The D's at Halloween

Instead of carving our pumpkins this year, I decided to paint them.  I figured that would be less messy and since we got four pumpkins I thought it would be perfect for our family of four! 

Mine and Kyle's aren't the greatest, but check out our sweet girls!  How cute are these?!  And of course, Stella HAD to have a bow in her hair! ;)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

We Love Fall, Ya'll!

Friday we headed to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out our pumpkins.  This was Stella's first trip to a pumpkin patch so she had to warm up to the idea of being surrounded by tons of orange things.  You know, because us Gamecock fans are not too fond of orange! ;)

After a while though, she had a blast and the pics definitely prove it!  Here are more pics from our fun day!

Of course we had to bring home a pumpkin for Bella too!  My two girls love each other and I think if Bella could talk and laugh she would giggle just as loud, if not louder, than Stella.  They are two peas in a pod and Kyle and I are SO blessed!

Happy Fall, Ya'll!

Kindermusik

For Stella's birthday, Grandma and Grandpa D gave her Kindermusik classes and boy have we had a great time!!  We sing songs, learn sounds, dance and Stella gets a chance to interact with other children her age.  She has met so many new friends and we have had a blast.

In class on Monday, we sang the song "Riding in the Buggy" and the lyrics are:

Riding in the buggy Baby mine, Baby mine!

Riding in the buggy Baby mine, Baby mine!

Riding in the buggy Baby mine, Baby mine!

Riding in the buggy lookin’ oh so fine!

(You can replace Baby with your child's name.)

Except this time, the teacher had a "buggy" for the children to "ride" in.  Stella loved it!  She's chompin' on her fingers in the pic, but she enjoyed ZOOMIN' around the room!

I've enjoyed watching Stella grow and learn so much through music and I highly recommend these classes to everyone.

Yummy Soups

Kyle hasn't been feeling well the past few days so I made my Grandma's homemade vegetable beef soup yesterday and it was delish.  And actually, for the first time ever, it came pretty close to tasting just like my Grandma's!  I was pumped!

Today I was still in the mood for soup and Kyle was too so I thought I'd try and make a soup with chicken.  I google'd "crock pot chicken and pasta soup" and found this delicious recipe.

Slow Cooker Italian Chicken-Pasta Soup

1 1/4	pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1	cup diced carrots (about 2 medium)
1/2	cup finely chopped onion (1 medium)
1/2	cup halved pitted ripe olives
2	cloves garlic, finely chopped
1	carton (32 ounces) Progresso® chicken broth
1	can (14 1/2 ounces) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2	cup uncooked small shell pasta Mix all ingredients except pasta in 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 8 to 10 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, stir in pasta. Increase heat setting to High. Cover and cook 20 to 30 minutes or until pasta is tender. Serve-With Thick slices of hearty Italian bread drizzled with olive oil complete this Italian soup meal. Do-Ahead The night before, cut up all of the components for this slow cooker soup. Package them separately and refrigerate. In the morning, assemble the soup in minutes. Special Touch Sprinkle each serving of soup with grated or shredded Parmesan cheese.

I'm all about using the crock pot, especially when our schedules are hectic and busy.  It's definitely a lifesaver!  I used chicken breasts because that's what we already had at home, but would probably try the chicken thighs next time.  The chicken breasts were a little dry but it was still super yummy and I highly recommend it.

Princess Stella....I mean, BELLA!

We've always treated our dog, Bella, like she was our "first born" child and always will.  She has been spoiled rotten since the day we got her.  She sleeps in the bed w/ us, gets groomed once a month (she used to get groomed more often before Stella arrived...oopsy!  However I brush her all the time! ;)), gets distilled bottled water and has more toys than I have shoes!!  Basically we treat her like royalty and now I'm beginning to believe she thinks she's a princess too.

As you can see in my last post, we love taking family walks in the evenings.  Well, this time, Bella thought she should be the driver of Stella's car.

"Ahem, faster, Daddy!!!"

I don't think Kyle knows what to do w/ all of these princesses in the house.  Oh and did I mention I'm a princess too?! hee hee

Stella = Toddler?!

I've been getting weekly emails about "What Your Baby Is Doing/Going Through/Etc." since the day Stella was born.  Every Tuesday when I open my email there's a wonderful email that says "You're Baby is __ Weeks Old..."  Well, this Tuesday was a different email...it said "What's Up w/ Your Toddler".  Hold on...TODDLER?!  I have a TODDLER?!  That can't be!!  My sweet baby girl was born just yesterday and now she's a toddler?!  Man, time really goes by too fast!  I guess it's true though because she's such a big girl and doing so many fun, new things every day.

Grandma & Grandpa Stroman gave Stella a "Castle Chateau" for her birthday and she is loving it!  It has a slide, swing and lots of gadgets she can play with.  The weather has been perfect for playing outside so she's enjoying getting to swing, slide and play like a big girl.

She also loves her car that mommy and daddy bought her for her birthday.

We love taking walks in the evenings so this car is perfect for our walks in the neighborhood.

A good friend of mine has a blog, Pot Luck With Jess, and she always has unique posts about rooms she would love to create...pretend rooms.  She created one for her son, Jackson, and she's also created one for her soon-to-be little girl, Eliza.  These "rooms" are adorable, precious and one-of-a-kind.  I've always told her "Make me a pretend room!" because she's so creative and has wonderful taste.  Well, this week, she did just that - she made a pretend "big girl room" for Stella.  Check it out here!  Isn't it awesome?!  I just love it and of course it's our fave colors, pink and green!!  Thanks, Jess, for creating such a beautiful big girl room for my toddler!

Another Birthday!

Today is my hubby, Kyle's, birthday and we have had a wonderful day as a family.  Even though he had to work, we were able to sneak in lunch together at McAlisters.  After lunch, Stella and I ran to pick up his birthday present (long story, but we've been looking for his present all week and just hadn't found the right one), came home, wrapped it and waited for daddy to come home.

When he arrived, Stella and Bella were SO excited to see him....and I was too...we couldn't wait to give him his birthday present!  He was so excited when he saw his USC GAMECOCK polo shirt and a HUGE bag of Dunkin Donuts coffee {his fave}!

Kyle mentioned that he wanted to get pizza for dinner.  I wasn't too thrilled about it, but I figured it was his birthday so I'd let him choose.  However, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to suggest Amber, a local Japanese Hibachi place, since we usually eat hibachi to celebrate our special occasions. {hee, hee} And the power of suggestion worked!  YAY!

We had a delicious dinner at Amber and Stella was such a good sport and loved watching "Andy" cook for us.  She cried when he lit the stove top on fire the first time but when he did it the second time she was all giggles.  Of course everyone at our table just "ooh'd and aah'd" over Stella so she enjoyed that too.

Happy Birthday to the man of my dreams!  You are such a wonderful daddy, friend and hubby and I couldn't imagine anyone else in the world I'd rather share this amazing journey of life with.  I love you!!