My month with Ree- Day 2

So in my last post, I failed to mention that I technically started my month with Ree a few days ago, and I was a few days behind on blogging about it already, whoops. I think I should get an award for consistently being inconsistent:)

Back to the matter at hand, cooking. So while I was searching Ree's site for stew recipes, like every blog, I clicked on ten thousand other things too. I stumbled across lots of other recipes I wanted to try, which is where we deviate from the original task at hand of trying to eat down all the meat we had lots of. That didn't last long;) Again with the inconsistency. So the next thing I decided to try was "perfect potatoes au gratin"....and they too, were great! They reminded me a lot of the creamy potatoes that my momma makes; I love foods that take me back to people I love. We had everything on hand too, which makes trying it super easy! The only thing I would change was they were pretty garlicky. I remember reading that she adds more garlic than usual, but I went off of the recipe card and it called for more garlic. Didn't stop me from eating them though:)

straight out of the oven--i think I added extra cheese--I LOVE CHEESE

Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin
Grade A

My Month with Ree- Day 1

I say that like like we are best friends:)

I first heard about Ree Drummond from an article in my Southern Living magazine a few years back (it seems like a few years ago but since kiddos, I have lost all track of time so who knows how many years it has been). I thought she was as cute as could be and I loved the expression she had on her face while she was eating her breaded pudding. While she did look like she really enjoyed the pudding, more so, I think the fact that she looked genuinely HAPPY struck me. You could see it in her eyes. Her soul was happy. I decided right then, we would be best friends.



Well as with everything in my life, nothing happened. Not because she turned my friendship down, but because life got the best of me. I more than likely put the article down, did some laundry, made some dinner, and hopefully cuddled on the couch with someone. Not necessarily forgetting about her, but just not having a chance to learn more. Until one day....when i was binge organizing. I was going through all my old magazines, pulling and filing all the articles I found interesting or that I would "try" one day. And there Ree was, smiling back at me on my closet floor. I popped up, well probably slowly and crackly stood up, and went to the computer and googled this Pioneer Woman. This is when I decided we HAD to be best friends.

Low and behold, she was in love with a cowboy! It was fate. If you have ever visited her site, you know that in the corner it says "from black high heels, to tractor wheels", love that journey. Now I know Cody is no hardcore cowboy. His backside does look mean in a pair of wranglers, and he grew up farming, and we do farm wheat on our little bit of land. BUT now the farm is a part of his life, not his life. However, falling in love with him was probably similar to Ree's story. I had many a dates where I drove... past the tree to a wheat field, then two more miles past an empty silo, til I got to a different tree row. At this point I get a tip to check those trees because he trimmed that tree row last summer...you get the idea, but the story of our love story is to be blogged about another time though. This is about Ree's and my friendship. So as i read more about her, I realized that I was way behind on the Pioneer Woman phenomenon. She had everything on her site, and everything intrigued me. Now in all truthfulness, I am not as crazed as it appears. And I know this may shock you as well, but in all honesty, Ree doesn't know I exist. I am confident though that if we ever did meet, we would hit it off and become friends, probably leading to best friendship. Now, I do check the site a couple times a week, but if I don't get on there everyday, guess what? Oh well. I am still able to sleep, clearly still able to eat, and still truckin' away. We have a give-and-take relationship like that. Anyway, Cody and I recently purchased a new standing freezer for the garage. We already had two big deep freezers full of beef, pig, and chicken, deer, fish, and every other frozen thing known to man, but you could never see what to make, except for the options on top. So with this new freezer, it was all nicely organized and I knew what I had......a lot of! And that was stew meat. So Cody gave me the job of basing this months meals off of eating down the stuff we had lots of. So, who do you go to when you need help, a friend you say. Correct, I went to my best friend.

So here we are. I am spending a month with Ree (well 31 days). Making something new from her collection each day. I know this is similar to that julie & julia story, but since Ree and I are friends, and she she clearly tells me in her recipes to "go for it," "try it," "layer that on,", I feel like she is encouraging me, happy for me, which I heard in that story Julia was not overly excited about Julie's year with her. Who knows. Again, this isn't about Julie and Julia, it's about Ree and me:) Anyway, I have always loved cooking, and I cook all the time. I hear that I am good at it, and I thoroughly enjoy sitting down with my family every night at dinner. I just wanted to try something different. And I think I enjoy her so much because most of the stuff we actually have in our home!! And it's cowboy food, Perfect for my country boy and my growing "lil cowboy". So Day 1, I had stew meat to get rid of. I made "Beef Stew with beer and paprika". It was fun and better yet, it was TASTY!! Either we were really hungry, or I did something wrong, but it was all gone. Some of the comments on the page spoke of great leftovers...well that didn't happen;( The kiddos loved it and our family grade on it was an "A+". I can't wait for the rest of the month! Thanks friend!

Beef stew with beer and paprika

served with homemade rustic white bread

grade- A+

The trip of a tooth fairy!

On Cohen's most perfect day, Saturday January 29th, he lost his first tooth...naturally:) It is hard to tell that it is even missing because another tooth was already coming in at the time, but sure enough, it finally happened! Cohen pulled it himself and COULD NOT believe that it not only did not hurt, but that there was not one drop of blood. He didn't even realize he had done it until Cody showed him the actual tooth. Cohen was soooo excited needless to say!

The hole....kind of (bottom from right)
Cohen's tiny tiny tooth!

What do you do when you lose your first tooth? SHOW EVERYONE!!
He was so excited that he DID NOT want the tooth fairy to come. He wanted to show his classmates, and get a tooth necklace from Mrs. Eads like everyone else, so........

he wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy...

that is also the sticker he was holding out for (yes, I did not take a picture of this the day of (previous sticker placement, I'm a slacker, sometimes;)

So on Monday morning he took his tooth to school. And he got his sticker, and his necklace, and the joy of showing everyone his tooth. However, he also thought that Monday may be a snow day, hoped at least, so that is why he wrote the tooth fairy to wait until Tuesday night! He wanted plenty of time to have time to show everyone. Well, he got that wish on Tuesday. No school, lots of snow, lots of wind, lots of a momma and daddy that were not crazy about getting out and sadly also a tooth fairy that was "unable to fly in inclement weather." Miayla was quite concerned about her wings and didn't want anything to happen to the TF before she lost any teeth, so turns out the tooth fairy and Cohen would have to wait one more night. Which all worked out great, because word in fairyland was that the tooth fairy was not as prepared as she had hoped (even though she probably read my blog post about it a week a head of time and knew the inevitable was coming. I guess sometimes the tooth fairy is a slacker too, sometimes;). So here we are Wednesday night, and Cohen is ready with his tooth. He moved it about 17 times until he found the ideal location:)

Hanging from his top bunk, in his beloved tooth necklace:)

And he awoke to

A wait well worth it.

NOTE: $5 you say?! I know right, a bit much. MR. TOOTH FAIRY thought that it was only appropriate seeing as to how it took this long to not only lose the tooth, but also get money for it. After Mrs. tooth fairy informed him of how many teeth kiddos have AND how many kiddos OUR family has, the tooth fairy will be quite busy! Maybe MR. TF will even need to get a second job:)
Guess only time will tell!

Cohen LOVES his pillow! He usually tells people about the "bag" before he tells them about the $5! He puts his chapstick in it every night before bed, and he even took it to school today to show everyone! (and no, they do not have show and tell).

LOVE the pillow as much as Cohen and me? I heard that kind fairies at

http://www.mylittlebeanboutique.com/ make them for tooth fairies!!

Love them....

So I have one kiddo in the bath tub, one asleep on the couch, and the other one at "uella and papa's house.".... I have a ton of dishes to do, laundry to put away, a basement to clean, a ton of other things to blog about, but I wanted to blog for a minute on my family. I love my family. They mean the world to me. There is unconditional love there and I feel so blessed.

the last few days/ weeks at the Ayres household have been more chaotic than usual. It started with Sawyer not feeling well on January 11th and I took him to the doctor. He said he had a viral infection, give it a couple days, he'll be fine....since then he has had double ear infections and viral pneumonia. Then on January 13th, I took Miayla to the doctor bc she woke up with a fever and a cough. He told me she had croup, give it a bit, and she should be fine. Since then her croup has turned into pneumonia. She has been back to the doctor twice, one of those times ending in mono testing, strep testing, blood work, and two shots. She is feeling better today, but it was all very scary. (her diagnosis showed pneumonia). Then we have Cohen. Cohen first went to the doctor last Monday, the 24th, with a high fever and a sore throat. He had strep. Today was his last day of antibiotic and he woke up at 2:26 a.m. with 103.7 temp and a bad headache. The day ended with a trip to the ER, a febrile seizure, and a follow up tomorrow with the doctor regarding a CAT scan since the little man already has a bad history of migraines.. .. So here we are. Waiting. Praying. Crying. I think I would also add going crazy to that list if it wasn't for family and friends. Their prayers have helped us through this difficult time and will continue to help us until we are all better:) There are two individuals who have helped immensely, my brother and my father. This entry is about them.

My dad and I see each other about everyday....5 out of 7, but sometimes we see each other lots of times in one day:) He helps out in various ways, but he is a champ at getting Cohen from school. Cohen loves riding in papa's truck. This week he brought us donuts, pedialyte, and just stopped by to check on us. Today though, he went above and beyond yet again. Since I am pregnant, I cannot lift Cohen. After his seizure, I knew there was no way I could get him to the emergency room alone. I called Cody and he said he would meet me there. EXCEPT he didn't.... the kiddos and I were getting out of the car at the ER and he called me, informing me that he had a flat tire 2 BLOCKS AWAY! So we detoured and went to get him. There he was, in his suit, in the snow...walking toward us, just to get closer. After all the testing, we knew there was no time to get his truck so he drove us home and took my car and a change of clothes for after his 2 pm meeting...EXCEPT he didn't need them. While Cody and I were running in and out of places, taking care of kiddos, going to meetings, dad took care of Cody's tire AND found someone else to assist and they brought it home to us. Cody never touched the tire. Dad even called to remind me to close the garage, even though he told me 3 times while he was here, he knew I would forget. LOVE HIM.

Now Anthony. Anthony is my favorite brother. He brings me soooooooooooooooo much joy. He is so witty and so sweet and so "him" that it's impossible not to love him. Does he drive me crazy? yes. Does he call me multiple times a day just to see what I am doing or to see what the kids are doing especially his buddy, "baby Sawyers."? yes. Does he tell stories that at the end you are wondering what just happened and think "is that the whole story?" yes. Would I change any of it? NO. Would I take a bullet for the kid? you betcha. Do I love him more than he'll ever know. YES. Tony helps out all the time. I try not to take advantage of him, but the kids love him and I love his presence, so it is hard not to. Since Cohen, I really have tried to not ask him to do so much. I know none of this is his responsibility, but he is great with the kids and I know I can count on him. When cody is out of town, he stays with us. (yep, I'm a huge scaredy cat. guns or no guns). He will also pick up Cohen if I need him to, or come by if I need to go somewhere on a whim. Or watch the kiddos if Cody and I have to go to a meeting. He goes to ball games and dance recitals. He was even going to eat lunch with Cohen today had he gone to school for family/pizza lunch. Yesterday he became an honorary tooth fairy when he went out of his way to pick up a tooth pillow so the fairy could visit Cohen. Today he also went above and beyond. He came and got Sawyer as soon as Sawyer woke up this morning, so that Sawyer wouldn't be around the other two sick kiddos. When he got here, he put the car seat in his car before I could even open the door to say hi. he also got here at the exact time cohen was having his seizure. He was helping me try to help him, and when Cohen was done, he held him and carried him back to the couch so i could quickly change and get to the ER. He has had Sawyer all day and offered to keep him overnight, so I wouldn't have to take him over in the morning since he will be spending another day with uncle "nony.". He even skyped through out the day because he knew I would want to see Sawyer and maybe a little for confirmation that he was keeping him alive:) He is an amazing 25 year old (single too, ladies:). He will make a great father....one day. LOVE HIM.

My mom is off tomorrow, so I am sure she will go above and beyond as always, especially with making me yummy comfort foods, and holding my babies with such a selfless love. All of her help is a whole other entry in and of itself. And I have a now very wrinkly little girl, so I gotta get her out of the tub:) Please continue to pray. Thanks

UPDATE: After taking Cohen to the doctor, they informed us that Sawyer should be no where around him and said to keep Sawyer away until at least Sunday!! So my brother kept him all day Thursday, and friday-sunday (overnight). Isn't he just amazing?! Anthony...not just Sawyer:)

Double Date

This post can start many ways. It can start by me saying that when I met Cody, I never once thought about what kind of father he would be. It can start by me saying I didn't want kids back in the day. It could also start by saying that mornings are hard for Cohen and nights difficult for Miayla. All of the said statements would be true, and all statements would lead us to where we are today. The shortened versions would go something like this: When I met Cody, he was handsome (still is, I could stare at his ass in jeans for hours, sometimes I do). BUT he was definitely not the one that I stepped back and wondered what kind of father he would be. Maybe I didn't think of him like that because I was not in the market to have kids....not at that time, possibly not ever. We laugh today about how I told him early on in the relationship that I thought 26 was a little young to get married. (we laugh bc the joke was on us with being 27 and having 4 kids and 5.5 yrs of marriage:) But it wasn't until a certain dinner at olive Garden one night, that he mentioned something about what he would do with his kids one day, that I actually stepped back and thought about him in that role. It was then that I realized, he would make an excellent father, a fun father, a cute father:) And as fate would have it, it is a good thing that I was right. Although Code does have some small maturity issues, he is an unbelievable father. And one thing I love about his fathering abilities, is that they compliment my mothering abilities perfectly!! I only want to raise good, christian kiddos, that love God above all, and treat others with kindness, and always remember where they came from....and maybe go to Notre dame, and of course not marry anyone that I don't approve of, or maybe even never move out, and take care of me when I get old, but never think of me as old.... I'm digressing. Anyway, we want them to be loved, know they are loved, and know that we will always be there for them.

This is where Cohen's fearful mornings come in and Miayla's bad nights. If you have had the privilege of putting Miayla to sleep you know that she is a bundle of trouble. She needs a drink of water, to brush her teeth, to get a band or five, find her sheep blanket and horsey, to tell about some odd medical condition she is currently enduring, leaving her unable to sleep-latest one---"every time I close my eyes, my ribs hurt." or just plain diva-ness "princesses don't sleep, they just lay here and be beautiful"--this is where Sleeping beauty saves the day. Anyway, it is difficult. So what do you do when you can't fight it anymore? you make a game of it. Who loves dessert more than Miayla (besides me)? NO ONE! So for every night she goes to bed properly and STAYS THERE, she gets a happy face and after so many happy faces, she gets to go on a date with her daddy to a special place for dessert. Guess who got 15 perfect nights in a row??? :) yeppers, the princess. And guess who is on her way to another great night time record? yeppers, our princess.

now Cohen, his is a bit more difficult and this is why we originally came up with this idea. He is incredibly sweet, but very sensitive. He has a heart of gold and gets anxiety about many things. We have many routines with him, but mornings are still a little hard. So when he wakes up and has a good morning, he gets a happy face and after so many, he gets to go on a date too. Do you know who loves breakfast more than Cohen (besides me)? NO ONE! So after so many "happies" we get to go to breakfast together BEFORE school. Once he is to school he is usually fine. We try to teach him that it is a safe place and that just because he is there, we are still accessible. The school knows that sometimes he needs to just check in and they allow him to call, fairly freely:) I've gotten calls about forgotten chap stick, one about how he saw a red yukon go by and wanted to know if I had drove by. I laugh, but really, I feel blessed that he is surrounded by people who hug him when I can't and pray with him, while I am praying for him. It's just the getting there that is sometimes the difficult part. Except now:) He is doing great with his "chart" and everyone here is happy! Here are pictures from our dates! We both went last Thursday and they both picked Spangles... or as Miayla says it "spangles it just tastes better."

it was a bit chilly in there, especially when you add an orange juice slush:)
Thumbs up for french toast sticks and hash browns:) PS, I am no longer a morning person, (really not a night person either now that I think about it), so there are no pics of Cohen and me together on this date:(


Cody and Miayla are like those annoying couples that sit next to each other in the booth instead of across from each other.... sheesh;)

Somehow Miayla got two things....maybe I should try sitting next to him after all for two desserts:)

Such a cute couple--this is where Cody says one of the desserts was his....he would lie for her though... This date was short bc they got cold and left.....

And finished their date "snuggled" up at home on the couch

until.....

the infamous party crasher came:) Gosh he is a cutie.

yay for double dates!!

So I really don't want to clean.....

..... so I decided to blog:) My list of stuff to do today is way long, but after a morning of running around, coming off of a night of terrible sleep, I am not getting too far:( I decided to do a little "week of our life" in pictures for you. After a week of croup, strep, double ear infections, sinus infections, and now viral pneumonia.... I am a bit tired. The high light of the week was "date night", but I will blog about that later...too many words involved:) Until then, enjoy the pics!

Cohen peeling potatoes:) he loves to peel potatoes, not for sure why, but he always asks to do it. The funny story that goes with this is that Cohen had gone to school half day last Friday with a Migraine and had only wore his uniform 2.5 hours. I made him take his school shirt off to help and when Miayla came out of her room, she goes "why is Cohen like Jacob?" (from twilight), Cohen's response, "Im not like Jacob, I'm not brown yet." It was pretty funny! For my mom who is freaking out bc Cohen has a peeler, don't worry, he was careful.
This is what happens when you ask Cody to put the clothes from the washer into the dryer...

you get kids' in dryers and then lectures about NEVER playing in dryers:)

And then they had a dance party! Cody loves to dance with them and we have dance parties, at least 3 times a week...usually more.

Apparently Cody thinks he is #1....I kind of agree:)

Sawyer again in his favorite spot!

So do you remember the WSU game last Saturday night.... the one that went into TRIPLE OVERTIME???!!! Well, this is how Cody got to watch it! Him and Cohen were on the floor, telling everyone to be quiet when low and behold, Sawyer crashed their party and sat on Cody's head:) I LOVED IT!

He is just so cute, how can you be mad?! Cohen was pretty excited about the whole thing bc initially we told him he could stay up for the end of the game.....an HOUR later the little turkey went to bed!

Sawyer was still sick all week, he is the one with what I thought were two ear infections and then found out earlier this morning that he also has viral pneumonia, and he was CRANKY on Monday....so we did what he loves to do--UNLOAD THE DISHWASHER. I swear he has a little radar on him that lets him know when I am trying to load or unload the dishwasher, because the little fell is ALWAYS there. Out of nowhere, then WHAM, SAWYER! Anyway, usually the process involves a bunch of "nos" and "stops" but this time, I actually did it just for him.

he really only cares about the silverware....

and he was happy!


Cohen has is currently the only one in his class that has never lost a tooth.....NATURALLY. When he was 23 months old, he slipped at the pool and shattered his front tooth and they had to extract it. I was 8 months pregnant, Cohen cried, Cody cried... it was tragic. He does currently have a loose tooth and a tooth that is coming in behind it. It is really loose. REALLY. So Cody decided to pull it.....

......Except he didn't! A little tug too hard and Cohen started crying and then Cody started to cry and then I was reminded of the first tooth all over again. And what do you know? I am pregnant again! haha.

SO since we weren't getting rid of any teeth, we decided to clean the ones we had. They usually all fight over the sink, but for some reason this night, there was party there. Cody decided to capture it:)

This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth.....

and yes, I hold Sawyer's head like that...he likes to move.... a lot


And what would a week be without a Princess dancing?? Miayla got new legwarmers and a new dance bag...she was so excited. And I was so happy that the weather was decent enough for her to wear them:)

She thinks she is Strawberry Shortcake:)

She wanted me to take a picture of her new bag and the "sparkles" on the back of the warmers:)

Sawyer's Obsession

Sawyer, as we all know, is an incredibly laid back little fella. He loves life and he is quite intrigued by many things. If you are family or have been around him at dinner time, you know what I am talking about. The kid is OBSESSED with chairs and tables. He LOVES to climb under them, stand on them, crawl through them, anything! Initially relatives freaked out when they saw him underneath the table, "he'll hit his head, watch him..." then they caught on. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing and he loves doing it. Now if anyone sees him under there, it's as if, well, he isn't even there. Every night after he is done eating, I take him out of his chair and he crawls under the table while the rest of us finish our meal. (Yes, this is probably also why he throws food off his tray and onto the floor). He does get stuck every now and again, but for the most part if you can't find him, look under Cohen's bar stool, or under the table and you will 99% of the time find him. (the other one percent he is putting jiffy mix in the shower;). Here are some pics of him caught in the act. I have TONS more, (the kid does it all day) but I thought I would share just a few. A few of his other obsessions: He also LOVES getting into our gum drawer and carrying around packs of gum, and taking them out of the wrappers. And he loves his magna doodle (only the one with the Christmas design though;), and he loves getting into my cake drawer and carrying around things that I use for cakes. So in conclusion, it turns out he is also a little ornery as well and as I continue to write, I am realizing that he may not be that Sweet baby Sawyer after all...hmmm. Oh well, he is so cute, so it is hard to stay mad:) Enjoy

His favorite place-under Cohen's bar stool! He will only sit under this one:)

He is currently trying to get the paper out from under his bum so he can color!

Cohen doesn't even notice he is there half the time anymore:)

working on his magna doodle...his other favorite obsession.

He is carrying around a pack of gum...trying to hide. Unfortunately for him, I know where to look.

Notice the magna doodle again:) and he also stole Miayla's Strawberry Shortcake remote control car....again.

I LOVE this picture because he has puppies on his shirt and he looks like a puppy here with the stuff in his mouth. That is a thing of gum in his mouth and a pack of fondant in his hand:) He likes to straddle the bar under the table or put snacks on there and hang out.

This is how he gets out from under the bar stool. He has my pastry brush with him:)

Again with the pastry brush:) Look at those teethers!!

So he thinks my pastry brush is an actual brush:) This is also a good time to clarify that I do not use this brush on my cake stuff....or my hair for that matter:)

Under the table with the brush and Miayla's headband.... yes, I know when Cody sees this he is going to wonder why his young man has a cake brush and a headband, but hey, it is what it is. I prefer the term domesticated:)

Something in that book must of been funny. Pretty sure we read it about 17 times a day and no, nothing in that book is funny. lol

So handsome! ....again with his magna doodle and Miayla's strawberry shortcake car.

LOVE HIM!