Cruisin' to TWO

Today our sweet Reid is 2!! I can hardly believe it! He is certainly acting like a 2 year old these days but it just doesn't seem right. We were able to celebrate last night with family and we all had a great time! Our party theme was cars...not the movie...just cars in general. You will rarely see Reid without a car, truck, etc. in his hands! And yes, his birthday hat is a play orange construction cone. He always picks it up, puts it on his head and starts singing happy birthday so I thought this would make an appropriate hat that fit well with the party theme.

 

 



Curious to know the gender of McGrew baby #3? Watch this short video clip from the party!

Thank you to everyone who came to help us celebrate Reid's special day!!

Red-Hot Chicken Salad

I know I haven't posted a recipe in a while but I was inspired earlier today after making one of my favorite sandwiches! Plus, it's just a great summer recipe! The best part is that a) I actually WANTED to eat this and b) I could make it myself without gagging! Progress! This is actually a Hungry Girl recipe, but there are a couple of things I changed due to personal taste.

1 12.5 oz. can of white chicken (You can always use fresh chicken but the can is much too convenient in my opinion)
Mayo or Miracle Whip
4-5 baby carrots
1 stalk celery
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon dry ranch dressing
Frank's Red Hot Sauce

Drain the chicken and fluff with a fork. I didn't put a certain amount of Mayo to add because everyone's preference is different. Just add enough to coat the chicken. I use a cheese grater to chop up the carrots and celery so they are finely chopped. Ofcourse, you can just chop them with a knife...I just prefer a less chunky chicken salad. Add carrots, celery and onion. (I don't always add onions just depends on how I feel that day). Add the dry ranch dressing and your desired amount of Franks. I use at least 1-2 teaspoons. Mix all these together and let it chill for an hour or so before eating. Despite its name, this is not hot or spicy. You can always add as little or as much Frank's as you choose! I love this on a sandwich or as a dip with Triscuits or another cracker!

Served here on King Hawaiian sandwich snacker rolls.

Fone Pics Friday, etc.

I know it seems the only time I blog anymore is on Friday! But when cell phones are so convenient and always with you on the go, it just seems that much of our daily lives are captured on the phone. In my last post I mentioned that the boys and I had recently finished up a week at VBS and they were both running fevers. I was hoping it was just a random "we've had a tough week and are now recouping" fever. However, those mild fevers turned into 103.5 fevers that brought with them ear infections, strep and a virus! It seems Reid got hit the hardest and for some reason he refused any meds and since he wasn't much interested in eating we couldn't even hide it in food. This resulted in some painful antibiotic shots.  But because they were very potent shots he seemed to recover more quickly than Landon...who is still congested and feeling a little icky almost a week later! But, we are on the mend and will be back to normal in no time! Now, on to the pics...

 Coming back from Urgent Care last Sunday

 We had lots of couch and TV time this last week. You could tell the boys weren't really even interested in playing with their toys around the house. It was pretty pathetic!

 Landon never randomly falls asleep on the couch. I had rented them Gnomio and Juliet and he fell asleep in the middle of it.

A couple of weeks ago was Aaron's birthday. For his celebration, he wanted to take the boys to a Rough Rider game. Unfortunately, baby #3 had been giving me the blues all day and I didn't make it. But thankfully NiNi, G-Pa, MiMi and Grandy went with them. About an hour after they left, I had sent Aaron a text saying, "Don't forget that frequent update texts will be appreciated! :)" And what is the first update text that I get back? I quote, "Reid hit his eye on the chair and almost passed out on us. He was pretty blue." WHAT?? Does he not know this momma at all?? That's not the kind of update I wanted to hear and while I would like to know about it a text isn't HOW I want to hear about it! It took me about 1 second to get Aaron on the phone to hear him say, "Wow, that was fast!" Thankfully Reid was just fine (refresh your memory about his breath holding spells HERE) and Aaron did send me some fun picture updates!

The foods I can tolerate these days seems to change quite frequently! One day I was really craving some minestrone soup from Taste of Italy. While it's kind of a far drive, it was worth the soup! I wish it was a little closer.

 Conversations with Elmo...

 Once Reid started feeling better, he was back to acting like his goofy little self...

This is a picture my dad sent me from one of his regular bike rides/park trips with the boys...

Catching up on his emails...

Purging the Camera

In other words, this is just an update on some things we've been up to lately (and a couple of months ago) with a few of the pictures that have been sitting on my camera added in!

In the beginning of May, I had taken the boys on a little date to Mickey D's. In their Happy Meals was the little character from the movie, Rio. They both enjoyed playing with this little guy so much we thought the movie would be a hit. So, we took advantage of a cool, rainy Monday morning and took a family trip to the movies. This was Reid's first movie theater experience! Everything was great while the food was plentiful...but eventually it ran out and so did attention spans. Our time together ended with a knot on the head from Reid falling down the stairs in the dark as we attempted to let him get some wiggles out. We'll never know how that movie ended!
Back in mid-May, we headed to College Station to visit our dear friends, the Meltons. They recently moved there (from right next door) in April and it didn't take us long to schedule a visit! We enjoyed our time together and look forward to getting together again sometime soon!

 

This past week, the boys and I attended VBS at church! We had a fun time, but I must admit I'm thankful it's over now! It was an exhausting week for all of us and both boys are now running fevers! Hopefully it won't amount to much, but I can only imagine what kind of germs were shared among the thousands of kids who attended! I worked with my sweet friend, Anna, in a 3's class. Somehow Landon ended up in our class, which was interesting at times!

In case you hadn't heard....we'll be a family of FIVE by the end of the year! That's pretty crazy to think about actually! We're obviously excited and look forward to the blessings this new little person will be adding to our family! I am now 11 weeks (these sono pics were taken last week). It was the first time you could actually see arms and legs moving! Everything is going well so far. I'm definitely feeling the first trimester blues but I'm not as sick as I was with Reid which is a huge blessing since I have two very active boys to keep up with! My actual due date is January 6th, but due to my history of delivering babies early, and the fact that I've already had 2 c-sections, he/she (but probably he) will most likely be here before Christmas! In case you are wondering, this sweet baby will complete our little McGrew crew! We look forward to this very special Christmas blessing!

Other than all that, we're just trying to stay cool in this crazy Texas heat! One of the ways we've been doing that is right in our own backyard...

 

Reid isn't quite as comfortable with sliding into the water as Landon. I love this next sequence of pictures. It would also appear that maybe Reid was....pushed!