we have a walker

well, Hatley took her first step on Christmas. (Merry Christmas to me) and has only taken a few since then except....on her 9 MONTH BIRTHDAY....Hatley woke up and decided she was going to walk!! Not just take steps but WALK! we now have a full on walker and she can not get enough of it. she loves walking everywhere she goes. I think she is actually working on running. haha. Sometimes she takes steps so quickly it does look like she is running. I will post pictures later. I will also try and figure out how to add a video. Until then....Good morning, good day or good night

lately....

This is how she sleeps and it cracks me up!!

This is one of the pictures we took on Thanksgiving.

Hatley finally got to meet her friend Hayden (she is in the background)

Hatley just doing her thing :)

This was Hatley in her Christmas dress on sunday.

Look at that sweet face :)

Hope you guys have a great New Year!! My resolution should be...keeping up with blog world :)

busy or lazy

Well, it has been since Halloween that I last blogged. A LOT has happened and I will do my best to to put it all in this post. So all my peeps out there reading, hahaha, this is it....

Hatley has learned all sorts of new tricks!!! She was crawling all over the place @ 6 months, pulling up on anything and everything she could get her hands on and was "cruising" not too long after that. We were thinking she would be walking by 8 months but since today is her 8 month birthday....that didn't happen. She did surprise me on Christmas day with a nice little present of "taking her first step unassisted"!!!

We were @ my moms up in Edmond on Thanksgiving day. We invited Patricks family along with us. I ran the Turkey trot that morning with my friend Laneale. It was a killer. I was so sore after that. Although I could hardly move, we did manage to take our holiday picture. They turned out really well.

On Christmas Eve we were with my family. It was a pretty uneventful evening :) On Christmas day we were with Patricks family. As noted earlier, Hatley took her first step!!! That would have to be the highlight of our day :)

Other than all this glorious info, not much else has happened. i will post pics in my next post.

halloween

Well, Halloween was a success at the Parish household this year. Friday night Patrick and I went to a "grown-up" costume party. It was a lot of fun seeing all the adults dressed like silly characters.

Saturday evening we handed out candy. We were going to dress Hatley up but then she needed a nap and it never happened. At the start of the evening we didn't think we were going to have many trick-or-treaters but then we had a huge amount show up. We handed out 5 bags of candy and some extra Christmas candy we had left from stockings :) i doubt the kids cared.

Sunday evening we headed over to Shari's for the Annual family Halloween Party!! Everyone was dressed up. We had a lot of little bugs running/crawling around. Bugs were the popular costume for babies this year.

Here are some pics of the the Halloween festivities.....

i think i want to be a gymnast...

I am just practicing a little early!!

Pioneer womans "Good Morning Muffins"

Ingredients

Muffin batter

• 4 cups Flour
• ½ cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
• ½ cups Shortening (can Use 1/4 Cup Shortening With 1/4 Cup Butter)
• 2 cups Orange Marmalade
• 1 cup Orange Juice
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2 whole Eggs Beaten

Topping Ingredients

• ¾ cups Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 Tablespoon (plus 1 Teaspoon) Melted Butter
• ¼ teaspoons Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sift together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Place in a mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter to mix in shortening (or butter/shortening if desired). Mix marmalade, orange juice, and vanilla in a small bowl. Pour into dry ingredients. Beat eggs and pour into the bowl. Mix all ingredients together gently, using fewer than 10 large strokes.

In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients.

Fill muffin pans with batter. Sprinkle 1 heaping teaspoon of topping ingredients over each muffin.

Sprinkle wheat germ over the top for extra crunch.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until done. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Eat warm or at room temperature.

meatloaf

In the Parish household, we LOVE meatloaf but I decided to try a new recipe. Honestly, when I read that it was wrapped in bacon I didn't want to make it anymore but I ended up trying it. IT WAS AWESOME!! served with mashed potatoes and salad....delish!!

Ingredients:

• Meatloaf:
• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 6 slices White Bread
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• ¼ teaspoons Seasoned Salt
• ¾ teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• ⅓ cups Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
• 4 whole Eggs Beaten
• 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon
• Sauce:
• 1-½ cup Ketchup
• ⅓ cups Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• Tabasco To Taste

Preparation instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.