NEW FLUFF!

On Facebook last weekend, I saw that hipgreenbaby was having a huge sale. I popped over there and found something we'd been looking for. A nighttime diaper!

Kawaii Goodnight Heavy Wetter diaper! Now we can stuff and stuff and stuff Cohen's nighttime diaper to where it won't leak at night.. but then he can't close his little leggies. And baby boy pees a lot at night!! Like, he saves it up during the day and just let's it go at night. So, I was very excited to find these for very cheap. I ordered two to try.

Well, two days ago, this was in the mail!

Each diaper has 2 microfiber inserts and is lined with super soft micro fleece. 

Here it is on Coco.

Hard to get a picture of him standing still..

See? (yes, those toys are always out like that...)

Nice and fluffy for bedtime! 

Baby boy woke up this morning with NO leaks! The outer, waterproof layer is a little slicker.. feels a tad bit cheaper than, say, bumGenius fabric. But at less than half the price of BG's.. I think we found a nice nighttime solution. And cute patterns too!

Happy baby, Happy mama!

Quadruple Date

Last week we went on a quadruple date with the other couples in our community group. The guys planned it and the girl's were surprised. Our only instructions? Wear workout clothes and a sport's bra. Uhhh...? Color me nervous. I'm not very sporty. I was afraid we were heading to some blackout game of softball or something.

But, have faith in your husbands, ladies! At least ours...

They took us to JUMPSTREET! It was SO fun!

It's a huge place, filled with TRAMPOLINES and other large, fun activities.

They have a mechanical bull!

PK lasted about 30 seconds! Or something crazy that no one achieved after him..

Cory crashed..claimed it was "slippery"

Hector talks a big game..

...but wound up there..^

Tyler looked like a pro..for about 3 seconds.

Sallie even tried! (the only girl who tried..)

..eh, it happens to everyone.

See? Wall-to-wall trampolines! 

Hector the dwarf, and Tyler doing a crazy flip!

Go Patrick, go Patrick, GO!

They had a FOAM PIT!

PK swung in!

I slid in!

And proceeded to get quite stuck.

It's harder than it looks, ok?

Pretty sure that's Cory buried in there..

Ashley got brave and did the swing.

So did Hector!

He went pretty far down!

Sallie launched off the trampoline!

Jackie slid!

Tyler swung! (notice Jackie's head there?) :)

And Cory couldn't resist one more time!

This was a GIANT slide, that you go down in an inner tube. It was SCARY! I just knew I'd fall out of the tube.. But, here I sit telling the story.. I didn't fall out. :)

There's Ashley!

And Cory.. the only clear picture I could get... :(

And there was a set of wavy trampolines! You could get to going FAST if you ran down these!

We took a video of our entire group running across these, and Watermark wants it to promote community. YAY! We do have fun. 

There was also dodgeball, on trampolines, of course. We played, but it's hard to dodge and take pictures at the same time. 

What a FUN night! And we topped it off with dinner at Raising Cain's. YUM! I totally recommend this place if you're in the Plano/Frisco area. 

What's Cookin' Wednesday

I wanted to start a new way to share recipes. We do like to try new recipes, we just don't always do it. A few days ago we made something DELICIOUS. We made it once before with our friends Natalie and Ry. (Well, Natalie rescued our amateur selves and practically made it for us..). That being said, I'm going to try to share a new recipe with you every Wednesday. Pretend you didn't see that this is really posted on Thursday. (it's my first week, give me a break.)

We call it...
Chicken in Riesling
think.. coq au vin... just with chicken instead of rooster and white wine instead of red!

We found the recipe once upon a time when we had some Riesling at home and wanted to cook with it. So, epicurious to the rescue, we found this. What? You haven't heard of epicurious? GET IT GIRL. There's a free app for iPhones, and there's a website. Search virtually billions of recipes and it will create a grocery list for you too. Yea. It's pretty cool.

Here's what you need:

1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 pound), backbone discarded and chicken cut French style into 8 pieces (We used about 3 large breast pieces, cut into thirds and 6 small thigh pieces, I didn't want this to be my first time butchering a chicken.)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

4 medium leeks (white and pale green parts only), finely chopped (2 cups)

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (We omitted these... I have an onion issue and I already compromised with the leeks.)

4 medium carrots, halved diagonally (We cut ours into thirds... to make for easier eating.)

1 cup dry white wine (preferably Alsatian Riesling) (We used Chateau St. Michelle Riesling)

1 1/2 pound small (2-inch) red potatoes (It should tell you ahead of time, but you should peel these)

2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley (We used freeze dried parsley that we already had.) 

1/2 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream (I always have heavy cream, so that's what we used.)

Fresh lemon juice to taste

Ready? 
Preheat oven to 350*.


Pat chicken dry, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil and 1 T of butter in oven-safe pot over med-high heat until the foam goes down. Brown the chicken in two batches, turning once, a total of 10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate to rest.

the first batch: breast pieces

after we turned them... YUM

second batch: thighs

Now, pour off the fat from the pan and cook the leeks, [shallots], 1/4 teaspoon of salt in the remaining 2 T of butter over med-low heat for about 5-7 minutes. 

Add the chicken, carrots and wine and boil until the liquid is reduced by half. (3-4 minutes) Cover and braise in oven for 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Generously cover peeled, whole potatoes with cold water in 2-3 qt. saucepan and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to boil and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, return to pan and coat with parsley.

Stir heavy cream into chicken mixture and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Add potatoes. Serve!

Ohhh, yea. 

This is a delicious meal that you can use to impress your friends or cook for your date. It's not that difficult, but it takes a little time.. plan accordingly. Allow a good hour to make this. 

Bon appetit! 

Winter ONEderland Party-Goers!

Cohen's first birthday party was such a success. Almost all of our friends and family came out to help us celebrate it. We didn't even get pictures of everyone who was there, sadly! (Not to say photog slacked.. there were LOTS of people!!) :) Leslie Pate did a wonderful job capturing all the precious moments of the party and all the details (refer to this post to see them). Leslie is my nursing school classmate, turned friend, turned co-worker, turned photographer, remained friend. What a blessing she is and we're so lucky to get to share in her talent and love of photography! Thanks, Leslie!!

Can I also take a second to thank the Rays?? We held Cohen's party at their home, because, let's face it... small apartments weren't made for first birthday bashes. They graciously opened their home to us and our son and like 40 of our closest friends and relatives. Not to mention the half dozen or so nights I was there preparing for the party! Jackie and Patrick.. we owe you. Big. :) And we love you. Like a lot.

Another thank you: Amber, thanks for getting those gorgeous cake here all the way from Oklahoma! Even if you didn't actually ice them, you used your resources and had Sherri Lee Satterlee make them! And boy... were they my dream cakes! I've considered blindly requesting her friendship on facebook just to say thanks and show her how fabulous they looked on the dessert table and in pictures. Please send her this link! Thank you Sherri! Those cakes were the bomb and I got so many compliments on them!

And my community group girlies, thank you so much for offering up your time and helping me decorate and make favors and treats. You really are my best friends. Cohen is so blessed to have each of you in his life! (me too!!!) Love you Jackie, Ashley and Sallie!

OK! Picture time!

that's Alysse right next to him! missed any others of sweet baby cousin :(

maybe my Mom got some

the face of an angel right there...

My angel, Coco

LOVE this shirt, Natty and Ry!

loves his changuito (monkey) from Uncle Josh

Coco and his beautiful Granna!

Mallory and Deanna

More interested in the straw than the milk

ready for cake!

"put it here Mama!!"

slow at first

little help from Mama

making sure Daddy's watching

a fork to get some cake

and to think.. he doesn't really like being messy!

he got tired...

then got a second wind!

Look at that bum!!! i.die. :)

Amber and David's precious boy, Eli!

isn't he a doll??

Miss Maggie! Took her a while to warm up with her Mama not there, but she did!

Cohen playing with Mark and Mindy

Aunt Peggy and cousin Chris with Pops

Giving Carolina hugs!

BFFs

moving in on Ellie

she's nervously giggling!

hug!!

sweet babes :)

Ellie and her daddy, Steve

enjoying some chocolate milk!

Our community group! minus Sallie :(

Granna, Cohen, Josh, Me, Hector, Pops

Us 3 :)

And lastly, you know you have a good photographer when she can catch a picture of my Dad--smiling like this. :) A Proud Pops right there.

So, yea. He's one now! Because of all these happenings, I haven't done his 12 month update. That's on the agenda for tomorrow. 

Well, sweet readers, I have to go to bed now.. please comment and tell me what you think of my first ever big party... I had so much fun doing it! Thanks for checking out my blog!