Boy or Girl?!

After weeks of continuously looking at baby #2, my mom has officially called it. We are having a GIRL!!!! We're so excited!! Baby Callie will be here in December.

July 4th

Every year (except last year when we were visiting Jordan's family) we always do the same thing for the 4th. We start the day by going to the Lynn Haven Parade. It is really not a spectacular parade by any means, but is something we just have done for forever. Carson had a great time this year. We put him near the road so he'd get some candy and beads. He ended up with a ton of beads and candy.




Afterwards, we headed to my aunt's house for a cook out and a swim. The missionaries were tracting in her neighborhood. So we invited them to join us for lunch. We had a ton of fun. Afterwards we went home for a quick nap. Then we went to another cookout at the Glanzers. We followed this with fireworks on the beach. They were gorgeous! If you've never sat with your toes in the sand, with the waves crashing, and a nice breeze blowing while you watch the fireworks, you are really missing out!

An Answer to Prayer

Jordan received a call back finally from Berg Pipe (he applied there the first week he was laid off). We were so excited because it was killer money. He called me after his interview to tell me that they wanted to hire him. They even offered college reimbursement. There was a problem...the schedule. It rotates every 3 weeks. There is no way for him to go to school and take this job. I was devastated! I knew that there is no way for him to take this job, but it sure was good money and we could totally use the money. After accepting the fact that he could not take this job, we were both bummed for the rest of the day. Then Jordan received another call. Okay, Jordan had not yet received a call back in the entire month of June. We were so excited! It was for a job that he applied for the first week he was laid off as well. It's a company called Del Jen that the Air Force Base uses to do the landscaping and grass cutting for on base. This job has great hours 6-2:30. It is seasonal and ends in September (how great would it be for him to work the summers while I still get my teacher pay??). It works out perfectly for his schooling. He will even be making more money than he was at Century Boats (only by 2 cents...HAHA). With the holiday (Independence Day) being the week he interviewed, it has slowed the hiring process down because the military likes to take a very long weekend then. Jordan will start this coming Monday. Hooray! This is definitely an answer to so many prayers.

Writings on the Wall

Carson has been so great to get his art box out and color all on his own. He is very independent. I had a thought a few weeks ago that we might not ever have to go through the coloring on the wall phase. A few days later, I was wrong. I was explaining something to Jordan when I heard Carson making some noise. I didn't know what he was doing, afterall he is pretty noisy. After a few minutes of the constant noise, I went to find out what he was doing. He was coloring...ON THE DOOR! Do I yell at him or do I grab the camera thinking this would be a good blogging experience?


Of course I grabbed the camera! We did have a talk about not coloring on the doors or walls. As I grabbed my 409 and some paper towels, I hoped the crayon would come off easily. The purple came off so easily. I looked down at the crayons on the floor and realized he had some that were washable and some that were not. The only purple was washable. I looked for the orange crayon. There was only one of those too and it was washable! However when I went to clean up the orange, it wouldn't come off. I didn't understand. I stopped scrubbing and took a step back. I found the culprit...the NONWASHABLE orange crayon. Needless to say I quickly threw the few regular crayons away that did not say washable on them. We are now a washable only crayon house.

So Much to Post...

I hate getting behind with blogging. I get so behind that I don't want to blog because I know it is going to take forever to update my blog. I've finally made the time to do this though. After I'm done, hopefully I'll blog more since I won't be so overwhelmed.

A New Recipe

***UPDATE. Thanks Julie for catching my mistake. I did a simple copy and paste from Rachael Ray's site, but I did not include the recipe for making the mashed potatoes she made with it. The mashed potatoes called for some of the lemon juice. I have corrected the recipe. The joys of blogging late at night is my brain doesn't work as well.***

First off, before I get into sharing my new recipe, I have to tell you why I have time to blog tonight. Jordan went to work today and will go tomorrow with two of my cousins. They own a roofing business and told Jordan if he didn't have a job this week that they could use some extra help. So he had to get up at 5:30 and be at work at 6:30 this morning. He worked all day in the Florida heat (thank goodness it was cloudy this morning). He came home around 5:00. He was beat to say the least. So he and Carson (who did not get a nap today because we went swimming and it through him off his routine) went to bed early tonight. It is kind of nice to hear only the faint sound of the fan in the living room. So after a nice relaxing bubble bath (when do I ever get to take one?!!), I decided to post a new recipe that we tried tonight that was really easy and delicious. I love trying new recipes (only ones that fall within my comfort zone that I am pretty sure I know I will like). These kind of recipes tend to be Rachael Ray's because of the level of ease and I usually love her food. This one was on her show last week I believe.



Roast Citrus Chicken

Ingredients
* 4 legs and 2 whole chicken breasts, cut in half (I just used all chicken breasts since that is what I already had at the house)
* 4 cloves garlic, smashed
* 10 fresh bay leaves
* 2 lemons, sliced
* 1 cup green Cerignola or Sicilian olives (I opted out on these because my boys do love olives, but these have pits and I was not about to take the pit out for Carson...he'd want to eat them all and I'd never get to eat)
* 1 large onion, chopped
* Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
* Salt
* Pepper

Directions
Preheat an oven to 450ºF.
To a roasting pan, add the chicken, garlic, bay leaves, lemon slices, olives and onion. Drizzle everything with EVOO, season with salt and pepper, and transfer to the oven. Roast, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, until they are golden brown and cooked through, about 30-35 minutes.

We had mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, and rolls with the chicken. It was really yummy.

How Do You Keep Your House Spotless?

I feel like I am constantly cleaning and cleaning, yet never fully satisfied with the results. Carson is at the age where he can and will help me clean up, but as soon as he "helps", he undoes EVERYTHING! Whenever I go to my mom's, dad's, and grandma's, I always covet how clean and uncluttered their houses are. I know, I know. That's bad. I think having a little one around the house has something to do with why my house feels so cluttered. None of them have tons of little toys in every room like we do. Chance's (my youngest brother at 17) toys include the laptop, PS3, and his cell phone. Alice has a killer play room that is enormous to keep all of her kids' things. Maybe the spare bed should be a play room. It's small, but could work. Then again, baby #2 is coming and will need somewhere to sleep. At any rate, how do you guys do it!?! I need some tips on keeping it spotless with a little one! I think my problem is I want everything spotless and I get overwhelmed. I am going to try something new this week though and see how well it works. It's really just simplifying the whole cleaning process. Here's the plan...I am going to clean a few rooms a day and when they are done, then I can scrapbook, go to the pool, etc. without feeling guilty. I know...not a hard concept, but one that I think will really work for me since it's not so overwhelming trying to clean it all in one day and never having any me time. So here's what I'm going for:

Monday - The Kitchen
Tuesday - Laundry, Laundry, Laundry
Wednesday - The Bedrooms
Thursday - The Living Room
Friday - Laundry, Laundry, Laundry
Saturday - The Bathrooms

Can I really get all the laundry done in only 2 days without letting it seriously pile up?? We'll just have to see this week. I may need to make some adjustments, but I am thinking this will work!