, so work is cancelled! YAY! Not that we really need another day off, but I will never be sad about an off day during the week. I met Jon at the grocery store after work to stock up some things we have been needing, and we ended up spending $125! How in the world does that happen? We needed so many things for the house, diapers, etc., but I never imagined that we would walk out of there spending that much. Especially when we didn't really purchase many real groceries.

We ended up going to a neighbor's house for dinner. Finn had his first date! It was so cute... he and Bailey sat on the bed and ate popcorn and watched Mickey Mouse. Finn loves Bailey! She is very patient with him, which can be kinda tough for a girl her age. We are thankful that we have such great neighbors.

We have absolutely no plans for our day off tomorrow. I don't do cold, and don't like to take Finn out in the cold, so it may be another homebody day! Can't wait!

Chair rides with Minnie!

Date night

This is fun mama!

Homebodies

Well, we didn't leave the house today, except to walk down to the park a few times. Sometimes I love days like this, but sometimes I feel that we have wasted a day that we could have gone somewhere and done something fun. It was absolutely beautiful outside today, a nice 73 degrees. Finn and I spent most of the morning outside walking around the neighborhood, playing at the park, and doing stuff around the backyard. Until naptime, which is the only time on the weekends when I get anything done around the house. It is almost impossible to keep a house clean with an almost-2-year-old! He doesn't understand how to put away his toys yet and they seem to show up all around our house!

I started dinner this morning at 9:30! It turned out pretty darn good for my first red beans and rice! I also put lots of paintings on etsy today. Hopefully they will do better on there than they did at my showing. I have gotten a little frustrated as an artist lately... Hopefully someone will show some interest in my work soon, because I sure need it.

Trip to the park! Look at all the sweat!

Where is my baby boy?

I love this pic

One of the paintings I put on Etsy today,

Raising an Independent Boy

We went to the park today even though Finn was not feeling himself at all. I gave him medicine right before we left so that it would be in his system while we were there. He seemed to be in a fairly good mood as we watched a boy around his age run all around the playground. I found out that this little boy was 18 months old (4 months younger than Finn). This boy was climbing all over the playground equipment and would even climb up a ladder to the biggest slide in the park . Finn would not climb up one step to get to the smallest slide. This got me thinking... How do I push him to take more chances and to be more independent? I feel like he is such a mama's boy in certain situations and he wants me to do so much for him. He has been a cautious little boy from day 1. He never really falls because he watches where he is going, he has never (knock on wood) gotten hurt because he doesn't put himself in the situation to get hurt. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that I can let him play and I am not afraid that he will hurt himself or he will run off. But, I do want him to be a boy and take chances that normal little boys make. I don't think that Finn will ever be the boy who falls off the playground equipment and break his arm (not that I want him to), but I want him to be adventurous. Any tips on guiding him to be more independent?

We are excited for daddy to come home tonight! His boys are doing very good in the state tournament, so the later he gets home, the better the boys did. I went to the store to go make a good home-cooked meal for him tomorrow! It will be my first attempt at red beans and rice! It will probably be a very lazy Sunday.

King of the Slide (that I had to put him on because he refused to climb the steps)

He doesn't look sick at all!

Celebration of Life

A coworker of mine was killed in car crash on Fat Tuesday by a drunk driver. I attended her "Celebration of Life" today and met her daughters and husband. She was a young 66 years old and was taken away from her loved ones way too early. She was planning on retiring next year, which breaks my heart. She didn't even get to enjoy life with her husband and family. She worked her whole life in order to enjoy retirement, which she never got to do. It was obvious that her husband of 46 years was having a hard time dealing with the emotions. He said that he didn't want to sound like he was preaching to anyone, but had one piece of advice: If you are going to take a left-hand turn, never turn your wheel before you make the turn because if you get hit from behind, it will send you into oncoming traffic. This drunk driver hit her from behind while she was at a stop before turning left into her neighborhood, then her car exploded. What pain this family has to go through due to drunk driving. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see this man and family in so much pain.

After picking Finn up from daycare, I could tell he was still not feeling well, so instead of going to the park, we just went home. I decided it may be best to have a camp out in our living room, which Jon and I love to do! Do you ever do that? Try it sometime! It's so fun to watch movies and make a fire and not leave the bed!

 Our little man was so clingy and all he wanted was milk all night long. Can I say no sleep at all??? Finn wanted to cuddle and at least know I was there all night long. I think it's either his throat hurting or he is getting his canines. I am exhausted. And miss my husband. 

Family of two...

Jon left today for the state wrestling tournament for three days. I know it sounds silly to be sad about that (especially to the people out there whose husbands are gone for weeks and months at a time), but I did get sad. I love our family time and love for our family of three to be together. To add to this, I had my last Professional Development of the year today. It went extremely well and I was happy with everything that went on. I enjoyed the lesson that I taught and I enjoyed the interaction with all of the teachers. I sure do miss the classroom and teaching, though. I enjoy my job, but miss that interaction with the kids and teaching them new techniques and processes to create art. I honestly feel like it's the best job in the world for me. I will be back at it again, though, one day!

Finn has been super clingy tonight. I think he is getting sick... I guess we will see! I hate him being sick, but sure do love his cuddles.

PD!

Threading and String Art Lesson

Little man is not feeling well :(

Winesday Wednesday

It's National Drink Wine Day today! I joined the nation by having a glass with dinner, but that's it. Blah, blah. I have to give my last Professional Development of the year tomorrow, so I had to go into work on an off day today. It was a rather boring day at the Pry household. We stayed inside most of the day and a neighbor brought over dinner (yippee!). It is so nice to have neighbors that do that on a regular basis! We need to get better at it, though. We do things occasionally for them, but should be doing stuff more often.

Short post today...

Finn loves to "ahla" these days!

Fat Tuesday!

Today marks the end of Mardi Gras. We had one hell of a celebration! 7 parades, countless beads, stuffed animals, etc. Sadly, Jon had to run some errands for his wrestling tournament this weekend, so he couldn't go to the parade with me and Finn. We met Nate, Amanda, and Cyrus just in time for the last parade. Finn caught a huge stuffed Elmo! The best part of mardi gras was the look on his face when he got it!

We all went to Cyrus' house after and jumped on the trampoline, played hide and seek, and the little boys did some drinking (of water) at the bar. It was too cute. It was such a wonderful few days celebrating our new Louisiana home and we are absolutely exhausted! 

Cheese!

The best catch of Mardi Gras!

Trampoline Time With Cyrus!

Peek-a-boo!

Is he Jon or what?

Swagger

Cheers!

Family Visit and Gumbo Recipe

There is nothing like family. Period. It was nice to have a visit from my sister and her family today. I sure do miss my family, more than I ever knew I would. Finn plays so well with his cousins (after he warms up a bit) and I wish that he had more opportunities to hang out with his cousins on my side of the family. I guess it's all my fault for moving away.

I made gumbo for them tonight when they came over and my sister requested that I post the recipe on my blog, so here it goes... Disclaimer: Some of these items can only be found in stores in southern Louisiana.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Ingredients

Savoie's Dark Roux in a jar (Only use half of the jar)

One package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (There are usually around 6 in a package)

One package of Andouille Sausage

*One package of Guidry's Holy Trinity (see below if you do not have access to this)

Small bag of frozen okra

1 tablespoon tony chachere Cajun seasoning

1 tablespoon olive oil

Long Grain white rice

* Holy Trinity: 2 cups chopped onion, 1 ½ cups chopped celery, and 1 ¼ cups chopped green bell pepper

Steps

1. Heat olive oil up in a skillet. Add chicken thighs and fresh seasoning (holy trinity). Lightly brown chicken.
2. In a large pot, add half of the jar of roux 1 cups water. Place on high and let this become a thick consistency. Stir often.
3. Add chicken thighs, trinity, and any juices left over from cooking into the roux mixture.
4. Add 6 more cups of water or more to fill your pot. Some of this water will evaporate as it boils over a few hours.
5. Slice sausage and place into the gumbo. Also, put the tony's into the mixture.
6. Bring the gumbo to a boil. Turn down to low and let simmer for around 3 hours.
7. Take the frozen okra out of the freezer and thaw on the counter. Place in the gumbo with one hour left to cook.
8. Make rice according to the package.
9. Serve over rice with a scoop of potato salad (place directly into the gumbo) and french bread.

 Notes: The longer you cook the gumbo, the thicker it will get. If you like a "runnier" gumbo, you can always add more water. Most of these measurements are done by eye and taste, so you may want to add more cajun seasoning, more water, etc. In my opinion, the roux mixture makes the taste of the gumbo. It is very rich and we prefer the dark roux over the light.

Boiling away!

Cousin love!

Sweet Emily

Ipad fun!

Lazy Sundays

Today was an extremely lazy day at the Pry household. There was way too much going on yesterday, so we needed some down time! Finn slept so much today. We were thinking he was getting sick, but he seems to be ok. He was probably just exhausted from Saturday's events. My only outing of the day was to go to the gym. It sure felt good to get back into it. I am hoping I can keep it up. I go on these spurts of working out. I just feel like I never have time, and when I do find time, I feel like it takes away from my free time with Finn. I wish I was a morning person and could get up and go to the gym at 5:30 every morning, but that does not seem pleasant to me when the alarm goes off in the morning. How can I get myself to be more motivated in the morning??? It would be amazing to have a workout completed before even going to work in the morn!

I made some black bean quesadillas today that turned out pretty good!  It was a quick thrown-together meal, so I didn't measure or anything like that. Here is basically how I did it... Mix black beans with salsa and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Place cheese on half of a tortilla, then bean mixture on top. Add fresh cilantro over mixture. Small layer of Taco Bell's Bold Sauce on the other side of the tortilla and fold over. Brown both sides in a hot skillet. Serve with sour cream and more salsa. Very yummy!

Yummy!

Mardi Gras Extravaganza!

Mardi Gras is a way of life in southern Louisiana. It is a season where people party their faces off, go to countless parades, and collect cheap toys and beads that they will either throw away or use in a parade the following year. It's basically an excuse to have a party before lent begins (most of the population is catholic here). It is a blast and both Jon and I said today that we think it may be our favorite time of the year. It helps when the weather was as perfect as it was today. We started our day by going to our small town parade, which actually turned out to be a huge parade! It was more of a family oriented event (not like the night parades) and we watched it from a friends house right along the route! I think that was my favorite one so far because it had that small town feel.

We also went to the night parade in downtown Lafayette tonight as well. It was much more adult friendly than kid friendly, but we still had a blast. People love to throw beads and stuffed animals to people holding kids!

I made Jon some heart pancakes this morn and they turned out pretty good!

Valentine Pancakes for the Hubby!

Youngsville Mardi Gras Parade

He loves beads!

Bonaparte parade in Lafayette

Finn's Best Friends

Clothes for children are ridiculously expensive. Especially if you have one like my little man who only wants to wear character shirts. I went to Target to find more for him so that the 4 shirt rotation could have a little washing machine break, but found that regular character shirts in his size are $12.99! That is pretty expensive for a shirt for Finn, so I didn't buy any and I decided to try the consignment store. Why in the world would people not go to the consignment store first??!?! Shirts look brand new (some even have tags) and they are only $2.50 each! $2.50!!! For Mickey, Elmo, and all of Finn's best friends! I was so excited to get him more shirts that he is proud to wear. He sat on the kitchen floor this morning and picked which one he wanted. It was like he was in heaven! He is such a funny little boy!

Let me take a second to tell you about our dinner last night. The best dinner that I think I have had at our new home. There is a restaurant here in Lafayette called Zea's Rotisserie and Grill, and they are known for their Thai Ribs. We found the sauce at our local grocery store and decided to give it a try. Holy amazeballs. We made pasta and corn on the cob to accompany them, but next time I would love to try the corn grits that they have at Zea's. I honestly think being in the kitchen with Jon is my favorite part of the day (and it's even better if we have a glass of wine!). The feeling of preparing dinner for our family makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Jon and I share the love of cooking at home. Food is such a huge part of life here in Lafayette. Not just the eating of food (that sounds odd), but the slow preparation of a meal and the togetherness people experience in the kitchen. When people gather here, they gather in the kitchen and around food. I love that part of this culture!

All of these shirts were $2.50 each! He wanted all of them on!

The mix of thai seasoning and cilantro was absolutely incredible!

Finns painting from daycare! Our little Picasso! 🎨

Mardi gras parade #3! Kick off parade in Lafayette

Waiting for the parade to start!